Contra Costa County CA Archives History - Books .....Township No. 4 1882
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Book Title: History Of Contra Costa County, California

TOWNSHIP NUMBER FOUR.

   Geography.—Township Number Four is bounded on the north by Suisun Bay, on the
east by Township Number Five, on the south by Township Number Two, and on the
west by Townships Numbers Two and Three.

   Topography.—The principal portion of this township is a series of mountains,
the valleys being small though prolific. Mount Diablo, with its surrounding
satellites, holds sway in all directions, down whose slopes come shady rivulets
that prattle through the densely foliaged canons. At its northern end we have a
level strip of land, the beginning of the great San Joaquin plain.

   Soil.—The soil in the portion of the Diablo and smaller valleys included in
Township Number Four, is much like that of Santa Clara, consisting mostly of a
gravelly loam, mixed more or less with adobe. It produces fail-crops of grain,
is good for fruit, and, in most places, well adapted to the cultivation of the
vine. This is demonstrated beyond a doubt by several vineyards which have been
bearing for many years past. There is considerable land around or near the base
of the mountain, of a reddish loam, containing more or less mineral matter.

   Products.—The principal product of the township is coal. Grain is grown in
the valleys and slopes of the foothills to a large extent, while all fruits do
well, except apples, which require a cooler climate than is to be found here.
Wine-making is carried on quite extensively; principally by Messrs. Kohler,
Morshead and Martini, all of which is in quality equal to any produced in the
State.

   Timber.—The timber found in this township is chiefly that usually confined to
the mountain slopes bounding California valleys. The live and white oak is found
in abundance, the silvery sycamore and the willow are everywhere met, the
beautiful buckeye, the madrona and the laurel, line almost all the canons, while
far away on the hill-sides lie piles of wood, the labor of the woodman, and
ready for market.

   Climate.—The climate of Township Number Four is generally warm and dry, the
temperature in Summer generally ranging fron 70° to 80°, and occasionally when
the north wind prevails, there will be a hot spell of three or four days, when
the mercury will rise to 95° or 100° in the shade. For health there are few, if
any, better localities in the State, the air being free from fog and dampness,
with no malaria, no mosquitos, and no visible cause of disease of any kind. The
sea-breezes have the chill all taken from them as they come gently floating over
the land, and are first cool enough to be refreshing and to temper the heat
which otherwise in Summer would be oppressive.

  Early Settlement.—The early settlement of Township Number Four is interesting
in the extreme, and is replete with historic lore.

   Situated on the Los Medanos Grant is a place now known as New York Landing.
Ichabod! Ichabod! At a very early date it was thought that on this spot would
rise the metropolis of the Pacific, consequently a large city was laid out by
Colonel J. D. Stevenson, of the famous regiment which bore his name, and to it
was given the rather ambitious title of "New York of the Pacific." General W. T.
Sherman in his "Early Recollections of California," says: "I made a contract to
survey for General J. D. Stevenson his newly projected city of New York of the
Pacific, situated at the mouth of the San Joaquin river. The contract also
embraced the making of soundings and the marking out of a channel through Suisun
Bay. We hired, in San Francisco, a small metallic boat with a sail, laid in some
stores, and proceeded to the United States ship Ohio. At General (Persefer F.)
Smith's request, we surveyed and marked the line dividing the city of Benicia
from the Government reserve. We then sounded the bay back and forth, and staked
out the best channel up Suisun Bay. We then made the preliminary surveys of the
city of New York of the Pacific, all of which we duly plotted; and for this work
we each received from Stevenson five hundred dollars and ten or fifteen lots. I
sold enough lots to make up another five hundred dollars, and let the balance
go, for the city of New York of the Pacific never came to anything."

   The actual facts are that these two old pioneers, Col. Stevenson and Dr.
William Parker, conjointly had purchased the land and had in contemplation the
building of a city as stated above, to which they had transported lumber,
fixtures, etc., to commence operations. On July 6, 1849, there arrived in San
Francisco two brothers and their families, viz. Joseph H., and W. W. Smith, who
contracted to proceed to the proposed city and begin building. The initial
building in the city was erected for the accommodation of the two families, and
according to the contract, was to be occupied by them, "rent free," for the
first three months. They took possession about August 1, 1849, and resided in it
until they acquired it by purchase. This structure was eighteen by forty feet;
subsequently twenty feet more were added to the south end, and a tent running
west twenty by fifty feet was tacked on, while the whole edifice received the
appellation of the "New York House," a name that has passed into the chronicles
of Contra Costa county. Afterwards W. W. Smith added an oven to the premises—one
of magnificent proportions—for besides being capable of baking bread, cakes, and
such like, an entire " beef " has been placed on its smooth tiles at night and
the next morning brought out "cooked to a turn." This was the first house built
in the township, and there, on the point above Antioch, to which it was removed,
does it still stand, a landmark to evidence the earlier settlement of the
district. At the period of the arrival of the Smith families Jose Antonio Mesa
had a camping spot with a tule roof about half a mile west of what is now
Pittsburg Landing, while there was a deserted cabin in the hills, and a patch of
tobacco growing immediately below the spring which now supplies the town of
Nortonville with water.

