Contra Costa County History

By Henry Colman Cutting

To speak or write about Richmond in a historical way is exceedingly difficult, for as it is a record of achievement from beginning to end, and this achievement has been so truly marvelous, it must sound to the uninitiated more like romance than history. The old saying that "Truth is stranger than fiction" holds good with Richmond, for no fiction writer could possibly chronicle one continual chain of big achievements on the part of a small city as it grew to large dimensions and show a more startling array of fancies than are the true facts and figures concerning the growth and accomplishments of the city of Richmond.

The strategic location of Richmond upon San Francisco Bay, its deep-water harbors, its proximity to the metropolis of San Francisco, its being the terminal of the Santa Fe Railway and an important shipping-point for the Southern Pacific Company, two great transcontinental arteries of world-wide commerce, the early location here if the great Standard Oil Company with the refining and manufacturing plant now grown to be the second largest in the world, are facts enough of themselves to convince almost anyone who would make a study of the general causes which lead up to the location, establishment, and growth of important cities that all of the necessary ingredients are at hand in Richmond.

The fact that San Francisco, the cosmopolitan metropolis and money center of the Pacific Coast for the past half century, is situated upon a peninsula across the bay several miles from the mainland, and the further fact that Richmond is the only city on the mainland side of this greatest bay in America having main-line connections with the thorough railways, and land-locked deep-water harbors where the ships from the Orient and all over the world can dock and at once connect with these railroads, could bring but one logical conclusion to the student of city building who realized these facts and then took a glance into the probable future. This conclusion must be that as the Pacific Coast grew and expanded commercially and in population a great manufacturing and shipping port had in time to spring up and grow into importance, just as Richmond is now doing, and in part has already done.

Unquestionably the expert financiers and heads of departments of the Standard Oil Company had all these facts in view when its monster refinery was located at Richmond instead of at Oakland, San Francisco, or elsewhere, and many other immense manufacturing concerns, such as the Pullman car shops, which have located at Richmond since then, had these facts well in mind.

I had these facts in view when I purchased years ago a large tract of land along the southern water-front of Richmond, adjacent to its harbors, instead of acquiring land farther inland, where the first units of the city would quite likely grow up into commercial activity before the water-front sections. I builded for the future, and am still so building, and have never had the slightest reason for believing that the logic mapped out in the first place was not correct. In fact recent great developments have proven this logic beyond all cavil or possibility of error. What all great maritime cities of the world are to their respective localities, Richmond is destined to be to the San Francisco Bay region, and its truly marvelous achievement up to this time, during its as yet very short period of existence, is absolute and positive proof of this.

So rapid has been this growth that it is not equaled by any other city in the West, and not surpassed by any in America. This has given Richmond the nicknames of "The Wonder City" and "The Pittsburg of the West," and has already made it known all over this country and in many foreign lands.

Fifteen years ago there was no Richmond - nothing but a few grain and grass ranches inland and barren hills and marshlands along the water-fronts. Today, as this is written, Richmond boasts of a population approximating 23,000 inhabitants, a tonnage of manufacturing products shipping second in all California, and a commercial activity and prosperity of which it may well be exceedingly proud.

In the recording of history it is also permissable, to a small degree at least, to prophesy the future, basing it upon the facts of the history of the past, and that I shall here do briefly, in order that future historians may not only record facts but verify the prophecy.

My prophecy of the future greatness of Richmond as an important ocean and railroad shipping port is based upon substantial facts in the history of every other great maritime city, and is not guesswork in the slightest.

These historical facts made Broadway the great business thoroughfare of New York, the intersection of Market and Broad streets the business center of Philadelphia, and Market Street the big business avenue of San Francisco. The map of California and Nevada shows this San Francisco Bay region as the gateway of the vast central valleys drained by the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, each stream navigable for many miles through a rich, populous, rapidly developing territory beyond which lies the great mineral, timber, stock, and other wealth of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and beyond them the vast mineral and grazing wealth of the State of Nevada. The San Francisco Bay cities form the gateway, and the only gateway, of this vast and wonderfully productive area, connecting it with the commerce of the world. This gateway was not made by man, but by nature, and man cannot change it.

A glance at the map shows a practically impassable range of mountains raising its great bulk as a barrier against transportation, and extending north to the Columbia River, the northern boundary of Oregon, compelling the commerce of northern California, Nevada, and even eastern Oregon to seek this San Francisco Bay region for an outlet, and the only outlet, to the outer world. To the south another portion of the same range of mountains reaches an arm around the greatest oil-fields in the world and the San Joaquin Valley, blocking the commerce of that vast and productive region from seeking any other gateway than this bay region also. This is proven by the fact that when the Standard Oil Company built its pipe-line from the great oil-fields to its refinery it was compelled by these barriers to come three hundred miles to Richmond for deep-water harbors, when Santa Barbara is but eighty miles from the oil-fields and San Pedro but one hundred and twenty miles. Thus we see that Richmond, with its deep-water harbors and connection with the transcontinental railroads, is the logical and practically the only gateway for the largest and richest area on the Pacific Coast, on the only harbors worthy of mention between Astoria on the north and San Pedro on the south, a distance of approximately one thousand miles - and nature will not permit of a rival within this territory.

As one fact worthy of note, it may also be mentioned that already this San Francisco Bay region, with Richmond it only east-bay harbor city, already shows bank clearings exceeding those of all other Pacific Coast cities combined, including Vancouver and Victoria in British Columbia, by fifty million dollars a week, and indicating clearly that this business field is worth just that much more than all the rest of the business fields put together, from Mexico to the Arctic Circle.

These are only a few of the reasons which have given to Richmond an investment in manufacturing enterprises of over fifty million dollars, and have given to its workmen a pay-roll of nearly a million a month. There are many other good reasons which the space allotted to this article will not permit of enumeration.

Richmond, situated on the northeastern side of a low range of hills forming the headland of a broad peninsula projecting from the east (or mainland) shore of San Francisco Bay, divides the bay into two sections. The northern section, known as San Pablo Bay in its main portion, and Suisun Bay in its upper portion, is the connecting link between San Francisco Bay and the great interior waterways that teem with the commerce of all central California. Every bit of this commerce must pass Richmond's door before it can reach any other point on the bay or get to the outside world.

The United States Government chart of San Francisco Bay shows that the headland of the peninsula on which Richmond is located is six miles long, extending from Point San Pablo at the north to Point Potrero at the south. This headland faces a natural deep-water channel for its entire length. The channel varies in depth from ninety feet at the northern end to eighteen feet off the southern shore. Thus while no wharfing out is required at Point San Pablo, a short wharf will reach deep water at any point in the whole six miles.

