Wonderful have been the changes in Pomona Valley witnessed by Walter Scott Carson, the esteemed pioneer, who has given his best efforts and years to build up and improve the former barren lands by intensive farming. He was born near Chester, Randolph County, Ill., July 14, 1860. His father, David Carson, was a native of Galloway, Scotland, who after completing his early education went to sea at sixteen years of age, and for sixteen years he sailed the briny deep, passing through many hardships and exciting experiences as well as narrow escapes. When thirty-two years of age he quit the salt water and spent two years on the Mississippi River, when he settled down in Randolph County, Ill., and there he married Susan McLaughlin, a native of North Carolina whose father also hailed from Scotland. David Carson was an honest, industrious farmer and through his years of work he acquired a competence. He was a great reader and always well informed and stood high in the esteem of the whole community. He died in 1872 and his wife three years later.
Of the eleven children born to this worthy couple all but one grew up and seven are still living. Walter Scott was ninth in order of birth and was reared on the Illinois farm and educated in the schools of the vicinity. Being the oldest boy in the family it was necessary for him to go to work from the time he was a lad, so when he was only nine years old we find him driving a team in the fields; he was always handy with horses, having no difficulty in handling them, and this part of the farm work he always especially enjoyed. After his mother's death the farm was sold, and he then went out into the world to make his way. He continued working on farms during the summers and attending school in the winters; during these years he suffered much from chills and fever and he determined that as soon as he was of age, when he would come into his inheritance, he would migrate elsewhere, so in 1881 he started for California, arriving in Pomona on August 18 of that year.
Pomona was then only a small village with two stores, a livery barn, a blacksmith shop and a saloon. Mr. Carson found employment under M.G. Rogers on a ranch, where he continued for a period of two and a half years, when he went to work for the Pomona Land and Water Company. He began as a teamster, soon became foreman, and then superintendent of all outside work for the last two years. In all he served the company for five years, and during this time they sunk artesian wells and had sixty flowing wells when he resigned to engage in the real estate business in Pomona. Later he engaged in cement contracting, building cement lines and reservoirs. While building the reservoir on the Loop place at Claremont, Mr. Carson was waited upon by a committee from the city council of Pomona, asking him to accept the position of city marshal, the first incumbent of the office having been requested to resign soon after taking the office.
Mr. Carson accepted the position and filled his term with zeal and ability. However, he refused to be a candidate for reelection. When he became marshal there were sixteen saloons in Pomona, but this number was reduced to six through making a high license rate. The new jail was also built during this time and the cooler dispensed with. After finishing his term of office he purchased a ten-acre ranch on Cucamonga Avenue in North Pomona. He dug out the vines and planted oranges, continuing there for three years when he sold it; after this he teamed for one year and then bought six acres at La Verne which he improved to olives and peaches and one acre of lemons. When six years had passed he found that he had not realized a dollar on the olives and peaches, so he dug them up and set out oranges. He had watered the lemons for six years from a tank filled by a windmill, and he then secured water from the ditch. He also purchased twenty-two acres in La Verne; it had no water on it and was set out to olives and prunes. In view of his former experience he grubbed these out and planted oranges instead, watering them with water hauled in a tank for two years. He then bored a well and installed a pumping plant and water system, afterwards disposing of the place. He then continued on his six acres and also purchased thirteen and a half acres of raw land on the Base Line Road, which he levelled and set out to oranges, at the same time building a residence on the upper part of the place. Having sold the original six acres he gave his time to his ranch in Live Oak Canyon, bringing it to a high state of cultivation, when he sold it at a good profit, retaining his residence. He now owns a small grove on Bradford Avenue which he is caring for and building up with his customary zeal.
Mr. Carson's marriage, which occurred in Pomona, united him with Rachel Van Zant Meredith, who was born in Pennville, Ind., and who is a niece of L.C. Meredith of La Verne. They are members of the Presbyterian Church of Pomona and prominent in its circles. In politics Mr. Carson is an ardent Republican. It is to men of his energy and perseverence that much of the present success of the orange industry is due, for he, with other early pioneers, went through the experimental stages, thus discovering the best and most successful crops from a commercial standpoint for Pomona Valley.
History of Pomona Valley, California, with Biographical Sketches
of The Leading Men and Women of the Valley Who Have Been
Identified With Its Growth and Development from the Early Days
to the Present
Published in Los Angeles, Cal., by the Historic Record Company
1920
Transcribed by Linda Jackson 8/20/08, Pages 227-228
Los Angeles County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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