San Joaquin

County History

History of San Joaquin County, California with Biographical Sketches - Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA - 1923

CHAPTER VI

BUSINESS DAYS AND BUSINESS WAYS

        IN THE history of the world there is no event like the rush to California "in the days of '49." The march of the Crusaders to the Holy Land was somewhat similar. There was, however, this difference; the Crusaders invaded a land already populated and with food, shelter and comforts a-plenty, while the Argonauts rushed into a territory almost a wilderness, with none of the necessities of life. Thousands of pioneers landed upon California's shore without food or extra clothing, many of them with only a few dollars. They hastened to California with the idea that the earth was covered with gold and that the "first arrivals would get the entire crop." Others, wiser in their day, formed companies and chartering ships for a voyage around Cape Horn filled their vessels with cargos of provisions sufficient to last them many months. My father was one of a company of men who in 1848 chartered the brig Lenark for a voyage from Boston, Mass., around the horn to San Francisco. They loaded the brig with provisions sufficient to last them for two years, and entering the Golden Gate after an eight months' voyage sailed up the San Joaquin to Stockton. Leaving the ship in charge of the captain, the company went to the mines. Returning a few months later they found that the captain had sold all the provisions at a high price and had sailed for China. In the New York Tribune, Horace Greeley in describing this rush of goldseekers, wrote, "Bakers keep their ovens hot day and night, turning out immense quantities of ship bread, without supplying the demand; the provision stores of all kinds are besieged by orders. Manufacturers of rubber goods, rifles, pistols, bowie knives, etc., can scarcely supply the demand." Mechanics brought their tools, tailors brought bolts of cloth, as we have noticed in the case of Benjamin Brown, and a brick mason, William Saunders, brought a quantity of brick. He sold them to Captain Weber at one dollar per brick, and erected in his home the first brick chimney in the San Joaquin Valley.

Population

        The estimate of the population in 1849 sent in a memorial to Congress by the first constitutional convention was 107,000. In the spring of 1848 there was in the territory a population of native and foreign born numbering 10,000. They were located almost entirely in the pueblos (towns) of San Diego, Los Angeles, Monterey, San Jose, Yerba Buena (San Francisco) and Sonoma. There were a few foreigners at Sutter's Fort, and a few at Tuleburg, now Stockton. Then came the wild rush and in a few months the Sierra Nevada Mountains from "the Fort" to Mariposa were alive with gold diggers prospecting for gold nuggets. At that time Sacramento had an estimated population of 5,000, San Francisco 10,000, and Stockton 2,000. There were at least 15,000 in the so-called Southern mines—all of the territory south of the Cosumnes River. This population was largely increased month by month by new arrivals, and according to the United States census of 1860 there was that year 374,560 men, women and children in California. In the counties of Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Tulare and Mariposa there was a population of nearly 50,000, and 50 per cent of the number were strong, vigorous men between the ages of twenty and forty years. This was the aggregate population, as I have stated in 1860, but in 1870 it had been reduced to 24,118. The miners were fast leaving the mountain camps and locating in the valley. Stanislaus, Merced, Fresno and other counties had been created, and therein settled many of the mountain inhabitants. San Joaquin County, which had in 1850 a population of 3,647, in 1860, 9,435, had increased in 1870 to 21,050. I have given these figures to show principally the vast amount of supplies that were sold in, or that passed through Stockton to the interior counties. There were no railroads, and all kinds of merchandise came into the city by steamer or sailing vessel. It was in fact often called the depot of the Southern mines.

The Magic City

        Stockton was built up in a period of four months, and Bayard Taylor, the correspondent of the New York Tribune, traveling through Stockton in 1849, said he found a canvas city of 1,000 inhabitants and twenty-five ships at anchor in the harbor. James H. Carson, passing through the town in the same year on his return from the mines, wrote: "When I arrived May 1, 1849, a change had come over the scene since I had left it. Stockton that I had last seen graced by Joe (Willard) Buzzell's log cabin with a tule roof was now a vast linen city. The tall masts of the brigs, barques and schooners, high pointed, were seen in the blue vault above, while the merry 'yo-ho' of the sailor could be heard as box, bale and barrel were landed on the banks of the slough. A rush and whirl of human being was constantly before the eye; the magic wand of gold had been shaken over the desolate place and a city had arisen at the bidding of Minerva full-fledged."

        Necessity is the mother of invention, said the author, and it is oft times the mother of location, because it was necessary for the merchants, especially during the winter months, to be located as near as possible to the steamers and sailing vessels. In 1850 we find almost the entire business section within a radius of 200 yards, with Center Street as the axis. Within the circle we find Buffington & Lum, house carpenters, opposite the steamboat wharf; Davis & Smith, wholesale dealers in provisions, dry goods, mining tools, etc., Center Street; MacPherson & Nichols, general merchandise, Main near Center; Von Detten-Waldrow & Company, merchants, on the Peninsula; Coma & Washburn, Levee Street, dealers in provisions, hardware, mining tools, crockery, tinware and clothing; Marshal & Nichols, auctioneers, Levee; Morton & Ward, butchers, El Dorado; McSpeden & Company, merchants, corner Main and El Dorado; Dr. Simpson, drugs, medicines, books, stationery, Main and El Dorado; George Belt, merchant, Levee; Todd & Bryan, express company with Adams & Company, Center; Starbuck & Spencer, merchants, corner Levee and Commerce; Slocum & Company, Peninsula, two doors from the Stockton House and opposite the postoffice; William Dutch, watchmaker and jeweler, Center, next door to the Central Exchange; Sparrow & Navarro, Hunter Street, bricks on sale; Guibal & Dharboure, wholesale merchants, Center and Washington; Drs. Clements & Reins, drugs, corner Center and Weber avenue; R. J. Stevens & Company, Peninsula; J. R. Foster & Company, merchants, Peninsula, Corinthian Building, next door to postoffice: Peninsula Livery Stable, Channel Street; Henry Jones, boots and shoes, Center, five doors from Main; Ware's Daguerrean saloon in the Gault House, Center and Market; bath house, B. W. Owens, between Main and Weber Avenue; Emil Junge, general merchandise, store ship Susannah, Mormon Slough; Stockton Hospital, corner Center and Market; Drs. Radcliffe and Lasvignes, of Paris. Center Street was so named because it was the center of business, but in less than four years the business places had extended along El Dorado and Hunter streets and east on Main Street and Weber Avenue to Sutter Street, and even beyond that street. In 1853 my father had a meat market, corner of Main and Sutter, together with a boarding house, this indicating that quite a large number of persons worked and lived in that vicinity. The livery stables were the first cause of the extension of business. They required a large space of land for their stables and yard room for the use of the teamsters. There were two stables on the south side of Main Street between Sutter and California. Andrew Wolf was the proprietor of one and "Stuttering" Smith the other. A. J. Colburn had a stable on Main near Grant Street. Simon Weterau, a stable and the Avenue hotel, on Weber Avenue opposite the San Joaquin engine house. Charles Dallas conducted a livery on Weber Avenue near San Joaquin Street. These stables caused the erection nearby of blacksmith and wagon shops, and then boarding and lodging houses. Four of them were on Main Street in 1856 within a space of three blocks, the American house, kept by Mrs. Cadien, the Western hotel, Mrs. Pope, Sutter and Main, Cottage Home, one block west, Charles Mead, proprietor, and the Main Street Hotel, opposite the court house, George Allesworth, landlord. And then the Crescent City Hotel, where now stands the Hippodrome Theater.

