Santa Maria Valley Issue

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Horses trampling bean straw.

Santa Maria Valley Issue

Vol. XI, No. 4

Autumn, 1965

DOCTOR WILLIAM THOMA5 LUCA5 who, in his own words, “saw Santa Mario grow from a dreary waste to a flourishing city set iiY a beautiful valley/' died in 1931. He Is remembered as the bombastic, beloved physician. As an orator he held his listeners spellbound. As a citizen he spent his life serving humanity.

(Portrait above is from a painting by Clarence Mattel, 1914, owned by local Masonic Lodge.)

NOTICIA5 QUARTERLY BULLETIN OF THE SANTA BARBARA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Barbecue Capital of the West Coast

By Ethel-May Dorsey The funnels of gray smoke often seen rising in the Santa Maria Valley no _ longer signify Indian smoke signals of a bygone era. Today they usually indicate that a feast of barbecued steaks is being prepared in someone’s outdoor patio, or at one of the numerous barbecue pits in a public park If the wind is blowing in the right direction the aroma of burning oak logs or M bark can make one’s mouth water; and even cause a hint of envy toward those who will soon be enjoying the delicious smoke-seasoned meat.

For many years the Santa Maria area has been considered the barbecue capital of the West coast. No other place in the country has drawm as many people for gourmet feasting as the unique Santa Maria barbecues.

The monthly stag barbecues held at the Santa Maria Club have attracted guests from all over the country. Opened in 1919 with an all-male member ship of 117, the facilities of the club have since grown to accommodate as c.: many as 700 diners, who consume approximately 1,000 pounds of beef. An oil company in Texas once chartered two planes to fl y officials to attend a stag barbecue. And many visitors fly their private planes into town to enjoy the juiciest steak treats that a crew of volunteer barbecuers can turn out.

The standard Santa Maria barbecue menu at the club never varies: the well-aged choice lop sirloin beef steaks, cut at least three inches thick, are served with pink beans, salsa sauce, macaroni and cheese, tossed green salad, hot buttered French bread, ice cream and coffee. (However, many private party hosts order prime rib steaks and serve wine or beer.)

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These club functions are always supervised by a “Barbecue King” who presides over the pit. A fire of oak logs, stacked in the huge brick-lined barbecue pit, has burned since mid-afternoon. If the coals are just right after three or four hours, the “Barbecue King” gives the signal to lower the steel poles strung with the seasoned steaks, which have been dipped in a mixture of salt, pepper, and garlic salt. The framework on which the poles are placed may be adjusted by means of a crank. No water is ever used to quell the heat, and the secret of the unusual flavor is said to be the slightly green oak wood used for the fire.

Club barbecuers who remember the first pit at the clubhouse realize the improvements made since 1919, when the meat was placed on a screen— and laid across the top of the pit. Sometimes the screen would slip, causing all the steaks to fall into the coals. Today they use garlic salt, which is a great time saver over the former method of rubbing each steak with a garlic clove for seasoning.

Since the early twenties, the Santa Maria barbecues have been popular for large or small party givers.

After World War II, the Union Oil Company, near Orcutt, and the Union Sugar Company of Betteravia have put on annual barbecues for their employees and families. The Pioneer Association has changed from its tradi tional basket luncheon to a barbecue for its annual first Saturday in May get-to-gether.

During Santa Maria’s Golden Anniversary in 1955, the City Fathers improvised a 76-foot-long barbecue pit on the Elks Field, where over 1.600 guests were served on a Sunday afternoon.

Just how did this great popularity of barbecuing come about? And who started this custom anyway?

Perhaps the Chumash Indians, who inhabited the area long before the white man arrived, may have been the first barbecuers.

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Anthropologists have told how the Indians cooked their food over a circle of hot stones, located in the center of their huts. Or they would build outdoor fires. Such exhibits may be seen in the Museum of Natural History of Santa Barbara, California.

As “barbecuers,” the Indians would squat over their fire holding sticks of pierced meat or fish. However, the Chumash Indian diet did not include the rare beef steaks, so popular today. It wan’t until the Spanish-speaking settlers came into California, with their vast herds of cattle, that beef was introduced. The Chumash Indians ate wild game: such as rabbit, deer, coon, squirrel, and even snake meat. They ate well from the fruit of the land. The acorns, herbs and roots, together with an abundance of water fowl, and seafood, found on the coastal region, provided ample sustenance for the healthy dwellers of this region. Even though coyotes and grizzly bears were known to be plentiful in this region, the Indians would not eat of either.

For they believed the coyotes to be possessed with evil spirits and the bears with good spirits.

During the Mission period, the vaqueros from San Luis Obispo de Tolosa and La Purisima Concepcion would join for a roundup of all their cattle once a year. Their meeting place was a huge ten-foot rock, located midway between the two missions, in a sandy windswept valley, which, many years later became the city of Santa Maria. The area where the rock stood is now occupied by the Knudsen Company and the Pacific Motor Service.

It was on this campsite that they slaughtered and barbecued their beef during the weeks when they were rounding up and branding their cattle.

Even though barbecued meat was the usual fare provided for roundups and Rancho fiestas, the provincial meat diet consisted of came seca or jerk;^ strips of meat which had been dried in the sun. The principal product from the cattle industry was the tallow and hides. The grease was rendered for

cooking and the making of soap and candles. The hides were sold for bridle reins, chair bottoms, bed springs, etc.

Paul Fox, who was born near Guadalupe, remembers attending the roundups before the turn of the century with his father, who was a cattleman in that area. Paul, who was a small boy at the time, has described how the vaqueros dug a pit two to three feet deep, and filled it with wood, which they allowed to burn down before cooking the meat.

“They usually selected a spot near the old Laguna Lake,” he said, “where wood and willows were available. They would cut the fresh green willow sticks, strip the bark from them, then spear the hunks of meat onto the sticks. The green willow gave a distinct flavor to the meat,” he recalled.

“Then they’d place the poles of meat across the pit, and keep them turning from time to time as the meat cooked.

