 41 A cloud considerably larger than a man's hand, flecked the skies at dawn of 1898, and troubled many who had been following the course of events in Cuba. So too, like the thrills sent through the nation at the firing on Fort Sumter, the startling intelligence of the destruction of the United States battleship Maine, electrified and united the people. Along the coast intense excitement scarcely permitted westerners to keep themselves within bounds, and instant was the display of patriotic fervor, southern Californians willingly shouldering their share of the unavoidable war burdens. On January 22, John G. Nichols, several times mayor of Los Angeles, and always a welcome figure on the streets, died here at the age of 85 years. Colonel Harrison Gray Otis, soldier, union officer, government official in Alaska, and president of the Los Angeles Times Publishing Company, was appointed by President McKinley on May 27th, a Brigadier General of the United States Volunteers, following which he was assigned to a command in the Philippines, where he saw active service until honorably discharged in 1899, after the fall of Malolos, the insurgent capital. During General Otis' absence, his influential son-in-law, the large-hearted big man of affairs Harry Chandler, vice president of the corporation, was general manager of the Times, while L. E. Mosher was managing editor. In 1897, Harry E. Andrews joined the Times staff in 1906, becoming managing editor and infusing into the paper much of its characteristic figure. In 1899, Hugh McDowell, who had entered the employ of the Times four years before, began his long editorship of the Times' magazine, a wide-awake feature which has become more and more popular. During many years, Mrs. Alida A. Otis, the general's gifted wife, now deceased, also contributed to both the Times and the murmur. From the beginning, the paper has been Republican and in every respect has consistently maintained its original policies. Especially in the fight for San Pedro Harbor, it was an important element and did much to bring the energetic campaign to a successful termination. Paul D. Longpré, the French artist who made his mark when but eleven years old in the Salon of 1876, was a distinguished member of a little group of Frenchmen arriving in the late 90s. In 1901, he bought a home at Hollywood and there surrounded himself with three acres of choicest gardens, one of the sites of suburban Los Angeles, which became an inspiration to him in his work as a painter of flowers. D. Longpré died in Hollywood on June 29, 1911. On August 23, my excellent friend Dr. John Strother Griffin, for nearly fifty years, one of the most efficient and honored residents of Los Angeles, died here. A career such as should inspire American youth is that of Henry T. Gage, long in partnership with the well-known bibliophile W. I. Foley, a native of New York, who in 1877, at the age of twenty-four, began the practice of law in Los Angeles to be elected twenty-one years later governor of California. A handsome man of splendid physique, acquired perhaps when he started as a sheep dealer, he is also genial in temperament and powerful and persuasive in oratory. Qualifications which led to his selection, I dare say, to second the nomination at Chicago in 1888 of Levi P. Morton for the Vice Presidency. Ex-Governor Gage's wife was Miss Fanny V, daughter of John Reigns and granddaughter of Colonel Isaac Williams. April 27, 1899 was printed large and red upon the calendar for both Los Angeles and San Pedro, when the engineers, desiring to commence work on the harbor in true spectacular fashion, brought a load of quarried rock from Catalina to dump on the breakwater site. President McKinley sent an electric spark from the White House, intended to throw the first load of ballast splashing into the bay, but the barge only half-tilted, interfering with the dramatic effect desired. Nevertheless, the festivities concluded with the usual procession and fireworks. Imports of great importance making for a municipal water system occurred in 1899, the thirty years contract with the assigns of John S. Griffin, P. Bodrie, S. Lazard, and others, having expired on July 22, 1898. An arbitration committee consisting of Charles T. Healy for the company, and James C. Kays, long a citizen of importance, and Sheriff from 1887 to 1888, for the city, failed to agree as to the valuation of the Los Angeles Water Company's plant, whereupon Colonel George H. Mendell was added to the board, and on May 12, 1899, Kays and Mendell fixed their estimate at $1,183,591, while Healy held out for a larger sum. In August, the citizens, by a vote of 7-1, endorsed the issuing of $2 million of city bonds to pay the water company in to build additional equipment, and the waterworks having been transferred to the municipality, five commissioners were appointed to manage the system. During August 1899, the Reverend Dr. Sigmund Hecht of Milwaukee took into his keeping the spiritual welfare of Los Angeles Reformed Jewry, and it is certainly a source of very great satisfaction to me that during his tenure of office, his good fellowship has led him, on more than one occasion, to tender the altar of the Jewish temple for Christian worship. Scholarly in pursuits and eloquent of address, Dr. Hecht for sixteen years has well presided over the destinies of his flock, his congregation keeping pace with the growth of the city. Incursions of other jobbing centers into Los Angeles territory induced our leading manufacturers and wholesalers to combine for offensive, as well as defensive purposes. And on October 11, 1899, in answer to a call, an enthusiastic meeting was held in Room 86, Temple Block, attended by J. Baruch, J. O. Keppfle, J. Seeger, R. L. Craig, L. Kimball, L. C. Scheller, George H. Wigmore, F. W. Braun, C. C. Reynolds, I. A. Lothian, W. S. Hunt, A. H. Bush, M. H. Newmark, and others, who elected Baruch, President, Keppfle, first Vice President, Reynolds, second Vice President, Scheller, Treasurer, and Braun, Secretary. A couple weeks later, A. M. Rossin was named Secretary, Braun having resigned to accept the third Vice Presidency, and on November 3, the associated Jobbers of Southern California, as the organization was called, was rechristened the associated Jobbers of Los Angeles. Meanwhile, at a quiet luncheon, Keppfle and Newmark had entered into negotiations with Charles D. Willard, with the result that, when Rossin withdrew on February 28, 1900, Willard assumed the duties of Secretary, holding the office for years, until compelled by sickness, on January 18, 1911, to relinquish the work. On February 21, 1900, Baruch having resigned, M. H. Newmark began a service of 12 years as President. The strength of the organization was materially increased when, in March 1908, F. P. Gregson, well up in the traffic councils of the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, assumed the management of the recently established Traffic Bureau. On April 10, 1908, after many years of hardship, financial trouble, and disappointment, during which the Executive Committee and Secretary Willard had frequent conferences with J. C. Stubbs and William Sproll, then Stubbs' assistant, of the Southern Pacific, and W. A. Bissell of the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, it became evident that more equitable rates for shippers into the San Joaquin Valley and elsewhere could not peaceably be obtained. A promised readjustment, lowering Los Angeles rates about 20 percent, had been published, and at the request of the San Francisco Merchants, the new tariff sheet was repudiated by the transportation companies. A re-hearing was also denied by them. The associated jobbers then carried the case before the newly created Railroad Commission and obtained concessions amounting to 50 percent of the original demands. Guided by their astute traffic manager, F. P. Gregson, the jobbers not satisfied with the first settlement, in 1910 renewed their activity before the commission, and on the 15th of the following February, still further reductions were announced. The last rates authorized in 1912 are still in effect. In 1899, James M. Gwynn, after some years of miscellaneous work in the field of local annals, issued his History of Los Angeles County, following the same in 1907 with a History of Southern California and the Southern Coast Counties. As I write, he has in preparation a still more compendious work to be entitled Los Angeles and environs. At half-past four, on the morning of December 25th, a slight shock of earthquake was felt in Los Angeles, but it was not until some hours later that the telegraph reported the much greater damage wrought at San Jacinto Riverside County. There walls fell in heaps, and a peculiar freak was the complete revolution of a chimney without the disturbance of a single brick. Six squaws, by the falling of their adobes at the reservation some miles away, were instantly killed. One day dawned, and the badly frightened people began