USA > California > Contra Costa County > The history of Contra Costa County, California > Part 10
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In the present chapter we will take up the products of the soil under three classifications-horticultural, agricultural, and viticultural. Hor- ticultural embraces the various fruit- and nut-bearing trees, agricultural applies to the general field of farming, and the term viticultural is con- fined solely to the raising of grapes.
Contra Costa County's principal horticultural products are pears, walnuts, almonds, prunes, peaches, apricots, cherries, apples, and olives. Pears form one of the most remunerative crops in the county. Former- ly it was difficult to combat the numerous insects that preyed upon this fruit, but through the aid of the State experimental institutions it has been found possible to eliminate the pests by spraying the trees, at a cost of about twenty dollars an acre. Pears do best on heavy, loamy soil, and Bartlett pears are preferred by the cannery men. First-class pear land can be bought at from $200 to $400 an acre. Approximately ten years is required for pears to mature, but after that they will bring in, under average conditions, about $300 to the acre in gross returns, or about $150 profit. The best results are obtained by grafting on to quince roots. But as Bartletts do not join well with the quince, the difficulty
Wm He Buckley
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has to be overcome by a clever system of intermediate grafting. The Duchess or Hardy pear is first grafted to the quince, and the Bartlett will then unite with either of these.
Thanks to the best of transportation facilities, the raising of prunes is now a very profitable industry. Ten years ago the local prune market was undeveloped, and prunes were considered a risky crop. Today the grower averages four cents a pound, which will bring in from $200 to $400 to the acre, one half of which will be profit. No better prunes are raised elsewhere in the State than in Contra Costa County. The fruit is of a large size, and the conditions for drying are ideal, there being no heavy fogs to wet or mold the drying products. The French prune is the most satisfactory, as it ripens earliest.
The western end of the county is the home of the peach and apricot. Here the individual growers have set out orchards of various sizes, and the large canning companies have planted vast tracts. Both fruits are raised at a handsome profit.
The eastern section of the county is best adapted to almond-raising. Nor is there any likelihood at present of this field being overcrowded. The supply does not keep pace with the demand, and it is necessary to import large quantities of almonds every year. Almonds should be planted in light sandy loam, and different varieties should be set out, as cross-pollination is an important factor in successful almond-growing.
Who has not longed to visit Japan in cherry-blossom time? Perhaps the nearest approach to realizing that desire is to be in Contra Costa County during the same period. Cherries are the tenderest of trees and demand the best care, including tillage, drainage, and the highest qual- ity of soil. They will reward the painstaking horticulturist with big re- turns-sometimes as high as twenty dollars' worth of fruit from a single tree. The Royal Ann and the Bing are best adapted to Contra Costa County.
. During late years olives have been very successfully grown in this re- gion. Once it was the general opinion that olives would do well on poor soil, but this has been found to be a fallacy. Those who get the best re- sults are careful to select the right kind of land and give the trees plen- ty of attention.
The walnuts of Contra Costa County vie with those of any other sec- tion of the State. Although a fairly recent industry, walnut-growing
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bids fair to become a very important factor in the horticultural activi- ties of the county.
Contra Costa County possesses some wonderfully fertile farming lands, especially those which lie along the deltas of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. Here the prize potatoes are grown by the hundreds of thousands of sacks. A large trade has been built up with the Eastern and Central States, which receive potatoes from this section by the trainload.
The small islands lying adjacent to the mainland are phenomenally rich in soil, and the finest vegetables are raised thereon. Contra Costa County is famed for its celery, the white variety, which thrives on the delta lands ; likewise its asparagus, which is grown by the hundreds of acres. The green corn from this region is the first to reach the San Francisco market. One might continue the list endlessly, for every kind of garden truck is at home in Contra Costa.
A large amount of alfalfa is grown in the eastern part of the county, and each year shows an increase over the acreage of the previous year. Alfalfa requires an abundance of water and good soil, both of which are to be had in this region. Plenty of good alfalfa land can still be bought at reasonable prices. Alfalfa is one of the most profitable of ag- ricultural products, as from three to five crops can be mowed yearly, and it has a number of by-products that also bring good returns. It is an ideal stock food, and manifests itself in a great improvement in the ap- pearance of the live-stock wherever it is grown.
