Monterey County CA Archives History - Books .....Chapter XXI Salinas City 1893 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com September 16, 2006, 9:23 pm Book Title: Memorial And Biographical History Of The Coast Counties Of Central California. CHAPTER XXI. SALINAS CITY. SALINAS city, situated as it is, in the midst of a splendid farming country, is a prosperous, modern American city. Its transportation facilities are excellent, its climate is healthful, making it a very desirable place of residence; its people are enterprising, and as both the commercial business of the valley and the political business of the county center here, it has really become one of the most important cities in the county. According to the census of 1890 its population was 2,339. From June 1, 1891, to June 1, 1892, there were shipped from Salinas station between 8,000 and 9,000 tons of wheat, barley and oats. Owing to short rains in the early part of 1892, the secretary of the Salinas Board of Trade estimates that the crop of grain of 1892 will not be much more than one-half of an average crop. There are five points at which the products of the valley may be shipped by water. The Salinas Milling Company, now consolidated with The Sperry Flour Company of San Francisco, handles an enormous amount of grain annually, mostly the product of Monterey county. A brief account of this great corporation is of sufficient local interest to insert here. Eleven mill companies have combined—not in the form of a trust at all, they claim,—but by an actual transfer of ownership,—in one company, which has incorporated under the name of " The Sperry Flour Company," with a capital stock of $10,000,000, which has issued paid-up stock to the amount of $5,840,000. Horace Davis, of San Francisco, is president of this company, and D. B. Moody, secretary. The total capacity of all the mills of this huge company is 6,000 barrels of flour daily, and its markets are the Pacific coasts of America and Asia, and the islands of the Pacific ocean. Its mills, each of which has a local manager, are located as follows: One mill at Stockton, capacity 1,500 barrels daily; 1 mill at Salinas, copacity 600 barrels daily; 1 mill at Hollister, capacity 400 barrels daily; 1 mill at Kings' City, capacity 250 barrels daily; 1 mill at Paso Robles, capacity 200 barrels daily; 1 mill at Marysville; 1 mill at Gridley, Sacramento county; 2 mills at Sacramento city; 1 mill at San Francisco; 1 mill at San Jose. V. D. Black is the managing director of the Salinas mill, which makes a brand of flour widely known as "Drifted Snow Flour." Its market is Monterey county, also the Pacific coast and islands. This is a full roller mill; it has twenty-four double sets of rollers. Its motive power is a 300-horse-power steam engine, the fuel used being the refuse from the Santa Cruz sawmills. The mill, which was erected in 1883, employs about thirty operatives. As it runs day and night (excluding Sundays) it requires double sets of employes. In the year 1891, out of a little more than 300 working days, it ran 292 days of twenty-four hours each. Its bill for sacks (all its flour is sacked) from July 1, 1891, to July 1, 1892, was $27,000. This mill consumes annually 25,000 tons of wheat, which it converts into flour, and about 5,000 tons of barley, which it rolls for feed purposes. It requires about $250,000 capital to run this business, including the amount invested in the plant. The business done annually by this office amounts to something like $1,000,000; and that done by the Consolidated Central Company will probably amount to $1,000,000 per month. Six hundred barrels of flour, or twenty-four hours' run, require about eighty tons of wheat. Superintendent Black sells flour on thirty days' time, but buys wheat all along the railroad from Gilroy to its terminus, in San Luis Obispo county, for spot cash. The daily price of wheat is made, not by Mr. Black, nor by the Sperry Flour Company of San Francisco, but at the great centers of population in New York and in Europe. The boards of trade of the latter meet daily and fix the price for the day, according to demand and supply, and adjourn before the boards of New York and other Eastern cities of the United States meet, owing to the difference in time. And the latter meet and fix the price, subject to the rate already established in the European markets the same day. Several hours later the San Francisco Board meets, and, with full knowledge of the state of the markets of the East and Europe, fixes the price for the day in San Francisco. This price is telegraphed in cypher to Mr. Black, who is then prepared to buy