San Bernardino-Los Angeles-San Francisco County CA Archives Biographies.....Atwood, George Arnold December 3, 1853 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com April 2, 2006, 11:23 pm Author: The Lewis Publishing Company California and Californians, Pages 24-27 GEORGE ARNOLD ATWOOD. Of the men who have contributed to the welfare, progress and development of California, few are entitled to greater or fuller recognition for their services than George Arnold Atwood, the pioneer of the Yucaipa Valley and organizer of the forces which have poured the life-giving waters upon its land. During his residence at San Bernardino Mr. Atwood has reclaimed in the Yucaipa Valley 7,000 acres of land, which is supporting more than 2,000 people directly, and is now engaged in the reclaiming of 3,500 acres more in the valley which in time will provide homes for numerous others. While it may be said that he had the advantage of early residence in California, it would have probably been his fate to make a fortune in any community in which he settled, for he is a man of versatility, able to make his own opportunities and to shape his needs to his environment. He likewise had the foresight to appreciate the potentialities lying in the union of arid lands and water and set himself to the difficult but not ungrateful task of irrigation. Today the beautiful and productive valley testifies to the value of his labors. Mr. Atwood was born in Harrison County, Iowa, December 3, 1853, and is a son of Danford and Jane (Garner) Atwood, his father being a native of Connecticut and his mother of Illinois, and both now deceased. They were of Revolutionary stock and of English descent and came to San Bernardino in 1860 with the customary ox teams and followed the vocation of farming, having acquired a farm near San Bernardino, where the father passed away in 1893. George Arnold Atwood received his education in the public schools of San Bernardino County, after leaving which he settled down to work on his father’s farm. At that time the life of a farmer’s son did not appeal to the ambitious and high-spirited youth and he soon left the farm to begin life on his own account, going to Pioche, Nevada, where boom mining was going on, and taking a contract to supply timber for mining tunnels, cutting, trimming and then hauling his commodity twenty miles to the mines. He remained there during the summer of 1872, but in the winter went to Salt Lake City, Utah, and from that point took the Union Pacific to San Francisco, whence he reached Los Angeles by boat and San Bernardino by stage. His next venture was in the cattle line in Utah, where he purchased 360 head of stock, driving them down across the desert to San Bernardino. At this place he disposed of his herd, which was sent to Northern California, and then purchased the first grain header brought into the valley and went out harvesting grain through the county during the season. This occupation he followed with much success until the Southern Pacific built its line to San Bernardino, when he went to Banning and Beaumont to go into the wood business, furnishing wood for the road- builders for several months. It is worthy of note that he was always seeking new fields and always pioneering in some line, and that he was always his own master. In 1884 Mr. Atwood came to Yucaipa Valley, bringing with him twelve six-mule teams, and at once put in 1,000 acres of wheat, the first farming ever done in the valley. The land on which he planted was owned by the Houghton Estate of San Francisco, a tract of 5,000 acres, and he kept on farming, the valley being at that time used principally for dry farming of hay and grain. Late in 1909 the owners wished to sell and asked Mr. Atwood to put the property on the market. Mr. Atwood was a close personal friend of M. N. Newmark, of Los Angeles, and went to him with the proposition that they take over the land and also purchase what is known as the old Dunpal Ranch and other holdings, totaling 10,500 acres, develop the water resources, put it on the market and colonize it. Mr. Newmark agreed and they went ahead with the work, forming the Redlands & Yucaipa Land Company, comprised principally of citizens of Redlands. On February 8, 1910 they made their first sale of property, where the little town of Yucaipa now stands, and followed this up by laying pipe lines, building roads and developing the water, and have thus continued to the present time. The officers of the new company elected were: E. M. Lyons,of Redlands, president; J. H. Logie, of Redlands, secretary- treasurer; and G. A. Atwood, San Bernardino, general manager. There has been no change in this personnel up to the present date. The board of directors elected included the following: E. M. Lyons, J. H. Logie, A. N. Dike and H. H. Ford, all of Redlands; G. A. Atwood of San Bernardino; and M. N. Newmark and A. B. Dyer, of Los Angeles. When the last named died Kirk Fields was elected to take his place. This board controls the destinies of the Yucaipa Valley today. Four water companies have been formed in the valley and Mr. Atwood is president and manager of all of them, and has been for the last sixteen years. The company