John Goller
John Goller | |
|---|---|
| Member of theLos Angeles Common Council | |
| In office 1865 – 1866 | |
| In office 1863–1862 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 7, 1825 Bavaria |
| Died | July 7, 1874 (aged 49) |
John Goller(July 7, 1825 – July 7, 1874) was an American pioneer and the first blacksmith inLos Angeles, California.He owned a blacksmith and carriage-making business and was a member of the governing body of Los Angeles as well as a founder of the city's first gas company.
Early life
[edit]Goller was born inBavariaon July 7, 1825. He grew up in a community of miners inSt. Louis, Missouri,before settling inIllinois.[1]
Career
[edit]John Goller set out with otherCalifornia Gold RushpioneersfromGalesburg, Illinois,on April 5, 1849, and traveled with them through Missouri toSalt Lake City.From there, they traveled on theSouthern Emigrant Trailon December 4, 1849, but were redirected to California on an unrecorded route. The emigrants, included two children, age four and seven, traveled throughDeath Valley,often without water. Eventually they found their way to theSanta Clarita Valley,where they were welcomed, fed and given shelter.[2]
When Goller arrived in Los Angeles, a man named Louis Wilhart or Wilhardt outfitted Goller withblacksmithingtools and sent him customers. He was the firstblacksmithin Los Angeles;[3]his first order was for anawning,for which he received five hundred dollars. He put together an American-stylewagon,which remained unsold for a time because "The native people gazed at it with curiosity, but distrust, and went back to theircarretas."[4][5]
The porch roof of his wagon shop at the corner ofLos Angeles Streetand Commercial Street, which was a block south of Negro Alley, then part ofChinatown,was used as alynchingspot in theChinese massacre of 1871,in which eighteen Chinese were confirmed dead.[6]
Goller alsomade shoes,one account relating that he "hunted up old tires thrown away on the plains" to make them. "[5]Goller was the second man in the Los Angeles area to invest in a team oftrotters.
In June 1867, Goller joined with James Hagan, W.H. Perry, Wallace Woodworth and George J. Clark to incorporate the firstgas companyin Los Angeles, whose population was then about 5,000. One historian later observed that the gas was made from "brea[tar],grape pumice,wood, coal and pretty near every thing available from which it could be derived.... In time, coal imported from Australia became the source. "
He worked in theforwarding businessinSan Pedro, Los Angeles,in competition withPhineas Banning,and also continued hisprospectingendeavors in partnership with Grant B. Cuddeback. Goller eventually sold his forwarding business toJ.M. Griffith,a lumberman.[7][8][9]
Goller served on theLos Angeles Common Councilfrom 1862 to 1863 and again from 1865 to 1866. At the time,Common Councilwas the main governing body of the city, which had a population of 1,610 in 1850 and 4,385 in 1860.[10]
John Goller is memorialized in Goller Canyon, located in the southern portion of thePanamint Range,which offers passage from thePanamint Valleyinto Death Valley.[11][12][13]
Personal life
[edit]Goller died on July 7, 1874.[14]He was survived by three daughters, his wife having predeceased him.[3]One daughter, Christine, was born in 1863 and married George Stephenson in 1886.[4]
References
[edit]- ^Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (2015-02-28).Settlers of the American West: The Lives of 231 Notable Pioneers.McFarland.ISBN978-1-4766-1904-0.
- ^Horace Bell,On the Old West Coast, Being Further Reminiscences of a Ranger,Ayer Publishing (1976)
- ^ab"Local Brevities,"Los Angeles Herald,July 9, 1874, image 4
- ^ab"Passes Her Life Here,"Los Angeles Times,May 18, 1913, page 18
- ^ab[1]Juan Jose Warner,An Historical Sketch of Los Angeles County, California, From the Spanish Occupancy...
- ^John H. Johnson Jr., "How Los Angeles Covered Up the Massacre of 17 Chinese,"LA Weekly,March 10, 2011
- ^"The Lost Goler Mine," The Geo Zone
- ^Hidalgo, "Blooded Horses: The Horse in Southern California,"Los Angeles Times,August 15, 1895, page 8
- ^Joseph D. Lynch, "Germans Who Helped Make Los Angeles,"Los Angeles Herald,August 20, 1905, image 14
- ^Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials,1850-1938,compiled under direction of Municipal Reference Library, City Hall, Los Angeles (March 1938, reprinted 1966). "Prepared... as a report on Project No. SA 3123-5703-6077-8121-9900 conducted under the auspices of theWorks Progress Administration."
- ^"Goler Canyon,"Death Valley Journal,June 20, 2009ArchivedJanuary 4, 2012, at theWayback Machine
- ^Larry M. Vredenburgh, "A Brief Sketch of the Mining History of the Western Mojave Desert"
- ^"Goler Gulch,"Desert Gazette,2003
- ^An Illustrated History of Southern California,Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co. (1890)