        Among the prominent merchants at that time was B. F. Cheatham and Thomas E. Ketcham, a lieutenant in the famous Stevenson Regiment, and a captain in the Third Regiment, California Volunteers during the Civil War. The two men were partners in a merchandise store on the Levee, the firm name reading Ketcham & Cheatham. One night a wag changed the sign, and the following morning the whole town was laughing, for the sign said, I. Ketcham & U. Cheatham. The story was frequently told thirty years later. Cheatham later kept the Hotel de Mexico. He was a man of southern birth, a gambler and sport, but nevertheless one of the prominent men of the town. He was also a leading Democrat, and returning to the South in December '52 the Democratic paper said in fulsome praise, "This gentleman who has long been amongst us and who by the courtesy of his manner and his noble character has won the esteem of his fellow-citizens, leaves next week for his home in Tennessee. The gallant colonel served in the Mexican war, as colonel of the Third Regiment, Tennessee Volunteers." He never again returned to Stockton. In the Civil War he took up arms in defense of the Southern Confederacy and became a general. One day during the war he noticed a burly Irishman cruelly abusing his team. Cheatham, cursing the army teamster, commanded him to stop whipping the mules. The language of the officer quickly aroused the anger of "Pat" and turning to Cheatham, he exclaimed: "General, you are a coward. You know your shoulder straps protect you or you would not use such vile language to me."  Hastily dismounting, and throwing to one side his coat, Cheatham said, "A coward am I, you miserable devil. Look, McCue," pointing to his coat, "There is General Cheatham and his shoulder straps. Here is Frank Cheatham. Come and take satisfaction." The Irishman waltzed in and whipped Frank Cheatham in about two minutes. As the General mounted his horse, McCue, throwing him his coat, said in parting, "There is the whipped Frank Cheatham of the Cumberland Army; and Major-General of the division. General, you can repeat as often as you wish, you will always find Pat at home."

        California for over twenty years exported a very small amount and imported an immense amount of supplies of every description. They were imported principally by the wholesale merchants of San Francisco, they in turn selling to the retail merchants of the cities and the retailers in part supplying the mountain camps. These goods all came into San Francisco by steamer across the isthmus tri­monthly or by slow sailing vessel or clipper ships around Cape Horn. By the slow sailers it was a six months' voyage, but by the clipper ships built especially for speed the voyage from New York to San Francisco was sometimes made in three months or less. All heavy or bulky merchandise was shipped around Cape Horn, because the cost of freight was much less than by steamer or the "ocean grey hounds" as the clipper ships were known. The first Stockton steam fire engine came around the Horn, the parts packed in boxes, so did the Episcopal Church organ. Then it often took from six months to a year to receive goods from the Eastern States. Now one may telegraph, and the goods are here in ten days or less.

        Stockton had at least three merchants who imported goods, P. M. Bowen & Company, Avery & Hewlett and C. T. Meador & Company. We read in his advertisement in February 1850, that he has just received by the ships Sierra Nevada and Indiana, direct from Boston, 200 cases of candles in cartons, 150 cases of lard in ten-pound tins, 116 half-barrels clear pork, 40 cases of eggs, 50 barrels Carolina rice, 14 drums St. John codfish, 15 cases of ginger one-half pound bottles, 25 cases pineapple, 150 kits mackerel, 25 cases handle axes, 200 dozen three-hoop pails, 100 cases spirits of turpentine. Although for a time this state was the largest wheat producer in the Union, and San Joaquin County the largest grower of wheat, for several years wheat was imported from Chile. It was so full of weevils, however, that the legislature in 1854 passed a law prohibiting its importation. Brown sugar in 200-pound barrels, and molasses in 5-gallon kegs and 63-gallon barrels, was imported from New Orleans. Later rice and coarse brown sugar in 100-pound mats was imported from China. Black and green tea came from Canton, packed in large chests. H. O. Mathews was the largest importer and an expert on tea. Bottled pie fruits of the finest quality put up for the California trade were imported from England and from the same isle came the anthracite coal used by the blacksmiths. Raisins were imported from Italy and the finest quality of wines, "liqueurs" and champagne from France. At a Thanksgiving dinner in 1850 there were twenty varieties of wine on the list, including the famous Chateau Laffitte and Haute Sauterne Margaux of the vintage of 1825. Tobacco was imported from Virginia and the finest "segars" from Havana. As to fruits and vegetables they were imported for several years from various places outside of the county. Large fine limes, lemons and oranges came from Mexico; bananas from the Sandwich Islands; grapes, large, sweet and juicy, the Mission variety from Los Angeles; and peaches, apricots, plums, nectarines and watermelons from the Sacramento River country. Apples then, as now, were imported from Oregon; and especially large apples weighing a pound and a half were grown for the holiday trade. They were packed in cotton in small square cartons and retailed at four and five dollars each.

