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California's First Licensed Surveyor

Southern California Land, Water, and Oil - 19th Century Field Notes Archive

The Boom of the 1880s (and beyond) in Catalina, Long Beach, Malibu, Orange County

The Rise of William Mulholland and the Los Angeles City Water Company in 1898

A remarkable and extensive archive for the early development of Southern California, including forty-five pocket-sized field notebooks documenting important land surveying projects in both Northern and Southern California, all by Charles T. Healey, the first licensed land surveyor in California. In his 1891 application to be become a licensed land surveyor in California Healey included the following telling note in the limited space provided for the applicant's statement of experience: "[the applicant has] surveyed townsites to enumerate which the space allowed is wholly inadequate." Indeed, Healey has deservedly been called a giant of land surveying in California, and the present archive certainly bears out such a distinction.

Healey first came to California in 1854, quickly becoming a prominent Northern California surveyor in the 1850s and 1860s, with a stint of survey work on the New Almaden quicksilver mines, before relocating to Southern California to pursue exciting opportunities working with some of the biggest names in land and water resources development. Indeed, the long arc of Healey's surveying career, spanning over four decades, through the boom and bust cycle of the time, coincides perfectly with the historical transformation of Southern California from a rural landscape of erstwhile Mexican ranchos into a fragmented patchwork of cities and paper cities at the dawn of the 20th century. The present archive, comprising decades of surveying work done in the field at Long Beach, Catalina Island, and various other places in Los Angles and Orange Counties, reveals Healey as the man behind the curtain in the Southland, the unheralded and nearly unknown, albeit necessary, figure in Southern California's astonishingly rapid development. Besides his extensive work surveying the Long Beach area, Healey was involved in surveying many well-known towns and future cities, including Malibu, Avalon (Catalina Island), Wilmington, San Pedro, Whittier, Belmont Heights (later annexed by Long Beach), and several other locations in Orange County. In addition to land surveying for plat map making and subdivision, Healey did work at Banning Dam at Lake Eleanor, near Westlake in modern day Thousand Oaks. Another sign of Healey's versatility was his work with the oil lands at Rancho La Puente in the San Gabriel Valley. While the collection begins in post Gold Rush Northern California, the bulk of the material relates to the land boom of 1880s Southern California, and finally culminates with the rise of William Mulholland, an individual even Mike Davis conceded was Los Angeles' "most Promethean figure" (see Davis, City of Quartz). One of Healey's notebooks records Mulholland's exploits before L.A. municipal authorities, including brief notes of closed-door meetings of the Los Angeles City Water Company during Healey's stint as the water company representative on the special three-person board of arbiters charged with appraising the value of the company (see below for more detailed description of the 1898 notebook).

A trove of primary historical material relating to early Southern California land surveying, with important source material for water resources development, and a valuable archive of great research potential that may help fill in the gaps in the history of what one authority has called "the greatest and most interesting land boom" in California history.

Stearns Ranchos

Many of Healey's early surveying projects relate to lands once owned by Don Abel Stearns, a famous early American settler in Southern California - in fact these projects are a prominent focus of Healey's field notebooks. Historian Glenn S. Dumke has called the subdivision and sale of the Stearns rancho lands as the most noteworthy project of the decade of the 1880s:

The greatest and most interesting land boom was that of the 1880s... Exuberant auction sales, accompanied by brass bands and free lunches, helped sell $100,000,000 of southern-California real estate during the boom's peak year.... Empty fields and riverbeds and tracts of worthless desert land were platted solemnly into twenty-five foot lots - and sold. More than two thousand real-estate agents paced the streets of Los Angeles, seizing lapels and filling the balmy air with windy verbiage... The most noteworthy project of the decade was the subdivion and sale of the Stearns ranchos, some 70,000 acres in all  - Glenn S. Dumke, The Boom of the Eighties in Southern California, pages 4-5.

But before the brouhaha and excitement of land promotion and sales there was real work to be done by surveyors, and Charles T. Healey was perhaps THE outstanding Southern California land surveyor of the last quarter of the 19th century. 

The Bixbys

Healey worked with several pioneering California land developers from the 1870s through the early 1900s, including members of the Bixby family, especially Jotham and George Bixby. In 1882 Healey was invited by Jotham Bixby to Los Cerritos Rancho for the purpose of laying out a townsite called Willmore City (the progenitor of Long Beach) - named for the developer William E. Willmore, who had leased 5,300 acres of the Los Cerritos Rancho. The new city comprised 122 blocks, each divided into standard lots of 25 x 150 ft. Several field notebooks relate to Healey's survey work for the Bixbys.

The Bannings, Avalon (Catalina), and Wilmington

One of the notebooks relates to the early surveying of Avalon, Catalina Island, during the period March 26th - May 8th 1892. Healey's work at Avalon represents some of the earliest serious surveying efforts on Catalina Island, only about five years after George Shatto laid out the first streets in Avalon, which had originally been named Shatto. The little notebook includes several plat map sketches of lots in Avalon, including outline drawings of homes and businesses and it mentions Shatto's Hotel Metropole. A later notebook dating from 1900 continues the Avalon work, with references to visiting Capt. William Banning. The Banning Brothers (sons of Phineas Banning) purchased Catalina Island in 1892 for $128,740. For several years the Bannings enjoyed a monopoly on bringing tourists to the island through their Wilmington Transportation Company.

