History of Humboldt 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 52

Author: Irvine, Leigh H. (Leigh Hadley), 1863-1942
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Los Angeles, Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1328

USA > California > Humboldt County > History of Humboldt 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 52

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On taking up his residence in San Francisco Mr. Weck formed a co- partnership with Mr. C. C. Blakeslee, and under the firm title of Blakeslee & Weck established a manufacturing pharmacy and wholesale drug business. Their goods found a ready market over the entire Pacific slope. Some five years later Mr. Weck was compelled to take control and assume all the responsibility on account of Mr. Blakeslee's ill health and retirement. The business was thus continued in connection with the collecting and marketing of the medicinal plants of the Pacific coast, for which a demand had been created in the eastern and foreign markets.

In 1891 the F. A. Weck Company was incorporated with a capital stock of $100,000, Mr. Weck becoming president of the corporation. This venture was not a success and after three years the company disincorporated, leaving Mr. Weck to assume the responsibilities. However, the business was con- tinued by Mr. Weck until April, 1906, when the earthquake and fire destroyed and consumed the entire plant, including all books and papers, thus making the loss very heavy, for he was unable to collect on outstanding accounts. Nevertheless all obligations were promptly paid in full and no one was injured by Mr. Weck's misfortune.

On September 5, 1915, Mr. and Mrs. Weck celebrated the fiftieth anni- versary of their marriage, this day also being the seventy-third anniversary of Mr. Weck's birth. The occasion was one long to be remembered by the guests, including relatives and friends to the number of three hundred.

HUMBOLDT COOPERAGE CO .- Established in 1903 on a small scale with a capacity of from twelve to fifteen thousand feet every ten hours, by subsequent steady growth the Humboldt Cooperage Company has increased to a capacity of fifty thousand feet and furnishes employment to one hundred and fifteen persons in the factory besides twenty-five men in the woods. Seven miles east of the main plant in Arcata is located the stave bolt plant. After the logs have been brought to the landing, the drag saw cuts them into proper bolt lengths, and they are then loaded on cars and brought over the company's tracks to Essex, thence by the Northwestern Pacific Railroad to the Arcata plant, where they are sawed into staves and heading. From the spruce and fir are manufactured staves that are shipped to San Francisco

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and there put together into barrels intended for all purposes-containers for liquid and dry products such as oils, asphaltum, sugar, butter, fish and fruit, and into pails for candy and other articles. The field of operation is being enlarged through effective salesmanship, the firm having an able repre- sentative in Henry Koster, through whom arrangements are being made to ship the products to the Orient.

From the beginning there has been a steady improvement in the plant at Arcata. It has been the aim of the management to keep in touch with every modern facility for the increasing of the output and the reducing of the expense of manufacture. An electric power system has been installed and modern machinery of original design introduced to render efficient and effect- ive the output of the factory. There are not wanting many who insist that, without a single exception, this is the best equipped plant of its kind in the United States. Much of the credit for the individually efficient and mechan- ically modern cooperage with electric drive throughout and the best facil- ities of the century in every department, may be given to the vice-president and general manager, Julius J. Krohn, a native son born in what is now Madera county, Cal. Before coming to Arcata he was associated with the California Barrel Company of San Francisco and thus gained a wide and valuable experience in the line of cooperage. In addition to the business, which he manages with keen intelligence and sagacious judgment, he is aiding in the material upbuilding of Humboldt county through personal efforts neither few nor small and as a member of the Humboldt Promotion and Development Committee and Chamber of Commerce of Arcata, as well as Humboldt Chamber of Commerce of Eureka, occupying a place of recognized importance among the public-spirited men seeking the development of local resources. Associated with him in the financial guidance of the growing business are the following gentlemen : C. L. Koster, president ; WV. B. Sweet, secretary ; H. A. Koster, Gen. John A. Koster, F. J. Koster and J. H. Day, constituting with the officers the directorate of the concern. Throughout this section of the state the corporation has gained a reputation for reliability in business transactions, breadth of commercial vision and tact in dealing with customers, employes and other business concerns of the state, and the solid reputation already established may be regarded as prophetic of future growth and continued development.

