USA > California > Contra Costa County > History of Contra Costa County, California, including its geography, geology, topography, climatography and description; together with a record of the Mexican grants also, incidents of pioneer life; and biographical sketches of early and prominent settlers and representative men > Part 47
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SALMON CANNERIES .- Allied to the subject of fisheries, and de- pendent upon it for its existence and prosperity, is the industry represented by the numerous salmon canneries which have within a few years past started into operation along the bays and rivers of the Pacific Coast. It is impossible to state in round numbers the amount of revenue that flows into California each year from the exportation of canned salmon, but some conception may be formed by making a tolerably approximate estimate of the business operations of the ten canneries situated on the banks of Suisun Bay and the Sacramento River. These canneries, when working a full force, will put up an average of one thousand five hundred fish each per day ; while many fish of twenty-five to thirty pounds weight or more are caught, the average weight will not exceed sixteen or seventeen pounds ; and the average weight after they have been divested of heads, tails, and insides, preparatory to being cut up for canning, is about twelve pounds.
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The bulk of them are put up in cans containing one pound net. The ca- pacity of a cannery depends upon the number of its retorts, in which the fish are steamed, and which are capable of disposing of nine hundred cans per hour, or nine thousand per day, each. In each of the two canneries at Martinez there are two retorts ; the cannery at Benicia has three; and those at Collinsville, Chipp Island and Black Diamond, four each ; the one at Courtland has probably two; and those at Sacramento, four each ; making in all twenty-five retorts in the ten canneries. These are capable of canning two hundred and twenty-five thousand cans per day. Gener- ally the supply of fish is not sufficient to keep the canneries running more than ninety days, during which time they can put up twenty mil- lions two hundred and fifty thousand cans containing one million six hun- dred and eighty-seven thousand five hundred fish.
The wholesale price last year averaged $1.15 per dozen cans ; this sea- son the market is firm at from $1.35 to $1.47} per dozen. At an average of $1.25 per dozen, the gross income of the canneries named, if running at full capacity, would be $2,109,375. The fact is, however, that the canneries do not run, generally, at more than one-third their capacity ; the actual average daily put up this season being two thousand five hundred cans for each retort. The fishermen this season will not average more than twenty fish per boat each day ; last year one hundred was not an extraor- dinary catch. Canneries that have worked as many as eighty meu at a time are now working only from twenty-five to forty. Two-thirds of the salmon exported from the coast are caught in the Columbia river and other northern streams,and prepared for the market at adjacent points. Although it is but a short time from the moment the salmon is entangled in the meshes of the fishermen's net to the moment it appears tightly-canned, and neatly labeled for the market, the processes by which it is prepared are numerous and interesting. Before the season commences, a number of hands are kept busy, manufacturing cans. By accurately gauged machinery, the tin is cut into strips for the sides and into bottom pieces properly flanged, after which they are soldered. The tops are left open for the reception of the fish. They are then piled up until wanted. At Black's cannery, in Martinez, there are at present over one hundred thousand cans not yet used. The salmon, having been caught, are deprived of their heads, tails, fins and in- sides, by the fishermen. They are then delivered at the canneries. Here they are rinsed in clear water and thrown into a large draining receptacle, from which they are taken and placed upon a table, to which is fastened a cutter, composed of a half dozen long, sharp blades. One motion cuts each fish into requisite lengths for filling the cans. The pieces are then passed along and cut lengthways by a huge knife in the hands of a skillful operator ; generally two of these pieces fill a can. Having been properly cut, they are trans- ferred to another table, where the cans await them. The cans are then filled,
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and if done by experienced persons, they will not vary more than an ounce in either direction from a pound. A portion of them, however, are weighed in order to maintain the average. Having been filled, a small portion of salt, accurately measured, is dropped in a dozen of them at a time, and the cans are passed to another group of operatives, who put on the tops and solder them. There are two methods of soldering. Where the tops are so flanged as to pass over the cylindrical body of the can, they are immersed in the melted composition, about ninety at a time, and thus simultaneously soldered. Where the tops are inserted into the upper portion of the can, they are soldered in the ordinary way, the operation being performed very rapidly. Next comes the testing, which is done by plunging the sealed cans into hot water. If there is a leak in any can, it will