Carbon Canyon Historical Artifact #60: "Road to La Vida Mineral Springs," ca. 1930

Almost two months ago, when these gatherings could still be done, a talk was given to the Chino Hills Historical Society on the history of Carbon Canyon Road.  The presentation included the creation of the road in the mid-1910s; its paving on the San Bernardino County side in the late 1920s; followed a few years later by that work done on the Orange County portion; its designation as a state highway in the early Thirties, though not signed as State Route 142 until the mid-Sixties; and more.

Newspaper articles, maps, and photographs were used to illustrate the PowerPoint presentation, including a relatively new find, a real photo postcard of a section of Carbon Canyon Road, titled "Road to La Vida Mineral Springs" dating to before the early 1930s, when the road was paved on the Orange County side.

It looks like a section of the road as it approached the resort, which began operating in the 1910s and, by 1930, was run by an Anaheim resident and former area oil worker and producer, William Newton Miller.  Under Miller's ownership, La Vida expanded to include more cottages, a larger bath house, and a cafe, among other amenities.  His family continued to own and run the facility until the mid-1970s.

The photo shows a bucolic unpaved road gently curving among the narrow canyon setting, lined with trees on one side, and the steep chaparral-covered hillside on the other.  It certainly was a world away from the modern highway of our era.

The card was unused, but there is an ink inscription on the reverse that reads, "Will & I used to drive to this place / many times, some time go / on up through Carbon Canyon enroute / to Pomona California."  This was true for many people heading from the coastal areas to the Inland Empire, which was the paramount reason for establishing Carbon Canyon Road in the first place.

It's a great little photo of our canyon probably some 90 years ago.

So, it's ten minutes before the end of March and it didn't seem right to go the whole month without at least one post on this blog (something that hasn't yet been done in the nearly dozen years since the Chronicle was launched.)  So, even with the surreal circumstances of our COVID-19 era, this little offering is made to remind us that there is something waiting for us at the end of this road, as well.

Please stay safe and stay well.

Chino Hills Historical Society Presentation on the History of Carbon Canyon Road

Hope to see you next Monday, 3 February @ 7 p.m. at the Chino Hills Community Center for a PowerPoint-illustrated presentation for the Chino Hills Historical Society on the history of Carbon Canyon Road.

The talk covers the opening of the road just over a century ago, its realignment and paving in the late 1920s, and some of the changes that have taken place over the decades.

This detail is from a 1920s Auto Club of Southern California "strip map" of "Automobile Roads Leading Into Brea & Carbon Canyons."

Carbon Canyon Road obviously led to the creation of early subdivisions like Sleepy Hollow and Mountain View Estates, was paved partially to allow easier access from Los Angeles and other areas to Los Serranos Country Club, and was increasingly important as an inland to coast route.

This will be the first of three talks for the Historical Society in 2020, so please come out and take in some of our interesting local history.

Happy 100th Birthday, Carbon Canyon Road!

In the 10 January 1915 edition of the San Bernardino County Sun, that paper reported that, the previous day, the 9th, the completion of Carbon Canyon Road from Chino to Brea over in Orange County was complete.

The project was at least a few years in the making and it is not surprising why.  The increasing availability and use of the automobile (the "horseless carriage" to old-timers of the day), a growing appreciation and marketing of the region's tourism potential, changes in land ownership and use, and a rising economy were just some of the factors that led to the promotion of road-building throughout the region.

For example, at about this time, Turnbull Canyon Road was built from the La Puente area into Whittier for many of the same reasons there was a push for Carbon Canyon Road:  easier access from interior valleys to coastal regions, a pleasant "Sunday drive" and, less overtly stated, a chance for developers to use these roads to promote their projects.

Some of the prior planning goes back to at least late 1913, when a short article in the Sun noted that crews working for county surveyor Bright were at work on the new "Chino district road" that "will cut about 15 miles from the route from San Bernardino to Newport and other beaches."  The piece observed that Orange County officials were proceeding with plans to "extend the county highway from Olinda to the county line near Chino," an aspect discussed in this blog previously.

