Santa Barbara County History Transcribed by Peggy Hooper 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. Source: A Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura, California by Yda Addis Storke Published in 1891 in Chicago by the Lewis Publishing Co. SANTA MARIA VALLEY. The Santa Maria Valley occupies the northern part of Santa Barbara County, extending from the Pacific ocean to the Sisquoc range of hills, thirty-five miles eastward; and from the San Luis Obispo county-line on the north to the low range of hills separating this valley from that of Los Alamos. From Guadalupe, the main valley extends easterly twenty miles, and its continuation, the Sisquoc Valley, stretches still farther southeastward, the extreme eastern end forking into the Sisquoc hills on one side and the Foxen cafion lands on the other. The valley here is bordered on the north by the Santa Maria hills, and on the south by the clay mesas. The county near the coast is skirted by a range of low, fertile hills, mostly included in the Casmalia, Laguna and Guadalupe land grants. All the drainage of the Santa Maria and Sisquoc rivers falls into the Santa Maria Valley. These streams drain an enormous country � a region that has twice the average rainfall of the same character of hilly land from Los Angeles to San Diego. Large and swift streams as they are in winter, they sink in summer. Besides this water-supply, and the possibilities of artesian irrigation, the abundant crops of this valley, particularly near the coast, are nurtured by the heavy mists and fogs prevalent during the summer months. This valley was named from an Indian called Santa Maria, and the title at first related to but a small part of it, but it was later extended to the whole valley and stream. The greatest dimensions of the valley proper are about twenty-five miles long by twelve wide at the upper, and narrowing until it averages about four miles. It includes the Guadalupe, Punta de la Laguna, Tepusquet, Sisquoc, and Tinaquiac ranchos, their total acreage, as per the United States patents, being 123,590.77, at least 65,000 acres being tillable land. Ten years since, these ranchos carried some 13,950 head of sheep, 3,860 cattle and 879 horses, grazing then being the chief interest. The town of Santa Maria is about twelve miles from the coast, twenty-nine from San Luis Obispo, and eighty-four from Santa Barbara. It was first settled in 1867, by Mr. B. Wiley, who, after investigation of the title, located a quarter-section each for himself and three other gentlemen, who were followed during the next two years by some half-dozen others. The first well was dug by Mr. Wiley; it was twenty-four feet deep and curbless, but it lasted for some four years. The first house in the valley was built by Mr. Prell. The first birth was that of Thomas Miller, May 17, 1869. The first funeral was that of Mr. Rosenburg, who accidentally shot himself in the summer of 1869. The first settlers put in large fields of grain. There was much trouble and threatened violence over the actions of the speculators with school-land warrants, who located over the claims of actual settlers that had made valuable improvements. The winters of 1869-'70 and 1870-'71 were very unprosperous, owing to drouths, to damage done by occasional heavy storms, and by grasshoppers. The year 1871 marked the beginning of fruit-raising here. The settlement, notwithstanding all opposing elements, waxed so strong and populous that the town of Central City (now Santa Maria) was laid out in 1875. The first hotel was built this year, and several shops, etc., opened. In 1877 was organized a Union Sunday-school, and in 1878 the Methodist Episcopal church was Built. The first public school was opened in 1881, the church building being used for a time. In September the town issued bonds for a two-story school-house, worth S1,000, and within one year there were eighty pupils enrolled. In 1882 was started the Santa Maria Times, independent in politics and devoted to local matters. The present population of the town is about 1,000, while the surrounding country is thickly settled. The voting precinct contains some 1,500. The town is neatly laid out in squares, the principal streets, 100 feet wide, running east and west, crossed at right angles by subordinate ones, eighty and sixty feet wide. Some of these streets are planted with shade trees, and the approaches to the town are all beautiful drives. The streets are crowned and graveled, some having concrete, and some plank walks, and they are kept sprinkled. The chief business thoroughfare is Main street, 120 feet wide, in which are many substantial business buildings. The town covers an area three-quarters of a mile square. The water is partly