Napa-Statewide County CA Archives History - Books .....Napa County 1891
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Book Title: Memorial And Biographical History Of Northern California

NAPA.

  Napa, formerly styled Napa City, is the county town and leading city of Napa
County, a place of great prosperity and extensive trade, and a favorite
residence for retired wealth.

  The original town plat of Napa City was planted in beans in 1847, which was
the first evidence of civilization in that locality. There was then not a house
in the county except a few adobes, occupied by Mexicans and a few hardy American
pioneers. The first mention of the place in a newspaper was a statement in 1848
that the ship Amalek Adhel had passed up the Napa river and found plenty of
water to a certain point, and that beyond that was the embarcadero de Napa.
Early in May, 1848, the first building was erected, which formed the nucleus
around which the present city has grown. It was one and half stories high, 18 x
24 feet in size, and was built by Harrison Pierce for a saloon. This building
was still standing a very few years ago.

  The town site was surveyed and laid out by of the late Hon. Nathan Coombs in
the spring 1848, the limits including only the land lying between Brown street
and the river, and extending 600 yards from Napa street to the steamboat
landing. During that year John Trubody mowed almost the entire plat, which was
covered with a rank growth of wild oats, and sold the hay to the Government. The
gold discovery temporarily checked settlement here; but after the first
reverberation improvements began and were continued until a beautiful city was
the result.

  A mile and a half southeast of the city is the

STATE ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE.

   With the view of providing further accommodations for the care of the insane
of this State, the Legislature of 1869-'70 authorized the appointment of a
commissioner to visit the principal asylums of the United States and Europe for
the purpose of obtaining all practicable information. Governor Haight appointed
Dr. E. T. Wilkins, who visited 149 asylums. From the numerous plans which he
collected, the one for the asylum at Napa was selected, with the aid of Wright &
Saunders of San Francisco, architects. In March, 1872, the Legislature
authorized the appointment of a commission to select a site and made an
appropriation of $237,500 toward the erection of the building. Governor Booth
appointed Judge C. H. Swift of Sacramento, Dr. G. A. Shurtletf of Stockton, and
Dr. E. T. Wilkins of Marysville, and in August of that year Napa City was
selected for the site.

  The Legislature of 1873-'74 further appropriated $600,000 for the completion
of the asylum, and the next Legislature made a still further appropriation of
$494,000. That structure does not accommodate more than 500 patients at any one
time. May 31, 1878, there were 501 patients at the asylum, and at the time of
the next meeting of the Legislature, 1880, there were 808 patients, rendering
further accommodations necessary. Twenty thousand dollars was appropriated for
fitting up the attics in the rear of the amusement hall. Since then further
improvements have been made. The total cost of the buildings has been
$1,300,000. Under its roof are now sheltered over 1,400 inmates, and upon its
pay-roll are some 200 employes, including physicians, etc. It bears the
reputation of being one of the best conducted institutions of its class in the
world.

  Further particulars are given in the biographical sketches of Drs. Benjamin
Shurtleff and E. T. Wilkins elsewhere in this volume.

EDUCATIONAL

  The first school-house in Napa County was built by William H. Nash, near
Tucker Creek, above St. Helena, in 1849. In it a private school was taught by
Mrs. Forbes, whose husband had perished with the Donner party in 1846. Down to
1854 there was not a public school in the county, but there had been two or
three private schools. In 1855 a public school-house was erected by subscription
in Napa City.

  The Napa Collegiate Institute was erected in 1858-'60, and opened in August of
the latter year, by the citizens of the vicinity, and afterward it fell into the
hands of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It has since been remodeled and enlarged.

  The Napa Ladies' Seminary, an efficient school for young ladies, and the Oak
Mound School, are also good schools to fit for colleges.

  It will thus be seen that Napa has unusual school facilities; and it also has
well appointed churches of all the principal denominations.

  The county infirmary, near Napa, is a commodious and well arranged structure,
erected in 1869, at a cost exceeding $80,000.

  In Napa there are two tanneries, one of them the largest wool-pulling and
tanning establishment on the Pacific Coast. It has drain-tile and brick-works, a
glue factory, a busy fruit-packing establishment and wineries that rank in size
and reputation with the best in the State. The Napa woolen-mill has a wide
reputation for making fine fabrics. A company has also lately gone largely into
the business of grape drying and shipping. It has also a large sash and door
factory, etc., etc., has splendid water-works and no debt.

OTHER TOWNS.

  Yountville, the home of the old pioneer, George C. Yount, is a quiet little
town supported by wine-making and general farming. Near it is the Veterans'
Home, three fine buildings erected at intervals since 1882 by the Veterans' Home
Association, now receiving State and Government aid. About $100,000 has so far
been expended and about 300 old soldiers receive shelter. Additions to cost
$150,000 will shortly be made, which will more than double the capacity—a noble
work.