to inspect the neighborhood. They found great mountain crevices, in the sum of which even large trees had fallen. Toward the end of the 90s, Henry E. Huntington sold much or all of his large holdings in the San Francisco Railways, and began both to buy up Los Angeles railway stocks and to give his personal attention to the city's traffic problems. At the same time, he bent his energies to the crowning work of his life, the development of the various inter-urban electric systems focusing in Los Angeles. In 1902, the road to Long Beach was completed, and in the following year electric cars began to run to Monrovia and Whittier. In 1903, the seven-story Huntington or Pacific Electric building at the corner of Main and Sixth Streets was finished. The effect of these extensive improvements on local commerce and on the value of real estate, as well as their influence on the growth of population through the coming of tourists seeking the conveniences and pleasures of social life, cannot perhaps be fully estimated, a fact which the people of this city should always remember with gratitude. During the winter of 1899 to 1900, business care so weighed upon me that I decided temporarily to cast off all worry and indulge myself with another visit to the old world. This decision was reached rather suddenly, and as my friends insist, in a perfectly characteristic manner. One morning I hastened to the steamship office and bought the necessary tickets, and then I went home leisurely and suggested to my wife that she prepare for a trip to Europe. About the first of January, therefore, we left Los Angeles, reached Naples on February 1st, and traveled for nine months through Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. I returned to my birthplace, Lebeau, which in my youth had appeared of such importance, but although somewhat larger than it used to be, it now nevertheless seemed small and insignificant. While making this tour of Europe, I revisited Sweden and renewed my acquaintance with the families that had been so kind to me as a boy. Time had lamentably thinned the ranks of the older generation, but many of the younger, especially those of my own age, were still there. Those only who have had a similar experience will appreciate my pleasure in once again greeting these said fast friends. I also reviewed numerous scenes formerly so familiar. It is impossible to describe my emotions on thus again seeing this beautiful country, or to convey to the reader the depth of my respect and affection for her intelligent, thrifty, and whole-sold people, especially when I remembered their liberal encouragement of my father about forty years before. Thanks to the undefeatable labors of Mrs. A. S. C. Forbes of Los Angeles, the beautiful ceremony of screwing flowers upon the restless ocean waters in honor of the naval dead was first observed at Santa Monica on Memorial Day in 1900, and bids fair to become an appropriate national custom. Senora Antonio F. Coronel entrusted to the Chamber of Commerce on June 6, the invaluable historical souvenirs known as the Coronel Collection, and now, footnote, installed of late in the County Museum, and footnote, for years these exhibits housed in the Chamber of Commerce building have been one of the sights of the city, a pleasure and a stimulation alike to tourist and resident. A good anecdote as to the transfer of this collection is related on the authority of Miss Anna B. Pitcher, President of the Boundary League, and the lady who made the first move to secure the interesting League mementos now preserved and displayed at the County Museum. When the matter of making the Coronel heirlooms more accessible to the public was brought to Senora Coronel's attention, she not only showed a lively interest, but at once agreed to make the donation. She imposed, however, the condition that Miss Pitcher should bring her to MJ Newmark and John F. Francis, then directors, in whose integrity and acumen she had great confidence. This was done, and these gentlemen, having pledged their personal attention and sponsorship, the Senora committed the historic objects to the Chamber of Commerce for the benefit forever of all the people. The Los Angeles Herald on July 7 passed into the hands of a group of stockholders, especially interested in petroleum, Wallace R. Hardison, being president and general manager, and R. H. Hay Chapman, managing editor. At the same time, the newspaper's policy became Republican. The Harvard School was opened on September 25 by Grenville C. Emery and was the first notable military academy for youth in Los Angeles. After many terms of successful work under congregational auspices, the school has passed to the control of the right reverend J. H. Johnson as trustee for the Episcopal Church, which has acquired other valuable school properties in the Southland. Professor Emery remitting $50,000 of the purchase price in consideration of a promise to perpetuate his name. A tunnel was put through Bunker Hill, by the way, one of the highest of downtown elevations, from Hill Street to Hope on Third, in 1901, bringing the Western Hill District into closer touch with the business center of the town and greatly enhancing the value of neighboring property. The delay in cutting through First and Second Streets, which would afford so much relief to the municipality, is a reproach against the good sense of the city. The Los Angeles Express, which enjoys the honor of being the oldest daily newspaper still published in Los Angeles, and which, for 15 years, has been so well managed by H. W. Brundage, was sold in January to Edwin T. Earl, who moved the plant to a building erected for it on Fifth Street between Broadway and Hill. Earl came to Los Angeles in 1885, having previously for years packed and shipped fruit on a large scale. In 1890, as a result of the obstacles handicapping, thus sending a fresh fruit to the east, Earl invented a new refrigerator car with ventilating devices, and unable to get the railroads to take over its construction, he organized a company for the building of the conveyors. On selling out to the armors, Earl made large investments in Los Angeles real estate. A few years ago, the express was moved to Hill Street near Seventh, possibly owing to the renewed interest in local historical study, the express in 1905 commenced the republication of news items of 25 years ago today, a feature of peculiar pleasure to the pioneer. William F. Grocer, who died on April 15th, was long active in Los Angeles turned marine circles, having popularized science before institutions and lecture courses existed here for that purpose. A native of Pottsdam Prussia, Grocer came to Southern California via Panama, and on settling in Los Angeles laid out the Grocer tract, having been an advanced student of astronomical science and microscopy, and possessing a good sized portable telescope, he was soon in demand by societies and schools for which he lectured without financial renumeration. One of Grocer's sister, Mrs. A. Jeleneck, whose husband, a Bosnick cabinetmaker, had an interesting part in the carving of the chair made from the spreading chestnut tree, and presented to the poet-long fellow by the school children of Cambridge, has been for years an honored resident of Ocean Park, where she was one of the early investors. A granddaughter is Frau-Line Elsa Grocer, the violinist. On April 24th, Samuel Calvert Foy died aged 71, survived by his wife and six children. A little town in Ventura County, bearing the name of the famous student and author, recalls the death near here in July of Charles Nordhoff, whose pioneer book California for Health, Pleasure and Residence, published in the early 70s, did more, I dare say, than any similar work to spread the fame of the Southland throughout the East. Charles Brody, who died in August, first saw Los Angeles in 1868 when he came here to nurse Edward J, my wife's brother, in his last illness. He then opened a grocery store at South Spring Street near Second, and was active in Turn Vreen and Odd Fellow Circles. The mention of Brody recalls the name of one who has attained distinction here, even as a messenger boy at the California Club in the 80s. Oscar Lawlor gave promise of an important future. He had come from Iowa as a child, and his personality, ability, and ambition soon brought him prominently before the bar and the people. He served as United States Attorney for this district from 1906 until 1909, when he became Assistant to the Attorney General of the United States. He is high in Masonic Circles, being past Grand Master of the Masonic Grand Lodge of California. In 1901 he married Ms. Hilda, daughter of Charles Brody. Catalina Island in the summer of 1902 established wireless connection with the mainland at White's Point, and on August 2nd the first messages were exchanged. On March 25th of the following year began the publication of the Catalina newspaper known as The Wireless. After graduating from the University of California in 