“In those days, they used all the meat. Nothing was wasted. The men would bring their salt and pepper from home. The pepper powder had been ground from the dried membrane of chili peppers raised here in the valley.

The only accompaniment for the barbecued meat was tortillas or bread—no beer, wine, nor coffee.

Fox said that the vaqueros came from all over—as far north as San Luis Obispo—for the roundups.

These barbecues took place within his lifetime, but he declares that m the early days” many people barbecued by wrapping chunks of meat in heavy brown paper, and covered it with hot stones to steam for hours at a time.

Rudolph Bagdons, a descendant of the Spanish Californians, remembers some of the fabulous barbecues predded over by his grandfather, Don Vincente Castro, w'ho from the 80’s to 1900, was the Majordomo of the Sisquoc Ranch.

“Beef was cheap in those days,” Bagdons said. “My grandfather invited everyone in the country to his fiestas, and he would generously offer his guests pieces of barbecued meat to take home with them. These barbecues were prepared over hot coals in a sunken pit.

In 1900 the Castro family moved to a ranch in the Tepusquet which Don Vicente had purchased. This rancho, according to Bagdons, was the scene of many a rodeo and fiesta to which all the neighboring families were invited.

“One time my grandfather sent a wagon into Santa Maria, to be filled with a load of French bread, baked by the Heller Bakery, for one of his big fiestas,” Bagdons said. “He also served pink beans, fresh salsa sauce made from tomatoes, green peppers, and onions. Sometimes grandfather would serve wine.”

For entertainment, Bagdons told that his mother often played the piano, while his uncle accompanied her on the fiddle—for dancing and singing.

“Sometimes they would stage a bull fight. That was before bull fighting was outlawed in California.” , The barbecuing custom is a segment of the pastoral life from the early Californians, which has carried over into present day entertaining. In recent years outdoor barbecuing has become popular in many parts of the country.

But Santa Marians believe that their system is unique, and have claimed for themselves the undisputed title: Barbecue Capital of the West Coast.

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Men forking bean straw.

Bean Production in the Santa Maria Valley

By Walter E. Conrad For almost a hundred years the growing of dried beans has been one of the major agricultural pursuits in the Santa Maria Valley. During this long period other crops have come and gone as new methods or changed demands have altered the agricultural economy, but the importance of bean productio has continued uninterrupted.

Two events occurred in 1870 which laid the foundation for the growing of beans: (1) the vast Guadalupe Rancho, consisting of 32,408 acres, was subdivided, and (2) the first Portuguese settlers arrived in the valley, among them being Antone Bello, Joe Freitas, Antonio Martinez, Joe Silva, and Manuel Souza.

So long as the Guadalupe Rancho had remained intact, its acres had been used primarily for cattle raising, with hides and tallow being the principal objectives. With the subdivision of the rancho, many acres were tilled for the first time.

The Portuguese farmers brought bean culture with them from their native land. Using dry farming they planted the beans in late April or early May and harvested in September. Without the aid of irrigation or machinery, they |)roduced about 12 bags to the acre. As irrigation and use of machinery have come into use in the intervening years, the same land has come to produce triple that quantity.

Of all the procedures involved in early bean culture, none was more picturesque than that of harvesting. A circular canvas, with a diameter up to sixty feet, was spread upon the ground. Distributed over the canvas were piles of the dry bean bushes, which had been hand-pulled in the fields and conveyed to the harvesting area on horse-drawn wagons.

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In the center of the canvas stood a man with a tie-line attached to as many as three horses. With a whip in one hand, he urged the horses to move at a trotting gait, round and round the circle, trampling the bean bushes.

In this process the plump, dried beans were released from their pods to fall free upon the canvas.

From time to time, the horses were led from the canvas, whereupon a force of workers would move in to toss away the bean straw with their pitch forks. This operation left the canvas covered with the beans and con siderable chaff. At this point the workers would gather up the edges of the canvas all around, tossing the canvas and its burden of beans and chaff into the air in order that the prevailing wind would blow away the chaff, leaving the beans relatively clean.

Returning the canvas and the beans to the ground, the workers would then scoop up the beans with wooden shovels, sacking the product for trans port to market, at which point the beans underwent further cleaning.

From such primitive beginnings, calling only for man and horse power, the culture of beans has developed into a completely mechanized procedure today. As such it is rather typical of similar developments in agricultural crop production in the valley.

The Guadalupe Adobes

By Walter W. Stokes The story of the Guadalupe adobes is the story of the beginnings of that community. Built of the soil on which they stood, they housed a colorful succession of pioneer owners, vaqueros, judges, doctors, farmers, and fra ternal organizations, while buried treasure and ghosts color the story of one or more of these historic buildings. Three were built but now only one stands.

In the year 1840, the Mexican Government granted to Teodoro Arellanes and Diego Olivero the Guadalupe Rancho. It consisted of 32,408 acres of the northwestern part of the County, had ten miles of ocean frontage, and encompassed the western terminus of the Santa Maria Valley.

The first adobe was built in 1840 by the grantee of this Rancho and until 1846 was the headquarters for the owners and their vaqueros who attended the range cattle on this large acreage. The 20-inch-thick walls of this building were constructed of bricks made by dampening the soil to the consistency of thick mud with straw added as a binder. They were molded in forms 20 inches long, 10 inches wide, and four inches thick and were sun dried before ready for use. The same mud of which these bricks were formed was used to bind them in the wall. When completed, both sides of the walls were faced with hard plaster. The roof was made of tules and willow twigs.

The fate of this first building is told by Thomas F. Collison and H. R. Reynold in their booklet on Guadalupe: “Historians cannot expect to go into detail about the movement of conquering troops. Perhaps that is why California historians have not in cluded the little sidelight of Lt. Col. John Fremont’s men who back in 1846 6

Ardlanes adobe, Guadalupe.

made camp there, only to leave the adobe a burning ruin upon riding to Don Julian Foxen’s Rancho some thirty miles east of Guadalupe.”

