San Joaquin County, CA History

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History of San Joaquin County, California with Biographical Sketches - Historic 
Record Company, Los Angeles, CA - 1923
 
CHAPTER XXV
AGRICULTURE�HORTICULTURE--MANUFACTURES
 
        A well-known Stockton writer in an article in 1914 very wisely divided 
the history of the county into three periods. The first period from 1847 to 
1869, the second from 1869 to 1898 and the third from 1898 up to the present 
time. Defining those periods he wrote: "The first period covers the mining 
excitement. The city of Stockton became the clearing house for the southern 
miner. Going and coming the miner passed through Stockton's portals. Local 
commerce began to grow, and the town took on the character of a fixed 
settlement. The county began to produce foodstuffs sufficient for local demands.
        "With the coming of the Central Pacific railroad the second period 
opens. The Southern mines were in their decline. Wheat fields had begun to 
envelop the city on all sides. The railroad opened new markets and brought in 
homeseekers. San Joaquin County began to produce tremendous crops of grain, and 
the prices of cereals were high. The fields of golden grain poured their 
treasures into the sustaining and constructive life of the city.
        "The third period opens with the decline of grain production, the 
dividing of the land into smaller holdings, the undertaking of diversified forms 
of agriculture, together with the rapid development of Stockton manufacturing 
and commercial prestige. Transportation facilities, internal improvements, 
modern ideal and influences superseded entirely the regime of the hardy 
pioneers.
        "The modern Stockton is a city of 50,000 population. To its four square 
miles of area has lately been added one and one-half square miles of suburban 
territory. Its rural environments are filling so rapidly that municipal boundary 
lines exist only on the maps. Most of the oaks are gone, but thirty-four miles 
of fully improved streets are lined with shade trees. The shacks and tents of 
the pioneers have disappeared, but the wealth of the county is assessed at 
$59,823,400, and that of the city at $24,000,000." It is now, 1923, $96,917,879 
in the county and over $55,872,573 in the city.
        San Joaquin County comprises 926,720 acres of land, this including 
250,000 acres of reclaimed delta or tule. There are now 4,500 farms in the 
county, embracing an area of 706,308 acres, producing cereals, fruits, 
vegetables, nuts, etc., to the value of $140,702,764 in a single year, 1920, and 
yet most of the farmers settling in the county in early days were from Missouri, 
and very knowingly shaking their heads when it was suggested that they buy land 
and commence farming said, "You can't raise any crops on that dry land; the long 
summer months will dry up everything. We are from Missouri and must be shown." 
One pioneer writing home to his friends said : "I would advise you not to come 
to this county as the climate is too dry to raise any vegetable products." One 
of these Missourians was Silas Hitchcock. He believed the land was of no value 
except for grazing purposes. And as other settlers began locating in the county 
near his ranch he declared: "Cattle raising is the only thing," and selling his 
ranch of 400 acres at ten dollars an acre, he emigrated to Tulare County. The 
ranch, six miles out on the Mokelumne Hill Road, is now valued at $300 an acre.
        There were quite a number of men who had farmed in the Eastern and 
Middle states and foreign lands, who were quite optimistic regarding farming in 
San Joaquin. They knew that what had been done could be done. A few Mormon 
settlers planted a crop of wheat at French Camp in 1847. Joseph Buzzell planted 
wheat in 1848 on the land adjoining the steamboat landing on Center Street. Then 
came the gold discovery and the crop was not harvested. John Green planted a 
crop of wheat in 1849 near the present railroad track on Sacramento Street. W. 
L. Overheiser in 1851 planted and harvested sixteen acres of barley grown in the 
Calaveras River district. Overheiser the following year raised over sixty acres 
of wheat. Roscoe S. Sargent, a typical Yankee from New Hampshire, raised about 
fifty acres of wheat in 1851 near Woodbridge, and in 1852 raised the same amount 
of barley. Barley at that time was a very profitable crop, as it was in great 
demand for horse and mule feed. At that time according to the census there were 
3,403 horses, 1081 mules, 1,601 cows, 2,488 work oxen, 5,397 beef cattle, 1,712 
sheep, and several thousand hogs. That year there was harvested 5,145 bushels of 
wheat, 111,889 bushels of barley, 1,627 bushels of oats, 1,245 bushels of corn, 
1,400 bushels of potatoes and 4,000 tons of hay. What was the population? Only 
5,029. They were classified as follows: 4,569 white citizens, only 987 females; 
81 negroes, 21 females; 379 Indians, 168 males.
 
Land Acreage and Price
        As I have already stated Captain Weber offered free of cost 160 acres of 
land to any person who would locate and live upon his holdings. After the gold 
discovery the land advanced in price from five to ten dollars an acre. As the 
population increased and it was found to be productive for wheat and barley, the 
price of land steadily arose until the average price per acre was fifty dollars. 
It remained at that price until the railroad days.
        Most of those who purchased farming lands bought not less than 160 
acres, and buying more land from time to time several of them had from 800 to 
1,500 acres. They would use this land for grain raising and pasture land. As the 
land began to wear out, that is produce a less quantity of wheat than in former 
years, they would summer fallow a part of the land. The farmer with a small 
acreage could not do this as he was compelled to raise a crop every year in 
order to pay taxes and make a living. Hence the desire to obtain more land. And 
today you may ride along the Waterloo, Linden, Sonora, Mariposa and French Camp 
roads and along any one of them you will see deserted farm houses, barns and 
sheds miles apart, but with thousands of acres of grain land lying between. Any 
twenty acres of this land given over to diversified farming will give a good 
living to a moderate-sized family.
 
Fencing the Land
        Stock was running loose all over the county. At the same time thousands 
of beef cattle and sheep were being driven to Stockton and to the mountain camps 
for food, and horses for use under the saddle and harness. Farmers were 
compelled to protect their land especially through the seedtime and harvest. On 
the sand plains they dug wide ditches and threw up embankments. On the black 
land there was an immense forest of white oak trees. They were felled, chopped 
into four foot lengths, and rails split out. Then placed together in the form of 
an X a single stick was placed on top to bind them and it made an animal-proof 
fence. Then fence posts and lumber became cheaper, a barbed wire factory was 
established in Stockton, by the Farmers' Co-Operative Union. The rail fences 
were sold to keep burning the fires of the Stockton homes, the flour mills and 
steamer furnaces. For several years this was the only fuel of the bakeries, 
mills and steamers. In 1861 a 100 cords of wood piled on the levee for the use 
of the steamers was swept away by the flood and floated through the Golden Gate.
 