FRANKLIN T. GEORGESON .- The people of Eureka recognize with satisfaction and not a little local pride that, in the decision of Mr. Georgeson to engage in the practice of architectural engineering at this place, they have regained to citizenship a native of Humboldt county, whose course of study in metropolitan environment afforded him exceptional advantages and whose initial experiences in designing and drafting have indicated the possession of talent developed beyond a suspicion of mediocrity. Although his prominence in the line of his specialty has made him best known in the cities bordering San Francisco bay, he is becoming known here through professional acumen as well as through the fact that he is the eldest son of former mayor Fred W. Georgeson and a grandson of the late J. F. Thompson. From his earliest memories he has been familiar with Humboldt county. Here his early train- ing was received and it was not until after he was graduated from the Eureka High school with the class of 1906 that he left his native locality with the intention of taking up special studies. It had been his ambition from early

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boyhood to acquire a knowledge of architecture, for the designing of build- ings and the drawing of plans fascinated him in no small degree.

From the fall of 1906 until the spring of 1910 Mr. Georgeson was a stu- dent in the department of architecture, University of California, and he was so thorough in his studies and so intelligent in grasping professional techni- calities that he was graduated with honors. At the same time the degree of Bachelor of Science in Architecture was conferred upon him. Upon the completion of the regular course of four years he remained at the university for six months of post-graduate work. Meanwhile he had devoted his sum- mer vacations to commercial work in the offices of various architects in the bay cities. Often during the university terms he aided in offices of promi- nent architects and thereby gained practical and profitable experience in his profession. Upon the completion of his post-graduate course he engaged in special work on eastern competition drawings, making Los Angeles his headquarters during the time. Returning to San Francisco, he entered the office of Walter H. Parker, famous through his schoolhouse designs, and at one time engaged as a designer with the great firm of Daniel H. Burnham & Co., of Chicago and New York. To Mr. Parker is to be given the credit for the architectural beauty of the San Jose State Normal School and the Belmont Military Academy. Many other public buildings are monuments to his taste and ability. During the period of his connection with the office Mr. George- son aided in designing the Northern California Bank of Savings at Marys- ville, the Citizens' Bank of Winters and the Princeton Union high school. Two large competitions also engaged his attention, namely : the Washington state capitol at Olympia and the San Francisco city hall. The originality of his work attracted the attention of officials of the Panama-Pacific Interna- tional Exposition Company and they retained him to make the permanent drawings for the harbor view site and the Presidio reservation, besides giving into his charge the responsible task of checking up the work of the parties in the field.

With these varied tasks, all giving promise of larger achievements in the future, Franklin Thompson Georgeson never allowed himself to forget Humboldt county or Eureka, the city where he was reared, although he was born in San Francisco February 24, 1889. Frequent visits kept alive his affection for the dear old associations and when it became possible for him to engage in architectural work upon an independent basis he decided to return to Eureka. During July of 1912 he returned to Humboldt county and after a brief period of association with F. W. Georgeson in the management of the Laurel Lumber Company at Elinor he opened an office in Eureka for the practice of architecture. Since then he has secured the privilege of designing a number of local works in process of development. The design of the Humboldt county exhibit at the Panama-Pacific Exposition is an original creation of his own and will be developed under the supervision of the Hum- boldt exposition commissioners, Messrs. W. S. Clark and James F. Coonan. The offices of Mr. Georgeson are located in the Georgeson building at the corner of Fourth and E streets, and there he is prepared to submit plans and specifications for any kind of architectural work. It is most fortunate for Eureka, at this opening day of a new era of local development, that there should have come hither for practice an architect so capable of guiding all future work in a noteworthy manner, making it worthy of the aspirations of

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this western port and elevating it above the architectural mediocrity de- pressingly noticeable in many towns. One of the best-built cities in America credits its architectural supremacy to the genius of one man, and it is the belief that Eureka, in its formative period, may be made architecturally beau- tiful through the talented guidance of local architects, the impress of whose personality and artistic tastes will be left upon the generation in which they live.

