California Biographies, San Joaquin Valley Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from its earliest settlement to the present time. Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905 Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176 CHARLES W. MUSICK is the secretary of the Fresno Flume and Irrigation Company, one of the most extensive industrial interests of this section. He is a native son of the state, his birth having occurred in Yolo county. May 8, 1863. His father, James J. Musick, was born in Mis- souri and reared to young manhood on a farm. In 1849 he became a victim to the gold fever and crossed the plains to California, where he engaged in mining on Feather and Yuba rivers. Later he sought the less uncertain fortunes of a farmer, locating in Yolo county and later in Napa county. In 1881 he came to Fresno county and began the manufacture of lumber, locating and purchasing timber lands on Pine Ridge, which he continued to purchase until he owned about two thousand five hundred acres. He built a mill on this tract on what is known as Musick Meadows, under the firm name of J. J. Musick & Sons. Their mills were operated by steam and with a capacity of twenty-five thousand feet per day. He conducted the business successfully until his death, which occurred in 1891. He was a man of strong convictions, a Methodist in re- ligion and a Republican in politics. His wife, formerly Mary W. Gardner, was a native of Arkansas, who came to California in the early '50s. She survives her husband and makes her home in Pasadena, Los Angeles county, Cal. They became the parents of six children, of whom three sons and two daughters are living. One son, H. L, a resident of Pasadena, is also inter- ested in the Fresno Flume and Irrigation Company. Next to the oldest of the living children of his parents, Charles W. Musick was reared on his father's farm in Yolo and Napa counties, receiving his education in the public schools. He lo- cated with his parents in Fresno in 1881, after which he took a commercial course in the Stock- ton Business College, from which institution he was graduated in 1888. In that year he assumed active management of the J. J. Musick & Sons lumber concern. Upon the death of his father in 1891 the firm became known as Musick Brothers. The business was successfully con- ducted until 1893. when the mill was burned down. They did not rebuild, as they had al- ready become interested in the Fresno Flume and Irrigation Company, and had assisted in the organization of the old Pine Ridge Flume and Irrigation Company, which was later absorbed by the former company. In 1894 he began giving his attention to the business in Fresno and in 1898 he succeeded his brother (who resigned in that year), to the office of secretary and di- rector, which he has since held. (For more complete details concerning the Fresno Flume and Irrigation Company, refer to the sketch of Charles B. Shaver, which appears elsewhere in this volume.) In Amador county, Cal., Mr. Musick was united in marriage with Eva M. Marchand, a native of Oakland. Fraternally he is identified with the Native Sons of the Golden West, and politically is a stanch adherent of the principles advocated in the platform of the Republican party. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and is active in all' movements pertain- ing to the development of the city, county or state.