Timeline
April 18, 1906, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the city of San Francisco. The earthquake was followed by major fires that destroyed 80% of the city and killed over 3,000 people.
Luckily, Edwin Jr’s Pacific Avenue home was spared. The H.M Newhall and Co was not so lucky as it burned to the ground so Edwin put up a sign that the company would be run from his home. However, before it burned an employee was able to secure all the records. Within just a few months the company was back up and running in temporary headquarters. Edwin also housed other employees and friends who had lost their homes in the fire.
On Christmas Day, 1906, Walter Scott Newhall died.
He had not been feeling well and decided to go to Europe with his wife to recuperate. He was only in Europe for a short time when his doctors advised him to return home. He died a few days later.
Walter’s estate was left to his wife and upon her passing, since they had no children of their own, would be distributed between his 13 nieces and nephews.
Agreed to an Easement for the Owens Valley aqueduct which allowed the St. Francis Dam to be built.
Started the orange and lemon groves on the western end of the property.
St. Francis Dam burst, drowning over 400 people. It destroyed a huge part of Rancho San Francisco as it came out of San Francisquito Canyon and ran 15 miles through Rancho San Francisco and out to the ocean. It made much of the ground on Rancho San Francisco unusable for crops because of the mud and silt that now covered much of the property. The county of Los Angeles agreed to a settlement of over $750,000 but didn’t pay it out for almost 2 years. The name of Rancho San Francisco was officially changed to NEWHALL RANCH.
The path of destruction of the St. Francis Dam through Newhall Ranch.
Be sure to visit our St. Francis Dam History Page on this website!