In 1889, the San Bernardino Instances-Index queried whether or not cultivating oranges in Southern California would pay. “A number of details relative to the earnings from orange orchards might not be uninteresting these days. A number of details and figures are given herewith. …”
A number of examples had been cited, together with “B.B. Barney of Riverside owns a twenty-acre orchard which is planted principally to the Riverside Washington navel and the bushes are the oldest of any giant orchard within the county. A portion of this tract is planted to younger bushes, and but the returns this yr will web Mr. Barney 10 per cent curiosity on $60,000 or $3,000 an acre.”
Barney was broadly often known as having not solely the best orange groves in Riverside and San Bernardino, however the oldest, having began with the primary budded navel tree in California. He was touted within the Los Angeles Herald newspaper because the proprietor of the unique “Washington navel despatched from Bahia” to Riverside and as “deriving fairly a income from the sale of buds from the guardian stem. Lately he has offered a number of 1000’s of the buds in Los Angeles County and he has orders for about all he’ll be capable of provide.”
The Los Angeles Herald reported in March of 1889 that very same yr: “A small consignment of California oranges was obtained on the public sale rooms of R.M. Montgomery & Co., the tea auctioneers, yesterday. The consignment was not despatched to be offered on this market however was supposed to display the practicability of ‘making ready’ oranges and different fruit of perishable nature for transportation in such a manner that they won’t decay.
“The oranges are branded as ‘Sunnyside’ and are completely seedless. They had been shipped by B.B. Barney of Riverside, San Bernardino County, California, to Chicago in the midst of an everyday cargo to that market and had been then forwarded to New York by specific. When the bins had been opened the oranges had been discovered to be in good situation proper by the bins, not a single signal of decay being seen.”
Cultivating oranges did certainly pay. The trade boomed and Barney had made a fortune promoting and delivery bins of his prize-winning fruit. With that fortune he proceeded to purchase Part 35 within the Metropolis of Palm Springs, 600 acres of land close to Palm Canyon from Choose John Guthrie McCallum for growth probably anticipating the success he had already loved. He created a gorgeously engraved inventory certificates and proceeded to supply tons on the market within the desert paradise he aptly named “The Backyard of Eden.”
The streets had been specified by a wheel surrounding a web site for the proposed Grand Resort Eden and had been named after male biblical characters: Adam, Ophir, Abraham, Noah and Nimrod. The spokes of the wheel had been known as Eve, Miriam, Sarah, Mary, Ruth, Naomi, Rachel, Timma, Hannah and Leah.
Water for the venture was delivered through flume from Andreas Canyon, depriving the Indians at Rincon and setting off a dispute that might final for years. (Barney additional expanded into Arizona, shopping for 1000’s of acres and beginning the Citrus Water Firm with companions, together with one Peter Kehl.)
Curiosity in The Backyard of Eden and close by Palmdale (now the positioning of Smoke Tree Ranch), the place the streets had been named for fruiting bushes, was eager. McCallum, Barney and others had been promoting land to rich guests from San Francisco and Los Angeles till 1890 when a downpour of biblical proportions lasting 21 days flooded irrigation canals, ruined orchards and swept away cabins. Then got here a punishing drought slowly desiccating Barney’s idyllic goals.
He provided rooms for hire in October 1895 within the Los Angeles Instances, “To Let—‘The Backyard of Eden’ Located on the head of Palm Valley, Riverside county, Cal. Has 2 cabins to hire for the season. This fogless nook, sheltered by the mountains from the sandstorms of the desert, with lower than 3 inches annual rainfall with water beneath strain, in high quality equaling the Waukesha of Wisconsin, with the well-known picturesque palm-grove canyons, within the fast outings is the closest to climactic perfection of any spot on the planet for therapeutic diseased throat and lungs. Inquire of B.B. Barney, Riverside.”
By 1897, because the state of affairs grew to become extra determined and the drought continued his ads had been additional embellished, “The Backyard of Eden (is) the very best place on Earth for consumptives to winter in. This delectable spot, sheltered in by the San Jacinto Mountain Spurs from the sandstorms of the Nice Colorado Desert, is located 3 miles south of Palm Springs on the head of Palm Valley, which takes its title from the indigenous stunning palm groves within the fast outings of the Backyard of Eden, that are value a transcontinental journey to behold. Listed here are three hundred- and fifty-days common sunshine every year to delight in. The desiccated air of the desert with out its desolation, an outlook to gladden the guts,… Inquire of B.B. Barney, Riverside.”
However guests had been scarce. Land gross sales dried up with the drought, which lasted even longer than the years-long litigation over water rights. The Federal authorities lastly purchased out the white settlers of The Backyard of Eden, returning the land of Part 35 to the Indians, including it, the one odd-numbered part, to all of the even-numbered sections of the reservation. Barney, the “serpent within the Backyard of Eden,” had lastly been expelled. Eden was deserted.
Barney’s monetary troubles deepened. In January 1899 the San Bernardino County Solar reported “A Busy Day for Recorder’s Court docket in Disposing of Little Issues of Legislation Breaking. The attaches of the Superior Court docket had a respite yesterday as neither division was open for enterprise, the one authorized issues arising being confined to the workplace of the Clerk, the place a grievance was filed by Peter Kehl in opposition to B.B. Barney of Riverside, for assortment on a be aware for $1100, given by the defendant to the plaintiff January 17, 1892, with curiosity at 8 per cent. On this there was however two years curiosity paid and not one of the principal, though the be aware was made payable in three years, and the plaintiff asks that the courtroom orders the total quantity of the face of the be aware paid along with curiosity since January 17, 1894 and prices of go well with. Mr. Barney is among the most rich orange growers of Riverside and proprietor and founding father of ‘The Backyard of Eden’ again within the hills from Palm Springs, the inventory of which was a chic piece of labor from a lithographic perspective, being imagined to be a facsimile of the unique Backyard of Eden, as inhabited earlier than the autumn.”
Los Angeles Instances in April 1898 printed a small merchandise, “Pacific Financial institution has been granted a decree of foreclosures within the sum of $3534.95 in opposition to B. B. Barney.”
Paradoxically, printed slightly below that discover was the tally of the native orange shipments so far for the season amounting in spherical numbers to simply beneath one million bins. The cultivation of oranges in Southern California was not in query.
Tracy Conrad is president of the Palm Springs Historic Society. The Thanks for the Reminiscences column seems Sundays in The Desert Solar. Write to her at pshstracy@gmail.com.