USA > California > Alameda County > Washington Township > History of Washington Township, Alameda County, California > Part 2
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An interesting feature of these trips was the fact that the steamer at San Antonio could not wait for the stage, if it chanced to be late, for the boat had to go with the tide, which waits for no man. Then Mr. Cameron would hurry his passengers into light wagons and rush them across to what is now Alameda,
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP
arriving before the steamer made the landing at that point. The stages continued to run to San Antonio until the railroad was completed to Haywards, when that was made the objective point. But when the railroad service was extended to Oakland they were discontinued. Hoag was the first expressman with his pony and cart, and after him came the Bamber Brothers.
The following description of the appearance of the valley in early American days will interest many. It is written by Bayard Taylor, the traveler, poet and scholar, who went through it in '49, tramping to Monterey, and going muleback from San Jose to Stockton. In '53 he came again with his wife, this time staging from San Jose to San Antonio, now East Oakland. Of his trip in '49 he writes: "The valley is well watered, and may be made to produce the finest wheat crops in the world. It is dotted all over its surface with clumps of magnificent oaks, cypresses and sycamores. * Sheltered from the cold winds of the sea the climate is like that of Italy. * The Mission (San Jose), a spacious stone building with courtyard and long corridors, is built upon the lower slope of the mountains dividing San Fran- cisco Bay from the San Joaquin valley, and a garden extends behind it along the banks of a little stream. The sight of a luxu- riant orchard peeping over the top of its mud walls was too tempt- ing to be resisted, so, leaving Lieut. Beale to jog ahead with Tomp- kins and the loose animals, Col. Lyons and myself rode up the hill, scrambled over, and found ourselves in a wilderness of ripen- ing fruit. Hundreds of pear and apple trees stood almost breaking with their harvest, and cartloads lay rotting on the ground. Flums grapes, figs, and other fruits not yet ripened filled the garden. There is no such wheat country in the world. Even with the imperfect plowing of the natives, which does little more than scratch the surface, the earth produces a hundred fold. * * * I was told by an old settler in the valley of San Jose of a ranchero who planted twenty fanegas (Spanish bushels) of wheat, from which he harvested the first year 1,020 fanegas; the second year, without resowing, he reaped 800, and the third 600 fanegas. * * I saw corn green and fresh, although no rain had fallen for four months. Vegetables thrive luxuriantly, and melons, squashes, beans and potatoes require no further care than planting. * * A Frenchman named Vigne made 100 barrels of wine from a vine- yard of about six acres at Mission San Jose. Many clusters of grapes weigh four or five pounds and in bloom. richness and flavor rival the choicest growth of Tuscany on the Rhine. The soft, cloudless sky, the balmy atmosphere, the mountain ranges stretching far before me until they vanished in purple haze, the sealike sweep of the plain, with islands and shores of dark green
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INTRODUCTION
foliage, combined to form a landscape which I may have seen equaled but never surpassed. When these great ranches are properly divided, and thousands live where units now are living there will be no more desirable place of living on the Pacific coast.", In 1853 he says: "The land appeared to be tolerably well divided into farms, the fields fenced with redwood regardless of expense, and the most superb orchards and vineyards springing up every- where. We were obliged to stop at Warm Springs, which lies off the road, on account of the mail. The national flag which floated over a clump of sycamores and live oaks announced a hotel, a pleasant retreat. A shady verandah opened upon a garden of flowers in the midst of which a fountain played." This was under the regime of the Columbets. The stage drove on through the Mission, but he found, he says, "a thriving village; the former peaceful seclusion was gone forever. From the Mis- sion the road ran along the base of the hills, and we saw huge stacks of sheaves in immense wheatfields, flashing like perfect gold; the grain cleaner, purer, and more brilliant in color than any we had ever seen before."
