History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 115

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood
Number of Pages: 1206

USA > California > Alameda County > History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions > Part 115

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Mr. Beard was born in the town of Lyons, New York, on October 15, 1816. In 1830 he went to Michigan, Jackson County, along with his father. The following year he went to Peru, Indiana, and in 1836 settled in Lafayette of the same State, where he remained till he started for California in 1849. He came to this State through Mexico, and located at the Mission San José, where he maintained his resi- dence up till the time of his death on May 8, 1880. His successes and disappoint- ments in California are known to most of our readers and do not need recapitulation. That a man of his noble impulses should pass his declining days in disappointments, the chagrin of hopes unrealized, and the culmination of business reverses, hardly seems compatible with our ideas of the rewards due him who had always a word of cheer for the down-hearted, whose sympathies were always for the oppressed, and to whom no human being in need ever applied in vain. His taste is still to be seen in the beautiful surroundings of Mr. Gallegos fine mansion, in the garden of which are orange-trees planted by Mr. Beard full twenty years ago.

In the year 1850 came Henry C. Smith to the Mission San José, after having shared in the fortunes of Fremont's California Battalion. To this gentleman, more, possibly than to any other, is due the shaping out of Alameda County in 1853. He was appointed by General-Governor Riley an alcalde at a very early date.

In July 1850 Mr. Beard was joined by his family, among whom were his son John L. Beard and his step-son H. G. Ellsworth. In a conversation with the latter gentleman he informed us that in 1849, E. L. Beard had opened a store at the Mission, while H. C. Smith, Jeremiah Fallon, Michael Murray, and William Norris were resi- dents there. Mr. Ellsworth also says that in 1850 there was a mill at Niles, run by water-power, but a very crude affair, owned by Don J. J. de Vallejo, but this was not the first in the township, the Fathers had had a primitive concern, and he and his step-father erected a better and more costly, though a small one, shortly after his arrival. In the year 1850 William Tyson settled in the vicinity of the Mission, and Origin Mowry located on the place where he now resides, known as Mowry's Landing. In this year, too, Ephraim Dyer took up his residence in the district, but he has since permanently located in Murray Township. Ed. Niehaus who came to the township on December 24, 1850, informs us that on his arrival with L. P. Gates, they found John M. Horner living about a mile below the Mission on what

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was known as Honda grant, the house being now owned by Jacob Salz, a tanner of Stockton. Don Jesus Vallejo resided in the Mission; E. L. Beard, within the Church property there; Mr. Coombs, a lawyer, dwelt on the place now occupied by James Emmerson; John Niel lived on the Mission grant, where Mr. Overacker now is; Joe Nicholls, where he does now; William Tyson, Perry Morrison, and William Morrison resided together, the estate being now divided between Mr. Tyson's widow and the children of Perry Morrison, the share of his brother William having been purchased by the two others, while he took up his residence in the vicinity of Alvarado, subse- quently proceeding to San José. Earl Marshall and Simeon Stivers also resided on the Tyson estate. Charles Hanyon lived next to Mr. Coombs, on the farm now occu- pied by T. Chadbourne, while Henry C. Smith resided on the hillside on what is now the Taylor ranch, about a mile from the Mission on the Niles road of to-day. Nie- haus and Gates themselves located on the Stubbe place. At this time there was a store in the Mission kept by W. H. Chamberlain, while in this year a hotel was opened by James Hawley, who now resides near Alvarado.

On July 1, 1851, William M. Liston came to the township and took charge of two warehouses that had been erected at Alvarado by Henry C. Smith. At this date there were but two dwelling-houses in Alvarado, one of which had a small store kept in it. The third house was erected by Mr. Liston himself, and still stands on the thoroughfare known as Maiden's Lane. In Union City there were three families liv- ing, viz .: Dr. Buckland, who had charge of a warehouse belonging to John M. Horner; Captain Richardson and Captain Nowell, who commanded a couple of small craft plying on the bay and had their residences there, besides these a man named John Wilson lived on Alameda Creek not far from the town. Among the names of those who came to locate in the year 1851, we have been able to gather the following: M. Sigrist, John J. Riser, George W. Patterson, George W. Bond, Capt. Stephen Larkin, Joshua Wauhab, Lewis Cass Smith, Christian P. Hanson, Henry Smith, Calvin Valpey, and of course many more whose names we have failed to hear.

