Redbanks History by Mary Anne Terstegge

Redbanks by Mary Anne Terstegge Tulare County Historical Librarian

Reprinted  from March 1991 Valley Voice p. 27

 

Photo from Ernie Garcia p. 57 Images of America Woodlake

Redbanks was once the headquarters and packing center of the largest deciduous fruit orchard in Tulare County.  The first settler in that area west of Woodlake was Elijah T. Colvin, a stockman who in the early 1860s bought three sections of land on the southern slopes of the hill, which bears his name.  At that time Cottonwood Creek still ran due south into the St. Johns River.  By 1892, Elijah Colvin was dead and some of his property was sold. 

In 1901, Dr. and Mrs. William Wheeler Squire, who came from Wisconsin to Exeter in 1884, moved to Visalia.  Soon after they began buying property near Colvin’s Point, which led to the organization of the Redbanks Orchard Co. in November 1903 by Dr. Squire, Charles Joannes and Phil M. Baler.  Squire took an active interest in the company until his death and his son Bill served as manager in the 1920s.  Phil Baler, a former manager of the Earl Fruit Co. realized that this area would produce exceptionally early fruit, and it far exceeded expectations.  Orchards had to be laid out and planted so Redbanks Orchard Co. hired the best available man – Isaac H. Thomas – the Luther Burbank of Tulare County who came here in 1858.

A nurseryman, he sold the first fruit seedings in Tulare County and his name was synonymous with the best in horticultural accomplishments.  His daughter married Phil M. Baler.  At Redbanks Thomas had greenhouses built.  Under his direction – 15 varieties of plums, 14 types of table grapes and several varieties of peaches were planted.  Electricity was used to pump water from a series of 75’ deep wells into cement flumes.  Later water was pumped from the Wutchumna Ditch.  To the east of the Redbanks bridge on the north bank of Cottonwood Creek can still be seen the building that housed the pumping plant which boosted water up to the hill to a reservoir.

When the fruit was ready to harvest, in 1910, the Visalia Electric Railroad extended its tracks to what became known as Redbanks and a packing house was built there parallel to Road 192 south of the creek.  Its foundations can still be seen west of the road.  The fruit cars were hauled to Exeter where they connected with Southern Pacific’s eastside line. 

In 1913, the Santa Fe (then the Minkler Southern Railroad) came to Redbanks and a spur went right into the packing facility.  By then, Redbanks had the largest deciduous fruit ranch in Tulare County.  Redbanks peaches were the earliest in the nation and the other fruit was earliest outside Imperial County.  Thomas exhibited the fruit all over the United States and it usually took first premium.  Phil Baler was the manager.

Redbanks Orchard Co. expanded its holding from the original 1,350 acres on the south slopes of Colvin Mountain to 4, 000 acres, where much of it was grazing land on Colvin Mountain and citrus orchards were planted.  North of Avenue 344 the boundaries of Redbanks Orchard holdings were extended out about to Road 188 on the west and Road 204 on the east.  South of Avenue 344 the property also extended to the Wutchumna Ditch on the east side of the Santa FE tracks and all the way to the St. Johns River on the west side.  A whole complex of buildings were built at the ranch headquarters under the direction of a resident contractor, Jay F. Kimball.

South of Cottonwood Creek, between the creek and the packinghouse was a dwelling first occupied by Elmer Wright, which later became a greasy spoon-type restaurant for the workers.  Immediately west of this and the packinghouse were three rows west of this and the packing house were three rows of workers’ homes with about 10 per row.  Later during the Arena period (named after the Arena family who at one timed owned the property.)  These were arranged in two clusters, one for Hispanic workers and one for white workers.  Farther west near the bend in the creek were two concrete apartment buildings for married workers.  Southwest of these buildings, a dance floor was built in the late 20s.  Across the road from the packinghouse on the south bank of the creek was the blacksmith’s house