James Ross Clark and William A. Clark, Rancho Los Cerritos, and the Montana Land Company. 1908-1909.

James Ross Clark (1850-1927), brother of William A. Clark, who made a fortune in copper mining and banking in Montana, was among Healey's prominent clientele. James Ross Clark came to Los Angeles in 1892, envisioning a railroad between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. He formed the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad in 1902, and even subdivided Las Vegas, Nevada. Around 1898 the Clark brothers purchased about 9000 acres of Rancho Cerritos and Los Alamitos from the Bixby family. They established a sugar beet factory, and bought the Santa Ana and Newport railroads, which ran between Newport Beach, Santa Ana, and Westminster, expanding the rail line to the sugar beet operation and a connection to San Pedro. Healey did surveying work for the Clarks, especially James Ross Clark. Field notes and diagrams concerning Clark's land subdivison projects can be found scattered among Healey's notebooks.

William Mulholland and the Los Angeles City Water Co.

If Roman Polanski's 1974 film, Chinatown, has enshrined - at least in the popular imagination - Mulholland's role in creating modern Los Angeles through the character of Hollis Mulwray, chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Healey's 1898 notebook provides evidence of how Mulholland got his foot in the door of the Los Angeles power structure. The diminutive and unassuming notebook contains extensive references to William Mulholland - when he was still superintendent of the privately owned Los Angeles City Water Company. These include a series of facsinating and hastily written notes by Healey documenting 1898 arbitration meetings between the City and the Los Angeles City Water Co. Healey represented the private water company on the three member board of arbiters, whose proceedings are described in the notebook. These meetings mark a pivotal moment in the rise of Mulholland and his dreams of bringing a vast water supply to the burgeoning metropolis. As the opening salvo in the long and legally fraught process by which the city acquired the water company, the negotiations allowed the self-taught Mulholland to display his mastery of water works in Los Angeles. Healey, who was a party to the meetings through his role as the sole water company representative on the board of arbiters, records instances of city officials grilling Mulholland, mainly about the status of the pipes owned by the company.  Mulholland's responses, about the condition and sizes of water pipes, were vital in convincing city engineers and leaders to acknowledge his expertise in all things water related. The city finally acquired the water company in 1902 for $2,000,000, with Mulholland being appointed Superintendent of Water Works.  

Early in 1898 before the lease had expired, city authorities began negotiations with the Los Angeles City Water Company to determine what properties would be returned to the city at the expiration of the contract...The Los Angeles City Water Company asked $2,000,000 for its own property... The city offered $1,300,000. Upon expiration of the lease, the city named James C. Kays as its arbitrator according to the terms of the lease. The company appointed Charles T. Healey as its representative on the board of arbitration. After months of negotiation and delay these two selected George H. Mendell of San Francisco as the third arbitrator. After additional months of hearings and negotiations, the board of arbitrators presented a majority report representing Kays and Mendell setting the purchase price at $1,183,591.42. Healey, the company representative, dissented, recommending the price originally submitted by the company. As soon as the award was made known the company declared it would abide only by a unanimous decision of the board of arbitrators. - Vincent A. Ostrom, Water & Politics: a Study of Water Policies and Administration in the Development of Los Angeles, page 47.

Healey, as the company representative, was holding out for the original figure offered by the company. Mulholland, though a water company man himself, represented a more reasonable valuation of the company - one backed by his first rate memory of all the details of the company's water pipes and systems. 

Finally, in July 1898, a board of three arbiters was appointed: one chosen by the city, one by the water company, and a third selected by the other two. At the same time, the city also set up a board of engineers consisting of James D. Schuyler, Arthur L. Adams, A. H. Koebig, and J. B. Lippincott to present the city's case to the arbiters. Mulholland was frequently called before this board to provide information. At first, since he was a company official, the members tried to harass him, but soon their cynicism turned to amazement at his engineering skill. Because he preferred to work in the field inspecting and supervising, leaving the office work to others, the Chief could not provide records the engineers wanted... A part of his genius, however, was his excellent memory, which was of help in this particular situation. Responding to the board's disappointment, he asked, "What is it you want to know?" "Uncle Jimmy" Schuyler replied that they needed information about all of the piple, valves, hydrants, and other facilities of the distribution system. To the board's surprise, Mulholland referred to a city map and began to give - completely from memory - the size, type, and age of all of the pipe and fittings. Naturally, the engineers had doubts, so they decided to expose the pipe at 200 locations to check Mulholland's accuracy. "His memory was correct in every particular," recalled Lippincott, "and the board thereupon accepted the inventory of the pipe system based on the memory of Mr. Mulholland.

The four-year period of litigation was a trying time for Mulholland. Constantly inconvenienced by the proceedings, he was also forced to manage a company whose directors refused to spend money to improve service. The growing community, Mulholland knew, required progressive steps to meet its current and future needs..." - Robert William Matson, William Mulholland, p. 9.

