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 38
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February 14, 1925 .- A Board of Commerce is being organized in Pinole, with forty business firms signed up. A meeting will be held in the near future to elect officers and directors and secure quarters.
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"Contra Costa County is notable among the counties of the State in its memorials to World War veterans. When the doughboys started over seas they were promised that when they returned they could have 'anything they wanted'. Making good this promise, the board of super- visors has built a veterans' memorial hall in each town in the county where there is an American Legion Post. These are now being finished and dedicated. Walnut Creek dedicated its hall last Sunday. Danville hopes to open its building on Washington's Birthday.
"The buildings were paid for by a small direct tax, all of which has already been raised. On the threshold of each one is a brass plate read- ing 'Dedicated to those who served'. While the halls are nominally in the custody of the American Legion, they are open to all veterans' organ- izations. The Legion men have gone further and offered their use free to any and all patriotic, civic and welfare associations, such as the Boy Scouts, Red Cross, farm bureau, chamber of commerce and improvement clubs. They will be, in a manner, community halls. The building in Danville is to house the public library and the chamber of commerce. In Martinez there is to be a public swimming pool. The structures and de- signed to serve as substantial memorials to the men of Contra Costa county who served their country at the time of its need, and mark the towns con- taining them as having a full quota of patriotic citizens."-Editorial in San Francisco Chronicle.
February 14, 1925 .- The growth of El Cerrito is evidenced by the fact that building permits representing a total of $37,000 were issued last month.
The ferry boats of the Martinez-Benicia Ferry & Transportation Company are undergoing their annual repair and overhaul, which will be completed within two weeks.
The first consignment, seven crates of asparagus, shipped this year, left Antioch last Friday, February 13, for the California Corporation markets in New York. This is thirteen days in advance of the first ship- ment made in 1924.
Congratulations were showered upon Mr. and Mrs. John B. Green, of Richmond, last Sunday, in honor of the sixtieth anniversary of their marriage, which was solemnized in England, February 8, 1865.
February 21, 1925 .- According to the survey filed with the harbor en- gineers, Contra Costa's population has increased in the last five years from 53,900 to 62,800.
Armand Stow of Pittsburg, formerly of Walnut Creek, has been promoted to be manager of the Pittsburg branch of the Mercantile Trust Company. .
February 28, 1925 .- With asparagus bringing $1 a pound in New York and a carload a day being shipped East by express from Antioch and the Delta country, prospects for a good season among the "grass" growers are looming up. This spring delicacy is selling for 25 cents to 35 cents a
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pound in San Francisco, at the present time. It is expected that larger ship- ments will be forwarded within the next few days, as the crop is rapidly maturing.
The name of Governor Alvarado, father of Superior Judge Henry V. Alvarado, one of the last Spanish chief magistrates, will be honored by the naming of Richmond's principal park after him, according to action of the Richmond council Tuesday evening, February 24. The late Gov- ernor Alvarado owned a typical Spanish home in the Contra Costa hills not far from the park.
February 28, 1925 .- Directors of East Contra Costa Chamber of Commerce of the five towns in Diablo Valley met in regular session Tuesday evening and voted an appropriation of $200 to sign the roads in Diablo Valley along all of the main highways. This appropriation will probably be extended to cover all cross-roads in the district later.
May 16, 1925 .- Mrs. Julia Michaels, of Richmond, on Wednesday filed a petition in the Superior Court here for letters of admission in the estate of her husband, Max Michaels, who died a few days ago at his late residence in Richmond.
May 16, 1925 .- At a recent meeting of the electors of the John Swett Union High School at Crockett, it was decided to call an election to vote on a $400,000 bond issue for the purpose of erecting and equip- ping a new building to supplant the one now in use. Plans for the build- ing, which, according to County Superintendent of Schools William H. Hanlon, will be one of the finest and most up-to-date in the State, are now being drawn by a San Francisco architect; and it is expected that the election will be called as soon as the plans are complete.
Crockett now has one of the best-equipped elementary schools in the State and, with the proposed new high school, will take a leading place as an educational center.
