History of Santa Clara 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 55

Author: Sawyer, Eugene Taylor, 1846-
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1928

USA > California > Santa Clara County > History of Santa Clara 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 55

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The pageant is in eight episodes, divided by a festival interlude into two movements. The San Jose Mercury in its report says: "It pre- sents in dramatic spectacle the vital moments in the history of the commonwealth. The acoustics in the natural amphitheater where the pageant was given are remarkable, every word of the actors being plainly audible to the last rows of seats. And with a dusky canopy overhead, brilliant with a million stars,

the rugged setting and faithful costuming of the players went to make up a vivid glimpse into the past, reflecting credit both on Mr. Hall and on the city of Los Gatos."

The following persons appeared in the cast : Prologue-The Californian, J. M. Church Wal- ker. Episode one-Musonotoma, Stella Al- lampress ; Tokkoko, Vincent Duffey ; William Markham, Charles J. Mickelson ; Onalik, Wil- lis Hubbell; Sir Francis Drake, Eugene Rounds ; Finley, J. G. Hobbie; Wininu, the chief, Gleen Curtis, Drake's soldiers and sail- ors, Wiwok Indians.

Episode two-Captain Vincente Markham, John Clark ; Figueroa, Arthur Bassett; Gaspar de Portola, E. L. Thomas; Father Crespi, H. E. Pearson ; Jose, a boy, Joseph Barbano ; Cap- tain Perez, A. L. Erickson; Father Junipero Serra, R. B. Newbre ; Dona Ysabel Markham, Eleanor Ham. Spanish soldiers and sailors ; priests ; Indians.

Episode three-Governor Pablo de Sola, Fred F. Wells; Senor Mateo Markham, Mar- tin Le Fevre; Senorita Juana, Thelma Spring- er ; her duenna, Mrs. C. C. Lasley: Don Ros- enda Peralta, WV. A. Platt: Don Felix Verdi- go, J. C. Wakefield ; Commandante, Neal Mc- Grady; Canon Augustin de San Vincente, R. D. Hartman.

Episode four-Mrs. Markham, Mrs. W. A. Platt ; Luke Markham, Henry Crall: General Guadalupe Vallejo, E. M. Barton: Ezekiel Merrill, E. E. Gessler ; Dr. Semple, William M. Bolstad, William B. Ide, O. H. Thomas ; army lieutenant, E. H. Melvin.

Episode five-Kelsey, an immigrant, J. E. Norton ; Mrs. Tucker, Miss Ella Shove; Cap- tain Tucker, George H. White; Mary Tucker. Georgia Edwards; John Tucker, Walter Ed- wards; Captain John Sutter, A. E. Yoder ; Doctor, Dr. L. A. Frary; Elizabeth Jordon, Rachel Riggs.

Episode six-Peter Wimmer, Jesse O'Neil ; Jas. W. Marshall, Louis Fetsch ; Jennie Wim- mer, Mrs. Egan C. Wells; Jim Brodie, Dell Linz.

Episode seven-San Brannan, Dr. Louis Boonshaft; John C. Hays, sheriff, J. M. Gor- man ; James D. Farwell, vice-chairman of Vigi- lantes, James D. Farwell, Jr .; clerk, Herbert Roberts ; prosecutor, Fred Berryman, Sr .; de- fender, N. 1. Wilder.

Episode eight-Watchman, E. H. Norton; Judge Nathaniel Bennett, J. S. Troxell. Epi- logue-The Gloria, Blanche M. Lidley.

Gilroy

Gilroy, one of the most thriving and beau- tiful little cities of Santa Clara County, is lo- cated at the southern end of the valley, about thirty miles from San Jose. It is on the

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State Highway, which runs through the south- ern coast counties to Los Angeles. The first settler was John Gilroy, who arrived at Mont- erey about 1813. He struck a midshipman, and upon being reprimanded, he escaped punishment by fleeing to the Santa Clara Val- ley, settling in San Ysidro. In 1821 he mar- rid a daughter of Ignacio Ortega and upon Ortega's death received a large portion of the San Ysidro Rancho. He served many years as alcalde of the district and in 1846 was made a justice of the peace by Commodore Stock- ton. In his last years he was in want. He died in July, 1869, aged 76 years.

The second settler was Philip Doak, who was a block and tackle maker on a whaler. He came into the valley in 1821.

