San Diego-Butte-Yuba County CA Archives Biographies.....Choate, D. 1827 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 21, 2006, 3:29 am

Author: Theodore S. Van Dyke

D. CHOATE.

   IT was a happy inspiration which led the fathers of the State of Maine to
adopt as the motto of the young commonwealth, "Dirigo"—I direct. Situated on the
northeastern confines of the Union, her territory reaches well towards the
limits of a monarchial colony, and she stands as it were the most advanced
sentinel of the host of Republican States. This position in the national
sisterhood has had a marked effect in the formation of the character of her
citizens, and they have inherited with the air they breathe an ardor, a courage,
and a strength of will that is strongly marked, and is noticeable wherever they
are found. In every enterprise requiring push and daring they are among the
first; in every undertaking where brain and brawn united win the day, the hardy
men of Maine are to be found. When gold was discovered on the Pacific Coast and
the rush was made for the new El Dorado, the sons of Maine were in the van. They
joined in the great caravans that toiled and struggled in the weary march across
the plains; they enlisted in the army of gold hunters whose march over the
isthmus was marked by a line of fever-stricken victims; they joined the fleet of
argonauts that doubled Cape Horn and passed many weary months upon the sea—all
seeking one goal, all bound for one haven. Among the men from Maine who joined
the hosts of '49 was the subject of this sketch.

   D. Choate was born in Kennebec County, Maine, on the 9th of September, 1827.
His parents were farmers, and young Choate spent the early years of his life on
the farm, availing himself of such educational advantages as were to be found in
the district school until 1847, when he went to Lowell, Mass., to attend school.
He remained there until the winter of 1848-49. In February of the latter year he
joined a party of gold-seekers, and on the first day of March sailed from Boston
for Chagres, on the bark Thames. They had an uneventful voyage and reached the
isthmus in safety. The journey overland to Panama was attended with the usual
discomforts incident to the trip in those days, but the party were more
fortunate than many. Here, however, they were detained for a month waiting for a
vessel in which to obtain passage to San Francisco. Finally they embarked on
board an English brig, the Two Friends. This portion of their journey was
destined to be the most tedious of any. The vessel was small and overcrowded,
the winds were light or adverse, and they were one hundred and sixty-seven days
on the voyage. During this time the water and provisions got very low, and they
were on short allowance for one hundred days of the time. Finally, on the 12th
of October, or over seven months from the time they left home, they sailed
through the Golden Gate and came to an anchor off the straggling settlement of
Yerba Buena. The passengers of the Two Friends were not long in getting ashore,
and after a brief stop started for the mines, Choate making Ophir his objective
point. He remained there through the winter months and in April started for
Yuba. During the summer he was engaged with others in turning the river from its
bed, but the results were not up to the expectations of the prospectors. In the
spring of 1851, Choate returned to Ophir and soon became engaged in mercantile
business at this point. He remained at Ophir, carrying on a general mercantile
business, for seventeen years until the mines were exhausted. He then came down
to San Francisco, and in 1868 opened a dry goods house on Kearny Street, between
California and Pine. In July of the following year he wanted a brief rest from
business cares and a change of air, and having heard of the sanitary advantages
of San Diego he made up his mind to visit it. Steamers were then running down
the coast but once a month. Mr. Choate had not been many hours in San Diego
before he had decided that here was the place for him to locate. He felt
confident that upon the shores of this magnificent harbor would eventually arise
a city that would equal San Francisco. He had seen that city when it was but a
hamlet, and he saw no reason why San Diego should not in time increase in
population and wealth as it had done. So sanguine was his faith that he did not
even return to San Francisco to close up his business, but wrote to his brother
to sell out and follow him. In August, 1869, he found himself permanently
located in San Diego engaged in the real estate business. He made it a point to
buy up land by the acre, from one to three miles out, and carry all he could of
it, looking to the future for his profits. He had but one object in view—the
accumulation of a fortune which he had come to California to gain, but had
failed to acquire in the mines. His faith in the future of his adopted city
never forsook him, and through all the fluctuations that have marked the
progress of San Diego towards substantial prosperity, he held on to his real
estate and added to it as he could. It is a singular fact that the land Mr.
Choate bought in those early days, he holds now. He has laid out ten different
additions to the city, each containing from forty to eighty acres, and he now
has them all on the market. The lots are selling at from $200 to S500 each. The
increase in the value of his property within the last year is over $300,000.

   Mr. Choate is the promoter of the famous College Hill Loan Association, which
is destined to be one of the most successful real estate projects ever
undertaken in Southern California. The tract consists of one thousand six
hundred acres situated just north of the city park. It is laid out in blocks and
lots and now on the market. Every other block in the tract is given to the M. E.
Church; and the first $200,000 realized from the sale of the church lands is to
be used for building a college. The balance is to be sold from time to time and
the interest alone can be used. This college (which is a branch of the Methodist
Episcopal University of Southern California) will probably have an endowment
fund of at least $5,000,000, greater than most of the great colleges of the
Eastern States. The other half of the land is the property of the College Hill
Land Association, which consists of ten members, all of whom reside in this
city. The stock of the Association is now selling at $100 per share; its
original cost was $5.00 a share. There are one thousand five hundred shares. The
Association is still buying land. It is the intention of the Methodist people to
begin the erection of a college of fine arts during the present winter. There
will be a steam motor line running through the tract in a short time, and water
pipes will be laid to every block by the same time. Mr. Choate put this great
enterprise in operation by himself, contributing one hundred and fifty acres of
land.

   Mr. Choate is also interested in the Steiner, Klauber, Choate & Castle
Addition, containing one thousand acres, two and one-half miles from the city
and just east of the College Hill Tract. This tract was placed on the market
September 1, 1SS7, and the sales the first day reached $87,000 in this city and
$16,000 in San Francisco, at $100 per lot. Then they were raised to $125 for a
week, and then to $150. The total sales to January 1, 1888, exceeded $250,000.
The owners of the tract have entered into a contract with Babcock & Story for a
motor line through it, around to the College Hill Tract and down Fifth Street,
making a belt line from D Street.

   Mr. Choate was one of the prime movers in the various efforts that were made
to induce the building of railroads to San Diego, from the first Tom Scott boom
to the final completion of the California Southern. In 1875 he was appointed
postmaster and retained the office until 18S2, when he resigned to attend to his
private business. He has now retired from active business, but acts as an
adviser in the development of his many important real estate enterprises. Mr.
Choate has just completed a palatial residence on the corner of Fifth and
Hawthorne Streets, on Florence Heights. He also contemplates erecting a number
of substantial business buildings on several principal streets during the coming
spring. Mr. Choate is a faithful and consistent member of the Methodist Church,
and has given largely to many public charities. He is now in the possession of a
princely fortune, yet he says he would gladly forego it all, rather than again
pass through the anxieties, reverses, and disappointments he has experienced
during his residence in San Diego.


Additional Comments:
From:

THE
CITY AND COUNTY
OF
SAN DIEGO.
ILLUSTRATED,
AND CONTAINING
BI0GRAPHICAL SKETCHES
OF
PROMINENT MEN AND PIONEERS.

SAN DIEGO, CAL.
LEBERTHON & TAYLOR
1888


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