Washington township, in general terms, is bounded north by Eden and Murray townships, east by Murray, south by Santa Clara county, and west by San Francisco Bay. The area is 108,- 316.11 acres. The greater part lies in the level valley, with a background of foothills and mountains, and next the bay is a fringe of marsh land of about 10,000 or 15,000 acres, mostly re- claimable. Lying along the bay for a little distance, however, is a line of curious, isolated hills, the Los Cerritos, which gives a pretty touch to the landscape. The Contra Costa branch of the coast range runs the entire length of the valley at an average distance of six miles from the bay, and is cut at intervals by canons, most of them more or less wooded with maple, bay manzanita, madrono, poplar, buckeye, some oak, although this appears mostly on the open hills and plains, sycamore, alder, wild cherry, which closely resembles holly, and chapparal. There are also many ferns, vines and shrubs, including the dainty white waxberry, and the toyon, said to grow only in the Coast Range; a shrub growing from six to ten or fifteen feet high, and bearing in winter great clumps of the beautiful red California Christmas berries. Alameda canon, a gorge of wild and romantic beauty, is a cut extending entirely through the mountains. The sides are high, rugged and precipi- tous, with broken steeps often wooded to the tops, which here and there fall back, leaving open grassy spaces fringed with laurel, masses of shrubbery and tangled vines. Alameda creek runs from Sunol valley through it on its way to the bay. A well-oiled road now takes the place of the former rude trail, affording a
VIEW IN ALAMMEDA CANYON
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INTRODUCTION
drive of much interest and scenic beauty from Niles to Sunol; and the S. P. R. R. trains entering the canon at the former place, thirty-three miles from San Francisco, steam through to Liver- more, Stockton and Sacramento, giving connections with the east, and also south with Fresno and Los Angeles.
Morrison canon, a little to the south of Alameda, is perhaps two miles long, and ends on the tops of the hills which are cultivated and where the fruit ripens in the orchards a little later than in the valley. The sides of this pretty little ravine are well wooded. The southern bank is said to have the largest variety of wild flowers of any place in the township, and in it there are never-failing springs of water. This and other canons are well worth visiting, especially the beautiful one through which Stony Brook dashes and gurgles on its way to meet the Alameda, and the glen where the Warm Springs are situated.
Alameda creek, from which the county takes its name, has its source far up in the Mt. Hamilton range, and, running down towards the valleys, is joined by the Calaveras, Arroyo Honda, San Antonio, Arroyo Valle and other mountain streams. Reach- ing Sunol valley it lazily broadens out, and then narrows again as it reaches the great canon through which long ago it cleft a channel on its way to the sea. At the pretty village of Niles, the Vallejo's Mills of the old days, the creek enters this valley and runs a somewhat crooked course westerly until it empties into the bay beyond Alvarado. It is the most important stream in the county, and formerly its entire course was marked by heavily- wooded banks of sycamore, willow and other trees. Hence the name Alameda-shaded way. More properly speaking, perhaps, the different channels were so traced, for indisputably there were more than one. Without doubt the San Sanjon de los Alisos described in the Centreville history was originally the main stream. In summer, the bed of the Alameda is dry in many places, the water sinking and reappearing again further along. But this droning summer brook in some winters becomes a swollen and tu- multuous torrent, and since the American occupation has at times overflowed its banks, and cut other channels, as well as filling all of the old ones, doing considerable damage but also much good by drowning gophers and covering the land with rich alluvial deposits. The Spring Valley Water Company of San Francisco In the early '70s began purchasing riparian rights along the creek, and later built dams and aqueducts, and conveyed the water in conduits to and under the bay to San Francisco, making this a part of the water supply of that city. The people, fearing that. the water would be diverted from the township by this com- pany to the injury of the farms and orchards, organized in 1871
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP
a ditch company called the Washington and Murray Township Water Company, incorporated, for the ostensible purpose of preserving the waters of the Alameda for the benefit of the settlers, ensuring thereby a sufficient flow of water in the summer for the protection of trees and all other practical purposes. This purpose has been defeated, how- ever, by the Spring Valley Company, which claims to own all of the water of the creek by virtue of the purchase of all riparian rights up and down the stream, and unappropriated water; and the company also endeavors to prove by legal reasoning that the ditch company never had any rights. In like manner the Contra Costa Water Company of Oakland purchased a considerable tract of land in Alvarado in the artesian belt, established a pumping plant, and piped the water to Oakland. Since then the subter- ranean supply has been materially lowered, so that hand pumps have had to be resorted to, because water in wells that formerly flowed through and over a pipe five or eight feet above the ground is now that much below the surface.
