California Pioneer. A native of Germany, he was an expert blacksmith and horse veterinarian. Drawn by gold mining in Julian, California, he found employment with the Owens gold mine as a tool dresser. He saved his money and started a blacksmith shop. Then Mary Matt arrived, met and married Joseph Treshil, later bearing, relatively late in both their lives, two daughters. The blacksmith shop was sold and a 1,000 acre parcel was purchased for cattle raising at nearby Eagle Peak. The American dream soon turned to ashes as their house burned to the ground and a short time later the barn suffered the same fate. Wiped out in 1901, they filed a homestead claim near Blue Lake in the Imperial Valley, ninety miles away, attracted by the most ambitious irrigation project in American history. The bringing of water from the Colorado River. In 1903, water was flowing past the Treshil Homestead. The first crops were millet and milo maize. The Treshils spotted business opportunities in the nearby town of Imperial, California. Joseph started another blacksmith shop and Mary opened the Thelma Hotel. In 1905-06, the Colorado River flooded and changed course thanks to a poorly engineered canel. The Treshil place, marooned for months, was spared. The runaway Colorado was forced back to its original channel and the valley was saved. The Treshils also dodged an unnatural hazard, claim jumping. Joseph had to go to a Los Angeles court and again prove his claim. Their fortunes had changed for good, the prospering family even took a trip back to their native Germany. Joseph died first and Mary followed in 1936.
California Pioneer. A native of Germany, he was an expert blacksmith and horse veterinarian. Drawn by gold mining in Julian, California, he found employment with the Owens gold mine as a tool dresser. He saved his money and started a blacksmith shop. Then Mary Matt arrived, met and married Joseph Treshil, later bearing, relatively late in both their lives, two daughters. The blacksmith shop was sold and a 1,000 acre parcel was purchased for cattle raising at nearby Eagle Peak. The American dream soon turned to ashes as their house burned to the ground and a short time later the barn suffered the same fate. Wiped out in 1901, they filed a homestead claim near Blue Lake in the Imperial Valley, ninety miles away, attracted by the most ambitious irrigation project in American history. The bringing of water from the Colorado River. In 1903, water was flowing past the Treshil Homestead. The first crops were millet and milo maize. The Treshils spotted business opportunities in the nearby town of Imperial, California. Joseph started another blacksmith shop and Mary opened the Thelma Hotel. In 1905-06, the Colorado River flooded and changed course thanks to a poorly engineered canel. The Treshil place, marooned for months, was spared. The runaway Colorado was forced back to its original channel and the valley was saved. The Treshils also dodged an unnatural hazard, claim jumping. Joseph had to go to a Los Angeles court and again prove his claim. Their fortunes had changed for good, the prospering family even took a trip back to their native Germany. Joseph died first and Mary followed in 1936.
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