The claim of Teodoro Arallanes and Diego Olivero for the Guadalupe Rancho was confirmed by the District Court, May 12, 1857. Soon thereafter the second adobe of eight rooms was built by John B. Nugent of the Estedillo family, the land owners. The two story, the last of these buildings, was built

by John B. Ward in 1867. It was used as a meeting hall and had one large upper room and two large ones downstairs. Smaller rooms were started but never finished. All three adobes had been built within 200 feet of each other.

These later buildings were much improved over the first one. They were refined and more habitable structures built in the Mission style with the exception of the roofs which were of redwood shingles. Many years after they were built the lumber company that supplied the shingles believed these adobes the first in the state to use such shingles. The company rewarded its local representative, Walter Smith, for his discovery.

The Rancho owners later became heavily indebted, and their property was mortgaged to a French firm represented by a Mr. LeRoy. As a settle ment, in 1870 the Rancho was deeded to LeRoy who subdivided it and sold it to ranchers.

Both the farmers and dairymen were successful and their products were conveyed about fifteen miles to Pt. Sal and shipped by boat to San Francisco.

With this activity, the necessity for a center to serve many people thus en gaged was obvious. LeRoy had a town site surveyed, lots were sold, and business buildings were erected. By 1874 Guadalupe was the promising town of the Santa Maria Valley.

In 1872 John Dunbar, a businessman of the town, was appointed post master. Guadalupe then boasted six stores, one Wells Fargo Express office, two 7

livery stables, one blacksmith shop, two churches, a school, and many homes.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows established a lodge ther^ in 1874. A few months later, the Masonic Lodge was instituted and both groups used the two story adobe for their meeting places. The stage coach on the trip between La Graciosa and Nipomo stopped there. In 1875 a newspaper.

The Telegraph, published by Messrs. Haines and Porterfield, occupied a space in the two story adobe.

Dr. William T. Lucas of Woodland arrived in Guadalupe and occupied office rooms in the historic building. Also during this early period, Claybourn P. Evans, who later taught in the Guadalupe school, conducted private classes for the children of the new community. The Justice Court was also located there.

Guadalupe was progressing in brisk, encouraging strides until the year 1881 when the Pacific Coast Railroad built through the valley at Central City, later re-named Santa Maria. With the completion of the railroad, the shipping center for the entire Valley was Central City. This shipping change also ended the activity at Pt. Sal. Many of the principal firms moved to Central City, and Guadalupe was partially deserted which left many vacant business buildings and homes including the adobes. With the abandonment of the adobes, ghost stories began to circulate. It was eventually discovered that the nightly ghost-visitors were fond of cheese, and thus were captured with the aid of traps.

However, as to these ghosts, a tale is told that in the early days, two cattle buyers working the territory stopped at the adobe for rest and food.

They carried a great sum of money w’ith them for purchasing cattle. Word reached them that the bandits from Mt. Solomon were on their trail. So they hastily buried the money near the old building during the night and left for the north. But the bandits, discovering their flight, were close in pursuit and shot and badly wounded one of the catllemen. The other man took his w'ounded companion to the San Luis Obispo Mission where he died.

Later, the second cattleman. In his attempt to leave, was shot to death.

However, before passing away, the first man had told a priest of their plight and indicated where the money was buried. Many years later, a stranger approached my father, William C. Stokes, then owner of the adobes, and asked permission to search for treasure. Permission was given, and the person worked under the cover of darkness. The next morning he was gone, and to this day no on knows who he was or whether he found the money.

But on the spot w’here he had dug, an old silver coin dated 1828 was found and is now in the possession of Leland Stokes, one of my brothers. The ghosts in the old adobe were believed to be the spirits of the two cattle buyers who w'ere guarding their money.

In 1884 William Scott, a broker who was later elected to the office of Justice of Peace of Guadalupe, purchased the two old buildings together with additional adjoining property. Four years later, the same property was purchased by and deeded to my father, who was ranching near the town.

My parents used the smaller adobe as their home, where two of their family of ten children were born. My father served as Justice of the Peace for many years and used a large room in the two story adobe as his court room. During his residence he had the roof of his house covered with metal, which has preserved the structure to the present day.

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In 1892, the Southern Pacific Railroad began to lay tracks through the town. The population returned to Guadalupe and caused a demand for rentals, both business and residential, which included the two adobes.

Years later when my father decided to retire, he sold the adobes to the Druids Lodge. From the Druids’ ownership the property passed throughseveral hands, until in 1947, Mr. and Mrs. Angel Bourbon purchased it.

The family still lives in the small house.

The two story adobe was demolished in 1958. The roof, not having been protected for many years, collapsed and became dangerous to the point where, with the owner’s consent and the assistance of the Guadalupe Fire Department, all combustible parts were reduced to ashes, and the adobe bricks were scattered and returned to the soil from which they were molded.

So two of these adobes have now disappeared, and as the pages are turned depicting the story of these historic monuments, it is feared that too soon the last one will reach its final chapter, and oblivion.

The Passing Trains

By DeWitt Meredith They said it was the end of an era, but that is hardly so.

Time is not measured by the span of one life.

However, the survival of railroading in northern Santa Barbara County may well be attributed to the courage and initiative of the late Capt. G. Allan Hancock.

He was the president, protector and preserver of the Santa Maria Valley Railroad which almost passed into oblivion as did the old narrbw gauge line first known as the San Luis Obispo & Santa Maria Valley Railroad, and lastly as the Pacific Coast Railway.

Upon his peaceful demise at his ranch home near Santa Maria on May 31, 1965, an editorial tribute sorrowfully intoned that “this marks the end of an era.

His life spanned almost 90 years of California history which he and his forebears helped to make. Like his father, Maj. Henry Hancock and hw maternal grandfather Count Agoston Haraszthy, he was an empire builder. He expended enormous energy upon a multitude of enterprises.

These are accounted for in numerous biographies and articles, but too little has been written of his devotion to steam on rails. He was long a figure in transportation by land, sea and air and as an expert locomotive engineer, sea captain and airplane pilot was loved and admired by transportation buffs of all sorts.

