USA > California > Alameda County > History of Alameda County, California. Volume II > Part 52
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The present pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes is Rev. Bartholomew Kevany, who was born in county Roscommon, Ireland. He secured his classical education in Summer Hill College, at Sligo, Ireland, and pursued his theological studies in St. Bernard's Seminary, at Rochester, New York, in which he was ordained to the
OUR LADY OF LOUDRES CHURCH AND SCHOOL, OAKLAND
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priesthood by Bishop McQuaid in 1907. Immediately thereafter he came to Cali- fornia and was appointed assistant pastor of St. Patrick's church in San Francisco, after which he served in the same capacity at St. Rafael's church, at San Rafael, and while there also served as chaplain at the state prison at San Quentin. He after- wards served as assistant pastor at St. Vincent de Paul's church in San Francisco and as assistant at St. Edward's church in that city. His first regular pastorate was at Half Moon Bay, San Mateo county, from which church he came to Our Lady of Lourdes. Here he has labored unselfishly and earnestly for the best interests of the parish, in which he has been rewarded with splendid results, and the parish is making steady and substantial progress.
MORRIS C. JAMES
For a third of a century Morris C. James has been identified with the educational affairs of Berkeley and as superintendent of the city schools is rendering a type of service that has been eminently satisfactory to the people of the community. Mr. James was born in Morganfield, Kentucky, November 10, 1867, and received his elementary education in private schools there. He attended Vanderbilt Uni- versity, at Nashville, Tennessee, two years, after which he was associated for a time with his father in the banking business in Morganfield. He taught in the country schools of Union county, Kentucky, and then entered Johns Hopkins University, at Baltimore, Maryland, from which he was graduated in 1892. In that year he came to California and taught for two years in the schools of San Bernardino, while in 1895 he came to Berkeley as vice-principal of the high school. Later he became principal of that school, was later made deputy superintendent of the city schools, and eventually became superintendent. After serving in that capacity some years, he resigned, but so insistent was the demand for his services that he was again appointed superintendent and is still serving in that capacity.
CARL H. ABBOTT
In the front rank of the strong and successful law firms of Alameda county stands Fitzgerald, Abbott & Beardsley, of which Carl H. Abbott is a member. He has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession in the Bay cities for a third of a century, during which period he has commanded recognition for his learning, ability and success, being regarded as one of the leading members of the Oakland bar.
Mr. Abbott was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on the 4th of August, 1867, and is a son of Granville Sharp and Susan (Davis) Abbott. In 1877 the family came to Oakland, where he completed his public school education, graduating from high school. He attended Brown University, at Providence, Rhode Island, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1888, after which he entered Hastings Law School in San Francisco, from which he received the
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degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1891. He was admitted to the bar that year and four years later entered into a law partnership with R. M. Fitzgerald, under the firm name of Fitzgerald & Abbott. Later they went to San Francisco and became members of the firm of Campbell, Fitzgerald, Abbott & Fowler, which relation was continued until October, 1905, when the partnership was dissolved and Messrs. Fitzgerald and Abbott again became partners. They remained in San Francisco until April, 1906, when they returned to Oakland, and in 1913 admitted Charles A. Beardsley to the firm, the name of which then became Fitzgerald, Abbott & Beardsley. This has proven a very successful combination and the firm has been identified as counsel with many of the most important cases tried in the courts of the Bay district.
Mr. Abbott is a democrat in his political alignment and has taken a deep interest in public affairs. He is a member of the Athenian Club and is extremely popular among his associates. All measures concerning the welfare and advancement of his community receive his hearty support, and he is regarded as one of Oakland's most public-spirited and substantial citizens.
THE CATERPILLAR TRACTOR CO.
