USA > California > Kings County > History of Tulare and Kings counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the counties who have been identified with their growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 22
USA > California > Tulare County > History of Tulare and Kings counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the counties who have been identified with their growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 22
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could not be settled upon under conditions governing the National Homestead Act, should revert to the states in which such lands lay. The California legislature in 1872 passed a swamp and overflow land act which was subsequently amended, enabling settlers to locate on these lands belonging to the state, the uniform price to be $1 per aere. The law also provided for a reclamation system, which when the requirements were met, the state would pay back to the settler the $1 per acre advanced. Under this act much swamp and overflowed land was acquired by large corporations through their allied interests. In 1880 the state adopted a new constitution and an important change was made in the matter of handling the swamp land, and Article XVII provided that lands belonging to the state which are suitable for cultivation shall be granted only to actual settlers and in quantities not to exceed three hundred and twenty acres to each settler.
As the waters of Tulare lake continued to vanish and the im- mense area was laid bare settlers and speculators believing that the lake had disappeared for all time, stampeded to Kings county and "Lakelanders" were as numerous and as enthusiastic as pros- pectors attracted to a great mining field where a lode has been strnek. Reclamation districts of large and small area were organized and levees were erected ont of the silt marking the boundaries of such districts. As fast as the water conld be fenced in to smaller area by the excited land-seekers the work went on and the claimants plowed and planted and harvested. Some enormous yields of wheat and barley were recorded.
Finally, in 1895, there was no lake. Standing in the center of the vast expanse one May day the writer of this gazed out upon a vast sea of about 50,000 acres of waving grain. The millions of dueks and geese, pelicans, swan and other wild birds that once made the old lake their abiding place had vanished. A stray band of pelicans came in, looked down for the water, but finding none, vanished in the distance. Farmers banked upon a hounteons harvest. But during the winter months that had just passed the canyons of the mighty Sierras had been filled with snow and with the spring rains and warm con- ditions in the hills the torrents which had in other years formed and kept replenished the old lake came down the rivers. Some of the reclaimers who had partienlarly good levees managed through great exertion to get their grain ont, while others less fortunate saw their thousand of acres go under water; saw their levees melt away like sugar, their honses, barns and haystacks float away, and in a few weeks the theory that irrigation and the multiplied population of the country using the waters of the Sierras in growing vineyards and orchards had robbed the county of its lake, had vanished, and Tulare lake was again on the map covering about the same relative area- as it did in 1893.
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At present a great levee has been built on the east side of the lake and many thousands of rich acres have thus been reclaimed and the further extension of the levee will expand the reclaimed territory to a large extent.
CHAPTER XXV RAILROADS
The building of railroads in Kings county since its birth, May 23, 1893. is a matter of much historical import because of the fact that the first competing line for the great San Joaquin Valley originated and took root through the action of Kings county citizens on July 5, 1894. On that date a group of men while gathered at the Hanford Sentinel office lamenting the lack of railroad facilities and the burdens from excessive transportation rates from the plug road already in operation, raised a somewhat plaintive cry, "Let's have an inde- pendent line," and on Thursday, July 12, 1894, "An Independent Line" constituted the headline under which the first report of an organized effort was published and from which incipient effort resulted what was first called the San Joaquin Valley Railroad Com- pany. From the Hanford Sentinel of the above date we quote: "W. H. Worswiek is the man who first sounded the key." The first committee on promotion was appointed at a meeting held in the office of D. R. Cam- eron. July 9, 1894, and consisted of the following representative men : W. W. Parlin, W. H. Worswick, D. R. Cameron, W. S. Porter, W. A. Long, A. V. Taylor, Archibald Yell. On the following day this committee met at the office of Archibald Yell "to consider the preliminaries of getting a start." By invitation E. Jacobs of Visalia was present and gave valuable suggestions. The discussions resulted in adding to the above committee the names of B. L. Barney, E. Jacobs, S. E. Biddle, W. P. McCord, Frank L. Dodge, W. J. Newport, the whole to constitute a board of directors for a temporary organization; Archibald Yell being made president and D. R. Cameron, secretary. A committee named to map out a route through Kings county included the following gentlemen : E. P. Irwin, F. J. Walker, W. H. Worswick, George A. Dodge, Joshua Worswick, W. P. McCord, W. W. Parlin. Numerous offers were made by farmers to give right of way and grade the road through their premises and general discussion and liberal offers of assistance were indulged in by the community at large. When the above reports had been circulated other counties took up the cry for "An Independent Line" and the next issue of the Sentinel carried the cheering headlines, "Now is the