Plowing the Field
        Thomas Gray sung in his beautiful elegy, in regard to the farmer:
Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield;
Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke; 
How jocund did they drive their teams afield, 
How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke.
        The adobe soil was indeed stubborn, tough and hard to work with the 
early day methods of plowing and the farmer was compelled to go into the field 
long before daylight in order to accomplish a fair day's work. It was a long, 
tiresome job, guiding and walking behind the single plow drawn by two horses and 
as the evening shades appeared,
"The plowman homeward plods his weary way,  
And leaves the world to darkness and to me." 
        The farmer was dependent upon the "timely rains," which sometimes began 
about the last of November and continued until late in the spring. His plowing 
and seeding must be accomplished before the middle of January. Sometimes the 
early rains would be very light, or none at all, and to plow the dry soil, he 
could not. Then again heavy rains would fall and he could not plow until the 
soil dried out. After a time the double plow, drawn by four horses, was 
invented, and the farmer could do twice the work in the same time. Then came the 
gang plow drawn by eight horses, the driver sitting on the plow. He could do 
four times the work of former days, but now he had four times the acreage. Now 
the large gang plow drawn by a tractor engine does the plowing, working in the 
daylight hours only, and plowing the land at any time, rain or no rain.
 
Harvesting the Crop
        What would the harvest be? No farmer could tell because it depended 
entirely upon the nature of the soil, and the weather conditions between seed 
time and harvest. In the Calaveras River section and from Stockton east and 
southeast for a distance of eight miles the wheat yield was from 60 to 80 
bushels an acre. But after many years the soil grew aweary and the crop kept 
decreasing in bushels until now from 15 to 25 bushels is considered a good crop. 
I heard Thomas Sedwick say�his farm was six miles east�never in forty years did 
he get less than twenty bushels to the acre.
        The seed of wheat planted was of the Mexican variety with small, light 
kernels of wheat.  It was the same variety as the Mission Fathers planted. Then 
the farmers obtained what was known as Chile wheat from South America, and after 
a time they obtained a wheat with well-filled, large heads, known as the white 
Australian variety. I came across the story of its introduction into San Joaquin 
County in January, '23. In 1877 a man from Australia was talking with J. W. 
Smith, a Stockton grain buyer. And during the conversation he handed Mr. Smith 
three heads of wheat, saying that they had been given to him by an Australian 
farmer as being of the best variety. The wheat when shelled out made about a 
large spoonful. Mr. Smith gave the seed to John Holt of Sonora. He planted the 
wheat and from a half acre of land he obtained fifteen sacks of fine wheat. The 
seed was immediately introduced into San Joaquin and has been sown since that 
time.
        The time of harvest was from late in June until September, as the wheat 
crop was heavy and each farmer had to wait his turn for the harvesting of the 
crop, as the number of threshing machines were limited. The hay was all cut and 
stacked before this date and most of the barley. The early pioneers cut their 
wheat with a sickle as did the Egyptians of old and threshed it out Mexican 
fashion. They built a round corral, covered it thick with wheat stalks and then 
turning in a band of horses kept them moving until they had trampled out the 
wheat. It was winnowed in large pans in a heavy wind by throwing up the wheat, 
when the chaff would blow away. Then came the reaper and binder, a method used 
today along the coast. In my recollection the header was used, the four horses 
pushing the machine in front of them. The long knife working rapidly in a 
horizontal position would cut a wide swath of wheat and falling on the draper or 
wide canvas would be carried to the header wagon moving alongside the header 
spout. When filled the header wagon would be driven to the stack where stood the 
threshing machine. Then the men would unload the wagon with common pitch�forks. 
Then the hay fork came into use, unloading a wagon in five minutes. Then four 
header wagons were used and the header never rested. The thresher was run by 
horsepower. Later it was run by steam power, the farmer furnishing wood for 
fuel. Then came the straw burning machines, using the straw for fuel. Finally 
the combined harvester was invented which, going into a field of grain, cut, 
threshed and sacked the grain, leaving it on the ground as the monster machine 
moved on.
 
Wheat Transportation and Prices
        The wheat threshed, the farmer left it in the field until it was sold. 
The spendthrift farmer sold his wheat immediately to get the money to pay his 
debts. He was compelled to take the market price, always low at harvest time. 
The thrifty rancher held his crop until there was a rising market. The wheat was 
always placed in sacks averaging in weight 120 lbs. The purchase of sacks was 
quite an expense, running from twelve to eighteen cents apiece. During the 
Grange movement in the '70's a law was passed installing a jute mill in San 
Quentin, the prisoners running the looms. Since that time the state has been 
furnishing the farmers grain sacks at a little more than cost. Previous to that 
time speculators in San Francisco would buy up all of the jute, which comes from 
India, and the farmers were compelled to pay their price. Strange as it may 
appear, the price of wheat in San Joaquin was governed by the price in 
Liverpool, England, which was the world market. Every day the Stockton 
Independent through the harvest season, would publish the price of wheat at the 
wheat center, also the price quoted in California by the bull and bear 
speculators of San Francisco. It is recorded that in March, 1859, John H. Cole 
and Jonathan H. Dodge, two thrifty farmers, sold their wheat at $2.25 per 
hundred. It was the highest sale price of wheat to my knowledge and the press 
emphasized the fact that the 175 tons was "sold in one lot." Years later a 
thousand tons in one lot was no unusual sale. Limited transportation and a small 
population effected the price of wheat. Then when transportation was speedy and 
the population greatly increased, large wheat fields were opened up in Canada, 
Russia and India, and San Joaquin was compelled to compete with the world. In 
August, 1873, a choice lot of seed wheat sold at $1.75 per cental. At the same 
time there were nineteen ships aggregating 18,000 tons loading with wheat for 
foreign ports, and to get these ships off on time, extra prices were offered for 
wheat, $1.75 per cental.
        This brings us up to transportation. The farmers not only in San Joaquin 
but in Stanislaus County were compelled to bring all of their wheat on sale to 
Stockton, either by teams or water. A farmer living ten miles out could bring 
only one load a day to the warehouse, and that only during the dry season. I 
have seen the levee year after year crowded with teams waiting their turn to 
unload their wheat in the warehouse. From the adjoining county small steamers, 
towing barges would bring it to Stockton. Then came the railroad. The San 
Joaquin River steamers were put out of business, and the farmer profited 
thereby. He took his wheat to the stations, in a few days it was all safely 
housed in the warehouse, and at any time he could sell on a rising market. Wheat 
came in at a lively rate after the railroad came, immense barges carrying 1,000 
tons were built, and lying alongside the ocean vessels they would be unloaded. 
Large Stockton warehouses were erected, housing in all 24,000 tons. It was a 
sight to see thousands of square feet of space packed solidly thirty feet high 
with grain.
 
