This article was written by the editor of the San Luis Obispo Tribune, Walter Murray, to refute comments by “critics” in the Bay Area in 1870. It was published in our hometown Tribune on March 5, 1870. This is the best description of our county at the time; many new vineyards and winemakers were moving to our county and planting vineyards and making wine. Please note that we have not edited the article. It stands as written. There are a few words we could not read due to the fragility of old newsprint.
Our Town And County
For the information of all outside barbarians, and at the solicitation of our advertising agent in San Francisco, we publish the following information relative to our county and town.
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY was one of the first organized in the state. It is on the coast, lying between the counties of Monterey on the north and Santa Barbara on the south. The main coast stage road between San José and Los Angeles traverses its whole length, which is about seventy miles. It is about midway between the two last-named communities. Its population, according to the returns made to the Surveyor General, is 6,440. Its voting population, according to the Great Register, is nearly 1,500. It is divided by a range of mountains into two sections; one, next to the coast, being suitable for agricultural and dairy purposes. The other, the trans-montane portion, being for the most part only adapted to the pasturage of cattle and sheep. Its width is about equal to its length. It is divided into about fifteen school districts, all save two being on the coast side of the range of mountains referred to, and in each of which a school is maintained. Its total value of assessed real and personal property in 1860 was over one and a million of dollars. This year it will probably reach over two millions. Its topography is mostly hilly, interspersed with numerous valleys, of various dimensions from a league in extent, down. Its climate is divided by the range of mountains aforesaid into two kinds; that on the coast being humid, equable, while that on the other side of the range being cold in winter and extremely warm in summer, but much less subject to rain, fog or wind. Consumptive or asthmatic patients invariably find relief on seeking the east side of the mountain. By far the larger scope of the county is to be found in the last named section, while 9-10ths of the population lies next the coast. The county has two ports, San Luis Obispo and San Simeon, forty-five miles apart, of equal merit, each having a wharf, and each being perfectly safe for shipping during nine months of the year. The North Pacific Steam Transportation Company’s steamers stop in at both ports tri-monthly,— San Luis Obispo being the terminus of the route. The climate in general is more akin to that of the northern section of our state than that of the southern, as the semi-tropical productions which are favored in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and San Diego counties, do not find here that warmth of temperature necessary to their growth. Still, ice never forms over the [??] of a dollar, and snow is never seen, except on the tops of the hills forming the trans-montane section, and then only for a few hours. The name of our county signifies Saint Louis, the Bishop, for whose history we refer the reader to any religious biography of the Roman Catholic church. Not being addicted to such literature, we confess ourselves lacking on this subject. There are two papers in the county, the San Luis Obispo Tribune, and the Democrat Standard; the former seven months old, the latter four weeks.— Their predecessor, the Pioneer, was two years old when it died. TOWN OF SAN LUIS OBISPO which boasts a population of over one thousand souls, by actual count six months ago and now probably overrunning fifteen hundred. It has two churches, one Roman Catholic, which is the prevailing religion, and the other Methodist, the latter being an innovation. It has one public school, graded into two departments, and no private ones. A Catholic school, private, under the auspices of the church, is [???]. The nucleus of the town is [??] Mission Building and church, founded nearly one hundred years ago, once the headquarters of a rich mission {???] its thousands of Indian converts, with uncounted flocks and heads of cattle, sheep and horses. Our county buildings, to use the language of [?? ??], are “precarious and not at all permanent,” but it is in contemplation to lay out immediately the sum of $25,000 to erect new ones, which are much needed. We have an Odd Fellows’ Lodge, two blacksmith’s shops, [?? ??] smith’s, two tailors, two shoemakers, one bowling alley, two hotels, two restaurants, two billiard saloons, seven larger stores, one Post Office, one Express Office, a number of lesser establishments, and last, though not least, two printing offices. The only other town in this county is that of CAMBRIA, situated 33 miles up the coast, near the port of San Simeon. Unlike San Luis Obispo, which is peopled from every nationality on the earth’s surface, this town and its vicinity are inhabited mostly by Americans. It has three [??], a Masonic Lodge, a Lodge of the Knights Templars, a good hotel, [??] for more restaurants, two black-smith’s shops, several saloon», one large hall, the largest in the county, left public meetings and balls, and a number of other minor establishments. The place which nearest approaches to the dignity of a town or village, in this county, after San Luis Obispo and Cambria is the HOT SPRINGS, situated on the stage road, 34 miles north from the town of San Luis Obispo, where there is an establishment for the accommodation of invalids, who come to taste the sulphur-water and be cured. Here there is never a less number than fifty persons, and often a much larger one. These springs are much celebrated for their medicinal qualities, and are justly famous for the cures they have wrought, in rheumatism, cutaneous disorders, and syphilis. Invalids have come thither for relief from very distant parts, as Oregon and the eastern states. Now if there are any other points to be noticed about this county, we will be glad if our friends will bring them to our attention.
The article about SLO County.
