History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 116

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 116

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The climate and soil of the Pacific Coast are peculiarly adapted to the success- ful production of the sugar beet. . They can be raised as cheaply and are of as good quality as those produced in any country. The success of this company has fully proved that it only requires a knowledge of the business and capital to produce, on the Pacific Coast, most of the sugar required for consumption in the United States, and at a cost not exceeding that paid for refining grades imported from foreign countries, and indicates the way to save millions of dollars to distribute among our people and laboring classes.

UNION PACIFIC SALT COMPANY .- This, the most extensive salt-making concern

y. M. Jamison

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WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.

in the State, was incorporated March 25, 1868, and have their works situated at the mouth of the Alameda Creek. After incorporation the company purchased Rock Island, containing about one thousand acres, and situated in Washington Township. Work was commenced in 1870, and business has increased to such an extent that employment is given to over one hundred men. During the last ten years more than seventy thousand tons of salt have been manufactured here, while there is a capital of one hundred thousand dollars invested in the enterprise. The works of the Union Pacific Company may be selected as a type, and the description will apply, in the main, to all the others.

The swamp or overflowed lands on the margin of the bay are so nearly level that the waters will generally follow any channel, natural or artificial, and may be conveyed from point to point in a slow current, by making the bottom of each basin a few inches lower than the preceding one. It sometimes becomes necessary to elevate the water when there is not sufficient head. This is done by a windmill of peculiar con- struction. The power is communicated by gearing to a paddle-wheel running in a channel, into which the water flows from the lower level. By the revolutions of the paddle-wheel the water is forced up an inclined plane to an elevation of a foot or so, which is all that is required. These mills are small copies of the great windmills used in Holland to drain lands reclaimed from the sea. They are provided with an iron strap and lever, by which the mill may be stopped when not required.

The first step in opening new salt-works is to throw up dykes or levees, partition- ing off the available ground into basins of greater or less magnitude. Were it not for these dykes, the land would become wholly overflowed at the high tides on each month, but only partly so at other times. The outer basin, lying along the shore of the bay, is called the receiving-reservoir, and is large enough to contain salt water sufficient to keep the inner basins supplied from tide to tide. It is furnished with wooden gates turning on pivots, which are opened by depressing a lever. The gates open inwards. When open they allow of the free ingress of water, but when closed, resist the overflow; and the greater the pressure the more tightly they shut, being set on an angle toward the pressure. In the channel leading to the flood-gates from the outside, there is a fence of pickets, to prevent any floating débris from passing in through the gate.

The Union Pacific Company has fifteen flood-gates, each twelve feet wide. In the receiving-reservoir, all the mud and mechanical impurity settles. During the spring tides men are stationed at the gates, whose duty it is to open them when the tide flows, and to shut them at the commencement of the ebb. It sometimes requires only two nights to fill the receiving-reservoir; but at others, five or six. As the gates must shut perfectly tight to retain the water, considerable attention and care are required to effect this, as crabs and small floating refuse get in, when it becomes necessary to shovel in earth until a perfect joint is made. From the receiving-reser- voir the water is conducted as required into secondary tanks, to the extent of one million gallons daily, where it is allowed to remain until it becomes partly concen- trated by evaporation, during which it lets the sulphate of lime fall as a precipitate, which collects in large quantities, and although now considered worthless, it will, in the future, be sought as a fertilizer. From the secondary basins, the water, freed in

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

part from impurity, is conducted in another set, where it becomes still more concen- trated by evaporation to brine, having a specific gravity of 1.2082, or twenty-five degrees Beaume, which is a saturated solution. It is then conveyed into .vats and crystallizing basins, or " making-ponds," as they are called. After remaining for the required time, nearly all the salt crystallizes out, and the mother liquor, holding in solution magnesia, salts, and other impurities, and technically called "bitterns," is drawn off, and generally allowed to go to waste; a small quantity only being used in the manufacture of carbonate of magnesia.

The crystallizing vats, basins, or pans are generally about an acre in extent. At the new works of the Union Pacific Company six ponds measure eight acres. The salt taken from one of these basins contained two hundred tons, and measured at the base of the pile thirty by forty feet, and was sixteen feet high. These basins are filled but once for each crystallization. Most of the crystallizing ponds have mud bottoms and sides. The salt, of course, is somewhat inferior, or at least less clean than that from others which are floored with planed boards. It is claimed that the low price of salt will not pay for the additional capital required to build the tanks and reservoirs of cement on the cheaper b'ton; but we are convinced that such works will in time replace the mud-bottomed basins of the present.