An article from the 10 March 1914 edition of the San Bernardino County Sun concerning lobbying efforts by prominent residents of Chino (which had incorporated just the previous year) requesting the Board of Supervisors to approve appropriations for a new Carbon Canyon Road to link the inland area with the coast.

In March, a delegation of some 40 citizens of Chino attended a board of supervisors meeting to lobby directly for approval of the new road.  Three of these Chinoans (is that a word?) were named as principal spokespersons including C.F. Ten Eyck, J. T. Schroeder (manager of the Chino sugar beet mill) and Edwin Rhodes, one of Chino's best-known citizens and author of a 1950s history of the community.  It was reported that the three "were well-armed with data, having exact estimates on cost," the total said to be a little under $8,300.  It was also noted that, because much attention was being paid to a proposed road, called the Mill Creek Road, through Cajon Pass along which Interstate 15 partially passes, the relatively minor cost of Carbon Canyon Road seemed to be a useful selling point.

Two weeks later, a special excursion was organized by Chino folks for the purposes of promoting the project during the famed "Alfalfa Day" event in town (what, you haven't heard of "Alfalfa Day"?)  The "auto parade," as it was called, was to take a couple of hours and to be back in town just in time for a dinner.

Tout suite something took place rather quickly, as an April note in the Sun reported that a baker's dozen of laborers were at work in the Canyon, evidently at the behest of Supervisor Samuel Pine (no, Pine Avenue in Chino Hills and Chino is not named for a type of tree).  The short piece stated that "there was formerly a poorly kept road through the canyon, little more than a trail," but that "little work had ever been done on it, and storms have made it next to impassable."

On the 14th of April, the Chino Chamber of Commerce organized another trip, this time inviting county supervisors, their Orange County counterparts and other interested parties to meet at the county line to discuss the proposed road and inspect the route.

Five days later, the Sun reported that there were 50 teams hard at work on the road project, which, evidently, was being pursued by local private interests in anticipation of approval by the county.  It was noted that, at the aforementioned Chamber ramble, Supervisor Pine was joined by two colleagues, J.C. Jones and J.B. Glover, along with boosters from Chino and Ontario.

A short piece in the Sun, 5 May 1914, reporting on approval by the Board of Supervisors for an appropriation of $5,000 towards the construction of Carbon Canyon Road from Chino to the Orange County line, where the road would meet up with the section built by Orange County in its jurisdiction.

With all of the lobbying conducted, no small wonder, that, in early May, the board of supervisors went ahead and gave their approval for the construction of Carbon Canyon Road.  Even though the estimate of cost was over $8,000, the board decided to appropriate $5,000, though that was likely just an initial outlay.

Part of an article from the 23 June 1914 issue of the Sun explaining how labor from prison camps on the Mill Creek Road and Carbon Canyon Road represented a huge savings for the county, while providing prisoners "the blessing of fresh air and honest work, receiving a small payment for their work."

In late June, the Sun issued an article noting that much of the county's road work was being contracted out to employ labor from prisoners and that this represented a huge cost savings for the county, for very obvious reasons.  The paper made sure to note that "at the same time the prisoners are enjoying the blessing of fresh air and honest work, receiving a small payment for their work."  Consequently, this interesting interpretation continued, "the gain on the humanitarian score is incalculable."

The announcement of the 9 January 19154 opening of Carbon Canyon Road from Chino into Orange County was made in the Sun's edition of the following day.

A little more than six months later, the announcement was heralded in the Sun that the road was completed and opened on 9 January 1915.

Another beautiful scenic and practical highway has been added to this district, with the finishing of the new Carbon canyon [road] through the hills south of Chino into Orange county.  Formal announcement that the road is open was received here today and will undoubtedly cause general interest, especially to automobile drivers, for there is offered a new and shorter route into Orange county and the beaches

It was added that previous excursions into the coastal region required going either "through the Santa Ana canyon, where the grades are steep and the road often impassable" or the alternate route of "the La Brea canyon . . . [which] is poor at the best."

