tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7766959241150105184.post6408958778752876384..comments2024-03-20T21:34:14.507-07:00Comments on Carbon Canyon Chronicle: Patrick Curran Tonner (1841-1900): Namesake of Tonner CanyonUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7766959241150105184.post-49088535459768005612024-03-20T21:34:14.507-07:002024-03-20T21:34:14.507-07:00@bp53 My grandfather worked for Mobil Oil. My aunt...@bp53 My grandfather worked for Mobil Oil. My aunts and uncles grew up in the 60s and I grew up in the 70s, and they were still doing the company picnics at Barneson Park. I loved going to them every year. It was everything thing you said and more. They used to have presents they would hand out to the kids, so it was like Christmas for us. My grandfather was super involved and used to help them roast whole pigs in the pit. It was amazing. Thank you for sharing... I wonder if the park still exists. TLG77https://www.blogger.com/profile/01092421148885887906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7766959241150105184.post-21605280958387377362018-10-18T19:21:45.210-07:002018-10-18T19:21:45.210-07:00In the mid 60's, a school mate invited me to g...In the mid 60's, a school mate invited me to go with his family on a picnic to Barneson Park, which was a private park in Tonner Canyon for Mobil Oil employees.<br /> We drove surface streets from Long Beach (probably up Beach Blvd) to Brea and then up to Tonner Canyon. The park was like an oasis. There was a large open kitchen area to prepare food, barbeque pits, and rows of picnic tables. They had an outdoor jukebox, a teather ball court, and further up the canyon was a dirt baseball diamond.<br /> A white cottage stood at the entrance to the parking lot. That was where the park caretaker lived. We met and became friends with Vern, the caretaker. The creek ran through the middle of the park, where we could catch frogs and the occasional pond turtle. We also roamed the hills on both side of the canyon looking for snakes and lizards.<br />Vern was especially pleased when we found rattlesnakes on the fringe of the park and removed them further up the canyon. Great Memories!bp53https://www.blogger.com/profile/04684789190343113280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7766959241150105184.post-65031233305965597172010-04-27T01:29:20.712-07:002010-04-27T01:29:20.712-07:00Hello David, Margaret and Gina, thanks for your co...Hello David, Margaret and Gina, thanks for your comments. <br /><br />Margaret, I don't know where the cottages you lived in were--probably on the southern end toward Brea. There were people who lived and ranched out there before oil was discovered, so maybe the houses date from then or from use by the early oil companies?<br /><br />Gina, my intention of the pretty lengthy post was to give a general biography of Tonner rather than get into too much detail about much of the specifics of his life. As a former caretaker of the Phillips Mansion (formerly Vejar property) and board member of the historical society in Pomona, I am certainly aware of the history of the Palomares and Vejar families. I would also add that their misfortunes were not only due to the avarice of some Americans and Europeans, but to bad luck, flood and drought, disease, and unfortunate business decisions. That said, history tends to be more complicated and complex than is usually stated. Still, I would certainly not seek to minimize anything that Tonner did that might have been unethical, if not illegal. As you probably noticed, I did remark on his questionable defense, due to conflict of interest, of a Pomona teacher and upon his proclivity to drinking. Finally, by way of clarification, I'd like to note that the townsite of Pomona was actually founded in 1874-75 on lands held by Louis Phillips (who obtained them from Tischler and Schlesinger, who foreclosed upon Ricardo Vejar in about 1863.) The Palomares lands involving Tonner were not part of the original townsite, but were annexed at a later date. Thanks for your contribution.prshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08436491486803144279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7766959241150105184.post-65790213318455866952010-04-21T09:33:37.306-07:002010-04-21T09:33:37.306-07:00As a descendent of the Palomares and Vejar familie...As a descendent of the Palomares and Vejar families, as well as several other prominent Californios "familias", I am disappointed that you did not included his corruption, deception, and betrayal, in the role as their attorney to benefit himself in the sale of parcels of Palomares family land, leaving the family and their descendants poor and disenfranchised. <br /><br />Both noted in Bess Garner's "Windows in An Old Adobe" and Leonard Pitt's "Decline of the Californios" discusses the Federal Court cases where the Palomares family made the painful decision to renounce all RIGHTFUL claims to their land and fortune, in order to allow the settlers on the newly formed town of Pomona (formerly Rancho San Jose of Don Ignacio Palomares' La Familia) to retain the money they invested in their new homes, businesses and not decimate the entire community.<br /><br />As Lugarda Palomares told her sons, "I do not want anyone who bought in good faith to suffer. Whatever your father meant to do we must do. I'd rather see my boys walk the streets of Pomona poor but honest than anyone to suffer at the hands of a Palomares. Mr. Tonner's way may have been legal. It may be that he would have made us much money. But we do not want such money. We will follow the laws of God."<br /><br />Growing up in Anaheim Hills, I never knew who and what Tonner Canyon was. I never knew my heritage because it was something the American history had erased from the brilliance the Californios brought to the USA, until I attended UCLA at 30 and learned of MY families' brilliant contributions to California.<br /><br />Patrick Curran Tonner was a Catholic, who became a Methodist, but used his upbringing to build a "trusting" connection to the Californios, and they never had reason to doubt him. They honored him till his dying day, even though in his own poetry he ridiculed the Spanish culture and revered the American pioneers and Manifest Destiny.<br /><br />His Progressive Ideology of Theodore Roosevelt, and later Woodrow Wilson that decimated the Spanish culture in the early 20the Century, should be a lesson for all people. When you take away everything a person has to believe in and leave them with nothing, they may appear to assimilate or accommodate, but eventually they will find their roots again, and make a comeback: Hence the Chicano Movement of the 1960's.Gina Garcia Brockhttp://blog.dawgonduty.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7766959241150105184.post-7368634403197370742010-01-30T13:53:01.557-08:002010-01-30T13:53:01.557-08:00interesting, I was born in 1948, my parents lived ...interesting, I was born in 1948, my parents lived in Tonner Canyon. My father worked for Mobil oil. At that time there were 2 white cottages amongst the pepper trees. we lived in one of them for 18 years. I often wonder what happened with the environmental movement there.<br />MargaretAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7766959241150105184.post-40974061715587783022009-10-23T10:41:40.893-07:002009-10-23T10:41:40.893-07:00Cool, I like this History.Cool, I like this History.Davidnoreply@blogger.com