USA > California > Sacramento County > History of Sacramento 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, 1913 > Part 17
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R. M. Richardson, the latest postmaster, assumed his duties in 1904. The total receipts of the office for that year were $117,792.55. The tremendous growth since then is apparent when it is stated that for the year ending December 31, 1911, the receipts were $284,807.86.
When Mr. Richardson took charge in 1904, there were twenty-six carriers and twenty-two clerks. At the present time the force con- sists of forty-one carriers and forty-nine clerks, with the prospect that another increase will be necessary before long. The addition which during the past year has been made to the building provides for about double the lobby space, and greatly increases the general working room of the main office. At the present rate of increase in postal receipts and the amount of work to be handled, the present building will hardly be sufficiently large to accommodate the postal business of this city in a few years.
It is estimated that over 60,000 people are now receiving city delivery service, which includes Oak Park, Highland Park, Curtis Oaks and East Sacramento. The adjacent country lying within a radius of about nine miles from Sacramento is served by two rural carriers. Owing to the fact that it has become so thickly populated, it has become necessary to make request for two additional rural routes in order to serve the patrons.
In addition to the main office there are fifteen branch offices within the old limits of Sacramento and one at Oak Park.
The Post Office, Internal Revenue Office, United States Land Office, Weather Bureau and some minor offices are in the fine sand- stone Government building that stands on the northeast corner of Seventh and K streets, on the site formerly occupied by St. Rose's Roman Catholic Church.
The United States Land Office dates back to the early history of the state, after its admission. There were formerly United States land offices at Marysville and Stockton, but the two offices were con-
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solidated with the Sacramento office a few years ago and all their records transferred to Sacramento. John F. Armstrong is the reg- istrar and John C. Ing the receiver, and they have given to the office a reputation of promptness and careful management.
The Internal Revenue office for this district comprises Northern California and Nevada-a wide extent of country-and which gives employment to a large clerical force, as well as numerous store- keepers, gaugers, etc. It has been very efficient in the discharge of its duties for many years, and stands high on the roll of efficiency in the revenue department in Washington. It has not lost any of its prestige during the management of the present incumbent, Hon. W. A. Shippee, and his clerical force. (It was incorporated lately with the San Francisco office.)
The United States Weather Bureau station in Sacramento was established July 1, 1877, by Sergeant B. B. Watkins of the Signal Corps, U.S.A. The office was located on the fourth floor of the St. George building, on the corner of Fourth and J streets. November 28, 1879, the office was moved to the Fratt building, corner of Second and K streets, and June 1, 1882, it was again moved to the Arcade building, on Second street, between J and K. February 1, 1884, it was moved to the Lyon & Curtis building, on J street, between Front and Second, and April 30, 1894, it was removed to the postoffice building, at Seventh and K streets, where it now is. The station was in charge of Sergeant Watkins until April 15, 1879, when he was relieved by Sergeant M. M. Sickler, who was relieved by Sergeant James A. Barwick, March 15, 1881. Sergeant Barwick remained in charge of the station, except as temporarily relieved on account of sickness or other causes, until August 18, 1901, when he was relieved by James H. Scarr, and transferred to Denver, his health having failed. Mr. Scarr was relieved May 3, 1908, by T. A. Blair, who had temporary charge until relieved by N. R. Taylor, the present incumbent, May 8, 1908. By his uniform courtesy and personal quali- ties Mr. Taylor has made many friends in the community, and during his incumbency has instituted great improvements in the service.
During his incumbency of twenty years Sergeant Barwick made great strides in the efficiency of the service and is held in most kindly regard by older residents of the city. Formerly the data concerning the stage of the river and the forecasts in winter concerning it were published in the San Francisco office, but May 1, 1905, the data con- cerning the river were transferred to Sacramento. Here the river observation service was re-organized by Observer Scarr, and he made great improvements in it, which brought it to a high state of efficiency and which have been continued and expanded by Observer Taylor. Today all the flood stages of the Sacramento river and its tributaries are accurately forecast by him from data gathered from the stations in his district. This station now has the collection of
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data from the San Joaquin watershed below the mouth of the Mokel- umne, embracing that of the Mokelumne, Cosumnes, Stanislaus, Cala- veras rivers, and Mormon slough. Observer Taylor has also, within the past two years, established a number of stations for the observa- tion and recording of the snowfall in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
CHAPTER XXI CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS
In an earlier chapter reference was made to the suffering in 1849 and 1850 of the inhabitants of Sacramento and the immigrants who came across the plains or "around the Horn," in search of gold. Some of them had lost their stores of provisions or exhausted them. Some had started without calculating on the conditions they would find here. Some had been despoiled by the attacks of Indians, and, losing their horses or cattle, had been obliged to abandon part of their wagons and stores. And some of those coming by both of the rontes had been attacked by scurvy on account of the scarcity of vegetables, and were in wretched condition when they arrived here. The generosity of General Sutter afforded the impoverished strangers temporary relief, but more than temporary relief was needed where there were so many destitute and suffering.
The situation in Sacramento was graphically set forth by Dr. Morse in his history. He says: "At this time Sacramento was a nucleus of attraction to the world. It was the great starting point to the vast and glittering gold fields of California, with the tales of which the whole universe became astounded, and which men of every clime and nation sought to reach, without a moment's reflection upon the cost or hazard of such an adventure. The only consideration upon the part of a hundred thousand gold-seekers who were prepar- ing for emigration to California was dispatch. Time wasted on pru- dential outfits, upon the acquirement of means beyond the passage fee to San Francisco, and peradventure a little spending money to dissipate the impatience of delay, was as well wasted in any other way. What were a few dollars that required months to accumulate in the Atlantic states, to the gold-gleaming ounces that California gave weekly as compensation to the simplest labor?
"All that men seemed to wish for was the means of setting foot on California soil, and few were sufficiently provident in their calcu- lations to provide anything beyond the mere landing at San Francisco. Out of the thousands who landed at the above place in the interval referred to, not one in a hundred arrived in the country with money enough to buy him a decent ontfit for the mines. Such was the heed- lessness with which people immigrated to this country during the incipient progress of the gold-seeking fever. In all parts of the world vessels of every size and condition were put up for the great El
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Dorado, and as soon as put up were filled to overflowing with men . who had not the remotest conception of the terrible sufferings they were to encounter. Along the entire coast of the American continent, in every prominent port in Europe, in nearly every maritime point in Asia, and in nearly all the islands in the world, were men struggling with reckless determination for the means of coming to California. The savings of years were instantly appropriated, goods and chattels sold at ruinous sacrifices, homesteads mortgaged for loans obtained upon destructive rates of interest, and jewelry, keepsakes and pension fees pledged for the reimbursement of a beggarly steerage passage for thousands of miles to the town of San Francisco.
"These are facts with which the world is now familiar, and this being the manner in which people embarked for the Eureka state, it can be easily imagined how those landed who survived the untold and unutterable suffering endured from port to port. From the 1st of August, 1849, the deluging tides of immigrants began to roll into the city of San Francisco their hundreds and thousands daily; not men robust and hearty by a pleasant sea voyage, but poor miserable beings, so famished and filthy, so saturated with scorbutis diseases, or so depressed in spirits as to make them an easy prey of disease and death, where they had expected naught but health and fortune. "Thus did mining adventurers pour into San Francisco, nine- tenths of whom, for a few months, took passage to Sacramento. How- ever debilitated they might be, however penniless and destitute, still this, the great focus of mining news, the nearest trading point for miners situated on a navigable stream, was the only place that men could think of stopping at for recuperative purposes. Hence, from Cape Horn, from all the isthmus routes, from Asiatic seaports, and from the islands of the Pacific, men in the most impoverished health were converging at Sacramento. But these were not the only sources of difficulty to Sacramento in 1849; for at the same time that the scurvy-ridden subjects of the ocean began to concentrate among us, there was another more terrible train of scorbutic sufferers coming in from the overland roads, so exhausted in strength and so worn out with the calamities of the journey as to be but barely able to reach this, the Valley City.
"From these sources Sacramento became a perfect lazar house of disease, suffering and death, months before anything like an ef- fective city government was organized. It must be remembered that in proportion as these scenes began to accumulate, men seemed to grow indifferent to the appeals of suffering, and to the dictates of benevolence. The more urgent and importunate the cries and be- seeching miseries of the sick and destitute, the more obdurate, des potic and terrible became the reign of cupidity.
"In the month of July, 1849, these subjects of distress and the appeals of misery became so common that men could not escape them;
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and if there had been the utmost attention paid to the exercise of charity and protection, it would have been impossible to have met the demands of the destitute, sick and dying as a commensurate sympathy would have dictated. Such was the difficulty with which facilities for the care of the sick could be procured, that even the few who had money could not purchase those comforts which even the poorest in the Atlantic states can enjoy. Dr. Craigan's hospital at the Fort was the most comfortable place, but such were the necessary demands for boarding and nursing that men could not avail themselves of such care. Soon after the establishment of this hospital, Drs. Deal and Martin opened another hospital in one of the bastions of the old Fort. This led to a reduction of the cost of hospital board and attendance, but still it was too dear a comfort to be purchased by more than one in five of the accumulating invalids of the town. The sick of the city were in consequence thrown upon the exclusive attention of a society which had become so mammon-ridden as to be almost insensible to the voice of want. Not only were the victims of scurvy evolving a general distress, but also those who supposed themselves acclimated were beginning to feel the sweeping miasmatic fevers which were peculiarly severe during this first season."
The first organized efforts to relieve the suffering were made by the fraternity of Odd Fellows, individual members of which formed an informal organization. Gen. A. M. Winn was elected president, Mr. McLaren, secretary, and Captain Gallup, treasurer. They devoted themselves untiringly to the sick and suffering, and an immense amount of relief was dispensed. Still men sickened and died and often were not even wrapped in a blanket for burial. Coffins were from sixty to one hundred and fifty dollars apiece and could not always be procured, but the association spent thousands of dollars for them.
As before related, the cholera made its appearance on the 20th of October, 1850, and raged for nearly a month, the death roll of which can never be known. The stricken city was nearly depopu- lated for a time. In April, 1850, the Freemasons and Odd Fellows together built a hospital, the board of trustees being elected by both orders.
Dr. Dow had a "Thompsonian Hospital and Botanic Medicine Store" on K street, between Second and Third. The price of admis- sion per day was from five to twenty-five dollars, "according to trouble and expense."
Drs. T. J. White and C. D. Cleveland had a large hospital at the corner of Ninth and L streets that would accommodate one liun- dred patients, and Drs. James S. Martin and B. R. Carman con- ducted the "Sutter's Fort Hospital" inside of the Fort. Drs. Morse and Stillman also had a hospital at the corner of Third and K streets.
Besides these, there were several physicians, first at Sutter's
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Fort and afterwards in the city, who received boarding patients, but very few sick persons had the means with which to pay the prices asked. It became necessary, therefore, at an early date, for a public hospital to be established, at which all cases could be taken in and cared for. This was done, the first one being opened in the business part of the city, Drs. J. F. Montgomery, Johnson Price, George W. Williams and Proctor being among the first physicians connected with it. The city directory of 1853 contains the announcement, "Drs. Johnson Price and George W. Williams, Physicians to the County Hospital, corner of I and Seventh streets." About that time Proctor and Price established a hospital on Second street, between I and J, with seventy-five or eighty beds, and entered into a contract with the county for keeping the poor, numbering about fifty, and charging very high prices. Three or four years afterwards the county, having meanwhile built itself a hospital on the corner of Tenth and L streets, endeavored to break the contract, but Price and Proctor sued and obtained judgment against it. This county hospital was erected on the northeast corner of the present Capitol Park. It was torn down and removed shortly after it was vacated, soon after the Civil War.
Dr. Montgomery was the county physician again in 1857; 1858-59, Dr. G. L. Simmons; 1859-60, Dr. Montgomery; 1861, from November, Dr. G. J. Phelan; 1869, from September, Dr. Montgomery; 1870, Dr. A. C. Donaldson, with Dr. G. A. White as assistant.
The county then purchased some land from James Lansing, there being about sixty acres on the Upper Stockton Road, a mile south of the city limits, paying about $11,000 for it. Here the county erected a fine building and removed to it about seventy-five patients from the old one. This hospital was burned October 5, 1878, and the patients were removed to the "Old Pavilion," corner of Sixth and M streets and cared for temporarily, until the present one was built, in 1879. It was more commodious and better arranged than the first one, but has nearly outlived its usefulness and a new one will undoubtedly be constructed in the near future, with more up-to-date appurtenances. It was built on the "pavilion" plan with four wings radiating from the central structure and cost about $65,000. The farm provides fruit, vegetables, milk and various other things for the use of the inmates.
Dr. G. A. White became county physician in 1872, and continued as such until 1908, with the exception that in the spring of 1879, the homeopathists were put in charge of the hospital, Dr. George Pyburn serving for three months, and Dr. George M. Dixon the succeeding four. Dr. Laine, regular, finished out the unexpired term. Dr. White brought the hospital up to a high state of efficiency and stands in the front rank of the surgeons of the state. He was succeeded, in 1904, by his son, Dr. John L. White, who is the present county
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physician and has already won the name of one of the most promising young surgeons on the coast.
SOUTHERN PACIFIC HOSPITAL
In the early days of the Central Pacific history, the road ran through a sparsely settled country, with the towns few and far be- tween and of small size. Accidents in the railroad man's life are frequent. In those days most of the road's employees were new men on the coast and but few of them had relatives that could take care of them when disabled. It remained then, in most cases, for the com- pany and their comrades to take care of them. These calls for dona- tions were frequent and burdensome and the company finally con- cluded that it would be best and most humane for it to build a hos- pital where the employees could be treated and cared for when sick or disabled, whether they had means or not. Sacramento was the place chosen for the hospital and an old residence was leased for the purpose. In 1869 the Central Pacific Hospital was built at a cost of $64,000. It was of four stories, 60x35 feet, and two wings, 35x52 feet, and a kitchen twenty-four feet square. It had six wards, be- sides eight private rooms for patients, and had a library of fifteen hundred volumes. The executive and medical staff was excellent. It was supported by a monthly contribution of fifty cents from each officer and employee, which entitled them to free medical treatment in case of sickness or injury while in the employ of the company. It proved of very great benefit to the employees. In 1900 it was aban- doned and removed to the Charles Crocker residence on F street and Eighth, where it now is, but the construction of a new one was begun in 1911 on Second street. It was completed in 1912, and has since been used chiefly as an emergency hospital, most of the ordinary cases being sent to the company's hospital in San Francisco.
PROTESTANT ORPHAN ASYLUM
Early in 1858 the necessity for caring for orphan children was discussed, and an association for that purpose was formed, but it did not prove of long continuance and the matter was dropped for some years. In 1867, however, the governor and a number of citizens were interested through the efforts of Mrs. Elvira Baldwin in the care of a family of seven children orphaned by the death of their mother, a poor woman. The direct influence of this movement was the awaken- ing of a new interest in the subject, and the organization of a society for the care and maintenance of destitute orphans in the county, and ultimately in the state. Mrs. I. E. Dwinell was the first president of the organization and the society rented and furnished a building at Seventh and D streets, where fourteen or fifteen children were immediately placed in the care of the first matron, Mrs. Cole. The association erected a building the next year on the block between K and L, Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets, where the new high school building now stands. The building was considerably damaged by fire,
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December 7, 1878, but was soon repaired and another and better building was added to it, making it commodious and well-arranged. The year previous a neat school building had been erected, and the school was made part of the city public-school system and placed under the care of the city board of education. No children except the inmates of the institution were allowed to attend the school.
Many noble women have devoted much time and money to the welfare and upbuilding of the institution. Among them was Mrs. Sarah E. Clayton, who was president of the society in 1877-88, and traveled nearly five thousand miles in fifteen years, caring for orphans who were afterwards furnished with homes through the efforts of the society. In 1905 the property was sold to the city of Sacramento for high school purposes and the institution was removed to a site on the Lower Stockton Road, just beyond the William Curtis place.
THE MARGUERITE HOME
The first of the monuments to the memory of Mrs. Margaret Crocker was the home for aged women known as the Marguerite Home, the second being the gift of the Crocker Art Gallery to the city. The home is situated at Seventh and I streets and was originally the residence and grounds of Capt. William Whitney, comprising a half- block on I street. A fine building was added to the residence, mak- ing twenty-eight large bedrooms, with parlor, reception room, office, kitchen, laundry and diningroom. Everything was done for the com- fort and convenience of the inmates and the rooms are well-lighted and ventilated, and the house heated by hot-air pipes. The grounds are well shaded by fine trees and kept in good order by the trustees.
The Marguerite Home was dedicated February 25, 1884; the sixtieth anniversary of the birth of Mrs. Crocker, the occasion being celebrated by a reception of the older citizens of Sacramento at the home. After the congratulations were over, Mrs. Margaret Crocker made the presentation of the home to the trustees in the following words, which explain the purpose and status of the gift: "Frank Miller, Albert Gallatin, John H. Carroll, Gustavus L. Simmons and Charles McCreary: Gentlemen-Herewith I deliver into your pos- session a deed in trust for certain money, real and personal prop- erty, by means of which I propose to establish a home for aged and indigent women in Sacramento, to be known as the 'Marguerite Home.' I have the honor, gentlemen, to solicit your acceptance of this trust; the deed expresses my intentions without placing restric- tions on your mode of management.
"Knowing your intelligence and ability, and having full faith in your character and in your disposition to aid in all benevolent pur- poses, and believing yon to be in full accord with my views in respect to the especial objects in my regard in this gift, I have left, as you will see upon a careful examination of the deed, to your discretion
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and superior knowledge and to your kind and earnest efforts, which I most heartily invoke, the success of this trust."
Mayor John Q. Brown, Dr. G. L. Simmons and Hon. Joseph Stef- fens made appropriate responses to the tender of the generous gift. The deed, in addition to the property purchased for the home, dedi- cated also $50,000 as an endowment fund, besides $12,000 as a further aid to the maintenance of the home. While the money was apportioned to the support of the inmates, the trustees, anxious to extend the benefits of the institution to a wider range, concluded to take for life such worthy and respectable women as may desire to enter the home and as are able to pay the expenses incident to their maintenance.
Of the original trustees, all except Frank Miller are dead, Dr. Simmons passing away a little over a year ago. The present board of trustees consists of Ludwig Mebius, president, Dr. W. A. Briggs, vice-president, Dr. W. E. Briggs, C. F. Dillman and H. A. Fairbanks. The death of Dr. Simmons was a great blow to the board of directors, as he had given his time and effort unstintedly and unselfishly to looking after details important to the efficiency of the home and the comfort of its inmates. The patronesses of the home are Mrs. W. A. Briggs, Mrs. Mebius, Mrs. C. F. Dillman, Mrs. W. E. Briggs and Mrs. Fairbanks. Miss Sne M. Clarke is the present matron.
OTHER HOSPITALS
From time to time other hospitals have been provided for the care of the sick, which, while not strictly speaking, charitable institu- tions, are for the alleviation and cure of the ills of suffering humanity, and may therefore be spoken of under this head. All "water cures" and "health institutes" are hospitals, and after the rush of the gold seekers to this state was fairly on, it is surprising how quickly all the eastern institutions of that class were established on this coast, although not on an extensive scale. There is no record as to when the first water cure was established in this city, but it was probably in the early '50s, We find Dr. T. P. Zander in 1857 advertising one at the southwest corner of Fifth and K street, and later a Dr. Burns established one which afterwards became the Pacific Water Cure and Electric Health Institute.
This fell later under the management of Dr. M. F. Clayton, a graduate of the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, Ohio, who carried it on until his death, when Mrs. Clayton took charge of it for a number of years, being succeeded in its active management by her daughter, Mrs. A. J. Gardner. In 1910 the institution was closed and the fine structure known as the Hotel Clayton was erected on its site.
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