USA > California > Alameda County > Oakland > Illustrated album of Alameda County, California; its early history and progress-agriculture, viticulture and horticulture-educational, manufacturing and railroad advantages-Oakland and environs-interior townships-statistics, etc., etc > Part 11
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There are beside the slaughter houses, establish- ments for tanning the hides, for burning the bones, for preparing tongue4, brains, and tripe for market, for re- ducing the offal to tallow and glue, so that the entire output is between $1,750,000 and $2,000,000.
FABIOLA HOSPITAL.
On Moss Avenue, between New Broadway and Webster Avenue, is situated the Fabiola Hospital. It
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ILLUSTRATED ALBUM OF ALAMEDA COUNTY.
was opened about three years ago as a homeopathic institution, and is to a certain extent under the con- trol of physicians of that school, but patients who desire it may be treated by practitioners of any of the other schools. The institution is not eleemosynary, but the fees charged for attendance and rooms are moderate, and little more than actual cost, on account of endowments made for that purpose.
HOME FOR THE ADULT BLIND.
Just outside the city limits of Oakland is situated the Industrial Home for Adult Blind. It occupies a block of ground on Telegraph Avenue. It is partly sup- ported by State aid and partly by the work turned out by the occupants-principally brooms and brushes. It is under the control of directors appointed by the Governor of the State.
OLD LADIES' HOME.
On Linden Lane, between Broadway and Telegraph Avenue, Temescal, is the Home for Old Ladies, founded by the Oakland Ladies' Relief Society. It receives some State aid and has an income from cer- tain endowments made by will by different persons. A certain sum is required from the friends of inmates annually during life. The institution is well con- ducted. There is also a department for the care of orphan children.
BROOKLYN TOWNSHIP, OUTSIDE.
On the eastern boundary of the city of Oakland lies a considerable strip of territory in Brooklyn Township, about one-third of the township being in the city limits and the remainder outside. Very much of this outside district is covered with suburban homes clear to the Eden Township line on the east and south and Alameda on the west.
The line between Oakland and Fruitvale is similar to that between Oakland and Temescal on the north- east. There are houses standing on the line between the city and county. It is said the number on one house is in the county while the greater part of the building is in the city. Some of the handsomest houses and grounds in Alameda County are in the suburb of Fruitvale, and Fruitvale Avenue, with its rows of shade trees on either side and fruit orchards and flower gardens, is considered a very handsome summer drive.
Beyond Fruitvale are Melrose, Mills College, Elm- . hurst and other growing suburbs. Since the opening of the electric street railroad to San Leandro and Hay- ward in 1892, numerous residences have been erected
along the San Leandro road, and quite a little town is growing up around the power house of this road.
At Melrose is the first smelting works for rebellious ores and there is now in operation a smaller smelting works for extracting quicksilver. There are also in operation at the suburb three factories for the manu- facture of fuse for use in mining and rock quarrying. A cordage works for the manufacture of rope is at the present time idle.
In the hills in this township, overlooking Oakland, are the residence and grounds of the "Poet of the Sier- ras," Joaquin Miller.
CHAPTER VIII. ALAMEDA CITY AND TOWNSHIP.
A City of Elegant Homes, Handsome Drives and Healthful Climate-One of the Best Sanitary Systems in the World- Sewers Automatically Flushed Every Four Hours-One of the Healthiest Cities in the United States.
Across the estuary of San Antonio from Oakland, on what is at present a peninsula lying between the estuary and the Bay of San Francisco, lies the city and township of Alameda The settlement of the penin- sula of Alameda dates back to about the same time as that of Oakland, but its growth has been much slower until within the past five years. It now claims a population of between thirteen thousand and fourteen thousand, and is rapidly increasing. It has the same railroad advantages as Oakland, i. e., fifteen-minute trips with interchangeable tickets by broad or narrow- gauge ferry to San Francisco. Both roads run through the entire length of the city, about half a mile apart, with several stations on each. No fares are collected within the city limits or between stations, the railroad company treating the residents of Alameda the sanic as those of Oakland. The fare to San Francisco by way of either the broad or narrow-gauge ferry routes is twenty-five cents return trip, and commutations $3 00 per month, using either or both routes, interchange- ably, if desired.
The government of the city is intrusted to a Board of City Trustees. There is no Mayor or Common Council, or Board of Public Works, but the other officers are similar to those of towns of the fifth class. There is a Board of Education, Board of Health and sanitary officers, and Board of Library Trustees. The duties of Police Magistrate are performed by the City Recorder, and the City Marshal acts as Chief of Police and has ten officers under hin.
