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 27
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April 4, 1874 .- Within a week the mountain grade of the Diablo Summit Road will be completed and the crossings of the canyon portion made passable for any description of vehicle, so that the ascent to the summit may be quickly and pleasantly made.
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April 18, 1874 .- The coach line for the Diablo roads, the one from Martinez through Pine Canyon, and that from Haywards through Green Valley, will have the finest carriages and teams ever employed for coach passenger conveyances on this Coast. Fifty fine horses have been pur- chased. The carriages are being built by the Kimbal Carriage Company and are especially designed for style, strength, lightness and elegance.
The Martinez and Pine Canyon line will be run by J. Seeley Bennett; the Haywards line, by W. S. Low.
April 25, 1874 .- The residents of Ygnacio Valley, San Ramon, La- fayette and Walnut Creek are making a laudable effort to establish a high school in the vicinity of Walnut Creek. $5000 in subscriptions have already been secured on further subscription of $10,000.
May 2, 1874 .- This has been a noteworthy day, not only for Mar- tinez, but for all lovers of outdoor travel in California. The carriage road from Martinez to the summit of Diablo was thrown open to the public. Last summer J. S. Hall made the ascent alone on horseback from Clayton, and knowing something about mountain roads, conceived the plan of building a scenic road to the summit. He enlisted the support of others, and the road is the result.
September 26, 1874 .- The Danville Grange celebrated the opening of their new hall today with a festal meeting. A very pleasant time was enjoyed by all.
The Alhambra Grange was organized December 4, 1874.
March 13, 1875 .- A fire company has been organized at Antioch, and apparatus consisting of four poles, three hooks, two ladders, and four axes, has been ordered.
December 18, 1875 .- The new church at Danville is rapidly nearing completion, and it is expected it will be ready for occupancy in the early spring. Rev. Symington is to serve as pastor.
January 15, 1876 .- The survey of the Moraga Rancho in two separ- ate tracts, one of 12,800 acres and the other of about 500 acres, excites some remarks and conjectures. If the quantity, to which the title of a grant presumed to be in one body has been confirmed, can be located in two parts, within the exterior limits, why not in ten to twenty or more to cover all the choice spots? Mr. Carpentier has run the 500-acre strip through the Redwood Canyon, and the larger acreage embraces all the best portion of Moraga Valley.
April 28, 1876 .- The Central Pacific Railway depot was located at Martinez.
June 3, 1876 .- Frederick Langenkamp, of Ygnacio Valley, is the pioneer hop grower of the county. Three years ago he planted ten acres. This year his prospects are fine for a large yield. He has a furnace, dry- ing house and packing rooms constructed on approved plans, and is going into the business as a source of good profit.
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August 30, 1878 .- Antioch Ledger announces that Henry C. Galla- gher has taken a five-year lease of the hotel at the Point of Timber Hot Springs.
September 7, 1878 .- There is a fever created by the survey of the Sobrante Grant, begun some weeks ago under the direction of the United States Surveyor General, and many people in the western border of Contra Costa County and about Oakland have been much excited in hopes of getting a grab at what may prove to be government land, after the location and restriction of the Sobrante.
The land is all in the possession of settlers who have purchased the grant title and who hold mostly in large tracts; but the privileged few, armed with the inside information, have located University script on every foot of the ground except 160 acres to each settler. In addition the hills teem with squatters who are busy selecting their locations without any regard to the grant title or the University script. The squatters are ignorant as to the lines of either survey, and annoy the farmers whose titles are not affected as much as they do those whose lands lie in the disputed belt.
The grant owners hope to have the survey rejected; the script holders hope and expect that it will not be; and the squatters hope to acquire some right by being early in the field. The script locators are entirely dependent upon the ruling of the courts in their favor, and are willing to await the turn of events; but the squatters are persistent and not disposed to remain quiet, for fear they might waive some right which they otherwise might acquire. The settlers are determined to defend their rights and are quietly arming. Nearly every house on the disputed ground is a citadel stored with arms and ammunition. It is to be regretted that this entangle- ment could not be gotten over without resort to arms, either to assert or defend the rights of any man.
September 7, 1878 .- K. W. Taylor is now engaged in making the partition surveys of the San Pablo Rancho for the commissioners appoint- ed under the partition decree and judgment of the court.
September 7, 1878, the postoffice was established at Pinole and Bernardo Fernandez was appointed postmaster.