   Let us for a moment glance at the workings of the New York House and its
proprietor. Mr. Smith, besides receiving as much as fourteen dollars per day
wages at his trade of carpenter, during the evening occasionally fried fifty
dollars' worth of doughnuts, bread, etc., which latter was worth one dollar per
loaf, the oven having a capacity of twenty-two loaves. During the rainy season
the men employed in plying in boats on the river, often paid a dollar for the
privilege of sleeping on the floor of the New York House, in their own blankets;
while, in respect to table commodities the chief articles usually provided were
bread and fresh beef, to which Mr. Smith occasionally added butter and fruit,
the former of which was procured from ships at the price of one hundred dollars
per keg of a hundred pounds, and the latter from San Francisco. The New York
House was the first building erected between Salvio Pacheco's, at what is now
the village of Concord, and Dr. Marsh's residence on Marsh creek. The next house
to go up was that of John Beeiner, agent for Messrs. Stevenson and Parker, who
was also the first Postmaster (Junction postoffice it was called), and Justice
of the Peace under the new State Constitution. The third house was one erected
for Dr. Forejo, of San Francisco, in which Henry F. Toy opened a saloon. This
man Toy, it is said, lived with an Indian squaw, by whom he had a child, but
finding these encumbrances too much, exchanged the boy for a horse and the woman
for a Newfoundland dog. These houses were all erected in New York of the
Pacific; before leaving this city, however, we should mention that Mr. Smith
removed in December, 1849, to a farm situated near where the town of Antioch now
stands, and leased the New York House to his sister-in-law, Sarah B., the widow
of his brother, Rev. Joseph H. Smith, who died February 5, 1850. It was
subsequently leased to Zachariah Shafer, who shortly afterwards failed in
business and left. The building remained unoccupied for some time and was, as we
nave already said, finally removed to Smith's Point, a slip of land which juts
into the river above Antioch, where it now stands, a monument of the first
savings of these pioneer families.

   In the Spring of 1850 Howard Nichols, now residing near Clayton, arrived in
New York of the Pacific, where he found a thriving place with several houses of
entertainment, the New York House being prosperous, and kept on strict
temperance principles. Shortly after Nichols purchased the ship Mount Vernon,
and turned her into a receiving hulk, alongside of which the steamers took on
board and discharged freight and passengers. He then bought the contents of the
Kennebec House, a hostelry which had succumbed to fate, and fitting up the Mount
Vernon as a boarding-house in 1851, received a large number of customers.

   At the first election under the Constitution in 1850, there were on shore and
on shipboard at New York of the Pacific, from five to eight hundred voters. The
proclamation of Governor Riley had been issued to have all needed officers
elected, and, if any precinct failed to elect them, the Prefects had power to
appoint magistrates or alcades, so that an election could be held. This
proclamation divided the districts somewhat, making all east of the Mount Diablo
range of mountains in the San Joaquin district. The first elected to the office
was W. W. Smith, who soon opened an office in his private residence, but finally
removed it to a building at the back of the town, subsequently known as the
Pratt House, where the owner resided afterwards until he was murdered. The
alcade had charge of all sanitary, civil, criminal and judicial affairs of his
district, with full power to appoint his officers, levy taxes and collect fees.
This officer spent some two thousand dollars in time, money and medicines, in
caring for the sick and dead, none of which was ever reimbursed, and he found
the position honorary and very expensive.

   In those early days the business between San Francisco and the inland towns,
situated on the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers, was done entirely by sailing
craft of every conceivable size and shape, the time consumed in a trip being
often wearisome and lengthy. Most of these usually called at New York to take in
fresh provisions, and brought considerable trade, but, in 1850, steamer after
steamer was put upon the interior lines, which, by their more rapid transit,
broke up the business at this point, and considerably lessened the importance of
the embryo city.

   Besides the early settlers mentioned above, there was a Mr. Lord, who was
supercargo of the bark Oscar, of Bangor, Maine, he being also agent for the ship
Orderly Clerk. On the first named vessel the steamer Governor Dana was brought
out in sections, lengthened and re-built at New York of the Pacific. Another
prominent gentleman was H. H. Hartley, who was the first practising lawyer in
the district. Of him the following is related: Mr. Hartley was a native of
England, and in that country had studied and practised law. The phraseology of
the British courts he brought with him, and commenced addressing the court as "
My Lord." In a case before the Alcalde at New York, Hartley was counsel for the
plaintiff, the master of the ship Kennebec, and Mr. Bodfish the attorney for the
defence. On rising to address the Bench, Hartley, instead of commencing "May it
please the Court," began "May it please your Lordship," when he was called to
order by the opposing counsel. He very naturally inquired wherein had he erred,
when he was informed by Bodfish that he should have said "please the Court—we
are in the United States of America—we have no Lords here;" the Court ruled the
point of order well taken, but the habit was so strong in Mr. Hartley that it
was long before he broke himself of it. At the period of which we write, Mr.
Hartley was the Secretary of the Company to which the ship belonged that Mr.
Lord was agent for, while Mr. Bodfish was agent for the Kennebec company. A
brother of Bodfish was proprietor of one of the most popular hotels in the town,
while one of them had his wife and sister with him. These men owned a small
steamer and several small sailing craft on the upper Sacramento river, and when
communication on the inland waters became an absolute fact and no longer a
matter of conjecture, they transferred their domiciles to Red Bluff in Tehama
county. J. C. McMaster is one more of the very early residents of the district.
He came to California in 1849, in the same vessel as did the Smiths, and after
passing some time at the mines and Stockton came to New York of the Pacific, and
commenced work on the buildings then rising there. He afterwards, in partnership
with William Dupee, purchased the sloop Flying Cloud, fitted her up and placed
her on the line between San Francisco, Stockton and Sacramento. Mr. McMaster is
now the much-respected Supervisor from Township Number Five.

