[p. 106 Don Abel Stearns, 1908e]
The first carriage in California, Bancroft states, was purchased by Temple and Alexander of San Pedro in 1849, the price, including horses, being $1000. Its appearance created a sensation in Los Angeles. In 1853 Anderson and Mathews advertised as carriage makers, and soon afterward John Coller began business as a blacksmith and wagon maker. Warner says that his first wagon remained in hand a good while, the native people gazing on it with curiosity and distrust and then going back to their carretas. A number of firms now turn out vehicles-to the amount of $751,720, in 1906.
In 1851 the first flour mill was put up in Los Angeles; there had long been "el Molino" at San Gabriel. In 1855 Don Abel Stearns and Jonathan R. Scott built a brick flour mill. About the same time Henry Dalton had a flour mill on his Azusa rancho. The Eagle mills were built in Los Angeles in 1865 and destroyed by fire in 1874. There are now a number of flouring and grist mills in the county and their product for 1906 is given as $3,038,855.
In 1857 James Woodworth started a broom factory; in 1861 Perry and Woodworth established their planing mill and also manufactured beehives, furniture, etc. In 1873 Barnard brothers built a woolen mill on Pearl street. At this time the annual wool clip was very large and for some years this mill made [p. 107] blankets and woolen cloth; but it seems never to have been very successful and at last shut down, while the mill was used for the first ice plant in the city.
Within the last few years many new ventures in the way of manufacturers have been made. In 1903 the model town of Dolgeville was established. Here felt is made and piano hammers and other articles for which felt is used. There are now several shoe factories in the county, one being located at San Pedro and one at Venice. The meat packing industry is one of the most important in the county, the product of packed meats, lard and by-products reaching $4,000,000.
Los Angeles does not claim pre-eminence as a manufacturing region, yet the last report of the state agricultural board lists her manufactured products as reaching a total of $20,000,000, which is not bad for a beginning.