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Wrightwood Papers: Finding Aid
mssHM 73800-73829
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Title: Wrightwood Papers
Dates (inclusive): 1922-1929
Collection Number: mssHM 73800-73829
Extent: 30 items in 1 box
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection contains 30 items dealing with the development of Wrightwood, California, in
the San Gabriel Mountains, from
a cattle ranch and apple orchard into a
vacation destination by
Sumner B. Wright (1858-1944) and his business associates.
Language: English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services
Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.
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.
[Identification of item]. Wrightwood Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Gift of Homer D. Crotty, January 1961.
Sumner Banks Wright (1858-1944) began buying up land in the Swarthout Valley of the San Gabriel
Mountains at the turn of the 20th century; by the 1920s he had turned his
considerable holdings in the valley into the Circle Mountain Cattle Company, which
was both cattle ranch and apple orchard. During the 1920s Wright faced financial
problems that led him to try and develop the ranch more profitably as a vacation
destination for the greater Los Angeles area. By the end of the decade Wright had
sold or lost much of the land as a result of his financial problems; despite this,
his vision of the Wright ranch becoming a tourist destination was ultimately
fulfilled. The completion of the Angeles Crest highway in 1956 coincided with Los
Angeles' postwar boom, and brought a new generation of vacation-seeking LA
suburbanites to the new tourist-ranches, hiking trails, and ski slopes of
Wrightwood.
This collection contains 30 items dealing with the development of Wrightwood, California, in
the San Gabriel Mountains, by
Sumner B. Wright (1858-1944) and his business associates.
The collection is divided into three main series, all arranged chronologically. All
three sections deal with Wright's financially troubled years of the mid-late 1920s,
when he and his business associates were taking steps to turn the cattle and apple
operation into a vacation destination. The one exception is the first document in
the container, which is the earliest and only document dating to 1922 and which
deals with water-rights issues that affected the ranch's agricultural pursuits.
The
first part of the collection is composed of correspondence between Sumner B. Wright
and his business associates in the development of Wrightwood: Los Angeles banker A.
J. (Arthur J.) Wheeler and San Francisco attorney James M. Oliver. Also included are
letters from specialists hired as consultants to report on the history, climate, and
geography of the area as part of the development's progress. Topics include: the
environment and geography of the San Gabriel Mountains, water and riparian rights,
bills and investments, business negotiations, the National Forest Service, and the
development of roads.
The second part of the collection is composed of the legal and
business documents or agreements made by and between Wright, Wheeler, and Oliver.
These include acknowledgements of trusteeship, negotiation of investment-ownership
in the land, and right to sell agreements.
The third part of the collection is
composed of documents that describe or report on the Wright ranch, none of which
appear to have been published. Some are the reports filed by the specialists and
consultants on the meteorological, geological, and environmental conditions of the
Wright ranch land, including reports by Ford A. Carpenter and Southern California
Edison Company; others are documents that broadly survey and describe the ranch's
history, location, water rights, and development potential - usually in a favorable
light. One of these reports contains photographs of the landscape and environment.
Correspondence arranged chronologically, followed by two memoranda of agreement.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
United States. Forest
Service.
Ranches -- California -- Los Angeles
County.
Water rights -- California -- Los
Angeles.
California -- History -- 20th century
-- Sources.
Los Angeles (Calif.)
San Gabriel Mountains (Calif.) --
Recreational use.
Wrightwood (Calif.)
Business records -- California -- 20th
century.
Letters (correspondence) -- California
-- 20th century.
Reports -- California -- 20th century.
Carpenter, Ford A. (Ford Ashman), b.
1868.
Oliver, James M.
Wheeler, A. J.
Wright, Sumner B.
Southern California Edison Company.