USA > California > Alameda County > Washington Township > History of Washington Township, Alameda County, California > Part 9
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The Landing, afterwards known as Mowry's and later as Lar- kins', was first used by the Mission Fathers in the early 40's, for the shipment of their wines and hides.
In 1850, regular trips were made to and from San Francisco by the ship "Neptune," owned by Barton and Origin Mowry. Mowry's Landing was used until 1870 as an active shipping point for grain from all parts of the township, farmers coming even from Pleasanton and Sunol, bringing their produce for shipment. The narrow gauge railroad was completed through the valley about this time and the bulk of the shipments since then have been made by rail.
Two Indian mounds have been unearthed in this vicinity ; one where the station now stands and another near Mowry's Landing. Many skulls and bones of Indians have been and are still found in the marshes and pastures of this section. Mastodon teeth have also been unearthed in this neighborhood.
In early days Mowry's was a flourishing district. Mr. Mack kept a store at the Landing in the early 50's and did a thriving business. The building was afterwards moved to Irvington where it now stands. The Mowry school house was among the earliest ones and numbered many pupils. The Camerons, Weeks, Mc- Davids, Moores, Mowrys, Risers, Morgans, Threlfalls, Proctors,
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP
Emmets, Eggers and Marstons all studied the "three R's" at this little district school house. It was built by John McDavid and Origin Mowry, assisted financially by other settlers.
Among the natural and unusual resources of Mowry's is a de- posit of peat of a hundred thousand tons. It is spongy, the ground shaking and quivering under foot. This peat is a good fertilizer and an excellent fuel, being clean to handle and free from soot.
The following is a list of the early business men and their suc- cessors, which may prove of some value to any interested in the commercial and political affairs of the town:
POSTMASTERS
Timothy Rix. W. H. Mack.
A. S. Clark. N. L. Babb.
W. H. Mack.
R. L. Brown.
R. B. Crowell. A. D. Burns.
R. B. Crowell. N. L. Babb. O. N. Hirsch. E. B. Thompson. STATION AGENTS J. E. Wamsley. H. Newell. J. E. Wamsley.
MERCHANTS
Jacob Salz.
G. M. Walters.
W. H. Mack. ('61)
Mr. Levy. Mr. Lang. J. Hirsch ('67).
N. L. Babb. Ellis Bros. ('01) E. A. Babb & Co. ('02)
BLACKSMITHS
Wm. Simms pioneer.
HOTELS
McCloud. Mr. Foster. W. Dugan.
Irvington Hotel: Mr. Kobault.
Brownell & Ainsworth.
Mr. Wilson.
Mr. Kobault. Mr. Haight. E. Sullivan.
NEWSPAPERS Albert Lyser and W. W. Theobalds ('74) Miss Adeline Knapp.
Mr. Calkins.
E. B. Thompson. DRUGGISTS Mr. Ford. L. Fitzell. F. M. Carter.
E. Covert.
Mr. Seaburg.
Mr. Rounds.
Dr. McKeane. Dr. Guyberson. Dr. Bishop. Dr. Nestelle.
DOCTORS Dr. Laidlaw. Dr. Walshe. Dr. Young. Dr. Nellis. -
Union : Sam Brown. W. Spellman. Mr. Bemm.
T. Tierney.
H. Crowell.
Clark Bros. ('76)
Meyers Bros. ('80) Blacow & Weston.
Warm Springs.
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Old Higuera Adobe, Warm Springs
HE town of Warm Springs is situated on the Agua Caliente Ranch, originally owned by Fulgencio and Valentine Higuera, who received a grant of it in 1836 from Nicolas Gutierrez. These, and neighboring rancheros, lived in idle ease upon their broad acres of pasture lands. They were the aristocrats, while below them was a class of peons, who squatted upon the land, cul- tivated their little patches of watermelons and frijoles, and for their meat levied upon the myriad herds of the landholders as they needed it, paying for it in work at the annual rodeo.
In those days the hills were covered with wild Spanish cattle, so that one's life was endangered if he ventured to roam them unmounted. It was the custom of the Spanish stock owners to get their cattle together once a year and brand them. Everyone attended and claimed his own stock, and after this was attended to, the remainder of the day and night was given up to feasting and dancing. Thus the rodeo was the great social event of the year. It took place at the Fulgencio Higuera ranch, near Willow Glen, where may still be seen the crumbling traces of the old adobes which were once resplendent with gay festivities. In 1863, the
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP
last of the cattle were driven away and the rodeo was a thing of the past.
