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ILLUSTRATED ALBUM OF
ALAMEDA COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
STACKS
CALIFORNIANA
SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1223 90192 0232
MORS
ITERIS
BOOK NO.
ACCESSION
979.465 C7791
580931
NOT TO BE TAKEN FROM THE LIBRARY
FORM 3427-5000-8-46
7.1
1
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from California State Library Califa/LSTA Grant
http://www.archive.org/details/illustratedalbum00colq
ILLUSTRATED ALBUM
OF
ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA ITS
Early History and Progress-Agriculture, Viticulture and Horticulture-Educational, Manufacturing and Railroad Advantages-Oakland and Environs-Interior Townships -Statistics, Etc., Etc.
COMPILED BY JOS. ALEX. COLQUHOUN, Secretary Alameda County World's Fair Association.
ILLUSTRATED BY E. S. MOORE, Oakland, Cal.
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA : Pacific Press Publishing Company. 1893.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Chapter I-Early History and Progress . 3
Chapter VII-Oakland and Its Environs. . . .42
Chapter II-Horticulture, Viticulture, Agriculture . . . 12
Chapter VIII-Alameda City and Township .52
Chapter III-Educational Advantages. 16
Chapter IX-Eden Township. . 54
Chapter IV -- Manufacturing Industries . 22
Chapter X-Murray Township. 56
Chapter V-Railroad; .. 32
Chapter XI -- Washington Township 57
Chapter VI-Ecclesiastical and Fraternal .37
Chapter XII-Descriptive 59
×979,465 Cirgi 580931
Index to Illustrations Indicated by Plates.
PLATE.
PLATE.
Blasdel, H. G. Hon.
7
Nelson, Charles. . 1.4
Crellin, John & Sons
3
Perkins, Geo. C .. 4
Curtner, H. . 28
Pacific Coast Oil Co .. 28
Crowell, H.
.28
Piedmont School Building . 2.4
Court House
15
Pickering, Loring 27
Congregational Church
18
Shinn, James
Concannon, James 26
Solar Salt Works 21
Denison, E. S. I2
II
Schieffelin, E. L 26
First Presbyterian Church
13
St. Francis de Sales Church. 22
Hastings, Frank S.
· 5
Strobridge, J. H IO
Hall of Records. 16
High School Building
25
Unitarian Church . 17
Murry, M. W.
2
Whipple, Edwin . 8
Merrill, J. M 6
Map of Alameda County.
I
Whipple, J. C. 9
27
Smith, J. P 23
Deaf, Dumb and Blind Institution
University of California 19, 20
Illustrated Album of Alameda County.
INTRODUCTION.
THE great territory west of the Rocky Mountains, extending to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, was com- paratively unknown prior to the days of 1849. In the four decades since that date this unknown territory has been peopled, five great States and two Territories founded. These States and Territories are as yet sparsely settled in comparison with the New England States and the countries of the Old World, but they are dotted over with cities, towns, and villages, and with farms and other industries, the wild children of the forests of fifty years ago having disappeared, most of them to the " happy hunting grounds" and the re- mainder on the government reservations. The area of this portion of our land is about seven hundred and fifty-six thousand nine hundred square miles. (This does not include Alaska, with its five hundred and seventy-eight thousand two hundred and four square miles.) On the western shore of this slope, occupying seven hundred miles out of the twelve hun- dred on the shore line by a width of from two hun- dred to two hundred and seventy miles, lies California, known as the Golden State. Its area is one hundred and fifty-eight thousand three hundred and sixty square miles. It lies between longitude 32° 50' and 42º N., and 114° and 124° W. of latitude. By reason of its peculiar situation it has the most diversi- fied climate of any State in the Union, and as a conse- quence its productions are more varied than those of any other. It is the second in area of the States. On the line between it and the State of Nevada in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, it is cold in the winter, with snow and ice, while at the foot of these mountains, and between them and the Pacific Ocean, lies a very tem- · perate and almost semi-tropical extent of territory, upon which the thermometer seldom falls to 32° above zero. In the greater part of the State, the heliotrope, fuchsia, and other plants of that nature, as well as the palms and other ornamental shrub- bery that are early carried to the greenhouses in the East, are allowed to grow out-of-doors the en- tire winter. It is of rare occurrence that any of them are injured by frost, and many persons born and raised
in the State have only once or twice seen snow within forty years, except in the mountain ranges.