In the fall of the year 1851, John M. Horner purchased the steamer Union which had been brought in sections from the Eastern States, constructed in San Francisco, and put her upon the route between that city and Union City, and placing her under the command of Captain Marston, that gentlemen took up his residence in the town- ship.

In this year Beard and Horner bought the Alvarado Rancho and commenced the cultivation of potatoes. The part they inclosed was that now owned by the Haleys. In the following year their crop averaged two hundred sacks to the acre, and sold for upwards of one hundred thousand dollars. The following year everybody cultivated them, and there was a plethora. Messrs. Beard and Horner made contracts for the disposal of theirs in advance; they sold them for two and two and a half cents per pound, to the San Francisco commission merchants-Brigham, Garrison, and others. Garrison took a million pounds of them; they were never removed and were allowed to rot on the ground, in consequence of the low price caused by the great abundance of the crop. The firm of Saunders & Co. purchased a large quantity of them, which they stowed away in a hulk in the bay. The warm weather coming on, they com- menced growing and threatened to burst the vessel open, when the owners ordered

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them to be removed. They commenced casting them into the bay at San Francisco, but the Harbor Master interfered and stopped it, necessitating the expense of removal to some other locality.

Among the gentlemen with whom we have conversed, who cast their lot in Wash- ington Township in the year 1852, is Emery Munyan. When he arrived on July 7th, he found a small warehouse, and the dwelling-house at Mowry's Landing, and H. K. W. Clarke, resided in the ranch-house, now occupied by George Wagner, while near to it was a man named Tompkins. In November 1852 Isaac M. Long built a house where Mr. Thompson now resides, below the village of Newark, which is known as the Dairy Ranch; while about the same time Richard Threlfall took up land in the vicin- ity. Among others who settled in the township in the year 1852, we have the names of Nathaniel L. Babb, Howard Overacker, Garrett S. Norris, William H. Cockefair, Edward Ross, Henry Curtner, Daniel M. Sanborn, John T. Stevenson, E. S. Allen, Joseph Ralph, James Beazell, Joel Russell, C. J. Stevens, George Simpson, Victor W. Nuttman, Thomas W. Millard, William Barry, George M. Walters.

In the spring of 1852, Henry C. Smith and A. M. Church started a store in the warehouse where now is the establishment of M. J. Peach, while the town of Alvarado had an accession to its strength by the arrival of W. Param and family, Edward Chin- nery and his wife, and not long afterward Mr. Church's family came, as did also a Mr. Hayes and his wife. In the fall of the year Peter J. Campbell settled between Cen- treville and Alvarado as did also the Ralph family on the place now occupied by the widow. In this year Captain Bond put up a blacksmith shop on the present site of Centreville.

At the date of which we write, the agricultural products of California were not as celebrated in the Eastern States as they have since become; but in 1853 some samples of the production of Washington soil, grown on the site of Odd Fellows" Hall at the Corners, were sent to the World's Fair at New York. The San Fran- cisco Whig and Advertiser of July 1, 1853, had the following: "Berford & Co. will carry by their express to-day several cases, hermetically sealed, containing samples of California grain, among which are oat-stalks ten feet three inches in height, with heads from twenty-two to twenty-eight inches in length; also wheat, product of a single grain, containing seventy spears, inclosing four thousand two hundred grains." These remarkable specimens were the gift of Mr. Sim, a very early settler of the township.