The public schools of Alameda are equal to those of any other city in the State. They are under the supervision of the City Superintendent of Schools.
PLATE 25
NEW HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING, OAKLAND, 12TH ST. FRONT.
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ILLUSTRATED ALBUM OF ALAMEDA COUNTY.
There is an efficient Fire Department, under proper officers.
The city owns its electric light plant, and has lights on poles or towers in every part of the city, being one of the best-lighted cities on the Pacific Coast.
Its sewer system is claimed to be the best of any city in the United States, and has automatic sewer flushers, by which every sewer is flushed every four hours, and the sewage carried away. The system is a new one, and is being urged now in other cities, East and West. The sewer system consists, in the first place, of two intercepting sewers, one on each side of the peninsula. It must be understood, by those not familiar with the lay of the land, that Ala- meda is a long peninsula, entirely devoid of hills, the highest altitude being along its center, and the land sloping gently each way. On the south side is the Bay of San Francisco, and on the north side Oakland Harbor and the tidal canal. The natural way to sewer the city is from the center to the edges ; but it was found it would never do to discharge sewage from every street upon the sand beaches and shores of the city. Returning tides would fetch it back, and the odors would always remain. So the scheme of in- tercepting sewers along the edges of the town was devised. They receive the sewage from the many lateral sewers, and discharge it all together in such a manner that it is carried out on every tide and assim- ilated by the great body of salt water. The pipe of the lateral sewers is of iron stone, and the diameter is four, six, and eight inches. The pipe has a bell at one end, so that the plain end of its predecessor fits in. The joint is then caulked and cemented, the cement being applied with the fingers, so that a water-tight joint is made. The lateral sewers are all flushed several times a day automatically. At the highest point of these sewers flush tanks, built upon the line of the sidewalks, connect with them. These flush tanks are filled from the water mains, and when they get full, their center of gravity is so shifted that they tip, spilling the water in a volume, and then righting themselves for another filling. Being thus so admi- rably drained, having no such thing as sewer g. s, and having no stagnant ponds or marshes to germinate disease, it is not the least wonder that Alameda is healthful, that its death rate is lower than that of any other town or city on the coast, and that it should enjoy a fame reaching across the continent, and which is still spreading.
ARTESIAN WATER SUPPLY.
The city is supplied with artesian water from a series of wells at Fitchburg, two miles to the east of
town, and another series on High Street, in the easterly portion of the city. The water is raised and distribu- ted by the Holly system. It has so far been ample for all the city's needs, and is always absolutely pure. Alameda's entire freedom from epidemics, and its reasonable immunity from even sporadic cases of in- fectious diseases, constitute abundant testimony as to the purity of its water supply. The fact that the source can never be contaminated, and that the quan- tity for a year is never contingent upon the amount of rainfall or any other condition that may produce a shortage, are great factors in favor of the city and inducements to those seeking homes. Many of the inhabitants have their own artesian wells, preferring to be independent, and also, if they are extensive con- sumiers, saving money by it. There seems to be an abundance of subterranean water, and any who desire to tap it may set up their own water works. The streets of Alameda, in summer time, are daily sprinkled with fresh water. They are kept in excellent con- dition ; but an experiment was made last year, on certain stretches of the roadways, with salt water, and the result was eminently satisfactory. Less water laid the dust more effectually, effecting a great saving in expense for the water and the distribution of it, be- sides keeping down the dust much better. A system of pipes to supply salt water, not only for street sprinkling, but for the extinguishment of fires and the flushing of sewers, is now talked of, is in every way practicable and desirable, and will no doubt some day be put in.
The assessed valuation of the city and township for the purposes of taxation, real and personal prop- erty, is $11,796,565. The total tax rate for 1892-93 was $1.95, of which 80 cents was for State and county purposes.
Aside from the two steam railroads running every half hour between Alameda and Oakland, there has been a horse-car line running for years making the trip between Broadway and Seventh Streets, Oak- land, and Santa Clara and Park Streets, Alameda, making the trip in about half an hour. This line has been transformed into an electric line and runs a branch line, also transformed from horses, from the narrow-gauge depot on Park Street across to Twelfth Street and Twenty-third Avenue, Oakland, connecting with the Oakland local trains at that point.
Alameda is a city of beautiful homes and finely ma- cadamized streets and handsome drives. Many busi- ness men of San Francisco make their home in this city, being within an hour's ride by train and ferry - boat. .
