One can understand how the few cities of
the ancient world attained individualism that marked them for a time, and he
can understand how a few modern cities simply by the exhibit of bulk can be
conspicuous in world affairs. But can a little city of modern days attain an
individualism without eccentricity?
There is reason to believe that this is
being done by El Centro, and that almost without conscious endeavor by the
populace. It is the capital, political and commercial, of the first country
that has developed during the automobile age, and it is not strange that
this modern vehicle, which has made the farmer a score of miles away a near
neighbor, is working out here something different from that wrought
elsewhere during the slow days of the lumber wagon and spring buggy.
As this is written there are ten towns in
Imperial Valley, and before this book shall have ceased to be a work of
reference in libraries the number may be expected to increase a hundred
fold. These towns now and the invisible cities of the future like them
circle about El Centro, all within an hour's drive by automobile, and we
cannot doubt that what has proved universal elsewhere on earth will prove
inevitable here, and that as time goes on that which is the metropolis now
will become more metropolitan, and this without detracting from the fine
attainments of the other towns of the Valley.
El Centro was not one of the original
towns of the Valley. It sprang up later and avoided some of the mistakes
that had been made elsewhere. The towns of the earlier pioneer days had
started with the flimsy architecture adapted to the needs of the time, and
while they were able to get away from that in time, El Centro from the first
had the advantage of being cleanly built to meet the later requirements.
W. T. Bill as head of the El Centro
Townsite Company filed the plat of the town in 1905. He was closely
affiliated with W. F. Holt, who already was taking his position as the chief
promoter of public utility corporations of this section. Through the
initiative of the latter, the Holton Interurban Railroad was built from El
Centro to Holtville, electric power and ice plants were installed, followed
later by a gas plant, these institutions severally serving all or a good
portion of the Valley from this town, and still later the Interurban road
was ex-tended westwardly to become a part of the San Diego and Arizona
Railroad.
Mr. Holt also became the promoter of the
first bank, and he and others began the erection of business buildings of a
superior type for a town of tender years.
Imperial, in some of its better
buildings, had set the pattern of arcades, and this type of structure, so
splendidly adapted to a hot climate, became the universal type here and was
passed on to the other towns of the Valley.
Full blocks of the arcade buildings, so
much more sightly than the irregular and ragged looking awnings of other
towns, makes a fine impression on the stranger, and gives a ship-shapeness
to the general appearance that has set a standard for other affairs of the
community.
In the course of time there came the
period of street paving, during which all the business streets and the main
avenues leading to the boundaries of the city were rendered among the finest
roadways to be found, and dust and mud ceased to be elements to contend
with.
The primitive sewer system of the earliest
days gave way in 1916 to an outfall sewer built in co-operation at this time
(spring of 1918), for the purification of water used for all purposes.
From the first, El Centro has taken a
high position in the institutions that promote civilization. Its schools,
churches and press have been of high standard, and they have had difficult
work to accomplish because of the complexities of habits and ideals of its
extremely cosmopolitan population. Natives of the northern and southern
States are pretty evenly balanced, and these may be said to be the basic
strata of the population. Overlying these, as next in period of arrival, is
an extensive Swiss population, the individuals having been drawn from their
native land by the great opportunities in the dairy industry. They are a
frugal, industrious people and are meeting with a high degree of success.
The next class to come in considerable
numbers were colored people from the cotton States of the South. Among the
colored people are a number of considerable intellectual attainment, and
then there are some others. Schools and churches are affording the people of
this race an opportunity and encouragement to attain higher development ,
and in this the general white sentiment is sympathetic and desirous of being
helpful.
El Centro has not acquired a large
Japanese population, many more East Indians. Mohammedans and Hindus being
seen on the streets. These people are not residents of the town, however,
being wholly rural in their habits.
In manufacturing lines there are the
power interests, the extensive ice plant, the largest and most modern
creamery west of the Missouri River, several gins and a cottonseed oil mill,
and a beginning is being made this year on a large project looking to the
dehydrating and canning of fruits and vegetables.
El Centro is distinctively a commercial
and residence town. Its hotel accommodations far outrank the typical small
city. The homes of the people are modern bungalows, a few with considerable
indication of wealth and refinement. Numerous extensive farmers, having
property at distant points in the Valley, have chosen this as their home.
The stores of the town carry extensive stocks, and during trading hours the
streets are lined with rows of automobiles that at times are so numerous as
to render traffic difficult, these machines having brought customers from
all parts of the Valley.
El Centro is a city with an eye
distinctively to the future and with faith in the future. Its present 7500
population look confidently to a rapid multiplication of their numbers
through the expansion of industries and the broadening of genuine
opportunities.
In connection with his other interests in
the Valley, Mr. W. F. Holt organized the Holton Power Company for the
purpose of serving the cities and towns of the Valley with electrical energy
and ice. The company was incorporated September 16, 1903, under the laws of
California, for a period of fifty years. The principal place of business of
the company from the date of its incorporation until May, 1916, was at
Redlands, California.
The original capitalization was
$500,000.00 stock in shares of $100.00 each. The capital stock was increased
on June 15, 1905, to $100,000.00 to provide additional capital for
improvements and extensions, and on July 18, 1911, to care for the further
expansion of the business, was again increased to $1,500,000.00. At present
there is issued and outstanding a total of $1,250,000.00. The company also
has, issued and outstanding, a total of $937,000.00 in bonds. Owing to the
wide extent of territory served and the sparse population as compared to
older and more thickly settled sections, the company, during the development
period of the Valley, has been under the necessity of making very heavy
investments of capital, an adequate return on which is assured only after a
long period of time, when the Valley becomes more fully developed.
