Tehama County

Biographies

 

A. L. CONARD

A. L. Conard is the well known proprietor of Hotel Tremont at Red Bluff and one of the most public-spirited citizens of the Sacramento Valley. His activities in behalf of public progress have been far-reaching and have been productive of many valuable results. He finds his keenest joy in thus ministering to the general welfare and he counts no personal effort or sacrifice on his part too great if it will enhance the public good.

Mr. Conard was born in Missouri, October 31, 1862, a son of John W. and Susan Ann (Grubb) Conard, who were natives of Virginia, whence they removed to Missouri in early life. The father there followed the occupation of farming until 1876, when he came to California, settling first in Truckee, where he remained from the spring until the fall of that year. Arriving in the Sacramento valley, he took up his abode in Glenn county upon a part of the Glenn ranch, which he leased for two years. In 1878 he removed to Tehama county and leased the Foster and Ashurst ranch, situated seven miles south of Red Bluff. This he continued to cultivate and improve to the time of his death, which occurred in 1880. His wife survived him but a year.

The public school system of California accorded A.L. Conard his early educational opportunities and later he attended the Pierce Christian College in College City, where he pursued a business course for two years. On the expiration of that period he returned to the home ranch, taking charge of the tract of nine thousand acres, which he superintended for three years, at the end of which time the place was sold, and it is now known as the Probert ranch. At one time C. B. Ashurst was the owner of eight thousand acres, comprising what is now known as the H. O. Harrison ranch, and to that property Mr. Conard moved his stock and other possessions, living thereon for three years. He then resigned his position as manager and turned his attention to the livery business at Red Bluff. It was in 1895 that he became a hotel proprietor, leasing the old Reid House, which he conducted for fifteen years, during which time he built an addition containing forty rooms. He conducted this hostelry under the name of the Imperial Hotel and in 1905 became the proprietor of Hotel Tremont, to which he has added until he has doubled its capacity within the last three years.  In the meantime Mr. Conard disposed of the Imperial Hotel and now concentrates his attention upon the conduct of Hotel Tremont, which contains one hundred and one guest rooms. He also conducts an attractive dining room and coffee shop and supplies to his patrons all of the modern conveniences to be found in a city hotel, there being a swimming pool, a banquet hall and a cold storage plant. The rates are reasonable for the kind of service given and the public recognizes in Mr. Conard a progressive and capable hotel keeper. The Tremont is situated on the main street of Red Bluff and is popular with the traveling public.

In 1890 Mr. Conard was married to Miss Etta J. Hearn, a daughter of Patrick and Bridget (Ward) Hearn. Her father, a pioneer settler here, was a sucessful commission merchant at the time Red Bluff was at the head of navigation on the Sacramento river. He furnished supplies for all of northern California and was a progressive man but died when comparatively young. Mr. and Mrs. Conard became the parents of two sons: Ashley H., an attorney with the firm of Calkins & Hall in the Crocker building of San Francisco; and Robert, who is assistant manager of Hotel Tremont and previously was employed in a bank of Tehama county for sixteen years.

Mr. Conard belongs to Red Bluff Lodge, No. 84, F. & A. M.; Red Bluff Commandery, No. 17, K. T.; Red Bluff Lodge, No. 1250, B. P. O. E.; and Red Bluff Lodge, No. 76, I. O. O. F. He represented Tehama county in the Sacramento Valley Development Association, of which he was a director for eighteen years, or until this organization was absorbed by the California State Chamber of Commerce, the largest organization of its kind in the United States. He was also chairman of the Tehama County Exposition Commission at San Francisco in 1915 during the Pan-American Exposition. In 1916 he took a most active and prominent part in the work that led to the creation of Lassen Volcanic National Park by act of congress. No effort was made to develop the park until January, 1923, when a mass meeting was called at Sacramento, on which occasion he was made chairman. He was also selected as chairman of the ways and means committee, with full power to act and choose the other committee members, which he did. He selected twenty-five representative citizens from various sections of northern California, between San Francisco and the Oregon line, and called a committee meeting to be held in the Ferry building in San Francisco. He had previously prepared a plan of organization, which was accepted in full after a discussion, and the project was carried forward under the guidance of the Lassen Volcanic National Park Association, Incorporated, of which Mr. Conard was president. He has always been a most public-spirited citizen, championing any measure which he deemed of benefit to community, county or commonwealth, and his efforts have been indeed far-reaching and effective and his worth by reason thereof can scarcely be overestimated.