Class Copyright ]^^_ . COPYRIGHT DEPCSrr 16f La Carpinteria U Text by Elizabeth Antoinette yard Photographs by George Gilbert McLean Foreword by Stewart Edward White PACIFIC COAST PUBLISHING COMPANY SANTA BARBARA CAL. Published and Copyrighted 1910 by THE CARPINTERIA WOMAN'S CLUB Carpinteria, California CCU277142 FOREWORD THE very complete and able exposi- tion by Miss Ward explains better than I could do it myself why we have come to Carpinteria. Nowhere in my experience, do mountain, sea, marshland and shore offer quite the combination they do here. The three-mile stretch of beach is in most places three or four hundred feet wide at low tide. At high tide, the breaking power of the ^wide flat and the half-mile bar outside pile up a truly im- posing surf, even at times when the Santa Barbara beach is washed by the merest ripple. This large surf breaks far out and is unac- (ix) companied by undertow. As a consequence, the bathing is most safe and at the same time most exciting. The Hawaiian sport of surf- board riding can here be enjoyed as nowhere else outside the Islands. The marshes, from the view point of the dunes, offer a remarkable picture, especially with the spires and roofs of the village nest- ling in the trees, across their broad wastes. Here, too, the mountains rise more sheer and imminent than anywhere else along the coast; and the direction of their axis is peculiarly fortunate in the catching of cross-lights and shadows in their many canons. But I think that from our point of view, probably the most remarkable advantage — aside from the beach— is the climate. One would naturally think that the sea-shore would be colder in cool weather and hotter in baking weather than more sheltered locali- ties. The contrary is the case. On a hot summer day I found Santa Barbara's ther- mometers ten to fifteen degrees higher; while of a cold and foggy morning the sands and (x) the sea radiate enough stored heat to temper the chill. It must always be remembered that a place is civilized, in the best meaning of the term, only in direct proportion to its public spirit, and very little according to its private enterprise. As long as private enterprise ex- ists alone, that country is being pioneered merely. This is true even though the ranches and farms are well-cleared and well-cultivat- ed ; even though the private dwellings are substantial and in good taste. Only when men begin to reach out be3^ond their private concerns, w^hich have in the beginnings quite justly occupied their whole attention, to plan work for the concerns of all does the commun- ity begin to draw together into a civilized unit. Thus, in a way, public works are a measure of private civilization. The spirit of Carpinteria, a small com- munity, seems in this respect admirable. The paving, planting and beautifying of Linden Avenue indicates a spirit far in advance of most places of the size. The projected plant- (xi) ing along the county highway, the town hall, and the system of good roads, which, 1 under- stand, awaits only the solving of some legal difficulties, are all gratifying. With these good roads, and a tourist hotel to take ad- vantage of the exceptional beach life, should come an era of intensified prosperity and pride. Stewart Edward White. (xii) La Carpinteria BE LA CARPINTERIA I WAS ready to ransack even the islands of the sea to find a home," said a recent comer to the Carpinteria valle3^ "but when I reached here, I knew my quest was ended. This is the paradise where I shall spend the rest of my days." This bit of Elysium, so opportunely dis- covered, lies at the extreme Southeast corner of Santa Barbara County in the Golden State, and holds a more than passing interest, both for the rarity of its setting, which is its chief asset, and also for its connection with a part of the industrial development of Southern California. Furnishing, as it does, the only highway along the coast at this point, it is a happy necessity to all travellers between Northern and Southern California, whether by rail or carriage. The Casitas Pass through the mountains is the only entrance from the east except the beach road, and as this can be used at present only at low tide, travel has been greatly facilitated now that the railroad com- pany has completed the permanent wagon road which it built here in connection with its new breakwater and road-bed. With the beach for its south border, it lies in the close embrace of an arm of the moun- tain on the north, not more than a mile and a half wide and about eight miles long. Grad- tially rising hills from its western boundarj^, and a few miles further on lie Santa Barbara and its environs. At both east and west ends of the vallej the railroad has been built with intrepid courage upon a bed that Las been I A Carpinteria, or " The Carpenter Shop," presumably