Excerpts from Healey's notes, written in haste while attending the arbitration meetings, here follow:

Friday Dec. 2, 1898, 10 am

Board of arbitrators. 

Examining Pipes.

Stem 37. 

Severance and 28th 

4" cast iron, sand gravely loam, 27 " deep, good condition

Similar entries abound for several pages, with numbered references (none larger than 200) to specific pipes.  These notes are punctuated with asides listing the names of the people present at a given meeting (e.g. J. B. Lippincott, Col. Mendell, Schuyler, Adams, Koebig, Mulholland, and others).

Further selected excerpts follow:

Tuesday 27th Dec. 98: Purcell, Howgood, Drake and I meet at Mulholland's office to examine pipe but Schuyler telephones us that Adams cannot come, as we postpone til tomorrow at 10 am. I send [Lawrence?] to Mulholland for a job.  

We take recess til 2 P.M.

I meet the same crowd as this morning at Water Co.'s cellar, and we examine pipe.

We examine many pipes. 

Also 102 4" cast

Mr Lippincott [wracks?] it with a hammer. Breaks a channel 2 inches wide whole length.

No. 162 Mott & Michigan

2" old date unknown. very rusty. rough inside. scaley.

These [men meet?] this afternoon: Schuyler, Adams, Koebig, Lippincott, Kenealey, Drake, Minor, Mulholland, 2 helpers and myself. 

Wednesday, Jan. 1899. Capt. ? came at 9 a.m.. The Bd of Arbitrators met at 10 a.m. at Company's office to examine pipe in the basement, cor. Alameda & 1st street...Col. Mendell asks Mr. Mulholland "How is it that the pipe shows up so well when it has so bad a repulation?" Mr. Mulholland replies that "they have replaced a great quantity of the bad pipe with new pipe, and the old bad pipe is nearly all taken out."

Feb, 14, 1899. afternoon we meet at 2 p.m. Mr. Schuyler and Mr. Mulholland on the stand...

Sun. April 16, '99. 10 a.m. Col. M., Mr. Kays, Mr. Mulholland, Mr. Olmstead, Mr. Keneally and I go to look at Beaudry Reservoir. It holds nearly 6,000,000 gallons.

Rarity

Original archival material relating to Charles T. Healey and William Mulholland is very rare in the market. Certainly any archive documenting four decades of 19th century land surveying in Southern California would be considered remarkable, an archive by such a key figure in the field as Healey -- California's surveyor No. 1 -- is nothing short of superlative. 

We can find no records of original manuscript material by or about either Healey or Mulholland in RBH.

Field Notebooks and Memo Books

Here follows a detailed summary of contents for the individual field notebooks, followed by a list of the additional documents in the collection - each section in roughly chronological order. 

Cover titles noted when present, otherwise caption titles from first page or supplied titles. Most of these notebooks contain extensive diary entries relating to survey work and travel, as well as  small sketch maps and diagrams.

The notebooks include references to many figures prominent in 19th century California history: Jotham and George Bixby, Capt. William Banning (of Catalina Island fame, owned fleet of steamships, also tug and barge business in Long Beach), William A. Clark, Abel Stearns-owned ranchos, and others.

• Guadalupe Rancho (Salinas Valley). 1872-1873. Small pocket notebook. Full sheep. Approx. 40 pages. Field notes and sketch maps.
  • July 8, 1872. Go to Guadalupe Rancho to being survey for partition. Ignacio Malarin, Joseph Blankman, José Someraria, Narciso Diaz, Terhano Malarin.
• New Almaden Mine. Surveys for connecting Day Tunnel with Main Shaft. 1873. Small pocket notebook. Full sheep. Approx. 100 pages. Field notes and sketch maps.
• New Almaden Mine. Nov. 7, 1873. Full sheep notebook. Appox. 80 pages. 
• Copy of Pat. of Bolsa Chica, Feb. 16-26, 1874. Full sheep notebook. 3.5 x 6 inches. Approx. 15 leaves written in ink on rectos only. Concerns land in Santa Clara County, part of Los Huecos Mexican rancho.
• San Gabriel River below Jotham Bixby's, 1877. Full sheep pocket notebook, 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches. Approx. 50 pages. "The following is by G. M. Woodward, topography of San Gabriel River, below Jotham Bixby's. Dec. 1877 (I think)" then follows 16 pages of topographical sketches.
• Stearns Ranchos Time book. 1877-1878. Unbound notebook. Approx. 50 pages. Record of workers, with names. Also from Arguello Partition.
• Stearns Book No. 2. Jan & Feb. 1878. Full sheep, 4 x 6.75 inches. Approx. 100 pages. Extensive surveying notes and calculations. Several small sketch maps. Mentions stopping at Anaheim (Planter's Hotel), also Norwalk, Artesia, Westminster. Guadalupe Mine. 
• Stearns Book No. 3. Nov. 1878 - Sept. 1879. Survey on Line between the Ranchos Santiago de Santa Ana, and Las Bolsas. Full sheep. 4 1/2 x 7 inches. Approx. 100 pages. Surveying field notes and sketches. Rancho Las Bolsas was an 1834 Mexican land grant, owned by Abel Stearns by 1860, who renamed it Stearns Rancho, located in present day northwestern Orange County. First entry in this field book:

Tuesday, November 5, 1878, Rancho Santa Ana (Santiago de) / Begin at a Pine Post (Sta. 78, SSA. Ch [?]) station of the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. Surveyors C. T. Healey, William P. Reynolds / Survey for the Los Angeles and San Bernardino Land Co. Run on a Meridien line of SSA. S. 54 . 4'5 E

• Guadalupe Mine (Santa Clara) and Palos Verdes, April 1880 - 1881. Full sheep (spine shot, notebook split at spine), 4 x 6.5 inches. Approx. 80 pages. Several sketch maps. First 30 pages relate to Guadalupe mercury mine in Santa Clara. Remainder of notebook contains survey field notes relating to Palos Verdes:
  • Our outfit today has been Ganitt with his horse & waggon, Newell with his team and waggon, Dods on with his horse, who met us at the Sepulveda house, with George Hinds, young Janny, and Mr. Sands. Newell & Janny chained til 11 am - page 38.
• Survey notes at a lake and wall. Jan. 1882. Unbound notebook. Approx. 20 pages. Includes sketch maps.
• Stearns. Nov. 21, 1882 / H. M. J. Jan. 31, 1883 / Bardin, Feb. 13, 1883 / Jacks, 1883-4 / Stearns, May, 1884. Full sheep. 4 1/2 x 7 inches. 187 pages. Many sketches and diagrams.
• San Pedro. 1883. Disbound. 5 1/4 x 8 inches. Approx. 50 pages. All sketch maps of San Pedro lots, streets and lots noted, with outline footprints of buildings thereon. "Mem: I must see W. S. K. and find out the scale of the following work and some further information in regard to the outline things. A large wall map was made at the time on [detail?] paper several yards long, and was taken up on the wall of the commerce chamber, but it... cloth back... it was.. badly torn and doubtless ultimately destroyed. As that map was supposed to embody all the necessary details, they they are probably omitted in this work, as no reference is made to scale, etc. C. T. H."
• No. 20. 1884.Cañada de los Alisos. Small pocket notebook. Approx. 20 pages. Brief memos. Some survey notes. 
  • Here follows Sargent & Carlisle surveys (the lands N. of the hills)
  • I have just got book from Moorland, and from the City Hall when I stopped on my ? to see Mr. Downey [erstwhile Gov. John G. Downey, namesake of the city of Downey, and who was then living in Southern California]
• Long Beach Land & Water Co. 1885 - 1886. Pebbled leather pocket-size field notebook. 4 x 6 inches. Approx. 60 pages. Several sketch maps, including marking location of Long Beach Hotel, also two bath houses. The Long Beach Land & Water Company was headed by Robert M. Widney, who took up Long Beach development after William E. Willmore had abandoned the project around 1884. The company renamed Willmore City, calling it Long Beach, seeking to create a seaside resort rather than an agricultural colony. The notebook has several interesting entries scattered among extensive technical surveying notes:

40 acre subdivision of American colony [ref. to Willmore's so-called American colony]

Oct. 2, 1885, I also go and set ground station for landings at Cerritos slough 350' above ordinary high tide. Young Ruddy and George B. Bixby went with us, also W. T. S. and [Fryzin?]

Oct. 12, 1885, McGregor will grade on 2nd W at Locust Ave for 15 cts per yd.

Oct. 15, 1885, I work in figuring for estimate or rather statement of yardage done by McG & Mulholland.