Wheat, barley, and oats comprise the grain products of the county. The average yield is about twelve centals to the acre, but among the islands of the deltas, where the heaviest crops are garnered, the reward is sometimes as high as twenty-five centals. Contra Costa County has completed a cycle in grain-raising. Fifty or sixty years ago enormous crops of grain were raised. Local seaports were famous for their ship- ments of grain, which was carried to the ends of the earth by vessels from all nations.
The one difficulty was that the farmers at that time neglected to put back into the soil the valuable elements which they removed, and in time their lands yielded no more than half a crop. But the modern farmer, who must be a scientific farmer if he would succeed, has re- paired the omissions of his predecessors. He has given back to the
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grain-lands the nitrates and fertilizers they require, and the grain yield is again well to the front. The cycle has been completed.
The vineyards of Contra Costa County have become famous the world over. The soil and climatic conditions are peculiarly favorable to the successful growing of dry-wine grapes, out of which has emerged a great industry. Vineyards have quadrupled in twenty years, the acre- age increasing from 1500 to over 6000. Wineries have grown from fif- teen to fifty in the same length of time. The well-known Italian-Swiss Colony, where a vast amount of California champagne is made, owns 1200 acres of grape land in the county. The success of this industry is largely due to the expert knowledge that has been brought to bear upon it. The choicest cuttings obtainable have been brought from all over the world-from Europe, Asia Minor, Persia, and Egypt-and care has been taken to transplant them in the right kind of soil. The importance of the vine in Contra Costa is evidenced by the fact that the largest wine-cellar in the world is situated at Winehaven, near Richmond.
In concluding this chapter, a word of gratuitous warning is extended to the neophyte farmer whose enthusiasm outruns his judgment. No one should undertake to make his livelihood out of the soil, "in the sweat of his brow," without first giving the matter careful thought. He should consult some of the men who have succeeded and find out how they did it. He should ascertain whether soil and climate are adapted to the things he intends to raise. Also, he should not begin on a scale beyond the limits of his capital. Successful farming is a science, and he who follows it as such will succeed, while he who does not is doomed to cer- tain failure.
CHAPTER IX
MINES AND MINERALS
IN 1863 a great excitement was created by the discovery of copper in the county, and one really worthy of the "good times" in mining dis- tricts. All at once, nobody could tell why, a grand copper excitement arose, which permeated the whole community. It was reported by vari- ous parties that the mountains were full of the ores of copper of untold, because of unknown, richness. Simultaneously with this grand discov- ery every unemployed man turned prospector. Blankets and bacon, beans and hard bread rose to a premium, and the hills were lighted up at night with hundreds of camp-fires. Hammers and picks were in great demand, and there is ocular evidence even to this day that not a boulder or projecting rock escaped the notice of the prospectors. It was a ques- tion of probabilities that were bound soon to harden into certainties. In- deed, it was only a short time before copper prospects were possessed of a definite value. Claims were opened, companies formed, and stock issued on the most liberal scale. Everything wore the couleur de rose. As usual upon similar occasions, there was great strife about claims. Some were "jumped" on the ground of some informality twice in twen- ty-four hours. Heavy prices were paid for "choice" ground, and it is quite safe to say that old Mount Diablo's sides and summit have never since borne such an enormous valuation. It seemed as though the whole community had been bitten by the mining tarantula. The excitement lasted for several weeks, growing fiercer from day to day. Scores of men, laden with specimens, thronged the hotels and saloons, and noth- ing was talked of but "big strikes" and "astounding developments."
Clayton was the center of these mining operations, and town lots were sold at high prices. The ruling price for shares in the Pioneer was $4; in the Eureka, $3.50 and up. Hundreds of companies were formed, and each had hosts of advocates. Shafts were sunk and some ore obtained, and, according to one assay, "there was $48.33 in gold and $243 in sil- ver to the ton"! The first shipment of ore to San Francisco was in Sep-
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tember, 1863, of one ton, from the Pioneer claim. Smelting works were erected at Antioch, and the following prices offered: For copper of eight-per-cent quality, $15 per ton ; for twelve-per-cent quality, $25 per ton.
Men of experience and practical skill partook of the illusion. All at once the bubble burst. The millionaires of the day left their rude camps in the mountains, and, with ragged breeches and boots out at the toes, subsided at once into despondency and less exciting employment. The hotel- and saloon-keepers, to say nothing of the editors, proceeded to disencumber their premises of accumulated tons of specimens of all kinds of "shiny rocks" to be found within an area of thirty miles square, making quite a contribution to the paving material of the streets.
Silver mines were staked out and partially worked in 1860. The first discovery of silver was made by L. H. Hastings, and was taken from the east side of the mountain.
Paint deposits were discovered in 1862 by Doctor Hough, of Mar- tinez, on the banks of the El Hambre Creek. Specimens showed a large number of distinct tints, or colors.
Petroleum wells were sunk near Antioch in 1865, and much land cov- ered with claims. In 1868 oil was also found on the ranch of Dr. Car- others, about three miles from San Pablo, and not less than $25,000 was spent in experiments, fixtures, oil-tanks, retorts, distilleries, etc., but from all these discoveries oil in paying quantities has never been obtained.
Salt was found at a spring near the Marsh ranch, and a company was formed to conduct its operation, but we do not learn that any success followed.
Lime quarries were opened, and in 1862 large quantities of lime were manufactured in the neighborhood of Pacheco from stone found about six miles from Mount Diablo. These quarries, opened in 1850, were the first discovered in the State, and were very profitable.
CEMENT
The cement industry of California is showing a rapid increase. The works of the Cowell Cement Company, one of the greatest plants in the world, are located in Contra Costa County, between Concord and Clay- ton. Several hundred men are constantly employed at these works, the
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average annual pay-roll amounting to upward of a quarter of a mil- lion dollars.
A railroad was built by the company for the purpose of connecting its great works with the outside world. The road is a standard-gauge line and connects with the Southern Pacific, the Santa Fe, and the Oak- land, Antioch & Eastern lines at Bay Point, serving the needs of the rich and fertile Clayton Valley.
COAL
IN 1859, at Horse Haven Valley, six miles south of Antioch, William C. Israel, in cleaning out a spring on his land, discovered a vein of coal. In connection with his father and brother George, he opened the vein for a short distance ; but not having capital to work it, they disposed of their interest to James T. Watkins, and one Noyes, who, either from want of knowledge or resources, failed to open the vein so as to make its operation successful. They abandoned the mine in 1861.
On December 22, 1859, at a distance of three and a half miles west of Horse Haven Valley, Francis Somers and James T. Cruikshank dis- covered the vein of coal which since became known as the Black Dia- mond vein. Somers and Cruikshank and their associates, W. S. Hawx- hurst and Samuel Adams, located the lands afterward known as the Manhattan and Eureka coal mines. George Hawxhurst and George H. P. and William Henderson, in company with Francis Somers, opened the outcropping of the same vein, where were afterward developed the Black Diamond and Cumberland mines ; but, believing that the expense of making roads was beyond their means, they made no attempt to se- cure title. The Black Diamond Mine was subsequently located by Noah Norton, and the Cumberland mine went into the hands of Francis Such and others. These coal lands, with others adjoining, became noted as the Black Diamond Coal Mines.
Frank Such disposed of his interest in the Cumberland Mine to C. T. Cutter, Asher Tyler, Josiah Sturgis, and L. C. Wittenmeyer, all of Mar- tinez. It was from their efforts and capital that the Cumberland Mine was successfully opened and worked, and roads were constructed from it to Clayton and New York Landing (now Pittsburg). They also as- sisted Noah Norton to open the Black Diamond Mine.
The Pittsburg Mine, east of the Eureka, was located by George H. P.
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Henderson, who entered into a contract with Ezra Clark to open the mine, in the developing of which the vein of coal known as the Clark vein was discovered.
The Central Coal Mine, east of Pittsburg, was located by John E. Wright. The year following William B. Stewart became connected with it. The Union Mine, north of the Manhattan, was located by George Hawxhurst. The Independence Mine, north of the Eureka, was pur- chased from Major Richard Charnoch, by Greenhood & Neubauer. The Manhattan Union, Eureka, and Independent comprise the mines form- ing the basin in which the town of Somersville was situated, and from which there was a railroad for the transportation of coal to Pittsburg Landing on the San Joaquin River. The Cumberland, Black Diamond, Mount Hope, and other lands comprised the basin of the town of Nor- tonville. From there ran a railroad for the transportation of coal to New York Landing, at the head of Suisun Bay. From the mines enu- merated there were about two hundred thousand tons of coal per an- num shipped. What is known as the old Central Mine, originally located by William B. Stewart, was operated by Shattuck & Hillegas, of Oak- land, and was later sold to the Empire Coal Mine & Railroad Company, and was operated by that corporation in conjunction with the Empire Mine.
The Empire Company opened in 1876. It has a magnificent vein of coal, with a railroad to the mine. The mine is six miles from Antioch, within three-fourths of a mile of the first opening made on the coal veins of the county by the Israels. It was owned by George Hawxhurst and John C. Rouse, who, after operating several years, hauling coal by team from the mines to tide-water at Antioch, sold a half-interest in the Em- pire and Central mines to M. W. Belshaw and Egbert Judson, and formed a copartnership under the name of Empire Coal Mine & Rail- road Company. With the funds supplied by Belshaw and Judson, a nar- row-gauge railroad was constructed from the mine to Antioch, and thereafter all coal was transported by rail to this water shipping-point.
After the discovery of the Oregon and Washington coal mines, the Mount Diablo coal being of an inferior quality, was unable to compete, and eventually oil, the steam fuel of today, finished the coal mining in this county. At the present time all the mines are closed and filled with water, the rails were taken up, and probably the mines will never again
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be operated, unless for the purpose of generating electric power at the several mines, which probably could be done at a profit. Such a project has been carefully considered by owners of the several properties, who figure that the short transmission lines to the industrial centers would counterbalance the additional cost of generating the juice as compared with the electric companies now generating electric power hundreds of miles away in the mountains.
The coal-mining interest rapidly became one of the most important ones of the county. It built up four towns, viz., Somersville, Norton- ville, New York Landing (now Pittsburg), and Pittsburg Landing, and added greatly toward the town of Antioch. These mines produced in 1877 108,678 tons of coal, valued at $650,000, as given by the assessor for that year, and 3000 acres of coal lands, valued at $163,300. The tun- nels of these mines were high enough for an ordinary-size man to stand erect and about five feet in width. They generally run on an incline to the gangway, and the loaded cars were drawn by mules to the foot of the incline and hoisted to the surface, where they were dumped into bunkers, and from these bunkers emptied into railroad cars and trans- ported by rail to the different landings. The coal was then taken to San Francisco and other cities by river steamers.
CHAPTER X
SAN RAMON VALLEY
BY MRS. MARY A. JONES
IT WAS on such a perfect day in June, 1847, that a canvas-covered wagon drawn by oxen slowly wound its way through a beautiful valley. This "prairie schooner" carried a little family of home-seekers, and as the oxen moved laboriously along, the scene which greeted the eye at every turn of the winding path called forth exclamations of admira- tion from the occupants of the wagon. At length the travelers halted the oxen, that they might better gaze and admire the picture of beauty and serenity that was spread before them. On every side, the valley and surrounding hills were covered with thick, velvety clover, and with wild oats standing waist high, waving and rippling in the summer breeze, like the bosom of a lake. The western hills were clumped with oaks, maples, and shrubs ; willows and mottled-trunked sycamores fringed the little stream at their left; while the mountains which formed the eastern wall of the valley seemed ever at their side as they journeyed southward. Cattle grazing on the luxuriant grasses, the chirp and twit- ter of birds, and the drowsy hum of insects completed a picture of beauty, peace, and contentment. Save for the bridle path which was the only guide of our travelers, and for a tule-thatched hut near the stream, used as a rude shelter by Spanish vaqueros when night overtook them in this region, there was nothing to show the hand of man.
This was San Ramon Valley as it looked when first viewed by Americans, when they stopped their ox-team on that June day so long ago, just north of the spot where the village of Alamo now stands. No wonder that the head of that little family bared his brow, as he stood amid the wild oats and exclaimed half in prophecy, half in determina- tion, "Some time we will have a home in this valley." This was before the discovery of gold in California, and this little family were home- seekers, not gold-hunters. But because of the Mexican war which was
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raging at that time, they sought a settlement for protection, and Pueblo (now San Jose) was their destination.
Four years later, the year 1851, found our home-makers back in the San Ramon Valley, accompanied by another family. These two families, with two others, who joined them later, purchased four leagues of land in the Romero grant, paying for it four thousand dollars.
Is not our pride in our valley justifiable, when one considers that these people who had journeyed by wagon and ox-team over half a continent, and who had the whole State of California to choose from, chose for their home the heart of the San Ramon?
Some changes marked the valley during the four years that had passed, notably the building of adobe houses, which were homes of Spanish families. Viewed through the lapse of years, we associate the adobe with the romantic and the picturesque. Built of adobe bricks dried in the sun, their thick walls and deeply framed doorways and windows afforded warmth in winter and coolness in summer. Every adobe house was surrounded by a portico, about whose rude pillars clambered vines of the mission grape, and in every dooryard bloomed the fragrant Castilian rose of old Spain. The adobes call to mind tales of the gay, care-free life of the Spanish days in California. We think of the fandango, the soft music of the guitar, and the horsemen with their wide sombreros, their bright-colored serapes, their jingling spurs, and their horses no less gaily bedecked in silver-mounted bridles, and saddles with monstrous tapaderas.
But one may ask why in our valley today we find no descendants of these gay, pleasure-loving people. That question may be answered in two words-the "mañana" of the ease-loving Spaniard, and the "today" of the hustling, progressive American.
Soon after the coming of the first American home-makers in 1851, others followed, and the fifties saw the arrival of many settlers in the valley. There followed a season of prosperity. Farms were improved with houses, barns, and granaries, a few fruit trees were set out, and gardens planted. The fertile land, little of which had ever known a plowshare, under American thrift was cultivated and made to produce abundantly.
In the midst of this prosperity, a heavy blow fell upon the residents. The Spanish grants under which title the people had bought their land,
B.H. Stone
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became the cause of years of litigation, and many residents were forced to pay for their land a second time.
In those days all were neighbors in the fullest sense of the word, helping one another by an exchange of work, all joining together in their few social affairs, and ready to aid when sickness or death entered a home. Doctors were far away, and trained nurses were unknown, but it was nothing unusual for a pioneer mother to ride miles on horseback, often with a baby in her arms, to care for a sick neighbor.
The first post-office in San Ramon Valley was established in 1853, and named "Alamo"-a Spanish word meaning poplar tree. The post- office was given quarters at the home of John M. Jones, who lived in an adobe house that crowned the knoll of the O. J. Reis home-site just north of Alamo. Mr. Jones was the first postmaster, and his wife, Mrs. Mary A. Jones, was his deputy. For many years Alamo was the only post-office between Martinez and Mission San Jose. The mail was carried between these two points by a man with a horse and cart, who made a round trip twice each week.
Alamo is the second oldest town in the county, Martinez being the oldest. The first house in the town of Alamo was built by a man named George Engelmeyer. He at first had a shoe-shop, but soon enlarged his shop to a general merchandise store, and did such a thriving business that in a short time he had to employ a clerk. Other shops soon fol- lowed-blacksmith, harness, and butcher shops, and a hotel. In 1858 the frame building still standing under the maples and walnuts on the west side of the street was built. The lower floor of this building was used as the general merchandise store of Lomax & Smart, while the upper floor was the Masonic lodge-room. Alamo Lodge No. 122, F. & A. M., which now holds its meetings at Walnut Creek, was organized at Alamo in 1858, and this old building was its first home. In 1860 a two-story brick structure was erected on the west side of the street, on the property now owned by Mrs. George Smith. Wolfe & Cohen were the owners of the general merchandise store which occupied the lower story, while the Masonic lodge moved from its first location into the more commodious quarters of the upper story of the new brick build- ing. The bricks of which this building was constructed, were made by G. W. Webster, who lived on what is now the Van Gorden place. The brick-kiln was situated on the Rancho el Rio, just across the creek
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