Monterey County, an Introduction
Anne Hadden arrived for her challenging new job in Salinas, the county seat, as the first county librarian of Monterey County in September 1913. The County contained a variety of terrains and populations, both of which would greatly affect her future activities. Anne would later write notes about the rural town of Salinas and a description of the massive county, which provide background for understanding the culture and the people she interacted with as county librarian.
Salinas Valley
In the east part of the County is the broad Salinas Valley, an agricultural hub of the vast country with its rich soil. With the advent of irrigation in the late 1890s, Claus Spreckels purchased many fertile acres in the valley and promised to develop the world’s largest sugar beet processing factory. Over two hundred Japanese workers came to the valley to work at the plant. They joined other immigrant groups, including Chinese, Mexicans, and Filipinos, all primarily farm workers. The county’s agriculture ranged from farms growing a variety of vegetable crops to cattle ranches producing dairy products.
The railroad provided the main transportation through the valley connecting the small towns, until the highway was built after 1915. The towns of Greenfield, Soledad and Jolon were most accessible.
Anne wrote about the valley and the Salinas River that frequently flooded and washed out the bridges, greatly affecting the activities of the residents as well as her job in establishing the county libraries.
In 1902 John Steinbeck was born in the Salinas Valley and became a “favorite son” who wrote many stories about the valley and other parts of Monterey County, including his Pulitzer Prize winning novel Grapes of Wrath (1938). Through her library work, Anne knew young Steinbeck and his family, after they moved to the town of Salinas. Over the years she kept in touch with his whereabouts through his mother and her stories of his activities.
Salinas, the County Seat of Monterey County
When Anne arrived in Salinas, she found a small real-frontier town unlike anywhere she had lived before. In 1910 it had a population of 3,736.
Salinas was an important stop on the railroad due to its location directly east of the Monterey Peninsula. Horse stages ran from the railroad to the Peninsula.
The town was occupied by a varied population including Mexican and Japanese farm workers, Chinese immigrants, and Caucasian ranchers and farm owners. The main newcomers were teachers. Many residents were retired couples who had large families nearby and thus had little time to spend with others.
Anne wrote notes describing the town as “an almost tree-less town in 1913 with white houses and glaring streets.” The unpaved Main Street had wooden sidewalks with wooden awnings. Her notes said there were “so many saloons on the east side of Main Street that women rarely walked on that side.” The town was nick-named “Saloonas.”
Harriet Eddy wrote about Salinas in 1912: “Salinas: slow, tries to be progressive, but succeeds only slightly in a material way. The few who want better things are sharply divided into classes. There is no big leadership. [It is a] ‘Saloon controlled town.’”
Anne wrote about socializing on Saturdays in town:
On Saturday afternoons everyone dressed in their best and went downtown to shop and parade. People came in from the country and a general social time was enjoyed. The County Library during the early years was always open on Saturday afternoons. Many visitors from the county came in and Saturday afternoon was the busiest afternoon of the week.
She described the existence of “social cliques but with wonderful community cooperation when occasions arose such as ‘Big Week’, war time Red Cross, and other war time activities.” Big Week was the predecessor of the California Rodeo, now a very old established and popular tradition. Anne enjoyed the activities and wrote her memories of this in 1950:
In 1913, the Salinas Rodeo was less professional than it later became. Then it was a home county celebration—and young men and women from the ranches vied with each other on the rodeo grounds with a few noted cowboys from outside.
It was a picture to see the equestrian parade arrive, ride around the track and head in outside the fence facing the grand stand.
The parade of gaily dressed men, women, and children on horseback formed in front of the Salinas Library, and the excited gathering was a picture to be remembered. One saw the carefully planned detail of the costumes. There were horses of all types and descriptions, from the beautiful thoroughbred with its proud rider, to the old plow horse with its back loaded with excited youngsters.
At night the street was roped off and the dancing was mostly a community affair with everyone taking part.
Anne had moved into a “wild west” town, where she learned to enjoy the rich history and the beautiful natural surroundings of the county.
Monterey Peninsula
The Monterey Peninsula, surrounded by Monterey Bay and the Pacific Ocean, was the most populated area of Monterey County in 1913, as it is today. The city of Monterey was the first state capital of California in 1848. The area was rich in Mexican and Missionary heritage. After the 1906 earthquake centered in San Francisco, many artists and writers moved to the peninsula, when it started to become a major cultural center.
The three main towns on the Monterey Peninsula were Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Carmel, which all had their own city libraries when Anne started work in the County in 1913. Only Carmel joined the County Free Library system in the early days.
Santa Lucia Mountains
To the west of the Salinas Valley lies the Santa Lucia range of mountains roughly ten miles wide and one hundred miles long, stretching from Monterey south to San Luis Obispo County. There are several ridges up to 6,000 feet and many canyons stretching between the Salinas Valley and the ocean to the west. In 1913 there were only trails connecting the western part of the mountains with the valley. The area was sparsely populated in 1913 and remains so today.
Because access to the mountain settlements necessitated travel by horseback, early in her career Anne took horseback riding lessons in order to visit the rural library branches she wanted to establish.
“The Coast”
The last ridge of the Santa Lucia Mountains drops precipitously into the Pacific Ocean. The Big Sur coast runs for about eighty miles from south of the Monterey Peninsula towards San Luis Obispo County and San Simeon. It is nicknamed “The Coast.”
In the early 1900s, isolated pioneer families lived along this wild central coast of California, far beyond the reach of roads and railroads. They relied primarily on ships for large heavy supplies and on horse and stage coach