Mayor Samuel Cary Evans, Jr. of Riverside had a busy year from 1907 to 1908. The city was working on its new charter and it was also trying to come up with an ordinance to restrict liquor sales. This was in addition to all the other business, from street paving to crime, which Evans took an active interest in. And so it was reported in the middle of June that the mayor and his friend L.V.W. Brown wanted to take an extended trip to Oregon. There they would relax in the mountains among the plentiful pines. However, Evans couldn’t just play hooky. He had to get the permission of the City Council to take the trip.
On June 23, the City Council granted the mayor’s request, which gave him leave from July 10 to Sept. 15, two months and five days. Evans announced that Councilman Oscar Ford would take over in his absence and act as mayor.
Evans and Brown anticipated a time of fishing, hunting and recreation for about six weeks, with the rest of the time taken by the driving.
After a busy year of city business, Riverside Mayor Samuel Cary Evans Jr. wanted to take a long vacation in Oregon full of hunting, fishing and sleeping in a tent among the pines. (Courtesy of Lewis Publishing)
The day the trip began, the Riverside Enterprise reported that Evan’s son Errol would join the pair on the trip. The men changed their mind about the mode of transportation too. They decided to take the Southern Pacific train to Glendale, Oregon, and, once there, hire horses to take them into the mountains. There they planned to sleep in tents for two months and enjoy the forest and streams. “We want to get as far from civilization as possible,” Evans said.
It appears Evans and his compatriots couldn’t escape civilization after all.
On July 14, it was reported the Riverside City Council received a communication from Evans about the oiling of a road. Then, it was reported in the Enterprise on Aug. 2, that Evans would be returning to Riverside in the middle of August, instead of the middle of September as originally planned.
In a letter to Ford, then acting mayor, Evans said he was having the time of his life among the tall pines and cold sparkling streams of Oregon, near Medford. However, business interrupted him and he was returning sooner than he originally anticipated. By Aug. 12, Evans was back home and joined his family at the cottage in Newport Beach they rented for the summer.
When Evans returned, he couldn’t help but expound on what he saw in Oregon. He felt it was still a primitive country, with the cities there not yet enjoying the same amenities found in Riverside. However he was greatly impressed with the chamber of commerce or board of trade rooms in the cities of Ashland and Medford. They were located near the train station in each city and had glass walls with displays easily viewable from the outside.
Related Articles
Boughton-Wakefield land dispute led to fatal shooting near Beaumont
The somewhat wild life and death of Riverside County resident William Cristlow
Idyllwild Inn was the center of town and gathering place for many years in early 1900s
Wartime love triangle leads to death in Fontana
How the city of Calimesa got its name
In spite of Evans great interest in the idea, it does not appear that Riverside ever had a glass-walled chamber of commerce office near the city’s train station.
If you have an idea for a future Back in the Day column about a local historic person, place or event, contact Steve Lech and Kim Jarrell Johnson at backinthedaype@gmail.com.