At Alameda Point on the estuary the ship-building
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ILLUSTRATED ALBUM OF ALAMEDA COUNTY.
industry is being developed There are a number of shipyards, where a large number of boats are made each year, ranging from the sporting shell boats to barkentines of one thousand tons. One firm uses twenty thousand to twenty-two thousand feet of lum- ber annually in building small boats, principally whale- boats, and repairs from fifty to sixty whaleboats. One firm makes a specialty of shell boats for racing.
At the west end of Alameda, on the bay shore, are situated the borax refining works, the extensive pe- troleum oil refining works and the pottery works of Clark & Sons, mentioned elsewhere in detail. There are also a number of planing and other mills and manufactories in this city.
The roundhouses of the South Pacific Coast Rail- way (narrow gauge) are at Alameda Point.
CHAPTER IX. EDEN TOWNSHIP.
A Very Fertile Alluvial Tract of Land that was a Cattle Pasture four Decades Ago, Now the Garden ofthe County-More Cherries Sent to Eastern Markets than from Remainder of California-Other Fruits and Vegetables in Large Quan- tities.
Adjoining Brooklyn on the south is Eden Township. In the earlier history of the county its territory was principally used for pasturage for cattle. The chief products were cereals, but during the past ten years the greater portion has been transferred to horticul- ture and vegetables. From Eden Townshipare shipped to the Eastern States more cherries than from the re- mainder of the State. Here also are raised large quantities of vegetables for the local markets. The mission fathers in the earlier days chose the land far- ther to the south, near the Alameda Creek, for the establishment of their missions. The first settlement of English speaking people was made by the Furgu- sons, a Scotch family, who secured from the Spanish grantees a square mile of fertile land upon the alluvial plain. George Fleming, the late Judge Crane, John Martin, and Cornelius Mohr speedily followed, and in 1851 Richard Barron built Eden landing. Matthew H Allen built a second landing on Calf Creek and in a few months more Joel Russell and twenty associates built a third on the same waterway. In 1853 the united efforts of the settlers built what was known as the "squatter fence," which, extending from Mount. Eden across the plain and well up the slope of the foothills, was designed to protect the farms from the incursions of mobs of cattle roaming half wild through the country. In 1858 San Leandro, in this township, was made the county seat of the county, and so re-
mained till 1873. The territory now embraced in the township boundaries formed part of the ranchos of the Sotos, Peraltas, Vallejos, Castros, and Estudillos.
When compared with other parts of the State, and with other townships of the county, the subdivision has been minute and the number of small holdings large. Many Portuguese, from Portugal and the Western islands, have taken advantage of this policy on the part of the holders of large blocks of land, and have small farms closely cultivated all over the plain and in the rich valleys that run up into the hills.
In 1842 that portion of the township now covered by the city of San Leandro, recently incorporated as a city of the fifth class, was granted by the Mexican Governor to Don Jose Estudillo, whose mansion house erected in 1850 is still standing. Most of his lands came into the possession of Theodore Le Roy upon the death of the original grantee and were cut up and sold. So rapid from 1850 was the growth of settle- ment on these lands that within five years San Lean- dro had become the most important town in the county. The Legislature on the 13th of May, 1872, granted the petition of the citizens and incorporated the town, establishing its width at one mile toward the south, measured from San Leandro Creek, and its depth at two miles toward the west, from the foot of the hills. The center of the town is eight and one- fourth miles southerly from the Oakland City Hall. San Leandro has always presented many. attractions as a place of suburban residence, being less than an hour by rail from San Francisco, with eight trains each way every day. Fourteen miles of streets have been graded and macadamized and many fine resi- dences have been erected. The population is esti- mated at twenty-five hundred. There had been for three years prior to 1886 no town tax, the expenses having been met by the amount received from licenses paid by various trades upon a sliding scale. In 1886 a levy of twenty cents on the $100 was made for the' benefit of the road fund. A volunteer fire department of forty members is an active organization. There are two hose carts and one thousand five hundred feet of hose. The water supply is drawn from Lake Chabot. The hydrants are within two blocks of each other and the pressure is sufficient to throw an inch stream one hundred and forty-seven and one-half feet without an engine. The public school of the town contains eight rooms and accommodates over five hun- dred children, who are in daily attendance. Saint Mary's Convent has a school in which two hundred pupils are carefully taught. There are three churches, the Methodist, Roman Catholic, and Presbyterian, and mission work among the Portuguese is conducted by a
PLATE 26
RESIDENCE OF E. L. SCHIEFFELIN, CENTRAL AVE. ALAMEDA CAL.
"CONCANNON VINEYARD"
AND RES. OF JAMES CONCANNON, LIVERMORE CAL.
