The Kaweah Colony: A Socialist Settlement in the 1880′s

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By William W. Abbott

California’s historic settlement patterns are far more diverse than what would first appear to be the case.  In addition to the religious (San Bernardino, Compton, Whittier ), the ethnic (Solvang, Ft. Ross) and the timber company towns (Samoa, Westwood, McCloud), there are numerous spiritual, philosophical, labor and socialist undertakings in this state’s history. This article is an overview of the labor/socialist origins of the Kaweah Colony, located in eastern Tulare County.

The period following the Civil War was a time, both nationally and internationally, in which there was rising dissatisfaction with capitalism as preferred of national economic model. An American socialist, Laurence Grodlund, wrote of Gwerman socialism in Co-operative Commonwealth, a publication which circulated in the United States. Labor activists in the San Francisco Bay Area became interested in Grodlund’s description of a better way. Influenced by Grodlund and other prominent writers, a group of Bay Area residents, lead by the labor activists, organized the Kaweah Co-Operative Commonwealth (the Kaweah Colony). Its purpose was to patent the newly opened timbered resources of eastern Tulare County and use the timber as the basis for a new society. Eastern Tulare was largely inaccessible and thus of little interest to commercial timber interests. The participants applied for 53 patents covering 12,000 acres of land surrounding the forks of the Kaweah River. The Land Patent Office, suspicious of recent fraudulent patent activity in Humboldt County, was slow to process the claims. Assuming success, and perhaps encouraged by the land agents to move forward, the Kaweah Commonwealth was launched without the patents. Funds were not only raised by the participants as part of a buy-in, but also from national and European sources as well. Many of the members never lived at Kaweah, but active clubs supporting Kaweah existed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, and New York. The colony was begun, and its principal undertaking, starting in 1886, was the construction of an 18 mile road over a four-year period to access the standing timber resources. The plan was that the logs were to be cut, milled, and then hauled to market. In terms of daily life, the colony has its own medium of exchange, wherein all participants were paid, based upon the time devoted to Colony undertakings. The time credits could be exchanged for meals and goods at the Colony store. Recognizing that all labor was valuable, all work was credited at the same exchange rate.

The Colony began at Arcady, up from Three Rivers. As most labor and resources were devoted to the road construction, few other prominent improvements were developed other than improvised road construction camps.  The Colony received a death-blow, when, at the same time that the road was completed in 1890, Congress created Sequoia National Park, with the surrounding lands dedicated to national forest. As the Land Office had never taken final action on the colonists land patents, their work was for naught. Their land claims were rejected and they were now trespassers, charged with stealing timber resources from the federal lands.

By 1890, colony constructed buildings in Kaweah, including a hall for dining and meetings, a blacksmith shop, a print shop, a barn and a blacksmith shop. The post office still stands (although in a different location), and the colonist’s road was used by the Park Service for many years as the only road to the sequoia groves. Among other accomplishments, the colonists published a newspaper, the Kaweah Commonwealth (still published today.)

By 1892, most of the Colony had disbanded. Its peak population is estimated at about 300 individuals, and membership peaked at 500.

For further reading, I recommend California’s Utopian Colonies (Yale Western Americana Paperbound, 1953 by Robert Hine) and Co-Operative Dreams: A History of the Kaweah Colony (Raven River Press, 1999 by Jay O’Connell).

An Historic Tale of Two Towns: The State of California as a Planner and Subdivider, Part I

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By William W. Abbott

We all are familiar with the State of California in its role in land planning and development as the uber regulator. But if you turn back the hands of time immediately before World War I, a different picture emerges; that of land developer.

The triggering event was the Wheatland Hop Riot in 1913. The Industrial Workers of the World (the “Wobblies”) made an early attempt to organize the field laborers. The resulting conflict between growers and laborers resulted in four deaths, with the State of California sending the National Guard to bring law and order to the fields. It was California’s first documented farm labor conflict. The Wheatland Hop Riot, coupled with a national progressive movement to improve the quality of life for farmers, lead to the California State Commission on Colonization and Rural Credits. Concerned with escalating land prices, land speculation and the growing economic gap between tenant farmers and landowners, the Commission’s charge was to craft a strategy to improve rural life.