The company serves the cities and towns
of El Centro, Imperial, Brawley, Calexico, Calipatria, and Holtville, as
well as contiguous and intermediate territory. The company serves at present
approximately 3500 customers; it maintains a central office at El Centro in
charge of a district manager.
The Holton Power Company owns and
operates two hydro-electric power plants at Holtville, with a capacity of
1500 kilowatts, a steam generating plant at El Centro with a capacity of 250
kilowatts, and a gas electric generating plant (also located at El Centro)
with a capacity of 750 kilowatts. The company has a total mileage of
transmission and distribution lines in the Imperial Valley of 165 miles.
In the early part of 1916, owing to the
necessity of providing increased generating capacity for the more adequate
service of the public, Mr. Holt disposed of his interests in the company to
the same interests controlling the Southern Sierras Power Company and other
large hydro generating companies operating in the central part of the State,
physical connection with the Southern Sierras system having been established
by the construction of a transmission line from San Bernardino to El Centro
in 1914. Upon the change in ownership the general offices were removed from
Redlands to Riverside.
The present officers of the company are
as follows: President and general manager, A. B. West; vice-president, W. F.
Holt; treasurer, A. S. Cooper; secretary, W. G. Driver.
COACHELLA VALLEY ICE AND ELECTRIC COMPANY
In 1914, owing to the increased demand
for electricity in the Imperial Valley, it became imperative for the Holton
Power Company either to increase its generating capacity, by the
construction of new generating plants in the Valley, or else connect with
other companies who had a surplus of power to sell. The latter plan was
decided to be most feasible and accordingly the Coachella Valley Ice and
Electric Company was organized for the purpose of constructing and operating
a transmission line extending from San Bernardino to El Centro, which served
to inter-connect the system of the Southern Sierras Power Company with that
of the Holton Power Company. The Coachella Company at present owns and
operates about 150 miles of transmission line.
The Coachella Valley Company, in addition
to supplying current at wholesale to the Holton Power Company, also serves
the public in the Coachella Valley, and furnishes electricity for the
operation of the silt dredges of the Imperial Irrigation District at
Hanlon's Heading, on the Colorado River, about 2400 horse-power being
supplied for this purpose at the Heading.
The Coachella Valley Ice and Electric
Company is incorporated under the laws of California, with an authorized
capital stock of $300,000.00, all of which is issued and outstanding. The
company is controlled and managed by the same interests that own the
Southern Sierras Power Company and Holton Power Company, its headquarters
also being located at Riverside.
THE IMPERIAL ICE AND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY
Upon the acquirement of the Holton Power
Company by the present management, it was deemed advisable to segregate the
ice business from the electric operations in the Valley. Previous to that
time the ice plants which served a large part (if not all) of the ice
consumed in the Valley were owned and operated by the Holton Power Company.
In June, 1916, the Imperial Ice & Development Company was incorporated with
a capitalization of $1,000,000.00, for the purpose of taking over the
ice-manufacturing interests of the Holton Power Company and the Coachella
Valley Ice and Electric Company, the latter company at that time owning and
operating the ice plant located at Coachella. The Imperial Ice and
Development Company not only enlarged the ice-manufacturing plant of the
Holton Power Company, but the increased demand for ice (particularly for the
refrigeration of produce shipments from the Valley) necessitated the
construction of additional plants. One plant with a rated output capacity of
30 tons per day and a storage capacity of 5000 tons was constructed at
Brawley and completed January, 1917. The plant has an actual manufacturing
capacity of about 40 tons per day.
The company not only supplies the general
public throughout the Valley with ice, but also is under contract to supply
the Pacific Fruit Express with a large proportion of the ice required by
that company for refrigeration of shipments from the Valley. The main office
of the Imperial Ice and Development Company is also located at Riverside and
under the same management as the other companies. The company also operates
the ice plant located at Coachella, with a daily capacity of 30 tons.
THE EL CENTRO FIRE DEPARTMENT
It is the consensus of opinion of the
people of El Centro that the El Centro Volunteer Fire Department is a live
organization, a credit to the community and to itself. It has a membership
limited to twenty-five members. The membership consists in the main part of
business and professional men, the majority of whom have been members of
this department for more than five years.
The department has grown from one wherein
the sole equipment was a little, old two-wheel cart to one which is now
equipped with a combination automobile hose and chemical wagon and an auto
pump and hose truck, together with a hook and ladder truck. The department
is housed in spacious quarters and has elegant club rooms, the furnishings
of which are among the finest in the entire State, the same being owned by
the members of the department.
The department has furnished its quota of
men to the national army, together with hundreds of dollars in cash to the
government patriotic associations, among which were liberal cash donations
to the Red Cross and $700 for an ambulance.
The citizens of El Centro at all times
exercise the privilege of calling on the department to aid the community in
those things which are for the betterment of all concerned, and the
department always responds in a way that guarantees success.
One of the most notable efforts of the
fire department was when, on the last day of the second Liberty Loan drive,
members of the department of all concerned, and the department always
responds in a way that guarantees success.
One of the most notable efforts of the
fire department was when, on the last day of the second Liberty Loan drive,
members of the department collected in the neighborhood of $150,000 from the
city of El Centro.
The department has a business
organization in connection with its fire department organization. The fire
alarms are sounded by whistle, the town being divided into districts.
Officials of the city and people familiar with fire departments and
organizations throughout the United States have been very liberal in their
favorable comment as to the efficiency and equipment of this department. A
spirit of co-operation exists between this department and departments of
other towns in the Valley, all of which departments are volunteer
organizations, equipped with modern apparatus, and it can well be said that
the entire membership of all the departments represents the best citizenship
of the Valley.