The following are among the settlers in the township during the year 1853: Frank Frietes, Hermann Eggers, John C. Whipple, Joseph F. Black, John McRae, Jarel T. Walker, Luther E. Osgood, John Blacow, Farley B. Granger, John Proctor, James Emmerson, Ebenezer Healey, Edward F. Burdick. J. W. Musser, who came to the Mission San José in this year, says that even at that late date the Mission buildings were in their pristine state, while in the village that had sprung up around it there was but one frame building, and which still stands next south to the store of Erhman & Lebrecht. Among the names of residents which he recollects are those of E. L. Beard, Augustus Johnson, David Howard, Adolf Sellman, Clemente Columbet, who had a vineyard, and W. H. Chamberlain, who kept the store. In 1854 he dis- posed of it to J. W. Chamberlain, and in 1856 the business was purchased and became Musser & McClure, who sold in 1866 to Bachman & Erhman.

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

In the year 1854 Mr. Beard sent to the Eastern States for a large number of fruit-trees, such as apples, but they, for some unexplained reason, failed when planted. In this year the first hotel in Centreville was built by William Morgan, on the site now occupied by the Gregory House; while a man named Day settled on the Bain place, the property being previously occupied by renters. On May 18, 1854, Ezra Decoto took up his residence in the township where he now resides. At this time, between Decoto and Niles, Antone Joseph was living where he does now; Hank Smith dwelt near Dry Creek, and John Hanna, agent for the Clarke Ranch, had the land now owned by John Whipple. Between Decoto and Haywards there were only a few houses, among the residents being Sanford Taylor and F. W. Meyer. Among the settlers in the year 1854, there are the names of Elijah Foster, August May, August Heyer, Michael H. Ryan, John Taylor, Henry Dusterberry, William Wales, Z. D. Cheney, Silvester P. Harvey, Andrew J. McLeod, William H. Mack.

After the year 1854 the settlement of the township was general, while the people took up their positions as well-to-do, hard-working farmers. We will therefore wind up the general history of the township by producing such names as we have been able to gather, and the years of their casting their lot in Washington :-

1855 .- Philip Thorn, William H. Healey. 1856 .- - Healey, Edward Mur- phy, Henry F. Nebas, James Shinn, James A. Brewer, A. B. Montross. 1857 .- E. H. Dyer, Howard S. Jarvis, Walter Baker, George W: Babcock, James Sinclair, Samuel K. Brown. 1858 .- Antonio Bardellini, Maas Lueders, William Gibbons. 1859 .- David H. Beck, James J. Stokes. 1860 .- J. C. Haley, E. A. Richmond, Nicholas Bergmann, Adolphus Decoto, John Decoto, Jacob F. Meyers. 1861 .- Israel Horton 1862 .- Ivan J. Tifoche. 1863 .- J. A. Bilz, Alson S. Clark, B. D. T. Clough, Solomon Erhman. 1864 .- W. P. Abbey, A. A. Overacker, Michael Ryan. 1865 .- M. W. Dixon, F. C. Jarvis, Hugh Doherty, Peter McKeany.

Other sections of California, particularly the southern counties, have been admired and lauded for the productiveness of their soil and the salubrity and pleas- antness of their climate; but no county can surpass Alameda either in health, pleasure, or profit, when a permanent family residence is sought. The Alameda County Inde- pendent, a newspaper published at Washington Corners, on June 5, 1875, says: "Last week we paid a visit to the hospitable home of one of the old settlers of our county, to wit, William Whidden, Esq., who owns two hundred and fifty acres near Alvarado. The ground in that district is subject to overflow every winter, the effect of which is greatly to enrich the soil and preserve its fruitfulness. Land that has been tilled every year for twenty years is just as productive now as it was two decades since. That is the case with this farm. Last year fifteen thousand bushels of onions and three thousand sacks of beans were raised on it, the sacks averaging about sixty-five pounds, while the onions were so prolific that one single acre produced six hundred bushels. Carrots to the amount of nearly six hundred tons, eight hundred sacks of barley, two hundred and fifty sacks of potatoes, about fifty tons of squashes, and fifty sacks of corn were also produced. Two years before, twenty-seven acres of barley brought one thousand seven hundred and fourteen dollars cash, at home. Onions are sold at from one to five cents per pound. Of fruit-trees there are not less than five hundred, consisting of apples, pears, plums, cherries, crab-apples, quince and peaches.

