Los Angeles County, CA History Transcribed by Kathy Sedler This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter. All persons donating to this site retain the rights to their own work. An Illustrated History of Southern California - The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago - 1890 PHYSICAL FEATURES. TOPOGRAPHY. The topography of Los Angeles County might be likened to a terraced mountain, upon which are three grand benches or planes, slightly inclined, the foot of the lower being washed by the ocean. From the northern boundary rises the Sierra Nevada, which, less high here than farther north, yet attains an elevation of 7,000 feet. The first grand terrace is Antelope valley, which has a general elevation of 2,000 feet, and which is about fifty miles long east and west, by some thirty miles wide north and south. This valley was undoubtedly at one time an inland lake, whose waters held in solution the borax and soda that are deposited in considerable quantity on its soil. Portions of it have a dense growth of yucca and cactus. The western part is very fertile. The valley is shut in from the Mohave desert on the east by the Lovejoy Buttes, a low line of hills. On the south is the Sierra Madre, a high range of mountains which traverse the county east and west, some 6,000 feet high. This range is called by many local names, as San Fernando, San Gabriel, or San Bernardino. Their geological formation and general configuration show them to be of the same range, though less high, as the Sierra Nevada. " Old Baldy," one of their peaks, partly in Los Angeles County, is about 9,000 feet high, and has snow on its summit during the rainy season. South of the Sierra Madre is the second of the great terraces, with an elevation of 500 to 1,000 feet. The vicinity of the mountains and the elevation above the range of ocean fogs, give this a particularly fine climate. Three spurs of hills from the mountains enclose and divide it into three grand valleys. On the west are the Santa Susana hills; on the east the Puente hills; while the San Rafael spur cuts it in two, leaving the San Fernando valley on the west and the San Gabriel valley on the east. On the southern range of this grand middle terrace is a range of hills, quite low, east of Los Angeles city, but attaining a respectable eminence in the west, where they are known as the Santa Monica mountains, which constitute the southern border of the San Fernando valley. The lowest terrace, which runs down to the sea, is also divided into valleys. The northern one is known as the Santa Monica valley, and it is triangular, the base lying about ten miles along the ocean front, while the apex is about fifteen miles east, among the Los Angeles hills. Northward is the San Fernando valley, while on the south between it and the Los Angeles valley is at first a low divide which culminates in the Palos Verdes hills of the San Pedro peninsula. The Los Angeles valley is a plain about forty miles long and twenty miles wide, extending into Orange County. Santa Catalina Island, thirty-five to forty miles southwest of Los Angeles, is twenty-three miles long, and two to four wide, and it is almost in two sections, a depression only thirty feet high connecting them. The general altitude is 3,000 feet. Nice little harbors are found around the island, and upon it are wells of good water, mineral springs, beautiful valleys, etc. Wild goats are still found here, and fish abound along the shore, as well as many natural curiosities. The island is eighteen miles from shore, and is the property of an English syndicate, that as yet has devoted it only to the purpose of a popular summer resort. Several different sections are denominated as valleys, having separate names. The Pomona valley is that portion of the San Bernardino valley lying within the eastern boundary of Los Angeles County. The Cahuenga valley is that part of the Santa Monica valley lying immediately sheltered by the hills of the Cahuenga pass. The Los Angeles river rises about twelve miles east of northwest of the city, and flows easterly thither, turning thence to the south. The remaining waters, after supplying the irrigating ditches, sink inside the city limits. In time of high water the stream flows farther, joining the old San Gabriel river seven miles from the ocean. Its ancient course to the sea was via the Cienega and La Ballona. The San Gabriel river has two principal sources in the Sierra Madre, the north fork and the south fork. The former rises in township 2 north, range 12 west, and flows easterly through three townships into range 9 west, where it forms a junction with the other branch, flowing south through three townships from its source in township 3 north, range 9 west; thence its main channel is south to the ocean. Draining a great mountain area, its stream is longer and larger, and also more