Wheeling and Dealing With Dwight Whiting

Dwight Whiting was definitely a man with a mission.

On second thought, better make that several.

The first was to find a place to live that wouldn’t aggravate his asthma and had potential for development.

Many years of  later, Whiting decided upon the as yet untapped area we now know as Lake Forest. 

First mission accomplished!

After purchasing as much acreage in this ideal paradise as possible, Whiting’s next goal was to promote the area as the perfect location for fruit farming and raising families. His target audience? The younger sons of wealthy British families who’d be more likely to immigrate, given that primogeniture would leave them without significant inheritance.

So Whiting established the beginnings of his own ranch and orchards, then informed the Los Angeles Times of the following, reported on Feb. 22, 1893:  

ENGLISH SETTLERS FOR ORANGE COUNTY E. P. Hoyle, agent for the ranch of Dwight Whiting, near El Toro, Orange county, returned yesterday from England, where he has been to secure settlers for the tract mentioned, which is highly improved. Mr. Whiting has already expended between $8,000 and $10,000 in placing his property before the English public.

While Hoyle was in England promoting fruit farming in California, Whiting then sat down to write an . Later that year he sailed for England, had his manuscript published in London, then proceeded to promote his great concept.  

Only a few Englishmen took advantage of the opportunity. But among them was , a retired sea captain, who would turn out to be one of El Toro’s most respected residents.  

So we’ll give Dwight Whiting another mission accomplished.

As it turned out, however, Whiting also was facing another challenge. Soon after acquiring his California property he’d also acquired a wife, the former Emily Keating. Emily’s parents, , were delighted with the home their new son-in-law built for them on property just adjacent his own ranch. But their daughter was less smitten with the newly-christened community of El Toro. Desirous of city life, the petite, auburn-haired Emily convinced her husband that moving to a fine home in Los Angeles was the better option.

So, in the process of finding buyers for his as yet unsold El Toro properties, Dwight also had put most of his own ranch up for sale. Once that was accomplished, he sought buyers for his fine stable of horses and placed the following notice in the March 15, 1893 edition of the L. A. Times:

FOR SALE—HAVING SOLD MY extensive orchards, I wish to dispose of my horses at prices to suit the times: one 5-year-old brown mare, weight 1100, warranted sound, kind and gentle to all harness, has been used in orchard, price $125; one brown mare, 10 years old, used in orchard, 1100 lbs.; kind, gentle, and fast, an extra buggy animal, price $75; one Percheron gelding, 3 years old, broken single or double, weight 1000, will weigh 300 more at 5 years, warranted sound and kind, price $100; one Oscar Steinway gelding, 3 years (halter broken), shows good action, price $35; one bay filly, 2 years (damn well bred Garvey mare) shows great power, halter broken, price $35; one Beaconsfield (Cleveland Bay) filly, 8 months, price $50; one Shire colt, 8 months, price $50; these last two are bargains; will make large, fine horses; one large bay filly yearling, will make a large animal, price $25; one 5-year-old saddle filly, well broken, good for polo or cross-country riding, warranted sound, price $35; one bay mare, 7 years, warranted sound, gentle and kind, not afraid of cars or guns, single, double or saddle, suitable for ladies or camping; one 10 year old Almont mare (colt at side) registered, a good brood mare, or for work of any kind, price $75 for both; one 1000-lb Percheron stallion, a sure foal-getter, warranted sound and kind in all harness, a very gentle animal and easily handled, price $600 (worth $1500) will take good notes or cash in payment for any or all above stock; also a lot of colts sired by above stallion at low figures: call and see them; pasture ½ mile from El Toro Station. DWIGHT WHITING, El Toro.

ENTREPRENEUR EXTRAORDINAIRRE 

Once he’d sold his horses and established Emily and their daughter Nathalie in Los Angeles, Whiting continued his real estate dealings. And here, as an example, is yet another item from the LA Times:

ELA VIEW December 9, 1893 Dwight Whiting, an English gentleman who has a model fruit ranch near El Toro, in Orange county, has sold over five hundred lots in the Ela View tract, East Los Angeles, to U. H. Gowen, for $11,000. The lots are north of Downey avenue and command a fine view of the city and surrounding country.

In fact, less than a month before staging his great El Toro land sale, the following item appeared in the Jan. 22,1903, LA Times, under the headline LARGE RANCH SOLD, and bearing the previous day's dateline:

SANTA ANA, Jan. 21—J. N. Victor of San Bernardino has sold his 1400 acre ranch at El Toro to Dwight Whiting, who formerly lived near El Toro. The ranch comprises some excellent grain land, and sheep ranges on the Rancho Canada de los Alisos, and brought $30,000. Other purchases of note are those of the Freese ranch, fifty acres, at Tustin, by H. K. Snow, for $5,000, and the J. D. Thomas home place at Tustin by H. A. Allen for $10,000. With thee activity in sale of ranch property there is also a marked amount of city realty transferred.

You might have noticed Whiting’s purchase was the first of several listed. Part of the reason for that would be the sheer amount of acreage. But Dwight Whiting also had made a name for himself as a land baron, and his various wheelings and dealings were always a subject of curiosity and interest.

Less than two weeks after the above notice, in fact, a in the LA Times gave readers a heads up regarding 500 Minnesotans who’d be settling on Whiting’s El Toro acerage. As mentioned earlier, however, this seems to have based more on supposition than fact. So if you or anyone you know is a descendant of these 500 Minnesotans, I’d very much like to hear from you.   

Of course Dwight Whiting’s next big project—a —turned out to be a little less than what he’d intended, given that the previous night Mother Nature had decided to drop temperatures to below freezing. Still, he did manage to find a few buyers, some of whom—in retrospect—came away with hot deals on that very cold day.

El Toro was on it’s way to becoming less of a chrysalis and more of a butterfly.

A country butterfly, to be sure—but still, a butterfly!