This town on the Straits of Carquinez,
about six miles below Martinez, named in honor of ex-judge J. B. Crockett,
late of the California Supreme Bench, is pleasantly located, with a fine
outlook over the San Pablo Bay to the Coast Range, from Mount Tamalpais to
the mountains of Mendocino in one direction, and to the Sierra Nevada in
another. The location of Heald's extensive machine-shops and foundry at that
point created the necessity for the considerable growth of the town.
Crockett is located on a part of what was
known as the Edwards ranch. As originally planned, the town-site consisted
of eighteen blocks, divided into lots fifty by one hundred feet, the streets
running east and west.
The following item, taken from the
Sacramento Record-Union of November 24, 1881, is the earliest mention
of the town: "A town to be called Crocker [Crockett] has been laid out on
the south shore of Carquinez Straits, seven miles below Martinez at Vallona
Station. It is named in honor of Supreme Judge Crocker [Crockett]"
Thomas Edwards, the original owner of the
town-site of Crockett, was born in North Wales, April 5, 1812. When fourteen
years of age Edwards left his native country and began a seafaring life,
which he followed for ten years. After quitting the sea, he obtained
employment in the capacity of mate on the steamers engaged in the immense
trade of the Mississippi. It was at this time that he formed the
acquaintance of W. C. Ralston, then steamboat clerk, and also of J. B.
Crockett, who had just commenced the practice of law. The friendship thus
began lasted throughout life. On February 19, 1843, he married Mary Pugh, a
native of North Wales, born July 20, 1819. In May, 1849, he started for
California. Spending the winter in Louisa County, Iowa, he went westward to
Council Bluffs the following spring, where a company of about forty men and
ten wagons was formed. Mrs. Edwards and a friend from St. Louis were the
only ladies in the party. The final march was commenced early in May, 1850,
via Fort Hall and Lassen's Cutoff. After traveling a few hundred miles
together, Edwards and his family stopped for a day on the Platte River to
rest the teams, thus allowing the remainder of the party to hurry on. The
rest of the way across the plains was made alone. Journeying two thousand
miles, California was reached in September, 1850, the first stopping-place
being on Mormon Slough, near Stockton, where they remained three weeks.
After conducting affairs in Knight's Ferry and other localities, they moved
to Carquinez Straits and engaged in farming and stock-raising. The farm
comprised 1800 acres. In 1881 an arrangement was entered into with Heald by
which a foundry was established on the place and the town of Crockett laid
out.
Joseph Bryant Crockett was born in
Kentucky, 1809, of an old Scottish- American family. He was admitted to the
practice of the law in Kentucky at the age of twenty-two, and soon after
founded the St. Louis Intelligencer, a Whig paper, which he
conducted with great ability for some time. Arriving in California in 1852,
he again took up his law practice, his partners being Page, Whiting, Joseph
Napthaly, and Congressman Piper. In 1868 he was appointed Supreme Justice by
Government Haight, and in 1869 was elected to succeed himself for the long
term (ten years), which he filled out. Judge Crockett called and presided
over the first public meeting held for the purpose of establishing the
public library of San Francisco.
CROCKETT A GREAT SUGAR
CENTER
(From the Fifth Booster Edition of the
Byron Times)
Crockett is
one of the most substantial, busy, and energetic industrial
cities of Contra Costa County, made famous because of
the splendid
achievements and enterprise of the California & Hawaiian
Sugar Refining
Company, whose annual production of manufactured sugar
products is
valued at about $30,350,000; its pay-roll is $625,000 a
year, and nearly
700 employees are made happy.
The big plant and improvements at Crockett
represent an investment of
some $7,000,000, making this one of the most modern and
complete
sugar refineries in the world.
Crockett has many attractions and conveniences;
has a fine water-front,
with a commodious harbor capable of receiving the
largest of ocean-going
steamships; has fine hotels, general merchandise
stores, business estab-
lishments, and schools and churches, and provides
everything necessary
for the happiness of its inhabitants.
Public parks and playgrounds for children, with
rest-rooms and many
conveniences that aid health and create happiness, are
special features
provided by the founders of Crockett.
Every year a great May Day celebration is held in
Crockett under the
personal direction of the general manager of the
California & Hawaiian
Sugar Refining Company, which is participated in by
officials of that big
organization and by the hundreds of employees of the
company, the
citizens of Crockett, and thousands of invited guests
from all parts of the
county and State.
The big event in 1916 was unusually noticeable
because it was com-
bined with dedication exercises in honor of the new Y.
M. C. A. Building,
the new Carquinez Women's Clubhouse, and other grand
improvements
given to the city by the California & Hawaiian Sugar
Refining Company for
the pleasure and comfort of the citizens of Crockett.
A special feature was the May-pole dance,
participated in by several
hundred beautiful little children, daughters of the
employees of the sugar
refinery and business men and women of Crockett.