This tribute to one man can only be justified on the premise that he saved to posterity the only short line railroad still operating in northern Santa Barbara County and made of it a continuing successful operation. It is the Santa Maria Valley Railroad which he salvaged at a Sheriff’s sale in 1925 and made it grow. It was always a broad gauge line.

For historical interest, however, the Santa Maria Valley Railroad may never equal the old narrow-gauge line first known as the San Luis Obispo 9

R.R., then as the S.L.O. & Santa Maria Valley Railroad, and finally as the Pacific Coast Railway. It decayed and all but vanished during that period in which Hancock’s railroad was reaching its peak of operations.

Physical evidence of part of its past remains in one of the most prominent blocks of east Main street in Santa Maria. It was too much trouble to try to lift those old narrow gauge rails from the pavement.

The saga of the Pacific Coast Railway has captivated the attention of rail buffs for at least half a cenutry. A most colorful and authentic history of the old line is titled “Ships and Narrow Gauge Rails” by that peer of rail lore Gerald M. Best, published by Howell-North of Berkeley in 1964.

Another striking compendium of 1949 vintage which we credit is titled “Oil Lamps and Iron Ponies” by Frederick Shaw, Clement Fisher, Jr., and George H. Harlan, published by Bay Books Limited in San Francisco.

The struggle for existence fraught with fires, floods, panic, wrecks, intrigue, financial wars and competition tested men and made more colorful history for the Pacific Coast Railway than even the greatest of the trans continental lines. None of its builders attained the fame of such as Collis P. Huntington, Leland Stanford, the Crockers or the Hopkins clan, but they were just as sturdy.

John Harford and a group of San Luis Obispo merchants saw that the first wharf at Cave Landing in San Luis Obispo Bay was poorly located and formed the Peoples Wharf Co., in 1868. It was extended 1,800 feet into the bay to accommodate most steamers and came to be known as Port Harford.

A narrow gauge railroad was built along the wharf to a point ashore where a warehouse could be erected and that was the beginning of the Pacific Coast Railway. Harford had the lumber trade and ship’s cargo booms loaded lumber on flat cars hauled by horses.

Harford extended his 30-inch light rail line to the mouth of San Luis Creek snaking up the bluff through a tunnel and down to the mudflats and put it into service in 1873. The problems and progress that followed make fasci nating reading, and thumbnailing so much history is a choosy chore. San Francisco capital came into the picture and the San Luis Obispo Railroad was originated early in 1873.

Charles Goodall, with extensive coastwise steamship interests and suf ficient backing, held enough trump cards to absorb pioneering efforts and consolidate the works into the San Luis Obispo & Santa Maria Valley Railroad.

With all this commotion going on eastern capital became interested and Henry Villard, president of the Northern Pacific and the Oregon Railway & Navigation Co., began wheeling and dealing. The Oregon Improvement Co., was formed and in 1882 established the Pacific Coast Railway Co. Out of all this grew a narrow gauge line extending from the wharf at Avila to San Luis Obispo, down the coast to Arroyo Grande, over the Niporao mesa and across the dry Santa Maria River bed to Central City, which afterward was renamed Santa Maria.

Chugging on southward the line fortunately passed Orcutt and Graciosa where oil was to be discovered and ultimately reached Los Olivos in 1887.

The first steam locomotive was put into service at Avila on November 8, 1875. In less than a year two trains daily were scheduled between Avila and San Luis Obispo.

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By 1882 the line had five steam locomotives in operation and Builders in April laid track across Main street in Santa Maria amid hurrahs and bands playing. Branch lines were laid across the valley to Gary, Sisquoc and Palmer and westerly to Guadalupe. These were electrified.

Disasters, fires and the financial panic of 1893 had their effect and the Southern Pacific arrival in San Luis Obispo in 1894 brought changes. The Pacific Coast Railway was experiencing difficulties. Receivership followed in 1897.

At the turn of the century farm production and the beginning of the oil boom brought succor. Between 1903 and 1913 Union Oil Co. and others hit production that proved a bonanza to the entire area.

In 1912 the Pacific Coast Railway carried 62,319 passengers. By 1922 such traffic had dropped to 3,547. The automobile had arrived. In spite of earlier ups and downs the narrow gauge peak of earnings was reached in 1921. This was largely due to the influx of hordes from Hollywood utilizing equipment for the making of movies.

The trolley branch folded in 1928 and between 1937 and 1940 most of the line was abandoned. During World War II it folded completely.

Part of the failure of the Pacific Coast Railway was attributable to competition of the Southern Pacific and in particular the Santa Maria Valley Railroad. After a long tussle with Cuesta Grade the Southern Pacific finally reached San Luis Obispo from San Francisco in 1894. Not until 1901 was the Southern Pacific coast line opened all the way to Los Angeles.

The Santa Maria Valley Railroad was established by an English syndi cate in 1911 and began operations in 1912 linking the oil fields at Roadamite with the Southern Pacific at Guadalupe. This was a connecting broad gauge line. At a much earlier date the Southern Pacific had rebuffed every effort erf the Pacific Coast Railway to connect up at Guadalupe.

For a time the Santa Maria Valley railroad had everything going in its favor. The flood of oil production in the hills south and southeast of Santa Maria produced a boom. In the first quarter of the century fabulous fortunes were made. Orcutt, Cat Canyon, Gato Ridge and the Solomon Hills became familiar names throughout the petroleum industry.

Heavy oil, transportation costs and many other factors, especially the economy of pipe lines to seaboard, cut rail tonnage. Things went from bad to worse for the Santa Maria Valley Railroad. By 1925 it was in the hands of receivers.

George Allan Hancock, who drove the second automobile to be delivered in Los Angeles, had relatives in San Francisco and often drove the roads of those days, sometimes taking three or four days for the rugged trip.

Gaviota Pass and Cuesta Grade were formidable barriers in those days to the horseless carriage.

Often he stopped in Santa Maria and fell in love with the valley and its wonderful climate. He often spoke of standing on a hill above the river northeast of Santa Maria and dreaming of the rich valley’s future.