be indicated by bub- bles, caused by the expulsion of the air contained within. Each defective can is taken out and returned to the solderer, who remedies the defect. The cans are held in large crates, constructed of iron, and are of sufficient depth to hold them. Each can is now punctured in the center of the top piece, for the purpose of allowing all the air to escape; and while still hot, the perforation is soldered, thus hermetically sealing them. They are then removed to the retorts, which are capable of receiving ten crates, or nine hundred cans. Here they are thoroughly cooked, by means of com- pressed steam, the operation requiring about one hour. The fish are now in suitable condition for consumption, and the remaining processes do not affect the contents of the can. Having been cooked, the cans are withdrawn from the retorts and placed in a lye vat, for the purpose of cleansing them of grease or dirt of any character that may have accumulated upon them during the previous processes. Having been thoroughly cleansed, they are immersed in a solution of yellow lacquer and benzine. This prevents them from future rust or tarnish, and at the same time imparts a beautiful, light- golden finish to the outer surface. The cans are now ready for labeling. This work is done principally by girls, many of whom become very skillful. A dexterous hand will label from four thousand to five thousand cans per day, although from three thousand to three thousand seven hundred is a fair average. The next and last process is boxing. They are placed in wooden cases, each containing four dozen cans, and are then ready for shipment. There is scarcely a market in the world which does not furnish consumers for the Pacific Coast salmon, although the principal shipments from the canneries at Martinez are confined to Australia and the larger cities of the United States. New York, Chicago, Galveston, St. Louis, Boston and Kansas City are some of the points to which fre- quent car loads of salmon are sent. One noticeable feature of both Black's cannery and that of the Martinez Packing Company is the scrup- ulous cleanliness that characterizes their manner of handling the fish. The salmon, before cutting, are thoroughly washed, and the tables upon
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which they are placed are kept constantly clean, as are also the crates, vats and retorts. The operatives are cleanly, and although the smell that neces- sarily pervades an establishment in which many thousands of fish are handled daily is not pleasant to persons possessed of sensitive olfactory nerves, there is nothing in any of the various processes through which each fish passes to offend the sight or smell of even the most fastidious. That the salmon canning industry in this State will in the near future assume still larger proportions than at present, is certain; and that Contra Costa county, by means of the vast fishing grounds bordering upon its extended water front, is destined to receive a large share of the pecuniary benefits to be derived from the industry, is still more certain.
SALMON CANNERY OF JOSEPH BLACK .- Was established January 1, 1882, in a building two hundred by eighty feet, where are employed from eighty to one hundred hands, who turn out eight thousand cases per month, each case containing four dozen cans, while each can holds one pound of fish. The goods are shipped to Europe, the Eastern States, Australia, New Zea- land and Honolulu.
MARTINEZ PACKING COMPANY .- The process of canning salmon by this Company was commenced at Martinez in March, 1882. Sixty hands, mostly white labor, are employed, boys and girls doing the filling and labeling. It has a capacity of turning out three hundred and fifty cases per day, of four dozen cans each, which find a market in the Eastern States. The President of the Corporation is George Shiel, while F .. I. Kendall acts as Secretary and Treasurer.
THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERS' INSTITUTION .- The largest and most impor- tant architectural recent improvement in Martinez or its vicinity is the hand- some structure of the Christian Brothers, work on which was commenced in 1881, and completed in the Spring of 1882. Occupying, about half a mile south of the Court House, a commanding central position upon the slope of the semi-circular sweep of hills that wall the town around except upon its water front side, a fine prospect is to be had from the building over the town, the straits and bay, to the Coast Range and Sierra Nevada sum- mits, while its fine, imposing proportions and situation make it a conspicuous object from many points of view. The order of Christian Brothers is or- ganized, as we are led to understand, under authority of the Roman Catholic Church, for the instruction and training of teachers for its parochial and other schools. Those entering the order, after a novitiate term, are ordain- ed for life as teachers, if found suitably qualified. The order has a mem- bership of nearly fifteen thousand, engaged in its work over the world, with a Superior Director, whose residence is in France. The executive Principal of the establishment at Martinez is Brother Pirmian, whose gentle and parental kindness of manner makes a favorable impression upon all who
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meet him, and is calculated to gain him the confidence and affection of those who are committed to his charge for instruction and training.