   Since these halcyon days, New York of the Pacific has ceased to be anything
but a name, the place is usually called New York Landing or Black Diamond, the
latter being the designation of the Post-office there established.

   Let us now glance at another portion of the township. In the year 1852
Captain Howard Nichols left New York, and settled where he now resides, at the
foot of Mount Diablo, not far from the town of Clayton. Here he found already
located J. D. Allen, near where Mr. Nichols now lives; a man named Evans dwelt
about a mile and a half from the present residence of Nicholas Kirkwood; while
William Taynton came about the same time, and settled where they live now. At
this period the Clayton estate was the property of Alexander and George H.
Riddell, of Benicia. We are given to understand that Captain Lewis and a family
named Robertson also lived here about that time.

   In the year 1855 George W. Hawxhurst located where the town of Somersville
now stands, and commenced prospecting for coal, discovering and locating the
Union vein, in March, 1855. In the Spring of 1856 Charles Rhine settled in the
township, and opened a store about two miles from Clayton, on land now occupied
by William Hawes. When he came, James McNeil lived on the same section; Joshua
Marsh was where Captain Russelman now resides; John H. Weber was where he at
present is; A. Richardson lived near the "Divide," and the Stranahan Brothers
were also located in the township. In this year Nicholas Kirkwood took up his
abode on the land he to-day occupies, to be followed in the succeeding year,
1857, by James Gay and Daniel S. Carpenter, in New York valley.

   In the meantime the town of Clayton had been established by Joel Clayton,
hotels built and stores opened by Romero Mauvais and George Chapman, Charles
Rhine and A. Senderman respectively, and much expected from the looked-for
discovery of coal in paying quantities in the vicinity—which never came.
Clayton, however, has its beauties of location to enhance it in the eyes of the
citizens of Contra Costa county. Standing at the head of Mount Diablo valley,
with the mountain, nearly four thousand feet high, in the background, with
ranges of hills on either side covered with verdure, and many of them cultivated
in grain nearly to their tops, you look down across the valley covered with
grainfields and dotted with farm houses, orchards, vineyards, and scattering
oaks, to the Straits of Carquinez. Over these waters are passing steamers and
sailing craft, laden with the products of the San Joaquin and Sacramento
valleys, to San Francisco, Benicia and Port Costa, or with the return freights
of merchandize, agricultural or mining implements to supply the wants of the
people residing in those valleys. Across the Straits may be seen the military
barracks and the United States Arsenal, and portions of Benicia. Still beyond,
in Napa county, may be seen the blue and purple crest of Mount St. Helena, which
sometimes, in the months of February and March, is made more prominent by its
mantle of snow, glistening in the sunlight, and warning the husbandman and
fruit-grower of the dangers of frost to their crops. The Coast Range of
mountains in the distance presents a barrier to this charming view, which, for
beauty, variety and picturesqueness, is rarely surpassed.

   In the year 1856, Jerry Morgan, who, we have already seen, settled in the
Ygnacio valley in 1853, had been out bear hunting at the back of Mount Diablo,
when he discovered the tract of land now by common acceptation called Morgan
Territory. It was not thought worth surveying by the Government; Morgan,
however, was struck by its beauties of scenery and adaptability for pasturage
for stock; he therefore settled on it, and in the following year, in the month
of October, brought his family thither. In Morgan Territory, Marsh creek has its
headwaters, and goes purling and babbling through its length, o'ershadowed by
waving branches, overhanging crags and the huge sides of Diablo. When Morgan
came to the place there was a man named Steingrant living on the place now owned
by John Roche, where he had a corral, and was engaged in herding government
stock. He was the only settler in the rocky district. In 1857 Alonzo Plumley,
now residing near Byron, in Township Number Five, acquired a possessory right
from Morgan of one-half of the tract as originally taken up, and settled on it.
In 1858, John H. Weber and Marion Francis Gibson located where the widow of
Robert Howard now resides, Weber living on the land now owned by him below the
school-house.

   In 1858 a school was started in Morgan Territory, on the place where Mrs.
Howard now lives, not far from the site of the present school-house, and was
first taught by William Ellis, since when a school has been maintained regularly.

   In 1859 Ransome Woods settled above Mr. Morgan, while Solomon Perkins located
on the place now owned by Robert Lewis; and John Gibson, with Christopher
Leeming, came to the ranch of Samuel Foster, on Curry creek. They were bought
out by Edward Curry in 1860.

   The ten thousand acres which Mr. Morgan fenced in on first taking possession
teemed with game of every kind. In one year he killed no fewer than forty-six
bears, he says, while the streams abounded with fish—in fact, a hunter's
paradise. In 1856 he was three days getting into the tract with his wagons,
passing where the town of Clayton was built the year after.

   It is not our purpose here to go into the subject of the discovery of coal in
this and the adjoining township; that will be found treated elsewhere in this
volume; suffice it to say, that from its first being put to a practical test in
1859 up to the present time, 1882, the yield has been large and the improvement
immense. With the realization of the dreams that brought inexhaustible coal
fields, the two mining towns of Nortonville and Somersville sprang into
existence, and have since been busy centers of industry, and a credit to any land.

   In the year 1860 Henry Policy settled in Clayton, and later commenced
farming, and still resides in its vicinity.