Food Prices

        The prices, especially that of food supplies, were far below the present day prices, but there was no stability, as they were continually going up and down according to the supply and demand: Perhaps one day the cost of an article would soar sky high, then a ship would enter the harbor loaded with the article in demand, and overstocking the market, it would be impossible to sell the article at any price. On one occasion there was no tobacco to be had, then in came a clipper-ship loaded with tobacco; the price went down to less than cost. One merchant to whom a consignment of tobacco was made, rather than pay heavy storage rates, threw the boxes into the street for stepping stones over the mud.  In an old ledger of a grocery merchant of 1856, I find a few prices for that year and they were the prices for many years. At that time saleratus was sold to the customer at 12 cents a pound, potatoes, 9 cents, dried apples, 22 cents, ten-pound sack salt, 38 cents, candles, 27 cents per pound, soda, 25 cents, cream tartar, 50 cents, Java coffee, 25 cents, Rio coffee, $1.00, fifty-pound sack, flour $5.50 per fifty-pound sack, sugar, 20 pounds $1.00, syrup, 90 cents per gallon, yeast powder, 38 cents per pound, starch, 21 cents, pickles, 38 cents a bottle, pie fruit, $3.00 per dozen, sweet oil, 38 cents per bottle, white beans, 4 cents, oysters, 87 cents a can, cod fish, 10 cents a pound, sardines, 37½ cents a can, vinegar, 38 cents a gallon, fence nails, 28 cents, tacks 13 cents a paper, garden seeds, 25 cents a package.

        The worries of the merchant of today are nothing as compared with the troubles of the retailer in the days of old. Today a merchant knows his business standing in the community, he knows where he can obtain goods at short notice if he make a contract, he knows the good and the bad debtors and he knows he is reasonably safe from loss by fire or bad weather conditions. The pioneer merchant had all of these conditions with no assurance of the coming day. The buildings were all constructed of wood, flimsy in character with but little or no fire insurance, and no adequate fire department, and he knew not the day nor the hour when a fire would break out through the carelessness of some person, or the match of the arsonist, and in a big conflagration destroy the entire block. Well do I remember that at the cry of fire or the alarm of the fire bell, the entire town would be startled and run to the fire. Now we sometimes count the fire whistle number and pay no more attention to the matter.

        The majority of the merchants were poor business men. They had had no experience whatever and they went into business in a haphazard sort of way trusting to luck, as the saying goes. Some found their place and were successful, others were complete failures. And you will find the record showing where men were engaged in a half dozen different kinds of business in as many different years. Austin Sperry took up the barley and flour mill business, and when past seventy years died a part owner of the Sperry Flour Co.; Andrew Wolf crossed the plains overland, founded a livery stable and between the stable and farming he left a fortune; Andrew W. Simpson bought into the lumber business with his brother Asa. He died in 1921 worth over $800,000. These men also were good bookkeepers but the majority were failures. There was in vogue for many years a shiftless credit system, and the merchants would credit "Tom, Dick and Harry" without regard to their community standing or ability to pay their debts. Strangers in a strange land, they had no standing either business or social, and perhaps with plenty of money today, they would go "broke" tomorrow, as was the case with thousands of men. It was the custom to collect bills monthly, and families would run up big bills, and then depart for some other town, for families like the individuals, were ever on the move. It was the condition of the times—no permanency in anything. Farmers would run up bills as high as $1,000, expecting to pay after harvest.

        If the harvest was good the merchant got his money, if very poor or only fair, just enough for seed, then the merchant was compelled to carry him over another year. Sometimes farmers were dishonest and they would beg off from year to year until the bill was outlawed—five years—then the merchant could whistle for his money. Said a merchant to me one day, pointing to a stack of ledgers piled two feet high, "There's $100,000 in those books."

        Another great drawback to business were the weather conditions. Today the condition of poor crops is balanced or nearly balanced by manufacturers and the assistance of horticulture and irrigation. Now in winter you may travel anywhere, then nowhere. We were subject to the whims, if I may so express it, of a kind Providence and upon several occasions when the people were fearful of a drouth, the pastors, like Elijah of old, prayed for rain; and there came rain. We have never had a failure of wheat crops but once, the year following the flood of 1862, and a partial failure in 1872. But if there was no rain in November then the people began to cry "hard times" and tighten their purse strings. The pessimistic cry was contagious, the housewives spent less money, the shops would lay off men, and building improvements would cease. This of. course greatly affected business. Then if in early December there came a heavy rain the faces of the people would brighten up, they would congratulate each other. "Fine rain we had, worth a million dollars." Their purses would open up and the merchants with their Christmas goods would do a rushing business. A jeweler told me just after a heavy late November rain, "That rain, George, was worth $10,000 to my business during this holiday season." Strange to say the same heavy rains, if continued through December, killed completely all 'the merchants' trade. The farmers could not get into town because of the mud, and from the same cause the women of the town would not go out in the slush and mire to do their Christmas shopping. There were no telephones, no street cars, there were but few sidewalks, made of rickety boards, and the merchants who were stocked with Christmas goods, not salable in any other season, lost heavily.