The 1916 celebration was made a royal holiday
event. Invited guests
from the cities and towns around were there through
special invitation.
There was a great floral and decorated float parade.
Automobiles gaily be-
decked added to the grandeur of the occasion, while
bands of music
played, and every one was made welcome and happy as the
guests of the
people of Crockett.
In the evening a grand carnival was held,
followed by a masked ball,
which was attended by many notable and prominent people
of San
Francisco, Crockett, and the country around.
It was a happy, joyous event, creating, as it
did, a feeling of friendship
and reciprocity among employers and employed, making
them for the time
being one big family of people interested in the
present, future, and advan-
cing interests of Crockett, as a home place for
intelligent and contented
workmen who appreciate the very best of treatment, such
as is accorded
by the California & Hawaiian Sugar Refining Company and
its officers and
heads of departments.
It is such interests as these May Day occasions
and celebrations
which have done much to cement the strong friendship
existing between
capital and labor at Crockett, and which go far toward
making this an
ideal industrial city.
In this connection, it is a pleasure and very
timely to mention George M.
Rolph, general manager of the California & Hawaiian
Sugar Refining Com-
pany, who as the head of this big industry at Crockett
has always taken
much interest in the people and the development of the
city.
He has taken that personal part in activities
which proves his sincerity,
and he enjoys the personal regard, respect, and esteem
of every man,
woman, and child in Crockett, not only among those
employed by his big
refinery, but among the people of every class.
George M. Rolph is really and truly a man who
does things. His men
rely upon him in time of need and are ever ready to
work for and with him
in time of emergencies. It is men of this character
and heart who are recog-
nized as leaders in action and who are usually found
at the top directing
great industrial enterprises.
Crockett also has a Citizen's Improvement
Association, organized for
exploitation, publicity, and the general advancement
of the city. Meritorious
enterprises are fostered, aided, and encouraged,
entertainment features are
provided for the town, and the idea is to create more
interest in Crockett and
its attractions. Like every other city in Contra Costa
County, Crockett en-
joyed unparalleled building activities in 1915-16,
which still continue un-
abated, Nearly all of the new edifices are residences,
modern in every re-
spect. The residence section is rapidly extending on
the hills overlooking
the business section.
CALIFORNIA AND HAWAIIAN SUGAR REFINING CO.
The town of Crockett - Queen City of the
Carquinez Straits - is to be congratulated on having within its boundaries
one of the largest industries of the Pacific Coast - the California &
Hawaiian Sugar Refining Company.
This refinery is in operation 300 days of
the year, and is the only sugar refinery in the world where the men work in
shifts of eight hours each. The output of refined sugar is about 950 tons
per day, or 280,000 tons per annum.
The sugar is shipped in packages of
various styles and weights, not only to all the Pacific Coast States - some
of it going as far north as Alaska and as far away as the Philippines - but
its distribution extends as far east as Illinois.
The raw sugar from which this refined
product is obtained comes principally from the Hawaiian Islands in the great
freighters that ply between San Francisco and the Hawaiian ports. At times
it has been even necessary to bring it from points as far away as Peru and
Java. Almost any day from December until the following October, steamers of
immense carrying capacity may be seen discharging at the wharves of this
company.
Mechanical contrivances of all sorts,
such as slat and belt conveyors of every description, aid in unloading one
of these 8000 to 13,000-ton steamers, discharging 2500 tons daily.
The raw sugar is then placed in one of
the vast warehouses located on the company's land, which, by the way, has a
deep water-frontage of 2400 feet. It is drawn on by the refinery later as
needed in the process of manufacture.
A visit to this refinery would prove most
interesting. Here one may see the large vacuum pans which boil fifty tons of
sugar every two hours, the great boilers which require hundreds of barrels
of oil per day to keep the machinery in motion, machines for weighing and
sacking the granulated sugar, machines for putting sugar in cartons which
automatically pack and seal thirty-two five-pound cartons every minute.
In turning out from 17,000 to 18,000 bags
of sugar per day, each bag containing the finished product, 25,000 yards of
cotton cloth are made up daily as inner-liners, which are fine, white bags,
placed inside the coarser jute bags to keep the sugar immaculately clean.
While the refinery and extensive
warehouses are a great part of this industry, the company has also given a
substantial evidence of its interest in the town of Crockett and the welfare
of its employees in the splendid hotel it owns, equipped with all modern
conveniences, lobby, card rooms, and a pleasant dining-room, where the best
food is served; the Y. M. C. A. Building, erected at a cost of about
$50,000, with its splendid swimming pool, gymnasium, library, billiard room
and numerous sleeping rooms; and that the feminine portion of Crockett and
vicinity may not feel neglected, the management has built a beautiful
building which is used as a women's club, where spare hours may be
comfortably enjoyed.
In fact, no better example can be found in
the West of an effort on the part of a corporation to maintain right
relations between employer and employee than exists in the town of Crockett.