The Reminiscences of Rafaela Zúñiga by Santa Barbara Historical Museum

Mary E. toy Winter, 1976

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THE REMINISCENCES OF RAFAELA ZUNIGA By Joan Perkal and John Dewar The story of our past reveals itself in many ways. We stand in awe at the revelations of unviolated tombs; the splendors of ruined palaces of kings give testimony to the endurance of their prowess. Josephus tantalizes with his omissions, and the ineffable beauty of Paleolithic art presupposes original man as the consummation of Genesis. But for the ordinary humble man, it is the homely, intimate accounts left in letters and diaries of his peers which reveal the mundane but more familiar story of how we lived not so long ago. A few pages of lined notebook paper with jotted notes and rudimentary sketches in faded ink revealed a glimpse of life in Santa Barbara before the turn of the century. These accounts were clearly the reminiscences of Rafaela Ziihiga, a resident of Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.' Not so clear, however, was the hand that felt it important enough to record these notes. But after a long period of gestation, and some sleuthing and conjecture, leavened with a bit of good guesswork, it suddenly became apparent that this could be nothing less than the work of an early Los Angeles librarian, school teacher and mentor of the town’s older inhabitants, Mary E. Foy.^ Although she was an avid historian, known to have made copious notes, up to this time few if any of these notes had turned up. A comparison of the script of the notebooks with several pages of her authenticated handwriting^ seemed to warrant the assumption that this clearly was an example of her attempt to preserve some of the early social history of the southern California area. But if these sparse notes serve to rescue Rafaela Ziihiga from oblivion, as surely as her memoirs limn a halcyon California, they reveal as well the character of Mary Foy. Sib to her townsmen in the old sense of the communicable, she elicited their confidence and recorded their memories.

The Reminiscences of Rafaela Zuniga as told to Mary Foy Description. Two old ladies used to take care of certain old4adio9-houses as late as 1874. There used to be one toward the Arlington and another on the other side. I think only one is now standing that is the one toward the Arlington.^ 4. Orchard — Sweet limes, olives, apples, San Juan Pears® 5. Wall and arch beyond which is a little valley. Trees — rocks — stream of water, sycamores & oaks, tiger lilies(lilios [i.e. lirios] delcampoorflorde San Antonio.)sycamore — sp. name Aliso. Oaks — sp. name Encinos. Ferns of all descriptions. Maiden hair, culantrio. Rock fern, general name for ferns pal 6. Reservoir on a hill now city reservoir for Santa Barbara. Sp. name LaPilade la Mision. Two boys were once drowned in it.^ —1—

7. House kept by another old lady Doha Josefa and is familiarly known as La Rolita.®

[Refer to drawing, Fig. 1]

Note — No. 2 on the open space where they used to have the Pro cessions.®

1. Mission'® 2. Open space — now an orchard — and in this were two small reservoirs & 11 fountains, a. b. & c. are corpus christi stations. 3. House of the orchard. Old lady Doha Francisca familiarly known as Doha Pancha and back of her house was the chickens yard where were chickens, 12 peacocks, pigeons, etc. for the priests. No.7 All Rafaelacan remember about no. 7. In this house lived not only LaRolita but also the priests’ cook. He was known as Don Leandro. He had a very large family. A plain adobe house — no porch — in front nothing but the steps on big stones to go up into the house — tile roof — perhaps once it [had] two windows. Don Leandro lived in the front and Doha Rolita lived in the back facing the reservoir or rather the arch. She had a pretty little old garden where oleander trees, hollyhocks, nasturtiums, marygold roses — Malva real(Malva 1.3 trees) a lot of those — no arbors — no vegetables. ●Later describe Dona Francisca’s garden. Fence of her garden was made of palo Colorado long pieces of tree with the branches topped off. . . No. 7 Don Leandro and his family cooked for the priests because the Franciscan priests never allowed any woman workers about their houses.*"' His wife’s niece was Doha Josefa Valdez, one of the largest families in Santa Barbara. At that time she had long been a cripple with rheumatism. O they had tried everything but at that lime she had lost all hope of ever getting well — she afterwards was cured.'® Now I must describe to you the fireplace in that house — the old “omilla” [i.e. hornillo] I do not remember whether these people had put in a stove but I shall describe the Omilla and it was my aunt lived in the house for my aunt lived in the house before Don Leandro and his family moved in. 16

Ornilla [Refer to drawing. Fig. 2] 3. a sheet iron 2. could have fire in one or two or three or more divisions where wood would be put in 1. adobe table about the height of an ordinary stove ●describe an omilla without a chimney —3—

