Eden's Prairie, California, 1913

Northern California was rocked by a powerful earthquake at 5:12 am on April 18, 1906.

Fires burned for days and San Francisco was almost completely wiped out.

Millions of people were homeless, and sought refuge in other nearby cities...like Eden's Prairie.

Comeplete devastation - Click for full size

Most residents on the north side of Eden's Prairie - in a move completely out of their nature - were completely unreceptive to the refugees.  Many older and more senile residents were still reeling from the great fires of 1899 and 1900, in which 3 1/4 city blocks were burned and the massive death toll of 13 1/2 chickens was still being recuperated (poor clucky has never been the same).

Former site of Fort Pegasus

The south side, however, was a different story.  They were used to having no place to go, since many north sider businesses didn't allow them as patrons.  They overwhelmingly supported taking refugees from San Francisco.

The Miller brothers were also split on the decision.  Kenneth sided with the north siders and didn't want the extra burden on resources and infrastructure.  Michael Thought the extra people would provide the city with a much needed boost to business.  Neither thought of the repercussions of their respective decisions.  Kenneth didn't realize turning everyone away would make the town look cold and uncaring to people in need.  Michael didn't realize that inviting everyone in wouldn't be good for business because the refugees were poor and had just lost everything they owned in the earthquake.

After much debate the brothers reached a compromise.  Refugees would be allowed to live in the town south of the river, and allowed only to work or shop on the north side, but would not be able to live there.

Little did they know that welcoming new residents would change the face of the town forever.

Bridget and Theresa Bradshaw

Bridget and Theresa Bradshaw were two very beautiful, very wealthy, and very homeless former residents of San Francisco.  Upon arriving in Eden's Prairie, the sisters were disgusted by what seemed to be a lack of class.  Most of the roads were dirt, most of the buildings were old, and the smell of horse poo was EVERYWHERE!  Their minds were changed almost immediately when they walked through the doors of Phil's Cafe.

The original Phil's Cafe

They took a table near two well dressed important looking young gentlemen and struck up a conversation.  As fate would have it, the men turned out to be Michael and Kenneth Miller.  The quartet hit it off immediately, and became a pair of couples soon thereafter.  Bridget and Michael liked to drink Michaud's wine and visit their rancher friends on the south side, while Kenneth and Theresa liked to drink Wolfhausen's beer and visit their farmer friends on the north side.  

South Side ranches

North side farms

Their main source of fun, however, was the lake.

Triple Rock Lake had long been known to the Pomo tribe nearby, but it was relatively untouched by settlers from Eden's Prairie.  The idylic water and serene wilderness was the perfect retreat for the pairs of lovers.  Plus it was right downstream on Eagle Creek from their mansion.

You can almost hear the silence

It was in this spot that after seven years of friendship and courtship, that the two sets of brothers and sisters would fight.  It would be a larger fight than the Battle of Eagle Creek.  It would be larger than the Great O'Leary's Barfight of 1904.  It would be bigger than the time Pierre Michaud and Wolfgang Wolfhausen recreated the Franco-Prussian War with empty beer and wine bottles.

It would come to be known as The Great Schism of 1913...and it would split Eden's Prairie apart forever.