When the mother liquors are drawn off the salt is carefully shoveled into small piles, like hay-cocks in a field, by a gang of sixteen men. It is then wheeled in bar- rows to the large piles, where it stands through at least one rainy season, during which the deliquescent salts of magnesia, and the coloring matter imparted probably by organic matter leach out, and the salt becomes ready for the market. When the salt crop has been gathered from one of these basins, a set of men wearing wide boards on their feet, like snow-shoes, walk over the surface, and with shovels flatten and otherwise smooth the surface of the rather soft mud, preparatory to refilling with brine.

For the manufacture of salt for table use the Union Pacific Company have a set of elevated pans of wood, into which the cleanest brinc is pumped by windmills. There is no contamination, and the salt from these crystallizers is pure as salt can be made in a large way. Salt is ground at these works in a mill of a peculiar construc- tion. It consists of a corrugated roller of granite, which makes seven hundred revolu- tions per minute; it is driven by a portable steam-engine. The salt passes between the roller and a block of burr millstone.

The trade of the Union Pacific Company has extended from Arizona to British Columbia. The President of the company is John Barton.

CENTREVILLE .- It is entirely problematical how this village received its name. It may have been that it was so called because it was midway between Alvarado and Mission San José, but be that as it may, Centreville it remains and centrally situated it is between the bay and the hills, the two lines of railroad, and is near to the geo- graphical center of the township. The first settlers in Centreville were two individ- uals named George A. Lloyd and Frank Pepper, who had a blue tent pitched on the spot now occupied by the Widow Lowrie, but they were mere birds of passage. The first actual steps towards the formation of a town was the opening by Captain Bond

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WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.

of a store in, the year 1852, where he offered for sale the curious combination of whisky, boots, and codfish. The building was a little " ten by twelve" cabin, and stood where Captain Bond's house now is. Prior to the year 1850, however, John M. Horner had built a Mormon chapel, which occupied the site of the United States Hotel, conducted by Mrs. Lewis. Here Mr. Horner himself was wont to preach, and within its walls was opened a school at a very early date, taught by a man named Kempster, while it was subsequently used by Rev. W. W. Brier as a chapel. In 1854 William Morgan opened a hotel on the present site of the Gregory House, while in the following year William Barry and a man named Wilson opened a store in the village.

Since that date the town has grown up slowly, while to-day it is the most busy looking of all the interior towns save Livermore. It possesses several fine stores, two good hotels, the Gregory House, and United States Hotel, two churches, and several trades. Although not on the line of any railroad, Centreville is in communication with the Central Pacific at Niles, only three miles distant, while there is a horse-car running to Newark that connects with the South Pacific Coast Railroad.

Centreville was never laid out as a town, but lots measuring fifty feet frontage and four hundred feet depth were offered to the highest bidder, and thus uprose the little village.

THE CENTREVILLE AND ALVARADO PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES .- In the sum- mer of 1852, Rev. W. W. Brier moved to the Mission of San José. His health had been broken by over-work for eighteen months, while he planted the church of Marysville.

His generous friend, E. L. Beard, hearing of this, invited him to the most attract- ive spot then in the State, fitted up a school-room in the old adobe buildings and secured for him seven pupils.

Mr. Brier, with his wife and child, lived in the Mission a few months, he taught the first public school for which funds were drawn in the bounds of Santa Clara County. Alameda County, as yet, had no existence. At the same time he preached to small con- gregations in his school-room each Sabbath. In the beginning of 1853 the Pacheco Ranch was sold, and he bought his place near where Centreville now stands, and began to hold services in a building called " Horner's School House." This John M. Horner had built and in it preached his Mormon faith to thirty or forty people on Sunday afternoons, while Mr. Brier had twelve to fifteen hearers in the morning. Mr. Horner was wealthy and liberal, and invited Mr. Brier to occupy the house when he did not use it. In June of 1853 the interest in church services had so increased that, on request, the following persons were organized into a Presbyterian church, viz .: Charles Hilton, Elizabeth A. Brier, Hannah Breyfogle, Chancey Cornell, Charlotte Cornell, Chas. Kelsey, Mary C. Kelsey, Eliza Beard, and Dr. J. M. Selfridge. This church was called the Alameda Presbyterian Church, after the name of the creek. There was as yet no Centreville; even Oakland was less populous and of less importance than Washington Township.