1902, my son Marco attended for a while the University of Berlin, after which he returned to Los Angeles and entered the house of MA Newmark and Company. The woman of California in the late 80s wishing to pay Mrs. John C. Freemont an appropriate tribute presented her with a residence at the northwest corner of Hoover and 28th Streets, Los Angeles, where on December 27th 1902 at the age of 78 years she died. Mrs. Freemont was a woman of charming personality and decidedly intellectual gifts, and in addition to having written several meritorious works she was engaged at the time of her death on her autobiography. Her ashes were sent east to the banks of the Hudson to be entered beside those of her distinguished husband, but her daughter Ms. Elizabeth Benton Freemont has continued to reside here in the family Homestead. On the site of one of my early homes the cornerstone of the new Chamber of Commerce was laid on March 28th with impressive masonic ceremonies. The principal address was made by Jonathan S. Slawson, Ferdinand K. Ruhl was then president of the Chamber, and the building committee consisted of M. J. Newmark Chairman, A. B. Cass, Homer Loughlin, F. K. Ruhl, H. S. McKee, and James A. Foshay. The latter for 16 years, beginning with the middle 90s, having demonstrated his efficiency as superintendent of city schools. Early in 1903, G. A. Dobbinson, a Shakespearean student and teacher of Elocution, induced me to build a hall on Hope Street near 11th, connected with a small theater, and there in spring of 1904 he opened the well known Dobbinson School, which he conducted until 1906. Then the Gamut Club, an organization of 1904, whose first president was Professor Adolf Vil Hartitz, Footnote, died on January 12th, 1915, aged 78 years, and Footnote, the artistic German pianist moved in. The pioneer experiments with the naval orange have already been referred to. A late episode associates the luscious fruit with a president of the United States. On May 6th, amid great festivity, participated in by All Riverside, Theodore Roosevelt replanted in front of Frank Miller's mission in one of the original historic trees. William K. Cowan came to Los Angeles as a jeweler in 1887, later embarked in the bicycle trade, and was one of the first men in Los Angeles to sell automobiles. At length the building in 1903 at 830 South Broadway, the first large garage here. Some months later, if I recollect a right, witnessed the advent on our streets of a number of horseless carriages, and I was seized with a desire to possess not one, but two. My acquisitions were both electric, and soon I was extending right and left, invitations to my friends to ride with me. On the first of these excursions, however, one of the machines bulked, and the second also broke down, and to make a long story short, no mechanic in town being sufficiently expert to straighten out the difficulty, I soon disposed of them in disgust for about $700. In 1903, a notable change was made, and one decidedly for the better interest of the public schools, when 100 citizens pursuant to a change in the city's charter selected a nonpartisan board of education consisting of John D. Bicknell, Joseph Scott, J. M. Gwynne, Jonathan S. Slosson, Charles Cassatt, Davis, Emmett H. Wilson, and W. J. Washburn. On October 23rd, the Southwest Society was founded here by Charles F. Loomis, with Jonathan S. Slosson as its first president, Charles F. Loomis secretary, and W. C. Patterson treasurer. Associated with these officers were J. O. Keppfley, M. A. Hamburger, General H. G. Otis, Henry W. O. Mulvaney, Major E. W. Jones, J. A. Foshe, the Wright Reverend Thomas J. Conaty, J. D. Bicknell, and others. In the beginning it was a branch of the Archaeological Institute of America, but so rapid was the society's growth that in three years it had 50 percent more members than belonged to the 30 year old parent organization in Boston, with which it remained affiliated until 1913 when it withdrew an order that all its funds might go toward the maintenance of the Southwest Museum, a corporation founded in 1907 as the result of the Southwest Society's labors. The first plan to the Los Angeles Examiner, a newspaper owned by William Randolph Hearst, was installed in 1903 by Dent H. Robert, then and now publisher of the San Francisco Examiner. The paper, illustrated from the start, made its first appearance on December 12th and sprang into immediate favor. R. A. Farrelly was the first managing editor. The office of the paper was on the west side of Broadway near Fifth Street, where it remained for 10 years, during which it rendered valuable service to the community, notably in conducting a successful campaign for the sale of $720,000 worth of school bonds which had hitherto proven unmarketable. In the meantime, Robert had been succeeded, first by a Mr. Strauss, then by Henry Lowenthal and William P. Leach, while Farrelly was followed by Foster Coates, Arthur Clark, and W. P. Anderson. In 1908, the enterprising Maximilian F. Imsen assumed the responsibilities of publisher, and at the same time, Frederick W. Eldridge became the efficient managing editor. Under the able direction of these experienced men this morning daily has attained its highest prosperity, marked by the removal in fall of 1913 to the examiner building at Broadway and 11th Streets. Abbott Kinney, foreseeing a future for the Tide Flats and Lagoon's South of Ocean Park, in 1904 purchased enough acreage whereon to build the well-known Venice, which, as its name implies, was to be adorned with canals, bridges, and arcades. Through Kinney's remarkable spirit of enterprise, a wonderful transformation was affected in a single year. Such, in fact, was the optimism of this founder of towns that, in order to amply supply the necessary funds, he closed out important city holdings, including the Flat Iron Square, lying between 8th and 9th and Main and Spring Streets, the Abbotsford Inn property, and the large southeast corner of Spring and 6th Streets, at present occupied by the Crowes Building. Kinney's foresight, courage, and persistence have been rewarded, the dreams of his prime becoming realities of his more advanced age. The task of building here, a King's Highway, El Camino Real, intended to connect all the missions and presidios between San Diego and Sonoma was undertaken in the trebulous days of Don Gaspar de Pochela and Fanner Junipero Serra, but in time a measure obliterated this landmark. Since 1904, however, such kindred spirit as Miss Anna B. Pitcher, for nearly twenty years a zealous toiler for the preservation of our historic monuments in whose zeal in behalf of the Royal Road was paramount. Mr. and Mrs. A. S. C. Forbes, Dr. Milbank Johnson, R. F. Delvalle, Mrs. C. R. Olney of Oakland and Frank I, Mayor of Santa Ana, have so caused the work to prosper that at the present time much of the original highway is about to be incorporated with the good State Roads of California. The first bell for one of the Mission Bell Guideposts, designed, by the way, by Mrs. Forbes, was dedicated at the Plaza Church on August 15, 1906, and since then some four hundred of these indicators have been placed along the Camino Real. An interesting attempt to transplant a small Eastern town to California was made in 1904 when Alfred Dolge, the founder of Dolgeville, New York, and the author of the elaborate work Pianos and Their Makers, published in 1911 at Little Covina, established Dolgeville in Los Angeles County, opening there with three hundred or more operatives, a felt works for piano fixtures. The experiment had been undertaken because of expected advantages in the supply of wool, but changes in the tariff ruined the industry and after some years of varying prosperity, Dolgeville was annexed to Alhambra. A syndicate styled the Los Angeles Herald Company, whose president was Frank G. Finn Lason, in 1904 bought the Herald at that time under the editorial management of Robert M. Yost. Future generations will doubt be as keen to learn something about the preserving of Albuquer, commonly spoken of as tuna, as I should like to know and by whom sardines were first successfully put into cans. The father of this industry is Albert P. Halfhill, a Minnesotan drawn here in 1892 through the opportunities for packing mackerel on this southern coast. In 1894, we find him organizing the California Fish Company, soon to be known as the Southern California Fish Company. In 1904, Halfhill, while experimenting with various western seafoods, accidentally discovered the extraordinary quality of the Albuquer, a briny deep, heavyweight, so interesting to the angler and so mysterious to the scientist. As a mere bit of gossip, Halfhill's assurance that M.A. Newmark and Company purchased the first can tuna is entitled to mention. The term Varene, Germania took a notable step forward this year by buying a lot, 100 by 300 feet on South Figueroa between Pico and 15th Streets and on September 3, 1905, the new club building and gymnasium were formally