The most remarkable and distinctive industrial concern in Alameda county is the Caterpillar Tractor Co., the executive offices of which are at San Leandro, with factories at San Leandro and Stockton, California, and Peoria, Illinois. This great enterprise, which is known throughout the civilized world, is the outcome of the consolidation of two companies, the C. L. Best Tractor Co. and the Holt Manufacturing Company, both of which had become extensive manufacturers of tractors, which were becoming increasingly popular on farms, in the timber country, in road making and wherever heavy loads were to be pulled. However, particularly on the Pacific coast, in sandy and heavy loam soil and during the rainy season, the ordinary tractor often failed to function, for it would either not take hold or else become mired so as to be practically useless. To meet these condi- tions, various changes and improvements were made in the tractors, including the use of wheels of unusual width, an extreme example of which was one tractor built by The Holt Manufacturing Company in 1898, which had wheels about eight feet in diameter and eighteen feet in width on each side of the tractor, which was undoubtedly the largest and most powerful pulling engine ever built; but the fact that the total weight was increased proportionately detracted from its practical use. To Benjamin Holt, head of The Holt Manufacturing Company, came an inspiration in 1900, while he was seeking a solution of this problem. He built a pair of tracks, or "platform wheels," as they were then called, and installed them on one of the steam tractors. This was a crude device, the shafts, sprockets and other parts being practically picked out of old materials around the plant. This new type of tractor worked so well that it encouraged him to build another one, and thus the modern "Caterpillar Tractor" had its inception. It derived its name from a peculiar circumstance .. In 1901 a group of plant executives and engineers stood watching the operation of the new, strange-looking machine, and a photog-
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rapner strode up and asked for instructions. "Shoot that," he was ordered. "Humph!" he mumbled, "That's no tractor-looks like a caterpillar." A few days later he was asked for the negative, which he had not catalogued by number, and handed the executive the film, across the envelope of which was labeled the name, "Caterpillar." The name stuck and became the registered trademark name of this track-type machine.
Neither Benjamin Holt nor his associates at that time realized the far-reaching importance of the new idea which they had put into tangible form, regarding it as only a special-purpose tractor for abnormal conditions. But a few years' experience with them demonstrated their entire practicability for general purposes. This fact was emphasized by an experience near Stockton where one of the forty horse- power standard steam tractors mounted on "Caterpillar" tracks was used to pull the load formerly hauled by one of their large sixty horse-power round-wheel steamers. To their amazement they found that the little tractor not only pulled with ease the load of the large tractor, which consisted of three heavy gangs of plows, but it was able also to pull a fourth gang of plows, and pull all four gangs at a two-inch greater depth in the same field and under the same conditions. This experience was the first realization of the superior efficiency of the track over a round-wheel type. It was proved that with the "Caterpillar" Tractor the resistance to travel was practically constant on account of the weight being carried on tracks, which distributed it over a large area of ground, as compared with a round-wheel tractor in which the power required to propel it varies according to the character of the soil over which it is operating. Gasoline-driven "Caterpillars" were first put in use in 1905. After two years of development on the soft delta lands of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers of California, they did their first heavy industrial work when a fleet was used in hauling heavy materials across the Mojave desert and up roadless mountain sides for the Los Angeles aqueduct. In a few years the world at large began to realize that the "Caterpillar" Tractor was really a practical piece of machinery for a wide range of uses and its growth in popularity during the subsequent years is a matter of history.
In those days there was keen rivalry in the development of the tractor between the two great pioneers in that line of manufacture, Benjamin Holt, of Stockton, and Daniel Best, of San Leandro, and shortly following the development of the "Caterpillar", C. L. Best, son of Daniel Best, began the development and manufac- ture of gasoline-driven "track-laying" tractors at San Leandro. Both concerns enjoyed a measurable degree of prosperity, selling all the tractors they could produce, and in 1925 the two companies were consolidated under the name of the Caterpillar Tractor Co., with its subsidiary, the Western Harvester Company, of Stockton.
