Dwight Whiting’s Fabulously Frigid Land Sale

Last week’s story dealt with Dwight Whiting’s great El Toro land sale ... which turned out to be not quite so great after all. 

Why? Well, when the temperature dips overnight to such an extreme that the water tank near the train depot is showing icicles reaching all the way to the ground, you may just have a problem.

Or, as Clara Mason Fox recorded in her 1939 El Toro history, only a fraction of the number anticipated showed up—and those 50 or so who did were busier shivering than bidding—that the auctioneer facetiously announced he’d be glad to throw in a twelve-story hotel.

Alas, Clara Mason Fox did not mention the date of this sale, nor did Joe Osterman, El Toro’s master historian of the 1980s and 1990s.

So I mentioned my dilemma to Herb Abrams, a volunteer in the genealogy section of the Mission Viejo Library.  A day or two later, Herb emailed me the following article:

El Toro Land Sale

SANTA ANA, Feb. 12—Over three hundred town lots and a large number of five and ten acre ranch tracts on and near the town site of El Toro will be sold at public auction Saturday of this week by Dwight Whiting, formerly of El Toro, but now a resident of Los Angeles, who owns extensive realty interests in and about El Toro. The land involved in the big sale is good farming property and comprises a large portion of the town of El Toro, being offered for sale by Mr. Whiting as a means of inducing settlers to locate. The scheme falls in line with his general plan of colonizing the Whiting ranch, to accomplish which he is now carrying on negotiations with a large colony of Minnesota farmers, who are preparing to come to El Toro this spring and locate permanently with their families. Excursions will be run on the day of the auction, and a free lunch provided.

And the complete citation on this article, published by the Los Angeles Times? Although the dateline showed Santa Ana, Feb. 12, the publication date was listed as Friday, Feb. 13—hmm, now there’s an omen!—giving local investors just enough time to plan on hopping aboard the Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe the next day ... until they stepped outside that Saturday morning and noted the thermometer was showing below freezing. 

Oh, and the year? 1903!

All the same, for those who did brave the cold and place a winning bid or two, I think it's safe to say, 109 years later, that Valentine's Day 1903 turned out to be a sweetheart of a day.