opened. William H. Workman in 1904 was elected treasurer of the city of Los Angeles for the third time, his first term of office having begun in 1901. This compliment was more the emphatic because Workman was a Democrat and received 4,500 votes more than his opponent, and that too only a month after Roosevelt had carried Los Angeles by a majority of 13,000. In a previous chapter I have described the vendor of tamales and ice cream, so familiar through his peculiar voice as well as his characteristic costume. About 1905, another celebrity applying a trade in the same line and known as Francisco appeared here and daily made his rounds through the more fashionable West Lake District. He had a tenor voice of rare quality and power and use it while exquisitely rendering choice Arias to advertise his wares. Such was his merit that lovers of music as soon as his presence was known paused to listen. With the natural result that business with Francisco was never dull. Whenever a grand opera company came to town the Italian was there in a front seat of the gallery and so great was his enthusiastic interest in the performance of those whose voices were often inferior to his own that he could be seen with gaze fixed on the proscenium passionately beating time as if to direct the orchestra. Seven or eight years ago the long favorite Francisco was foully murdered and under strange circumstances leading many to believe that having perhaps degraded himself from his former estate and fleeing an alien to an unknown land had fallen at last to the victim of Evendetta. In 1905 I took part in a movement headed by Joseph Messmer to raise by subscription the funds necessary to buy the old Downey block fronting on Temple and North Main Streets and extending through to New High for the purpose of presenting it to the national government for a federal building site. Unusual success attended our efforts and the transfer to Uncle Sam was duly made. In the meantime an appropriation of $800,000 had been secured for the building and it was with no little surprise and disappointment when the bids for construction were opened in May 1906 that the lowest was found to be nearly a million dollars. This delayed matters until the following fall. In October the site at the corner of Main and Winston Streets was sold for $314,000 and the deficiency having thus been supplied it was not long before the new building was in course of construction. Desiring to celebrate the 50 years which had elapsed since perched upon an ox cart he rode into Los Angeles for the first time William H. Workman on January 21st gave a banquet to 500 pioneers in Turnverine Hall the menu being peculiarly Mexicano. The reminiscences, speeches and quips were of the friendliest and best and the whole affair was one that recalled to both host and guest the Dulce Farniente Days of Dear Old Los Angeles. On February 21st the Sempe Throw Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was completed the fourth transcontinental line with its connections to enter Los Angeles. In the spring A.C. and A.M. Parson bought a tract of land on Alamitos Bay and there at the mouth of the San Gabriel River founded Naples with features somewhat similar to those at Venice but unlike the latter town the new Naples has never developed into a crowded resort. Arriving in California in 1869 at the age of seven Frank Putnam Flint a native of Massachusetts concerning whom much of importance might be related was elected in 1905 United States Senator from California. His brother Motley H. Flint high in Masonic circles has also enjoyed an important career having long been associated with many local public movement. An optimist of optimists still young though having passed more than one milestone on the road to success Willis H. Booth came to Los Angeles a mere lad and is a product of the Los Angeles high school and the state university. Before while and since filling the office of president of the Chamber of Commerce Booth has been identified with nearly everything worth while here and gives promise of an important and interesting future. He is now one of the vice presidents of the security trust and savings bank. In August Juan B. Bandini second son of the famous Don Juan died at Santa Monica. Two of Bandini's daughters were noted Los Angeles bells Arcadia who became the wife of John T. Gaffey of San Pedro and Dolores who married into the well known literary family the wards of London. Strenuous efforts were made in 1905 to house the historical society of Southern California which incorporated on February 12th 1891 both of being the oldest organization of its kind on the coast and the only one doing state work and the legislature appropriated $125,000 for a building. Governor Pardee however vetoed the bill an act which later contributed to the endowment by the state of the Cumley County Museum in which the historical society now has its home. In the spring of 1905 the then eight-year-old town of Redondo with her large hotel and busy wharf and famed for her field of carnations became the scene of one of those infrequent but typically American real estate friendlies which come suddenly last a few days and as suddenly depart. This particular attack not to say epidemic was brought on by one or two newspaper headlines announcing to the breakfasting reader that Henry E. Huntington had decided to spend millions of dollars in making immense railroad and other improvements in the seaside town and that this would at once raise Redondo from the humble status of a village to almost metropolitan dignity. In about as little time as is required to relate it the astonished beach dwellers found themselves overwhelmed by a surging mass of humanity struggling for the privilege of buying lots. The real estate offices were soon surrounded by hundreds of people fighting, pushing and shoving all possessed about the one idea to buy. And they bought. They bought corners and they bought in the middle of the blocks they bought heaps of sand and holes in the ground they bought in one breath and sold in the next they bought blindly and sold blindly. Redondo had become a huge unregulated stock exchange lots instead of stocks for five days becoming the will of the wisps of the faded bidders. Until the boom collapsed leaving hundreds with lots they had never seen and which for the time being they could not sell at any price. Huntington did not spend his millions at least then and there. Redondo did not suddenly become a big center yet in passing through the experience of many a town Redondo has gradually grown in population and importance even developing something of a suburb clifton by the sea. Such was the famous boom of 1905 and such will probably be the story of similar california booms to come. End of chapter 41 Chapter 42 of 60 years in southern california 1853 to 1913 by Harris Newmark This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by K. Hand Chapter 42 The San Francisco Earthquake 1906 to 1910 On January 1st, 1906 after more than half a century of commercial activity with some things well done and some poorly enough during which it has never been my ambition to better myself at the expense of others I retired from business to enjoy the moderate but sufficient affluence which years of varying fortune had bestowed upon me. Rather early in the morning of April 18th news was received here of the awful calamity that had befallen San Francisco and with lightning rapidity the report spread throughout the city. Newspaper and telegraph offices were besieged for particulars as to the earthquake which strange to say while it also affected even San Diego was scarcely felt here and within a couple of hours more than a thousand telegrams were filed at one office alone although not a single message was despatched. Thousands of agitated tourists and even residents hastened to the railroad stations fearing further seismic disturbance and danger and bent on leaving the coast and soon the stations and trains were so congested that little or nothing could be done with the panic stricken crowds. Meanwhile more and more details of the widespread disaster poured in and Los Angeles began to comprehend how paralyzing to her sister cities must have been the wreck and ruin following first the shaking of the earth and then the much more serious fires and explosions. Soon too refugees from the North commenced flocking into our city and these thousands none with complete and few with decent attire each pleading pathetically for assistance told the sad tale much more frankly than could the noisy news boy with his flaring headlines and shrill intermittent extra. Long before much information was secured as to just what had happened public spirited men and women some under the banners of regular organizations some acting independently moved energetically to afford relief. The newspapers led off with large subscriptions while the Chamber of Commerce Board of Trade and the Merchant and Manufacturers Association swelled the