There for a decade, he worked successively as a taxi driver, fruit picker and in a saw mill.

The saw mill was still in working order when the estate was sold in 1938.

In 1857 the town consisted of a saw mill, a blacksmith shop, a carpenter shop, one store, and eight dwellings.

Farmland was rented, a saw mill and flour mill opened, workshops established, and schools and a theater founded.

The 1906 earthquake resulted in a fire that threatened the saw mill and the city.