A Few Figures
        In 1869 the census marshal reported 13,475 horses, 1,000 mules, 4,250 
cows, 4,500 calves, 7,250 beef cattle, and 36,000 sheep. It also reported 
275,000 acres of fenced land, and about 200,000 acres of this land under 
cultivation. There was 117,000 acres in wheat which produced 1,521,000 bushels; 
29,640 acres in barley yielding 622,482 bushels and 24,675 acres cut for hay 
producing 32,850 tons.
        In 1880 San Joaquin County raised the largest wheat crop in the world. 
In 1883 it was not far behind, the crop being 3,414,970 bushels. To a layman 
these figures are scarcely noticeable but when you say that it would take 1,024 
freight cars ten tons each to transport the crop, then they may take notice. The 
same year the soil produced 1,200,000 bushels of barley 20,000 bushels of oats 
and thousands of tons of fruit and vegetables. That year there were 12,406 
horses, worth on an average $55 each, 1,585 mules worth 100 each, and 56,478 
sheep at an average of $1.25, and 4,202 cows, average $30. Again in 1884, 
248,350 acres were under cultivation and the harvest in wheat alone was 
3,729,250 bushels. 600,300 bushels of barley were also raised. The horses in the 
county numbered 14,752 at $50 each, mules 1,892 valued at $108 apiece, 4,261 
cows worth on an average $32 apiece, and 42,798 sheep at $1.45.
        Advancing along the years to 1922, we find a complete change in the 
production of the county. Wheat is no longer king for it has been superseded by 
barley, potatoes and grapes. These three crops alone were valued at $31,000,000. 
Even at that the county "ranks fourth in all of the counties of the nation in 
agricultural products, and first among the fifty-eight counties of the state in 
wheat, barley and corn." It is far ahead as the greatest potato producing county 
in the world. In the nation, in grapes harvested it ranks third; it is fourth in 
vegetables, aside from potatoes, fifth in hay and forage; sixth in its 
production of beans and dairy products; and tenth in chickens and poultry. 
According to the census bureau of 1920 the crops of San Joaquin County were 
valued as follows:
 
      Cereals             $10,748,208
      Other Grains and Seeds            3,067,428
      Vegetables       9,989,852
      Hay and- Forage          4,497,117
      Fruits and Nuts 9,432,595
      All Other Crops            221,666
      Value of Dairy Products            2,340,938
      Value of Poultry            377,558
      Value of Honey and Wax          28,516
      Value of Wool  105,593

 
        In 1920 there were 4500 farms in San Joaquin County, an increase of 1214 
over 1910. There are 926,720 acres of land in the county of which area 706,308 
is in farms. The value of all farm property increased from $67,286,628 in 1910 
to $140,702,764 in 1920. The value of farm buildings is set at $11,731,875; 
implements and machinery at $5,855,919, and live�stock at $7,329,162.
 
Farming Machinery Inventions
        We have recorded the immense crops raised in San Joaquin County during 
the past years, but do you realize the fact that these crops could not have been 
grown were it not for the improved machinery that preceded their growth. It is 
an old saying that "time and tide wait for no man," neither does the weather. It 
rains and the farmer must plow and sow his seed within a certain time or he gets 
no crop. The rains may be long delayed, then he must hurry. There may be very 
heavy rains and then in the adobe soil he must wait until the ground dries out. 
Often he had less than two months to do his plowing. Then the gang plow was 
invented enabling him to plow four times the amount of land he could plow in 
former times. Now with the traction engine he has beat out Nature, for he can 
plow at any time, rain or no rain.
        The plow is as old as civilization and we have all seen illustrations of 
the Egyptian plow, a long timber shod with an iron point and drawn by two oxen 
with a long bar fastened to their horns. Our forefathers used a single plow 
drawn by one horse, sufficient for them, for their plowing fields were small. 
But plowing from 160 to 1,000 acres within the time limit was an impossibility. 
In 1854 Perry Yaple of Stockton, later of Ripon, claims that he made the first 
improved plow in the state. It consisted of three single plows so set that they 
plowed a furrow three times the width of a single plow. It was known as a gang 
plow. Don Carlos Matteson, who was always inventing or improving some kind of 
machinery, in 1867 invented a reversible gang plow. In 1881, Dr. Christopher 
Grattan, who gave up practice and took up farming, invented a double gang plow. 
It cut a furrow eight feet in width, and in August of that year J. H. Cole, 
using seven horses, plowed 100 acres in four and one-half days, and using twelve 
horses to a twelve-foot gang plow two men plowed thirty acres in two days.
        The farmer cut his crop of wheat, barley or oats, much cheaper for hay 
than for grain, as he saved the expense of threshing. A certain amount of hay 
was necessary to feed his own stock and that of the county, and there have been 
times when hay was worth more than wheat. Haying time began in the month of 
April and ended in May. When cut the hay was gathered from the soil by a clumsy 
wooden rake, the driver of the horse walking behind and lifting the rake off 
when a certain amount of hay had been gathered. Then a high-wheeled rake was 
invented with a long, steel curved tooth. It picked up a common wagon load of 
hay, which was released by a spring. At first the hay was stacked by men with 
the common pitchfork.  Then the four-tined hay fork was invented. By use of a 
derrick and one horse and handled by an expert, for the fork weighed over 100 
pounds, it would quickly unload the header wagon, and the stack could be raised 
much higher than by the old way. Thomas Powell in 1874 invented a rope net for 
the stacking of hay and grain. The net was laid in the bottom of the header and 
the entire load lifted at one time. It was not a success.
 