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1. Quarters of Dona Rolita 2. Familia de Don Leandro 3. Familia de Don Cervantez

We shall say nothing of Don Cervantez but mention he lived there so to people who know it will seem more familiar — he worked in the mission — a gardener and worker in the kitchen.’^ A. The house marked a. in the space in front of the mission[see Fig. 1]and used as the first station in the procession on Corpus Christi day was the best house of them all — This house had a front porch and stone square pillars but it was in ruins when Rafaela saw it. Would like to know who lived in that house because it was so different from the rest.’® Residence of Doha Pancha. I must describe to you her house a little bit more. The house-had-it [Refer to drawing, Fig. 3] In 1. lived Doha Pancha all alone. She took care ofthe peacocks, pigeons, turkeys, chickens the priests had — also of the garden in front toward ocean was to furnish flowers for the altars. Further down was the orchard.'® In 2 or 3. Doha Polinaria a little blind old lady lived a part of the time. She did not live there all the time — part of the time she lived in town with Mrs. Ortega. Poor little thing — she used to put her hands on me to see how I was growing and one thing she said, “Don’t ever forget to pray for the poor souls,”20 This and little old lady Doha Pancha used to get out of patience with Doha P — complain of Doha Polinaria being so fussy and giving her so much trouble, for you see when Doha Polinaria came to the mission to live then Doha Pancha had to take care of her. Whenever Doha Pancha complained to Father Jose Sanchez^' about Doha Polinaria, he would say, “D.P., be patient, be patient with Polinaria. God has sent her to you to give you an opportunity to make atonement for your sins.’’ One day Pancha took Polinaria to the dining room at the mission — she had to take her there for her meals every day. When Father Jose, who with other priests was in the dining room at the time, saw them coming in, he made a sign with his finger to his lips for Doha Pancha to say nothing, not even Good Morning, so Doha Polinaria should not know they were there. They wanted to have a little amusement. When the soup was brought in, Doha Polinaria tasted it, then threw up her hands in disgust, saying, ' ‘Que comida tan mispida par esse comida para perros’’(This is so bad it is fit only for dogs). Then Father Sanchez came and touched her shoulder and said, “Polinaria, Polinaria, no es comida para perros. Es la mejorque tenemos para comer nosotros’’(This food is not for the dogs, it is better than what we usually have). Then Polinaria said, “Si,padrecito, si, padrecito, a donde esta, adonde esta’’(Yes father, yes father, where is it? where is it?) and began feeling for the soup all over the table for it, getting her fingers into the soup and spilling it, so that another plateful had to be sent for her. The Doha Polinaria had been a very —5—

fine woman in her time. They say that when she was young she had been very wealthy and had given much to the church. Then she became an enthusiastic mission worker among the Indians. She used to come down here to southern California with Father Sanchez. They were trying to sell some silverware and they said it was Doha Polinaria’s silver. The lady who was trying to sell it was Ed Nardi’s aunt who was a niece of Mrs. Ruiz, who cared for Doha Polinaria. Sometimes Doha Polinaria would kneel with her back to the altar and someone would come in and tell her that she was kneeling with her back to the altar. “Polinaria, esta Vd con espalda para el altar.” She would answer, “Estoy bien. Yo se como estoy” (I’m all right, I know how I am). Sometimes when she would go for Holy Communions she wouldn’t take the napkin that hangs over the altar — someone would give it to her and she would throw it aside, but when the priest came back with the blessed sacrament he gave her the napkin and made her hold it until after she had partaken. She made herself blind by stubbornness — she had neuralgia — and was so stubborn about trying to cure herself that she made herself blind. Nick Covarrubias’ brother’s wife could tell all about her death. She lives in Santa Barbara. They have an Indian who is awfully funny and he gets after the devil and talks Indian talk all the time. Mrs. Garcia can help us out on the Xmas play. (1) Hermanos pastures,(2) vamos camin ando,(3) que los resplandores,(4) nos van alum brando. Brother shepherds we are going, because the Glory gives us 22 light. Grandmother came from Mexico in 1856 and lived at first at San Luis Obispo and in 1858 went to Santa Barbara. She came because she was grieving over the loss of her husband. The doctor said she must leave the old home — and as she had two brothers here she came here.23 Maria the Prison Keeper. . . Maria was once keeper for one of the women’s prisons at San Gabriel. In the prison she had charge of, they put the bad Indian girls. The Alcalde would have them whipped at a whipping post in the plaza in front of the church at San Gabriel. Then the girls would be sent to this prison. There were wooden babies: the priests as a punishment to bad girls would fasten a wooden baby on the hips of the girl and make the girls sweep the plaza 24 while they had these things on. Pictures in the Mission Subjects Purgatory. Soul in the fire to be purified before going into heaven. Heaven. Hell. Kettles — serpents — the devil putting in people. Limbo. (Place where souls of the unbaptized. Not so sure of this last.) I saw these pictures my first trip to San Francisco in 1880.... They have since been taken north to help in work among the Indians.