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time to strike, for the iron is hot and the people know their needs. The action of Kings county meets with a hearty response from Contra Costa county." The Hanford organization was highly encouraged by letters from Antioch and San Francisco. Assurances of help by uniting with the Kings county people gave added impetus to the cause and the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern soon fell into line by holding public meetings and appointing committees to confer with the Kings county organization. J. S. Leeds, manager of the San Fran- cisco Traffic Association, in an interview said: "It is a good time for San Francisco to go to work. If one county can do what these people of Kings county are doing the other counties can be relied upon to do something of the same kind. Let us join hands with them." At Antioch a mass meeting was held and C. M. Belshaw introduced a strong resolution stating that the people of Antioch "are in hearty accord and sympathy with the scheme promulgated by the citizens of Kings county." C. G. Lamberson of Visalia who had interests in Kings county enlisted as a helper. Supervisors Letcher and Foster of Fresno county came out emphatically in favor of the Kings county movement and advocated a plan to bond Fresno county in the sum of $600,000 to aid the project. Tulare county people began to awaken and Kern county also felt an impulse to join in a scheme to reduce a transportation rate, the excess of which over a fair and just rate would soon pay for a competing road. At this juncture the political campaign of 1894 came on and also a question of the government ownership of the Southern Pacific lines which had a tendency to dampen the ardor of the people toward the newly proposed railroad in the various interior counties of the San Joaquin Valley; but the Traffic Association of San Francisco about the middle of October. 1894, began an effort to raise $350,000 to start "The Valley Railroad" as it was then called. Then a company known as the "United Rail- road Company," managed by a man named Hartzell at Stockton. launched a scheme to build a road from Stockton to Bakersfield. This was in November, 1894. It sought to unite with the San Fran- cisco Traffic Association and was encouraged by P. MeRae of Hanford. The original movement by Kings county people seemed for a while held up by the efforts of the above combines and the seeming reluct ance of capitalists in the northern metropolis to justly aid the interests of the San Joaquin Valley people. Late in November, 1894, D. R. Cameron, secretary of the Kings county railroad promotion committee, threw a bombshell into the camp of the San Francisco business men by writing a letter to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, setting forth a proposition whereby Los Angeles might unite in building a competing railroad into the San Joaquin Valley, thus securing a substantial interchange of trade which their present trans- portation rates prohibited. This valley had previously looked north to
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San Francisco for aid, The lethargy of that city was phenomenal. The proposition was well received by Los Angeles people and again enthusiasm went to an upper mark. A meeting was called by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce for January 12, 1895. Delegations were sent to this meeting appointed by the Boards of Supervisors of the respective connties as follows: Kings county, S. E. Biddle, F. L. Dodge, D. R. Cameron; Fresno county, T. C. White, Fulton G. Berry, J. II. Kelley, O. J. Woodward; Kern county. W. Il. Holabird; Tulare county, E. Barris. The delegates were well received by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and two enthusiastic sessions were held at which resolutions endorsing the Matthews bill which was then pending before the State Legislature, empowering counties to issue bonds for constructing railroads within their boundaries. A commit- tee on Ways and Means was appointed. Said committee elected W. Il. Holabird chairman, Charles Forman secretary, and J. M. Elliott of the First National Bank of Los Angeles, treasurer. The sense of the meeting was strong that a line of railway be built from Los An- geles into the San Joaquin Valley and recommended the means pro- vided by the Matthews Bill as an incentive for the various counties to act.
