Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 39

Author: Foote, Horace S., ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844

USA > California > Santa Clara County > Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California > Part 39

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The Saratoga Wine Company is an association of vine-growers who have formed an incorporation for the purpose of manufacturing into wine the product of their vineyards, and thus protect themselves from any combination that may be formed by dealers. The officers are: A. D. Macdonald, President; Lewis A. Sage, Secretary and Treasurer; Peter Warner, Man- ager The winery is in the building at Saratoga for- merly used as a flouring-mill. Last season the vintage amounted to sixty-three thousand gallons.

SMALLER TOWNS. LEXINGTON.

Lexington was at one time quite a flourishing hamlet. Situated about three miles above Los Gatos, it was the headquarters for the early lumbermen and people otherwise employed in the mountains. It was also the stopping-place for the Santa Cruz stages. The advent of the railroad, which left it on one side, took away all its support, and it has since almost ceased to exist. It is in the heart of the mountain fruit district, but trade and traffic do not reach it.

ALMA.

This place, which, before the building of the rail- road, was only a wayside inn, has grown into consid- erable importance since that time. Its history, as a village, dates from 1877, and is too recent to have much interest.

WRIGHTS.

Wrights is a small hamlet near the summit of the Santa Cruz Mountains. It came into existence in 1878, when the railroad was completed. It is the shipping-point for wood, and also for much of the fruit grown in that portion of the mountain district.

MILPITAS.

We have shown, in our chapter on land titles, how this name originated. The town came into existence in 1856, when Frederick Creighton erected the first building and opened a store. A post-office was also established at this time, with Creighton as postmaster, and J. R. Weller as assistant. In 1857 the first hotel was opened by James Kinney, who was succeeded by A. French. The building was destroyed by fire in 1860, but was rebuilt by Mr. French, who has ever since been its proprietor. The town has kept up with the times in the way of improvements. It has neat churches, and one of the best school buildings in the country. It contains shops and stores sufficient for the necessities of the surrounding country, and the inhabitants are contented.

ALVISO.

In 1849 it was thought that this town was destined to become a great city. Sitting, as it does, at the head of San Francisco Bay, it was thought that it would become the shipping-point for all the lower country. It was predicted that, in a comparatively few years, shipping from all parts of the world would be moored at its wharves, and its immense warehouses be filled with the products of all nations. For a time it was a very active place. Warehouses were built, and build- ings erected for hotels, dwellings, and stores. The railroad, however, diverted travel in 1866, and it be- came nearly deserted. The arrival of the South Pacific Coast Railroad, in 1876, revived business somewhat, but its people no longer anticipate that it will become the metropolis of the Pacific Coast. The town was incorporated in 1852, with John Snyder as its first treasurer, and A. T. Gallagher as its first marshal. Thomas West and Robert Hutchinson were members of the first Board of Trustees. Its charter has been allowed to lapse, and it has now no inde- pendent existence.

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PEN PICTURES FROM THE "GARDEN OF THE WORLD."

MOUNTAIN VIEW.

The old town originally consisted of a stage sta- tion on the San Francisco road, built by James Camp- bell, in 1852. Opposite this station Richard Karr opened a store, which was managed by Jacob Shum- way. In 1853 the Weilheimer Brothers opened a store, as did also a Hungarian called "Doc." The town was surveycd into lots and blocks by Frank Sleeper and Mariano Castro, but the town has shown no disposition to stray away from the one principal strcet. It never was incorporated. In 1869 Mr. S. P. Taylor erected the hotel which, since his death, has been conducted by his widow. In 1876 Enter- prise Hall was built by a local association. Mountain View Lodge, No. 244, I. O. O. F., was instituted June 2, 1876.

MOUNTAIN VIEW STATION,

Or New Mountain View, was the outgrowth of the railroad. It was laid out by S. O. Houghton in 1865. The first house was built by Shirley and Haines, for a saloon. The next building was the hotel, built by D. Frink and Shirley. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was built in October, 1872, and for the first year was under the charge of Rev. Isaac L. Hop- kins. Mountain View Lodge, No. 194, F. and A. M., was organized in 1868. Mountain View Lodge, No. 59, A. O. U. W., was organized October 16, 1878. Golden Wreath Lodge, No. 327, I. O. G. T., was or- ganized May 14, 1880. The two brick warehouses were built in 1878, by Smith and Bubb.

MAYFIELD.