Foreign Miners' Tax

        The Southern mines contained two-thirds of the population of the interior, during the first ten or fifteen years, and the mountain camps were the heaviest purchasers of the Stockton merchants. An event which threatened to almost bankrupt the city merchants was the so-called Foreign Miners' Law. The agitation of the Californians against the foreigners, the Japanese, is nothing new. The same agitation was made against the Chinese in 1880, and against the Mexicans and Chileans in 1850. The American miners asserted that the foreigners were digging all the gold and shipping it from the country. It was estimated that there were about 200,000 foreigners in the mines, this number including the Chinese. To offset this drain of gold to some extent the legislature of that year passed a law taxing all foreigners twenty dollars a month. This tax, it was believed, would bring in a big revenue to the depleted state treasury. Collectors were appointed in each mining district with authority to take possession of any of the foreigners' personal property, tools, blankets or other property. The result was a very unexpected surprise. Some of the foreigners resisted paying such an exorbitant tax, but the majority, packing up their household goods, began leaving the mines by the thousands. Because of the exodus the mountain merchants closed their doors for want of customers. The Stockton trade fell off fifty per cent, and the mountaineers had no money to purchase more goods or pay their indebtedness to their creditors. Then the Stockton retailer became a delinquent to the San Francisco wholesaler and there was a financial worry "from the mountains to the sea." This is state history, but the citizens of Stockton were deeply interested and said a citizen, "We do not recollect to have ever before seen in California so large, so respectable and so extensive a gathering as the one at the El Placer House on Thursday evening to take into consideration the subject of the tax on the foreigners. The proceedings were harmonious, spirited and of the right stamp." The mayor of the city, Samuel Purdy, was chairman of the meeting, and a committee comprising John S. Robb, David S. Terry, Dr. George A. Shurtleff, Samuel Knight and William Root were appointed to draft a set of resolutions "expressive of the feelings of the citizens of the southern district of California." It was a good committee of young men, a newspaper man, an attorney, a physician, a merchant, and a judge, all prominent citizens in later years, but they were impetuous and hot headed, and way off on their first resolution. The resolutions, evidently written by Terry, declared that "We look, upon the infliction of this tax . . . as but part of a scheme to depress the enterprise of our citizens, and make them tributary to the northern part of the state. It is but one of many measures upon the part of the state to cripple our commerce and destroy our local trade. Resolved, that the infliction of this tax is unconstitutional, unlawful, an outrage upon the practical miner, and of vast injury to the whole people of the district and as a public measure its . . . continuance is a public robbery." A committee was appointed to visit San Jose and urge the repeal of "the odious" law. Remonstrances were sent to the legislature from all parts of the mines and the law was modified and later repealed. Then happened a strange action, for all of the newspapers published the repeal of the law in the Spanish and French languages, and circulars were sent out urging not the exclusion, but the return of the foreigners to the mines.

        The foreign tax law was not the merchants' only trouble, for in 1851 they strongly opposed the local tax of two dollars per ton levied upon all merchandise landed upon the wharf. The council were considerably worried over the subject of revenue, a subject of vital importance today. They passed an ordinance, which was signed by Mayor J. C. Edwards, increasing the wharf tax of the steamers from twenty-five to fifty cents. At a subsequent meeting they reduced the tax to the former figure. They must have money to pay their high-salaried officers and September 6, Alderman B. W. Bours presented an ordinance which was adopted, levying the two dollars tax. Then the merchants became unduly excited and at the meeting held two weeks later they petitioned the council to repeal the tax. The record says, "On motion (probably of Dr. J. M. Hill a dentist) the petition was filed." The cause we know not, but immediately six of the aldermen, Dr. George A. Shurtleff, B. W. Bours, E. W. Colt, B. W. Owens, H. C. Gillingham and M. T. Robertson resigned. The councilmen would not accept the resignation of the alderman last named and he remained in office.

        The resignation of more than half of the city councilmen created quite a breeze and the Times declared, "It has been a subject of much discussion during the past few days," and which resulted in a call for a meeting in the Main Street Hotel opposite the court house. The feeling in the meeting seems to have been directed, for some reason not apparent, particularly against Dr. J. M. Hill, and a resolution was passed signed by thirty-two of the most prominent firms of the town, among them Dudley & Sanderson; Biven & Branco; M. Ainsa; Calvin Paige & Company; C. A, Gillingham; Avery & Hewlett; B. W. Bours & Company; Lamden, Compton & Trembley, and Hestres & Company, calling upon Councilman Hill to resign. The resolution which was unanimously approved declared that. "The undersigned views with surprise your conduct in relation to the disposal of the petitions signed by the merchants, remonstrating against the law . . . as by such conduct you deny the right of petition and give place to a misrepresentation of the views of your constituents, to the great injury of the public at large and

detrimental to the future welfare of the city. . . . We respectfully ask you to resign."

        The merchants' request was published in the Times September 17, and the same day Alderman Hill received a letter from forty of his friends. The letter said : "We beg to offer you our thanks for the effort and conscientiousness in which you have discharged your duty in the council, and beg that you will continue to be a member notwithstanding the unjust and ungenerous attack upon you by certain citizens." Hill in replying to the merchants said, "In your discourteous card of September 16 you have called upon me to resign. . . . My answer is that having been elected by 600 of the voters of this city. I shall not desert my post to gratify the caprice of a few disaffected individuals styling themselves 'The merchants of Stockton.' Finally, dear sirs, thus do I dispose of your card. Pledged not to resign."

        In their assembly of the 16th the merchants appointed a committee to report September 18, in the El Placer House the names of citizens to fill the vacancies in the council. The committee in their report declared the tax "unjust and unequal in its operation because it is exclusively imposed upon the merchants and it is not required to meet any just expense incurred by the city government. Resolved, that while we are willing to submit to all such taxation as an honest and judicious administration of the city government may require, we also declare our intention neither to sanction or submit to the enforcement of such laws as are in direct violation of the Republican principle of equality of burdens. Resolved, That we the undersigned penetrated by the profound conviction of the injustice of the ordinance do hereby pledge ourselves to sustain each other by every means which we command in all legal resistance to the enforcement of the ordinance." They nominated as councilmen to be voted for September 26, B. W. Owens, J. G. Candee, Wm. H. Fairchilds, J. A. Donaldson, Enoch Gove and Isaac Zacariah. The opposition also put up a ticket. The merchants succeeded in electing three only of their nominees, B. W. Owens, W. H. Fairchilds and J. A. Donaldson, but succeeded in their object, as the "odious" tax was repealed.

