Books on San Gabriel Mountain History

shreddy · Post by **shreddy** » Fri Jan 04, 2013 9:04 pm

Hi All and Happy New Year!

I dig exploring the history and lore of the San Gabriels.

I've read and own the following books:

-John Robinson -
100 Hikes in the San Gabes
Old Mt Wilson Trail
History of the San Gabriels (two versions)

-Ronald C Woolsey
Will Thrall and The San Gabriels

-Paul Rippens
Henninger Flats

-Ann and Farley Olander
-Call of The Mountains

-Glen Owens
Heritage of The Big Santa Anita

-Michele Zack
Southern California Story; Seeking the Better Life in Sierra Madre
(working my way through this_

I especially enjoyed Robinson's books, but I hope you see by the titles what catches my eye.

Any other book suggestions from you all?

mattmaxon · Post by **mattmaxon** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 4:00 am

Theodore Parker Lukens: Father of Forestry
By Shirley Sargent

It may be tough to find.

I have a copy I'd be willing to loan if you cannot find it.

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 6:23 am

Thanks for the list! There are quite a few books there that I didn't know about!

Here's a good one for you, although it's 100 years out of print. I bought a copy online somewhere, but it was not cheap. I'm glad I have it though.

"The Southern Sierras of California" by Charles Francis Saunders, 1923

https://eispiraten.com/a ... s+saunders

Gene · Post by **Gene** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 7:03 am

John Muir wrote about the San Gabriels in Steep Trails

You can read it here:

http://www.yosemite.ca.us/john_muir_wri ... er_11.html

This is interesting too: http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exh ... er_10.aspx

Not a book, an article about Kenyon DeVore has family lived and worked in the San Gabriels. I worked with him until he retired from the LA Flood Control. He was working on a history of the San Gabriels but I don't know if it ever got published.

http://articles.latimes.com/1993-02-07/ ... yon-devore

PackerGreg · Post by **PackerGreg** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 9:06 am

The Angeles Was Our Home
Recollections of Life on the Angeles National Forest
by Norma Rowley, 2007
238 pages

This is a collection of first hand accounts written by Forest Service employees, past and present. It also has a lot of great old photos.

I don't know if it's available in stores, Glenn Owens gave me his inscribed copy, but it did come with a promotional bookmark printed with a street address, a phone number (626-335-1443) and an email address (gonoro@verizon.net)

PackerGreg · Post by **PackerGreg** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 6:30 pm

An example from the above book was written by George Geer, deceased...

Mustard Off The Hot Dog

In the early '80s I was having trouble with my new boss regarding my taking my black lab companion of four years, Freedom, on patrol. It was "suggested" that she should no longer accompany me.

I started on my early morning patrol to the mesa above Angeles Crest Station to see what the late-night friends of the forest had left behind. Freedom was enjoying her daily fight with the bushes that got too close to the truck. This was a daily ritual for her. Since an attack the bushes made on her nose while she was sleeping on Juanita Romero's lap with her head out the window years earlier, she had never forgotten.

When we reached the mesa, two parked cars and four or five teenagers were next to a safe, but illegal, bar-b-que. The rest of the mesa was strewn with beer cans and other debris from the night before.

As I approached the kids, I told Freedom, who was standing tall and erect in the hose basket she had adopted as hers, "Alert!" I had seen this somewhere on TV, and since a few people had asked me if she were trained, I used the ploy on questionable contacts.

The young visitors were eating their freshly cooked hamburgers and hot dogs. Still more were heating up on the grill. They passed the attitude test and apologized for their misdeeds. I told them they could choose between a citation or help put something back into their forest by cleaning the mesa. I took their ID's and began writing up warning notices.

As I finished my write-up, I looked around for Freedom. She was nowhere to be found. I quickly called her name and within seconds she came from behind the cars.She looked at me somewhat sheepishly with her tongue out and was trying to lick the mustard that was all over her muzzle.

I was dead! I walked around the kids' cars and my worst fears were realized. The food - every bit of it, even the food on the grill - was gone. I knew that would be the end of Freedom's days on patrol. What was I going to tell the boys, and my boss?

As the kids came back I told them what had happened and offered to pay for the food. Luckily, they all laughed and thought it was justice for what they had done.

shreddy · Post by **shreddy** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 9:07 pm

These are all some great suggestions. I found the Saunder's book at amazon for around $50. Happy to hear that there is more to read... Thanks!

shreddy · Post by **shreddy** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 9:09 pm

Also --- want to pick up this one about Mt Lowe:

http://ws-na.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/cm?l=as1&f=ifr&o=1&t=tapatalk02-20&asins=0870950754

PackerGreg · Post by **PackerGreg** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 9:11 pm

Side note: the Charles Francis Saunders home is still standing between commercial buildings on Lake Ave in Pasadena...

http://avenuetotheskylakeavenuepasadena ... north.html

PackerGreg · Post by **PackerGreg** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 9:13 pm

The Altadena library has the Mt Lowe book!

shreddy · Post by **shreddy** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 9:31 pm

I'll take a look. Side note - Vroman's on Colorado has an interesting section devoted to local history / interest ...