The result of the Los Angeles meeting was the bomb that awak- ened San Francisco capitalists, for no sooner than reports reached them that Los Angeles was interested in getting the trade of this great valley did the Bay City see its danger and her prominent business men began to bestir themselves to enlist capital to come to the rescue. Word was quickly sent to the Kings county organization that a com- mittee of twelve had been selected in San Francisco with Claus Spreckels at the head, with a subscription of $700,000; that a company was forming to be capitalized in the sum of $2,000,000 which would all be subscribed in that city in a few days to guarantee the building of the new road from San Francisco to Bakersfield. The San Fran- cisco committee consisted of Claus Spreckels, Alexander Boyd, James D. Phelan, James F. Flood, O. D. Baldwin, David Meyer, W. F. Whit- tier, Albert Miller, Charles Holbrook, Thomas Magee, John T. Doyle, and E. F. Preston. This action electrified the whole city and set every- body talking about the new railroad, while the San Joaquin Valley rang with the hallelujahs of promised deliverance. Even Los Angeles took up the strain and advocated a continned line of road to that city. On January 2nd, 1895, a mass meeting was held in the Hanford Opera Honse. After discussion of the outlook by prominent citizens a com- mittee was appointed to confer with the San Francisco committee, consisting of E. E. Manheim, D. R. Cameron, S. E. Biddle, P. McRae, F. L. Dodge, Lonis F. Montagle, F. W. Van Sieklin, S. C. Lillis, A. Kutner. J. E. Rawlins. The San Francisco Chronicle enconraged the enterprise by giving a whole page write-up of the great resources of
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the various counties through which the new road would pass. In its write-up it said of Kings County :
" Kings County is known as the baby county of the state, from the fact that it was the last one to be created. It was taken from Tulare County, and includes all of Tulare Lake, a shallow basin of about 100 square miles in area. This new county of Kings is in the direct line of all railroad enterprises that expect to traverse the San Joaquin Valley. It has an assessed acreage of 427,281 acres and an assessed wealth of, in 1892, about $7,000,000. The territory of this county is irrigated by ditches having their supply from Kings and Kaweah rivers and Cross Creek, furnishing what is claimed to be the best, cheapest and most thorough irrigation system."
At this time $2,100,000 had been subscribed and articles of incor- poration filed in which San Francisco and Bakersfield were named as terminal points. The capital stock of the company was placed at $6,000,000, the length of the road to be 350 miles.
But all great enterprises meet with difficulties and now eame the one great question, how to get into San Francisco? Clans Spreckels found the way bloeked against right of way for terminal facilities and had to go to the State Legislature to get a Bill enacted so as to be able to lease mnd flats for terminal grounds.
Tronble also eame to the people of Hanford and Kings county in the way of different routing of the line through the valley. Down the west side or the east side, which? While Kings county as the pioneers in the work had brought it to a probable success, her people were called upon to "put up" or lose the goose. As it was proclaimed by C. F. Preston, one of the San Francisco boosters, to be "a people's road, built with the people's money and owned by the people," the Hanford committee reported, after a canvass of the county, that 1068 days' work by men and teams, making over three years' work, had been offered, several hundred tons of hay, an amount of barley and some money; besides this three different men had promised to grade enough to make one-half the distance across the county. The city of Hanford would furnish depot grounds and right of way.
At this time 390 names were on the San Francisco subscription list, aggregating $2,388,300. Claus Spreekels said he wanted it called the "people's road" and not Spreckels' road. The San Francisco Ex- aminer said in its praise: "The valley road will save the trade and industry of the city from the strangling grip of the Southern Pacific's policy that is now directed to give the trade of the interior to Chicago and New York."
April 29, 1895, Claus Spreckels, Robert Watt and Capt. H. H. Payson, directors of the new valley road, visited Hanford on a tour of inspection as to probable routes and to view the resources from which the new road might expect patronage. The Hanford committee gave them a ride through the surrounding country and a banquet.
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The "San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad" had now be- come a certainty; rails had been purchased for a beginning and con- tracts for construction were being negotiated. Committees in the va- rions counties were working for rights of way, it being about settled that the road from Fresno would branch to both sides of the valley. May 7th a Hanford committee, consisting of E. E. Bush, D. R. Cameron, L. S. Chittenden and Frank L. Dodge, were sent on a trip to look out the most direct route down the west side to Bakersfield.
A committee of the directors of the road again visited Hanford on a final tour of inspection on May 7th, and it was then admitted that Hanford would be on the main line. On Friday, the 22nd day of January, 1897, was transacted the very important business of signing contracts with the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad Company by which Kings County was to get the main line, and on Monday night, January 25th, the Hanford City Council granted a fran- chise through the city for the building and operating of the new road. On Tuesday, January 26th, duly authorized committee, consisting of E. E. Bush, D. R. Cameron and P. MeRea, as custodians of the money raised and deeds collected for rights of way, signed the contract with the railroad company which secured the prize for which Kings county had been struggling for during the past three years.
