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PIONEER TO RECEIVE FRIENDS ON
HIS EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY
Warren C. Kimball Talks of
His Life Here
Warren C. Kimball, who is to
entertain with a big reception on Monday night at his home, Olivewood,
National City, in celebration of his 80th
birthday, is one of the pioneers of San Diego and vicinity. “I came here
41 years ago in May of 1868,” said Mr. Kimball in an interview at his
National City home. “There were no houses in San Diego then, except the
old government barracks, a few shacks near the waterfront. Horton had
only arrived a few months before, and the boom had not begun. I was a
carpenter and had come by the Isthmus route to stay in the west about
two years. San Francisco was then a little town, not half as good as San
Diego is today. The buildings were low, and most of them built of wood.
Sidewalks wore rickety planks. When the ship arrived in San Diego
harbor, a sailor carried me aboard his back. Old Town was then a center.
National City was no where. Later my brother Frank and myself purchased
the National ranch, some 37,000 acres, extending from the southern end
of the San Diego pueblo, what is now the city limits, about seven miles
southward to Otay. Then it ran about six and a half miles eastward from
the bay, including the site of the present Sweetwater Dam. After I had
been here some time, I decided that this was the place to live, and I
sent for my wife. She came by the Isthmus route with my brother and his
wife. She came by the Isthmus for a home, and I built the back of this
house to live in, and then added the rest of it when I had time. It was
my knitting work that one man could do, I did with my own hands. I have
lived in this house 37 years.” The house is set in 10 acres of grounds
on high ground. A fine view of the bay and ocean can be had from the
house and garden. All sorts of flowers and trees surround the house, and
a long straight stream of palms head down to the gate. Orange and olive
trees are also in abundance. The house itself is marked on the south
with white pillars and a porch. The drawing room is a spacious apartment
with high ceiling, big long windows, white fireplace with big gilded
mirror over it, and quaint old-fashioned furniture. “Southern California
is the most ideal climate in the world. Nevertheless, the growth in
population in the past 20 years has been to me most remarkable, for at
that time, we were the absolute corner of the earth. We have room enough
for a million, though not in the cities. The crowded condition of
eastern cities is what ruins them. If people would only secure one or
two acres of land for small homes, they could live off from the
proceeds. We have the finest people in the world here. Compare the
people of San Diego, Los Angeles, and Pasadena with eastern people and
see if they are not of a better grade of intelligence. Of course, they
are [illegible line] the Californians are more intelligent because they
have spunk enough to leave the nest. I expect sometime to see all of
this part of the country around Chula Vista, Otay, etc. divided into
small homes.”
[Unknown newspaper dated 7-19-1909. Submitted by Kathie Kloss Marynik.]
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