USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego > City of San Diego and San Diego County : the birthplace of California, Volume I > Part 25
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William Clayton was director-general of the celebration and was assisted by the following committee chairmen in arranging the pro- gram; D. C. Collier, U. S. Grant, Jr., W. E. Smythe. Charles S. Hardy, L. A. Wright, W. L. Frevert, George W. Marston, Arthur Cosgrove, John S. Akerman, Dr. Edward Grove. W. F. Ludington, Maj .- Gen. William S. MeCaskey. Dan F. Jones, Ed. Fletcher, George F. Bowles, Dr. R. M. Powers, E. M. Burbeck, Julius Wangenheim,
188 CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY
George H. Ballou, Patterson Sprigg, E. J. Swayne, W. T. Neely, George J. Magly, L. R. Armstrong, J. M. Dodge, L. S. McLure, William Kettner.
The program for the day included an official visit of welcome by Governor J. N. Gillett of California to Rear Admiral Thomas, on the Connecticut ; banquet for the admirals at the Hotel del Coronado and illumination of the warships and city. That for the second day included a parade of several thousand officers and men from the foot of Broadway to the City Park, now Balboa Park, where addresses were made by Gov. Gillet, Rear Admiral Thomas, Mayor John' F. Forward and others, and a sword was presented to Rear Admiral Evans, represented by Rear Admiral Thomas. An automobile picnic at El Monte for the officers was a feature of the third day's program, while on the fourth the principal event was a ball for the junior officers at the U. S. Grant Hotel.
An interesting sidelight on the condition of business in San Diego during the so-called panic of 1908 is contained in a booklet issued by the Chamber of Commerce and Board of Supervisors in that year.
"When almost every city of importance in the nation issued scrip as its legal tender for the transaction of business," says the statement, "San Diego stood out alone as the only Pacific Coast city which continued to do business with gold and silver and national bank notes. Scrip was unknown, save as it came from other cities."
The booklet goes into much more detail than previous Chamber of Commerce publications, and furnishes a good deal of information about the city's condition in 1908, and about its progress in the years just previous.
Bank deposits for 1908 are given as $7,028,000, nearly $3,000,000 more than the deposits of 1905. Although there was a slight slump in harbor business, the booklet states that this slump was less apparent in San Diego than in the other California harbor, San Francisco. The number of vessels entering port was 543, with a net tonnage of 488,873, the report states.
One of the illustrations shows the entry of the big American- Hawaiian steamer Columbian into the harbor. The steamer drew thirty feet.
A total of 68,121,000 feet of lumber entered port in 1907, accord- ing to the booklet.
In a section headed "Opportunities," the booklet calls attention to a number of productive lines in which there seemed to be a prom- ising field for outside capital. Among them were the brick-making industry, ship-building, furniture-making and the glassware industry.
Interesting information is furnished under the caption "Cost of Living." Rates in family hotels were from $30 a month upward, the booklet states, while single rooms were $7.50 up. The minimum cost of a meal is given as 15 cents.
"Close-in cottages and bungalows, furnished, may be had for $20 per month up," the booklet states. "Unfurnished, $15 upward. Like accommodations, removed from the business center, but conveniently reached by car lines, are cheaper."
A large section is devoted to information about the county's back country, and concludes with articles on bee keeping, dairy farming, poultry raising and the like.
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Gold production for the county during 1907 is valued at more than $350,000. Statistics in a summary published give the total of fruit and nut trees in the county, both bearing and non-bearing. as about 1,125,000-quite different from the 6,475 recorded in 1895.
According to this table, 39,000 acres were planted to grain, pro- ducing 13,600 tons of grain with a value of $481,300. Nearly $70,000 worth of olives and olive products was produced, the booklet says, while the year's hay crop was valued at $654,000. The poultry in- dustry is credited with a total production valued at $638,875, and the bee industry with wax and honey to the value of about $85,000.
A list of thirty-two classes of "manufactories" is given, ranging in number of employes from four to 151, and in value of product from $2,520 to $423,000.