September 21, 1878 .- The occupants of the Sobrante lands excluded from the recent survey, and of lands on previously finally located grants that have been included in the late Sobrante survey, are in an unpleasant state of worriment; and those of the excluded Sobrante lands are forced to the extremity of resisting the invasion of script locators and preemptors with death-dealing arms, or of surrendering their possessions. There have been as yet no fatal encounters, but shots have frequently been exchanged between the two forces. There is a possibility that there may be consid- erable bloodshed for possession of some of these lands.
Rancho el Sobrante finally confirmed to J. J. & Victor Castro, surveyed by William Minto in August, 1878, containing 20,563.42 acres, which
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area covers 10,375.69 acres included in the final survey of Rancho La Boca de la Cañada del Pinole and 221.09 acres included in the final survey of Rancho Laguna de los Palos Colorados.
October 12, 1878 .- Ejectment suits begun by several owners under Sobrante Grant title whose lands have been jumped upon claim that they are public lands by the recent survey. Most of these claimants have been in possession for years. Among the suits of ejectment are : one by Felix Brisac against some twenty-three or twenty-four alleged tresspassers, one by Daniel Clancy against four or five, one by Mrs. Mary Baden against four, one by N. Thode against four, one by Herman Hadler against four, one by Julius Reiners against four.
Married at the residence of the bride's parents near Point of Timber, October 22, 1878, by Rev. L. H. Meade, of Clayton, Volney Taylor and Miss Agnes E. Andrews.
November 23, 1878 .- The thriving village of Walnut Creek has been improved the past summer by a large addition to the schoolhouse; half a dozen cottages; the two-story building of J. M. Stow, postmaster, store below and Masonic Hall above; the new store of Shuey & Pittman ; an enlargement of D. N. Sherburne's store, which has been provided with a fireproof safe. Walnut Creek has the aspect of a thrifty business village. The fine climate and attractive surroundings are likely to insure a con- stant future gain of population.
November 30, 1878 .- An anvil salute was fired under the direction of the Workingmen's Club in honor of Dennis Kearney, when he passed through Martinez on his way East on the Overland last Tuesday after- noon. The great agitator bowed his acknowledgements from the rear platform.
In the several suits brought in the District Court by Sobrante owners under grant title to eject trespassers, judgment of ejectment was given for the plaintiffs with cost of suit; and in the case of Brisac against Twomey et al., the judgment included damages of $1000.
December 7, 1878 .- The owners of the Briones Grant were notified by telegram from Washington, D. C., last Tuesday, that their patent had been issued and recorded in the general land office and would be mailed to their order on Friday of this week.
January 25, 1879 .- The Union Cemetery, controlled by a corpora- tion, George Fellows, president, has been located on four acres on a quar- ter section of C. J. Preston's land leading from Point of Timber to Brent- wood.
April 12, 1879 .- The Concord fire department has been fully or- ganized and a committee appointed to report on apparatus. $134 was subscribed to further the objects of this committee. Officers : H. J. Nel- son, foreman; Charles Bente, assistant; S. Bacon, treasurer; B. J. Mur- phy, secretary ; Charles Navas, P. Klein and Paul Lohse, trustees.
May 17, 1879 .- The board of supervisors purchased the south half of the vacant portion of the town block east of the court house, of L. C.
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Wittenmyer, for $500, and are negotiating for the other half for the same sum, which has been declined.
July 12, 1879 .- James Stewart announces the opening of his new cash grocery and provision store at the corner of Castro and Locust Streets.
July 26, 1879 .- The beginning of a sewerage system for Martinez has been made in the line of an 8-inch iron-stone pipe laid through four blocks up from the bay on Las Juntas Street, with provision for construct- ing side drains on either side.
Married, at Point of Timber, September 3, 1879, by Rev. William Gaffney, Wells N. Moore and Olive A. Plumley; also on September 3, Henry Sedge and Sarah E. Plumley.
September 6, 1879 .- On September 1, 1879, Walnut Creek was alive with people from the houses of the town and country, thronging the main street to witness the golden wedding of Milo H. Turner and Caroline M. Clark. They were married in Troy, N. Y., in 1829; came to California in 1852; came to Contra Costa County and located at Walnut Creek in 1874. The wedding ceremony was again enacted, after which congratu- lations were in order. Many beautiful presents were given the couple.
September 30, 1879 .- Gen. U. S. Grant was greeted by about 300 people and the firing of a salute, when the train on which he was a pas- senger made a two-minute stop at Martinez. He stood on the platform of the rear car and after three cheers had been given, courteously raised his hat in acknowledgment.