Besides the Alameda there are two other creeks of some im- portance, Mission Creek flowing from the mountains down into Mission San Jose and always giving a good supply of water; on this creek was the primitive adobe flour mill of the padres and the better one of Beard and Ellsworth. This stream empties into the lagoon, but the outlet to the lagoon is through Irvington and fin- ally into the Bay. The stream flowing through the lower end of Mission Pass joins Mission Creek near the electric power house. Segunda, or Dry Creek, is the other one mentioned which reaches the valley at Decoto, and joins the Alameda near Alvarado. There are, however, several springs in the township, giving home sup- plies of water, from which small brooks flow. From the Bay num- erous tide water creeks or sloughs put into the mainland, affording landing places for sloops and schooners and are much used for commercial purposes. These landings were the embarcaderos of the Spanish-Mexican days.
Probably no place in California has a better all around climate, although within the limits of the township, even, there is some diversity owing to topography altitude, currents of air, etc. But anywhere the winters are mild yet bracing, with rain and sun- shine alternating, and the summers, with cool westerly trade winds prevailing, have little discomfort. Snow is not infrequently seen on the mountain tops, but seldom falls in the valley ; and although sharp frosts may continue for several consecutive nights, even freezing water and the earth, yet strangely enough flowers bloom on from one year's end to another. The fruit, as well as other deciduous trees, drop their leaves in autumn, but the pepper, with
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INTRODUCTION
its graceful habit and wealth of red berries, the Australian euca- lyptus standing tall against the skyline, the live and other oaks of similar character, the tropical-looking palms, the orange, lemon, loquat and olive, the cypress, pine and redwood trees, together with the fresh green of the hills give to the landscape a verdant appearance, so that by vegetation the seasons are scarcely marked. Nothing can be more beautiful than the fields and hillsides in late winter and early spring covered with richest verdure and studded with the gorgeous yellow and orange of the great California pop- pies, mingled with the varied colors of many other wild flowers. All winter the joyous song of the clear-throated meadowlark greets one from the trees, telephone wires and fences; early in March the almond orchards are white with bloom and other orchard blossoms follow in succession, and then other bird songs are heard-for in spite of the indiscriminate shooting that has prevailed, in a morn- ing hour of last September twenty-seven different kinds were counted from Bell Ranche bridge.
Perhaps it is proper here to say a few words about earthquakes which have so fearsome a sound to the strangers in our midst. But one has been of serious import within the memory of the "old- est inhabitant," that of 1868, mentioned elsewhere. These dreaded upheavals may consist of "a sudden jarring of the earth, some- times accompanied by a short rumbling noise, followed by a few quick vibratory motions, and all is over; although occasionally two or three shocks follow consecutively." These are seemingly preferable to the blizzards, cyclones, gales, tornadoes and dreadful electrical storms of the eastern States.
Probably the best hay in the world is wild oat hay, which here grows to perfection. The different clovers, grasses and alfilaria are mostly annuals, starting up fresh and green with the rains of winter, curing on the ground as summer comes on, and affording excellent pasturage, sweet and nutritious until the rains fall again to start the fresh new feed. Except for the stubble fields after the hay and grain are off, and the marsh meadows, the uplands and hills are the pasture and grazing lands; although there also a good deal of hay and grain are raised.
In the winter between rains the farmer tills his land, the horti- culturist cultivates his orchards, and the vegetable grower is al- ways busy with one crop after another. In May, haying time, there are sometimes late showers, when watchfulness is necessary to avert injury. After that, rain is rarely seen before late October, or early November; then the southerly winds bring in the wished for showers, which continue off and on until in May, blowing in through the "Golden Gate" the trade winds come again. These bring long and comfortable days when the farmer unconcerned by fears
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP
of storms, harvests and threshes his grain, piling up his filled sacks in the fields until a convenient time to haul them to the warehouse or send the grain to market. These days are busy ones for the orchardist, as one after another the crops of cherries, apricots, peaches, plums, pears and prunes ripen ; but between the different harvests he may find time when with his family he can go for a camping trip or some other outing. The vintage comes in the autumn, also the gathering of almonds and other nuts, and then the sugar-beet grower is busy digging and drawing to the mill his saccharine vegetables. Olives are gathered in winter. The small fruit and vegetable growers market their produce the year round.