May 23, 1925 .-- The 11,700-ton Norwegian freighter Talabot, largest steamer ever to navigate the straits and up-river region, weighed anchor and started down stream late Wednesday, carrying more than a million feet of lumber from the yards of the Redwood Manufacturers Company, where she has been loading since Monday. A stop was made at Point San Pedro to take on a load of case oil, after which the Talabot will pro- ceed up coast to Noyo, Mendocino County, to complete her lumber cargo, and then will sail for Australia with a cargo equivalent to 5,600,000 feet.
Despite the size of the craft, which is 428 feet long with a 56-foot beam, Captain Larson and crew of forty-two men navigated the narrow up-river channel without difficulty and made a landing at the Redwood Company's docks under the Talabot's own power. A landing was made at 7 o'clock Saturday evening, and Sunday the big ship was open to visitors, hundreds of interested sight-seers going aboard during the day. The Talabot is said to be the largest boat ever to visit the Pittsburg waterfront, and the ease with which a landing was effected augurs well for the future of Pittsburg's deep-water harbor.
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May 30, 1925 .- O. H. Klatt, of the American Toll Bridge Company, was in Martinez Friday for the purpose of filing with the office of the county recorder the plans, specifications, and contract for construction of the unfinished portion of the foundation of the Carquinez bridge, together with the completion bond supplied by the National Surety Com- pany. The contract is between the American Toll Bridge Company and the Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company and is signed by Avon J. Hanford as president of the Toll Bridge Company and T. S. Tullock, president of the Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company.
The contract price for the completion of the foundation of the bridge is $1,419,700, and the bond to secure the completion of the work within sixteen months from last February 1st is for the same amount. Approxi- mately $1,000,000 has already been spent for the foundation work done by Duncanson and Harrelson, San Francisco contractors.
May 30, 1925 .- Harvesting of barley began in the Byron section early this week, a number of crews being in the field. Threshing began Wednesday on the Winegar ranch, where there are 250 acres of Golden Oregon Mariout. The yield will run from twenty-five to thirty-five sacks to the acre. Here there is also 100 acres of early Baart wheat that prom- ises twenty sacks to the acre. Stanley Cabral began threshing operations this week in the Bethany country. The Cabrals have considerable fine barley and wheat in the Vasco territory, southwest of Byron, where the promise is for a good yield. There is considerable barley in the Byron- Tracy-Delta sections, and the yield in almost every instance will be the highest in recent years.
June 13, 1925 .- In honor of three birthday anniversaries, Frank Higuera of Pinole entertained at a barbecue picnic held at the V. Martinez ranch near Walnut Creek, Sunday. The guests whose birthday anni- versaries it was were : Frank Higuera, Virgie Bronestadt and V. Martinez.
June 27, 1925 .- Asparagus is still being harvested at some of the tracts in the delta, but the end of the season is near. Asparagus ranks second in California for canned vegetables. Ninety per cent of the canned asparagus of the United States is grown in the delta districts of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers. The San Joaquin delta is rapidly becoming a large asparagus producer. Some of the large acreages in the delta are located on the Bishop tract, Webb Island, Bouldin Island, and Terminus tract.
June 27, 1925 .- A handsome $10,500 clubhouse for Carquinez Golf Club members is under construction at the club's grounds at Giant. The building, according to present estimations, will be thrown open to members October 1.
The building with furnishings will represent an outlay of $15,500. The furnishings committee estimates the luxurious furnishings for the club will cost $5000.
The Carquinez Golf Club has shown steady growth and progressive- ness since its organization last year.
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The directors of the Carquinez Golf Club are: Dr. U. S. Abbott, president; Grant Miner, Jr., vice-president; Ira R. Vaughn, treasurer ; Arthur A. Alstrom, secretary; Frank Gordon, T. H. DeLap, A. P. Hill and R. H. Stratton.
July 4, 1925 .- The Martinez Home Builders' Association, organized here by local business men and capitalists several years ago to promote the erection of homes for contract sale in this city, formally and officially passed out of existence Monday when Judge Mckenzie ordered the dis- solution of the corporation.
The association has disposed of all of the dwellings which it had built on property lying south and west of Susanna and Pine Streets, as well as all of the unimproved property, and as the promoters did not intend to continue operations, dissolution of the corporation was ordered.
July 4, 1925 .- With the filing of certificate of extension of corporate existence for an additional fifty years, it was revealed Tuesday that the California Transportation Company, operating between San Francisco and Stockton, has been in existence for half a century. It was fifty years ago June 19th last that the company began operations on the bay and rivers, and it has continued uninterrupted freight and passenger service ever since.