From Reaper to Combined Harvester
        The wheat, barley or oats, stacked from twenty to thirty feet in height, 
awaited the coming of the threshing crew, for while every farmer had header 
wagons only a few owned threshing machines. The first threshing machine in the 
county, 1852, is said to have been owned by Wm. McKee Carson, a farmer living 
three miles out on the Lower Sacramento Road. His family still occupy the place. 
All of the machines were imported by sailing vessels from the east. Ross C. 
Sargent owned the second machine in 1853. In order to give briefly the history 
of the combined harvester we must go back to 1857. At that time A. L. Cressey, 
who died last year in Modesto, says that he worked on Dr. Grattan's ranch 
binding grain after the cradler. One day D. C. Matteson came from Stockton to 
test out the first reaper ever built in the state. He says, "It was a wonderful 
contrivance." Cressey drove the machine, and by cutting their neighbors' grain 
they made sufficient money to purchase it. Two years later a newspaper 
correspondent wrote, "The reaper, newly invented by Matteson and Williamson, 
will be the reaper of the state. The entire machine is of Stockton manufacture 
and Mr. Matteson says he has three completed and intends to hurry up all he can 
before the harvest." "This reaper," says Don Carlos in 1860, "was quickly 
knocked out by the headers at a loss to me of $2,000." The headers which I have 
already described were used for twenty years. During that time the combined 
harvester was being perfected, a machine that superseded all the reapers, 
headers and threshing machines in the state, where dry weather crops were raised 
on level land. Where the air is damp, such as along the coast counties, the 
farmers are compelled to use reapers and binders. The originator of the combined 
harvester was an uneducated farmer named David J. Martin, who made his first 
machine on the ranch of H. H. Thurston some twelve miles north of Stockton on 
the Lockeford Road. I had the pleasure of seeing the machine and it was an odd 
looking affair of wood, iron and canvas. Like all combined machines it took some 
time to get any results worth while, but in August, 1867, the press said, "This 
machine is considered as one of the greatest labor-saving machines ever 
invented." Two years later the Independent said, "The machine with three men and 
twelve horses will cut, thresh and sack the grain from ten to twelve acres a 
day. On Friday it cut, threshed and sacked 300 bushels of wheat. The header 
operates a knife eight feet in length and the separator cylinder is two feet 
eight inches long." It cost $1,200. In 1873 it had been so improved that it cut 
twenty acres of grain a day. In 1878 J. C. Hoult and David Young invented a 
combined harvester. It weighed 7,000 pounds, rested on two broad iron wheels, 
and was sold at $2,000 each. Along in the '80s L. U. Shippee, Ben F. Langford, 
R. C. Sargent, and others formed a company, and erecting a large building corner 
of Main and East streets began the manufacture of combined harvesters. One night 
it mysteriously caught fire, destroying some seventy large harvesters. Some 
years later Ben C. Holt and his brother, who began manufacturing wagon wheels on 
the site of the old Catholic burial ground, bought up all of the patents on the 
combined harvester and began turning them out and shipping them to all parts of 
the world. They made many improvements, and now have a machine that cuts a 
swathe from eighteen to twenty-four feet wide and will cut from forty to sixty 
acres a day, the machine costing $4,225.
        With the combined harvester the number of bushels threshed cuts no 
figure, for if the crop be light then necessarily the number of bushels threshed 
would be small. The threshing machine sitting by the side of a heavy yield of 
grain would often thresh a very large number of bushels, and it is recorded that 
in September, 1872, J. C. Kerr of Lockeford, using a Ray & Scott separator and a 
straw burning engine in forty and one-half days threshed out 70,000 bushels of 
wheat. During eighteen days of that time he threshed 37,000 bushels, and on the 
Jacob Brack farm, six miles west of Woodbridge, in one hour and twenty-one 
minutes he threshed out 800 bushels.
 
The Grange Movement 
        Today we read of the farmer's bloc, a demand for the farmer certain 
rights and privileges. The movement is nothing new. In the early '70s 
organizations were formed throughout the United States known as the Grange or 
Patrons of Husbandry. The membership was limited to the farmers, their wives and 
children. The movement was organized to dethrone the speculators, demand a lower 
tariff and railroad charges. The Stockton Grange was organized August 12, 1873, 
with twenty farmers and ten women under the following officers: Andrew Wolf, 
master; W. L. Overheiser, overseer; Thomas E. Ketchum, lecturer; Albert Showers, 
steward; Thomas E. Brooke, chaplain; Freeman Mills, treasurer; Wm. G. Phelps, 
secretary; James Marsh, gatekeeper; J. F. Harrison, S. V. Tredway, W. D. Ashley, 
trustees; Mrs. Alexander Burkett, Ceres; Mrs. W. L. Overheiser, Pomona; Mrs. J. 
T. Brooke, Flora; and Mrs. James Marsh, assistant stewards.         Additional 
members were John H. Cole, George West, H. E. Wright, Alex Burkett, Charles 
Sperry, Israel Landers, P. W. Dudley, John Taylor, W. H. Fairchilds, M. Showers 
and Wm. Mason. There were six granges in the county.
 
The Delta or Peat Lands
        To the west of Stockton there lies several hundred thousand acres which 
at one time was swamp and overflow land. In San Joaquin lies 188,000 acres of 
this tule land. For twenty years this land was thought to be of no value except 
as the home of ducks, geese and wild hogs, but since its reclamation expert 
agriculturists have pronounced it the richest land in the world, equal to if not 
superior to the diked land of Holland. Hence it is sometimes called "The Holland 
of America." A small portion of this land at the confluence of Stockton Channel 
and the San Joaquin River has been under cultivation since 1850. At that time 
the editor of the Stockton Times wrote, "The ordinary observer who travels over 
the San Joaquin River, as his eyes survey the vast expanse of tule or marsh land 
extending for miles on either bank, may receive the impression that it is unfit 
for agricultural purposes and uncultivable except for rice. Now this is an 
error: By invitation of the Weber Regatta Club we joined them in an excursion to 
Rough and Ready ranch. It comprises some ten or twelve acres of tule land which 
has been enclosed and recovered. On this land has been produced every species of 
vegetable at present grown in California. The land is owned by Mr. Downie and he 
states that in five months the tract had produced 2,000 head of cabbage, 3,000 
musk melons, 30 bushels of tomatoes, 1,000 pounds of onions, 20,000 pounds of 
potatoes, 200 bushels of corn, 2,000 pounds of squashes and pumpkins, together 
with a large quantity of peppers, beans, radishes, beets, etc. No irrigation is 
needed, from the river as the soil is of a peculiar permeable nature, and fresh 
water is always found within two or three feet of the surface. We have no doubt 
that in a few years the tule land will comprehend the finest cultivated portion 
of California." In 1858 the island was in the possession of the Crozier 
brothers; one of them, James Crozier, having been a Stockton blacksmith. He 
raised the land three feet above high water, built a house, put in a steam 
pumping plant and set out about 1,000 fruit trees of every kind. He invited his 
friends to visit him and the editor declaring, "The beautiful little spot has 
been the stopping place for the many parties that enjoyed the sport of sailing." 
At his death in the '80s the property by will passed into the hands of Wm. C. 
Daggett. He died, and George Buck purchased the property and built a handsome 
residence; he sold it to Frank Guernsey when elected county judge. This is the 
beginning of the Delta lands now worth millions of dollars.
 