Matthew Fellom was the third settler. He landed from a whaler at a Russian settlement in 1822 and finding his way to the Santa Clara Valley in 1823, acquired a portion of the San Ysidro tract. He died in 1873 and was the grandfather of James Fellom, the popular novelist, who resides in San Jose. The first house was erected by James Houck in 1850. It was a small roadside inn and stable, intended for accommodations of travelers be- tween San Jose and Monterey. It was built of split redwood and was situated to the north of Lewis Street. The next building was on Lewis Street, near Monterey Street and was used as a store by Lucian Everett. This was soon followed by a house built by Jolin Eigelberry. The first hotel in the town was built by Da- vid Holloway in the winter of 1853-54. It was quite a pretentious structure and stood bet- ween Lewis Street and Martin's Lane. About the same time David Holloway opened a black- smith shop and Eli Reynolds put up a build- ing for a saddler's shop. In 1851 a postoffice was established with James Houck as post- master. In 1852 the first school was opened. It continued one season. In 1853 a school building was erected by subscription. The teacher was Mr. Jackson and the trustees were W. R. Bane and Dempsey Jackson.

The first Protestant religious services were held in 1852 at the residence of W. R. Bane. They were conducted by Rev. Mr. Anthony of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1853 Rev. J. T. Cox of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, organized a congregation and hield services in the schoolhouse. In 1854 a church was built at a cost of $1,000. Both the schoolhouse and the church have been re- placed by handsome modern buildings.

In 1867, F. S. Rogers, a dentist, opened an office, and in 1868 James C. Zuck established the first lawyer's office in the town. Zuck and Rogers formed a partnership for conducting a real estate business. They purchased five acres in the northwestern part of town and

sold it quickly as town lots. Twenty acres more on Monterey Street, near the center of town, were purchased from John Eigelberry and sold in the same manner. W. L. Hoover then came into the firm and thirty acres more land, on the east side of Monterey Street, were purchased from L. F. Bell, cut up into lots and sold.

On February 18, 1868, the town was incor- porated under the laws of the state and named Gilroy. On March 7 of the same year an elec- tion for town officers was held and the follow- ing were chosen: Trustees, John C. Looser, William Hanna, Frank Oldham, Jacob Ein- stein, Jacob Reither; treasurer, H. Wangen- heim ; assessor, James Angel; marshal, A. W. Hubbard. The assessor failed to qualify and H. D. Coon was appointed in his stead. J. M. Keith was appointed town clerk. In March, 1870, an act was passed by the legislature in- corporating Gilroy as a city, with the govern- ment vested in a mayor, city marshal and ex- officio tax collector, a city clerk and ex-officio assessor, and a city treasurer. At the first regular election in May, 1870, the following officers were elected: J. M. Browne, mayor ; M. Einstein, treasurer; Geo. T. Clark, clerk ; M. Gray, marshal; councilmen, William Hanna, Jacob Reither, J. B. Morey, C. K. Farley, William Isaac, Volney Howard.

A great obstacle to the prosperity of the city was the question of title to the land on which it was situated. The ownership of the land was an undivided interest in the Los Animas Rancho, an early Spanish grant. The rancho had never been partitioned and there was an uncertainty as to where any particular holder might be located when the different interests were set off. This state of affairs was a source of great annoyance, as it practically clouded all the titles in the city and vicinity. Many meetings for consultation were held. The matter culminated January 3, 1879, when Henry Miller, the largest owner in the rancho, filed a complaint in partition. The defendants were all the other owners and numbered over one thousand. The court, after hearing, ap- pointed County Surveyor Herrmann, J. M. Battee and H. M. Leonard as commissioners to survey and set off to each owner his in- terest in the tract. It required several years to accomplish this work and it was not until June, 1886, that the final decree was filed. This settled for ever the question of title and each owner of property in Gilroy has now a claim to his property that is indisputable.

Since the settlement of title Gilroy has grown rapidly. Within the municipal limits the population is over 3,000, but more than 7,000 people make use of it as a business cen- ter of a rich and productive territory. The

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country about is devoted to the production of prunes and other fruits, berries, vegetables and alfalfa, to dairying, cattle, hog and chicken raising, and to large seed farms.

Excellent schools, good stores, churches, lodges, clubs, beautiful shady streets and the advantages of a live town are afforded Gilroy. Its water and lighting systems are municip- ally owned. It is the commercial center of the southern end of the valley and has a fine future for development. It has many up-to- date buildings, including two banks, a fine city hall and a new high school. There is a strong and efficient fire department, several good hotels and a fine public library. The Chamber of Commerce has been a most active agency in the upbuilding of that section and is regarded as one of the most energetic or- ganizations in the county.

Gilroy's streets are broad, lined with shade trees and bordered with cement walks and well-kept lawns with flowers and shrubbery in profusion. The high school occupies a building which cost $40,000 and has ten acres of land for playgrounds and agricultural pur- poses. Adjoining the school tract is a city park. There is a good sewer system with septic tanks and filter beds. The Odd Fel- lows and Rebekahs Orphans' Home is lo- cated here. There is a large cannery, two packing houses, a strawberry plant (estab- lished in 1918). a dehydrating plant, natural ice plant, a creamery, planing and feed mills, two newspapers, the Advocate and the Gazette, seven churches, machine shops and garages.

A building boom was inaugurated in 1921. First, an 1. O. O. F. Orphans' Home was er- ected at a cost of $250.000. It replaced a wooden structure erected in 1897. At the ded- icatory exercises, October 19, 1921, a bronze tablet to the memory of the late Mrs. Mary Donaho, who lost her life in a San Francisco fire, was unveiled. Mrs. Donaho left a fund for the furnishing of the assembly hall. Then followed the building of a new theater, the Strand, at a cost of $100.000, two large hotels, a Masonic Temple, costing $125,000, and a number of costly business houses.

The climate of Gilroy and vicinity cannot be excelled anywhere. The average tempera- ture in July is sixty-five degrees and in Jan- uary fifty degrees. This slight difference be- tween summer and winter insures fresh vege- tables and flowers every month in the year and fresh strawberries for ten months. Nearly three-fourths of the days throughout the year are clear and sunshiny, making the section a natural sanitarium as well as an ideal place for ranch and residence purposes. The soil is

diversified from a light gravelly loam to a heavy, deep black sediment. The annual rain- fall is about twenty inches, and is ample for everything except alfalfa, berries, vegetables and lawns.

Prunes are the staple crop, a very large part of the valley being in prune orchards and more being planted every year. Excellent table grapes are produced here in abundance. and a large acreage is planted to blackberries, loganberries, raspberries and strawberries, all of which grow luxuriantly and produce most profitable crops. Considerable general farm- ing is still done, although most of the valley has been made into orchards, vineyards and dairies. Artesian water is found over a large section south and east of Gilroy, nearly all of which is given over to dairying and nearly every dairy has a large acreage of alfalfa and its own cheese factory. A few large farms are devoted entirely to raising garden, vegetable and flower seeds. Excellent tobacco is pro- duced near Gilroy. At the Panama-Pacific In- ternational Exposition a gold medal was awarded for leaf tobacco and cigars made from tobacco grown in this section of the valley. Poultry and egg raising pay well and stock raising is an extensive and very profitable in- dustry. From 400 to 450 carloads of live stock are shipped from Gilroy every year.

On either side of the valley, which at Gilroy is five miles wide, are a series of foothills, practically free from frost, these areas being devoted to the raising of apricots and other early fruits and lemons, which do remarkably well. Higher up on the west side are low mountains covered with beautiful redwoods. All through these mountains, in the canyons, are excellent camping places. Redwood Re- treat, a popular summer resort, also Magic Springs and the summer homes of Lloyd Os- borne, Henry Miller, and others, are located in these mountains. Through these moun- tains, in a direct line, it is only fifteen miles from Gilroy to the coast. In the mountains on the east side of the valley are located the Gilroy Hot Springs, noted as a health resort, and a short distance farther north are the Madrone Springs.

Other small villages in the southern end of the county are San Ysidro (Old Gilroy), de- voted to dairying and vegetable raising; San Felipe, where tobacco raising was for years successfully pursued : Rucker, a station on the Southern Pacific, where fruit culture is a spe- cialty ; Sargent's Station, six miles south of Gilroy, and a favorite picnic resort, and Solis, an agricultural and fruit district in the west- ern foothills.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Other Growing Towns in Santa Clara County-Change From Grain Field to Thriving Community-The Progress of the Towns in the Fruit Districts -Ambrose Bierce's Life-Tragic Adventure With a California Lion.

Sunnyvale, fifteen years old, was built on what was once a grain field. It is eight miles west of San Jose and is on the main line of the Southern Pacific Railway. Today, there is a bustling, wide-awake town which is grow- ing by leaps and bounds. There are factories, canneries, splendid business houses, a first class grammar school, a bank, several churches, two lumber yards, two garages, and a live Chamber of Commerce. The manufac- turing industries represent an outlay of over $1,000,000. It was incorporated December 24, 1912. Among the industries are the fol- lowing :

The Joshua Hendy Iron Works is the pio- neer foundry of California, the launching of which dates back to 1856. It was not, how- ever, until 1906 that operations were begun in Sunnyvale. So extensive have these opera- tions been that scores of men are given year- round employment. Mining machinery is one of the chief outputs, although they are making marine steam engines, steering engines, warp- ing engines, and ship fittings for the Govern- ment. All kinds of cast iron castings and all types of machine work are also ably cared for. The daily casting capacity of the foundry is thirty tons. Orders from India, China, South America, and many other foreign ports have been filled. It was indeed a lucky day for Sunnyvale when the Hendy Iron Works lo- cated here. It was equally fortunate for the iron works to find, near San Francisco, so de- sirable a location. Sunnyvale pulls for and gets the big things that are to be passed out.

The firm of Libby, McNeil & Libby, well known throughout the United States, operates the year round. and has perhaps the most ex- tensive plant on the coast. They employ a large number of helpers, many of whom own their homes and are getting real enjoyment out of life.

The Jubilee Incubator Company is the pio- neer manufacturing plant of Sunnyvale, it having been established some sixteen years ago, although for forty years incubator con- struction has been Mr. Besse's favorite pas- time. The Jubilee Incubator and the Jubilee Brooder have been made famous because of their hot-water system, and they are not only shipped into every state in the Union, but Aus-

tralia, New Zealand, Japan, Africa, China and other foreign countries have ordered liberally.

With a season beginning early in May and running until nearly the close of the year, the Sunnyvale Canneries give employment to from 200 to 250 persons. The season of 1922 is looked forward to as the banner season, and to that end extensive planning has been done.

The Three Leaf Cot Manufacturing Com- pany is one of the interesting manufacturing companies of the Pacific Coast, giving delight- ful employment to a large number of people, and turning out a finished product that is eag- erly sought far and wide-that of a bed, a chair, a table, and a settee, all in one, com- bined with a collapsible folding tent. thus mak- ing camp life a pleasure, picnicing a dream, and an overland trip an ideal outing. A girl can set up the entire outfit unaided.

Ninety-five per cent of the output of the Hydro-Carbon Companies is exported, paint oil and mineral turpentine being the chief products. Added to this is the famous rubber oil waterproofing for auto tops-a commodity that is winning favor wherever introduced.

The Rumely Products Company operates twenty-six branches in the United States and many in foreign countries. The one in Sunny- vale furnishes a distributing point for Cali- fornia, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico, and is caring for the business in a highly credita- ble manner. Mr. W. Reineke, the superin- tendent, has been well schooled in Rumely Products, which fact can be duly attested by the increased business. The claim of the com- pany is that "20,000 farmers save all their grain by using Rumely Ideal Separators."

There is one of a chain of many of the Cali- fornia Packing Corporation's plants located in Sunnyvale, and so strongly is it officered and financed that it is always regarded as a real contender in the race for supremacy. The products of this plant wherever introduced, have, by popular vote, been placed among the foremost in their line.

A man once said: "I know there's money, and plenty of it, in poultry, for I have put lots of it in, and as I never got it out, I know it's still there." Mr. E. A. Lodge, manager and owner of the Pebble Side Poultry Farm, knows, too, that there is plenty of money in

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poultry, for he is getting it out every day, and seeing is believing. Perhaps there is no greater section in California for successful poultry raising than in and around Sunnyvale.

J. Fred Holthouse, a life-time resident of Sunnyvale, and whose study has ever been along the line of improved pumping methods, is the builder of the most complete pumping plant systems that are in use today.

To meet the demands of a rapidly growing community, men with keen vision have launched into the dry goods business, clothing business, grocery business, meat business, hotel and rooming house business, restaurant business, hardware business, drug business, as well as furniture, electrical supplies, feed and fuel, bicycle, plumbing, blacksmithing-in short, Sunnyvale is a veritable bee hive of industry.

In the matter of churches Sunnyvale is rep- resented by the Baptists, Congregationalists, Catholics, Episcopalians and Methodists. A free municipal library was established by the good women of the W. C. T. U. soon after Sunnyvale sprang into existence, and was taken over by the own after an organization was perfected. A very large selection of choice books are at the disposal of the residents, in- cluding the country circulating library. Nearly every known order is represented here, and the individual who bears the proud distinction of being a "jiner," can have some place to go every night in the week, where he finds diver- tisement from his daily grind at the old tread mill. The movies, too, contribute their full quota in the way of entertainment, the best and up-to-the-minute reels alone being shown. The show house is a good one, well ventilated, ably managed, and a real oasis in the desert to many. Sunnyvale has one newspaper, the Standard, published by A. T. Fetter. The town's latest improvement is a new packing house built by the California Prune and Apri- cot Growers, Inc. It is one the line of the Southern Pacific Railroad.

In 1920 the South Shore Port Company, with eighty directors in Santa Clara County, made ready to finance and engineer the pro- ject of obtaining a direct waterway for the transportation of the products raised in the valley. Several sites were examined and sel- ection was finally made of Jagel's Landing, a few miles north of Sunnyvale. Work was be- gun in July, 1920, and will be completed this year (1922). An immense dredger was pro- cured and a canal two miles long with a basin 300×600 feet at the landing was started and is now nearly completed. Boats of 500 tons will operate in the port and will act as feeders of large boats which sail from San Francisco. This waterway will connect three of the rich-

est valley in the State-the Sacramento, San Joaquin and Santa Clara. The officers of the company are : Paul H. Fretz, president ; R. B. Roll, George Jagel, Jr. ; secretary, C. L. Stow- ell ; treasurer, W. Mclaughlin.

Campbell

Campbell is located in the heart of the or- chard district four miles southwest of San Jose and reached by the Southern Pacific and the Peninsular railways. It has the distinc- tion of fostering the largest drying plant in the world, where twenty-five thousand trays of fruit can be placed on the ground at one time. It is proud of its three canneries and its dried fruit packing houses, which send to the markets of the world the finished products in fruits of the Santa Clara Valley.

The town was established in 1887 by Ben- jamin Campbell, who cut up his 167 acres in lots and small farms and sold them. This area was afterward extended and the ranches heretofore given over to grain were planted in fruit, prunes and apricots, mainly. The town grew rapidly and now has a population of about 1200. It has two banks, a lumber mill and yard, an improvement society, three churches (Methodist, Congregational and Catholic), County Woman's Club, Home and School Club, a town library and a branch of the county library, fire department, and a main street of up-to-date business houses. Two miles from town, at Vasona, is a pit crushing plant. Last but not least Campbell has four grammar schools and a union high school. The latter accommodates the children of Hamilton, Cambria, San Tomas and Campbell school districts. There is one newspaper, The Press, published by Harry Smith.

The section is most highly developed. The drying plant is a cooperative institution, the farmers bringing in their crops to be dried. The elevation of the town is 200 feet. The land rises about 100 feet in each three miles from the trough of the valley to the base of the hills. This, together with several creeks which flow northward in deep cuts, affords ample drainage to the whole section. The slope also permits of a slight air drainage and makes the section less frosty than the land further east. That this is an understood fact is evidenced by the planting of several small lemon orchards near the town.

Cupertino

Directly west of San Jose and Meridian is Cupertino, on the Saratoga and Mountain View road. Good roads extend in all direc- tions. It is on the line of the electric road from Los Altos to Los Gatos and also has di- rect electric railway connection with San Jose,

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ten miles distant. In the town are located a general merchandise store, a real estate of- fice, a union church, Catholic church and an Odd Fellows hall. To the east, south and west the fruit ranches are crowded together. The soil is fertile and the principal crops are prunes and apricots. The town has a rural free delivery, a drier and fruit warehouse, and nearby, at West Side, a packing com- pany and drier. There is a library, an im- provement club. Odd Fellows, Rebekahs. Woodmen of the World and King's Daugh- ters lodges, and an up-to-date union grammar school, the districts represented being Lin- coln, San Antonio, Collins and Doyle. To build the school house a bond issue of $7,500 was necessary. The population is about 500 and there are no fixed boundaries.

Alviso

Alviso is one of the oldest towns in Santa Clara County. In 1849 it was predicted that it was destined to become a great city. Set- ting, as it does, at the head of San Francisco Bay, it was thought that it would become the shipping point for all the lower county. For a time it was a very active place. Warehouses were built and buildings erected for hotels, dwellings and stores. The railroad, however, diverted travel in 1865, and the town became nearly deserted. The arrival of the South Pacific Coast Railroad (now part of the South- ern Pacific system) in 1876, revived business somewhat, but the residents no longer look forward to putting on metropolitan airs.

The town was incorporated in 1852 with John Snyder as its first treasurer and A. T. Gallagher as its first marshal. Thomas West and Robert Hutchinson were members of the first board of trustees. The principal indus- tries of Alviso at the present time are the Bayside Cannery and two evaporator compa- nies. The Bayside employs from 400 to 500 persons every season. The Ortley Bros. also do a paying shell business. There is but one church, the First Methodist, and one grammar school. There is both water and mail trans- portation, boats drawing ten feet of water be- ing enabled to land at the wharves.

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History of Santa Clara 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 55

Author: Sawyer, Eugene Taylor, 1846- Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1928

Author: Sawyer, Eugene Taylor, 1846-
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1928