Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

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MOSES LANGLEY WICKS.
 
        In sketching the lives of some men it is difficult to do so even briefly 
without appearing to use flattery, however conscientiously the writer may seek 
to adhere to facts and to give a faithful likeness. M. L. Wicks belongs to this 
class of men. However, let the facts speak for themselves, the reader can then 
draw his own deductions and interpret for himself the character, the principles, 
the motives of action, the quality, the timber, of the man whose story is thus 
in few words recounted. Mr. Wicks was born in Aberdeen, Monroe County, 
Mississippi, April 22, 1852. Major M. J. Wicks, his father, was a native of 
Savannah, and was of Welsh-English extraction, and his mother descended from the 
English Jennings family, intermixed in America with Huguenots. While the subject 
of this sketch was yet a child, his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Here he 
received his early education at a private academy. He also attended the Leddin 
Commercial College, where he graduated as an accountant, after which he entered 
the University of Virginia, where he spent two years in the study of ancient 
languages, natural and moral philosophy, political economy, the mathematics, 
mineralogy, history and literature. Later, he voluntarily took up international 
and constitutional law, for which he took his degree, thus enabling him to 
finish in one year the two years' law course of the University. In a class of 
124, twenty-one, including Mr. Wicks, received the degree of B. LL. At this time 
he had intentions of entering the arena of politics, but he was dissuaded 
therefrom by Professor John B. Minor, who is still a member of the law faculty 
of the University; and his resolution was further strengthened by attending a 
political ward-meeting in Memphis. But, although he was diverted from engaging 
in politics as a profession, he holds that no citizen should neglect his 
political duties. In national politics Mr. Wicks is a Democrat; but in local 
affairs he believes in voting for the man whom he considers the best qualified 
for the office, without regard to political party lines. After graduating, Mr. 
Wicks associated himself with his father in business at Memphis. In 1875 he 
married Miss Elizabeth Littlejon, and came to Los Angeles, where his father had 
settled the preceding year, having lost his fortune by Jay Cooke & Co.'s failure 
in 1873. He opened a law office at Anaheim and soon acquired a lucrative 
practice.  True to the tradition of the Huguenot blood that was in him, he 
believed that conscience should enter into the profession of the lawyer as in 
every other calling. He made it a rule to thoroughly familiarize himself with 
the merits of every case intrusted to him; if not approved by his judgment, he 
sought to have the case settled on its merits, or if a civil suit, he declined 
to defend it; and thus knowing and believing in a meritorious case, he could 
advocate it with a force that sincere conviction always carried. In examining 
witnesses it was his invariable rule to treat them as gentlemen, and to never 
forget that he himself was a gentleman. In the conducting of his cases he saw at 
a glance and recognized what was essential, and rejected all that was 
irrelevant, so that it was said of him that no man troubled himself less with 
the citation of authorities and precedents. In other words, he seemed to have a 
clear insight of fundamental principles and a love for natural justice, which 
are, indeed, prime characteristics of both the humblest attorney and of the most 
exalted judge. During his residence in Anaheim his first son was born to him, M. 
