USA > California > San Joaquin County > An illustrated history of San Joaquin County, California. Containing a history of San Joaquin County from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its future prospects; > Part 20
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1882. They immediately rebuilt and were in operation by November, and in 1884 this mag- nificent establishment was enlarged to its pres- ent proportions. The capacity is 1,500 barrels in twenty four hours. Mill runs day and night. July 22, 1881, Austin Sperry died. In 1884 the company was incorporated, and the present firm of " Sperry & Co." comprise George B. Sperry, President; James Hogg, Vice Presi- dent; and Austin B. Sperry, Secretary. The San Francisco office is at No. 22 California street. Their annual output is estimated at about $2,000,000.
The Stockton Milling Company was organ- ized during the summer of 1882, with a capital of $300,000. The first directors were James M. Welsh, Robert Balfour, Robert Bruce, Abraham Schwabacher and Sigmund Schwa- bacher. Technically, the proprietors are now, as then, Balfour, Guthrie & Co. and Scliwa- bacher Brothers of San Francisco and J. M. Welsh of Stockton. They operate the " Crown Flouring Mills," erected in 1883, on the south side of Stockton channel at the western limit of the city. The building is a fine five-story structure, and the capacity is about 1,400 barrels a day. Annnal output, abont $1,200,000, worth. This company are also the proprietors of the " Crown " brick warehouse, whose storage ca- pacity is 15,000 tons. Stockton office, corner of Levee and Commerce streets; San Francisco office, 319 California street. Mr. Welsh, the manager, is an accommodating, liberal gentle- inan, who is sure to have all his employes do the "' fair thing " in filling orders.
The paper-mill, owned by the California Pa- per Company, in this city, was first put in operation by R. B. Lane, in 1878. It was the first and still remains the only paper-mill in this section of the State. The first cost ($75,000) has since been doubled, and it is to day a flonr- ishing institution. The machinery, which was first operated at Lane's flour and feed mill on Weber avenue, was reinoved to a new building erected on the left bank of Mormon Channel, expressly for the manufacture of paper, in 1878,
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and the capital invested in 1882 was $150,000; now it is $225,000. The mill affords constant employment to 105 hands, and the sum of $4,300 is paid monthly for wages. During 1889, $22,000 was paid for raw material. The pro- duct consists of newspaper stock only. All but one of the metropolitan journals and a number of the interior daily and weekly newspapers of the State use paper of Stockton manufacture alone. The engine used in operating the machinery is 500-horse-power, Corliss compound, built by the Risdon Iron and Locomotive Works of San Francisco. All the material is now procured on this coast, ground wood and sulphite from the Willamette Pulp and Paper Company of Ore- gon, and the rags from San Francisco.
Up to the winter of 1889 the company man- nfactured also straw paper. In the fall of 1889 they took out the straw machinery and added an eighty-four-inch Fourdrinier machine built by Smith, Winchester & Co. of South Wind- ham, Connecticut. They also have ten beating engines and three refining engines. A com- pound steam pump raises all the water from an artesian well, which also furnishies all the gas used for lighting purposes. There are also three smaller engines, with a total of 110-horse-power. The original capacity in 1878 was 200 tons monthly, of all sorts; it is now 425 tons of news paper. By the addition of the new en- gine, the original engine roomn was extended thirty feet. In 1885 the company built two new warehouses, one 30x 150 feet and the other 30 x 60, fully doubling their warehouse capacity. These are now so crowded that more room must soon be made.
Present officers: Egbert Judson, president; and W. P. Jolinson, secretary and general man- ager. San Francisco office, 722 Montgomery street. All the stockholders reside in San Francisco except Mr. Lane, the originator.
The Stockton Wheel Company was formed May 15, 1883, by the Holt Brothers. Their conspicuous buildings south of the eastern de- pot, cover 300 feet square, where they manu- facture both wood and iron wheels for vehicles
and harvesters of all kinds, hubs, cars, hacks, wagonettes, gearing and the " Improved Link and Belt Combined Harvester." A full work- ing force consists of sixty hands. Nearly all their material is imported from the East. They have also a small factory at Concord, New Hamp- shire. Their trade in the West extends into Brit- islı Columbia, Nevada, Arizona, etc. The firm consists of Charles H. Holt, San Francisco; Benjamin Holt, Stockton; and A. Frank Holt, Concord, New Hampshire.