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The varieties of berries cultivated are blackberry, raspberry, and strawberry, chiefly for home consumption; and four acres of cherry currants, yielding three or four tons to the acre. The price of these runs from six cents, early in the season, down to two cents per pound at last.

"The live-stock keep pace with the other products in quality if not in quantity. There are nine families of tenants on the place, and sixty to seventy workmen employed. The lessees get two-thirds of the produce of the land, giving one-third for its use to the owner-each party furnishing his own sacks."

The above facts show what can be done and what has been donc for a great many years on one farm, and that but two hundred and fifty acres in extent.

Another class of Washington products that may be noticed is the splendid Merino sheep of Mrs. Blacow, finer than which there are none in any part of the world. There is still yet an article of commerce and a source of wealth that is culti- vated to the highest perfection in Washington Township. We allude to hops. In 1873 B. Benedict and J. B. Shirk commenced the cultivation of this commodity near Alvarado and up to the present have prosecuted the industry with marked success.

It will be unnecessary here for us to make mention of the manufactures of beet sugar and salt; histories of these will be found further on. We will, therefore, now draw the reader's attention to the following short sketches of the rise and progress of the towns in the district :-

ALVARADO .- As having once borne the honors of the Capitolian crown, Alvarado may be said to have precedence of the other small towns in Washington Township. With it, for the purposes of this sketch, may be included the places which bear the names of Union City (called after the steamer Union), and New Haven. In the month of July, 1851, William M Liston, the present proprietor of the Alvarado Tav- ern, came to the place to take charge of two warehouses that had been built by Henry C. Smith. Besides these erections there were two dwelling-houses for other employés of that enterprising gentleman. The third house was built by Mr. Liston, and still stands on Maiden Lane, while, in one of the original dwellings, was a small store, the only one in the place at that time. In Union City, at the period of which we write, there were living Dr. Buckland, who had charge of warehouses, the property of J. M. Horner; Captain Richardson, and Captain Nowell, both of whom commanded small craft running between that point and San Francisco, while a man named John Wilson had a residence on Alameda Creek, not far from the town.

In the Fall of 1851 John M. Horner purchased the steamer Union, a boat that had been brought out from the East in pieces and put together in San Francisco, and placed her on the route between Union City and San Francisco, under the command of Captain Marston, who took up his residence at the former place. This small com- munity was added to in 1852, by the arrival of C. J. Stevens, now of Livermore, and his sister; and in the same spring, A. M. Church joined Henry C. Smith and started a store in the warehouse now occupied by M. J. Peach. About this time there also came to the village W. Param and his wife, Edward Chinnery and his wife, William Hayes and his wife, Mr. Church being also joined by his family. In the following year Alvarado was made the county seat of the newly created Alameda County, while it was then that John M. Horner erected the grist-mill, that was, after being conducted

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

for some time by C. J. Stevens, subsequently removed to Livermore, and was there destroyed by fire in the winter of 1882.

With the establishment of the seat of justice at Alvarado several settlers took up their abode in the place, for it was thought that before long it would blossom into something more than an ordinary village. That year, 1853, a private school, with five pupils, was opened, the rate of tuition being five dollars per month, while not long after a public school, taught by Mrs. Warren, was started in the residence of Captain Marston.

The Court House was established in the upper story of the warehouse used by Messrs. Smith & Church as their store, while the county offiees were in other buildings scattered about the town.