Of this great State, Alameda (pronounced ala- may-dah, Spanish, meaning a driveway lined on each side by trees) County, the subject of this sketch, is a favorable part. Lying near the west- ern coast, but "yet far enough away to escape the sharp breezes and fogs prevalent along the coast, it has a most equable and even temperature, protected by remarkable natural phenomena. The succeeding pages are designed to set forth in a straightforward and truthful manner, without any boasting, the pecul- iar advantages of the county, and its cities and towns as places of residence, on account of healthful climatic conditions, its resources, growth, schools, railroads, etc. These are no overdrawn pictures, but simply statements of the fact.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY HISTORY AND PROGRESS.
Spanish-American Missions of Alta California-John C. Fremont, "The Pathfinder"-Mexican War, Raising of the Bear Flag-Cession of California, Finding of Gold and Ad- mission into the Union, etc .- Natural Advantages-Health Statistics - Meteorology, Rainfall, etc .- Material Growth -County Government.
Alameda County, California, has a history dating back to 1797. During that year, under Governor Diego de Borica, of the then indefinitely known Span- ish territory of Alta California, a settlement was made in the territory now embraced in this county by two friars, Ysidro Barcinallo and Augustin Merin, who, on the eighteenth day of June, founded the mission of San Jose, for the purpose of converting the Indians of the region to the Roman Catholic faith. An adobe church was built, and with it other mission buildings, some of them still standing, but which are fast crum- bling away, and will soon disappear entirely. The mission prospered and grew rapidly in influence, out- stripping the missions of San Francisco and Santa Clara. In the year 1822 its fathers had baptized no less than four thousand five hundred and seventy- three Indians, and its herds covered the hills in the vi- cinity by the thousands. In 1839 it had upon its rolls
4
ILLUSTRATED ALBUM OF ALAMEDA COUNTY.
of converts the names of twenty-three hundred In- dians, and these were then living in and around the mission house, tilling the lands and taking care of the herds. Everything seemed prosperous and happy for these simple-minded people.
A few years later came the Mexican War with the United States, the occupation and cession of the terri- tory to the United States. Prior to this was the secu- larization and spoliation of the missions, and the decay and death of the mission brought with them the de- struction of the Indians, through the vices of civiliza- tion, as in other parts of the Union, until at this time, out of the thousands that tilled the land and tended the flocks for the fathers of Mission de San José, not more than half a hundred survive after fifty years. These descendants have settled about Pleasanton and Suñol, and once a year-on good Friday-visit the old mis- sion of San José.
Of the land in Alameda County only a small por- tion of it was granted by the Spanish Government to settlers. Two ranchos were patented, however, to settlers under the rule of Spanish governors. Of these the first grant was by Governor Don Pablo Vi- cente de Sala, the last of the Spanish line and first Mexican governor, to Don Luis Peralta, of the Rancho de San Antonio, five leagues in extent, being the land upon which the city of Oakland and its suburbs are situated. This grant was made in the year 1820. In the following year Governor de Sala made a grant to the Rancho de las Tularcitos, partly within the present borders of Alameda, and partly within Santa Clara County. During the twenty-five years from 1821 to 1846 thirty grants were made by the Mexican gover- nors of Alta California, covering lands now within the borders of Alameda County, principally given as rewards for faithful military services rendered to the Mexican Government. The boundaries of the grants were so indefinite that for many years after passing into American occupation, much litigation was neces- sary to determine the metes and bounds, but happily these are all now settled, and the boundaries definitely fixed. The last great suit was that of the Rancho el Sobrante, covering eleven square leagues of land, granted in 1841 to Juan José Castro by Governor Al- verado. The larger part of this rancho is now within the borders of Contra Costa County, of which Ala- meda County was, for a time, a part. Prior to the American occupation and cession to the United States of California, only one grant of land was made in the present boundaries of Alameda County by the Mexi- can authorities to a foreigner, and that was the rancho of Las Juntas, three square leagues, in the year 1844, to William Welch.
This brief resumé of the history of Alameda County would not be complete without a reference to the late General John C. Frémont, the "Pathfinder." He passed through the county in 1846, with a party of forty-two men, on his way to Oregon. He obtained permission from Governor Castro to pass through, but the per- mission was recalled before the start was made. Lieu- tenant Frémont disregarded the recall, however, and passed by Mission de San José and Alameda Cañon, near Niles, and camped at the lagoon in the valley be- tween the present sites of Suñol and Pleasanton. The Mexicans immediately followed him, and from the Klamath Lakes he turned back and retraced his way to meet the Mexican forces upon his trail. When he reached Sonoma, he found that the "Bear flag" had been raised there and California declared independent. Here he learned that war had been declared by the United States against Mexico, and that Commodore Sloat had seized Monterey. Frémont raised a force of volunteers, and, driving the Mexicans before him up the valley of the San Ramon and down the valley of the Amador, he stripped Jose Maria Amador, and drove out all the armed forces of Mexicans from Ala- meda County toward the south.