takes its name from the first carpenter shop built in this region by Mexican soldiers in the early part of last cen- tur\^ The story runs that some exceptionally fine timber was discovered along the bed of the vallc}^ creek, and here a log shelter was built where the Padres from the Santa Bar- bara Mission as well as the soldiers from the Presidio came twelve miles to fashion their ox-yokes and cart wheels and various other implements of every day use. The old shop still stands but it is so made over that the shades of the departed carpenters would prob- ably never recognize it. A more poetical interpretation of the name would make the whole valley a carpen- ter shop where myriads of ^'carpinteros" or woodpeckers hammered the summer through ^t§ as they ceaselessly fitted acorns into the bark of the live oaks that once grew here in a dense forest. 10 The unusual combination of mountains and ocean is the key to the beauty and at- tractiveness of the valley. Verdure, luxuri- ance, color are everywhere, all the time, turn your e\'es where 3'ou will. 11 A slight shifting of the range of vision calls out an entirely new picture, and always the picture changes with the season of the year, the hour of the day and the shifting mists and haze. 12 Entering from the beach road, one crosses the month of a little canon marking the east- ern boundary and follows a tortuous way over its west wall. 13 At the vSutnmit, one instinctively stops to drink in the beauty of the panorama that dis- closes itself. Rugged mountains in the back- ground rising to a height of over four thous- and feet, then the lesser ridges softened with their dense covering of scrub oak and varied under-brush, and finally, the gently yielding foot-hills giving way to the valley and yet made part of it by the rich fields cultivated even into the little canons between their sides. 15 Plumy orchards of English walnut trees dot the entire valley, making amends to some degree for the magnificent live oaks sacrificed for them; and, carpeting the spaces between, are everywhere the riotous, tumbling, creep- ing bean vines that produce a large part of the wealth of the place. 16 So much luxuriant green during the dry summer months is a perpetual rest to the eye and nerve and is perhaps res- ponsible for the oft repeated ex- cla m ation of visitors to the valley: "How peaceful it all is, and how rest- ful!" 17 Half hidden in the extreme background of the picture where the horizons of mountain and water meet, is Santa Barbara, plainly seen on a clear morning, and in a wide sweep at the left lies the blue Pacific. As if enough beauty were not already crowded into one landscape, the towering Santa Barbara Is- lands, three hours from the mainland and yet seeming only a few miles distant, add the last perfect touch. 18 HBH Ijggf^ '.a'^^SJ^m H^^hhI^h B^^fl -" ^^^^^^^Bf^^HPff ^ 'H H ' 'ImIt^BI i^Bli Hal jMBEH "il^B^E B 1^; /^ «B^B|M^^B I |WI|fKI ^B i^Hf 1 ,,/'ls 1 li -'fW^Sii ^|b fl|^9<- S^m^H j^^l 1 And this is only one picture. As one climbs the grade from the CasitasPass, moun- tains and hills and a richh- fertile arm of the valley greet the eye. If one wishes a yiew to riyal the famed Bay of Naples, he has only to climb up the foothills on the north a few hun- dred feet to find it. Santa Barbara has grown nearer and the islands smile a benign greeting across the wonderful sapphire payement of the channel. Another yiew always pleasing is found looking east from the western end of the yal- ley where a great rounded mountain stretches its ample proportions between the beach and the Pass, a magnificent sentinel appropriate to the treasure which it guards. 21 From here the valley assumes a more basin-like appearance, the village differentiates itself and the little outlying ranches become factors with a meaning, while the half green sand dunes and the irregular and foamy fringe of breakers equip the ocean with a new aspect and mark the individuality of the pic- ture. 23 The various canons 24 with their charming drives and picnic possi- bilities deserve a sketch by themselves, and not the least of their advantages is their perfect accessibilit\\ A twent}^ minute drive will take one, for instance, to Franklin Canon 25 away from sordid cares 26 to the very heart of nature. 27 or, if the ocean is preferred, 28 the clean sandy stretches of beach lie even nearer. One can hardly wax too enthusiastic over this beach. If scenery is desired, it is im- possible to get away from it. With the inter- vening valley cut off by the sand dunes, the impressive mountains seem almost to meet the sea. and the white curving shore-line offers all the delights of a beach drive for a distance of three miles or more. Where the dunes give way to cliffs at the east, the scene is varied by great masses of rocks where the spray from the broken waves is a continual beauty and delight. 