Since the property here now occupied by them (comprising about seventy acres of what was formerly known as the Bush farm and homestead) came into possession of the Brothers it has been greatly improved in other respects, as well as by the grand new building. Fruit, ornamental trees and shrubbery have been extensively planted, several wells sunk, one of which, entirely in the sandstone rock, affords a copious and unfailing supply of fine water, which is pumped by windmill into a cemented rock cistern, ex- cavated upon an elevated portion of the grounds, and drawn thence under large head pressure for the irrigating and domestic uses of the establish- ment. Advantage has been taken of the bold outcrop of a sandstone ledge along the side of one of the sloping ravines, to form several picturesque rustic grottoes, seated alcoves and rests, fronted by rock mounds, fountains, rough rock water pools, and other rustic fancies.
Besides the quite extensive original fruit orchard upon the place, some two or three acres have been planted in 1882 with choice peaches, apricots, apples, and other fruits. The roomy and convenient dwelling house on the place, since it came into their possession, has been renovated, and, in its fresh paint, made to harmonize with the improved surroundings. The new building, planned for the school purposes, stands upon ground sloping northward, the direction in which it fronts. It is of the best select- ed materials, faithful workmanship, and good finish in all details throughout. Its plan is that of two wings, each twenty by fifty feet, connected by a central section, the broad verandas and balconies of which extend its width to a flush line with the wings. The building is two and a half stories in height. The study room occupies the lower story of the west wing, and above that is the chapel, a beautiful room twenty by fifty feet in size, and twenty-one feet in height, with in-reaching cornice that forms a ceiling panel of fine proportions and effect. The lower story of the east wing, under which is a fine, dry cellar, its full size, furnishes a large dining room and pantry, above which are the neatly furnished and kept dormitories and wash-rooms. The central portion of the building affords a large library room, six or eight handsomsly finished office or recitation rooms, each fur- nished with marble mantel and fire place, and as many handsome bedrooms. The building is also well provided with conveniently situated water closets, bath rooms, and water supply pipes. A spacious and well-furnished de- tached kitchen stands about ten feet in the rear of the pantry and dining room section, and large sewer pipes carry the flush water and sewage to a cistern pit on a lower and distant portion of the grounds, where it can be composted and utilized for fertilizing purposes when desirable. In exca- vating for site of building, the material from the rear, side hill slope was deposited in front, where it forms a broad level esplanade, beautified with
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bordered walks, flowers, shrubs, and water fountain. For the purposes of the institution, the establishment seems now to be well provided in almost every conceivable particular; and it could not have found a more desirable location, so far as pleasant surroundings, facilities of communication, or pleasant and healthy climatic conditions are concerned. The present num- ber of novitiate students is small, but is certain to increase to the extent of the large accommodations of the establishment.
CEMETERIES .- The "God's Acre" in Martinez is one of the most beauti- fully situated " Resting Places " in the State. Commanding a prominent posi- tion on a considerable elevation, here lie in peace many of the county's dead, whose headstones tell their tale, and whose well-kept graves attest the love which binds those remaining on earth to those who have journeyed to that " undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns."
ALHAMBRA CEMETERY .- The Alhambra Cemetery was originally a portion of the town of Martinez, surveyed into town lots, and formed a part of the Pinole Grant of the Martinez heirs. Here, as early as 1854, was buried A. M. Holliday, and here, too, rests that venerable pioneer Captain Joseph R. Walker. Born, says his epitaph, December 13, 1798, he emigrated from Tennessee to Missouri in 1819 ; to New Mexico, 1820 ; to the Rocky Mount- ains, 1832 ; to California, 1833 ; camped at Yosemite, November 13, 1833; died October 27, 1876. In the year 1862 the open ground was enclosed by the people of Martinez and its vicinity, by subscription, and in March, 1869, the Alhambra Cemetery Association was incorporated, with the following Trustees : O. C. Coffin, E. W. Hiller, Thomas A. Brown, L. I. Fish, Mark Shepard, C. C. Swain. Those at present serving (1882) are: W. M. Hale, President ; G. A. Sherman, Vice President ; L. C. Wittenmyer, Secretary ; E. W. Hiller, Treasurer and Superintendent ; M. H. Bailhache, and Dr. J. H. Carothers. The ground, which is five acres in extent, is supplied with water by windmill power and retained in a large reservoir for facility of distribution. The property is now owned by the Association, they having acquired it by purchase.
ROMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY .- Contiguous to the Alhambra, and on still higher ground, is the cemetery of the Roman Catholics. At one time the resting place for their dead was on the same hill as that of the protestants, but a fire having destroyed many of the monuments, they moved to higher ground. Here lie many of the early Spanish settlers and their descendants; underneath the high wooden-cross, which is to be distinguished from far and near, is buried one of the Briones family, while in close proximity to it is the chaste and beautiful tomb of the late respected and much regretted Supervisor John Tormey. This point commands an extensive view ; below -at one's feet -lies the little town, nestling in its frame of hills, and sheltered by umbrageous trees ; to the north we trace the bays and creeks of the
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opposite shore of Solano, and its thriving town of Benicia. To the right rises Mount Diablo in all its beauty of shape and color ; to the left in the blue distance we gain a peep of Mount St. Helena, at the head of Napa val- ley. Anon the shrill shriek of the locomotive is heard as it rounds the military lines on the opposite side of the Carquinez straits, its journey may be traced until it is swallowed by the capacious maw of the Solano, the leviathan ferry-boat which transports it to the shores of Contra Costa ; we see the giant slowly leave her berth, and quickly traverse the intervening space of water, and safely glide into the slips at Port Costa, and off the cars rush for their destination. Again, as the sun sinks, the lengthening shad- ows of the trees warn us of approaching night. The air becomes chill, we leave the hallowed spot, having communed with nature and her "departed spirits."
PORT COSTA .- This is the name given to the point whereat the Central Pacific Railroad Company land their trains from the East, en route to San Francisco. From its immense advantages as a shipping point, a number of vessels load wheat here every year for Great Britain and elsewhere, while the immense storing facilities, in mammoth warehouses, has earned for it a name, second to none, as a shipping center on the Straits of Carquinez. The Ferry-boat Slip was completed in the year 1879, and is a splendid piece of workmanship, while the Solano itself is one of these truly gigantic boats that have to be seen to be appreciated. So far, Port Costa has been purely a place for loading and discharging ships. It has no roads leading into nor out of it, while its situation at the foot of a considerable bluff precludes the possibility of its ever extending into a town of any magnitude. Of this rising little town the Contra Costa Gazette of June 24, 1882, says : “ Al- though it is not yet two years since the first export cargo of wheat was loaded at Port Costa, it has already out-stripped San Francisco, Vallejo and Oak- land, loading more ships during the grain year now drawing to a close than either one of those places ; and within two years more, more than half of all the exported flour and wheat will be loaded at the wharves along the south shore of the Straits of Carquinez, between Martinez and Vallejo June- tion. From the first of July, 1881, to Tuesday last, Geo. W. McNear had loaded one hundred and three ships at his Port Costa warehouses, and some eighty or ninety cargoes have been loaded there and at the California Gran- gers' warehouses, below, by William Dresbach and other shippers."
CROCKETT .- The town of Crockett, upon the Straits of Carquinez, about six miles below Martinez, and named in honor of ex-Judge J. B. Crockett, late of the California Supreme Bench, has a pleasant bench loca- tion with a fine outlook over the San Pablo Bay to the Coast Range from . Mount Tamalpais to those of Mendocino in one direction, and to the Sierra Nevada in another. The town site is laid out from the Edwards Ranch,
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and is to have an ample supply of good spring water, distributed through iron pipes. The location of Heald's extensive machine shop and foundry at that point created the necessity for, and insures the considerable future growth of the town, in which the sale of intoxicating liquors is forever pro- hibited by provisions in all deeds for sale and conveyance of lots. Besides the large three-story hotel completed and opened recently by Mr. Pinker- ton, several well-planned cottage dwellings are being erected by employés of Heald's works, and others will likely be commenced at no very dis- tant date. A roomy building, erected and used for boarding the men em- ployed in building the machine shop and foundry, has been utilized for a school-house, furnished with handsome seats and desks, blackboard and interior walls whitened, making a school-room amply spacious and of pleas- ant aspect, which has been placed under the superintendence of Miss Lottie Bent, of Martinez, a graduate of the State Normal School.
