Claremont Heritage

A History of Claremont in 100 Objects: Orchard Heater-Mary Garner Hirsch Collection  #5 "Orchard Heater/Smudge Pot" Artifact Description: Red metallic cylinder approximately two feet in height with reservoir base and ventilated funnel stack. Orchard Heaters, also called Smudge pots, were a common sight across Southern California for almost half a century. Considered mandatory equipment for citrus orchards during the winter season, they were used to prevent frosting of citrus during winter cold periods. Although the orchards that smudge pots kept warm are now mostly gone, the transformation and environmental changes they brought are still relevant to us today. The smudge pot was invented by William Scheu in Grand Junction Colorado in 1907, who designed an oil-burning stack heater that would help to protect crops against frost that was more reliable than either coal burners or an open fire. Scheu moved to Upland, California where he founded a company that designed smudge pots ...

A History of Claremont in 100 Objects: Surfboard-Mary Garner Hirsch Collection  #4 "Surfboard" Artifact Description: Balsa wood surfboard in canvas, approximately four feet long and two feet wide, located in the Garner House; child’s bedroom.  Walking through Claremont, one doesn’t have to look to hard to see surfboards. On the tops of people’s cars, you can find a veritable array of different boards with different graphics and colors, each a sort of factional marking; a statement that the owner is a true Californian. At my home institution, Pomona College, there is an Outdoor Educational Center where students can borrow surfboards, boogie boards, and wetsuits for weekend trips to the beach; it is expected that some students will seek the coast and California’s breaks. The Surfboard is such an indistinguishable part of Southern Californian Culture that it almost is impossible to imagine the landscape without it. But hidden inside surfboards is a historic story, one with many ...