1912 – Sales begin for Wonderland Park.

   Wonderland Park

       Sarah C. Richardson, a widow, and Ventura County rancher W.A. Dunning and his wife Mary sold 160 acres of mountain land to A.E. Carter for $450 on November 7, 1911.  In the deed, Carter is designated as a resident of San Francisco.  The land was located on the steep-sided slopes of the upper reaches of Coyote Creek to the northwest of what is today Lake Casitas.

     Carter subdivided the land and began a devious sales campaign.  He presented cards to motion picture theater patrons in Ventura, indicating that they might obtain a free lot in Wonderland Park, solely by paying for a survey of the lot and for the fee to register the deed.  The Ventura Daily Democrat listed the names of seven buyers in its issue of March 3, 1912, indicating that the sales were underway by that date.

     Although there was a dirt road leading to the base of the canyon in which Wonderland Park was located, one skeptic described the land as “a precipitous hillside . . . that would not afford standing room for a mountain goat.”  Another critic declared that the lots at Wonderland Park were “inaccessible except by airship!”

     “Sales” of lots, sight-unseen, were made to many persons in the eastern parts of the United States; and the whole undertaking was declared to be a scam to “wheedle money from unsuspecting victims.”   Local officials were also aware that buyers were reselling their land holdings, and there was a continuous transfer of deeds from person to person.

     A brush fire burned out of Wonderland Park in 1916 and threatened John Selby’s ranch at the base of the canyon, burning more than 1,200 acres and destroying a quantity of cut wood.  The Ventura Daily Post reported that, “The fire started early yesterday afternoon at an apiary in famous Wonderland Park, which is located on the side of a cliff and which was sold by the promoters to gullible persons throughout the country.”

     The County Assessor John Barry considered the land worthless and gave it no assessed value for the purpose of taxation.   However, the State of California had placed an assessment on the land before Carter subdivided it.  At the request of the State, Ventura County Tax Collector T. William McGlinchey  ordered that the property be sold at public auction on June 26, 1918, to recover the tax assessment of $61.93.

     The buyer of the land was John L. Selby, whose ranch was located at what is now the northwestern end of Lake Casitas and adjacent to Wonderland Park.  The Daily Post breathed a sigh of relief and commented, “At last, the quietus has been placed on Wonderland Park and all its buncos.”

     The Ventura County Index to the Book of Deeds lists more than 30 pages of sales of Wonderland Park property, amounting to about a thousand purchasers.  This does not include subsequent, secondary sales by these purchasers to other unsuspecting persons.  Even though the land had been sold at Sheriff’s auction, individuals believing they held possession continued for a long time to make inquiries of local government officials about their purchases.

     Inquiries were being received by County officials as late as 1930.  Many of the inquirers were disappointed to learn that they would be unable to build their dream cabins or even camp out on their land.  Some vowed vengeance.  There is no indication, however, that Carter was ever prosecuted or that any of the threats against him were successful.

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by Richard Hoye

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