With a lack of precision in its reporting, the paper stated that route involved, "leaving the hills west of the George Junior Republic [now Boys Republic in Chino Hills], [where] the highway comes out at Olinda and there connects with the Orange county good roads system."  The implication seems to be that the road went west from Chino, perhaps along what is roughly Grand Avenue or maybe Eucalyptus and then went into the lower reaches of the Chino Hills and came down through what might be close to today's Chino Hills Parkway before heading west into Carbon Canyon.

Later, a new route extending from Central Avenue south from Chino was developed, or so it seems.  In any case, speaking of impassable, the success of the first incarnation of Carbon Canyon Road, which was unpaved, was short-lived, as will be discussed in a future post.

Carbon Canyon History Article Published

An article on the history of Carbon Canyon has just been published in the tenth volume of the journal Orange Countiana, issued by the Orange County Historical Society.

Based on a presentation given to the society earlier this year, the ten-page piece discussed the early history from native Indians through the mid-1800s; the Olinda Ranch; the Olinda oil field; La Vida Mineral Springs; Carbon Canyon Road; fires and floods; and recent residential development.  The article is also illustrated with historic photos.  Because the piece was for the Orange County Historical Society, most of the content concerns that side of the canyon, though there is some brief mentions of the Chino Hills and San Bernardino County side.

The tenth volume of the journal Orange Countiana, just published this week by the Orange County Historical Society, features a ten-page article on Carbon Canyon, focusing mainly on the Orange County portion of the canyon.

Orange Countiana is very ably edited by Phil Brigandi, an authority on the history of the county, and this issue also contains articles on the Gospel Swamp community of today's south Santa Ana; an early winemaker from the county, and a reprint of a chapter of a 1930 book by early OC chronicler Terry Stephenson about the earliest Spanish settlers of the area, including the Yorbas, Peraltas, and Grijalvas.

For information on the journal, copies of which are $24 including shipping and handling, contact the Society at orangecountiana@orangecountyhistory.org or send a check to Orange County Historical Society, P.O. Box 10984, Santa Ana, CA 92711.

Carbon Canyon Road Paving in 1928 + Bonus Chino Hills Bird Farm History!

The near-completion of the lengthy, but all-encompassing repaving of Carbon Canyon Road from the Orange/San Bernardino counties line to just before the Olinda Ranch community seems an opportune moment to reach back nearly 85 years to what appears to be the first effort to repave the highway, or, at least, part of it.

It was noted in this blog back in September 2008 that work was done to complete a paving of the road in 1926, shortly after the completion of the Los Serranos Country Club gave impetus to the project to make the drive out from Los Angeles easier and quicker.

In the July-August 1928 issue of the short-lived magazine, San Gabriel Valley Monthly, however, a page devoted to goings-on in Chino featured a couple of paragraphs on new work to Carbon Canoyn Road.  After highlighting the work of the Chino Chamber of Commerce "in promoting a good roads program," the description stated that the chamber "now sees one of its major projects nearing completion in the Carbon Canyon improvement which will be finished this summer."

This page from the San Gabriel Valley Monthly (July-August 1928) highlights happenings in Chino and makes reference to a paving project on Carbon Canyon Road.  Click on the image to see it in a larger view in its own window.  From the original in the collection of the Homestead Museum, City of Industry.

Specifically, bids were being solicited for the paving of seven-and-a-half miles of roadway, which "will mean a new ribbon of pavement from Central Avenue on the east through Carbon Canyon o the Orange County line on the west."  Moreover, the piece continued, "Orange County officials have signified their intention of continuing the pavement through their part of the canyon to intersect with paving already completed near Olinda."  Of course, at the time Olinda was a booming oil community.

The piece conclded by noting that "this route, when completed, wil be the most direct mountains-to-sea thoroughfare through scenic Carbon Canyon for motorists from San Bernardino, Riverside and all points east, also from the west."  In addition, "Carbon Canyon Road has always been listed as one of Southern California's notable scenic drives, and provides easy access to the famous LiVida [sic] Mineral Springs, midway between Chino and Olinda.
It seems strange that there should have been paving, probably the first conducted on the highway, in 1926 and then more work only two years later, but there were problems with early road paving technology, though there is no way to know if this was the case with Carbon Canyon Road in the late Twenties.