The proportion of tillable land to pasture and marsh land is greater here than in any other township of the county, and this, too, is one of the finest agricultural districts in the State. The soil varies from a rich dark loam, six to fifteen feet deep, with a substratum of sand and gravel in the valley, to the lighter soil of the foothills and high hills beyond. There is some adobe in places, which is heavy and sticky, yet if continually worked, as it is rich in nutritive qualities and retains moisture, it gives abundant re- turns; in fact, the earth is everywhere fertile.
The hills are cultivated to the tops, and on these sunny slopes early vegetables are grown for the city market. Bees do well and poultry raising has become quite an industry.
What wonder that with so many advantages the valley and uplands have become a succession of gardens, orchards, vineyards and grain fields?
As this township was the first part of Alameda county to be settled by Americans, so here the first experiments in agriculture, not only in the locality, but in the State, were begun, amazing those who made them by the amount and size of the productions.
Wm. Simm, in 1853, shipped from Irvington to the World's Fair, New York City, in hermetically sealed cases, samples of California grain which attracted much attention. There were oat stalks ten feet three inches in height, with heads twenty-two to twenty-eight inches in length. Also the product of a single grain of wheat, viz .: seventy spears, or stalks, having four thousand two hundred grains or kernels, and some wheat heads consisting of from fifty to eighty grains in a head.
Horticulture began, of course, with the Mission fathers, and before the discovery of gold we read that grapes, pears and other fruit were regularly supplied from the Mission to General Sutter.
When gold mining began, vegetables and fruit brought fabu- lous prices. Onions were $1 per pound; cabbages sold at $1 per head ; potatoes, 16 cents per pound ; wheat, eleven cents, and barley from five to seven cents. As one acre produced 600 bushels of
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INTRODUCTION
onions, potatoes averaged three hundred bushels, and grain from fifty-six to seventy-five, it will readily be seen that the farmer had a veritable gold mine in his produce. Capt. Bond, of Centre- ville, at an early date sold blackberries for fifty cents per pound, and in 1863 cherries, the first raised, for sale in the valley for thirty cents per pound. John Proctor got $1 apiece for pears.
Two Frenchmen kept a wayside house on the road which ran on the back part of the Jesse Beard (now the J. L. Beard) place, and there raised vegetables for market. One of them procured some watercress seed from France and planted it near the house in a bend of the creek, and from this the other streams in this valley may have been supplied.
The Americans who settled here soon procured cuttings from the Mission orchard and fruit trees from the east.
In 1853, Earl Marshall had three hundred sent out by way of Panama, and about the same time E. L. Beard imported others, which were brought across the plains. Beard and Lewelling did quite a business in that line, and some of these old trees are still growing on the John Beard homestead, some at Crandall Slough and other places in the vicinity_ Of the Marshall stock, Capt. Bond and George Loyd planted several trees in Centreville; on the Capt. Bond place a few of the apple trees remain, and on the Stiv- ers' place, Irvington, are others.
The investment in these trees was extremely profitable for all concerned. John Proctor afterward started a nursery at Centre- ville. Then James Shinn established one on a large scale about half way between Centreville and Vallejo's Mills, importing rare trees from the Orient and other parts of the world; many of them are still growing on the home place-among others might be men- tioned the carob tree, locust bean or St. John's bread, which is interesting because identified with the tree producing the husks eaten by the prodigal son, and the locusts of St. John the Baptist. B. D. T. Clough, of Niles, was also one of the early nurserymen and had a flourishing business. These are now all gone, but under the management of the veteran John Rock, the California Nursery Company, of Niles, has six hundred acres in fruit, ornamental trees and plants, shipping a vast amount of nursery stock far and near.
