Map of Palm Springs and Palm Valley Colony Lands / Palm Springs! On the Line of the S.P.R.R. in San Diego County

Description

One of the most significant 19th century California maps we have had the pleasure of handling, this 1887 promotional map of Palm Springs, California is the earliest known map of the city, produced by the Palm Valley Land and Water Company and Southern Pacific Railroad to advertise an auction of lands there in November 1887, which can be considered the founding event of Palm Springs.

As the S.P.R.R. had done at other sites in California (see, for example, the 1886 map of Paso Robles recently sold by us), land around the company’s rail lines, which had been granted by the federal and state government in the mid-late 19th century, was sold to developers. Then, the railroad and developers (in this case the Palm Valley Land and Water Company) worked with promoters and auctioneers (the Southern California Land and Immigration Co., which was also behind the first land auction at Paso Robles) to pitch the land to potential buyers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and throughout California. With ample land, abundant sunshine, a reliable water supply, and, thanks to the S.P.R.R., established transportation networks, the development’s prospects were bright. The resulting influx of settlers was part of a veritable land boom that took place in Southern California in the 1880s (which was also something of a proxy war between the S.P.R.R. and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway), peaking in 1887 before collapsing in 1888.

The Southern Pacific built a line passing near the future site of Palm Springs in 1876, with a station built at Seven Palms. In the following years, a handful of speculators and settlers, including John Guthrie McCallum (the local Indian agent), purchased some land from the S.P.R.R. and local Cahuilla Indians of the Agua Caliente Reservation (the reservation resembled the land grants for the railroad: consisting of alternating, non-contiguous one-square mile blocks). McCallum and some partners then established the Palm Valley Land and Water Company (at the time, the area was most often known as ‘Palm Valley’ though ‘Palm Springs’ and ‘Palm City’ were also in circulation, as well as ‘Palmdale’ – not the city north of Los Angeles but a nearby development now part of Palm Springs).

Several of the same developers launched similar projects nearby at roughly the same time, including a botched development called ‘Garden of Eden,’ which failed to live up to its grandiose name after the main partner (publisher of religious works David C. Cook) got into a nasty dispute with the Southern Pacific. But at Palm Valley things went swimmingly, as McCallum worked diligently to drum up significant interest in Los Angeles for the new town. A self-taught jack of all trades, before founding Palm Springs McCallum had become a leader in the California Republican Party and traveled to Washington, D.C. for Lincoln’s Second Inauguration and related festivities, being present at his assassination as a result.

The recto of the sheet is divided roughly in half, with the top being a plat of the proposed town’s blocks and lots (described in more detail on the verso). Although not stated, the map is oriented with west at top, with ‘San Jacinto Mountain’ (Mt. San Jacinto) protruding into the proposed town site just north of Tahquitz Canyon. Although the street names have changed, the urban grid is reminiscent of today’s downtown Palm Springs, with Main Avenue here, later Main St., being the basis for Palm Canyon Dr. and East Street being the basis for Indian Canyon Dr.

The hotel denoted near center is the Palm Springs Hotel, near the Agua Caliente hot spring (just beyond the scope of the map) that gives the city its name. The hotel was founded by McCallum’s friend, the colorful Scotsman Welwood Murray (better known as a horticulturist) and his wife Elizabeth (who handled much of the day-to-day management of the hotel), both of whom had deep connections with the local Cahuilla people and become something like village elders in the growing community. The Palm Springs Hotel was generally the first stop for prospective buyers of land in the area, including those attending the inaugural November 1, 1887 auction mentioned here.

The bottom half of the sheet is a map of the general area around Palm Springs / Palm Valley, also oriented with west at top, and laying out 5, 10, and 20 acre tracts of land, with several marked as belonging to McCallum, the ‘Company’ (presumably the Palm Valley Land and Water Company), and O.C. Miller, one of McCallum’s main business partners. Areas of elevation, roads, water sources, survey lines, and the S.P.R.R. line with its station at Seven Palms are also noted. At right is an in illustration of a palm grove near the town site, while at left is a ‘drop and ditch’ (a canal, more or less) which was considered vital to the town’s future. The stone-walled ditch, also seen on the map, was one of the first major irrigation projects in the American West. Planned and paid for by McCallum and built by local Cahuilla people, it carried water from the Whitewater River to the town site, irrigating a range of crops that McCallum had planted at his nearby farm in the process.

The November 1, 1887 auction for which this map was produced netted the sale of over 100 lots, a testament to McCallum’s promotional prowess. These lots were mostly sold to aspiring farmers, as the area was initially touted as an agricultural Eden, the ‘earliest fruit region in California’ (elsewhere the ‘earliest fruit region in the world’). Although other parts of the Coachella Valley did become (and remain) regular suppliers of the melons, dates, figs, and citrus intended to form the basis of Palm Spring’s economy, the town itself was destined for another fate. In 1893, an intense flood washed over the area, followed by a decade-long drought, which caused many of the early settlers to leave. A running dispute with the Cahuilla over water rights (in which the federal government sided with the Indians against the white settlers) also put a damper on the area’s agricultural prospects. While Palm Springs might have become one among several failed development towns of the late 19th century, it successfully reinvented itself as a haven for convalescents, an oasis for weary travelers, a weekend getaway from Los Angeles, and a desert paradise, the archetype for other – both successful and unsuccessful – California desert resort towns.

Census

This promotional map was prepared by the Palm Valley Land and Water Company, the Southern Pacific Railroad, and their associates to seek potential buyers for an auction of lands held on November 1, 1887. The map at top might be based on an original 1885 plan of the town (‘Palm City,’ by surveyor T.M. Topp), now lost, commissioned by McCallum.

The present map is exceedingly rare and is, to our knowledge, the earliest surviving map of Palm Springs. The only other known example is held by the Bancroft Library at the University of California Berkeley (OCLC 24799473 / Bancroft Case C ; G4364.P17G46 1887 .M3).