On the north bank of Cottonwood Creek was the ranch headquarters.  Immediately west of the road is the two-story manager’s house.  Bill Murray lived there from 1921 until 1929.  Then the Bill Mayfields moved into it.  Wilbur Mayfield was a pipe man from Goshen who served as superintendent until 1934.  Beyond the manager’s house was a small house (no longer there) then the main building which is of Spanish style resembling a Southern Pacific depot.  Constructed in 1914 this building had a large restaurant for the workers at its west end.  Immediately behind the dining area was a large kitchen and food storage area with ice lockers in the center directly below the upstairs.  The kitchen was presided over by Wylie, a one-eyed Chinese man who was an excellent cook.  IN the center of the north side of this headquarters building, a hall and stairway gave access to the upper floor.  At first there were only rooms for workers up there.  Then in 1932, the upstairs has converted into a five-room apartment known as “the penthouse”.  The east half of this building contained rooms for bachelor workers.  Hence it was referred to as “the hotel.”  In the late 1920s, the east end was remodeled to create offices.  West of the headquarters building and near the creek was the shower/lavatory building.

Continuing west is a large implement building, which originally contained a harness tack room and blacksmith shop.  Tom Brown was the resident blacksmith.  Later, motor-driven sprayers and other motorized equipment were housed in this building which then served as the ranch garage.  Farther west, adjacent to it is the hay barn beyond which were the mule stables.  Redbanks Orchard Co. had several pairs of blue-ribbon mules from the state fair.  Farthest west, out beyond the bend of Cottonwood Creek was the Hindu irrigator’s bunkhouse.  This complex was known as Redbanks.  Redbanks Orchard Co. was a pioneer with aerial crop-dusting, using ex-army pilots from Texas to fly four planes in 1928.  One crashed on Colvin Mountain a few years later.

In the winter of 1931-32, Redbanks Orchard Co. became a victim of the Great Depression and was taken over by the bank.  Bill Squires, Jr. and Wilbur Mayfield, along with his son Bill stayed on.  Young Bill Mayfield became the second occupant of the penthouse.

In 1937, the Redbanks Orchard Co. property was sold to a group of 16 men, 13 of whom were members of the Arena family.  Joe Arena became manager of what they renamed the Redbanks Fruit Co.  At first, until Joe remarried to Vida Richards and moved into the manager’s house, he and Ed Thomas, the bookkeeper, lived in the penthouse.  Ed Thomas lived there for 30 years and planted a lovely rose garden on the north side of the headquarters building, which fell into disrepair, the downstairs being used only for storage.  Under the Arena’s care, Redbanks had another hey-day.  In July 1955, 17 carloads of fruit per day left Redbanks.  Joe Arena died in May 1962 and the property was sold to the Griffith Brothers of Anaheim in 1966. They renamed it the Redbanks Packing Co. and remodeled the metal hay barn into a packing facility then tore down the old packinghouse.  The old implement building, many times repaired and remodeled, still is in use, but an additional implement shed stands on the side of the mule stables.  South of the creek, only the foundations remain but there are new greenhouses.  Because of the long-ago cement work, the creek is deeper when it passes through Redbanks.  The manager’s house is still in use, but the once guest headquarters building stands silent and empty, a reminder of the past. 

Redbanks with Ernie Garcia

The cloudless sky, leaves turning bright yellow and red, clean cool air that didn't blow your hair off; it couldn't have been a better day for photography.  I wanted a better picture for my book of FJ White Learning Center.

Ernie Garcia worked with me at Francis J. White Learning Center.  He volunteered to come with me on my photography spree and pose for a fake picture for my book.

 

We took some great pictures there then he said, "Now where are we going to go?"

 

 

 

 

 

History is all about geography, and geography changes over time.  So when someone says to me, "I worked at Redbanks," I think Dead Rat Saloon, and trees on the hill.  I love it when people want to drive around town with me and point out where things used to be.

 

 

Ernie suggested, "Let's drive to Redbanks.  I haven't been there in quite a while."  So we drove to the real Redbanks where Ernie worked in the 1940s before Uncle Sam pointed his finger Ernie's direction.