In 1853 David. Adams built a public house on what is now the route of the San Francisco road, and called it "Uncle Jim's Cabin." It became noted in the days of stage travel. The next building was used as a butcher shop by Rama & Cinovia, and was built in 1854. C. J. Fuller built a store in 1855, and shortly afterwards a blacksmith shop. In this year a post-office was established, with James Otterson as postmaster. In 1857 Doctor Gunning located in the town, as did also Judge Wallis. In the meantime Fuller had sold out his mercantile business to Will- iam Paul. The railroad arrived in 1864, but the sta- tion was located three-quarters of a inile from the town. About two years afterwards it was changed to its present position. The town was regularly laid out by William Paul in 1867, and streets opened, named, and graded. In 1866 Page & Peers opened a lumber yard, and in 1868 the Mayfield Brewery was built. The Catholic Church was erected in 1871, and

in 1872 the Methodist Episcopal Church was built. Mayfield Lodge, No. 192, I. O. O. F., was instituted September 13, 1871. The town seems now to have entered on a new era of prosperity. In addition to the impetus received by the development of its great horticultural resources, the establishment of the great Stanford University in the immediate vicinity has given it great importance.

NEW ALMADEN QUICKSILVER MINE.

The history of this famous mine has been fre- quently written, but has never been presented in bet- ter form than by Mrs. Carrie Stevens Walters, in the excellent hand-book of Santa Clara County, pub- lished by E. S. Harrison in 1887. As the duty of the historian is to present facts, we give those con- nected with this institution in the language of Mrs. Walters :-

" Almaden-from two Arabic words-al, 'the,' maden, 'mine' -- was the name given to the most famous quicksilver mine of the world, located in Spain. Its namesake of Santa Clara County, hav- ing no superior, with the single exception above men- tioned, deserves more than a passing notice in a work of this character. The New Almaden quicksilver mine is situated about fourteen miles southwest of San Jose, in a low range of hills running parallel with the Coast Range. Tradition states that this mine was known to the native Indians nearly a century ago, and that they used the ore-red sulphuret of mercury-to form a pigment paste by pounding and moistening it. In 1824 the existence of the mine was made known to Don Antonio Suñol, who worked it for silver; but not finding this metal, and not sus- pecting the real nature of the deposit, abandoned it at the end of a year. In November, 1845, a Mexican officer named Andres Castillero, visiting at Santa Clara Mission, was shown some of the ore, and while experimenting for silver, discovered quicksilver. He at once filed his right to the mine as a discoverer, according to the Spanish and Mexican law, after which he formed a stock company, dividing the mine into twenty-four shares. An American named Wm. G. Chard was then employed, who commenced the reduction by charging a gun barrel with small pieces of ore, stopping the vent with clay, placing the muz- zel into a barrel of water, and building a fire around the other end. The mercury, being driven off by the heat in the form of vapor, passed out at the muzzle, was condensed in the water, and precipitated in the

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form of liquid quicksilver. Three or four gun barrels were thus employed for several weeks. Six whaler's try-pots were next obtained, capable of holding three or four tons of ore, and a sort of furnace formed by inverting three over the other three, by which some two thousand pounds of metal were reduced. About this time-1846-the mine was visited by General Fremont, who established its value at about thirty thousand dollars! Soon after this, Barron, Forbes & Co., of Tepic, Mexico, became the principal stock- holders, and in 1847 Alexander Forbes, of the firm, arrived with laborers, funds, and everything necessary to the proper working of the mine. A thorough ex- amination gave so much promise that work was pros- ecuted with vigor. In 1850 furnaces were first con- structed and large quantities of ore reduced under the superintendence of the late Gen. H. W. Halleck. As the true value of the mine became apparent, disputes concerning the title arose. The company bought in two titles for protection. But matters be- came so complicated that in October, 1858, an injunc- tion was placed on the mine, which remained until February, 1861, during which time no work was done. In 1864 the company disposed of the mine and all improvements, including eight thousand five hun- dred and eighty acres of land, for $1,700,000, to a company chartered, under the laws of New York and Pennsylvania, as 'The Quicksilver Mining Company,' which company is the present owner.

