until other methods were developed which would promise advantages at least as good as those by which they were living," Harriman later recalled. Several prominent Southern California friends were solicited for financial and practical support and a site was located about north of Los Angeles in the Antelope Valley. A purchase option was taken on the land, which had the benefit of having earlier been partially developed by a colony of temperance advocates. Assets of the Mescal Water and Land Company, including water rights and bonds sold for $150,000 to finance the earlier colonization effort, were purchased by Harriman and his associates for a small fraction of their original value. A new 9-member board of directors was appointed and sale of stock was begun in the fall of 1913 with a view to financing a new socialist community on the existing colony's site. A restructuring followed in 1914 and the Mescal Water and Land was incorporated as the Llano Del Rio Company. Establishment To become a member of the colony, one was required purchase exactly 2,000 stock shares and to reside at Llano at the par value of $1 per share. Colonists were allowed to buy a maximum of three fourths of their stock shares on credit. Applicants for membership were required to be idealistic, industrious, and sober. To ensure standards were met, applicants needed three references, written ideally by a local union president or secretary. Questions testing an applicant’s dedication to socialism were also part of the entrance procedure. Additionally, only Caucasians were admitted. An article in The Western Comrade attempted to explain this admittance discrimination, “The rejection of these applications are [sic] not due to race prejudice but because it is not deemed expedient to mix the races in these communities." In addition to the appeal of building a new socialist society, colonists were drawn to Llano by promises of good wages paid to colony members. Initially members were to be paid a salary of $4 a day, less deductions for living expenses and $1 a day towards the purchase of colony stock purchased on credit. Conditions of employment and compensation were specified in a signed labor contract. Two week vacations were promised and colonists were permitted to hold their own personal property, including automobiles. In practice this wage was illusory, however, as surplus wages were held in trust by the colony and were only to be paid