USA > California > Contra Costa County > The history of Contra Costa County, California > Part 39
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CHAPTER XXXIII
KNIGHTSEN
BY GEORGE W. KNIGHT
WHEN the Santa Fe Railway in the summer of 1898 made its prelim- inary survey through this part of Contra Costa County the town of Knightsen was founded. In the fall of the same year the road-bed was graded, and late in 1899 the company began to lay its track. In the spring of 1900 passenger and freight trains began to run. The first building erected in the new town was the company's section-house, and this was soon followed by the railroad station, with a pumping plant to supply the locomotives with water.
In the winter of 1899-1900 I received my commission as postmaster, and immediately proceeded to put up a building to be occupied by the new post-office and grocery, the first store in Knightsen. The post-office is still in the same building. I continued as postmaster for thirteen years.
The shipment of milk by the dairy farmers of this section is con- siderable. The daily average since the advent of the railroad is about twenty-five hundred gallons. Stone Brothers were the first to engage in this industry to any extent. At present there are five other dairies shipping through this station-those of Fox, Bridgford, Burrows, Emerson, and Hotchkiss-and it is likely that in the near future the milk output at this point will be greatly increased.
Knightsen being an inland town grows slowly, but new improvements are being added from time to time. In 1913 electric lights were in- stalled, which gave a decided addition to the town's importance. New dwellings are being constructed. A general merchandise store, a black- smith-shop, a garage, and a saloon comprise the business district.
It is said that the local Santa Fe station has shown a wonderful record in recent months, especially in December, 1916, its business at that time being larger than at any other period in the history of Knight-
.
Geo W. Knight
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sen. This is greatly due to the shipping of celery and general farm pro- duce. This section has advanced rapidly in this line recently.
Knightsen is situated in a rich agricultural district, and doubtless will be an important shipping point in the future.
SERICULTURE
In the early days several extensive experiments in sericulture were made in this county. That the mulberry will grow here, and that the worm will do well, admit of no question. The trees made a wonderful growth, and the silk produced was of superior quality.
Many years ago Mr. Sellers, near Iron House Landing, planted a large field in mulberry-trees, which made a fine growth and produced a great quantity of leaves for feeding. A place was fitted up for a feed- ing-room for the worms, and the business was carried on quite success- fully. At the county fair in 1878 Mrs. Sellers exhibited cocoons and silkworms that attracted much attention from visitors.
The silkworm is a very delicate animal, and it is subject in Europe to many diseases, most of them directly traceable to climatic influences from which this State is exempt. Climate is a matter of vast importance to the breeder of the silkworm, and nowhere is it more favorable than in Contra Costa County. The worms are exceedingly healthy and pro- lific, the cocoons large, the fiber strong and fine, the mulberry luxuriant in growth and hardy. The colds of forty-five degrees, the heats of one hundred degrees, the thunder-storms, and the summer rains, which fre- quently prove fatal in France and Italy, are almost unknown in our coast valleys. In Europe, even when there is no rain, there are many damp, cloudy days that prevent the evaporation of the dew, and if there is any moisture on the leaves the worms sicken and die. It is customary in Europe to feed three or four times a day, with leaves plucked off separately ; but in California they may be fed but twice, or even once, with sprouts, each cut having a number of leaves on it. They increase at the rate of a hundred-fold at each generation. The female generally lays from two hundred to three hundred eggs, and it may be assumed that two hundred worms will survive and make cocoons ; and as the fe- males are about half, the total number may be multiplied by one hun- dred, to represent the increase.
Two crops of cocoons are raised in the year, in May and July, a sea-
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son during which the atmosphere of California is almost free from clouds, there being neither thunder-storms nor wet, cold spells, to check the progress of the cocoons or to injure the mulberry leaf, such vicissi- tudes being not only destructive of the health of the worms, but fatal to the quality of silk they produce.
Some years ago the State of California, with the view of establishing the business of silk-making as one of its fixed pursuits, offered a premi- um of two hundred and fifty dollars for every five thousand mulberry- trees, to be paid when they were two years old, and a premium of three hundred dollars for every one hundred thousand cocoons. The business, for various reasons, has not proved profitable, largely for the want of energetic capital to engage in the manufacture.
