San Joaquin
County History
History of San Joaquin County, California with Biographical Sketches - Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA - 1923
CHAPTER I.
THE VALLEY GATEWAY
NATURE, in her creative work, designed San Joaquin County as the gateway of the great San Joaquin Valley. The slope of the land proves this. If it were possible to start rolling a large ball from the head waters of the Sacramento River, unobstructed by bush, tree, hill or river, it would land at a point not many miles distant from Stockton. A ball set rolling from the headwaters of the San Joaquin River would stop at nearly the same point. These two rivers rising in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, nearly 300 miles apart, flow into Suisun Bay, an airline distance from Stockton of less than thirty miles. The slope of the Sierras is towards this point, as is proven by the rivers' flow. The Sacramento River flows less than ten miles from the northwest boundary of San Joaquin County, and into it flow the waters of the Cosumnes and the Mokelumne rivers. The Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Merced and Fresno rivers flow into the San Joaquin River, whose waters ever flowing only three miles from Stockton, mingle with the waters of the mighty Pacific. Hence, as I have stated, Nature planned this county as the Central California gateway to the ocean and in the future it is destined to become one of the largest populated sections in the United States.
This valley, or basin, as it is often called, 250 miles in length and averaging fifty miles in width, was at one period an inland sea. Its waters for ages beat against the foothills of the Sierras and washed the hills of the Coast Range. In course of time; says the Indian legend, "the mountain tops burned red, the earth shook and trembled, the mountains broke asunder, and the waters ran out into the ocean." Where did the Indians learn this legend? It seems like a dream or the fanciful imagination of a disordered mind. The truth of the legend is proven, however, by geological evidence. Along the base of the Sierras there are many indications to a scientific student that this valley was in the ages past beneath the waters. Oyster and clam shells have been found in the foothills and the imprints of fish upon the rocks. E. L. Flower, born at Knights Ferry and a student of geology, says in that locality that the cobble stones are all polished and rounded by water action, and no rough edged stones are found. Fish imprints have been found, he states, and at one time in a pebble stone, broken open, the imprint of a crab was seen. Another close observer of the creative period of California, E. L. Branch, says in his History of Stanislaus County, "If a person goes from Knights Ferry to Dry Creek, he will observe along the hillside three water marks, at different heights, just as if it had been a lake. Those marks can be seen for many miles. When in early days the soil had not been plowed up, it was covered with little knolls and sand just as may be seen in the bottom of lakes." As to the Indian legend "that the mountain tops burned red" we have proof of that even in our own day. Within the past three years, Mt. Lassen, in Lassen County, has been belching out fire and smoke, and throwing out acres of lava into the valley. Scientists tell us that Mt. Diablo and Mt. Tamalpais are extinct volcanoes. As to the earthquakes splitting the mountain asunder, ask the citizens of San Francisco regarding their experience of the earthquake that occurred in April, 1906.
Before the creator can create, he must have the material at hand. And millions of years before this valley become dry land the Sierra Nevadas had been thrown up by volcanic eruptions, miles in height. We have ample proof of this in the granite and sandstone found at Columbia, products of that period of which the Bible speaks when it says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The Coast Range was formed in the later part of the secondary period. There soft coal .is found, a product of vegetable matter that had been buried for time indefinite. Time passed; by means of glaciers, icebergs, avalanches, snow slides and heavy rains, Nature began sending debris into the valley below. After a time shrubs, plants and trees grew upon the new-made earth. Then they disappeared, covered by mountains of new soil. Through aeons of time, this soil-building continued until the Sierras were worn down to the present height, an average of probably 6,000 feet. The soil has been deposited over the inland lake to a depth unknown. Borings have been made in this county to a depth of 2,000 feet with no indications of any different type of soil than mountain soil. How many years was Nature at work in the building up of the valley we have not the remotest idea, except from the great flood of 1862. In that year the entire valley was covered with water for nearly two weeks, and during that time the soil was covered with debris from one to four inches in depth. Old Mother Earth is still soil-building along the river bottoms, and upon the swampy lands. The rivers are fast filling up from the debris brought down by the spring floods even San Francisco Bay is filling up—and one of the great problems of the day is how to keep our navigable rivers from destruction.