The estimated value of all property in the city is given as about $24,500,000.
According to the booklet, San Diego had in 1908:
"Twenty-one public schools, employing 135 teachers.
"First-class private schools.
"A $150,000 state norinal school building.
"A $150,000 public building to be erected by the United States Government.
"Most powerful naval wireless telegraph station on the Pacific Coast.
"Twenty-six churches.
"Three daily newspapers and several weekly newspapers.
"Ten banks.
"About 167 miles of cement sidewalks.
"Public library containing 26,000 volumes.
"Twenty-five miles of oiled. dustless boulevards.
"Fourth city in population in California.
"Population in 1900, 17,700: in 1908, 45,000.
"The only harbor between San Francisco and the Panama Canal."
One of the most important changes ever made in the form of San Diego's city government came in January, 1909, when the voters adopted charter amendments which eliminated the board of public works and the fire and police commissions which had been in existence for some time and also abolished the ward system of electing members of the common council. The amendments also reduced the number of councilmen from nine to five and provided for their election at large and for nominations in non-partisan primaries. The newly elected officers took office on May 3, 1909. The new plan was a modification of the commission form of government which was receiving some attention in the country at the time, and San Diego was the first city on the Pacific coast to put such a plan into effect. This fact was widely commented upon in newspapers and magazines of the time. The new city government spent more than $1,000,000 in ex- panding the sewer system and water mains, thus providing for the increase of population which was then starting in full force. The water department laid 92,000 feet of pipe under a bond issue and also laid and paid for out of current receipts about 124,000 more
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feet of such pipe in the year. The sewer department put down more than 96,000 feet of pipe, costing nearly $83,000; this, with the 75 miles already laid in San Diego, gave the city more than 92 miles of sewer pipe. At the time the city had about 150 miles of graded streets, of which twelve miles were paved. In the year about eight more miles were graded and proceedings were prepared for the paving of ten more miles in 1910. The city at the time also had about twenty- five miles of boulevard, providing not only good roads for business traffic but for visitors. The fire department was enlarged by the pur- chase of a new chemical engine, putting it in fairly good shape; the creation of the office of fire marshal and the cleaning up of vacant lots and removal of rubbish did much to improve the appearance of the city and to lessen fire risks.
School enrollment at this time showed a steady increase, the total for 1909 being 6,627 as against 4,277 for 1908 and 3,712 for 1907. In 1909 three new schools were finished, being erected at Chollas Valley, University Heights and Ocean Beach, bringing the total num- ber of school buildings in the city to nineteen, and the total valuation of the school structures up to $354,000. The number of teachers was increased from 130 to 150 and the annual payroll increased from about $98,000 to more than $165,000.
Active work on the San Diego & Arizona Railway was started in the spring of 1909 and was continued with vigor throughout the year, lending much encouragement to all residents of the city. Early in May of that year a contract was awarded to Robert Sherer & Sons to grade from San Diego to the Mexican line, at Tijuana, a distance of about fifteen miles. Before this contract was let, Mr. Spreckels had spent about a million and a half dollars in getting rights of way in San Diego and National City, it being necessary to demolish a number of substantial buildings in the downtown district to provide a route into the city near the waterfront. Before the Sherers had finished their first grading contract. the firm obtained another con- tract, for the grading of fourteen more miles in Mexican territory, just below the international boundary line. Only eight miles of steel rails had been laid by the end of 1909, but the railway had already purchased a considerable quantity of rolling stock and was ready for continuation of its work. All construction work, it might be men- tioned at this point, was under the direct supervision of E. J. Kall- right, chief engineer of the railway.
In 1909 exhibits sent by San Diego County to the Alaska-Yukon- Pacific Exposition at Seattle did much to direct attention to the ad- vantages and products of this section. Six grand prizes were awarded to San Diego exhibits, the displays being of gems, silk, nuts, onyx from the New Pedrara Onyx Company, and lemons from Chula Vista. In addition, there were awarded to San Diego exhibits twenty- seven gold medals, fifteen silver medals and nine bronze. It is of interest that in this year the output of cut gems from San Diego County was $72,000. At that time the gem industry in the county was about eight years old, the first variety of gem discovered here being kunzite, named after George F. Kunz, the noted gem expert of Tif- fany's. With the discovery of this crystal a more determined search was made, with the result that in a short time more than a score of
CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY 191
other varieties of gems were found; they include tourmalines, rubies, sapphires and hyacinths, all of which are turned out in considerable quantities.
