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 9
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and covered body and top with tules thatched. At that time there was some tule hnts on the corner of Market and El Dorado streets. These were about eight feet square and built for herders. A man by the name of Davis had an eating house where now is the office of the Farmers' Union. This was built of boards and boxes. Weber was then building his store where the Copperopolis depot now stands. The peninsula was still used as a corral.
Early in 1849, probably in February, came George G. Belt, with a wholesale stock of goods. About the same time Grayson & Stephens built on the corner of what is now known as Center and Levee streets. E. Lane erected a store along- side the latter and soon afterward formed a partnership with Douglass & Rainey. A store- ship, owned by Captain Jordon, soon became one of the adjuncts of the growing little town. In May, Malone and another man started a store, and during that year sold to Sparrell and another party. In the spring a livery and hay-stable was established by Heath, Emory & G. G. Dixon. William HI. Fairchilds erected the first blacksmith and wagon shop in Stockton this year, which was occupied by the Owens Brothers. It was sided up with poles and covered with tules and mud. The forge and chimney were made of adobe brick. The Owens Brothers made money and left the city some time during the ensuing autumn. During the following winter the shop was sold to Westbay, Churchill & Pierce. There was also in this place about that time a wholesale liquor store, owned by R. A. Parker, of San Francisco. The " Stockton Shades," kept by little Jack Keeler, and a bak- ery run by Murphy, were institutions in 1849; and during this year was started a tent hotel, afterward changed to a frame building and named the " United States Hotel," and was the first public house in the place; Tyson was the proprietor, and John Anderson manager.
The second hotel erected was the Stockton House, afterward known as the St. Charles Ho- tel, located on El Dorado street, on the penin- sula, in 1849-'50, by Doak, Bonsell & Scott, at
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a cost of $87,000. Some of the lumber cost $1 a foot. It was a fine house, four-stories high, and contained about seventy rooms. Mr. Doak finally opened it himself as a hotel, but a few days afterward he leased it to a Mr. Hall, at a rental of $1,800 a month.
The principal hotel in 1849 was kept by a Mr. Chapman. It was 40 x 60 feet in dimen- sions, two stories high and built by placing sixteen foot boards on end. The floor was of common rough boards and the partitions cloth. The lower story was full of gambling tables, which rented for $25 apiece a day, and the sharp crack of the revolver was a daily occurrence.
At this time the bridge across Stockton chan- nel was not finished. The trestle work, how- ever, was built and the stringers laid loosely thereon. At the celebration of the opening, parties from the business portion of the town walked to the hotel across the stringers. One of the prominent merchants visited the hotel, and made the trip across the stringers of the bridge without accident, but on his return, owing to the fact that he was somewhat exhil- arated that Stockton was to have a first-class hotel, he missed his footing and walked off into the slough, where the water was over his head. He dropped straight down and his feet pene- trated the mud and held him under water. His companions reached down for him, and, seizing him by the hair, with considerable difficulty drew him out. The first words le uttered were, "Oh, God! but it was deep. I was a long time coming up."
The first lumber-yard in the place was started in 1849, by J. Doak, who purchased his stock (127,000 feet of lumber) in San Francisco, liav- ing it landed at the mouth of the San Joaquin river, at a place called New York, where it was converted into rafts, and floated up to Stockton, by letting the rising tide move them forward until it was abont changing its current, when the rafts were anchored to the river banks; the passage taking less than two weeks. To main- tain the supply after the yard was established, Mr. Doak used his little schooner, the "Sau
Joaquin," built by him at the Doak & Bonsell Ferry.
The first steamer that entered the Stockton channel steamed np to that village in Angust, 1849. She was called the Merrimac, and was built in Newburyport, Massachusetts, being cut up into several pieces for shipment to San Fran- cisco, where she was put together, Mr. Gove, of this county, having seen her when on the first return trip from Stockton.