The Springs, from which the town derives its name, are situ- ated about two miles east of the railroad, in the foothills, at an elevation of about 350 feet. Five of them are in one group, the sixth being a quarter of a mile distant. The flow is about 50,000 gallons daily, with a temperature of about 98 degrees. The water contains a solution of soda, borax and sulphur. Among its pecu- liarities one finds that iron does not rust in it; neither will it spoil if left for a year in an open glass. When boiled it deposits no sediment and requires but little soap when used for cleansing pur- poses.
Natives came from miles around to camp here to use the water for medicinal purposes. Spanish families sent their servants long distances with the ox-carts loaded with soiled clothing and house- hold linen to be cleansed in the waters by the Indian laborers.
In 1850, Clement Columbet bought the Springs of Higuera, and from then until the time of the big earthquake the place was a gay and fashionable resort. What Del Monte is now for the people of California, the Warm Springs were then. Guests came and went, either in their private carriages or by stage. The resort lost none of its popularity until the earthquake of '68 damaged the buildings to such an extent that they could not be used.
In 1869, A. A. Cohen, of Alameda, purchased the property and built the new hotel which is now the men's quarters on the Josiah Stanford place. The building was never used as an hotel, as Senator Stanford bought the property the following year and planted vineyards and orchards. He died before his plans were all matured, and the place is now the beautiful country home of his nephew, Mr. Josiah Stanford.
In 1852, came the first great change in the primitive life of the people, when Jos Scott, Mr. Scribner and Mr. Hathaway bought 3,000 acres of the best of his land from Fulgencio Higuera, at three dollars an acre. This tract extended from the county line to where the Reynold's ranch now is, near Irvington. They removed all squatters and began farming the same year. And now the land, hitherto but tickled and scratched in small spots by the primitive wooden plows of the Spaniards, and responding in like manner, began to yield abundant crops under the energetic man- agement of the Americans, and to reveal a value far beyond the conception of its original owners.
Mr. Scribner retained the southern portion through which flows Agua Frio Creek, but sold it to James Johnston about 1856. In 1858, Abram Harris, a lawyer who had been located in Newark, bought this property of Johnston as a speculation, and the name,
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WARM SPRINGS
Harrisburg, was given to the settlement. When the Southern Pacific Railroad came through, the name Warm Springs was given to the station, and, to avoid confusion, in the early eighties the name was adopted by the post-office and town.
Later Harris sold his land, the largest purchaser being H. Curt- ner, who took possession in April, 1868, having been a resident of Washington Township since 1852.
Among those who settled here in the early fifties were Tom and Steve Millard, who farmed part of the Hathaway land, south of Agua Caliente Creek, which rises at the Springs and crosses the county road near the Warm Springs Hotel. Their grain was shipped to San Francisco from what is now the Warm Springs Landing. Here a small platform had been built and was often piled high with grain awaiting shipment.
In 1857 this platform gave way and the grain fell into the slough beneath. Fortunately it happened at low tide, and the men at work heading in the Millard field leaving their work were able to save a great part of it by working all night. Much of it was dam- aged, however, and some was lost. The same year the Baker Bros. established a landing there with John Porter as clerk. This landing flourished and is still prosperous. It is now a part of the Healey estate.
George Durkee, another pioneer, commenced farming in 1854 and settled at his present home in 1867. This ranch was formerly occupied by John Wilson, who came to Warm Springs in 1859 and was at one time Assemblyman. On removing from here Wilson lived in a small house which he built on what is now the Curtner property.
D. D. Henion, who is a comparatively late comer to Warm Springs, is, however, an old pioneer of Washington Township. He arrived in the valley in the fall of 1850, and located on the Chad- bourne place between Centreville and Irvington. In 1853 he moved to Niles, where he lived first on the Clough place and later on the H. G. Ellsworth place until April 4, 1873, when he moved to Warm Springs.
Several of the pioneers have been so long removed from Warm Springs as to be most difficult to trace. Among these are Charles Clark and Mr. Nash.
Capt. Valpey, who left his home in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in '49, in a sailing vessel rounded Cape Horn and arrived in Cali- fornia in 1850. In company with James Sinclair he owned a trad- ing schooner which plied between San Francisco and the embar- cadero at Union City for a few years. After various other ven- tures both finally settled in Warm Springs, Mr. Sinclair on the present Sinclair property and Capt. Valpey on the Craycroft place
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP
To this place Capt. Valpey brought his family in 1860, and here they have always lived upon the main highway, witnessing many interesting events.
