USA > California > Sonoma County > History of Sonoma County : including its geology, topography, mountains, valleys, and streams > Part 35
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Throughout the year 1867, the all absorbing topic was the railroad. Meet- ings were held at different times having this object in view, tending to show that unless speedy and prompt action were taken a road from Napa into the Russian river valley would be built, which would deprive Petaluma of all the up-country trade and travel; thus, they became fully aroused to the necessity of connecting this city with Healdsburg by rail, and the ball being once put in motion, the following result was speedily gained: "The under- signed, proposing to build a railroad in the county of Sonoma, in the State of California, from the city of Petaluma to Healdsburg, with a branch from some point on the line to Bloomfield, and of the length of about forty miles; in order to form an incorporation under the provisions of an Act of the Legislature of the State of California, approved May 20, 1861, entitled 'An Act to pro- vide for the incorporation of railroad companies, and the management of the affairs thereof, and other matters relating thereto,' and the several acts amendatory thereof, do hereby severally subscribe the amount of capital stock of such contemplated railroad company set opposite our respective names. And the subscribers do hereby name and appoint William P. Hill of Petaluma to be Treasurer of said company." Here follow these names with the sum of two thousand dollars opposite each: William Hill, Smith D. Towne, William D. Bliss, McNear & Brother, H. Mecham, P. E. Weeks, Isaac Fuller, N. E. Manning, John Sroufe, William Zartman, C. Temple, J. S. Van Doren, J. M. Bowles, E. Barnes, A. B. Derby, A. P. Whitney, J. S. Cutter, Alex. McCune, Henry Hall, Thomas Hopper. We would also men- tion that in this year the residence and grounds of Judge J. B. Southard were purchased by the Sisters of Charity for the establishment of a Convent school, and that the College would appear to have made slight progress while
William Howard
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in the month of July the school census for the Petaluma District showed the following satisfactory results: Number of boys between five and fifteen years of age, three hundred and twenty-three; number of girls of same age, three hundred and thirty-five; total, six hundred and fifty-eight. Number of colored children between five and fifteen years of age, eight; number of white children under five years, four hundred and fifteen; number of colored children of same age, four. Number of children attending public schools, two hundred and sixty-three; number attending private schools, five hundred and fifty-six; number attending no school, one hundred and thirty-nine. The chapter of accidents for the twelve-month, was unfortun- ately large. On may 11th the premises of S. Payran, in East Petaluma, were attempted to be set on fire. On the 20th, a conflagration occurred destroying the warehouses of Greening, Daly & Sroufe, and Hinshaw, while on September 25th the seats prepared for the visitors at the Fair ground gave way, precipitating several hundred ladies to the ground, of whom a number were seriously hurt, among them being Miss McCune, Mrs. T. H. White and Mrs. J. S. Van Doren. Of deaths there were those of Captain T. F. Baylis on the 10th September-a gentleman much esteemed for his sterling worth and public spirit. He was a native of Ireland but emigrated to America when quite young, and had been a resident-one of the very first-of Petaluma since 1850. The sad accident at Oakville Station, on the Valley Railroad on October 10th, which deprived Solomon Pierce of his life, wherein the city lost one of her most valued and respected citizens, should not now be omitted.
