USA > California > Alameda County > Oakland > Bishop's Oakland directory for 1875 > Part 2
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At the first session of the forty-third Congress an appropriation of $100,000 was made for this work, and a similar appropriation was made at the last session. In the Fall of 1874 the work of constructing the training walls was commenced, and the northerly one, of loose rock from Goat Island, is nearly completed. Pending the application for Federal aid a small amount of dredging was done at the expense of the city, and at the present time the channel is sufficiently deep to allow the passage of ferry boats at all stages of the tide. These improvements give confidence to the belief that Oakland will become a commercial city, that the vast grain trade of the interior will result to her benefit, and that her merchants will prosper by the newly created business. The natural advantages aris- ing from the position of the city are certain to cause prosperity, and its coming will be hastened by the labors of its people. An examination of any railroad map of the State shows that this is the center of the entire railroad system, that this must of necessity be the terminus of the North- ern, Central, and Southern Pacific railroads. These considerations in- spire faith in the great future before us, they are inducements for the investment of capital, and cause Oakland real estate to hold a firm pos- ition, and show greater stability in the market than the real property in any other place in California.
The city assessment rolls, from the fiscal year 1863-4 to date, have been as follows :
AMOUNT OF
YEAR.
ASSESSMENT.
1863-64.
$
794,121
1864-55
970,125
1865-66
1,107,949
1866-67
1,434,800
1867-68
1,832,428
1868-69
3,363,478
1869-70
4,256,702
1870-71.
4,563,737
1871-72.
5,215,704
1872-73
6,647,039
1873-74
18,539,303
1874-75
19,867,162
Buy your Pianos and Organs at STRICKLAND & CO.'S Book store.
TUBES' HOTEL, East Oakland, is provided with every modern accommodation for travelers.
E. W. WOODWARD & CO., 958 Bdwy, homes on the instalment plan.
14 OAKLAND DIRECTORY.
Until the year 1873 the assessment has been announced to have been one third of the actual value of the property, but the custom has been changed, and property is now cited for what is deemed its market value; the rate of taxation is ninety cents on the one hundred dollars.
The city wharf was completed in August, 1872, and its first year's business amounted to $3,283.67. Charges had been fixed so as to pro- duce revenue enough to pay the interest on its cost and running expenses. It has done little more than this during the first year, and the amount of business has so greatly increased that at the end of the second year there was a considerable sinking fund to redeem some of the bonds issued to raise funds for its construction. The freight landed on this wharf during the year ending July 31, 1875, amounted to 43,422 tons ; 5,524,000 bricks, 3,695,000 feet of lumber, 4,205 cords of wood, 1,765 tons of produce; gross earnings, $6,526.63; number of vessels, 822.
LAND TITLES.
ABSTRACT OF THE ORIGIN OF THE TITLE TO THE LAND ON WHICH THE CITY OF OAKLAND IS SITUATED.
During the first few years after the settlement of the city, it was the pop- ular belief that the Squatter Title was valid, and most of the property was purchased from those who had originally taken possession. After the amount of litigation that is usually required to establish the legality of a Mexican grant, the Peralta title obtained recognition, and has withstood every attack subsequently made upon it. We append the outlines of an abstract of title to any city lot :
1. Grant from the Mexican Government to Luis Maria Peralta, of the Rancho San Antonio, embracing the lands upon which the City of Oakland is located. Dated October 18, 1822.
2. In 1842, Luis Maria Peralta made a division of the Rancho San Antonio among his four sons, Ignacio, Antonio, Domingo, and Vicente, and put them in possession of their respective portions. Vicente Peralta received that portion on which the City of Oakland is situated.
3. In 1851, Luis Maria Peralta executed an instrument purporting to be a will, wherein he ratified and confirmed the division of the Rancho San Antonio among his four sons, which instrument, the Supreme Court of California says, estops the heirs of Luis Maria Peralta from denying said gift to his sons.
[See 17 Cal. Reps., Adams v. Lansing.] The invalidity of title derived from the other heirs than the sons of Luis Maria Peralta is also declared by the United States Supreme Court, in a case growing out of the Pretermitted Heir Title, decided in the early part of this year (1872) and not yet reported.