supplied from wells, and in part by two water companies, the water being forced by steam-power pumps to large reservoirs, at about fifty feet altitude, whence it is piped for distribution. There are in the town three good assembly halls, a Presbyterian, a Christian and a Methodist Church, a free public library and a fine $12,000 brick schoolhouse, with four teachers in as many departments. Fraternal societies are represented by organizations of Masons, Odd Fellows, Good Templars, Knights of Pythias, Chosen Friends, Native Sons, Grand Army and Woman's Christian Temperance Union. There is a fine band, " The Fairlawn," of twelve pieces. In September, 1883, Santa Maria suffered from a severe tire, consuming several business houses, at a loss of $5,000, of which $2,000 was covered by insurance. Again, in June, 1884, another fire here destroyed $29,650 worth of property. There are in Santa Maria two practicing physicians, two attorneys, one dentist, two drug stores, three general merchandise houses, one grocery, one hardware store, one jeweler one stationer, one saddle and harness shop, one shoe store, two bakeries, three confectionery and fruit stores, five real-estate offices, one butcher shop, four blacksmith shops, two barbers, four painters, one fine patent-roller flour-mill, with a daily capacity of about fifty barrels, one lumber yard, two furniture stores, one bank, one newspaper, � the Santa Maria Times, � four millinery stores, two tinshops one photograph gallery, one merchant tailor, one toy and notion store, one steam barley-crushing mill, three large hotels, four restaurants, one large lodging-house, five saloons and three livery stables. There are two large nurseries, that of T. A. Garey having some 300,000 trees, while another nursery has sold 40,000 to 50,000 trees this year. Still another has 50,000 trees. Within half a mile of the center of the settlement, there is a half-mile race track, and a prettily planned park of ten acres. This town is the distributing point for an area reaching fifty miles to the eastward, twenty toward the south, ten to the north, and westward to the coast line; also for the mines, seventy-five miles distant. A through line of railway is greatly needed, and the people are anxiously looking forward to the completion of the Southern Pacific Coast Line. The main industries of this valley are: dairying and stock-raising in the hills and lands toward the coast and about the Gaudalupe region; wheat, barley, oats and corn in the central and upper parts of the valley and the mesas; beans and potatoes from the line of the railroad westward; eastward from the railway fruit-raising is rapidly becoming an important industry, apricots, prunes, and Bartlett pears being the varieties mostly cultivated. At the western end of the valley, the potato, bean, and summer crops are steadily encroaching on the dairy tracts. The upper valley and surrounding hills will be largely planted to fruit. Citrus fruits will grow well in the more sheltered valleys and canons. In 1880 the average yield of wheat on valley lands was twenty centals (33 J bushels) per acre; on mesa land, 17 centals or 28^ bushels; the average yield of barley was, on valley land, 25 centals, or 41� bushels; mesa land, 20 centals, or 33^ bushels. The whole wheat and barley crops amounted to about 625,000 centals in this valley in 1880, this being rather above the average yearly yield. As special illustrations of the products, it may be mentioned that Mr. Isaac Miller has twenty- five acres of apricots, five years old^ and fifteen acres of French prunes, four years old, with 108 trees to the acre. In 1889 he sold thirteen tons of dried apricots, at $200 per ton. This year the trees were loaded almost to breaking, and the crop of prunes brought $8,000, while the apricots, sold at 16 cents per pound, produced $7,000. The prunes yield very largely, and, dried with their pits in, bring 5 cents per pound. The district of La Graciosa, otherwise known as Fruit Vale, eight miles south of Santa Maria, being composed of rolling hills and small valleys, has mostly been converted into orchards. Here are planted hundreds upon hundreds of acres of peach, plum, nectarine, walnut, and orange trees, � in short, almost all known fruits. Here may be seen walnut trees ten feet high, two years old. The Guadalupe Rancho of 30,408.03 acres, was granted by the Mexican government to Diego Olivera and Teodoro Arellanes, March 21, 1840. The claim was confirmed in 1857, and in 1870 a patent was issued for 43,680.85 acres. It has a coast line of ten miles, and extends eight miles back from the coast. The first farming here was done in a small way in 1867, by John B. Ward, who married a daughter of Estudillo, then owner of the