San Benito County CA Archives History - Books .....Chapter X San Juan And Other Settlements 1893 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com September 18, 2006, 2:43 am Book Title: Memorial And Biographical History Of The Coast Counties Of Central California. CHAPTER X. SAN JUAN AND OTHER SETTLEMENTS. IN the modern town of San Juan has had a compsrtively [sic] uneventful history. The building of the Southern Pacific railroad at some distance away from the old mission town drew much of the traffc [sic] which formerly centered there, to other points. The population of San Juan, in 1890, is given by the census at 463. The school census of 1892, gave the number of children under seventeen, only as 309, which at a three or three and one-half ratio indicates a present population of the district of nearly 1,000 souls. The trustees (1892) of San Juan school district are: John Breen, D. Willson, G. S. Tremaine, and the principal of the school is F. S. Wallace. There is one, three-class school building in the district, and school is maintained ten months in the year. SCHOOL CENSUS STATISTICS. SAN JUAN DISTRICT. No. of children between 5 and 17, white, 80 boys;169 girls; total 249 No. of children under 5 60 ___ No. of children under 17 309 No of children between 5 and 17 who have attended public school 100 No. of children between 5 and 17 who have attended private school 114 ___ Total 214 No. of classes, grades, grammar 1 No. of classes, grades, primary 2 ___ Total 3 No. boys enrolled 73 No. girls enrolled 62 ___ Total 135 No. belonging, average 77 No. daily attendance, average 70 Percentage of attendance on average belonging 90 No. pupils enrolled in grammar grade 33 No. pupils enrolled in primary grade 102 ___ Total 135 Average salaries paid teachers $75 CURRENT EXPENSES Receipts balanced July 1,1891 $1,418.80 Received State and county $2,401.00 _________ Total $3,819.80 Expenditures, paid teachers'salary $2,262.00 Expenditures, paid rents, etc 478.02 _________ Balance June 30, 1892 $1,079.78 Valuation; lots, buildings and furnishing $3,000.00 Valuation; library and apparatus $500.00 Total $3,500.00 No. volumes in library 300 The St. John's Institute, or Orphans' Asylum, was founded in 1865. It is under the direction of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. They occupy a three-story brick building surrounded by spacious grounds. There are a Congregational and Catholic Church in San Juan. Also a lodge each of Odd Fellows, Masons, Order of Eastern Star and Order of Good Templars. .Rev. Father Valentine Closa, rector of the Roman Catholic Church as San Juan, came there in 1874, as assistant to Rev. Father Rubio; and on the removal of the latter to San Buenaventura, Father Closa became rector in full charge of the parish. Father Closa was born in Catalonia, Spain, in 1841, and came to America in 1871. He was ordained a priest the next year, and officiated as such, first at Los Angeles before he came to San Juan. Tres Pinos, (Three Pines) is a thriving town eight miles south of Hollister, and the terminus of the San Benito branch of the Southern Pacific railway, which was extended to that point in 1873. This is the shipping point for an extensive, and very productive region. Large quantities of grain, hay, dairy products, poultry, wool, hides, etc., are annually brought to the Tres Pinos station to be sent to market by rail. Bear Valley, a pretty and fertile tract in San Benito county, about twenty-five miles south of Hollister, located in the Gabiian mountains, at an altitude of about 1,000 feet, was originally known as Cholame or Chalone valley, it being the source of Cholame creek. It is said to have derived its name from the following incident. One Mr. Innes used to range stock in the then Chalome valley and the adjacent country. When on one of these trips, with his vaqueros, the party encountered a large grizzly bear near the present location of the home of Mrs. Elizabeth Bacon. They lassoed this bear and made him captive. He is said to have been a fine specimen of his kind, and created some talk. The valley was from that time known as Bear Valley. Mrs. Elizabeth Bacon was the first white woman to locate in this valley. It was in November, 1866, and the reader can get some further information on this subject by referring to the biographical mentions of Mrs. Elizabeth Bacon, on another page of this work. Henry Melindy, John T. Prewitt and George Butterfield, are all well-known pioneers of the valley. Vasquez, the noted bandit and his lieutenant, Chaves, frequented this section during their reign of terror. It is related by these pioneers that they were evidently kind-hearted, genial fellows, never giving them trouble. Especially is this true of Chaves, who was frequently at the home of Mr. Melindy, and, at times, during his absence, while Mrs. M. was at home alone with her little ones. He was, however, always gentlemanly and courteous, kind and sociable. He said that one, "Indian Joe, who was nearly, if not quite, a full-blooded Indian, drew him into evil ways which brought him so much trouble." Chaves was a half-breed Indian. Bear Valley is about seven miles long, and varies in width. It descends toward the Salinas valley. Cholame creek, which drains Bear valley, flows