Murphy & Ferguson had a small bakery and eating-house where the Eureka saloon now stands. Sirey, White & Whitehouse were the first hotel-keepers. Robertson was the first blacksmithı. James Journeay mnade the first wagon. William Graham put on the first wagon-wheel, doing the work for Mr. Overhiser. Captain Weber, Nelson Taylor and G. G. Belt had the first general stores. J. H. Powers opened the first bath-house. on Center street. A. H. Todd & Co. and Reynolds & Co. were among the first express companies. Gillingham Bros. were grocers in 1849. So were Sparrow & Navarro. Bonsell & Scott made the first brick. The first oyster saloon-" Blue Wing Saloon" -- and ice cream stand was kept by B. Howard Brown. Mr. Zachariah opened a small 6 x 10 clothing store in 1850, on the levee. From $50 worth of clothing he realized $21,500(!) in less than six months, went home and returned with his family. He then planted a beautiful or- chard and flower-garden on the corner of Grant and Park streets, and in 1854 sold his first ripe pears for $3 eachı! His garden was said to be more beautiful than any that had ever been made in Stockton or vicinity.
DEVELOPMENT OF MANUFACTURE.
First on the list comes food. In 1849 and later, great quantities of crackers, etc., were inade and sent to the mines, first from imported flour, and then from home-made flour ground from foreign wheat. This industry, to be sure, was small, but it was the first opening of the tiny bud of manufacture that lias since burst into bloom, a beautiful flower. From this small
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begining have the manufactures of Stockton advanced to their present state.
The next industry in importance was the manufacture of flour, the article then in the greatest demand. A mill was established by A. Sperry and S. M. Baldwin in the spring of 1852, and for several years used wlreat imported from Napa and Martinez. Not until 1856 did the millers of this region realize that the San Joa- quin valley could produce a better quality of wheat than could be obtained abroad. Since then the flour manufactured in Stockton from San Joaquin wheat has achieved a reputation second to none in foreign markets.
The great influx of adventurers in 1849 and later, gave rise to an enormous trade in goods, tools and provisions between Stockton and the mines, and, as all this had to be transacted by teams, there was a sudden demand for wagons of a construction heavy enough to serve the de- sired end, which the vehicles of various descrip- tions brought over the plains by the gold-seekers failed to supply, a necessity which resulted in the birth of the " prairie schooner." Still greater was the demand when two years later the people turned their energies to agriculture. To meet this emergency rude and primitive conveyances of the character desired sprang into being, " home-made" in their construction. Soon a great many artisans, blacksmiths and carpenters, were repairing and building wagons.
It is claimed that John Fairbanks made the first wagon in Stockton, in 1851. The first freight wagon was made in 1852 by W. P. Miller, at a benchi nnder an oak tree, the hubs being made from a ship's rudder. The wagon sold for $750, and was called the " Texas Ranger." It was not until 1853 that a regular wagon manufactory was instituted in Stockton, by W. P. Miller, who has continued the busi- ness since. The largest wagon he ever made weighed 5,300 lbs., and was sold for $1,100. The large establishment of M. P. Henderson & Son was started in 1869, by Henderson & Clark.
Boat-building came in demand in 1850, on account of the immense traffic with San 5
Francisco. S. H. Davis was for many years the principal builder.
About the same time, brick began to be in great demand, the first to supply it being J. Doak, Rood & Wallace, J. C. White (of Elkhorn ranch), and James Tallmadge.
The next urgent demand was for cheaper tools, especially agricultural implements of a kind suited to the proper cultivation of the soil in this locality. The expense attending their importation from the East was so great that the manufacture of them was early commenced. The early prices demanded for these articles were, scythe, $100; grain cradle, $150; single hand-plows, $125 to $175, and others in like proportion. These prices were largely reduced by the manufacture of most of the implements here, though the great expense attendant upon the importation of the material still kept the prices at a high figure. The first house to en- gage in theselling and afterward mamfactoring of agricultural and mining tools was Paige & Webster, in 1849.
Hides formed one of the principal products shipped from this valley in the early days, and it was not long before the fact was recognized that more money could be made by converting them into leather here than in shipping them to Eastern towns, and then be compelled to buy the leather from them. The first tannery was established in 1853, by J. C. Wagner, which has since been developed into the large establish- ment, the Pacific Tannery, Kullman, Wagner & Co., proprietors.
Not until 1870 was there an attempt made to utilize the immense wool product of the val- ley, which had been previously shipped East aud to England. Shipments are still made. In that year the Stockton Woolen Mills were con- structed and the manufacture of flannels and blankets commenced.
The manufacture of beer was commenced in 1851 by Philip Niestrath, who established the City Brewery, and the El Dorado Brewery was founded by Bush & Dinkleacker in 1855.