CHRISTIAN N. JENSEN .- As one of the most important ports on the northern California coast Eureka is a thriving trade center, the numerous vessels which put in there buying supplies which add considerably to the income of the local merchants. One of the enterprises fostered to a large extent by the patronage of the vesselmen is the wholesale and retail establish- ment of Christian N. Jensen. Mr. Jensen's success in his present line is a refutation of the old saying, "Once at sea, always a salt," for in his early years he spent a number of years at sea. The experience was a valuable preparation for the business to which he now gives his attention, for he caters especially to the ship trade, and his thorough understanding of its require- ments has made him popular with a number of captains and stewards of boats calling at this port. He also commands a good share of the trade in the city and vicinity. Though he has not been a resident of Eureka for many years he has long been familiar with its attractions, having first visited the city over thirty years ago, as a sailor.

Mr. Jensen was born in Thisted. on the west coast of Jutland, Denmark, June 5, 1862, and his father. Capt. Jens Petersen, was a captain, following the sea for thirty-six years. For twenty years he was sailing master for the father of the late H. D. Bendixsen, shipbuilder at Eureka, who was ship- owner and capitalist at the birthplace of Christian N. Jensen. He lived to the age of seventy-five, and his wife, Petrina Petersen, outlived him, dying two years later at the old home in Denmark. They had two sons and two daughters: Peter, a resident of Aalborg, Denmark, was a steamship captain until his retirement, on February 1, 1914; Marie, Mrs. Jensen, died in San Francisco, leaving two children : Christian N. is mentioned below : Nicoline is the wife of Capt. L. Hanson, of Alameda, Cal.

Christian N. Jensen spent his childhood in Denmark, attended the pub- lic schools, and was confirmed in the Lutheran Church. All his environment strengthened his inherited taste for the sea. When thirteen and a half years old he became a hand before the mast on a Danish sailing vessel, and during the sixteen years that he followed the sea he sailed under seven different flags. In 1881 he came around Cape Horn on the Chilean barque Pondecherry from Shields, England, to Valparaiso, where he spent two years in mining and in the navy of Chili, serving on the El Vaco, a man-of-war, in the bom- barding of Callao, where he was wounded. In 1883 he came to San Francisco, and from there he sailed in the coasting trade as well as in the trans- Pacific trade, becoming mate on vessels. For some time he was in the em- ploy of the Whitelaw Wrecking Company as professional diver. After these years of activity on the high seas he determined to become a landsman and sought work accordingly, with the result that for twelve years he was in the employ of J. Boyes & Co., butchers and produce commission men of San Francisco. Thirty-one years ago he had made his first visit to Eureka, but it was not until 1904 that he came here to make his permanent home. In

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that year he established himself in business as a merchant at the corner of Harris and California streets, and continued at this location until he moved his business across the street, where he had purchased a corner lot. In 1911 he built a large two-story frame structure 55x110 feet in dimensions, in which he now has commodious quarters, but none too large for his growing business. He deals wholesale and retail in groceries and meats, both fresh and salted, and has a line of general merchandise particularly adapted to filling ship orders, selling to many of the foreign and tramp steamers which put in at Eureka. So thoroughly do his customers rely upon his honesty, and so trustworthy have they found him in supplying their wants, that he fre- quently receives instructions to bring duplicate orders to boats he has pro- visioned, as soon as he can sight them. His place of business is conveniently situated, at the corner of California and Harris streets, overlooking the bay, and like a true sailor his telescope is always ready. Mr. Jensen's solid credit and ample capital enable him to keep well stocked with a most desirable line, and also to make favorable prices to his customers, who thus find many advantages in dealing with him. His store is large and nicely arranged, with a place for everything, and all kept in sanitary condition, invitingly clean. The remarkable prosperity of the business has been the logical outcome of his strict attention to its details and personal supervision, and in this he has the able assistance of his wife, who keeps the books and is competent to take care of almost any part of the establishment ; her assistance has been inval- uable, and Mr. Jensen gives her credit for a full share of his success. Though he has lived a strenuous life hard work does not seem to have affected his strength or ambition harmfully, and his upright character has been unspoiled by his contact with all manner and classes of people.

