By Martha Glauthier - Curator, Past President
San Dimas Historical Society
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Turkeys and chickens roosted in the old adobe, and part of the roof was burned away, nevertheless, Mrs. Harry Walker treasured the historic value of the place and, it is said, asked her husband to buy the property and give it to her as a birthday present. In 1843, when he was a boy of only eleven, Saturnino Carrion was given this property of 380 acres by his uncle and aunt, Don Ignacio Palomares and Concepcioun Lopez De Palomares. Don Palomares, with his friend, Don Ricardo Vejar, had received the last Spanish land grant from the Mexican Governor Alvarado in 1837. The land given to Carrion remained undeveloped for twenty years, until a serious drought in the Los Angeles area forced the cattle owners to look for better pasture for their herds. Saturnino Carrion came out from what was later Boyle Heights, and finding his San Dimas property rich and fertile, moved his herds, built two little shacks for his vaqueros, Jose Navarro and Francisco Lugo, and returned to Los Angeles. The following year, he decided to build a home and bring his family to the rancho. He hired a noted Italian architect and began construction. The adobe bricks were made on the property, but other building materials — doors, windows, etc., had to be brought from Los Angeles, 30 miles to the West. They were brought on pack animals and in ‘carretas’ drawn by oxen, so it was 1868 before the home was completed and the Carrion family moved from their former home at Paredon Blanco. At that time, he and his wife, Dolores Navarro de Carrion, had 3 sons, — five daughters were born in the adobe home. The L-styled adobe stands upon a slight elevation, looking down upon Puddingstone Reservoir to the southwest. It is a story-and-a-half, with a low-ceilinged attic under the gabled roof, Corredores extend along both north and south walls. One of the windows still has a grille of small wooden bars, with the original wooden-pegged shutters still in place. This window also shows the depth of the adobe walls, which keep the home warm in winter, and cool in summer. |
Saturnino Carrion farmed his level land and let his cattle graze upon the hillsides. He was happy with the old ways of farming, and when asked why he did not replace his oxen and carretas with horses and wagons, replied that he would when he could buy a wagon for a dollar. Happily for him, before long there was a raffle, where one of the prizes was a wagon and the ticket was just one dollar. Carrion bought a chance, and won the wagon, so he really did get his first wagon for just one dollar! There is another amusing anecdote about the eucalyptus trees. Early on, Mr. Carrion bought 100 small trees to plant about the place. Two of his daughters had been given a pig to raise, and their father had built a pen southeast of the house. The girls were so fond of the animal that they would climb up into the attic and steal corn for it. When the trees were to be planted, they stole 2 to plant by their pigpen for shade, put them in among tall weeds to hide them, carried water to them — and it said that is why two of the eucalyptus trees grew much taller than the others. When Puddingstone Dam was proposed, the reservoir would take a large part of the Carrion property. Naturally, Saturnino fought this, and in doing so, bankrupted himself and lost his entire property. The family lived in the adobe until 1909. In 1942, Harry Walker was able to make a trade with the Metropolitan Water District and acquired the Carrion property. He and his wife gave it to Bertha and Edwin Fuller on the condition that they would restore the home, live in it, and make it open to the public at certain times. The original agreement stated that if this was not done, the property would revert to the Water District to be turned over to the Parks Dept. of Los Angeles County. The Fullers at once hired the Italian architect, Clarence Cullimore, also our local architect, Frederick Kennedy, and began the restoration. “La Casa de Saturnino Carrion del Abajillo” (‘del Abajillo” being translated as “the little low place,”), is now owned by Jan Pierson and Geoff Stevenson, who love the old adobe dearly. |