Beginning of Reclamation
        The Napoleon gardens were partly reclaimed in 1853. In 1857 George Drew, 
the county surveyor, began the survey of 30,000 acres of land lying on both 
sides of the San Joaquin River, surveying from a point one mile west of the city 
to the mouth of the Mokelumne River, the survey being made in connection with 
the U. S. survey. He said that application for the land had been made by parties 
in San Francisco." In November, 1860, the surveyor in his report said, "The 
interest in this description of property is steadily increasing as it will soon 
become an important part of our territory." In 1872 A. Rowell conceived from the 
production on Rough and Ready island that the tule lands could be made very 
productive; he formed a company and began reclaiming the land on the south side 
of the river. They began by digging ditches from eight to sixteen feet wide and 
throwing up the levee. A huge Newton pump was installed to draw off the water. 
In 1874 the paper reported, "The work of reclaiming the tide lands on the San 
Joaquin River and its tributaries is being pushed forward with energy. Among the 
most enterprising is the company known as Reclamation Company No. 162, 
consisting of C. C. Castle, George H. Smith, Sam Wardrobe, Jacob Wagner, C. M. 
Ritter. J. J. Stevenson, B. F. Sanders, Henry Barnhart, C. H. Cowell. The land 
embraces 10,968 acres, extending from the Sacramento Road to the mouth of the 
Calaveras River, then along the San Joaquin to Twenty-one Mile slough, following 
up said river to the place of beginning." There was to be over nineteen miles of 
levee twelve feet at the bottom, eight feet on top, and five feet high, placed 
thirty-five feet from the river. The estimated cost was $1,200 per mile. In 
September, 1881, the Glascow Company came from England with John W. Ferris as 
their engineer. They bought a large quantity of unreclaimed land and taking no 
advice proposed to show how to build levees. They spent a million or more 
dollars, placing their levees near the river bank. There came an immense flood 
of water, their levees broke through and the company went broke.
        After thousands of dollars had been lost they built their levees as far 
back as possible, brought up solid earth from the river bottom to build the 
levees and dug a wide deep ditch to relieve the heavy overflow. These ditches 
also served as waterways for transportation. The building of the Santa Fe 
Railroad across the entire tract also gave splendid facilities for 
transportation. The islands now produce nearly half of the potatoes raised in 
the state, together with hundreds of tons of celery, onions, beans, asparagus, 
berries, and other fruits. In writing of the potato crop. J. Bigger, himself an 
island dairy farmer for several years, said, "These peat lands grow most of the 
potatoes of California. The annual production is from four to five million 
bushels, which is more than any other county in the United States produces 
except one. Big crops of Indian corn are grown in the Delta. This county doubled 
and trebled its corn production each year for the past four years and this year 
it will produce 1,500,000 bushels." Ex-President John M. Perry, of the 
California Agricultural Society, himself a large Delta land owner, said in 
writing of levees, "In the early days these levees were known as 'China' levees 
and were constructed by Chinamen with shovels and wheelbarrows. H. U. Kip, a 
Chinaman, in a magazine article in 1921, said: "The peculiar nature of the soil 
would make an interesting story in itself. It represents the years of an 
accumulation of tules. It burns; it floats; but it is intensely rich." The 
problem was one of reclamation. It was in 1870 that the Chinese first commenced 
farming on Sherman Island, and they remained there until the flood of 1878. They 
worked Staten Island in 1881, then to Bouldin Island. Roberts Island was worked 
from 1878 to 1884 by Ah Jack, Lew Man, Tong Wo and Lee Louie. Again quoting John 
M. Perry, "Most of the labor was done in former years almost exclusively by 
Chinese, but of later years by Japanese, Hindus, Mexicans and Chinamen." The 
holdings were originally very large and it is only lately that these lands have 
been put on the market in smaller farms. One of these large holders is the 
Rindge Company of Los Angeles, and they rent their land to Japanese. The 
brightest of them all at one time was George Shima, a Japanese, the king of the 
potato market. He came to San Joaquin County some fifteen years ago and began 
working on the islands as a common laborer. He saved his money, began renting 
land, studied the most effective way of raising crops, studied the market prices 
and became wealthy. It was said he could get more work out of a Jap than any 
white man, and always on the job he watches every point. In the height of his 
money making he was feted by the leading citizens of Stockton and tendered a 
banquet in the Lincoln Hotel. Later he purchased a handsome home for his wife 
and two children in the fine residence section of Berkeley. Then there was a 
howl, but their attorney said there was no way to prevent a respectable Japanese 
from purchasing a residence in "the classic town" of Berkeley.
 
Shiftless Farmers and Thrifty Farmers
        Unfortunately for San Joaquin County a majority of the farmers who 
located here were men from the far Western and Southern states. They were a body 
of honest and brave men but with no great ambition in their make up. To sow a 
little grain each year, enough to make a living, was all they attempted: If 
their crop was poor or failed entirely, they never worried, they let their 
butcher, grocer and mortgagee do the worrying. They built shacks of houses and 
barns and never improved, remodeled or even painted them. They planted no 
orchards, vineyards, shade trees, plants or flowers, nor raised any fine breed 
of cattle, horses, sheep, hogs or poultry. Their cattle were half wild and their 
horses of the mustang breed. My father, a meat seller, asked them, "Why don't 
you raise a fine breed of cattle?" "Oh," they replied, "It's too much trouble." 
They sold cattle for $15 or $20 a head while they might have raised cattle, 
costing no more for feed, to sell at $40 or $60 a head. They bought all of their 
vegetables and fruits used in the house and some even purchased their butter. 
There were milch cows running around the house but they had no milk. "It's too 
much trouble to milk them," said a man living on the sand plains. Is it 
surprising that they were poverty-stricken all their lives and that their sons 
and daughters left the farm as soon as possible?
        There was a class of farmers, a minority to be sure, who were 
"go-getters." They came from the New England or Middle States and I will notice 
a few of them. It was the custom of the State Fair directors to give prizes for 
the best farms and they sent out committees for that purpose. The committee of 
1858 in reporting San Joaquin County said, "The farm of D. J. Staples on the 
Mokelumne River consists of 600 acres, all well fenced. He has 40 horses and 
mules, 3 yoke of oxen, 35 cows, a fine lot of young cattle and 100 hogs. He has 
500 fruit trees and a well-arranged an a sufficient quantity of ornamentals. He 
has large, substantial buildings, smith shop. etc."
        E. H. Comstock, eight miles northeast of Stockton, took the first 
premium for his farm in 1857, the State Fair being held at Stockton. His farm 
consisted of 2,200 acres, "fenced with posts and four rails. He plows about 
1,600 acres, has 3 gang plows, 2 large square and 7 triangular harrows, 4 large 
and 4 common cultivators, 3 reapers, 2 horse rakes, 1 thresher, 20 horses and 14 
oxen. The orchard contains a general variety of fruit trees, about 300 in 
number, and is enclosed by a fence six boards high. Mr. Comstock's business is 
grain growing and yet he has some very fine stock."
        In the vicinity of Stockton are many large and well cultivated farms. 
"Mr. Overheiser, three miles from town, has a beautiful and well cultivated 
farm, 450 acres under fine fence, a fine cottage, granary and large barn."
        In the spring of 1875 the Stockton Independent sent out a correspondent 
to report on county farms. In writing of the farm of J. H. Tone, on the 
Calaveras, he said, "The Tone place comprises 460 acres in wheat, barley, summer 
fallow and pasture." Tone was quite a race-horse man. He owned a number of 
running colts which he started at the county fairs. "In 1852 he lived in an 
adobe house next to that of John Jones on the sand plains. Mr. Tone now has the 
finest two-story brick house in the county. The grounds are all tastefully laid 
out and I noticed honeysuckles, rose bushes, and other flowering plants in 
bloom." Some of the family are still living on the old homestead.
        One of the largest landholders and most prosperous farmers in the county 
was John E. Moore. He owned a 1,048 acres of land in this county and several 
thousand acres in Mendocino County and died in the early '90s worth $158,000, a 
large sum at that time. Coming to San Joaquin in early days he began working for 
Jeremiah Sarles, driving a milk wagon. He was saving and industrious and getting 
an insight into the business in time purchased the ranch known to the pioneers 
as the Oak Grove Cottage and began dairying and farming. I might continue this 
recital mentioning the names of Jonathan H. Dodge, Shubal Dunham, Mr. Beecher, 
who was a relative of Henry Ward Beecher, Cutler Salmon, John H. Cole and others 
who built handsome dwellings and lived comfortably and became wealthy. An 
illustration of what may be accomplished by two thrifty persons is seen in the 
work of Loveman L. Rumrill and his wife. They came to California from Vermont, 
he for his health, and both went to work for J. H. Cole. He took charge of the 
dairying, she the housework. They made enough money off of the sale of chickens 
and eggs to pay the grocery bills. Saving their money in five years they had 
sufficient money to purchase a ranch on part time and at his death they were 
well-to-do.
 