Ships Block the Harbor

        When compiling my History of Stockton---1880—I asked Captain Weber the name of the first vessel that anchored in the channel during the summer and fall of 1849. He threw up his hands as if in despair, thus indicating that they came in so fast he could scarcely count them. In a short time there were a hundred and more ships in the harbor flying at their mast top the flags of every nation—England, France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Mexico and Chile. Even China was represented, for John Grattan said that when he and his brother Dr. Grattan anchored in McLeod's Lake in the 500-ton bark Canton, there was a Chinese junk and an United States ship at anchor. The ships continued coming so many in number they soon blocked the channel. They were such an obstruction to navigation that the steamers and sailers from San Francisco could not land their freight. Something must be done. And the merchants in February, 1850, five months before the organization of the city, sent the following petition to Captain Weber, "The undersigned citizens of Stockton do most respectfully request that you cause to be removed from Stockton slough any vessel or vessels which you may own, lying at anchor in said waters. You will also use your most strenuous influence to have all of the vessels similarly situated taken away from their present position. Such a course is deemed absolutely necessary, particularly to the mercantile interest and those who have invested in real estate. As these vessels are now placed, proper navigation is obstructed and the prosperity and growth of the town very much retarded. That you will cause to be carried into effect at the earliest moment the foregoing expression of public feeling is the prayer of your petitioners." The petition was signed by 107 persons this including thirty-six merchants, nine saloon keepers, three blacksmiths, six carpenters, two real estate dealers, a physician, two butchers, two express agents, a lumberman, seven teamsters, four hotel keepers, lawyers and gamblers. A large number of the vessels were towed to Mormon Channel and destroyed by fire; others were used as store ships for goods, and one for a time for a prison brig. After the organization of the city, the harbor master was given full control of the channel, and all vessels at permanent anchor were ordered to leave on a penalty of ten dollars per day license.

The Brig Adelaide

        One of these vessels over which the city had no control was the U. S. Government brig Adelaide. She lay at anchor in McLeod's Lake for over fifteen years, the historic vessel of the city. She also aided materially in causing the Government Board of Waterway Commissioners to act favorably in regard to Stockton's fifteen feet of water to the sea. The ship is seen in the background of a picture of Stockton taken in 1850, this proving that in early days, ocean-sailing vessels anchored in Stockton. This bark sailing into San Francisco harbor in 1849, was purchased by the United States Government for use as a supply ship for the troops located at Fort Miller. She was loaded with supplies and sailed up to Stockton and anchored in the lake. At the close of the Civil War Fort Miller was abandoned. The Government having no use for the brig, she was put up at auction, and sold for $180 to a Norwegian captain, Henry Ramsey. Refitting the brig with new masts he intended to use her as an ocean freighter, but for some reason the port collector at Stockton refused to give him clearance papers. Ramsey was now in a quandry, with an elephant on his hands. Finally he purchased two water lots on the east side of El Dorado Street and at high tide built a bulkhead around the hulk, covered over the deck and opened a saloon. Ramsey lived there until his death, in September 1883. Kullman, Wagner & Company then bought the lots for the extension of the Pacific Tannery, and the old bark was used for firewood.

Disastrous Fires

        The greatest fear of the early-day merchant was that of fire and rightly too, for the greatest number and the most disastrous fires in the history of the city occurred in the blocks bounded by Main, Hunter, Weber Avenue or Levee and Commerce streets. Block No. 1, as designated on the official city map, is the birthplace of Stockton. There Willard (Joe) Buzzell built his log cabin and his friends, the hunters and trappers, their tule and brushwood tents. When the merchants intending to go into business arrived at the Weberville embarcadero, they naturally gravitated to block 1 and set up their tents. Flimsy affairs they were, of board frames covered with cloth, with perhaps a tule roof. Business was rushing, for daily men were arriving bound for the mines, expecting to get such supplies as were necessary in Tuleburg. The merchants however were soon put out of business, for on the morning of December 28, 1849, the cry of fire was heard and in less than one hour the town was in ashes. Everything was destroyed with a loss estimated at $200,000. The morning was very cold and there was considerable suffering. That night and for several evenings the homeless pioneers took shelter in the shipping in the harbor. In less than a week business was again resumed.

        In the meantime hundreds of immigrants were locating in the new town and the population had increased to over 2,000: The business firms were more than three times the number of 1849 and many of the buildings were constructed of Oregon or Chile pine. This made a much hotter and longer fire than the cloth tents, and on the night of May 6, 1851, the cry of fire was again heard. In a short time the town was a mass of flames. There were no fire engines and the citizens tried to check the devouring element by buckets of water taken from the channel. The loss was nearly $1,500,000, with not a dollar of insurance. The heaviest losers were Lamdin & Compton, $6,000; Underhill & Company, $15,000; Heath & Emory, $20,000; E. S. Holden, $10,000; C. A. Gillingham & Company, $45,000; Biven & Branco, $10,000; Weber & Hammond, $45,000; John S. Robb, $30,000; and John S. Owens, $50,000. The two last named were the heaviest losers for Robb, the owner of the Stockton Journal, lost his entire plant, while the finely furnished saloon and beautiful El Placer Theater were the property of John S. Owens. One of the merchants at that time was R. B. Parker. A few days previous to the fire he ordered by letter several thousand dollars worth of goods from the San Francisco firm of McCondry & Company. Mr. Parker concluded on May 5 to go to the city. The next morning he was met by Mr. McCondry with the remark, "Well, Parker, all of your goods were destroyed by fire last night. They were all marked with your name and were on the sidewalk ready for shipment," This was the great San Francisco fire of May 4, and the goods being invoiced to Parker he was compelled to stand the loss. Returning to Stockton he found his grocery store destroyed. They, however, saved the money drawer, containing several hundred dollars.

        From 1851 to 1856 the town grew rapidly along business lines, and there was a solid row of business firms carrying stocks of valuable goods in wooden shanties, that burning like tinder, could be destroyed in an hour's time. These shacks extended along Main Street, from Hunter to Center, both sides; along Hunter to Levee to Center Street, to Main on either side, along El Dorado to Main, both sides and a few buildings along El Dorado to Market. These buildings were, in the main, one-story wooden frames with here and there story-and­a-half structures, such as the Harbeson and Hickman building, corner Hunter and Levee, the Massachusetts bakery and lodging house on El Dorado, the Fisher stage office, corner Levee and Center, and the Phoenix Hotel, corner Market and El Dorado. There were a few brick buildings also in these blocks.

