USA > California > Santa Clara County > Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California > Part 28
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We have also managed to gather the following names of old members of Empire No. 1 :-
F. G. Appleton, A. S. Beaty, J. E. Brown, B. F. Brown, S. H. Brown, John Beaty, Thos. Brown, Geo. H. Bodfish, George Bego, M. P. Baker, A. C. Camp- bell, P. Carlos, Chas. A. Clayton, J. Cerinsky, C. Crit- tenden, C. D. Cheney, S. Dial, Wm. H. Dearing, Peter Davidson, N. B. Edwards, A. Eaton, R. Fisher, John Forney, M. Fisher, J. H. Gregory, Jasper D. Gunn, Levi Goodrich, Geo. Hale, D. Herrington, M. Hellman, Adam Holloway, S. J. Hensley, Geo. Hanna, James Hartwell, S. N. Johnson, J. W. Johnson, Geo. H. Jefferson, Richard Knowles, R. Langley, Frank Lewis, R. H. Leetch, C. W. Lander, Fred Malech, Herrick Martin, J. Mckenzie, Philander Norton, B. G. Porter, Peter Pongoon, C. M. Putney, Peter Quivey, Wm. Runk, A. W. Stone, F. E. Spencer, M. Stern, J. M. Sherwood, F. Stock, M. R. Smith, F. B. Tompkins, Daniel Travis, Francis Thelig, William Travis, A. M. Thompson, T. Whaland, T. Williams, Wm. Whipple, George Whitman, F. Wood- ward, C. W. Wright, D. Yocham, C. T. Ryland, J. A. Moultrie.
It is to be regretted that these lists cannot be made complete, and also that no records have been pre- served showing the membership of the other volunteer companies, but all books and papers seem to have been abandoned in the same manner as the machines were turned over to the city; but, as the city could not see the necessity of preserving the records, they have become scattered or destroyed.
About the time the paid Fire Department was or- ganized the city also adopted an automatic fire alarm system, which has been improved from time to time. At the present time the department consists of Empire and Torrent Companies, each with a steamer; Frank- lin, Alert, Eureka and Protection Hose Companies,
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and Hook and Ladder Company, with improved truck and elevating ladders. Negotiations are now in progress for the purchase of another steamer, which is much needed.
The chiefs of the Fire Department under the vol- unteer system were, as near as can be now ascertained: C. E. Allen, John B. Hewson. Levi Peck, J. C. Potter, Dan Leddy, Adam Holloway, James V. Tisdall, Wm. Petry, and J. C. Gerdes. The officers under the paid department have been :-
From 1877 to 1879-J. C. Gerdes, chief; W. D. Brown, assistant; James Gourlay, hydrant inspector.
From 1879 to 1881-J. C. Gerdes, chief; James Brady, assistant; James Gourlay, hydrant inspector. From 1881 to 1887-W. D. Brown, chief ; R. Hoelbe, assistant; James Gourlay, hydrant inspector.
From 1887 to present time-James Brady, chief ; John T. Moore, assistant; James Gourlay, hydrant inspector.
PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS.
Among the most important of the public enter- prises accomplished by the city are the improve- ment of the channels of the streams and the system of sewerage. The history of these two great works will be found interesting and valuable. For this history we have drawn on the official report of Mr. J. H. Pieper, the engineer who had the work in charge from its commencement to its completion.
The necessity of enlarging and otherwise improv- ing the channels of the streams passing through the territory of the city was felt at an early date. In- undations of extensive districts adjacent to both sides of the creeks and rivers within and outside of the city limits during the "rainy seasons" were of frequent occurrence, flooding a belt of land, at times, more than half a mile wide and in certain localities to a depth of five and more feet, causing distress and in some instances considerable loss of property to the people residing within the limits of the inundated district. It is worthy of remark, that the reports of the press of such occurrences, here and elsewhere, did not redound to the prosperity of the city of San Jose.
The apparent, if not real, magnitude of the work contemplated, when considered in connection with the means that seemed available for the work, necessarily deferred its commencement. Moreover, there was no provision or authority of law existing under which the work could have been undertaken at that time.
In the year 1870, however, a special act of the State Legislature was enacted which empowered the Board of Supervisors of Santa Clara County to im-
prove the rivers and streams flowing through Santa Clara County, including those passing through the city.