In any case, the growing use of the automobile in the region, already the car capital of the world, was spurring on projects like this to allow for, in this example, leisure activities through the Canyon.  Nearly nine decades on, repaving projects like the one nearly done now are more about the practical considerations of commuting, though some people still like to take their weekend spin through the area.

There was something else of interest in this article, which might interest people who wonder why there is a "Bird Farm Road" in the Los Serranos neighborhood of Chino Hills.  As explained in the opening paragraph of this piece, "The California State Game and Fish Commission has begun improvement of the thirty-acre site for a bird farm and hatchery, recntly [sic] donated by Los Serranos Country Club."  In 1926, that state department provided some two hundred pheasants "for breeding purposes in the south end of Chino Valley" and, having healthily increased their numbers, "this was a contributing factor in the selection of the site by the commission."  With this initial breeding succes, "a development program calling for the expenditure of $75,000 in the immediate future, with future additions next year, wil establish the farm as one of the important ones in the country."

To this day, the California Department of Fish and Game retains a local office on the site, while the remainder was obtained by the local school district and Chaparral Elementary School opened there in recent years.

Carbon Canyon Road and Its "Scenic Dangers"

Here's a quote to peruse for a moment:

Winding Carbon Canyon Road, which takes a Sunday motorist on a leisurely tour of pleasant, rural country in northern Orange County, is beginning to relect the pressures of urban devlopment.

Scenic State Highway 142 through the canyon connects Brea with Chino.  The problem is that the route is carrying more and faster traffic than it was designed to handle.

This isn't from last week's Orange County Register or last month's Chino Hills Champion.  It's a Los Angeles Times article titled "Old Road Offers Scenic Dangers" from reporter Howard Seelye, dated 12 December 1971.  A mere 40 years ago.

As much as some people (YHB included) might like to complain about modern dangers and serious accidents or near accidents that might (or might not) warrant, say, a blog post or something, this article reported that, in the preceding 17 months, there were 44 serious accidents, including in five deaths, "four of them young people."  One of the accompanying photos showed two of seven crosses at the side of the highway where two accidents took place.

Consequently, the piece continued, "now residents who moved into Carbon Canyon to escape the urban life, find themselves pushing for highway design changes to cut down dangers to those who travel through the area."  Amplifying the main theme, Seelye noted that, "it seems that some improvements are badly needed," while at the same time there was the contradiction in the fact that "those who live in the area and many who enjoy touring the canyon hope the changes won't spoil its beauty."

In describing the area traversed by the highway, Seelye provided some interesting facts and some errors, as well; an example of the latter being the statement that "Carbon Canyon once served as a portion of the route for the Butterfield Stage Line."  Actually, the line followed roughly the path of the 71 Freeway up into Pomona before turning west into Walnut, Rowland Heights and other areas of the San Gabriel Valley.

It is amusing to hear him describe the 100 hours of Olinda Village with prices ranging "from $40,000 to $100,000."  He also notes "the aptly named community of Sleepy Hollow, a cluster of 200 dwellings, nestling under a canopy of giant oak trees" as well as "a community church, a service station, a small grocery store, and a little restaurant," all of which have been changed in one way or another.

Seelye also spent a fair amount of column space and ink on "an abandoned ski resort, where skiers once coursed down the hill on a carpet of plastic."  This was Ski Villa, only closed a few years by the time the article came out, and the journalist followed with the statement that "the resort, which showed so much early promise, has fallen on hard times.  The small plastic interlocking squares, which provided the skiing surface, are scattered over the hill.  Weeds and brush have grown up in the middle of the run."

Moreover, he went on, "a group of buildings, which once housed the ski shop, warming hut and restaurant, have either been converted to dwellings or abandoned.  Windows in the restaurant are broken, a junked car with its wheels removed sits on blocks beside the building."