Doha Josefa Valdez Martinez

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Father Jose Sanche^^ A very, very good man who among other things used to go around collecting things for the poor. He was the founder of the orphan home at Watsonville.^® He used to come down even here collecting things for the orphans. Sundays after church Father Sanchez used to go to town. How the children hated this especially in wild flower season, because he would beckon to them and would take out his beads and then we would have to get out our rosaries and say our prayers all the way to town. When we would be just dying to run around and pick wild flowers. The priests had a vineyard some distance from the mission. My uncle used to keep the vineyard. The priests would walk over on Sunday afternoons and the children used to gather around them, hanging onto their gowns, clasping their feet and the priests would take them up into their arms — it made a very beautiful 27 picture. Their big hats would slip back onto the back of their heads. Father Jose used to go up to Montecito to say mass every Sunday.^® According to the people at Montecito there was a man who felt he had a grievance against Father Jose that nothing but a thrashing administered to the Holy Father would satisfy. The man had had some trouble about getting married. He waited in ambush for Father Jose and when the Father came riding up on his white horse, stepped out to punch him. The priest dismounted, rolled up the ample sleeves of his habit, and instead of receiving, gave a thrashing to his assailant. Father Gonzalez who died in Nov.'15 at the age past 84. Father Superior of the College. He lost one eye — was always holding a little glass in front of the other eye to see. In Priest’s parlor, the ladies were decorating the table on which Father Gonzalez was lying and they asked Father Jose if they might put flowers on Father Gonzalez. O, yes, said Father Jose with streaming eyes, put on all you want to — 29 as many as if he were a virgin 15 yrs. old for he deserved them every one. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS John Bruckman, Bibliographer, Los Angeles Public Library; Rev. Maynard Geiger, O.F.M., Ph.D., Santa Barbara Mission Archives; Thomas W. Owen, History Department, Los Angeles Public Library; Russell Ruiz, Historian, Santa Barbara; Staff of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History Library and Archives; Staff of the U.C.L.A. Department of Special Collections.

NOTES Seiiora Rafaela Robles de Zuniga was born in Ures, slate of Sonora, Mexico, in Seplember, 1820. A widow with one child, she came to California in 1855 to join her brothers. Guadalupe and Juan Robles, both residents at that time ofSan Luis Obispo and overseers ofthe ranches of the priests there. She married Apolonio Ziihiga and they moved to Santa Barbara, buying the impressive Montecito Ranch. She lived in Santa Barbara for twenty years, but at the death of her husband, left for Los Angeles to reside with her daughter, the wife of W.W. Sands, policeman. It can be inferred from addresses in early Los Angeles directories that the grandmother and granddaughter bore the same name and lived together along with her daughter, Mrs. Sands, then a widow. The 1912 Los Angeles

