One of the best things about Google’s effort to digitize library book collections is that much information on the early days of Los Alamitos has popped up in a number of very unexpected sources. Extensive information which we have been already sharing on this site has been spelunked from the three major beet sugar industry … Read more
12 FEB 1901, Los Alamitos Man battered (LA Times) R.E. Powell of Los Alamitos came before a Long Beach judge and lodged a “John Doe” complaint, charging a Belgian laborer with assault. Powell gives an account of mistreatment and shows some ugly wounds in support of his statement. Powell says that on the 3rd inst. … Read more
24 NOV 1900 – Beet Sugar Gazette , Vol 1, No. 10 (December 1900) Chicago Illinois, p18 LOS ALAMITOS, CAL. Editor Beet Sugar Gazette:—The unusually long drouth of this coast was terminated last Thursday, the 22d inst., by a genuine “sou’easter,” rain falling to the amount of 2.40 inches in less than ten hours, and … Read more
What is significant here is that the article indicates the strong presence of Mexican workers, who had apparently already replaced all the Japanese, and non-Hispanic whites in the fields. “In every field there may be seen bands of thinners, mostly Mexicans, and the farmer himself, with horse ahd cultivator, followed by bands of helpers with … Read more
Susan Hathaway Bixby loved her Rancho Los Alamitos adobe, but positively hated the stench caused by the effluent from the new sugar factory. What this article would most significantly seem to indicate that Lewellyn Bixby was the main Bixby contact for the sugar factory, when it says, “In June 1896, J.Ross and W.A. Clark entered … Read more
Susan Hathaway Bixby loved her Rancho Los Alamitos adobe, but positively hated the stench caused by the effluent from the new sugar factory. What this article would most significantly seem to indicate that Lewellyn Bixby was the main Bixby contact for the sugar factory, when it says, “In June 1896, J.Ross and W.A. Clark entered … Read more
April 4, 1900 — Bixby Land Company minutes book- , the minutes note that the company borrowed money from Farmers and Merchants Bank of Los Angeles. By February 1901 the debt had grown to $15,000, and the land company also owed the Palos Verdes Company $2,551.98 for “Sundry notes” given by tenants to that company … Read more
April 4, 1900 — Bixby Land Company minutes book- , the minutes note that the company borrowed money from Farmers and Merchants Bank of Los Angeles. By February 1901 the debt had grown to $15,000, and the land company also owed the Palos Verdes Company $2,551.98 for “Sundry notes” given by tenants to that company … Read more
1899-1900 Orange County Directory Belt Fine Publishing, Santa Ana — $2.00 March 1899 [p.153] LOS ALAMITOS Is located on a branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad some 14 miles northwest of Santa Ana. It is the heart of the sugar beet section and the Los Alamitos Sugar Beet factory is located there. This establishment alone distributes … Read more
Los Alamitos—A Crackerjack Sugar Mill. An infinity of noises smiting upon the ear. ceaseless, never-ending, repetitive; the hum of myriads of wheels, whirling with spokes indistinguishable; the sung of belts gliding endlessly aloft, swinging from wheel to wheel; ibe noise of the beets, as churning and splashing through the water, they are inevitably drawn into … Read more