Who was Holy Jim, anyway?
A wildland fire is devouring thousands of acres of grass and brush and some rustic cabins as well in Orange and Riverside counties.
It’s dubbed the Holy fire, because it started in the Holy Jim Canyon area, near a road with that name. But it turns out the man behind the name may not have been as pious as his nickname suggests.
Jim Smith was a foul-mouthed beekeeper who lived in the area in the 1880s. First known by many in the community as Cussin’ Jim, some impish friends began to call the crabby man Salvation Smith. That name eventually evolved into Holy Jim, which stuck.
So much so that his nickname was used by government surveyors who later named the canyon. Holy Jim is in south Orange County, near another rustic community, Trabuco Canyon.
“Jim wore the same floppy hat from one year to the next,” wrote the late Jim Sleeper, an Orange County historian who had a cabin in Holy Jim for a half-century. “He had a mustache like a walrus. … Aside from this, and knowing the fullest intricacies of profanity, Jim’s only other major indelicacy was the eight-inch plug of tobacco he used to carry around in his hip pocket.”
One of the first residents of the community, Smith settled in the canyon in the late 19th century. Many of those first residents, Smith included, fought for the Union during the Civil War. Smith was part of the 73rd Indiana Volunteers, according to Sleeper’s research.
There are trails and even a waterfall named after Holy Jim, even though, Sleeper chronicled, Smith avoided water, mostly.
According to Sleeper, Smith was last spotted in Santa Ana, pushing along a baby carriage, and when “anyone commented on how bright the baby was, Jim’s tender comment was: ‘You (expletive) right he’s smart!’”
Smith died Jan. 2, 1934 at age 91.
end quote from:
https://www.pe.com/2018/08/08/who-was-holy-jim-anyway/
While the current residents of the canyon may be less cantankerous than the expressive beekeeper, many still share his pioneering spirit, choosing to live, at least part-time, in an area that is mostly off of the grid.
No comments:
Post a Comment