passed away

gone into desuetude, and is even now almost forgotten. The common council (I beg the pardon of my friend Robinson, the very efficient city clerk of that period, who would never permit the use of the word "common" as a prefix to the title of the city legislature), the city council, "Muy Ilustre Ayuntamiento," met in the room in the southeast corner of the second floor of the Temple Block-the same room in which this Historical Society was organized. I frequently attended their sessions - always held in the evening, when a person in the back row of benches could but little more than distinguish the features of the members through the thick tobacco smoke. There was no carpet on the floor, but notwithstanding the presence of numerous cuspidors, it would scarcely be correct to say the floor was bare. And very frequently at these sessions there were refined women present - having some matter of humane or personal interest to present women who would almost as soon have tolerated a mouse as a single cigar in their apartments at home, yet who would sit for hours waiting to have their case taken up beyond that thickness of darkness and mingled bad tobacco and foul breaths. If there is one thing more than others that indicates the advancement of civilization in the West, it is the banishment of tobacco from city council rooms and public halls.

I will mention one other custom that used to trouble us until we were used to it. It was the night fire alarm-three pistol shots in succession. It was a long time before we ceased to listen for a cry of "murder" instead of the rattle of the fire engines immediately after being startled from sleep by the "one, two, three" of the policeman's revolver.

The wonderful boom of Los Angeles and Southern California began and ended between 1881 and 1889, and really occupied all those years. A brief, partial but spicy history of that cyclone has already been presented by Prof. Guinn, and has a place in our Annual of 1890. A separate paper might be written upon each of many separate subjects connected with and affected by the boom. The schools (public and private), the churches, the banks (every projected city or village had one or more, present or prospective), the street railroads (horse, cable and electric), the street pavements (all or nearly all of which have been laid since 1885), and many other matters, not excepting the old, every night cries of the Mexican tamale vender: "Tamales, calientes, aqui." These tamales have now given way to the base imitations of the northern invader.

The Protestant churches here in 1881 were the Methodists (First, German and Trinity South), First Presbyterian (in a building now used as a dwelling, but then as school house, next south of the First

Methodist, on Broadway, the Baptist in Good Templars' Hall, the Christian on Temple street, the Episcopalian at corner of New High and Temple streets, the Congregational on New High street, north of Temple street. Not a commodious, convenient house among them, unless it was the First Methodist. Within three months after I came I visited each of these at least once, being a regular attendant of one. Except the First Methodist and the Presbyterian there were sometimes regular services in each of them (especially in the evening), in which the congregation was not over fifty, and in several of them it was below twenty-five on some occasions. Before the end of 1885 each of these churches denominations - had built and fairly filled the spacious edifices now occupied by them, which seat from six hundred to fifteen hundred or more. And some

of the new organizations exceed the old in numbers at this time. The City Directory for 1892 gives the names and location of fiftyfive Protestant churches and congregations. Among these are sixteen Methodist, ten Presbyterian, six Congregational, five Baptist, five German, and one each of Swedish, Welsh and Chinese churches. The Roman Catholic Church, being the oldest here, was in 1881 represented by the old "Church of our Lady of the Angels," near the plaza, and the cathedral "St. Vibiana," on Main street. That denomination now has congregations and costly school buildings north, south, east and west, in the city. The Jewish Tabernacle remains as it was in 1881, and has its regular services.

An interesting chapter might be written upon the history and decay of the old adobe structures, many of which were prominent land marks in the city ten years ago, but have now disappeared. Like the long adobe row on the corner of Spring and Franklin streets, the very center of business, which was occupied for the jailor's residence, with the jail yard in the rear, the police headquarters, the city clerk's office and for other public uses, until 1885. This would properly include a longer period than the decade from 1880 to 1890, and can be better treated by an older resident.

JEANNE C. CARR.

Pasadena, the name adopted by the San Gabriel Orange Grove Association (earlier known as the Indiana Colony of California) for the home of its choice, is an Algonquin word, signifying the key, or the crown, of the valley. It lies at the extreme eastern end of the once wide domains of the San Gabriel Mission, and was considered one of its choicest possessions, from the abundance of wood and water and convenience of access from Los Angeles and the seaport of San Pedro. The grant of which it is a part was named San Pasqual, in remembrance of a friendly Indian chief, who was baptized at San Gabriel on the day of that saint while his tribe occupied the territory.

The first legally recognized owner was Eulalia Perez, an Indian woman, to whom the ranch was granted on the day of San Pasqual in recognition of her services as nurse and midwife. She died at Los Angeles about 1885 at the reputed age of 120 years, but, through her failure to occupy and improve the tract as the law required, at the expiration of the time specified in the grant it passed into the hands of Manuel Garfias, a popular officer and favorite of Gov. Micheltorena. He built a spacious adobe house on the bank of the Arroyo Séco, overlooking Garvanza, and made his home the seat of lavish hospitality. Only the best rooms had floors of wood, and the single chamber above was lighted by two dormer windows. This pioneer home was a favorite resort of the gay Angeleños, who pursued noble game into the forested cañons of the Sierra Madres by day and danced with the lovely señoritas all night, the lingering representatives upon this continent of the age of chivalry! Some of the oaks are yet standing where the señoritas hung their hammocks from the great limbs and awaited in "drowsy indolence" the return of the victors with their spoils. There was neither fruit tree or garden on the property. At dawn of day the Indian herders opened the corrals, when the bell mare, fleetest and most prized of the native stock, led the band of wild horses northward along the Arroyo Séco to crop the rich herbage of the Altadena highlands. The name given to this portion of the ranch, “La Sabañelles de San Pasqual (altar cloth of San Pasqual), was descriptive of the glorious robe of poppies which can yet be seen by sailors far out at sea. Added to

