Author: cgu-gitiz

While I am not a code breaker trying to save the world, I feel like I am on a journey of discovery. As I read Mr. Frankish’s letters, I know that he was not an ordinary man. As Joan Clarke said in the movie, The Imitation Game, “I know it’s not ordinary. But who ever loved ordinary?”

It is written that George Chaffey “viewed the wastes known as the Cucamonga Desert and decided that this patch of land, if properly watered, could become productive and profitable.”

I am sure he was not the first person who looked at the Cucamonga Desert and thought of this. What is the difference between dreamers and doers? Mentors tell us that we should work for our dreams. But a lot of people pass on their dreams and opt for a more comfortable life. It is tough to step out of our comfort zone and live the life that we are truly destined to live. Few of us go after our dreams. To be a dreamer is not enough.
We have to be doers.

If you are told that you can’t do something, just reply, “we’ll just see about that.”

I greatly enjoy my time working with metadata. When I tell people I work with
metadata, they quickly ask me, “What exactly
is metadata?” In
order to make collections of materials more accessible to the public, the
Library works to digitize and publish them online. As a CLIR CCEPS Fellow, I help with the creation of descriptive metadata for these electronic
documents. It’s an enormous project with lots of people working on different
tasks. It gives me a great chance to get immersed in a piece of California
history and to help make this information more readily available to researchers
and other users.

 

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Mr. Frankish’s letters are fascinating pieces of correspondence and most times read like telegrams. They reveal as much about the subject matter as they do about the author and the recipient. Today I was reading a letter he wrote to Mr. MacNeil with regard to an issue involving pipe lines. He wrote, “Jeff Eads still refuses to allow us to put in pipe line on his land…..If it is only a question of paying this fool’s expense to L.A. & back why we can pay it but where am I to find him to do so. As a matter of fact I don’t think he has any title on it. Cannot we go ahead in spite of him? Let me know by return mail what you think had best be done in the matter.”

This made me think of eminent domain. I didn’t understand much about the legalities of eminent domain so I decided to dig further. On the Owner’s Counsel Website, I learned that the government’s power of eminent domain extends to government agencies but also some private companies or individuals may also be granted the power to condemn private property to complete certain projects intended to benefit the public (these include oil and gas companies, railroads or other privately-owned utility companies).

Eminent domain allows a government to take property without the consent of the owner but the government has to provide just compensation for eminent-domain takings. I guess the question is whether money can account for the emotional and cultural costs of eminent domain. I can see why the issue is controversial.

Turning down opportunities (sometimes even good ones) helps me stick to my word. I guess I, too, have a “great antipathy to half and half men.” This is true in the business world as well as in personal matters. Today, I was reading a letter, Mr. Frankish wrote to Mr. Stamm with regard to a banker. The following is an excerpt of the letter.

“I do not know how you felt about Dr. Olmsted but I was much disappointed in him. A man who will blow hot and cold as he did within 48 hours is not, in my opinion, the man of stability that we require in a banker. I felt that you must think me a fool speaking to you as I did about him being all ready to go into the business and then to find him so cool and indifferent about it. But I only repeated his own words as given me here on Friday and he then told me that he could put in at once $25,000 or $30,000. While today he was intimated that he had very little of course you may know more of him through his friends and he may be all right, but I must say that my present impressions are that we shall be better without him. I have a great antipathy to half and half men.”

This week I learned that shortly after the Chaffey’s left Ontario for Australia, Charles Frankish, became the guiding force during the early years of the “Colony.” Frankish commissioned a water fountain to be placed on Euclid Avenue to symbolize prosperity to all visitors that passed through Ontario.  The fountain can still be viewed today in the Museum gardens. Charles Frankish arguably was the man who made Ontario the city it has become today.

I am always trying to understand what Mr. Frankish is trying to convey in his letters. The following is an excerpt from a letter to Mr. MacNeil,

My object in writing you tonight is to ask you if there is no way in which we can retain this either by garnishee or must we really let it go to that fellow “like butter down a dog’s throat.”

 

Some challenges are like bitter pills. I can crush the pill and use peanut butter to trick myself into eating the pill. Unfortunately at times, I manage to eat the peanut butter, but still avoid taking the pill. If that happens, I will have to investigate other measures with a higher probability of success. Either way, garnishee seems like a better option. I will try that next time. Thank you Mr. Frankish!

Mr. Frankish got me thinking about visionaries. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a visionary is a person who has “foresight and imagination.” For me, Steve Jobs was a true visionary. He wanted to change the world and he achieved it quite successfully. What I admire most is his persistence; failures drove him to work harder.

In a letter to O.S. Picher, Mr. Frankish talks about building the “San Antonio hotel.” He writes,

“By the way referring again to “San Antonio hotel” if the thing could be started this fall I believe it could be more than filled all next winter. I would not say this much to some people lest they thought me visionary but I know that you fully appreciate the situation.”

Shortly, in another letter to Mr. MacNeil, he writes,

 “…..neither do we want a “Sanitarium” but rather a “grand pleasure resort” for healthy people as well as invalids, and we can run the whole business without the doctor’s advice.”

 And further in the same letter,

“And if you come across someone with plenty of funds, speak a good word for the “S. Antonio Hotel and Electric Railroad Co.” for that is what will sell every acre we have a from double to three times our present prices and I feel that we ought to make every effort to put it through to completion. if we had it done and the hotel built every room would be full by Nov. and thousands of people would come to Ontario to see the novelty of a complete Electric road of 7 miles, street and house lighting, Hotel lighting, elevators, etc. etc. all run by Electricity without one cent expense for motive power. You must not think I am wild on the scheme but I do want to stir you all up to action.”

 Not sure what he thinks but I consider him a visionary.

 So Mr. Frankish received a letter from a gentleman requesting to lease the use of water at the head of San Antonio Canyon for the purpose of hydraulic mining for a term of five years. The gentleman promised to enter into an agreement to not divert the water from its natural channel and not to diminish its quality but to release it to its original channel after being used for mining purposes. In a letter Mr. Frankish discusses this request with Mr. MacNeil. He writes:

 “By this mail I write you re Mr. Rossiters request for the use of water for mining purposes and think it well to give you some private pointers. Mr. R. has undoubtedly struck ———— having shown Mr. Gissing and myself  lumps of free gold just as picked up from the gravel weighing nearly an ounce each and one lump picked up was sold for over $400. Now it occurs to me, if this is such a good thing and the use of our water is indispensable to its development, might we not be entitled to a fair remuneration (sic) for its use.  Again will not some water naturally be wasted and may not the refuse washed into the head of the Canon interfere with the flow of the water. I merely suggest these points for your consideration.”

I sure hope to read Mr. MacNeil’s response to this brainstorming session.

I always enjoy reading Mr. Frankish’s personal letters- particularly the ones he wrote to his family members. I live in Claremont so it all feels deeply surreal. Since I started working as CLIR Fellow, I have found that the words “Ontario” and “Euclid” mean much more than what I originally anticipated. The following is a letter he wrote to his uncle in 1888,

“We are all very sorry to hear of your continued indisposition as we had hopes to have seen you out here by this time – you had better bring Aunt Lois along and put up a snug little cottage and settle down comfortably – we hope Grandpa’s rheumatism is better and are glad to know that all the rest are well – Well we have got over the elections, are having splendid rains, Easterners are beginning to come in and things generally are assuming a cheerful aspect, that is to those who want to be cheerful, but we have some people here (not very distant relations either) who never are and never will be happy or contented.”

One day, I hope to have a snug little cottage in these parts of the country. But above all, I strive to be cheerful and content.