constructed forty-eight miles of wagon roads, the greater part of which have been taken over by the County of San Bernardino; and also built 160 miles of steel-riveted pipe to furnish water in abundance and under heavy pressure to each piece of land in the tract. The water pumped and delivered by gravity during each year amounts to 1,400 inches. In the early part of the development the company constructed three tunnels for water, the first 1,300 feet in length, the second 2,700 feet and the third 2,900 feet. These tunnels supply the gravity flow of water during the summer and spring seasons. The company has a number of concrete reservoirs, the largest having a capacity of 43,000,000 gallons, this being filled during the winter and drawn out during the spring and summer for irrigation purposes. There are eight smaller reservoirs, ranging in capacity from 100,000 to 1,000,000 gallons. About 7,000 acres of the above property have been planted in various kinds of fruits, now in bearing and taken care of by the water rights mentioned. There has been quite a move recently in the planting of citrus fruits, particularly in grape fruit and oranges, one tract of 100 acres having been put into oranges by Mr. Humphrey and many smaller groves being placed in operation. The climatic conditions, of which careful records have been kept for the last fifteen years, are particularly favorable to the production of perfect fruit, and as to the soil nothing better could be asked. Yucaipa is about five miles east of Redlands and its altitude is from 2,000 to 3,000 feet above sea level. The hot desert winds do not reach it. The Ocean-to-Ocean Highway from Los Angeles to Yuma passes directly through the valley and it is one of the most beautiful roads in the state. At this writing (1930) there are about 2,000 people in the valley. Mr. Atwood is also the owner of the Casa Blanca Ranch of 260 acres and has large interests in other places. Mr. Atwood was one of several enterprising citizens who purchased the land for the San Bernardino County Courthouse and made a present of it to the county. The ground area is 300x600 feet and is one of the most suitable locations in the state that any city could offer. The county has built upon the land a courthouse that reflects credit upon it. In 1905, through the efforts of Mr. Atwood, while he was serving as president of the San Bernardino Board of Trade, the thirteen acres of land which is now Meadowbrook Park was purchased and presented to the City of San Bernardino. At the time it was an unsightly place, being the dumping-ground of the city, and, although much opposition was offered by private predatory interests, Mr. Atwood succeeded in the project and the park has become in time one of the attractive additions of the city. In politics Mr. Atwood is a Republican, and during his younger days took a very active interest in party affairs, serving on the Republican county central committee several times and being repeatedly a delegate to county and state conventions, before the primary law was adopted. In 1888 Governor Markham appointed him a director of the Sixth Agricultural District and he served four years. He is one of the members of the Tri-County Registration Committee, which was organized in January, 1906 during his incumbency of the presidency of the San Bernardino Board of Trade. Mr. Atwood joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in 1881 and is one of its oldest members, having been through the chairs twice, being a past noble grand, and having served as representative in the Grand Lodge for ten years and deputy district grand master one term. He is a member of the Congregational Church and for a number of years served as trustee. In January, 1886, Mr. Atwood was united in marriage with Miss Alice Frederick, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Frederick, of San Bernardino. Two children were born to this union, one of whom died in infancy. The other child was Leon, one of the most popular and brilliant young men of the city. He was a director in the San Bernardino National Bank and a member of the California Chamber of Commerce and had numerous connections of a civic, business and social nature, was happily married and had two sons and a daughter. In 1927, while he was returning to his home from Los Angeles, the electric train in which he was riding crashed into a truck filled with rock and as a result of this accident he received injuries from which he died. His loss was one not only to countless friends, but to the city in which he had seemed to have such a bright and promising future. Additional Comments: California and Californians, Volume IV, Edited by Rockwell D. Hunt, A.M., Ph.D., Assisted By An Advisory Board, The Spanish Period, By Nellie Van de Grift Sanchez, The American Period, By Rockwell D. Hunt, California Biography, By a Special Staff of Writers, Issued in Four Volumes, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, 1932. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/sanbernardino/photos/bios/atwood359gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sanbernardino/bios/atwood359gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/ File size: 10.8 Kb