L. Wicks, Jr.; and some months after Mrs. Wicks passed away. In 1877 Mr. Wicks 
moved to the city of Los Angeles, which has ever since been his home. Here he 
continued to practice his profession until his extensive transactions in real 
estate and the numerous enterprises with which he became connected demanded his 
entire attention. He was a bold operator, and he met with remarkable success. He 
believed, as did many others, only he had the courage of his conviction, that 
the great valley of Los Angeles, with its boundless resources and its 
all-the-year�round nearly perfect climate, must become some day densely 
populated; and that land must always be in demand here for homes, as well as for 
what it will produce. A brief resume of Mr. Wicks's various land and other 
transactions will not be without interest here, in connection with and as a part 
of the story of his life. In 1882, in conjunction with Rev. C. T. Mills, founder 
of Mills's College for young ladies, one of the first institutions of its kind 
in California or in the United States, Mr. Wicks purchased several large tracts 
of land, amounting in all to about 14,000 acres, including the site of the town 
of Pomona. To secure for this property an ample supply of water, he sank more 
than a score of artesian wells; and, after purchasing a number of conflicting 
titles, he piped and conveyed to the property the waters of the San Antonio 
Ca�on. By means of these and other improvements, such as the construction of 
roads and the laying off of the lands, thereby making them attractive for homes, 
a wild and uncultivated stock range has been converted into prosperous 
settlements, occupied at the present time by more than 5,000 inhabitants. The 
Dreyfus tract, formerly a sheep pasture, constituting a part of the San Rafael 
Rancho, was also bought by Mr. Wicks and his associate for the sum of $50,000; 
and the wisdom of this investment, about which some people had misgivings at the 
time, was soon made manifest; for, in less than ninety days, portions of the 
land were sold for over $100,000; and yet many of the purchasers themselves have 
made on their outlay a profit of from 200 to 300 per cent. Mr. Wicks bought a 
body of land in San Bernardino County, near the eastern boundary of Los Angeles 
County, to which adjoining lands were added by other parties; and the Cucamonga 
Fruit-Land Company was organized. Onto these tracts water was also brought in 
pipes or procured by means of artesian wells or tunnels, and thus waste places 
were made attractive to actual settlers who came and converted them into 
prosperous settlements. The Dalton portion of the San Jose Rancho was purchased 
by M. L. Wicks from J. S. Slanson and others for $255,000. Within four months, 
with the expenditure of $80,000 in furnishing a supply of water, a sufficient 
amount of land was sold to equal more than twice the amount of the original 
investment. The far-seeing sagacity of Mr. Wicks, and the magnitude of his 
transactions, are further illustrated by the following: Believing that the 
present site of the Santa F� Railroad depot would be, for manifold reasons, the 
most desirable location that could be selected in this city for the terminus of 
that continental thoroughfare, Mr. Wicks obtained a bond for the land, and made 
a trip to Topeka, while on a visit to the East, to impress on Vice-President C. 
W. Smith and others the desirability of this location. Subsequently, when 
President Strong and Vice-President Smith visited the city, though the bond had 
expired, Mr. Wicks was selected to secure the property for the company, which he 
did successfully and satisfactorily to the company, charging and receiving no 
commission therefor. Mr. Wicks opened Second street, from Main street to within 
a few hundred feet of the river, without expense to the city or Los Angeles. 
This portion of Second street is now one of the most important cross 
thoroughfares of the city and is certainly a very important improvement (in a 
thickly settled section) to be made by a single individual.  He has dedicated 
more than ten miles of streets to the city of Los Angeles. Of course the 
enterprise was a profitable one to Mr. Wicks, but it has also proved enormously 
profitable to a large number of. other property owners along its line, as well 
as a great convenience to the general public. Mr. Wicks has been instrumental in 
the construction of more than a score of large reservoirs, and he has just 
completed one of a capacity of 45,000,000 gallons; and he strongly believes that 
the future material prosperity of Southern California depends largely upon the 
storage of water in reservoirs; and that these must be built either high up in 
the mountains or else outside the mountains in the plains or at points into 
which large water-sheds do not drain, claiming that a perfectly level surface is 
the best possible location for a reservoir. Mr. Wicks purchased the Lick tract 
of 2,300 acres, north of the city, for $85,000, and subdivided it, sank some 
wells on it, and sold it all off generally to actual settlers; and probably, the 
tract could not now be bought for less than an advance of 500 per cent over the 
original cast. Mr. Wicks put the first $50,000 into the Los Angeles County 
Railroad, thus securing its construction. He put $120,000 into the Ballona 
Harbor; and he holds that, though this latter enterprise is at present at a 
stand-still, seed has been sown that will bear fruit hereafter; and that a 
competitive port may be created at that point at a comparatively small cost, by 
the Government, that will be of immense value to this valley and to the vast 
interior, which, from the topography of the country, finds here its natural 
outlet and connection with the ocean. Mr. Wicks has been engaged in large 
enterprises in other counties. He is president of the Citizens' Water Company, 
and he has been an organizer and director of numberless other incorporated 
companies in Los Angeles County. He is a liberal contributor in aid of 
charitable and religions and educational objects. In 1881 Mr. Wicks was married 
to his second wife, by whom he has one son, Percey Langley. Mr. Wicks is still a 
young man, though he has already made himself a reputation as an educated 
Christian gentleman.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 687
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler