A compendium of events that had an effect on the development and history of Rossmoor and Los Alamitos.
1891
Shortly before John Bixby’s estate is settled in 1891, the rest of Rancho Alamitos is divided among the partners.
The northern western portion of the Rancho adjacent to the Rancho Los Cerritos (including what would later become the main part of the town of Los Alamitos) are assigned to the J. Bixby Company. [Although within this area, according to Darrel Neighbors — long-time employee and confidante of the Bixbys many companies — , the portion that would become Lakewood went to Jotham, and Lewellyn assumed control of the East Long Beach/Los Alamitos portion.
Isaias W. Hellman received the third that is in Orange County below the present Garden Grove Freeway, which includes most of the current area of Seal Beach.
John’s widow, Susan, and his children, Fred and Susanna, received the central portion of the land, south of present Fahrquhar , and north of the Garden Grove Freeway (or 2nd Street in Long Beach). This area included the ranch house and gardens, the barns, and the corrals.
Of the part inherited by John W. Bixby’s family, half (the center of the rancho, with the ranch house, the area around present Cal State Long Beach) went to his widow, Susan, and quarter shares were given to his children, Susanna and Fred. In the latter part was the area we now call Rossmoor.
19 APRIL 1891 –
LA Times, p.3 – Jotham Bixby is one of many named to the committee to welcome U.S. President ____ on hs upcoming visit to Los Angeles.
The first sugar beets grown in Orange County were shipped to Chino where the Oxnard Brothers, who owned two other plants in Colorado and Nebraska had built a sugar beet factory in 1891. [In 1898, they would later build an even bigger plant in that part of Ventura Country that became Oxnard.]
23 FEB 1891 –
Flood records – 2.75 inches rainfall – Moderate Many washouts. Bridges carried away. River high.
RAILROAD INCORPORATIONS IN 1891 –
Annual report of the Board of Railroad Commission of the State of California By Board of Railroad Commissioners of the State of California, California Public
Long Beach And Alamitos Bay Railway Company. A consolidation of the Los Angeles and Ocean Railway Company, and Long Beach and Alamitos Bay Railway Company.
Length, 22 miles.
Gauge, standard.
Capital stock, $100,000.
Articles filed September 8, 1891.
DIRECTORS.
E. Bouton Los Angeles.
S. 0. Houghton : Los Angeles.
T. B. Burnett Los Angeles.
E. P. Johnson Los Angeles.
James Campbell .Los Angeles.
A. W. Barrett Los Angeles.
H. L. Bissell Los Angeles.
1892
J Ross Clark settles in Los Angeles. J. Ross Clark was rail thin and 6 feet tall, towering over his senatorial brother, who was 11 years his senior. Ross Clark was an able banker and mining man in his own right. Poor health drove him to Los Angeles in 1892. His health improved, and he settled in, and undoubtedly became very familiar with the entire area. In 1896 the two brothers bought thousands of acres in Los Angeles County, planted sugar beets and built a factory to process them, introducing a new industry.
Southern California: an authentic description of its natural features … By Southern California Bureau of Information, p.37-38
Butter and Cheese. . >
increased largely in Southern California during the past five years. This section is eminently adapted to the dairy business. An acre of alfalfa will supply four cows with green food the year round, and this may be supplemented with beets, squash, and corn, which, as already shown, yield remarkable crops. The chief dairying districts of Southern California are in the Santa Maria Valley, Santa Barbara County, and the Los Nietos Valley, Los Angeles County. A condensed-milk factory is in operation at Buena Park, in Orange County. There is much money to be made in the dairy business by those who understand it and have sufficient means to establish themselves, and introduce their product on the market. Good butter averages from 35 to 45 cents a pound. What has been said of butter, applies equally as well to cheese. There are several cheese factories in Southern California, and room for more.
FEB 1893 – The Sugar Beet, Vol. 14, No. 2, p.22, (published March 1893). ,
To the editor of The Sugar Beet:
The California season has been most successful; the Chino factory was the first to finish the campaign and the Watsonville Co., the last. the beets for the latter had nt all been worked by december.
Mr. Gird [of Chino] continues to be the leading spirit of agricultural enterprise in the State; his idea at present is to devise some means for extending the the duration of the beet-sugar campaign. his plan, already discussed in your journal, is to cultivate early-maturing beets. With this idea in mind, 30 acres have been planted with such beets, to be ready for use in May, several weeks before the regular crop matures. For ths purpose it is thought his ranch has special advantages owing to the great variety of soil.
The Anaheim Sugar Beet and Land Company lately has been showing considerable activity. The Stearns Ranch Company is to guarantee 500 acres in beets. These, with the farmers ciontract, will assure a good crtop of beets for the Anaheium factory, when built.
The annual consumpion of sugar in California is said to be 90,000 tons. It is estimated that 25 factories, working 300 tons per diem would be necessary to meet the future demand for sugar. Owing to the possible withdrawal of bounty, capitalists do not appear to be disposed to risj money in beet-sugar enterprises, notwithstanding the exceptional advantages this state offers. The Anaheim Sugar Company is siad to have a capital of $60,000 [?]. This is entirely too small to give any assurance of a successful future. Very truly, Rialto.
San Francisco, Feb. 1893.
Note: The Anaheim Sugar Baeet and Land Company would be Frank Capitain’s Cooperative. I am wondering if P.A. Stanton was the 50 acres committed by the Stearns Rancho Company?
26 APR 1892 – Oysters planted in Alamitos Bay in attempt to start new local industry
The Quarterly, Vol. 3-4, p.16-17 , Historical Society of Southern, Los Angeles County Pioneers of Southern California
A new industry is always beneficial to a community, and I take pleasure in announcing the fact that in a commercial way the edible mollusks of Los Angeles County bid fair to become an important addition in supplying a demand. In 1892 a company was organized at Long Beach, for the purpose of planting and raising eastern oysters in Los Angeles County. The company was named, “The Alamitos Oyster Company.” It was incorporated in 1893, with the following officers: President, Jotham Bixby; Vice-President, John McGarvin; Sec. and Treas., Will F. Sweeny; John W. McGarvin, L. Lovett, and T. G. McGarvin.
On April 26, 1892, three hundred pounds of “spat” or seed oysters were received and planted at Alamitos Bay, four miles distant from the Long Beach Park, and at the mouth of New River. The seed were from Baltimore, being the York river variety. They are presumably the Eastern oyster known as Ostrea Virginica, and those at Long Beach are said to be from seed “as fine as any Eastern oyster.” Mr. John McGarvin, the Vice-President of the company, to whom I am indebted for data, says: “The few we have (Nov. 24, ’93,) are of good marketable size, but, as they are multiplying, we would not dispose of any until our grounds are stocked. We will make a large planting next March.” He does not expect to begin to market the oyster for two years.
The Eastern oysters were planted in the same waters and in close proximity to our native oysters. Mr. McGarvin says the company has had no serious trouble with the latter, nor with Nassa and other carnivorous shell f1sh.
As this is said to be the first attempt in Southern California to introduce the Eastern oyster for culture, it is a cause for congratulation, especially when scientists are becoming alarmed at the depletion of the Eastern oyster beds. President Daniel C. Gihnan of the Johns Hopkins University, writing in 1891, of the danger of an oyster famine in Maryland, enumerates the trades and industries that would suffer in case of an oyster famine in that State: “It is not only the dredgers, the dealers, the shuckers, the packers, the coopers, the tinners and the carriers, but everybody in Maryland would suffer more or less.” This gives us some idea of the commercial value of oyster beds. In a recent number of The Popular Science [Monthly (November, ’93,) a writer says: “In the present conditions an oyster famine is not far away nor an impossible contingency. We have been large consumers of oysters, and we did not sow where we have reaped.”
In the light of such a revelation of the natural oyster beds of the United States, an industry tending to counteract such a depletion should be encouraged, especially upon the coast of Southern California, where the native products are inferior in quality.
University, Los Angeles Co., Cal., Dec. 12, 1893.
* * * *
As a year has elapsed since this report was written for our H1storical Society, it is necessary that later data be added in regard to the oyster industry in Los Angeles county. In a letter received from Mr. McGarvin, dated Dec. 13, 1894, ne says the oysters of Alamitos Bay are equally large as those of the same age raised in the East. The oyster ground now embraces the whole of Alamitos and Anaheim Bays. The outlook is very hopeful for this industry. No star fish nor carnivorous shell ish have been detected among the oyster beds. The oyster company had one carload of oyster seed shipped from the East that were nearly all dead when they arrived. This will set the industry back, as the oysters now in the bays cannot be marketed but must be reserved for propagation.
Mr. McGarvin says as a proof of the confidence the company have in the ultimate success of the local oyster industry, that none of the stock has been sold, although many are desirous of purchasing.
It is possible that the shipment of carloads of Eastern oysters may result in also planting the fry of other shell fish from the East in San Pedro Bay. OAya arenaria L. and Urosalpinx cinerea are now propagating in San Francisco Bay as the result of the introduction of Eastern oysters in that bay. Local shell collectors will do well to be on the alert for Eastern forms that may appear in San Pedro Bay.
The laws of California are encouraging in regard to the cultivation of oysters. A copy of these laws will be found in “Oyster Resources of the Pacific Coast,” by Charles H. Townsend, published by the U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries.
The activity of local conchologists has not abated during the year 1894. A new Chiton from the channel off San Pedro has been reported upon.* Mr. T. S. Oldroyd obtained this Chiton “from a stone pulled up from about seventy-five fathoms.” It is called Lepidopleurus percrassus (Dall) and Dr. Dall says of this new form, for which he has proposed a new section, that it “is very remarkable.” It is probable that other new shells have been collected in San Pedro Bay this year, but as they have not been named and described, further particulars are needed for confirmation. (I have Miss Shepard’s authority in regard to the probability of new shells found in San Pedro Bay.) Shells new to this locality are collected each year.
Dec. 31,1894.
*See The Nautilus for December, 1894, page 90, for a decription of this shell.
1893
Fred Bixby begins attending the University of California — a school where I.W. Hellman is a regent, and no doubt has influence.
11 SEP 1893,- Grain Gathering at Los Alamitos
LA Times: The work of gathering the grain from the Alamitos ranch fields has begun. The crop this season amounts to something over 40,000 sacks.
Jotham and Lewellyn Bixby incorporate the Loma Vista Company. A later bio of Jotham Bixby would describe this as “a corporation owning about 800 acres near Summit Station, on both the Redondo and San Pedro electric railways.”
21 MAR 1893 – Flood records – 2.82 inches rainfall – Moderate Streets flooded.
1892 & 1893 – Land Grants Fred H. & Susan P. Bixby to J.B. Pierce (Source: OC Grantees)
1894
6 JAN 1894 – (OC Grantees) – Jotham Bixby to E.F. Dyer. (Transaction 93-9 & 93-39)
Philip A. Stanton arrives in California. Is hired as land agent for I.W. Hellman’s western Alamitos properties. “Mr. Stanton soon became familiar with every foot of the land in his charge. A short distance back of the bay, there is a ridge or hill with an elevation about 48 feet that existed the enitre width of the distance between the two bays. Making inquiries from the people who lived on the
J.C. Ord settles in the Los Alamitos area and opens a general store. Originally from Vermont, Ord was a Civil War veteran who (per Jean Dorr, A Story of Seal Beach, p.7) reportedly “witnessed the surrender of Robert E. Lee’s sword at Appamattox Court House,” (ed. note: a nice story, but Grant specifically did not ask Lee to surrender his sword.) After Ord was mustered out, he traveled to Panama, crossed the isthmus by mule pack, moved up through Mexico and began a several years trek through California before settling in the Rancho Los Alamitos area.
27 MAR 1894 – Papers of I.W. Hellman
IW Hellman to P.A. Stanton
March 27, 1894
P.A. Stanton Esq.
PO Box 1545, Anaheim, Cal
Dear Sir: –
Your favor of the 23rd inst. Is received. I do not feel like cutting up my land on East Washington Street, Los Angeles, but will sell the same as a whole. If you can obtain a favorable bid for it, I will consider the same. Yours truly.
29 JUN 1894 – LA Times; The large steam threshing outfit is at work on the Alamitos ranch. The crop is light and will not exceed 5000 sacks.
Anaheim Cooperative Beet Sugar Company incorporated in January 1894. Some time after that, J. Bixby & Co. conveyed 120 acres of land, in the place where the Los Alamitos factory was eventually built, to that company in return for half of the company’s capital stock. Apparently the Anaheim company was unsuccessful in building a beet sugar factory because none appears in lists of early California sugar factories. Another indication of its lack of success is that, in January 1897, it quitclaimed the 120 acres and ten more located farther east, in Orange County, to Bixby Land Company.
Captain signed, along with other Anaheim Board members, a letter to Congress asking them to keep the 2 cents a pound “bounty” for each pound of sugar produced.
20 DEC 1894 – Papers of I.W. Hellman
Dec. 20th, 1894(handwritten)
San Francisco, Dec.
Alamitos Land Co., Long Beach, Los Angeles Ca.—
Cannot come. Why not take my deposition here. Isaias Hellman,.
21 DEC 1894 – Flood records – 1.33 inches rainfall – Light Streets flooded.
1895
17-18 JAN 1895 – Flood records – 1.73 inches rainfall – Light Streets flooded.
JULY 1895 – Bixby Investment Company is organized. The company’s incorporation papers indicate that the amount of capital stock which has actually been subscribed is One Million Dollars.” A good part of this must have been the value assigned to the 7,136 acres of land that was conveyed to the company by Jotham and Margaret Bixby, Lewelly Bixby and Thomas and Mary Flint. Of the company’s 10,000 shares, 9,980 were owned by members of J. Bixby & Co. (including ten shares owned by Jotham’s son, George H.) The other two shares were owned by Dyer and Capitain. Although he owned only one share of stock, Dyer was elected President of the Company.
On July 22, 1895, a few days after the Bixby investment Company was organized, [Jotham Bixby?] transferred 4,000 acres of land to the Cerritos Sugar Company for “one dollar.” The Cerritos Company had been incorporated on July 17, 1895, and 3,995 of its 4,000 shares were owned by the Bixby Investment Company
31 JAN 1895 – Papers of Isaias W Hellman, Letter to Susan Bixby
Jan. 31, 1895
Mrs. Susan B. Bixby
Berkeley, Cal.
Dear Madam: I have been expecting to go to Los Angeles the past four weeks but have been unable to leave San Francisco and the Stockholders Meeting of the Alamitos Land Co has therefore not taken place.
Since you are residing in Berkeley and there is often no quorum present at the Directors Meeting, would it not be advisable that for the time being you instruct your representatives to vote at the next meeting for George H. Bixby who can always attend in place of your good self. I make this suggestion because the business requires it.
Yours truly.
Feb. 1
Will F. Sweeney, Esq. Sec’y.
Alamitos Land Company
Long Beach, Cal
Dear Sir: I beg to notify you that my son, Mr. I.W. Hellman, Jr., will leave this afternoon to Los Angeles. He holds my proxies to vote my stock. I suggest you met Monday morning at the Farmers & Merchants Bank and proceed with the election of the officers for the upcoming year. Please notify Mr. Jotham and Mr. Lewellyn Bixby. I wrote you yesterday; suppose my letter has been received.
Feb 18, 1895
Dictated by IWH
Alamitos Land. Co.,
Long Beach Cal.
Gentlemen: –
Yours with statement is received. It will take me several days to examine it. I will then send the same to Mr. Bixby. Yours truly.
March 2nd
Alamitos Land Company
Long Beach, Cal
Gentlemen:
Your this morning’s telegram is received and has been answered to-wit:
“Without water rights Yes. Otherwise agreeable also if Mr. Jotham “Bixby recommends sale.”
I desire to say to you that I am not posted as to the value of acreage property but we have spent so much money for our water system that unless we get fair prices there would be no advantage in selling. At all events, I again wish to state that if Mr. Jotham Bixby and Mr. Lewellyn Bixby think well of any sale of our lands or of any offer we might have, I shall certainly acquiesce to their decision as I have perfect faith in all that these gentlemen recommend. I expect to be in Los Angeles within 10 days and hope to meet you.
With much respect, I am, Yours truly,
March 4, 1895
Alamitos Land Company
Long Beach, Cal
Gentlemen,
Yours just received this inst. M. Jotham Bixby at this time in my office. We both read the letter + after discussing the same wrote you As follows:
“Letter received, Jotham Bixby here, we consent to sale on your recommendation.” Yours truly I.W. Hellman
I.W. Hellman Papers
March 4, 1895
P.A. Stanton, Esq.
Los Angeles,
Dear Sr, Your favor 1st inst is received. I expect to come to Los Angeles shortly when I will discuss the several subjects with you. If you have an offer for any property in the meantime, please refer the same to me here. I.W. Hellman
I.W. Hellman Papers
Apr 11, 1895
P.A. Stanton, Esq.
Los Angeles,
Dear Sir:
Your favor of the 8th inst. Is received. In reply I beg to say that my son will visit Los Angeles next week when he will discuss the several subjects with you, and likewise try to go over the ground and determine upon a town site on my Alamitos property.
Yours truly.
I.W. Hellman Papers
Apr. 27, 1895
P.A. Stanton, Esq.
Los Angeles,
Dear Sir:
Your favor of the 22nd is received. I am equally sorry that you did not meet my son while he was in Los Angeles as informs me that he had made several appointments with you and was unable to have a meeting. I suppose the Fiesta excitement has kept you all busy and business was at a standstill then.
Referring to the projected townsite at the Anaheim Landing I agree with you that not a moment is to be lost and I should go to work at once were not the renters in the way who have leased the property for this year and will not give it up. I fear we will have to postpone it for another season. I will this fall keep as much of the beach site out of my lease as will enable me next year if we are still in the land of the living, to go ahead with the project. I think the season for active business in your section is passed or this year and that any property that is now sold will either be at a sacrifice or to purchasers who want identical pieces. Next winter though you may expect a large influx of Eastern people and I shall on my next visit to Los Angeles in a month or two make preparations to put the property in a condition for sale when the opportunity presents itself. Yours truly, Isais Hellman.
I.W. Hellman Papers
May 9th, 1895
P.A. Stanton, Esq.
Los Angeles,
Dear Sir:-
Enclosed find letter from Mr. Geo. A Dunn. I am not posted on what he asks. Do the best that you think in your judgment is right in the matters. Yours truly.
I.W. Hellman Papers,
May 15th, 1895
P.A. Stanton, Esq.
Los Angeles,
Dear Sir:
I have received the enclosed letter from Messrs. Stern Bros. which after reading please return to me. Do the best you an in the matter as I do not wish any trouble from my renters. Nor do I desire that thy should be made to lose money if it can be avoided, nevertheless as you are on the spot I do not wish to interfere in the matter and you must use your best judgement.
So far I have not been advised by you in reference to my tax assessment in Orange County for the coming year. What has the assessor done? Please write me fully on the subject.
The Long Beach and Santa Ana proposed road is still hanging fire as the railroad is asking more than some of us want to grant. If anything new transpires, I shall keep you posted. Yours truly.
I.W. Hellman Papers,
May 21st, 1895
P.A. Stanton, Esq.