Looking left from the bridge I saw the old hotel that Chuck Hackett told me resembled a Union Station. Over the years Redbanks (and probably others) had used Cottonwood Creek as an equipment gravesite, which lay exposed in the dry creek bed.

Ernie came to Redbanks in 1933, and attended Paloma School.  When we drove in, the manager pulled his pickup next to my Prius.  I started to introduce myself  and explain why we were trespassing, but he interrupted me.  "I know this guy!"  You would have thought Ernie was a rock star!  We were in.

He and Ernie chatted while I snuck off and took pictures of the old hotel.

Janet Livingston gave me a little history about Redbanks.  Mary Anne Terstegge Tulare County Historical Librarian wrote in the March 1991 Valley Voice p. 27,

On the north bank of Cottonwood Creek was the ranch headquarters. Immediately west of the road is the two-story manager’s house. Bill Murray lived there from 1921 until 1929. Then the Bill Mayfields moved into it. Wilbur Mayfield was a pipe man from Goshen who served as superintendent until 1934.

Beyond the manager’s house was ... the main building which is of Spanish style resembling a Southern Pacific depot. Constructed in 1914. This building had a large restaurant for the workers at its west end.

Immediately behind the dining area was a large kitchen and food storage area with ice lockers in the center directly below the upstairs. The kitchen was presided over by Wylie, a one-eyed Chinese man who was an excellent cook. In the center of the north side of this headquarters building, a hall and stairway gave access to the upper floor.

 In the late 1920s, the east end was remodeled to create offices. West of the headquarters building and near the creek was the shower/lavatory building.

At first there were only rooms for workers up there. Then in 1932, the upstairs has converted into a five-room apartment known as “the penthouse”. The east half of this building contained rooms for bachelor workers. Hence it was referred to as “the hotel.”

Ernie guided me back into the Redbanks complex past the ranch garage for motorized equipment.  Earlier it had been a blacksmith shop area.  Ernie called this next house the "Hindu Building."  Originally it had been the Hindu irrigator's bunk house.

Ernie's brother had his wedding reception in this, once beautiful building.  Looking across the fence to the north we saw Colvin's Mountain.

The first settler in that area west of Woodlake was Elijah T. Colvin, a stockman who in the early 1860s bought three sections of land on the southern slopes of the hill, which bears his name. At that time Cottonwood Creek still ran due south into the St. Johns River. By 1892, Elijah Colvin was dead and some of his property was sold.

Ernie told me that when he worked here, they could see the vegetable gardens planted by the Japanese that once lived on Colvin Mountain.  The government evacuated them sent them to live in internment camps during World War II.  They did not return, and now orange groves cover the lower part of the mountain.

As we left, I pulled the car over, left it running, but did remember to put it in park this time, and ran back across the bridge to take one last shot of Cottonwood Creek and the Sierra Nevadas.  Ernie taught me more in an hour than I could have mastered reading 10 hours of articles about Redbanks.  Thanks Ernie!

 

 

The History of the Woodlake Area from Roy Lee Davis Part Three

In Part One we learned that the first rural settlement of "Stringtown" disappeared.  In Part Two we learned about the beginning of the church and school, and whether the first school public or private?

Part Three

In the 1880s, Reverend Satterfield bought the Horse Shoe Ranch, now the north part of Sentinel Butte Ranch.  That decade Jake Bierer came to work for Mr. Waugh.  He and Waugh planted figs in what later became the Mori orchard. Later, Bierer became a well borer and water wizard.  In the 1880s, more irrigation ditches were constructed, and once again Watchumna Ditch Company controlled most of the water in Bravo Lake.  In 1888 Jude Steven Nye, who had retired from the bench in Oakland and was an ex state senator, came to Woodlake where he bought a ranch.  Nye's daughters, Myrtle and Harriet, married the two youngest Davis sons, Thomas Houston and Phillip, respectively.  Nye died on the Davis Ranch in 1906.  In 1889 he told of driving through a bed of continuous wildflowers eleven miles long from his ranch.  The following year, 1890, the Kaweah Lemon Packing Company was founded by Dan Overall, D.J. Giddings, Adolph Lewis, S.C. Brown and William Hammond.  Wesley Ragle set out the first oranges in the Naranjo district about that tie.  In 1893 Reverend Satterfield's granddaughter, Annie Mackey and her husband John Wesley Brown came to Horse Shoe Ranch.  John Brown planted oranges and lemons on Horse Shoe Ranch which he and Annie later inherited from Reverend Satterfield.  Also, in the 1890s Jake Bierer married Janie Place and the Canans arrived and bought Joshua Lindsaey's land.  Probably the most important development of the decade was the founding and naming of naranjo.