Charles Hilton was chosen and ordained Elder. After more than a year of preaching, while he gathered this and another small church in the Mount Eden settle-

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

ment, Mr. Brier was invited to take charge of the two churches at a salary of $1,800.

On Feb. 24, 1855, J. A. Mayhew, Jesse Beard, Chas. Kelsey, Henry Clark, and Chancey Cornell were elected Trustees, and vigorous measures were taken to build a house of worship; the preacher acting as solicitor of funds and superintendent of work. The effort was successful. On January 27, 1856, the brick church twenty- four by forty-four was dedicated, cost $3,300.

The lot two and one-half acres was donated by George Lloyd. On the day of dedication Mr. Brier was installed as joint pastor of the Centreville and Eden Presby- terian churches. Rev. Sam. B. Bell preached the sermon and gave the charge to the pastor and Rev. T. Dwight Hunt gave the charge to the people. It was a day of joy in the new community. The church grew rapidly in numbers and influence. A. A. Saunders and Dr. Selfridge were added as Elders. The church frequently permitted its pastor to go out and do missionary work which resulted in planting the churches in East Oakland and Alameda, also in other and more distant places. In 1860 there had been gathered into the Centreville church fifty members. At this time the church at Alvarado was organized, chiefly from members of the Centreville church. The Pastor gradually transferred his labors from Eden to Alvarado. Mr. and Mrs. Cornell were efficient helpers. The house of worship was erected chiefly. by their influence. The Eden church was scattered by the change of population, the church building was taken for a school house, and finally sold without authority of the church.

In the fall of 1860 Mr. Brier resigned his pastoral charge to enter upon the work of " church extension" on the Pacific Coast. At this time Rev. B. N. Seymour was invited to become stated supply of the Centreville and Alvarado churches, which have always been united under the same minister. Mr. Seymour continued until the fall of 1865. This was a period of gloom to the nation and the church.

Rev. James Pierpont was the minister during 1866. In the beginning of 1867 Rev. W. F. B. Lynch was invited to take charge of the churches, and continued for two years. On October 21, 1868, the great earthquake so injured the brick walls of the Centreville church that it was closed for a year, and the congregation soon shipped in the Methodist church. In the fall of 1869 the brick walls were removed, and wood , substituted. After Mr. Lynch closed his labors as pastor, there was a period of nearly two years when sermons were read by Mr. Shinn or temporary supplies were secured. Among these Rev. James Alexander labored for a time.

In November, 1871, C. Park, a licentiate was engaged for one year. He continued to preach until August, 1873.

Rev. Wm. Alexander, D. D., a professor in the San Francisco Theological Sem- inary was engaged as temporary supply, and August 1, 1874, was called to be pastor of the Centreville and Alvarado churches. Under his ministry the Centreville church, which had decreased in membership ever since 1860, was increased by many additions, especially from the children of the church and those who had grown up in the Sabbath- school. He continued as pastor until April, 1878. In the fall of this year Rev. W. A. Tenney was engaged as stated supply of the churches, and continued for two years. Charles D. Merrill, a student in the San Francisco Theological Seminary, acted as temporary supply from October, 1880, and was engaged as stated supply for one year

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WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.

from May 1, 1881. At the end of this time he received a call to become pastor of the two churches, and was ordained and installed by the Presbytery of San José May 28, 1882. F. H. Hilton has served as a faithful Elder of the Centreville church since 1874. Under Mr. Merrill's pastoral charge both churches have increased in members, and both houses of worship have been renovated and improved at an expense of several hundred dollars. Both churches are out of debt, and are in a harmonious and prosperous condition. Andrew Kerr is the Elder of the Alvarado church.