It was this six miles of deep water which induced the Santa Fe Railway to select Richmond as its western terminal in 1899-1900. The Standard Oil Company soon followed, locating its great refinery in 1902. This was quickly followed by other large manufacturing industries, and this record is still going on, one of the largest concerns of the kind in the country, the General Roofing Company, having just completed a very large factory here during the year 1916, and others are now negotiating so to do. Among the largest of the earlier locations was that of California Wine Association's immense winery, one of the most extensive in the world, operated by one of California's largest corporations.

The first water shipping in Contra Costa County (or in Richmond) had its headquarters, back in the '50s, at the old Ellis Landing. Previous thereto it was the burial ground for ages untold of prehistoric man. Scientists from all over the world have known and studied the Ellis Shell Mound; their researches unearthed many relics of value before making way for modern improvements.

After the rush of 1849 Captain George Ellis began operating schooners between Ellis landing and San Francisco. He delivered hay and grain from the rich fields of Contral Costa County to the new city of San Francisco. In those days the channel ran from San Francisco, past Ellis landing, to San Pablo Bay, through the present site of the Standard Oil Refinery. The Potrero Hills formed an island, subject to government occupancy. Later on the channel was closed, which made this section part of the mainland.

In 1859 Captain George Ellis (after whom the landing was named) acquired the property. He operated two schooners, the "Sierra" and the "Mystery," carrying produce and freight between the landing and San Francisco. The late John Nystrom, one of Richmond's most respected public men, was the manager of the landing at that time. Upon the demise of Captain George Ellis, his children inherited the property. The old Ellis home, with ninety acres of harbor property, was purchased from George Ellis and his sister, Selena Ellis, by the present owners, the Ellis Landing & Dock Company, of which Mr. Emanuel is president.

A great inner harbor became imperative for the future growth of the bustling young city of Richmond, and this was the logical center. At tremendous expense, the Ellis Landing & Dock Company is improving this ground to make it worthy of the position it occupies as the front door of this great industrial city.

Nature's invaluable gift of deep water close to shore, together with the great transcontinental railroads, an ever-flowing supply of cheap fuel oil, and ample electric power, gives Richmond overwhelming trade advantages. Add to these the ship canal and inner harbor now under construction, an insurpassable climate, and abundance of land along its shores for factory sites, and we have a locality so richly endowed that it has attracted and must continue to attract with irresistable force the industrial and commercial enterprise not only of this nation but of the world.

A history of Richmond to be anywhere complete would require a larger volume than this history of Contra Costa County, of which Richmond is but a part, so necessarily only a few facts can be given and these hurriedly handled.

A few of the old-time settlers who played an important part in the up-building of this city should be given brief mention, for they will not be here when the next history is written, but their memory and their good deeds will live on and on, to be related with veneration to generations now unborn. Among these is the Nicholl family, who came to what is now Richmond in 1857 from San Leandro, now a suburban town to Oakland, arriving there from New York in 1850. John Nicholl, Sr., was a stone mason and contractor in Scotland, and later in New Jersey, and was actuated in coming to the Far West and the Public Coast by a desire to acquire land and to partake of the possibilities of a new and growing country. John Nicholl, Jr., now known as "The Daddy of Richmond," was born at San Leandro, and was brought here when an infant, in 1853, where he obtained a common-school education in the little country school-house in the village of San Pablo, now a suburb of Richmond. As he facetiously remarks, the first map of Richmond was engraved not upon blue-prints, but upon the posterior of his overalls by the San Pablo schoolmaster. The father died in 1914, at the good old age of 83, leaving a large farm worth about two millions of dollars up against the city limits of Richmond. Half of it has been sold in city lots and is now an important portion of the city, a fast-building civic center, containing the city hall, business blocks, and many fine residences. The other half is still sown to waving grain, but by the time this book shall become circulated it also will become city lots, and its plows and harrows, reapers and binders will give way to the onward rush of civilization and commercial activity. The Nicholls bought much land among the west hills and along the water-front, and these also have turned into great riches and are all important portions of the city of Richmond. Nicholl is considerable of a philanthropist as well as a millionaire, and gives liberally to public enterprises and civic upbuilding. His latest pet plan is to get the proposed United States Naval Academy located at Point Potrero, now Point Nicholl, and at this writing the chances of this great governmental enterprise coming to Richmond seem bright.

George H. Barrett at one time owned four hundred and twenty acres in what is now the heart of the business district of Richmond. The old Barrett homestead was located at what is now Nevin Avenue and Ninth Street, where a few of the old fruit-trees still remain. Barrett Avenue, one of Richmond's finest thoroughfares, was named for him. He traded much of his land to Edson Adams for Oakland property, who in turn sold a lot of the Barrett property to A. S. Macdonald, for whom Richmond's main business thoroughfare - Macdonald Avenue - is named. Macdonald later subdivided the land he bought into town lots and the same were sold to the public generally by the Richmond Land Company, of which George S. Wall is president. At first these lots on Macdonald Avenue sold at from $150 to $250 apiece, but today many of them would readily bring $10,000 to $20,000 each.

Another old-timer was Owen Griffins, who owned much land and lived in what is now the southern section of the city. His land was subsequently subdivided into town-lots, in what is yet known as the Griffins & Watruss tract, while part of it was sold to John Nystrom, who in turn put out the Nystrom addition to Richmond. Owen Griffins died years ago, leaving a son, Ben Griffins, now a prominent attorney at law, bank director, wealthy realty owner, and long among the leading men of affairs.

Probably the oldest man in the valley in the early days was Benjamin Boorman, who came to what is now Richmond in 1859 from Kansas, and is still a resident here at the ripe old age of eighty-five years, hale and hearty and able to do a good day's work. Toward the close of the year 1916 "Ben" Boorman, as he is affectionately known, went fishing along the wharves of the Richmond harbor and landed a large shark, and the local and San Francisco papers alluded to the feat as being accomplished by a young fellow of only eighty-five. Boorman was a young farmer of twenty-six when he came to this section, and is still at it in some degree. He raised a family of six children here, and now lives at 2750 Cutting Boulevard, good for many more years yet, enjoying prosperity and the respect and veneration of many thousands of good friends.

