Anaheim
ANAHEIM, a city of Orange county, California, U.S.A., about 14 m. S.E. of Los Angeles, about 12 m. from the Pacific Ocean, and about 3 m. from the Santa Ana river. (1900) 1456; (1910) 2628. It is served by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and the Southern Pacific railways. It lies in a fine fruit region, in which oranges, lemons, apricots, grapes and walnuts are raised. The plain on which it is laid out, now fertile and well-watered, was originally an arid waste. Water for irrigation is obtained from the Santa Ana river, about 15 m. above the nearest point along the river to the city. The city itself has an area of only 1 1/2 sq. m., and in 1908 the population of the district, including that of the city, was estimated at 5000. The principal manufactures are dried and canned fruits, wine, beer, and agricultural implements. Anaheim is of particular interest as the earliest of various settlements in southern California in which co-operation has made possible the establishment of intensive fruit culture in semi-desert regions. In 1857 fifty Germans (mostly mechanics) organized in San Francisco the Los Angeles Vineyard Association and bought 1165 acres of land here which could be irrigated from the Santa Ana river; each member took possession of a 20 acre share only when gradual improvement had made everything ready for occupancy and the tracts had been distributed by lot, with bonuses or rebates to equalize them in value to the drawers. This ended the co-operative feature of the enterprise, which was never communistic except that its irrigating canal remained common property. The settlement was uninterruptedly successful, and was influential as a pioneer experiment. Anaheim was incorporated as a town in 1870; this incorporation was revoked in 1872; in 1878 the town was incorporated again; and in 1888 Anaheim received a city charter.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