wheat of the farmers of Salinas valley intelligently, because he knows what it is worth in other parts of the world, or whether the tendency, as compared with its price the previous day, is upward or downward, in the great centers of consumption, where in reality the price to a large extent is made. And thus this branch of the milling business, to wit: the buying of wheat is done on scientific principles, just as the conversion of the wheat into flour, is, in similar fashion, done by means of the latest-improved scientific machinery. And all this is better for the farmer than the haphazard way of buying without regard to the price in other parts of the world. And by these methods of doing business, the ability of any local operators to bull or bear the market is confined within very narrow limitations. The level of Monterey bay is certainly steadied by its intimate connection with the universal sea. It is estimated that Monterey is one of the largest barley-producing counties in the State. Mr. Black placed the quantity of barley on hand in the various warehouses of the Salinas valley on the first day of October, 1891, at about 32,000 tons, and the total production for the year at 50,000 tons; and the production of wheat at 60,000 tons. The quantity of hay raised in the valley, over and above what is needed for home consumption, is also very large. Some portions of the valley are found to be admirably adapted to the growth of sugar beets; a narrow-gauge railroad has been run up the valley, from the Watsonville Sugar factory, some thirteen miles, thus stimulating beet farming along its line. A Mr. Graves has a 200-acre field of sugar beets, not far from Salinas city, for which, it is reported, he has been offered, and has refused, $10,000. He estimates that his crop will average between twenty and forty tons of beets per acre. Fruit is beginning to be raised for profit in the valley, and without irrigation. There are two commercial banks in Salinas city. The Salinas City Bank was organized in April, 1873. Its directors are: J. D. Carr, president; A. B. Jackson, acting president; Elisha Archer, J. H. McDougall, Thomas Rea; W. 8. Johnson, cashier. The bank has a paid-up capital of $300,000, and a surplus of $95,000. Its sworn statement of June 30, 1892, showed: ASSETS.—Cash and due from bks $ 53,140.69 Loans 570,451.11 Real estate 25,714.33 Expense 3,080.10 S. F. bk stock 5,000.00 ___________ $657,386.23 LIABILITIES.—Capital stock $300,000.00 Due depositors 242,576.29 Profit and Loss 95,000.00 Unpaid dividends. 7,500.00 Int., dis's and rents 12,137.44 Suspense account 172.50 ___________ $657,386.23 The Monterey County Bank of Salinas city was incorporated October 17, 1890, with a subscribed capital stock of $200,000; paid-up capital, $120,000. Its directors are: William Vanderhurst, president; J. B. Iverson, vice-president; Luther Rodgers, cashier; R. L. Porter, assistant cashier and secretary; M. Lynn, J. H. McDougall, C. T. Romie, Francis Doud. Its semi-annual statement, June 30, 1892, showed: ASSETS.—Bank premises $ 18,100.00 Loans 204,411.61 Cash and due from bks 23,612.00 Fur. and fixtures 1,900.00 Ex. and taxes 7,237.96 ___________ $255,261.57 LIABILITIES.—Capital paid in. $120,000.00 Due depositors. 117,839.95 Due banks 1,127.46 Interest 14,908.98 Rents and exch. 1,385.18 ___________ $255,261.57 The officers of the Salinas Board of Trade, which was organized in 1887, and which has about fifty members, are as follows: Jesse D. Carr, president; William Vanderhurst, vice-president; W. H. Clark, secretary; Mark Meyer, treasurer. The following are the city officers: H. S. Ball, mayor; J. J. Wyatt, city attorney; Gr. S. Miller, treasurer; D. R Davis, surveyor. Council: T. S. Mabel, William Tholke, H. Menke, J. J. Connor, F. Iverson and William Schmedel. Salinas is divided into three wards, with two councilmen representing each ward. The indebtedness of the city is about $20,000. The city tax for 1892 is seventy-five cents on the $100, including twenty-five cents for schools. The post office of Salinas belongs to the third-class. The annual gross receipts of the office are $6,000. The various social and benevolent societies are well represented in Salinas. There are two lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows: Alisal, No. 163, established in 1869, with a present membership of 122; Fraternal, No. 276, organized in 1878, membership sixty-five. There is also a Canton of Patriarchs Militant, and an enampment [sic] of over sixty members. Also a Rebekah Lodge, No. 42. The Masonic fraternity is represented by Salinas Lodge, No. 204, organized in 1869, with a present