4. In 1854, the Board of Land Commissioners confirmed the northern portion of the rancho, embracing the City of Oakland, to Vicente and Domingo Peralta; and the same was afterwards, in 1855, confirmed by the United States District Court, and still later, at the December term in 1856, by the Supreme Court of the United States. (See 17 Howard.) 5. Ignacio, Antonio, and Domingo Peralta, to Vicente Peralta, release and deed all of their interest in and to that portion of the Rancho embracing the City of Oakland. Dated November 28, 1853. Recorded in Liber 8, of Deeds, Recorder's office, Alameda County.
6. Vicente Peralta to John Clar, (1-6); B. De La Barra, (1-12); Jos. K. Irving, (4); Jacob A. Cost, (}); John C. Hayes and John Caper- ton, (}). Deed dated March 13th, 1852. Recorded in Contra Costa County, in which Oakland was at that date situated.
7. John Clar to J. K. Irving, deed of his interest, February 7th, 1852. Recorded in Contra Costa County.
Drink Napa Soda, a pure, natural mineral water. Agency, 469 Ninth.
E. J. KELLY & CO.'S is the leading Real Estate house of Oakland.
O. F. S .- Every bale of hay sold by weight, 416 Ninth St .- O. F. S.
LAND TITLES.
15
8. B. De La Barra, (1-12) deed to J. K. Irving, J. M. Goggin and William Claude Jones ; William Claude Jones to Eugene Casserly ; J. M. Goggin and Eugene Casserly to J. K. Irving, Hayes, Caperton, and heirs of Cost, deceased.
9. J. K. Irving, party of the first; John C. Hayes and John Caper- ton, parties of the second part; Anna R. Poole, Catherine S. Lyons and her husband, Joseph Lyons; Serena S. Young, and her husband, Alex- ander H. Young (heirs of Cost, deceased), "by William Poole, their attorney," execute a partition deed, duly proven, certified to, and recorded in Alameda County.
10. Power of attorney from Anna R. Poole et al., heirs of Cost, to Wm. J. Poole, June 14, 1853.
11. Power of attorney to Montgomery Blair, from same parties (except Serena S. Young, who was deceased, and left minor heirs, for whom Alexander H. Young signed as guardian), February 2, 1854.
12. Proceedings in Probate Court in the same year, by which inter- est the minor heirs of Serena S. Young became vested in Alex. H. Young.
13. Another partition deed to correct errors in description of lands not blocked off in former deed, reciting and approving the former; tlie same in all other respects, between the same parties (except in place of Serena S. Young, deceased, was Alexander H. Young, "by M. Blair, their attorney in fact"). Dated May 1, 1854.
14. Deed from Anna R. Poole to John C. Hayes, ratifying and con- firming the former deed of partition, and confirming the acts of Blair and Black as agents, September 1, 1858.
15. Similar deed to Hayes et al., from Jos. Lyons and wife, Novem- ber 10, 1858.
16. Similar deed to Hayes et al., from Alex. H. Young, March 27, 1860. Subsequent to the chain of conveyances traced, the title is vested in numerous owners, there being no other general claims. All the techni- calities and defects which ingenuity can discover have been brought to notice. The numerous adverse titles had for years hung over property- holders like an incubus, and in the early part of the year 1869 the people began an organized movement to defeat them. The position of affairs was somewhat critical. The city was rapidly growing, and to allow the idea to go abroad that titles were insecure would check the progress of the city and cause incalculable mischief. Sound business policy over- came the desire to make a bitter fight, however, and the holders of the claims were induced to dispose of them at rates that were trivial. The specific claims were the Pretermitted Heirs' Title, the Sisters' Title, the Irving Title, and the Cost Title, and these comprised all general titles asserted by anybody to land within the City of Oakland. These titles were, by their several owners, conveyed to Henry Hillebrand, the City Clerk, who acted as a Trustee, and by him conveyance was made to the several property holders. Nearly all the land in the city is now held by a perfect title, the Hillebrand deed removing all the clouds. These titles, except the Cost Title, still cloud property outside of the old charter line. The principal ones, the Sisters and the Pretermitted Heirs', are virtually defeated, and the property-holders, to save trouble and annoy- ance, have quite generally purchased the other claims.
The Kate Hayes Title covers that portion of Oakland township outside of the Encinal Line, as laid down on our map. The Supreme Court of the State has sustained a decision rendered by E. W. Mckinstry, Judge of the Twelfth District Court, granting a new trial on the motion made by the defendants (the property holders). That decision was fatal to the claim, which, in itself, was but for a trifling interest. A new trial has not yet been had, and the result is regarded as a foregone conclusion, the law of the case having been decided beyond appeal.
