Sixty Years in Southern California, 1853-1913: Containing the Reminiscences of Harris NewmarkNewmark, Harris
History
Sixty Years in Southern California, 1853-1913: Containing the Reminiscences of Harris Newmark
Newmark, Harris
California, Southern; Los Angeles (Calif.)
Well out in the country, where the Capitol Milling Company's plant now
stands, and perhaps as successor to a still earlier mill built there
by an Englishman, Joseph Chapman (who married into the Ortega
family--since become famous through Émile C. Ortega who, in 1898,
successfully began preserving California chilis),--was a small mill,
run by water, known as the Eagle Mills. This was owned at different
times by Abel Stearns, Francis Mellus and J. R. Scott, and conducted,
from 1855 to 1868, by John Turner, who came here for that purpose, and
whose son, William, with Fred Lambourn later managed the grocery store
of Lambourn & Turner on Aliso Street. The miller made poor flour
indeed; though probably it was quite equal to that produced by Henry
Dalton at the Azusa, John Rowland at the Puente, Michael White at San
Gabriel, and the Theodore brothers at their Old Mill in Los Angeles.
The quantity of wheat raised in Southern California was exceedingly
small, and whenever the raw material became exhausted, Turner's supply
of flour gave out, and this indispensable commodity was then procured
from San Francisco. Turner, who was a large-hearted man and helpful to
his fellows, died in 1878. In the seventies, the mill was sold to J.
D. Deming, and by him to J. Loew, who still controls the corporation,
the activity of which has grown with the city.
Half a year before my coming to Los Angeles, or in April, 1853, nearly
twenty-five thousand square miles had been lopped off from Los Angeles
County, to create the County of San Bernardino; and yet in that short
time the Mormons, who had established themselves there in 1851 as a
colony on a tract of land purchased from Diego Sepúlveda and the three
Lugos--José del Carmen, José María and Vicente--and consisting of
about thirty-five thousand acres, had quite succeeded in their
agricultural and other ventures. Copying somewhat the plan of Salt
Lake City, they laid out a town a mile square, with right-angled
blocks of eight acres and irrigating _zanjas_ parallel with the
streets. In a short time, they were raising corn, wheat (some of it
commanding five dollars a bushel), barley and vegetables; and along
their route of travel, by way of the Mormon metropolis, were coming to
the Southland many substantial pioneers. From San Bernardino, Los
Angeles drew her supply of butter, eggs and poultry; and as three days
were ordinarily required for their transportation across what was then
known as the desert, these products arrived in poor condition,
particularly during the summer heat. The butter would melt, and the
eggs would become stale. This disadvantage, however, was in part
compensated for by the economical advantage of the industry and thrift
of the Mormons, and their favorable situation in an open, fertile
country; for they could afford to sell us their produce very
reasonably--fifteen cents a dozen for eggs, and three dollars a dozen
for chickens well satisfying them! San Bernardino also supplied all of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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