When he learned that the Santa Maria Valley Railroad was up for sale on the court house steps in Santa Barbara, he directed associates to buy it.

The property was obtained for 875,000.

From that day in 1925 he began to develop the railroad and segments of the valley. He purchased a home ranch of 400 acres one mile east of 11

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ting on a wade street.

the city limits. This, friends said, was done in about 15 minutes at a banker’s desk.

Subsequently he purchased a distressed grazing ranch of 1,800 acres at the head of the valley and during World War II leased about 5,000 acres to bolster food production, ● buying the railroad was to learn to operate it. He became known as the best engineer on the line, but he never replaced a crewman. They always went along for the ride at full pay.

One wheezy old locomotive was the only steam power on the road when he bought it. He at once purchased a new one and also bought the local ice plant, which he rebuilt and enlarged. In time the original steamer was replaced and five more locomotives added. The line was improved and Hancock encouraged farmers in the valley to drill wells and irrigate for row crops the land that had so long produced only dry farming crops.

Among other things he encouraged beet sugar production, for the Union Sugar Company plant at Betteravia was a source of large rail tonnage.

Things went so well that on several occasions the Southern Pacific attempted squeeze plays to take over the S.M.V.R.R. After a few encounters with a determined owner S.P. management committed itself to the policy that the short line railroad should remain in the hands of Capt. Hancock so long as he should live.

During World War II portions of the old Pacific Coast right of way were added to the Santa Maria Valley Railroad, one serving the west side of the city and another the military base which is now the Santa Maria Airport. Still another extension went to the Union Oil Co. refinery and pumping station on Battles Road.

In 1954 the S.M.V.R.R. handled a record volume of 30,787 carloadings.

Since 1930, they say, the road has never lost a dime. This, in spite of the fact that improvements continued and steam power was replaced by DieselElectric. In six years six such units were purchased and put into service but the president and engineer insisted that “Old 21”, his favorite, be main tained and operated at least once a week for he would not give up steam entirely.

In 1962 he hooked that 37-year-old Baldwin to a special train and gave 400 close friends and associates an excursion to Guadalupe and, back in a gala farewell to the last of the steamers. It was retired as a museum piece.

Diesels prevail.

Not only has the Santa Maria Valley Railroad survived the era of steam and short lines, it is still one of the most prosperous and known as “the busiest little short line” in the west.

No one of his employees and associates will deny that Capt. Hancock

did it.

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The Wide Streets of Santa Maria

By Mayor Vinxe Pollard When Isaac Miller, John Thornburg, Rudolph Cook and Isaac Fesler stood at what is now the intersection of Main and Broadway, to lay out a new city, they, to use a trite expression, “builded better than they knew”.

Although it is unlikely they ever dreamed of traffic that would tax the capacity of the city’s streets, they nevertheless decreed the width of those streets would be ample. And ample they are within the original area bounded by streets that bear the names of the four founders of Santa Maria.

There are some interesting theories on the reason for our wide streets.

One school holds that they were made wide enough to turn a six or eight horse hitch. Another maintains the width was established to retard the spread of fire with which most cities were plagued in the early days. Either, or a com bination of both, could be correct but I like to think that those four Pioneers had a great deal of foresight. They realized, as we do today, that a city with broad thoroughfares, preferably tree lined, is a beautiful city. It is a pity the builders who followed our founders did not follow the original layout.

Planning, as we know it today, was probably a theory little considered at the time Santa Maria was founded. We know now that a great deal of expense could be avoided if streets are made wide enough to handle today’s traffic. Yielding to the various developers has caused all but the very heart of the city to depart from these early standards to the detriment of our citizens. Our current planning does provide for such wide streets where needed and street trees are a part of all development.

Although it is no longer necessary even occasionally to turn a six horse team in the center of Santa Maria, the wide streets that we do have make a lasting impression on people who visit our city. The old wooden buildings, which needed wide areas to delay the spread of fire, have either been torn down or burned out. Modern building requirements have proven the wisdom of fire retardant construction in the congested areas. What remains as a heritage from our Pioneer Planners are the broad thoroughfares minus many of the trees.

It is quite possible that one day the people of our city will find it neces sary and desirable to return to the ideas of wide open spaces in the heart of our city.

Mrs. Ida M. Blochman

By Mary Twitchell Clifford The impact of the Blochmans on the early life of Santa Maria is well chronicled in a chapter in “This is Our Valley”, but little mention is made of their more personal interests and activities. They were both interested in education and Mrs. Blochman is particularly remembered as a teacher in the Santa Maria schools.

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Ida M. Twitchell was born in Maine in 1854. Her father, Martin C. Twitchell, with other family connections, moved west and settled in Redfield, Iowa. After her graduation from the Iowa State University at Ames, Miss Twitchell came to California to join her mother and brother, Fremont C. Twitchell. An incident during her first year of teaching in California was rather amusing and characteristic. This was in 1881 and the school was La Graciosa School District, now the town of Orcutt. Since her mother’s place was near the old Pacific Coast Railroad right of way, she walked along the tracks the short distance to school. Her brother thought she should have some sort of protection so he bought her a pistol. To satisfy him she carried it to school, though she knew full well that she would never have the courage to use it. However, she told of one occasion when it served a good purpose.

In the school were several older boys and one day they were creating a disturbance that needed attention. Rather than speak to them, which was what they wanted, she casually placed on her desk, a basket in which she carried her lunch, some school work and on top of these, the pistol. Ap parently giving no thought to the boys, she opened the basket, placed the pistol on her desk, removed some papers, replaced the pistol and closed the basket. Nothing was said, nor was it necessary. Those boys weren’t taking any chances with a “pistol packing schoolmarm”.

While teaching in Santa Maria, Miss Twitchell and Miss Emma Childs of Santa Barbara, another teacher, lived with the Thornburgs, Aunt Minerva and Uncle John, in a two story frame house located at the present site of the Methodist Church. It must have been here that Mr. L. E. Blochman and Mr. McKenzie, the local station agent, came to call on the two witty young women. The two couples were later married and became life-long friends.