November 24, 1879 .- The great railroad ferry-boat Solano, of the Northern Railway Company, for service from Benicia to Bull Valley, made her trial trip November 24 from Oakland to Benicia slip, and thence across the straits to Bull Valley, where she lies ready for service. The boat is the largest in the world ever built for such service, and all the resources of the builders have been employed with a view to strength and efficiency.
Married at Clayton, December 20, 1879, by D. S. Carpenter, justice of the peace, Joseph A. Houston, of Byron, to Miss Isabel McLane of Lake County.
January 10, 1880 .- Judge T. A. Brown presided at the opening of the new Superior Court last Monday, January 5. No business offering, he declared a recess. There is much doubt as to the regularity and valid- ity of any proceeding in the Superior Court under the present practice, Acts and Codes. An early act of the legislature is looked for, which will enable them to go on without the raising of any questions as to the validity of their proceedings.
September 9, 1882 .- The Port Costa Flouring Mills Company has filed articles of incorporation with the county clerk of San Francisco County for the purpose of carrying on a general flouring mill business at 9
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Port Costa. Capital stock $150,000. Directors : F. M. Brown, William M. Given Jr., W. B. English, Barry O. Baldwin, and E. J. Coleman.
At Port Costa wharf building is progressing rapidly and track laying will soon commence on the wharf recently surveyed. Soon tracks will be laid all around the houses built on the piles at this place.
September 16, 1882 .- A Legion of Honor is about to be instituted at Clayton.
September 23, 1882 .- Since September, 1858, we do not remember that we have had so early a considerable rain throughout so large a por- tion of the State as that of last Saturday. . In this county there was a heavy fall at Antioch, which seems to have been confined to the river margin. In the evening it showered heavily at Martinez, while in the vicinity of Pacheco and Concord the fall of rain and hail was heavy, but did not extend to Walnut Creek.
Port Costa .-- The coal bunkers have been started, and work from this source has brought about sixty men to this place. The wharf will be 800 feet long, and from 30 to 40 feet wide.
The hotels of Port Costa are full to overflowing. Rooms are in great demand; beds are at a premium. There is a good chance for some energetic person to start a lodging house here.
Concord .- The telephone line between Pacheco and Clayton was com- pleted last week.
October 7, 1882 .- The Port Costa Warehouse & Dock Company has incorporated with a capital stock of $500,000. The directors are: A. Cheesebrough, E. B. Cutter, A. E. Mosby, J. H. Freeman and A. R. Church. The object is to do a general storage business.
October 28, 1882 .- H. O. Beaman of Pinole is having a new resi- dence constructed.
A. K. P. Nason has filed a declaration of homestead in Block 23 in the town of Antioch. The value of the property is estimated at $2000.
New powder works are being erected near Pinole by the Granite Pow- der Company. Some day we expect to hear that the west end of the county has entirely gone to blazes.
O. F. James, for nearly twenty-two years postmaster of Martinez, has resigned and will soon retire from his long business career.
December 2, 1882 .- The Concord boys are talking about organizing a brass band.
The coal market is so brisk at present that the Mount Diablo mines are unable to fill all the orders that come in.
December 9, 1882 .- A Presbyterian church has been organized at Concord with Rev. D. Monroe as pastor; William Caven, John Braw- and, and E. A. Jaquith, trustees. There has been $500 appropriated by the Presbytery, $600 by the citizens for a building, and S. Bacon has given a lot.
December 23, 1882 .- A Good Templars Lodge, with forty-two mem- bers, was organized at Lafayette, with officers elected and installed. A
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Good Templars Lodge with 23 members was organized at Martinez, and officers elected.
December 30, 1882 .- A Good Templars Lodge was organized at Danville December 16, with thirty-seven members.
January 6, 1883 .- The snow-storm on Sunday last was a surprise and a novelty, although it was general throughout the Bay counties, where snow is seldom experienced. Contra Costa seems to have received more than her share. There fell at least five inches in our county and the west valleys, and east of Diablo the fall in places amounted to a foot.
January 13, 1883 .- Last week the British ships Minnie Burrell, Argo- naut and Cernga left Port Costa for Europe, and the Glendarnel arrived.
J. D. Peters of Stockton estimates that there are 400,700 tons of wheat in the State on December 31, of which 30,000 tons are in Contra Costa County.
January 20, 1883 .- A brass band was organized at Antioch.
A certificate of co-partnership has been filed by L. Levinsky, P. Fabian, and M. Grunauer, who will conduct a merchandise business at Byron under the name of P. Fabian & Company.