   In 1861 the first house was built by Noah Norton in the town of Nortonville,
on a site now covered by one of the coal "dumps;" about a year after he erected
another building which still stands. There were several people here then, among
them being Atwell Pray, who, with Charles Gwynn, started the Black Diamond Hotel
in 1863. There had been a hotel, however, opened at the Cumberland mine in 1861,
by George Scammon. At Somersville, in this year, there was a boarding-house at
the Independent Shaft, kept by a man named Griffin, the owner of the American
Exchange building in Antioch, while, on the site of the Pittsburg Hotel, there
was a similar house to the one now standing, kept by a man named Hendricks. In
1863 a store was opened at Somersville by A. Senderman, while two years later,
1865, Joel Clayton opened a store in Nortonville nearly opposite where now is
the office of Morgan Morgans, Mine Superintendent.

   On Wednesday April 8,1863, an hour or two after midnight, a most fatal fire
broke out in the boarding-house of Sydney Maupin, near the Pittsburg Coal Mine.
The ground the premises occupied is that on which now stands the Pittsburg Hotel
of George H. Scammon. In it Mr. Maupin and three of his children perished. Mr.
Maupin was an old resident of the county, and was highly esteemed. Once more we
have to chronicle the devastations of the fiery fiend. On February 28, 1864, the
little town of Clayton was almost blotted out of existence. Two hotels and
several other places of business were destroyed to the amount of about fifteen
thousand dollars, the whole property lost being uninsured. In the year 1865, or
perhaps earlier, a school was opened on the site of the present building, in
Somersville, and was taught by T. A. Talleyrand. The following year, 1866, saw a
like institution in full force in Nortonville, under the preceptorship of D. S.
Woodruff. This building stood near the present shaft, but was removed to the top
of the hill in 1870, the original building having been added to it, until at
present it boasts four departments. In 1867 the Congregational Church at Clayton
was built, while, at Somersville, Post No. 28, Grand Army of the Republic, was
organized April 12, 1869, and in the same year a neat little church erected.

   On March 9, 1872, we have to record the death of Joel Clayton, a gentleman
who had done much towards the advancement of the township and county, and who
was intimately identified with the early discoveries and developments of the
coal mines, while in October, of the following year, death claimed E. G.
Stranahan, who was crushed by a caving bank while digging a cellar.

   On October 16, 1874, the engine-house of the new shaft and hoisting works of
the Black Diamond Company, at Nortonville, was burned; and on July 24, 1876, a
terrible disaster occurred in the same town, whereby several persons lost their
lives.

   On June 18, 1877, the Union Hotel at Somersville was totally destroyed, for
the second time, by fire; while on December 28, 1878, another conflagration
reduced to ashes the store of Ferdinand Gambs there, the loss being fifteen
thousand dollars.

   We will now pass on to the especial histories of the towns of Clayton,
Nortonville and Somersville.

   CLAYTON.—The little village of Clayton lies snugly nestled at the foot of
Mount Diablo, on its northern side, and at the head of Mount Diablo valley,
which extends from the town of Pacheco, in a southeasterly direction, to the
foot of the mountain, a distance of some eight or nine miles The place takes its
name from Joel Clayton, whose son is still a resident of the neighborhood, and
was started in 1857, Mr. Clayton only laying out one street, and a few lots on
either side of it. His object in establishing a village at all, was the prospect
of finding coal in the vicinity. He had been, for a number of years, an active
and extensive explorer on the coast for coal and other mineral deposits, and was
intimately identified with the early discoveries and development of the coal
mines in Contra Costa county.

   In or about 1858 he had a town site surveyed, by K. W. Taylor, and the lots
offered for sale; with this, settlers arrived, and soon a cluster of houses
sprang up.

   The first house remembered in what is now the village, was a small dwelling
that stood on the site of the present residence of Charles Rhine, occupied by
Mrs. Rees, but it was constructed before Clayton was. In 1857 a Frenchman named
Romero Mauvais built a place, which he opened as a tavern, that stood on the
site now occupied by the Clayton Hotel; while not long after George Chapman
erected a hotel alongside of the present livery stable of James Curry. In that
same year Charles Rhine moved his business from the point where he had first
located, two miles out of town, and opened a store next to Mauvais' hotel; and
not long after A. Senderinan opened a store next to the Chapman hostelry: thus
had the town its start, and prospered for a few years.

   In 1864 it received its first blow. On February 28th, a fire of considerable
magnitude caused the destruction of property to the amount of about fifteen
thousand dollars, among the buildings consumed being the Clayton and Union
Hotels, as well as Rhine's store and other places of business.

   In the year 1857 a congregation was organized in the house of Captain Howard
Nichols by a Presbyterian minister, whose name is now unremembered; they were,
however, subsequently amalgamated with a Congregational Church which had been
formed, the first preacher in which, it is thought, was the Rev. David McClure,
now of Oakland. Ten years after, November 10, 1867, a Congregational Church
building was dedicated by the Revs. E. C. Bissell of San Francisco, and James
Warren, and in 1873, a cottage parsonage was completed and attached to the
church property.

   Another serious loss the little town sustained was the death of its parent,
Joel Clayton, on March 9, 1872. With the demise of this gentleman, Clayton lost
its leading spirit, and to this day has not recovered its pristine promise.