John M. Horner was the first man to demonstrate that veget- ables and grain could be raised in California in paying quantities; the fame of his achievements went abroad and many eastern people believed that this valley was the only place in California where vegetables could be grown in appreciable quantities. His cor- respondence in regard to this belief was very amusing. Mr. Horner and his brother operated on a large scale. About the time pota-
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP
toes became a drug in the market they turned their attention to grain, and built the big steam flouring mill at Alvarado. E. L. Beard was another large farmer, and with his stepson, H. G. Ells- worth, built a water mill at the Mission. Vallejo's Mill at the mouth of Alameda Canon made three in operation early in the history of the township. Many other pioneers engaged in grain raising, and all were astonished at the immense crops produced. The products now may be classed as grain and hay, fruits in great variety, from the loquat, fig, lemon and orange, to the apple.
The Mayhew orange grove at Niles, also Mrs. Pickering's, the Shinn's and Ellsworth's, Mr. Crowell's at Irvington, Mr. Curtner's at Warm Springs, and a small one of O. B. Simpson's, at Centre- ville, demonstrate what can be done in citrus fruits; but every man can have his own oranges and lemons in his garden if he so desires. The Imperial prunes raised by Senor Juan Gallegos, at Mission San Jose, are as fine as any in the famed Santa Clara County district, and everybody knows of the Vanderpeer apples at Alvar- ado. At Stony Brook, up near Mission Peak, on the C. S. Haley anche, and other places, excellent ones are also raised. There are the products of the gravel beds, the molder's sand quarries the stone quarries, and in addition to the industries already spoken of several others should be mentioned stock-raising, dairying, poultry raising, the drying and curing of fruits and nuts, seed cul- ture and the cut flower industry which is increasing in value. The salt and sugar works, the wineries, the car shops, foundry, planing mill, lumber and coal yards give employment to many men. Con- siderable wood is cut in the timbered hills, perhaps more than ought to be to ensure the preservation of the woods.
In early times there was, of course, only the Mission Church, but after the Americans came, the Latter Day Saints held services in the upper story of the adobe on the Naile place and soon after in Horner's school house in Centreville.
Early in the fifties, two Protestant organizations (Presbyterian and Methodist) were perfected in Centreville, and soon had church buildings. Now every village has one and some have two or three church edifices.
Originally school districts in the county had the same boun- daries as the townships, but almost immediately others were formed, three first and then more; there are now fourteen in this township with comfortable school buildings in each. The first school taught, however, was at the Mission, when this township was a portion of Santa Clara County.
In 1856, there were but nineteen teachers employed in the county, at an average salary of $76.70 per month; thirty-eight
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INTRODUCTION.
are now teaching in this township in the high and grammar schools, ten men and twenty-eight women.
The salary list for the school year of 1903 and 1904 amounted to almost $3,000 per month; the average salary for men was about $99 per month, and for women a little over $72.
The schools rank well-in 1899 a girl graduated from the Cen- treville grammar school with the highest standing of any examined by the County Board of Education, and the following year one from the little country district of Rosedale carried off like honors ; it is pleasant to chronicle that both attended high school and that one is now studying in the State University.
In 1890, the Legislature passed the Union High School law, and under its provisions twelve districts in the township united to establish a high school.
The trustees of these districts met at Centreville, and on the eighth ballot to determine a location. Centreville was chosen. The site of two acres on the Centreville-Niles road was donated by the citizens of the village and vicinity and afterward the Board of Trustees purchased an acre additional.
School was opened in 1893 in the Masonic building, with two teachers, Mr. William Wentworth, principal, and Miss G. R. Crocker assistant. and twenty-two pupils were immediately enrolled; the reputation of being one of the best schools in the State was at once established, and this standard has been jealously maintained. In 1893 the present fine building was finished at a cost, including other improvements, of nearly $11,000. Trees, shrubs and flowers were planted which now make the place very attractive. The first year there was one graduate, and the next two; but the banner class in point of num- bers, twelve, was that of '96. In 1903 there was a large entering class, and the enrollment is now about seventy, with a corps of five teachers. The course of study must be prepared or sanctioned by the Board of Trustees, and approved by the County Board of Education; the text-books must be those recommended by the State Board. The school is fully accredited and prepares for all courses in the State University ; the faculty has always been com- posed of excellent scholars and teachers-two of them have been graduates of the school and of the State University.
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