1S52887 



. , THRESHOLD REMARKS. 



Genesis. — How it came about that this History was written. — List of books specially 

 examined. — The Bicycle Episode. — Friendly favors acknowledged. 



THE START. 



Before entering the Hahamog-na doorway to this Pantheon of Pasadena 

 hi.story, the reader will please take a cosy rustic seat in the roseshaded sun- 

 shinyness of our front porch for a few minutes, while I relate the history of 

 the Historj^ — or how this history project originated, and how this book came 

 to be written. 



January 14, 1894, I went to lyOS Angeles to deliver before the Science 

 Association of Southern California my report on the Geology of the Pasadena 

 Mountains. In the same car with me was W. H. Knight, Esq., president 

 of the Association, and auditor of the Mount lyowe Electric Railway Co., 

 who was then also secretary of the Pasadena Board of Trade. In conversa- 

 tion as we rode together I pointed out from the car window some places and 

 ;;^iObjects which had interesting historic associations, and some places of scien- 

 \tific interest. These things enlisted his earnest attention ; and finally he said : 



' ' There must be a great deal of interesting history connected with Pasa- 

 dena and its vicinity which ought to be preserved. It is passing away, and 

 in a few years will be lost beyond recovery; somebody ought to collect it and 

 write it up in a book." 



"Yes," I answered, " that is true ; but it would require so much time 



and painstaking labor to do the work reliably that no publisher could afford 



^to undertake the enterprise. The work would necessarily be local in its 



scope, and hence of such limited sale that he would certainly lose money on 



it." 



But Mr. Knight thought the financial difficulty could be met by a sub- 



. scription plan, and continued : "Why can't you do it? You're just the man 



! for it. ' ' 



'. To this I replied, that I probably knew better than any one else here 



what a protracted and arduous undertaking it would be, if done with such 

 thoroughness as to make it worth the doing ; and my health was too feeble 

 and precarious for me to think of entering upon so great a task. But he 

 was still earnest, and urged that it oughl to be done, and that I could do it 

 better than anybody else. 



On returning home I told my wife about this conversation with Mr. 

 Knight. She chimed right in with Mr. Knight's suggestion ; said there 

 wasn't anybody else here who could do it as well as I could. "Yes, and I 

 can help you with the typewriter," she added quite enthusiasticall)^ 



In order to show her how much greater a task it would be than she 