Nature having practically finished her work, let us view it as the first discoverers beheld it. Albert C. Parker, the son of a pioneer, gave a very pleasing description in the opening lines of his poem:
Snow-capped Sierras to the eastward rise;
Their rugged peaks uplifted to the skies,
And in the west, bedecked in emerald hue,
Low rolling hills lie mirrored in the blue;
Like sentinels of old these ranges, twain,
Guard well the borders of a broad domain;
And down the poppied way that lies between
In silent grandeur flows the San Joaquin.
In this county on the return of Spring, Nature carpeted the soil with wild flowers of every variety and color, and with a fragrant perfume the air was heavy laden. In those days grass, filaree, oats and clover grew luxuriantly, and in some localities, especially along the Calaveras River, the grass grew over six feet in height. It was the hiding place of squirrels, rabbits, quail and other small game, and the food of thousands of wild animals, including elk, deer, antelopes, bears and mountain lions. Coyotes or wild dogs were also plentiful, and as late as 1850 a lodger in the town complained that "the coyotes have already become vociferous and their hungry barking has nightly disturbed our slumbers for some nights past." Deer also were seen by the hundreds roaming over the plains, and, although later driven to the mountains, they were there ruthlessly killed for their hides. As late as December, 1881, it is recorded, "Williams & Moore yesterday shipped 540 deer hides. During the past two months, the firm has shipped over a thousand hides."
Along the river banks wild roses grew in great profusion, and strawberry and blackberry bushes. The blackberry bushes were filled with berries and in the fall of the year the pioneers would form picnic parties and go blackberrying. Chinamen would gather the berries and hawk them about the street. Well do I remember one little Chinaman waddling along with his heavy baskets, one in front and one behind him, upheld by a bamboo pole, crying out in his piping voice "black-ba leese." The adobe belt was covered with a literal forest of white and live oaks. In Stockton there were thousands of these trees.
And along the streets from out the sighing trees
The song birds caroled sweetly to the breeze.
There were thousands of these blackbirds in the tree tops and sweetly they sang. They obtained much of their food from the barley wasted by the teamsters in feeding their mules upon the streets. The press in referring to them said, "Blackbirds are thick in the suburbs (now Sutter and Weber Avenue) and almost as gentle as barn fowl, but they are fast being reduced, as the Kanakas and Frenchman are shooting them for food." These birds were with us, singing throughout the day, until about 1870; then some wise individual imported and turned loose a number of male and female English sparrows. Propagating fast and being very aggressive they drove out all of the native birds.
Returning to the forest of oaks, they varied in size from slender saplings to gigantic trees three feet in diameter and with an average height of forty feet. Some of these oaks were growing when in 1492 Columbus discovered America, while others are not over one hundred years of age. Thousands of those majestic oaks that have braved the storms of many a century were cut down for firewood. For over twenty years they supplied the homes, flour mills, factories and steamboats with fuel. In the flood of 1862 over one hundred cords of white oak, piled upon the river bank for steamer use, were swept onward to the Golden Gate. Single or small groups of these trees are still growing in various parts of the city and county. In the State Asylum grounds there is a grove of some thirty trees as truly in their natural state as when the wild Indians passed beneath their-shade. There is another grove, now a public resort, called "Good Water Grove." What is the age of these trees? Experts claim that the largest are at least 500 years old. There is one oak tree now growing in the rear of the Christian Science Church on Flora Street whose age we positively know. It is the usual height, forty feet, and nine inches in diameter six feet from the ground. It has grown from an acorn planted by little Miss Nettie Van Valear on April 15, 1865, in her father's garden, in memory of President Lincoln, who was assassinated the previous evening by John Wilkes Booth.