STRICKLAND & CO.'S Stationery Store is No. 1061 Broadway.
TUBBS' HOTEL, East Oakland. Apartments single or en suite.
E. W. WOODWARD & CO., desirable business property for sale.
16
OAKLAND
DIRECTORY.
WATER AND GAS.
About one half of the population of Oakland use water obtained from the Contra Costa Water Company, and the remainder procure it from wells. By digging to a depth of twenty feet a supply of pure fresh water can be obtained, but on account of the increased size of the city, and the prevalent fear that well water is becoming contaminated with sewage, many persons are abandoning their wells and using the water that is obtained from the mountain streams. The Contra Costa Water Company commenced operations in the latter part of the year 1866, and since that time about twenty-five miles of pipe have been laid. Water is obtained from the Temescal Creek; at its eastern branch, five miles from Oakland, a cañon has been dammed, and an artificial lake six hundred feet wide and a quarter of a mile long has been created. The water is seventy feet deep in winter, and the capacity of the reservoir is two hundred million gallons. The consumption of water varies from a million to a million and a half gallons per day, according to the season. The company has also appropriated the water of the Fruit Vale Creek and built a reservoir there, with a capacity of one million gallons. In case the mountain streams run low, use is made of artesian wells in Brooklyn, the water from which is forced by steam power into the mains.
In view of a constantly increasing population and a rapid growth of permanent improvement, with a consequent increased demand, many have expressed a fear that the water supply would fail entirely in the event of a dry season, and leave the city, in the more densely populated localities, where the well water is not fit for use on account of contamin- ation by drainage, without water, and the whole at the mercy of the flames. Such a fear, it will be seen, is unfounded, for the company, in order to meet the increased demand, has acquired the water rights of San Leandro Creek to the upper end of the canon two miles above San Leandro. At that point a suitable dam is being erected, so as to form a lake of the valley above, which will contain, when completed, forty thousand million gallons of water, equal to a daily supply of one hundred million gallons, a quantity sufficient for the supply of a population of one million. The location of this dam is about eight miles from Oakland, and at the present time a large body of water has been accumulated, and pipe two feet in diameter extended to the city charter line. The company is still engaged laying this pipe through the city, and it is hoped the supply may be made available the latter part of the present year. The completion of this enterprise will give Oakland a first class water supply, equal to the best in the United States.
The purity of the water supplied by the Contra Costa Water Company has been tested by the State Assayer, who certifies as follows : I consider the water analyzed to be of excellent quality, and well adapted to domes- tic use.
The Oakland Gas Light Company commenced operations January 1, 1867, since which time its capacity has been largely increased, being now equal to a consumption of two hundred thousand cubic feet per twenty- four hours. The large extent of ground covered by the City of Oakland has imposed upon the company the laying of more mains, to supply its widely scattered consumers, than is required by any other city of the United States with an equal number of inhabitants. The company is constantly advised of all changes in modes of manufacturing and distrib- uting, and avail themselves of all the modern improvements which tend to improve quality and lessen price. The price charged since March 1, 1875, is $4.25 per thousand feet. The works are situated on the block bounded by Broadway, Washington, First, and Second streets.
Fresh milk cream and butter milk, wholesale and retail at 469 Ninth.
For cheapest lots go to E. J. KELLY & CO., 414 Seventh Street, Oakland.
TUBBS' HOTEL, East Oakland. Most healthy location in the State.
O. F. S .- Oatmeal and corn meal, 416 Ninth St. nr Broadway-O. F. S.
RAILROAD SYSTEM.
17
THE RAILROAD SYSTEM.
Oakland is the natural center of the railroad system of the Pacific Coast, as a mere glance at any railroad map will demonstrate. While it is the terminus of all the roads running north and east, including the great over- land road, it is also the natural terminus of the roads penetrating the southern portion of the State, as Oakland is reached by a natural, easy grade, following the broad and level valleys which stretch along the eastern side of the bay of San Francisco. It is also the terminus of the Southern Pacific Road, which is fast being pushed towards the banks of the Color- ado. In fact, every projected railroad enterprise, with few exceptions, converges to this point. The several lines of railroad in operation in California are either owned or controlled by the Central Pacific Railroad Company, whose works must necessarily be concentrated in this city, because they further their own interests by so doing.