29 It is the repeated testimony of visitors that there is no finer beach for bathing on the coast, and there is fishing the 3^ear round. Camping grounds are available at various points and the summer cottage has made its debut. It is an eloquent tribute to the re- sources of the beach that Mr. Stewart Edward White has chosen these dunes as a setting for his summer bungalow, where the ocean and islands are in the foreground and the moun- tains in equal beauty behind. A marshland with a creek running through it is near by and affords opportunity for rowing amid the rushes for hours without retracing one's tracks. Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson also has purchased property along the beach. 30 31 The tourist hotel does not exist at present, though inquiries for such a place are growing more frequent. A mountain resort, Shepard's Inn, at the mouth of the Pass has attracted visitors for a number of years; 32 and recently another, Stanley Park, has been opened farther back in the hills where one may enjoy either camp or hotel life iir ; fl^s x-'ku ^^\ ^ t^^.^^- 34 1 ^^ li g| , '^ ^i-:j<^:^v2^ M i i 1 IW p ^m. BC^ '^ .-5 i ^ ^ flr^^?*'"^ mm H "^^^^^^^"^^^^ WMsmtasswi beside a most id^'llic monnt^in stream in the presence al\va\^s of a cool ocean breeze. 35 m ) Asidefrom the marshy tract alreadj- men- tioned, the whole valley is composed of concentrated fertility, -^ . y and every foot ""of ground is under cultiva- tion of the most vigor- ous sort. The natural moisture is thus conser- ved as far as possible'^and irriga- tion is resorted to but very little. The two principal industries have al- ready been touched upon, the growing of English walnuts and various kinds of beans, and it is interesting to that it was in this little valley were first nurtured in South- ern Calif- ^ , ornia y 36 and from here they have extended all down the coast. The Lima bean is the variety principally grown and their great success is due to the fact that the_v can be produced without irrigation or poling and have a suffi- ciently long season to ma ture them . It is only within the last few years that the rest of Southern California has under- taken these industries on a commercial scale ^^^ ^ proud son of Carpin heard t o '' They're beans and south of us it took Carpin- to show them Theyearl^^ output of wal- nuts is about twenty- two car loads, and of beans, sixty car loads. Two large ware- t eria was r e m a r k : r a i s ing w alnuts -yes- but teria folks howtodoit." houses have been built recently to accommo- date the increasing harvests. An interesting and marked feature of the bean industr3^ is the growing of seed beans for eastern seeds- men, a ver3^ different matter from merely sup- phnng the general market. While beans and walnuts are the principal products of the valley, they are by no means the only ones. Lemons are very successfully grown with an annual average output of fifty car loads; olives are rapidly coming to the front as an important crop, the shipment last 38 year amounting to five carloads, and the dried fruit — apricots and prunes — for one season, fills^ four cars. Strawberries ripen the year round. In fact, nearly all plant life flourishes inevit- ably in the rich soil, humid atmosphere and a mean annual temperature of from sixty ta sixty-five degrees. A soil that produces commercial products so luxuriantly is necessarily the exuberant mother of all sorts of riotous garden shrub- bery; giant rose vines are a common sight, and geraniums and nasturtiums are glorious weeds. 40 mMM A hundred or more species of beautiful wild flowers are everywhere on exposed hill- sides and on shadj^ canon walls, full, fresh and vigorous in the ^^enial climate. Heregrows the largest grape vine in the world 44 measuring nine feet in circumiereiice a foot from the ground. A trellis covering a quarter of an acre supports the branches that are res- pectable sized vines themselves, even at their extremity. 45 The people of the valley are rich in their con- tentment, with neither gr e a t wea 1th nor povert}^ and the old ranches are undivided. Realestatedoes not change hands frequent- ly, and he v^ho would buy land and make him- self a home in this little para- dise may count himself fortun- ate ifhis powers o f persuasion prove successful in driving a trade. A good price is seldom any object. ''Why should I sell?" is the query. ''Where can I better in- vest my money?" 46 The beauty of the surroundings, the fertil- ity of the soil and the irresistible delight of an even and semi-tropical climate inevitably cast their spell, and it is with mingled feehngs that the old settlers watch the encroachments of the outside world upon the well ordered routine of their pastoral life. Elizabeth Antoinette Ward. 47 DEC 1 I p. An 'II LACARPINTERIA