Clumography  Part 9

By:  Gary Ledoux/Western History Author

John Clum at Whiskey Point, California

On May 12, 1886, a huge fire wiped out Tombstone’s Grand Central pump house and hoisting works, a crushing blow to the already ailing city sending it into further decline.  People started leaving, fearing the “Town Too Tough To Die” was headed for its demise.

John Clum, who had left Tombstone in 1882, then returned in 1885, knew this was not the boom town he had once known.  He confided with his good friend, Nellie Cashman, who, like Clum and many others, was ready to move on to greener pastures.  Finally, at the end of November, 1886, Clum left Tombstone for the second and last time, to make his fortune in real-estate in booming San Bernardino, California. 

At the time of its incorporation, the city of San Bernardino, California had 1200 residents, 900 of them were “non-imbibing” Mormons who had strict rules about the consumption of alcohol.  The first trial held in the city was for drunkenness.

San Bernardino gained strength as a city with the industrious Mormons holding most of the city’s major political and business positions.  That all ended in 1857 when Brigham Young recalled his flock to Salt Lake City.  The majority of Saints fled the city for Utah including all the leaders and prominent citizens.  About 40% remained, perhaps because they did not want to leave what they had worked so hard for, perhaps because of indifference, or perhaps in defiance of such a strong-willed and overbearing leader.

Mormons sold their property for whatever they could get, sometimes taking in trade a horse and wagon for a house.  A newspaper of the time, the Alta California reported; “The valuation of the property of those gone was over $200,000 and they did not realize more than a fourth of that sum.”

The Mormons’ departure left a tremendous void in the city.  The void was filled with a decidedly different class of people.  The religious fervor dwindled to a trickle and gambling and drinking became the order of the day! 

Before long, San Bernardino looked like so many other wild-west towns.  The intersection of 3rd and D Street, in what is today’s downtown area, became known as “Whisky Point” with a roaring saloon on each corner. 

San Bernardino even had it’s own “Chinatown”, a row of shanties and ramshackle wooden huts along 3rd Street that housed about 400 to 600 residents.

Despite its wild-west heritage, San Bernardino did not have enough “Johnny Ringos” or “Curley Bills” to carry it into the annals of time as a “rip-roaring” old-west town.  Few today can recall hearing or reading about Whiskey Point” and why it existed.  Nobody remembers San Bernardino’s “Chinatown”.  In fact, today, San Bernardino is noted as a stop along America’s Mother-Road, historic Route 66, and the fact that the McDonald’s restaurant chain was founded there on December 12, 1948, on the corner of 14th and E Street – not far from what was Whiskey Point!

On November 15, 1885, the city of Waterman (now the city of Barstow) turned out en masse amid brass bands and fireworks to celebrate the newly-completed California Southern extension from San Bernardino to Waterman.  The area now had a trans-continental railroad; a means of trading all sorts of goods with the east coast, not the least of which was the area’s juicy gold – citrus fruit!

People began to arrive from the east coast in large numbers.  San Bernardino and the local real-estate market boomed.  On May 15, 1886, San Bernardino reincorporated to change the classification of the city, further accelerating the city’s growth.

The California Southern Railroad set up a repair facility for its rail cars, which employed a large number of men adding to the town’s economy.  Subdivisions, buildings, homes, and business blocks were being laid out and built as fast as possible.  Devastating fires in 1878 and 1879 had eradicated many of the wooden frame structures in town.  They were replaced with brick adding a higher degree of fire safety and a decidedly different architectural look to the growing city, more modern – more cosmopolitan.

During 1885 and 1886, many streetcar companies were started in San Bernardino.  In February of 1887, a line was completed between San Bernardino and Colton.  Former Tombstoner, Virgil Earp, was elected the first City Marshal of Colton in January 1887 and served until March, 1889.  Given that travel between the two towns was relatively easy using the streetcar line, it is possible that old friends John Clum and Virgil Earp could have visited with each other from time to time during this period.

In 1887 the four-story Stewart Hotel, named for its builder, San Bernardino pioneer Richard Stewart, was built on the corner of 3rd and E Streets in the heart of the downtown area at the-then extravagant cost of $150,000. 

It was on the ground floor of this immense building that the firm of Clum and O’Connor Real Estate and Insurance was born.  Clum had known Daniel O’ Connor in Tombstone.  In fact, in one of Clum’s last official acts as Tombstone’s City Recorder, on November 18, 1885, Daniel O’Connor swore out a complaint against a Sam King for not paying a licensing fee.  Clum recorded the incident.

The elaborate Stewart Hotel had 400 guest rooms and was touted as one of the most elegant, finest and largest hotels between St. Louis and San Francisco.  The ground floor had many shops besides that of Clum and O’ Connor including the Stewart Hotel Cigar Store which soon became a social center for the neighborhood.  A bank and a ticket office for the Santa Fe railroad also shared ground-floor space.

Low cost train fares, a burgeoning citrus market, and plenty of jobs all fueled San Bernardino’s economy, so much so that wild land speculation began to take place.  Land, farms, orchards, and homes were bought and sold at a break-neck pace.  People, including the firm of Clum & O’Connor were making money hand-over-fist. 

The town was caught up in a contagious excitement, “…depriving men of their reason and good sense.”  No matter what their profession, it seemed everyone was in on the notion that owning a hunk of California soil was the key to riches.

Some bought land sight unseen.  Other bought land knowing there was no water on it, not sure if they could bring water to it.  But it didn’t matter because they were going to sell the property to the next man to come along, probably in a day or two, and at a tidy profit.

During this boom period, the cities of Redlands, Lugonia, Beaumont, South Riverside, East Riverside, Rialto, Banning, Allesandro, Terracina and Auburndale were founded.  Not far away, the city of Chino was busy being born, helped along by another former Tombstoner, money-man Richard Gird!

Land purchased for $2,000 could be sold the following week for $3,000 or in a few weeks for $5,000.  It seemed the sky was the limit.  Acres of property were cut into town building lots where no town lots had any business being.  The person who owned the now-subdivided lots amplified their profits many times over.

In a newspaper ad dated February 24, 1886, potential real estate buyers were treated to a ride around the country to view the various properties up for sale.  They were given a free lunch, free drinks, free fruit, and continuous band music.

Clum & O’Connor continued to buy and sell real estate at ever-increasing prices.  John Clum was living in the Alta-Vista area; about 3 miles from his office at the Stewart Hotel, making money hand-over-fist but spending it just as freely to buy more land that he planned to sell at an even more inflated rate.  Business and property exchanges continued at an alarming rate!

This was the world John Clum walked into when he arrived in San Bernardino.  It was a world of wild speculation with free flowing money and tons of opportunity.  Not unlike Tombstone in those respects, but now, he was in a town somewhat larger, and decidedly more cosmopolitan.

At some point, John Clum and Daniel O’Conner must have looked at each other, knowing what had happened in Tombstone and so many boom-towns of the time and mused, “How long can this last?”

(Excerpted from Ledoux’s forthcoming book, Nantan: The Life and Times of John P. Clum – Volume 2 1882-1932 Tombstone to Los Angeles due out October 26, 2008)