Riker was a handsome, blue-blooded California native, born in 1873 and described in contemporary accounts as "a favorite of the ladies.'' His first job, which involved reading palms, earned him the nickname "The Professor." Later, he toured the country as a mind-reading act, a lucrative career that ended abruptly when bigamy charges were filed against him in San Francisco. Leaving both his wives behind, Riker fled to Canada.
It was there that he developed "The Perfect Christian Divine Way," a credo that involved total celibacy, abstinence from alcohol, hard-core white supremacy and communal living. From what few records still remain, it seems that "being born again" was also somehow integral to the project. Armed with this new doctrine and a plan, Riker returned to San Francisco and started a commune. The city on the bay would later grow accustomed to such enterprises, but at that time, more than a few eyebrows must have been raised.
The first thing Riker did was make his followers give him their money, freeing them from worldly concerns to pursue their spirituality. By 1918, he was able to buy the land on which to establish his new Jerusalem and to house about 30 devotees, most of them elderly.
Riker apparently considered himself exempt from the celibacy rule, soon taking a bride by the name of Lillian. Incensed by this action, a certain Frieda Schwartz, one of Riker's earliest disciples, sued him in an attempt to recover the funds she had relinquished upon entering the Perfect Christian Divine Way. She lost, and the publicity the case received only succeeded in drawing more tourists to the area.