January 27, 1883 .- The Antioch Lodge of Good Templars has now 105 members. It is the banner lodge of the county.
The Concord Literary and Dramatic Club has been organized with A. Thurber, president; Dr. E. Bragdon, secretary; Mrs. R. H. Caven, treasurer; and with a membership of twenty-five.
February 24, 1883 .- The citizens of Walnut Creek have made a commendable movement in the organization of a Hook & Ladder Com- pany; foreman, W. B. Rogers; secretary, J. M. Wilson; treasurer, M. Kirsch.
Scammon's Hotel is now completed at Port Costa. For the last few months the hotels at Port Costa have been crowded to utmost capacity.
March 3, 1883 .- The thermometer at the Martinez postoffice Thurs- day reached 78 degrees in the shade. A little more of that snow, please.
The recently erected railroad coal bunkers at Port Costa are finished and ready for use and the tracks were laid to bring the trains under the chutes, of which there are fifty, from which a train of twenty-five cars can be loaded in a few minutes. The capacity is about 12,000 tons of coal.
Port Costa .-- The first pile was driven Monday for the erection of the Nevada Bank's large wharves and warehouses, which, when completed, will be 2300 feet long. At the present rate, our town will soon be a solid structure for a distance of three miles.
March 17, 1883 .- Excelsior Lodge, I. O. G. T., of Byron, which was organized March 7, 1869, with eighteen charter members, celebrated its fourteenth anniversary with 160 present, visitors coming from many neigh- boring lodges.
At a meeting of the citizens of Martinez at the Court House Monday evening for the purpose of organizing a water company to supply Mar- tinez and Port Costa with water, R. R. Bunker was elected chairman, and
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C. Ed. Miller, secretary. A committee was appointed to draw up articles of incorporation, also one to see where water could be obtained. The former committee was composed of I. E. Marshall, S. Blum, S. J. Bennett, Thos. McMahon, J. O'B. Wyatt; the latter: T. A. McMahon, I. E. Marshall, and W. S. Tinning.
March 31, 1883 .- A slight earthquake shock was felt in Martinez at ten minutes of eight o'clock yesterday morning.
The Congregational church at Eden Plain has been removed to Brent- wood, where it will be occupied by the Methodist Episcopal congregation, who bought it.
The Antioch Lodge of Good Templars now has a membership of 150 · and is about to establish a reading-room for the public.
Articles of incorporation of the Nevada Warehouse & Dock Com- pany, capitalization $500,000, were filed this week.
Murphy & Cavanaugh will open their new store at Concord on April 2, with the greatest display of goods ever exhibited in the town.
April 7, 1883 .- The Antioch Town Hall was ready for occupancy this week.
A Council of the American Legion of Honor will be instituted at Crockett this evening by Deputy Grand Commander S. B. Thompson of Martinez.
May 5, 1883 .- Starr & Company, milling corporation, are building a 4000-barrel mill and large wharves for wheat shipping, and a warehouse to hold over 100,000 tons at the wheat port on the south side of Carquinez Straits.
May 5, 1883 .- The first annual meeting of the Contra Costa County Grangers' Warehousing and Business Association, under new articles of incorporation, was held last Wednesday at the Alhambra Grange Hall in Martinez, and was attended by nearly all the stockholders who repre- sent Alhambra, Walnut Creek and Danville granges.
May 19, 1883 .- A meeting of the Martinez Gun Club was held in the office of Justice F. M. Smith last Saturday evening, with President H. Weatherby in the chair. A constitution and by-laws were adopted.
June 2, 1883 .- A fine stream of water was struck in the tunnel of the Martinez Water Company Tuesday, a distance of twenty-seven feet from the mouth of the tunnel. There are now two streams running from the tunnel and the indications are that a still greater abundance will be found. The water is of fine quality and comes out through the rock crevices with a force that indicates an immense pressure behind it.
June 9, 1883 .- A brass band has been organized by a number of young men at Point of Timber and Byron.
The first direct rail shipment for the Grangers' Warehouse by new switch connection, was made to Port Costa, of 150 tons of wheat stored and sold by R. O. Baldwin of San Ramon Valley.
Another fine stream of water was struck in the tunnel of the Martinez Water Company. There are now three streams of excellent water.
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At a meeting of the Contra Costa County Agricultural Society held at Pacheco last Saturday, it was resolved that the society become a mem- ber of the National Trotting Association. This will give the society an opportunity to govern the conduct of drivers and parties entering horses for races.
