USA > California > A memorial and biographical history of northern California, illustrated. Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy...and biographical mention of many of its most eminent pioneers and also of prominent citizens of today > Part 62
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but only a small part was recovered. Mr. Beach sold his San Francisco lots for $14,000, replen- ished his store at Marysville from the funds, and took charge himself, when, on August 31, he was caught in the Marysville fire, saving nothing from it but what was in his safe. This was the third conflagration he had passed through in eighteen months, and no insurance to be obtained; and he very naturally was very discouraged over trade. But he allowed noth- ing to daunt him, although the capital which his steamers had been earning had become im- paired by heavy competition; and, not feeling willing to venture longer in merchandising while no insurance could be obtained, sold out his steamer interests, and, joined with John Perry, Jr., and Benjamin Smith, both of San Francisco, and Henry D. Beach, of Sacramento, he opened an office for the purchase of gold dust in Marysville, shipping the dust to San Francisco daily and receiving coin in return. In a little over a year he shipped more than a $1,500,000 in dust, it going in lots of from $3,000 to $10,000. Here, again, however, Mr. Beach was doomed to loss as well as protit. Having been admonished by physicians that he mnst desist from blowing dust (the only process then in vogue for separating the black sand from the gold), he employed a competent clerk named Frank Morse, well educated (and a son of a Presbyterian clergyman in Ohio), whose duty it was to sleep in the office, partly as secur- ity against burglars, and partly to get off early shipments. He proved an absconder with $4,- 000, however; the whole of this loss falling on Mr. Beach, he defraying the office expenses by agreement some three months prior to this. In the spring of 1852 Mr. Beach had inaugurated the express business of Wells, Fargo & Co. Later, a Mr. Frank Rumrill offered to do the company's business at a much less figure than Mr. Beach was receiving. A compromise was offered Mr. Beach, but he refused to continne it for less, having the proof that there were risks. It was consequently given to Mr. Rum- rill, and the result was that the latter became
a defaulter to the company for over $50,000 in about two years.
Mr. Beach owned a half section of land on the east bank of the Feather River, three miles sonth of Marysville. In the winter of 1853 gold dust had run up to too high a price for much profit and had lost its mercantile oliarac- ter. Owing to this, and the injurious effect of blowing dust, upon his health, he gave up the business and moved to his ranch. A year pre- vions he had imported nursery stock, including grape cuttings in great variety, from the East, as well as grape-vines on a large scale, laying the foundation for the orchard, vineyard and
nursery business. This place he named the " New England Gardens," and was popularly known all over the State. especially with nurs- erymen and San Francisco fruit dealers. His sale of trees and vines extended into all the neighboring counties, even into Plumas, Trinity and Siskiyon. In this business Mr. Beach found his search after happiness satisfied, as he thought. He was a great lover of nature; had got away from fires and dishonest partners and thieving clerks, and could see no enemy in his path. But in this new undertaking he had to contend with inexperience of climate, soils, and seasons. It was a pioneer undertaking. But Mr. Beach was not a inan to hunt difficul. ties; he was much more apt to thrust them aside. All .seemed a problem of success. He was bold in experiments, solving problems only to be obtained by experience,-a work by which the whole State has since profited greatly.
Ill Inck seemed, however, to follow him. In 1855 grasshoppers covered that section of the State for a month, leaving not a vestige of fruit on his trees, and doing thousands of dollars' worth of damage to his nursery stock, as part of their legacy to the State. In 1856 he harvested a fair crop on parts of his orchard. In 1857 the grasshoppers repeated the ravages that season to a total loss of fruit and great damage to the nurs- ery ; 1858 was a good year, yielding hin $20,000, but yet not enough to recompense the losses of the previous bad years; 1859 caught him again
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with the grasshoppers with nearly as disastrous results as before. These reverses, together with the floods depositing millions of tons of the miners' debris in his orchards, vineyard and nursery, almost burying thiem under, disconr- aged him beyond endurance, and he sold out, leaving himself without a dollar.
