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 70

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 70

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The Ettersburg berries have a variety of flavor which has usually been considered impossible of attainment, and Mr. Etter regards some of his

630

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

accomplishments in this respect as novelties which will be welcomed by some and of indifferent value to others who do not care for banana or cherry taste in berries. The Rose Ettersburg is particularly fragrant. All the varieties will thrive in soil more sterile than that required for ordinary strawberries, and some are particularly adapted for growth in clayey soils or other peculiar conditions. Their strong, leathery foliage helps to resist the heat and drouth, and the berries have been left on the vines for as much as ten days after ripening without spoiling. This length of life in warm weather and under exposure to rain is a valuable quality indeed, as they may be left unpicked with no danger of loss, and the vines hold up well, keeping the fruit off the ground. Some kinds are very valuable for canning, as they may be cooked without loss of color and without breaking, while others are delicious dessert berries. All the product of the strawberry beds, fruit or stock, is packed under Mr. Etter's personal supervision.

Dr. Bitting, in charge of the exhibit of the American Canners' Association in the Palace of Horticulture at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, after a care- ful examination of Ettersburg Strawberry No. 121 and the Ettersburg Trebla, has pronounced them varieties of the very highest merit for canning pur- poses, in fact being in a class by themselves. The No. 121 is a direct cross between two wild species, i. e., Cape Mendocino Beach and the Wild Alpine species from Europe. It is so exceedingly hardy that it is perfectly capable of growing wild and producing immense crops of the finest of berries where ordinary varieties would not thrive to advantage even under careful cultiva- tion. This variety has been found capable of growing and thriving on soils heretofore considered almost worthless for any known agricultural purpose. It would even seem that the net revenue gained by the cultivation of this berry on this type of land would in a few years be sufficient to buy outright any acre of land devoted to agricultural purposes in the state. The above varieties have met a long-felt want by canners in supplying a berry with an indelible color which does not fade after the fruit is canned.

The Ettersburg Trebla strawberry is such a radical breaking away from the hereditary type in structure and other characteristics of fruit that Mr. Etter sees in it the beginning of an entirely new and distinct type of straw- berry. These varieties will exceed all others in crispness, solidity, intense color and special characters necessary in the production of the highest class of prepared products such as canned, preserved, glaced, Marischino, etc.

Though Mr. Etter has been self-taught in his life vocation, he has fol- lowed it along strictly scientific lines, learning by direct contact with his work rather than from books, yet despising nothing that the great teachers found worthy of record in their labors. His wonderful work has only begun to be appreciated, but the many who profit by its results will carry down the story of his service to mankind written in the book of nature.

Mr. Etter is a member of the California Nurserymen's Association, of the American Pomological Society, and president of the Ettersburg Farm Center, one of the livest of all the branches of the Humboldt County Farm Bureau. His interest in the last named, and his very effective efforts in the promotion of its welfare, are another proof of the unselfishness of his activi- ties, which have been the means of attracting widespread attention to this one-time neglected portion of northwestern California.

631

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

ETTER BROTHERS .- The bare fact that there is a settlement called Ettersburg in the Mattole river district six miles west of Briceland, in south- ern Humboldt county, where the Etter family have been settled for more than twenty years (although the representatives were located in the county since March, 1876), will indicate that its members have been active and respected citizens of their community. But it does not convey any adequate idea of what they have accomplished, either for themselves or for their chosen home. They are a numerous family, nine sons and one daughter of Benjamin Etter, the progenitor of all of the name in this region, still surviving-and all in Humboldt county. Each and every one has given such a good account of himself that the county has come to expect things of them as a matter of course. George B., Fred J., August A. and Albert F. Etter are in partner- ship under the firm name of Etter Brothers, whose operations are especially along the lines of fruit growing and evaporation, plant breeding and lumber- ing. For individual achievements and originality, particularly in the field of horticulture, Albert F. Etter is the most widely known, and his work is com- mented on in the personal article which appears in this volume. However, he carried on his experiments primarily in the interest of the business of Etter Brothers, each of the four partners looking after that branch for which he is best adapted. Fifty of the eight hundred acres they own are in fruit, apples and strawberries, the rest being valuable timber and pasture land.

