Stories of Saddleback Valley

by Joe Osterman

Front Cover:

This is a neat book. It is filled with wonderful stories and vintage photographs, including a large four page fold-out. The book was published in 1985 by Sultana Press, Fullerton. The book measures 8 ½ inches by 11 inches and contains 160 pages. The soft cover shows minor signs of wear mainly to the edge, hardly worth mentioning. The cover is securely attached. The pages show no signs of rips. Exceptions noted, the overall condition of this book is very good.


Title Page

Contents:

Foreword
Acknowledgements

  • The Area
  • Downtown El Toro
  • Farm and Orchard
  • Travels


    • Bearing the label of historical building and sporting a spanking new coat of paint, the Jose Serrano adobe that is part of today’s Heritage Park appears to be looking forward to its future…

    Excerpt – Back Cover:
    Travel back in a time a half century and look at a small country town and its denizens as thy strive to exact a living from a stubborn land. Yes, it is true, El Toro and the Saddleback Valley have not always been filled with homes, businesses, and all the other trappings of an urban society. In what the author calls “a bit of literary stew, something for all appetites,” the people, places, and events of a part of rural Americana are presented to the reader in a collection of stories, short and long, which combine history – admittedly informal – and anecdote with personal reminisces.

    It has been said that man’s failure to understand the past is a sure guarantee of man’s failure to deal with present and future. This book makes no such grand assumption; however, it does try to help the reader add to his or her knowledge of the El Toro of years past, with the added hope that this vicarious trip back in time will prove both stimulating and intriguing. The writing of Stories of Saddleback Valley put both those adjectives to work for the author; it is recognized, of course, that the true test will come through the mind of the reader. Clear your desks, please. Let the test begin!
    End excerpt


    Mary and Domingo Segura posed in San Francisco for their wedding picture, an event which occurred around 1910…


    In 1901, the civic center of the metropolis of El Toro looked like a sheep ranch…


    George Osterman, second from the right, and cronies man the hurry-up wagon, the pickup truck of the day, in a rare moment of leisure on the Osterman ranch…


    Samuel Armor, in his 1911 history of Orange County, lists the Honorable Charles F. Bennett as one of the prominent citrus growers in the county. A Civil War veteran, an early arrival on the county scene, and among the first to represent the newly formed Orange County in Sacramento, Bennett acquired acreage in the El Toro area, secured a guaranteed flow of water from sources along Aliso Creek, and planted to oranges, apricots, and walnuts…


    A job completed, the Peter Swartz barley-threshing rig, 1905, pauses and poses before striking this set and moving on to the next…

    Price: $20.00
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