One event that is vividly remembered was a thirty-six mile horse race between Fulgencio Higuero and Salio, another Spaniard. The Spaniards from the vicinity crowded the roadside upon their mules and horses. Men, women and children, an excited and noisy throng, chattering and betting, awaited the passing of the heroes. Women even tore the jewelry from their persons to wager upon their favorites. It began to rain, but no one thought of turning homeward till the race had passed. At last the horses came into view, laboring and straining, with the mud flying from their hoofs. The men stationed at the roadside to whip them on, prepared to do their best, while the crowd waited in anxious ex- pectation. As they drew near Salio's horse was seen to be badly blown and just opposite Capt. Valpey's place he fell, a victim to the Spanish love of sport.
Another illustration of the cruelty of Spanish sports occurred in 1856, when the daughter of Clemente Higuera was married and a three days' bull-fight was held. The bull was confined in a corral. During the fight an Indian, who had indulged too freely in the festivities of the occasion, wandered into the corral. His red blanket caught the attention of the enraged bull which charged fiercely and gored him severely before he could be rescued. The wounded man was removed from the place and laid upon the ground at a little distance while the sport continued.
In 1861, George W. Peacock erected a building on the site of the present Rural Hotel, which did duty as the only hotel and store in town, and in 1862, when Mr. Peacock received the first Postmaster's commission in Warm Springs, it served as Post office also. Later the property passed into the hands of Mr. Murray and became known as the Rural Hotel.
Early in 1863 a school was opened in a shed-roofed shanty, twelve by fourteen feet, on the Wilson place, with Miss Lizzie A. Valpey, now Mrs. Henry Shaw, as teacher. There were fifteen pupils in attendance. This school was conducted for three months in order to organize a district, which was done later in the same year, and a schoolhouse was commenced but not completed until 1864. In 1879 it was remodelled and continued in use for school purposes until 1889, when the present commodious school building was erected at a cost of $6,000 on the property across the street from the old building. There are at present two teachers with an enrollment of 108 pupils. The old school building still stands as the main part of the Christian Church, that organization having bought it in 1889.
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WARM SPRINGS
One of the prominent pioneers of Warm Springs is M. W. Dixon, who settled here about 1860 and was elected to the Assembly in 1874 and 1876. In 1868 he built the landing at the southern end of the settlement. In the earthquake of that year one of the warehouses at the landing collapsed and 5,000 sacks of grain sank in the slough. Later Capt. Valpey bought a piece of land adjoin- ing Dixon's Landing, built a warehouse and established a second landing which is still a part of the Valpey estate. In the fall of 1894 a great wind storm blew the old original Dixon warehouse down, but it was immediately replaced and is now in good con- dition.
This landing was once the scene of an amusing incident. When E. L. Beard left Indiana for California a young lawyer named Lockwood decided to try his fortunes in the West also, but pre- ferred coming by New Mexico rather than the route selected by Mr. Beard. Before departing, however, Mr. Lockwood presented Mr. Beard with a cornet, keeping a companion to it for himself, saying, "I understand California is a very wooded country and we may have some trouble finding each other; but take this horn with you and blow it occasionally. In this way we can locate each other."
Mr. Beard had been settled in his Mission home but a few months when a most bedraggled, mud-besmeared sailor made his appear- ance at his door, bearing the information that a crazy man was at the embarcadero tooting a horn to find Mr. Beard. Toot he would, but move he would not. Immediately Mr. Beard saddled his horse and hastened to the landing. The strains of a cornet were borne on the breeze that floated up from the marsh before the boat hove in sight. Lockwood and his parting gift had been forgotten, but came rushing back on the flood of memory as Mr. Beard recognized the attorney in the stern of the boat, alternately sounding his horn and awaiting an answering echo from his friend from Indiana.
The only traces of the primitive people of this district are the remains of an Indian village near the landing. Indians, once numerous here and about the Springs, and commonly employed by the farmers to bind their grain, are now a rare sight in Warm Springs. And, indeed, could they look again upon their old homes there would be little to recall the haunts of their life-time. The once unfenced pasture lands are now all cultivated, except some few spots among the hills which are too steep.
On the foothills, fine vegetables are raised in abundance. The leading industries on the lower lands are fruit, hay, grain raising and wine making. Many of the vineyards have suffered greatly from the ravages of the phylloxera, but are being rapidly replanted with resistant stock.
