USA > California > Contra Costa County > History of Contra Costa County, California; with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 21
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EARLY DAYS IN EASTERN CONTRA COSTA
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cedure permitting the securing of rights of way by condemnation if necessary, and offering every material advantage of financing by means of bond issue. A petition was circulated, and was presented to the supervisors on May 3, 1920, and approved by them the same day. On July 14, 1920, the State engineer advised the supervisors that the plan was feasible and recommended that they grant permission to form the district. This the supervisors did on August 2, 1920, calling an election for September 10th. The vote was unanimously in favor, and the district was organized on September 24th, the directors and officers taking office at their first regular meeting that day.
Assistant State Engineer S. C. Whipple, after a survey of the district, says in a report made to W. F. McClure, on which he based his recom- mendation to form the district:
"The general slope of the land is toward east and northeast, elevations ranging from 150 feet in the southwest corner to about 50 feet at the eastern limit. The soils are highly productive and free from alkali and hardpan. According to reconnoissance survey of the Bureau of Soils, four types are represented; these in order from the east are : Oakley sand, Yolo clay-loam, Yolo adobe, and Diablo abode.
"The topography affords good natural drainage. Ground water re- ported from forty to eighty feet below the surface. There is little danger of its rise, inasmuch as irrigation water will be supplied by pumping against a considerable head, with consequent economy in use."
The entire acreage is gradually being set to orchard. At the time of the formation of the district, 612 acres were in trees, the balance being grain land. Since that time much of the grain land has been set to trees.
BRENTWOOD IRRIGATION DISTRICT
The newest of the East Contra Costa irrigation projects was or- ganized under the Wright Act for the purpose of taking over the stock of the East Contra Costa Irrigation Company that had not been dis- posed of to the Knightsen and Lone Tree Districts. Of the 20,000 shares, Knightsen got 10,001, Lone Tree 2095, and Brentwood 7904, each acre of land in the three districts representing one share of stock.
The East Contra Costa Irrigation Company had been operating plants and conducting the business of water distribution to Knightsen and Lone Tree and to the individual owners in what is now Brentwood Dis- trict. It is the intention of the three districts-stock, water and property rights of the East Contra Costa Irrigation Company having all been se- cured by due process for that purpose-to consolidate and dispose of the mutual company, with the following advantages :
1. Elimination of three boards of directors and officers.
2. More direct, economic and efficient apportionment of water dis- tribution.
3. Elimination of possible overlapping among the employes and conflict between districts.
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4. All rights, privileges and advantages enjoyed by an irrigation dis- trict over a mutual water company.
5. Better money rates for land owners and more readily available capital for further development.
The Brentwood district embraces 1904 acres of land surrounding Brentwood and east of Mount Diablo. The main line of the Southern Pacific traverses the tract. The soils are uniform in the district and are classified as Yolo clay and Yolo adobe, both types being suitable for irrigation.
In 1922 the crops planted in the district were: Trees, 1600 acres; grain, 3000 acres ; nurseries, 55 acres ; grapes, 200 acres ; but these figures have been materially changed, trees and alfalfa gradually supplanting all grain acreage. The varieties of trees are prunes, apricots, walnuts, almonds, peaches, figs, and cherries.
The seasonal rainfall in the district is practically the same as in Knight- sen. No accurate record had ever been kept. At Tracy, twenty miles southeast, it was 10.37 inches in 1879; at Antioch, 15 miles northwest, 12.97 inches.
The lands of the Brentwood district had been served for several years by the East Contra Costa Irrigation Company. The sufficiency and value already established, the change from a mutual company met no opposition in forming the district. On July 11, 1922, a meeting of the landowners was held to form an organization. Petitions were circulated and signatures representing 6046 acres were secured, the balance within the boundaries belonging to non-resident owners and not represented. On December 24, 1922, the supervisors approved; and Mr. Eaton, rep- resenting the State engineer, reported favorably. On January 17, 1923, the State engineer reported favorably to the supervisors. An election was held on March 20, 1923, the result of which was 106 for, none against. The following officers and directors were elected: Robert Wallace, Jr., president; J. W. Cooper, secretary; J. M. Trembly, assessor, tax col- lector and treasurer; W. F. Woolley, engineer; A. D. Mackenzie, Wal- ter Moffatt, William Dainty and Byron D. Swift.
