USA > California > Alameda County > History of Alameda County, California. Volume I > Part 10
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"And deponent further says, that to the best of his knowledge and belief, the city of Oakland has never recognized the claims of the said Horace W. Carpentier and E. R. Carpentier under the grants aforesaid, as being valid, but on the contrary have passed sundry ordinances and resolutions asserting the rights of the city in the premises; certified copies of which ordinances and proceedings accompany this deposition, and the others being 'An Ordinance concerning Ferries' approved June 5, 1855; 'An Ordinance Repealing an Ordinance, entitled An Ordinance to create a Public Ferry between the Town of Oakland and the City of San Francisco, and to Provide for keeping up and running the same;' passed June 15, 1855; 'An Ordi- nance concerning Ferries,' approved May 19, 1855; an Ordinance passed on the 13th of September, 1855, under which a contract was made with Rodman Gibbons for the construction of a wharf ; 'An Ordinance to extend the time for completing the wharf on Bay Street.'
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"And deponent says that under authority of the Council of the city of Oakland an action was brought in the district Court of the Third Judicial District, for the county of Alameda, in the name of said city and against Horace W. Carpentier and Harriet N. Carpentier, to set aside and have declared void the ordinances and deeds under which said Carpentier claimed the said water-front and said exclusive privilege of erecting wharves and collecting wharfage, and for the delivery to the plaintiff of the wharf and property claimed under said ordinances and deeds, and that said action is now pending in the Supreme Court of this State.
"And deponent says, that he is the Treasurer of the city of Oakland and ex officio Clerk of the city, and has the custody of the journals of said Boards of Trustees of the town of Oakland and Council of the city of Oakland, and of the original ordinances and papers of said bodies.
"(Signed)
"Sworn to before me this 28th day of May, A. D. 1858.
E. GIBBONS.
"(Signed) T. J. THIBAULT, Notary Public."
"AMÉDÉE MARIER, being duly sworn, deposes and says, that he is a resident of the city of Oakland, in the county of Alameda, and has resided in said city, formerly town of Oakland, since April, 1851; that at the first election of Trustees for said town, held on the 10th day of May, 1852, he was elected a member of the Board of Trustees, and at the third meeting of said Trustees he was chosen President of the Board; that he was present at the meeting of the Board, at which was passed the 'Ordinance for the Disposal of the Water-Front of the Town of Oakland, and to Provide for the construction of Wharves;' that said ordinance was introduced on the 17th of May, 1852, and was finally passed on the 18th of May; that the ordinance as presented was in the handwriting of Horace W. Carpentier; that on the 17th of May, 1852, before the meeting of the Board, said Carpentier exhibited the proposed ordinance to the deponent, and wished deponent to vote for it; that deponent refused to do so, whereupon said Carpentier stated to deponent that the object of having the ordinance passed was to secure the water-front to the town of Oakland, and to enable the settlers to compromise with the claimants to the land on which the town of Oakland was situated; that there was some talk of a called session of the Legislature, and if there was a called session, the Act of Incorporation would be repealed ; and upon this subject he made to deponent various representations to induce him to support said ordinance, all which tended to show that the ordinance would benefit and could not injure the people of the town; that deponent did not then read the ordinance, but said Carpentier stated its contents to be that it was a grant to himself of the water-front, and the exclusive privilege of constructing wharves at Oakland; but he said that he did not care to have the grant to himself; that he would rather that some other person should take it than himself ; that he would hold it in trust for the town, and reconvey it to the town whenever requested ; that deponent, relying upon these representations and promises, consented to support the ordinance, and at the meeting of the Board did vote for it ; that before its final passage there were some amendments made to it by striking out the word 'forever,' and inserting the words 'for the period of thirty-seven years,' which alterations, as deponent then supposed and still believes, applied to the grant of the water-front as well as to the privilege of constructing wharves;
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that deponent afterwards signed the ordinance, now on file, under the same im- pression, believing that it was a true copy of the ordinance and amendments as passed, and did not know until some time afterwards that it was incorrect in not limiting the grant of the water-front to the period of thirty-seven years.
"And deponent says that some time afterwards, as President of the Board of Trustees, he signed the grant or contract, dated May 31, 1852, made in pursuance of said ordinance ; that said contract had been previously drawn up by said Carpen- tier, and was laid with other papers on the table in the room where the Board met, where it remained for some days, but deponent was reluctant to sign it, and was determined not to do so until said Carpentier should give bonds according to his promise, to reconvey the property whenever requested; that at length the said con- tract was presented to deponent by said Carpentier in person, on board the ferry- steamer Erastus Corning, at the wharf in the city of San Francisco, and deponent was requested by said Carpentier then to sign it; that said Carpentier represented that he wanted it immediately for some important purposes, deponent thinks to submit it to the Land Commissioners, and that it was very important that it should be executed at once ; that deponent asked said Carpentier where was the bond that he was to give to reconvey, to which said Carpentier replied that he had not time to give it then, but would give it as soon as he came over to Oakland, and thereupon, relying upon the representations and promises of said Carpentier, deponent signed said contract.
"And deponent says, that at that time he knew very little of the nature and effects of deeds and grants, or of the forms and modes of doing business in munici- pal bodies, and had unlimited confidence in said Carpentier, who used to act as Clerk and draw up papers for the Board of Trustees and its members, and advise and counsel them in all matters connected with municipal matters, no member of the Board being able, unassisted, to draw up an ordinance.
"And deponent says that prior to the passage of the Act of the Legislature incorporating the town of Oakland, the name of the place was Contra Costa, and it had never been called Oakland so far as deponent knew; that no proposition had ever been made amongst the residents of the place to change its name or to have it incorporated, nor had there ever been any discussion upon these matters, nor any wish expressed for the incorporation of the town; that at the time of the passage of the Act there were only about seventy-five persons residing at the place ; that when it became known amongst them, through the newspapers, that a town called Oakland in Contra Costa County, had been incorporated, the people did not know that it was the town where they lived, and it was a subject of discussion amongst them where the town of Oakland was.
"(Signed)
A. MARIER.
"Sworn and subscribed before me this 28th day of May, 1858.
"(Signed) FRED'K A. SAWYER, Notary Public."
On August 1, 1853, Vincente Peralta and wife deeded to R. P. Hammond, John C. Hays, John Caperton and Lucien Hermann all the land known by the name of "Temescal," being the remainder of their holdings in the township, excepting a tract of some 700 acres
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about two miles from Oakland, on both sides of the present Telegraph Avenue, which they reserved for a homestead and which was later known as the Vincente Peralta Reserve, and another small tract at the mouth of the Canada de la Yndita. The consideration was $100,000. About the same time, Jose Domingo Peralta, to the north, sold a por- tion of his rancho for $82,000 to Hall McAllister, R. P. Hammond, Lucien Hermann and Joseph K. Irving. He reserved about 300 acres.
During 1853 Julius Kellersberger surveyed all that portion of the town south of Fourteenth Street and east of a line parallel with and distant 300 feet westerly from West Street, dividing the blocks into a uniform size of 200 by 300 feet, with streets 80 feet wide, excepting Main Street, now known as Broadway, which was made 110 feet wide. Six blocks of land were retained for public purposes and squares. The streets were subsequently extended for the first time, some north and others west, at right angles to each other from the high tide line of San Antonio Creek; those running north extending 200 feet northerly of Thirteenth Street; and those running westerly from what was des- ignated as West Street.
IN THE DAYS BEFORE THE FERRIES
The first communication between San Francisco and the Oakland side of the bay was by whale boats. These were followed by small sail boats, which in turn were succeeded by steamers, following up the estu- ary to the embarcadero of San Antonio, now East Oakland. This was the point of exchange for vessels coming into the San Francisco bay to trade their goods, wares and merchandise for the hides, tallow and other productions of the Spanish and Mexican ranchos. Later the mag- nificent redwoods of the Contra Costa range attracted the business acumen of lumbermen; the trees were cut down, whip-sawed into lum- ber, and transported across the bay from the embarcadero to build up the rival of Oakland across on the other shore. In 1852 the estuary- then called San Antonio Creek-was declared a navigable stream by the legislature. The Kangaroo, a lumber schooner, had been running between San Antonio and San Francisco from the early part of 1850. In 1851 and 1852 the Boston, Caleb Cope, Red Jacket, and the Kate Hayes were placed on the run between the two points. Early in 1853 Charles Minturn, who had become associated in business with Car- pentier, Adams and Moon, placed a steamboat on the estuary run, mak- ing a landing at the foot of Broadway; and soon thereafter the Contra
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Costa Steam Navigation Company was organized and placed steamers on the route from both San Antonio and the Broadway wharf, with fares established at one dollar for the trip.
The first ferry railroad connecting the city with deep water on the bay was constructed in 1863, from the corner of Seventh and Broad- way, and running across the flats covered by water at high tide. A slip was built at the end for the steamers. Six trips per day were made between Oakland and San Francisco, and the price of passage was re- duced from one dollar to fifty cents. In 1864 the road was extended to San Antonio-East Oakland-and the two steamers running from the embarcadero were absorbed by the new company. However, the estuary route was popular and continued to run, notwithstanding the delays and competition, and fares were reduced to twenty-five cents. Old residents will remember the steamers Contra Costa, the Clinton, the Chin-du-wan, the S. M. Whipple and others. The establishment of even this short line of railroad, with primitive accommodations, raised the price of real estate in Oakland, and brought the city into more fav- orable popularity.
OAKLAND BECOMES A CITY
Oakland remained a town only from May 4, 1852, to March 25, 1854, upon which latter date it graduated into a city, at least from a legal viewpoint; for upon that day incorporation as such was com- pleted. The new government was vested in a city council consisting of seven members ; a mayor, elected annually; an assessor ; a treasurer, ex- officio clerk of the council; and a marshal. Officers other than the mayor were to be elected for two years, except that the three councilmen receiv- ing the smallest number of votes at the first election, should hold office for but one year. The results of the first city election were canvassed at a meeting held April 17, 1854. There were, according to this canvass, 368 votes cast; although some have later asserted that there were not that many voters in the town. H. W. Carpentier was declared the win- ner as mayor, with 192 votes credited to him. S. J. Clark received 93 votes ; Z. Gower, 44; and B. F. Ferries, 29. J. R. Dunglison was chosen treasurer, with 121 votes. T. Gallagher and W. H. Baker were next, each with 82 votes; and H. Horton received 69 votes. For assessor J. S. Tubbs won over H. Douglass and L. N. Crocker, the canvass show- ing the votes to be for these gentlemen, in the order named, 181, 83, and 72. J. Hogan became the first marshal, leading J. Brown and W.
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Hillegass. Hogan was given 15 more votes than Hillegass. There was a large field for the seven places on the city council. The canvass re- sulted as follows: E. Gallagher, 289; G. M. Blake, 230; A. D. Eames, 226; John Kelsey, 219; W. C. Josselyn, 151; A. Marier, 141; S. B. McKee, 101; F. J. Mette, 101; N. J. Thompson, 98; A. R. Simons, 77; A. D. McDevitt, 75; and lesser numbers to G. H. Monroe, J. E. Whit- cher, A. M. Brocklebank, George Coffee, Colonel E. Davis, L. John- son, William McNair, William Harwood, Charles Stewart and T. Con- olly. E. Gallagher was elected president of the council.
THE FIRST NEWSPAPER
Oakland was given its first newspaper on Saturday, September 16, 1854, when J. R. Dunglison & Son launched the Contra Costa. It was edited by Mrs. S. M. Clarke; and the first issue contained an account of a duel fought near Clinton between two men from Los Angeles, named Dorsey and Bevin, who were both wounded. It was less than a month later when another duel was also fought in Oakland, this time with rifles. The principals were Achilles Kewen and Colonel Woodlief, the latter being shot through the heart. The duel had its beginning in the old "Blue Wing" saloon, when Colonel Woodlief interfered in a heated argument between Kewen and another person.
A salary ordinance was passed by the city council on August 8, 1855, by which the city clerk and treasurer was allowed a salary of $50 per month. The assessor was allowed $250 for assessing all property within the city and for taking the school census. The marshal, who was ex-officio tax collector, was allowed 5 per cent of what he col- lected. Election officials were granted $5 per day. Teachers in the schools, whether male or female, were given a salary of $80 per month.
Horace W. Carpentier and E. R. Carpentier were granted the exclusive ferry rights in March, 1855, by action of the city council. This was done despite the fact that the legislature had declared San Antonio Creek a navigable stream. The citizens of Oakland and its close neighbors of Clinton and San Antonio began to express dis- pleasure at the service extended by the Carpentier ferries, under the management of Charles Minturn; and also began to raise the issue that no ferry monopoly could be created on the bay between San Francisco and Oakland. They also began to urge that action be taken to dredge the bar at the mouth of the creek. Two years of discontent, with the
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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
accompanying discussions and agitation, brought forth the organiza- tion of the Oakland and San Antonio Steam Navigation Company at the end of 1857. James B. Larue was chosen president of this stock company, which immediately bought the steamer Confidence, and out of it built the San Antonio. This ferry commenced to make regular runs in April, 1858, and fares were reduced to 25 cents. During the fall the company built the Oakland. The competition between the two companies waxed warm, the new company finding a hearty welcome from the residents of Oakland, Clinton and San Antonio. Finally Min- turn commenced suit against Larue, praying for an injunction under the exclusive ferry franchise ordinance. The action was tried in the United States Circuit Court, before Judge Hoffmann, who rendered a decision in which he declared the ordinance granting the exclusive rights unconstitutional. This victory added to the prestige of Larue and his company.
During the first part of 1859 a committee of East Bay citizens or- ganized for the purpose of securing funds to dredge the troublesome bar at the mouth of San Antonio Creek. They raised $11,000, but still needed $3,000 more, so an appeal was sent out by W. A. Bray, A. A. Cohen, A. L. Tubbs, L. Johnson, John Caperton, and R. E. Cole, mem- bers of the committee. They called attention to their plans, which in- cluded the dredging of the channel from the deep water of the bay to the San Antonio Channel, 200 feet wide and five feet deep at extreme low tide, the channel to be marked with piles on each side. The Federal Government had offered the free use of the dredging machine which had been in use at Mare Island. The additional $3,000 were raised, the work carried out as planned; and, for a time, at least, boats came and went with more certainty. The legislature then passed an act for the improvement of San Antonio Creek.
The City Council took steps in 1857 to provide a cemetery. Two sites were offered. The one accepted consisted of ten acres, situated at the "back of Mr. Fountain's," on the Peralta Road. It was situated on Webster Street, and was used for a few years, until the Mountain View Cemetery was purchased during the latter part of 1863. This new tract consisted then of 200 acres. The first board of directors con- sisted of Hiram Tubbs, Dr. Samuel Merritt, J. A. Emery, Rev. I. H. Brayton, William Faulkner, S. E. Alden, Rev. T. S. Wells, G. E. Grant, J. E. Witcher, Major R. W. Kirkham, W. H. Bovee, and Henry Rob- inson. Upon the acquisition of this cemetery, removal of the bodies from the first burial site was commenced.
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EARLY RAILROAD HISTORY
A recent issue of the Southern Pacific Bulletin contained a resume of the early railroad building in Oakland, prepared from references to early histories and publications. It is a concise and excellent account of the early railroad building of the '60s, and, with due credit, is here- with reproduced, together with a picture of Oakland's first railroad station at Seventh and Broadway, and one of the first locomotives built and used in Oakland.
While the San Francisco men were having their troubles raising money to build the line to San Jose, George Goss and Charles W. Stevens promoted the San Francisco and Oakland Railroad Company and placed a combined rail and ferry line in operation on September 2, 1863, extending from Broadway in Oakland along Seventh Street to Oakland Wharf where ferry connection was made to Davis Street and Broadway in San Francisco.
By an act of the state legislature in May, 1861, certain men asso- ciated with Goss and Stevens, including Rodmond Gibbons, William Hillegass, R. E. Cole, Samuel Wood and Joseph Black, were authorized to construct a railroad from the western end of the bridge leading from the Town of Clinton to the City of Oakland, through the streets of Oakland to a point on the Bay of San Francisco, where the shore ap- proaches nearest to Yerba Buena Island. The company was incor- porated October 21, 1861. J. B. Felton, one of Oakland's pioneer mayors, was the first president.
There was a great hurrah in Oakland on August 2, 1862, when it was learned that piles had arrived for the wharf to be built at Gibbon's Point (about the present location of Oakland Pier) and that work had actually commenced. Real estate in the community immediately ad- vanced 50 per cent. Six days later construction of the railroad started, M. T. Dusenbury, later of the Oakland Savings Bank, turning the first spadeful of earth.
Construction work was rushed along rapidly. The wharf was ex- tended about three-quarters of a mile, sufficient to clear the bar. On September 2, 1863, Engineer James Batchelder took the first train of three cars over the line as far as Broadway, about four miles. Myron T. Dusenbury gained further distinction by being the conductor on this first train. The cars and locomotive "Liberty" had been built at Oak- land Point by a Mr. Young.
