Banning High School - San Gorgonian Yearbook (Banning, CA)

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Palm Springs As Palm Springs is well represented in the B. U. H. 8S. by a live bunch of students, we feel that it is only fitting that we should give some of the interesting history of that locality. In the year of 1884, Mr. John Gothers and Mr. McCallum, hay- ing heard of the wonderful climate and hot springs of a certain vi- cinity of Southern California, took his sick son from Chicago to live there. Mr. McCallum built a house, which is still standing on the property now owned by Dr. White of Palm Springs. He was the first white man to settle in that district. Besides he and his son, there were about sixty-five Mission Indians, who called themselves the Cahuilla tribe. They resided on what is now the Indian Reser- vation and a few on the land now owned by Miss Cornelia White. Mr. McCallum named the place in which he settled Palm Springs and the surrounding country Palm Valley. His wish was to make an agricultural center of the place. He developed the Whitewater River and called it the Palm Valley Water Company. He built a flume through Whitewater Point, constructed a stone ditch from the point to Palm Springs, and in this way made it possible to obtain Whitewater River for irrigation. This ditch is still in existence. Domestic water was hauled in five gallon cans from Tahquitz ditch. Besides this, Mr. McCallum raised a large orchard of apricots and figs and a vineyard on the present McManus property. The next year (1885) Major Miller and Judge Campbell moved from San Francisco to Palm Springs. These two men and Mr. Mc- Callum gave the Indians one hundred and fifty dollars to occupy their own land. They were not required to do this, but wished to keep on friendly terms with them. In 1886 Dr. Murray moved from Banning to Palm Springs and opened the first hotel. There was then one store in the place, and the church was built in 1887. A man by the name of Herman Lehr- man was the postman for three months out of the year. In 1891 the wind blew so hard that he was forced to wear a flour sack with glasses in over his head to protect his eyes from the sand. There was a dispute over how much Palm Valley land should sell for, so Major Miller and Judge Campbell started Palmdale, where the old adobe building still stands, southeast of Palm Springs. Another stone ditch was constructed and several rude buildings were erected. Orchards and vineyards were planted and a narrow gauge railroad was constructed in 1887 from Palmdale to Seven Palms. The equipment was a railroad with two small street cars and a small locomotive from San Francisco. By 1890 Palm Springs was considered the earliest fruit growing district in Southern California. The Imperial Valley and Coachella Valley were not then under cultivation. There were several hundred [Page Twenty-five]

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of action and the thinly scattered village of Banning. Here, many important characters now of Banning, make their entrance, and among these were: Dr. King, J. B. Hanna, C. O. Barker, W. 8. Hathaway, C. H. Ingelow, J. R. Fountain, Jennie Lemon, C. 8. Hol- comb, Sarah E. Morris (now Mrs. M. French Gilman), Rev. Wein- land, Mrs. Bird, W. H. Ingelow, C. R. Bigley, Mrs. O. Hamilton, Dr. E. G. Carpenter, Mrs. Floretta Fraser, and many others. With this influx of population, Banning could now be called a town, and at this point the curtain fell to allow for a change in scenery, due to the need of more room for the increasing characters to make their entrance. During this period ol’ San Jac still keeps watch over the enterprising town snuggled at its feet; while ol’ Gray Back extends its protecting arm, enfolding Banning in the embrace of these two stately mountains. M. R. 725. Indians The Indians being the sole owners of this vast land of ours be- fore the invasion of the white man, it would seem only fitting that we give them honorable mention in the early history of this Pass. The story of the Banning Indians is the same pathetic tale. Af- tering losing their homes and vast hunting grounds to the white men, they lived on tracts of land or reservations given to them by the government. The Banning reservation is known as the Potrero Indian Res- ervation, and each. full blooded Indian is entitled to ten acres of land. The early industry of the Indians in their new home was cattle raising, and later they began raising grain and hay to feed their cattle. At present fruit raising is one of the most important indus- tries on the Potrero, the excellent quality of the fruit being very well known. The Indians have not given up all their early forms of amuse- ments, for they still hold their annual fiestas, which include barbe- cues, war dances, peon games, fire eating contests, horse racing and bronco busting. The Indians in this section of the country are not like the In- dians farther east. They are large and fat, and are not so active or warlike as the eastern Indians. They seldom harmed the early white settlers, although it was the best policy to comply with their requests as far as possible. Sometimes they would rob the stage coach that operated between Los Angeles and Yuma, but the average Indian was friendly to the early pioneers of Banning. [Page Twenty-four]

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acres of land planted in various kinds of fruits, grapes being the most prominent crop. Experiments were made with olives and al- talfa. The grapes were hauled at night for shipping to prevent wilt- ing and insure greater comfort for the men and horses. From where the Desert Inn now stands to the La Palma Hotel extending to the mountain was a vineyard owned by a Professor Wheaton. This vineyard produced the finest of seedless grapes, which were ready for shipping to eastern markets by the tenth of June. More people were continually coming in and there were many excursions from Los Angeles auctioning off of land. However, in 1894 a ten-year drouth started. The railroad was sold and shipped to Texas. Whitewater and Tahquitz dried up, and all the fruit raising was abandoned. In 1908 Ralph Rogers moved to Palm Springs, repaired the Whitewater ditch, and piped domestic water from Chino Canyon. This was the beginning of the second improvement of Palm Springs. Mr. Rogers wished to make a health resort of the place. About that tivae or soon after, Dr. Murray sold his land to the Misses White. He died two years later, and there is a small stone structure in his honor now in Palm Springs. Mrs. Coffman in 1913 started the Des- ert Inn, which was at first two small shacks and a dining room. By this time there were about a dozen white families there, a small tu- berculosis sanatorium and several small places of business, In 1915 the county highway was put through, which was quite a boom for the Springs. People came in more and more, until at present (1925) there is a population of approximately one thousand people. The Desert Inn now covers about fifteen acres of land, and there are five smaller hotels and the “Oasis,” another large hotel. Besides this, it boasts of several bungalow courts, two apartment houses, two garages, two groceries and general merchandise stores, two butcher shops, three cates, a bakery, and any number of other busi- ness houses. Also five real estate offices and any number of at- tractive homes, a few of which cost more than one hundred thousand dollars each. Tourists gather there from all over the United States to enjoy the wonderful mild climate, bathe in the hot sulphur springs and visit the wonderful canyons, among which are Palm, Tahquitz, Andreas and Cathedral. Palm Canyon has recently been taken over by the U. S. Government, and is truly “California’s Garden of Allah.” Mivery year an annual desert play is given in Tahquitz canyon, which attracts hundreds of people from Southern California. It is a wonderland, this bit of desert, and so far has been discov- ered by only a wise few. But to those who have enjoyed it, it is truly a land to be revisited and to be sought after. It is the Mecca of the Southland. If you have been there— “Then you know, for you've felt its spell, The lure of the desert land. If you have not, then I could not tell— For you could not understand.” [Page Twenty-six]