THE BYRON-BETHANY IRRIGATION DISTRICT
The development of irrigation in California on a permanent basis be- gan about 1887. It is based upon the Wright Act, which provided muni- cipal forms of organization and construction in farming communities, in- cluding right of eminent domain and the right to issue bonds and levy taxes for construction purposes. Bonding provisions of a district are safeguarded by the establishment of a State Irrigation Commission, com- posed of the attorney general, State engineer and superintendent of banks. They investigate and make report on water supply, feasibility of the sys- tem, soil conditions and value of lands embraced in the proposed district. The maximum amount of property indebtedness will not exceed 60% of
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the aggregate value of the lands and complete water system. State su- pervision is also provided for.
The Byron-Bethany project is the result of the efforts put forth by the late Volney Taylor of the Byron district. The great increase in land values and production in other districts where irrigation had been intro- duced led Mr. Taylor, Charles Cople and others to interest their friends, and meetings were held to consider the formation of a large irrigation enterprise south of Tracy and Byron. It was proposed to divert water trom the San Joaquin River at Tuolumne City and at a slough near the intersection of the San Joaquin, Alameda and Contra Costa County lines. Differences of opinion developed at these meetings which resulted in the withdrawal of the lands of the present Byron-Bethany Irrigation District from the larger enterprise and the organization of a portion of these lands to be served by a cooperative irrigation company.
By 1914 surveys, plans and estimates of costs of works were made which amounted to between $9 and $10 per acre, exclusive of rights of way; and the Byron-Bethany Irrigation Company was duly organized and construction work was begun, pumps installed, and ditches sufficiently com- pleted to be in operation for the 1917 irrigation season. Water rights and rights of way had not been settled prior to this work, and the com- pany was brought into legal difficulties for the reason that a private or cooperative company could not exercise the right of eminent domain. To meet this situation the company secured from the State Railroad Com- mission a certificate as a public utility; then they brought suits of con- demnation to establish their water rights and secure rights of way.
By 1917 the cost of work, partly because of war conditions, had ex- ceeded their original estimates and had reached the sum of $25 per acre for the 8000 acres then under service. In 1918-1919 it became necessary to organize a district under the Wright Act. The petition was filed with the board of supervisors on September 15, 1919, with 122 signers out of the 187 on the assessment roll of the district. The vote was 173 for, 14 against. The original signatures represented $130,000 in excess of a majority of the value of the lands. It was the announced policy of the district to acquire, at a fair value, the property of the Byron-Bethany Irri- gation Company, and then to reconstruct and extend the plant to cover all the lands within the district with sufficient water for general irrigated, diversified farming, the district to build laterals to each, or for large ownerships, to each quarter-section.
The original officers and directors of the company were: District No. 1, J. D. Rosa; No. 2, R. R. Houston; No. 3, M. Grunauer ; No. 4, A. Peterson; No. 5, W. Saxouer, all directors. The officers : R. R. Houston, president; M. G. Preston, assessor, tax collector and treasurer; L. L. Dennett, attorney; A. F. Donaldson, secretary; B. H. Grover, manager ; F. H. Tibbetts, engineer. The present officers and board of directors are : W. J. Livingston, president; Robert Armstrong, assessor, tax collector
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and treasurer; G. A. Howard, secretary; V. L. Wooley, manager; L. L. Dennett, attorney. Directors; W. J. Estes, W. J. Livingston, M. J. Pimentel, M. C. Monroe and William Saxouer.
The Byron-Bethany Irrigation District comprises about 17,600 acres lying about twenty miles west from Stockton. The land covers portions of Township 1 north; Townships 1 and 2 south, Range 3 east; portions of Townships 1 and 2 south, Range 4 east, Mount Diablo Base and Meri- dian, east of and behind Mount Diablo. The junction point of San Joa- quin, Alameda and Contra Costa Counties is within the district boundaries, about 58% of the district being in Contra Costa County, 25% in Alameda County, and 17% in San Joaquin County. The West Side Irrigation Dis- trict joins it on the south and the Balfour-Guthrie Irrigation Project on the north. Included in this is the town of Byron. The total assessed valuation for 1926 is over $1,500,000, exclusive of improvements. The improvements, which include alfalfa and orchards, are about $1,000,000. As this is a history of Contra Costa County, one-third of the above amounts can be deducted, two-thirds of the district being in Contra Costa County. Byron town property would be about $50,000. The total cost per acre amounts to approximately $50 per acre.
