doc241 - Schoenherr Home Page in Sunny Chula Vista

chants and mechanics, who intended to leave this place on account of dull times, have
come to the conclusion to remain a little while longer."
On May 29, 1851, the following Old Town advertisements appeared in the first
number of the Herald:
Marks and Fletcher, general merchandise, west side of the plaza;
Exchange Hotel and Billiard Saloon, G. P. Tebbetts & Co., plaza;
Pantoja House, Chas. J. Laning, east side of plaza;
Colorado House, H. J. Couts, plaza;
Frederick J. Painter, M.D., plaza.
Nearly all the flour and grain used in the country at this period was imported, although
most ranches had small patches of corn, beans, and wheat for home consumption.
In 1853, more
Page 258
[Louis Rose]
grain, principally barley, was raised in the little valley of Viejas than in all the rest of the
country. It was hauled in to Old Town, in Mexican carts, over a wild, broken country,
without roads a great part of the way. Captain Bogart was not discouraged by the destruction
of his crop of barley by antelope and rabbits on North Island in 1852, but persevered
and raised good crops at that place, in 1855 and 1856.
Among the first to practice agriculture successfully were Colonel Eddy and Robert
Kelly, owners of the Jamacha Rancho who planted 300 acres to rye, wheat, oats,
barley, and potatoes in 1852, and made a success of it.
One of the most interesting ventures of the time was the tannery of Louis Rose,
established in 1853. It was situated in Rose's Canyon, about six miles from town and
was quite completely fitted up. There were 20 bark vats, 2 cisterns with a capacity of
500 gallons each, 6 lime and water vats, a bark mill, an adobe house for currying
leather, and several force pumps.
Page 259
[House of Albert B. Smith, Old Town]
The vats had a capacity of from 80 to 100 hides. The head tanner was Mr. Rose's
nephew, N. J. Alexander. Bark was hauled a distance of ten miles and cost $12 to $15
per ton. Hides, of course, were plentiful, and were obtained in exchange for leather
products. He employed a Mexican workman who made up the leather into shoes, botas,
and saddles. He used in one year 3,500 hides and 1,500 skins of deer, goat, sheep, and
sea-lion, and sold $8,000 worth of products. It is not easy to determine whether the
business paid, but Alexander died in 1854, and it was abandoned soon after.
Mr. Rose was an unusually enterprising man and engaged in many undertakings.
At one time, he undertook the manufacture of mattresses from sea-weed; he prospected
for coal at the mouth of Rose's Canyon, and thought he had a deposit of valuable
clay. He gave considerable attention to copper and silver mines in San Diego
County, and in January, 1858, it was stated that he had sold a half interest in these