In 1857 marble carving was inaugurated in
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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
Stockton by E. R. Roberts, who had commenced to work California marble as early as 1854 at Columbia, Tuolumne County. He was the first man to work California marble, and was alone in the business for some time.
OTHER IMPROVEMENTS.
The first fire occurred on the morning of December 23, 1849, destroying all the business portion of the town, bounded by Center, Levee, Main and El Dorado streets, and the amount of property destroyed was valued at $200,000. This calamity led to the organization of a fire department. Notwithstanding the lack of proper material and the unparalleled severity of the winter of 1849-'50, buildings were again run up and the unsightly waste was again soon covered with a newer and a whiter linen city, interspersed here and there with a substantial wooden building.
Some frame houses were bronght here by vessel from the East, a few of which are still standing. Most of them were two stories in height, and are distinguishable by their low- slanting roof and their small windows. Most of them are on the peninsula. In the hurried and transient life of the gold-seekers their stock of goods was a curious conglomeration of goods in most of the private tents, and even in tlie stores. In coming here any article that they could bring was bronght along and dumped in without classification. The Mexicans, of course, liad adobe houses, which are indeed more com- fortable in a hot climate than any of the modern American buildings, as they preserve the more uniform temperature of the earth beneath. Even in winter they require less fire than do the modern frame and brick structures.
GAMBLING ESTABLISHMENTS.
In 1849 a large gambling tent was standing on the corner of Levee and Center streets, the latter being the principal street in the place. This tent was 100 feet square and contained more than twenty gaming tables. Money and liquor were the chief commodities changing
hands here, amid carousing and all the petty vices connected with such a life. This tent was destroyed by fire May 6, 1851, and in its place was erected another gambling house, known as the El Dorado. To see who, after a calamity, would be first re-stablished in business, and that too, without grumbling, was the chief ambition of these pioneers. The Central Exchange, a building 30 x 60, was built in 1849 on the south- east corner of Main and Center streets, by J. B. Nye and Samuel Geddes, at a cost of $14,000. It was built of wood, the floor of Oregon pine and hewn smooth. After its arrival in Stock- ton the roof was covered with shingles, costing $30 per 1,000. This place was occupied as a saloon, and the first piano ever heard in Stock- ton thrilled with pleasure the gambling crowd that assembled there. A noted gambler named Bob Collins had rented the tables for $1,000 a month, for the purpose of opening a gambling house. These tables he sub-let to other parties at $10 an hour. Business not being as lively as he anticipated he hit upon a novel plan to in- crease his profits and the receipts of the bar. Walking down on the levee he learned that Judge Reynolds was holding court on board a store-ship. Being acquainted with the Judge he planned it with the proprietor of the saloon to ask Reynolds to hold his court there, for, says Bob, " If you can get him up here it will draw a crowd to court, and we can do a way-up business." It was agreed that the Judge could ocenpy the attic as a bedroom free of cost. That day Bob saw the Judge, and they walked down to the Exchange and took a drink, a thing which the Judge was never known to refuse to do. Bob broached the subject, showed the many advantages of the location, room, etc., lodgings for the Judge to be thrown in, and they took a drink. The Judge acquiesced in the arrangement, and his office goods, consist- ing of a table, bed, pen, ink, and an old book of Spanish law, was removed to his new quarters.
Things were harmonious in this court, saloon and inonte bank, until one day an action came before the court in which Bob Collins was an
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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
interested party. It happened that a yonng inan who was a sharper and shrewd at monte, and " broke a bank" just below the saloon, came and deposited the money in Collins' bank until the next day. He came the next morning and said to Bob, "I will take my money." " Why, you are joking." "No, I am not," said the depositor. " I want my money."