The original bond issue was $550,000, of which $3000 were retired in 1924; $4000 in 1925; $5000 in 1926. An additional bond issue of $100,000 was issued September 1, 1923, to complete the work as outlined by the engineer's report made in 1919 for additional concrete ditch lining and concrete pipelines, and an additional electric pump at Station No. 4 with a 40-h.p. motor and a 101/4 second-feet capacity. This bonded in- debtedness is carried by about 13,000 acres out of the original 17,600, the balance of the land being either too poor or too high to irrigate, and assessed at a very low figure.
The sources of supply are the Delta branches of the San Joaquin River ; the main pumping plant is on a dredged channel 5120 feet long, connecting with the upper end of Italian Slough, which is a navigable waterway about two miles in length, and connecting with Old River near the southern end of Victoria Island. Old River connects with the main San Joaquin River at the head of the Delta about eleven miles from Beth- any. There are four pumping plants with a combined capacity of consid- erably more than 115 second-feet of water and a total horsepower of 1655 electric motors.
The main canal divides the district into two sections, Byron on the north and Bethany on the south. All of the water for the Byron section runs northerly through a canal seven miles in length. The district covers a tract of irregular shape, in length about twelve miles north and south, with a width of from one mile in the center to three and one-half miles at the northern end and about three miles at the southern. The main pump- ing plant is near the center. The Southern Pacific Railroad runs through the length of the entire district; the Santa Fe is about two miles distant from the northern end, and the Western Pacific about two miles from the
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southern. There are deep navigable sloughs and delta branches of the San Joaquin River extending to the district, and steamers are supplied with numerous landings to facilitate shipping of the products raised. The county highway also passes through the entire tract. The southern part of the district is chiefly adobe, and the balance is clay loam 18 to 30 inches deep. The drainage is a natural slope favorable for the run-off. Alfalfa and fruits are raised in abundance; while the higher land is given over to grain and grain hay. With this fourth irrigation district the entire eastern part of Contra Costa County is made one of the most productive sections in the entire State.
GROWTH OF IRRIGATION, AS REFLECTED BY THE PRESS
The following news items from the issues of the local press, here pre- sented for the most part in chronological order, even though sometimes without date, afford additional interesting data regarding the history of irrigation in the county.
June 19, 1886 .- An irrigation club has been organized at Antioch with the following officers : J. B. Abbott, president; C. F. Montgomery, vice-president; George Fowler, secretary; H. F. Beede, treasurer.
1911 .- The great irrigation scheme for Eastern Contra Costa, which was brought to light this week, is creating considerable discussion through- out the county, especially in the eastern section. The residents are hoping that the plan may be carried out. A company of capitalists from the bay region has been organized and R. L. Dunn, engineer, has been engaged to draw up plans. These plans provided for pumping water from the San Jose near Oakley to a large storage reservoir. From this point the water will be run over 3500 acres through laterals over twenty-five miles in length. The distance will extend from Bay Point to the San Joaquin County line and to the slopes of Diablo.
December 2, 1911 .- Reclamation District No. 779 was declared valid by the court. A fight which has been carried on before the supervisors and the supreme court for three years over this district came to a close when Judge Latimer handed down a decision in the Portman case.
March 27, 1912 .- Four hundred acres will be put into alfalfa by Wilhoit & West and cut up into small tracts and sold. A complete irriga- tion system is to be installed, and from 400 to 600 acres more will be put into alfalfa next spring.
August 24, 1912 .- The great Marsh Grant is to be cut into small tracts by the Balfour-Guthrie Company. Rights of way for a great ir- rigation system have been secured. The water will be taken from Old River and raised by electrical pumps to. a sufficient height to permit it to flow over the vast acreage, which will rival Imperial Valley in pro- ductivity.
November 9, 1912 .- The district around Walnut Creek is becoming an irrigation center. Roleb McPherson is pumping water from a fine well onto his alfalfa. He will cut seven crops this year. The Bancroft place
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has a fifty-horse-power motor in their well, which has been used to irrigate their trees. W. H. Leahy has installed a small plant and is able to irrigate his orchard and garden.
November 29, 1912 .- By a judgment handed down by Judge R. H. Latimer in the superior court, Reclamation District No. 800 in Contra Costa County, commonly known as the Wilhoit District, was declared legal and valid. This ends the contention in regard to the swamp lands, which included land owned by the Bairds.
January 25, 1913 .- Ground was broken for the Marsh Grant irri- gation system by Edward Malley, a contractor of San Francisco.