VALLEJO'S MILLS.
Niles.
HE town of Niles was first known as Vallejo's Mills, taking its name from the flourishing mills built here in early days and spoken of more fully later on. When the Central Pacific Railroad first came through here in 1869 the Company named the station Niles, after Judge Niles, one of the railroad officials. This name was naturally adopted by the residents and the town has since been known as Niles. It is beautifully situated at the mouth of the Alameda Canyon and lies at the base of gracefully sloping hills.
In the 40's and early 50's, when the white men first came into the valley to settle, there were still many Indians living here; the largest rancheria in this neighborhood was on the banks of the lagoon on what is now known as the Tilden place.
To-day the wretched remnant of all these villages is gathered either at the Pleasanton village or in the little cluster of rude houses just below Niles bridge. Scattered here and there throughout this neighborhood are still found a few traces of this peculiar peo- ple. On the Meyer's place, back in the small canyon, are portions of a ditch and a walled spring of stone and cement made by the Indians. Their adobe huts were in the edge of the hills close to the mouth of the canyon. Here some fine metates, or grinding stones, have been found; one in the Meyer's garden is no less than three feet in circumference; and in the almond orchard south of the house was located a temescal, or sweat-house. Piles of stone on the hills back of the Meyer's and Mosher's ranches are the re- mains of the devil-worship practised by these Indians. Another very old Indian village was doubtless on the northeast corner of the Ellsworth place, for metates, stone tools and bones have been unearthed there.
It was in the year 1850 that Americans commenced coming with their families to make permanent homes in what is now the town of Niles. In September, Mr. Wm. Tyson and his young and timid wife came into the valley (having crossed the plains) and purchased from Mr. Fallon 200 acres of land, for which he paid the sum of $2,000. Mr. Perry Morrison, a brother of Mrs. Tyson, obtained from the same party a similar tract. This included the land from the old Tyson homestead on the lagoon (which has been Mrs. Tyson's home for fifty-three years) to the foothills, taking in
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP
the Thane, Donovan, Jos. Tyson and Chisholm homes, also those on the opposite side of the county road, between the railroad and the foothills.
In the early 50's, Capt. Wm. Sim owned the lands which later came into the hands of Mr. James Shinn, Mr. Barry, Mr. Cham- pion and Judge Tilden. Mr. and Mrs. Loyd, in 1851, owned what is now known as the Nichols and Clough estates. This property passed into the hands of Mr. Stark, and in '53 was owned by D. D. Henion who sold to Wm. Moore, father of A. A. Moore, the Oak- land lawyer. Mr. Clough finally bought the property, and it is now the home of his widow and daughter.
The land joining the Clough estate on the northeast was owned by Thomas Thompkins, who sold to Capt. C. C. Scott from whom, in 1861, Mr. Daniel Sanborn bought his present home. When Capt. Scott sold to Mr. Sanborn he moved to his beautiful ranch in the canyon, which he had called "Mizzen Top"; he afterward sold it to Mr. Edward Clark, whose widow and children still reside there.
This same Capt. Scott was the victim of the first railroad ac- cident in this vicinity, having his foot crushed so that amputation was necessary.
Mr. Barnes was a squatter on what is now the Ellsworth place; he sold to Mr. D. Sanborn and his brother, who in turn sold to D. D. Henion. Mr. Henion sold to Severance & Peet, who trans- ferred it to the bank from which H. G. Ellsworth purchased it. At this time, the land joining the Tyson property on the southeast was owned by Mr. Naile, who built a fine adobe just back of the present Overacker home. In 1852, the first wedding was celebrated in this house; the parties were Miss Edna Stuart and Mr. Roy Stanley; the ceremony was performed by Mr. J. M. Horner, who frequently held Mormon services at the different ranches. The year before, Mr. Naile gave a large ball which was considered a most brilliant affair.
In 1856, Mr. Michael Overacker, with his brother Howard, bought this property, which is the present home of his widow and son. The Bonner and Hunt homes were a portion of this estate and were purchased in 1860; also the Mosher and Jones places belonded originally to the Overacker estate.
That part of the Vallejo grant which lay between the foothills and the north bank of the Alameda Creek came into the hands of Jonas Clark in the early 60's. At that time Mr. Clark was engaged in the furniture business in San Francisco and the land was rented to John Hanna; the valley land was soon sold to actual settlers.