amount. Eventually some $250,000 was raised. At the same time and within two or three hours after the terrifying news had first been received the directors of the Chamber of Commerce met and appointed various committees headed by Francis Quarles story a patriotic and indomitable citizen who arrived in 1883 and having the valuable cooperation of Frank Wiggins who served as secretary they went actively to work to render the most practical assistance possible. A supply committee of which M.H. Newmark was chairman by five o'clock the same afternoon had assembled 14 carloads of goods partly donated and partly sold to the committee at cost to go by rail and nine carloads to go from San Pedro by water. This train full of necessaries was the first relief of its kind that reached San Francisco other shipments of supplies followed daily and with the first relief train when a Corps of Surgeons under the chairmanship of Dr. L.M. Powers health officer who established a hospital in the Jefferson Square building treating 2000 patients in less than three weeks. Among the chairman of the several committees were J.O. Kepfle J. Baruch R.W. Burnham Niles Pease Perry Weidner John E. Coffin J.J. Fogarty W.L. Vail D.C. McGarvin W.A. Hamill F.Edward Gray Mrs. R.M. Whitney and D.J. Desmond while H.B. Gurley long identified with Frank Wiggins in chamber of commerce work was assistant secretary. In this way was our sister city laid low but only as it were for a moment. While the flames were yet consuming the old San Francisco her children were courageously planning the new and supported by that well-nigh superhuman spirit which community misfortune never fails to inspire the spirit that transforms weakness into strength and transmutes as by an altruistic alchemy the base metal of eachness into the pure gold of allness this stricken people built and built until today less than a decade after that memorable night there stands by the golden gate a finer and more beautiful city than the one from which it sprang and as if to emphasize to other natures the fullness of San Francisco's accomplishment her invincible citizens are now organizing and triumphantly carrying out a great world exposition. One incident of this period of excitement and strain is perhaps worthy of record as evidence of the good fellowship existing between Los Angeles and the prostrate city. On May 2nd the executive committee footnote President M.H. Newmark First Vice President J.O. Kepfle Second Vice President C.C. Reynolds Third Vice President F.W. Braun Treasurer L.C. Scheller Secretary Charles Dwight Willard Directors H.R. Boynton J. Baruch P.A. Benjamin A. Douglas I.A. Lothian and D. Veebers and footnote Of the associated jobbers passed resolutions discouraging any effort to take advantage of San Francisco's plight and pledging to help restore her splendid commercial prestige whereupon Samuel T. Clover made this editorial comment in the Los Angeles Evening News We commend the reading of these expressions of kindly goodwill to every pessimist in the country as an evidence that all commercial honor is not wiped out in this grossly materialistic age. The resolutions as passed are an honor to the Jobbers Association in particular and a credit to Los Angeles in general. The Evening News desires to felicitate President Newmark and his associates on the lofty attitude they have taken in the exigency. We are proud of them. Among the many who at this time turned their faces toward Los Angeles is Hector Elliott, the versatile curator of the Southwest Museum. Born in France and graduating from the University of Lombardi, Dr. Elliott participated in various important explorations later settling in San Francisco. Losing in the earthquake and fire everything that he possessed, Elliott came south and took up the quill first with the examiner and then the times. Footnote One of Dr. Elliott's most recent accomplishment is a comprehensive bibliography of Arizona recently published the result of Dr. J. A. Monk's liberal provision and footnote. Mr. and Mrs. M. Cramer on April 9th celebrated their golden wedding. Less than a year later both were dead. Mrs. Cramer passed away on March 5th, 1907 and her husband followed her two days later an unusual dispensation. In July I was seized with an illness which without doubt must have precluded the possibility of writing these memoirs had it not been for the unselfish attendance amounting to real self-sacrifice of Lionel J. Adams. From that time until now in fair weather or fowl in good health or ill Adams uncomplainingly and indeed cheerfully has bestowed upon me the tender care that contributed to the prolongation of my life and affords me peculiar pleasure to record not only the debt of gratitude that I owe him and the sincere friendship so long marking our relations but also his superior character as a man. J. M. Griffith for years a leading transportation agent and lumber merchant died here on October 16th. Griffith Avenue is named after him. Just two weeks later William H. Perry passed away a man of both influence and affluence but went so poor and tattered that when he arrived in February 1854 he was unable to seek work until he had first obtained on credit some decent clothes. Sometime about 1907 Major Ben C. Truman both a connoisseur of good wines and an epicure figured in an animated controversy as to the making of mint julep the battle waging around the question whether a julep's a julep or not a julep with the mint added before or after a certain stage in the concocting. In an exceedingly informal manner at the Westlake Avenue residents of my daughter Mrs. L. Loeb my wife and I on the 24th of March 1908 celebrated our golden wedding anniversary the occasion being the more unusual because both the nuptials and silver wedding festivity had occurred in Los Angeles. Footnote on July 15th 1915 Mr. and Mrs. S. Lazard celebrated their golden wedding Mrs. Lazard being the third daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Newmark to enjoy the privilege almost unique in a single family and that will become the more remarkable if Mrs. Eugene Meyer the fourth daughter and her husband lived to commemorate on the 20th of November 1917 the 50th anniversary of their marriage and footnote our pleasure on that occasion was intensified by the presence of friends with whom during most of our married life we had maintained unbroken the most amicable relations. Many years after spur track switching charges had been abolished throughout other industrial districts of the United States the western railroads continued to assess this charge in Los Angeles to the extent that as was estimated our merchants were paying through this tribute alone an amount not less than $250,000 a year. In August 1908 however or shortly after F.P. Gregson became identified with the associated jobbers suit was filed by M.H. Newmark as president before the interstate commerce commission and on May 7th 1910 a decision was rendered in favor of local shippers but unfortunately this decision was reversed on July 20th 1911 by the commerce court footnote the supreme court of the United States on June 8th 1914 affirmed the decision of the interstate commerce court and thus was obliterated this very iniquitous charge and footnote Joseph P. Loeb and Edward G. Custer young attorneys handled the case in a manner recognized among men of their profession as being unusually brilliant while Gregson brought together a mass of valuable facts this was probably the most notable of all the cases of its kind in the commercial history of Los Angeles the other directors at the time the suit was brought were J.O. Kepfle C.C. Reynolds F.W. Braun L.C. Scheller H.R. Boynton A. Douglas D. Veebers W.H. Joyce W.E. Hampton and E.H. Greppen not the least interesting step forward in providing Los Angeles with a harbor was the acquisition of a strip of land known as the shoe string connecting Los Angeles with San Pedro and Wilmington this practical idea made possible in 1909 the unhampered consolidation of the three places and before the beginning of April their various civic bodies had been considering the formation of committees to bring this about on Saturday April 3rd the Los Angeles appointees met at the rooms of the Chamber of Commerce for permanent organization they were William D. Stevens Mayor of Los Angeles Stoddard Jess Homer Hamlin City Engineer F.W. Braun J.A. Anderson Attorney for the Harbor Commission and X member of the Board of Public Works Leslie R. Hewitt City Attorney Frank Simpson Joseph Scott President of the Board of Education M.H. Newmark President of the Associated Jobbers J.M. Schneider President of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association A.P Fleming Secretary of the Harbor Commission X Mayor M.P. Schneider H. Jeffney O.E. Farish President of the Realti Board and F.J. Hart Jess was elected President Fleming Secretary and to the admirable manner in which they conducted the campaign much of the ultimate success of the movement must