306 HISTORY OF PASADENA. 



"Skilled masons, ^6 per day ; carpenters (foremen), $5 ; ordinary car- 

 penters, $3.50 to $4; laborers, $2 to $2.50 : men for ranch work, $30 per 

 month with board and lodging ; plasterers, $4 to $5 per day or 36 cents per 

 yard; lathers, $4 to $4.50; painters, $3.50 to $4; plumbers, $4.50; tin- 

 ners, $3.50 to $4; car drivers, $2; blacksmiths, $2.50 to $3.50; book- 

 keepers, $75 to $150 per month ; clerks, $50 to $75 ; house-servants, $25 to 

 $35 per month ; nurse girls, $20 to $25 ; housekeepers, $25 to $40 ; harness- 

 makers, $3 to $4 per day ; bakers, $30 to $40 per month ; butchers, $30 

 to $50." 



I thought this list of wages rates worth preserving for historic interest 

 and future reference. And I find that a slip, dated October i, 1888, was 

 pasted into the pamphlets at this point after that date, which stated : 

 " When the matter for this pamphlet was written the representations on the 

 subject of mechanics' wages were strictly true. Since that time, however, 

 the wages of skilled mechanics have declined 25 per cent." Of course that 

 meant that the boom had passed its climax and was now on the decline. 



One of the curiosities of this boom time was a petition signed by 

 seventy qualified electors which was presented to the city council on May 2, 

 1888. It asked to have the city boundaries extended northward one mile be- 

 yond the foot of the Sierra Madre momitaiiis, eastward to Hill Avenue, west- 

 ward to west bank of the Arroyo, but south line to remain as it was. [This 

 would have taken in Echo Mountain and the summit crests of the front 

 range — would have incorporated the mountains. ~\ Some persons wanted 

 this extension as a means to boom certain lands, water-rights, etc. ; while 

 others wanted it to get their homes under protection of Pasadena's prohib- 

 itory law, for the Board of Trade pamphlet had said of the board of city 

 trustees (page 25) "to its intelligent action and good judgment Pasadena 

 owes the stippressio?i of saloons, making Pasadena a temperance city." La- 

 manda Park was a saloon town, and under an erroneous impression that the 

 propOvSed new boundaries took in their village (although it did not come 

 within a mile of it), they sent in the same day a vigorous protest against 

 the extension. The saloon men had smelled danger a great way off", and 

 rushed to the rescue. Both documents were referred to a special committee. 



Pending further action by the council, the city attorney was called to 

 attend a mass meeting at North Pasadena and stand up as a well-spring of 

 legal wisdom, to be worked like a town pump, ad libitum, on questions of 

 corporate extension, legal procedure, boundary description, representation 

 in city council, increased taxation, benefits accruing, etc., etc., etc. It was 

 a trying ordeal for a young man [F. J. Policy]; but every pull of the pump 

 handle brought up pure juice of the law, and every man's little cup of in- 

 quiry was filled. 



May 22 the matter came before the city council again in regular course. 

 The attorney .showed that the boundary descriptions were too indefinite for 

 any legal procedure to rest upon ; and they were referred back to petitioners 