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ILLUSTRATED ALBUM OF ALAMEDA COUNTY.
priest of that nationality and a Presbyterian mis- sionary.
The Oakland, San Leandro and Hayward Electric . and has a delicious flavor.
Railway runs half-hourly trains from Oakland through San Leandro and San Lorenzo to Hayward, all in this township. The latter town is about five miles farther out from Oakland. San Lorenzo, a small village, lies between San Leandro and Hayward. In and around San Lorenzo is the belt in which large quantities of cherries are grown, as well as other fine fruits, such as apricots, pears and peaches. As early as 1854 an at- tempt was made to create a township at this place, mainly with a view of securing the county seat on the score of its central location. A map of the town of San Lorenzo, which name covered the whole district embraced by Hayward and the present San Lorenzo, was placed on record in that year, but the project was heartily opposed by Castro, who owned almost all the land thereabouts. In 1856, however, Castro read- justed the map already on file and sold the town lots at good prices, the new town taking the name of Wil- liam Hayward, who in 1852 had settled upon the Castro grant. Hayward now numbers some two thousand inhabitants. It has two large hotels, churches of the Roman Catholic, Methodist, and Congrega- tional denominations. Union High School No. 3 is located at Hayward. It is also in the center of a large fruit and farming district, and in the hands of its mer- chants is concentrated a large part of the trade of the valley.
Within the limits of Eden Township grow all kinds of vegetables, fruits, berries, and cereals of every va- riety. It is peculiarly the home of the cherry and apricot. Both can be produced with great profit- sometimes with a profit of $500 to $600 per acre, and in one or two instances has reached $1,000 per acre, but that was when the prices were very high and the crop large, and before there was so much land set to this kind of fruit. A fair average to-day, however, would be $250 per acre, while several kinds of vege- tables, when raised for the market, will give a still higher average. For productiveness the soil in this township ranks with the very best in the State. The citrus fruits, as well as the others, make a thrifty growth there. There are no orchards of those fruits, but in many of the gardens and in the lawns and grounds around the residences are beautiful full-grown orange and lemon trees that make the finest of orna- mental trees, and at the same time bear the finest of fruit. A specimen of the Mediterranean sweet variety of oranges grown on a seven-year-old tree in an or- chard of San Leandro, where it stands among its fellow fruit trees of the cherry, apricot, etc., varieties, as vig-
orous and thrifty as any of them, is now lying on the table of the writer. The fruit from this tree is large
In the yard of a residence in San Leandro stands a magnificent banana tree. The banana is one of the most sensitive of the tropical trees, and its long, ele- gant leaves sometimes get nipped with the cold, but, notwithstanding this, it seems to be making its way to a healthy maturity.
Almond trees are so common in Eden Township that they are grown along the sidewalks as shade trees in San Leandro, Hayward and San Lorenzo.
At San Lorenzo is the Meek estate orchard of seven hundred acres of trees. This may seem incredible, but nevertheless it is true. There are in one body seven hundred acres of fruit trees, and not only that, but among these trees are five hundred acres of small fruits, such as currants, gooseberries, raspberries, etc., making an immense orchard and a large output of fruits of all kinds annually.
THE COUNTY FARM.
In Eden Township, between San Leandro and Hay- ward, at the base of the foothills, is located the county Farm and Hospital and Infirmary. This institution is in charge of the Board of Supervisors of the county, who are overseers of the poor, as well as the legisla- tive body of the county. The immediate supervision is under a resident superintendent, who is usually a physician .. The buildings are generally full, and some- times there is not room enough for applicants. The number at the farm ranges from one hundred seventy- five to three hundred.
OYSTER BEDS.
For many years after the settlement of California, and, indeed, until very recently, fresh oysters, es- pecially those in the shell, were a rare luxury, and, prior to the building of the Central Pacific Railroad, comparatively unknown, and, with the exception of a few of very small size and indifferent flavor from Shoal- water Bay, Oregon, since that time until ten or a dozen years ago they were the only shell bivalves used in California, except during the winter months, but the advent of the "cold storage" cars made the shipments easier. However, in a few more years it will be en- tirely unnecessary for the shipment of oysters into California from the East, for the reason that the home supply will be sufficient for the demand. For the present the only oyster beds of any consequence found in the State are along the shores of the Bay of San
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ILLUSTRATED ALBUM OF ALAMEDA COUNTY.