Many of the old-timers moved away years ago, before the Richmond boom commenced, and have left little or no trail upon which to trace them now. Among these is George D. Reynolds, neighboring farmer in those olden days to the Nicholls and the Barretts; also Charles Mayhew, who moved to Oakland and died there years ago.

Peter Dooling was another of the pioneer settlers. He had a big farm in what is now the southern section of Richmond, part of which is still intact and belonging to his widow and three sons, James, John, and Peter, and two daughters, now married. Among the very valuable holdings of the Dooling family is twenty acres in the northern part of the city, purchased in later years by Mrs. Dooling. This is still being farmed, but beautiful home places, apartment-houses, and villas are springing up all around it, and it is fated to go the way of all near-by farmland, giving way to macadamized streets, trolley cars, and the rush and roar of a modern metropolis.

Away back in those pioneer days Doctor J. M. Tewksbury came to what is now the city of Oakland, and in the early '60s cast his lot among the hardy settlers in an uninhabited stretch of new country, whose velvet verdure was trodden down only by the moccasin of the more or less noble red man. The old Tewksbury home place still stands, much the worse for the wear of many years, in the northeast part of the city, near the little town of San Pablo. He at one time owned seven thousand acres in this vicinity, the same being a part of the old Spanish grant. Later on this was divided, and Nicholl and others of the early settlers bought much of it. Doctor Tewksbury died in the early '70s, leaving a widow a son, Lucio, and a daughter, Eugenia. The son died in 1889. Eugenia married an army surgeon named Ware, who died at Panama. Later she married William Mintzer. The widow, Emily Tewksbury, and her daughter sold fifteen hundred acres of their land to Ben Schapiro, who subdivided it and put it on the market as lots and villa sites. Schapiro is still one of the largest realty dealers of Richmond. They also sold off many acres to the Standard Oil Company, to the Santa Fe Railway Company, to John Nicholl, and to others. There is still a large tract of land in Richmond known as the Tewksbury estate, and another known as the Mintzer estate. Since the coming of the original owners in those early days fortunes have been made from that real estate, and more fortunes will be made in future.

Prominent among these pioneer trail-blazers were Juan B. Alvarado, now long since passed to his reward, and later on his son, Henry Alvarado, today one of Richmond's most prominent attorneys at law. Juan Alvarado was governor of California from 1836 to 1842, under the olden Mexican regime, and ruled with credit and honor to himself, his country, and his constituency. In 1836 the inhabitants of California declared it to be a free and independent state, but the project fell through for lack of means and power of the sparse population to defend it sufficiently. The state capitol was then at Monterey, where Governor Alverado lived during his official terms. During that time he acquired large and valuable real-estate holdings in San Francisco, in Oakland, and in the village of San Pablo, and after his retirement from office the family lived alternately at all these places. Three children were born to Governor and Mrs. Alvarado at Monterey, and subsequently they moved to Contra Costa County, which at that time included what is now Alameda County. This move was made in 1844, and at Oakland in 1857 Henry Alvarado was born. The father died at the San Pablo home in 1882, aged 73, but today he is ably represented by his son, than whom no man stands higher, in the legal profession, financially, socially, and in the hearts of the people.

The Castro family is another monument in memory of those early days. Of Spanish origin, they came early to this country, when it was under Mexican rule, and owned large holdings of land in this immediate section, and at various other sections in this part of California. Patricio Castro lives today near the village of San Pablo, now a part of Richmond, a prosperous farmer and land-owner, at the age of seventy years. Before him, his father, Victor Castro, owned the land and was among the earliest settlers. Victor Castro died in 1898, in the old family residence at what is now the county line - the line dividing Contra Costa County and Alameda County, but which in those days did not exist, for the reason that it was all Contra Costa County. This old family residence still stands amid a clump of tall cedars and cypress-trees, and it, together with other lands of the Castro estate, is now owned by a daughter of Victor Castro, Mrs. Julia B. Galpin, residing at Piedmont, a residential section lying between Berkeley and Richmond.

Another old-time pioneer restaurant who should be briefly mentioned in any history of Contra Costa County or Richmond is Fred Bouquet, early-day blacksmith - the village smithy at San Pablo, now Richmond. He came to San Pablo in 1860, fifty-seven years ago, and was well known and highly honored by the settlers hereabouts in those olden days. His son, John Bouquet, resides here yet, and is among the wealthy property-owners of the city, being largely interested in several residential tracts that he and his associates have subdivided, improved, and sold to hundreds of happy and contented citizens.

One year later than the arrival of Fred Bouquet came the Matoiza family to San Pablo, and a large line of descendants and relatives now remain as residents in and adjacent to that suburban village. The Matoizas are well and favorably known all over this county and have held many places of high honor and trust.

There are, of course, many more deserving of mention, but space forbids, so only a few of the earliest settlers have been given mention in this article upon Richmond. They blazed the way that we of these later and more prosperous and modern days could enjoy the fruits not only of our own labor and endeavors but also of theirs.

Probably Richmond's greatest asset is its million-dollar-a-month payroll, which is disbursed to many thousand of busy toilers in the railroad shops and manufacturing establishments. This is all good clean money, coming from the outside world and expended, in the main, right at home in building up the city in a thousand different ways.

In nine cases out of ten it is the town or community with the big payroll that grows into the large and prosperous city, for such towns and communities are less affected by local conditions than any others.

The great Standard Oil Refinery here is employing three thousand men at top-notch wages, and pays out in cash to them every two weeks over $125,000, or $250,000 monthly. The refined product of this immense industrial plant is shipped out on thousands of trains and hundreds of ships to all parts of America and the civilized world, so that the return in cash comes from China, Japan, England, Australia, Germany, France, Russia, and other foreign countries, and goes into immense circulation, not only to the army of workmen, but also into constant enlargement of the plant, now being made into the largest oil refinery in the world.

The Santa Fe railroad shops have several hundred employees here, all of whom are paid first-class wages, and that money comes from the great system of railways gridironing the country from Chicago to the Pacific Coast - that cash rolls in from people all over America, and is expended here in the building of homes and the upbuilding of the community.

The Pullman car-shops employ seven hundred men and women on both repair and construction work, and that millionaire corporation picks up the cash from the entire traveling public of the United States and spends $40,000 a month of it in Richmond to pay its employees, to say nothing of the $2,000,000 it has invested in the property and plant. The grounds comprise approximately twenty-two acres. Construction was started in May, 1910, and shops started operations November 27, 1910. There are two three-story buildings and fourteen single-story buildings. Buildings are constructed of steel, brick and concrete. The average number of employees is 525. The shops have a capacity of twenty-four stalls, and the output approximates sixty-five cars per month. The shop is equipped with to handle all classes of work from the heaviest to the lightest required to maintain cars in first-class condition.