June 16, 1883 .- Nelson Peterson, of Antioch, has been granted a patent for an improved road cart.
E. W. Hiller started out his ice wagon this week through Pacheco, Concord, Walnut Creek, Alamo and Danville.
Over 30,000 gallons per day is now running from the tunnel of the Martinez Water Company, and prospects are good for doubling that amount in a few days.
A recent census of the Martinez School District shows 126 boys and 117 girls between the ages of 5 and 17, nine less than for last year.
June 23, 1883 .- A barn on the ranch of N. W. Smith, near Antioch, was struck by a whirlwind one day last week and completely destroyed, one piece of the roof being carried forty yards.
July 14, 1883 .- The results of wheat-threshing in the county, so far reported, indicate a shrinkage and loss of forty per cent from effects of the early June hot spells.
July 28, 1883 .- George W. McNear has purchased the El Hambre Ranch interests of W. A. Piper for $100,000.
The Nevada Dock warehouses took their first grain for storage a few days ago.
Report of grain production in Point of Timber shows the turnout of a few fields :
A. Richardson
165 acres
1,500 lbs.
A. Porter
75 acres
1,900 lbs.
S. M. Wills
110 acres
840 lbs.
J. Geddes
400 acres 850 lbs.
George Cople
200 acres
840 lbs.
A. V. Taylor
78 acres
1,725 lbs.
J. S. Netherton
47 acres
1,350 lbs.
J. M. Baldwin
300 acres
1,650 lbs.
Volney Taylor
125 acres
1,720 lbs:
The larger returns are the result of thorough cultivation, the shallow plowing giving the best returns in quality and quantity.
W. P. Netherton, after his harvest vacation, has returned to Oakland to continue his high school studies.
September 1, 1883 .- The first ship to load at Nevada Dock ware- houses, the Euterpe, 1197 tons, was docked there last Tuesday. The sec- ond ship docked Thursday.
The Grangers' warehouses at Martinez are filling up with grain, and nearly all storage room has been engaged.
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September 8, 1883 .- The twentieth anniversary of Pacheco Lodge No. 117, I. O. O. F., will be held at the Fair Grounds next Wednesday at ten o'clock a. m.
September 15, 1883 .- R. O. Baldwin, of San Ramon, took first prize at the Golden Gate Fair in the "horses of all work" class for his stallion, "Gold Hill." Capt. J. E. Durham, of Pacheco, took one of the premiums in the Roadster Stallion class for his colt, "McVeagh."
September 15 .- Two church services were held for the first time last Sunday at Port Costa.
October 6, 1883 .- There is much reason to fear that our Mount Diablo coal mines, that have for the past twenty years furnished so large a portion of the steam-making fuel of the State, will be unable much long- er to maintain a competition with the fine large coal veins of Oregon and Washington.
It is understood that orders were received at Somersville to discon- tinue all mining in the Pittsburgh Mine and take out all underground machinery and tracks. In the Black Diamond Mine at Nortonville work has been retarded by a heavy inflow of water, which overtaxes the pump- ing machinery, and the owners are making no move to remedy the situa- tion as it now exists.
A deplorable lack of interest was shown by the farmers in the slim attendance at the Twenty-third Exhibition of the Contra Costa County Agricultural, Horticultural, and Mechanical Society at the Fair Grounds near Pacheco.
October 13, 1883 .- The pumps of the Black Diamond coal mine have got the heavy flow of water reduced and under control so that work has been resumed in full force.
The earthquake of last Tuesday morning was the liveliest since 1868. It occurred a few minutes after one o'clock a. m., lasting three seconds.
October 27, 1883 .- The Contra Costa Telephone Company have let the contract to run an extension of their line through Nortonville, Som- ersville, and Stewartville to Antioch. It is but a few weeks ago that their line was extended to Oakland and San Francisco, giving direct connec- tion with those cities and with San Leandro, San Lorenzo and Haywards.
A Sabbath school was successfully organized at Port Costa last Sun- day. Preaching was held in the evening and is to be continued regularly.
November 3, 1883 .- The Pittsburg coal mine has been closed per- manently.
A lamp-post and large lamp have been placed at the corner of the Court House lot near the entrance on Main Street.
November 10, 1883 .- A telephone has been ordered placed in the sheriff's office by the board of supervisors for the use of the county.
Walnut Creek Hook & Ladder Company now possess a fine cart fully equipped.
The business portion of the town of Port Costa was almost entirely destroyed by fire. The business portion was a line of wooden buildings
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