• Rancho San Joaquin surveying field notes and travel diary. 1886. Pocket notebook. Unbound. Approx. 80 pages. Mentions of Judge Richard Egan, suveyor and judge, and Los Angeles County Supervisor (1885-1889). Rancho San Joaquin includes the present site of U.C. Irvine. 
  • June 3, 1886. I take morning train for Santa Ana. Mr. Byrne meets us there, and drives me down to San Joaquin Rancho.
  • June 4. Mr. Byrne, Mr. Hutton and Judge Egan meet at the Robles home, SW corner of the Rancho Los Alisos. 
• Surveys for Eugene Avy. April 1886. Sheep-backed cream boards. 4 x 6.75 inches. Approx. 50 pages. Travel notes. Field notes of surveying in Northern California. Eugene Avy was a land developer near the Stanford University Campus. 
• Long Beach. 1887. Full sheep. Approx. 40 pages. Field notes. Sketches of witness trees.
  • Sat. Oct. 22, 1887. W. S. K. Joe and I go to point... Mormon Cañon. 
• Banning, etc. Long Beach. 1887. Small pocket notebook. Faux alligator. Approx. 50 pages. Sketch maps.
• Los Cerritos, June 3, 1884 - July 16, 1887. Label on back cover: Los Cerritos, Castroville, Moro Cajo River, Monterey. Full sheep, 4 x 7 inches. Approx. 150 pages. Extensive field notes. Several sketch maps. Entries concerning members of the Bixby family and the like.
  • June 3, 1884. At Los Cerritos Rancho, I go with J. Bixby, W & Janny, Geo. B. B. and Lincoln Lovett...
  • June 7, 1884. I work at Cerritos on calculations for .... a straight line from S.W. cor. Coyotes Rancho to the S.E. cor of the Cerritos Rancho.
  • Nov. 23, 1884. Near Arroyo Seco Rancho in Monterey County. M. Escobar and George Smith, Chinaman Tom... We go to the Sycamore pointed out to us by George Smith... about 20 inches dia. and has the old mark of the brand of Carlos Espinosa [drawing of circular brand] and a small "A"
• Banning / Cañon de Sta Ana / J. W. Bixby, etc.  Full sheep. 4 x 6 3/4 inches. Approx. 98 pages. Extensive surveying field notes, Santa Ana Canyon located near the intersection of modern day Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties.
  • If lost and found, please return to Charles T. Healey / 18 Court St. / Los Angeles.  ca. 1886-1887.
  • Santa Ana Cañon Mar. 1st '87. Mr. Mantur and I came out yesterday from Anaheim.
  • Transcription of a deed for land in "Wilmington or New San Pedro" dated April 11, 1880.
• Santa Ana & Long Beach R. R. January 1888 - February 1889.  Disbound graph paper sheets. 5 x 8 inches. 27 pages. Field notes. Mentions fences, ostrich farm, Bompke's house (and other houses), Sanford Johnson, Bundy Railroad, railroad tracks, pepper trees, cypress hedge, artesian well, Anaheim Road, orchards, vineyard.
• Hager Coal Mine. Harris. F. Hall (Sanchez). San Joaquin. (Topographical). 1889. 1889. Cañon de Sta. Ana. Disbound pocket notebook. Approx. 80 pages. Field notes.
  • Feb. 11, 1889. I go to Anaheim by rail from Long Beach... We drive over to Santa Ana cañon via Olive Heights... We strip off our clothes and wade river & find posts K. "S. S. A.I L.S." 
• Avalon, Catalina Island. March 26th - May 8th 1892. Full sheep. 3 1/2 x 6 inches. Approx. 80 pages. More than 20 pages devoted to sketches for plat map, numbered lots, streets, noting built homes and other buildings: Wheeler Boarding House on Crescent Ave., Hotel Metropole, Whitney on Vieudelou Ave., Weaver Hotel, Case house on Crescent, "5 houses same size owned by T.S. Hutchins," "Old Rancho House" on Beacon St., Frank Whittley house. Dr. Bishop, Mr. Eddy, Avalon Barber Shop (Whittley Ave.), church on Metropole Ave., Rev. George Morris, and the like.
• The Stearns Ranchos Co. / Malibu 1893 / Laguna Cañon (S. J.) 94 / Rocky Point Mesa (S.J.) 94 / La Sierra Oct. 95. Healey's printed calling card attached to front cover: Charles T. Healey, Civil Engineer. Los Angeles, California. Sheep-backed boards. 4 x 6 inches. Approx. 94 pages. Entries mention: George Irvine, James Irvine. La Sierra Rancho near south Riverside.
• [Banning Dam]. Sept. 19, 1889 - 1890. Stitched notebook, lacking front cover. 4 x 6 3/4 inches. Approx. 100 pages. Survey field notes, some travel and diary entries. Includes sketches of a dam - likely Banning Dam at Lake Eleanor, near Westlake in Thousand Oaks. Work on the dam began in 1881 and it was completed in 1889. It is among the oldest dams still in use in the state. "May 16th 1890, at the Santiago Coal Mine" located in Orange County. Note on final page: "Yuen Chung, Ap. 17 '90 Chinese Mission, Wilmington," likely a reference to Quong Yuen Chung, who the same year (1890) was cutting wood on leased land in Bronson Canyon, in the future Hollywoodland subdivision.
• San Pedro Buildings East of Palos Verdes St., Terminal Island (Barce & Ivison's Blds.), Stearns R[anch]o, Coyota Creek Valley, La Habra... Survey of Brea Cañon & Hills...Sec 22, South of Anaheim. 1892-1893. 5 x 8 inches. Full sheep. Paper label on front cover with contents. 108 pages. [2] pages of index. Extensive survey measurement field notes. Several pages of notes for plat map, with houses noted. "This book is used by W. S. Kingsbury, asst. engineer of City of San Pedro for loca of buildings East of Palos Verdes St. Dec. 5th 1892."  Includes notes of survey of Stearns Rancho.
• Stearns Rancho. 1894. Full sheep. Approx. 80 pages. Mentions: Long Beach Wharf, San Pedro, Buena Park. Field notes, including surveying sketches. Names of workers.