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city directory lists Miss Rafaela Zuniga, dressmaker, Rafaela Zuniga, widow of Apolonio, and Elizabeth Sands at 624 North Bunker Hill. Probably the old lady spoke little English, and when Mary Foy visited, the granddaughter served as translator. Rafaela Robles de Ziiiiigadied in May of 1912. Notice of her passing appeared in both the Los Angeles Times and The Grizzly Bear. * For an excellent biographical sketch of Mary E. Foy, see Marco Newmark’s article, “Historical Profiles,” No. XXIX, pp. 366-36%,Southern California Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 4. 1955. ● ^ Los Angeles Public Library Accession Books. Volume 1. * Built in 1875, the Arlington Hotel, on State Street between Sola and Victoria, was a mecca for the well-to-do tourist. It was a beautiful three-story building with 90 rooms. Presidents and princes, diplomats and politicians stayed at this famous old hostelry, which was totally destroyed by fire in August of 1909. * The Mission gardens and orchards extended south, beyond the present Los Olivos Street. Remains of some of the houses of the Indian village were still extant in the 1880’s. Description of the orchard, passim. Mission Documents, Santa Barbara Mission Archives. * An early drawing of the wall and arch can be found on p. 317 of Engelhardl'sMission Santa Barbara. From the reservoirs now in Santa Barbara Mission Historical Park, an aqueduct, pre-1885, ran across what is now Los Olivos Street, continuing along a wall (still extant) to an irrigation ditch which ran in back of the Mission to another holding reservoir. Father Maynard Geiger, O.F.M,,dug part of this up some years ago when it was an orange grove. It is now covered by a building just inside the present St. Anthony’s Seminary Road. ^ The reservoir is still there and now part of the City reservoir system. The old Mission system was sold to the City of Santa Barbara by Bishop Amat around 1872. A description of the boys from the Franciscan College swimming in the reservoir in the 1870's can be found on pp. 22-23 of “Santa Barbara School Days, 1869-1874” by Felipe Larios, translated by Fr. Maynard Geiger, O.F.M. for Noticias, Occasional Papers No. 3, 1964. We have been unable to find documentation concerning the two boys who were supposed to have drowned in the reservoir. ** This was the major-domo’s house. A photograph of the building, taken during the early 1870’s, can be found in Geiger,Pictorial History ofthe Physical Development ofMission Santa Barbara, p. 24. The Cota sisters, Mariana and Maria dc Jesus, lived there for some years, and did the washing for the priests and students at the Franciscan College. The sycamore trees have been referred to as the Cota Sisters Sycamores, for at their instigation the two trees were planted by the cemetery wall and aqueduct. These trees are still standing. We have not been able to identify Dona Josefa(“LaRolita”). ** According toFr. Maynard Geiger, O.F.M., in mission days the area in front of the Mission did forma sort of square; the Mission buildings to the north; the Indian village of 252 adobe, tile-roofed houses to the west(No. 4); the major-domo’s house(No.7)— tom down in 1887 — to the east; and soldiers (guards’ quarters) toward the south. The square or quadrangle(No. 2) may best be seen in a drawing of the Mission by H.M.T. Powell in 1850,shown opposite page 18 mGQigof,Pictorial History ofthe Physical Development ofMission Santa Barbara. In the area this side of the square was the Mission orchard towards which an aqueduct existed, part of which is still extant in Mission Park. 10

For a detailed history of the Mission, O.F.M.

Mission Santa Barbara 1782-1965. by Maynard Geiger,

After 1885 this space was enclosed by a picket fence and vines and trees were grown there. There was a fountain (extant) and a long wash basin (which Rafaela calls a reservoir) used for washing by the women of the Indian village. There is no mention in Mission records of two reservoirs in that area, but there were two reservoirs on the hill in back of the Mission. Designations a, b, and c, were, no doubt,the pozas or Corpus Christi stations. There were three altars and one in church. They were not permanent stations, but small altars erected each year. Such stations have continued in our time but are now erected in the Mission Cemetery. For a description of this ceremony in 1869.see Larios.op. cit. 12

According to Fr. Maynard Geiger, this was probably one of the old Indian houses. A photograph, taken during the 1880’s, of such a home can be found in Geiger,Indians ofMission Santa Barbara in

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Paganism and Christianity, p. 42. Mission documents confirm that there was a small chicken ranch there from 1869 to at least 1874 if not longer. Don Leandro Martinez came to California with Bishop Garcia Diego y Moreno in 1841. He was a cook for the fathers of Santa Barbara Mission for many years and lived in the major-domo’s house. His name appears in the Santa Barbara Mission Account Book for 1872-6,listing him on their payroll as cook. In 1862, Don Leandro was married to Dona Josefa Valdez de Gannon. H IS