The Matteson & Williamson Manufacturing Company, 370 Main street, a little west of the eastern depot, manufacture all kinds of agricul- tural implements, including the Harvest Queen Harvester, Stockton gang or reversible plows, Channel iron harrows, Richards' disc harrow, etc. T. P. Williamson, president; S. M. Dorr, secretary ; and D. C. Matteson, superintendent. Mr. Matteson started in this city in 1852, on the next corner west of the present establish- ment, manufacturing plows and wagons. Sell- ing out there, he moved down next the Method- ist church by the court-house. In a few years he sold out there and bought, in 1865, where the Commercial Hotel property now is, and there he operated fifteen years, and then built the present works, about five years ago. Mr. Will. iamson became a partner in 1865. They em- ploy twenty-five to sixty-five men.
Enoch J. Marsters commenced the manufac. ture of self-feeders, derricks, nets, tanks, trouglis, elevators and land rollers in 1875, at the corner of Washington and California streets, where the works are still in operation, turning out $12,000 to $15,000 worth of ap- paratus annually. He invented the " Marsters' Self-feeder," patenting it in 1877. He also invented a horse elevator, for loading sacked grain from a pile into a wagon, also the wind- mill named " The Tempest."
J. C. Hoult & Sons' Centennial Harvester Works, on Center street, and on the south side of Mormon channel, were established in 1883, and are run by water power about half the time. The " Improved Centennial" is the
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name of their machine, and their annual pro- duct is estimated at about $25,000.
For a sketcli of the extensive combined har- vester works at the eastern limits of Stockton, see biography of L. U. Slippee, in this volume.
M. P. Henderson & Son are the proprietors of an extensive carriage manufactory, which was established in 1869, by Mr. Henderson and E. G. Clark, with a working force of three men, in a small shop on Weber avenue, and which they soon ontgrew; and in 1878-'79 removed to the corner of Main and American streets, where they had erected their present substantial fac- tories, at a cost of $8,000. All kinds of velii- cles are made by them, from the lightest sulky to the heaviest stage coach, and they are known for their thorough construction and durability.
In 1870 Messrs. Lambert, Doughty & Tat- terson invested about $30,000 in the erection of a woolen mill on the south bank of Mormon channel, on Otter street. The mill began oper- ations in October of that year, and during 1871, with only one set of machinery, there were manufactured 6,000 pairs of blankets of supe- rior quality. In September, 1871, the capacity of the mill was doubled, and subsequently the products per week amounted to 162 pairs of blankets and 1,700 yards of flannel. The mill was again enlarged, to what is known as a "two- set " mill, with 800 spindles. The value of their products in 1886 was estimated at $100,000.
The Globe Iron Works. This establishment, one of the most prominent of the manufact- uring concerns of Stockton, is the property of the firm of Strait & Cadle. The business was established in the fall of 1858, by E. I. Keep and Wm. H. Briggs, under the name of Keep & Briggs, and their place of business was across the street from the present location of the Globe Iron Works. A few years later Mr. Briggs retired from the partnership, and E. I. Keep thereafter carried on the business alone until liis deatlı. Then the works became the property of W. H. Keep (a brother of the late proprietor), Peter Bargion, and Thomas Blake,
doing business under the firm name of Bargion, Keep & Blake. Their successor was John Caine, who was in 1885 succeeded by Strait & Cadle. The present firm manufacture dredgers, steamboat machinery, and castings, and do re- pair work of all kinds. They also keep in stock harvesters' extras and plow castings. Among the large dredgers built by this firin is one for J. C. Smith, which has done splendid work in reclaiming tule lands in San Joaquin County. One of their latest pieces of work is a large dredger for Senator Jones, in- tended for reclaiming low lands in Sonoma County. They also do a considerable business in the manufacture of traction engines, for which they have a first-class reputation. Archi- tectural iron work is also done here in large quantities. Their trade is by no means con- fined to the territory tributary to Stockton in all ordinary lines, but extends to points as re- inote as Arizona. The establishment gives em- ployment to about twenty-five workinen, and is one of Stockton's leading enterprises.
