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The Chaffey brothers and their letters are still in my life and I see no separation from them anytime soon. I am still scanning the second Chaffey letters book but, as I have mentioned in a blog before, I also have access to the transcripts of the letters and have been using them to prepare for the Chaffey letters metadata. The transcripts help in understanding the purpose of each letter. If I am able to identify the main subjects of each letter I am able to tag those subjects when the sources go live. Similarly, if I can properly summarize each letter it makes those who may be looking for resources such as the Chaffey letters more easily accessible. Each letter will be separated so it may be quite a while until each of the letters from Book I and II will be in the Claremont Colleges Digital Library but it will happen, I promise you that!
As I read through these transcripts I continue to see the dreams of the Chaffey brothers in purchasing the land that is today known as the Inland Empire. Another CLIR CCEPS fellow had in the past, worked with a brochure style document that was advertising Ontario, CA, “The City That Charms.” As I discover more and more about the Chaffey brothers, I realize the almost utopia of an empire they wanted to build, dare I even say a sort of elite (or elitist) community. In modern day, it would most likely resemble a fancy gated community in a suburban neighborhood. In a letter dated February 28th, 1882 George Chaffey writes, “Our intention is to sell to our immediate friends and those recommended by them, hoping by this means to make a first class colony.” This one sentence brings up two interesting topics. The first involves the use of the word colony. The Chaffey brothers and most other historical/biographical information about the Chaffey brothers and the Inland Empire continuously use the word ‘colony,’ and it is interesting to ponder on why they might use the word, but that is for another time. The second is the obvious intent of the Chaffey brothers to build an empire of perfection, a place where “the aged may rest and the young grow strong.” That quote is from a page of the Ontario brochure (pictured below). It is incredibly more interesting that the Chaffey brothers found this land, mostly desert and lacking water sources, and saw beyond that. They saw possibility and they banked on that possibility.
In that same letter George Chaffey also writes, “There is no better land in the state, it all lies to the sun and the water right is perfect, we have however absolute control of the water. Thus avoiding any chance of dispute,” and in another dated September 10th, 1882 writes, “The land is very even of excellent quality. The elevation is above the Frost Belt, the situation commands a view of the valley. The water is pure mountain water which together with the healthy climate must make it all that can be desired for a home.” The Chaffey brothers may have found land that seemed by most undesirable but they looked further. They saw the landscape as a view to die for, they saw the mountains of Southern California as a source to build an irrigation haven, and saw the climate (“sunny California” as it is most known today) as more than desirable. Perhaps that is why we call it the Inland Empire.
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