ALAMEDA LODGE, NO. 167, F. AND A. M .- This lodge was organized on Sep- tember 9, 1863, the charter being granted, October 13, 1864, to the following members: James Beazell, Perry Morrison, S. I. Marston, T. Scott, H. G. Ellsworth, G. M. Kutz, A. J. McDavid. The following were the first officers: James Beazell, W. M .; Perry Morrison, S. W .; S. I. Marston, J. W .; Thomas Scott, Treas .; H. G. Ellsworth, Sec .; G. M. Kutz, S. D .; A. J. McDavid, J. D. The present membership is fifty, while the officers for the current term are: A. J. Hare, W. M .; Edward Niehaus, S. W .; John Lowrie, J. W .; M. B. Sturges, Treas .; William Mortimer, Sec., G. W. Willis, S. D .; William Barry, J. D .; G. M. Smith, William Wilton, Stewards; G. W. Bond, Marshal; J. A. Trefry, Tyler. The lodge, which is in a flourishing condition, own their building, two stories in height, and occupying a space of sixty by forty feet, being divided into an entertainment hall on the ground floor, and a fine lodge-room upstairs. Meets on the first Saturday on or before full moon, of each month.

CENTREVILLE COUNCIL, No. 34, I. O. C. F .- Was organized December 15, 1881 with sixty-five charter members, the following being the first officers: H. C. Gregory, C. C .; S. Sandholdt, V. C .; S. A. Buteau, P. C. C .; W. A. Yates, Sec .; S. Saltz, Treas .; W. H. Tyson, Prelate; G. W. Willis, Marshal; J. A. Trefry, Warden; I. J. Tifoche, Guard; F. N. Silva, Sentry; S. A. Buteau, Med. Examiner. The lodge which meets every Thursday evening in Tifoche Hall, has a membership of ninety-two on the roll, and the officers now serving are: Robert D. Smith, C. C .; A. Blacow, V. C .; W. A. Yates, Sec .; S. Sandholdt, Fin .; M. F. Silva, Treas .; S. Morrison, Warden; I. J. Tifoche, Prelate; George Juhler, Guard; F. Rose, Sentry; S. A. Buteau, Med. Examiner.

PIONEER ASSOCIATION OF WASHINGTON, MURRAY, AND EDEN TOWNSHIPS .- The organization of this association was first suggested by William Barry and W. Morris Liston. In the Independent of November 11, 1876, was published a notice by them, with two or three other gentlemen, calling a meeting of the pioneers of the township. The meeting was held on Thanksgiving Day, November 30th, at Centreville, the following persons being present: C. Kelsey, John Riser, J. A. Trefry, E. Ross, E. Munyan, E. Niehaus, C. C. Scott, W. H. Cockefair, D. C. Bane, G. W. Bond, and William Barry. Messrs. Riser and Kelsey were appointed a committee to prepare the constitution and rules of a permanent society. December 9th a meeting was held, at which the committee's report was received and adopted; but the organization was not completed until December 23d. The first officers elected were: George W. Bond, Pres .; C. C. Scott, First Vice-Pres .; W. M. Liston, Second Vice-Pres .; L. E. Osgood, Treas .; William Barry, Sec The regular meetings of the

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

society are upon the second Saturday of April, August, and December. All residents of Washington Township who were in California before March 26, 1853, also the sons of pioneers over twenty-one years of age, were made eligible to membership. The organization was afterward extended to the adjoining townships of Eden and Murray. The object of the organization is declared to be to "collect and preserve infor- mation concerning the settlement of the township," and "advance the interests and perpetuate the memory" of its pioneers. It cares for the sick, and has a ritual for the burial of the dead. But the more practical object is to form a social rallying- point for the renewal and continuance of old friendships. The present officers are: J. T. Walker, Pres .; L. E. Osgood, Treas .; William Barry, Sec.

THE WASHINGTON AND MURRAY TOWNSHIP WATER COMPANY .- In the spring of 1871 it was reported that a corps of surveyors were in Suñol Valley, laying off lands for a reservoir, to be built for the purpose of taking the water of the Alameda Creek to San Francisco. A public meeting was called at Centreville, to adopt measures to oppose what it was believed would ruin the San Jose Valley, if prosecuted. This meeting was largely attended and enthusiastic. Resolutions were passed that the citizens should resist all attempts to divert the water of the creek, which gives fertility to the land, by feeding the gravel-beds below the surface.

