Southern California’s temperate climate provided ideal conditions for establishing a thriving new citrus industry in the late 1800s. New citrus growers were lured to the region with advertisements of ...

We rise today to honor the memory of the most ordinary-looking of inventions, a spire of metal that for years was the savior of ranchers all over Southern California. They were called orchard heaters ...

A large supply of smudge pots — heaters used for the past 100 years to prevent citrus from freezing on frosty nights — proved too enticing for a 29-year-old Calimesa man, authorities say, who is ...