In 1868, February 17th, instructions were given by the City Fathers for the felling of an ancient landmark in the tree which stood in Oak street, near Liberty, while at the same time the propriety of the city taking charge of the cemetery was also under discussion. On March 9th, the exclusive right to supply the town with water was granted to S. D. Towne for twenty- five years, a scheme which received the prompt and unequivocal condemna- tion of a large majority of the people. The election for city officers was called for April 20th, when citizens were also to vote to levy a tax of the one-half of one per cent. for clearing out the creek ; also to vote on whether they desire the Trustees to sell the Plaza bounded by Main, Kentucky, Mary and Martha streets. On April 6th, the Young America Engine Company, No. 3, composed of thirty-one members of Company No. 1, were admitted into the Fire Department. In accordance with the amended charter of 1868, the members voted for the two of the Board who were to hold over for the ensuing year, the lots being cast on Lee Ellsworth and G. Warner. An ordinance regulating Oakhill Cemetery was passed on the 22d, and Charles Blackburn appointed City Sexton; as was also another law enacted in relation to houses of ill-fame and other nuisances. The corporation officers for this year were : Board of Trustees, Lee Ellsworth, President ;
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G. Warner, W. D. Bliss, Andrew Mills and A. P. Whitney ; Marshal, O. V. Walker ; Assessor, Charles Humphries; Treasurer, F. T. Maynard; Recorder, Edward Cole ; City Attorney, F. D. Colton ; Clerk, D. D. Carder. May 18th, salary of City Clerk fixed at eighty dollars and fifty cents per quarter, while J. C. White, Deputy Marshal, was appointed Poundmaster and William O'Keefe, Night Watchman. On June 22d, the ordinance granting S. D. Towne the sole right to supply the city with water was repealed. July 27, Doctor Burnett, employed to attend upon small-pox patients at the pest house, was gazetted Health Officer, and, on the 12th October, a petition was presented to the Board, asking them " to prohibit the burial in the Oakhill Cemetery of all persons who die, outside the city limits, with the small-pox. On motion the Clerk was directed to notify the City Sexton to permit no person who may have died outside of the city limits to be buried in the cemetery, and that hereafter he allow no person to be interred in said cemetery without a permit in writing, as required by ordinance, and that said Sexton give notice by publication of said regulation."
The railroad question still engrossed the public mind, till on the 9th of May, 1868, the battle was fought at the polls, and victory went with the Petaluma route, as opposed to that by Vallejo and Napa, at which there was great rejoicing on the part of the residents of this city. On January 9th, in accordance with instructions from headquarters, the Petaluma Guard and City Guard were mustered out of the National Guard of California, by Major Ustick, Assistant Adjutant General of the State, a summary dismi-sal which caused no little surprise to all, for both companies had complied with the law in every particular, had their full complement of men, and held all prescribed drills. The companies, however, having an armory of their own, elected to keep up the organization, so as to be ready should necessity call upon them. In the month of July, small-pox made its appearance, the first fatal case being that of Mrs. Thomas Tann, and the second Oliver Rand. The necessary precautions were at once taken by the authorities and citizens, as has been remarked in another place, and no serious outbreak of the epi- demic occurred. The earthquake, which committed such damage to San Francisco, was felt here, and though to some considerable extent, no great loss was sustained thereby. Grim Death, in this year, had laid his cold hand on the Hon. G. W. Reed, a much respected resident of this city. He was a native of Ohio, and in early life emigrated to Iowa, where he lived until manhood, receiving the advantages of a liberal education. In 1852 he crossed the plains to Oregon, where he taught school for a time, then started for Nevada county, in this State, where he arrived in the Fall of 1853. The Summer of 1856 he came to this county, and, soon after his arrival, was employed as teacher of the public school in this city. For several years he followed this occupation, and in 1862 was chosen as one of the Representa- tives from this county to the State Legislature. Having turned his attention
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to the study of law, he was admitted to the bar in 1863, and up to within a few weeks of the time of his death, continued in the practice of his profes- sion. As an effective orator Mr. Reed had few, if any, equals in this county, and humanity and freedom ever found in him an eloquent advocate. But at the early age of thirty-eight, when matured manhood is supposed to be best fitted to grapple with the practical realities of life, he was stricken down by death. Evidences of prosperity were not wanting now; a new bank building had been built by I. G. Wickersham, while A. P. Whitney contemplated the erection of a fireproof edifice on Main street. The Library Association was in a flourishing condition, it containing, according to the President, L. Ellsworth, a total of six hundred and thirty-three volumes on its shelves, and a total subscription list of four hundred and sixty-six dollars, besides which, business was good throughout the city, and prospects for the future promising.
On the 26th April, 1869, the following corporate body was elected : Board of Trustees, A. P. Whitney, President, W. D. Bliss, Andrew Mills, S. Con- rad, and William Zartman: Marshal, James H. Knowles; Assessor, Charles Humphries; Treasurer, F. T. Maynard; Recorder, E. Cole; Street Commis- sioner, J. M. Lightner ; Clerk, Frank W. Shattuck. On this date an acceptance to the féte held at Sacramento on the completion of the Central Pacific Railroad was ordered to be sent, and, on August 23d, Frank W. Shattuck tendered his resignation as Clerk of the Board of Trustees, an I was succeeded by D. D. Carder.