• South Riverside: Elevations of Various Points on line of S. C. Railroad from South Riverside to Olive. June 18, 1895. Signed A. E. P. [and:] "San Bernardino to South Riverside, omitted in the foreging pages." Cloth-backed marbled boards. Approx. 60 pages. A few survey sketch maps. Mentions: Santa Ana River, Bixby tract, El Toro, Colton, San Juan Capistrano by the Sea, Los Nietos, Santa Fe Springs, etc. Aug. 3, 1896: "Judge Egan and I go to Rincon. After lunch at ? John Noble drives us down to Scully's. Mr. Scully goes with us down to the old J. W. Bixby place."
• Catalina, 1897. Small pocket notebook. Apprx. 40 pages. Travel notes. Capt. Banning. Frank Carpenter. 
  • Sat. Oct. 9 '97. Avalon. I examine stage road with Capt. Banning
  • Dec. 1. '97 Blowing a gale. I go with Capt. McDonald to Wilmington. 
• Catalina, Whittier, etc. 1897-1903. Small pocket notebook. Approx. 50 pages. 
  • Feb. 8th, '97. Monday. Go to Catalina with Capt. Banning on Falcon.
  • Mon. Aug. 9, '97. Whittier State School. De Ford Nodman.
  • Wed. Aug. 11th '97. Burnham, De Ford and Sperry.
  • Thursday Oct. 9, 1903: I go with  Arturo Bandini (after being detained by Mr. Shankland and by Mr. O'Melvany till nearly 10:45 a.m. to Rio Laguna. We take our lunch at Chinese Camp.
• The Puente Oil Wells, Field Notes. Feb. 1898. Cloth-backed flexible boards. Approx. 100 pages. Extensive surveying field notes. Sketch maps showing houses. Mentions oil derricks by number. Note by Healey dated Aug. 19, 1900 about how the missing leaves from the back of the notebook "were blank and I cut them out for scratch paper." An oil drilling boom at Rancho La Puente was sparked by William Rowland and William Lacy, who established the Puente Crude Oil Company. By 1900 Puente Oil had grown to "a total of 4,700 acres of the best light oil-producing lands in California."
• [Water Company and William Mulholland]. Catalina. Union Oil Co. Stearns. Dec. 1898 - Nov. 1899. Unbound notebook. Approx. 80 pages. Extensive travel and field notes. A few sketch maps.
  • Dec. 9th 1898. At Water Co's office. All of us. Board and Engineers.: Schuyler, Adams...Mulholland, Kennedy.
  • Dec. 13 Tuesday. We all go up the river to examine the power ditch, flume, etc. Indian Summer day clear and cold.
  • Dec. 27, 1898: Purcell, Hawgood, Drake and I met at Mulholland's office to examine pipe but Schuyler telephons us that Adams cannot come so we postone till tomorrow at 10 a.m.
  • 10 a.m Wednesday Kays, Schuyler, Lippincott, Adams, Kohig... Purcell, Drake, Mulhollandand and I meet at the.. Water Co. office, and examine pipe, Mr. Dunn, Mr. Keanealy, Mr. Eaton... 38 pipes about 4 ft. long... 
  • Wednesday, Jan. 1899. Capt. ? came at 9 a.m.. The Bd of Arbitrators met at 10 a.m. at Company's office to examine pipe in the basement, cor. Alameda & 1st street...Col. Mendell asks Mr. Mulholland "How is it that the pipe shows up so well when it has so bad a repulation?" Mr. Mulholland replies that "they have replaced a great quantity of the bad pipe with new pipe, and the old bad pipe is nearly all taken out."
  • Feb, 14, 1899. afternoon we meet at 2 p.m. Mr. Schuyler and Mr. Mulholland on the stand...
  • April 4, '99. Mem: Suggestion; suppose in boom times lands on board for hotels can line water and gas pipes...for 30, at end of ....time.. rails pipes... the owner of the land could not expect to get more than the actual value in plan; if the boom had burst and left the property stranded he would have to be content with the value in place. If successful the value would be greater... ...Johnston Baker Block.
• Whittier. March 1898.  Pocket notebook. Approx. 50 pages. Field notes for plats, a few sketch maps. Notes on locations of various fruit and nut crops: peaches, apricots, lemons, oranges, blackberries, walnuts, 
• Catalina. Jan. 1900. Small pocket notebook. Approx. 40 pages. Field sketches. 
  • Jan. 11, 1900. I go to Avalon, morning. Fare 0.50. Stop at Metropole ... We measure and remeasure the tide points also the lots nos. 1-1, -5 etc. in Blk 33, Avalon. Small plat sketch.
  • Jan. 15, 1900. Monday I attend to Banning work and Union Oil Co's work and go to Norwalk evening.
• Rancho Alamitos lots [Long Beach]. 1902. Pocket notebook. Unbound. Approx. 50 pages. Surveying and travel notes. 
  • Sat. Nov 7, '02 I came downtown on the 9 a.m. S.P train to make survey for Mrs. Whitten - Lots 3 & 4, Blk R[ancho] Alamitos Tract. Mrs. Witten and Mr. Walis? call evening to formulate plan for subdivision.
  • Tuesday 6 a.m. Nov. 18th '02. I fix map of Laguna for O'Melvany and take 7 a.m. electric for Delano.
• Woodville, Laguna, Baker, Anaheim Landing. Oct. 10, 1902 - Sept. 1903. 4 3/4 x 7 1/2 inches. Full sheep, spine shot, covers hanging by cords. Approx. 80 pages.
  • If lost and found return to : C. T. Healey, 235 Ocean Ave., Long Beach, California.
  • Healey's retaking Flint's courses, Flints being magnetic these being true from sta. 78 which is A in Fred Bixby's fence.
• Jan. - Apr. 1903. Pocket notebook. Approx. 80 pages. Extensive survey notes and diagrams, sketch maps, etc. 
  • Fri. Jan. 2, '03. I go with Jotham Bixby, Geo. H. B. and Mr. Allen of Pasadena, to the Sand Spit (McGarvin's). 
  • Jan . 3rd. Half day levelling on Alamitos, with Hyde. 