The Spring Floods
Upon the Mokelumne River, near Lockeford, benches of land were formed; they are dry and very productive during the summer months, but they are completely covered with water during the spring season. The Calaveras River, a dry canal eight months of the year, becomes a deep rushing torrent of water during the spring thaw of snow. Lapham and Mackie, who made a soil survey of the Stockton area in 1906, reported in regard to the Calaveras River, "About one-half of the area surveyed consists of the valley-plain proper, at one time covered by the waters of an ancient pleistocene lake or bay. The central part is traversed in a general southwesterly direction by the Calaveras River and Mormon Channel, the waters of which enter the San Joaquin a little below Stockton. Mormon Channel is a branch of the Calaveras River, which it leaves a short distance outside of the northeastern extremity of the area (Bellota) and now carries nearly all of the water which at one time found its way through the Calaveras River. The bed of the lower course of the Mormon Channel is filled to the depth of many feet by detritus derived from the waste of the mountains, which is frequently carried by winter and spring floods into the still waters of Stockton Channel, forming bars and impeding navigation or entirely blocking the harbor until removed." The Mormon Channel in the season of the heaviest freshets, before the arrival of the pioneers, overflowed its north bank at what is now Hazelton Avenue and Stanislaus Street, and cutting a deep channel to the northwest, emptied into Stockton Channel at Weber Avenue and Hunter Street. Stockton Channel, which is the most valuable asset of the city and county, and which empties into the San Joaquin River, extended eastward some two miles. It was formed by the overflow from Mormon Channel. The flow of melting snows from the Sierras was so heavy at times that hundreds of shallow water courses were formed; dry in summer, but wet and boggy in winter, these water courses made a complete network of shallow streams. Along the banks of the deepest waterways a continuous line of high land existed, making dry spots for the pioneers in springtime. I have recorded the condition of this city in the beginning that we may see the wonderful progress that has been made in land filling during the past years.
The Tule Land
To the west of the high land there are thousands of acres of peat or tule land, estimated by Surveyor C. D. Gibbs in 1850 at 133,000 acres. This soil, which was covered with water a large part of the year, was Nature's last work. And she continued building up the land, very slowly, it is true, until man stopped the work by reclamation. It is now known as the Holland of America. Lapham, in describing this soil, says, "In typical section the soil consists of six feet or more of fine alluvial river and tidal silts, intimately commingled with partially decayed vegetable matter, undecomposed plant roots, stems, and fibers occurring in great profusion. This material is dark brown to black, of an exceedingly smooth and pasty consistency when wet, of spongy texture and generally saturated with water at a depth of two or three feet. This tule or peat land became, during the winter season, the feeding place of thousands of ducks and geese that flew from the north at the first approach of the Arctic winters. Then everybody that could fire a shotgun went hunting. They had not far to go. Where now stands the Crown Flour Mills was all tules, and I have known Frank Giovanessi, a dead shot, to leave his home at sundown and return two hours later loaded down with game. Ducks were so plentiful that in November, 1859, "Over the city in flocks, thousands of ducks and geese are flying, and their 'honk, honk' may be heard night and day. Hank Saunders shot thirty-nine ducks and geese and the following day he got forty-two. Ducks are selling at 25 cents a pair." Now they are selling at one dollar a pair and scarce at that price. There are now no general feeding places for ducks, as the swamp land has all been reclaimed or sold to corporations. And the only men who can hunt game are members of gun clubs who have money to purchase reservations. One of the beautiful sights annually occuring in the fall of the year was the burning of miles and miles of tules. They were set on fire by the hunters to clear the land and drive out the game, making it easier to locate a flock of ducks or geese. It was indeed a beautiful sight, especially at night—"the ocean of fire," as one writer expressed it— when the flames rushing along at racehorse speed, licking up with their redforked tongues the dry tules. One writer of that day said, "The most magnificent spectacle we have ever witnessed delighted us on Tuesday last. The morning opened with a cloudy sky and a stiff wind was blowing from the northwest, which increased in velocity as the day advanced. About ten o'clock huge columns of smoke arose from the banks of the San Joaquin, which in time became so dense it flung a shadow upon the earth. The vast flames quickly spread, fanned by the wind and soon the entire land was a vast conflagration. But it was as the evening set in that the picture presented its sublimest aspect. The red glare shot across the heavens and was reflected again upon the city and 'all men stood and gazed.’ "
These annual fires continued perhaps twice or three times a year until along in the eighties. Often they were very annoying, especially when the wind was from the west, as the streets and the housetops would be thickly sprinkled with burned tules. The family washing hung out to dry would become so smutted that it would have to be again rinsed out in clean water, and the small boys would have a jolly time blackening their own and the other fellow's face.