As now laid out, the town tract of Crockett consists of eighteen blocks, divided into lots of fifty by one hundred feet each, the streets running east and west. The first thoroughfare to the north is named Loring Avenue, next is Winslow, Alhambra and Edwards streets; the others are called Bay, Heald, Jackson and Vallejo: Within the town limits there are thirty- one acres, and all most desirable as a place of residence and a center of trade. The town site was surveyed by T. A. McMahon, County Surveyor.
HEALD'S FOUNDRY .- The most important and extensive industrial enter- prise of permanent character ever undertaken in Contra Costa county is that of J. L. Heald, at Crockett, on the railroad and deep water frontage of the Straits, six or seven miles below Martinez. Mr. Heald had developed his business to large proportions at Vallejo, where he found himself under disadvantages for its enlargement and prosecution, and, in looking up a new location with superior advantages, determined upon the one he has chosen as better suited to his requirements than any other to be obtained. With the Messrs. Edwards, father and brothers, he made satisfactory ar- rangements for shop site and wharf franchise, and joint interest with them in the lots of the adjacent tract laid out as a town site. The town and his works are supplied with water from springs on the Edwards farm, through iron main and distributing pipes furnished and laid by Mr. Heald. The foundry and machine shop building is of brick, laid in cement mortar, three hundred feet long by one hundred wide, inside clear measure; the openings are all over and under arched for equal distribution of roof and wall weight upon the foundations. The roof covering is heavy corrugated sheet iron, supported upon iron truss girders and rafters, making a completely fire-proof structure, and one of the largest and most substantial in the State, for the purposes designed. While the establishment is provided with first-class ap- pliances for the manufacture of almost any description of boilers, machinery, and stationary and movable steam engines, it is more particulary intended
Ichant & Smitte
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for the manufacture of threshing steam engines, separators, grape-crushing, stemming and pressing machinery, barley mills, and other agricultural ma- chinery, of the styles Mr. Heald has originated or greatly improved, and which have won high favor upon their tested merits. In the absence of Mr. Heald, on our visit to the works, we are under obligations to Mr. Etchells, the Superintendent, and to Mr. Charles, of the separator con- struction department, for information given us concerning the various classes of machinery manufactured at the establishment. Among the leading specialities of the manufactory are Mr. Heald's straw-burning threshing engines, all of which now made are constructed with cylindrical shell fire- box, and tubular flues of direct draft to the smoke-stack. This arrangement is found to be superior to the old style square, restricted fire-box, and re- turn flue boilers ; and has an advantage in an arrangement for getting at the fire end of the tube flues, through tubular apertures from either side of the boiler, to clear them if they become obstructed, and thereby avoiding the necessity of raking out the fire-box at all during a day's run, and per- mitting it to be cleaned only in the morning before starting-up, and when the ashes and cinders are cold and can be taken out without danger of fire. The threshing engines are made of three sizes, respectively of twenty, thirty-five and fifty-horse power-and one of the largest size is now at the shop receiving its finish for shipment to Dr. Glenn, at Colusa. The thresh- ing engine boilers are all covered with thick non-conducting felting, on which is first a wood slat, and, outside of that, a galvanized iron sheathing. The engine crank shafts are all bent to form in the solid bar, while hot, by hydraulic pressure, and are in no danger of breakage from cold shuts, strain cracks, or imperfect welds. Mr. Heald's separators are built of various sizes, from thirty-six to forty-eight-inch cylinders, and, besides having been brought under test of practical field operation, to the highest degree of threshing, separating and saving perfection, he combines with them in the same frame, a re-cleaning apparatus, that turns the wheat out as thoroughly cleaned as it is in going through the process in a special cleaning machine.
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