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

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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]

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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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Water Development in the San Gorgonio Pass In 1875, S. M. Hall, a railroad contractor, noticed a quantity of timber around Banning, and decided to build a saw-mill near the head of the Big San Gorgonio River (Banning Water Canyon) in the foothills of Mt. Grayback, and also a flume down which to float his lumber. Accordingly, he leased the water rights from Ransome B. Moore and organized the San Gorgonio Flume and Lumber Company. Hall borrowed considerable money trom the Temple and Workman Bank of Los Angeles. He then started his “V” flume, floating the lumber down the finished part and using it to lengthen the flume. The Temple and Workman Bank failed and the Company disbanded. Cc. W. Filkens and George W. Bryant bought Moore’s holdings and also the flume, and organized the Banning Land Company and the Banning Water Company. Later they sold most of their stock to Evan Williams, W. S. James, Jacob Klein, and Theo. Hoffer, who were business men from Nevada. In 1883-1884 they began building the rock ditch in place of Hall’s “V” flume. They also built the lower reservoir and laid part of Banning’s domestic water system. Before any of the enterprises had been begun, President Hayes had issued a proclamation setting aside all the unpatented land in the four townships centering just south of Protero Canyon for the Indians. This gave practically all the even sections, in checker- board fashion, to the Indians. The Banning Water Company, in par- ticular, and many people in general were thus caused a great deal of trouble. President Cleveland sent Federal troops out here, and everybody on eyen sections, to which title had not been attached, were forced out, as were those on odd sections who had no patents. To offset this trouble, Mr. C. O. Barker outlined a plan of trad- ing land so that the Indians’ land would all be in one place. The people haying land where the proposed Reservation was located were given land off the proposed Reservation. Thus the Banning Water Canyon was released from the Indian Reserve in 1891. After this trade had been passed through Congress, the Banning Water Company bought out the holdings of land owners in the canyon. After the Indian question had been settled, the Banning Water Company outlined a plan for the conservation of water and submit- ted it to the Department of the Interior. The Department sent out a party of expert inspectors, who recommended the withdrawal from sale or settlement of the land necessary for the carrying out of this plan. This was accomplished February 17, 1914. The present system of development is as follows: The surface water is taken out of the wash and spread on the open land above Camp Comfort. There are about five miles of spreading ditches. In these ditches there are many “cut-outs” or gates that may be opened for spreading the water. [Page Twenty-seven]