into the Salinas river, emptying therein at Chalone station, on the Southern Pacific railway. The first school held in the Bear Valley district, San Benito county, was in September, 1874. The first school teacher was Mr. P. Troy. The Methodist Episcopal Church South of Bear Valley was organized about 1875, and has a membership of fourteen. It is one of a circuit of the following churches: Peach Tree, Bitter Water, Bear Valley, Live Oak and Paicines. A Sunday-school has been organized and well supported for about twelve years past; George M. Butterfield, superintendent. The soil of Bear Valley is deep and very fertile, producing large crops of wheat of fine quality, barley and vegetables and fruit of all kinds. Frosts are almost unknown, because of the elevation of the valley and of the hills which surround it. As an enthusiastic local writer has said: "This spot is as fair as an ideal of Eden, and is only one of many similar spots in San Benito county." He says the bears "have all disappeared and the name only remains to remind old residents of the exciting hunt of pioneer days." Paicines, Panoche, New Idria, Vallecitos are thriving settlements. The San Benito and Priest valleys are fertile, healthful and beautiful valleys. The Dry Lake and Bitter Water regions are attractive localities for industrious settlers, and although as yet sparsely occupied, there is abundant evidence that those who have made their homes here are prosperous and contented. Although the main industries of the upper or southern portion of San Benito county are the raising of grain and hay and stock, yet fruit culture is likely to become prominent in the future. The foot-hills throughout this region are undoubtedly adapted to the vine. The splendid results obtained by Mr. Palmtag with several kinds of foreign grapes, serve as a pointer which others may follow with confidence. Though his wines are young, they show plainly enough, to the discerning, something of the future possibilities of this section in viticulture. Some of his wines properly-blended and aged, would sell in any markets in the world. One peculiarity of San Benito county is, that much of its mountainous regions are susceptible of cultivation, almost from their base to their summits. Indeed natural grasses grow to their very tops. The peculiarities of the foot-hill regions of California, of soil, drainage, freedom from frosts, etc., admirably adapt them to fruit-culture, as the people of many sections of the State have abundantly demonstrated. The vineyards of the future of California will be located on the foot-hills and hill-sides. THE CIENEGA LIME KILNS were started in 1885, by J. J. Burt; he took out the first load of lime on the 1st day of January, 1886, from a forty-barrel kiln. The lime ledge proper was bought from the Government under an Act of Congress, which provides for the development of stone quarries and timber tracts. There are now four large kilns in operation with a capacity of 6,000 barrels of lime per month. There is an abundance of wood for fuel near by-pine, white oak, live-oak, etc. A large number of men are employed in connection with these works. The lime rock is hard and white; in fact, is marble rock, and carries about ninety-nine per cent of lime and contains no flint. It brings the highest market price in San Jose, Stockton, Oakland and San Francisco. A large quarry of white building marble will soon be developed on the property. Abundance of water is piped to the works from springs on the mountain side three-quarters of a mile distant. A motor railway has been constructed from Tres Pinos, the terminus of the Hollister branch of the Southern Pacific line, a distance of twelve miles, to these works, in order to facilitate transportation of lime and stone to market. This road was built and is owned by the proprietor of the lime works, Mr. Burt. PRIEST VALLEY HALL ASSOCIATION was incorporated under the laws of the State, in June, 1892, for the purpose of building a young people's hall, to be used for balls and social gatherings, etc. The directors are: Martin Griffin, John Clayton, John Myers, Richard Folks. The capital of the association is $500, all paid in. The hall is octagonal or eight-square in form, and one story high. As a dancing hall, eight sets of dancers can be admitted on the floor at one time. The orchestra stand is in the center. It is suitably seated with portable seats, so that it can be used for other public occasions. The building is surmounted with a flag-staff, and is a credit to the young people of Priest Valley. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California. Illustrated. Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast from the Earliest Period of its Discovery to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of its Auspicious Future; Illustrations and Full-Page Portraits of some of its Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers, and Prominent Citizens of To-day. HENRY D. BARROWS, Editor of the Historical Department. LUTHER A. INGERSOLL, Editor of the Biographical Department. "A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants."-Macaulay. CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY. 1893. 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