A paragraph from “This Is Our Valley” shows Mrs. Blochman to have been a person of great understanding and influence in her community.

“Mrs. Blochman’s keen personal interest in her students, boys as well as girls, brought her the added responsibility of being their advisor after grad uation, when they were in doubt about their future course. She must have welcomed this as an opportunity for instilling in them a greater desire to continue their education. She told many of them to go to college if possible, and if not possible, to acquire an education that would at least make them useful citizens.”

For a few years Mrs. Blochman was a member of the Santa Barbara County Board of Education, and made the trip to Santa Barbara by train to Los Olivos and then by stage over the San Marcos. On one of these trips the stage was held up and the express box and the driver’s gold watch were taken. Mrs. Blochman was on the seat with the driver, so paralyzed with fright that she burst into an hysterical laugh as the stage moved on. Her apparent courage so impressed the driver that he told her that he thought her the bravest woman he ever knew.

While Mrs. Blochman gave most of her time to teaching, her other interests were many and varied. She was a botanist, and for years she collected, classified and pressed the wild flowers of the northern part of the county. She arranged camping trips to Cuyama and Zaca Lake, and her friend Miss Alice Eastwood of the California Academy of Sciences fre quently joined her on these trips. As a part of the County exhibit at the Chicago Exposition' in 1893, was her collection of pressed wild flowers. The 16

MRS. IDA M. BLOCKMAN (Loaned by Mary Clifford Twichell)

University of Chicago requested these for their own herbarium when the Fair closed.

Mrs. Blochman was an excellent cr ok and each year with the help pf the current “hired girl”, she canned fruit and made jellies and jams for the family. Also as a part of the County exhibit at the 1893 Exposition was jelly made by the women of the Valley. They used specially shaped glasses designed for display purposes, and the different colored jellies were very attractive, indeed. Mrs. Blochman took an active part in this project.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Blochman were among the early advocates of the Woman’s Suffrage Movement, and in the early 1890’s they entertained the great leader, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt at their home when she was on a speaking tour of the Coast. Mrs. Blochman and Mrs. Catt were friends from their college days at Ames. After moving to Berkeley, Mrs. Blochman was very active in the suffrage movement during the campaign just prior to the passage of the amendment. In Berkeley she was a member of the city Board of Education, on the Charity Commission, and she took an active interest in local politics.

In his address at the dedication of the Ida M. Blochman Memorial Court of the Santa Maria High School, Mr. Fred Schauer said, “I think that in any characterization of Mrs. Blochman, these two qualities will be empha sized, namely, her wonderful patience and her never failing sense of humor”.

I should like to add hef foresight. I have heard her say many times that she regretted that she could not hope to live to see the great and wonderful changes that were to come. Her death came at age 77, in ^‘^●31.

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I will close this with another quote from the “News-Press’ column, “In Old Santa Barbara”, 75 years ago: “April 5, 1889—At the Teachers’ Institute of Los Angeles County, Mrs. Ida M. Blochmaii of Santa Maria read a paper on ‘Narcotics’ which attracted great attention. The Evening Express reported that she revealed great familiarity with the subject. In an interview she commented that she had dealt with only one subject in her paper, alcohol, but that the twin evil, tobacco, is lying in wait to steal the health and physique of school boys. She advocated that instruction be given in schools regarding the evil effect of the weed.”

(That sounds like something from the Surgeon General’s office, or from our 1965 Police Departments.)

This is only a part of what I remember, for tbe “Beloved Blochmans” of “This is our Valley” are to me, Aunt Ida and Uncle B. and 1 lived with them the greater part of my early life.

The Pioneers Brought Trees to the Valley

By Gertrude Rice France Early one Thursday morning in September 1873, a caravan of wagons carrying nine families and all their possessions, including horses and cattle trailing behind, entered the Santa Maria Valley from the north.

As the migrants looked out over the barren windswept Valley before them—no trees, only low shrubby growth, sagebrush and bunch grass—a sad nostalgic feeling crept over them. They remembered the prosperous farms they had just left behind in the Salinas Valley; homes landscaped with trees, shrubs, and flowers and a family orchard nearby laden with near ripening fruit. However, there was no turning back. They were land hungry.

They had come to settle in the Valley where land could be bought at .a low price. They would work the virgin soil and make money from the crops to buy more land to leave their children as a heritage. They would plant trees and bring beauty to the Valley.

They pressed on, settling on land in the lower part of the Valley east of the little town of Guadalupe.

At once each family set about to dig a well and build a house. Then realizing the value, comfort, and beauty trees would bring to the barren spaces of the Valley, they began to beautify their surroundings. My Grand father Coiner had brought seeds of the Monterey cypress down with him. He .sprouted them in a box; then set out the little green plants.

Today, over ninety years later, two beautiful, stately cypress trees may be seen on the north side of the Guadalupe Road; having weathered many a storm and the mighty winds of the Valley, they stand tall and sturdy.

James Franklin Goodwin arrived in the Valley from Nebraska in 1876.

An enterprising young man of 21, he immediately felt the need of trees to break the desolate expanse and prevent the blowing sands from cutting and covering up tbe young plants. He also saw that providing nursery stock for 18

¥ V- -:

●- r- sif.

Eucalyptus and pepper trees planted by pioneers.

farmers and ranchers might develop into a profitable business venture.

His fi rst shipment of young trees from San Francisco by steamer to Port Harford was lost during a period of storms and wash-outs. By this time others interested in the tree planting movement included William L. Adam, L. E. Blochman, S. F. Jones, and H. M. Newhall, Sr. of the Suey Ranch.

William L. Adam financed Goodwin in starting a nursery. “In 18791880”, said Goodwin, I planted 40,000 eucalyptus trees. The giants in front of Frank McCoy’s Santa Maria Inn were set out on June 1, 1879. H. M. New hall assisted me and supervised the plantings of the grove above the Suey Ranch house in April 1879.