be attributed The delegates from San Pedro and Wilmington refused to go on until the Associated Jobbers had pledged themselves to obtain for the Harbor Districts after consolidation was affected the same freight advantages enjoyed by Los Angeles this promise was given and fulfilled various other pledges were outlined in the committee's report and adopted by the city council but many of these assurances have not thus far been carried out by the authorities Then a vigorous campaign was projected as a result of which both elections that of Wilmington and Los Angeles on August 5th and the other of San Pedro and Los Angeles on August 12th resulted in handsome majorities for consolidation These substantial victories were fittingly celebrated throughout the consolidated cities and on February 10th, 1910 the ports became officially known as Los Angeles Harbor In April 1906 100,000 books of the Los Angeles Public Library then under the administration of Charles F. Loomis were moved from the City Hall to the Laughlin Building With the opening of September 1908 the library was again moved by the same librarian this time to the Hamburger Building Footnote On June 1st, 1914 the library directed by Everett R. Perry who came to Los Angeles in the fall of 1911 from the staff of the New York Public Library was removed to the Metropolitan Building at the northwest corner of Broadway and Fifth Street its shelves a month later holding 227,894 volumes and footnote On the evening of October 11th, 1909 I attended a banquet tendered to President Taft by the City of Los Angeles at the Shrine Auditorium Every honor was shown the distinguished guest and his stay of two or three days was devoted to much sightseeing to say nothing of the patriotic efforts of many politicians whose laudable desire was to whisper in the presidential ear apropos of government employment The election of George Alexander as mayor on November 10th, 1909 was largely responsible for the later success of the Progressive Party with whose socialistic policies I am not in sympathy W. C. Mushet the more acceptable candidate ran on a ticket endorsed by businessmen organized under the chairmanship of M. H. Newmark while George A. Smith was the Republican candidate Alexander's campaign was managed by Meyer, listener and a rival of 1896 who had a brief experience as a jeweler before he had turned his attention to law He possessed much political sagacity and was therefore quick to turn the Alexander success to the advantage of Hiram Johnson who was soon elected governor George N. Black who came here a child in 1886 and graduated from the Los Angeles high school later being president of the California State Realty Confederation and grand president of the independent order Benai Brith of this district directed Smith's campaign On January 29, 1910 the citizens of Los Angeles under the leadership of Max Mayberg tendered to D. A. Hamburger chairman Perry W. Weidner Fred L. Baker William M. Garland M. C. Nooner Dick Ferris and F. J. Z. Handelar the committee in charge of the first aviation meet here a banquet at the Alexandria Hotel. The contest had occurred a few days before at Dominguez Field on a part of the once famous rancho and to see the aerial antics of the huge man-made birds as they swiftly ascended and descended was no less nerve-wracking at least to me than it was interesting. Litigation having established a clear title to the property once held by the sixth district agricultural association and the state the declared owner having agreed to lease the ground to the county and city for 50 years decisive steps were taken in January 1910 by the Historical Society of Southern California to provide the museum building now such a source of civic pride. Other bodies including the Fine Arts League the Southern California Academy of Science and a branch of the Cooper Ornithological Society were invited to cooperate each being promised a place in the park and museum plans and by the middle of February the supervisors had agreed to vote the necessary building funds. On July 11th, 1910 in the presence of a large and representative gathering at Exposition Park ground was broken for the building although the cornerstone was not laid until the 10th of December. In the dark hours of the night of April 25th 1910 after an illness of four days and almost entirely free from suffering she who had shared with me the joys and sorrows of over half a century was called to her reward. She passed from this life as she had passed through it gently and uncomplainingly. I was left in the midst of a gloom that I thought would be forever black for six out of our 11 children had preceded their mother whose spirit on that night was reunited with theirs. I was soon to find however how true it is that the Lord tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. Common misfortune and common memories made but stronger the tie always strong between my children and myself. Time has performed his kindly offices. He has changed the anguish of grief to the solace of recollection and in assisting me to realize that I was permitted so long and so happy a companionship he has turned to my heart from its first bitterness to lasting gratitude. End of Chapter 42 Chapter 43 of 60 years in Southern California 1853 to 1913 by Harris Newmark This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Kay Hand Chapter 43 Retrospection 1910 to 1913 At one o'clock in the morning of October 1st 1910 occurred the most heinous crime in the history of Los Angeles. This was the dynamiting by the evil element of union labor of the building and plant of the Los Angeles Times resulting in the sudden extinction of no less than 20 human lives and the destruction of the property of the corporation. The tragedy lamented an obsequies of the most impressive kind ever witnessed in the city was followed by the construction on the same site and at the earliest moment of the present home of the times. The trial of some of those deemed responsible for this disaster brought to the fore John D. Frederick's district attorney footnote in 1914 Frederick's was the Republican candidate for the governorship of California and footnote in 1900 1902 1906 and 1910 Not the least of the many and far-reaching losses entailed through the ruin of this printer was a history of the medical profession of Southern California by Dr. George H. Cress with an introduction by Dr. Walter Lindley a work of extended research almost ready for publication after all such material as could be saved from the ruins had been assembled an abridged addition of the volume once planned was issued in strong contrast to this annihilation of man by his brother were the peaceful exercises marking the afternoon of the previous Sunday June 19th when the Caspar Cone Hospital on Stevenson Avenue was dedicated a worthy charity made possible through the munificence several years before of the pioneer after whom the hospital is named as superintendent of city schools here for four years beginning in 1906 C.E. Moore laid the foundation for that national reputation which in July 1910 led to his being called as a professor to Yale University Jacob A. Reese the famous Danish American sociologist who was so instrumental in cleaning up New York's tenement districts visited Los Angeles for the fourth time on March 10th 1911 lecturing at the temple auditorium on the battle with the slum the city council having created a harbor board Mayor George Alexander in October 1909 appointed Stoddard Jess Thomas E. Gibbon and M.H. Newmark as commissioners in March 1911 at a popular election the board was made a charter body and Mayor Alexander reappointed the gentleman named owing however to the numerous difficulties thrown in the way of the commissioners in the accomplishment of their work M.H. Newmark resigned in December 1911 and Stoddard Jess in January 1912 while Thomas E. Gibbon for many years one of the most formidable advocates of a free harbor met with such continued obstacles that he was compelled in the summer of 1912 to withdraw Having left Los Angeles as I have said in 1879 Mayor Jane Newmark made San Francisco his home until December 1894 at which time he returned here and became associated with Caspar Cone in December 1905 he once more took up his abode in San Francisco where on May 10th, 1911 he died at the age of 72 years The first issue of the Los Angeles Tribune a wide awake sheet projected by Edwin T. Earl owner of the Express appeared on July 4th flying the banner of the Progressive Party but making its strongest appeal for support as the first one cent morning newspaper on the coast and a readable journal advocating the moral uplift of the community Like all the other newspapers of this period the Tribune was illustrated with photo engravings In 1911 William R. Hurst of National newspaper fame bought the Los Angeles Daily Herald making it at the same time an evening newspaper and placing it under the management of Guy B. Barham The latter had come to Southern