Under this act the Board of Supervisors appointed Edwin Raynor, a civil engineer (now deceased), to make the necessary surveys, plans, and estimates of the proposed work. The engineer made the surveys for the proposed improvements of a part of the Guad- aloupe River, and filed his report with the Board of Supervisors of said county, November 6, 1871. On December 14 of the same year, a protest, signed by a two-thirds majority of the interested property holders (who were authorized by law to object to the further prosecution of the proposed work), was filed with the Board of Supervisors, and all further proceedings in this matter were thereupon ordered to be stopped by said Board.
The next step was taken by citizens and interested property holders, by the presentation of a petition, addressed to the mayor and common council of the city of San Jose, April 22, 1872, urging the work of " widening, straightening, and deepening of the chan- nel of the Guadaloupe River within the city limits, and to take such other action as will secure the protection of lands contiguous to said river or stream from over- flow." In compliance with this petition the mayor and common council passed an ordinance, approved by the mayor, the Hon. A. Pfister, August 6, 1872, directing J. H. Pieper, city engineer, to make a survey of this river and to report the same to the mayor and common council, accompanied by a diagram map of the location of said stream and the proposed alter- ations of its channel. This survey was approved November 3, 1873; but, in the absence of authority on the part of the city government to improve the channels of the streams as referred to above, nothing further could be done until after the enactment of a new city charter by the State Legislature in 1874.
This charter enabled the mayor and common coun- cil to levy an annual tax not exceeding ten cents on the $100 of taxable property, and also authorized the city to cause improvements to be made on the streams at any place outside the corporate limits, whenever, in the opinion of the mayor and common council, the exigencies of the case might require them. Under this act the improvement of the channels of the streams flowing through the city has been gradually and successfully accomplished, until, at the present time, very little remains to be done.
The work was commenced in May, 1875, at which time the mayor and common council adopted a reso-
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lution authorizing the payment of ten cents per cubic yard of earth excavated and removed from the Guad- aloupe River, at such times and places as the mayor and common council should direct.
This river enters the city at its western limits about two hundred and seventy-five feet north of Willow Street, and thence passes through the corporate limits of the city in a northwesterly direction a distance of about fifteen thousand and seventy-five feet. It re- ceives two tributary streams within the city; one of these is the Tulares de los Canoas, which joins the Guadaloupe at a point about two hundred and fifty feet south of San Salvador Street; the other the Los Gatos Creek, forming its confluence with the Guadaloupe about five hundred and forty feet north of Santa Clara Street.
The channel of the Guadaloupe River was originally very irregular in width, varying from a minimum of about twenty-five feet in the southwestern part of the city to a width of seventy-five to one hundred and fifteen feet in other parts. In depth its channel varied from five to fifteen feet, its course being very erratic, turning abruptly from one side to the other.
During freshets the river overflowed its banks, forming in various places side channels through ad- jacent lands, washing out the soil, which consists prin- cipally of a rich sedimentary sandy loam, to depths varying from one to six feet, and at one time, after a protracted rain-storm, sweeping and destroying several tenement houses. The aggregate fall of the river channel from the point of its entrance into the city territory to its lower exit, was found to be forty-two feet. This fall, however, was irregular and varied from one inch per hundred feet in the central part of the city, to more than one foot per hundred feet in exceptional cases in the southern portion of the chan- nel; while, in its lowest part, from the confluence of the Los Gatos Creek northerly to the northern city limits, it had a more uniform grade of three to three and one-half inches per one hundred feet. The bed of the river consisted principally of clay, or adobe, wet, and in many places spongy and difficult of ex- cavation. In the absence of any definite data as to the maximum of flood-waters to be provided for, the problem to be solved was rather perplexing. But, taking the sectional area of the high flood-waters ex- perienced during the winter of 1868 as they passed over and across the railroad track, and from Orchard Stre t along the middle of Santa Clara Street and over the Alameda road to Stockton Avenue, includ- ing the sectional areas of the old channels of both the
Guadaloupe and Los Gatos Rivers, a cross section of the entire volume of flood-waters was thus obtained, from which conclusions were derived that a tolerably uniform channel of one hundred and fifteen to one hundred and twenty feet in width between the upper bank line, and having side slopes of one and one-half to one and an average depth of about thirteen and one-half feet, would afford the requisite capacity, and that these dimensions would be also fully sufficient for the channel from Santa Clara Street southerly to the junction with the Tulares de los Canoas, and up to the vicinity of the westerly terminus of Grant Street, in which section the grade of the river channel, as stated above, was much less than north of its junction with the Los Gatos.
From Grant Street southerly to the western city limits, the existing conditions as to an increased gradient admitted of a gradual reduction of the di- mensions of the proposed channel to a width of about eighty-five feet at its upper bank lines, as well as of a somewhat lessened depth.
With these conclusions arrived at, systematic sur- veys for the improvement of the channel of this river were then made from time to time, and from year to year, as the means were at hand to do the work; the new bank and levee lines and grades were established, and the amount of the necessary excavations along the river-frontage of each of the respective owners of the adjacent lands determined by a proper system of cross-section levels. Many of the adjacent property owners gave the land necessary for this improvement, and did the work of excavation at the statutory price of ten cents per yard. Mr. Martin Murphy not only gave the land, but did the work along his line at his own expense. But nearly all the channel north of the bridge, at the crossing of the Southern Pacific Railroad, had to be improved under the contract sys- tem, and cost from thirteen to sixteen cents per yard. The entire cost of the improvement was $30,503.94.
The Los Gatos enters the city about two hundred and fifty feet southwest of Santa Clara Street, and after a short run in a northerly direction unites its waters with those of the Guadaloupe, entering said river at an angle of about forty degrees. The former channel of this creek was confined almost throughout its en- tire length within the city between redwood bulk- heads, and had a width of thirty to thirty-five feet only. Its course, moreover, was exceedingly crooked, having the form of the letter S in its meandering ; it extended the length of one thousand one hundred feet, while a straight line drawn from the point of its
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entrance into the city to its junction with the Guada- loupe measured about eight hundred and fifty feet. However, it formed in this winding course, except in a single instance, the boundary between the lands of different owners, holding opposite sides of the creek, and to this fact and attendant difficulties in adjusting these boundaries, it is to be regretted, must be traced the cause of the somewhat unsatisfactory result of the improvement of this comparatively short creek channel as to its proper alignment.
Under the e conditions the work of improving this stream had to be done in a less systematic and de- sirable manner than contemplated at the outset ; yet the channel has been materially straightened as com- pared with its former course, and its width has been increased to about double what it was formerly, af- fording a capacity which will prove amply sufficient to hold within its banks flood-waters of the greatest freshets experienced during the last twenty years. The channel of this stream has also been widened outside of the city limits to a considerable extent, at the expense of the county of Santa Clara. Its depth within the city limits is about thirteen and one-half feet, and both banks have been secured by a wooden bulk-head, having a batler of four feet in this height, and leaving a water-way of about sixty-six feet, mean width. A length of one hundred and thirty feet of the new bulk-head on the easterly side of the channel, at an unavoidable turn in its course where the full force of the rapid current of the stream strikes it, was destroyed some years ago by flood-waters. It has since been replaced by willow fascine work, which, at the present time, forms a solid facing of growing willows, not likely to be injured hereafter by the action of the stream. A part of the bulk-head along the easterly side of the stream was built by Mr. John Auzerais, now deceased, at his own expense. The entire cost of the improvement of the Los Gatos was $2,992.50.
The Tulares De Los Canoas passes through the northwestern part of the city, and joins the Guada- loupe a short distance south of Auzerais Avenue. Its entire length within the city limits is about six thousand seven hundred feet. It is an irregular channel, and varies in width from ten to thirty feet, and in depth from four to seven feet. Since the im- provement of the Guadaloupe River this creek has not overflowed its banks, showing that former overflows, especially in its lower course, were due mainly to "back-water" from the Guadaloupe River. The only locality upon which improvements were made
on the channel of this creek, was north and south of the Duane Street crossing, where it has been reg- ularly improved for a length of about three hundred and thirty-four feet, by straightening its course and by excavating it to a regular cross section, having a mean width of eighteen feet by a depth of seven and one-half feet.
Coyote River forms the eastern boundary. It has a deep, very wide and irregular channel along the city line, and there is no danger of overflow at any place adjoining city territory. It has been found necessary, however, to protect its westerly bank, which reaches a height of twenty-two to twenty-five feet, and consists of a sandy loam, interstratified with sand and fine gravel from the action of the current. This work was done immediately north and south of the crossing of Santa Clara Street, during the years 1875 and 1876, at which time the bank had to be sustained by willow fascine facings and wing-dams, which have ever since remained intact, the willows now forming a dense living barrier, as it were, to further encroachments of the river at these points. The expenditures incurred for this work amounted in the aggregate to th: sum of $2,449.70. There was also expended for a somewhat extensive break- water embankment, built about one-half mile south of the city, during the year 1872, the sum of $3,866.86, this being one-half of its cost, the other half having been paid by the county of Santa Clara. The em- bankment was built to avert the danger of overflows from the river at this locality, where its strong current during times of freshets made rapid progress in the destruction of its westerly bank, which consists here also of a sedimentary sandy loam and yields very readily to the undermining and abrading action of flood-waters. The total cost of river improvement to date has been $44,087.41. The main channel of the Guadaloupe, below its junction with the Los Gatos, has a carrying capacity of sixteen thousand cubic feet per second, which is ample for all purposes.
The first attempt to furnish drainage for the city was made in 1867, when a wooden sewer three by four feet in size was built on Fourth Street, from San Fernando to Taylor Street, a distance of about six thousand two hundred and eighty feet. It was designed for the purpose of surface and storm-water drainage, and to replace an open ditch which then existed on Fourth and other streets, and was built at the comparatively shallow depths of three to eight feet. In 1872 temporary sewers, consisting princi- pally of redwood box drains, were built in several
North
City
ROSA
REDDING STREET
MARRIOTT
PORTIRAM
SVENVĚ
WILLOW
STREF
STREET
AVENUE
CP.R. R.CO.
FOURTEENTH
FIFTEENTH
SIXTEENTH
US BURY
POLRAMUS
ANITA
City
SPRING
ELENA
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
EMPIRE
SUPORLUPE
78
Fox
AVENUE
RYLAND
STREET
WASHINGTON STREET
R. CO.
ONME STREET And
FOURTH
MAIN
SIXTH
SEVENTH
NINTH
TENTH
ELEVENTH
TWBLETH
THIRTEENTH
JULIAN
STREET
STREET
ST. JAMES
STREET
CHIT
STREET
INDEX
JOHN
STREET
STREET
WHITNEY
PRIEST
STREET
ODMAN
LION
NELLE
Coyote
GRORGE
STREET
STREET
STREET
VENDOME
SECOND
THIRD
NORTH
MENUE
EMPIRE
STREET
LATOWANE
STREET
STREET
River
AVENUE
STREET
STREET
AVE
STREET
TAYLOR
ERIEMOUNT
STREET
MISSION
STREET
Limits
AVENUE
VESTAL
WHITNEY
STREET
JDESON
CINMARIA
NTSOMEBY
STREET
TREET
STREET
STRIC
COLLEGE
STREET
STREE
SANTA
ELGOREDO
STŘEET
SAN
BOGUST
AVENUE
STATE
ANTONIO
PARK
DELMAS
STREET
SQUARE
CARLA
MARKET
SHAL
SALVADOR
STREET
ORC
VINE
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
J.H.PIEPER City Engineer.
COLFAX
STREET
STREET
MARGERET
STREET
DUANE STREET
LOCUST
STREET
UNION
VIRGINI
STREET
POND
LOWIS
STBFEL
KING
PALM
MARTINS
STRELT
STREET
RIVER
Coyote
STREET
STREET
WILLOW
STREET
STREET
STREET
MASTICK
SHERMAN
River.
West ..
PALM
STREET
HUM BOLD
AVENUE
FLOYD STREET
STREE
City
STREET
FORD
Iamits
South
MAP SEWERAGE SYSTEM CITY . SAN JOSE, CAL. OF THE OF THE
San Jose, Cal. September 1888.
Scale : 1380Feet to 1 inch.
AVENUE
MARLIERE
PREVOST
PALBACK
PIERCE AVENUE
REED
STREU
Ří
STREET
GRANT
STREET
STREET
GUADALUPE
STATE STREET
EDWARDS
STREET
STREET
STREET
STREET
GOODYEAR
PLUM
HUMBOLD
STREET
SENTER
STREET
REET
ROAD
S.P. R.R.CO.
WILLIAN
STREET
Limits
WASHINGTON
NOTRE DAME
RIVER
STRÉE
STREET
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PEN PICTURES FROM THE "GARDEN OF THE WORLD."
streets and connected with the branches from the Fourth Street sewer.
This arrangement was of a very temporary charac- ter, and in 1870 the city engineer, Mr. J. H. Pieper, was instructed to propose and submit a system of permanent sewerage for the city. This was done, and the present effective system was the result. Its cost was estimated at $200,000. The city had no money at that time available for this purpose, and the work was postponed from year to year. On several occa- sions it was proposed that the council ask for author- ity to make a loan, but the prevailing sentiment was against creating any debt. The levy of a tax sufficient to carry on the enterprise was as warmly opposed as the proposition to issue bonds. The matter stood thus for nearly ten years. In the meantime the city had grown rapidly, and the question of drainage could no longer be postponed. It was resolved to begin the work and carry it along as rapidly as money could be obtained to pay for it.
In 1880 ground was broken and the work was con- tinued with more or less vigor, according to the con- dition of the sewerage fund, until 1887, when the loan of $285,000 was made, $150,000 for the main sewer and $135,000 for branch sewers. Up to this time, however, the sum of about $165,000 had been expended and the system was in fair working order. The reason why the cost has been so much in excess of the original estimate is found in the fact that it is intended to build a covered sewer to the bay instead
of the open ditch now used as an outlet, and to extend the system over much more territory than was at first intended. It may be said that the loan of $285,000 was to cover new work not estimated on, or contem- plated in the original proposition.
The main sewer is on Fifth Street, extending from San Fernando Street to the bay, a distance of nearly eight miles. From San Fernando to Taylor Streets it is built of brick, thirty-six by fifty-four inches in the clear, from twenty-one to thirteen feet below the surface. From Taylor Street to theoutlet sewer, near C. Younger's line, a distance of six thousand and sixty-seven feet, it is of brick, sixty inches in diameter and from thirteen to ten feet below the surface Thence through lands of Younger, Maloney, and Col- lins, a distance of one thousand five hundred and five feet, it is of redwood, and from seven to three feet below the surface. Thence to the Guadaloupe River, about a mile from Alviso, it is an open ditch. The location of the open ditch is now being changed so that it will open directly into the bay, and will be covered along its entire length.
The branch sewers, except on Taylor Street, from Fifth to Tenth, and on San Fernando Street, from Third to Eighth (which are of brick), are of vitrified stone pipe. They now comprise a distance of over thirty miles.
The accompanying map will show the location, size, and direction of all the sewers constructed to the present time.
21
FINANCIAL OPERATIONS
OF THE COUNTY.
T HE question of a public revenue became promi- nent immediately upon the organization of the county. There were no improvements or property to start with. Everything had to commence from the beginning. In this respect the county was in a worse condition than the city, which fell heir to all the property of the old pueblo, and which enabled it to not only pay all debts but left a very handsome sur-
plus. The county had to create everything, with no material at hand for the purpose. Its necessary offi- cers were numerous and salaries were high. There were no public buildings and no highways, no schools, and, comparatively, a small property valuation on which to levy a tax. But with all these needs the new government did not propose to overburden the people with taxation. The first levy was twenty-five cents on the hundred dollars, with a poll-tax of two dollars and a half. The next year the levy was fifty cents on the hundred dollars, with twenty-five cents added for building purposes. The year following, the levy was reduced to thirty cents, with five cents for buildings, and in 1853 it was again raised to fifty cents for general purposes, with twenty-five cents for buildings and five cents for schools. These levies were exclusive of the tax for State purposes.
The revenue was far short of the requirements of the county. Warrants were issued that went to pro- test, and in 1856 a debt of over $60,000 had ac- cumulated. Then the aid of the Legislature was invoked, and an act was passed by that body and approved April 9 of that year, authorizing the county government to issue bonds to the amount of $67,500, payable in ten years and bearing twelve per cent interest. These bonds were issued and given to creditors in lieu of their claims, and thus the entire debt of the county was funded up to March 1, 1856. These bonds were redeemed, as required by the act, in 1866.
In 1861 the county was struggling with the rail- road problem, and the people were willing to assume
almost any burden that might insure the building of a road to San Jose. Several efforts had been made to secure private subscriptions for the purpose of constructing a railroad to Alviso to connect with a line of boats, but all had been unsuccessful. At this time came the San Francisco & San Jose Railroad Company with the proposition that, if the county would subscribe for $200,000 of the stock of the company and issue bonds in payment of the same, the road would be built. The proposition was popu- lar, and on April 9, 1861, a law was enacted by the Legislature authorizing the county to make the sub- scription and to issue bonds payable in fifteen years, and bearing seven per cent interest. These bonds were redeemed as follows: The railroad stock was sold (as related in our chapter on railroads), to Messrs. Donahue, Newhall, and Mayne, and the pro- ceeds, $100,000, applied to redemption of the bonds. Five thousand dollars' worth were redeemed as pro- vided by the act creating the indebtedness. The re- mainder matured and were redeemed in 1876 by new bonds issued in that year. One bond of a thousand dollars was not presented for payment until 1880, having evidently been mislaid by the owner.
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