Yorba Linda, Clyde Fairbairn, Ghost Town, etc.

I'm getting up early tomorrow to join other local historians on a small adventure in Yorba Linda. We're going to hike to some old irrigation canals that were uncovered by brush fires earlier this year. (Yes, I actually plan to be awake on a Saturday morning.) In honor of this event, I'm posting a few Yorba Linda photos today. The image above is from the Anaheim Union Water Co. and shows the Yorba Linda Reservoir around 1907. The photo below is from Yorba Linda Lake in 1910.

Jacob Stern and his fellow investors founded Yorba Linda in 1908. Future president Richard Nixon was born there five years later. Below is an ad for the community from 1909, probably just before the town's marketing efforts were taken over by the Janns Investment Co.

Interested in the history of Olive or citrus labels? Check out Daralee Ota's latest addition to her Olive Through The Ages website. Both she and Gordon McClelland (who I still want to meet someday) contributed new stories about late Olive resident Clyde Fairbairn.

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There's an interesting but somewhat esoteric research project going on at the Outside The Berm blog. It seems there's some confusion over the history of the old "Katella Gate" at Disneyland. If you're interested, check out both the first post and the second post (including the comments) on this topic.

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I know some of you are fans of vintage Knott's Berry Farm, so I thought I'd pass along the news that a film production wants to turn Ghost Town into a movie. Part of me hopes the film is made, turns out great, and renews interest in Ghost Town in the same way the Pirates of the Caribbean movies gave the original ride a fresh new audience. Another part of me remembers theme-park-inspired films like Country Bears, Mission to Mars, Haunted Mansion, etc., and hopes the whole idea just fades away.