  Oakville, the next station going up the valley, is supported wholly by the
wine and farm interests. J. A. Brun & Co., and H. W. Crabb are the leading wine
men of the place.

  Rutherford is a shipping point of some importance. Here are the great cellars
of Ewer & Atkinson, Captain Niebaum, C. P. Adamson and others.

  The ground on which St. Helena stands was first owned and occupied by Edward
Bale, an English doctor, who procured it by grant from the Mexican Government.
Messrs. Still & Walters afterward bought from the grant the part now comprising
St. Helena. A. Tainter and John Greer bought of the latter parties the ground
now southwest of Main street, and other parties bought that portion lying
northeast of that line. Still & Walters built the first house in St. Helena,
about 1851, being a store building on the site subsequently occupied by G. F.
Brown. The original building was burned many years ago. The next settlers were
Dr. Stratton, John Kister, Mr. Fulton, A. Tainter, John Greer and others.

  St. Helena is now a busy town, second only in population and wealth to Napa.
It is the center par excellence of the wine industry of the county, its
cellarage capacity being something like 3,000,000 gallons out of a total for the
county of about 4,000,000 gallons. It has considerable manufacturing importance,
cooperage, foundry, etc., has excellent schools, good churches and many handsome
residences, notably those of T. Parrott, Fred. Beringer, Seneca Ewer, Mrs. Pope,
Mrs. Fuller, and others. Another noteworthy feature is the extraordinary number
of spry, active old men it possesses, seventy, eighty, and in one instance a man
over ninety in active business.

  Calistoga, at the base of Mt. St. Helena and the third in size in the county,
is the staging point for Lake County, the Geysers, etc., and a beautiful and
lively little town, having mines, large fruit orchards, especially prunes, and
some of the handsomest estates of wealthy men in the county. We may mention the
summer homes of A. L. Tubbs, Mr. Dexter, Dr. R. Beverley Cole and others as
types. It is a busy shipping point, being at the head of the railway. John York
was the first white settler in this locality, erecting a log cabin in the fall
of 1845,the first in that part of the county; and he also put in the first crop
of wheat.

  Calistoga has had a varied history. Sam Brannan, the "great and only,"
purchased its famous hot sulphur springs in 1859, immediately began to improve
the property and to construct a railroad. During its palmy days Calistoga was
the favored resort of wealth and fashion and drew great numbers of
pleasure-seekers from San Francisco and elsewhere. Brannan probably spent half a
million dollars in the effort to make Calistoga what he boasted he would do, the
Saratoga of the Pacific Coast. In 1868, however, an altercation with some
employes occurred, Brannan receiving pistol wounds in it which were at first
thought to be mortal. Family and financial troubles assailed him at about the
same time and shortly afterward the hotel was burned, the property passed from
his hands and the glory of the place departed. The springs are now the property
of the Southern Pacific and are lying idle. Not far from Calistoga is the
Petrified Forest, across the line in Sonoma County. Mount St. Helena rears its
huge proportions immediately at the head of the valley—a noble scene. Calistoga
has good public schools and churches of the leading denominations.

  Monticello is a little town in Berryessa Valley, the center of its trade and a
point of growing importance. Knoxville is a small village in Pope Valley, grown
up from the activity of the quicksilver mines.

  About six miles from Napa are the celebrated

NAPA SODA SPRINGS.

These springs, whose waters have been famous for more than thirty years past,
are situated on the mountain side of the valley rendered almost classic by the
pen of the tourist and the brush of the painter. Forty-five miles north of San
Francisco, they stand at the head of a canon in the mountains which form the
eastern boundary of Napa Valley, and six miles from Napa City. From this point
the artists Keith and Virgil Williams have so often transferred to canvas the
natural beauties of the landscape that their pictures form the most attractive
gems in some of our best art collections. The valley for twenty-five miles
below, the bay reflecting the white-winged sails of its proportion of the
world's commerce, mounts Tamalpais and Diablo, form a panorama bf surpassing
beauty and impressiveness. Among the attractions of the place we find groves of
patriarchal trees,—the live oak, the black oak, festooned with gray Spanish moss
or mistletoe, the eucalyptus, the mountain pine, while the Italian cypress adds
an exotic charm to the natural scenery. The almond, the olive, and the orange
give variety to the view, and testify to the semi-tropical mildness of the
climate and the generous fertility of the soil. Numerous living springs of fresh
water burst from the mountain side at such an elevation as to send the natural
flow over the entire property, and throughout the year this water is as cold as
ice. Along one side of the ground a mountain brook gathers the waters of
adjacent springs, filling a natural swimming pond cut out of the solid rock,
some 50 x 200 feet in size, and from six to nine feet deep, and also an
artificial swimming bath, 50x150, which is under cover and heated by steam. On
the other boundary a rocky gorge forms the background of a miniature Niagara,
with ninety feet of perpendicular fall. Stone quarried on the spot has supplied
the material for building; an orchard in full bearing furnishes abundant fruit,
and the choice vineyard has received numerous endorsements of the quality of its
wine.