Edward Fisk Cadle, of the firm of Strait & Cadle, is a native of New York city, born in 1838. His parents, Cornelius and Abigail Howe (Larrabee) Cadle, removed in 1842 to Muscatine, Iowa, among thie early settlers of the place, and there the father became prominent in the lumber trade. His wife died at Muscatine in 1847. He and his second wife, Ruth Lamp- rey Cadle, were among the most active of Union workers during the civil war, and three of his sons served in Iowa regiments. Colonel Cor- nelius Cadle, Jr., the oldest son, was Chief of S.aff for General Frank P. Blair. Cornelius Cadle, Sr., father of the subject of this sketelı, died in Alabama while on a visit in that State. His wife died in Muscatine, where she is re- membered with gratitude by the survivors of the war. She was the leader in the movement which resulted in the erection of the splendid Soldiers' Monument in Muscatine. E. F. Cadle, with whose name this sketch commences, spent his boyhood days in Muscatine, and there com- menced the machinists' trade, finishing at the
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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
shops of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, Chicago. From there he went back to Muscatine, and from the latter city came to California in 1859, via New York and Panama, landing at San Francisco on the 1st of March. He proceeded to Stockton, entered the employ of Keep & Briggs, and was connected with their shops the greater part of the time through the varions changes in ownership until, with Mr. Strait, he became proprietor.
He was married in this city in 1864, to Miss Delia Emeline Elsemore, a native of Maine. They have three children, viz .: Lncy Abigail; Frank Fisk; Cornelius William. Miss Abbie Cadle is a graduate of the Elocution Depart- ment of the College of Music of Cincinnati (class of 1887), and of the Boston School of Expression (class of 1889); she taught two years in the Lafayette School, Stockton, but is now a private teacher of expression."
Frank, the elder son, is in the office of Strait & Cadle, and has thoroughly familiarized him- self with business methods there. The younger son, Cornelius, is in the office of Sperry & Co. (City Mills).
Mr. Cadle is a member of Charity Lodge, I. O. O. F., and of Stockton Lodge, No. 23, A. O. U. W. He is an active and infinential busi- ness man, and takes a commendable interest in public affairs and matters pertaining to the wel- fare of the community.
Stockton Iron Works: see sketch of Trethe- way, Earle & Dasher, which find by the index.
Kullman, Wagner & Co., are proprietors of the Pacific Tannery, corner of Oak and El Dorado streets. The business was established in 1856, by Jacob C. Wagner, when two other tanneries were in existence-one on the north side of Stockton Slough, owned by Graham & Stewart, and the other on Mormon Slongh, owned by II. R. Potter; but they had not established their market. They obtained their bark from white oaks in the vicinity. Abont 1859 Charles Wag- ner was admitted as a partner in the Pacific Tannery; in 1869 Jacob retired, and abont the same time Moses Kulhnan was associated with
the firm; about three years later H. Kullman was also admitted; and in 1874 Jacob Saltz and Charles Hart were admitted. November 6, 1878, Moses Kullman died. The tannery was burned in 1867, 1871 and 1875, and the last time it was rebuilt with brick. Since then ad- ditions have been made.
The present capacity of the works is the tan- ning of 50,000 sides of leather per annum, and they are run almost to their full capacity. About two-thirds of their product is sole leath- er, and the remainder harness leather, skirting, etc. They also turn out annnally abont 2,500 kips for upper shoe leather. The company use abont 3,000 cords of bark every year, costing $18 a cord. It is all brought to the doors of the tannery by schooners, from the coast range of mountains. Their house in San Francisco is at 106 Battery street.
The Bnhach Prodneing and Mannfactoring Company are engaged in the rare but extremely useful business of raising pyrethrum and manu- facturing from it the popular insect powder of commerce. This plant belongs to the botanical order of composites, which embraces also the familiar sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum, dan- delion, lettuce, dog fennel, etc. The powder is simply the pulverized flowers of the plant, which have a market price of abont $800 a ton. This powder destroys insects by choking them to death, and not by poisoning them; for it is not a poison to anything.
The name Buhaeh, which has been adopted by the company engaged in the growth of the pyrethrum plant at the Buhach colony in Merced Connty, and the preparation of the powder at the mills in Stockton, is of eastern origin, the plant being a native of the Anstrian provinces bordering the Adriatic sea, notably Dalmatia, Montenegro and Herzogovina. There are 800 acres devoted to its growth near Atwater station in the county mentioned. This locality was se- lected after dne examination of soils in nearly every portion of the United States as to adapt- ability for its production; for the pyrethrum plant is particular, so to speak, as to its habi-
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tat, and the places in the world where it has been found that it can be successfully cultivated are limited in number, the desired or rather necessary combination of soil and climatic pe- cnliarities being difficult to find. Another in- stance of the wonderful versatility of the soil and climate of our noble State, and of the great valley of the San Joaquin, is afforded by the fact that it was selected after extensive and expen- sive experiment as the best adapted in the Union for the growth of the pyrethrum plant, which has been properly described as one of the most valuable products in the long list which has given to California so well deserved and world-wide a celebrity.
The introduction of this important industry is principally due to J. D. Peters, one of Stock- ton's foremost citizens, and the president of the Bulach Producing and Manufacturing Com- pany. This gentleman saw here an opportunity of doing great good to the State and the coun- try, as well as a profitable investment of capi- tal; and with characteristic energy threw him- self into the undertaking which has assumed great proportions, and which is capable of an al- most indefinite extension. Up to the time of his death, G. N. Milco was associated with Mr. Peters in this enterprise. The Buhach colony between Atwater station and Merced, Merced County, embraces 800 acres of choice land, and employment is given a large force of employés, which, during the season, amounts to several hundred men. This plantation and the mills at Stockton are the only institutions of the kind in America of importance.
Experiment has proven that the article here produced is superior in strength and quality to the article imported from the Mediterranean, and it is almost a foregone conclusion that in time the native article will entirely supersede the foreign in the markets of the American con- tinent. The works are near the head of Stockton channel.
The San Joaquin Brewery, owned by Charles Wirth (formerly Yost & Wirth) is at the south- west corner of Weber avenue and American street.
The El Dorado Brewery and Wine Mannfac- tory is at 208 American street.
The manufacture of barbed wire has already been alluded to, in the agricultural chapter, un- der the head of Grangers' Union.
For an account of the old-established carriage and wagon mannfactory of William P. Miller, the immense planing mill and lumber establish - ment of Smith & Moore, the Enterprise Planing Mills of P. A. Buell & Co., and planing mills of White & Thomas, the great winery of George West & Co., and many other establishments in and about Stockton, see sketches of men con- nected with them in the latter part of this volume, which may be found by the index. Stockton being a favorable place for manufac- tories, many have come and established them - selves here, on a small scale, and are still running, although many also, for various reasons, have been discontinued.
For an account of the Stockton Savings and Loan Society and Bank, see biographical sketch of L. U. Shippee.
The First National Bank of Stockton, north- west corner of Main and Hunter streets, is operating upon a paid up capital of $200,000. President, Henry H. Hewlett; vice-president, S. W. Newell; directors-George A. Conrad, B. Frankenheimer, George H. Fancher, James Sutherland and J. H. Hough.
The San Joaquin Valley Bank, 210 Main street, was organized in March, 1868. Present capital, $158,580; reserve, $75,000. Gilbert B. Claiborne, president; Charles E. Perkins, cashier.
The Stockton Savings Bank, established No- vember 9, 1882, is at 247 Main street, between San Joaquin and Sutter streets. Henry S. Sar- gent, president; Sidney Newell cashier.
The Stockton Bank, northeast corner of Main and Center streets, is now (December, 1889) in process of liquidation. Robert K. Reid, presi- dent; Richard W. Tully, cashier.
There are two street-car lines in Stockton, one running from the eastern limits on Main street, by way of the eastern depot, and back to
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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
Main street, and on west to El Dorado street, and north on the latter about three-fourths of a mile; and the other north and sonth, from near the northern limits on California street, chang- ing on Main street to San Joaquin, and sonth on this to the southern limits.
EDUCATION.
In May, 1849, Charles Blake arrived in Stock- ton, and with the encouragement of Captain Weber, built a small school-house on the site of the present Presbyterian church, and May 4, 1850, opened a school. This building was afterward used as a parsonage for the church meeting at the building referred to. It was found by the experiment that there were too few children in the place to maintain the school, and it was discontinued. During the following autumn Mrs. James Woods, the wife of the pastor of that church, opened a select school. In the spring of 1851 a free school was opened by W. P. Hazelton, at liis own expensc, just for the " love of the thing," for all orderly children of about six years of age or more. He after- ward engaged in the dental profession. Mrs. Newman, the "pioneer educator of San Joaquin County," taught in the Southern Methodist Episcopal church, and was "prepared to receive a few lady boarders."
Next the Methodists established the Stockton Academy, for boys only, in a one-and-a-half- story building where the present La Fayette School is. The Presbyterians, competing, opened their church building and started the "San Joaquin Female Seminary," Angust 30, 1852. In 1853 the public schools were organized, under the leadership of V. M. Peyton, but many people were too select in their tastes to patron- ize them, preferring private schools. Mrs. J. B. Saxton, who had come to this State with her husband, April 4, 1853, opened a private school in the Baptist church on Center street, and Mrs. Woods a select school, June 13, same year, where the Washington School building is now located; and still another was opened in the Henrietta House, by D. Morris. The school
taught by Mrs. Woods was afterward conducted by Miss Mary Kroh, and in July, 1855, by Miss Hutchinson.