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CHAPTER XXXIV
RODEO
WITH the best of water-front facilities, and with factory sites held at a very reasonable figure, the outlook for Rodeo, situated on San Pablo Bay, is very promising.
The virile quality of Rodeo's citizenship shone forth brilliantly fol- lowing a devastating fire of July, 1915. Although the main business dis- trict was completely wiped out, in less than six months the heap of ruins was replaced by handsome brick buildings. These building activi- ties have afforded unusual opportunities for bricklayers, carpenters, and artisans of all kinds, who have prospects of being steadily employed for an indefinite time to come. Other fields of employment are the plant of the Union Oil Company, about two miles distant, the local plant of the Western Oil Company, the Union Oil Company at Oleum, adjoin- ing the town-site of Rodeo, the powder factories of Giant and Hercules, and the near-by lubricating plant of the Shell Oil Company. Having no unemployed class, Rodeo may be considered to be well along on the road to prosperity.
Of historical interest is the fact that Rodeo derived its name from the "rodeos," or roundups, held by the cattle kings in the days of the old Spanish grandees.
Some time ago, a sanitary district was formed in Rodeo, and a bond issue was decided upon to supply the sum of $17,000 needed for the construction of a sewer system.
Rodeo is one of the smallest towns in the State to have its own sewer system. The undertaking has been a very large one, and the fact that it has been carried to success reflects considerable credit upon those who are leaders in the town's affairs.
The prospects for a brilliant future for Rodeo are very alluring. A splendid water-front is to be found there, and splendid factory sites can be secured at a very reasonable figure. The town is now situated near enough to several large industries to be assured of steady progress.
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HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
UNION OIL COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA
The Union Oil Company of California is the outgrowth of an amalga- mation of a number of the smaller oil companies established in the early days of the California oil industry. It has always been independent of other and larger corporations, having no connections of any kind to en- force upon it a policy of subservience to special interests. Its present strong position is the result of twenty-five years of able management as the Union Oil Company of California, following several years of pi- oneering in the Ventura fields on the part of Lyman Stewart, now chair- man of the board, and his associates. Mr. Stewart, having first satisfied himself as to the oil prospects of the surrounding territory, located at Santa Paula in Ventura County, and gathered about him a number of his former associates in the Pennsylvania fields. Amongst these were W. L. Hardison and John Irwin. In 1883 as the Hardison-Stewart Oil Company, with John Irwin as field superintendent, operations were be- gun in Pico Cañon, near Newhall, on land leased from the Pacific Coast Oil Company, which had a small group of wells there and a small re- finery in Alameda. That company and the Rowland & Lacy Company operating at Puente, near Whittier, alone occupied the field at that time. Leases were also taken in Adams Cañon, on the old Rancho ex-Mission de San Buenaventura, and in Santa Paula Cañon.
Operations began with a field force of thirty-five oil men recruited from the East. Six wells were drilled and about $135,000 spent before striking a paying well. In these days of large expenditures in oil devel- opment this sum looks small, but, considering the times, and that these men were operating in a country several thousand miles away from the nearest commercially proven oil field, and in one where at the same time proper facilities and markets were yet to be developed, it will be appre- ciated that no little faith and courage were required. To add to their difficulties disputes arose over land titles, but eventually these obstacles as well as those of a physical character were overcome. Operations were extended and additional land acquired by purchase. More wells were drilled-one of these, No. 16, on the Rancho ex-Mission, was brought in with an initial production of one thousand barrels of oil a day. Other successes followed, and, encouraged by results obtained, two other companies were organized, in both of which Hardison and Stew-
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RODEO
art were interested-the Sespe Oil Company and the Torrey Cañon Oil Company. In 1890 the three companies, together with the Los An- geles Oil Co., Rainbow Oil Company, Mission Transfer Company and others, were merged into one, as the Union Oil Company, with a cap- italization of $5,000,000; later this was increased to $10,000,000 and then to $50,000,000, at which figure it stands with the opening of 1915. At the beginning of 1915, somewhat over $31,000,000 of this had been issued. The operations of the company have now been enormously ex- tended in all directions. Its landholdings comprise over 226,000 acres, not including those of companies controlled by it. Its oil lands, rights, and leases are conservatively valued at approximately $23,000,000, while its wells, of which more than three hundred are producing and forty-six drilling, represent $7,000,000 more. Pipe-lines and storage sys- tems serve all the important fields, and its water-transportation facilities are represented by a fleet of twenty-six steamers and barges, of which but six are chartered, the whole fleet having a carrying capacity of 800,- 000 barrels. Investments in transportation and storage facilities now amount to nearly $7,000,000.
