Ingersoll's Century History Santa Monica Bay Cities - Prefaced With A Brief History Of The State Of California A Condensed History Of Los Angeles County 1542-1908; Supplemented With An Encyclopedia Of Local Biography - Taschenbuch

INGERSOLLS CENTURY HISTORY SANTA MONICA BAY CITIES BEING BOOK NUMBER TWO OF INGERSOLLS CENTURY SERIES OF CALIFORNIA LOCAL HISTORY ANNALS PREFACE D WlTH A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA A CONDENSED HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY SUPPLEMENTED WlTH AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LOCAL BIOGRAPHY AND EMBELLISHED WlTH VIEWS OF HISTORIC LANDMARKS AND PORTRAITS OF REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE -- 1908 -- To the memory of the late WlLLlAMSON D. VAWTER Foremost pioneer citizen In promoting the civic, industrial and moral welfare of Santa Monica, and whose life was an lnsplration to noble deeds, thls volume of local hlstory is dedicated by The Author. -- PREFACE -- THE pirblication of this book is in 110 degree an accident, but ratlier the partial fulfillniel t of a long-cherished plan to sometime put in permanent and fitiing for111 the annals of some of the more llistoric ancl ro liaritic cities alitl tcwns of Southenl Califorllia. Tliis arnbition dates back to the winter scasoll of 1888-9, -hen the ivriter arrived in tlie Golden State, became impressed wit11 thc tra iscelitle rlitc hness of its past history and its abundalit promise of future groivtli and Ilistory-making. Vhat might have bcen regarded, at the tilne, a fallcy. or illspiration, has, with the rapitl passing of two decades, developctl illto a vivitl reality. Obscure hamlets have beeonie prosperous cities . liere then were opeli stock ranges and broad fields of grain, have sprung up i a r ot sf trade and comnlerce, environed by progressive and prosperous com- ilunities. Erlough time lias ela setl for these cities and communities to have acqiiiretl n history. still liot eliough for any collsitlerable portion of that liistory to be lost. A fewyears Iie lce, c ontlitions in this latter respect will have entirely changctl. The region of country of vliich this story treats lies vitliin the original colifilles of four Spaliish-Alesican lantl gra itsb ordering the bay of Santa Xlollica and has liitlicrto received scant attention from historical writers. Tlie it he gootl rorks of Hubcrt Howe Ballcroft and Judge Tlieodore H. Hittell ii7ere written tlie i onderfuld evelop ilentso f the past tii7enty years hat1 not transpired antl the work of Inore recent ivriters has been of so superficial a naturc as not to be of special historical value. The vriting of history is not the thought or work of a day, but rather the diligcnt pursuance of a fixetl antl tleternlilletl purpose. The writer of fiction niay York from an inspiration basetl upon fertile imagination the oeivspaper ivriter is thc chronicler of currellt events the descriptive writer of travel pictures tliat ivhicli lie tlien ant1 there observes but the historian makes a truthful record of the past, stating olily that liich has actually transpired. He indulges in 110 itleals, must be keen in discridinatioli, never self-opinioliated or self-assertive, li ust be untiring in research, a faithful, patient, plotlding gleaner of facts antl an illherent lover of tlie truth, Lacking these virtues he is without liis callirig. The brief Iiistory of California and Los Angeles county is herewith given as a preface to tlie local history in ortler that the reader may have a coliliectetl story from the tlatc of the discovery of thc country. Thc state chapters arc, with the exception of some changes and atltlitions, reprintetl from niy Celitury Annals of Sal1 Ccrlizrtlilio County, Califorliia1904. The sketches of each of the t venty-one Francicean missiolis of Alta California are atlaptetl from PREFACE Alissions and Lal dil ark, s a meritorious booklet written and ill 1903 ublislied by Mrs. Armitage S. C. Forbcs, a zealous student and authoritative r i t c ru pon California lnissions and kindred subjects...