To implement this vision, the legislature of 1917 passed the Land Settlement Act and created the Land Settlement Board. The Board’s first endeavor involved the acquisition of 6,219 acres in Butte County near the existing community of Durham, and the development of an agricultural colony. Durham was the brainchild of Elwood Mead. An irrigation expert and a leader in Wyoming water rights law, Mead also developed agricultural colonies in Australia. Later, as an instructor at U.C. Berkley, and relying on his Australia experience, he was hired to develop and organize the Durham settlement.

The State, using a multi-disciplinary approach involving numerous agencies, adopted a role which was more than that of just a subdivider. The Settlement Board brought together supporting disciplines such as public health and agricultural practices to increase the likelihood of success.  The State acquired land water rights, graded and planted crops, and built homes. The land was subdivided into various sized parcels based upon agricultural productivity, and through lease-purchase agreements, a community was born. The State actively directed life in Durham, from building homes to supervising agricultural practices. In other words, it was Big Brother meets Farmer John.

The Durham settlement was perceived as a success, and the legislature, in response to the end of the war, redirected the Land Settlement Act towards veterans and launched a second community in Delhi, Merced County. Delhi consisted of an 8,000 acre tract, essentially uncultivated land, and like Durham, had no supporting infrastructure. The town was laid out by a landscape architect from the University of California. Unabashedly, a writer for the Sacramento Bee declared: “In years to come, this town of Delhi, now little but surveyors’ lines and grade stakes, with a new home under way here and there, should attain the fame of Gary, Indiana, that specialty-built city of the Steel Corporation.” In hindsight, the Sacramento Bee was guilty of mild exuberance.

Want more information? Follow the links to period pieces, including Progress Under the Land Settlement Act, 1919, (and corresponding appendix) and How California Helps Men Own Farms and Rural Homes, 1920, as well as maps and photographs. Our next installment will examine Durham and Delhi in greater detail.

An Historic Tale of Two Towns: The State of California as a Planner, Subdivider and Developer Part II

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By William W. Abbott

Readers may remember our earlier account of the first State of California planned community, Durham, in Butte County, started in 1913.  Apparently pleased with the perceived success in Durham, the State Land Settlement Board embraced a more ambitious goal, this time an 8,000 acre community to be located in the community of Delhi, in Merced County. On the heels of World War I, the legislature expanded the program to specifically serve returning veterans.

The soil quality at Delhi did not match that of Durham. Like Durham, the State installed critical improvements such as roads and water systems. On average the State paid $96.00 per acre, and after adding the improvement costs, and sold the land for $296.00 per acre. Delhi included a variety of parcels, from the Delhi townsite of small lots to working 2 acre parcels, designed as a parcel for a laborer to build a house and maintain a garden while working for others, on up to larger parcels. The community soon included homes, a lumberyard, a concrete pipe factory, (a building which still stands today), a community building and a plant nursery for planting new crops. As with Durham, the State financed the acquisition for the buyers and played a significant oversight role in advising and training the purchasers in agricultural practices. Although soils were less then ideal, improved agricultural practices over time improved yields.  A number of the Delhi parcels were acquired by veterans, however, the settlement did not sell out as originally planned.

By 1931, the State of California decided to exit the settlement business. Falling agricultural prices had adversely affected the residents of Durham and Delhi. As is common with many developers, the State shifted strategies during the downturn, and sold many parcels without the restrictions that would otherwise be in place. Without the State backup, the farmers were left on their own and over time, the more successful farmers prevailed. By the end of World War II, agriculture in Delhi and Durham was similar to surrounding areas.

California’s land settlement experiment resulted in a loss of around $2,500,000 to the State taxpayers.

For more information, see the following resources:

When a Fort is a Home: The Salvation Army, Fort Romie and Connecting Landless Men with Manless Land

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By William W. Abbott

Begun as a ministry in the 1850’s to help the poorest of poor in East London, the Salvation Army came to the United States in 1880.  As a small part of its overall mission of the salvation of souls ,the Salvation Army developed three farm colonies in the United States: Fort Romie (California), Fort Amity (Colorado) and Fort Herrick (Ohio). Fort Romie, located two miles south-southwest from Soledad, Monterey County, was the first of these colonies.  The objective was to relocate impoverished city dwelling to rural locations where they could enjoy a healthy physical and spiritual lifestyle as farmers.  The Army’s battle cry was to return the landless man to the manless land.