In San Francisco, on August 20, 1890, Mr. Jensen was united in marriage with Miss Anna C. Seemann, a native of Grenaae, Jutland, Denmark, but of German parentage. Mr. Jensen was made a Mason in Humboldt Lodge No. 79, F. & A. M. He has shown his interest in the welfare of Eureka by joining the chamber of commerce, in whose activities he has taken a helpful part.

JAMES MAHAN .- The force of quiet, persistent industry is seen in the life of James Mahan, a pioneer of 1866 in Humboldt county and one of the very earliest settlers in the then wilderness at Blue Lake, where after twenty-five years of the most arduous work, and with the effective aid of his wife and children, he transformed one hundred sixty acres of heavily timbered land into an improved farm of considerable value. Four dates stand out prominently in any narrative pertaining to his life, viz .: that of his birth in Ireland in 1826; that of his marriage at Galena, Ill., in 1856, to Miss Ellen McCormack ; that of his removal to California by way of the isthmus in 1858; and that of his death at Eureka, Humboldt county, in 1898. Accompanied by his wife, who was born in Ireland in 1838 and whose tireless energy and capable efforts made her a most efficient helpmate, he made the long voyage to the far west during the pioneer era and after a little more than six years in the mining camps of Sierra county proceeded to Humboldt county, here to aid in the clearing of the wilderness and the starting of pioneer agricultural activities. Both he and his wife were plain, sensible, industrious and efficient. It was their belief that by application, energy and honesty they could succeed in life, which they did. They taught their sons and daughters to work and

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attend strictly to their own business, and the children have endeavored to follow their early training very closely. The family have always been loyal to the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church and to the principles of the Democratic party.

There were ten children in the family of James and Ellen Mahan and eight of these are now living. William J., a farmer living on the old home- stead at Blue Lake, married Margaret Keating and has two sons. Annie E., Mrs. Daniel Mahoney, is the mother of five sons and one daughter, and lives on a farm near Blue Lake. James P., a member of the law firm of Mahan & Mahan at Eureka, married Laura Perrott, he graduated from the University of Michigan, class of 1905, with the degree of LL. B. Nellie T. resides with her mother at No. 1213 G street, Eureka. Lawrence E., a member of the law firm of Mahan & Mahan and also a graduate of the law department, University of Michigan, married Mayme Malone and has one child. Rebecca J., a school teacher in the Eureka schools, resides with her mother. Dr. David J. Mahan, a graduate of the San Jose State Normal School and the University of Cali- fornia, is now practicing medicine in San Francisco; he married Meta Brown and has two children. Dr. Eugene F. Mahan, a graduate of the Eureka Business College and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, is now a prac- ticing physician in San Francisco.

JESSE WALKER .- Fifty-seven years ago Jesse Walker settled at his present location, the Sunset View ranch, about four and one-half miles north- west of Petrolia, in Humboldt county, and a glimpse of his beautiful "moun- tain home by the sea" is sufficient to explain why he has remained there. However, the attractions of an ideal home have not been the only influences to hold him, for he has become one of the large land owners of his locality and for years has been extensively interested in stock-raising. His early days were filled with the typical adventures of those who braved the journey across the plains and life in the then primitive region along the Pacific coast, and his mature years have been blessed with the abundance which is the reward of his labors. More than that, he has the warm personal friendship of hun- dreds of his fellow citizens in Humboldt county and well deserves the regard which they show for him.

The Walkers are probably of Scotch ancestry. John Walker, father of Jesse Walker, was born in North Carolina, whence he removed with his parents to Kentucky in boyhood, remaining in the latter state until after his marriage. By occupation he was a farmer, and he became a breeder of fine horses and familiar with stock-raising, gaining experience which qualified him for his later years in the west. From Kentucky he removed to Illinois, becoming an early settler in Dewitt county. In the early fifties he sold out his interests there and brought his family out over the plains, the little party having its own train, two wagons drawn by eight oxen each, one two-horse wagon and one four-mule wagon. It was four months to a day from the time they left Clinton until they halted in the upper end of the Willamette valley, settling in the mountainous wilderness of Umpqua, Ore. This was. in 1853, and after about four years in that region Mr. Walker moved farther down, into Humboldt county, Cal., buying a farm at Hydesville. We have the following account of his six children: (1) James, the eldest son, died in Illinois, leaving one son, Isam, now a resident of Eureka and interested in