In the year 1869, Articles of Incorporation of the Petaluma and Clover- dale Railroad were filed for the construction of a road from some point on the line of Marin county, by way of Petaluma and Santa Rosa to Clover- dale, with a branch from some point thereof to Bloomfield, the road to be seventy miles in length; capital, one million, four hundred thousand dollars, in shares of one hundred dollars each; Directors, William Zartman, W. D. Bliss, H. T. Fairbanks, F. W. Lougee, and Alexander McCune; the principal place of business to be Petaluma. The reason for this new corporation was the non-fulfilment by another company of the terms of the charter, whereby a certain portion of the road was to be completed before a given date. In regard to the line proposed by way of Napa, into the Russian River valley, a series of very excellent communications from the facile pen of E. S. Lippett appeared about this time in the Petaluma Journal and Argus, under the heading of " Petaluma Compared with Vallejo" as a railroad center, much to the disadvantage of the latter, as viewed through the eyes of the learned Professor. As an instance of what the resources of the district were ten years ago; and the eminence attained by this city as a point of shipment, we here present a brief statement of the number of boxes of butter and eggs, and the number of cheeses shipped from Petaluma to San Francisco on the steamers from April Ist to May 1, 1869. Number of boxes of butter and
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eggs, two thousand, seven hundred and ninety-four; number of cheeses, one thousand, five hundred and eighty three; boxes Limberger cheese, thirty- eight. Estimating the boxes of butter to contain one hundred pounds each, at thirty-two and one-half cents per pound; of eggs, at one hundred dozen, at thirty-eight cents per dozen; and the cheeses at an average of thirty-two pounds each (which is low, the range being all the way from twenty to eighty pounds), at fifteen cents; and the Limbergers at about four thousand pounds, at twenty-seven cents per pound, we get in round numbers, one hun- dred and five thousand, five hundred dollars as an estimate of the total value of shipments of butter, cheese, and eggs during the month of April. This estimate was, at the time, considered low, one house asserting that their business alone, in this line, exceeded ten thousand dollars a month. It must be further remembered, that the above statement embraces shipments to San Francisco only, no account having been taken into consideration of home con- sumption; and further, that no mention whatever is made of the shipment of calves, chickens, geese, etc .- all immediately connected with and belong- ing to these branches of industry-immense quantities of which are daily exported ; it may be safely said, therefore, that the shipments of these dur- ing that month exceeded fifteen thousand dollars, which would swell the total dairy and poultry shipments from this city for April to one hundred and twenty thousand, five hundred dollars.
We now turn to the records for the year 1870. On March 2d a com- mittee was directed to take such steps as should be thought necessary to satisfy the mortgage on the City Hall property, by loan or otherwise; on the 14th they reported that a loan could be had of Mrs. E. A. Hunter by paying one-and-a-quarter per cent. per month interest for eight months, in advance, amounting to one hundred and forty-cight dollars, leaving the sum of one thousand dollars due on the 11th day of November, 1870, as principal only, and that to secure Mrs. Hunter the mortgage held by the Trustees of the Petaluma Lodge No. 30, I. O. O. F., must, with the policy of insurance, be assigned to her. On motion the same was accepted. On April 18th the election for the municipal officers took place with the following result: Board of Trustees, Simon Conrad, President, William Zartman, Lee Ellsworth; Thomas Rochford and John Fritsch; Treasurer, Andrew Henry; Marshal' James K. Knowles; Recorder, E. Cole; Street Commissioner, A. Johnson, Assessor, Charles Humphries; Clerk, D. D. Carder; Attorney, F. D. Colton; Health Officer, J. H. Crane, M. D. Monthly reports from the Recorder were called for on August 21st, to contain returns of the arrests made, while on the same date the petition of Peter Donahue asking the Board to grant to the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad Company the right to run steam cars over the lands now occupied by the railroad grade, within and passing through the city of Petaluma, which was granted. September 12th, an ordinance regulating the police department was finally adopted and stars
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with the word " Police" directed to be procured for the force. On the 26th Recorder Cole resigned his office and D. D. Carder was appointed in his stead. A proposition of Peter Donahue to supply the city with fifteen street lamps, gas therefor, and light them at an expense of six dollars a month each, as also to furnish gas for the engine houses and City Hall free to the corporation, was on motion accepted on the 10th October. On the 14th, George Pearce was appointed City Attorney, vice F. D. Colton, who had removed from the city. The President was also authorized to proceed to Santa Rosa to look after the franchise asked of the Board of Supervisors of the county of Sonoma by Peter Donahue to build a wharf for the rail- road company of which he is President, at a point below Lakeville.