In 1897, former Monterey county supervisor Charles Romie sold 520 acres of land to the Salvation Army for $26,000.00. Money was raised nationally to support the development of the farms, and the ministry went to work to organize the future colonists and complete the groundwork for a successful experiment. Future colonists were required to sign a number of pledges, including one to not bring “opium, morphine, wine, spirits or objectionable drugs” to the colony (explaining perhaps the absence of attorneys as colonists.) Adherence to a particular faith or religious practice was not however, a requirement.

The land was surveyed and divided into 10 acre plots, and the Army sponsored improvements included 30 homes (at a cost of $110 to $250 and built by the owners), a clubhouse, library, and social hall.  Business improvements included a creamery and two-story cooperative store. One of the colony supporters was Claus Spreckels, German immigrant and founder of the Spreckels Sugar Company who donated $1,000.00 and looked to the future farmers as suppliers for his sugar factory. Significant capital, equipment and farming expertise were donated by others.

Eighteen families were selected from the Bay Area. In exchange for a turn key agricultural operation, the colonists were expected to remain until the plot was paid for. The Salvation Army, provided oversight and guidance. As many other colonies, city dwellers adapted poorly, and faced with an incredible drought which decimated the crop potential, many returned to the Bay Area leaving the Salvation Army in debt. The Salvation Army pressed on however. The Army resurveyed the area as a town-site, and arranged for and installed significant irrigation works drawing from the Arroyo Seco River. The ministry then recruited experienced farmers, and offered liberal terms to encourage settlement. The second wave of colonists included Scandinavian, Finn, German, Swiss, Dutch and Italian settlers, a classic early California paella. By 1910, the settlers had paid off their debts, and the Salvation Army concluded its oversight and exited the colony. To replace the Salvation Army as the community social and economic core, the residents went on to form Grange #358.

Over time, the Army’s “dry” clauses in the deeds proved problematic for lenders who were prohibited from making loans on property subject to revisionary clauses.  Eventually, the Army caved in, and without repealing the original limitation, agreed to subordinate the restriction to a bonafide mortgage.

Compared to other Salvation Army colonies, Fort Romie faired better, and when compared to other California colonies, has to be measured a success largely because it did not end in object failure.  While the Army did not develop more colonies in the United States, it actively promoted colonies in India, Canada, Australia and South Africa.

For additional information including photographs of Fort Romie, try http://www.mchsmuseum.com/fortromie.html, The Poor and the Land: Being a Report on the Salvation Army Colonies in the United States and at Hadleigh, England by H. Rider Haggard and The Salvation Army Farm Colonies by Clark C. Spence.

Depression Era Federal Farm Settlements in California

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Federal intervention in community development is nothing new.  During the 1930’s, the federal Resettlement Administration (“RA”) actively assisted rural families to relocate to communities planned by the federal government.  The resettlement administration existed from April 1935 to December 1936, and  in 1937, in response to public criticism and implementation challenges,  the program was folded into the Farm Security Administration.  Along with the community planning, the Administration was active in agricultural cooperative lending, farm loans, building migrant farm camps, the Photography Project, famous for its photographs by Dorothea Lange, film documentaries, and recordings of folk music.

The RA concentrated on three categories of settlements:  part-time farmers near industrial centers, all-rural colonies for farmers, and villages with decentralized industry.  The federal government formed the Federal Subsistence Homesteads Corporation as a non-profit entity for the purpose of buying, developing and leasing the property.  Local corporations were used as well.  With over 200 communities nationwide, the Administration developed two subsistence settlements in California:  El Monte (100 units) and Reseda (40 units) (in some publications referred to as the San Fernando Homesteads).  Unlike the exclusive agricultural State of California colonies of Durham and Delhi, these subsistence colonies were designed to support personal farming as a supplement to nearby industrial employment. Elwood Mead, a key strategist in California’s doomed earlier program and who had also been active in the South developing agricultural colonies, also served as a federal advisor for the national program, perhaps serving to modify the program to work in conjunction with industrial employment.  The plots were small (one acre) and were designed to provide housing a modest income support through part-time farming. The El Monte project also included a sewer treatment plant.  Little has been written of the Reseda settlement, although reportedly Dorothea Lange took photographs in both communities.