In 1857 he had been elected a Vice-President of the State Agricultural Society, and in 1858 Recording Secretary of the same, which consti- tnted him one of the Board of Directors, re- ceiving and disbursing $30,000. In 1863 Mr. Beach entered the wholesale and retail store of C. L. Ross, Marysville, as a salesman, and in 1865 he changed to the wholesale house of A. C. Dietz, San Francisco. In 1868 he became a commercial traveler for Englebrecht & May- rich Bros., with a first-class salary. He con- tinned this until he removed with his family in the interests of their health to St. Helena, Napa County, where he took an engagement at a large winery there and made his trips regularly twice a year into Oregon and Washington, building np a fair trade. A severe attack of pneumonia in the spring of 1885 leaving him in somewhat impaired health, he relinquished his traveling occupation and settled down in the real-estate and insurance business in St. Helena. His ill luck was not yet ended, however, for September 15, 1889, a fire broke out in the central build- ing of the fine block he had erected on Main street and the property was totally destroyed, including his office furniture, books and papers of every kind. His net loss above insurance was 83,000, and rentals amounting to $110 a month. This was his fourth misfortune by fire, though this time his loss was partially cov- ered by insurance. Mr. Beach is a horticultural enthusiast and has solved the problem of citrus culture in Napa County. In his garden he has a dozen bearing orange trees, six to fourteen years old, surrounding his fine residence, which was fortunately saved from the fire, all of them in the best possible condition. Through his influence half the citizens of St. Helena are growing orange and lemon trees successfully in
their gardens. Mr. Beach has also a nursery in the foot-hills near the town, containing 3,000 orange and lemon trees, now of salable age, and sound, healthy stock. They are three years old and all of his own growth from the seed.
Mr. Beach is an active and energetic Repub- liean. In 1856 he took a very active part in the organization of his party (Republican) in his county, as well as in the adjoining counties on the north, he then living at his orchard, or New England Gardens, Yuba County, near Marysville, and aided to carry the State in 1860 for Lincoln, organizing clubs in the north- ern counties. He comes honestly by his prin- ciples, having inherited Whig doctrine from his parents, continning with that party until the organization of the Republican party. His first presidential vote was cast for W. H. Har- rison in 1840. He helped organize the First Congregational Church in San Francisco; in 1849 organized the first two choirs that were formed in the State,-that of the church above named, and the First Baptist Church of San Francisco; also the first choir in Marysville.
He is a member of the Pioneer Association of San Francisco, and for twenty-five years has been a member of the Abou Ben Adhem Lodge, No. 112, I. O. O. F., San Francisco. He has three children living, one son having died in 1876. Those living are: Arthur B., George H .. Jr., and Lizzie; all at home. The writer is in- debted to this worthy old pioneer for many facts and incidents utilized elsewhere. Soon atter Mr. Beach left the store of W. A. Bucking- ham & Co., Mr. Buckingham was elected Governor of Connecticut, and in consequence of his great enthusiasm in all his movements, especially in raising troops and equiping them at his own expense at the outbreak of the Re- bellion, he was dubbed the " Connectient War Governor." On the close of the rebellion he was elected United States Senator. About this time Mr. Beach, happening to be at Calaveras Big Trees, California, by consent of the propri- etors there, selected one of the tallest and hand somest Sequinor grants, and gave it the name of
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Governor Buckinghamı; and on his return to San Francisco had a marble tablet ent and let- tered and sent to the proprietors; and the tab- let still remains in good condition, and it is hoped will remain through generations to come, to keep his memory in the minds of the thon- sands who will visit the wondrous grove in years to come.
Mr. Beach says to the writer of this, that in looking backward he wonders how he has kept up his courage in passing through so many eventful vicissitudes. At his age, now seventy- two, in 1890, he has the manner of one of bnt sixty at most.