" The workings of the mine, past and present, ex- tend over an area the extreme limits of which could barely be included within a rectangular block five thousand feet long from north to south, six thousand feet wide fiom east to west, and two thousand three hundred feet in depth, counting from the summit of Mine Hill, the upward limit of the ore deposit. The workings do not cover all the area here indicated, but are very irregularly distributed within it. Mining ex- perts will readily understand from this, and also from the fact that ore bodies seem to obey no special law of distribution, but are a puzzle to geologists, the difficulty offered in the workings of this mine. In its famous rival, Almaden of Spain, the ore bodies are placed with remarkable regularity, increasing in rich- ness as depth is obtained, and all included within a rectangular block' seven hundred feet long, by three hundred and fifty broad, and one thousand and twenty-seven in depth. It may be interesting to pursue this comparison a little further. For instance: the average salary paid to workmen at the Spanish mine is sixty cents per day ; at New Almaden, about

$2.40. The number of workers employed at old Almaden, three thousand one hundred and twenty- six ; at New Almaden, four hundred and sixty; the yield per ton of ore at New Almaden averages lit- tle more than twenty pounds of quicksilver; at old Almaden the general average is about two hundred pounds of quicksilver to the ton; the average cost of extracting per flask of seventy-six and one-half pounds at old Almaden is $7.10; at New Almaden the cost is $26.38. It is safe to affirm that, had the Spanish mine the same difficulties to overcome in working as are encountered at. New Almaden, it would long since have been shut down, despite the Rothschilds, its lessees. These facts naturally lead one to inquire something of the management of the Santa Clara County Almaden. The mine came un- der control of its present manager, Mr. J. B. Randol, in 1870. At that time there was an interest-bearing debt against the property of over one and a half mill- ion dollars. The amount of ore in sight was dis- couragingly small, the extraction very costly, and the stockholders were so pushed to carry on the workings of the mine that they were compelled to raise $200,000 by subscription. The systems of working the mine were crude and expensive, furnaces and condensers imperfect and the mine developed only to the eight hundred-foot level, with one main shaft. Much of the ore was brought from lower to higher levels in bags made of ox-hides, and carried by Mexicans by means of a strap over the forehead-from one hun- dred and forty to two hundred pounds being conveyed at a load. Now, in 1886, exploration and exploita- tion have been made in nine shafts, six of which are in active operation; there is a network of under- ground passages aggregating nearly fifty miles in length ; mining work is carried on to a depth of two thousand three hundred feet, while the machin- ery is the most complete and economical of any mine in the world. In those sixteen years three hundred and eightcen thousand flasks of quicksilver have been reduced, over $5,000,000 disbursed for labor, and yet with a total profit to the owners of more than $4,000,000. The funded debt has been paid, large amounts ex- pended in permanent improvements, and over $1,000- 000 declared in dividends. More than one-half the world's supply of quicksilver comes from California. A greater portion of this is produced at New Alma- den, a small amount being put out by other mines in the State.

" In those earlier days the social condition of the workmen, who were mostly Mexicans, was inferior.

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The place was noted for lawlessness, and was a rendcz- vous for Mexican banditti. Little restraint was ex- ercised over the men, and gambling, drinking, and licentiousness were common. Large wages were paid, and it was no uncommon occurrence for a man to be killed after pay-day. There were no advantages of church or schools. Water for cooking and drinking purposes was carried on donkeys and sold by the pail- ful

"Now the visitor leaves the railroad station two miles from the hacienda where are located the re- duction works of the mine. Almost the first thing to greet the eye is a pretty school-house with its groups of neat, tidy children. Two teachers are employed here and four at the school on the hill, three miles further on, for ten months in the year, the schools be- ing in the regular county school system. Along the single street for half a mile are clean, pretty cottages, the homes of the hacienda workmen, each cottage literally embowered in choice roses and other flowers. These houses are owned mostly by the company, who lease them to the workmen at from $2.00 to $5.00 per month. Cuttings and plants are supplied free from the beautiful gardens of the manager, where are grown more varieties of roses than in any other place, perhaps, in the county. Along the street in front of the houses a stream of purest water is conducted in a channel for domestic purposes. The street is bordered with shade-trees, and a neat brick walk extends its entire length. Everywhere are seen signs of thrift and prosperity; the people look well kept and con- tented, while an all-pervading spirit of order and sys- tem extends to the remotest ramifications of this im- portant industry.

"Three miles up a steep but well-graded road brings one to the mine proper, where are the great shafts with their huge engines, in one of which, the engine of the Buena Vista shaft, is a piece of iron weighing twelve tons. The miners are principally Mexican and Cornish. Two pretty church edifices, a Methodist and a Catholic, located at the Hill Set- tlement, were built almost entirely by contributions from the company and manager. A social organiza- tion, called the ' Helping Hand,' for which the com- pany crected and fitted up a club building, for the benefit of the workmen, has a fine library of nearly five hundred volumes, besides a list of magazines and daily and weekly newspapers of the best published. Here are held frequent entertainments, given by the members, and the society is a wonderful factor in the

promotion of sociability, general information, and mental culture.

" The Miners' Fund, to which each employe con- tributes one dollar per month, pays, among other ex- penditures for the good of the miners, the salary of a resident physician, a most skillful and competent gentleman, whose services are gratuitous to the con- tributors. The value of this arrangement will be better understood when it is known that a great ma- jority of the workmen are married men with familics. The management encourages this class, feeling that, as a rule, it is more reliable and responsible than that composed of men with no domestic ties. The popu- lation of the settlement is about fourteen hundred, of which six hundred are under twenty years of age. The essentials of a true home, children, and flowers, flourish unrestrained at New Almaden. The pay-roll is noted for men who have been long in the employ of the company; and it is hardly necessary to add that during Mr. Randol's management such a thing as a ' strike' has never been thought of."

Since September, 1887, the management of the system inaugurated and built up by the superintend- ent, Mr. Randol, has been intrusted to Col. Ferdinand Von Leicht, who has been connected with the quick- silver interests of California since 1868.

POST-OFFICES.

Following is a list of post-offices in Santa Clara County at the present time :-

Agnew, Gilroy, Mountain View,

Alma, Gilroy Hot Sp'gs, New Almaden,

Alviso, Gubserville,

Patchin,

Bell's Station, Hillsdale,

San Felipe,

Campbell,

Lawrence,

San Jose,

Coyote,

Los Gatos,

Santa Clara,

Cupertino,

Madrone,

Saratoga,

Evergreen,

Mayfield,

Sargent,

Frohm,

Milpitas,

Wrights.

PRIVATE LAND GRANTS.

Following is a list of the various tracts of land in Santa Clara County to which title was granted by the Spanish and Mexican Governments :-

Arroyo de los Pilarcitos, one square league, to Can- delario Miramontes.

Cañada del Corte de Madera, to Domingo Peralta.

Cañada de San Felipey Las Animas, two square leagues, to Charles M. Weber, patented August 9, 1866.

Cañada de Pala, eight thousand by twelve hundred

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PEN PICTURES FROM THE "GARDEN OF THE WORLD."

varas, to José de Jesus Bernal et al., patented August 9, 1863.

Cañada de los Capitancillos, to Guadaloupe Mining Company.

El Corte de Madera, two square leagues, to Maximo Martinez, patented June 14, 1858.

El Pasito de las Animas, three thousand and forty- two acres, to Robert Walkinshaw.

Embarcadero de Santa Clara, one thousand varas, to Barcelia Bernal.

Juristac, one square league, to Antonio and Faustin German.

La Polka, one square league, to Bernard Murphy, patented March 3, 1860.

La Purisima Concepcion, one square league, to Juana Briones.

Los Tularcitos, to Antonio Higuera et al., heirs of José Higuera, patented July 8, 1870.

Las Animas or Sitio de la Brea, to José Maria Sanchez.

Las Coches, half square league, to Antonio Suñol et al., patented December 31, 1857.

La Laguna Seca, four square leagues, to Liberata Cesaña Bull, et al., patented November 24, 1865.

Los Capitancillos, three-quarters of a square league, to Charles Fosset, patented February 3, 1865.

Las Animas, to Frederick E. Whiting.

Milpitas, one square league, to José Maria Alviso. Mission of Santa Clara, to Juan C. Galindo.

Mission of Santa Clara, thirteen and thirteen-hun- dredths acres, church property, patented March 3, 1858.

Ojo de Agua de la Coche, two square leagues, to Bernard Murphy, patented January 4, 1860.

Patrero de Santa Clara, one square league, to Robert F. Stockton.

Pastoria de las Borregas, three thousand two hun- dred and seven and a quarter acres, to Martin Murphy, patented December 15, 1865.

Pueblo of San Jose, to mayor and common coun- cil of San Jose, confirmed October 8, 1866.

Pala, one square league, to Ellen White et al., widow and heirs of Charles White.

Quito, three square leagues, to Manuel Alviso, pat- ented May 14, 1866.

Rincon de San Francisquito, half square league, to Maria Antonio Mesa, widow of Rafael Soto.

Rancho del Refugio, or l'astoria del las Borregas,

three square leagues, to Thomas Pacheco and Augus- tin Alviso.

Rincon de los Esteros, to Francisco Berreyessa et al., heirs of G. Berreyessa.

Rincon de los Esteros, to Rafael Alviso et al.

Rincon de los Esteros, two thousand acres, to Ellen E. White.

Rincoñada de los Gatos, one and a half square leagues, to Sebastian Peralta and Jose Hernandez, patented March 19, 1860.

Santa Ana y Quien Sabe, seven square leagues, to Juan Miguel Angas and Manuel Larios, patented May 1, 1860.

San Isidro, one square league, to Quentin Ortega et al., patented September 27, 1869.

San Francisco de las Llagas, six square leagues, to Bernard Daniel, James and Martin Murphy, patented March 19, 1868.

San Antonio, one square league, to Encarnacion Mesa et al., patented August 6, 1866.

San Vicente, one square league, Maria L. B. Ber- reyessa.

Santa Teresa, one square league, to Augustin Ber- nal, patented March 8, 1867.

San Isidro, one square league, to Quentin Ortega, patented October 22, 1868.

San Francisquito, eight suertes (two hundred varas each), Maria Concepcion Valencia de Rodriguez et al., patented June 8, 1868.

San Antonio, six thousand one hundred and two acres, to William A. Dana et al., patented, no date re- corded.

Ulistac, half square league, Jacob D. Hoppe, pat- ented October 12, 1868.

Las Uvas, three square leagues, to Bernard Murphy, patented February 18, 1860.

Yerba Buena, or Socaye, twenty-four thousand three hundred and forty-two and sixty-four one-hundredths acres, to Antonio Chavalla, patented January 3, 1859.

Tract of land, two thousand varas, confirmed to James Enwright.

Tract of land, fifty by sixty varas, confirmed to Francisco Arce.

Two tracts of land, three hundred and fifty-eight and fifty-one one-hundredths acres, to Mary S. Ben- nett.

Los Huecos, nine leagues, Hornsty and Roland, granted May 6, 1846, by Pio Pico, to Louis Arenas and John Roland,

BIOGRAPHICAL.

AMES H. OGIER, deccased. The subject of this sketch was born in Baltimore, Maryland, March 28, 1830. He was the son of John Ogier, who was born on the Island of Guernsey, in the English Channel, but was reared, from nine years of age, in Maryland, where his father, a representative of one of the prominent, long-established families of the Isle of Guernsey, made his American home.

James H. Ogier, whose name heads this sketch, was reared and educated in Baltimore. Before the attain- ment of his majority he was associated with his father in the management of an extensive vegetable and small-fruit interest, having the city of Baltimore for their market. When twenty-one years of age, the subject of our sketch came, via the Isthmus route, to this State, reaching San Francisco on the second of August, 1851, in company with James H. Cornthwait, also a native of Baltimore. The first year both worked for wages, but the following season (1852), in partner- ship with John Ingleson and John Hakesly, they bought one hundred and fifty acres of land on the Alviso road, three miles north of San Jose, and at once commenced its improvement. Within a few years Mr. Ogier bought out the interests of Messrs. Ingleson and Hakesly, and finally, in 1859, that of Mr. Cornthwait also, thus becoming the sole owner. Gradually his real-estate holding increased, until the homestead was enlarged to two hundred and eighty acres.

On the twenty-fourth of May, 1866, Mr. Ogier was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Branham, the daughter of Isaac Branham, deceased. Mr. Branham was one of California's heroic pioneer men, who braved the perils of plain, mountain, and desert in coming to this valley at the early date of 1846. (Elsewhere in this volume appears a detailed sketch of his life.) Mrs. Ogier was born in Callaway County, Missouri, July 21, 1841, and her fifth birthday was spent on the plains on the way to California. She was educated at the Notre Dame Convent at San Jose, she and her sister

Elizabeth (now deceased) entering as members of its first classes. Mrs. Ogier afterwards became a student at Bascom Institute. All of her married life has been spent at her present home. She is the mother of seven living children, all of whom are yet at her home. Their names are: Elizabeth Hargest, John Branham, Fannie Grayson, James Lee, Ada Reid, Walter Tul- lidge and Margaret. Her sixth child, Florence Eaton died at the age of fourteen months.

Mr. Ogier was an active man, who pushed the work of improvement rapidly and vigorously. His farm showed evidences of his energy and business manage- ment. He erected his fine family residence in 1883, and spared no expense in making a noble struct- ure, which contains every needed comfort and convenience. He came to Santa Clara a poor young man, but, by industry and the good management which results from experience and thorough knowl- edge, he made his business a profitable one. He acquired an ample competence, and left his family a good home, without incumbrance, although he was obliged to purchase the original homestead three times, from as many different claimants under Mexi- can grants, before he could obtain a perfect title.

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Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 39

Author: Foote, Horace S., ed Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 844

Author: Foote, Horace S., ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844