Says Bob: " Yon have left money here before and never have called for it, and what in ails you now." " Well, I want my money." Bob failed to hand it over and suit was begun. Witnesses were called to prove that he had never called for his money before. While this investi- gation was going on the voice of Bob was heard: " Come right np, gentlemen, this is the place to get your money back." The Judge, stern and dignified, sat in his armı-chair, elevated on a dry- goods box. No decision conld be made, and finally some one suggested a division of the money. "I want iny fee out of this," said Counsellor Terry. " And I shall have my fee," said Lawyer Perley, putting his hand behind him as if to draw a weapon. In an instant fifty hands were down for pistols and knives. The Judge, seeing the state of affairs, stepped down to where the money was lying and pulled it into his hat, filling it nearly, and at the same time remarked that the conrt would take care of itself, and dismissed the action. Bob did not like this state of affairs, and said: " By ---- this conrt is running my business. Everybody rnshes over into that corner and leaves mne all alone." In order to get the Judge ont he got bim into a game of poker, won all his money by putting aces np on him, and then he called on the prefect, George D. Dickinson, to put him out. The Judge subsequently went to Mexico and was never heard of more.
SCARCITY OF WOMEN.
The gold-seekers were of course all inen. Hence the appearance of a woman of the white race from the "States" was rare and created considerable excitement. They were a novelty in the mountain camps even as late as 1854.
Men traveled as far as ten miles on one occasion merely to see the wife of a miner who had just arrived. At another time a company of miners danced aronnd an old hoop-skirt found by the road-side. In 1849 a ball was given at an adobe house in Stockton, on Main street, just below Center, which was largely attended, but discon- tinued early in the evening, as only one woman was present, and she a Mexican. The presence of a white woman, whether chaste or not, caused a greater whirl of excitement and rejoicing than would now be occasioned by the arrival of the Queen of England. Even at that early day women were found to be a paying feature in the saloons. Two were imported from San Fran- cisco, who dealt monte in one of the saloons here, and drew great crowds, and money was freely spent.
THE CONTRAST.
In 1847 Bayard Taylor found two log cabins here as the only buildings at this point, erected by Joseph Bussel and John Sirey. (These names are variously spelled.) Bnssel's was a tavern, and was patronized by travelers from San Francisco and San Jose. It was torn down in 1850. The logs for these buildings were cut near the asylnin, and also abont the Mormon slough bulkhead. Where the city now stands was a forest of oak trees.
J. H. Carson, who had passed through Stock- ton on his way from Monterey to the mines in the summer of 1848, thus speaks of the place upon his return a few months afterward: "But when 1 arrived, May 1, 1849, a change had come over the scene since I had left. Stockton, that I had last seen graced only by Joe Bussel's log house with a tule roof, was now a vast linen city. The tall inasts of barques, brigs and schooners were seen high-pointed in the blne vanlt above, while the merry 'Yo-ho!' of the sailor could be heard as box, bale and barrel were landed on the banks of the slough. A rush and whirl of noisy human beings were continually before the eye. The magic wand of gold had been shaken over a desolate place, and on it a vast city had risen at the bidding."
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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
Only a week afterward he wrote: "From the top of the divide we hailed the great plain of San Joaquin, visible through the openings among the hills like a dark-blue ocean, to which the leagues of wild oats made a beach of yellow sand. At least 100 miles of its surface was visible, and the hazy air, made more dense by the smoke of the burning tule marshes, alone prevented us from seeing the snowy outlines of the Sierra Nevadas.
"A view of Stockton was something to be remembered. There in the heart of California, where the last winter stood a solitary ranch, I found a canvas town of 1,000 inhabitants, and a port with twenty-five vessels at anchor. The mingled voices of labor around, the click of hammers, the shouts of mnle drivers, the jingling of spurs, the jar and jostle of wares in the tents, almost cheated ine into the belief that it was some old commercial market familiar with such sounds for years past. Four months only had sufficed to make the place what it was, and in that time a wholesale firmn (amount of a dozen) had done business to the amount of $100,000. It cost this firm to erect a common one story clapboard house, $15,000. I can liken my days at Major Graham's camp to no previous phase of my existence. They were the realization of a desire sometimes felt, some- times expressed in poetry, but rarely enjoyed in complete fulfilment. In the repose of nature, unbroken day or night, the subtle haze per- vading the air, softening all sights and sub- dning all sounds, the stillness of the day and the starry hnsh of the night, the oak tree was for one a perfect castle of indolence. Lying at full length on the ground in listless ease, whichever way I looked my eye met the same enchanting groupage of oaks; the same glorious ontline and massed shadows of foliage; while frequent openings through the farthest clumps gave boundless glimpses of the plain beyond; scarcely a leaf stirred in the slumberous air; and giving away to the delicate langnor that stole in upon my brain, I seemed to lie apart from my own mind and to watch the lazy waves
of thought that sank on its shores without a jar. I found Stockton more bustling and pros- perous than ever. The limits of its canvas streets had greatly enlarged during my week of absence, and the crowd on the levee would not disgrace a much larger place at home. Launches were arriving and departing daily for and from San Francisco, and the number of mule trains, wagons, etc., on their way to the various mines with freight and supplies, kept up a life of ac- tivity truly amazing."
