Eric H. Warren - Pioneers of Eagle Rock

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2014 by Eric H. Warren and Frank F. Parrello

All rights reserved

Cover images: Grading the Eagle Rock Road in the canyon below the Rock in about 1900. This item is reproduced by the permission of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California; one of many souvenir postcards of the Eagle Rock. The eagle shadow has been enhanced. Courtesy of the Stargel Collection.

First published 2014

e-book edition 2014

ISBN 978.1.61423.961.1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Pioneers of Eagle Rock / edited by Eric H. Warren and Frank F. Parrello.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

print edition ISBN 978-1-60949-827-6 (paperback)

1. Eagle Rock (Los Angeles, Calif.)--History. 2. Pioneers--California--Los Angeles--Biography. 3. Eagle Rock (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Biography. 4. Los Angeles (Calif.)--History. 5. Los Angeles (Calif.)--Biography. 6. Frontier and pioneer life--California--Los Angeles. 7. Community life--California--Los Angeles--History. 8. Eagle Rock (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Ethnic relations. 9. Los Angeles (Calif.)--Ethnic relations. I. Warren, Eric H. II. Parrello, Frank F.

F869.L86E237 2014

979.494--dc23

2014005349

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the authors or The History Press. The authors and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

We dedicate this book to Jack Forbes and Mrs. C.W. (Emma Elinor) Young, as well as to the many people who have loved and created Eagle Rock, its spirit and its history. We have relied on their work in this and our other efforts to remember and carry on our community history.

JACK FORBES

Chants rise

from the Eagle Rock

as we

in the dark

on the cool granite surface

count stars

chart galaxies

dream up lives.

Valley of Indians

Eagle Rock Valley

still in the 1800s

only Native People

living there

along tree-lined streams

and lush springs.

Now the Indians

have returned

majority once again

from Mexico this time

brown skins

with Filipinos

and a world of others

along Eagle Rock Boulevard

waiting for green lights.

Eagle Rock

the spirit is still there

somehow

in Mother Earth

when you can see

snow-covered Mt. Wilson

on a clear day

the spirit

of the Eagle

is still there.

El Aguila vive!

Excerpt from Memorias de Eagle Rock by Jack D. Forbes ERHS S59 July 29, 1992

A Native American writer, scholar and political activist, Forbes died in 2011.

Born on January 7, 1934, Jack Forbes lived an eventful life and left behind a visible and profound legacy. He earned his PhD in history from the University of Southern California in 1959, with a doctoral dissertation, The Apache, Navajo, and Spaniard, that was published in 1960. Forbes went on to write numerous books and journal articles.

In 1970, Jack co-founded Deganawidah-Quertzalcoatl University, more commonly known as DQ University. Californias only tribal college, located near Davis, California, it still exists. Native America now has thirty-five tribal colleges, which enroll approximately 33 percent of the Native American postsecondary population. All were founded as a result of Forbess tireless efforts on behalf of Native American history.

Jack was a proud son of Eagle Rock and a longtime member of the Eagle Rock Valley Historical Society.

This formal portrait shows an impressive Emma Elinor Young, with the Youngs adopted daughter, Amber, in 1906, the year they arrived in Eagle Rock. Courtesy of the Louanna Clark, Emma Young Collection.

MRS. C.W. YOUNG

Not least among the attractions of the City of Eagle Rock is its history which dates back to the beginning and rates among the first things of the history of California.

This priceless legacy of romance and adventure is being appreciated more and more by people who have the destiny of our little city, as a sacred trust not to be disregarded or neglected.

We believe in the adage of that great man, Gladstone, Show me a people that remembers its past and I will show you a people that can be trusted with the future of a city or nation.

Excerpt from History of Eagle Rock Filled with Adventure, Romance and Politics, by Mrs. C.W. (Emma Elinor) Young

Mrs. Young was a pioneer clubwoman, historian, lecturer and authority on California history and landmarks. For more than fifty years, she urged Californians to preserve their heritage. Her love of pageantry and reenactment caught the attention of many children and adults in Eagle Rock, teaching them, gently, the importance of the past.

Mrs. Young was born Emma Elinor Hine on May 27, 1869, in Geneseo, Illinois, and grew up on a farm there. The youngest of eight children, she went to Northwest Normal School, taught school and participated in the kindergarten movement when it started in this country. She was the principal of Annawan School for many years.

On November 23, 1899, Emma married Charles W. Young in Geneseo. They left Illinois, and in 1906, they located in Eagle Rock. There they purchased the Ellis home, a three-story Victorian farmhouse built in 1888. They called the house Castle Crags.

Mr. Young was a founding member of the City of Eagle Rock Board of Trustees, the second mayor and, for many years, its city clerk. Before and after Mr. Youngs death from diabetes, their home was a center of social life, frequented by authors, sculptors, actors and civic leaders.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We wish to thank photoshop artist Amy Inoye; transcribers Mary Denardo of Girl Friday, Connie Hood and Deborah Huntington; the staff of the Huntington Library; Don Crocker; Occidental College Library Special Collections; Katie Taylor; Jane Tsong; Charles Fisher; Oran Asa; Historic Resources Group; Pasadena Museum of History; the Eagle Rock Sentinel; our editors with The History Press, Jerry Roberts and Ryan Finn; and the California Digital Newspaper Collection, University of CaliforniaRiverside. Much of the information and many of the photographs in this book were collected by the members of the Eagle Rock Valley Historical Society; we thank our colleagues and predecessors.

Special thanks from Eric to Karen, my wife, lover and sometime copy editor who aids and abets my periodic fits of creativity.

Special thanks from Frank to Heather Hoggan for all your love and support.

All uncredited photographs are from the Eagle Rock Valley Historical Societys collection.