With plenty of water and
good cultivation the doubt as to the value of the land was soon removed and the
success of the colony enterprise was assured. Thus encouraged the projectors
enlarged their possessions by additional purchases, until they had between 3,000
and 4,000 acres in their colony, which, on account of the peculiar color of the
soil, they named Redlands.
commissioners sent out to Southern California by an association formed in
Chicago for the purpose of finding the best place in this State for a colony,
after looking the state all over, purchased 440 acres of land lying between
Redlands and Crafton.
This land was divided up into lots averaging about eleven acres each, and forty
deeds made and executed, this being the number of purchasers and members of the
association. This tract was given the name of the Chicago colony.
In 1887 a syndicate of Riverside businessmen and capitalists bought 500 acres
west of Redlands and extending to San Timoteo Canon, through which the Southern
Pacific Railroad passes, and in which the Brookside Station is located, laid it
out so as to extend the main avenues of Redlands through the same and gave it
the name of Terracina, now called West Redlands.
Southeast of Redlands lies the fertile valley of Yucaipa, with thousands of
acres of grain and grazing land, with herds of cattle, large dairies, flocks of
sheep, and orchards producing immense quantities of the finest apples and
Northeast lies Mentone, the terminus of the Valley railroad, embracing 3,000
Westward is the tract known as Williams, from the owner's name, embracing 1,500
acres, and with a railroad station named Gladysta.
It has seemed well to make brief mention of Crafton, Lugonia, Terracina,
Yucaipa, Old San Bernardino, Mentone and Williams, because they surround
Redlands on every side, are immediately adjacent and are tributary to it. Three
of these settlements were flourishing and prosperous with deciduous and citrus
orchards and vineyards bearing years before there was a brick laid of the forty
business blocks of Redlands. Not one of these settlements has a place of
business of its own; all depend on Redlands for their mail and supplies. It is
this rich and populous outlying country that has forced the growth of Redlands,
and insures the continued advance of the city in trade and importance. There is
no other town among those that have recently sprung up in Southern California
that has so large and valuable a territory depending upon it and contributing to
Redlands is the fourth city incorporated within the
county of San Bernardino, its incorporation dating from November 26, 1888. The
population at present (May, 1890,) is about 2,500. Owing to the very rapid
increase of population, there are many adult residents and heads of families,
who have not been here long enough to become voters.
Redlands lies at the eastern end of the great valley of the Upper Santa Ana,
sometimes called the East San Bernardino Valley. It stretches from the banks of
the Santa Ana River, the largest stream in Southern California, on the north, to
the hills on the south. The boundaries of the city incorporation include
seventeen square miles of the richest and best soil in the State for orange
growing. Perfect drainage is secured by the natural slope of the land and the
character of the soil. It is nine miles directly east of San Bernardino, the
county seat; thirteen miles northeast from Riverside; sixty miles directly east
of Los Angeles, and one hundred miles north of San Diego, airline distances.
The Southern Pacific overland railroad enters the valley on the south through
the San Gorgonio Pass. Brookside Station on this road is two miles southwest of
the business center of Redlands. The Southern California, a branch of the Santa
Fe, enters the valley from the north through the Cajon Pass, and makes San
Bernardino its central point. Redlands has direct railroad communication with
Los Angeles over the San Bernardino Valley Railroad (the Santa Fe system) three
times a day; with Riverside the same; with San Bernardino and Colton six times
each day. The mail is received and sent from the Redlands post office three
In addition the San Bernardino and Redlands narrow-gauge (called the Motor Road)
makes ten trips between Redlands and San Bernardino each day, connecting with
the Rapid Transit road which turns to Colton and Riverside. Redlands has already
built and in operation three miles of street railroad, connecting the stations
of both wide and narrow-gauge railroads with different residence portions of the
The Southern Pacific Company has surveyed a line for a road between Los Angeles
and Red-lands and announced its intention to build in the near future. Local
capital, interested in the great cedar and pine forests on the mountain ranges
east and north of the city, is also surveying routes for railroads to these vast
lumber districts. The vast importance of the lumber area of Bear Valley and
adjacent territory, as well as the growing importance of that most beautiful
mountain summer resort, will compel the building of a narrow-gauge railroad at
no very far distant day. The route is practicable and the grade not at all
difficult, while the passenger travel in summer will be very heavy.
On the area occupied by the business portion of this city thirty months ago,
there was not a single building. Today there are forty substantial brick
business buildings, none less than two stories high, all occupied by the various
branches of trade and manufacturing. Among the business establishments are three
large general and grocery houses, dry goods store, a national bank, a State
bank, three agricultural implement and hardware houses, three drug stores, two
furniture stores, two meat markets, two bakeries, three large commercial hotels,
three restaurants, two tin and plumbing establishments, two lumber yards, three
blacksmith and repairing shops, three vegetable and fruit stores, two harness
shops, a livery stable, carriage repository, clothing store, jewelry store, sash
and door factory, planning mill, boot and shoe store, photograph gallery, two
paint shops, two barber shops, a book store, two wood and coal yards, an art
store, a ladies' bazaar, three boarding houses, two manufactories of cement
pipe, a roller feed mill, three fruit-packing houses, numerous real-estate and
insurance offices, lawyers, doctors, and a first-class job printing and
newspaper office, the Citrograph.
Assessed valuation of the three school districts in 1889 was about $2,500,000.
Within the city limits are three fine schools, in the Redlands, Lugonia and
Crafton districts, with a daily average attendance of upwards of 300. The three
schoolhouses cost over $26,000. In addition, the Bellevue Academy, under the
management of Prof. H. A. Brown, teaches the higher branches of learning
preparatory to college.
The Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Baptists and Presbyterians have
commodious church buildings; the Methodists are about to build, and all five
hold regular services every Sunday.
A strong Young Men's Christian Association occupies
its own hall, with public lectures and a free reading room.
The Masons, Odd Fellows, Good Templars and Knights of Pythias all have
organizations and hold regular meetings.
Fruit culture is the leading industry of this compact cluster of colonies. The
fruits produced are chiefly oranges and the raisin grape; also berries of
various kinds, peaches, apricots, nectarines, olives, limes and lemons.
Within the district surrounding the city of Redlands and naturally tributary to
it as a business center, there is over 25,000 acres of good fruit land. Over
15,000 acres of this is good orange land. Reckoning in the Yucaipa, Potato, Bear
and numerous other small valleys opening out into these and the East San
Bernardino, there are 10,000 additional acres of fertile soil, a large portion
of which is excellent for deciduous fruits, but too elevated for orange culture
on account of temperature. In these high mountain valleys the finest small
fruits, potatoes and apples are raised, yielding profits to the acre equal in
many instances to the profits of orange culture.
To make fruit culture in all the section under
discussion successful, or even possible, irrigation is a necessity. The supply
of water for full irrigation of 25,000 acres in the valley is abundant. The
sources of supply are the high ranges of mountains walling in the valley on the
north and east. These ranges obtain at points an elevation of nearly 12,000 feet
above sea level, and their summits are in the regions of perpetual ice and snow.
The Santa Ana River, Mill Creek, Plunge Creek and other smaller streams conduct
the water from nature's deposits to the valley. Formerly, as in other portions
of the State, the great supply of the winter rains ran through these channels to
the sea and was lost forever. A great natural lake formerly existed high up on
the San Bernardino range. Probably an earthquake or some other convulsion broke
the rim of the lake, and the accumulated waters made their escape through the
Santa Ana River. This broken rim has been repaired by ingenuity, energy and
capital, and the greatest stored supply of water for irrigation in the world
Bear Valley Reservoir is the result.
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