ABANDONED VESSELS.
The rush of gold-seekers to this point during the year 1849 resulted in filling up the channel with abandoned vessels of all descriptions, which impeded the progress of business. A petition signed by nearly all the men in Stock- ton was presented to Mr. Weber to have the channel clcared. At that time the alcalde was holding his court in one of these vessels. No one had the right to cause their destruction, and there was no provision adequate to deal with them. Mr. Weber had no particular interest in these crafts. He owned at that time one boat, the Maria, which plied between here and San Francisco. This cost him some $4,000, and, so far as disclosed, this was his only in- terest in sailing crafts or boats; but undoubt- edly he was expected by the business men to assume responsibilities not warranted by law in getting rid of the nuisances. Stockton was not alone in this condition. San Francisco was similarly situated. In ten months, between April, 1849, and February, 1850, 14,240 offi- cers had qnit their ships there, deserted them, and left the port, and during this time 43,824 people had landed there and left the port. All had gone to the mountains or mountain streams and were seeking gold.
DISASTERS.
The winter of 1849-'50 was a wet one, and the country was a sea of mud; and freighting to the mines from the head of navigation be- came impossible. French Camp began to loom np as a place of some importance, and it was
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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
the nearest point at which Stockton could be approached by land. A devastating fire in San Francisco had forced her merchants to demand payments from their debtors, many of whom were in Stockton, unable to pay up, and were therefore closed. Such was Stockton in the spring of 1850, at the threshhold of her per- manent prosperity. A few wooden buildings had taken the place of the burned tents.
Where Main street crossed the slough which once ran across the southwest corner of the court-lionse square, was a ferry, and the passen- ger fare was 25 cents. In the winter of 1849- '50 the ferryman cleared $1,400.
THE FIRST POSTOFFICE
established in Stockton was in 1849. Colonel Allen had been appointed United States mail agent for the coast, and was directed to estab- lish mail routes between Sacramento, Stockton, and the mines. At Stockton, George R. Buff- ington was appointed postmaster, and he brought his postoffice building with him from Salem, Massachusetts. It was a small affair, but served the purpose.
INCORPORATED.
The first prefect in Stockton was G. G. Dickinson, whose duties were a sort of combi- nation of those of judge and executive; he was a kind of mayor and chief of police combined.
The first attempt at municipal organization in Stockton was made in November, 1849. On the authority of an order from the court of Judge George G. Belt, the citizens, on the 13thı of that month, elected the following officers: T. B. Van Buren, president; councilmen- John F. Stephens, Richard W. Heath, M. S. Robinson, Jolin Murphy, W. F. Streeter, D. F. Douglass, George Glidden and J. J. Thibault. City governmental matters ran with compara- tive smoothness for abont three months, when it was discovered that the election had been illegal, and the officers were responsible only for the bills they had incurred. Accordingly they adjourned sine die.
The time from the latter part of 1848 to the spring of 1850 there had been a great influx of people, and vice and disorder were rampant, so some organization for self-protection was a necessity.
Quite early in the spring the citizens began to agitate the question of another attempt at city organization; the first effort in that direc- tion having proved ineffectual, the second was commenced with more care. The first step taken was the meeting of some of the leading citizens at the store of George G. Belt on the evening of March 15, 1850, "for the purpose of considering the propriety of recommending the inhabitants to form a town council,"-at which T. B. Van Buren presided, with Dr. E. B. Bateman for secretary. The result of the meeting was the appointment of a committee to draft an act of incorporation for the city, and report the same at a meeting to be held on the coming Tuesday evening, at the "Owens House." This second meeting resulted in a disagreement as to the boundaries of the pro. posed city, and in a proposition to submit the matter to a vote on the first Monday in the coming April. The city was finally incor- porated under a general act of the Legislature by the following decree issued from the court of Judge Benjamin Williams, July 23, 1850:
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