ANIEL LUCE, prominent among the old and highly respected pioneers of Califor- nia and residents of Haywards, is a '49er and has been conspicuously identified with several of the public enterprises of Alameda County. He was a member of the board who secured the franchise for the electric light and the Knox water companies of Haywards in 1888. He also owned and managed the water works of Haywards previous to the in- corporation of the Knox Company. Mr. Luce was born at Williamstown, Vermont, May 25, 1827, and while a babe his parents moved to Parkertown, Huron County, Ohio, where he grew up and received his education. His father, Joshua Ence, was a native of Vermont and a farmer by vocation, and died in 1842. His mother, whose maiden name was Electa Sanderson, was also a native of Vermont and died in 1846. Their ancestry were emigrants from England to America in the seventeenth cen- tury. Daniel was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade under J. E. Crowell, of Bellevue. Com- pleting his term of service in 1847, he went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and followed his trade there until 1849, when he started for California with an ox team by the southern route. Six months later he arrived in San Francisco. He and nine others hired a schooner to take them
across the bay to San Antonio, now East Oak- land, paying $80 for the trip; and here they worked for a time, getting ont lumber in the redwoods. In 1850 Mr. Luce went to Cold Springs on the north fork of the American River and followed mining for a few months. He then became a dealer in cattle, which he drove back to the redwoods, where they were slaughtered. In 1853 he returned to the " States," where he remained a year. Return- ing then to California, he located six miles north of Haywards, where he still owns 265 acres of farm and stock grazing land. In 1856 he moved to Contra Costa County and remained there until 1863. Returning then to Haywards, he located where he still resides. He is a mem- ber of the Board of Town Trustees, and has been a School Trustee. Politically he is a Democrat, and has been a member of the County Central Committee of his party for eight years. He affiliates with Alameda En. campment of Haywards, I. O. O. F., and Clin- ton Lodge, No. 2019, K. of H., of East Oak- land.
Mr. Luce was married at Mackville, Ken- tucky, January 15, 1854, to Miss Elizabeth L. Cull, a native of that State. Their four living children are: Lncinda F., George P., Alice C. and Daniel. Their deceased are: Eliza. who died when a babe, and Mary A., who died in 1887.
ATSON BARNES, an agriculturist in the northwestern part of Yolo County, was born January 2, 1844, in Boston, Massachusetts. His father, Silas P. Barnes, a native of New Hampshire and a farmer and stock-raiser by occupation, came to California in 1854. He was engaged in farming and stock- raising after 1851; previous to that he was en- gaged in the mercantile business in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, for some thirty years. The mother, whose maiden name was Olive Chapman, was a native of the State of Maine.
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Both parents were of English ancestry. Mr. Barnes, senior, arrived in Salt Lake City in July, 1851, and three years later came on to California, soon locating in Yolo County, where Black's is now situated, and died April 11, 1888, leaving four children, and property worth about $100,000. Mr. Barnes, the subject of this notice, owns 525 acres of finely improved land about five and a half miles northwest of Black's. He was married in Woodland, July 15, 1880, to Miss M. J. Houx, who was born in 1854, in California.
L. DENNIS, street sprinkler, was born in Yolo County, March 6, 1864. His par- ents, B. S. and Elizabeth (Smith) Dennis, the former a native of Georgia and the latter of Missouri, have both died in Yolo County. Since the year 1887 Mr. Dennis has been run- ning an engine on a dredging-machine on the Sacramento River, building the levee; and for the last two years he has been engaged in his present ocenpation. He has a fine little cottage on Fourth street. In 1887, in Woodland, he was united in matrimony with Miss Nellie Powers, also a native daughter of this county. Her father is at present a night watch of Wood- land; and her mother died when she was very young. Mr. and Mrs. Dennis have one son, born May 9, 1888, and named Ray W.
OUIS DIETZ, of Woodland, was born in Bavaria, Germany, March 13, 1830, the son of John Frederic and Louisa (Sehorm) Deitz At the age of eighteen years he emi- grated to the United States, landing at New York; and his first work in this country was for a farmer about three miles above Auburn, between the Erie Canal and Hudson River During the one month he was employed there he earned $8, and continued his journey on toward Cleveland, Ohio, where he had relatives
living, and which place was his original desti- nation. There he went to harness-making, an art that he had begun to learn in the old country. In the fall of 1851 he went to St. Louis, Mis- souri, and worked at his trade until spring, when he came on overland to California. Start- ing from that eity with a mixed train of horses and oxen, he passed Independence when the weather was bitter cold and wet,-the ice an inch thick. No other event of importance oc- curred until they reached the Little Blue, where they found the cholera raging. At Raft River, Mr. Dietz and two companions separated from the train and came on with two packed ponies and traveled on foot. Arriving at Carson Val- ley they sold their ponies and walked over the mountains without any provisions; but at the summit Mr. Dietz distanced his companions and came on alone to Volcano, then in El Do- rado County, but now in Amador.