Early in its career the company undertook refining operations on a small scale at Santa Paula. This plant was destroyed by fire in 1896, but later was replaced. The success experienced demonstrated that more extensive facilities were required, and in 1895 a site was purchased at Oleum on San Pablo Bay near San Francisco, at which point its prin- cipal refinery is now located. In addition to these two refineries, three others are now operating at strategical points-Bakersfield, Stewart, near Los Angeles, and Avila, on the coast near San Luis Obispo. The company is also engaged in the extraction of gasoline from the large amount of natural gas produced on some of its leases. One of these plants is probably the largest yet installed anywhere. When the con- struction work now under way is completed the company will have in- vested over $3,000,000 in its refineries.
An extensive system of distributing and marketing stations has been developed all over the Pacific Coast, ranging from Alaska to South America. Unusually complete stations have been erected in all of the principal cities, with less elaborate ones in the smaller communities, at a cost of nearly $4,000,000. These are being continually increased in num- ber.
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HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
The company now produces, transports, refines, and distributes all products derivable from California petroleum, having last year market- ed over $20,000,000 worth of products. Its ships carry fuel oil to all the principal ports of the Pacific Coast in both American continents, and reach westward to Hawaii. Its refined oils are delivered by the ship- load not only to domestic ports but to Europe and Asia. Asphalt is shipped to Atlantic ports by steamer and sail, and by rail to the Middle West, and in normal times to Europe. In fact, the Union Oil Company now has practically the entire world for its market, and competes suc- cessfully everywhere.
FUEL OIL .- First, in point of mere bulk, ranks fuel oil. On the face of it no particular interest would appear to attach to the fuel-oil bus- iness. It would seem that all that might be necessary would be to pro- duce the oil from the ground and hand it over to the consumers to be burnt without special preparation. However, the actual facts are unfor- tunately somewhat more complicated and the users of oil fuel have manifold requirements ; each particular industry using fuel has its own, and nearly every customer has special needs- either actual or fancied. In any case all of these conditions must be met, and while many con- sumers are properly served with carefully selected and cleaned crude oil, a very large class requires specially prepared fuel to meet highly specialized conditions, with the result that no little care and skill are de- manded in the manufacture of a suitable material having the desired characteristics. In metallurgical operations and the manufacture of gas, for example, requirements are different than for use on board ship. The different navies, again, have different specifications ; Diesel engines and semi-Diesel engines differ from each other in the kind of fuel need- ed, and so on in almost infinite variety. All of these manifold service conditions the Union Oil Company of California has provided for, and supplies for each instance the particular fuel best adapted to it, so that whether it be for the United States or foreign navies, for the manufac- turers of ordinary illuminating gas or Pintsch gas, or to meet the speci- fications of marine classification societies, or for Diesel engines, house- hold use, smudge oil for orchards, for steel works and smelters, for briquetting coal, or for hatching eggs, proper fuels have been prepared. Each industry demands certain flash or burning points, specific gravity, viscosity, heat value, freedom from sulphur, and other technical char-
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RODEO
acteristics of no particular interest to the layman, but involving proper selection of raw material and subsequent treatment to produce.
ASPHALT .- In the refining of California oils the final or end product of the distillation process may be either a fuel oil, usually known as residuum, or asphalt, best known to the public in the form of asphalt pavements. The best refining oils, however, are not necessarily the best for the manufacture of asphalt, so the Union Oil Company of Califor- nia does not manufacture asphalt as a by-product of the refinery, but se- lects for the specific purpose of making asphalt only such oils as have the proper physical and chemical characteristics ; as a result of this pro- cedure and the careful attention given every stage of the operation to control the quality of the product, the company believes that it has per- fected the manufacture of asphalt to the highest degree yet attained. A special booklet has been prepared, copies of which may be had on re- quest, covering the application of this material to paving. Many other uses are made of it, however, and special types are prepared for each service.
REFINED OIL AND LUBRICANTS .- The products derived from petrole- um and manufactured by the company cover the entire range from the lightest volatile substances which boil actively at the temperature of the hand to the heaviest of lubricants. The company has been perhaps for- tunate in that as it is comparatively young it has not inherited an out- worn assortment of refining conventions. It has not hesitated therefore to depart from methods established by tradition and has developed pro- cesses and apparatus of its own, peculiarly fitted to California condi- tions, and capable of manufacturing economically products of the high- est quality. Continuous investigations are conducted to improve its fa- cilities and the character and variety of its products. That this policy is effective is best evidenced by the fact that in the face of increased com- petition, backed by powerful financial interests, its sales of refined goods have uniformly increased in volume more rapidly than can be accounted for by the increase in the consuming population of its tributary terri- tory, and this without any attempt being made to undersell competitors.
CHAPTER XXXV
WALNUT CREEK
WALNUT CREEK, "the Gateway to Contra Costa County," is an incor- porated city of the sixth class and possesses a population of upward of 750. It possesses a climate that is not surpassed by any section of Cali- fornia, and its scenic features, encompassed as it is by the foothills that buttress Mount Diablo, are attractions of more than ordinary note. It is a trade-center of no small importance, as it is surrounded by a fertile area that during the year 1916 brought to the tillers of the acreage over three million dollars for their products of field, orchard, vineyard, nut groves, poultry yard, dairy, and stock pastures. Its two banks, the First National Bank and the San Ramon Valley Bank, hold the savings of the people of this section in an aggregate amounting to over six hundred thousand dollars, and present statements showing combined assets in excess of a million dollars. The varied business activities, housed in substantial and modern buildings that line both sides of Main Street, the chief thoroughfare of the community, are further testimony to the prosperity of the town and the tributary country. Among the leading structures to be listed are the First National Bank, the Silveira block, the James M. Stow building, the San Ramon Valley Bank, the W. S. Burpee block, the Grimes & Nottingham building, and the new structure now building for Colonel William L. White. Walnut Creek is munici- pally well directed, with low taxation. It is provided with a modern sew- erage system, and is supplied with the finest water by a well-equipped plant of the latest design. It is served by both the Southern Pacific Com- pany, being situated on the San Ramon Valley branch of that traffic sys- tem, and the Oakland, Antioch & Eastern Electric Railway, which ex- tends from San Francisco and Oakland to the State capital at Sacra- mento. By this traffic route Walnut Creek is happily placed within cheap, frequent, and quick commuting distance of the populous Bay centers. Within the past three years hundreds of families have reared model homes, set within extended areas of garden and orchard, within the charming area about Walnut Creek.
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Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, Christian Scientists, and Epis- copalians maintain flourishing congregations and attending societies. The Walnut Creek grammar school has an enrollment of nearly two hundred pupils, is conducted by four teachers, and is housed in a beau- tiful school building amid a most sightly area. The Merchants Associa- tion is a factor for progress and civic improvement. The Walnut Creek Women's Club is an organization that commands State fame for the ac- tivities of its members along those lines of achievement in which woman is particularly endowed.
Amongst its notable works is the establishing of the Carnegie Library in a model structure, where books are supplied the public without price. Walnut Creek is within one mile of being in the exact center of the county, and is but eight miles from the municipal boundaries of Oak- land. It is six miles from Concord to where is located the model edu- cational institution known as the Mount Diablo High School, to which the graduates of the Walnut Creek grammar school are accredited, and whose transportation in attendance is borne at public expense over the electric railway.
Mention is due the imposing Masonic temple at Walnut Creek, reared by Alamo Lodge, F. & A. M. It is one of the finest order structures in the interior of the State. Tenancy is shared by Almona Chapter, O. E. S.
Walnut Creek has a newspaper, The Contra Costa Courier, newsy, alert, and of extended circulation. It is owned by Colonel William L. White, with its management in the hands of Francis H. Robinson, aided in the news department by Lyman E. Stoddard. The Courier was estab- lished by George C. Crompton, and went the way of the initiatives in newspaper flesh by the entrance of the sheriff. It was purchased under the hammer by O. H. King, now publisher of the Amador Ledger at Jackson. He sold the publication, together with the Danville Journal, to Colonel William L. White, of White-Hall Acres, Alamo. Under the ownership of the latter both the Courier and the Journal have prospered and take rank among the representative weekly papers of the State.
HISTORY
The Indian mounds unearthed while excavating for the First National Bank building reveal the existence here in bygone centuries of an abor-
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HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
iginal race of far superior endowment to the Digger tribes with whom history makes us more conversant. In excavating, skulls and bones were brought to light which are significant of a race of giants, while the stone utensils and trinketry and tokens of exchange are mute testimony of the mental status of the men and women who dwelt in these valleys before the advent of the Caucasian. Tradition has it, as handed down among the Spanish families, that Padre Juan Crespi and Pedro Fages, the en- sign of the mighty monarch of the Escorial, first trod these lands on their way to discover the great harbor now known as San Francisco Bay. After the coming of the padres the Spanish adventurers that came in their entourage sought the lands about here as royal gifts. They af- ford rich pasturage and are abundantly watered, and at one time Wal- nut Creek and vicinity harbored many of the sons and daughters of Iberian blood, who housed themselves on sightly, well-chosen spots in adobe homes which in wreck and wrack are today in occasional evi- dence.
It was not, however, until late in the fifties that Walnut Creek, or "The Corners," as it was then known, found a place on the map. It derived its early importance from being the crossroads of two import- ant traffic highways. One led from Oakland to Antioch on to the San Joaquin Valley, and the other from Livermore and its great grain- growing valleys to Pacheco, then a leading shipping-point, milling town, and cereal center. It came by its present-day name in recognition of it being the habitat, and the only one in the West, of the black walnut, which flourishes in all its glory along the banks of the water- way which meanders through the town, and is fed by a thousand rills and brooks that reach torrential heights during the rainy season.
Walnut Creek began its evolution from a crossroads point to com- munity semblance when Homer Shuey laid off a town-site on lands purchased from H. P. Penneman, who in turn had acquired the area from George Thorne. The latter derived ownership from William Slush- er, who held under possessory title which held against the much mud- dled Spanish grants. Homer Shuey was not amiss in laying out a town- site, for several of his allotments of land found purchasers and home- builders, and during the years of the Rebellion there was such a gath- ering of population at Walnut Creek that Uncle Sam opened up postal connections. James M. Stow, then a lad, had the mail contract from
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Oakland to Clayton in part with his brother John Stow, and also the star route between Walnut Creek and Danville.
In 1860 James McDonald and Charles Whitmore established the first mercantile business in Walnut Creek. Their store was located on what is now Main Street, at the northeast corner of the Lafayette road. They afterward sold out to H. P. Penneman and W. H. Sears who latterly became Governor of Oregon. Milo J. Hough conducted the first hotel in 1860 on the site where J. C. Laurence now has his home. It was de- stroyed by fire. He had a blacksmith-shop opposite the hotel. About this time the Morris Brothers operated a stage-line between Oakland and Clayton via the old Fish Ranch road, which then came out of the hills about where the Claremont Hotel now stands.
In 1864-65 the business activities of Walnut Creek were further aug- mented by L. G. Peel, who established a store opposite to where St. Mary's Catholic Church is now located. He also purchased the Hank Sanford ranch that is now owned by Mrs. Botelho. The ranch he after- ward sold to Antone S. Botelho and the store to Albert Sherburne.
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