California with his father Richard M. Barham who located in 1873 at Anaheim conducting there the Old Planters Hotel After school was out Guy did chores graduating he worked for Hippolyte Kayhen the Anaheim merchant then he kept books for Eugene Meyer and Company and in time became Deputy Internal Revenue Collector For some years he has been a custom house broker in which activity in addition to his newspaper work he is still successfully engaged The Federal Telegraph Company which had established itself in Los Angeles in the fall of 1910 inaugurated in July 1911 a wireless service with San Francisco and other coast cities and just a year later it affected communication with Honolulu although oddly enough at first owing to atmospheric conditions it was necessary to flash all messages across the waste of waters during the night For some years the giant steel masks erected by the company in the southwestern part of the city have puzzled the passerby At half past three o'clock on November 28th I turned the first spade full of earth in the breaking of ground for the Jewish orphans home of Southern California This privilege was accorded to me because in response to the oft expressed wish of my wife to assist those dependent children to bereft of their natural protectors I had helped in a measure shortly after her demise to assure the success of the proposed asylum 16 years after Colonel Griffith J. Griffith agreeably surprised Los Angeles in the presentation of Griffith Park his munificent bounty again manifested itself in another Christmas donation that of $100,000 for the construction of an observatory on Mount Hollywood the highest point in Griffith Park incidental to the making of this gift due official recognition of the Colonel's large heartedness was displayed at a public meeting in the city hall in which I had the honor of participating I'm a new mark in company in February 1912 removed to their present quarters on Wholesale Street a building it may someday be interesting to note five stories high and with a floor space of 130,000 square feet in common with the rest of the civilized world Los Angeles on April 15th was electrified with the news of the collision between an iceberg and the great ocean steamer Titanic which so speedily foundered with her 1,535 helpless souls for a day or two it was hoped that no one with Los Angeles connections would be numbered among the lost but fate had decreed that my nephew Edgar J. Meyer a son of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Meyer should perish he was one of those who heroically hastened to the aid of the women and children nor did he rest until he saw his wife and child placed in one of the lifeboats they were saved but he went down with other gallant men among whom I may mention Walter M. Clark son of J. Ross Clark of this city nor can I reframe while mentioning this awful catastrophe from alluding to another example of courage and conjugal devotion footnote even while this manuscript is being revised the name of another Angeleno that of the lamented A. C. Billick a self-made man of large accomplishment who perished on May 7th, 1915 in the awful destruction of the Lusitania is added to the scrolls of the ill-starred and footnote then which perhaps neither song nor story portrays one more sublime as the huge liner was sinking into the dark abyss one frail woman declined to become the beneficiary of that desperate command women and children first the wife of Isadora Strauss unafraid though face to face with death and eternity still clung to her loyal husband refusing even in that terrible moment to leave him she chose rather to die by his side and as the black sea roared out its chill welcome it received one who in the manner of her going left a precious heritage for all mankind through a high school friendship of my son Marco I came to know quite well one who though physically handicapped acquired much international fame I referred to Homer Lee a native of Denver who came to Los Angeles in 1890 at the age of 14 studied at the high school Occidental College and at Stanford and then conceived the monumental idea of freeing the Chinese from the despotism of the old Manchurian dynasty making his first trip to China in 1900 he took an active part in a revolutionary campaign and returning to America a lieutenant general and a force in the Chinese Republican Party he devoted himself to drilling Chinese troops and to literary work some of his writings notably the valor of ignorance when widely translated bringing him repute as a military strategist having married Mrs. Ethel Powers General Lee late in 1911 joined Dr. Sun Yat Sen the Chinese leader and proceeded with him from London to Shanghai only to arrive there after the revolution had actually started even then success was not to crown his labors during the convention called to establish the republic General Lee was stricken with paralysis and his public career was at an end he returned to Southern California and at Ocean Park on November 1st 1912 while looking out toward the land that he loved so well Homer Lee yielded up his soul he was not destined to see the fulfillment of his dream but when the people for whom he labored shall someday have established a true democracy his name will loom large in their history in December the Museum of History Science and Art so favorably situated in Exposition Park was informally opened footnote the formal dedication took place on November 5th 1913 to the public under the scholarly administration of Dr. Frank S. Daggett who had been appointed director the year previous and during the few months following Professor Daggett backed by the Board of Supervisors carried forward with such enterprise the excavations of the pits at La Brea Rancho that before the ornate building was ready to receive the fines a unique collection of fossils invaluable for the study of California fauna had been assembled the discovery of these evidences of primeval animal life already concentrating the attention of the scientific world may well be regarded with pride by every Southern Californian while the proper housing here of precious souvenirs recalling those whose lives have contributed so much to making Los Angeles what it was and is will permanently add to the attractions of the Southland pluckily resisting the inroads of an insidious disease yet cheerful under all the discouraging circumstances and as deeply interested as ever in the welfare of this community Charles Dwight Willard has been confined to his home for many months on my last visit I found him very feeble footnote during the night of January 21st 1914 Willard died on the anniversary of his birth and footnote though still fired with a resistless enthusiasm the power of his mind asserting itself over the flesh enforceable if quiet expression we sat in a comfortable little bower at his home on San Rafael Heights with Mrs. Willard his faithful companion and after he had uttered an earnest desire to see these memoirs published we chatted about his life and his activities here born in Illinois and graduating from the University of Michigan an affection of the lungs brought on by an attack of typhoid fever induced him in 1888 to come to Los Angeles in search of a milder climate his first occupation here was to serve as a reporter for the times and then for the morning herald in 1891 he was elected secretary of the chamber of commerce and during the six years of his incumbency he raised the membership from 150 to a thousand the same time contributing in a powerful manner to the leading part played by this organization in the fight for a free harbor during that period also in conjunction with Frank A. Pattie and Harry Brooke both well-known wielders of the pen he started the land of sunshine six months later taken over by Charles F. Loomis as editor and in 1902 renamed the out west magazine while in 1897 he assumed the management of the Los Angeles express from which he resigned two years later in 1892 he organized with others the municipal league serving it ever since as either secretary or vice president and in the same energetic way in which he toiled as secretary of the associated jobbers in his literary capacity will alert has been equally efficient being the author of a compact history of Los Angeles a history of the Los Angeles chamber of commerce the free harbor contest and a high school textbook on city government all of which as well as contributions to the San Francisco Argonaut have been favorably received by a discerning public Frank Wiggins' name is considered by many of his friends a synonym for that of the chamber of commerce like his predecessor Charles D. Willard Wiggins came to California for his health and upon its restoration identified himself with the chamber of commerce on September 17th 1889 becoming secretary in 1897 although ferociously be whiskered he is the mildest and best-natured man in town he has had charge in all parts of the country of many exhibits so unique and so