In the tules and along the river banks might be found thousands of raccoons, otter, badger, beaver and other fur bearing animals. Beaver were plentiful in that region, as late as 1870. Robert Dykeman, a hunter, trapped 256 of the valuable fur-bearing animals, and also shot large quantities of game for market. The beaver was found on French Camp slough, and attracted to that locality the trappers of the Hudson Bay Company, an English corporation. The streams abounded in fish, and they were so plentiful that a directory published in 1852 said, "The Stockton Channel and the San Joaquin River contain an abundance of fish. There are salmon, trout, sturgeon, and an infinite variety of smaller kinds to the heart's content. We have seen children stand on the city wharves and fill their baskets with small fish in the course of an hour, amid the commerce. The salmon has a delicious flavor, and the trout is as delicate as an Apicius might desire." It was great sport for many boys to go fishing, perch being the principal fish caught. Richard Reibenstein and others would tell of their catching perch where now stands the Hotel Stockton, the Weber Hole, as it was called for many years. Some thirty years ago the Government began propagating black bass. Later a large number were placed in the Stockton Channel. From some cause, soon after, the perch all disappeared and none have since been seen. Up to the middle seventies salmon and halibut were sold in the fish markets at 12 1/2 cents a pound. Sometimes an Italian would land at the wharf with a whale-boat load and sell them like hot cakes at from 50 cents to $1 each, according to size. Then came the fish corporations and they stopped the cheap sale of fish. Now with thousands of tons of fish in the rivers and ocean it is higher priced than the first cuts of meat.
Underground Springs
The water flowing over the land was not the only supply of Nature. Through the earth there runs thousands of streams of clear water from mountain to sea; these streams are fed by the springs, lakes and acres of melting snow that percolates through the soil. Here in San Joaquin, water for domestic purposes may be found at a depth of twenty feet. The best drinking water, clear and cool is found at a depth of from fifty to eighty feet. The nearer the mountains naturally the deeper must be the well, and in the extreme eastern part of the county wells were dug to a depth of sixty or more feet, and walled up with brick or rock. Then in early days the old-fashioned windlass was used, and "the old oaken bucket that hung by the well" has been replaced by turbine wheels which are set in the bottom of the well and the water lifted to the surface. The Italian gardeners, and many persons in Stockton set up windmills for household purpose and irrigation. In 1858, before establishing the city water works, 256 windmills were counted in the city. Now the farmers and gardeners use gasoline engines, and extensive irrigation is carried on by this means.
Some idea of the depth of the soil, with which Nature filled this valley, and the depth of water is best given by illustration. In 1854 an artesian well was bored in Stockton on the west side of the Court House Square, but they discontinued work at a depth of 200 feet for lack of money, although water was found the entire distance. The following year work was not continued, because someone had dropped a large stone into the well and it could not be dislodged. A new well, twenty feet distant from the first well, was bored to a depth of 1,000 feet, at a cost of $10,000. Now by the use of improved machinery they cost 50 per cent less than by the hand labor of early day. Through the entire distance the auger brought up only fine gravel, clay and sand, which in the classification of the geologist indicates a late formation of the soil, five thousand years or more ago. At a depth of 340 feet the auger bored through a redwood stump. During 1919 an artesian well was bored at the Pacific tannery, located on what was formally the bank of a water channel. The well was sunk 280 feet and at a depth of 170 feet, the auger passed through the limb of a tree. In the courthouse well, from a depth of 340 feet, the water was forced to within three feet of the surface; at a depth of 560 feet the water arose three feet above the earth, and at 910 feet a body of water was forced up seven feet in height The temperature of the water averaged 77 degrees F. in summer and winter. Down 500 feet a strong smell of gas was noticeable, and upon the completion of the well this gas was confined and found to be a fair quality of illuminating gas. There are now several hundred artesian wells in the county; included in the number are twenty-seven artesian wells from which Stockton receives its water supply, for domestic, manufacturing and fire purposes. These wells vary in diameter from twelve to twenty inches, and in depth from 250 to 800 feet. By means of their large pumps the corporation can furnish 17,000,000 gallons of water a day, water, save for a little sulphur in the winter season,, the purest and healthiest in the state. Salt water is found at a depth of 1,000 feet, this positively showing that the mountain greets the sea. There are in Stockton several gas wells, the gas being used for illuminating, heating and cooking purposes. The pioneer gas well was bored by Cutler Salmon at his ranch home two miles east of French Camp. The well was bored for the purpose of obtaining a good supply of water, but sufficient gas was found to furnish him a supply for lighting and cooking purposes.