The Resettlement Administration was hampered by the fundamental fact that subsistence colonies in the past had largely failed, and a successful operating model did not exist.  The federal program was politically controversial, and predictably short-lived.  Efforts include east coast colonies focused on Jewish garment workers (Jersey Settlement, later called Roosevelt,) as well as Afro-American centric communities (Aberdeen Gardens, near Newport News, Virginia).   Charges were leveled that the RA program had communistic leanings.  Many of the sites failed due to poor agricultural capability or lack of meaningful employment opportunities for those developed as re-employment centers.  The two California settlements fared better than most for a couple of key reasons.  First, they were geographically located near meaningful employment opportunities.  Second, they were planned and supported by local business interests and local planning interests, and not master planned and administered by the RA.  As the national economy labors through another recession, will the federal government do any better this time around?  Want to read more, try “Tomorrow a New World: The New Deal Community Program” available at http://www.archive.org/details/tomorrownewworld00conkrich.

Llano del Rio: The Socialists’ Short Lived California Dream

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June 10, 2010 in Labor Movement, Utopian | by | Leave a comment

By William Abbott

Llano del Rio is more than a failed colony on the edge of the Mojave Desert. It is a Raymond Chandler like tale of politics, labor and Harrison Gray Otis, patriarch of the Los Angeles Times. Attorney Job Harriman was active in the natural socialist movement at the end of the 1800’s. He served as Eugene Deb’s vice presidential running mate in 1900. Unsuccessful, he returned to lawyering in Los Angeles, and a decade later, ran for mayor of Los Angeles as a progressive/socialist. During this same time period, efforts to unionize the Los Angeles work force were bitterly opposed, and one of the most outspoken critics was Harrison Gray Otis, editor of the Los Angeles Times. In 1910, a bomb explodes behind the Times building killing twenty people. The McNamara Brothers and Ortie McManigal, labor organizers were arrested. While running for mayor (and having received the most votes in the primary), Harriman served as their defense counsel, although Clarence Darrow eventually appeared as co-counsel and took over the case due to Harriman’s need to campaign for office. Darrow eventually convinced his clients to plead guilty, and some pundits believe that the timing of the pleas, a few days before the mayoral election, was designed to ruin Harriman’s chances of being elected mayor which in fact was what transpired. Convinced that socialism would not succeed politically without the foundation of an economic model, Harriman turned to creating a socialist colony.

In 1913, Harriman and a handful of his acquaintances purchased land and water rights in an area roughly 20 miles east of Palmdale. With this investment, they created the Llano Del Rio Company. To become a member of Llano, members had to acquire 2000 shares of company stock. Harriman used the corporate concept in part as a shield from business critics. The community of Llano was designed by Alice Constance Austin, a socialist, feminist and self-trained architect. She developed a circular plan for the community, and among other innovations, included kitchenless homes and day care facilities. The colony was marketed to workers captured by the limitations of capitalism. The community officially (and appropriately) opened for public membership on May Day in 1914. One tactical error was the use of a stock agent who, in successfully selling the stock, likely oversold the advantages of living in Llano, which in turn lead to internal operating strife as the community grew too quickly with individuals not ideally suited to communal living. Within a few years, the colony soon had 1000 residents.

According to a report published by the Historical Society of Southern California in 1918, the colonists controlled directly or indirectly roughly 9000 acres of land with 2000 acres cultivated in alfalfa (400 acres), orchards (120 acres), gardens (120 acres), corn (100 acres) and the balance in various grains. The colony maintained active crews responsible for community buildings, homes, roads, irrigation works, dam construction, agricultural land preparation, animal husbandry. Reports indicated that Llano, within a relatively short time period, grew 90% of what it needed to support itself. While the colony considered selling agricultural products and modest handicrafts, its location was too remote to successfully implement the vision. The colony included a hotel, community hall, lime kilns, barns, silo, canning plant, lumber mill and steam laundry. (see map) Llano maintained one of the first and largest Montessori schools (over 100 students), and was highly organized in the theater, education and entertainment, including an orchestra.