membership of over 100; and by the Salinas Chapter, No. 59, of Royal Arch Masons; and by Reveille Chapter, No. 47, of the Order of the Eastern Star. There are also, Salinas Lodge, No. 131, of I. O. G. T., and a society of the W. C. T. U., a Council of the Legion of Honor, and a Parlor of N. S. G. W., etc. When a young man and a professor in a college in Italy, Father Sorrentini was an intimate friend of the illustrious Italian composer, Verdi, for whose genius and many noble qualities he has very high admiration. To the remark that the great maestro had been made a senator by the Italian Government, Father Sorrentini responded: "Yes, but he takes but little interest in political matters, being wholly engrossed in his art." Evidently the close relations between the young professor and the youthful composer must have been strong and altogether honorable to both parties, judging from the enthusiasm and kindly feeling which the venerable prelate does not conceal when speaking of his early friend who also is now an old man. Some of Verdi's music is thoroughly churchly in style; not a little of it, including characteristic sacred pieces introduced into his grand operas, have already become classics. The Methodist Episcopal Church South of Salinas was organized in 1867. Rev. J. C. Simmons, D. D., is its present pastor. The church building was erected in 1871; its seating capacity is about 250; the church membership is about seventy. The trustees are: John Kalar, John Sexton, Curns Johnson, H. V. Morehouse, Jasper Phares and E. J. Emmerson In 1861, thirty-one years ago, Rev. Dr. Simmons, as presiding elder of the San Francisco District held a camp meeting at the Blanco schoolhouse, on Salinas river, about four miles from the site of the present city of Salinas. Dr. Simmons, who came to California from Georgia in February, 1852, was present and took part in the organization of the Pacific Conference at San Francisco, April 15, of that new year; and he is the only person who was present then and is now a member of the conference, and he has been a member ever since. Rev. Dr. Simmons is the author of "The History of Southern Methodism on the Pacific Coast," pages 454, published in 1886; and of a theological work, entitled "The Kingdom and Comings of Christ," pp. 320, and published in 1891. Dr. Simmons attended, as a representative of his church on the Pacific coast the Ecumenical Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church held at Washington, District of Columbia, in October, 1891. The Salinas United Presbyterian Congregation was organized by Rev. W. H. Wilson, acting under the authority of the Presbytery of San Francisco, December 7, 1869, and is the oldest Presbyterian congregation in Monterey county. Mr. Wilson was succeeded August 10, 1873, by Rev. George McCormick, who has been continuously in charge ever since. The present membership is about 100, and the average attendance about the same. About 300 names in all have been enrolled during the present pastorate. Out of these have been formed congregations in Castroville, and in Easton, Fresno county, both of which are flourishing. The present beautiful church building, seating about 300, was erected in 1876, at a cost of about $7,000. It is free of debt. The present members of session are W. H. Clark and George A. Daugherty, Esq. The latter is also Sunday-school superintendent and choir leader. The present board of trustees are J. A. Wall, Esq., Alfred Grant and Thomas Chappell. The congregation is self-supporting, and for many years has used the voluntary or envelope system of finance. The Baptist Church of Salinas, was organized in 1873, and the church edifice was erected in 1875. It has a seating capacity of about 200. Rev. E. B. Hatch is the present pastor. The trustees are Dr. E. K. Abbott, Judge J. K. Alexander, W. F. Treat, Ira Tucker, Henry Whisman. The Methodist Episcopal Church (North), Eev. C. G. Milnes, pastor, has about sixty members. St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Salinas built its present church edifice in 1875; it was consecrated by Rt. Rev. W. I. Kip, D. D., LL. D., July 4, of that year; it has about 120 sittings, and cost $1,200. Its present rector is Rev. John Acworth. Some of its former rectors have been: Revs. J. S. McGowan, William Lund, J. Fred Holmes, J. S. Simonds. Rev. N. V. Holm is pastor of the Danish Lutheran Church, which holds regular services. NEWSPAPERS. The Salinas Weekly Index, established in 1871, W. J. Hill, editor and proprietor, is an influential local journal. It is the county official paper, and is Republican politically. Editor Hill is a practical newspaper