A committee was appointed to take legal advice, and report at a stated time. This committee went to Judge Crane, now of Washington, and he gave an opinion, that the cheapest way to keep the creek was to get up a company, and use the water for all these purposes-irrigation, family use, and machinery. He advised that the owners of lands on the creek should deed their rights in the water, also the right of way to the company, so that no other company could condemn the creek. This wise advice was reported to the adjourned meeting, which elected the following persons to organize themselves into a company, and serve as Trustees, viz .: W. W. Brier, Wm. Whidden, John Whipple, John L. Stevens, John L. Beard, Howard Overacker, E. H. Dyer, Samuel I. Marston, and B. D. T. Clough.

On May 17, 1871, these persons met and agreed on articles of incorporation, and the company was formed according to law. Mr. Clough was elected President, and W. W. Brier, Secretary; both have held these offices ever since.

Within five days the company was fully organized, and Mr. Whidden was appointed to secure the signatures of land-owners on the creek to a deed to the water and the right of way for ditches. This measure checkmated the company above, and that fact cooled the ardor for irrigation among the farmers

Two years were spent in talk, and discussing plans, with a little surveying. In the fall of 1873 the Calaveras Company proposed a compromise with the Washing- ton and Murray Company, which was adopted; the former to furnish money and defend the latter in law provided they granted them the right to make a reservoir at the lower end of Calaveras Valley.

A lawsuit, in which the claims of the Washington and Murray Company were established, and some compromises made, placed an open door for success.

In the spring of 1874 work was commenced. A dam and reservoir were bought from Messrs. Peet & Scott. The south branch of the Alameda Creek was adopted

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WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.

as a ditch from which a canal, thirty feet wide and four feet deep, was dug for one- half mile to Mr. Clough's farm. Here is a branch ditch, twelve feet wide, designed to supply several farms. From this point to Mr. Kelsey's farm, one and one-half miles, the main canal is twenty feet wide. From Kelsey's the design is to make a ditch twenty feet wide through the center of the valley, with branches from Mr. Kelsey's house. The main ditch is only sixteen feet wide, and continues its course toward Alvarado for four miles, passing through a large number of the best farms in Alameda County. There is also a small ditch, six feet wide, extending to Newark, a distance of four miles. The company has ten miles of ditch, two substantial dams, which cost $2,000. It has expended over $11,000.

DECOTO .- This is a small town on the line of the railroad, and takes its name from Ezra Decoto, who originally owned the land in the vicinity, and who still resides upon it. In 1867 he sold two hundred and eighty-four acres of it to the Railroad Company; and on the Decoto Land Company being subsequently formed, the site of a town was surveyed, and in 1870 no fewer than twenty-seven thousand evergreen trees were planted to adorn the future city, but though the trees have thriven the civic honors have not yet blossomed.

The first houses in what may be called the town of Decoto were built by the brothers of that name, in 1867, and in the following year, mainly through the exer- tions of Ezra Decoto and F. W. Meyer, a school district was formed, and the school placed in charge of a Mr. Jones. There is a fair hotel in the village, built in 1874, by Mrs. McKenney, but it is chiefly noticeable for the extensive warehouses of A. J. Hare, a man of energy and enterprise.

MISSION SAN JOSE .- What a quaint old town is the place known as Mission San José, embodying, as it does, the history of a by-gone age, and the result of American occupation. It is the only place in the county where still remains the adobe buildings and red-tiled roofs of the Spanish settlements, which lend a pecu- liarly ancient color when contrasted with the more stylish frame buildings of the pres- ent period.

Enough still remains to show the visitor how the Indian converts of the Missions were housed, but unhappily the old church fell a victim to the never-to-be-forgotten earthquake of October 21, 1868; on its crumbled walls has arisen a new edifice, which has a strange and solitary aspect as it stands alongside of the ruined adobe apartments that were once the pride of the place. Of the better class of dwellings we have an example in the large square verandahed building erst awhile occupied by Don J. J. de Vallejo, and which is in a good state of preservation.

Of the men who first settled here from among the early American pioneers none were more prominently identified with the interest that centered at the Mission than E. L. Beard. One of the many evidences of his enterprising career is to be found in the extensive grounds surrounding the residence now in the possession of Mr. Galle- gos. Here the capabilities of the climate and soil of the Mission are shown to their best advantage in the growth of trees, shrubs, flowers, and fruits, and, generally, the production of semi-tropical countries. Mr. Beard lived originally in the Mission

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

proper, but in 1865 built the residence just mentioned, and laid out the beautiful grounds which have since been so much improved by Mr. Gallegos.

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History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 116

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