The oft-recurring matters of the railroad was at last set to rest in the year 1870 by the success of Peter Donahue of San Francisco in obtaining the controlling interest in the North Pacific Railroad Company, from John F. Macualey & Co., the formal transfer taking place on August 2d. Two steamers, the "Sacramento" and "Wilson G. Hunt," were at once purchased to be placed on the route between the terminus and San Francisco, while ties were purchased and sent forward to the scene of action; by the 27th of the month over a hundred men were at work on the line, and additional hands were being daily employed. Twenty thousand ties had already been deliv- ered at the terminus, as well as installments of fish-plates, bolts, and spikes, together with a vast amount of paraphernalia in the shape of push-cars, switches, tools, etc. On the 29th the formal driving of the first spike occurred, the hammer being wielded by Simon Conrad, President of the Board of Trustees, in the presence of a large and enthusiastic assemblage; in a very few days after the first construction train made its first trip along the track, for a distance of two miles above the city, while the road to Santa Rosa was completed in October, and a passenger car at once put on the route. On the completion of this line, which was but a few hundred feet short of fifteen miles, the Board of Supervisors examined officially the part constructed, accepted ten miles of it, and ordered the issuance to Mr. Donahue of county bonds to the amount of fifty thousand dollars. On this subject we quote from the Journal: "But as the act under which the subsidy was voted provides that bonds shall be issued on the first ten miles northward from Petaluma, and on every subsequent five miles, of course Mr. Donahue can receive at this time but fifty thousand dollars, instead of seventy-five thousand. As the work of extending the road from this city to Lakeville is being pushed with all diligence, Mr. Donahue will, in a few weeks at most, receive a second installment of these documents, and which, by the way, we are told are eagerly sought after by capitalists at ninety cents. The work on the road from Santa Rosa to Healdsburg, it is understood, will be completed at an early day during the ensuing summer. The iron for the same has been already secured. The bonds for the ten miles of the road already accepted, as
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above stated, were issued on Wednesday last (October 19, 1870). They are printed upon parchment, are fifty in number, and in substance agree, that the county of Sonoma will pay to the order of Peter Donahue, President of the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad Company, twenty years from date, the sum of one thousand dollars, gold coin of the United States, with interest at the rate of eight per cent. Each bond has attached to it twenty coupons, for interest payable January first of each year, and calling for eighty dollars each. The bonds and coupons cover a sheet of some sixteen by eighteen inches." In the meantime the extension of the road was progress- ing towards Lakeville and the new town of Donahue, where the company's wharves had been constructed and terminus established, and tickets were issued for an inaugural excursion from San Francisco to Santa Rosa on the last day of the year 1870, when the following resolutions were presented to Colonel Peter Donahue : " Resolved, That the people of the State of Cali- fornia are greatly indebted to our worthy fellow-citizen, Col. Peter Donahue, for the energy displayed by him in the completion of a first-class railroad from the town of Donahue to Santa Rosa, the said road now being in perfect order, and having been completed in four months, traversing a portion of the most fertile and beautiful section of our State; and we are specially grati- fied in stating that this important work has been completed with white labor, and upon cash principles. Resolved, That we are greatly indebted for much of the pleasure of our trip to J. D. Hendricks, Capt. Galloway of the steamer " Sacramento," Mr. Gerdes, and Capt.Robert Hayley, who, by their assiduous attentions, have made the excursion extremely agreeable to all. Resolved, That it is proper, in this connection, to refer to the services of Mr. Harris, the Chief Engineer, Capt. Wright, the Superintendent, Mr. Wilson, who built the road, and W. M. Kilduff, Chief Engineer of Navigation, whose invalua- ble services have enabled Mr. Donahue to successfully complete this import- ant work." Thus was inaugurated an enterprise the importance of which can hardly be estimated, both as to its benefits to State and county. But the munificence of Peter Donahue did not rest here; he purchased the gas works, and almost his first step was to offer certain lighting facilities to the city, while he had become interested in other important affairs in the neighboring districts.