The World war gave the "Caterpillar" Tractor its introduction to the whole globe and the story of its use in that great conflict is an interesting one, and is probably not generally known. About two years prior to the war the German government and Austro-Hungarian landowners had become large purchasers of "Caterpillar" Tractors, and had them in pretty general use throughout the empire. It was later revealed that these tractors, in their pre-war agricultural work, were operated by soldier drivers detailed by the military authorities for that purpose. Subsequently, during the great German drive through Belgium, heavy artillery
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was kept steadily behind the infantry in the tremendous sweep forward, a move- ment of guns unbelievable by the allies. The Germans advanced until they were pounding at the gates of Paris, and then came the counter drive, and the world was startled by a discovery. A "Caterpillar" Tractor had been abandoned and the remarkable advance of the German artillery was explained, as was also the heavy buying by Germany of the tractors prior to the war. Gen. Earnest Swinton, of England, has stated that this tractor, which he saw, was the basis upon which the English developed the design for the world-renowned tanks, which later played so conspicuous a part in the attacks of the allies. One of the largest tractors built by the Holt company had been purchased by Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary for use on one of his estates, and was boxed and resting on the docks at New York when the war broke out. An order came from England for a trial tractor and representatives of the Holt company broke open the box, painted out the Austro- Hungarian colors, repainted it with a neutral color, and shipped the same tractor to the English government, which wished to submit it to field tests preparatory to placing with the firm an order for continuous production. "Caterpillar" Tractors solved the problem of the transportation of heavy guns and ammunition over the soft ground, and up steep hills where no roads existed, across shell holes and through timber, while the giant tanks, which were the outgrowth of the "Cater- pillar" Tractor, became literally irrestible as engines of destruction.
Since the war, continued improvements have been made in the "Caterpillar" Tractor, and it may be noted in this connection that over four thousand fewer parts are now used in its construction than were used in the war-time tractor. The United States War Department keeps in close and continuous contact with the development and production of the "Caterpillar" Tractor, an officer of the ordinance department, experienced in tractor and tank work, being stationed in the factory at San Leandro.
Today the "Caterpillar" is built from the best materials obtainable for each particular part, considering the use to which it is put. Each part subject to wear or unusual strain is then given the most thorough and scientific heat treatment, and subjected to the most exacting tests known to the automotive industry. This is done because the tractor has to endure much greater abuses than almost any other piece of machinery of its kind in use, being loaded to practically full load at all times, working under the most adverse conditions as to dirt, sand and grit, and being operated continuously.
The use of the "Caterpillar" in its application to modern life is almost unlimited. Naturally, it was quickly taken up in agricultural work, where its superiority was evidenced by its popularity, but in industry it has made its greatest progress. In road building and grading, as well as many other road operations; in the trans- portation of logs in the timber sections of the country; in the oil fields, in levee construction, townsite and subdivision developments and railroad construction ; for moving houses and transporting heavy machinery; around steel plants and foundries-in fact, in almost every line of industry the "Caterpillar" has been found to be almost indispensable, and its usefulness will be still further enhanced through the development of tools to be operated with, and controlled by, power taken off the tractor. The Caterpillar Tractor Co. maintains a special department in charge of a research engineer handling this line of work.
The Best plant of the Caterpillar Tractor Co., at San Leandro, occupies ten
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acres of land, of which five and a half acres are under one roof, fully equipped for the manufacture of two thousand five hundred tractors a year. The other plants of the company are the two which belonged to the Holt company, one at Stockton, California, and the other at Peoria, Illinois. The plant at Stockton occupies twenty-one acres, of which twelve acres are under one roof, equipped to produce combined harvesting machines and to manufacture spare parts for "Caterpillar" Tractors. At Peoria the plant occupies forty acres, with fourteen acres under one roof, equipped for the manufacture of five thousand tractors per year. Some idea of the financial strength of this great corporation may be gained from the fact that the last annual statement showed that the stated capital, capital surplus and earned surplus amounted to over twenty-two and a half million dollars.