        One of these brick buildings, that of Adams Express Company, proved to be a very practical object lesson in the way of insurance against fire. It was in the pathway of the hottest flames in the fire of July 30, 1855, and although at one time there was fire on three sides of the building, it stood intact. The flames started in the lodging house and coffee stand of Peter Manivich, located on the levee a few doors below Center Street. The alarm was given by the watchman of the steamer Cornelia, by ringing continuously the steamer bell. Owing to the fact that a heavy breeze was blowing the flames spread rapidly and all efforts to stay the devouring element were abortive until it reached the fireproof building of C. P. Greeley & Company's hardware store. At the time the stage office of Reynolds & Company and the Lodge saloon were burning, great fear was expressed for the El Dorado saloon and Fisher's stage office on the opposite side corner of Weber Avenue and Center Street. The loss was about $25,000, not a large amount of money today but quite a fortune then when the wealthiest man in the county was assessed for only $6,000. The losers included T. Robinson Bours, banker, B. Howard Brown, and Richard S. Baters, produce dealers, who formerly had tent stores on the wharf, J. Russell, the hatter, J. F. Rosenbaum, the pioneer book seller, and Nichola Milco, the fruit dealer. For the first time we read about the necessity of a fire alarm and, "we hope the council will take immediate steps to procure a bell. If a proper alarm had been given much of the property could have been saved. What we require is a bell of sufficient tone and size on some elevated position to be heard distinct­ly in all parts of the town," This suggestion was adopted in 1861, when the historic bell was lifted to the court house dome.

        For the third time the cry of fire startled the citizens about 11 o'clock on the morning of February 21, 1855. It started in a restaurant a few doors from Levee Street, and so rapidly flew the flames in a few minutes' the buildings adjoining were on fire. For a time it was feared a clean sweep would be made of the entire business portion of the city, for buildings equally destructible, stood not eighty feet distant to the east. The flames were checked at the Shades saloon on the Levee by tearing down several buildings in their pathway. The greater part of the buildings destroyed had been erected after the fire of 1851. The loss was $50,000. The firms made homeless included Emile Sutro, cigar dealer, a brother of the famous Adolph Sutro of San Francisco; the New York bakery and restaurant of John Henderson, later for years keeper of the Grand hotel, corner California and Channel streets; Jack Keeler saloon, Stephen Starbuck's daguerrean saloon and J. & C. Ling, jewelers. During the fire Mersfelder's bakery on Hunter Street caught fire but was quickly extinguished.

        The citizens seemed to be very much alarmed over the destruction of their property by fire and yet it took them four years to purchase a fire bell, and ten years before they had even a fairly good fire equipment. However the quickest move for betterment the citizens ever made in the history of the city was on the evening of the fire. Over three hundred citizens, a large crowd for that date, met in the city hall together with the common council. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Buffington, and George H. Sanderson, whose son is now asylum physician, was elected secretary, a resolution was offered and quickly adopted, "that in the opinion of those present the council should pass an ordinance prohibiting the erection of wooden buildings within proscribed fire limits." The meeting was adjourned and a special meeting of the council was then held and they passed an ordinance which declared: "From and after this date it shall be unlawful for any person to erect any wooden building within the limits of Levee, Hunter and Main streets (100 feet south of the said Main Street) and west by Commerce Street. The penalty for        

disobeying the ordinance was a fine of from $1,000 to $2,000 and not less than thirty days in jail. It was a good law then, but very bad for today, for brick buildings were erected that are today an eye­sore and a detriment to the progress of the city. They are paying big rents and their owners, having no civic pride, will not tear them down and rebuild creditable buildings. Here is an illustration; soon after the fire of 1851, Avery & Hewlett built on the corner of Hunter and Main Street, a two-story brick building. Time passed, and forty-two years later a sharp Hebrew bought the property and opened a clothing store. In the meantime the San Joaquin Valley Bank erected a magnificent four-story brick building adjoining this old structure. Wishing to enlarge their business and erect a splendid building on the corner, the bank directors asked the price of the corner lot, about 30x50 feet, the Hebrew would not even give them a price. It was practically a magnificent hold-up. The bank did not get possession of the property at a fair valuation until after the death of the owner. Now under the name of the Bank of Italy, they will in time construct on the corner an imposing ten-story building.

        Like a shuttle cock on the weaving machine I am jumping back and forth through a period of seventy years, but this is unavoidable. Once again for the fourth and last time block No. 1  was a scene of desolation. The alarm was given early on the morning of September 27, 1864, by the watchman on the steamer Helen Hensley. The fire, set by an incendiary, started in the City Hotel on the east side of Center Street, the half block which had been burned in 1849 and 1851. Sixteen firms were homeless, the aggregate loss amounting to $30,000. In the number was the City restaurant, owned by Charles Mersfelder, Fisher & Company, stage office, corner of Center and Levee, the well known Angelo House, and the "Jim" Darcey & Lewis Henry saloon. In the track of the hottest flames stood the first home of the Stockton Independent which, like its predecessor, the Stockton Journal, seemed doomed for destruction. Located in the two-story brick  structure, known as the Shirley Building, the two powerful streams of water thrown on the building by the Weber steam fire engine saved it. So hot was the flames "the zinc roof melted and ran off like rain."

A Block of Fire Traps

        The block east of block No. 1, was, as you may have noted, as well filled with fire-traps as the pioneer tract. No fire of importance occurred in this block until 11:30 on the evening of the National holiday 1858. At that time "Uncle" John Andrews, a very popular land­lord, conducted a lodging house in the second-story of what was known as the Massachusetts Bakery. The fire started in one of the sleeping rooms and as usual spread rapidly north and south of the bakery. It soon enveloped in flames the William Ward butcher shop, a Chinese wash-house and ice cream saloon, and Jonas Stockwell's grain-sack factory. It then spread eastward through the block, destroying the warehouse of Charles M. and P. M. Bowen, who saved a part of their stock in their brick building. The brick building of Henry Hodgkins stopped its progress towards the Levee and the J. W. Ferris brick building, occupied by Nash & Beamis, stayed its progress towards the south.