Utopian in concept but not necessarily in practice, internal strife plagued the community as it learned to govern itself. Llano’s system of governance relied upon 60 different committees reporting to a government board, a system which did not always work smoothly. An equal challenge was that of a reliable water supply. The colonists were unable to secure a state permit to construct the amount of storage it needed to maintain a sufficient water supply. Like many colonies, a lack of capital always operated as a brake on what could be accomplished. With the outbreak of World War I, the colony lost part of its workforce to the Army and to new-found industries in Los Angeles. Undaunted, the colonists sought out a new location in California’s Central Valley, but eventually acquired an abandoned forest plantation and mill town of 20,000 acres and buildings in Stables, Louisiana.  In 1918, a group chartered a train and moved east, and named the colony Newllano. This colony existed for many years and included two satellite communities (cattle raising in New Mexico and rice farming in Texas).

The early demise (1918) of Llano was a function of the “Too’s”; too remote, too rapid growth, too little capital and too little water. Unlike other California colonies however, its progeny continued for many years, with Newllano lasting until 1939.

For American Utopia Photo Archives visit http://www.lpb.org/programs/utopia/photos.html

Colonies & Settlements: The Polish Colony in Anaheim

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By William W. Abbott

One of the more intriguing early settlements in California involves the Polish colony in Anaheim. The story begins in Poland, and centers on a young aspiring actress, Helena Modjeska. Born Helena Opid in 1840, Modjeska at a relatively early age gained great fame and recognition as an actress. Her work as an actress brought her in contact with the prominent literati and liberals of time. At the time, Poland had been partitioned by Russia, Prussia and Austria, and the desire for unification and freedom was met with unbending, brutal responses by the occupiers. By 1875, while Modjeska was secure in both her success as an actress and by marriage to Count Bozenta, her health began to fail. The combination of political uncertainty and health concerns, coupled with their established wealth, gave the actress and her family the option not many others possessed: leaving Poland. California became the eventual destination, with a vision of creating a utopian community, similar to Brook Farm in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, a colony launched in 1840 by Transcendentalists.

The Modjeska family and entourage, arrived in San Francisco in 1876, having travelled by the overland Panama route. Upon arrival, her family was introduced to the existing ex pat Polish community. Drawing upon the early agricultural success of the German immigrants already in Anaheim (and recognizing that while few of the group could speak English, they could speak German fluently and thus could converse with existing residents), the Count acquired farm land in Anaheim and put into production. Nationalists and perhaps revolutionaries at heart, none of the colonists were farmers in their souls or their hands, and the agricultural colony quickly failed (1876-1878). Perhaps out of necessity, Modjeska then mastered the English language, and eventually became one of the most famous actresses touring America.

She eventually returned to Anaheim, and acquired significant property in Santiago Canyon. She commissioned the famous architect Stanford White to design her home. She named her estate “Arden”, from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” At Arden, she opened her house to visiting Polish illuminaries. After leaving the stage, she retired to Bay Island in Newport Bay where she died. While banned for political reasons from returning to Russian occupied Poland while alive, her body was ultimately interred in Krakow, where she is recognized as both an actress and patriot.

Helena Modjeska cast a large shadow. Her home was acquired by Orange County and is available for viewing. Modjeska Canyon and Modjeska Peak are named for her. Her son went on to become a bridge engineer on bridges throughout the United States, and at the age of 70, a consulting engineer on the Golden Gate Bridge.  Her circle of Polish ex pats included author Henryk Sienkiewicz, who later received the Nobel Peace Prize in literature for Quo Vadis, and international pianist Ignacy Paderewski, who after Polish independence in 1919, returned from California to become Poland’s first prime minister. Her autobiography is Memories and Impressions of Helena Modjeska. Additional source materials can be found in The Polish Colony of California 1876-1914, a thesis authored by Milton L Kosberg (1952), published by R and E Research Associates, San Francisco (1971).

When a Fort is a Home: The Salvation Army, Fort Romie and Connecting Landless Men with Manless Land

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By William W. Abbott

Begun as a ministry in the 1850’s to help the poorest of poor in East London, the Salvation Army came to the United States in 1880.  As a small part of its overall mission of the salvation of souls ,the Salvation Army developed three farm colonies in the United States: Fort Romie (California), Fort Amity (Colorado) and Fort Herrick (Ohio). Fort Romie, located two miles south-southwest from Soledad, Monterey County, was the first of these colonies.  The objective was to relocate impoverished city dwelling to rural locations where they could enjoy a healthy physical and spiritual lifestyle as farmers.  The Army’s battle cry was to return the landless man to the manless land.