After this expedition of Fremont through Alameda County a number of American families settled upon the rich lands of the county, and their descendants are still upon them. Prior to that time the only non- Mexican resident within the present limits of Alameda County was an English whaler named Joseph Liver- more, who had settled upon the Las Positas Rancho, and in whose honor the town of Livermore, the pass, and valley are named.
On the discovery of gold by Marshall, at Coloma, January 19, 1848, there was a rush for the diggings, and one of the principal highways lay across Alameda County through the Alameda Canon, via Suñol, the Livermore Valley, and Livermore Pass, to Stockton. Where Friars Barcinallo and Merin started the early missions-Mission San José-a good-sized town sprang up, making it really the first American settle- ment in Alameda County, as it had been the first Spanish. The town still exists, though the bulk of the population has drifted down nearer the bay, but the old mission is still the center of a very fertile dis- trict. A number of other towns have also sprung up adjacent to it, among them Irvington, Niles, Center- ville and Warm Springs.
The foregoing pertains to Alameda County princi- pally while under Spanish and Mexican rule. After the close of the war with Mexico and the cession of the Territory of Alta California to the United States, the first Territorial Legislature convened at San Jose,
PLATE I.
NAPA
CO.
RIVER
BAY
ANO
CO
-
SOL
CO
SAN PABLO
VALLEJO
S P. R. R
SUISUN
CRAMENTO
SAN
BAY
BENICIA
N P C. R.R.
S. F. & N. P. R. R.
OPORT COSTA
RIVER
MARTINEZ
SAN RAFAEL
O PACHECO
SAN QUENTI
CONTRA
COSTA
COUNTY
TOU BYRON
UNION ISLAND
BERKELEY
.
MT DIABLO
SAUCELITO
OAKLAND
LINE
FALAMEDA
SAN LEANDRO
ALTAMONT
S. P. R. R.
LIVERMORE
HAYWARDS
PLEASANTON
SAN BRUNO
PACIFIC COAST
S. P. R. R.
NILES
SAN MATEO
S.P. C. R. R
COUNTY
WASHINGTON
BELMONT
NEWARK
WARM SPRINGS
HALF MOON
. REDWOOD CITY
SANTA CLARA
COUNTY
SAN JOAQUIN
DO TRACY
SAN LORENZO
ALAMEDA
OCEAN
STEAMSHIP
COUNTY
ANDE
SAN FRANCISCO
SAN FRANCISCO
O SAN PABLO
OLD RIVER
CO
MARIN
ANTIOCH
S. P. R. R.
SHERMAN ISLAND
JOAQUIN
PACIFIC
SUNOL
BAY
S. P. R. R.
SAN MATEO
CO
BAY
OPETALUMA SOANOMA CO.
STEAMSHIP LINE
BANTA
GENERAL MAP SHOWING COUNTIES ADJACENT TO ALAMEDA CO., RAILROADS, NAVIGABLE RIVERS, BAYS, SHIPPING ROUTES PRAL TOWNS QTC SCALE 7 MILES TO 1 INCH.
5
ILLUSTRATED ALBUM OF ALAMEDA COUNTY.
December 13, 1849, and at the session, the Territory was divided into twenty-seven great counties. Of these Contra Costa embraced the territory now in- cluded in its boundaries as well as a large part of that now known as Alameda County. On September 9, 1 850, California was admitted to the Union as one of the States of the great federation, and the subsequent Leg- islatures divided up the immense counties into smaller
ones. In 1853 the Legislature created the county of Alameda, with its present bounds, taking it off Contra Costa County, as well as a portion of the northerly end of Santa Clara County. At that time it had a population of three thousand, and the county seat was New Haven, now Alvarado. In December, 1854, the county seat was removed to San Leandro, by a major- ity vote, but it was ordered back to New Haven on account of informality in the election. In 1856, by an act of the Legislature, it went back to San Lean- dro. San Leandro continued to be the county seat until 1873, when, after a bitter contest, it was removed to Oakland. The old Court House building is stand- ing on East Fourteenth street and Nineteenth avenue, though now remodeled and used as a dwelling. In 1874 new buildings down town on blocks on Broad- way, between Fourth and Fifth streets, were occupied, which are still in use, though now becoming inadequate for the present needs of the county. Plates of these buildings are shown, Nos. 15 and 16. The majority of - the county offices occupy the Hall of Records, in the block facing the Court House, across Broadway. In the Court House are now situated four court rooms, the county supervisors' rooms, the offices of the county assessor, tax collector, surveyor, district attorney and sheriff, and the rooms of the law library. The court business of the county has so increased that it was necessary for the establishment recently of one more department, and the occupation of the entire building by the courts and court officers is only the question of a short time.