   In the month of July, 1873, we hear of large Temperance Mass Meetings being
held in the village, where eminent speakers came to take part from all quarters,
but whether the doctines then inculcated have borne fruit, we are not in a
position to state. The only item of interest we know of having happened in the
year 1874, was the sad one, of the death of E. G. Stranahan; while employed in
the excavation of a cellar he was crushed by a falling mass of earth, on Friday
October 23, 1874. A few lines above we have spoken of Temperance meetings. May
6, 1876, Unity Lodge, No. 11, I. O. G. T. elected the following officers: W. H.
Wilson, W. C. T.; Miss Kirkwood, W. V. T.; Mr. Pratt, W. S.; Mrs. M. Clayton, W.
F. S.; Miss L. Clark, W. T.; Miss B. McLain, W. M.; C. Clark, W. I. G.; Charles
Taylor, W. 0. G.; Rev. Mr. Ross, W. C.; Miss L. Weston, W. R. H. S.; Mrs. C.
Ross, W. L. H. S.; O. A. Ross, P. W. C. T. And now came the
never-to-be-forgotten Centennial year, with its jubilees in every quarter of the
United States. At Clayton the celebrations were more than ordinarily grand on
the fourth of July, 1876. Foreign talent was imported to do honor to the
occasion, among those taking a part being: Rev. M. Ross, Miss Pixley, Miss
Miriam Porter, Miss Martha R. Chase, Miss Kelley, with Messrs. E. R. Chase and
Hale.

   No portion of the county is so peculiarly adapted to the growth of grapes as
that surrounding the town of Clayton. The land in that vicinity is essentially a
grape soil, and the climate is especially favorable for grape raising. The
vineyards there have invariably given an abundant yield each year, and have
proved profitable to their owners. This Spring, 1882, a large acreage has been
planted to vines, and a great number of orchards have also been laid out. It is
safe to say that some time in the not remote future, Diablo valley will be one
vast vineyard, and that Clayton wine will be manufactured, equal to any produced
in the State.

   FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.—Was organized February 15 1863, under the
ministry of Rev. John J. Powell, who continued the acting pastor till March of
the following year. From this time until June, 1865, the church was without a
stated minister, but met for public worship continuously, and conducted a
Sabbath-school. At the latter date Rev. B. S. Crosby supplied the church in
connection with Congregational churches at Somersville and Antioch. He served in
this way about a year. Hitherto worship had had been conducted in the
school-house; in the Summer, however, of 1866, under the general supervision of
their pastor, Rev. Mr. Crosby, the people commenced building a house of worship,
the one at present occupied, and completed the following year. In 1873 they
built a parsonage. After Mr. Crosby left, the church was successively supplied
under the ministry respectively of Revs. James W. Brian, from March 1,1867, to
November 28,1868; Miffin Harker, from June 1, 1869, to June 1, 1871; P. R.
Bradshaw, from June 1, 1871, to June 1,1872; W. C. Merritt, from January 19,
1873, to June 15, 1875; O. A. Ross, from August, 1875, to September, 1876; Rev.
S. H. Meade succeeded as pastor and continued nearly three years. In May, 1880,
Rev. J. H. Story commenced serving the church as their pastor, and is the
present incumbent.

   NEW YORK LANDING.—It will not be necessary for us to here go deeply into the
history of the former New York of the Pacific; that will be found fully treated
in the early settlement of this township. The landing still has its prestige,
however, as a place of call, for all boats plying on the Sacramento and San
Joaquin rivers stop there, while it is connected with Nortonville by the Black
Diamond Railroad. Save as the landing it is, New York of the Pacific has now no
importance, although lately an attempt has been made to establish a salmon
canning industry there. At present it boasts of two of these establishments, the
Pioneer and Black Diamond, both having their head offices in San Francisco,
while its wharfs are spacious and worthy a visit.

   As we have already remarked the postoffice at this point is called Black
Diamond, and is vicariously dubbed New York.

   PIONEER CANNERY.—This establishment is the property of King, Morse & Co., of
San Francisco, and was completed January 2, 1882, on which date operations were
commenced. Employment is given to about one hundred persons during the packing
season, while the commodious structure comprises departments for fish-cleaning,
can-making, filling, soldering, bathroom, cooking, lacquering and labeling. The
dimensions of the building are one hundred and fifty by eighty feet, built of
frame. The head office is situated at the northwest corner of Broadway and
Sansome streets, San Francisco.

   NORTONVILLE.—The discovery of the famous Mount Diablo coal fields is the
immediate cause of the existence of the town of Nortonville. In the year 1859,
December the twenty-second day, Francis Somers and James T. Cruikshank
discovered the now well-known Black Diamond vein of coal, and with their
associates located the lands afterwards known as the Manhattan and Eureka coal
mines. George W. Hawxhurst, George H. P., and William Henderson, in company with
Francis Somers^ opened the cropping of the same vein, on what was afterwards
known as the Black Diamond and Cumberland mines; but believing that the expense
of making roads was beyond their means, they made no attempt to secure title.
The Black Diamond mine was not long after located by Noah Norton (from whom
comes the name of Nortonville), and the Cumberland mine went into the hands of
Frank Such and others. These lands, with others adjoining, have since become
noted as the Black Diamond Coal Mines.

   Frank Such disposed of his interest in the Cumberland mine to Messrs. C. T.
Cutler, Asher Tyler, Josiah Sturges and L. C. Wittenmyer, all of Martinez, and
it was from their efforts and means that it was successfully opened, worked, and
roads constructed from it to the towns of Clayton and New York Landing. They
also assisted Noah Norton to open the Black Diamond mine.

   The town of Nortonville is comprised in the basin in which are located the
Cumberland, Black Diamond, Mount Hope and other lands, but when the mines were
first opened the whole district was known as Carbondale.