constant, than the Los Angeles river. Numerous other streams exist in the county, which, though quite small and apparently insignificant, are nevertheless contributors to the worth of the land. The coast line of Los Angeles County exhibits two large indentations, geographically described as bays, and designated on the map as those of Santa Monica and San Pedro. The latter has for years ranked as the leading port of California, outside of San Francisco, and with the completion of the harbor improvements, contemplated and now in progress, its possibilities will be greatly augmented. The inner bay of San Pedro, better known as Wilmington slough, with an area of between 1,100 and 1,200 acres, had a narrow entrance at La Goleta, between the mainland and Rattlesnake island. From this island to Dead Man's island, about one and one-fourth miles, the bay of San Pedro had but little depth, except in a narrow channel near to and north of Dead Man's island. Timms' point, one-half mile from Dead Man's island, was the nearest mainland. AGRICULTURE. In this county are many varieties of soil, some of which are not duplicated in any other portion of the United States. In the low lands the soil is, as a rule, a rich alluvium, supposed to be the deposits of streams during ages long past. The lightness or heaviness of this alluvial soil depends on the preponderance of sand or clay. In some places the "moist land " contains a good deal of alkali. Such land is generally considered unfit for cultivation. Practical tests have, however, demonstrated that much of what is called alkali land is really susceptible of cultivation, and will, if properly handled, produce prolific crops of vegetables, cereals and deciduous fruits. It can be reclaimed by drainage. Apples and pears that took the first premium at the New Orleans Exposition were raised on strong alkali soil near Long Beach, and the yield per acre of such fruits was very large. Many valleys farther above the sea level contain similar kinds of alluvium, and also in some localities a darker soil known as adobe, which is composed largely of decomposed vegetable matter. This is the heaviest soil of all, and in wet weather the mud it makes is so tenacious as to produce a powerful strain on the boots and morals of pedestrians naturally averse to indulgence in profanity. In the summer it becomes baked to an almost rocky hardness, and cracks open, some so wide as to be suggestive of earthquakes. Many dwellings and a few mission buildings still remain, made of sun-dried bricks from this soil, relics of an earlier and a cruder civilization. For these the soil was mixed with straw, molded in blocks, and dried in the sun. Buildings thus constructed will stand a century if unrazed. This soil is excellent for grains and cereals of various kinds, although not adapted for general fruit-raising. Some of the finest crops of wheat, barley and oats are grown on just such land. On the mesa or uplands is still another kind of soil. It consists largely of detritus or sediment washed down from the mountains, mixed with vegetable accumulations. This is good soil for fruit-growing, but not adapted for cereals. It may readily be supposed that with such a variety of soil and climate Los Angeles County's products are of many varieties. Almost everything which man could wish for in the way of food products is raised here more or less abundantly, according to the attention given to their cultivation. In moist land seventy-five and even 100 bushels of corn may be raised to the acre. The table-land, which has water twelve to thirty feet below the surface, is just the thing for citrus fruits. There are to-day in the county more than 800,000 bearing orange trees; 2,000,000 grapevines, and 20,000 English walnut trees. To plant orange and lemon trees, and cultivate them for about five years, costs about $200 an acre. Land costs, say, $150. After the fifth year, land can produce $350 per aura. Of alfalfa six or eight crops a year can be raised, averaging one and a half to two tons per acre at each cutting. The farmer can also raise two crops of potatoes a year, worth $200 an acre. Also peas and cabbages in the winter, and cucumbers on the same ground in summer. These are a but few of the many facts that could be given on this subject. The constant ripening of fruits and maturing of vegetables in this county, as shown by the wares in the city market, astonishes persons unfamiliar with the peculiar nature of the soil and climate. Fruits and vegetables are maturing every month in the year. Green peas are in the market nearly all the year, and so are new potatoes, cabbages, carrots, salsify, asparagus, cauliflower, turnips, onions, beets and radishes. Cucumbers, squashes, pumpkins and melons are in from June to December, so that every month of the year is productive of " the fatness of the land " for the benefit of the