A Horrible Death

        Another fire, spectacular in its appearance was that of October 4, 1864, when the only tragedy of all, these fires occurred. A man drunk with liquor was burned to death in the lodging house over the Eureka saloon. The fire, supposed to have been set by an incendiary, started in the rear of Charles Whitkoph's saloon on the Levee, a few doors from El Dorado Street. The fire bell rang out its startling alarm and the fire engines were soon rattling over the streets. The Eureka hand engine was set at the fire cistern, corner of Main and El Dorado; the San Joaquin at Main and Hunter, and the Weber steamer, stationed on the El Dorado Street bridge, attempted to take water from the channel. It was low tide. The engine immediately began sucking mud, and thus made helpless there were but two engines to fight the flames. The fire licked up the buildings like oil, but it was checked on the south by the Hodgkins brick building. Rushing east, the Eureka was soon in flames and just beyond the flames were extinguished. The losers were Waldman's cigar factory, the Eureka Hotel, Lee's barber shop; Rosenthal & Isaacs; Charley Whitkoph's whiskey shop, W. H. Mills, barber; Henry Langmack,jeweler; Thomas Ecstrom, barber. Most of the buildings destroyed belonged to Henry Hodgkins, Stockton's most progressive citizen. On the corner where stood the former I. O. O. F. building, reaching south to the Eureka engine house and on Main Street to what was known as the Main Street Hotel, the city owned a number of shacks rented to business men. On the early morn of Spetember 4, 1865, the city suddenly went out of business as property renters. A fire broke out in the Antelope restaurant on Main Street, destroying everything in its pathway on both sides of the block. The loss included the restaurant, Judge Brush's office, the daguerrean car on wheels of I. S. Locke, Delano's barber shop, the National saloon, where Squire Hart killed a Mexi­an, C. R. Gillingham's hide house, and the Patrick Edward Connor city waterworks.

Building Progress

        Three of man's best gifts are air, water and fire, but uncontrolled, they are his most destructive enemies. The flames that devour the old wooden shacks are usually the cause of erection of a much better class of buildings. This was the case in Stockton. Following the fire of 1851 the citizens declared, "Our city improvements are going on very favorably. Numerous brick buildings are going up and still more are to be erected. The property at the corner of Levee and Commerce Streets will be built over with brick. The west side of Center Street (between Levee and Main) will be one solid wall of brick buildings. Numerous frame buildings are going up in the outskirts of Stockton. This speaks well for the stability." On the east side of the block about midway, John Shirley erected a small two-story brick building, and in the second story Stockton Odd Fellowship and Masonry were instituted. To the south Biven & Branco erected a two-story brick, about 20 by 50 feet at a cost of $9,000, and a few months later Biven, buying the property at $12,000, fitted the upper story for the two fraternal societies. Another big improvement was the Schofield & Company building. The Republican says, "They have removed to their new fireproof building opposite the old stand on Main Street (between Hunter and El Dorado). Another handsome building is being erected adjoining Schofield's. The fronts are built of a superior quality of brick from the yard of Mr. Rude, which are laid in white mortar and the joints finished after the Baltimore style of front work." The destruction of the frame building of Hestres & Company, in the 1851 fire, was a cause of rejoicing later of the public in general. We see "that Hestres & Company have removed to Main, corner of El Dorado." While erecting a one-story brick on the southeast corner, the citizens persuaded them to add a second story for dramatic use, and for twenty years it was Stockton's only theater. Two other business houses erected that year, 1852, were the I. W. Lyons eating house, a brick building next to Holden's drug store on the north and the Hewlett & Collins two-story brick, 20x30, corner of Hunter and Main Streets. The Lyons building now brings in its owner a high rent.

        The finest buildings of that period were the Stockton Theater, the county court house, the Holden drug store, the Newell & Company Express building, and the Weber House the three last-named are today standing, useful business houses and old landmarks of the days of long ago. In reference to the Newell and Company building on Center Street near Levee, the press recorded in August, 1852, "During the summer quite a change has taken place in the appearance of our city for the better. The old wooden shacks have been torn down and brick buildings have been erected in their stead. Two have just been completed which have elicited the general admiration of the public." The Newell Express Company building was 25x50 in size, the first story being fourteen feet in the clear and the second story twelve feet, "The front is pressed brick of Stockton manufacture and all the walls twenty-two inches thick. The roof is laid in brick and cement after which is a cover of tin, making the building perfectly water tight and fireproof. The inside will be finished with plaster of pads, and in the lower story there will be a heavy cornice of the same material. The counters and desks are of solid mahogany and the floor is of marble. In the second story there will be four offices, one will be occupied by the attorney, Samuel A. Booker and another office by the dentist, John Al. Hill. The foot walk in front will be completed of granite." It was fifty years later before a sidewalk as lasting as this one came into general use.

        The Holden drug store, which was the same ground size as the present store, was two stories in height and cost $13,000. It was noticeable for its "ornamental iron piazza in front. It has a cellar floor laid in cement and perfectly waterproof. The exterior will be covered with mastic which will represent free­stone. The building is thirty-five feet in height and the offices on the second floor will be occupied by Dr. Wm. M. Ryer, the dentist, George Warren and Mr. Babbitt." Two years later Dr. Holden and his partner, Havens, erected a second two-story building adjoining, on the Main street side, of pressed brick. The first story was occupied as a dry goods store by Henry B. Underhill and E. R. Stockwell. About 1880 the building was remodelled as it appears today.

        The Weber House, still in use, corner Main and Center, was the most costly building of its day, and was a complete failure as far as concerned its builder and owner, James M. Warner. Nevertheless it was a great benefit to the city because of its spaciousness, for it could accommodate any number of visitors to the city in a first class manner. It was for many years the stopping place of all theatrical and other amusement companies, and as the editor stated: "We have not done Mr. Warner justly credit. He has brought to a successful completion a splendid new brick hotel. Through evil and good report he has steadily pushed his way while some said it would be a failure, others a success." Pioneers told me that the building was erected by Reid & Warner and that their friends tried to persuade them not to put their money into the building as it was too big a project for a small city of less than 3,000 people, but they had great faith in the city and borrowed money to build it. The hotel with its 120 rooms was opened Dec. 3 with a banquet, Captain Weber, after whom it was named, presiding. The building cost $40,000 but the owners were unable to lift the mortgage. March 28, 1855, it was sold at sheriff's sale and bid in by the mortgagee, John Dillon, for 17,000. He and John Gross, later the baker and confectioner, refurnished the hotel and leased it to Colonel Robert Manning. "We learn that Colonel Manning has leased the Weber House and will open it without delay. He is one of the best veteran hotel caterers and will make the house popular," said the reporter in March, 1855. The Colonel continued in charge of the hotel, with a slight interruption when he went to Copperopolis, until his death. His daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth M. Tureman, for many years a kindergarten teacher, is still living in this city.