   At first not much was done in the way of mining, those interested being
principally engaged in prospecting. The coal was extracted from a hole in the
side of the hill and taken away in sacks from the Cumberland mine> which was
about a thousand feet above the present Nortonville, the coal being sent into
the valley on an "incline," one loaded car hauling up an empty one.

   The first house was built in Nortonville in 1861 by Noah Norton, its site
being now covered by one of the "dumps;" but about the same time there was a
hotel or boarding-house at the Cumberland mine kept by George H. Scammon. In
1862 Mr. Norton built another house, the second in the town, which still stands,
while the first hotel in Nortonville proper was opened in 1863 by Atwell Pray
and Charles Gwynn, and was named then, as it is to-day, the Black Diamond
Exchange. In 1865 a store was opened on ground nearly opposite the present
office of the Mine Superintendent, Morgan Morgans, by Joel Clayton; and in the
following year, 1866, a school-house was put in operation under the tuition of
D. S. Woodruff. The building stood not far from where the shaft now is, but in
1870 it was moved to its present position on the top of the hill. Here it has
developed into a seminary with four departments, the school being maintained,
chiefly, by a charge of one per cent, on all moneys paid through the
Superintendent's office.

   With the opening and working of the mines, a large number of practical miners
were attracted to the locality; Great Britain sent her sons from the English and
Welsh coal pits; Americans who had gained experience in Pennsylvania also found
their way to the Black Diamond coal mines, until a cosmopolitan community has
now collected in a small compass, the like of which could be found in no other
country in the world.

   Up till the year 1874, all went without mishap to the new mining town. On the
16th October of that year a disastrous fire occurred, which consumed the
engine-house of the new shaft and hoisting works. The fire was discovered a
little after three p. M., the whole interior of the building being filled with
smoke when the discovery was made. The engine-house was a very heavy two-story
frame building, fifty-five by thirty-six feet on the ground, standing back some
forty feet or more from the shaft, over which stood a very heavy and costly
derrick frame of a height as great, or greater, than the engine-house. The
derrick tower was crowned with a covering which formed an enclosed room or
house, utilized in the working operations, while it served as covering for the
shaft-opening and derrick works. This house took fire from the engine-house and
was entirely burned, but the derrick frame was saved by turning on water through
the pipes laid for carrying steam, and by the exertions of the people, who
turned out en masse, and formed bucket brigades for passing and throwing water.

   There can be but little doubt that the conflagration was the work of an
incendiary, as there had been no fire about the building at all, and the rain
had soaked everything around it, so that it was not possible that the blaze
could have been communicated to it accidentally. Moreover, although all the
woodwork of the interior of the building would naturally have absorbed moisture
from the atmosphere to a degree that would have prevented its burning quickly,
it was, when the fire was discovered, filled with flame and smoke, while the
sides and roof were still intact, and the finding of three burned five-gallon
kerosene cans with the remains of the machinery after the fire, renders it
probable that the inflammable fluid had been poured over the upper floor before
the fire was set to it.

   Once more have we to chronicle destruction. On this occasion our tale is of
loss of life, one of those untoward accidents which makes the miners' career one
of extreme danger. The soldier loses his life on the battlefield with God's
beautiful world around him; it is in the gloomy bowels of the earth that the
miner meets death, but with not the less courage as a man of peace than he whose
duty brings him within ken of the hail of battle. Well may Dr. Smiles have said:
"Courage is the quality which all men delight to honor. It is the energy which
rises to all the emergencies of life. It is the perfect will, which no terrors
can shake. It will enable one to die, if need be, in the performance of duty."

   On July 24, 1876, this terrible disaster occurred. An eye-witness describes
the catastrophe thus: About three P. M. of Monday rumors of a terrible
catastrophe spread through the village. Crowds began to gather around the mines,
very anxious to know what the matter was. Women—wives and mothers—anxious for
their loved ones, children trembling for the safety of their fathers, friends in
fearful suspense for friends, thronged the approaches to the mines. The suspense
was not long. It was broken by a terrible revelation. No less than six dead
bodies were brought up from the mines in the course of an hour or two, together
with eight persons more or less injured. The cause of the accident was a powder
explosion, let off in the ordinary operation of mining, and that igniting
sulphur gas and raising large volumes of what the miners call "black damp," or
fine coal dust. Those who were brought up dead, viz., M. Lewis, aged
thirty-eight; W. Gething, aged thirty-five; D. Griffiths, aged forty-two; G.
Reynolds, aged twenty-nine; T. Watts, aged twenty-eight, and William Williams,
aged eighteen, were smothered by the black damp, their death being almost
instantaneous. The survivors, Walker Williams, Body Dumas, T. James, ____ Smith,
T. Davies, D. Watts, H. Mainwairing, _____ Marengo, were terribly scorched by
fire. On the day following an inquest was held by Justice Woodruff, and a
decision arrived at in corroboration of the above facts. On Tuesday night, the
25th, Dumas died, as did also D. Watts, after lingering two weeks.

   The town of Nortonville is connected with New York Landing by a line of rail,
while its mines find employment for about three hundred men and boys. The whole
population is estimated at nine hundred.