dwellers therein. Of citrus fruits Southern California is the natural home, both soil and climate being admirably adapted to the culture of oranges, lemons, limes, etc. Some of the finest and largest of these fruits are produced in Los Angeles County. The localities most favorable for them are the smaller valleys of the " foothills " region, sheltered from the trade winds, and exposed to intense heat, with a very dry atmosphere during a large portion of the year. The crop requires thorough irrigation and a great deal of care and labor, but with all this outlay it is very profitable. The orange industry of the country is immense, as is also that of grape-raising and raisin-making, and both are steadily increasing in magnitude. The grape crop is next in importance to the orange crop. There are in the county over 16,000 acres planted to grapes, the fruit comprising every variety produced in Southern California. Of the 103 proprietors of town farms in Los Angeles in 1848, eight were foreigners: Abel Stearns, Louis Bouchet, Louis Vignes, Juan Domingo, Miguel M. Pryor, William Wolfskill, Louis Lemoreau, Joseph Snooks,�an Englishman, a German, three French, three "Yankees," �so has the city ever been cosmopolitan. Under the sound policy adopted at the beginning for the disposition of pueblo lands, the natural course of business, and family changes, the proprietorship of real property is much altered. Many citizens of Spanish origin retain good agricultural tracts. Within the patent of the city are 17,752 acres. The increase of culture of trees, fruit and ornamental, is remarkable. In 1847 there were set out probably 200 young walnut trees. The almond was unknown. San Fernando and San Gabriel had a few olives. Long before 1840 the Californians had had the fig, apricot, peach, pear and quince. Plums were introduced by O. W. Childs. In 1855 were first planted by William Wolfskill seeds of the sweet almond, which were brought from the Mediterranean by H. F. Teschemaker of San Francisco. In 1850 there was one pepper tree, lofty and wide-branching over the adobe house of an old lady living near the hills, a short distance north of the plaza; its seed had come from a tree in the court of the Mission of San Luis Rey. On the last day of January, 1851, John Temple planted a row of these trees, which have been cut down by the vandal utilitarian, in front of his Main street store. Now the city is everywhere adorned with this beautiful tree. All the oranges in 1850 were from the Mission orchard of San Gabriel and the gardens of Louis Vignes and William Wolfskill. On June 7, 1851, Mr. Vignes offered for sale his "desirable property, El Aliso," so called from the superb sycamore tree, ages old, that shaded his cellars. He said, "There are two orange gardens that yield from 5,000 to 6,000 oranges in the season." It is credibly stated that he was the first to plant the orange in this city, bringing young trees from San Gabriel, in 1834. He had 400 peach trees, beside apricots, pears, apples, figs, and walnuts; and he added in his description: "The vineyard, with 40,000 vines, 32,000 now bearing grapes, will yield 1,000 barrels of wine per annum, the quality of which is well known to be superior." This pioneer planter, a native of France, had come to Los Angeles by way of the Sandwich Islands in 1831. One man after another planted oranges, until, in January, 1876, there were 36,700 bearing orange trees, and 6,900 bearing lime and lemon trees. The shipment of this fruit grew rapidly into a regular business. In 1851 there were 104 vineyards, exclusive of that of San Gabriel, all but twenty within the limits of the city. The San Gabriel vineyard, neglected since 1834, was now in decay. In Spanish and Mexican times, this had been called the "mother vineyard," from its supplying all the original cuttings; it is said to have had at once 50,000 vines. In 1851 grapes, in crates or boxes, brought twenty cents per pound at San Francisco, eighty cents at Stock ton. Through 1852 this price continued, and the shipment continued for some years, generally with profit. Very little wine was then shipped; in 1851 not over 1,000 gallons. Soon the northern counties began to put into market grapes almost as good as the southern, and gradually the manufacture of wine was established. Wolfskill had at an early date shipped a little wine; but his aim was to turn his grapes into brandy. Louis Wilhart, in 1849 and 1850, made white wine which was considered in flavor and quality next to that of Vignes, from whose cellars came a brand perhaps not excelled in the world. He had in 1857 some then over twenty years old; perhaps some of the same the army so relished in 1847. Among the first manufacturers for the general market was Vincent Hoover, with his father, Dr. Juan Leonce Hoover; first at the Clayton vineyard, which from its situation on the bench produced