Francisco, in Alameda and San Mateo Counties. In the year 1879 the Legislature of the State passed an Act for the encouragement of the industry, providing for the taking up of shoal water beds along the bay shores. Under this Act Thomas W. Mulford, Socrates Huff and Andrew J. Gooch entered about thirty-five thousand acres on the Alameda County shore, about two miles west of the town of San Leandro. These beds are two and a half miles along the shore, by two miles into the bay. During the lowest tides a large portion of these beds is uncovered. When Messrs. Mulford, Huff and Gooch entered these beds, there were nothing but small California oysters in them, un- fit for use. They transplanted a few Eastern oysters, and allowed them to increase until the winter of 1891- 92, when they commenced to market from the beds, shipping to Oakland and San Francisco, where they get $12.50 per thousand in the shell. Up to this spring this company has cleared about $10,000. They only gather sufficient to supply the local de- mand. These oysters are equal in size and flavor to the Eastern oyster. Beside these beds, the Morgan Oyster Company, of San Francisco, own large beds along the Alameda shore on the south, and several other gentlemen own small beds along the shore north of Mulford and associates.
CHAPTER X.
MURRAY TOWNSHIP.
An Extensive Wine Growing District-Wine Equal to the Best French Product-Grapes of the Finest European Va- rieties Only Grown-Fruit and Nuts-Hundreds of Acres in Almonds-Irrigation Unnecessary.
Of Alameda County the eastern half is in Murray Township, which has an area of four hundred square miles. About one-third of it is mountainous or hilly, and two-thirds arable land. About one-half of the tillable area is inclined to be adobe soil, and is well adapted for the production of cereals and hay. The other half is composed of alluvial loams, which produce vegetables in abundance that find a ready sale in the markets of San Francisco and Oakland, and in clayey and gravelly loams adapted to various varieties of fruit and all kinds of grapevines.
In this township are broad valleys, rolling foothills, and precipitous mountains. It contains prototypes of the vine lands of France, the olive lands of Spain, the fig lands of Smyrna, and the fertile bottom lands of Holland, without the dykes. The flavors of the wines of this township and other townships .of Alameda County are unexcelled anywhere in the State, and are believed to be equal to the best importations from Europe. With reference to the wine industry of the
township it may be said that it was at first an experi- ment, because it was at first believed the lack of mois- ture by rainfall would not allow the grapes to mature. This was dispelled by experience, and it was shown by cultivation that the driest soils would maintain moisture during the summer season within a few inches of the surface, even in the driest years. These were lands similar, then, to the famous wine lands of Bordeaux and Burgundy in France. When this was demonstrated by experiment, a number of men, includ- ing Julius P. Smith, C. A. and C. J. Wetmore, J. H. Wheeler, and the late Dr. George Bernard, about 1881, invested in a district now comprising something over five thousand acres of what was then known as the poorest land in the Livermore Valley, in this town- ship-land upon which grain had made poor growth and yield. Upon this land the vine flourished. In 1883 the first yield of grapes was handled by one winery, but it now requires fourteen to handle the output, which has grown from a few hundred gallons to nearly five hundred thousand gallons. Only the highest of the European wine grapes have been planted. The following are some of the varieties grown in this district: Zinfandel, Sauvignon Vert, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Malvoisie, Muscatine du Bordulais, Malbec, Franken Riesling, Colombar, Mataro, Charbono, Folle Blanche, Petite Pinot, Petite Rouschet, Semillon, Johannesberg Ries- ling, Grenache, Petite Syrah, Frontignan, Chauche Noir, Grossen Blauer, Trosseau, Burger, Cabernet Franc, Golden Chasselas, Gutedel, Meunier, Merlot, Mondeuse, Chablis, Alicante Bouschet, Verdot, Blanc Elba, Tannat, Orleans Riesling, Gray Riesling, Boal, Folle Noir, Rose Peru, Verdal. The most prominent varieties grown are the Zinfandel, and the largest out- put of wine is of that variety. At a recent meeting of a convention of California viticulturists a committee of fifteen experts selected twenty-nine "extra " types of wine from three hundred and seventy-five samples, and of these twenty-nine, fifteen were from Alameda County vintages, showing the high grade of its products. Adjoining this wine district of five thou- sand acres are still one hundred thousand acres equally as well adapted for vines. There is now produced in Murray Township every European grape distin- guished for the quality of its wine, and the vintages of the Livermore Valley have taken the lead of all others in California. Vineyards are produced in this district from the cuttings, and begin to bear in the third or fourth year, according to the variety, and are in full bearing in the seventh or eighth years. The cost of vine land is from $40 to $90 per acre, and the relative cost of the vineyard-setting out the vines, care, etc.,
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