Another remnant of the canyon's history comes in his description of parts further east, including "the Carbon Canyon Winery and the 'Carbon Canyon Territorial Jail,' a small bastille built between a service station and restaurant, both closed."

Returning to the theme of danger, Seelye observed that "traffic accidents occur mostly in the western portion of the canyon, largely in the city of Brea."  Moreover, he noted that "this problem has been created, to a great degree, by the presence of Olinda Village, which attracts a steady stream of local traffic." 

Consequently, the movement to revamp the road emanated largely from that community, which carried some clout and leverage because "a city councilman, the president of the Chamber of Commerce and two school board members live in the community."  Indeed, it was the folks of Olinda Village who placed the seven crosses next to the highway and at a place that was then considered the most dangerous part of the roadway.

This was "a large, sweeping turn which takes the motorists off Valencia Ave. onto Catbon Canyon Road in county territory [emphasis added] at the western end of the road."  It was at this spot just the previous month that a 15-year old girl was killed and which was the latest spur for action by Olinda Village residents.

As a result of the teen's death, CalTrans officials met with city leaders and the president of the homeowners' association in the Village to discuss solutions, including "a promise that the curve at Valencia Ave. would be eliminated in favor of a controlled, right-angle turn."  Indeed, this was done, and an early post on this blog showed where the old route of Valencia still exists behind fencing as it started to make that dangerous curve.  The article stated that the work to realign the Valencia Avenue curve would cost $75,000 and be paid for with city, county and state funds with design work by Brea and construction by the county.  Meantime, there was also talk of "studies [that] will be made of other dangerous curves and possible installation of guard rails at other locations."

Another interesting revelation in this article was the fact that "speed lmits in the canyon have been redesignated from 65 to 45 and 50 miles per hour."  Anyone who drives the highway now knows that, aside from a few spots, like the sections in Brea from Carbon Canyon Road from Valencia to the hill leading up to Olinda Village, the hill descending from the latter to the curve near the old La Vida Mineral Springs and the portion in Chino Hills from Old Carbon Canyon to Chino Hills Parkway, traveling 65 miles per hour is about as reckless as could be.  No wonder there were 44 accidents in seventeen months!

Something that might be worth resurrecting is this reference from the article:  "a sign has been erected at the top of the canyon warning motorists entering from San Bernardino Canyon [County] that there is a 'Hazardous Driving Area Ahead'."  There could be a need for more than one of those, however.

A fitting conclusion came from Olinda Villa HOA president Gerald Shaffer, who observed, "this is one place in Orange County where people can live out in the country.  The problems we've had involve mostly people who are not familiar with the road.  Everyone who lives here has been run off the road at least once."  There is undoubtedly some exaggeration there, but the points are still largely valid.  40 years later.

Meantime, the road, still hardly designed for its current usage, is rated "F" in traffic levels during peak commuter hours and there are two approved housing developments on the Chino Hills side for well over 100 hours, another apparently about to be proposed for south of the intersection of the highway and Canyon Hills Road, and the spectre of the massive Canyon Crest development on the Brea side may loom once again.  The pressures of urban development, indeed, affecting the notion that "people can live out in the country."

The answer:  more traffic signals, these proposed for Fairway Drive/Ginseng Lane and Canon Lane; which will only help the few on those streets trying to enter the highway, but hardly make the commute better for those already on Carbon Canyon Road!

And, even if we don't see 44 accidents in 17 months, cars are faster and people still love to test their vehicles or drive under chemical enhancement, so that, while not "everyone who lives here has been run off the road at least once," many of us have been or have come very near to that or an accident because of unsafe driving (speed, passing, etc.)

To borrow a brilliant, current saying in vogue, "it is what it is" or, maybe in this case, "it was what it was, so now it is what it is, and it will be what it will be."  Finally, to quote from that guy in the old "Hill Street Blues" television show who gave this advice to officers before they hit the mean streets of New York (though, here, we would say the "mean streets of Carbon Canyon"):  " . . . and, hey, let's be careful out there."