In 1881 or 1882, E. B. Mastick, then acting as Mr. Clark's agent, received an order from him to survey and sell the entire hill prop-
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ORANGE GROVE AT NILES.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP
erty. At the time the surveyors were running their lines, Mr. H. A. Mayhew, hearing the property was for sale, bought his pres- ent home. The remainder of the hill land was soon sold. Mr. Clark founded and endowed Clark University in Worcester, Mass.
The idea of the early settlers was to build comfortable but not pretentious houses; a fence usually surrounded the buildings as a protection from the numerous bands of wild horses and cattle that strayed from the hills, as well as from their own cattle.
In the garden plots were found Castilian roses, four-o'clocks, bachelor buttons, wall flowers, marigolds and madeira vines. There were several adobe buildings scattered about on the different ranches, some portions of which may still be found. At the Mill an adobe was used as a residence by a relative of J. J. Vallejo; another of the same family lived in one which stood in the canyon, and there is still another on the California Nursery property. These were all built by J. J. Vallejo between 1850 and 1853 for the use of his overseers and workmen.
In 1863, the last grizzly bear was killed in the grain fields, which have since been supplanted by the beautiful orchard owned by Mrs. Pickering.
The first Niles industry dates prior to American occupancy. In 1841, Don J. J. Vallejo, brother of General Vallejo, built an adobe flouring mill on the bank of the Alameda Creek; the grinding stones for this mill were brought from Spain; one of them was afterwards broken and the other now serves as a doorstep to the old adobe building. This mill in the early days of the country was quite famous and widely known. New stones were ordered from France in 1849, and in '53 or '54 (authorities vary) a new mill was built. The foundation stones were quarried from the hills in the canyon and were laid with cement, which was also dug from the hills near "the slide." The stone aqueduct was about two and a half feet wide and three feet deep and is now walled over by brick and forms part of the Spring Valley Water Co.'s pipe line.
After the new flour mill was built, the old mill was still used for grinding other grains. The old oak rafters were put together with wooden pegs, which may still be seen. Mr. Athy was the first miller to run the newly-built mill. As grain-raising declined and was superseded by other industries, the work at the mill grew less, and in December, 1884, the last flour was made by Wm. Gorges and the old mill was closed forever. A few days after the body of the miller was found in his room in the old mill and by his side an empty bottle labeled poison.
The chief industry up to the year 1855 was cattle raising, and thousands found pasturage through our beautiful valley and the
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NILES
adjacent hills. These were the days of gorgeous Spanish trappings and when bull fights furnished the great amusements. The fights were held in the great corrals used for rodeos. One of these great stockades was situated in the level at the mouth of the little May- hew canyon, while only a little way from it is the well known sul- phur spring. The last rodeo was held in 1865.
As the settlers increased, the cattle industry was followed gradually by the raising of grain. In 1852, the first reaper was introduced by Wm. Tyson and Mr. Morrison, and that year the farmers sold wheat for from 11 to 15 cents a pound.
The first record we have of fruit-raising in Niles was in 1856, when Wm. Sim, who owned the Shinn place, had a few peach trees in bearing. This story is told of the first peaches that ripened : There was great demand for the fruit and it sold for $1.00 a peach. Mr. Sim, fearing he might be robbed, set his man to watch the tree at night, but in the morning the man and peaches were gone.
The nursery business has been most prominent in the history of Niles, dating its inception back to 1868. In that year, Mr. B. D. T. Clough and his brother started an almond nursery on the present Clough estate, renting the adjoining lands, now the Shinn and Tyson places. Three years later Mr. James Shinn and Dr. J. W. Clark went into the business more extensively, growing ornamental and greenhouse plants as well as fruit and nut trees. They introduced many fruits, nuts and plants from Japan, as the Japanese plums and oranges, chestnuts, the irises, camphor tree and others of great interest. Shinn's Rareripe, an early variety of freestone peach, was originated and introduced by them. The Nichols orange cling peach, originated by Mr. Joseph Nichols, was also introduced by Mr. James Shinn. These have both proved of considerable value and are being planted quite extensively on this coast.
In 1884, the California Nursery Co. was organized, with John Rock* as president. The Company bought one square mile of land in Niles and rented many adjoining acres. At the present time it is the largest nursery on the Pacific Coast, sending its stock all over the world.
In 1888, Trumbull & Beebe, of San Francisco, bought the en- tire nursery stock of Mr. James Shinn and opened a packing yard near the depot, making this their distributing station.
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