The official roster of the Caterpillar Tractor Company is as follows: Directors, C. L. Best, chairman ; M. M. Baker, A. L. Chickering, H. H. Fair, R. C. Force, B. C. Heacock, P. E. Holt, George L. Bell, C. Parker Holt, J. A. McGregor and O. L. Starr. Executive committee, C. L. Best, H. H. Fair and R. C. Force. Executive officers : C. L. Best, chairman of the board; R. C. Force, president ; B. C. Heacock, first vice president ; P. E. Holt, vice president ; J. V. Munro, vice president in charge of purchases; O. L. Starr vice president in charge of manu- facture ; G. L. Bell, second vice president in charge of sales, and secretary ; M. M. Baker, vice president in charge of eastern sales; I. E. Jones, vice president in charge of western sales; C. Parker Holt, vice president in charge of export sales ; H. P. Mee, vice president and treasurer; H. B. Mckinley, J. T. Rye, A. H. Cumming, P. J. Lojo and E. A. McAllister, assistant treasurers ; E. Bornstein, comptroller. The executive offices of the company are at San Leandro, with sales offices at San Leandro and Peoria, while a branch office is maintained in New York City and a distributing warehouse at Albany, New York. The progressive policy of the company has been demonstrated when, due to lowered costs resulting from increased volume of sales and efficiency in its manufacturing operations, the board of directors has on several occasions authorized substantial reductions in the selling prices of "Caterpillar" Tractors of all models. These reductions were made in keeping with the fixed policy of the company to build ever better "Caterpillar" Tractors and sell them at lowest possible prices to a steadily increasing number of satisfied users. The growth and development of this great industry has been of immeasurable benefit to Alameda county, giving employment to many expert workmen, whose payroll contributes in large measure to the prosperity of the community, and with each "Caterpillar" Tractor has gone the name of San Leandro, so that the people of the community have just reason for pride in this institution.
F. E. HEATH
One of the most remarkable business successes in the history of Alameda county is recorded in the career of F. E. Heath, who, from a modest beginning, has developed a large creamery business and has become the owner of several of the finest and most valuable dairy ranches in this section of the state, his
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success having come as the legitimate result of his determined and persistent efforts, backed by sound judgment and good management. Mr. Heath was born on a dairy farm in Shiawassee county, Michigan, on the 28th of January, 1866, and received his education in the public schools of his home neighborhood. In June, 1888, he arrived in San Francisco, with a total cash capital of seven dollars and fifty cents. He got a job as gripman on a cable car on the Market street railway, at which he worked for three months, after which he went to Seattle, Washington, where he was employed as a street car conductor until 1895. He then returned to San Francisco and for five years was conductor on the Market street line. This line of work did not satisfy him and on April 1, 1900, he bought a small dairy in Alameda, for which he paid six hundred and seventy-five dollars. On June 1st, of that year, he paid three hundred dollars for a second dairy, and soon afterwards leased a tract of land near Mills College, on which he placed twenty-one milk cows. From that time he has gradually added to his dairy interests, buying the Jersey Farms dairy, the Highland Farm dairy and the Durham Farm dairy, owning at one time six dairy plants, some of which he has sold. On April 1, 1906, he bought the Berkeley Farm Creamery, on Alliston way, Berkeley, which at that time was a small and unpretentious plant, but from it he has developed a large, well equipped creamery plant, regarded as one of the finest in the entire west, and which in 1927 did a gross business of two and three quarter million dollars. On his dairy farms he has seven hundred milk cows and the daily output of the creamery is eight thousand gallons of milk. In June, 1907, Mr. Heath bought a tract of land at Pleasanton, which he developed into one of the best dairy ranches in Alameda county, and also has two other fine ranches, one at Mowry Station and one at Newark. Mr. Heath has worked hard for the success which has so bountifully crowned his labors and he commands the unqualified respect of all who are familiar with his operations, for he has been honorable in all of his dealings and has proven well worthy of public confidence. He is the first vice president of the First National Bank of Oakland and was president of the College National Bank of Berkeley until it was sold to the American Trust Company. Mr. Heath has been tireless and energetic in business, has shown a progressive spirit in all of his operations and stands today as one of Alameda county's solid, substantial and influential citizens.