In 1897, former Monterey county supervisor Charles Romie sold 520 acres of land to the Salvation Army for $26,000.00. Money was raised nationally to support the development of the farms, and the ministry went to work to organize the future colonists and complete the groundwork for a successful experiment. Future colonists were required to sign a number of pledges, including one to not bring “opium, morphine, wine, spirits or objectionable drugs” to the colony (explaining perhaps the absence of attorneys as colonists.) Adherence to a particular faith or religious practice was not however, a requirement.

The land was surveyed and divided into 10 acre plots, and the Army sponsored improvements included 30 homes (at a cost of $110 to $250 and built by the owners), a clubhouse, library, and social hall.  Business improvements included a creamery and two-story cooperative store. One of the colony supporters was Claus Spreckels, German immigrant and founder of the Spreckels Sugar Company who donated $1,000.00 and looked to the future farmers as suppliers for his sugar factory. Significant capital, equipment and farming expertise were donated by others.

Eighteen families were selected from the Bay Area. In exchange for a turn key agricultural operation, the colonists were expected to remain until the plot was paid for. The Salvation Army, provided oversight and guidance. As many other colonies, city dwellers adapted poorly, and faced with an incredible drought which decimated the crop potential, many returned to the Bay Area leaving the Salvation Army in debt. The Salvation Army pressed on however. The Army resurveyed the area as a town-site, and arranged for and installed significant irrigation works drawing from the Arroyo Seco River. The ministry then recruited experienced farmers, and offered liberal terms to encourage settlement. The second wave of colonists included Scandinavian, Finn, German, Swiss, Dutch and Italian settlers, a classic early California paella. By 1910, the settlers had paid off their debts, and the Salvation Army concluded its oversight and exited the colony. To replace the Salvation Army as the community social and economic core, the residents went on to form Grange #358.

Over time, the Army’s “dry” clauses in the deeds proved problematic for lenders who were prohibited from making loans on property subject to revisionary clauses.  Eventually, the Army caved in, and without repealing the original limitation, agreed to subordinate the restriction to a bonafide mortgage.

Compared to other Salvation Army colonies, Fort Romie faired better, and when compared to other California colonies, has to be measured a success largely because it did not end in object failure.  While the Army did not develop more colonies in the United States, it actively promoted colonies in India, Canada, Australia and South Africa.

For additional information including photographs of Fort Romie, try http://www.mchsmuseum.com/fortromie.html, The Poor and the Land: Being a Report on the Salvation Army Colonies in the United States and at Hadleigh, England by H. Rider Haggard and The Salvation Army Farm Colonies by Clark C. Spence.

San Bernardino, California 1851 – 1857 the Largest Latter-day Saint Colony Outside of Utah and the Largest Anglo-American Settlement in Southern California

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By David A. Storer, AICP

Answering the call from their Prophet Brigham Young in early Spring 1851, some 437 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the “Mormons”) led by Amasa M. Lyman and Charles C. Rich of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, headed from Payson, Utah toward Los Angeles with the objective of settling yet another outpost in the far west. Their assignment (considered by the faithful saints to be similar and just as important as the call to serve a proselytizing mission) was to add a new colony to the “Chain of Forts” from Salt Lake City to the Pacific Ocean, (thereby expanding the “Mormon Corridor”) to assist incoming converts immigrating to Utah from abroad by sea. They were instructed to establish “a settlement in the southern part of California, at no great distance from San Diego, and near Williams’ ranche and the Cahone Pass.”

After 90 days or more, on June 11, 1851, the advance contingent of 50 headed by Captain David Seely reached Sycamore Grove at the foot of the Cajon Pass. The other nine companies (of approximately the same size) arrived shortly thereafter. At the camp at Sycamore Grove there were 150 wagons which had been drawn by nearly 600 oxen and over 50 mules. There were also sizeable animal herds and over 100 horses, most of which had been ridden over land by their owners, though the bulk of the horse herd was designed for farm work. Several had been harnessed to buggies and light wagons, there being numerous conveyances in the emigrant group in addition to the covered wagons that served as homes on wheels. On July 6th, 1851, the colonists organized their first church unit, the San Bernardino “Stake” naming David Seely as their first Stake President.