July 4, 1925 .- Mrs. Alice G. Whitbeck, head of the Contra Costa County public library system for the past twelve years, was on Monday reappointed by the board of supervisors for her fourth term of four years. During Mrs. Whitbeck's administration, the county library system has developed from humble beginnings to a high degree of efficiency, and it ranks today as one of the leading county libraries of the State. Much of this success may be directly attributed to Mrs. Whitbeck's untiring efforts and ability to administer the affairs of the county library.
July 4, 1925 .- Justice Glass' monthly report filed Thursday shows a total collection in fines and fees last month of $4691. Of this total vio- lators of the Wright Act contributed $4450, motor vehicle rule breakers $75, the fees from civil matters $6 and miscellaneous fines $185.
Byron, July 8, 1925 .- The 100-foot bridge over Big Slough on Vic- toria Island, on the Borden road to Stockton, went out early Wednesday morning, presumably breaking under a heavy truck, many of which have been using this highway. Engineer Quail of Stockton was immediately notified and it is expected the bridge will be replaced within forty-eight hours. In the meantime travel over the Borden road is held up.
July 11, 1925 .- Banner Refining Company, one of the large oil oper- ating syndicates in California, on Monday closed the deal for the purchase of the lands of the old refinery which has been operated at various times for years past at Rodeo. The sale was made by the Union Petroleum Corporation, and the revenue stamps indicate a $35,000 deal involving a little over thirteen acres of waterfront lands.
The last operators of the plant were the Sinclair interests, operating under a lease on the lands and plant.
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July 11, 1925 .- Fire, which raged a week ago Tuesday evening near Muir Station and was thought at first to be merely one of many grass fires, has proven to have been a blaze causing considerable destruction and heavy loss on the Phillips ranch, where a large quantity of fruit, packed and ready for shipment, was destroyed and where a part of the orchards was fire-swept, about 250 fine almond trees being damaged by the flames.
The fire spread from the Santa Fe Railway's right of way, where a crew of men was burning dry grass and weeds, to the adjoining lands of the Phillips ranch. H. Wilson, operating the ranch, claims a loss of over $800 in ripe fruit entirely exclusive of trees, all of which were fine, healthy trees and bearing well.
Adjusters for the Santa Fe are expected here Thursday to make an adjustment with Wilson to cover the loss sustained.
July 11, 1925 .- Bent Bros., Los Angeles contractors, started work Monday on the grading and construction of two of the largest oil res- ervoirs in the world at the plant of the Shell Company in Martinez. The reservoirs, which will hold over a million barrels of oil each, both larger than the heretofore largest storage tank at Avon, are to be rushed to completion to increase the oil storage facilities at the Martinez refinery.
July 11, 1925 .- With an increase in assessed valuation of city prop- erty, improvements and industries of more than $600,000, Martinez has the proud distinction for this year of showing the greatest percentage of valuation increase of any corporated city or town in Contra Costa County. Martinez' assessment for 1925 reaches the grand total of $3,426,910, which incidentally puts this city in second place among Contra Costa mu- nicipalities, being topped only by Richmond.
July 18, 1925 .- Contract for the erection of the new manual training building as a part of the plant of the Alhambra Union High School was awarded by the trustees Wednesday morning to F. H. Cress. The new building and alterations to the gymnasium building, a part of which has been used for the manual training shop, will cost in the neighborhood of $15,500.
The new manual training building will be approximately 60 by 96 feet and will be completely equipped for manual training and mechanical drawing classes. The gymnasium building, from which the former depart- ment will be removed, will be altered to provide for a change of location of the boys' showers and the enlarging of the gymnasium proper for the better accommodation of athletic activities.
July 18, 1925 .- Federal hunters in the predatory animal control divi- sion have killed 167 coyotes, 72 wildcats and three other animals in Contra Costa, according to a detailed report of six months' operations ending June 30, submitted to the board of supervisors by Charles G. Poole, leader of the hunting division.
The county, State and federal governments are dividing the cost of hunting down predatory animals. Poole's report shows that the federal
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government has paid $260, the State government $1135, and Contra Costa County $1036 for maintaining a corps of hunters over the six months' period.