There was little left to be done by the people but to await the building of the road south from Fresno to Bakersfield, via Hanford. While Hanford people took the initiative and with commendable zeal pushed the enterprise from the start, the financial requirements were so far beyond them that the actual construction and equipment must necessarily pass to the hands of a company of capitalists, which it did and thus the matter of control by the people was wholly lost and the question of its being and remaining a competing railroad when finished was a mere guess. However, it was an improvement much needed and desired by the people and all were pleased, and encouraged to greater activity in all lines of industry that belong to this, the greatest inland empire of the Pacific Coast. The actual coming of the iron horse over the new road was celebrated in Hanford on May 23rd, 1897, just two years, eleven months and eighteen days from the date of the first meet- ing in Hanford to start it.
The celebration of its coming was combined with the fifth anni- versary celebration of Kings county. On that date the first passenger train over the new road sounded its whistle to the largest crowd that had ever gathered at Hanford. There were parades with hands of music; floats representing horticultural and agricultural interests, as well as the city business houses, the educational and civic institutions of Kings county and many delegations of visitors from surrounding counties and towns. One thousand people came in on the first passenger train, including the directors and other officers of the new road.
After the grand parade had been reviewed by the visitors and the
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happy thousands of home people, exercises were held at a grand stand where eloquent speeches were made by E. E. Manheim, president Han- ford Chamber of Commerce; Judge Justin Jacobs of Kings county, Vice-President Robert Watt of the road, Col. E. E. Preston, counsel for the road. It was a gala day for Kings county, then the baby county of the state, because the new road had reduced freights and fares to San Francisco about one-third and had brought such im- proved accommodations as to merit the praise of all.
CHAPTER XXVI DAIRY INDUSTRY
No history of Kings county would be complete without mention of the dairy industry, and it was only four years prior to the organiza- tion of the county that the dairy industry was founded, in the year 1889, by a few progressive ranchers. It was due to their foresight and persistent efforts that a co-operative company for the manufacture of cheese was formed and incorporated. At that time it was generally believed that climatie conditions in this part of the valley were such as to preclude the successful manufacture of dairy products commer- cially, but the new company erected a factory at Hanford and sub- sequently another factory was built in the Lakeside district, eight miles south. The Lakeside institution operated for several years, but was finally acquired by the Hanford company. The establishment of these factories inspired the ranchers to improve their stock, and the mongrel cows of the old home dairy days gave way to imported short- horn Durham, Holstein, Jersey, Ayrshire and other breeds, so we can mark the beginning of the present extensive dairy business here to the advent of factory cheese-making. As it was soon learned that alfalfa was the great forage for the dairy, cheese making prospered, and in 1889 the two cheese factories passed into the ownership of A. B. Crowell, one of the county's first interested dairymen. In that year he made up into cheese 1700 pounds of milk per day. During the six years which followed, the patronage of the factories grew to 10,000 pounds of milk per day, and in the year 1902 the Hanford fac- tory, which had then swallowed up the Lakeside plant, turned out 150,000 pounds of cheese. But in 1897, F. J. Peacock established a butter factory in the Dallas district, near where the town of Corcoran now stands. He subsequently established other butter-making plants,
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and so rapidly did the butter industry grow that in 1902 there were 4500 cows in the county, supplying cream to the factories, the Kings County Creamery alone paying out that year to the dairymen $120.000 for milk and cream. Finally the Hanford cheese factory was destroyed by fire, and the butter industry having grown more popular, absorbed the attention of the dairymen, and cheese making in the county has been since confined to small private plants, but an article of excellent grade is made for local consumption.
In 1903 a company was organized in Hanford for the condensation of milk. A factory was erected and equipped, but through some fault in the management the project was a failure.
The creamery business, however, has flourished util in 1911 the output of dairy products from the dairies of the county amounted to $1,574,250. There are five incorporated creameries in the county now, and others in prospect.
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CHAPTER XXVII
THE CITY OF HANFORD
Hanford, the chief city and county seat of Kings county, is situated midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and the townsite was laid out by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in March, 1877. The town was named after James Hanford, who was auditor of the railroad company at the time the railroad was built to this point. As an unincorporated town it soon became an important trading point, and in July, 1891, after a series of annnal conflagrations, the people determined to incorporate the town and make it a city of the sixth class. Accordingly a petition was presented to the board of super- visors of Tulare county on July 10, 1891, praying for an election to be called for the purpose of deciding upon the subject of incorporating.