these natural attractions, was the substantial encouragement given to horticultural enterprises, as seen in the profitable orchards and vineyards of B. D. Wilson, Gen. Stoneman, Messrs. Titus and Rose, with numerous smaller groves of the Alhambra, on the line of a railroad connecting the two oceans.

When the committee sent out from Indiana in August, 1873, to examine and report upon a location for a colony had completed their labors they were unanimous in favor of Pasadena, and the house is yet standing which sheltered the first inhabitant. But it was not until the 13th of November, when the effect of the financial crash of that year had somewhat abated, that the San Pasqual Land and Water Company was incorporated, B. S. Eaton of the Fair Oaks Ranch being made president and D. M. Berry secretary. After examining many sites in the neighborhood, the company purchased of Dr. J. S. Griffin of Los Angeles 4000 acres of the Rancho San Pasqual. To this a goodly slice was added on the east from a delightful oak-covered pasture of the Wilson estate. The name Pasadena (meaning either the key or crown of the valley) was suggested by Dr. Elliott, and met with general approval. At a critical moment in the negotiation Mr. Thomas Croft, one of the colonists, laid down the amount required in payment, and the home of the colony was secured.

In a similar spirit the separate allotments were made. It was an anxious moment when the twenty-seven incorporators met for that purpose on a commanding height with the maps and surveys for the selection of their individual homesteads, and the more delicate task of selection for the absentees whose proxies they held. In some cases the careful savings of years were devoted to secure a modest home, where a cherished invalid might lengthen out his days in a genial climate. Among the rest stood Calvin Fletcher, a wealthy citizen of Indiana and one of the incorporators, who proposed that the holders of single shares of stock should first make their selections, and so on in that order. When the distribution was over each of the twenty-seven stockholders had secured his chosen homestead, and improvements were begun immediately.

The first house in Pasadena had already been built by Mr. A. O. Bristol, and is still standing, at the junction of Lincoln and Orange Grove avenues. The huge pepper tree which overshadows it is also the pioneer of its species among the thousands seen in the modern city.

In three years from the time of purchase the face of the country was transformed by the young orchards and vineyards.

Nearly every shareholder was able to secure a wood lot along the bed of the Arroyo Séco, or in the foothills, thickly felted with grease

wood bushes, whose gnarled roots furnished excellent fuel. East Pasadena at that time was a scattered grove of oaks, through which a wagon track led to the Santa Anita Ranch. Many of these fine trees have been preserved.

Soon the work of home-making commenced in earnest, under conditions new to all the colonists. Letters to friends left in the States" had little effect for a time, the inference being that sun stroke had turned the heads of the writers. A pencil sketch of a jew fish captured at Catalina Island by one of the colonists, with attestation of its weight, when passed around among his eastern neighbors, tended to deepen this impression.

The first marriage celebrated in Pasadena was that of Mr. Charles H. Watts to Millie, daughter of Major Erie Locke of Locke Haven. The primitive home of the young couple was a one-roomed cottage with a lean-to kitchen attached. Nevertheless, it was made to do duty as a church for the Presbyterians until Harvey Watts, the first child born in the colony, lifted up his voice in proof of Adam's fall.

The Pasadena settlement originally included Lincoln Park on the southeast and Altadena and the highlands on the northwest. The Arroyo Séco, having gathered its stream from unfailing sources in the Sierra Madre range of mountains, could be depended upon for an unfailing water supply as long as rains and snow should fall and the forest conservatories of springs and surface moisture were preserved. Within the limits of the purchase the stream meandered through a natural park, whose terraced banks were preserved from denudation by dense thickets of ceanothus, dwarf oak and manzanita. Five species of oaks, many of great size, filled the more open portions of the cañon, and giant sycamore trees protected natural ferneries even richer than those which yet linger in their mountain retreats. No pen could describe the glory of the poppy fields which filled the valley and swept northward in waves in gold.

As orange culture was the leading pursuit of the colonists, the entire tract became an almost solid grove. There were no division fences, and the modest homes, set far back from the streets, were soon lost behind the quick-growing eucalyptus and pepper trees. Many a traveler by the adobe road drew rein at Williams' store, the business center, to inquire the way to Pasadena.

The choicest locations were then considered those of the southern extremity of the tract, where each rounded hill commanded some charm of outlook unshared by the others. The selections of Messrs. Porter, Green and Dougherty were peculiarly happy, and among the first to be improved. That of the latter included a typical oak of grand proportions, which is still waving its green centaury, untouched