Let us now take a retrospective glance at Petaluma. At no period in its history has its growth been more rapid, or of a character so indicative of permanence and future prosperity, as during the past three years ; and at no time has real estate in and near the city commanded so large a price as in this year of 1870. There has been nothing ephemeral or unnatural in its growth. It has simply kept pace with the development of the surrounding country, and owes nothing to speculative excitement, or expectations that have not been realized. The city has been peculiarly free from the specu-
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lating mania, which has at some time prevailed, to a greater or less extent, in nearly every Californian town of any importance, and which almost invariably reacts disastrously, or at least unfavorably.
Petaluma, as has been elsewhere remarked, is surrounded by an extensive and exceedingly fertile agricultural region, which yields nearly every variety of production that grows in the temperate zone, and of which it is the natural outlet. Its location is such that it commands a large and constantly increasing trade. Nearly the whole of Sonoma, a large portion of Marin and Mendocino, and a considerable part of Lake counties, are, and must ever be in a large degree tributary to it. This region is peculiarly blessed as a farming country, being not only susceptible of producing an almost endless variety of fruit and grain, and dairy products of the first quality, but invariably yielding good crops when a drought prevails throughout the State, cutting off the yield nearly everywhere else. Owing to the dews and fogs that are prevalent here during the Spring and Summer months, the blighting influence of a dry Winter is not severely felt in this region, and during such seasons farmers naturally reap much larger profits than at other times. A considerable portion of the district above indicated is heavily timbered, and some of the finest and most valuable kinds of woods to be found west of the Rocky Mountains abounds in the forests of Sonoma county. The wooded district is of sufficient extent to supply with lumber and fuel the wants of five hundred thousand people for many years to come. These extensive forests must eventually prove of vast benefit to this city.
The trade of Petaluma, already very extensive, is steadily increasing, and bids fair to equal, at no distant date, that of any inland town in California. Wholesale and retail mercantile establishments do a large and prosperous business, and the figures representing the aggregated yearly sales of its merchants would make a showing that would be quite astonishing. The following are among the principal products brought here for shipment to San Francisco and other points : Hay, grain, fruit, potatoes, hops, butter, cheese, eggs, wine, hogs, sheep, cattle, poultry, wool, firewood, ships' timber, lumber, staves, hoop-poles and charcoal.
Extensive manufacturing establishments have not yet been inaugurated; but Petaluma has many natural advantages as a manufacturing town, and when additional transportation facilities are supplied, by means of which raw material, fuel, etc., can be obtained at reduced rates, these advantages will undoubtedly be turned to account, and a new source of wealth and prosperity added. Following is a list of the mechanical and manufacturing establishments which obtained in 1870: Tanneries, three ; potteries, one; marble works, one; undertaker, one; sash and blind factory, one; foundry and machine shop, one; flouring mills, two; blacksmith and wagon-making shops, eleven; carpenter shops, six; tin shops, three; gunsmith, one; boot and shoe shops, ten; glove factory, one; tailor shops, four; cabinet-maker,
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one; candy factory, one ; manufactories of ploughs, cultivators, and other agricultural implements, two; cooper shops, one. At this epoch there were seven large and commodious hotels, and three restaurants and bakeries, besides several boarding houses; dry goods stores, nine ; grocery stores, ten ; furniture stores, four; hardware stores, four ; paint and oil stores, two; drug stores, two; banks, two; book, stationery and variety stores, five; saddle and harness shops, three; clock and jewelry stores, three; millinery and dress-making shops, seven; tobacco stores, four ; warehouses, twelve; whole- sale liquor store, one; photograph galleries, two; breweries, two; lumber yards, three; livery stables, seven ; paint shops, four; drinking and billiard saloons, twenty-seven ; meat markets, four; insurance agencies, ten; one printing office, postoffice, telegraph office, and express office. The following represents the number of persons engaged in various professional pursuits : Physicians, ten ; school teachers, eighteen ; music teachers, six; clergymen, seven ; lawyers, eight; dentists, three; surveyors, two. Of capitalists, speculators, real estate agents, etc., Petaluma has its full complement.
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