On September 22, 1851, Lyman and Rich negotiated for part of the Rancho San Bernardino from the Lugo brothers. They obtained 35,000 acres for $77,500 after a down payment of $7,500 was paid. In December of 1851, having heard of stories about Indian attacks, the colonists completed a fort and named it Fort San Bernardino, which, over time, housed over a hundred families mostly in separate dwellings. For the first few years, they grew wheat and other crops outside and built a grain mill inside the fort. But since the Mormons weren’t raising cattle or horses, the desert Indians were no longer a threat and families were able to move out and build their own homes.

San Bernardino County was created April 26, 1853, and almost a year later, the City of San Bernardino was incorporated on April 13, 1854. Its initial population was 1200, of which 900 were members of the Mormon faith. There was no drinking or gambling allowed in the new City. Amasa M. Lyman served at its first Mayor and after two years was followed by Charles C. Rich. The city grew to 3,000 by the end of 1856 of which some estimate that over 80% were or had been Mormon.

When the official call to disband the colony arrived in November 1857, many of the colonists went home to the Salt Lake basin as requested by their Prophet – the call came mostly because federal troops (known infamously as “Johnson’s Army”) were approaching Utah and there was a need for consolidation should the Utah saints need to defend themselves. Combined with this event, Brigham Young had also heard of internal dissension and problems with non-Mormon neighbors. Some 1400 – 2000 people (approximately 55% of the San Bernardino Latter-day Saint population) returned, having sold property at ruinous prices. They left behind what is considered by many to be the most advanced school system to that point in California, a public library, stores, roads and a strong form of government. Although the City dis-incorporated in 1857, the City re-incorporated in 1886.

David Storer AICP has his own land use consulting business and resides in Folsom, California. He provides services to the public and private sectors. He and his wife Tina have three children, Ashley (currently serving a mission in Salt Lake City, Utah at Temple Square – providing American Sign Language services), Anthony (who is currently serving in the Toronto Canada West Mission) and Andrew who attends Folsom Lake College, Folsom, California.

Depression Era Federal Farm Settlements in California

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Federal intervention in community development is nothing new.  During the 1930’s, the federal Resettlement Administration (“RA”) actively assisted rural families to relocate to communities planned by the federal government.  The resettlement administration existed from April 1935 to December 1936, and  in 1937, in response to public criticism and implementation challenges,  the program was folded into the Farm Security Administration.  Along with the community planning, the Administration was active in agricultural cooperative lending, farm loans, building migrant farm camps, the Photography Project, famous for its photographs by Dorothea Lange, film documentaries, and recordings of folk music.

The RA concentrated on three categories of settlements:  part-time farmers near industrial centers, all-rural colonies for farmers, and villages with decentralized industry.  The federal government formed the Federal Subsistence Homesteads Corporation as a non-profit entity for the purpose of buying, developing and leasing the property.  Local corporations were used as well.  With over 200 communities nationwide, the Administration developed two subsistence settlements in California:  El Monte (100 units) and Reseda (40 units) (in some publications referred to as the San Fernando Homesteads).  Unlike the exclusive agricultural State of California colonies of Durham and Delhi, these subsistence colonies were designed to support personal farming as a supplement to nearby industrial employment. Elwood Mead, a key strategist in California’s doomed earlier program and who had also been active in the South developing agricultural colonies, also served as a federal advisor for the national program, perhaps serving to modify the program to work in conjunction with industrial employment.  The plots were small (one acre) and were designed to provide housing a modest income support through part-time farming. The El Monte project also included a sewer treatment plant.  Little has been written of the Reseda settlement, although reportedly Dorothea Lange took photographs in both communities.

The Resettlement Administration was hampered by the fundamental fact that subsistence colonies in the past had largely failed, and a successful operating model did not exist.  The federal program was politically controversial, and predictably short-lived.  Efforts include east coast colonies focused on Jewish garment workers (Jersey Settlement, later called Roosevelt,) as well as Afro-American centric communities (Aberdeen Gardens, near Newport News, Virginia).   Charges were leveled that the RA program had communistic leanings.  Many of the sites failed due to poor agricultural capability or lack of meaningful employment opportunities for those developed as re-employment centers.  The two California settlements fared better than most for a couple of key reasons.  First, they were geographically located near meaningful employment opportunities.  Second, they were planned and supported by local business interests and local planning interests, and not master planned and administered by the RA.  As the national economy labors through another recession, will the federal government do any better this time around?  Want to read more, try “Tomorrow a New World: The New Deal Community Program” available at http://www.archive.org/details/tomorrownewworld00conkrich.