The Central Pacific Railroad Company owns seventy acres of land at the Oakland Point, used as a site for round houses, work shops, and planing mill. At this mill is prepared all the lumber used in the con- struction and repairs of bridges on the lines of their several roads. Within the past year the company have also excavated a dock and constructed a ship yard, connecting it by a channel with deep water. There has been constructed at this yard, this year, the largest freight boat ever launched on this coast, the Transit, carrying twenty freight cars. Also at this yard, the new and magnificent ferry boat, the Oakland, 1,692 tons, was con- structed from the old steamer Chrysopolis ; the steamer Capital, from which another new ferry boat is to be constructed, is now on the ways, being torn to pieces. These two boats will be the most magnificent and fastest ferry boats in the world. The Oakland took its place on the first of September, and makes the trip from wharf to wharf in seventeen minutes.
The railroad company also own an area of three hundred and fifty acres on the water front, extending from the former tract toward Goat Island, with a frontage of nearly half a mile on ship channel. The com- pany have also purchased considerable real estate at the head of San Antonio Creek, and they own a large tract of land a few miles south from Brooklyn, from which can be obtained an almost unlimited supply of earth for filling in and reclaiming marsh and tide lands. These lands are destined to be the future location of extensive works, store houses, grain elevators, machine shops, rolling mills, car shops, and other neces- sary works of the company, when the Oakland harbor improvements shall have been accomplished, and ship and car brought together at the Oakland water front. Now, ship and car are brought together at the end of the long wharf projecting from Oakland Point, eleven thousand feet in length, to deep water. Here the largest ships which plough the ocean can load, there being twenty-six and one half feet of water at low tide and thirty-three and one half feet at high tide. Here has been erected extensive freight buildings, depots, railroad offices, warehouses. and ample facilities for storage and shipping of grain and other freight. The struct- ure is built in the most firm and enduring manner, and nothing has been omitted that engineering and mechanical skill could suggest. The over- land train, and the accommodation trains for San José, Sacramento, Stockton, and Marysville, are run over the track laid through First Street, and the local trains run over the Seventh Street track. Eighty- two passenger and freight trains daily pass over this wharf, and three hundred sail vessels loaded and discharged cargo at this wharf during the year 1874, carrying away over two hundred thousand tons of grain. The ferry passengers over this wharf for the three years last past, have been
Buy School Books, etc., at STRICKLAND & CO.'S, 1061 Broadway.
WOODWARD & CO., 958 Bdwy, houses rented and rents collected.
18
OAKLAND DIRECTORY.
as follows : in 1872, two millions four hundred and fifteen thousand one hundred and forty-one; in 1873, two millions six hundred and twenty-one thousand nine hundred and seventy-six; in 1874, three million two hun- dred and thirty-eight thousand two hundred and eighty-increase in one year, six hundred and sixteen thousand three hundred and four. Trains run from Oakland, connecting with ferry boats for San Francisco, during business hours, every half hour, and from Brooklyn and Alameda every hour during the day, and up to nearly midnight. The Alameda branch was built last year from Harrison and Seventh streets, and crosses San Antonio Creek by a substantial bridge, seven hundred and eighty feet in length, with a draw of two openings of eighty feet each; ten trips are made daily, each way, and on Sundays twelve. During the past year a new depot has been erected at Broadway station at an expense of $8,000 for the lot and $9,000 for the building. A new double track has been laid with Bessemer steel rails, over which the cars run without jolt or jar. At the foot of Market Street, San Francisco, new ferry slips have been constructed, and better accommodations provided for the traveling public.
The street railroad system of Oakland is very comprehensive, all of the streets of present or prospective importance being covered by a franchise. The Oakland Railroad Company's franchise covers Broadway from the water front to the charter line, and thence by the most direct route to Berkeley. The road is five and one half miles long; fourteen one horse cars run regularly every seven and one half minutes, and when occasion requires, two two-horse cars and six flats are added; one hundred and nine trips from Seventh Street to Temescal are made daily ; fifty-two horses are kept in the company's stable at Temescal. The San Pablo branch of the Oakland Railroad Company extends to a point near the Oakland Trotting Park, a distance of two miles, on which three cars are run regularly every fifteen minutes during the day.
The Oakland, Brooklyn, and Fruit Vale Railroad runs from the crossing of Broadway and Seventh streets, in Oakland, to the corner of East Twelfth Street and Thirteenth Avenue, East Oakland, a distance of two miles, passing on its route the two largest hotels this side of the bay- the Grand Central and Tubbs'. There are owned by the company four cars and twenty horses, running forty-one trips daily. The increase of travel on this road shows plainly of the rapid growth of Brooklyn or East Oakland.
