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The History of Howard Springs [the land now known as Avalon Springs]
from The Historical Architecture Report by Charles M. Mobley
Part One: How it became Howard Hot Springs
For over 130 years, Avalon’s hot and cold springs were known as Howard Springs. The land that became Howard Springs is said to have been purchased in 1863 by J.M. Collins, who lived there for one year. It’s not known who claiming ownership would have sold the springs to Collins; as Ellen Klages points out in regard to James Harbin’s “purchase” of Harbin Springs in 1856, early land title was largely a matter of possession. Legal entitlement and recording were in force by 1861, when the Clear Lake district detached from Napa County to become Lake County.
The History of Howard Springs [the land now known as Avalon Springs]
from The Historical Architecture Report by Charles M. Mobley
Part One: How it became Howard Hot Springs
For over 130 years, Avalon’s hot and cold springs were known as Howard Springs. The land that became Howard Springs is said to have been purchased in 1863 by J.M. Collins, who lived there for one year. It’s not known who claiming ownership would have sold the springs to Collins; as Ellen Klages points out in regard to James Harbin’s “purchase” of Harbin Springs in 1856, early land title was largely a matter of possession. Legal entitlement and recording were in force by 1861, when the Clear Lake district detached from Napa County to become Lake County.
1863 J.M. Collins purchases springs property that will become Howard Springs Palmer (1881:225)
1869, Dec. 4 James W. Howard purchases Cushman farm, Seigler Valley (excludes springs) Deeds Book 2:54 1870, Sept. 12 James W. Howard files patent claim on Cushman farm Patents Book 1:60 1870, Sept. 14 James W. Howard files homestead claim on Cushman farm Homesteads Book1:106 1872, Feb. 29 Proposed Mills Toll Road map shows trail to “Howards Springs” Articles of Incorporation, Lake Co. 1876, Mar. 13 Howard’s first advertisement for Howard Springs appears The Lake Democrat: Mar. 13, 1876 1878, Jan. 28 James W. Howard sells 160 acre Howard Springs to August Heisch Miscellaneous Records Book 2:8 1879, July 12 August Heisch files homestead claim on Howard Springs Homesteads Book 1:351 1881, April 4 August Heisch files patent claim on Howard Springs Patents Book 3:240 1882, Aug. 28 Widow Caroline Heisch obtains homestead of August Heisch (deceased) Homesteads Book 2:43 1887, Oct. 13 Caroline Heisch sells Howard Springs to Philip and (wife) Margaretha Sieben Deeds Book 19:128 1891, April 30 Philip Sieben sells Howard Springs to Charles L.A. Scott Deeds Book 23:343 1892 Howard Springs becomes home of Putah Post Office Feltman (1993:39) 1892, Oct. 31 Estate of Margaretha Sieben (deceased) yields rights in Howard Springs to C.A. Scott Deeds Book 24:525 1896, April 9 Charles L.A. Scott sells Howard Springs to Lizzie H. Beeby Deeds Book 28:471 1898, Aug. 1 Lizzie H. Beeby files to protect Howard Springs from bankruptcy Deeds Book 30:249 1900 Howard Springs loses official Putah Post Office Feltman (1993:39) 1904 Howard Springs resort stops canceling mail under name “Howard Springs” Feltman (1993:39) 1906, Mar. 29 J.W. Laymance and two associates incorporate Seigler Mining Company Cal. State Articles of Incorp. 45862 1907, Aug. 8 J.W. Laymance and E.E. Laymance incorporate Howard Springs Company Cal. State Articles of Incorp. 51363 1907, Oct. 29 Minnie W. Laymance sells Howard Springs to Howard Springs Company Deeds Book 39:613 1907, Oct. 29 E.E. Laymance and wife Minnie sell Howard Springs to Howard Springs Co. Deeds Book 41:40 1909, May 8 Howard Springs Co (J.W. and E.E. Laymance) sell Howard Springs to C.M. Miller Deeds Book 42:211 1909, July 22 C.M. Miller sells Howard Springs to J.W. Laymance (not recorded until Mar. 18, 1912) Deeds Book 46:445 1912, Oct. 12 Widow of C.H. King sues C.M. Miller, J.W. Laymance et al., prompting Lake Co. to auction Howard Springs, purchased by J.H. King for $11,880.26; recorded Dec. 22, 1913 1913, Dec. 22 J.H. King sells Howard Springs to M.J. Laymance and William J. Laymance Deeds Book 50:444 1921, May 11 M.J. Laymance and William J. Laymance sell Howard Springs to Harold W. Jewett Deeds Book 61:56 1926, July 26 J.P. Francisco has Howard Springs advertisement in Middletown Times Star Middletown Times Star 1(22):4 1929, Oct. 26 Mary I. Clancy sells 40 acres of the core 160 acre parcel to George J. Hatfield Official Records Book 58:285 1929, Nov. 10 Howard Springs resort burns down. Lake County Bee 58(24):1 1929, Dec. 5 George J. Hatfield issues $10,000 mortgage to J.P. and Cora Francisco on other 120 acres of the core 160 acre Howard Springs parcel to rebuild resort Official Records Book 61:183 1936, Aug. 31 Western Title Insurance issues mortgage document of $15,500 on Howard Deeds Book 112:462/463 Springs to J.P. and Cora Francisco 1943, April 15 Mortgage now between Bank of America and J.P. and Cora Francisco Deeds Book 147:456 1945, Oct. 6 J.P. and Cora Francisco pay off [1943] 1936 Bank of America mortgage Deeds Book 164:367 1945, Oct. 6 J.P. Francisco and Cora Francisco sell Howard Springs to George Pappas, Deeds Book 164:369 James and wife Julia Pappas, and Bill and wife Dina Pappas 1972, July 