Pioneer Days In The San Bernardino Valley by Eliza Persis Russell Robbins Crafts

Author:Eliza Persis Russell Robbins Crafts [Crafts, Eliza Persis Russell Robbins]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Geschichte
Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
Published: 2017-07-26T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XIX.

It was in 1862 that we rode over an arid plain; in 1865 the first orchards and vineyards were bearing bountiful crops, the ranch work being done mainly by Indians, the Cahuillas. Mr. Crafts employed from two to thirteen, as the work required, boarding them. Their food consisted of meat, beans, bread, potatoes, corn and other vegetables in their season. A tin plate of well cooked food was given to each Indian, who took it to his camp (situated back of the place where the Southern Pacific depot now stands) to share with his family.

The only help which could be obtained for household work was the squaws. They were good workers and soon learned from me the domestic arts of washing, ironing, sweeping, dish washing, white-washing and cooking.

During the fruit drying season from seventy-five to one hundred Indians, women and children, congregated at the camp to assist, also incidentally to eat and carry away a large portion to their home at Potrero. The primitive method of drying fruit was as follows: An open level space of ground was selected, where the fruit would be exposed to the hottest rays of the sun. The spot of ground was covered with clean straw, on which the peaches and apricots were carefully spread, the inside of the fruit always exposed to the sun. Bunches of grapes were laid on the straw to dry, but required turning during the drying. This dried fruit was sold to Louis Jacobs in San Bernardino for eighteen to twenty cents per pound, in exchange for groceries and dry goods. The Indians and their wives were paid fifty cents a day for cutting the fruit, and were paid at this store. But Mr. Crafts found that the Indians by going to San Bernardino traded off a portion of the goods thus earned for liquor or gambled them away, thereby depriving their families of the necessities of life, so to help the Indians he put up a two-story building on the site where the Southern Pacific depot now stands. The lower story was used for general merchandise. The upper story was intended to be used for Sunday school and preaching services. The Indians and children were gathered there in Sunday school for a time. Afterwards they were provided a conveyance to attend at Lugonia. At the same time some of the young Indians were so anxious to learn to read that they asked me to teach them, coining regularly for an hour or two at night and on Sunday. I found them quick to learn and they made good progress in reading and writing. My daughter. Miss R. B. Robbins. taught a small Indian school in 1875. in an old adobe house, the Indians paying her a small amount monthly. Nome missionaries often preached to them, sometimes under the trees by the stream, the melodeon helping the music. Mr. Crafts gave them a spot of ground for a cemetery and taught them Christian burial, making their coffins until they learned to make them for themselves.

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