  • Sunday Jan. 4, '03. I work on map of Blount and [Panner?], Jotham B., Geo H. B. and George Flint home; a consultation meeting at my house, if it is Sunday - over the matter of proposed change in the plat of Ocean Front, Alamitos.
  • Feb. 19, '03. I get up at 6 a.m. (I worked last night till 1:30 this morning) I take 8:45 Santa Fe Train to Fullerton.
• Bixby, Banning, and Belmont Heights. April 1903 - Nov. 1906. Cream-colored flexible cloth notebook. 4 6.75 inches. Approx. 50 pages. Several sketch maps, including intersection of Daisy and Anaheim, west of Magnolia, in Long Beach. Belmont Heights would be incorporated in 1908, and shortly thereafter annexed to Long Beach:
  • Tuesday, Ap. 14th, '03. I meet Mr. North at Banning office at 8 a.m. I meet the meeting at Capt. [Edgar] Jadwin's U.S. Engineer's office, Bradbury Bldg. at 10:30 I go to Pac. El. Ry. office at little before noon.... Go with Pillsbury to Stineson Blk. at 11:50. I get maps of Marevista and give them to Capt. Banning. I go to San Pedro with Mr North at 1:30. We look for and find corners of Banning Partition of 1891. Return to Los Angeles, I get more maps from Banning's office.
  • Friday, Jan. 26, '06, I got off at Los Cerritos Sta. (P. E. Ry) on my way down from Los A to L.B. at 3:30 P.M. Geo. H. Bixby meets me with horse and buggy and we drive down to the river bottom near Tolle's, and get ready for work next Monday. Description of the G. H. Bixby property (the 700 acre tract).
  • Sunday, Feb. 11, '06. Rain last night. I got black man and buggy and Dorothy Standish and I drive down to Daisy and Anaheim Road [Long Beach].
• Travel and surveying notes. 1904. Unbound pocket notebook. Approx. 40 pages. 
  • April 3, 1904. I go to Long Beach from Los Angeles thence to Anaheim Landing. I get Louis Boltz to take me across the inlet, and to carry the rod for ... measurement.
  • Thursday April 7, '04. I go to Wilmington, Mr Hyde Wagner and Allan Murphy. I retrace the tide... according to the ... of Banning partition.
• Bixby Park. Kenyon Tract. Long Beach. 1905. Small pocket notebook. Approx. 50 pages. Sketch maps and field notes. 
• Steans Ranchos. Stern & Goodman. 1906. Unbound notebook. Approx. 50 pages. Brief survey notes on 28 lots. Sketch map on last page. 
  • Notes of part of Section 28, Township 3 South, Range 11 West San Bernardino Meridian, part of Rancho Los Coyotes (Stearns Ranchos) Los Angeles Co, Cal. Property of the Traveler's Eucalyptus Club. Surveyed by C. T. Healey, Oct. 1906. There are 28 lots of about 5 acres each.
• D.J. Rancho Los Coches (Salinas Valley, Monterey County). Montana Land Co. (Long Beach). Encinitas (San Diego). 1907-1908. Pocket notebook. Full sheep, front cover detached.  Approx. 80 pages. Field notes and sketch maps. 
  • Los Coches. Witness trees. On line between Rancho Los Coches and Ex-Mission Soledad...These trees stand up on the timbered bench... and are marked by cutting down to the wood entirely, removing a square of the bark, as shown above. Includes a pencil sketch of marked oak tree. 
  • Sept. 6th 1907. Rene, Lena and I go to Encinitas: (Lena meets us at La Grande Station at 8 a.m.) I go on same train to San Diego, Mr. Cable also. I pay Mr Cable for the N 100 ft. of Block No. 38. I go out to see the two lots in University Heights of Mrs. Hill. I take the 11:30 P.M. train for Encinitas.
  • Montana Land Co. (the first day for W.A. Clark). Thursday Ap. 2nd 1908. I go by S. P. L. A. and S. L . Ry to Bixby Sta. Clark's team and man meet me. 
• Account book for laborers and expenses on surveys for W. A. Clark on Rancho Los Alamitos. April - July 1908.
• May 26, 1908 - June 1908. 32 pages on blue paper, stitched into repurposed red sheep memoranda book binding. C.T.H. initials on front cover. A few sketch maps.
  • I go with Mr. Wilhart....Jean Capron and Myron Hecht (same boys as last week) to the second mile N of Sugar Rd, and continue...
• Montana Land Company. [Rancho Los Cerritos]. 1908-1909. Cloth "Memoranda" book. 4 x 7 inches. 119 pages. [pp. 97-100 excised]. Densely written travel narrative. Several sketches, including railroad platforms. James Ross Clark (1850-1927), brother of William A. Clark, also made a fortune in copper mining and banking in Montana. Came to Los Angeles in 1892. Envisioned a railroad between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, formed the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad in 1902. Subdivided Las Vegas, Nevada in 1905. Around 1898 the Clark brothers purchased about 9000 acres of Rancho Cerritos and Los Alamitos from the Bixby family. They established a sugar beet factory, and bought the Santa Ana and Newport railroads, which ran between Newport Beach, Santa Ana, and Westminster, expanding the rail line to the sugar beet operation and a connection to San Pedro.
  • Memoranda of surveys of the Clark Track on R[anch]o Los Cerritos in pursuance of instructions from Mr. J. Ross Clark. I go April 2nd 1908, without a party, by S.P.L.A. and S.L.R.  from Long Beach to Bixby Station, morning train...
  • I go to Los Angeles from Long B. to see young Walter Clark [son of J. Ross Clark, and who would perish on the Titanic in 1912] arrange with him to go to Cerritos Rancho tomorrow. I go to E. San Pedro by S. P. L. A. S. P. train this afternoon." Mentions: Cooperative colony on 1000 acre tract formerly owned by George F. Bixby.
• Miscellaneous loose survey notes similar to those found in the above field notebooks. Approx 6 pages.