Los Angeles,
Dear Sr:
Your favors of the 1th and 20th are received. As stated to you in a previous letter in the matter of Mr. Dunn lease and the payment of money in lieu of grain, I leave it in your hands to do what is just and proper to all parties concerned.
I am sorry not to be able to give you any encouragement in reference to placing the Bonds here which are proposed to be issued by the Sugar Factory people as San Francisco is a very poor market for these securities.
If President Fowler calls I shall be pleased to meet him and if possible to be of some assistance to him. Yours truly.
May 25th, 1895
P.A. Stanton, Esq.
Los Angeles,
Dear Sir:
Yours of the 23rd inst. Is received. I approve your action in placing $1925.00 Insurance on my one-fourth interest in the grain crop on the Alamitos Ranch. Yours truly.
May 28th, 1895
P.A. Stanton, Esq.
Los Angeles,
Dear Sir:
Yours of the 25th inst with Map of Subdivsions of Blocks A&E of the Estrella tract is received. The map is herewith returned.
You are authorized to make the mentioned expenses, in sixty ($60.00) Dollars for surveying, staking out and making official Map of the subdivision.
You have not returned to me the list of proposed priced for which we should sell the property, which kindly do at once. Yours truly.
June 3rd, 1895
P.A. Stanton, Esq.
Los Angeles,
Dear Sir:
Yours of the 31st ulto. Is received.
18 JULY 1895 – (LA Daily Journal, p8, col.1) Bixbys form Cerritos Sugar Company. (newly formed board, articles of incorporation) Board of Directors – Thomas H. Flint, George H. Bixby, Lewellyn Bixby, Frank Capitain, Edward F. Dyer, directors). Jotham is apparently not listed as one of the directors, possibly giving more strength to the argument that the factory was more Llewellyn’s project — or even possibly George H. Bixby).
AUG 1895 – The Sugar Beet, published October 1895, p57
From Califorxia.
Editor Of Sugar Beet:
Opinions continue to differ respecting the value of lime as a fertilizer on the Chino moist soils ! ! Well, the Chino Valley has had the army worm to contend with. Just what influence these enemies of the beet will have upon the crop remains to be seen ; one fact is certain, farmers showed plenty of activity in ploughing trenches into which the worms fall. Recall in many past issues of your journal that you have suggested means for the destruction of these worms ; hence the reason that complete files of The Sugar Beet should be within easy access of the entire farming population of this State.
The Chino Champion describes a new harvester, which is certainly very much like the one illustrated in your journal some time since. How much better it would be to import a few of the machines that have already given great satisfaction, rather than attempt inventing something that, after all, may be a poor imitation, ” The machine consists of an upright wheel, about four feet in diameter, with a wooden tire about ten Inches broad. Through perforations in this tire project several rows of spikes, close enough together to strike all the beets in the row. As the machine is driven along the row its weight drives these spikes into the heads of the beets. At the same time a pair of lifters running under the wheel loosen the beet, which is raised out of the ground and carried by the spikes up over the wheel to a sharp knife set diagonally, which slices off the beet from the crown and lets it fall into a box, which drops the beets in piles,” etc.
The Chino Ranch Company continues to give great evidence of enterprise ; it points out the advantage of the land for dairying purposes ; 11,000 acres of the 40,000 are said to be well adapted to the dairy industiy. The pasture affords rich food until midsummer, when the deficiency is supplied by beet pulp. The dairymen who have used this residuum declare that it ” has no equal as a milk producer.” No stable is needed ; no great consumption of food to maintain the cattle during long winter months, is in itself an advantage not found in the Eastern States. The question remains, ” Will it not be possible in the near future to ship butter from lower California, and deliver it in most centers of the United States at less price than the existing market rates of Eastern States?
The campaign at Chino commenced in July ; it is said that about 100,000 tons will be worked this year ; and many farmers declare that the crop will be the best on record. About 300 to 500 tons of Anaheim beets were disposed of per diem. It is important to note, that most of the sugar during the Chino campaign will be shipped over a new branch of the Southern Pacific ; this will offer special advantages from a commercial point of view.