Yamaya · Post by **Yamaya** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 11:45 pm

Open Library has three e-books about Mt Lowe.
http://openlibrary.org/search?q=mount+l ... ltext=true

Read only one below.
The Story of Mount Lowe by Pacific Electric Railway Company
Can you imagine more tourists visited Mt Lowe than Yosemite village? Did you know Prof Lowe invented ice machine? The book has old pictures. It's always interesting to see days of glories in its height where we only see rusted gears, cables, and conctete foundations.

outwhere · Post by **outwhere** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 8:47 pm

cougarmagic wrote: ↑Thanks for the list! There are quite a few books there that I didn't know about!

So much history.... and so many stories connected to this mountain range...

Wow, John Muir sure had an incredible way with words... he could paint more than a picture, you can almost feel it when he wrote...

Thanks so much PackerGreg for posting that story --- this is the kind of stuff thats [was] so real and entertaining...

Today, could we even get to the point where Freedom could get to the mustard that was off the hot dog...

shreddy · Post by **shreddy** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 12:51 am

Yamaya wrote: ↑Open Library has three e-books about Mt Lowe.
http://openlibrary.org/search?q=mount+l ... ltext=true

Read only one below.
The Story of Mount Lowe by Pacific Electric Railway Company
Can you imagine more tourists visited Mt Lowe than Yosemite village? Did you know Prof Lowe invented ice machine? The book has old pictures. It's always interesting to see days of glories in its height where we only see rusted gears, cables, and conctete foundations.

THANKS!!!!

shreddy · Post by **shreddy** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 9:14 pm

Found what looks like a nice copy of "Southern Sierras" on ebay. Also, the Lukens book seems to be still out there. Great links all. Packer Greg I did some volunteer work for George Geer back in the early 90s. Nice guy who ran circles around me (half his age). Thanks for the info / contact about The Angeles Was Our Home . I emailed the address.

Happy Trails!

shreddy · Post by **shreddy** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:33 pm

Still available / contacts below still work. She got back to me quick. Happy Trails....

PackerGreg wrote: ↑The Angeles Was Our Home
Recollections of Life on the Angeles National Forest
by Norma Rowley, 2007
238 pages

This is a collection of first hand accounts written by Forest Service employees, past and present. It also has a lot of great old photos.

I don't know if it's available in stores, Glenn Owens gave me his inscribed copy, but it did come with a promotional bookmark printed with a street address, a phone number (626-335-1443) and an email address (gonoro@verizon.net)

PackerGreg · Post by **PackerGreg** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:46 pm

Right on! Happy reading.

shreddy · Post by **shreddy** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 7:34 pm

cougarmagic wrote: ↑Thanks for the list! There are quite a few books there that I didn't know about!

Here's a good one for you, although it's 100 years out of print. I bought a copy online somewhere, but it was not cheap. I'm glad I have it though.

"The Southern Sierras of California" by Charles Francis Saunders, 1923

https://eispiraten.com/a ... s+saunders

I found a first addition $65 and an abridged $13. Both online. Anyone know the difference between the two other than the fact that one is half the volume. Does the abridged have stuff on the San Gabes? I imagine it does since it was put out by Big Santa Anita Historical Society. The original looks cool though.

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:46 pm

I don't know about the abridged version. It's all entirely about the San Gabes, even though titled "Southern Sierra". (The San Gabriels were the Sierra Madre before they were the San Gabriels). I would spring for the original. I think I paid about $80 for my copy.

shreddy · Post by **shreddy** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:59 pm

cougarmagic wrote: ↑I don't know about the abridged version. It's all entirely about the San Gabes, even though titled "Southern Sierra". (The San Gabriels were the Sierra Madre before they were the San Gabriels). I would spring for the original. I think I paid about $80 for my copy.

I think I will - the copy I've found looks nice and tight. I love this kind of stuff. Thank you Cougar Magic

FiveCharlie · Post by **FiveCharlie** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 10:07 am

"The Forest and the People: the Story of the Angeles National Forest." -W.W. Robinson

Quick, dirty history of the ANF and surrounding area. It pops up on Ebay now and then, looks like Amazon has a few used...

http://ws-na.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/cm?l=as1&f=ifr&o=1&t=tapatalk02-20&asins=B000RLETYA

shreddy · Post by **shreddy** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:34 pm

FiveCharlie wrote: ↑"The Forest and the People: the Story of the Angeles National Forest." -W.W. Robinson

Quick, dirty history of the ANF and surrounding area. It pops up on Ebay now and then, looks like Amazon has a few used...

http://ws-na.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/cm?l=as1&f=ifr&o=1&t=tapatalk02-20&asins=B000RLETYA

Awesome! Thanks for sharing Charlie.

AW~ · Post by **AW~** » Fri Feb 15, 2013 4:18 pm

Not to be forgotten for the front range is the "History of Pasadena: Comprising an Account of the Native Indian, the Early Spanish, the Mexican, the American, the colony, and the incorporated city, occupancies of the Rancho San Pasqual, and its adjacent mountains, canyons, waterfalls and other objects of interest: being a complete and comprehensive histo-cyclopedia of all matters pertaining to this region"
By Hiram Alvin Reid 1895

A lot of it can be googled.

Anthony · Post by **Anthony** » Tue Mar 05, 2019 9:42 pm

I’m reading Robinson's "San Gabriels: Southern California Mountain Country" and really enjoying it. Learning the history of the Gabes makes hiking in them even more enjoyable.

How’s Woolsey’s Will Thrall book?