Benjamin Etter, father of this most interesting family, was born and reared in Switzerland, where he learned the painter's trade. In young man- hood he came to the United States, the promised land of many a European emigrant, and for a few years lived in Missouri, where he farmed. He en- tered the United States service during the Mexican war and fought to its close. Returning to Missouri, he remained there until he came out to Cali- fornia in 1850, going up to Chicago, whence he started the overland journey, which ended in Siskiyou county, Cal. After mining in that section four years he went back to Chicago, in 1854, and thence again to Missouri, where he lived another ten years, from 1856 to 1866. During that period he was engaged in various pursuits, including farming. Meanwhile he married, his wife, Wilhelmina (Kern), being a native of Germany, brought to this country when one year old, and a resident of Missouri up to the time of her marriage and for several years thereafter. When Mr. and Mrs. Etter came with their family to California in 1866 they set out from Sainte Genevieve, Mo., for St. Louis, and proceeded via Chicago to New York City by railroad, Erie canal and the Hudson river. Arriving at Aspinwall (now Colon) they crossed the isthmus by rail to Panama, where they took passage on a steamship to San Francisco, continuing thence by steamboat to Sacramento, where the family stayed a few days, until the father could go to Eldorado county and buy a farm. They settled at Latrobe, that county, where Mr. Etter was occupied principally at farming, though he also mined. In March, 1876, he came up to Humboldt county with his father, and located on the Eel river, buying the tract of twenty acres where he resided ten years, then sold and purchased forty acres on Eel River Island, upon which he resided until his death, in 1889, at the age of sixty-seven years. His wife outlived him many years, until 1913, reaching the age of seventy-eight. Of the thirteen children born to them two died young, and another at the age of nineteen years. The rest still survive: Louise, who is unmarried and lives with one of her broth-

632

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

ers ; Emil J. ; Henry J. ; George B. ; Fred J .; Albert F .; August A. ; Frank X. and Louis S., twins; and Walter E. All reside at Ettersburg but Emil and Frank, who live in Upper Mattole.

Emil J. Etter was born January 6, 1861, and lived at Sainte Genevieve, Mo., where his father had a farm, until his sixth year, when he accompanied his parents to California. He well remembers the various stops and incidents of the long journey. Though he was given public school advantages he began to work early, helping with the farm duties at home, and in his boy- hood he saw considerable of mining. Remaining with his father until twenty- four years old, he then rented a place, and after ten years or more came over to the Mattole district in 1896, settling on the property he has since occupied. It consists of four thousand acres, and he is engaged principally in raising cattle, making a specialty of grade Durhams. Ordinarily he keeps from one hundred and fifty to two hundred head. They are dual purpose cattle, and he does a considerable dairy business, owning an eighteen-inch Case sepa- rator, which he operates by gas power, having a gasoline engine of ten horse- power. For ten years he has also been doing threshing. He owns the Evarts ranch, which he bought, about five miles up from Petrolia, and operates that land as a stock ranch. On his home place he has a good family orchard, but has not attempted to raise any fruit intended for the market. Public affairs have interested him sufficiently to draw him into service as a school trustee, and he is a Democrat on political issues. In 1888 he mar- ried Miss Minnie Shallard, a native of Switzerland, who came to Humboldt county with her widowed mother when nine years old. Six children have been born to this marriage: Mary is the wife of Vernile Shinn, and mother of two children, Evelyn and Minnie (Mr. Shinn is proprietor of the Shinn resort on the Upper Mattole) ; Joseph, Gertrude, Charles, Benjamin and Ray- mond are at home.

Frank X. Etter, another son of the late Benjamin Etter, is a cattleman in the Upper Mattole section, owning seven hundred acres of land. In 1904 he married Miss Dora Hill, daughter of George R. Hill, and their family con- sists of four children : Alma, Donald, Keith and Francis.

George B., Fred J., August A. and Albert F. Etter, the four sons of Benjamin Etter constituting the firm of Etter Brothers, about twenty years ago homesteaded land in the Upper Mattole river district west of Briceland, a mountainous portion of Humboldt county which by reason of its inaccessi- bility was long regarded as practically worthless. But they were young and had little capital ; that is, in money. Time has proved that their industry, perseverance and intelligence were all-sufficient for success; and having made a fortune partly in occupations hitherto considered unprofitable here, they have demonstrated that this once unfruitful region is capable and worthy of cultivation and the production of first quality fruits in abundance, there being no finer strawberries in the market today than those developed and propagated at the Etter experiment grounds. Forty acres of the eight hundred now owned by Etter Brothers are planted with choice varieties of apples. Ten acres are in strawberries, to which more attention is devoted in the sketch of Albert F. Etter, who has charge of the horticultural work. The rest is in pasture and timber lands, the latter including large groves of tanbark oak, most of which they are conserving for future exploitation, and fir from which they obtain a valuable output of lumber. The economy and

633

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

thrift of their old world blood and training have combined with American push to produce prosperous conditions in the midst of a once unpromising territory. With characteristic thoroughness they have provided all the essentials for the conduct of their diversified operations, right on the grounds, facilitating and condensing the work by eliminating unnecessary handling with its consequent delays, and preparing the way for further developments as they become feasible. Thus they have erected a steam sawmill with machinery large enough to saw logs four feet in diameter, and have a plan- ing mill in connection, and they have turned out splendid dimension lumber for bridge building and other equally important uses on contract. All the boards and other lumber they have required for the construction of their own dwelling houses, barns, evaporating plant, and the other structures which have sprung up on their property as occasion necessitated or expansion justi- fied, have been made in their own mills.

Probably the most notable work done on this place, in view of its relation to progress and importance from the horticultural standpoint, is in the breeding of plants, Albert F. Etter having supervision of this depart- ment. His work in the propagation of strawberries, the production of new varieties and experiments with those of established merit, will no doubt secure his name a permanent place in the history of fruit culture ; but it will not rank far ahead of his achievements with apples, forage plants, grasses and clover, and when Humboldt county and all northern California are ready to do more in the way of intensive agriculture, as they must to keep up with growing needs, their best orchards will be the result of his years of investiga- tion and experimentation. The Etter Brothers have put up a large evaporat- ing plant, at present devoted entirely to handling the product of their forty acres of apple trees-another instance of commendable foresight which is typical of all their work. The choicest ripe apples are treated by an improved system of drying known as the "Like Fresh" process, and the brand of dried fruit produced is superb.

The talents of each of the four brothers associated as Etter Brothers are employed in the line for which he is specially fitted by experience and natural endowment. August A. and George B. Etter look after the stock and horses, transportation and farm work. Albert F. Etter conducts the evaporating plant and cannery, and superintends the horticultural depart- ment. Fred J. Etter is particularly clever as a machinist and superintends the sawmills and responsibilities of that nature. The youngest brother, Walter, though not formally a member of the firm, is identified with its operations, being a capable engineer and mechanic, helping to run the engines and saws, blacksmith shop, donkey engine, etc. In fact, all the members of the family cooperate harmoniously, though the five outside of the firm con- duct their farms individually. The holdings of the nine brothers in the Mattole valley aggregate over eighty-seven hundred acres.

THOMAS VANCE .- It is a far cry from Maine to California, but such was the call that brought Mr. Vance to the far west over forty-seven years ago. His earliest recollections, however, are of a home in Nova Scotia, his birth having occurred there, in Colchester county, October 23, 1828. Nova Scotia was also the birthplace of his father, John Vance, who passed the greater part of his life as a farmer in that country, his earth life coming to a close when he had reached the advanced age of eighty-nine years. Of the

634

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

parental family of ten children Thomas Vance was the youngest and is the only one living. As his father was a farmer it is but natural that he should also become familiar with the calling, and indeed this early training became the ground work of his success in the same line in after years. In the schools adjacent to his boyhood home he received his educational training, which, with his experience on the home farm, constituted his equipment for the duties of life that lay before him.

When he started out to make his own way in the world farming appealed to Mr. Vance very strongly, in the first place because it was the only thing with which he was familiar, and in the second place because it was the only thing that offered at the time he most needed it. Thus it followed that he continued farming in Nova Scotia until 1865, that year marking his removal to Maine. In Aroostook county he settled upon a farm which he purchased and continued to make his home until the attractions of California could no longer be resisted. March 17, 1868, marks the day on which he left the Pine Tree state, and his residence in Eureka, Cal., dates from May 15 of the same year. More fortunate than many who have made this cross-country journey he was met by a relative, his brother John having preceded him to the west and become established in business. As proprietor of a sawmill he was doing a good business and was able to give the younger brother em- ployment. As soon as the latter became familiar with the business he was placed in charge of the mill and for over twenty years he continued in this capacity. At the end of this time he gave up active business life altogether and has since lived retired in Eureka, now making his home at No. 635 Fifteenth street, with his daughter, Mrs. McCullough.

In Nova Scotia Mr. Vance was united in marriage with Elizabeth Miller, a native of that country, who died in Eureka August 5, 1913. Six children were born of this marriage and of them we mention the following: John died when four years old; Mary Jane died when two years of age; James E. was accidentally drowned in Humboldt bay ; Cassie, Mrs. Jenson, passed away in Eureka ; William died in July, 1913; and Annie Belle, Mrs. McCullough, with whom Mr. Vance makes his home, is the only living child. In the loss of wife and children Mr. Vance has indeed suffered deeply, but his later years are being filled with all of the joy and comfort that it is possible for his only remaining daughter to bestow. In his religious faith Mr. Vance believes in the tenets of the Presbyterian denomination, and in his political belief he is a Republican.

A. L. FRITZ .- There is no industry that has done more to bring Hum- boldt county to the front than dairying, a business that has been completely revolutionized in methods since it was started in the county. Where formerly the milk was skimmed from pans and churned by hand, it now passes through power separators and churns, or is otherwise manufactured into condensed, evaporated or powdered milk, thus placing milk upon the market in various forms. When he came to Humboldt county Mr. Fritz brought with him valu- able experience in the dairy business gained in the east, and this has con- tributed in no small degree to the success which he has enjoyed throughout his career in the west.

On his father's side, A. L. Fritz, of Loleta, comes from an old Pennsyl- vania family of German descent, while his mother was a member of a Southern family of English ancestry. Both parents are still living on the home farm

a.J. 7. metz

637

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

at Lexington, N. C., where Mr. Fritz was born in 1877, his parents being William and Jane (Grimes) Fritz. Of the family of eight children, A. L. Fritz is the fourth oldest, and received his education in the public schools of his home, after which he was apprenticed to the machinist trade for the usual term of training, removing in 1897 to Sheridan, Ind., at which place com- menced his association with the condensed milk industry, in which he has been interested continuously since that time. His first connection with the business was as engineer at the Indiana Condensed Milk Plant, where he learned the manufacture of the product in all details and in 1899 was placed in charge of the plant. It was a new industry and Mr. Fritz took up the experimental part of the business from the start with practical energy and ability, being later sent by the company to Ontario, Wayne county, N. Y., to install a condensed milk plant at that place, and likewise one at Lexington, Ohio, spending in all five years with the company. After severing his con- nection with them and spending a couple of years in hunting and fishing in the northwest, Mr. Fritz was employed by the American Milk Products Com- pany of Chicago, as manager of the Illinois plant of that corporation, which he rebuilt and changed from a creamery to a condensed milk plant, continuing there as manager when the company became one of the plants of Libby, McNeill & Libby. After having spent five years in this work, Mr. Fritz was transferred to Union, Ill., to become manager of the company's plant at that place, where he remained for a period of eighteen months, being then trans- ferred to the plant at Loleta, Cal., as manager. This branch was established many years ago, but in 1909 Libby, McNeill & Libby took it over, added to and enlarged it and brought it up to its present high standard as a large and extensive establishment, manufacturing all kinds of condensed milk, in- cluding evaporated milk, with a combined capacity of about five hundred cases per day ; of powdered milk about three thousand pounds are manufac- tured per day ; and butter about two tons a day, the milk being obtained in large part from the lower part of the Eel river valley, stations for collecting the same being located at Newburg and Ferndale. The plant employs about fifty people, and much of its product is shipped to the islands of the Pacific coast by way of San Francisco.

Though much of his time is of necessity taken up by his business re- sponsibilities and the furthering of the interests of the company with which he is associated, Mr. Fritz yet finds time for the enjoyment of fraternal interests, he having been made a Mason in Orion Lodge No. 358, at Union, Il1.

HARRISON MAVEL MERCER .- From the time of his arrival in Eureka in 1873 until his death, November 10, 1909, Mr. Mercer was an im- portant factor in the business history of the town, keeping constantly in touch with its progress, witnessing its growth in many directions and recog- nizing its needs in others. Prior to removing to the Pacific coast he had lived in Maine, where he was born in Calais and where during young man- hood he had engaged in lumbering in the woods extending back from the St. Croix river. Throughout the entire period of his residence in Eureka he gave his attention almost wholly to contracting and building, in which he gained an accuracy, expertness and efficiency that gave permanence to all of his work and satisfaction to all of his customers. After he had been asso- ciated with Messrs. James Simpson and Close successively in the taking of contracts, he founded the Mercer-Hodgson Construction Company and

638

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

later organized the Mercer-Frazer Construction Company, both of which were leading agencies in the material upbuilding of Northwestern California. Many of the most substantial homes and stores were erected under his super- vision, but that by no means represented the extent of his contracts. Be- sides erecting the Electric Light building and remodeling the Sequoia hos- pital, he built many of the wharves on the water front, did the construction work on the jetty on Humboldt bar and had numerous contracts for bridges and tunnels as well as track-laying on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. The nature of his work attested his skill. Every contract was given his close personal supervision and unskilled, unreliable work was never permitted. Therefore he was a force for durable construction work and a factor in the permanent upbuilding of the county.

A sincere faith in the future of Humboldt county led Mr. Mercer to take an active interest in the Eureka Chamber of Commerce and the Hum- boldt Club, while his interest in the fraternities caused him to assist in the organization of the local lodges of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. Because of being a charter member, his interest in these two fraternities was particularly keen. He served four years as a supervisor of Humboldt county and filled the position faithfully and well. While never a partisan in politics, he kept well posted concerning matters pertaining to the welfare of our country and the prosperity of the nation. A representative of the best in American citizenship, he lived up to a high ideal in public and private life and made his influence felt throughout the community for its moral uplift. Twice married, the death of his first wife left him with two children, John and Maude, the latter now Mrs. Fairfield, of Oakland. The son married Mabel Zane, of Eureka, and is a business man of this city. The second mar- riage of Mr. Mercer united him with Clara L. Finch, a native of Fort Atkin- son, Wis., and a member of a family that had charge of the erection of many handsome residences in Milwaukee during early days.' IIer father, Charles B. Finch, a veteran of a Wisconsin regiment in the Civil war and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, came to California in 1875 and settled in Humboldt county. Although a carpenter by trade, he took up agricul- tural pursuits in the west and for many years farmed near Eureka, where he died in 1910.

The only child of the union of Mr. Mercer and Clara L. Finch was a son, Clarence M., born at Eureka on the 22d of February, 1882, and primarily educated in the Eureka schools. After he was graduated from the Healds- burg high school he matriculated in the Jefferson Medical College of Phila- delphia, where he took the complete course of lectures and was graduated with an excellent standing. During 1913 he went to New York to have the advantages of a post-graduate hospital course in that city. After beginning to practice the medical profession in Eureka he established domestic ties in 1909, through his marriage to Miss Grace Richmond, a native of Ohio. Be- sides his private practice he acts as physician to Sequoia hospital at Eureka and already is being recognized as a talented young physician whose future holds out promise of professional success. The Humboldt Club has his name enrolled on its membership list and he is also connected with the Loyal Order of Moose.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 70

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