The petition contained the description of the boundaries of the proposed city, and they were as follows, to wit: Beginning at a point thirty feet north and thirty feet west of the southeast corner of section 36, township 18 sonth, range 21 east, M. D. B. and M., thence run- ning due north to a point thirty feet sonth and thirty feet west of the northeast corner of section 25, township 18 south, range 21 east, M. D. B. and M., thence due west to a point thirty feet sonth and thirty feet east of the northwest corner of said section 25, thence dne south to a point thirty feet north and thirty feet east of the south- west corner of aforesaid section 36, thence due east to point of beginning.
Those who petitioned for this movement were: Frank J. Walker, T. Gebhardt, J. H. Malone, J. Manasse, F. A. Blakeley, O. B. Phelps, Dixon L. Phillips, R. G. White, S. E. Biddle, S. Rehoefer, R. Mills, E. E. Manheim, F. L. Dodge, J. D. Biddle, C. R. Brown, J. J. Harlow. George Slight. J. T. Baker, E. E. Rush, R. W. Musgrave, Z. D. Johns. N. P. Duncan, D. Gamble, J. H. Sharp. A. J. Huff. A. E. Chittenden, F. A. Dodge, J. D. Spencer, B. C. Bestman, W. R. Me- Quiddy, B. C. Mickle, A. P. Gomes, D. L. Healy, E. Axtell, T. J. McQuiddy, E. P. Irwin, P. A. Hoy, N. Weisbam, K. Simon. (. B. Rourke, J. P. Ames, J. G. Mickle, J. G. Clanton, J. Hanley, Wm. Roughton, J. Weisbaum, J. R. Beckwith, E. J. Benedict. C. R. Hawley. Wm. Corey, E. Weisbain, John S. Thompson, I. G. Lacey. S. M. Rosenberger, R. L. Roughton, HI. C. Fallin, W. Il. Nyswonger. W. A. Arnold, S. M. Joiner, Charles F. Cunning, George W. King. (. J. Hall, C. W. Cooper, Charles King, R. Starkweather, A. H. Martin, R. Irwin, F. V. Dewey, Il. Buck, Charles Voshurg. A. E. Gribi, M. C. LaFortune, J. (. Davis, E. M. Friant, Win. McVey. Samuel J. Bee, 1. G. Dollenmayer, J. F. Garwood, E. Lord, LI. C. Tandy.
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The election was held on August 8, 1891, and resulted in the fol- lowing vote: For incorporation, 127; against incorporation, 47.
ELECTIVE OFFICERS OF THE CITY OF HANFORD FROM 1891 To 1913
From 1891 to 1892-Trustees: E. Axtell, B. A. Fassett, James O. Hickman, James Manasse and George Slight. President of the Board, B. A. Fassett; City Clerk, W. R. MeQniddy; Treasurer, N. Weisbaum; Marshal, Wm. A. Bush.
From 1892 to 1894-Trustees: E. Axtell, B. A. Fassett, E. Lord, Richard Mills and George Slight. President of the Board, B. A. Fassett; City Clerk, Edward Weisbanm; Treasurer, Jas. O. Hickman; Marshal, Wm. A. Bush.
From 1894 to 1896-Trustees: S. B. Hicks, J. H. Malone, R. E. Starkweather, E. Lord and George Slight. President of the Board, George Slight; City Clerk, Frank Pryor; Treasurer, J. O. Hickman; Marshal, H. McGinnis.
From 1896 to 1898-Trustees: D. R. Cameron, John Ross, S. B. Hicks, J. H. Malone and R. E. Starkweather. President of the Board. S. B. Hicks; City Clerk, Frank Pryor; Treasurer, Arthur D. King; Marshal, H. McGinnis.
From 1898 to 1900-Trustees: S. E. Biddle, J. G. Burgess, J. H. Farley, D. R. Cameron and John Ross. President of the Board, D. R. Cameron; City Clerk, Frank Pryor; Treasurer, A. D. King; Marshal, H. MeGinnis.
From 1900 to 1902-Trustees: Wm. Abbott, W. H. Camp, S. E. Biddle, J. G. Burgess and J. H. Farley. President of the Board, J. H. Burgess; City Clerk, B. W. Moore; Treasurer, A. D. King; Marshal, Ed. Reuck.
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