successful that he is known from coast to coast on May 24th 1913 while many thousand people were assembled at Long Beach for a Southern California celebration of empire day one of the worst local catastrophes occurred through the caving in of the defective floor of a crowded dancing pavilion medical and police aid were at once dispatched from Los Angeles but the result of the accident the death of 40 persons and injury to many more cast a deep spell over the two cities Dr. Charles F. Loomis assisted by other public spirited men and women of Los Angeles including Lieutenant General Adena R. Chaffee footnote died on November 1st 1914 and footnote the first president Joseph Scott Mrs. Clara B. Burdette Ms. Mary E. Foy M.H. Newmark and William Lacey on the last day of 1907 incorporated the Southwest Museum footnote the present officers are President Dr. Norman Bridge Vice Presidents Mrs. Clara B. Burdette Joseph Scott and J.S. Torrance Founder Emeritus Charles F. Loomis Treasurer Stoddard Jess Curator Hector Elliott Directors Dr. Norman Bridge Robert N. Bola Mrs. Clara B. Burdette E.P. Clark Charles F. Loomis Dr. J.A. Monk M.H. Newmark Joseph Scott and J.S. Torrance and footnote On the 1st of March 1910 Dr. Loomis celebrating his 51st birthday conveyed to the museum his priceless collection of Americana a sightly eminence of 17 acres near Sycamore Grove was secured and on November 16th 1912 ground was broken with the formality as usual to such events the first spade full being turned by Ms. Elizabeth Benton Framont daughter of the Pathfinder followed by General Chaffee and Dr. Loomis An inspiring feature of the day was the raising by Ms. Framont and General Chaffee of the same flag that on August 16th 1842 General Framont had unfurled on the crest of the Rocky Mountains On this occasion Henry W. O. Mulvaney presented a certified check for $50,000 the bequest of Mrs. Kerry M. Jones This auspicious beginning was followed on July 9th 1913 by the pouring of the first concrete footnote On December 6th 1913 the cornerstone for the building already looming large was laid by the right Reverend Thomas J. Conati the broad-minded scholarly and much respected Bishop of Monterey and Los Angeles who died on September 18th 1915 and by General Chaffee and footnote How broadly and well those have built who planned this much needed institution may be seen from both the distinguishing architectural features of the structure including the Caracol Tower of Cement and the location one of the most notable occupied by any museum in the United States Dr. J. A. Monk and Ohioan to whom I have just referred has not been in Los Angeles as long as many others having arrived only in 1892 but he is known among his friends for his charming personality and among historians and scientists for his splendid collection of Arizona Niania commenced his first trip to Arizona in 1884 all of which has been given to the Southwest Museum Among the features of the Southwest Museum is a large square or so-called Torrance Tower the funds for which were generously provided by Jared S. Torrance whose residence in Pasadena dates from 1887 in that year he came from the Empire State and ever since he has been an active participator in the development of Southern California the town of Torrance is an example of his enterprise My 60 years residence in Los Angeles has been by no means free from the ordinary family cares vicissitudes and sorrows and it seems proper that I should refer to the physician too in times of illness have ministered to the comfort of my home and its inmates our first doctor was John S. Griffin and he continued in that capacity until I left for New York shortly before 1873 Dr. Griffin whose advancing age compelled him to withdraw from general practice had been calling Dr. Joseph Kurtz into consultation and it was then that the latter became my family physician for a short time I consulted Dr. Charles A.H.D. Sigethy a relic of the old school whose nauseating doses were proverbial and then Dr. John R. Haynes now well known as an advocate of socialism who had arrived from Philadelphia in May 1887 assumed the responsibility again a long period elapsed before events caused a change in the year 1897 my nephew Dr. Philip Newmark came to Los Angeles from Berlin and succeeded Dr. Haynes notwithstanding these mutations and cares my friends have often insisted that I am quick and perhaps even sprightly for my age and have more than once asked to what I attribute this activity to the inalertness it is due I think first to the inheritance from my parents of a strong constitution and secondly to the preservation of my health by a moderate though never over abstinence manner of living to begin with ever since I traveled with my father in Sweden I have kept my mind healthfully employed while I have never long deprived myself of rest I have also always used tabacco and liquor in moderation and in this connection I can testify that although wine and beer were at the free disposal of my children they have grown up to use it either most temporarily or not at all this fact I ascribe to liberal views on such subjects for it has always been my belief that to prohibit is to invite whereas to furnish a good example and at the same time to warn is to ensure rational restriction and limitation in short in preparation for a various old age I have followed as closely as I could the ancient ideal a sound mind in a sound body at the age of 19 I came to Los Angeles and after a lapse of exactly 60 years that is on October 21st 1913 I find myself completing these reminiscences ruminating on the past and attempting a prophecy for the future a battle of 80 years with the world cannot in the nature of human affairs leave any man or woman unscarred but I have learned many things and among them the consolations of philosophy it would be presumption on my part to make complaint against the inscrutable decrees of that providence which guides the destinies of us all I dwell rather on the manifold blessings which have been my lot in this life the decision of fate which cast my lines in the pleasant places of Southern California the numerous excellent and estimable friends whom I have met on life's highway the many years of happiness vouchsafed me to enjoy and finally whatever degree of success has attended my more serious efforts when I came Los Angeles was a sleepy ambitionless adobe village with very little promise for the future the messenger of optimism was deemed a dreamer but time has more than realized the fantasies of those old village oracles and what they said would someday come to pass in Los Angeles has come and gone to be succeeded by things much greater still we possessed however even in that distance today one asset intangible it is true but as invaluable as it was intangible the spirit properly called Western but which after all was largely the pith of transferred Eastern enterprise this characteristic sees upon a vast wilderness the same which Daniel Webster declared in the Senate of the United States unworthy of membership in the sisterhood of states and within this extensive area it built a great cities joined its various parts with steel and iron made great highways out of the once well nine impassable cattle paths and from an elemental existence developed a complex civilization nor is there today in all this region a greater or finer city than fair Los Angeles many of us saw it grow none of us foresaw that growth even from decade to decade westward the course of the empire takes its way when bishop Berkeley so politically proclaimed this historic truth even he could hardly have had in mind the shores of the pacific but here we have an empire and one whose future is glorious this flourishing city stands in fact with its half million or more human beings and its metropolitan activities at the threshold of a new era the operations of nature change so slowly as to show almost no change at all the southern California of the coming years will still possess her green hills and veils her life giving soil her fruits flowers and grain and the same sun will shine upon her with the same generous warmth out of the same blue sky as ever the affairs of men on the other hand change rapidly after gigantic labor initiated but 10 short years ago the Panama Canal is dedicated to the use of mankind and through its crowded waters will come the ships of every nation bringing to the marks of Los Angeles choice products to be exchanged for our own for this and other reasons I believe that Los Angeles is destined to become in not many years a world center prominent in almost every field of human endeavor and that as 1900 years ago the humblest Roman wherever he might find himself would glow with pride when he said I am a Roman so in the years to come will the sun of the metropolis on these shores where so ever his travels may take him be proud to declare I am a citizen of Los Angeles End of chapter 43 End of 60 years in southern California 1853 to 1913 by Harris Newmark