After the admission of California into the Union, in 1850, Alameda County commenced its -rapid growth and prosperity. Lying in the way of travel from the metropolis-San Francisco-to the interior of the State, towns and villages sprang up along the routes traversed, and finally spread entirely over it. Early in 1850 the manufacture of salt was commenced, and for many years the entire State depended upon it for its saline supply. Until quite recently Alameda was the only county in the State of California in which salt was manufactured. It was also the pioneer in the erection of flouring mills, agricultural and farm- ing implement factories, and tanneries. The first smelting works for the reduction of rebellious ores in
the State were erected in this county. In 1853 the culture of fruit, the principal industry in several of the counties in the State, received its commencement by the clubbing together of a number of Alameda County farmers and sending one of their number East for trees, making the county early the seat of fruit culture, for which it has since become noted. In this county, at Alvarado, in 1869, was erected the first mill and re- finery in the United States for the manufacture of sugar from beets. The factory has been enlarged and now does a large and profitable business in sugar manufacturing. The factory and process of extracting the sugar is elsewhere specifically described in this pamphlet. There are also in the county many other manufacturing industries, such as iron foundries, nail works, car works, bridge works, smelting works, agri- cultural machinery works, soap works, fuse works, borax refinery, tile factories, etc., cotton and jute mills, planing mills, flouring mills, and many others which are mentioned in detail in these pages.
TOPOGRAPHY OF THE COUNTY.
Natural Advantages-Fertility - Freedom from Fogs and Causes.
The area of Alameda County, while sniall in com- parison with some other of the counties in California, comprises four hundred and fifty-four thousand five hundred and sixty-five acres, and upward of seven hundred square miles. Its topography is broken in its northern and eastern sides by hills and valleys of the Contra Costa range, the highest peak of which is that of Mission San José, rising two thousand two hundred and seventy-three feet above sea level. Among these hills are some of the most fertile valleys of the State and continent. The largest of these is the Livermore Valley. Others of the larger valleys are the Moraga, Suñol, Castro, Amador, and Calaveras. The western portion of the county lies along the east- ern shore of the Bay of San Francisco for thirty-six iniles, and in coves along the shore are found the oyster beds from whence were taken the bivalves in the exhibit. Between the foothills of the range named and this bay shore lies a fertile plain from five to twelve miles wide, the hills in no place south of Berkeley being nearer than five miles. With the ex- ception of a few salt marshes along the shore line, the land between it and the foothills consists of a rich al- luvial soil, adapted to horticulture and agriculture, and upon which are grown the fine deciduous and citrus fruits as well as the vegetable and agricultural prod- ucts in the Alameda County exhibit. In time the marshes mentioned will undoubtedly be filled in and become productive lands, bordering on the small
6
ILLUSTRATED ALBUM OF ALAMEDA COUNTY.
streams which flow through them into the bay from the foothills.
In the fertile valleys in the foothills of the eastern portion are grown many of the various fruits, both deciduous and citrus, shown in the county exhibit, while on the hillsides and in these valleys are produced the different varieties of grapes for table and the man- ufacture of wines and brandies. There is a large area applicable in these valleys and on these hills, that has not yet been opened up and set out in vines and fruit trees. They are generally easy of access. In these valleys in the hills the almond and English wal- nut thrive well and hundreds of acres of them are now in bearing, the products finding their way to the Eastern States. The hills are usually rolling and easy to traverse, the valleys being easy of access. There are numerous little streams watering the county and rendering it fertile, the largest being Alameda Creek. The county is bounded upon the north by Contra Costa County, of which it was at one time a part, and on the east by San Joaquin County, and on the south by Santa Clara, west by the Bay of San Francisco. In shape upon the map' it is very much like a boot, with the sole toward the west and the toe pointing north.
CLIMATE.
In referring to the advantages of Alameda County as a place of residence by reason of its topographical situation and climatic superiority, the following from the pen of Ex-Mayor William R. Davis, of Oakland, with the accompanying diagram showing the air cur- rents and causes for non-prevalence of fogs; common at certain seasons on the seacoast, written for the Oakland Tribune, is applicable and pertinent, and is by permission published here :-
CLIMATE AND AIR MOVEMENT IN ALAMEDA COUNTY- THE WHY.
"No stranger realizes, and few residents understand, how Oakland and Alameda County have such an equable and delightful climate, compared with that of San Francisco, although Oakland is only six or eight miles, just across the bay, east of San Francisco.
