Photos from the Vault

Don’t call this hobby pointless, barbed wire collectors

Barbed wire collectors meet at fairgrounds, M.L. (Bud) Park is one of the county's charter members. © Michael Raphael/Telegram-Tribune

The wide open spaces of the west were more open before the invention of barbed wire. The idea began in 1867 with two inventors adding points to smooth wire and a year later Michael Kelly created the first commercially successful product. The idea took root and soon there were over 570 patents for the thorny product. There would be courtroom battles over patents. More legal battles pitted pro-fence ranchers against free range grazers and trail drivers who feared the end of their way of life. Religious groups and others protested that livestock injuries were the work of the devil. Some called the product “The Devil’s Rope.”
Having done an occasional fence repair I can testify that the wire wriggles like a crazed serpent and can bite like one too.
Nonetheless the product was something steel mills could churn out and that a western rancher could use to economically keep his animals in and the neighbors animals out.
The new invention was the wave of the future though protesters fought back with pliers. At one point laws were passed making fence cutting a felony.
Later uses would be found in the trenches of World War I and at a prison near you.
By 1969 the controversy was over and it was time for the collectors to take the stage. From the March 28, 1969 Telegram-Tribune second section front page:

Big day for barbed wire fans

By Michael Raphael Staff Writer

Prickly, stickly stuff, is barbed wire. And it comes in lots of forms, more that you’d realize.
If you’d like to see many of the 400 varieties, drop by the county fairgrounds in Paso Robles between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday. That’s where the California Barbed Wire Collectors Association is staging its first ever convention.
At the Industrial Building you’ll be able to see the collections of the 30 members of the state’s only association of the collectors of thorny wire, and it is a free show.
San Luis Obispo County boasts two charter members of the association that established itself in Fresno only two months ago.
— M.L. (Bud) Park, Southern Pacific railroad assistant trainmaster, and Paso Robles Chamber of Commerce manager Swift Jewell.
Park has 103 types of wire, each sample 18 inches long and wired to plywood display boards.
It will be at the show. Some collectors will have as many as 200 different samples in a single collection.
Park started collecting four years ago, when he found a piece of wire called Crandal’s Champion “Ric-rak” near the railway depot in Surf, near Lompoc.
Park picked up one unusual piece of wire in Octavia, an Arizona ghost town, and a J. Haish’s Original “S” near a Los Osos Valley Cemetery not far from his Laguna Lake home.
Collectors identify the wire by the man who obtained the original patent on it, the date of the patent and the nickname, if any.
The oldest wire, by patent date, in Park’s collection is the M. Kelly “Diamond Point,” dated Feb. 11, 1868.
More than half the samples were collected between Oxnard and Soledad, and most of the rest were obtained by trades with collectors in Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada and other parts of the state.
The big barbed wire boom was during the 1870s when such wire was given as the cause of range wars.
Today there are a small number of manufacturers of barbed wire. Most of the samples in the collections are estimated to be several decades old.
Park found much of his collection in farmer’s dumps and by keeping a watchful eye on ranch fences, as he and his wife Phyllis, took Sunday drives.
“Some people think we’re nuts when we ask to see their fences,” Park said. “Farmers don’t concern themselves with the variety of wires available, just its strength and resistance to rust,” he said.
Park also has World War I entanglement wires, U.S. and German versions, and said he noticed that the American variety is in use on the Vandenberg Air Force Base perimeter.
Barbed wire comes in one to four strands normally, can be square, ribbon or oval shaped, and have any variety and number of barbs. In some cases, points pieces are added by hand to standard wire already strung.

Posted in 1960s, Environment, Popular Culture | 3 Comments »

Making sense of the census, 1890 school outlook

A page from the Tribune June 6, 1890

San Luis Obispo was isolated cow town, connected to the world of commerce via the steam ships at Port Harford by a narrow gauge railway twice a day. A third train departed and connected to points south with the terminus at Los Olivos.
The town had a population of about 4,000 and the three major banks advertising claimed a combined Capital Paid Up of $350,000. According to the Westegg inflation calculator that would be worth $8,250,921.95 in 2009.
The Sinsheimer Brothers were advertising a full line of provisions, glassware, and crockery.
An interesting article this day was an excerpt of the annual school census. The report spent a lot of space categorizing students by race and the article had a boosterish tone encouraging parents to work harder at creating more students.

From the Tribune June 6, 1890.

Our School Census.
A Satisfactory Showing in Spite of the “Gap” in the Railroad.

Mr. M. Egan has been busy the last few weeks in counting up the children of the district, and in spite of the usual efforts at concealment by suspicious mothers, who feared harm to their progeny, or some new scheme for a license tax on the business, or had some other antagonistic notion, the census taker has named and located children enough to demonstrate that in spite of removals the population of the city has not after all, diminished in the past year, and our part of the State school money is not lessened either. We are disposed to question the keenness of Mr. Egan’s scent for babies. It may be a short crop year, but we feel confident that four thousand people can do better than he would have us believe, even in this beautiful climate. The following is an abstract of his report, which was completed yesterday:

White boys between 5 and 17 years of age ….. 489
White girls between 5 and 17 years of age ….. 469
Total ….. 958

Negro boys between 5 and 17 years of age ….. 5
Negro girls between 5 and 17 years of age …. 3
Total ….. 4

Chinese boys between 5 and 17 years of age ….. 3
Chinese girls between 5 and 17 years of age ….. 1
Total ….. 4

[Age 5 to 17] Total ….. 966

Number children under 5 ….. 266
Grand total ….. 1232

Number census children attended private schools but not public schools ….. 118

Number census children not attended any school during year ….. 253

Nativity of children — native, 827; one parent foreign, 173; both parents foreign, 212; foreign born, 20.

The numbers that struck me were that roughly 20 percent of the children at this time did not attend any school. Roughly 10 percent went to private school.
California has long been a land of immigrants. At least one third of the students had at least one parent from another country. There was no breakout on the number of native students who’s parents spoke Spanish. When the Tribune was founded in 1869 it carried duplicate stories printed in Spanish. Previous numbers were not published here so we have to take the editor’s word that parents put in a satisfactory effort.

The railroad gap in the headline refers to the Southern Pacific Coast line. Construction stalled at Santa Margarita after arriving there April 20, 1899. Boosters, including the editor of the Tribune Benjamin Brooks, hoped that when the link was completed that growth would rapidly follow. The railroad would not arrive in San Luis Obispo for four years and a complete Coast Line route would was still a little over a decade away. Rapid growth would be decades later.

A column of one line advertisements on the page included these gems:

Don’t drink bugs. But buy a Gats City filter of Thos. Pattison.

Have you seen the Safety Gasoline stove? To see it is to buy it. Thomas Pattison, agent.

Not a gas stove,  gasoline.  At this time gasoline was a troublesome and explosive oil refining byproduct. Unfortunately much of the oil found in California had a high gasoline content.
Pesky stuff. Some refiners would dump it in creeks just to get rid of it. According to the book Unocal, 1890-1990 A Century of Spirit, automobiles were a rich man’s diversion.

“In 1890, when a motorist putted up to the Santa Paula refinery in his horseless carriage, he was told there was no gasoline in stock — but to check back in several days.”

Gasoline. I’ll tell you now, no one is going to find a market for that alternative energy.

Posted in 1890s, Oil, Popular Culture, Railroad, Schools | 3 Comments »

Montgomery Queen, King of the Showmen!

San Luis Obispo Tribune July 29, 1876

In August of our nation’s centennial year there was big time entertainment coming to town.
Montgomery Queen, the self proclaimed “King of Showmen!”  came to the county giving two performances daily during four consecutive dates. The locations were from Arroyo Grande to Paso de Robles. They must have been yeoman movers to make the move to a new town overnight and have two shows underway the next day. The first trains would not cross the Cuesta Grade until 1894 so the one day pull to Paso Robles must have been a epic feat in the days before automobiles. The ad does not mention a tent so they may have a setup shortcut.

According the to the Westegg inflation calculator the $1.00 admission in 1876 translates to $19.90 in 2009 money.

According to Circushistory.org, Montgomery Queen was born October 13, 1821 in Brooklyn but by 1874 was touring the west coast based around San Francisco and Hayward. By 1875 it had grown to a two ring circus but the season was not strong and by the time he came to San Luis he was cutting expenses. By February 1878 he would fire for bankruptcy in St. Louis, MO  his largest creditors being performers, printers and money lenders. The circus animals were sold at auction. He died in 1901, owner of a Brooklyn livery stable.

After Paso Robles shows were to be held at Plito and Lowe’s, where ever they are. I somehow doubt one was at a big box hardware store’s parking lot.

A circus ad from 1907 was a subject included in this post.

Posted in 1800s, Advertising, Going, Going, Gone, Popular Culture | 4 Comments »

“Attention! This is the Hair Police! Come out with your sideburns trimmed!”

Jon Dallons in long hair battle with the Paso Robles High School administration. Son of Paso school board candidate. © 2010 The Tribune/Michael Raphael 3/11/1969

High school administrators dream of the days when the biggest controversy on campus was hair length.
Today they juggle funding issues, test scores, curriculum as well as drugs, campus violence, gangs, teen pregnancy…hey I don’t see haircuts anywhere on this list.
This story ripped from the headlines show Jon Dallons, 15, with a Beatle style haircut, (modified to show his ears), black turtleneck, chain with medallion and looking like someone the principal needs to talk to.

Published in the then Telegram-Tribune March 12, 1969:

School board issue?
Long hair beef at Paso Robles

By Michael Raphael
Staff Writer

The flap over the hair length of the son of a Paso Robles school board candidate is temporarily settled.
Jon Dallons, a 15-year-old sophomore, agreed to the suggestion by Dr. Charles James, district superintendent, to get a haircut.
Dallons, son of John Dalons, 42, who is running for the joint elementary and high school boards, was suspended for 10 school days on Feb. 17 because his hair exceeded student council standards.
“Dr. James would never make it as a student because his hair is longer than mine,” the young Dallons said.
Another ruckus started last Wednesday, over the wearing of medallions, the boy said, when boys and girls were told to take off medallions and necklaces.
Jon was told to get a haircut on Jan.14, and that’s when “the trouble started,” his father said. High school principal Steve Zorich told them he would not allow his son to circulate a petition calling for a rules change to allow longer “current trend” hair, Dallons said.
“We don’t want any trouble on campus,” Dallons quoted Zorich as saying. Then Dallons decided he didn’t want to get his hair cut, but was allowed to stay in school anyway, until his mid-February suspension.
After getting the haircut, Jon was again stopped when he showed up wearing a medallion. He was told to take it off.
The elder Dallons, is owner-operator of Western Quartz Products at 2432 Spring St., directly across from the high school.
He said he is not running for the school board because of the hair issue, but had been intending to run long before it came up because he wants “to see where the money is going.”
Dallons has been in business for himself for 15 years, and brought his business to Paso Robles four years ago. He has attended Bakersfield and Los Angeles City Colleges and spent one year at USC.
He said that communications with school officials has been “pretty good,” but that he backs his son up “all the way.” He said he and his son do not expect a rules change even though Jon thinks “80 percent if the kids will sign his petition.
James said a “school reflects the thoughts of the community,” and both Dallons and James said it is a “conservative community.”
Younger Dallons said he was warned at the last encounter that he had 10 days to get his “marginal” hair trimmed again, and that after that he would be “reminded” to get another cut.
Jon said 10 of the school’s 35 teachers are “coaches of one sort or another,” and are “short hair conscious,” more interested in athletics than teaching.
In Dallons’ letter, he said “the law guarantees and requires me to have an education until 16 without any mention of length of hair.”
That seems to size up the Dallons’ side of the issue. But, as he talks, hair grows and young Jon is again nearing the danger point.

Telegram-Tribune page published Dec. 10 1968 documenting protests.

Conveniently reporter/photographer/friend of Photos from the vault/ Michael Raphael also photographed the relevant punctuation challenged section of the student’s Bill of Laws reprinted here:

Section 3 – Violations
1. Boys
a. Dyed or bleached hair will not be accepted
b. Good judgment and discretion shall always prevail in student apparel and hair styles.
2. Girls
a. Any type of sweat shirt, shorts. capris. pedal pushers and other such apparel will not be accepted except on special occasions designated by the administration.
b. Good judgment and discretion shall always prevail in student apparel and hair styles.

Under these rules apparently the Beach Boys as well as the Beatles are seen as pernicious influences on they youth of our nation. Administrators were having nightmares featuring hordes of fashion deprived young women storming the campus shouting “Viva los pedal pushers, viva los Capris!”

In fairness administrators were freaking out at this time as violent protests were breaking out on college campuses. Disruptive protests at Berkley and San Francisco were fresh in many minds. What short sighted administrators were failing to note was the protests were not caused by hair length.

Uh, this just in, hair length did not create the issues surrounding civil rights, free speech and the Vietnam War.

Jon Dallons’ medallion reads “Verseav 21 Janu. 19 Fev.” Post a comment if you know what the significance is.

Posted in 1960s, Fashion, Popular Culture, Schools | 8 Comments »

Oilport, before it was Shell Beach part 2

Daily Tribune December 10, 1907

Tales retold several times often wander from the truth, it is always good to get as close to the original source as possible. The now forgotten 1907 community of Oilport is often recalled in stories that use “tidal wave”. When the words Tidal Wave or Tsunami surface in a story it has the potential to be an epic tale. This was the last in several unfortunate events that drove the refinery located in what is now Shell Beach, out of business.
I searched the internet for references to tidal waves in California in 1907 after reading about the event in a 1957 historical article. No luck. Only stories from that year were about a tidal wave in the Indian Ocean, an eerie echo of the December 26, 2004 tsunami.

Thanks to the California Digital Newspaper Collection a search of California Petroleum Refineries turned up this item from the pages of the Los Angeles Herald via the Associated Press.

December 10, 1907

Wharf Washed Away

By Associated Press.
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Dec. 9. — Between 800 and 1000 feet of the California Petroleum Refineries company’s (Ltd.) wharf at Oil Port was washed away today. The pile-driver and donkey engine went down with the wharf. The public wharf at Avila also was damaged slightly. The seas are running higher than in years.

Hmmm. No mention of a tidal wave.
Now let’s dig into the microfilm of the Daily Telegram to find out more. The paper was having a good day, there are actually local stories on the front page. Apparently the temperance-minded paper was taking a day off from scolding readers to quit drinking. An early example of reporting via telephone is seen here.

Daily Telegram Monday December 9, 1907

SEAS BATTER SAN LUIS BAY WHARVES
______
One Hundred Feet of the Oilport Wharf Reported Carried Out, the Avila Structure Battered and Much of the Piling Is Swept Out
______

Heavy and angry seas have been on the boom in San Lui sBay [sic] today.
A telephone message received by The Telegram this afternoon from Avila and Oilport conveys the startling information that the recently constructed wharves at those places have suffered considerable damage in consequence.
About one hundred feet of the Oilport wharf leading from the shore line has gone out, carrying with it a donkey engine and pile driver, which were being used to repair the structure.
The People’s wharf at Avila lost some of its piling and three or four of the bents are so loose that they are at the mercy of the elements. The wind is blowing at a furious gale, and if the seas do not subside shortly, further destruction is bound to ensue.

Hmmm. Gale force winds, high seas. This is no tsunami, it is a storm. Looks like they need to get a better weather forecast, the front page calls for Fair weather tonight and Tuesday. No mention of gale force winds.

Daily Telegram Tuesday December 10, 1907

WHARF POUNDED OUT BY STORM
______
The Demolition of the Oilport Structure Is Reported Today and the Avalon [sic] Wharf Is Reported as Being in Great Danger of a Like Fate
______

The turbulent seas continue to play havoc with the wharf of the California Petroleum Refineries, Limited, at Oilport, and information reached The Telegram from that point today that the portion of the structure extending into the bay, and which was supposed to be firmly intact, went out last night.
The People’s wharf at Avila was also severaly [sic] hit last night, and it is said many of the pilings have been uprooted, and the structure in consequence is in bad shape.
A telephone message received by The Telegram from Port San Luis this afternoon is to the effect that the waters of the bay are in a most angry mood, and that shipping has been entirely suspended. The Union Oil Company’s craft, the Fullerton and the Argyle, also the Standard Oil Company’s barge No. 91 and the tug Sea Rover, are anchored in the stream, waiting for an opportunity to enter their berths, but are prevented on account of the rough seas.

This day the Telegram has reverted to form with three stories on the front page reflecting the moral views of the paper. The paper did not bother to send a reporter to see to the unfolding story at Oilport but did take time to attend and write a story one third longer on a sermon at a Methodist revival meeting. Another story says Chicago will shut down saloons on Sunday. A third story surveys young women for their criteria for an ideal man.
Survey says:
40-1 women prefer a man who does not drink.

On page 6 is an engraving of the facility along with a semi-editorial caption endorsing improvements in Port San Luis. Oh, and the headline, the first mention of a Tidal Wave next to an article, the ninth in a series of Sunday School lessons. My guess is this the the start of the Tidal Wave rumor, unsupported by any story.

Typesetters have a way of filling in odd corners on pages were copy comes up short. Often self promotions are used as filler. On this page:

“The Telegram is an newspaper, and it stands for something.”

Posted in 1900s, Construction, Going, Going, Gone, Oil, Weather | 1 Comment »

Oilport, before it was Shell Beach part-1

This story comes from the Centurama editions of the then Telegram-Tribune published May 14, 1954. Several 8 page special sections were published that month to celebrate the history of the county and the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of San Luis Obispo.

Ill-Fated Oilport Refinery Operated for Only Two Weeks

One of San Luis Obispo’s most ambitious bids for industrial development in the county was the ill-fated California Petroleum Refineries, Ltd., which was constructed in 1907 at Oilport, just north of Shell Beach.
Two weeks after its completion, the huge refinery which shipped oil to all parts of the world was forced to close down when a giant tidal wave completely destroyed the half-mile long pier.
Technical difficulties in separating water from the oil had plagued company operations from the beginning and the loss of the pier was the final blow according to K.L. Phillips of Pismo Beach who’s father, L.A. Phillips was general manager of the company.
The refinery, which was built with British and American capital, boasted a battery of 15 stills for the refining of oil and lube oil and employed more than 500 men at the peak of its operation.
The company had its own electric railroad which ran through the 1,000 acre property from the canning plant with its automatic can fillers to the end of the pier its own post office, general store, power plant, mess halls and residential cottages for company officials and eight 55,000 gallon storage tanks.
The plant was two years in construction.
Sandercock Transfer company got a big contract hauling the big tanks and refinery equipment by team from the Pacific Coast railroad tracks at Miles station over the Ontario grade.
The company got all its oil from the Graciosa lease in Cat Canyon near Santa Maria. It also owned its own tanker the S.S. Catania skippered by a Capt. Canty, now a nautical pilot in San Francisco Bay according to Phillips
There was no process in those days to separate the water from the oil and water would boil up in the stills causing considerable trouble, Phillips explained. The big blow, however came when the tidal wave hit the pier from which the big tankers loaded and the pier was completely demolished.
After the refinery closed, the huge storage tanks were leased to Union Oil company at Avila for additional storage and all machinery tanks and other equipment was sold during World War I for much more than their original cost.
The thick brick walls of the power plant with its sturdy concrete foundations on which the giant steam engines once generated power remained until the last decade to occasion comment from curious tourists and newcomers.
Within recent years the area has been subdivided and is now becoming a community of homes.

This story left me with several questions.  Only in operation for two weeks, yet it shipped all over the world?  Why didn’t they rebuild the dock? Sounds like they chose a poor location, no railroad proximity and an exposed dock area. Union Oil did not make those mistakes. In addition it sounds like they failed to research and test their process before investing heavily in equipment that didn’t work with water in the oil.

Tidal Wave? I could not find any other mention of tsunami or tidal wave for this time frame in this area. Fortunately thanks to reader Helen Weber sharing California Digital Newspaper Collection link I was able to find the specific date and was able to look up the date in our microfilm. Subject of the next post.

Posted in 1900s, 1950s, Construction, Environment, Going, Going, Gone, Oil | 3 Comments »