Deeds, legal documents, and other surveying field notes:

Los Vergeles. U.S. Field Notes. From Patent. 1858. 3 leaves. Manuscript survey field notes. 

Field Notes of the final survey of the Rancho of La Merced situated in the County of Los Angeles Executed by Henry Hancock, Dep in conformity to instructions bearing date September 1, 1858. 

Hellman vs. Anaheim Landing, etc. 1 page. N.d. but circa 1920s. Typescript. Docketed: Memorandum of Matters for Investigation.

San Lorenzo by J. E. Terrell, Depy. Surveyor. Survey commenced February 15th 1860. 3  leaves. Manuscript. "Begin at a leaning white oak tree..."

The Notes of the Survey of the San Lorenzo Rancho... 1872. 3 pages. Manuscript. Docketed "Henry Miller."

Description of Boundary Between the Ranchos Los Cerritos and Los Coyotes, established by agreement of the owners of said Ranchos by Chas. T. Healey, assisted by Geo. W. Woodward. December 1877. 6 pages. Manuscript. Docketed: Los Coyotes, Los Cerritos / 1878 / 1883 / Bixby, Flint, / A. Robinson, Trustee / Healey - Woodward / Stearns Ranchos

Field Notes of New Boundary between Ranchos Los Cerritos and Los Coyotes established by agreement of the owners of said Ranchos, by Charles T. Healey, assisted by Geo. M. Woodward. December 1877. (completed Mar 1878). 

Descriptive Field Notes of Survey of the Bonudary between Ranchos Los Bolsas and Sanitago de Santa Ana as re-established in November 1878 by Wm. P. Reynolds and Chas. T. Healey. Plus another of the same or similar text.

Eastern Boundary of Rancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana. 6 leaves. Manuscript survey. N.d. but ca. 1870s.

Field Notes of the Final Survey of the Juristae Ranchos, by S. W. Smith, U. S. Deputy Surveyor. 7 leaves. Manuscript. N.d. ca. 1870s. "Beginning at a post marked J16 in the center of the Pescadero Creek..."

Field Notes of the Survey of the First Standard Parallel South Range Eight West. San Bernardino Meridian in the State of California, by William Minto, Deputy Surveyor, under his contract of Nov. 1874. 5 pages. Manuscript.

County of Santa Clara, Superior Court. James Sargent vs. Eugene A. Carlisle. Partition Report of Commissioners. 10 pages. Sept. 16, 1880. Manuscript. 

Wilmington, Los Angeles Co. Subpoena issued by Wilmington Court (L.A. County), addressed to Healey relating to Juan Sepulveda case. April 25, 1888. "Charles T. Healey, with all the official maps of the Town of San Pedro as filed by you in the partition suit of the Palos Verdes Rancho, 1882.

Description of Land Deeded by the Stearns Ranchos Company to the California Central Railway Company. July 1888. Typescript. 

Deed of lands: A. H. Dunlap to Harvey Lindley. Jun 26, 1891.

Land in Counties of Orange and Los Angeles. Oil rights, etc. J. J. Meelus. Typed document. 1892.   

Cabon copies of contract relating to surveying in Chatsworth Park, Aug. 7, 1893. 

Folding plat map of Mrs. Strong's land (1000 acres) in Montebello by Healey. Approx. 27 x 21 inches. With extensive survey measurements. Tears with some paper loss. Docketed in pencil in 1957: "Inside: Healey & Rowan (Hall) Plat Montebello Vicinity. Circled in red pencil, marked land of Mrs. Strong." Aug. 1906. 

Description of Southern Portion of lands of Heirs of J. W. Bixby in Rancho Canon de Santa Ana. 1 page. Manuscript. Nov. 23, 1893. ing. Typed legal document. Docketed "Hellman case." N.d. but ca. 1920s.