He followed gold-mining until after election that fall, when he and another gentleman went to San Antonio Bar in Calaveras County, put up at a tolerably convenient hotel, and the fol- lowing day left Vieita, crossed the Stanislaus River to Columbia, where his comrade, an old man named Jones, became sick and was sent back to the old mines where hecame from. Mr. Dietz then returned to Angel's Camp, mined there three months, walked to Stockton and thence to San Francisco, failed to find work there and finally went up to Sacramento and found employment there at his trade from a man named Nute, for a year and a half. He then bought out Mr. Nute and admitted a partner named Lawrence Heblin, under the firm name of Dietz & Co. This was in 1854. A short time afterward he established also a branch store at Folsom, and continued in business to the time of the great flood of 1861-'62, which caused him a total loss of his property. The next fall he moved to Woodland, just then started, and laid the foundation of a little busi- ness which has grown since then to magnificent proportions. He is one of Woodland's most successful business men and now owns con-
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siderable fine property in the town besides some farming land in the State of Washington.
In early life Mr. Dietz was a Democrat, but soon after the organization of Republicanism he became a member of that party and has re- mained in that relation ever since. He is now treasurer of the Republican County Central Committee of Yolo County, and has been a member of that committee at different times for the past twenty years. He is a member of the order of Chosen Friends. Mr. Dietz was mar- ried in 1855, to Samantha Selby, a native of Ohio, and they have three sons and two dangh- ters.
M. ROBERTS .- In the course of a very thorough examination of Napa County for the purpose of this work, no more beautiful or genuinely attractive place was found anywhere than Valley View Ranch, the lovely country home of Mr. J. W. Roberts, the well-known mining man It is romantically situated just at the crest of the hills that shut in the upper end of Napa Valley, at an eleva- tion of about 1,000 feet above tide level, and directly overlooking the picturesque town of Calistoga. Nature has been lavish with her charms about the spot, and she has been so ad- mirably helped ont by art that it seems hard to imagine any improvement over what now ex- ists. The estate is not a very large one, com- prising only ninety acres, but every inch of it is made to tell, either in the way of attractive surroundings and the development of the mag- nificent and unequaled view, or of practical and successful fruit-growing. The residence, a cottage that devotes more attention to the com- forts of living than to making an external show, stands at the edge of a veritable forest grove of pines and other trees that stretch off along the ridge that extends behind. In front of it is a sloping flower garden, in which ap- pears, besides flowers and ornamental shrubs, many semi-tropical and exotic plants and trees.
Some orange-trees growing here were of exceed- ingly thrifty growth, while the Abyssinian banana, Japanese palonia, and many other striking examples, showed clearly that Valley View is in the thermal belt and rarely knows of frost. Over the tops of these trees and shrubs, as well as the pines, oaks, etc., of the mountain side lower down, is canght that ever wonderful and attractive view, up the valley to Mount St. Helena, down the valley a -long distance, and into the valley where Calistoga seems a collec- tion of dolls' houses. It would seem that one could never tire of such a prospect.
The fruit orchards stretch off to the right and behind the residence, and were formed with equal interest with the parts already described. In all there are about 5,000 trees, most of them in bearing. Otherwise about 2,500 are the sil- ver prune, 1,000 the royal apricot, 400 apples, and the balance chiefly the Crawford peach. It was observed that the trees had a most thrifty and well-cared-for appearance, comparing favor- ably in this regard with anything in the valley; indeed it is one of the largest and best con- ducted and therefore important orchards in the upper end of the county. It was noticed that in some parts the trees were somewhat close to- gether; Mr. Roberts finds that thus the ground is better shaded, thus retaining the moisture in the soil and helping stifle the weeds. In the upper part of the orchard is the reservoir, an excavation 10 feet deep, capable of containing 250,000 gallons of water, thus affording a most abundant supply, which is piped to the house, grounds. fountains, etc., for irrigating purposes, and another spring of clear, cold water for the house. Mr. Roberts has a large fruit-dryer on the back end of the place, just above the road that winds up the hills and over toward the Petrified Forest. Above is the hot chamber, where the dried fruit is sweated before shipping. Below is the dryer, a No. 4 California Acme, of very large capacity and good construction. It has 124 trays, which will take, on the average, twenty-five pounds of fruit to the tray. The product is chiefly packed in boxes before ship-
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ping, and has won a name for excellence wherever it is introduced. The market is famed through- out the East generally,-Omaha, Baltimore, New York, Denver, etc., -at top prices ruling for dried fruits.