Since the county seat was finally removed from Alvarado the town has made but little progress, still it has considerable commercial advantages, consisting in its facili- ties for shipping by the bay, and its railroad connections.

Among the features of Alvarado may be mentioned its artesian wells, one of which, belonging to Captain Barrow, probably has a larger flow of water than any other well of this elass in the State, the stream having a body of about eight inches square.

Beet-sugar-making in California was inaugurated in Alvarado in 1869, by a joint- stock company, with a large capital invested in buildings and the necessary machin- ery. The works were a short distance northeast from the town, on lands of E. H. Dyer, to whose interesting sketch of the rise and progress of this industry we would refer the reader. Another important industry in Alvarado is that of salt-making, an interesting statement of which has been made in the early portion of this work. Not until 1862 was the business of salt-making engaged in. . In that year John Quigley, a pioneer salt-maker of Alameda County, commenced operations at Alva- rado or Union City, where he still continues the business he inaugurated. The process originally employed (and substantially in use now) consisted in admitting, with the rising tide, the salt water upon a level surface of the ground which had been dyked into vats. These being filled to the required depth, the connection between them and the outside water is severed, and the water in the vats allowed to evaporate until the chloride of sodium (salt) ean be gathered up. This description of salt-making is not designed to represent the somewhat complex methods employed at the present day, but merely to show the main feature-atmospheric evaporation. As conducted at the present time, a series of wooden vats are generally employed, and the brine treated to a variety of processes before the salt is brought to commer- cial shape.

CRUSADE LODGE, No. 93, I. O. O. F .- This, the first I. O. O. F. lodge estab- lished in the county, was organized November 26, 1859, by Past Grand Jacob L. Van Bokelen, and Deputy Grand L. L. Alexander, with the following charter members. Charles S. Eigenbrodt, P. G .; Albert E. Crane, James Hawley, William M. Liston, William Morrison, William Hayes, W. H. Hawthorne, George Simpson, N. B. Eldred; the first officers being: Charles S. Eigenbrodt, N. G .; Albert E. Crane, V. G .; James Hawley, Rec. Sec .; William Hayes, Treas .; William M. Liston, Per. Sec. The pres-

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ent membership is forty-seven, while the officers for the current term are: Charles A. Plummer, N. G .; M. W. Ingalls, V. G .; Henry D. Goodman, Rec. Sec .; Joseph Mc- Keown, Treas .; F. B. Granger, Jr., Per. Sec. The lodge meets in their own hall every Saturday evening, which was erected in 1864 by the Odd Fellows' Hall Association, the stock being now entirely in the hands of the lodge. The building occupies an area of forty by sixty-five feet, the society being in a flourishing condition, with assets of seven thousand dollars.

RELIANCE LODGE, NO. 93, A. O. U. W .- This lodge was organized April 15, 1881, with the following charter officers: A. J. Hare, P. M. W .; W. F. Ingalls, M. W .; O. L. Southwick, G. F .; Charles R. Neaurt, O .; J. M. Ingalls, Rec .; F. R. Stokes, Fin .; W. F. Emery, Rec .; Antonio Lee, G .; A. Bain, I. W .; William Wells, O. W .; and eighteen charter members besides. The present membership is forty, and the officers for the current term are: W. F. Emery, P. M. W .; Taylor Ralph, M. W .; S. H. Hall, F .; P. Plourd, O .; E. A. Anderson, Rec .; E. A. Richmond, Fin .; Charles Nuwart, Rec .; J. W. Robinson, G .; A. Muller, I. W .; P. Matthews, O. W. Lodge meets in Odd Fellows Hall on the first and fourth Wednesdays of each month, and is in a flourishing condition.

BEET-ROOT SUGAR INDUSTRY AT ALVARADO ..- No history of Alameda County would be complete without some mention of the rise and progress of this promising industry, which, so far as California and the Pacific Coast are concerned, had its origin at Alvarado-its failure and its final success.