  But the feature which most distinguishes this favored spot, and makes it
especially attractive, is its mineral springs, which are famous for their
curative properties, the same elements being held in solution that give to the
Carlsbad springs in Bohemia their rank among the first in the world. From more
than twenty of these springs is produced the article known as Napa Soda. This
water is bottled and sold just as it flows from Nature's laboratory, and its
long and continuous use attests its merit. A beautiful pagoda is built over one
of the springs, the solid stone pillars and floor forming a most appropriate
setting for the natural stone basin whence flow the waters which refresh, purify
and regulate the system and restore its strength and energy.

  The Bellevue is a conspicuously situated stone house of ten rooms, with
turrets, the main feature of which is the columns that grace the entrance,
standing upon a broad and open piazza, from which is a perfect view of the
entire lower half of Napa Valley, extending to the bay in the distance. These
columns are copied from those in the Capitol in Washington, beneath the United
States Marshal's office, which were designed by the engineer Latrobe, the
favorite architect of President Jefferson. They are what were known in that day
as the "corn-cob capitals," and consist of an imitation of corn stalks in the
columns, with the maize or ears half exposed in the capital. The adoption of
this design by Jefferson was in pursuance of his desire to establish a
distinctively American order of architecture. He thought it unworthy of America
that she should depend upon foreign nations for her artistic adornments, and
sought to introduce this new feature into the ornamentation of the public
buildings. His patriotic attempt to revolutionize the artistic taste of the
public appears to have been a failure, and the two cases mentioned are, perhaps,
the only instances where the idea has been adopted.

  One of the most notable buildings is the elegant new Rotunda. Circular in form
and seventy-five feet in height, it is surmounted by a glass cupola which
reflects for many miles both the rising and setting sun. On the right as one
enters the building, is the postoffice with a telephone communication with Napa
and thence by telegraph with any part of the world. On the opposite side is a
reception room for the convenience of the lady guests. The court in the center
is nearly 100 feet in diameter, fitted up as a grand parlor and ball-room,
handsomely carpeted and furnished, and lighted by a huge gas chandelier of
thirty-two lights. Extending around this entire circle is a wide promenade,
ontside of which are arranged the rooms for guests; all hard-finished, with gas
and water, and with windows looking out upon the land-scape.

  The club-house is another building of white stone, in which are the bar and
billiard-rooms, bagatelle table, bowling-alley, etc. The new dining-hall is
isolated from the remaining buildings, and is flanked by a commodious kitchen
and the rooms for the servants. Gas mains are laid throughout the grounds, and
the premises are lighted at night. Among the many pleasure resorts of
California, and within the reach of the the metropolis of the Pacific coast,
none surpasses in beauty and comfort this charming retreat. Its magnificent
scenery, fine drives and perfect accommodations render it the most delightful of
watering places; the last breath of the Seabreeze reaches it, and the pure air
and the soothing hush of night always insure sound and refreshing slumbers.

SPRINGS.

  Two and one-half miles south of St. Helena there are nine springs whose waters
are sulphuretted, and whose temperature is from 69 degrees to 89.6 degrees
Fahrenheit. These springs are used as a resort. In Pope Talley are the AEtna
Springs and Walters Springs, both favorite resorts. On the mountain side above
St. Helena are the Crystal Springs, or Rural Health Retreat, a deservedly
prosperous institution under the auspices of the Adventists.

NEWSPAPERS.

  The first newspaper in the county was the Napa Reporter, the first number of
which was issued July 4, 1856, by Alexander J. Cox. Although very small it was
in advance of the population, and could scarcely be sustained. The Napa Register
was established by Horel & Strong, August 10, 1863, and has been regularly
issued ever since.

  The present newspapers of the county are as follow: In Napa are the Register
and Reporter, both daily and weekly, founded both in 1856, both ably conducted
papers, the Journal founded in 1884, a weekly, and the Bee, first issued in
1890. In St. Helena are the Star, a weekly, conducted with unusual ability,
established in 1874, and the Reflector, a smart daily, lately come into
existence. At Calistoga is the Independent Calistogian, a weekly of influence
and strength, first issued in 1877.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California.

Illustrated, Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast
from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with
Glimpses of its Prospective Future; Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of
Prominent Citizens of To-day.

"A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendents." – Macauley.

CHICAGO
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1891.

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