a superior grape; then from that vineyard known as of Don Jos� Serrano; some of the vines in which are stated to be over 100 years old. This was from 1850 to about 1855. The cultivation of the grape about this time took a new impulse. At San Gabriel, William M. Stockton had an extensive nursery of grapevines and fruit trees. In 1855 Joseph Hoover entered very successfully into wine-making at the Foster vineyard. On April 14, 1855, Jean Louis Sansevaine purchased for $42,000 the vineyard property, cellars, etc., of his uncle, Louis Vignes (and it may be said that this was the first large land sale within the city). In 1855, Mr. Sansevaine, who had resided here since 1853, shipped his first wine to San Francisco. In 1856 he made the first shipment from this county to New York, thereby becoming the pioneer of this business. Says Matthew Kellar: According to the books of the great forwarding house of P. Banning at San Pedro, the amount shipped to San Francisco, in 1857, was 21,000 boxes of grapes, averaging forty-five pounds each, and 250,000 gallons of wine." In 1856 Los Angeles yielded only 7,200 cases of wine; in 1860 it had increased to 66,000 cases. In 1861 shipments of wine were made to New York and Boston by B. D. Wilson and J. L. Sansevaine; they are the fathers of the wine interest. The Sunny. Slope plantation, unexcelled for its vintage, its oranges, almonds and walnuts, was established by L. J. Rose in 1861. In December, 1859, the wine producers were: Matthew Kellar, Sansevaine Brothers, Frohling & Co., B. D. Wilson, Stevens & Fell, Dr. Parrott, Dr. Thomas J. White, Laborie, Messer, Barnhardt, Delong, Santa Ana precinct, Henry Dalton, P. Serres, Joseph Huber, Sr. ; Ricardo Vejar, Barrows, Ballerina Dr. Hoover, Louis Wilhart, Trabuc, Clement and Jose Serrano. The total manufacture of wine in 1859 was about 250,000 gallons. In 1875 the grapevines of the county were 4,500,000. The largest vineyard now in the State, next to Senator Stanford's in Tehama County (which is the largest in the world), is the Nadeau vineyard, which covers an area of over 2,000 acres. It is three or four years old, and it lies between Los Angeles and Anaheim. The first year's yield from this immense tract was sent to the still, and it turned out 45,000 gallons of brandy, which Mr. Nadeau warehoused, paying the government $40,500. The three next largest vineyards are at or near San Gabriel, owned respectively by "Lucky" Baldwin, who has upwards of 1,000 acres in Mission and other vines; Stern & Rose (Sunny Slope vineyard), over 1,000 acres of many varieties; J. De Barth Shorb (San Gabriel Wine Company), about 1,500 acres of Missions, Zinfandels, Mataros, Burgers and other varieties. These parties have as extensive and costly wineries as many of the leading producers of France, and they make and age almost all kinds of dry and sweet wines and brandies. These three wine-makers have European experts in all the different branches, including "cellar-keepers," and their wineries are like parlors, while the processes of picking, crushing, fermenting, blending and aging are as perfect as it seems possible to make them. They, as well as Kohler and Frohling have houses in New York, and they send there nothing but wines and brandies that can be absolutely depended upon as pure and excellent. Such is the development that has been attained in this, one of the model industries of the early Mission Fathers. Until recent years, stock-raising was the chief industry in Los Angeles County, as well as other portions of Southern California, these having been long known as the "cow counties." The lands were believed to be unfit for anything but stock ranches, and consequently immense herds of cattle and sheep roamed in the valleys, and browsed among the foothills. Notwithstanding the great agricultural development, stock-raising continues to be carried on in the county extensively and successfully, especially the raising of fine stock, including thoroughbred horses, which compete with the best animals raised in Kentucky. Cultivated feed has now taken the place of wild hay. Alfalfa especially is a most valuable adjunct to the stock or dairy farm, as it facilitates the keeping of a large number of animals on a small space of ground. In 1870 a few cashmere goats were brought to Los Angeles County by F. Boushard. He had 500 or 600 head, of various grades. For several years thereafter he and J. F. Pleasants were the only parties engaged in raising these animals, but now a number of parties are keeping all grades of these goats, from the lowest up to thoroughbreds. Mr. Pleasants has 300 to 500 thoroughbreds whose wool is worth from twenty-five to forty cents per pound. A good thoroughbred goat is generally worth about $50. Those first brought into the county cost $150 each. LUTHER HARVEY TITUS was born at Hamburg, Erie County, New York, October 9, 