July 18, 1925 .- The oldest double-ender side-wheel ferry boat on San Francisco Bay, the veteran El Capitan, which carried passengers from Oakland pier to San Francisco in the early eighties and which for years was on the Vallejo Junction-South Vallejo run, will spend her last days in the movies.
Like humans, the ferry boat had to wait until it was ready for the "boneyard" to achieve world-wide renown and to get into the public eye. The old ferry that was always ready to operate, and which for a quarter of a century, despite its advanced age, relieved the newer and more modern ferries when they went out of commission, was sold last week to Thomas Crowley for $750, far below the actual "junk" value, and will in the future be used in motion picture production, in the filming of marine scenes.
July 18, 1925 .- A fire of unknown origin partly destroyed the plant of the Stauffer Chemical Company at Stege on Monday, damage of which is estimated at between $20,000 and $30,000.
Both the Richmond and El Cerrito fire departments were summoned to help extinguish the blaze, which was confined to the "tower" where con- siderable nitric and sulphuric acid was stored.
Officials of the company estimated that sixty days would be required to repair the damage. In the meantime the men employed in this part of the establishment will be out of work.
July 25, 1925 .- With the business of the local post office increasing nearly $1000 during the first six months' period of the current year, over that of last year, the outlook for a record year is bright.
The total amount of business transacted the first six months of 1925 in the post office was $11,656.87, as against $10,704.24 for the same period in 1924, and this in a year that is not inflated with election mail and voters' ballots, as was last year.
July 25, 1925 .- That the pear crop of the Alhambra Valley orchards this year is the heaviest and of the best grade of all pear-producing sec- tions of the State is the unqualified statement made this week by Frank T. Swett, general manger of the Pear Growers' Association and the man in the best position of all to know the status of crop conditions locally and throughout the State.
July 25, 1925 .- With the aid of Antioch Red Cross, War Mothers, Camp Fire Girls, Boy Scouts and Harding Post, American Legion, Mem- orial Hall, recently erected at an approximate cost of $20,000, has been completely furnished.
August 8, 1925 .- Contra Costa chickens are in demand in Chile. A second order has just been received by cable by James Dryden from the Chilean experimental station for a shipment of high-egg-record White Leghorns. The first order was shipped to Chile in January, which was received in good condition after a five weeks' voyage.
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August 8, 1925 .- One of the largest second mortgages and deeds of trust ever recorded in Contra Costa County went on record Friday after- noon when the American Toll Bridge Company gave a two-million-dollar second mortgage on its Carquinez and San Joaquin bridges to the American Bank of San Francisco.
This is to secure an additional loan in the above amount, to the $4,750,000 negotiated with the Bank of California as trustee, to complete the two bridge structures. The papers were filed here by the Contra Costa Abstract & Title Company.
August 8, 1925 .- Checks amounting to $2,239,106 including one for Contra Costa County for $233,764.72, have been mailed by the State De- partment of Agriculture to farmers who lost livestock in the campaign, about a year ago, to check the foot and mouth disease. The money needed for indemnification purposes was appropriated by the last legislature.
Los Angeles County losses, totaling $897,443.23, were the heaviest; Merced was second, with a total of $508,319.56, and Contra Costa third with a near quarter-million loss.
The disbursement of the fund by counties was as follows :
Alameda $99,618.43; Contra Costa $233,764.72, Fresno $19,657.25, Kern $4,058.48, Los Angeles $897,443.23, Madera $148,285.60, Mari- posa $43,957.64; Merced $508,319.56; Orange $28,972.56, San Bernar- dino $8,125.18, San Francisco $141.71, San Joaquin $9,157.15, San Mateo $51.25, Stanislaus $3,319.21, Tulare $16,110.35, Tuolumne $190,- 329.19.
August 15, 1925 .- School funds allocated to this county from the State amount to $348,236.00, according to notification which has been re- ceived in the office of Superintendent of Schools William H. Hanlon from State Superintendent of Public Instruction Will C. Wood.
Division of these funds, with the attendance, is as follows :
Nine thousand forty-one average attendance, elementary schools- $269,105.50.
Two thousand two hundred twenty-three, average attendance, high schools-$79,130.50.
Various other methods of apportioning funds are also used. Each high school district receives $550 for each year it is maintained. Spec- ial day and evening classes receive from the State $7,240, and the part time classes of the county $2,600, for their maintenance.
