We continue with letters home written by St. Louis lawyer Lucien Eaton during his March-April, 1887 stay at the Sierra Madre Villa Hotel. The letters are part of the Lucien Eaton Papers from the Missouri Historical Society Archives, St. Louis, MO.
The last two letters were to his kids. The letters in this post are to his wife, Hannah. With these letters, we get a glimpse into the Eaton’s social connections and see that Lucien is dealing with significant health issues.
Lucien seems to have a range of ailments from digestive issues, skin irritation, respiratory and nervous conditions. He confirms for Hannah that he stopped taking his “bromide.” These potassium and sodium bromides were sedating Victorian-era remedies that often had toxic side effects. Despite his condition, Lucien gets out to hike the foothills, hunt rabbits and scarf more than a few juicy oranges.
The name Abbot Kinney is familiar, but other names are not. Lucien has social connections in Santa Barbara and his reference to Mrs. S.E.A. Higgins is to Sarah Evelina Austin Higgins, a longtime reporter for the Santa Barbara Independent newspaper and active in civic affairs.
Not sure who the Turners were, but Lucien’s idea of going out to Newhall to meet them would have been easy. He could have walked or taken the carriage to the Lamanda Park train station, rode the train to downtown LA, then taken the northern Southern Pacific up to Newhall. And he could have done it all for free.
While we are on the railroads, Lucien has a big-time connection. Judge McCrary, who has given Lucien railroad passes, was general counsel of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Co. in Kansas City, Missouri. To this point, Lucien has been riding the railroads free of charge. His young lawyer friend, Mr. Hicks, is probably there on a free ride too. But, that free ride is about to change and we’ll talk about that in a future post.
Finally, Eaton comments on the hulking presence of the new Raymond Hotel in Pasadena. He can see it from the Villa and notes that it “looms up conspicuously.” Of course, that looming presence of the Raymond with all its rooms and conveniences contributes to the demise of the Villa as a hotel.
With that, here are Lucien Eaton’s letters home of March 19 and 20, 1887:
Letter 3 — Saturday, Sierra Madre Villa, 3/19/1887
My own blessed Darling;
Your two letters of Friday and Saturday a week ago came up here this morning. It made my sun-hardened eyes damp and dewy to see them!
I also had a brief note from Nat, who sends his love to you, and a letter dated the 15th from Mrs. S.E.A. Higgins of Santa Barbara, the sister of Henry Turner, but got no direct news from him, and it is for such news I am now waiting. It is so much better (pleasanter) here than in Los Angeles that I shall stay till Monday afternoon, as by that time I must hear from Mrs. Turner. He is probably at Newhall and can hardly fail to get his mail once a week. If I do not hear, I will go and see for myself.
My condition would please you. The soreness of my chest is no longer an annoyance. My head is clear, memory acute, and (in this sunlight) my eyesight strong & clear. On the Wednesday of my coming up here I had a disturbance of my digestion, due probably to a cold, but it all passed off with the profuse perspiration [of] Thursday’s mountain climb. I eat with good appetite and sleep splendidly. If I am nervous in any way I notice no symptoms of it and do not suspect it at all. Of course I stopped my bromide with the middle of the month.
This house seems little changed, but below around and it the railroad, the new houses, farms, vineyards, orange groves & the like have made much difference. Half a mile to the left of Pasadena as we look at it the Raymond, a huge new hotel, looms up conspicuously. Still, beautiful as all is here, I do not feel any increased desire to live here. But I must hurry this off.
Love & kisses for all.
Your devoted husband
Letter 4 — Sunday P.M., Sierra Madre Villa, 3/20/1887
My darling wife;
It has been another glorious day here, but the fog hung long over Los Angeles and made me content to have remained here till tomorrow. This A.M. Mr. Hicks, a young lawyer, & I, whose inclinations harmonize, climbed up the hills back of Mr. Abbot Kinney’s house — just west of this, you may remember — and sat for an hour or two lost in admiration of the landscape. Then as we skirted Mr. Kinney’s orange grove & filled our thirsty frames with the sweetness of oranges, so sweet that our hands were gummy, and then came back to lunch. Before that meal I took a warm, utility bath and feel like a new creature for the better. Till this I had only cleansed in sections since I left my own esteemed bath tub.
The day has been warm, but only luxuriously so in the shade. So many guests voice my sentiments when they say again and again they never knew so charming a place as this. You may be sure I am feeling well. One notable comfort is that my hands have lost the harshness of skin which, unpleasant at home, grew worse from the alkali waters of the desert, and I have not had a scratch from my hunting.
Probably I mistook when I wrote of a new management. Scott the clerk certainly, and Cogswell the proprietor too, were here when we were, but that year (’84) was the worst for my memory.
My frequent thought is that the visit, this hotel, would be perfect if you and the children were here to share the charms of place and climate. — Scott says the season here began with them hardly in November, some of this certainly due, he thinks, to new hotels which more than shared the early visitors. Next month he expects business to fall off largely, and every one to be gone in June although the hotel is kept open. It must be very hot here in the day time long before that date.
I sent my passes last Wednesday to Judge McCrary in order to have them extended. I shall be agreeably surprised if this is done. Indeed I shall not be surprised if they are not returned to me at all under some general rule revoking all passes after April 5th, the date when the new law takes effect. In that case I can get an unlimited return ticket to Kansas City via San Francisco, the Denver & Rio Grande, or Union Pacific or Atchison & Topeka & Santa Fe for $65 —. I can then tarry where I choose, visit Denver &c, if the spirit moves me.
They would be glad to keep me here at $15 per week, but I do not wish to stay could I afford it. This week I shall see the coast to some extent unless letters reach me tomorrow urging me to go to Turner’s. How is my purse, of course I can’t say, but I am full of the idea that it will soon be too warm here for unlimited comfort. Santa Barbara is said to be tranquil bliss all the time.
If I maunder on thus about things that have not come to pass, and of what I do not know, please remember I long to talk with you and this one-sided conversation may well be dull to the other side.
I have written, some days ago, to Frank and Helen. It seems very possible father may linger on through the warm season. Much as I love him, it can hardly be hoped. Should he be taken away it will hardly be useful, it seems, to incur the expense of telegraphing me, as I may be where the cost of forwarding the despatch will be quite considerable. You must judge best and do nothing for the sentiment.
Caress those dear little ones and give each a warm fond kiss with papa’s love.
Your fond husband
Lucien Eaton
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