A Climate Unsurpassed
Travelers tell us that the climate of San Joaquin is equal to or superior to the climate of Naples, Italy; that the climate is unsurpassed for its salubrity, comfort and healthfullness goes without saying. So mild is the winter season roses bloom throughout the year, and almond trees are in bud in February. In the Court House Square there are palm trees growing throughout the year: as this is a strictly tropical plant it causes surprise to strangers who know not the equability of the climate. Orange trees blossom and the fruit forms and ripens during the early spring. As to the seasons we have but two, summer and winter; the warm weather begins in March, the fields are covered with wild flowers, the early fruit trees begin budding and the garden plants are again in color. Easter finds a wealth of flowers of every shape and hue. From March until November we have sunshine and cool westerly winds with a varying temperature from 60 to 104 degrees. The warmest months are July and August. There are clouds, occasional rains and heavy dew in April, May and October. The winter season begins in November and ends in February. The only cold months are December and January, the month last named being the coldest, the thermometer occasionally dropping below the freezing point. The 1920-21 winter was an open winter and water was frozen four times only during the season. The rainfall during the spring and winter season varies from ten to fifteen inches. Occasionally there is severe cold weather continuing for a week or more, and five times during the county's history there has been a light fall of snow. According to one writer 1848 was a very severe winter; he says, "It rained and continued to rain; the rivers rose until the whole country round about was covered with water. Stockton was completely surrounded by water for a time. In December the cold was intense. Snow fell all over the valley. The channel froze down to the river and a passage had to be cut to get a launch up to the land here." There was a spell of cold weather in 1854 and the San Francisco steamer plowed ice as she came up the channel. In 1878 there was a period of six weeks of cold weather; every morning the house pumps were frozen solid, McLeod's lake was frozen over and ice a quarter of an inch thick was formed on the watering troughs. There was another long cold spell in 1885, and ice was formed, but it melted before midday. A fall of snow is so rare that children have never seen it except upon the Sierras. In 1880, January 22, snow began falling and continued for several hours, but in the warm sun it quickly turned to water. The heaviest fall of snow ever recorded occurred January 31, 1882. The previous evening the weather was very cold and the following morning about eleven o'clock snow flakes began falling with increasing velocity until it lay two inches deep upon the earth. Sleds were hastily constructed and the boys and those from eastern homes enjoyed sleigh riding throughout the day. That evening a heavy rain soon melted the snow.
Varieties of Soil
The soil of the county as classified by Mackie is divided into ten different classes which may be condensed for all practical use to adobe or clay loam, sandy loam, gravelly soil and peat or tule land. The clay loam comprises a belt of land in the center of the county about eight miles in width and sixteen miles in length. It begins at Stockton and ends just beyond Linden. Some persons called it the black land, because of its dark brown and black color. Mackie in describing it says, "The soil is of a close compact structure, polishingly highly upon the soil auger, is exceedingly tenacious and of a stiff, putty-like consistency when wet, checking at the surface in large blocks, by deep surface cracks upon exposure.'' In other words, the soil in summer time unless irrigated becomes very dry and cracks open into irregular blocks a foot or two in depth and a couple of inches wide. In winter the soil becomes solid by being wet, holds water and is exceedingly adhesive. The ground contracts in summer and swells in winter, thus making it difficult to keep level streets or sidewalks. The soil is very fertile, although somewhat difficult to cultivate. On this belt grew the oak trees and it produces heavy crops of wheat, barley, hay and vegetables. The sandy loam lies upon the north and south side of the adobe belt. On the north it extends from the Calaveras River to the county line, and on the south from French Camp to Stanislaus County. For over thirty years it was considered of little value except for pasture land. Irrigation, however, has produced wonderful results. In the Lodi section grapes were planted and the land produces bountifully, with no irrigation but the rains.
The gravel or San Joaquin loam, as Lapham calls it, lies in the eastern part of the county. In describing it he says, "It forms the upland of the lower or first foothill slopes and extends to the margins of the nearly level plains below. These slopes or rolling hills are treeless and devoid of rock outcrop save the occasional appearance of the underlying hardpan." This section of the county comprises some 5,000 acres. Nature's last production is the western part of the county, the peat or tule land. Berkeley, you remember, said
"Westward the Star of Empire takes its way;
The first four acts already past,
The fifth shall close the drama with the day;
Time's noblest offspring is the last."
And William H. Rhoads, the young Stockton pioneer, in a poem read at the fair of 1859 affirmed the Berkeley poem when he said in his closing lines,
"Where then in Eden; Ah, why should I tell
What every eye and besom knows so well?
Why name the land all other lands have blest
And traced for ages to the distant west?
Why seek in vain the historic page
For Eden's Garden and the Golden Age?
Here, brothers, here, no further let us roam,
Here is the Garden, Eden is our home."
Contributed by Kellie Crnkovich - Dec. 2005