“The seed cost $16.00 a pound and was supposed to contain approxi mately 44,000 seeds. I planted them in beds like cabbage and transplanted the growth when each little plant had about six leaves.

“To induce forestation I furnished and planted trees at one cent each.

Thousands of eucalypti, cypress, and other trees have been planted.”

Thanks to the splendid work of James Goodwin, many magnificent eucalyptus trees lined the county roads of the Valley and guarded its fi elds.

My Grandfather John Rice and William L. Adam planted gums along the road Westward toward Guadalupe.

Many rows and groves of Eucalypti were set out in the sandier soil to the south between Santa Maria and what is now Orcutt. Fremont Twitchell and others in that area took an active part in this planting.

Rows of gums lined my father’s (William H. Rice) property and that of Will McHenry to the east of town. Charles Bradley planted many trees 19

to the southeast of Santa Maria. Tree planting was so successful in the Valley that at one time 100,000 little trees were sold or given away to farmers who would set them out and take care of them.

The trees not only served as a wind break for the farmers but were valuable as a source of fuel for the cooking ranges and fireplaces in the wintertime.

Paul 0. Tietzen bought three-year-old pepper trees from William Abies at a job lot price. Abies had grown them in his back yard. Tietzen, together with Blochman and Goodwin, interested owners on both sides of Broadway south of Cypress Street to plant them out. Later owners in other parts of town set them along their property. It is said that some were paid for and some were given away. Many were planted in Buena Vista Park, where their featherlike branches provided ample shade for the picnickers.

It was under large pepper trees between the windmill and the house on our farm east of town that we as a family spent many a happy afternoon together. Here was a swing, a home-made merry-go-round, tables and benches.

During melon season, in the evening after school, we would come together under these peppers to enjoy one of my brother Elmer’s prize watermelons.

Santa Maria, then known as Central City, was laid out in 1875. The little settlement grew fast; by 1891 within half a mile to the southwest was a prettily planned park of ten acres. This has been known through the years as Buena Vista Park. Eucalyptus trees were planted on the south and west boundaries. A pavilion stood on the mid-west side. Here the people of the Valley gathered to enjoy the annual May Day picnic and to celebrate the Fourth of July. After a ‘rousing program’ in the morning the picnickers spread their lunches out on the ground under the trees. The older ones often brought boxes to sit on while we youngsters squatted on the ground. The afternoon was spent in visiting or dancing in the pavilion such dances as the lancers, rye waltz, polka, or varsoviana.

Rows of pepper trees lined the walks from the pavilion to the east side.

In 1902, The Ladies’ Literary Society, now known as the Minerva Club, gave $300.00 to dig a well and install a windmill at the park. When the windmill failed to work, the ladies went in their buggies with buckets of water to keep the trees alive. The sentiment aroused led to voting bonds for a water system for Santa Maria.

During the 1880’s and 1890’s there was a general attempt to raise fruit in the Valley and many trees were planted. By 1891 fruit raising was be coming an important industry. Apricots, prunes, and Bartlett pears were the varieties most cultivated.

In 1891 Isaac Miller had twenty-five acres of apricots five years old and fifteen acres of French prunes four years old. There were 108 trees to the acre. In 1889 he sold 13 tons of dried apricots at $200.00 a ton. One year the prune trees loaded almost to breaking brought $3,000.00 while the dried apricot yield selling for 16c per pound produced $7,000.00.

Thomas Boyd, an enterprising fruit man who had come from Santa Clara Valley, set out approximately 160 acres in apricot trees on land six miles southeast of town. Here in a large cutting shed many women and children from the Valley spent their vacation cutting the ripened fruit and placing it on trays for drying. He was one of the most successful fruit 20

growers of the Valley during the period when orchards were common to the area.

Willard Lee and George McMurtery also from the vicinity of San Jose set out 40 acres and 80 acres respectively in apricots, prunes, and pears.

George W. Lincoln had 40 acres of fruit trees on land adjoining the Rice School yard.

L. E. Blochman set out a mixture of trees on his Cat Canyon ranch (later Palmer Oil Lease). He sold fresh fruit and also did some drying.

Most of the fruit grown was dried, although in 1891 a cannery was started with William Adam as president, Blochman secretary, and O. W. Maulsby as sales manager. They agreed to pay one cent per pound for fruit on the trees. “As a result many growers were the proud possessors of their first bank account”, writes 0. W. Maulsby in “A -Rolling Stone”. The follow ing is also quoted from this book: “However, Grover Cleveland had come in for a second term as President of the United States. One of his first acts was to remove the import duty on canned and cured fruits, thereby flooding the market with cheap foreign stuff. There were eighty-five canneries on the coast and all closed but one.”

The Santa Maria cannery lasted to the end of the season.

While the trees did well the first few years and the fruit produced was' of an excellent quality, the orchards succumbed to the dry years of 18971898. There was no irrigation at that time to keep them alive, so the trees were eventually pulled.

Santa Maria Daily Times, February 23, 1932, states: “With appropriate community ceremonies a George Washington Me morial grove was planted and dedicated in Santa Maria County Park yester day afternoon, where nearly 1,500 residents of Santa Maria Valley gathered to pay honor to the 200th birthday anniversary of the first President of the United States.

“Authorized to sponsor the project by the Federal Government Bi centennial Association, the garden section of the Minerva Club received practically 100 per cent cooperation from Santa Maria schools, clubs, and non-commercial organizations.

“Fifty live oak trees donated by various groups were planted by repre sentatives of associations.

“In addition the Japanese Association of Guadalupe contributed 50 flowering cherry trees for the grove.”

L. D. Waller, co-proprietor of Waller-Franklin Seed Company of Guada lupe and chairman of the County Forestry Board, was in charge of arrange ments for the celebration. He sponsored the further development of Santa Maria’s beautiful park.

After his death in 1940, the name Washington Grove was changed to Waller Park, honoring the man who gave so much of his time and energy to see his dream of transforming the sand dunes of the park by planting more trees and seedin'g lawns, into a playground of beauty, come true.