Completion of the first railroad in the Bay District did not arouse
THE "LIBERTY", FIRST LOCOMOTIVE USED ON THE SAN FRAN- CISCO AND OAKLAND RAILROAD, THE FIRST RAILROAD PLACED IN OPERATION IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY DISTRICT, SEPTEM- BER 2, 1863
OAKLAND'S FIRST RAILROAD STATION AT SEVENTH AND BROADWAY On the left is the first gas light erected in Oakland, first spreading its gleams of light over that corner on December 31, 1866
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much enthusiasm in San Francisco. Oakland's neighbors across the Bay were looking forward to their city becoming the western terminus of the great transcontinental railroad, and had put their faith in the road then being built to San Jose. They could not get excited over the four-mile road in Oakland that looked to be only a local project at that time.
In a five-line news item on September 1, 1863, the San Francisco Bulletin announced the completion of the Oakland Railroad and called attention to an advertisement in another column announcing that the ferry boat Contra Costa would start the next day making six trips each way daily, and that capacious cattle pens were provided both at Oak- land Wharf and at the landing on Davis Street in San Francisco.
For almost a year the railroad did not extend beyond Broadway. Stiff competition was being offered by the two ferry boats San Antonio and Oakland of the Larue Line, which operated between San Antonio (East Oakland) and San Francisco, on the "creek route." To get a share of this traffic, the railroad company built a bridge across the creek and opened its line into San Antonio (East Oakland), September 28, 1864. In the following March, Larue sold his two boats to the railroad, which continued them in operation on the "creek route."
April 1, 1865, the railroad was extended to Larue's Wharf at the foot of Commerce Street, San Antonio, which point remained the east- ern terminus of the road until the entrance of the Central Pacific into Oakland in 1869. In September, 1864, the railroad Company put the Louise, its first ferry boat, on the run from Oakland Wharf in place of Minturn's boat, the Contra Costa.
THE "ENCINAL RAILROAD"
The ambitious move of General Superintendent Goss in extending his "local line" from Broadway into Brooklyn and San Antonio, was effective in checking competition of the "creek route" ferry boats, but it proved too great a financial undertaking for the treasury of his com- pany. As a result the Oakland Company in October, 1865, came under the management of Alfred A. Cohen, principal stockholder and general superintendent of the San Francisco and Alameda Railroad Company, commonly known at that time as the "Encinal Road."
This company had been incorporated March 25, 1863, with F. D. Atherton, A. A. Cohen, E. B. Mastick, Charles Minturn, J. D. Farwell, J. G. Kellogg and John W. Dwinelle, as directors. Together with the
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San Francisco, Alameda and Stockton Railroad Company, controlled by practically the same interests, the company built a railroad from Ala- meda Wharf (since abandoned) at the foot of Pacific Street, via what is now Lincoln Avenue to the east boundary of Alameda. then north- east to Melrose, crossing the Central Pacific (located in 1869) near Forty-seventh Avenue, then southeast to San Leandro Creek, entering San Leandro via Alvarado and Ward streets. From San Leandro the line followed the east side of the County Road to San Leandro Creek, then through what is now Watkins Street, to the terminus of the line at Deane Street, one block south of the plaza in Hayward.
The wharf at the foot of Pacific Street was completed in the spring of 1864 and on June 23 construction work started on the railroad along what was then Railroad Avenue. Enough material had been contracted for to build the line to Hayward, from which point it was proposed to connect at Vallejo's Mill (Niles) or at Washington Corners, with the Western Pacific Railroad, then organized to build north from San Jose, via Stockton, to a connection with the Central Pacific near Sacramento.
First trial trip was made over the Alameda Road on August 13, 1864, with the locomotive "E. B. Mastick" and two passenger cars. The train started from the wharf and ran into town where a crowd of delighted citizens were taken aboard for a ride to the end of the line. On the 25th of the month regular service was opened as far as High Street. The steamer Sophie McLane, which had been on the run to Alviso where stage connections were made with Santa Clara and San Jose, was engaged by Cohen for temporary ferry service to the landing in San Francisco on Davis Street, between Broadway and Pacific wharfs. Later the Contra Costa was used on this run until February, 1866, when the company's first ferry boat Alameda went in service.
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