   SOCIAL ENCAMPMENT, No. 50, I. O. O. F.—Was instituted December 18, 1874, with
the following charter members: James Rankin, Thomas S. Brown, John H. Smith,
Samuel Brown, John Trengove, George H. Scammon, Evan Thomas. The orginal
officers were: James Rankin, C. P.; Thomas S. Brown, H. P.; William Hughes, S.
W.; Samuel Brown, Scribe; George H. Scammon, Treasurer; John Trengove, J. W.;
Evan Thomas, Guide; Thomas Watson, 1st W.; Theo. C. Ellis, 2nd W.; Richard
Evans, 3rd W.; William M. Sellars, 4th W.; Caleb Edwards, 1st G. of T.; William
W. James, 2nd G. of T.; John Richards, I. S.; James Home, O. S. This encampment,
which is in a most flourishing condition, has at present on its roll twenty-nine
members. The officers for the current term are: John D. Evans, C. P.; Richard
Evans, H. P.; John N. Jones, S. W.; D. B. Davis, Scribe; James Rankin,
Treasurer; Mark Brown, J. W.; Watkin P. Morgans, Guide; Israel Lands, 1st W.;
Hugh Evans, 2nd W.; Thomas J. Davis, 3rd W.; Thomas Pritchard, 4th W.; James
Kelly, I. S.; A. M. Phalin, 0. S. Meets on the second and fourth Wednesday of
each month, in the hall of the Knights of Pythias, at Nortonville.

   BLACK DIAMOND LODGE, No, 29, K. OF P.—This lodge was organized by L. M.
Manzer, G. C., October 24, 1874, with the following charter members: John Agnew,
Louis Abrahams, Edward L. Allen, Samuel Brown, Joseph Barnard, Charles Cordray,
Robert Clare, F. J. Deeman, John A. Davis, David B. Davis, James E. Davis, J. N.
Evans, William J. Griffith, D. P. Jones, William T. Jones, Robert Learn, A.
Moore, Morgan Morgans, W. P. Morgans, T. J. Oliver, R. Prutton, William Prutton,
A. A. Paul, John Piercy, James Rankin, George M. Reynolds, William J. Tingman,
Asher Tyler, D. S. Woodruff, E. L. Wemple. The first officers chosen to serve
were: Watkin P. Morgans, P. C.; F. J. Deeman, C. C.; A. A. Paul, V. C.; Robert
Prutton, Prelate; D. S. Woodruff, K. of R. & S.; William J. Tingman, M. of F.;
Morgan Morgans, M. of E.; J. N. Evans, M. at A.; J. Barnard, I. G.; L. Abrahams,
O. G. The lodge, which is in a flourishing condition, has on the roll
forty-eight members, while the officers serving for the present term are:
William R. Jones, P. C.; John M. Phillips, C. C.; Digory Brey, V. C.; David B.
Davis, Prelate; Frank Clifford, K. of R. & S.; Richard Havard, M. of F.; Louis
Abrahams, Sr., M. of E , William T. Jones, M. at A.; Erastus T. Laselle, I. G.;
William J. Griffith, 0. G. Night of meeting, Thursday.

   CARBONDALE LODGE, No. 288, I. 0. G. T.—This lodge of Good Templars was
instituted October 18, 1867, and the Charter members were as follows: James
Muir, James Cerley, Joseph Annett, John Williams, Miss Emma Taddler, Mrs. E.
Saddler, Mrs. Mary Wall, Mrs. Minda Scammon, Miss Fenia Wall, William
McHenderson, Francis Taye. The original officers were: James Muir, W. C. T.;
Lizzie Muir, W. V. T.; Fred Horsewell, W. Chaplain; David Horsewell, W. Sec.;
Mary Wall, W. Asst. Sec.; Francis Taye,W. Fin. Sec.; William McHenderson, W.
Treas.; James Kelly, W. Mar.; Mary Moor, W. Dep. Mar.; William Watson, W. I. G.;
John Williams, W. 0. G.; Maud Scammon, W. R. H. S.; Josephine Wall, W. L. H. S.;
Joseph Harvest, P. W. C. T. The lodge is in a flourishing condition, and has a
membership of seventy. The present officers are: Lizzie D. Jones, W. C. T.;
Annie Harris, W. V. T.; Samuel Boxill, W. Chaplain; Ellis Griffiths, W. Sec.;
Annie Lewis, W. Asst. Sec.; Thomas L. Davis, W. Fin. Sec.; M. M. Clifford, W.
Treas.; Fred Saddler, W. Mar.; Catherine Jones, W. Dep. Marsh.; Katie Engler, W.
I. G.; Jesse Hughes, W. 0. G.; Frank Clifford, W. R. H. S.; Henry T. Boxill, W.
L. H. S.; L. K. Abraham, P. W. C. T. Meets every Wednesday at their own Hall,
they owning the property.

   PITTSBURG LANDING.—This is the landing for the mines at Somersville, with
which it is connected by the Pittsburg Railroad. It is situated about two miles
east of the New York Landing, and is not so much a public village as it is the
private residence, offices and grounds of L. L. Robinson, who became owner of
the Los Medanos, or, as it is more generally known, the New York grant, in 1871.

   His buildings are constructed on a swell of ground, about one hundred and
fifty yards from the bank of the San Joaquin, and some fifty feet above the
river's level. Here he has erected several buildings, which, from a distance,
lend the appearance of a village resting in shady woods; but it is purely a
private undertaking in connection with coal mines. At Pittsburg Landing,
steamers occasionally halt alongside its spacious wharf, while, for his own
private purposes, Mr. Robinson has another extensive jetty situated between
Black Diamond (New York) and Pittsburg Landing. The post-office here is
officially known as Cornwall.

   SOMERSVILLE.—We have just seen how one Francis Somers, in company with James
T. Cruikshank, discovered the vein of coal which has since become famous as the
Black Diamond vein, on December 22, 1859. He and their associates, H. S.
Hawxhurst and Samuel Adams, located the lands which were afterwards known as the
Manhattan and Eureka Coal Mines. These, with the Union and Independent, comprise
the mines forming the basin in which the town of Somersville is situated, and
from which there is a railroad to Pittsburg Landing, which takes its name from
the Pittsburg mines.