IS 20

The Monastery was an enclosure — no women were allowed there. Rafaela was mistaken in the family relationships concerning Doha Josefa. She was the wife of Don Leandro Martinez, not a niece. She was the widow of Thomas Gannon, a prominent figure in Santa Barbara during the 1850’s. Some years after the death of her first husband, Doha Josefa had built a fine adobe house at 1022 Anacapa Street. Upon her marriage to Don Leandro, she moved to the major-domo’s house near the Mission. Fora sketch of her adobe as well as interesting details of Doha Josefa’s early life, see Cullimore, Santa Barbara Adobes, pp. 166-168. The description of the homillo is significant because it is so characteristically Mexican. It is doubtful if any existing California adobe retains one of these, for they most certainly would have been replaced by stoves. While firewood is mentioned, they usually burned charcoal. Manuel Cervantes lived in part of the major-domo’s house. His name is found in the Mission Account Book of 1872-1876, p. 119A in the Santa Barbara Mission Archives. He is listed as an albanil(plasterer) and received $1.25 for a day of work without a meal. He was also paid $1.50 for making a pair of sandals. This was probably the old guard house of the Mission. An illustration of this house, showing the square pillars, can be found on page 160 of Land of Sunshine, Vol. 3. See note 12. Doha Polinaria was Apolinaria Lorenzana, a woman of great piety and known for her many years of charitable work for the church. She had come to California in 1800 as a foundling and was placed in the home of the Carrillo family. The name Lorenzana was given to foundlings from a home in Mexico founded by Archbishop Francisco Lorenzana. According to Bancroft’s Fio/ieer Register (History of California. Vol. II, p. 718) Apolinaria had at one time possession of a large land grant, but it was taken away from her. During her last years in Santa Barbara she was blind and supported entirely by friends and the community. La Beata, as she was familiarly known,died in Santa Barbara in April of 1884.

Rafaela makes several references to a Father/ose Sanchez. She meant Father Francisco Sanchez (1813-1884). See note 25. 22 An entire issue of Western Folklore (Vol. XVI, October, 1957) is devoted to “Los Pastores,’’ a traditional folk play of Hispanic America performed during the Christmas season. 22 24

Miss Rafaela Zuniga’s description of her grandmother. Rafaela Robles de Zuniga. See note 1. According to the Hugo Reid letters published in the Los Angeles Star in 1852, this was a common form of punishment for Indian women suspected of attempted abortion. This occurred during the pastorship of Fr. Jose Mana Zalvidea of Mission San Gabriel. We have been unable to locate any evidence of this practice anywhere other than San Gabriel. Letter XIX, which was published on July 3. 1852, page 2 of theSwr, slates, “Having found out the game practiced with regard to destroying the children bom to whites, he (Zalvidea) put down all miscarriages to the same cause; therefore should a woman (Indian) have the misfortune to bring forth a dead child, she was punished. The punishment inflicted was shaving the entire head, flogging for 15 subsequent days, iron on the feet for three months, and having to appear every Sunday in church, on the steps leading up to the altar, with a hideous painted wooden child in her arms!” The original Hugo Reid letters are in the Archives of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. Father Francisco Sanchez came to California in 1841 with Bishop Moreno. As a member of the Apostolic College in Santa Barbara, he was both a teacher and a travelling missionary. Helen Hunt Jackson modelled “Father Salvierderra’’ in her novel Ramona after Fr. Francisco Sanchez. Sec details in Davis and Alderson, The True Story ofRamona. He is buried in Old Mission Santa Barbara Cemetery.

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Swchez was one of the first>priests sent to theorphanage at Watsonville,but not its founder. These recollections seem to be those of Rafaela’s daughter. The vineyard was in back of what is now the Riviera, and the uncle referred to would have been one of Rafaela’s brothers, Juan or Guadalupe. The large grey felt hats worn by the priests during the ’70’s and ’80’s can be seen in the Museum Rooms of Santa Barbara Mission. Santa Barbara Mission took care of the parishes of both Montecito and Carpinteria. This is Father Gonzales Rubio (1804-1875), beloved educator and priest. For a more detailed biography, see Geiger, Franciscan Missionaries in Hispanic California, pp. 113-120.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Bancroft, Hubert H. History of California. 1 vols. San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft & Co., 1884-1890. Ben C. Truman Scrapbook D. Los Angeles Museum of Natural History Archives. Caballeria y Collell, Juan. History of the City of Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara, Calif.; Gutierrez Book and Job Printer. 1892. Cullimore, Clarence. Santa Barbara Adobes. Santa Barbara Book Publishing Co., 1948. Dakin, Susana B. A Scotch Paisano: Hugo Reid's Life in California, 1832-1852, Derived from His Correspondence. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1939. Davis. Carlyle Channing & William A. Alderson. The True Story of“Ramona," its Facts and Fictions, Inspiration and Purpose. New York: Dodge Publishing Co., 1914, Engelhard!, Zephyrin, O.F.M. The Missions and Missionaries of California. 4 vols. San Francisco; James H. Barry, 1908-1915. Geiger, Maynard. O.F.M. Franciscan Missionaries in Hispanic California. San Marino, Calif.; Huntington Library, 1969. ● The Indians of Mission Santa Barbara in Paganism and Christianity, n.p., n.d.. 'I960. . Mission Santa Barbara, 1782-1965. n.p., 1965. . A Pictorial History of the Physical Development of Mission Santa Barbarafrom Brush Hut to Institutional Greatness. 1786-1963. Oakland. Calif.: Franciscan Fathers of California, 1963. Huse. Charles E. Sketch of the History and Resources of Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Office of the Daily Press. 1876. An Illustrated History ofLos Angeles County, California. Chicago; The Lewis Publishing Co., 1889. Land of Sunshine. Los Angeles: Land of Sunshine Publishing Co. Larios. Felipe Estolano. "Santa Barbara School Days, 1869-1874," trans. by Fr. Maynard Geiger, O.F.M. Noticias (Quarterly Bulletin of the Santa Barbara Historical Society) Occasional Paper No, 3, 1964, Los Angeles Star. In the archives of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. Mason, Jese D. Facsimile Reproduction ofThompson & iVest's History ofSanta Barbara and Ventura Counties. California. Berkeley, Calif.: Howell-North, 1961. O’Neill, Owen H. History of Santa Barbara County. Santa Barbara, Calif., 1939. Phillips, Michael J. History of Santa Barbara County, California. 2 vols. Chicago, San Francisco. Los Angeles: S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1927. —12—