August 15, 1925 .- Tremendous recent increase in the demand for higher education in Crockett has far outstripped the capacity of the John Swett High School in that community, with the result that the school trustees and prominent citizens of Crockett are planning a campaign for the voting of $450,000 in bonds for the building of a new high school.
The proposed new John Swett High School will be a vocational insti- tution equipped with workshop, automobile repairing department, and a department for household economics, in addition to the usual subjects em- braced in a high school course.
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Crockett only recently voted $300,000 in bonds for the erection of a new grammar school.
August 22, 1925 .- Crops in the San Joaquin delta this year will aggre- gate in value about $2,000,000 more than in 1924, according to latest estimates. The 1925 yield is estimated at $20,000,000, with last year's $18,000,000. The leading delta crops this year are potatoes, onions, beans, corn, barley. asparagus and sugar beets. Practically all the sugar beets grown in the lower river district are consumed at the sugar manu- facturing plant at Tracy.
September 5, 1925 .- One of the two ancient oaks that have stood for a century or more-at least they were massive trees when the first settlers came to the San Ramon Valley-on the Flournoy ranch, collapsed two weeks ago and in falling was shattered to bits. When the white man first came to the San Ramon Valley the companion oaks stood as majestic sentinels overlooking the beautiful sweep of valley and hill, but the ravages of time and the passing of the years so deadened and weakened the oaks that during the recent heat wave in the valley one of the trees collapsed, leaving the other "standing guard" until such time as it too must succumb.
September 5, 1925 .- Regarded as an assurance of development of the Burgess Tract lands from Concord to the United States mail base and Clayton Valley sections, Lee Harris, Concord rancher, brought in a 118- foot well, proving the possibilities of the district for irrigation projects. Well borers struck gravel strata at ninety-five feet. The short distance of good water surprised farmers of the entire section.
September 5, 1925 .- With a sugar content of twenty per cent, the vineyard of Harold Bloomfield near Knightsen will yield forty tons, according to estimates just made. Bloomfield has sixteen acres in the Tokay vineyard, of which ten are three-year-old vines and six acres, two years old.
September 26, 1925 .- The Associated Chambers of Commerce of Contra Costa County have published a booklet which extols the agricul- tural wealth and industrial activity of the county. Each section of the county is adequately described, and the articles are profusely illustrated. The booklet has been issued primarily to interest prospective settlers in Contra Costa County. The booklet is prefaced with the following :
"Whether in agriculture or in industry, human effort seeks its maxi- mum activity. Contra Costa County, bordering on the great Bay of San Francisco, and with seventy miles of its own water front, offers a wide range of selection to those who desire to live and work amid pleasing sur- roundings and under conditions that are well-nigh ideal. Practically all fruits, grains and garden crops of the temperate zone are profitably raised in Contra Costa County ; live stock is an important industry, and the total value of manufactured products runs over $425,000,000 a year.
"It is the combination of industry and agriculture, with unusually attractive living conditions, that has made so great an opportunity not only for financial advancement, but also for comfort and contentment."
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Contra Costa County leads all counties in the United States in per capita wealth. There is an average of $5418 for every person in Contra Costa County, as opposed to the next highest county, with a per capita wealth of $3300.
Walnut Creek, September 29, 1925 .- Again has Walnut Creek's prize walnut tree contributed the limit of one-tree production. It produced this year 282 pounds of nuts, the production last year being the record up to that time, 274 pounds. Nuts from this tree won sweepstakes and seven first prizes at the State fair.
Port Costa, September 30, 1925 .- The steamer Alchiba is docked at the Port Costa warehouses, taking on 8000 tons of barley for European points. This is one of the largest single grain cargoes to be shipped this year.
October 3, 1925 .- Smith Brothers, Incorporated, of Dallas, Texas, will build the three-mile Lafayette Tunnel of the East Bay Municipal Utility District, running from a point near the town of Lafayette to the San Pablo Creek in the hills back of Berkeley. They were awarded the contract for $1,101,822. E. H. Reeder, chief engineer for Smith Broth- ers, will have general engineering supervision on the Lafayette Tunnel. The Smith Brothers Company is one of the large contracting firms of the country. Their largest California jobs have been for the State of Cali- fornia on the Sutter By-Pass Levee.
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