Was going through another old book, this one entitled, "My Seventy Years in California, 1857-1927", by Jackson Alpheus Graves. Graves was born in Iowa in 1852. His family left there in 1857 to go to California.

Graves grew up in Northern California, but later moved to Los Angeles. In his book he describes his life's memories, and shares some information about the politics, the social scene, and industry of Southern California. And he also mentions something about the way of life in Menifee, though he doesn't mention Menifee by name.

Here are some paragraphs I found, located in Chapter XXIII of this book, concerning William Newport, and a "quail preserve":

Harry was as good a fisherman as he was a shot. Whenever we went out, we always got game. A crowd of us had a quail preserve of 2,000 acres fenced and posted, some nine miles south of Perris, in Riverside County. We had good shooting there until the March flying field was built there, during the war. They actually scared all the quail out of that section.

I sometimes think that it is a wonder that I am alive, considering some of the fool things I have done for the sake of shooting. After I lost my left limb, and before I had an artificial limb, I went out to our grounds several times, quail shooting. We used to stop at Billy Newport's (a bluff, hale, good-natured Englishman). He was a good sport and a good shot. He would drive me around in a wagon, and he would get in the most impossible places. One day we were away up on a hillside, amid rocks, boulders and brush. The ground was so steep that the wagon absolutely careened. Chanslor, Schwarz and Klokke were in good shooting, near the foot of this small mountain. All at once, and immense flock of quail flew up in front of them, clear to the top of the mountain. Newport handed me the reins, and jumped out, and said he would run around and head them off. He went around the side of the mountain, until he got opposite where the quail lit, and then started up to the summit. Pretty soon I heard him shooting, and the quail began to whiz past me. I sat there in the wagon and killed six, which fell in various places on that steep hillside. When the flight ceased, I tied the reins to the spring of the seat, so the horses could not move, got out of the wagon, and on my crutches wandered around on that sidehill, and got my six birds. The last one was on a flat rock at the foot of a steep declivity, which I could not possibly negotiate with my crutches. I laid them down, sat down, and went down the hill on my hands with my one foot out in front of me. I got the bird, again sat down, and went up the declivity backwards on my hands, got to my crutches, and when Newport came back I was in the wagon, my six birds lying on the seat. He could hardly believe that I had done this.

Could the "quail preserve", which Graves described as being nine miles south of Perris, be why Quail Valley got its name?

By the way, the "Harry" that Graves mentions in the first paragraph refers to his chauffeur, Harry Graves, no relation.

Labels: History, Quail-Valley, William-Newport

William Newport was one of the earliest pioneers of Menifee. Yes, he's the guy whom Newport Road was named after. I found an entry in an old book entitled, "History of Riverside County, California", written by Elmer Wallace Holmes, originally published in 1912, by the Historic Record Company.

In the Chapter 18, entitled, "The Perris Valley", is a paragraph describing William Newport:

Another pioneer to be mentioned in the history of the valley is William Newport, rancher in Menifee. Mr. Newport was born in England in 1856. He came to this country in 1876, and came to Perris valley in 1885 and purchased 2,000 acres of land. When he moved to Menifee, although a young man, he resembled the patriarchs, as there were twelve wagons in his train, loaded with implements, provisions, lumber, and his cook-house on wheels was a bulding 9x18 feet. He found the valley very dry, and inhabited only by a few poor people; but poor as they were pitied the young man who, as they thought, was to make a failure of farming. After unloading the caravan he built a good ranch house and two large barns, and began farming his 2,000 acres, nearly every foot of which was tillable. Could you see this same ranch today you would find a beautiful home presided over by a dignified, queenly wife, who was Miss Katherine Lloyd, also a native of England. There are four fine, manly boys, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Newport, and one daughter, Katherine. The house is filled with many luxuries and interesting curios, and the grounds about the place is large and beautiful. Mr. Newport has been a most valuable factor in showing what can be done with land in that section when properly handled.

Further into the same chapter, William Newport is mentioned again, this time in the subject of water:

In 1904 William Newport brought action against the Temescal Water Co. to prevent them from pumping water from the Perris valley into the Corona valley, for he believed the water level in the Perris valley was being lowered. He was defeated in the courts, however, and the Temescal Water Co. still operates at Ethanac.

To shed some light on this subject, the Perris valley had been supplied with water from Bear Valley reservoir, a dammed lake up in the San Bernardino Mountains. Water was delivered via steel pipe. But by the middle 1890's, that water supply dwindled, and the farms of the Perris Valley died, and the farmers packed up and left.

Then in 1895, a farmer by the name of Dr. W. B. Payton, moved in with the intent of digging a well, and using a gasoline engine to pump out water to irrigate lands. It worked. Soon, farmers everywhere were digging wells to irrigate their crops. Then the Temescal Water Co. began digging wells and piped the water north to Corona. This brought the ire of William Newport, who filed the lawsuit.

But also note that the Temescal Water Co. had its pumping station at "Ethanac". The same history book also explains the origins of that unusual name:

The Temescal Water Co. has its station at Ethanac, on the Santa Fe, a few miles southeast of Perris. Ethanac was named in honor of Ethan Allen Chase of Riverside, and is a pretty little town, the inhabitants being chiefly the employes of the Temescal Water Co.

Labels: Ethanac, History, William-Newport