The first attempt to manufacture beet-root sugar in California was made at Alvarado in 1869. Messrs. Bonesteel, Otto & Co., who were engaged in a small way in the business at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, opened a correspondence upon the sub- ject with Gen. C. I. Hutchinson, E. H. Dyer, and others on this coast. The matter was pushed with zeal, and the "California Beet Sugar Company" was soon organized with a capital stock of $250,000. The stockholders were: Gen. C. I. Hutchinson, Flint, Bixby & Co., T. G. Phelps, E. H. Dyer, E. R. Carpentier, E. Dyer, W. B. Carr, W. T. Garratt, and E. G. Rollins, all well-known capitalists and enterprising business men of California; and A. D. Bonesteel, A. Otto, and Ewald Klinean of Wisconsin. The Eastern parties, who were to assume the technical management of the business, arrived in California in the spring of 1870, and arrangements were immediately made for the erection of a factory. The location chosen was the farm of E. H. Dyer, at Alvarado. The work was pushed with such energy that the building was completed by the contractor, B. F. Ingalls, Esq., in November of the same year. It is unnecessary to follow minutely the history of this company. It is sufficient to say that after running four years at Alvarado, through the incompetency of the technical managers, it proved a financial failure. Messrs. Bonesteel and Otto claimed that the location, at Alvarado, not being a suitable place for the business was the cause of the failure, and succeeded by their plausible representations in organizing a new company, which purchased the Alvarado machinery, and removed it to Soquel, Santa Cruz County, where, after operating a few years, subjecting its stockholders to a heavy annual loss, the enterprise was abandoned.

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

E. H. Dyer, who had bought the buildings and a portion of the land owned by the old company at Alvarado, still had faith in the business, believing that, with good management, it could be made to pay at that place. He found it very difficult, however, in the face of so many failures to induce capitalists to invest a sufficient amount to give the business another trial, and it was not until February, 1879, that the "Standard Sugar Manufacturing Company" was incorporated. The company consisted of A. E. Davis, O. F. Giffin, E. H. Dyer, Prescott Scott & Co., J. P. Dyer, and Robert N. Graves, with a capital of $100,000. It was soon ascertained that more capital was needed, and the company was re-incorporated under the name of the Standard Sugar Refining Company, with a capital stock of $200,000. The officers are: O. F. Giffin, President; J. P. Dyer, Vice-President; E. H. 'Dyer, General Super- intendent; W. F. Ingalls, Secretary; Trustees, O. F. Giffin, R. N. Graves, J. P. Dyer, G. H. Waggoner, and E. H. Dyer. This company has made a success of the business from the start. It earned thirty-three per cent. on the capital invested the last or third campaign, and is now just commencing on its fourth campaign with very flattering prospects. The success of this important home industry is greatly due to the general management of Mr. Dyer, who owns one-fourth of the stock, and who, profiting by former experience, is able to avoid many mistakes which have caused the failures of other establishments of the kind. The present factory has been enlarged and improved, until it now has a capacity of about one hundred tons per day, employs, at the factory, one hundred and twenty-five men, to say nothing of the great amount of labor necessary to produce the beets, harvest, and haul them to the factory. One to obtain an adequate idea of the business of this company, and the great good it is doing in the way of using the products of the farmers, and keeping employed so many of our people, should see the works in operation during the months of September, October, and November, when beets are being received. There are frequently lines of teams, all heavily laden with beets, from a quarter to sometimes half a mile in length, pushing along in line to reach the company's scales, and deliver their loads. It is a scene of great activity. From fifteen to twenty thousand tons of beets are used each campaign, which requires for their production ten to fifteen hundred acres of land. The company disburses among its workmen and the farmers nearly $150,000 a year for labor and material used, all produced in Alameda County. They have turned out each campaign one and a half millions of pounds of pure white sugar; no low grades or yellow sugars are put on the market by them.

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History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 115

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood Number of Pages: 1206

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood
Number of Pages: 1206