1822. His father, who was a native of New York State, was of English ancestry on the paternal side, and Holland Dutch on the maternal side. His mother, whose maiden name was Carey, was of Puritan extraction: her father, whose ancestry was Scotch, was in the Revolutionary army, in which he suffered great hardships, having been crippled by having his feet frozen. Mr. Titus remembers him very well. Mr. Titus lived in the vicinity of his birthplace till 1840, when he went to Rockford, Illinois, and from thence to the Galena lead mines, where he remained four years, when he bought a farm of 120 acres, paying for it from his monthly wages. In 1845 he returned to his native town. In 1849 he started for California, sailing from New York to Galveston. Proceeding from thence via Houston and Austin to El Paso and Do�a Ana, he crossed the Rio Grande at the old copper mines, where he met David S. Terry, then a young man, who was also on his way to California. Titus and party of fifteen came on to the Gila river, where on account of a big ca�on and the difficulty of crossing, etc., and the hostility of the Indians, all but three of the party went back. These three, consisting of Titus, Tupper and Salsbury, who were not easily diverted, then nor afterwards, from the accomplishment of their aims, resolved to push on through the Apache country to California, though it was a very hazardous undertaking. They found a way to cross the river, and by ceaseless watchfulness, by doubling back on their track when in the bush or cane along the river, to throw the Indians off their trail, and by making no fires when they camped at night, they at last eluded the savages and reached the country of the friendly Pimo Indians, who treated them well, and from whom they purchased supplies. Here they learned that a party of Americans was ahead of them, and they hurried on to overtake them. One evening, about sunset, they camped in the cane on the Gila. Mr. Titus had suffered greatly from the heat, and he was obliged to wear a mask, as his face was burnt and sore. Being short of provisions, and attempting to shoot a rabbit, his gun kicked so badly as to knock him over; but he did not mind that, as he got his rabbit. Before reaching the Colorado river they overtook the party of twenty-eight Americans, of whom Dr. James B. Winston, afterwards for many years a resident of Los Angeles, was the head. With this party they crossed the Colorado at Fort Yuma, in a Government wagon box, which the Indians used as a substitute for a ferry-boat. For this service and for swimming their animals across, they paid the Indians with blankets. Expecting trouble with the Yuma Indians, they had prepared their arms for whatever might turn up, Titus filling his flask full of powder. Being without matches, he kindled a fire one day by taking cotton from his coat and gathering dry grass, and putting powder in them, he snapped a cap, and then, kneeling down, blowed it into a flame, when his powder-flask exploded, raising him off the ground and nearly stopping his breath. However, the accident did not prove fatal, though it was some time before he entirely recovered from its effects. The party, including Mr. Titus, Dr. Winston and others, arrived in San Diego, August 13, 1849. Mr. Titus staid there about a month. While there a soldier picked the grains of powder out of his face with the point of a knife. Taking the steamer Oregon, he arrived in San Francisco September 13, and from there he went to Stockton and Moquelumne Hill, where he mined awhile, and then went to Calaveras, where he and his partner, Salsbury, made about three and one-half ounces of gold per day, till they worked out their claim, when they returned to San Francisco. From there Mr. Titus went to making shingles, which were then worth $32 a thousand, in the redwoods just north of the Golden Gate. While at work there he caught several salmon which he sold in San Francisco for $5 each. Deer were also very plenty, and in two consecutive days he shot ten, and sold them for $18 each. In February, 1850, he went to Feather river, and he and others undertook to turn Deer creek; but he sold out for $600, and went out prospecting in the mountains on the old "Emigrant Trail." At one place they found wagons, dead mules, etc., and also the body of a man with one arm gone, probably eaten by wild animals. He then took up the Sacramento valley, and crossed the river below Shasta. After prospecting above Shasta, he returned down the valley to Marysville with what was then called the "Trinity fever," where he was some days out of his head; but he was carefully nursed by a friend, an Englishman, to whom he thinks he owes his life. From thence he went to San Francisco, and as soon as he was able took a sailing vessel for Panama, and home, where he arrived in the latter part of 1851. In 1869 Mr. Titus came again to California, and to Los Angeles, where he concluded to settle, as he was at once greatly pleased with the country, and he has never since had occasion to change his favorable opinion. He went home, and the next year, with his daughter and her husband, Captain J. C. Newton, he came back to Los Angeles County, where they have made their home ever since. They went on to a place which he bought, near the Mission San Gabriel, and engaged in citrus fruit culture on an extensive scale, and with great success. Mr. Titus also devoted some attention to raising grapes and to breeding fine horses. He brought in 1870 from the East the stallion " Echo," sired by Rysdick's Hambletonian, one of the best horses ever brought to this coast. "Echo" is the sire of many fast and game trotters. Mr. Titus is a man of great force of character, fertile in resources, and whatever he undertakes he is very apt to carry through. Finding that water was exceedingly valuable in Southern California, he devised a machine for molding cement canals for economizing its use, the canal being formed on the ground where used; thus, in an inexpensive manner, making a limited quantity of water irrigate three or four times as much land as when run in ditches in the soil. He invented and patented a ladder on wheels, for picking fruit; also a three-notch board for planting trees; both of these are now in general use in Los Angeles and adjoining counties. He has lately invented an ingenious hand-shears for cutting and picking fruit with the same hand. Mr. Titus was the first to use in Los Angeles County a portable apparatus for spraying fruit trees infested with pests. Mr. Titus married Maria Benedict in 1845. Two daughters resulted from this marriage : Mary H., wife of Captain J. C. Newton, and Clara R. Titus; the latter is now a sister of the order of "the Immaculate Heart of Mary," known as "Sister Clara," and is a teacher in the Cathedral school of the city of Los Angeles. The family remained on their San Gabriel orchard about seventeen years. Mr. Titus sold his orange crop from sixty-five acres in 1887, for $15,000, on the trees. During that year he sold his place, consisting of 230 acres, most of which was highly improved. He has since planted a new place north of the old one. This is mostly planted to peaches for shipping East by cold storage. He has set out 2,500 trees of the Salway variety, and 1,000 Honey Clings. He also has besides some olive, pear and apple trees. Mr. Titus, during his twenty years of residence in Los Angeles County, has done much to develop its resources and capacities in many directions. Indeed he is universally accounted to be one of Los Angeles' most useful citizens. Being a man of the strictest probity and honor, he is held in the highest estimation by all who know him. CAPTAIN J. C. NEWTON was born in Erie County, New York, October 26, 1839. He lived in the vicinity of his native place during his boyhood. He enlisted as a private in the One Hundred and Sixteenth Regiment New York Infantry, August 9, 1862. Whilst in the service he was appointed Second Lieutenant on the unanimous vote of his company; and afterward he was promoted to the Captaincy. He served in the Department of the Gulf under General Banks; was at the siege of Port Hudson and in the actions at Sabine Cross-Roads, Pleasant Hill, Munzura Plains, etc. Afterward he served under Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley. In 1866, May 15, he married Miss Mary H., daughter of L. H. Titus. In 1870 they moved to Los Angeles County, where they have made their home ever since. They have two daughters, both born in California: Clara Drysdale and Mary Titus Newton. In 1883 Captain Newton made a somewhat extended visit East, and while there was elected Supervisor of Erie County, New York, and served a regular term, the board consisting of fifty members. Captain Newton, who is now, with his family, a resident of the city of Los Angeles, is one of the directors of the Sixth District Agricultural Society, of which he was one term (1887) the president. MINERAL. No full, systematic geological survey of Southern California, or of Los Angeles County has yet been made; but it is known that many of the most useful minerals, stone and earths, are to be found in the county, often in paying quantities. Highly crystalline limestone is being quarried three and a half miles from Fernando station. Twelve miles west from Fernando good sandstone is quarried. Asphaltum is obtained in a number of localities northeast of the San Fernando tunnel. Silver and lead ore have been mined in the Silver Mountain mining district twenty-two miles north of Newhall, and silver in very rich ores in the San Gabriel ca�on. Gold was found in this county in 1843,�which was five years before the famous Marshall discovery, that started so great a rush of immigration to this State. It has for some time