The Alameda and Piedmont Springs Railroad is now in active operation, running two cars, one every half hour, from the foot of Webster Street over Webster Street bridge to Alameda.
The Brooklyn and Fruit Vale Railroad, just opened, runs from the Brooklyn depot along Thirteenth Avenue to East Twenty-second Street, thence through private properties to the head of Fruit Vale Avenue, a distance of two and one half miles ; trips are made every hour.
The benefits of such improvements are very great, a population is drawn to the vicinity of the various lines of travel, and as communication between the different parts of the city is made convenient and cheap, its growth will be accelerated and the value of real estate in every locality will be much enhanced.
DRIVES AND PLEASURE RESORTS.
The smooth macadamized streets within the limits of the city afford many miles of pleasant driving, and if there were no other resort Oakland would be unusually attractive. There is a network of well made roads throughout the Oakland Valley, centering at Berkeley. The Telegraph
For Ice Cream Freezers go to J. S. G. GORDON'S, 469 Ninth Street.
Good productive business property for sale by E. J. KELLY & CO., office 414 Seventh Street.
O. F. S .- Whole barley and corn, 416 Ninth nr Broadway-O. F. S.
BUILDING IMPROVEMENTS.
19
and San Pablo avenues are the great drive-ways on the north of the city, and from them radiate numerous roads that lead into the hills. There are two beautiful drives leading to Piedmont Springs, five miles from Oakland, by way of Broadway or Webster streets or out Twelfth Street to the Lake Road, with finger boards at all cross roads directing the way. From the Piedmont Springs Hotel, which offers every attraction for the comfort and enjoyment of its patrons, perhaps the finest and most com- plete view of the bay and its surroundings is obtained, while the Bushy Dell, hard by, is a ravine filled with a luxuriant growth of shrubbery and trees, this is a most delightful and romantic spot with excellent made walks running through it. In this dell the sulphur springs are situated, of which there are three, flowing eight hundred gallons of water per hour, strongly impregnated with sulphur, magnesia, and iron. They have medicinal properties of great value. No place of resort can be more favorably recommended to the notice of our Eastern visitors, while the city man out of health will find them very conveniently situated. From Piedmont there are good roads running through the mountains, and there is a labyrinth of pleasant drives. The mountain scenery is very fine, and it is difficult to realize that so great a change can be found in a half hour's ride from Oakland.
The drive-way on the eastern bank of Lake Merritt is also a fashionable resort. The system of roads in East Oakland is quite complete, and the visitor can follow any road that he may observe without danger of being led into an unpleasant or dangerous locality.
The most important place of public resort, especially on Sundays, is Badger's Central Park, East Oakland, where there are highly ornamented grounds, a large pavilion for dancing, and all the attractions ordinarily found at public gardens. That the excellent roads in and around Oakland are appreciated by visitors, is attested by the fact that Oakland has eight large livery stables, all of them doing a prosperous business.
Lake Merritt, a beautiful sheet of water situated on the north side of Twelfth Street, east of Oak, is now used at all times for boating and yachting; a fine boat house has been erected on Twelfth Street for the convenience of those who seek health and pleasure by such exercise.
BUILDING IMPROVEMENTS.
An enumeration of the buildings erected in Oakland during the year 1874, was made at the close of that year. It was ascertained that the number was one thousand and sixty-three, and that the total cost was $2,422,113, or an average of 82,278.50 for each building. From Janu- ary 1, 1875, to June 30, 1875, it is estimated that three hundred and fifty buildings have been erected, of an aggregate value of $1,000,000. In the list of prominent improvements made during the last six months, or now in progress, given below, the value is about $300,000. In addition to the school buildings constructed by the School Department, and referred to elsewhere, the county has erected a new Court House at an expense of $200,000 and a County Jail which cost $40,000. There has been much activity in the building of cottages and small houses, confined to no par- ticular part of the city.
The First Presbyterian Church Society laid the corner stone of an imposing and spacious house of worship, on the northeast corner of Four- teenth and Franklin streets, on the 25th of April, 1875. The contract price for its construction was $52,000: the entire cost of lot, building, organ, and furniture, nearly $77,000. It has two well proportioned spires, the tallest of which rises one hundred and ninety-five feet. The
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