Reid,Hugo. Letters in the archives of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. Santa Barbara Mission Account Books, 1872-1876. Santa Barbara Mission Archives. Santa Barbara Mission Documents. Santa Barbara Mission Archives. Santamaria, Francisco J., ed. DiccionarioGeneraldeAmericanismos. MexicoD.F.:Pedro Robredo, 1942. Security First National Bank. Santa Barbara, TierraAdorada, ed. by Laurence L. Hill and Marion Parks. Santa Barbara, Calif., 1930. Storke, Yda A. A Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties ofSanta Barbara. San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891. Western Folklore (California Folklore Society). Berkeley, Calif.; University of California Press. Joan Perkal is bibliographer at the Center for the Study of Comparative Folklore and Mythology, University of California at Los Angeles. John Dewar is Curator, History Division, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. Both have been assisting the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation with research on the Santa Barbara Presidio Restoration Project.

THE U.S. NAVY AND SANTA BARBARA NAVAL RESERVE DURING THE AFTERMATH OF THE 1925 EARTHQUAKE By Archie Banks & Jim Wiley Thefollowing account was compiled by two Santa Barbarans who lived through the earthquake of 1925. Mr. Banks, now retired, sold his store aboutfour years ago after completing some fifty years in business in the State Street business section ofSanta Barbara. He built one ofthefirst ham radio stations in the United States and during World War I he enlisted in the U.S.N.R.F., spending nine months as a shore operator and the rest of his enlistment aboard the U.S. Navy's Yantic,on which he installed all the radio equipment. He waj discharged with the rating of Chief Radioman and subsequently entered the Dodge Radio and Telegraph School(now Valparaiso Tech)from which he graduated. He then went to Chicago where he received a radio licensefrom 9A.G.D. and was certified also for civil service radio work. During World War II he served as ChiefRadioman in the U.S. Navy Intelligence Department. Mr. Wiley,for twenty-five years an employe of the Toledo Scales Company, retired last year. On the morning of the earthquake I awakened real early, since I was due to go to Santa Paula to solicit business. My business. Banks Stationery Store, had just been started a few months back on March 1.1 was lazy, though, and went back to sleep. —13—

The San Marcos Building after the quake.