Horticulture
        The soils of San Joaquin County will produce any cereal, fruit, 
vegetable, nut, plant or tree grown in any other clime on earth save a few 
edibles grown in the torrid zone. It will not produce cocoanuts, bananas, guavas 
and such like. They are a few exceptions. This is not an overdrawn statement but 
a well proven fact. Unfortunately we have at hand no figures to show the value 
of the products mentioned for any one year. Joseph Dietrich of the Chamber of 
Commerce says that in 1922 there were 59,703 fruit-bearing, and 20,662 
non-bearing acres, a total of 80,365 acres in fruit trees. There were 5,446 
fruiting acres in almonds, 850 in apricots, 147 in apples, 4,684 in peaches, 
1,540 in prunes, 1,336 plums, 1,011 pears, 1,570 cherries, 51 oranges, 6 lemons, 
1,626 in English and 1,823 in black walnuts, 20,688 in table and 1,375 in wine 
grapes, 691 in figs, 651 olives, 65, nectarines, 74, quinces, 13, chestnuts, and 
7 acres in pecans. As to peanuts, on the islands they are grown by the ton. This 
is not history but a mild boost for San Joaquin County whose citizens have been 
so modest that the world knows not its greatness.
        The first fruits grown in this county were grapes and, said an editor in 
1852, "We are indebted to Captain Weber for the finest and largest grapes we 
have ever seen. The columns around the piazza and the trellis work of Mr. 
Weber's residence are covered with vines heavy with long bunches of luscious 
grapes." They were of the mission variety, imported from Los Angeles. They were 
luscious but unprofitable except for wine, as they could not be transported any 
great distance. The captain and a few citizens were the first to plant trees, 
planting cottonwood trees on the north side of Channel and El Dorado streets, 
west. Said the editor, "Weber 'Avenue' is a misnomer, as they are cutting down 
all of the fine oaks. The street would present a noble appearance if on either 
side poplar trees or evergreens are planted."
        About the same time George West and his brother planted a vineyard north 
of town which later was known as the "El Pinal" winery. Its vineyard produced 
millions of gallons of wine, brandy and the like until prohibition swept the 
state. According to the statistics San Joaquin County had planted in 1856, 
13,467 grape vines; 1857, 28,640; 1858, 40,000 vines. In the year last named the 
the State Fair committee reported regarding Stockton, "G. N. Cannon, near the 
Asylum, had a lot 300 feet square under good cultivation, with 74 three-year old 
fruit trees. Opposite Mr. Cannon Mrs. Lilly and son had a fine garden of two and 
one-half acres. In all there were 2,923 trees, peach, apple, plum, almond, 
cherry, pear, fig, nectarine , and apricot, together with currants, gooseberries 
and all varieties of vegetables, all looking remarkably well. The land was 
irrigated by windmills. The most remarkable garden showing what has been done 
and may be done today was that of Rev. Henry Kroh, on San Joaquin Street, 100 
feet north of Channel. He had a lot 50x100 feet and a residence for the family. 
Behind the dwelling he had planted and in bearing condition trees and grape 
vines, beside considerable shrubbery and vegetables." He had 245 grape vines, 73 
nectarines, 27 apple. Our family, living opposite Fremont Square, had on a lot 
100 feet square, a large house, a tank and windmill, fruit trees and grapevines 
which gave a family of ten all the fruit they wanted summer or winter.
        I will close the history of early day fruitage by three more 
illustrations. In 1862 Charles Von Detten had six acres planted to orchard and 
vineyard, on the corner of East Street and Mokelumne Hill Road, now called 
Linden Road. He had 7,000 grapevines three years old, which he managed alone 
with his ten�year-old boy, making wine and peach cordial. Next south was the 
Helvetia garden, kept by the Gilgani brothers. They had planted on twenty acres 
50,000 grapevines and raised vegetables for market. On this same spot a large 
building is being erected for the use of the 100 and more vegetable gardeners 
who arrived in the city every morning at daylight with their wagons loaded with 
garden truck. Alonzo McCloud had 100 acres set out in 15,000 trees, 9,800 being 
peach trees. McCloud's addition to Stockton is now a part of this land. The ten 
acres, now the high school site, was as late as 1902 an orchard and vegetable 
garden managed by Italian gardeners. The site two miles out on the Lower 
Sacramento Road, now donated to the College of the Pacific, was a very 
profitable vegetable garden up to the time of its donation. The San Joaquin 
history, in speaking of it said, "James C. Smith, who owns a large tract of land 
two miles north of Stockton, has at present about eighty acres rented to persons 
who cultivate in fruit and vegetables. The garden is irrigated by windmills. The 
remarkable productiveness of the county is clearly shown upon this farm. 
Peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, quinces, apples, blackberries, raspberries, 
strawberries, currants and grapes are grown for market, and also all kinds of 
vegetables. On most of the land two crops are grown in a season."
 