In 1855, on account of the unhealthfulness of the locality of the boys' school, they were moved to a two-story building on the corner of Sntter and Market streets. This was a poor building, and in 1857 the school was removed to the cor- ner of Main and Sutter.
In September, 1857 (?), Dr. Cyrus Collins started a movement for higher education here, which was successful. A large brick building was crected on Center street, between Fremont and Park, and the school was opened in March, 1858 (?), by the doctor and his wite. This school was afterward tanght by William Van Doren and family. The property was finally sold to Dr. Asa Clark, who occupied it as a residence.
Dr. Hunt's Seminary was built in 1859 by Dr. Hunt, an anti-slavery Methodist minister from the South. Purchasing a block of land, he erected in the center a brick edifice to be used both as a residence and a school building. It was known as Hunt's Female Seminary, and during the opening years was in a flourishing condition, but was closed in 1873. Soon after- ward Dr. Hunt dicd, and the ground was sold in lots.
In 1865 the Germans establislied a school here for the purpose of teaching the common branches in the German language. Charles D. Ernest, since deceased, was the leader in this movement. The association started with ninety- four charter members, but having no building of their own, and having to compete with the public schools, they were finally obliged to aban- don the enterprise. In 1887 they turned over their property, valued at $2,500, to the Turn- Verein, with the understanding that they con- tinue the course in German, and this is the present plan.
St. Agnes Academy .- In 1864 St. Mary's Catholic School was started on the corner of San Joaquin and Lafayette streets, with ninety pupils. In 1870 it was removed to the old
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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
Catholic church building, where it was con- ducted by Miss Mary McDonnell. In 1874 Rev. W. B. O'Connor, pastor of the church here, inaugurated a movement for the establishment of a convent school for girls, to be conducted by sisters of the Dominican order. A sufficient suni was subscribed to warrant the signing of a contract for the construction of the west wing of the building, December 4, that year, on the beautiful and extensive grounds on the sonth bank of the Mormon slough, between San Joa- quin and California streets, which were the gift of Captain C. M. Weber. The building, 41 x 107 feet, and four stories high, is an ornament to the city, and will accommodate fifty boarders and 300 day scholars. It was dedicated Marclı 17, 1876, by Archbishop Alemany, of San Francisco, and was opened in August. At the request of Father O'Connor, the first corps of instructors consisted of Sisters Ramonda, Mag- dalen, Catherine, Angela, Stanislaus and Evan- geliste. The attendance is probably about 230 at present.
Of St. Mary's College, for boys, Brother George is director, and the attendance is 225.
St. Joseph's School, primary, was started about 1885, on the corner of Grant and Oak streets. The attendance there is about seventy- five, and the school is taught by sisters from the academy.
To V. M. Peyton belongs the credit of estab- lishing the free-school system under State law in Stockton. In October, 1852, being then a member of the common council, he called the attention of that body to the fact that San Francisco and Sacramento were availing them- selves of the advantages of the new law, and that it was time for the citizens here to be do- ing something. The law required three months' school as a prerequisite to drawing anything from the public fund, and the question immedi- ately rose, how shall the means be obtained to maintain this school. Mr. Peyton, equal to the emergency, placed $50 on the table as a contri- bution, and his example was followed by the other nine aldermen. C. W. Phelps and Cap-
tain Jordan solicited subscriptions from others, until about $500 more was raised. This was sufficient for a starter; and the council, October 30, 1852, adopted an ordinance drawn up by Mr. Peyton, by which a tax of three cents on eachı $100 was levied for school purposes, and Dr. William G. Canders, a Disciple minister, was appointed school census marshal. The council also elected Dr. E. B. Bateman superin- tendent, and Rev. J. W. Kelley, V. M. Peyton and Dr. George A. Shurtleff, as the board of education. In December this board met at the grocery of Mr. Peyton, and elected him presi- dent, and his clerk, John Herron, as clerk of the board. The few teachers then in Stockton were loth to give up their private schools for what appeared to them to be experimental situ- ations, but at length Mr. Peyton induced Dr. Canders to give np his and take charge of the male department of the public school, and Mrs. J. W. Woods was persuaded to take charge of the girls' department. Snitable roomns were ob- tained with difficulty, and the schools were opened February 23, 1853,-for the boys in the Stockton Academy, and for the girls in another building.
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