No biography could be located on Mr. Leighton.

He was surveyor during war years in a town so Pro Southern it took seventy-five troops to stand by on July 4th to assure the raising of the Union Flag. Pro-Southern merchants refused to accept United States paper money as legal tender. A thirty-day series of rains damaged the city water system so badly water distribution was turned over to a private firm. The following year rains were again so heavy the privately-operated waterwheels and water works were destroyed. The owner had had enough so citizens insisted municipal authorities again take over water distribution.

Source: "Sixty Years in Southern California,"
Newmark Chronological Record of City officials: 1850 1938
Municipal Reference Library