Stockton a Manufacturing City
        Stockton, in San Joaquin County, is logically the best-located city in 
the state for manufacturing cities. First, because of the three continental 
railroads passing through it, diverging to the north, east and south; second, 
because of its 400-ton steamer and in the near deep water canal to the ocean; 
third, natural gas and an abundance of water and electrical power; fourth, its 
central location. W. N. Harris, of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, formerly 
of Stockton, said in 1919 regarding location, "Excluding the territory south of 
Tehachapi, Stockton is the most centrally located city in the state. The 
distance between Stockton and Bakersfield, at the southern extremity of the San 
Joaquin Valley, is 228 miles. The distance between Stockton and Redding, at the 
northern extremity of the Sacramento Valley, is 217 miles. It is 100 miles from 
Stockton to the Pacific shore, and 108 miles from Stockton to the summit of the 
Sierra Nevada range. In other words, if a survey had been made and the center of 
California's inland empire actually located, it would be but four miles east and 
five and one-half miles north of the center of the city of Stockton. Think of 
this fact and contemplate for a moment the present and future of this territory 
as a producing area. The waterway which led pioneer navigators to this spot and 
fixed the location of Stockton, pulses rythmically with the great waters of the 
world. Through this channel the tides of the Pacific swell and recede. It is the 
way to the most remote shores. A potentially possible gateway to the commerce of 
the world."
        As a manufacturing center even this day Stockton is no small city. It 
has within its bounds 208 manufacturing establishments employing over 6,000 men 
and paying out yearly over $7,000,000, money that goes into the merchants' 
hands. The time was when the merchant was dependent upon the farmer. If there 
was a light crop in any season, or the price of wheat was low and the farmer 
would not sell his crop, then the merchant was compelled to reduce expenses and 
limit his purchases to the actual needs of the city. That time has passed, for 
with the raising of fruits and vegetables and the manufacturing of many products 
with the world for a market, the merchant is no longer dependent entirely upon 
the farmer.
 
Manufacturers of Food Products
        The first bakers, among them Louis Mersfelder, Charles Potter and John 
Inglis, obtained their flour imported from Chile. In 1852 this flour was so full 
of weevils that the legislature prohibited its further importation. Mersfelder 
since 1856 had a bakery on Channel near Hunter. It is a bakery today. Potter had 
a cracker factory at the corner of Channel and California streets. There was a 
French bakery on American, near Market, now a Chinese laundry. How well I 
remember it. One forenoon it was destroyed by fire. We boys ran away from school 
and I saw the little Frenchman, who had been asleep in the upper story, come 
tumbling head over heels down the stairs, his hair and whiskers all afire. Lager 
beer was manufactured about 1852 and Philip Niestrath had a small brewery run by 
windmill power on the present Sperry flour mill site. In 1857 Christmas eve 
about 9 o'clock it burned down. Sitting up in bed, I saw the fire through the 
window in our home near Fremont Square. In 1852 Peter Rothenbush and Philip 
Umlauff founded the El Dorado brewery near the Asylum. The Prohibition Act 
ruined the lager beer business.
        The City Flour Mill, corner Main and Commerce streets, was founded by 
Austin Sperry and Lyons in 1852. Later partners with Sperry were Samuel Baldwin, 
then Alexander Burkett, who had been the miller, then Willard Sperry, his 
cousin. The Sperrys dying, it became a company, which now controls the flour 
milling interest of the state. At one time there were six flour mills in the 
county. The City Mill and the Avenue Mill, now the Chamber of Commerce site, 
owned by R. B. Lane and Stagg, one at Woodbridge, Clements, Linden and Knights 
Ferry. The Sperry mill now occupies the site on Weber Levee of the old Franklin 
Flour Mill. It was built in 1853 by Calvin Paige & Company. It was an immense 
building for that time, three stories in height and installed with expensive 
machinery imported from England. The walls were not strong enough to sustain the 
machinery and in 1856 it closed down. The mill cost $75,000 and had a mortgage 
of $30,000. It lay idle until 1864, when it was taken over by the Sperrys and 
completely remodeled with the latest machinery. The mill caught fire Sunday, 
April 2, 1882, and was completely destroyed, with a loss of $140,000 and $70,000 
insurance. Today the Sperry, Crown and Union mills in Stockton employ 500 
persons, and their pay roll is the second largest in the city. These three mills 
can turn out 2,750 barrels of flour, 1,000 barrels of cereal, and 100 barrels of 
stock food per day.
 
Blacksmiths and Wagonmakers
        Next to the food products the most essential manufacturers were the 
blacksmiths, wagonmakers and harness makers. The principal blacksmiths were John 
Madden, the father of Frank Madden, with his shop opposite the Elks' building, 
Frank Dake, corner of Main and California, and Rudolph Gnekow, corner Main and 
Stanislaus streets. These men during the rush season of summer would work from 
ten to fifteen hours a day, shoeing horses and mules and mending broken wagons. 
For several years they were compelled to make their horseshoes and nails.
        Among the wagon and carriage makers was J. C. Westbay on Weber Avenue, 
now the H. G. Shaw building site; J. R. Cory on Channel, now the Electric Light 
Company office; John H. Hickinbotham & Bro. on Main near Sutter, and Wm. P. 
Miller. Miller was one of the largest carriage and wagon manufacturers on the 
coast: Coming to Stockton in 1852 he built his first wagon from a bench under an 
oak tree. The hubs of the wheels were made from a ship's rudder. He was paid 
$1,000 for the wagon. In 1853 Mr. Miller established a wagon and carriage making 
and paint shop at Channel and California streets, and for over forty years 
carried on business. He erected the three-story brick still standing, and deeded 
the lot where now stands the W. C. T. U. building. He was a strong prohibition 
advocate. Another extensive manufactory was that of M. P. Henderson and Clark, 
established in 1869 at Main and American. Now there is not a wagon and scarcely 
a set of harness manufactured.
 
Tanneries and Leather Workers
        Just as necessary as the wagon was the harness and the harnessmakers did 
an extensive business with the teamsters and farmers. Among the principal 
harnessmaking shops was that of Thomas Scott on Main near El Dorado, who sold to 
Thomas Cunningham, and he to Patrick Riordon when elected sheriff; that of H. T. 
Dorrance on Hunter opposite the court house; of J. P. D. Wilkins, Main near San 
Joaquin, who made the first leather fire hose in the state; and N. C. Hilke, who 
sold his property to the Commercial and Savings Bank.
        These harnessmakers obtained their principal supply of leather from the 
local tanners, four in number. They were Graham & Stewart, on Stockton Channel; 
H. R. Potter, who tanned principally sheep skins on Mormon Channel; Harrison 
Bros., with a small tannery on Sacramento Street; and the Pacific Tannery, 
corner of Oak and El Dorado streets. The last-named tannery was founded in 1856 
by Jacob Wagner on the bank of the channel. His tannery was in an old shed 
beneath an oak tree, and his tanbank was ground by an old horse in a tread mill. 
Mr. Wagner had several different partners and at his death the tannery fell to 
his son and daughter. It is now owned by his son, Edward Wagner, and his 
son-in-law, George Houskens. They now employ eighty men the year round with an 
annual pay roll of $100,000. The tannery has a capacity of 150 hides a day and 
they send their products throughout the world.
 