man, of long experience and considerable force of character. His paper, having been long in the field, and being well managed and edited' has come to be a valuable property and a power in the community. The Salinas Weekly Democrat is another long-established and influential paper, Democratic in politics, as its name implies. It is published by Thomas Harris, and is edited with much ability. It was started at Monterey in 1867, by D. S. Gregory & Co., with Rasey Bivan as editor. Some time after, J. W. Lee became editor and proprietor of the Democrat, and he moved it to Salinas city about 1874, or just prior to the removal thither of the county seat. He conducted the paper until 1885 or 1886, when Thomas Harris and D. W. Lee bought out J. W. Lee. In February, 1888, Mr. Harris became sole proprietor. Mr. Harris is a thoroughgoing newspaper man; he is practically acquainted with every department of the newspaper business, from printer's "devil" to editor. The Salinas Daily Journal is published, as its name indicates, daily, by Harris & Smeltzer. It is now in its seventh volume. OTHER BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS. The officers of the Salinas City Gas and Water Company are: J. B. Iverson, president; William Vanderhurst, treasurer; R. L. Porter, secretary; F. B. Day, superintendent. Directors—J. B. Iverson, William Vanderhurst, P. Zabala, C. Hoffman, J. H. McDougall. The gas works were established in 1873, and the water works were built in 1874, and the electric arc-light system was put up in October, 1888. The Thomson-Houston arc-light system is used with a thirty-light dynamo. The Incandescent National Electric Company started November 1, 1891. Two thirty-five horse-power Westinghouse, Jr., engines are used. Each dynamo is run by a separate engine. Capacity of incandescent machine, 500 sixteen-candle power lights. The water works use one No. 10 Knowles pump, and one duplex compound Worthington; capacity of both, 60,000 gallons per hour. Three 50,000-gallon tanks, eighty-six and seventy feet above the ground, are supplied from five artesian wells. Capital stock, $60,000; but about $75,000 have been put into the works. The Salinas brewery, G. H. Menke, proprietor, was built in 1891'92, and commenced operations in May, 1892, with a capacity of twenty-five barrels per day. It consumes 3,000 sacks of barley per annum. It has the latest and best machinery. The present plant cost about $20,000. Before building his present establishment, Mr. Menke had been engaged in the same business here in a smaller way since 1877. The annual rainfall of Salinas city, based on an average of eight years, is about fourteen inches. SALINAS CITY SCHOOLS. From the last annual report of the county school superintendent the following facts are derived concerning the schools of Salinas for the year ending June 30, 1892: There were fourteen classes, one high, six grammar and seven primary classes, taught in three schoolhouses, by fourteen teachers, for ten months in the year. The number of pupils between five and seventeen in the district were: Boys, white, 393, negro, 1; girls, white 379, negro, 1; total 774 Total number of children under five years in district 165 Total under seventeen, native, 922; foreign, 17 939 Grades, number of pupils, high, 79; grammar, 215; primary, 343; total 637 Teachers, male, 2; female, 12 14 Grade teachers' certificate, high, 3; first grammar, 6; second grammar, 5 14 Current expenses: Teachers' salary $10,652.50 Rent, repairs, etc 2,276.57 Libraries 114.10 Apparatus 754.00 Sites, building, furniture 2,534.62 __________ Total $15,731.79 Receipts: Balance July 1, 1891, $3,087.43 From State 4,870.00 From county 3,922.00 From city 4,647.03 From subscription 1,220.75 __________ Total $17,747.21 Balance June 30, 1892 $ 2,015.42 Additional Comments: Extracted from: Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California. Illustrated. Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast from the Earliest Period of its Discovery to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of its Auspicious Future; Illustrations and Full-Page Portraits of some of its Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers, and Prominent Citizens of To-day. HENRY D. BARROWS, Editor of the Historical Department. LUTHER A. INGERSOLL, Editor of the Biographical Department. "A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants."-Macaulay. CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY. 1893. File at: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ca/monterey/history/1893/memorial/chapterx432nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 21.0 Kb