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which no doubt saved my neck as I would otherwise have been loading my car with deliveries about the time of the quake. The most awful commotion woke me up, the bed jumping around so much I could hardly get out of it. Then I ran down the hall, both sides of the narrow hall hitting first my one side, then the other. I was lamenting, as I went along the hall, that this was the end of the world. If you think I was not extremely frightened you are wrong. I was almost scared out of my senses. I reached a doorway (someone had told me to stand in a doorway in case of quake,for safety, etc.). I did look to my left, and saw Mrs. Banks, who was up and trying desperately to hold the doors to the kitchen cabinets shut, her precious few dishes being broken,falling to the floor on other dishes. She was not succeeding in her vain attempt. The dining room was in front of me, and the table was in the comer of the room, the phonograph upside down in the center. We lost our fireplace chimney. Everyone in Santa Barbara went through dam near the same thing. I still did not realize the extent of the quake. Having moved from Iowa only a few years before, this was all new to me. But when I drove by our children’s school (Wilson) and looked right through it where walls used to be, I was deeply impressed. The old San Marcos Building, which was separated by an alley from our store (located at 9 West Anapamu) was in a shambles, its four stories completely destroyed, collapsed, Our store was our life and business, and we had three children to support, but although merchandise was all over the floor, we only lost one bottle of ink which broke when it hit the floor. In a short time a messenger told me that the local U.S. Naval Reserve was being called for disaster duty. I returned home, got in uniform and reported in front of City Hall, where Mayor Charles Andera, City Manager Herbert Nunn, Lieut. Harvey Kiler (in charge of the Santa Barbara Unit, U.S.N.R.F.), Charles Shed, my Division officer, theNews-Press, Senator McAdooera/, were meeting. Ihad nothing to do with this meeting; I was only to report. My orders were to set up an emergency wireless or radio station to get out the news that our public utilities were all shut off and would remain so for hours. The telephones were out. Western Union wires were down, and so on. I quickly walked over to Kirkpatrick Electric to arrange for storage batteries. Ford coil, tools, etc. They immediately said I could have any items I wanted. I did not know where to erect this radio transmitter station, but knew I would need a telegraph key, so I went to Western Union and they lent me a key. Leaving the Western Union office, I glanced up at the Bolton & Jones* radio lower on top of a building. This is where I met Jim Wiley. I told him about my Navy order, and he said I could have anything I wanted. Jim had started the Radio Department at Bolton & Jones and was in charge of it. First, Jim got antenna wire and climbed up on top of the building and up the tower to insulate and fasten our antenna. While he was on the tower a large ●Store that sold musical instruments, at 718 State St.

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aftershock occurred. I looked down the street at the few patches of pavement not covered by debris from roofs of buildings coming down. Well, the pavement was in small waves which looked to me to be three or four inches high and a short distance between, running up and down State Street. Jim, though, was the real hero — he was hanging on to the tower with all his might, and I know he must have been really scared like us all. We then took the antenna and scraped a good connection. Jim went over to an old Ford, which was wrecked right near us, and borrowed a couple of coils. These coils have buttons on them so that when they fit into a coil box they go to batteries for power and spark plugs. We did not have a blowtorch so Jim taped the connection onto these buttons. Then we made a connection to the street car track right beneath us — an excellent ground. There certainly were no street cars on State Street right then. You had to weave around debris if you went up or down State Street. No traffic — Fords or street cars! We were working right on the pavement, testing, but later a table was donated. Connections being made, the key hooked in, the switches connected, I started to test and sent out an S.O.S. At the same time I was adjusting the spark, I described the earthquake. What we needed just rambled along. No radio operator will ever forget the transmission ofhisfirst S.O.S. Jim smiled. I asked if we ought to have a receiver to see if anyone heard us. He said the expression on my face was really something. I was so interested in tuning up, if you can call it that, that I forgot to install the receiver! A transmission such as the above is done by means of what is called an untuned circuit. Of course, it has a small natural period but really covers all wavebands from near zero to its overall length — antenna to ground terminal wavelength. A tuned circuit consists of coils. It peaks all the antenna waves and concentrates nearly all power in one wavelength. You can really reach out. Our transmitter had limited power, but anyone listening anywhere on a receiver would hear us. We were supposed to be on distress call — 600 meters. We had no tuning meter to check our transmitter or radio receivers. Jim went up to his shop and brought do wn a new battery-driven superheterodyne receiver with built-in antennas, etc. Well, we had obeyed orders to construct a radio transmit and receive station. You only need one. Jim and I were through and I had no Naval Reserve radio operators, so we turned the station over to some radio hams. Strangers to me, their names, according to the newspaper, were Graham George, Brandt Wentworth, and Ben Lopez. Here I want to break to today’s date (July 12, 1975) in our search for facts. I telephoned the local U.S.N.R.F. office, since I wanted to record the names of the officers in charge on the day of the quake. They did not have these names, but they recommended the Public Library. I went first to the Book Den but had no luck. From there I went to the Library’s reference desk which recommended files and periodicals. There I hit the jackpot. I spent a lot of time in the Library and here are the results: the Press, early in the morning, established telephone connection to Ventura and outside the United States. ThePre^j forwarded all information about —16—