Paper Mill Products
        In 1870 R. B. Lane believed Stockton a good location for a paper mill. 
He sent East, bought the necessary machinery and established the mill in a 
building next to his flour mill. A papermaker from the East, John Lutherwaite, 
was put in charge and it was a success from the start. It was found that to 
accomplish much a large mill was necessary. A company was then formed, 
principally of San Francisco capitalists, and the California Paper Mill 
organized. A block of land was purchased south of Mormon Channel on Lincoln 
Street. a one-story brick erected. Installing expensive machinery, March 1, 
1878, they began the manufacture of wrapping paper, then print paper machinery 
was installed, the Stockton and four of the San Francisco dailies partly used 
the Stockton product. The mill was run continuously from midnight Sunday night 
until midnight Saturday night, and eighty-five men were employed in twelve-hour 
shifts. A few years later the mill began using wood pulp to make paper and it 
was removed to Oregon, where the wood could cheaply be obtained.
 
Woolen Mill
        Opposite the paper mill was the woolen mill established in June, 1870, 
by Elisha Lambert, a sheep owner, Wm. Dougherty, and James Tatterson, an 
experienced blanket and cloth manufacturer. The mill at first employed about 
thirty Chinamen. working under overseers. Then the Chinese boycott came on, in 
which parties threatened to burn the mill, and the Chinamen were superseded by 
white persons. Their blankets were of the highest quality, the New York stores 
guaranteeing them as the best on the market. In a few years Mr. Tatterson died 
and there being no one to fill his place the mill was closed out. It is now the 
scouring and cleaning house of E. H. Tryon.
 
Stockton Iron Works
        The first foundry was that of Birdsall & Co., a small concern on Miner 
Avenue. The Globe Foundry at the corner of Main and Commerce streets was 
established in 1858 by E. I. Keep and Wm. H. Briggs. The foundry made mining 
machinery, and steam engines, and nearly all of the engines in the river 
steamers were manufactured at this foundry. Changing hands many times because of 
removals and death, it finally passed into the hands of Edward F. Cadle, who had 
long worked at a lathe in the foundry, and his son, Frank. They made ore cars 
for the mines, but refusing to employ union labor, the union miners would not 
handle their cars and the Globe Foundry passed out of existence.
        The Stockton Iron Works, established in 1868 on California Street, now a 
part of the St. Leo Hotel site, is still doing business. It was founded by H. S. 
and H. L. Farrington, practical machinists, and Galen C. Hyatt, a draftsman. 
After H. L. Farrington's death the two surviving partners sold out to Tretheway, 
Earle & Dasher, former employees. At this time the clam shell dredger machine 
had been invented and the foundry was turning out dredgers and smaller castings 
of various kinds. The clam shells were monster affairs weighing sometimes from 
four to six tons each, and it took from twelve to sixteen horses to haul one to 
the channel. The foundry property became too valuable to use for a foundry site 
and it was moved to the north side of Stockton below the shipyard.
 
Shipbuilding
        Shipbuilding was quite an industry before the coming of the railroad, 
then for a time the industry was on the decline, but the increase of business 
and population has developed an industry far and away larger than in the early 
days. The first shipbuilder was Stephen Davis, and when he launched the yacht 
Mary Buffington, it was the talk of the town, and when he launched the little 
forty-ton steamer from Lindsay Point in 1860 a large crowd witnessed the 
important event. Mr. Davis through the years from 1864 to 1878 built thirty-nine 
steamers, barges and tug boats, including the barge Sacramento, of 300 tons, and 
the steamer City of Stockton, 500 tons. Later, on the same point, E. W. Jarvis 
built several vessels. On Mormon Channel E. M. Small built the Mary Garrett, the 
Hattie Fickett, and other river steamers. Now the California Navigation Company 
keep some fifty or seventy-five men steadily at work building and repairing 
their Stockton and Sacramento boats.
 
Agricultural Machinery
        Matteson & Williamson, pioneers in the agricultural machinery business, 
manufactured plows, harrows, reapers, hay forks and harvesters until the death 
of Mr. Williamson. Haines & Houser, on Sacramento Street, and J. C. Holt, on 
Center Street, also manufactured harvesters. The Sampson Company made gas 
engines and tractors. In 1902 the Harris Manufacturing Company was incorporated, 
the prime mover being Geo. H. Harris, a former superintendent of Matteson & 
Williamson. Their harvester and header works are on Park and East streets, 
employing nearly 250 men. In 1883 the Stockton Wheel Company was started by 
Benjamin C. Holt and his brother on Aurora Street. From a wheel factory they 
enlarged the plant and formed a corporation and began making combined harvesters 
and caterpillar tractors. The business increased by leaps and bounds. They 
continued purchasing more property for the enlargement of their works until at 
present the plant covers fifteen acres of land; 1,600 men and women are employed 
with an annual pay roll of $2,500,000. During the allied war they kept steadily 
employed between 3,000 and 4,000 men making caterpillars to be used against the 
German army. During that time the entire plant was surrounded by a high fence 
and guarded day and night by sentinels of the U. S. Army.
 
National Carton Works
        This immense establishment owned and established by the  Zellerbach 
Paper Company in 1918 is one of the most extensive manufactories of its kind on 
the coast. Purchasing some forty acres of west of Stockton and adjoining the 
Santa Fe Railroad they erected large brick buildings and installed machinery to 
the amount of a million dollars for the manufacture of all kinds of paper 
products. Their products are sent to all parts of the United States and one 
order alone from China called for 500,000 cartons. In 1920 they made 85,000,000 
cartons and, said the superintendent, "that is just a start."
        Just beyond the carton factory a lead pencil factory was founded some 
two years ago, and thousands of feet of logs piled up outside of the place will 
be made into lead pencils for the use of the civilized world.
 
Cigar Manufacture
        In closing these paragraphs on manufactures I have not cited one-tenth 
part of the millions of dollars invested. One of the investments that was not 
profitable was the manufacture of cigars from locally grown tobacco. It will 
surprise many readers to know that tobacco was ever raised in Stockton, but it 
could not be perfectly cured because of the dampness of the climate. In 1863 Wm. 
Gibson, a native of Kentucky and a former school teacher, concluded to try the 
experiment of raising tobacco. He planted twenty-five acres of tobacco seed on 
the ground just west of the race track. The seed grew to maturity and was of 
excellent quality. In his factory he manufactured 3,000 pounds and had 10,000 
pounds in the leaf, so the paper stated. Although it was a fairly good smoking 
tobacco, the experiment was not profitable.