126 HISTORY OF PASADENA. 



absent stockholders, and if any one present represented them they were 

 called on to make their choice. In about twenty minutes the whole busi- 

 ness was settled without a clash, and every man had secured just what he 

 wanted. Everybody seemed happy and a general love feast ensued. [For 

 names of members and lots chosen, see page io8.] 



Mr. ly. H. Titus, a neighbor who had been an interested witness of the 

 whole affair, remarked, " Let me tell you. Judge, this colony is going to be 

 a success. When I .see men act as they have today success will surely fol- 

 low." How well that prophesy has been verified the Pasadena of 1894 can 

 testify. 



PUZZLES ON MR. FLETCHER. 



Mr. Fletcher strove hard to preserve some of the old landmarks on the 

 ranch. He laid off Orange Grove Avenue so as to save two noble oaks, 

 which stand today as mementoes of his careful labors. But he was perfectly 

 at sea about how the levels run in this country. He was so positive that 

 water would run toward the mountains that he spent one of the rainiest 

 days I ever saw in California, wandering over the ranch to see which way 

 the water would actually run in a flood. On his first visit to the ranch I 

 had taken him onto the hill where the Orange Grove reservoir is now lo- 

 cated, and explained that that was the spot from which the waters would 

 be distributed over the colony lands. 



" But where is its source ?" he asked. 



"Yonder, where that spur comes down into the Arroyo from the west," 

 said I, pointing to " Devil's Gate." 



" And do you pretend to say that water will flow from there up here ?" 



"No, sir, it will flow from there down here, with a fall of sixty-two 

 feet." 



"Judge," he replied, in a half-doubting tone, "I s' po.se you know; 

 but I am a railroad builder, and if I wanted to run a line of road between 

 these two points I would bring my engineer right onto this spot and tell 

 him he must wind around and try to get dowyi to that place the best way he 

 could." 



California took him at a disadvantage when he went to measuring lands 

 with his eye ; for on the .same occasion and from the same standpoint he in- 

 quired, " Where are the 1,300 acres situated that we got in the deal ?" 



I well knew what inspired the inquiry ; for before he started for Cali- 

 fornia, and while negotiations were pending, .some malicious fellow wrote 

 an anonymous letter to Indianapolis, telling the colonists that their pioneer 

 committee was being imposed upon, or had entered into a con.spiracy with 

 the owners of the ranch, and were bribing the surveyors to make false sur- 

 veys and give enlarged areas ; in fact, that the Indianians were being 

 swindled. This caused some trouble for a while ; but as there was no foun- 

 dation whatever for such a story, things came around all right. In reply to 

 his question I pointed out to him a strip along the base of the mountain, 

 bordered on the south by a dark line representing the Monks ditch. 



" Why, Judge," says Fletcher, "I can take a couple of yoke of In- 

 diana 4-year-old steers and plow up your 1,300 acres in a week." 



I made no reply, but bided my time. Soon after that, Fletcher, Berry 

 and my.self drove over the 1,300-acre tract to the west end, next to the Ar- 

 royo Seco. Fletcher alighted, and began kicking up the dust and examin- 

 ing the soil, as was his custom. Giving Berry a significant wink, I said. 