"On the opposite page is a diagram, which, with a few words of introduction, will at once speak familiarly to the reader. To the westward of us, some twelve or fourteen miles, is the Pacific Ocean, beating against the feet of the first row of Coast Range hills. The Golden Gate is a pass through this first row of hills, being about six miles long and over a mile wide. The Bay of San Francisco and the ocean connect through this channel or gate. At the inner or eastern end of this channel the western bay shore lines turn northward and southward, substantially parallel with the ocean shore line, San Francisco being on the northeastern
corner of the peninsula, south of the Golden Gate, and between the ocean and the bay. This peninsula is of about the same width, from bay to ocean, as the dis- tance eastward from San Francisco across the bay to Oakland-say six miles. On the Oakland side the land rises from the bay level, on the gentlest slope, back to the second row of Coast Range hills. This słope extends from Berkeley on the north (a city of eight thousand inhabitants, where the University of California is located) down in a southeasterly direction to and far beyond the Alameda and Santa Clara County line. The soil of this slope is generally a warm, sandy loam, fertile, and easy of cultivation, and now produces almost every berry, fruit, plant, tree, cereal, vegetable, shrub, and flower grown from Ore- gon to Arizona. From Berkeley on the north to the county line on the south is about thirty-five miles. This slope varies in width from three miles on the northern end to more than thrice that width as you proceed southward. At Oakland its width is approxi- mately five miles.
"The elevation of this slope, before reaching the rolling foothills, is in the body of the city from twenty to forty feet above the tide level. The eastern part of Oakland is upon the rising ground of the foothills. The two rows of coast hills above mentioned run nearly parallel, from southeast to northwest, and both lie substantially at right angles to the route of the trade winds or prevailing sea breeze, coming off the ' ocean from the southwest, during the summer and fall months-from about the latter part of May to the middle of September. We are now ready to proceed to the consideration of the matter, the importance of which cannot be overestimated. Taken with the con- ceded advantages of location, transit, educational in- stitutions, good order, freedom from debt, wealth, resources, and soil, it makes Oakland the most desira- ble spot for habitation on the Pacific Coast. If the point is new, that will not detract from its importance. "Let us now look at the diagram on the next page.
" The arroios show the course of the sca breese. The profile at the bottom of the diagram shows substan- tially the hill obstruction which the sea breeze en- counters in its northeasterly course. (I need scarcely mention that the summer heat of the interior land surface, lying to the eastward, rarifies and raises the atmosphere there and draws in the cooler atmosphere from the adjacent ocean, just as heated air over the fire rises in the chimney and draws in the cooler air from about the fireplace.)
"Now follow the arrows. Commencing at the ocean, the ocean breeze (bearing much or little fog) literally bumps against and rises above the first row
RESIDENCE OF M.W. MURRY. JA
PLATE 2.
ISON AND LAKE STS. OAKLAND.
ILLUSTRATED ALBUM OF ALAMEDA COUNTY.
7
of coast hills. These hills are, say, four hundred feet high south of the Golden Gate, and twice that height north of the Golden Gate. This pitches the general breeze four hundred to eight hundred feet above the sea level in its flight inland. It has then only from ten to' fourteen miles to go until it would encounter the second row of coast hills. This second row is substantially twice as high as the first. The result and the fact are that the general ocean breeze cannot and does not descend in its course anywhere near the water level between these two rows of hills. Being pitched up by range number one, it bears its moisture and maintains its course high enough to pass over
ROUTE OF SEA BREEZE ST OAKLAND CAL .
AVERAGE 1000 ET HIG
SAN PABLO BAY
SUISUN BAY
TEMESCAL
BERKELEY
1200
Y GOLD
GARLAND
SAN FRANCISCO!
HARBORS
OCEAN
FRANCISCO
ALAMEDA
BAY
Profite
Route of Sea Breeze and Clouds
Sea Breeze.
Ocean Levél
11 009
San Francisos
Oakland
BAY LEVEL
and up on the top of range number two. The fog clouds, as a matter of fact, scrape the top of the second row of hills and then pass on northeastward. This leaves Oakland and the slope of which I have spoken in a triangle. Consider the triangle standing vertically. The hill barrier to the east would lie behind the im- aginary upright line of the triangle; the land slope would be its base line, and the path of the ocean breeze would be the upper line of the triangle, or its hypothenuse. In this triangle the air is free from fog, and moves gently eastward with just enough motion, bracing coolness, and refreshing stimulus to make the temperature delightful, life comfortable, and healthful- ness certain. No sanitary department elsewhere can
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