The F. X. Smith ranch of 160 acres near Brentwood was sold to Balfour-Guthrie Company. These holdings will be included in the big irrigation district.
March, 1913 .- The contract for the dredger-cut from Indian Slough through Point of Timber landing, and also for concrete construction on the Eastern Contra Costa Irrigation Project, was awarded March 6th. The dredging, which will require the moving of 100,000 cubic yards of earth and will cost $4500, was awarded to the Golden State Miners Iron Works. The State Contsruction Company, concrete contractors, are to receive $17,000 for concrete work. Work on both contracts is to begin at once. All this work to be done on the Marsh Grant, or Los Médanos Rancho.
March 15, 1913 .- When the reclamation of the Sand Mound tract is complete, all the land lying between Taylor and Sand Mound Sloughs and False River, which had formerly been a part of the mainland by the damming up of Dutch Slough, will be converted into an island. The old dams on Dutch Slough have been cut away; and the flood water of False River, which had no outlet by that course and which had flooded the lands mentioned, will be allowed free passage through Sand Mound, Taylor and Dutch Sloughs. This also makes the big Jersey Tract an island.
May 17, 1913 .- Peter G. King, of Oakland, sells 500 acres ad- joining the Marsh Grant to Balfour-Guthrie Company, and this will be added to their other holdings and come under the irrigation project.
August 16, 1913 .- A party of engineers are in the field making pre- liminary surveys for the irrigation system considered by C. A. Hooper for his property, the Los Médanos Rancho near Pittsburg.
October, 1913 .- A big irrigation project was launched at Byron; 8000 acres will be watered, extending from Italian Slough, where the water will be taken along the hill section of McCabe's, crossing to Hoff- man's, thence to Peterson's, Cople's, and Henry McCabe's, and taking in all the land east to the Wilhoit-West holdings. There will be three lifts of twenty feet each. The main ditch will be six miles long, with fifteen miles of laterals.
March 7, 1914 .- The Byron-Bethany Irrigation Company, with a capitalization of $100,000, has been organized by ranchers in the vicinity
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of Byron, and articles of incorporation were filed Monday. The plan is to build an irrigation system to furnish water to the farms in the vicinity of Byron. Work will be begun at once. The incorporators are: August Alexson, Charles Cople, R. R. Houston, J. A. Modin, C. F. Peterson, William Saxouer and V. Taylor.
January 9, 1915 .- A project for the formation of a new reclamation district in Contra Costa County is on foot, and the supervisors will act on the petition at their next meeting. The district embraces 3516.54 acres, some of the finest Delta land in the county. The owners are the Standard Investment Company, 100 acres; W. H. Maxson, 465.18 acres; J. H. Prince, 184 acres; J. I. Parsons, 274 acres; F. K. Houston, W. J. Hotchkiss, L. Friedlander, 1440.95 acres; W. T. Session, W. T. Jeter, H. E. Irish, C. W. Purrington, 516 acres ; E. A. Bridgeford, 370 acres.
September 15, 1916 .- The big irrigation ditch of the Byron-Bethany Irrigation Company is completed. Water is now the problem, as the Sproule & Driscoll interests served an injunction and want compensation.
March 2, 1918 .- A project which aims to put many thousands of acres of farming land near Knightsen under irrigation is being agitated.
Recently there were placed on record deeds by which the California Delta Farms Company made valuable reclamation of drainage and ir- rigation rights to Districts 2029, 2027, and 2026; and the Boulder Land Company to District 576; the considerations named were $327,650, $375,140, $449,000, and $321,398.
The California Delta Farms Company was the recipient of $1,000,000 from Districts 2024 and 2026 when that amount was paid for the levees surrounding the new irrigation and reclamation project in Eastern Contra Costa County. The cost of the levees was assessed to the entire district; and the county, while retaining the land, received that amount for the levees alone.
1919 .- The irrigation plan at Knightsen has again been revived by the Farm Center. A total of twenty-four landowners have already signed the petition, and seventeen more have signified their intention to do so.
August 9, 1919 .- As the petition for the 9000-acre Knightsen Ir- rigation District is completed, it will be presented to the supervisors. The Farm Bureau is now turning its attention to other irrigation proj- ects, which, when completed, will add 40,000 acres to the irrigated area of the county. The new districts contemplated are: Oakley-Antioch, 6000 acres ; Pittsburg, Concord and Walnut Creek, 9000 acres ; between Antioch and Bay Point, and 20,000 acres around Concord and Walnut Creek; and Danville District of 1500 acres in San Ramon Valley near Danville.