been mined profitably at the Casteca placer diggings, forty miles northwest of Los Angeles. This precious metal has also been found in paying quantities in various other parts of the county. Besides many substances which are of special interest to the chemist and the mineralogist, from the scientific standpoint, the following is a list of the useful substances, properly classed as mineral products, found in the county: gold, silver, copper, coal, asphaltum, graphite, iron. limestone, tin, building stone, clay, mineral paint, gypsum, borate of lime, silica, kaolin, petroleum, borax, epsom salts, nitrate of soda and salt. Near Lang's station, in the northern part of the county, there is a large deposit of chrome iron, free from sulphur, which is considered valuable for the manufacture of paint. Large deposits of malachite, or carbonate of copper, have been found in the San Fernando mountains and along the Arroyo Seco. Gypsum exists within twenty miles of Los Angeles. The varieties known as alabaster and selenite are found. This mineral is said to be very useful in reclaiming alkali land. The water which flows from the San Fernando tunnel contains, by analysis, 30.6 per cent of gypsum. A salt lake, fed by salt springs, is located near the sea, between San Pedro and Santa Monica, and can be utilized in the manufacture of salt of excellent quality. Clay for brick is plentiful. Large tracts of the lowlands abound in soda. There is a ledge of sulphide of antimony seven miles west of Los Angeles. There are deposits of mineral paint of several colors on the seashore near Santa Monica. EARTHQUAKES. No permanent or serious damage has been done by earthquakes in this county since December 8, 1812, when occurred the great catastrophe at San Juan Capistrano, when, by the falling in of the tower and tiled roof, over thirty people were killed. There were moderate shocks in July, 1855; on April 14, May 2, and September 20, during the year 1856; and one on the morning of January 9, 1857. This last was the most severe for a long time. The first shock was succeeded by others during the day, and for three successive days. The same vibrations were felt also throughout the other counties of Southern California, and in many of the northern counties as well. It was more severe at Fort Tejon than at any other point. This was the greatest earthquake since that of 1812. Mr. H. D. Barrows wrote in the San Francisco Bulletin of January 28, as follows: "The great earthquake felt here on the morning of the 9th instant was rather more extensive in its operations than we at first anticipated; it did some appalling execution in various places. In the vicinity of Fort Tejon, 100 miles north of Los Angeles, the effects were most violent. The ground opened in places from thirty to forty miles, and from ten to twenty feet wide. The line of disruption runs nearly northwest and southeast, in an almost straight line, passing near Elizabeth Lake. The ground appears to have opened in the form of a ridge, and then to have fallen back, leaving the earth pulverized and loose about twelve feet wide generally, so that in many places it is almost impossible to pass. An eye witness saw large trees broken off near the ground; he saw cattle roll down steep hillsides; and he himself had to hold on to a post in order to stand up. The people in the fort were unceremoniously honored with a shower of plastering and a general tumbling down of walls and chimneys; and it seems providential that none of them were killed. He judged that it would take months to repair the buildings at the fort. The officers and men are now camping out in tents. Quartermaster Wakeman reports the time of the shock at 27 minutes before 9 o'clock, which agrees very well with the time as reported here. The motion was preceded there and accompanied here by a heavy rumbling report. At the Reservation much damage was done, but I have not heard the particulars. There are no signs of aught being thrown up from the openings at the Tejon. It is supposed that though the causes of these disturbances may be subterranean fires primarily, the secondary and immediate causes are the escape or explosion of gases generated by those fires. This we conclude from the entire absence of all kinds of volcanic matter, although the disruptions of the earth, and the force that caused them, in the movement of the earth on the 9th instant, were tremendous. We had at Los Angeles five or six shocks during the same day and night, and within about eight days' time we had twenty shocks,�some violent, some light. Since that time we have had none to speak of." In 1868 there was a heavy shake, and another in 1872. In May, 1877, there was a series of shocks during one night and the succeeding day, some violent enough to crack plaster on the walls, and break the glass on a clock swinging out from the wall where it was hung.