19 Upon 1969 death of James, wife Julia Pappas obtains Howard Springs interest Deeds Book 735:5 1973 Bill and Dina Pappas sell Howard Springs interest to Elio and Gerda Giusti Elio Giusti interview 1976, July 1 Julia Pappas sells interest in Howard Springs to Elio and wife Gerda Giusti Deeds Book 837:580 Table 1. Time line of Howard Springs property events, mostly from Lake County records. Charles Davenport Cushman was a 49-year old farmer from Massachusetts when he registered to vote on October 30, 1868. His farm took up much of southern Seigler Valley. On December 4, 1869, two months after Cushman’s wife died, James W. Howard paid him $1,500 for 360 acres stretching almost two miles from the southern Seigler Valley northwest far up the mountainside north of Bonanza Springs. As early as 1881 it was erroneously reported that C.W. Howard was the first owner of the springs that came to bear his name. That source -- the first comprehensive “History of Napa and Lake Counties, California” -- has been cited often in the history of Howard Springs, repeating the error. James Washington Howard was a 35-year old mechanic from Indiana in August of 1866, when he registered to vote in Lake County. To solidify his entitlement to Cushman’s Seigler Valley property, he not only had the sale document recorded but also filed homestead and patent claims on the land. His purchase of Cushman’s farm included a house and a building labeled “C.D. Cushman’s Barn,” according to the state township survey of July 7th, 1868; its mapped location corresponds to that of a very old barn on Big Canyon Road today, and they are probably the same building. The Cushman farm abutted the Howard Springs property to the south but didn’t include it; how and from whom James W. Howard purchased the 160 acres containing the springs has not been determined. A fire at the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport on February 15, 1867, destroyed all the County’s records except for one of the Treasurer’s Books, so perhaps the records of an earlier purchase were destroyed. Howard must have possessed the land by 1872, because the 1872 map filed with the Lake County Recorder for the proposed Mills Toll Road shows an existing trail from Adams Springs around the east side of “Sigler” Mountain, with a short fork “to Howards Springs.” J.M. Collins could have sold the springs property directly to Howard; he continued to reside in Lake County, listing himself as a 45-year old farmer with a 30-year old wife Elizabeth and children William (age 14), Edward (age 12), Robert (age 10), Annie (age 7), and a six-year old daughter who’s name is indistinct, according to the 1880 Middletown Precinct Census. According to a 1959 interview with Hubert Borchelt (probably Hubert Jr.) of Cobb Valley, a Mr. Ely owned the south end of Seigler Valley including what became known as Howard Springs, and J.W. Howard married Ely’s daughter and thereby received the land as a gift. The Mr. Ely was probably Thomas Benjamin Ely, a 41-year old farmer in September of 1877 when he registered to vote in Lake County. No archival sources were found confirming Borchelt’s account. James W. Howard did have a family, listing himself as a 29-year old “stock raiser” in the 1860 Vacaville Township census at the Putah Post Office with a wife Sarah (age 24), two daughters Nancy J. (age 6) and Marian H (age 3), and a four-month old infant. |
Part Two: 1875-1892
An 1875 map filed in support of a proposed county road from Middletown to Lower Lake via Big Canyon shows only two buildings at “Howard’s Springs.” While commercial development of Lake County’s natural springs proceeded vigorously in the early 1870s, with Victorian spas built around Bartlett Springs, Harbin Springs, Adam Springs, Seigler Springs, and others, Howard Springs was not among them. Nonetheless, James W. Howard was advertising the springs by early 1876. One year later, in the county newspaper of April 21, 1877, he described the resort with a “new hotel, newly furnished throughout.” Howard’s spring was initially a place for people to camp, but his modest lodge, cabins, and bathing pools in 1877 still had 100 visitors when visited on horseback by “Scio” and described in The Lake Democrat. The April 21, 1877 advertisement in The Lake Democrat boasted that the new hotel would be kept open summer and winter, “the water proving equally efficacious the year round.” But in early 1878, after operating two full years, James W. Howard sold the resort to August Heisch. August Heisch identified himself as 56 years old in 1878, a mechanic from Germany, when he registered to vote in Lake County. After the sale was recorded, Heisch went on to file a homestead claim on Howard Springs in 1879, and a patent claim in 1881. By August of 1882 he was dead, without a will. Mentioned in court documents disposing of his estate was property accompanying “Heisch’s Springs” including a hotel, barn, cabins, stage coach and two horses, one set of harness, “bar room furniture,” “bed room furniture,” “kitchen furniture,” and a piano, ultimately valued at $4,000. Named as next-of-kin were his widow Carolina (sometimes Caroline) Heisch, aged 61; presumably a daughter of age 30 named Carolina (last name indistinct) Evers of Sacramento, and a daughter aged 16 