In the same year the county produced fruits and vegetables whose estimated value was nearly $2,000,000-a creditable showing for any community in Southern California ; of this more than $1,000,000 was credited to the lemon groves.
The year 1909 saw the completion of the Timken Building, an eight-story structure of massive type at Sixth and E streets, and the beginning of construction of the ten-story American National Bank Building, now the First National Building, and the tallest building in San Diego, at the northeast corner of Fifth Street and Broadway. Another bank building started in 1909 was the home of the Marine National Bank. Many fine homes and apartments were constructed in the same period, the total of building permits in the city for 1909 being $2,632,100, a slight increase over 1908.
Even in 1909 the fishing industry, now of great importance to San Diego, was not without significance. In 1908 the small and almost casual fishing fleet from the port brought in more than 3,000,000 pounds of fish from some of the richest fishing grounds of all the seven seas. In 1909 the total was increased to a total reported as more than $304,000. About twenty boats, at least in part of the season, more than 4,000,000 pounds and valued at more than $304,000. About twenty boats, at least in part of the season, as against the more than 180 boats now employed, were engaged in the lucrative work.
Reference is made elsewhere to the waterfront grant to the city. By act of the state legislature in May, 1911, the city obtained absolute control of its water front and the tidelands adjacent to it. This grant was made on the condition that the city expend within three years the sum of $1,000,000 in improvements in the Bay of San Diego. The city immediately proceeded to comply with this obligation. On No- vember 14, 1911, the citizens voted almost unanimously the $1.000,000 required.
The act referred to carried with it clauses which prevent the city government from ever disposing of any portion of the tidelands or leasing them for abnormal periods, and it further protects the munici- pality by forbidding excessive areas being leased to any party of aggregation of parties. Saving clauses are also inserted of a like character which prevent the monopoly of the berth or dock space.
The improvements imposed under the terms of the act were started in 1912. They consisted of one pier 130 feet in width and 800 feet in length, 2,675 lineal feet of bulkhead. and the reclamation of be- . tween fifty and sixty acres of tidelands. Both the pier and the bulkhead were constructed entirely of concrete and steel in substantial and enduring manner.
The pier was provided with standard gauge railroad tracks, and for the temporary storage of cargo a substantial steel warehouse was erected upon the pier. This warehouse is 72 feet clear in width, and 765 feet in length, and was provided with steel roller doors, skylights and ventilators.
In 1911, when preparations were under way for the Panama-Cali- fornia Exposition of 1915 and the whole city was looking forward
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to the exposition, the chamber of commerce got out one of its most ambitious booklets. It is entitled, "Why Not San Diego County, California ?"
The new San Diego & Arizona Railway is also a prospective factor which makes its appearance in numerous pages of the booklet.
The population of the city in 1910 is given as 39,578. The as- sessed value of all property in the city is given at $43,299,019, while the total county value is placed at $41,815,697. Bank clearings are given as $66,708,874, and the deposits as $11,016,000. Exports are credited with a $500,000 increase over the previous year, and customs collections with an increase of about $10,000.
In the "industrial outlook" section, stress is laid on the oppor- tunities for cotton development in San Diego. The recommended list of opportunities published by the new industries committee of the Chamber of Commerce contains thirty-nine special lines of production which the committee predicts would be profitable if started in San Diego.
"There are now 197 manufacturing plants in operation in San Diego, having a total annual output valued at $4,661,840," says the statement.
The booklet gives much space to the harbor possibilities.
