Betty Lou Young and Randy Young Santa Monica Canyon: A Walk Through History Casa Vieja Press: Pacific Palisades, CA, 1997, 182 pp., 1887
"The attention of horticulturalists was drawn to the Santa Monica area in 1887, when Abbot Kinney established the nation's first forestry station in Rustic Canyon. Kinney, an urbane eastern gentleman of distinguished lineage, a scholar and world traveler, tobacco millionaire and idealistic dreamer, came to California in 1880. Attracted by the climate, he settled in Sierra Madre, planted a large orchard, and earned renown as a horticulturist. He moved to Santa Monica in the early 1880s for the benefits of the sea air and in 1885 was appointed to the newly created state Board of Forestry.
"In 1887 Kinney organized a syndicate that purchased 247 acres of land on the bluffs west of Santa Monica Canyon . . . Huntington Palisades . . . and announced plans to [plat?; subdivide?] a fashionable residential district . . . the Santa Monica Outlook Railway was organized, with Kinney as President, to build a steam road from Santa Monica along the base of the bluff to the mouth of the canyon . . . .
"The same year [1887], thanks to Kinney's enthusiasm over the forestry movement, Senator Jones and Arcadia Bandini de Baker donated six acres of land in Rustic Canyon to the state as a site for the nation's first forestry experimental station. One of the projects to be undertaken was a study of the newly introduced eucalyptus trees, thousands of which had been planted across the state under a variety of conditions. The need was recognized as more scientific approach to the problems of planting and use.
"The Santa Monica Forestry Station was formally established on December 20, 1887, to test trees from other countries for their usefulness and adaptability to the soil and climate of California. Fourteen more acres were added in 1889, and the deed was officially recorded. By then, the original plot had been cleared and planted, and a buildiing for offices, seed storage, and exhibits had been constructed. A residential manager was housed in a cottage on the grounds.
"The tract extended over several levels of land in Rustic Canyon and across the mesa to the east, where it commanded a view over Santa Monica Canyon. The Outlook reported brisk sale of trees to communities across the state-18,000 were shipped to Pasadena to landscape new subdivisions and 12,000 to Los Angeles to be placed in parks. Overall management was in the hands of Abbot Kinney, who was chairman of the state Board of Forestry. In fact, orders for trees were originally placed with Kinney himself.
" . . . At the same time as the Forestry Station was being launched, Santa Monica Heights [Kinney's development] was being graded and coincidently planted with eucalyptus trees."