The Southern Pacific Company runs eighty-one trains daily to and from Richmond, employing hundreds of men and paying them good wages; many of them live and have property interests here and distribute their wages around among the local merchants.

The Western Pipe and Steel Works employs many men, ships its products all over the country from San Francisco to the Missouri River, from Puget Sound to the Gulf, and the cash is returned to Richmond, where it goes into the local markets and channels of trade.

The Porcelain Works makes fine porcelain ware, which is in great demand all over America. There are three factories in Richmond, the only ones on the Pacific Coast, and about two hundred men are employed.

The smoke rises from the tall chimneys of a dozen other manufacturing concerns, and the busy hum of industry goes on day and night.

Among these may be mentioned the Western Pipe and Steel Works, a very few large manufacturing industry with a big pay-roll and employing upward of one hundred men on an average.

Richmond Pressed Brick Works furnishes a splendid product in its line for the building of Richmond and other towns and cities for hundreds of miles around.

Metropolitan Match Factory supplies the trade of this section of California and the west with a grade of matches that are well known all over the Pacific Coast.

The California Cap Works, turning out caps and cartridges day and night, furnishes work for a large number of men and women. At this writing this industry is especially busy on account of the usual large demand for all kinds of munitions in the European war.

The latest edition to Richmond's manufacturing industries is the General Roofing Factory, which company has another large plant in New Jersey. It came to Richmond in 1916, and now has a plant covering several acres in the northern section of the city, with an investment of over a million dollars and employing about two hundred men.

All of the manufacturing industries of Contra Costa County may be said to be in a way tributary to Richmond, for the reason that Richmond is the metropolis and main shipping-port of the county. Among these are the following: California Paper Mills, Antioch; California Fruit Packers' Association, Oakley; Columbia Steel Company, Johnson-Laterni Shipyards, Redwood Manufacturing Company, Diamond Brick Company, American Fish & Oyster Company, Pittsburg; General Chemical Company, Nichols; C. A. Smith Lumber Company, Bay Point; Associated Oil Company, Avon; Mountain Copper Company, American-Oriental Oil Company, Shell Oil Company, Martinez; Port Costa Brewing Company, Brick Works, and Grain Company, Port Costa; Selby Smelting & Lead Company, Selby; Union Oil Company, Oleum; Cowell-Portland Cement Company, Cowell; Hercules Powder Works, Pinole; Giant Powder Works, at Giant.

Some sections have climate, others have industry, and still others have cash. Richmond is blessed in the possession of all three. With a climate unequaled anywhere in the world, an industry that has built up a town in fifteen years of nothing, beginning with a wheat-field and ending at this date in a city of 23,000 inhabitants, Richmond is doing a strictly cash business with countries far and near, attracting their money as a magnet does steel.

There are three splendid banking institutions in Richmond - the First National Bank, the Bank of Richmond, and the Mechanics Bank, each of which has its savings department in connection with its main business. Every one of them is strong financially, backed by ample capital and having the confidence of the people.

One of the things of which Richmond is proud, and deservedly so, is its street-car system. Starting with a single track between the Standard Oil plant and the Southern Pacific depot, the first car was operated in July, 1904. The car was an old one of an obsolete type, purchased by the infant company from the United Railroads of San Francisco, and has long since passed into oblivion, being succeeded by cars of modern design.

The men responsible for the promoting and building of the line first known as the East Shore & Suburban Railroad were W. S. Rheem, Clinton E. Worden, and W. S. Tevis, the late E. A. Gowe, and others. But to Colonel Rheem more than to any other belongs the credit for the successful promotion and operation of what has since become one of the best-patronized and best-paying semi-interurban lines in the State.

In January, 1905, the company began the extension of its line from the Southern Pacific depot in Richmond to the county line, the work being completed and the first car operated over it in May of the same year. The same year also saw the completion of the Ohio-Street line, which made connections with the main line at Ohio Street and the Santa Fe right of way, but which has since been merged with the A and Eighth Street line, which line was completed in 1907.

The original line between the Southern Pacific depot and the county line ran by way of Macdonald and San Pablo avenues, and the company in 1905 built a branch line to the town of Stege connecting with the main line at a point which has since been known as Stege Junction. In 1908 the company built a line from Macdonald Avenue, starting at Twenty-third Street and paralleling the Southern Pacific to Potrero Avenue, where it made connection with the Stege branch, opening up a new territory which has been a strong factor, as the Pullman Company has erected a mammoth plant, employing hundreds of men, most of whom ride back and forth on the cars of this line, which pass directly in front of the gates.

Since the completion of this extension the cars operating between Richmond and Oakland are routed that way, that portion of the original line from Twenty-third street to San Pablo Avenue being now a part of the San-Pablo-East Richmond line, which runs from the town of San Pablo to East Richmond, or Grand Canon Park. The line from Macdonald Avenue to the town of San Pablo was built in 1905, and furnished means of transportation to an enterprising people who had been wont to hitch up and make the long drive into Oakland.

The extension from the junction of Macdonald Avenue to East Richmond, completed in 1910, serves a scattered community which is rapidly filling up with small homes, creating a consequent increase in traffic, and carries during the summer season thousands of persons to Grand Canon Park, a beautiful natural pleasure ground located right at the end of the car-line.

In February, 1911, the East Shore & Suburban Railroad was purchased by the United Properties Company, which also absorbed the Oakland Traction Company, the California Railways, and the Key Route lines, this system becoming known as the San Francisco-Oakland Terminal Railways.

In the spring of 1912, the United Properties Company, in pursuance of its progressive policy, began a series of improvements, chief of which was the double-tracking of San Pablo and Potrero avenues from the county line to Pullman, completed that year, the laying of track on Ashland Avenue and the improvement of that thoroughfare, the completion of which necessitated the removal of the original line, which was laid on the Santa Fe right of way. In 1914 the double-tracking and macadamizing of Macdonald Avenue in Richmond was completed.

Where a few years ago there was a twenty-minute service to Oakland, with a change of cars at the county line, requiring an hour and ten minutes to make the trip, there is now a ten-minute through service, which is accomplished in forty-five minutes.