named Louisa Heisch. An 1884-1885 business directory published by Granger’s Business Association identifies Mrs. Caroline Heisch as the “proprietress” of Howard Springs, with Miss L. Heisch as the waitress. Their mail was delivered to Glenbrook, an early stage stop and resort near what became Hoberg’s Resort on Cobb Mountain. A stage coach brought clients from Woodland (north of Sacramento) to Lower Lake, where they were met by the Howard Springs stage on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, or they were collected at Glenbrook on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, enabling persons leaving San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, or Woodland in the morning to arrive at the Springs the same evening. The facilities included a hotel, 12 cabins, “six tub baths, and one plunge.” That was enough infrastructure for Howard Springs to boast of accommodations for more than 80 people. Guests could stay and eat in the lodge for ten or twelve dollars per week, rent a cabin and cook for themselves for three dollars per week, or camp. Individuals arriving on their own horse or wagon were offered a stable and pasture for a small fee. The resort was open “most of the year.” Still, in 1882 editor R.W. Crump of The Lake County Bee didn’t identify Howard Springs as yet comparable with other resorts, stating that “Bartlett’s, Highlands, Harbin’s, Pearson’s, Seigler, and Anderson’s are best known abroad; but there are a dozen more whose waters are very fine, and that will become famous.” Mrs. Heisch advertised again in Granger’s subsequent 1886-1887 directory. But after five years of running Howard Springs by herself, Caroline Heisch signed court documents in October of 1887 yielding her role as executrix of August Heisch’s estate, and sold the property to Philip and Margaretha Sieben. Philip Sieben (also spelled Phillip and Philipp) was a fellow German immigrant, listing himself as a 47-year old hotel keeper when he registered to vote in Lake County on September 4, 1887. His wife Margaretha died March 22, 1888. Philip Sieben advertised the resort eloquently in such outlets as an 1888 book promoting Lake County. The San Francisco Blue Book of 1888-89 (pp. 234) identified Sieben as the proprietor and George Eff as the lessee. But Sieben held the property for only four years, selling it to Charles Louis Adolph Scott on April 30, 1891. Charles L.A. Scott was the third German immigrant in a row to acquire Howard Springs, listing himself as a 52-year old hotel keeper from Putah when he registered to vote in Lake County on September 30, 1892. Howard Springs had just become home to the official Putah Post Office, in 1892, with Scott as postmaster. Anderson reported that “the resort is growing every year.” The presence of a U.S. post office likely increased the local prominence of Howard Springs, and the thermal waters were included in an 1894 mineralogical analysis of the region’s springs published in the Twelfth Report of the California State Mineralogist. Part 3: 1896-1906 In 1896 Mrs. R.J. (Lizzie) Beeby purchased Howard Springs from Charles Scott, taking on the role of official Putah postmaster. Three photographs illustrating an advertising brochure show the resort then including an L-shaped lodge (lacking the east wing) and two-story annex, with landscaped springs, small wood-framed bathhouses, and a boardwalk to keep clients above the marshy area near the springs. Already the resort could boast of a “telephone on the premises.” But in two years Mrs. Beeby was filing to protect Howard Springs from her creditors, and after 1898 a gap in the property ownership appears in county records. By then Sunset Magazine recognized Howard Springs as one of Lake County’s “summer resorts,” along with Harbin, Anderson, Adams, Hoberg’s, Astorg, Glenbrook, Bonanza, Seigler, Bartlett, Carlsbad, and Highland Springs, all but Bartlett reached by stage from Calistoga with an overnight stop either at Calistoga or Napa. In 1900 R.F. Dockery, owner of nearby Bonanza Springs, was appointed postmaster at Howard Springs, but he declined the position. After a run of nine years (1892-1900) the official U.S. Putah Post Office at Howard Springs was closed, although the resort continued to cancel mail under the name “Howard Springs” until at least 1904, with official service from Lower Lake. In the twentieth century Howard Springs was owned primarily by only four parties, the first of which was the Laymance family. M.J. Laymance & Company was a successful Oakland real estate firm owned by Millard J. and John Walter Laymance, responsible among other things for subdividing 120 acres into lots for the town of Windsor in Sonoma County in the late 1880s. Millard J. Laymance came to California in about 1875 from Georgia, making money first in vineyards in Sonoma County, then raising cattle in Nevada and investing in gold and copper mines, returning to California to raise wheat in the San Joaquin County, and finally turning to real estate. In keeping with other San Francisco and Seattle businessmen, he got financially involved in the 1897 Klondike gold strike in the Yukon Territory. For over 40 years local business directories beginning with Bishop’s Oakland Directory of 1881-82 to Polk- -- continued on next page |