Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Historical Note
Scope and Content
Library of Congress Authority Headings
Descriptive Summary
Title: South Riverside Land and Water Company records.
Dates: 1774-1960
Bulk dates: 1887-1920
Collection Number: mssSouth Riverside Land and Water Company records
Creator:
South Riverside Land and Water Company
Extent:
13,348 items in 36 boxes and 35 volumes
Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection consists of records concerning the development and business of the South Riverside Land and Water Company.
Language of Material: The records are in English.
Administrative Information
Access
The collection is open for qualified researchers.
Publication Rights
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities.
The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the
researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Item], South Riverside Land and Water Company records, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Acquisition Information
Purchased from Jim Ducote, November 4, 1969.
Historical Note
In 1886, developer Robert Taylor persuaded his partners, Adolph Rimpau, George L. Joy, A. S. Garretson, a Sioux City banker,
and ex-governor of Iowa,
Samuel Merrill to form the South Riverside Land and Water Company. Together they raised approximately $110,000 to purchase
approximately 12,000 acres of good agricultural land.
Taylor realized the importance of water for the soon to be developed community, and additional funds were used to ensure that
sufficient water rights were obtained.
Taylor hired Anaheim engineer H. C. Kellogg to design a circular Grand Boulevard three miles round. To the north along the
railroad tracks were the manufacturing plants and packing houses.
The southern end of town was left to the citrus industry. Presently this land is known as the City of Corona. As a citrus
growers' organization, the company purchased the lands of
Rancho La Sierra of Bernardo Yorba, and the Rancho Temescal grant and the colony of South Riverside was laid out. They also
secured the water rights to Temescal Creek, its tributaries and Lee Lake. Dams and pipelines were built to carry the water
to the colony. In 1889 the Temescal Water Company was incorporated, to supply water for the new colony. This company purchased
all the water-bearing lands in the Temescal valley and began drilling artesian wells.
Scope and Content
The documents provide insight into the business history and practices of the South Riverside Land and Water Company as well
as the Jameson Packing House, which shipped citrus fruit, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Business Records, the largest series of the collection, with 9,638 items, is arranged alphabetically by folder title and
then by date where applicable and includes banking records; bills of lading; blueprints; checkbooks, check stub books, and
checks; contracts; daily reports of the fruit; ephemera; financial records; freight bills; inventories and inventories of
fruit; land surveys; legal documents; maps; receipts; stock certificates; tax records; deeds from states such as Colorado,
Florida, and Iowa; sales records, primarily of Queen Colony Fruit Exchange document fruit was shipped to Toledo, Minneapolis,
New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Pittsburg, Boston, Sioux City, Cincinnati, Omaha, Buffalo, Spokane, St. Louis, Calgary,
Oklahoma City, Peoria, Vancouver, Milwaukee, Butte, Des Moines, Cleveland, Kansas City, Wichita, Seattle, Denver, Regina,
Louisville, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Grand Rapids, Winnipeg, Baltimore, San Antonio, Albany, Columbus, Sacramento, Scranton,
Waterloo, and Detroit; shipping records; records of fruit treatment; logs of temperature and meter readings for fruit; and
time books.
The Correspondence series contains 3,613 items. Most of the correspondence is business related with many inquiries from potential
customers wishing to purchase land. The majority of the correspondence has been arranged by the author’s last name or the
name of the company from which the correspondence was sent. Some correspondence was batched together alphabetically if there
were fewer than two items from the same author or if the complete signature was indistinguishable. Correspondence was noted
from the following locations: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri,
New Mexico, New York, Nebraska, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Washington, B.C. Vancouver, and Winnipeg Canada, and includes
many law offices, newspapers for which the company often advertised in, and county records including deeds, taxes, and correspondence
to county officials. In addition, there are numerous documents from banks regarding their business finances and letters from
various fruit companies and railroads discussing shipping. Some of the notable clients and companies include Atchison, Topeka,
and Santa Fe Railroad Company; California Fruit Agency; California Fruit Growers Exchange; Foltz, Clara Shortridge, 1849-1934;
Huntington, Henry Edwards, 1850-1927; Lemon Administrative Committee; and Southern Pacific Railroad Company.
The 35 volumes include fruit logbooks, fruit shipping records, cashbooks, account books, ledgers, letter books, and an account
journal.
Arrangement
The collection is organized in the following series:
- Business Records (Boxes 1-23)
- Correspondence (Boxes 24-35)
- Oversized Boxes (Boxes 36-37)
- Volumes
Library of Congress Authority Headings
Personal and Corporate Names
American Central Insurance Company
American Home Missionary Society
Beasley, T. D. (Thomas Dykes)
Bordentown Military Institute
California Fruit Agency
California Fruit Growers Exchange
Canadian Pacific Railway Company
California. Secretary of State
Chase Nursery Company
Citrus Protective League of California
D.M. Osborne and Co.
Davidson, J. M. (James McDermitt), b. 1853
Fairbanks, Morse and Company
Farmers and Merchants Bank of Los Angeles
Fire Association of Philadelphia
First National Bank of San Diego
Foltz, Clara Shortridge, 1849-1934
Goodhue County Agricultural Society and Mechanics' Institute (Goodhue County, Minn.)
Hall, Wm. Ham. (William Hammond)
Harper and Brothers
Harper and Reynolds Corporation
Hilgard, Eugene W. (Eugene Woldemar), 1833-1916
Huntington, Henry Edwards, 1850-1927
Illinois Central Railroad Company
Illinois State Medical Society
Iowa. General Assembly. House of Representatives
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway
Lemon Administrative Committee
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company
Michigan Central Railroad Company
Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company
Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York
New York Life Insurance Company
National Transit Company (U.S.)
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company
Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society (Firm)
Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company
Pacific States Telephone and Telegraph Company
Phoenix Insurance Company (Hartford, Conn.)
Remington Typewriter Company
Riverside County (Calif.). Office of the Assessor
San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad Company
Singer Manufacturing Company
Southern Pacific Railroad Company
South Riverside Land and Water Company
Standard Oil Company of California
Times Mirror Company
Title Guarantee and Trust Company (Los Angeles, Calif.)
United States. Dept. of the Interior.
United States. General Land Office
University of Wisconsin. Agricultural Experiment Station
Wabash Railroad
Wells, Fargo and Company
Subjects
California -- History -- 20th Century -- Sources.
Fruit trade -- California.
Real property -- California -- Riverside County.
Geographic Areas
Corona (Calif.)
Genre
Letters (correspondence) -- United States
Shipping records -- United States