ALFRED J. LACOSTE
Alfred J. Lacoste, vice president and manager of the Bayle, Lacoste & Company, of Emeryville, is one of Alameda county's wide-awake, enterprising and success- ful business men, and his record has gained for him a high place in public esteem. He was born in San Francisco, California, on the 25th of November, 1890, and is a son of John and Marie (Dupuy) Lacoste, the former of whom is a native of France, while the mother was born in San Francisco, of French parentage. Her mother came around Cape Horn from France and was one hundred and seventy-five days on the voyage. Her father crossed the plains to California in 1849 and was one of the first settlers of Grass Valley, where Mr. Dupuy engaged
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in gold mining and also conducted the only hotel and boarding house there at that time. John Lacoste came to California in 1876 and ten years later founded the present business of Bayle, Lacoste & Company. Beginning in a small way, the business has steadily grown and prospered under his wise management until today he has three plants, the main plant and office being in San Francisco, where he has personal charge, and at San Jose and Emeryville. He is engaged in the manufacture of fertilizers, tallow and meat scraps, the fertilizer being mainly shipped to southern California, but the company's business extends to practically all parts of the state. One hundred and thirty-five workmen are employed in the various plants, and the business is enjoying a steady and substantial growth. The family also owns the Golden West Meat & Packing Company, which deals in dressed lambs, calves and hogs, and of this business, which is located at Emeryville, Alfred J. Lacoste has active charge.
Alfred J. Lacoste was reared in San Francisco to the age of seven years, when the family moved to the east side of the bay, and he secured his early education in the public and high schools of Oakland. He also took a commercial course in a business college. Since leaving school he has been associated with his father in business, and has been vice president and manager of the company's interests at Emeryville for seventeen years, having shown himself a capable business man and good executive.
In his political views Mr. Lacoste is a stanch republican and has taken an active interest in the affairs of his community. He is now serving his second term as a member of the city council and his third term as a member of the school board. He is a member of the Elks Club No. 171, B. P. O. E., of Oakland and a past exalted ruler and a member of the building committee. He is also a member of Piedmont Parlor, N. S. G. W .; the Athens Athletic Club; the Emeryville In- dustries Association ; the Oakland Chamber of Commerce; and the Lafayette Club. A man of sterling qualities of character, sound business sense, energetic in manner, and cordial and friendly in his social relations, he holds a high place in the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens, who regard him as one of Emeryville's solid and dependable men.
CLARENCE L. TRAVER
Clarence L. Traver, of Alameda, has become widely known in business circles because of his active and successful operations, as a real estate dealer and general insurance agent, and he is also closely identified with a number of Alameda's im- portant business and civic organizations. He was born in Alameda on the 2nd of January, 1880, and is a son of George W. and Emma S. Traver. His father, who was born in Troy, New York, was descended from old Dutch stock, his great- grandparents having emigrated from Holland to this country in an early day, settling in New York state. On the maternal side Mr. Traver is of the fifth generation from a French ancestor who settled in this country, members of the family located in Kentucky, and Covington, that state his mother was born.
Mr. Traver attended the public schools of Tacoma, Washington, to which city
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the family moved when he was three years old, and later he entered Vashon College, in Washington, which he attended for two years, being compelled to leave school because of the death of his father in 1897. He remained in Tacoma until November, 1900, when he went to San Francisco and entered the employ of the Pacific Telegraph & Telephone Company. In 1905 he removed to Alameda, where he has since lived. He remained in the employ of the Pacific Telegraph & Telephone Company until the spring of 1917, when he resigned and entered the real estate business. He has been more than ordinarily successful in his private affairs, conducting not only a general real estate and insurance business, but also active as a home builder, having erected about one hundred and fifty houses in this locality and thus contributing in large measure to its growth and development. He has acquired a large amount of property in Alameda, and is one of the heaviest stockholders in the Alameda Community Hotel, of which he is vice president and a director ; is a director of the Income Properties Company of Oakland, of the Com- mercial National Bank of Alameda, and of the California Development Association.
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