At Watsonville beet fields Japanese laborers appear to contract for thinning at very low rates; a fact is certain, that thinning can be done there at j6.oc per acre. It is interesting to note, that many farmers are giving Plaster of Paris a fair trial on their soil. It certainly has many advantages, and if most of the objectionable salts can be neutralized by it, the residuum from filter presses in beet-sugar factories could then be utilized with great advantage.
At Anaheim it was urged that a special plan be adopted for unloading beets. It is an elevator which consists of an endless chain worked by a special engine, The beets upon arriving at station are dumped into a large pit and from there carried up to cars ; the entire labor of loading requires only two men. It has been understood that 20 cents per ton from the proceeds of the farmers’ sale of beets shall be retained; with this money the unloading appliance is to be paid for. It remains to be seen just within what limits the beets will be bruised by this method.
I learn that in many instances at Anaheim the men were receiving Si.25 per day for thinning, and every few days they would strike. Finally they were discharged and Chinese labor used instead. Slight disturbances followed. The contract with Dyer for the Anaheim factory has been actually signed and all will be ready for campaign 1896.
The Alameda Sugar Company has published a most useful pamphlet, giving instructions about the preparation of the soil, seeding, weeding, etc. It is recommended that sub-soil plowing follow the regular plowing, so as to reach a total depth of fourteen inches. Attention is called to the importance of using lime in cases where a sour clay is brought to the surface ; this alkali neutralizes the acidity which would otherwise destroy vegetation. Drainage of wet soils should never be neglected. It is important not to use less than ten pounds of seed per acre. The soil should get quite dry before rolling after seeding.
Certain reports have been circulated that when sugar factories are in considerable number in the State the sugar extraction will average 12>£ fc white sugar. This is certainly a mistake and shows that there are many facts overlooked. When giving yields of sugar per ton of beets, as recently published in your journal, those yields were raiu sugar, and would be considerably diminished if considered as sugar testing 99° purity. To make any calculation as to the additional sugar that could be obtained by supposing it is all extracted from molasses, is a waste of time. The main and important molasses utilization is for alcohol manufacture.
It is interesting to note that sample packages of sugar-beet seed are distributed by certain newspapers, to determine what the adaptability is of certain lands in out-of-the-way centres for sugar-beet cultivation. It is claimed that Kern county is destined to be an important beet-sugar centre. An original plan has been adopted at Guadalupe, with the view to determine what the prospects are for a factory ; it consists in distributing blanks, to be filled and forwarded to a central office, stating area that will be devoted to beets in case a factory is started. The blanks are published in the local papers.
The sugar industry of this State has commenced to assume proportions that many overlook; nearly % of the total freight of the Southern and Central Pacific roads out of San Francisco is composed of sugar and syrup from Mr. Spreckels’ sugar refinery. The beet-sugar manufacturers look forward to their share of the $238,289 appropriation bill for sugar bounties earned prior to August 28, 1894; also for a pro rata amount of the £5,000,000 for bounties at the rate of 8-10 cents per pound on sugar produced from August, 1894, to June 30, 1895.
Agitation continues in Yuba and Sutter for sugar factories ; it remains to be seen what results will follow beet cultivation in the semi-alkali lands of that vicinity. Experiments on moist land would never be attempted in Europe. The theory of this alkali-land utilization in California is destined by practical experiments to demonstrate that sugar crystallization and alkali do not go together; almost certainly ruin awaits those who believe the contrary.
In conclusion I would say, I am informed that an owner of
40,000 acres of land at Red Bluff has become very much interested in sugar-beet cultivation ; and there is a possibility of a factory being built in that centre.
Very truly, San Francisco, August, 1895. Rialto.
1895 — Anaheim developed a municipal Electric Light System. Steam was used to power the electricity until 1916.