"The development of the harbor from a commercial point of view has just begun," says the booklet. "At the last session of the California Legislature, the state ceded to the City of San Diego all its right and title to the tidelands lying within the corporate limits, contingent upon the City of San Diego appropriating $1,000,000 toward the reclamation of same by the construction of a sea wall, and with the further proviso that the city shall forever after maintain public docking facilities. These conditions were received with en- thusiasm by the people of San Diego, and just as soon as the pre- liminaries can be arranged a bond issue will be made and work started on the improvement." The bond issue was approved, and work was soon started on San Diego's large municipal pier at the foot of Broad- way.
Space is given to a plan for disposal of tidelands to manufacturers for a nominal rental.
"Transportation Problem Solved," is the heading placed over the section describing the new San Diego & Arizona Railway. At that time, the account says, "Sixty miles of grading have been constructed and fifty-five miles of track laid and in operation."
The good roads being built by the county are spoken of, and attention called to a bond issue of $1,250,000 which had been recently passed for road construction.
The fishing industry is given a page of display. In 1910, accord- ing to the booklet's figures, the fish industry brought returns of $225,246. Hotels, theatres, the fire department, the city's big build- ings and other features are generously treated, with clear and con- vincing illustrations. The total registration in city schools is given as 6,500, with a force of 194 instructors.
Aviation is given some attention, with a short account of the leasing of North Island to the Aero Club of San Diego, "which has inaugurated an aviation school under the direction of one of the fore-
CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY 193
most aviators of the world, Glen H. Curtiss, who has also established a factory on the island for the purpose of conducting his future aviation experiments.
"It was here," continues the account, "that Curtiss succeeded in performing the then unknown feat of flying from and alighting on the water in a Curtiss biplane fitted with pontoons instead of wheels. Among the other improvements are a club house, boat wharf, etc. The organization of this club, now recognized by the Aero Club of America, and the establishment of the aviation school for the training of the officers of the United States Army and Navy have made San Diego one of the aviation centers of the world."
In the final summary, under the heading used in previous booklets, "San Diego Has:"-it is interesting to note another outcropping of optimism in the estimate of population. The booklet had previously quoted the census for 1910 at 39,578, but it heads the column of San Diego's possessions with the item :
"Fifty thousand population."
Among the items listed in the two pages devoted to this sum- mary appear :
"One of the finest ornamental electrolier lighting systems of any city of its size in America.
"The finest electric fountain in the country.
"Raised more money per capita for development purposes and in the shortest time (one year) than any community of three times its population has ever accomplished in the history of the world- $1,000,000 for the Panama-California (San Diego) Exposition ; $1,000,000 for permanent park improvements ; $200,000 for a poly- technic school : $150,000 for a Y. M. C. A. building : $1,250,000 for good roads : $100,000 to inaugurate the opening of a great tourist hotel, and will shortly vote a bond issue of $1,000,000 for permanent harbor improvements and to complete same will spend $5.000,000 more as fast as needed."
Beyond all doubt the most important event of 1912 as far as the development of the City of San Diego was concerned was the decision of the voters to take over the greater part of the Southern California Mountain Water Company's system and to lease the rest for ten years. with privilege of purchase within that time. The election was held on August 15, 1912, and the plan was favored by a vote of more than five to one. By this action San Diego acquired a firm hold on a system which had been brought up to the requirements of the time and from which, by further development, it was possible to acquire a much larger supply of water than was provided then. The completed units of the system at the time included the great Morena reservoir, with a capacity of about fifteen billion gallons ; the Lower Otay reservoir and the Upper Otay reservoir, with at least one important damsite at Barrett. and about 100 miles of conduit. This purchase gave the city a municipally owned system "from mountain to meter."
San Diego in 1912 also achieved a remarkable record in building, the total being $10,001,415, the largest figure ever recorded in one year in the city and nearly double the large total piled up in 1911.