T. S. Walker was the first superintendent, holding that position until March, 1906, being succeeded by C. H. Robinsonm formerly of the United Railroads of San Francisco, who resigned January 1, 1912. His successor, C. F. Donnelly, also formerly connected with the United Eailroads, is still in charge of the Richmond division, and his capable management and genial manner have been strong factors in cementing the friendly relations between the company and the people it serves.

From a small beginning the business of the Western States Gas & Electric Company in Richmond has increased wonderfully. At the present time it operates in the territory comprising Richmond, Stege, Pullman, San Pablo, and Rust, and has approximately one hundred miles of distributing lines, a modern plant, and all the latest improved machinery for supplying an up-to-date service to the city and its annexed and surrounding territory.

The Pacific Gas & Electric Company is another large corporation of the city of Richmond, supplying the community with gas for cooking and heating. The lines of this company also bring electric power to Richmond, where it is wholesaled to others.

The People's Water Company has been supplying Richmond and vicinity with an ample supply of water for domestic and municipal use for some years. At this writing the company is expending $2,000,000 in the construction of a concrete dam on San Pablo Creek back of Richmond, with a capacity of 20,000,000,000 gallons.

As soon as Richmond's little dot began to appear on the map of California an effort was made to provide ample school facilities. And as the city grew by leaps and bounds, the same effort to keep the school system apace with its growth continued. From the little ungraded school of but a few years ago, with one teacher, there is now a city school system with a corps of nearly half a hundred instructors, and a high-school with a corps of nearly a score.

To provide buildings and equipment for such an institution within a period of fifteen years was in itself a stupendous task. However, the issue was met, and Richmond now has a high-school building costing $95,000, besides five grammar and elementary school buildings totaling in value over a quarter of a million dollars, with arrangements and appointments most modern in school construction and architecture. No city of its size in the west excels Richmond in the excellency of modern schools.

It has been the aim of those in charge of the school department of Richmond to make it one of the strongest features of the city - to make those who have selected Richmond for their future home feel that in doing so they have not deprived their children of educational advantages. They have endeavored to be progressive and to adopt such of the modern advances in education as experience has justified, and to avoid such fads and fancies as are always springing up in all lines of endeavor.

Having broken all records of cities of its age and size in the way of building up a splendid public-school system, sparing neither time nor money in the accomplishment of great results, Richmond turned its attention to no small extent in building up and helping out its churches, its ministry, and its church workers, and the results show that the city heeds its spiritual welfare as well as the education of its children and the commercial success of its enterprises.

The city now has within its limits fourteen church organizations, as follows: Two Methodist, three Roman Catholic, two Baptist, one Christian, one Presbyterian, one Christian Science, one Episcopal, one German Lutheran, one Unitarian, and one Congregational.

All of the churches of Richmond are increasing in membership and influence, and all have flourishing Sunday-schools, young people's societies, men's Bible classes, and other auxillary organizations, in which are enrolled a large number of the leading influential business men of the city. All have strong boards of trustees, and all have splendid working societies among the women of the church world.

The missionary organizations of the various churches are also good workers in the Lord's vineyard. The salaries and current expenses paid by the church organizations of Richmond amount to over two thousand dollars monthly.

Richmond is justly proud of her churches and her clergy. Where strangers are looking for homes where churches and schools are among the leading factors in the life of a city, Richmond bids them enter her open door.

In the past few years wonderful strides have been taken in the upbuilding of the churches and the church work, and the future is bright with promise of a continuation of this work so necessary to the life and the welfare of all mankind.

SOCIAL AND FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS

Of secret society organizations and civic and social clubs, Richmond has its full quota, there being no less than thirty of such institutions, all enjoying a good membership and financial prosperity. All the main secret societies are represented, and two of them - the Elks and Knights of Pythias - own their buildings. Both of these are imposing structures and modern in every way. The Elks building cost over eighty thousand dollars.

There are two leading women's club organizations - the Richmond Club and the West Side Women's Improvement Club. The former owns its own club building, a magnificent two-story structure, and the latter plans to build this year (1917). In addition to these are numerous civic improvement clubs and women's auxillaries of the same, the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Women's Circle of the G. A. R.

This would not be complete without mention of the Native Sons and Daughters, both of which have strong organizations here.

EVOLUTION OF JOURNALISM IN RICHMOND

The editor is under obligations to Juan L. Kennon, an old-time printer and newspaper man of Richmond, for much of the data contained in this article. Kennon was connected with the early-day Record, and followed its career for many years, later establishing a job-printing plant of his own, which was purchased in 1916 by the writer and merged into the Daily News plant. Later Kennon was foreman of the News, but toward the end of 1916, owing to failing health, he was forced to retire from all active work and business.

The history of Richmond's newspapers is as interesting as the history of the city. Richmond's present greatness is, in a measure, due to the indefatigueable efforts of those who have entered the field in later years.

It was on the 7th of July, 1900, that the Record, a weekly publication at that time, made its initial bow to the then sparse population of this municipality. Lyman Naugle, the pioneer newspaper man of Richmond, came to what was then only a small community of some 250 in habitants and cast his lot with what his prophetic vision told him would some day become one of the principal industrial communities of the Pacific Coast. He had a small printing outfit, which consisted of a few cases of type and an Army press; the press could have been conveniently carried under one's arm without much difficulty. He rented a small room near Wanske's saloon, on what is now Barrett Avenue. In those days the Record office faced on the county road.

The first issue of the paper was six columns in width and was set by hand, as were many other subsequent issues of the Record. Richmond had no post-office in those days and the first issue of the paper was mailed at Stege post-office. In the first issue Editor Nangle had this to say relative to the lack of post-office facilities: "We are looking every day for the reestablishment of our post-office. The demand for mail facilities is very pressing. It is to be hoped the department will not keep us waiting very long. This issue of the Record will have to be mailed at Stege, as well as all future issues until we get a post-office."

It may not be amiss to retrogress a little in order to explain that the original town-site in this vicinity was called Point Richmond, and took in that district now bounded by the property of the Santa Fe Railway Company, Barrett Avenue east as far as Sixth Street, and the lands lying north between First and Sixth Streets. This was the original town of Point Richmond. Subsequently the John Nicholl Company laid out what was then known as the First, Second, and Third additions to the town of Richmond. William Mintzer afterward subdivided what is now known as the Fourth addition to the city of Richmond. The John Nicholl and the Mintzer holdings were included in what is now known as the Point, or west side.

Naugle issued the Record regularly every week for several months in his location on Barrett Avenue, and the paper was mailed regularly at Stege. The department finally gave Richmond a post-office and Lyman Naugle was appointed as the first postmaster. He combined the duties of attending to the mail for the Government with the editing of his newspaper. As the Point began to show signs of growth, Naugle conceived the idea of moving over to the west side. He packed the post-office up in a soap-box and with his small plant opened an office on Richmond Avenue, near the present location of the Bank of Richmond.

The next day after moving a United Stated post-office inspector arrived in town, and he gave Editor Naugle just thirty minutes to move the post-office back to its original location. It is needless to add that Naugle lost no time in complying with the demand of Uncle Sam's representative, and he had time to spare at the end of the job.

Although the post-office was moved, Naugle remained with the plant in his new location. Steps were immediately taken to induce the Government to establish a new post-office. After several months the Point people secured a post-office and it was named "Eastyard, California," in order that there would be no conflict in names.

We herewith reproduce the editor pf the Record's salutatory from the first issue of this paper: "The Record is glad to look the people of Richmond and Contra Costa County in the face. It makes no pretense of greatness. It is very humble. Point Richmond is yet but a budding village, but its future is bright and the Record will keep pace with its progress. The mission of the Record will be to record the local news, to write a history in weekly installments of the growth and grandeur of the community. The Record is not in politics. More important and more material affairs claim its attention at the present time. It will throw its weight toward building up a little city here that will honor its neighbors on either side. It solicits the patronage of every resident of the valley and of everyone interested in building up Point Richmond. Every one who lives here will take it, and it will be indispensible to those who own property here and live elsewhere. It will faithfully report the progress of the town and strive to be enterprising and truthful. The Record would love to visit the homes of San Pablo, Stege, and Schmidtville, our neighbors on either side, and to this end will have representatives at these places to furnish the local news. It is the only newspaper between Berkeley and Pinole. It lays claim to all that territory and will endeavor to merit support therein."

The daily edition of the Richmond Record was launched on February 8, 1902. Lyman Naugle continued as editor. Frank Hull, the present managing editor of The Record-Herald, was its first city editor. The writer laid out the first forms and made the first issue of the paper up for the press.

The Record was several years afterward moved to the east side. In 1910 J. L. Kennon established the Weekly Herald. Subsequently the Herald was merged with the Record, hence the hyphenated title, Record-Herald.

The Richmond Daily Leader was established by G. A. Milnes in Richmond in March, 1902. That paper's first editor and business manager was B. J. Baker, now a prominent official of Imperial County. In the fall of 1911 F. J. Hulanski, the editor of this history, moved to Richmond from San Francisco, and took editorial and business management of the Daily Leader for Milnes, the owner, and, finding that the business did not warrant the publication of three daily newspapers in Richmond at the that time, it was upon his advice that a consolidation was affected between the Daily Leader and the Daily Record-Herald in March, 1912, and became the editor of the consolidated publication, and so remained for three years, during which time he established the Contra Costan, a weekly publication which is still being issued from the office of the Record-Herald.

In August, 1914, the writer established the Thinkograph Magazine, a publication intended for national scope, the same being to a certain extent along similar lines of Elbert Hubbard's famous Philistine. The Thinkograph was published in San Francisco for two years, and in 1916 was moved to Richmond, at the same time this writer became editor and manager of the Richmond News, and is still being published at the News office. The Thinkograph has achieved a semi-national reputation, being handled by the news companies pretty generally throughout the United States.

About the time that the first issue of the Daily Record was issued from the press, a portly gentleman entered the Record office one evening and stated that he wanted a job. He was not particular about the work, he said, but was willing to do anything to make an honest living. He had been a school-teacher and had also practiced medicine. That man was Warren B. Brown. He was given a job soliciting subscribers for the new daily.

Later Brown established the Santa Fe Times in what is now the Santa Fe district. Subsequently Editor Brown moved his plant to the vicinity of Macdonald Avenue and published the Terminal, which paper is still doing business in Richmond. The Terminal, under Warren Brown's management, accomplished much good for the then growing town of Richmond. The present editor and manager of the Terminal, George Ryan, assumed charge of the paper in 1914, Doctor Brown retiring from the field after a successful and honorable career as editor of one of Richmond's newspapers. He died and passed to his reward in 1916.

The Richmond Daily Independent was established in Richmond in 1910 by I. N. Foss and M. J. Beaumont. The latter had managed the Leader for several years, having succeeded to that position after the retirement of W. H. Marsh. I. N. Foss, who was at that time editor of the Leader, joined with Beaumont, a stock company was formed, and the Independent became a reality in the newspaper field of this city. It is still one of the flourishing daily papers of Richmond, under the direction of John F. Galvin, a newspaper man well known in this section of California.

The newspaper graveyard in Richmond is still quite small. Of the papers suspended may be mentioned the Daily Leader, a small semi-weekly called the Tribune, established in 1903 by a San Francisco journalist, and a weekly called the Messenger. The latter was printed in San Francisco and circulated in Richmond. Neither the Tribune nor the Messenger lasted more than a few months before they finally rested in the journalistic cemetery.

The Daily News was established in January, 1914, by the Daily News Company, incorporated, which company was organized by the various labor organizations of Richmond, numbering twenty local bodies, with a membership of approximately two thousand. The News was a phenomenal success for the first year of its career, being backed by the labor element of the city, which is very large and strong, Richmond being pre-eminently a wage-earning and pay-roll community, with the bulk of its male population affiliated in the ranks of organized labor. The News, however, in time began to strike upon the rocks and shoals always inevitable when a newspaper is controlled by any element or class of society lacking that experience in the business which is absolutely necessary for its success. The board of directors of the new publishing company were skilled artisans in their various trades and callings, but knew next to nothing about the newspaper business and the many ins and outs mastered only after long experience and by the best abilities of men skilled in journalism, politics, and public policies, as well as in the mechanical intricacies of the printing trade. Political controversies brought about libel suits, and bad blood, with the result that financial difficulties naturally followed. The venture as a daily newspaper lost a large sum of money for the stock-holders, and in March, 1916, the paper was reduced to a weekly publication. Financial reverses continued to follow, and in April, 1916, this writer took over the whole combination and assumed the editorial and business management of the paper. In August of the same year he bought it outright from the company, organized the Richmond Printing & Publishing Company, and in January, 1917, resumed daily publication of the paper. That same month it was made the official paper by the authorities of the city of Richmond, and the Daily News at this writing is again upon a sound financial and business basis.

It might not be amiss to tell of some of the early experiences of those who came to Richmond and entered into the newspaper game. At the time the Record was launched as a daily it became necessary to discard the hand-press and install a cylinder press. The editor secured an old plant at Nevada City and had it shipped to Richmond. The cylinder press, which had done duty at the former place for many years, was unpacked from the barley-sacks and assembled. At that time H. B. Kinney had installed a small electric-light plant in the city, but the concern did not operate in the daytime. It became necessary to rig up levers on the big press, and in this manner the paper was issued regularly until the town grew large enough to justify a day electric service.

At one time a pugilist came over from San Francisco to fight a local pug, and he was induced to do his three weeks' training in the Record office. He was a godsend for the Record force during the three weeks that he sweat and grunted grinding out the daily edition of the paper. It may be needless to add that the pugilist who so kindly served the Record force was knocked out in the third round by his antagonist.

The tribulations of the Record force in the early days of the town were many. The failure of the "ghost to walk" was a trivial matter compared to the work of getting out the paper with two feet of water in the shop during rainy weather. The Record had moved into its own building, now the Bank of Richmond, and the paper was published in the basement. The water was in the habit of coming in in torrents whenever it rained, and in those years it used to rain every day throughout the winter. The mechanical force was divided into shifts and the office was bailed out with buckets. The editor provided rubber boots for the printers, and the paper never missed an issue. The main trouble was in keeping the water down below the level of the bed of the press. Two lady compositors, who set the type by hand, were carried by the men on the force to their stools, where they perched above the water and waves beneath them. After a while the Record became more prosperous, and a gasoline engine was purchased. This proved to be less reliable than the pugilist who so faithfully ground out the few hundreds of copies of the paper. The engine used to have a habit of going on a strike occasionally, when the hand process of issuing the paper was again resorted to.

At the time Doctor Brown published the initial issue of his paper he had no press and secured the loan of the Record machinery. He had his forms made up in Santa Fe and hauled over to the Record shop at the Point. The man who undertook the contract of delivering the forms did not know what a delicate job he had on his hands, and proceeded to handle the type pages as he would sacks of coal. The result was that the Times did not issue that week. The forms were "pied" in the street on Washington Avenue, and Doctor Brown secured some sieves and recovered his type from the fourteen inches of dust.

The journalistic history of Richmond is interesting and contains much of the strenuosity and characteristics of the upbuilding of the city in all other lines of endeavor. There are now three daily newspapers representing fairly well a little city of the size and capabilities of Richmond - the Record-Herald, and the Independent in the evening field, and the Daily News in the morning field, with the Terminal, a weekly publication, also in a state of more or less active journalistic eruption - and it is to the credit of the city of Richmond that this number of publications can obtain support sufficient to maintain them in a creditable amount of excellency.

MANUFACTURING AND PAYROLL

The following is a partial list of industries now in operation in Richmond and their monthly payroll. From this list many small industries are omitted.

Manufactory Investment Pay-roll

Standard Oil Company................................... $15,000,000 $200,000

Pullman Car Shops......................................... 2,000,000 75,000

California Wine Association.......................... 3,500,000 15,000

S. F. - Oakland Terminal Railway.................. 2,500,000 20,000

Healy-Tibbitts Co............................................. 150,000 4,000

S. F. Quarries Co............................................. 200,000 4,500

Santa Fe Railway............................................. 4,000,000 75,000

Southern Pacific Co......................................... 1,500,000 10,000

Metropolitan Match Co..................................... 1,000,000 2,500

Pacific Gas & Elec. Co.................................... 500,000 3,000

Western States Gas & Elec. Co. ................... 750,000 4,000

East Bay Water Company............................... 1,000,000 3,000

Other water companies..................................... 100,000 1,000

Great Western Power Co. ................................ 50,000 500

California Cap Co. ............................................ 200,000 7,500

Richmond Pressed Brick Works...................... 200,000 2,500

Western Pipe & Steel Co.................................. 1,000,000 5,000

Tilden Lumber Co. ............................................. 100,000 2,000

Stege Lumber & Hardware Co. ....................... 25,000 1,500

Pacific Porcelain Ware Co. (3 plants).............. 500,000 6,000

Richmond Belt Line Railway ............................. 100,000 1,000

Santa Fe Foundry Co. ........................................ 50,000 1,500

Richmond Navigation Co. .................................. 25,000 1,000

Ludewig Markets.................................................. 100,000 1,500

General Roofing Company................................. 500,000 20,000

Richmond Knitting Factory.................................. 100,000 ...............

Capital Art Metal Works...................................... 100,000 ................

Sundry factories.................................................... 200,000 30,000

MYSTERY OF THE SHELL MOUNDS

The many and extensive shell deposits, or "Indian mounds," existing all along the Gulf and Pacific Coast have greatly excited the curiosity of people newly arrived in the country, and especially those of an educational turn of mind. The reason for the existence of such mounds has been sought for without much satisfaction. The theory most generally accepted is that the Indian tribes spent their winters on the seashore subsisting chiefly on fish and oysters, and the shell banks remain as monuments of age-long appetite for crustaceans.

Probably the greatest shell mound on the Pacific Coast is at Richmond, and it has attracted much attention and curiosity for many years. Now it is to be entirely removed to make room for modern improvements along the bay shore, where great activity in the way of shipping interests is confidently expected before long.

Researches were made in this gigantic mound from 1906 to 1908 by direction of the University of California, and 146 skeletons were found and taken out. Professor Nelson of the university gave an opinion at the time that the big Richmond mound was the official burying-place of prehistoric men. He estimated that there were over 630 specimens of implements, weapons, and ornaments found in the mound by excavation, consisting of spear points, pottery, charm stones, shell jewelry, mortars and pestles, bowls, needles, and similar articles made of stone, bone, shell, and baked clay; also curious whistles were found, made of bird bones.

STANDARD OIL COMPANY'S REFINERY

A new town was virtually put on the map when the Standard Oil Company established its Richmond Refinery. When the company broke ground for its plant in 1901 Richmond was a little community of scarcely two hundred people. Today it is a thriving city of twenty-three thousand inhabitants.

The steady, normal development of a great manufacturing plant to the point where this refinery is today employing twenty-seven hundred people, with a monthly pay-roll of two hundred and sixty thousand dollars, could not but act as a great stimulus to any community. But the benefits and the influence of the Richmond Refinery are not to be measured by the development of any one town. Rather, might the plant and the industry it represents be designated as one of the most important factors in the recent development of the entire Pacific Coast.