   The Pittsburg coal mine was opened in December, 1860, and was located by
George H. P. Henderson, who entered into a contract with Ezra Clark to open the
mine, in the course of which the noted Clark vein was discovered. The Manhattan
mine is in the same neighborhood, while a short distance below it is the
Independent. The Union is in the vicinity of the Pittsburg.

   How the name of Somersville came to be applied to this town is clear; but it
is not so clear who it was that built the first house within its limits. We have
seen that the Pittsburg mine was opened in the last month of the year 1860; it
is only proper, therefore, to conjecture that the initial building was
constructed in that year. We have been informed, however, that in 1861, Griffin
kept a boarding-house near the Independent shaft, and a similar house to the
present Pittsburg Hotel, was conducted by a man named Hendricks on its site,
who, if this correct, must have disposed of in some manner to Sidney Maupin, for
we have seen that on April 8, 1863, it was destroyed by fire, and Maupin, with
three of his children, perished in the flames. In 1863, also, we believe the
first store to have been opened by A. Senderman, while two years later a school
was instituted and taught by T. A. Talleyrand, on the site of the present building.

  As the years followed the population of these towns increased with €he amount
of work to be performed, until a goodly number were assembled on the slopes and
dips of the canon in which the village is situated.

   On April 12, 1869, we find Post No. 28. of the Grand Army of the Republic,
inaugurated, and the following gentlemen chosen officers: Philip Walker,
Commander; Albert Banks, Senior Vice-Commander; Fred. Horsewell, Junior
Vice-Commander; Thomas S. Brown, Adjutant; Nelson S. Black, Quartermaster;
Christian Humble, Surgeon; Owen Evans, Chaplain; John Tremey, Sergeant-Major; D.
Gillespie, Quartermaster-Sergeant. In 1869 a neat little church was completed.
Twice in late years has Somersville been visited by the devouring element, once
on June 18,1877, when, for the second time in its history, the Union Hotel was
destroyed; and on December 28, 1878, when the store of Ferdinand Gambs, with all
its contents, was lost.

   The little town is at present in a flourishing condition, its inhabitants are
well behaved, while from the short distance that separates it from Nortonville
the brethren of the several societies, to all intents, live as one community.

   MOUNT DIABLO LODGE, No. 128, I. O. O. F.—This Lodge was instituted October
27, 1866, with the accompanying charter members, who were also the first
officers: John H. Williams, N. G.; Thomas S. Jones, V. G.; A. E. H. Stover, R. &
P. S.; William Prosser, T.; Joseph Jones, W.; R. D. Reese, Con.; Joseph
Lightowler, O. G. They number now one hundred and twenty-six members on the
roll, while the Lodge is in a flourishing condition. The officers now serving
are: A. W. Lee, P. G.; Jacob Lando, N. G.; Henry Treglown, V. G.; Thomas Floyd,
R. S.; John Trengove, P. S.; G. H. Scammon, T.; James C. McDermott, W.; Edward
McLeod, Con.; Richard Evans, O. G.; H. E. Ward, I. G.; David B. Davis, R. S. N.
G.; John D. Evans, L. S. N. G.; Thomas H. Thomas, R. S. V. G.; Thomas Richmond,
L. S. V. G.; William W. Davis, R. S. S.; John P. Hughes, L. S. S.; Samuel Brown,
P. G., Chaplain. Lodge meets every Saturday night.

   SOMERSVILLE LODGE, No. 210, A. O. U. W.—Was instituted December 2, 1881, with
the following charter members: C. McDermott, Thomas L. Morgan, Thomas Floyd, S.
W. Nellis, Robert A. Martin, Robert L. Lee, James B. Nicholls, George Dallow,
Charles E. Boltz, Albert B. Habeneicht, who were the original officers. The
present membership is thirty-two, and the officers for the current term are: J.
C. McDermott, P. M. W.; T. Floyd, M. W.; Charles Cartwright, F.; S. W. Nellis,
O.; John Call, Recorder; George Dollaw, Financier; Patrick Brown, Receiver; John
Turner, G.; A. B. Habeneicht, O. W.; Charles Boltz, I. W. The Lodge is in a
flourishing condition and meets in Red Men's Hall every Friday evening.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY,
CALIFORNIA,
INCLUDING ITS GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, TOPOGRAPHY, CLIMATOGRAPHY AND DESCRIPTION;
TOGETHER WITH A RECORD OF THE MEXICAN GRANTS; THE BEAR FLAG WAR; THE MOUNT
DIABLO COAL FIELDS; THE EARLY HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT, COMPILED FROM THE MOST
AUTHENTIC SOURCES; THE NAMES OF ORIGINAL SPANISH AND MEXICAN PIONEERS; FULL
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY; SEPARATE HISTORY OF EACH TOWNSHIP, SHOWING
THE ADVANCE IN POPULATION AND AGRICULTURE;
ALSO,
Incidents of Pioneer Life; and Biographical Sketches
OF EARLY AND PROMINENT SETTLERS AND REPRESENTATIVE MEN;
AMD OF ITS TOWNS, VILLAGES, CHURCHES, SECRET SOCIETIES, ETC.
ILLUSTRATED.
SAN FRANCISCO: W. A. SLOCUM & CO., PUBLISHERS
1882.


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