Naranjo was named by land owners Harry Brown and Senator Fred Harding (ex Illinois senator).  Harry Brown built the Naranjo store in 1918.  Harry Brown also built the Hein house which was unique in having gas lights.  By 1903 the Mt. Whitney Power Company was delivering electricity to the Woodlake Valley.  Harry Brown also had the first car in the Woodlake area, but he couldn't drive it, so had a chauffeur.  Harry Brown also planted oranges for both Senator Harding and Mr. Pattee, in the Naranjo district.  Fred Harding's great niece, Justine Robinson now lives in his home.  Her mother inherited Harding's property in 1914 at which time Justine Robinson's parents, Captain and Mrs. Forest Lancashire, came to Woodlake to manage the property.  Justine was raised there and attended the Naranjo school.  Meanwhile (3 years after the Lime Kiln Post Officed moved away to Lemon Cove), in 1902, the Naranjo Post Office was established in the store.  In the first decade of the 1900s, Woodlake saw many milestones.

In 1904 the Redbanks Orchard Company was formed with Dr. Squires and Phil aker bought the south slope of Colvin Hill and set out early peaches, Demsen Plums, and grapes.  When this fruit was ready to harvest, they built a packing house and hired William Murray to manage it.  The Visalia phone exchange had a line out there and the Davis's, Blairs, and Brothertons built exchanges on to it. By 1906, the Visalia Electric Railroad was extended to Terminus Beach, which became a popular local resort; it was located just downstream from our present Terminus Dam.  In 1907, the Elderwood Colony was founded.

Elderwood was named by its founders:  Jason Barton, J.W. Fewell, and Adolf Sweet, who had bought and subdivided land on the east side of Cottonwood Creek.  Near the Elderwood Colony, on Badger Road, J.P. Day had a small store.  In January 1908, a U.S. Post Office was established therein with J.P. Day as postmaster.  People fondly recall it as the Elderwood Post Office, but post office records show it only as Woodlake.  But the most significant event of 1907 was the arrival of Gilbert Stevenson, the "Father of Woodlake."

Stevenson bought both John W. Brown's Horse Shoe Ranch and the adjoining Waugh property.  He named this large ranch, Sentinel Butte.  He drilled wells and built a cement reservoir.  Later, Stevenson had the largest, individually owned, orange ranch in the world, 1,500 acres.  In 1917, 149 cars of fruit - oranges - went to market from Sentinel Butte Ranch.  But Stevenson dreamed of and platted a town.  He hired one Henry McCracken to manage his ranch while he bouth land south of Elderwood and laid out his town, which he called Woodlake.  In the fall of 1910, the year Stevenson laid out his town, D.B. Day, a contractor, and Charles Lare, a carpenter, arrived to work for Stevenson.  The Visalia Electric Line had been extended to Woodlake that April.  D. B Day built his family the first house in the (on Palm) Woodlake townsite, but his big project was building Stevenson's "Brick Block", a block sized building to house businesses.  Meanwhile John Lee Pogue directed the laying out and grading of the streets.  Thomas Crawford laid five miles of concrete/cement curbs and sidewalks.  Steve Webb, a realtor who had first come to Woodlake area to see Stevenson about 1909 was back to stay.  He bought more land for Stevenson, the land west and north of Bravo Lake for which Stevenson had truly grandiose dreams as a ...

What did Stevenson, the "Father of Woodlake" dream of doing in the Woodlake area?  Find out in Part Four.