It hardly seems possible that this beautiful and well-improved place could be the work of only seven or eight years, yet such is the case, for Mr. Roberts only in 1883 took the place, then in a state of nature, and began its im- provement. It shows what an intelligent ap- preciation of the possibilities of the location, coupled with an artistic eye and backed by am- ple means, can do. No wonder that Mr. Rob- erts' children are the picture of healthful youth and vigor, and that the place should be a popu- lar one with visitors from the valley and from the cities.
Mr. Roberts is a native of Ohio, the home of the Presidents. He was born in 1837, near Columbus. In 1857 he came to California, and, until he purchased and began the improvement of Valley View, was engaged in mining enter- prises in different parts of the coast. His brother, George D. Roberts, is the well-known inining operator of New York city, having been a partner with the most famous Califor- nians, such as Hearst, Gashweiler, Charles Fel- ton, R. B. Monon, etc. Mr. Roberts is a hearty, whole-souled gentleman whom it is a genuine pleasure to meet, a man of unusual energy and enterprise who accomplishes a great deal more than he talks. In the best source of the terin he is a representative citizen of Napa County.
ILLIAM D. BASSETT, a farmer three miles south of Lakeport, is a native of Ohio, born in Coshocton, February 4, 1840; his parents were natives of New York State, from whence they emigrated in an early day to Ohio. Here Wm. D. received his educa- tion in the public schools. In 1853 they again started westward, crossing the plains with ox teams to California. They first settled in Te-
hama County, where they engaged in farming four years. They then removed to Sonoma County, where they remained about one year. In 1858 they came to Napa County and settled near where the Bradford mine is now located, where they were engaged in stock-raising for nine years. In 1867 they bonght a ranch named Glenbrook, where the father, mother and brother now reside. In 1884 William D. bought 160 acres, three miles south of Lakeport, where he now lives and has a beautiful home. His pro- ducts are grain, liay and stock. He has a fine residence and barn, a large orchard of bearing fruit trees and good improvements throughout.
He was married June 16, 1887, to Miss Nancy Millikan, a daughter of Henry and Ra- chel Millikan, natives of Indiana. They have one child, William Cornelius. Politically, Mr. Bassett is a stanch Republican.
SNAVELY is a member of the firm of Snavely & Baker, proprietors of the Woodland Winery, situated on Main street, opposite the gas works, where they inannfacture wines, vinegar, syrups and brandy. The capacity of this establishment is 91,000 gallons of wine, 25,000 of syrup, and 3,000 of brandy. Their syrups are mostly sold to the general Government. Although this has ever been known as the Woodland Winery, it has changed hands several times. The present pro- prietors make a complete success of their enter- prise, having now established a reputation throughout the United States.
The subject of this sketch was born April 29, 1851, in Washington County, Maryland. His parents, John H. and Lydia (Dobson) Snavely, were also natives of Maryland, and are still living at their birth-place. The father was born October 16, 1811, and still holds the old home- stead as a farmer; and the subject's mother was born March 6, 1818.
November 25, 1871, in Washington County, Maryland, Mr. Snavely was united in matri-
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mony with Miss Myers, who was born on the adjoining farm to the old homestead. They have five children living and two deceased, as follows: Willie D., Fred, Leo, Mary J., Claudie H. (deceased), Fannie A. (deceased), and Clay- ton K. Mr. Snavely is a member of Woodland Lodge, No. 111, I. O. (). F., and Woodland Encampment, No. 71; also of Court Star of Woodland, No. 6854, A. O. F., and of the Woodland Fire Company, No. 1.
OSEPH SPENCER CONE .- Certain type of our American civilization as developed in California have been selected for this volume, the study of which should quicken the patriotism of a pecple, proud not only of the country's marvelous developinent, but also of the phenomenally large proportion of her citizens whose lives are worthy to enter into the per- manent archives of our time and our national history.
Joseph Spencer Cone, of Tehama County, California, is one of the representative men of his time, and of his region. and of his occupa- tion. Although vice-president of a large bank- ing corporation and the head of a large mercan- tile firm, he is essentially an American fariner, and proudly registers himself as sneh wherever called upon to state liis occupation. The farm
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