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On a basis of comparative population, it is doubtful if this record was surpassed by any other city in the country. The permits for business blocks alone totaled 118, with a total cost of more than $2,600,000. The list includes several important buildings on Broad- way, including two structures erected by John D. Spreckels-the beautiful Spreckels Building in which is the Spreckels Theatre, and the San Diego Hotel, between Union and State streets, both being massive six-story concrete buildings. The large five-story, reinforced concrete building of the George W. Marston Company on C Street, between Fifth and Sixth, with a frontage of 100 feet on Sixth Street, was opened in April. Across from this structure, on the northwest corner of Sixth and C streets, was erected a six-story concrete building for the Frevert-Bledsoe Furniture Company ; this was not quite com- pleted in 1912, but was finished soon after that. Louis J. Wilde in this year began the construction of his bank building at the northeast corner of Second Street and Broadway. Several other substantial buildings in the same neighborhood were started or completed in 1912. In this year also plans were made for the fine ten-story Watts Build- ing, which was started soon after that at the northeast corner of Fifth and E streets by Nathan Watts, and whose ground floor was taken by the San Diego Savings Bank. Building in fact was started on practically all the downtown streets, substantial, modern structures replacing old buildings of the boom period or even earlier times and giving to the business section of San Diego a really "big-city" appear- ance. A noticeable increase in buildings, however, was on F street, whose permanence as a building street was assured by the selection of a site on that thoroughfare for the Federal Building.
More than $1,500,000 was spent in the construction of new flat buildings and apartment houses. In the year's total were included also more than 2,000 new residences, costing nearly $4,000,000. These went up in almost all sections of the city, a noticeable trend being toward the magnificent Mission Hills section, which a few years be- fore had been practically bare of everything but sage-brush and other wild growth but which by 1921 has become one of the finest residence districts of all San Diego-almost a new city of homes within the old.
The school board of education also had a busy year providing additional accommodations for the rapidly increasing enrollment. In December it awarded the contract for a fireproof school building to be erected in the Middletown district at a cost of $125,000. Work was started on two $20,000 schools, one in Mission Hills and the other in West End. Three polytechnic school buildings were built on an eminence adjoining the regular high school structure. These improvements cost nearly a quarter of a million dollars. Fifteen port- able schools also were erected during the year. These were temporary structures which soon gave way to permanent buildings. Several new churches were erected or started in the year to provide accommodations for the growing congregations. The largest of these was the First Presbyterian Church. This occupies a half block of land on the north side of Date between Third and Fourth streets and cost about $125,000. Work also was begun on the construction of an $80,000 structure for the First Baptist Church at the northwest corner of Tenth and E
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streets. The First United Brethren congregation erected a $10,000 building on Robinson between Third and Fourth streets and the First United Presbyterians put up a $12,000 building at Twenty-second and H streets.
Remarkable gains were also recorded in other fields. Bank de- posits, for instance, increased from about $15,600,000 to $19,613,000; post office receipts, which in 1911 had been $181,805, went to $228,058; the school census increased by about 1,000 to 8,255 and the number of water consumers went from 10,282 to 12,681. In every way, in fact, San Diego made remarkable progress, and 1912 may be set down as one of the banner years in San Diego's commercial and business history. The stability of the city was assured.
How these conditions were regarded by investors is indicated to some extent by the improvements made in 1912 by the San Diego Consolidated Gas and Electric Company. That utility concern alone spent more than $1,000,000 in construction to take care of the steadily increasing demands. Some of the expenditures were for 103 miles of gas mains and electric lines to Encanto, La Mesa, Bostonia, Monte Vista, Otay and Sweetwater ; a large addition was also made to the underground system begun the year before in the downtown district.
William Kettner was first elected to Congress in November, 1912. As he tells the story, his candidacy in a way originated from a half-jest. Mr. Kettner was the only democrat, it is related, of thirty directors of the Chamber of Commerce. At the chamber's meetings of the period frequent expression was given to the wish that San Diego might have a Congressman of its own-a man residing in the city who would feel a personal and lively interest in the welfare and progress of San Diego, with its great harbor and opportunities for naval activity. Mr. Kettner one day smilingly suggested that he would be a good man to send back to Washington. His suggestion met with hearty personal but little political support at the time. In a short time, how- ever, the suggestion, made partly as a jest, took on a very strong appearance of reality.
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