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ranching in Humboldt county. As his mother died before his father, Isam Walker accompanied his grandparents to Oregon. (2) William Pinckney died at Hydesville. (3) John lived in Eureka, where he died. (4) Benjamin F. went to Oregon, where he became a sheep rancher, and died there. He married a Miss Reed, and left three children : Abraham Lincoln, who is proprietor of a meat market at Hydesville; Sybil, who keeps house for her uncle, Jesse Walker ; Benjamin F., a farmer in Santa Cruz county. (5) Martha was married in Illinois to Moses. Kenna, and died there leaving one daughter, Laura, now Mrs. Joseph Bowles, residing in Kansas. (6) Jesse, the youngest, completes the family.

Jesse Walker was born May 22, 1838, in Dewitt county, Ill., near Clinton, and was fourteen years old when the family set out for the Pacific coast region. He rode a horse and drove the cattle. His schooling was all received before he came west, and indeed had there been schools accessible he could hardly have attended, as his father needed him to help with the work. Eureka had a good school, but by the time the family moved to this section he was fairly launched in his life work, being about nineteen. In 1858 he came to. his home on the Capetown road, four and a half miles north of Petrolia, taking" a squatter's right on one hundred and sixty acres, which he still owns. Later he took up an adjoining one hundred and sixty under the homestead act, proved up on that property and still owns it. The remainder of his twenty- two hundred acres has been acquired by purchase, from time to time, as opportunity offered and his means permitted. Of this Mr. Walker cultivates about twenty-five acres, the rest being in native grass and valuable pasture land for his herds. On an average he has two hundred fifty head of stock, usually marketing one hundred steers and heifers annually; he has two · thoroughbred Durham bulls. For his own use Mr. Walker raises some horses, but his attention is given principally to his cattle. He employs one man, looking after much of the work himself, for though past threescore and ten he is active and able-bodied. Business has claimed all his time prac- tically and public honors have not appealed to him, his interest in such affairs being limited to supporting good men for office.

During the Civil war, in 1863, Mr. Walker enlisted in Company A, First Battalion, Mountaineers of California, being mustered into service in Eureka, and served two years, his chief duties being to guard the white settlers against the Indians in Humboldt, Trinity and Klamath counties. He was in several skirmishes with the Indians. By virtue of this service he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, belonging to Colonel Whipple Post, G. A. R., at Eureka. Politically he has been a consistent member-of- the Republican party.

In the year 1868 Mr. Walker was married to Miss Mille E. Babcock, who was born in New York state, of Connecticut parentage, and grew up in her native place. She came to Humboldt county where she married Mr. Walker. She died here in 1907. He still continues to occupy the beautiful farm residence which he erected twelve years ago and which is ideally located in the mountains, overlooking the Pacific ocean, giving it the name "Sunset -View Ranch," the situation being chosen for its romantic charm and whole- some natural surroundings. Modern comforts supplement the other attrac- tions, the house being provided with all the conveniences which up-to-date

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architecture employs so well, and the home and its environs suggest taste and appreciation of the fine art of living. Mr. Walker's nicce, Miss Sybil Walker, has kept house for him for some time, providing the cheer of a true home atmosphere by her agreeable presence and thought for his comfort.

GEORGE WALKER COOK .- The name of Cook will have a permanent place in the story of the development of that part of Humboldt county lying around Petrolia, where the late Charles S. Cook settled back in the fifties. He did his share in advancing progress in his day, and now his two sons are upholding the worth of the name, having large interests in land and stock and taking their place among the most valuable citizens of the locality. The younger, George Walker Cook, is one of the largest stock-raisers in the county, operating over four thousand acres of range land and keeping several hundred head of cattle the year round.

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History of Humboldt 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 52

Author: Irvine, Leigh H. (Leigh Hadley), 1863-1942 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Los Angeles, Historic Record Company Number of Pages: 1328

Author: Irvine, Leigh H. (Leigh Hadley), 1863-1942
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Los Angeles, Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1328