January, 1920 .- The Knightsen Irrigation project was carried at the election January 19th, by a vote of 94 to 23. The directors of the five districts included are Joe Minto, 1st ; E. B. Sellers, 2nd; H. W. Heidorn, 3rd; Frank Estes, 4th; Byron Grigsby, 5th; Dr. I. M. Bailey, assessor; A. H. Shafer, tax collector; A. E. Bonnicksen, treasurer.
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At a meeting of the board of supervisors Monday, the Knightsen Ir- rigation District was declared officially organized as the result of the recent election held there.
February 28, 1920 .- A meeting was held to consider the Oakley- Antioch Irrigation project by the Oakley Farm Center.
April 17, 1920 .- The Byron-Bethany Irrigation Company has ap- plied for authority to sell its holdings to Bryon-Bethany Irrigation Dis- trict for $265,000.
September 27, 1920 .- The directors of the recently formed Lone Tree Irrigation district met at the Lone Tree schoolhouse Friday night for the purpose of mapping out the ditches, etc.
January, 1921 .- With the approval of the proposed Knightsen Irriga- tion District by Assistant State Engineer Whipple, plans are being made for the establishment of an irrigation system in that section of the county.
At the election ordered for April 6 in the Knightsen Irrigation District, to vote on bonds in the amount of $650,000 for a system that will water 10,000 acres, the bonds carried, 99 to 21.
A recent report of the Department of Commerce of the United States shows an increase of 66 per cent in the amount of irrigated lands in Contra Costa County. In 1910 there were 32,640 acres under cultivation ; in 1920, 49,125 acres. The irrigated acreage was 26,856 in 1909, and 44,833 in 1920. The amount of land capable of irrigation in the county is 46,472 acres.
June, 1921 .- A petition has been filed for a dissolution of the Byron- Bethany Irrigation Company.
The Byron-Bethany Irrigation Company was formally dissolved by Judge Latimer on August 9, 1921. The concern was organized a few years ago for the purpose of constructing an irrigation system, which is now in full operation, and the work of the company is completed.
December 9, 1922 .- The Brentwood Irrigation District has been approved by the supervisors. There are 7855 acres included in the district.
January, 1924 .- Jersey Island Reclamation District No. 830 has made application to the State Department of Public Works for use of water from San Joaquin River and tributary streams for irrigating purposes.
Directors for Brentwood and Knightsen Irrigation Districts elected January 25 : Robert Wallace, Jr., and A. D. Mckenzie, for Brent- wood, vice R. F. Macleod; H. O. Abbott, P. J. Moody and H. W. Heidorn so succeed E. B. Sellers, F. H. Estes, and B. L. Grigsby of the Knightsen District.
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CHAPTER XVII THE PIONEERS: NATIVITY, NECROLOGY, BRIEF MENTION
In this chapter brief mention is made of some of the more important of the pioneers who have lived in Contra Costa County, together with data of birth, death, and marriage-often under date line as given in the local press. For convenience of reference, the alphabetical arrangement has been followed rather than the chronological. Much additional in- formation regarding the pioneer settlers of the county will be found in a later chapter of "Gleanings from the Contra Costa Gazette," in which the chief events of interest in the county's history are presented in chrono- logical order from 1858 to the present time.
J. P. Abbott was born in New Hampshire in 1840, came to Califor- nia in 1863, located in Antioch in 1867, and published the Antioch Ledger for eleven years. He married Melvina G. McMaster, June 25, 1872. His death occurred in 1912.
Mrs. Encarnacion Altemarino, of Pinole, daughter of Ygnacio Mar- tinez, for whom the town was named, died at Pinole, aged seventy-five.
Don Juan B. Alvarado was born in Monterey in 1908. He was gov- ernor of California from 1836 to 1843, and collector of customs from 1843 to the American occupation. In 1836 he raised the standard of in- dependence and proclaimed the "Free and Sovereign State of Alta Cali- fornia." He died in San Pablo in 1882. He was called the "Napoleon of California."
February 19, 1926 .- On Saturday night, Mrs. Honora Anderson, widow of Capt. Ludwig Anderson, succumbed to the infirmities of old age, and breathed her last in the home she had occupied as a young wife and mother. She was born in Ireland on September 29, 1835, and came to Cali- fornia when a young girl. For seventy-four years she lived in this State, sixty-eight of that time in Contra Costa County.
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