the quake that they had to the Associated Press. James E. Sloan gave them permission to use their wires that were working. James Sloan was depot agent for Southern Pacific, which also had a telegraph line to Ventura. The train carried news to Ventura. Also, cars on the highway got through with news. It would be assumed that the minute this hit the Associated Press wire circuits the Navy would be immediately alerted and start to send relief to the Santa Barbara U.S.N.R.F. Senator McAdoo, living in Santa Barbara at the time, immediately used these lines to get word to Washington and the Navy Department, requesting Marines, etc. TheU.S. Navy responded immediately. Some Marines came from Oxnard,40 miles south of Santa Barbara. A Navy ship en route to San Francisco from Honolulu diverted to Santa Barbara. The battleship in Long Beach was ordered to Santa Barbara for help and ordered to check up and report to Washington. The newspaper also said Harvey Kiler, in charge of the local U.S.N.R.F. right after the quake, called reserves to duty and sent thousands of the curious back behind certain lines away from the business district. (Note: not an item was ever missed from our open-to-the-public store.) From this information I then telephoned Ed Abbott, who was wire chief for Western Union at the time of the quake. Ed told me he was downtown in about fifteen minutes after the quake. His lines were down, but being an experienced wire chief, he knew what to do. He went over to Kirkpatrick Electric and got a truck to take him to the Southern Pacific telegraph wire room. He immediately cut his Western Union line into the Southern Pacific lines and Western Union Santa Barbara was in business with messages coming and going. He estimated he was connected up at about 8 A.M. or sooner. Who is Ed Abbott? He is a former mayor ofSanta Barbara, headed and owned the city’s garbage concession for years, was a master mason, etc., etc. He was also drafted by the 11th U.S. Naval Reserve District for duty at Point Arguello at the time of the sinking of the U.S. Navy destroyers [at Honda in 1923 — Editor]. Ed was drafted as a civilian to aid them, and he operated around-the-clock telegraph communications for the Navy. The aftermath of the quake was a time of stress and emotion. No one knew what anyone else was doing. My commander did not know, when he gave me the order to set up my station, that in only a few more minutes regular lines of communication would be reopened. Any boat we connected with naturally did not know that relief action was already under way. However, it did not do any harm to tell them the shape we were in. I quickly got news from Reserve messengers that I was relieved of duty to look after my store. The hams had afield day,and we left the equipment up until dawn.

I might finish with this bit of earthquake news never before used or published, that I know of: On June 29,1925,late P.M.,I think it was about lOor 11 o’clock,! was awakened at my home on Chino Street where we were all sleeping out in the back yard. A Navy messenger had a truck and I was ordered to get a flashlight and —17—

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either light or communicate with the battleship I could work different signal codes. In this truck, we went speeding through guards toward the beach. As we passed the Lyon Van Storage Co. warehouse [at the time of the quake it was Lathim’s Transfer & Storage Co. —Editor]a Reserve guard called a loud ‘‘Halt!” My driver didn’t pause. “Bang!” went a rifle and 1 was on the floor of the truck. At the beach the Captain conferred with city officials and local Reserve officers while 1 stood outside. When he got through, the Captain walked over to me and said, “Chief, would you like to ride out to this ship with me?” Of course I was tickled to death. So we got in the Captain’s jig and were on our way, all swell upholstery and all. The Captain had me along for a reason. He asked oodles of questions. In the Navy a Chief is supposed to know everything (he doesn’t). He is liaison between officers and men. He has to know plenty as he oversees nearly 100% of the work and action the officers order done. There was one question that stumped me. He asked, “Chief, how long did the quake last?” That, as Dr. Richter would say, was a good question (Dr. Richter holds his head back and shuts his eyes when he ponders a tough question). I still mentally think three to five minutes [estimates of the duration of the first shock vary from 12 to 19 seconds —Editor]. Well, we got to the battle wagon and up the gangway. On topside a line of officers stood at attention. The Captain walked briskly over and as they all listened, he said, “Officer, (No. 1) do this or that.” The officers saluted and about-faced to duty. Down the line the Captain went until all were instructed as to Santa Barbara earthquake relief duties. He then turned to me and said, “Chief, how about some hot coffee up forward?” Then he thanked me and I went up and got a cup of java, maybe a doughnut, walked over to the topside rail and looked down. In that short time the first boat was shoving off for Santa Barbara. They now had all bearings and harbor instructions for landing. This article of research and memories of people on the spot during the Santa Barbara earthquake of 1925 has been a very difficult task. We have done the best we can. but too many witnesses in the Naval Reserve are deceased. At this hour, while finishing these last few lines, I am calibrating my four amateur seismograph and earthquake recorders, I have had one main article and one reference to my amateur seismograph work in the Amateur Department ofScientific American and other technical and scientific magazines.

Photo credits: cover, Los Angeles Public Library, p. 8, Russell Ruiz—19—

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