rancho. He built a road from Point Sal to the rancho, nine miles distant, in consideration of a tract of land at the former place, voted him by Congress, for the construction of a road from Point Sal to Fort Tejon. As there was already a natural route between Fort Tejon and Guadalupe, Ward claimed the land and secured a patent for it, at the time when the Point Sal landing was first built. In 1872 was founded the town of Guadalupe, situated in the extreme northwestern corner of this county, about seven miles from the coast, ninety-five miles from Santa Barbara, and twelve miles from Los Alamos. The climate here is cool, bracing and healthy. This little town made considerable growth up to 1882, when the building of the Pacific Coast Railway stimulated the development of Santa Maria, at the expense of Guadalupe, which thereafter lost ground markedly. The present population is about 300. The soil around Guadalupe is mostly a deep black adobe, which yields large returns. Wheat succeeds only on the extreme upper end of the tract. Barley has produced 100 bushels to the acre, and beans yield a more prolific crop even. Corn is an unreliable fac- tor. Vegetables, including pumpkins and potatoes, score a marked success, but melons are a failure. The air here is too bleak for fruit-raising, and orchards fail unless pro- tected by wind breaks, usually of cypress or eucalyptus. Stock-raising is a great indus- try, owing to the excellent watering and the freedom from noxious weeds or plants, en- joyed by the pasturage of this rancho. Therefore it is regarded as one of the best dairy ranges in California, and occupied largely by Swiss dairyman, who milk a vast number of cows, their products selling at an advance of one or two cents a pound on the prices of butter from the upper coast; several tons are shipped thence weekly. Good water is found here within two to sixteen feet of the surface, and artesian wells 110 feet deep yield as much as ten gallons per minute. The Rancho Punta de la Laguna lies immediately eastward of the Guadalupe, further up the Santa Maria Valley, being an irregular strip of territory, ten miles by seven miles in extent. It was granted to Luis Arellanes and E. M. Ortega, December 24, 1844, when it contained 26,648.42 acres, extending a little way into San Luis Obispo County. - Like the rest of the valley it was once a great grazing region. The soil is mostly a sandy loam, on which the cereals and all kinds of vegetables grow to perfection. The best of water is procured from wells twenty to sixty feet deep. The Rancho Tepusquet was carved out of Government land surrounding it on all sides but the southeast, where it joins the Sisquoc. It contains 8,900 acres under United States patent, lying in the upper part of the Santa Maria Valley. It consists of low, rolling hills, the approaches to the lofty Sierra de San Rafael lying to the eastward. While the cereals are cultivated to some extent, stock-raising is the principal industry. The surface is rugged, and there is a stream affording ample water-power for manufacturing enter- prises. Once the property of the Foxen Brothers this rancho now belongs to the Ontiveras family. The Rancho Sisquoc lies at the very head of the Santa Maria Valley, extending back into the hills eight or ten miles. It comprises 35,485.90 acres of land, mostly rolling country. The cereals are produced, but stock-raising is the chief interest. This property belongs to the Stone estate. The Rancho Tinaquaic is nearly rectangular in shape, measuring three by five miles, lying at the head of the Santa Maria Valley, it contains appropriately two leagues of land. It is traversed by the main county road. This rancho, which is now the property of the Foxen heirs, was originally granted to Victor Linares, May 6, 1837, and confirmed to Will- iam D. Foxen, the title calling for 8,874.60 acres. Its surface is hilly, but large tracts are sown to grain yearly, although stock-raising is by no means superseded. The Rancho Cuyama, now belonging to Haggin & Perkins, and to Gaspar Orena, was granted to Jose Maria Rojo, April 24, 1843, and confirmed to Maria Antonio de la Guer- ra and Cesario Lataillade, whose heir is Mr. Orena. Its acreage, as by the United States patent, was 71,620.75 acres. In the spring of 1881 it was estimated to support 3,000 cattle. The Cuyama River, the northern boundary of the county, cuts this rancho into two nearly equal portions. Thus, lying in the extreme northern portion of the county, and separated from the rest thereof by the high Sierra de San Rafael, this isolation is so complete that even the returns of the elections are received from this district more tardily than from any other in the county. The only industry here is stock-raising.