At the beginning of the century the Union Sugar Company was estab lished at Betteravia. Artesian wells around the lake furnished gushing waters to wet the parched lands of the company to grow beets for sugar. This was the beginning of irrigation in the Valley.

21

Farmers all over the Valley began boring wells on their property. The growing of alfalfa, sugar beets, vegetables ,and flowers was substituted for barley, beans, and dry land crops. This modified the winds. The eucalyptus trees were no longer needed so much as a wind break; in fact they were considered to be sapping the land. So, many along the county roads have been removed.

One may still find ancient pepper trees in town—gnarled and shaken with age—but most have been removed.

The tree planting program of the pioneers has undoubtedly been the basis for transforming the wind-swept barren spaces into the “Valley of Gardens” as it is widely known today. Now, no one can wish to live in a more delightful climate than in ‘^This Is Our Valley”.

We wish here to express our thanks to Mrs. Harry C. Dorsey for so ably bringing together the articles on the Santa Maria Valley that appear in this issue of Noticias. Mrs. Dorsey is Editor-in-chief of the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society. It was she who edited the volume “This Is Our Valiev.

Editor of Noticias

Officers & directors of the Santa

Maria

Historical Society

are:

OFFICERS President 1st Vice President...

2nd Vice President.

3rd Vice President.

4th Vice President.

Dr. William S. Houpt .Mrs. Gertrude Rice France Mrs. A. B. Hanson ...Mr. Emerson A. Stoskopf Mrs. Donald E. Wilson Mrs. James D. McLanahan Mr. Walter Stokes Miss Elizabeth H. Scott

Secretary Treasurer Curator

DIRECTORS Mr. Leonard H. Adam Mr. John F. Adam, Jr. Mr. Leo E. Acquistapace Mr. Howard C. Brown Mr. Francis J. Calderon Mr. Walter Conrad Mrs. Harry C. Dorsey (Edilor) Mr, Donald F. Dunlap

.Mr. Henry R. Gewe Mr. Gordon Gill .Mr. George S. Hobbs, Jr. Mr. William B. Johnson Mr. Gaylord J. Jones Miss May Kellogg Mrs. Edgar A. Laubengayer Mr. Robert S. Magee Mr. Elwin E. Mussell

22

Mr. Hugh K. Radke .Mr. Owen S. Rice Mrs. Robert P. Sheehy Mr. Frederick O. Sherrill, Jr. .Mrs. Arthur R. Tognazzini Mrs. Gordon G. Tucker Mr. Burton J. Twitchell Mr. Richard P. Weldon Mr. .Allan M. Woods

Santa Maria Inn, Santa Maria, California (Drawn about 1920 by Edward Borcin)

SANTA BARBARA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

NEW MEMBERS ACTIVE Mrs. James B. Brooks Mrs. Jay Chilton Mrs. Robert Dyke Mr. and Mrs. Michael Harrison Mr. Jerry Hass Mr. and Mrs. Frank B. Julian Mr. and Mrs. Edward Kemble Mrs. D. 0. Murchison Rev. and Mrs. Norman C. Nelson Mrs. Zerita Felix

Mr. Armando Felix Security Title Insurance Co. SUSTAINING Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Coats, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Albert J. Pico PATRON Mr. George F. Frederick Judge Atwell Westwick Mrs. Ann Starr Westwick

GIFTS Dr. Nils Bolduan Mr. Marshall Bond Mrs. I. A. Bonilla Dr. J. N Bowman Miss Pearl Chase Mrs. C. L. Cobb Mr. Elbert S. Conner Miss Minerva A. Cross Mrs. Marian Daniels Miss Marian De Gruchy Mr. Carl C. Dickinson Mr. Carlos Dieguez Mr. Robert E. Easton Mr. Charles Fall

Mr. Thomas B. Faunce Miss J. M. Johnson Mr. Elmer Jones Mr. Frank B. Julian Mrs. William Keefe Mrs. Edward Kemble Dr. Hilmar 0. Koefod Mr. Fred Lewis Mrs. Abel Maldonado Mr. Peveril Meigs Mrs. Denzel McDonald and Miss Leah McDonald Mr. Robin McKeone Santa Barbara News-Press

Mrs. M. Russell Perkins B. W. Rogers Co. Mr. Russell Ruiz San Mateo County Historical Society Security Title Insurance Co. Mrs. Harold Sheets Mr. Richard Smith The Society of California Pioneers Title Insurance and Trust Co. Miss Susan Trenwith Dr. Irving Wills Mrs. A. Yulo

IN MEMORIAM Mrs. John J. Oliver Mrs. James Ord Mr. L. Lyman Pope Mr. Louis S. Taylor Mrs. George Weld

Mr. Francis Price Mrs. Herbert T. King Mrs. Samuel Stanwood Dr. William H. Ellison Mrs. Harold S. Gladwin

SANTA BARBARA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

OFFICERS President

●Dr. Hilmar 0. Koelod

First Vice Presidenl....

Second Vice President.

Hugh J. Weldon Mrs. Wilson Forbes Paul G. Sweetser

Secretary' Treasurer

Mrs. Henry Griffiths -Thomas J. McDermott

Past President

DIRECTORS Mrs. Charles H. Cannon Rev. Virgil Cordano John D. Gill Mrs. W. Edwin GledhiR Yale B. Griffith

Elmer H. Whittaker Dr. Irving N. Wills John Galvin* Thomas M. Storke*

John Jordano, Jr. Mrs. Godwin Pelissero Edward S. Spaulding Lockwood Tower Garrett Van Horne

W. Edwin Cledhill ●> Mrs. W. Edwin Cledhill...

Mrs. Henry Griffiths Edward Selden Spaulding

* Honorary Directors

Museum Director Curator ●Executive Secretary Editor-in-Chief

HISTORICAL SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP Classes of membership: Benefactor, $100; Patron, $25; Contributing, $15; Sustaining, $10; Active, $7.50; Student, $5. Dues are tax deductible.

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