The establishment of the Richmond Refinery was one of the biggest single boosts to manufacturing and home industry in the history if California - possibly the biggest. And this because it provided what was so badly needed - a means whereby a larger percentage of the output of the California petroleum fields could be placed on the market at its full worth, as refined products instead of as crude oil. To the advantage of both consumer and producer, its benefit extends the length of the western coasts of two continents, from Nome to Cape Horn; also into Oriental countries. Wherever petroleum products are now marketed on the Pacific Coast, they are not Eastern products, but the output of our own California fields.

"But just what is an oil refinery?" some of our readers have asked us. "How do you refine oil, and what do you manufacture at Richmond?"

Briefly, crude oil is a complex mineral compound, and it is the work of a refinery to break up this crude material into its constituent parts - clarify and treat them, and manufacture them into finished products ready for the public's use. The plant at Richmond is one of the largest refineries in the world, and manufactures practically all the main products obtainable from crude oil. The detailed, technical processes by which they are obtained can only be hinted at here.

If you are familiar with Civil War history, you will perhaps recall the story of the resourceful "Johnny Reb," prisoner of war. To vary the monotony of confinement and to cater to his appetite for spirituous liquor, he built a miniature still out of a coffee-pot. Having filled this with corn bread and water, he put it over a hot fire, and as the vapors came off caught them in an improvised condenser - an old can soldered to the top of the pot. Primitive and miniature as was this improvised still, it is illustrative of one of the main processes of oil refining - the process of distillation - which in essentials is the same whether carried on in a coffee-pot or in a great battery of thousand-barrel stills. Beyond this the refining process is complex and technical - suitable only for scientific discussion.

Despite this fact, an oil refinery is by no means an uninteresting place to the layman. From point of size alone, Richmond is somewhat impressive, covering as it does a territory of 788 acres, or 1.225 square miles.

The raw material, or crude oil, for this Refinery City is supplied from the "Tank farm" at San Pablo, five miles distant. San Pablo is the terminus of the 330-mile pipe-line from the California oil-fields, and the oil which is stored here in great tanks - holding an aggregate of four and a half million barrels - is run down to Richmond by gravity as needed.

The selection of the correct crude oil for the particular product to be manufactured is an important consideration, for all Standard illuminating and lubricating oils and other products are made from selected crudes. If asphaltum for roofing or paving materials is to be made, a crude oil shown by test to be best suited for this purpose is selected. In the same way, by rigid tests, crude oils are chosen for the manufacture of Pearl Oil, Red Crown gasoline, Zeroline, and other products. A stock especially suited for one product may almost entirely lack the essentials that go to make others, and the laboratory experts who determine these things, and who later, after exhaustive tests, give a refined product its clearance papers, conduct their work with the greatest possible care.

And this Refinery City, to which the crude oil comes, is not merely big - it is busy; busy night and day, week in and week out, Sundays and holidays, from January 1st to December 31st, distilling, treating, filtering, testing - with frequent shifts of men so that none of the work is slighted, no one overworked.

Directed by executives of long experience; manned by expert chemists, superintendents, and other men of scientific as well as practical training; provided with a physical equipment thoroughly modern and second to none in the world, Richmond Refinery is in a position to maintain with efficiency this intensive pace of manufacture. One hundred and forty-one big stills, with a total charging capacity of 60,000 barrels; adequate condensers and receiving houses; fifty-five agitators (which "look like giant truffles," as one visitor put it); four hundred and seventy-six storage tanks; an engine-house capable of developing twenty-four thousand horse-power; an acid plant manufacturing two hundred and sixty-five thousand pounds of sulphuric acid daily; a grease plant; an asphaltum plant; a can factory, with a capacity of 25,000 five-gallon cans a day; a cooperage or barrel works; a machine-shop; a tank-car repair-shop, and several pump-houses, are some of the main divisions of the refinery's equipment. And interconnecting the entire plant, making it a manufacturing plant, runs a maze of pipe lines -360 miles in all - through which are handled the crude and many of the refined oils, as well as the steam, air, fresh and salt water used in their manufacture and in the hospital.

In addition to its manufacturing facilities, Richmond is admirably equipped for the prompt and economical loading of its products for distribution to the consumer. Pipe-lines leading directly to the railroad yards are run along the "loading racks" beside the tracks, and from these refined oils, gasoline, and other products are run into the big railroad tank cars with which every one is familiar. The extensive loading racks permit fifty cars to be filled at one time. All barrel and case goods are loaded into box cars direct from the warehouse platforms.

Of greater interest, perhaps, are the refinery's facilities for discharging its products by sea. A short distance from the refinery, extending almost a mile out into the bay, is the Richmond pier where Standard Oil Company tankers take on fluid cargoes for bulk distribution to its main distributing stations in the Pacific Coast, and to inland points reached by light-draft steamers that ply on the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. At Point Orient, about five miles distant from the refinery, an ideal shipping point because of the deep water and protected location, the company has another pier, storage tanks, and docks. Products are pumped from the refinery to the storage tanks and then run by gravity down to the dock and into the tankers and other vessels for shipment to the Orient and Central and South American ports. During the present year shipments bound for New York have also cleared from this dock, for the superiority of California asphaltum has brought about a fast-increasing demand for this product in the East.

Such is the Richmond Refinery, the company's largest manufacturing plant. Its development from small beginnings to its present size has been healthy, logical, and in entire accord with the demands of the market for refined products, and with the development of the company's crude product and that of the producers from whom it purchases oils. The first stills were completed and fired at Richmond on July 2, 1902. At that time but eighty men were employed at the refinery, and during the first months they refined only 780 barrels of crude oil a day. Since its beginning construction work at Richmond has never ceased, and today twenty-seven hundred men are required to operate the plant which is refining on an average 60,000 barrels of crude oil daily.

The refinery is still growing and will continue to grow, healthily and logically, as it has in the past. As the demand for its product increases, so will the capacity of the refinery be increased to meet that demand - just as El Segundo, and the company's newest refinery at Bakersfield, were built to supply the increasing southern trade of California and adjoining States. And always will every care be taken, every known means be employed, to make Standard products everything that their name implies - uniform products of the highest quality and reliability.

STEGE

Stege is situated near the southern boundary of Contra Costa County, not far from the Alameda County boundary line, in direct communication with both Oakland and Richmond. This community is rapidly forging ahead. Located here are the California Cap Works, the United States Briquette Company, the Stauffer Chemical Works, and the Stege Lumber Manufacturing Company.

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta

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