        The flames of February, 1855, cleaned out the shacks on the west side of El Dorado Street, north of Main Street. As the fire ordinance passed by the city council prohibited the erection of any frame buildings, a block of one-story brick buildings were erected, and much to the detriment of the city's progress they are still there, although some of the buildings have grown to two stories. In the number of frame buildings destroyed was the jewelry store of two Germans, J. & C. Ling. They were succeeded by Charles Haas. The two men were Odd Fellows, and putting up a two-story brick in July, 1855, the Odd Fellows dedicated their new hall. The Lings knew that the order was a good advertisement and they advertised June 27 "Ling Bros. store under the Odd Fellows hall." Note the speedy work; the fire occurred February 21 and three months later they were in their new store. It was a first class building, a monument today to their enterprise, which was duly appreciated by the Odd Fellows. In that upper story was founded the first children's temperance lodge, "The Band of Hope." A writer in recording these improvements said, "Mr. Forsman, V. M. Peyton, J. and C. Ling, Louis Martin and J. M. Ferris have each commenced the erection of fine brick buildings. Those belonging to the two-first named gentlemen are to have 'cast iron fronts' the first ever used in this city. These improvements give employment to many mechanics and laborers."

        In July 1855, we have recorded how the Newell & Company, two-story brick, like a salamander stood against the fire fiend and it was a very instructive lesson to future store builders. A fire, very peculiar as to date, was the El Dorado block fire on the eve of July 4, 1858. The flames broke out in the Massachusetts bakery owned by Alexander Gall, with a second-story lodging house kept by "Uncle" John Andrews. Mr. Gall, an enterprising Scotchman, erected a building with a handsome ornamental front, and fitted up the second story as a social hall, the first public hall in Stockton. And we read January 18, 1859: "Mr. Gall's new dance hall was dedicated last evening by a pleasant private party gotten up by several  young gentlemen. Thirty or forty couples enjoyed the dance." His building was

completed long before the adjoining bricks, for June 4, the paper states: "The block of brick buildings on El Dorado Street nearly completed will be occupied by Nash & Beamis, Gray & Hickman, Wm. Ward, the butcher, and Gall, the confectioner." Then came the era of church fireproof building. In 1858 the Episcopal church, in 1859 the Presbyterian, in 1861 the Baptist and Catholic churches were erected. The first brick church, the German Methodist, was built in 1855, and the first brick public school in 1859. The first merchants in Stockton to erect a building of any size was the firm of B. W. Owens, Edward Moore and W. F. McKee. Purchasing the lot southeast corner of Main and Center streets, where stood the Central Exchange, and the lot to the south, they erected a handsome two-story building 50 feet on Main and 100 feet on Center at a cost of $10,000. "It is of the Corinthian style," said the account, "with two fronts, surrounded by a wide piazza. In the second story there will be twelve windows, six on Main Street. The store will be a great ornament to the city, and work will be commenced next week"—April, 1861. The second-story became the home of the Stockton Argus and the building stands today, the second story without a single change in its structure.

        A few persons at that time began erecting brick buildings for residences, and a few of them are today occupied as dwellings, among them the Joseph Scott and the Dr. Oscar M. Brown homes on East Flora Street; Nathaniel Wormell erected a brick home on East Magnolia, the Chittenden family, on North El Dorado, Dr. Ireland on North Madison, and S. M. Reid, on North Hunter. About the same time Dr. Collins erected a home and seminary in the center of the block where now stands the Congregational Church; Dr. Hunt also built a brick seminary on El Dorado Street, now the Belding property. It was stated a few pages back that Henry Hodgkins was the city's most progressive citizens. He built a brick story-and-a-half home on Miner Avenue near Sutter as early as 1858 and having great faith in the future of Stockton he bought nearly 200 front feet of land on the southeast corner of Levee and El Dorado Street, shacks and all. When the fire of October, 1864, swept them out of existence he at once began the erection of a large two-story building covering the entire ground. When completed the Stockton Independent occupied the corner building; fitting up a public dance hall on El Dorado Street, the Pioneer Society was there organized, and Laura de Force Gordon delivered one of her first lectures for woman suffrage, Hodgkins' crowning work, however, was the erection by him and H. E. Hall of the Yosemite Hotel. It had a frontage of 102 feet and cost $30,000. It was opened July 5, 1869, by Alexander McBean from Chicago. Over 300 citizens sat down to the dinner. The erection of the hotel was followed by the erection of the Yosemite Theatre and the Hook and Wilhoit Building, this making a solid three-story front on San Joaquin and Main Streets to the Hilke Building,

Merchants of 1864

        Who were the merchants occupying these buildings? We find a list of ninety-two firms signing an agreement "to close our stores and places of business on Tuesday, November 8, 1864, the same being the day set for the election of presidential electors," and among the many we remember today, Owens, Moore & Cogshill, corner of Main and Center; E. L. Houche, grocer, on the corner opposite; William J. Belding, dry goods; Charles Haas, jeweler, and George Vincent, sewing machine agent on El Dorado Street; Sperry & Company flour mill, Howard Brown and Hale & Newell, produce dealers, and Simpson & Gray, lumber dealers, Levee below El Dorado; Jones & Hewlett, agricultural implements; Richard Condy, tailor; John L. Woodman, bag factory; Mills & Doll, tinsmiths; Louis M. Hickman, hardware; Gray & Hickman, dry goods, B. & A. Frankheimer, clothiers; M. T. Stamper, clothing dealer, Main Street below Hunter; Hedges & Howland, groceries; H. O. Matthews, grocer; Frank Dake, blacksmith; N. C. Hilke, harness maker; L. L. Creech, grocer; H. T. Fanning, grocer; W. O. Tripp, harness maker; John T. Hickinbotham, wagon maker; L. Howard, tinsmith, Main Street east of Hunter; Sidney Newell, bookstore; Dohrmann & Smallfield, grocers, El Dorado north of Main; R. B. Parker, Hunter near Market; Louis Hansel, Hunter and Channel, grocers; William Bush, real estate dealer; Lippincott & Belding, soda works; George Natt, grocer; R. B. Lane, flour mill; Weber Avenue east of Hunter, and William P. Miller, wagonmaker, Channel and California.

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler