\ f5 f ! '■<^=v^:g- --r"-- ^m f arfe HhU OJoUege of l^gricuUure Jit QforneU IniweraitB Strata, S. 5. ffiibcatg F 868.A3L16 '"""""'">"■"'"'>' '^'»mmm?,X^r..}^.ti^f.ft!..Pl?'9'^ for your 3 1924 014 115 806 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924014115806 ALAMEDA COUNTY THE IDEAL PLACE FOR YOUR CALIFORNIA HOME BY HENRY ANDERSON LAFL.ER PUBLISHED BY THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS D. J. MURPHY (Chairman), F. W. FOSS, CHARLES W. HEYER JOSEPH M. KELLEY, JOHN F. MULLINS A3L)G Copyright 1915 By the Publicity Commissioners of Alameda County, California. Permission is hereby given to Reproduce and Publish any and all parts of this work, including illustrations. A RESIDENCE ON THE HEIGHTS OVERLOOKING OAKLAND AND SAN FRANCISCO BAY IMAGINE a sunny and well-watered land of plains, hills and valleys, in area more than one- half as large as the State of Rhode Island, and lying on the east shore of the beautiful Bay of San Francisco — that is Alameda County. It is California's third county in population and taxable prop- erty — only the County of Los Angeles and the City and County of San Francisco showing greater totals in these particulars. Like all Gaul, the county may be divided in three parts: First — ^A wonderfully fertile plain, with cities, towns, streams, farms and orchards, its western side forming for forty- seven miles the shore line of San Francisco Bay, and its eastern side terminated by hills. This plain contains something less than one-third of the area of the county. Second — Bold ranges of grassy hills on which roam thou- sands of cattle and where other thousands of deer find safe re- treat. These hills occupy more than one-third of the area of the county. Third — One large valley and many lesser valleys among the hills, each with its perennial stream, its heavy-fruited orchards, and wide vineyards, yielding wines that rival the ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA vintages of France. These valleys equal something less than one-third of the county. Thus Alameda County is a region of widely diversified scenery. Plains that front on the great harbor, with their orchards of oranges, lemons, apricots, apples, peaches, cherries, walnuts, almonds, nectarines and many other tropical and sub- tropical fruits, have a peaceful, old-world charm that accom- panies intensive cultivation and happy rural homes. The hills which look across the plain to the beautiful bay and toward the Golden Gate, are, in places, very rugged, and wooded with live oak, laurel and sycamore. Trout streams wind their way among the hills, and within the boundaries of the county are canyons, dark with redwood trees. The fact that the orange and lemon flourish in Alameda ALAMEDA COUNTY HAS A SUB-TROPICAL CLIMATE, AS MAY BE SEEN FROM THIS TROPIC GARDEN IN PIEDMONT THE ABOVE MAP SHOWS ALAMEDA COUNTY AND THE DIVISION OF ITS AREA INTO PLAIN, HILL AND VALLEY. ALONG THE BAY ARE EXTENSIVE LEVEL LANDS; IN THE NORTHWEST CORNER ARE THE EASTBAY CITIES; IN THE NORTHEASTERLY PORTION IS THE LIVERMORE VALLEY; INTERVENING ARE MANY SQUARE MILES OF HILLS ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA CITY HALL, OAKLAND, LOOKING ACROSS LAKE MERRITT County proves that never does the temperature, winter or sum- mer, fall to a point that is dangerous to deHcate foliage. But, on the other hand, unHke many other regions where the orange and lemon flourish, never does the climate of Alameda County reach extremes of heat. The waters of San Francisco Bay are cool, and even on the sunniest day of the year there is a linger- ing coolness in the air from the wide spaces of the Bay. The fogs which gather along the coasts of the Pacific and roll over the sea-fronting hills seldom penetrate as far inland as the borders of the county. Even when fleecy fog gathers along the levels nearest the Bay, it usually has lost a large part of its dampness and chill. For a climate that conduces both to work and play — which is never so warm as to be enervating and never too cold for comfort — it is confidently affirmed that the climate of Alameda County realizes the absolute ideal. ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Within the boundaries of Alameda County there are three large cities, having a population of more than 300,000 souls. These three cities are Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda, all lying in the extreme northwestern corner of the county and fronting on the Bay of San Francisco. In fact, the City of Alameda, the smallest of the three, is an island connected with Oakland by bridges across a narrow estuary and tidal canal. The three cities to the stranger would appear as one — in fact, they are one in all respects save their names and governments. Berkeley and Oakland are contiguous in respect to their southern and northern boundaries. Alameda is separated from Oakland by only a few hundred feet of water. The same street car system serves the three comrhunities and one may ride from the remotest corner of Berkeley to the farthest side of Alameda for five cents. HOTEL OAKLAND: TERMINAL HOTEL OF LINCOLN HIGHWAY '* i; «^ « 11 f, f, « II 18 11 II 11 ii it It is II II l\ „ " !! Si « II fi II ii »! i! « S! il II i! !f Ii Si ii f! '^ H fi OAKLAND S TWO MILLION DOLLAR CITY HALL — ONE OF THE MOST ORIGINAL ANp STRIKINQ CIVIC BUILDINGS IN AMERICA. ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA A BERKELEY HOME OF CHARACTERISTIC BEAUTY The separation of the east bay cities into three communities and their proximity to San Francisco have contributed to the lack of realization on the part of people generally of the size and im- portance of what is essentially a single community on the east shore of San Francisco Bay — a single community with a popu- lation equaling that of Kansas City, Minneapolis, New Orleans or Washington, D. C. The topography of Oakland and Berkeley gives them a unique character, capable of unlimited development in the direc- tion of beauty. Along two sides of these cities is San Francisco Bay with its indentations. Near the Bay the land is level, once well wooded with live oaks — ^whence the name of Oakland — and is admirably suited to all purposes of manufacture and com- merce. On the inland side of this level area is a range of hills, parallel with th? shore line of the Bay. These hills slope gently THE HOTEL SHATTUCK, BERKELEY, ONE OF A NUMBER OF SPLENDID HOTELS IN ALAMEDA COUNTY A GLIMPSE OF CLAREMONT, A RESTRICTED RESIDENCE DISTRICT OF BERKELEY, WITH THE CLAREMONT HOTEL IN THE BACKGROUND ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA from the plain upon which the business districts of Berkeley and Oakland are situated. But their crests are bold and rugged and reach elevations of one thousand, fifteen hundred and seventeen hundred feet. On the gentle slopes of these hills, circling above San Francisco Bay and looking straight out through the Golden Gate to the Pacific Ocean, are thousands of the most charming resi- dences of California. Owing to the topography, all the rail- roads, warehouses, business structures and factories in the cities of Oakland and Berkeley are situated on the level land close to the Bay shore. This leaves all the foothills free for residences, and there you may drive for miles along curving avenues past green lawns, and hedges intertwined with roses, and see not a single unsightly building. A GIANT BANANA PALM IN AN OAKLAND PARK ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA THE FEATHERY TOPS OF THE EVERGREEN EUCALYPTUS MAKE AN ADMIRABLE BACKGROUND FOR THIS OAKLAND HILLSIDE HOME Fortunately, before these hill slopes were laid out, the ruinous plan followed in so many cities of making the streets checker-board fashion, whether the land was flat or hilly, had been abandoned. So the avenues in sections picturesquely named with such names as Piedmont-by-the-Lake, Rockridge, Clare- mont, Cragmont, Northbrae and Thousand Oaks, follow the contours of the hills, now swinging around the bold shoulder of a grassy knoll, whence the delighted visitor may look over seven counties and one hundred square miles of hill, sea, bay, city, mountain and plain, or again dipping into a wooded dell, where charming residences, embowered in vines and flowers, closely nestle. Dwellers on these happy hill slopes of Alameda County, just far enough from the sea to escape the chill of the fog, yet ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA VIEW FROM THE PIEDMONT AND BERKELEY HILLS LOOKING STRAIGHT OUT THROUGH THE GOLDEN GATE TO THE PACIFIC near enough so that even on the warmest day, as already men- tioned, there is always a welcome touch of coolness in the air, occupy, as has been well said, "loges in the balcony" at the vast and splendid panorama of San Francisco Bay. With the changing lights from dawn to dark, the Bay, with its scattered islands, alters color. Sometimes it is a deep blue, almost purple; as the sun sinks toward the Golden Gate, it gilds the tops of the little waves and makes of the Bay a bur- nished mirror. Through wistaria-hung windows, the hill dwellers may see the coming and going of great liners, bound for the warm south seas, for China, or the island continent; or, per- chance, tall white-sailed ships that carry California grain through the Panama Canal to New York, or Europe; or still again, in the late fall when they come sailing through the Golden Gate, ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA clipper ships and steam schooners with their holds full of salmon from Alaskan waters; or squat, black brigs and barks, home from whaling voyages to the Bering Sea. And always, to and fro, between San Francisco and the East Bay cities, pass the brighdy painted ferry boats with their long and snowy wakes. Probably nowhere else in the country is the value of land so largely determined by the view as in all the charming hill slopes fronting the Bay. A lot which commands a particularly fascinating vista, through the evergreen eucalyptus, toward Mt. Tamalpais, rearing its dark and shaggy head twenty-five hun- dred feet in air, may sell for fifty per cent more than one adjoin- ing, which permits only an elusive glimpse of blue water or bluer A TYPICAL HOME ON THE HILLSLOPES OF PIEDMONT WITH A VIEW EMBRACING ONE HUNDRED SQUARE MILES OF LAKE, CITY, BAY, HILLS AND OCEAN ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA AN ALAMEDA COUNTY GARDEN — GREEN THE YEAR ROUND mountain ranges. Fortunately, far-sighted pioneers in the East Bay Cities had the wisdom to plant trees along these hills and to the natural groves of live oak (which keeps its leaves green all the year long) has been added the tall, graceful form of the eucalyptus, which also is green winter and summer. It is no wonder that such a climate, such a view, and prox- imity to the great population center of Western America, famous for its achievements in art, music, drama and letters, should attract beauty-lovers the world over. The climate of Alameda County is not so warm as to be depressing. There is never a -day so hot that action is an effort. Here one does not decline into mere comfortable idleness as in more Southern regions. No one who has really tasted the de- A PALATIAL RESIDENCE IN CLAREMONT. AN EXCLUSIVE RESIDENCE SECTION OF BERKELEY. THE CLIMATE OF ALAMEDA COUNTY PERMITS OF MUCH LIVING OUT-OF-DOORS : HENCE THE POPULARITY OF SUCH OPEN PORCHES AS THAT SHOWN IN THE PICTURE ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA licious air of the East Bay Cities ever finds the lassitude of a warmer climate endurable. It is truism to say that large fortunes have come in America through the exploitation of some great natural resource such as oil, lumber, land, cattle, gold or copper. Many of the magnates in these staples throughout the United States v^^est of the Rockies have, it seems, gravitated toward the beautiful Bay of San Fran- cisco and sought within sight of its waters in Alameda County their ultimate homes. Piedmont, which has the distinction of being a community composed entirely of residences and lies on the hill slopes entirely surrounded by the City of Oakland, is said to have thirty-two millionaires, possessing the largest per capita wealth of any community of its size in the United States. AN EMBOWERED AVENUE IN PIEDMONT ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA A TYPICAL RESIDENCE IN THE PIEDMONT HILLS — ON ACCOUNT OF THE IDEAL CLIMATE AND THE MAGNIFICENT VIEW, THE GENTLE SLOPES OF THE HILLS OVERLOOKING SAN FRANCISCO BAY ARE INCLINING THOUS- ANDS OF WELL-TO-DO PEOPLE TO MAKE THIS THEIR ULTIMATE HOME On one avenue you see a charming and palatial home, its gardens riotous with roses, and are told that the wealth of its owner was made from the inexhaustible petroleum fields of Cali- fornia. The master of another mansion controls, you are told, the cattle on a thousand Nevada hills. A third owns a great slice of the yellow pine forests of the Sierras. Here on the East Bay hill slopes they are gathered, because here living is ideal — mere existence a pleasure. It must not be thought that all the homes are those of people of wealth. On the contrary, tucked away in delightful nooks and corners of the hills is many a modest bungalow, only re- ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA A PIEDMONT HOME: AS THIS PICTURE SHOWS. THE PALM AND PINE TOUCH HANDS IN ALAMEDA COUNTY sembling the villas and palatial residences in that the roses in its garden bloom as luxuriantly and the purple bougainvilla climbs as profusely to the chimney top. The City of Berkeley occupies nine square miles and has the distinction of being the most rapidly growing community of its size in the United States during the last census period, increas- ing from 1 3.445 in 1 900 to 40.000 in 1 91 0. It is now estimated to have a population close to 64,000. The city witfi its beau- tiful homes is the seat of the University of California, the second largest university in the United States, with an attendance in excess of 8000. In the University grounds, many acres in extent, enriched with forests of oak and eucalyptus, are two architec- tural triumphs, either one of which would bring fame to any ALAMEDA COUN T Y , . C ALI FORN I A European city. The first of these is the Greek theatre — an am- phitheatre of soHd masonry built in a charming hollow of a wooded hillside and capable of accommodating ten thousand people at one time. This reproduction of a theatre of ancient Greece has become the mecca of the greatest artists of the stage, for, as Sarah Bernhardt said: "Here, under the blue California skies, in the winey air, with the fragrant forests all about and an appreciative California audience, every artist is stimulated to reach the very pinnacle of achievement." The half-hour of music every Sunday afternoon brings thousands from the nearby cities. The second notable architectural feature of the University campus is the Sather Tower, a slender shaft of white California granite, whose pinnacle is more than six hundred feet above the level of the blue waters of the Bay which it overlooks. This THE FAMOUS GREEK THEATRE AT BERKELEY ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA bell tower, or Campanile, was built as a memorial by Jane K. Sather and was designed by John Galen Howard. Although just completed, its fame is already widespread and it seems des- tined to rank as one of the most notable architectural achieve- ments in America. It is in such an atmosphere of beauty, where Art and Nature join hands to the end of loveliness, that the Home Ideal may find its resting place. Quite different, yet no less unusual and alluring in their own way, are the homes in the third of the three large cities that form one community in the northwestern extremity of Alameda County. Alameda has no hills. It is a level island bounded on IN THE ISLAND CITY OF ALAMEDA THE LAWNS OF MANY HOMES SLOPE DOWN TO THE BEACH, OR THEIR WINDOWS LOOK ACROSS A SHORE BOULEVARD TO THE WATER AS IN THIS PICTURE A ' J ( i SATHER TOWER, A SHAFT OF WHITE GRANITE IN THE GROUNDS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA ALAMEDA COUNTY IS THE HOME OF THE BUNGALOW — COMFORTABLE, BEAUTIFUL AND INEXPENSIVE. the north by the busy waters of Oakland harbor; on the east by San Leandro Bay; on the west and south by the waters of the great Bay of San Francisco. Alameda is the home of the bungalow, containing perhaps the most beautiful streets of bun- galows in the bay region of California. The lawns of many houses slope down almost to the waters' edge. Long, white, sandy beaches attract thousands of pleasure-seekers to enjoy swimming and bathing through nearly every month of the year. Hundreds of row boats and yachts gathered along the beachep or in the quiet waters of San Leandro Bay testify to the interest in sailing and rowing. It was of Alameda that the poet wrote: There waits a dear island where many are happy. And sea-weary ships lie a-resling, Where the breezes are mild and the gardens are sweet, ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA And where birds in the trees are a-nesting. You may seek you a dwelling o'er furrow or foam. In city or wilderness fair; But you never will know all the meaning of home, Until you have made you one there. Beautiful as are the cities of Alameda County and alluring as they are to all peoples in other and less favored climates, their charm is no greater than that of the rural districts of the county. Imagine yourself in a motor bound from the Eaist Bay Cities east and southward toward the southern boundary of Alameda County. Leaving Oakland behind, the State Highway, asphalt on a cement base, and smooth as a ballroom floor, swings along high, bold hills, wooded here and there with oak and eucalyptus. A TYPICAL BUNGALOW STREET IN ALAMEDA WITH SAN FRANCISCO BAY IN THE BACKGROUND ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA These hills are north and east of the road. To the south and west you look away across a level and enormously fertile plain, covered with orchards, with here and there a tall eucalyptus rear- ing its green head eighty feet in the air. Among the blossoms of the almond and cherry trees you see half-hidden, cozy bunga- lows on orchard farms of five and ten acres, whose products sup- port a family in comfort. Beyond the plain, looking from the Foothill Boulevard, you catch a glimpse of the silver waters of the Bay and here and there close to the shore are ribbon-like sloughs, amid marshes, where, in winter, thousands of wild duck gather and furnish the finest sport to the gunner. Successively you pass San Leandro, with its cherry orchards, its shade trees and tasteful business blocks; Hayward, with its great canneries. A little further on is Decoto, a village with fertile lands all about it and next comes Niles, set at the mouth of the canyon of ITS GOOD ROADS ARE THE PRIDE OF ALAMEDA COUNTY- ARE AMONG THE BEST IN THE WORLD. THIS IS A SCENE IN LIVERMORE VALLEY -THEY ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA MISSION SAN JOSE, ESTABLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF FATHER JUNIPERO SERRA BY FATHER FIRMIN DE LASUEN, JUNE ELEVEN, SEVENTEEN NINETY-SEVEN. ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA CENTURY OLD PALMS PLANTED BY THE MISSION FATHERS AT PALMDALE, NEAR MISSION SAN JOSE. the same name, and lying in the hollow of a great circle made by the waters of Alameda Creek. Still to the north and east is a bold range of hills, to the south and west level, orchard-dotted country, and always beyond at every rise in the road a glimpse of the wide-spreading waters of the arm of the sea. A few miles southerly from Niles you enter a domain of picturesqueness and romance. For here is Mission San Jose, where one hundred and eighteen years ago a few Franciscan fathers, sent up by Junipero Serra, planted a cross of wood and gathered the Indians from hills and plain to listen to the teach- ings of the church and learn of agriculture and the primitive arts of building and weaving. The Mission was founded June 1 1 , 1 797, by Padre Firmin de Lasuen. Pear trees planted by him still blossom and bear fruit. With unerring sense the mission fathers chose the most beau- tiful and well-watered spots for their missions. Some spiritual prescience seemed to guide them to the sunny slopes of well- watered hills, where springs never fail and frosts never come. ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Such a spot as this naturally is one of the places that allure the seeker for the Ideal Home. And here, indeed, you may find such an one. Enter the gates of Palmdale, in the little town called Mis- sion San Jose, and you are in fairyland. Imagine all the beautiful trees and shrubs of the sub-tropics and north temperate zone gathered together, and every one a perfect specimen of its kind. Imagine avenues of palms as tall as pines — palms planted by the mission fathers. Imagine fruits of every conceivable variety. Here, long rows of grapes, purple and white ; there, almond and walnut trees, with spreading branches; a few steps further and you pass beneath the branches of giant fig trees, weighted down with purple fruit; a turnstile in the hedge brings you to a little orchard, where branches of the dark green trees bend to the ground with their weight of oranges. Beyond, yellow lemons grow luxuriantly. Berries of all sorts; the alligator pear; the loquot; the persimmon; all the southern and northern fruits here grow together. And as for flowers, in the dusky reaches of the ever-living A PICTURESQUE OLD ADOBE RELIC OF THE SPANISH REGIME IN ALAMEDA COUNTY ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA stream are great masses of pale calla lilies; roses brighten the green lawns; great sheaves of cannas, ten feet high, are massed near the dwelling, over which clamber purple-flowered vines. Nowhere in the world may the man who loves beautiful gardens and takes delight in the profusion and variety of tree and vine find such a garden spot in which to plant his dwelling, as here on the warm southwestern slopes of the Alameda County hills. A mile away from Mission San Jose, another estate, known as Warm Springs, adds to a similar luxuriance of flower, fruit and foliage, a series of lily-laden pools, connected by a thread of water which issues from the hillside above and which maintains, winter and summer, a temperature above blood heat. Another mile and the visitor may see traces of the early Spanish civiliza- tion in the county when the Amadors, the Pachecos, the Alvisos, and Peraltas counted their cattle by the thousands, and when wild oats grew on the level plain as high as a horse. An old adobe, its walls three feet thick, stands by the roadside, mute evidence of different, and perhaps more romantic, times. From near its walls stretches a great hedge of giant cactus, twenty feet high, once an effective barrier to Indian attacks. The smiling land — plain and hollow — not only offers a GATHERING WILD POPPIES ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA ALAMEDA COUNTY IS NOTED FOR ITS CHURCHES — THIS ONE IN ALAMEDA IS EMBOWERED IN GREENERY ALL THE YEAR AROUND climate that is matchless, no matter where in the world you seek, but a special flavor of romantic times, of a picturesque civiliza- tion that has all but vanished. For long before European civil- ization had set a mark upon the great mid-sections of the conti- nent, California was the scene of a great and courageous effort by faithful priests to establish a permanent and enduring civiliza- tion and evidence of this still meets the eye in the vine-clad mis- sions and crumbling adobes that are to be found throughout a great part of the State, and nowhere more strikingly than in Alameda County. In some parts of California, water for irriga- tion still flows through ditches dug while George Washington was President. Services are still held in the ancient Mission San Jose, but gone are its days of power and splendor, when the good fathers taught their flocks of thousands of natives and the Mission counted Alameda county. California ST. PAUL S CHURCH, OAKLAND, TYPICAL IN THE BEAUTY OF ITS SURROUNDINGS OF THE SACRED EDIFICES OF ALAMEDA COUNTY its cattle and sheep by the tens of thousands. Still in the towns and villages of the county are hundreds of Spanish names and swarthy visages proclaim their descent from Castillian or Indian forebears. There are many who still remember when there were no fences in the county ; when the cattle, herded in common, were gathered at the yearly rodeo and each man took his brand; and when a good horse could be bought for a dollar and a half. Over the fertile coastal plain from Mission San Jose white macadam roads lead to many towns and villages lying to the west toward the Bay. But rather than traverse them all, let us turn and climb the high rounded mountain that towers behind the Mission and is known as Mission Peak. From its summit what a panorama is spread out! Far to the northwest, a haze of smoke and the dim shapes of tall white ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA buildings declare the location of the East Shore Cities — Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda. Southward the coastal plain extends into Santa Clara County, as far as the eye can reach. At your feet, west and northwest, is the coastal plain of Alameda County, its fields a many-colored checker-board — yellow for the grains; light green for the vineyards; a darker tint for the apricot orchards. Beyond the plain, with a narrow, deep-green rim of sloughs and marshes, is the great Bay of San Francisco, shining like a sea of gold in the afternoon sun. Beyond the Bay, a smudge of smoke tells where San Francisco lies and southward from San Francisco, parallel with the Bay's farther shore, the high violet-colored range of the Santa Cruz mountains extends southward till the eye can no longer follow it. And standing on the crest of Mission Peak, you perceive that you are on one of the very highest of hills packed close together like a flock of sheep that, beginning, as far as you can see, just back of Berkeley, sweep in a great semi-circle to where you stand, enclos- ing the plain and the Bay like the rim of a shallow, flat-bottomed bowl, and extend southward twenty miles from Mission Peak to where Mt. Hamilton lifts its rocky head. On the plain below you, among the cultivated fields, you can count the church spires of a dozen towns and villages — A GLIMPSE OF HIGHLAND DRIVE OF THE CITIES OF OAKLAND, PIEDMONT AND BERKELEY ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA Milpitas, Alvarado, Newark, Centerville, and Irvington, while close to the hills are Niles and Decoto. With a powerful glass you can make out the inevitable tall green palms in the grounds of the farmhouses or even see the yellow glint of oranges on the trees in every dooryard. For in this part of the county, as in nearly all, the palm and the orange are the favorite ornamental trees. Turn now and look east and northeast from Mission Peak. Hills, hills, hills, as far as the eye can reach. And what a con- trast to the level fertility of the western view. For among the hills, only here and there are there fields and habitations. For the most part, the hills A WATERFALL IN PIEDMONT PARK are grazing land. BORDERED BY BANANA PALMS But what scenery! What a paradise for the huntsman ! There are roads among the hills where you look down hundreds of feet to the bushy tops of evergreen trees that line the streams. There are remote canyons of wild grandeur. In these hills, it is estimated that there are 5,000 wild deer, literally only a few miles from the three- quarters of a million people who reside in the cities of San Fran- cisco Bay. About 400 deer are bagged by hunters every year in Alameda County. So o f^M |@H Hh^R ^B ^^^^ ^s i^K ^B^yH^a^wB t» sV |BP^?^S^™5iM ^^^p ^^^^H ^^f -^^0 ^^m' >^^^^^ ^K i-JHH^H ^K' ^. ^^^^^^S ALAlVIEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA here in the dooryard, as it were, of the Ideal Home, is some of the finest hunting to be had anywhere. But it is not deer alone that furnish sport to the huntsman. Coyote and HUNDREDS OF DEER ARE KILLED ANNUALLY wildcat mav be IN THE HILLS OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, FRE- i . j • , QUENTLY WITHIN TWENTY-FIVE OR THIRTY """ted m these MILES OF THE TEEMING CITIES hills, and occa- sionally a moun- tain lion is shot in the wilder sections of the county east of Mission Peak. As for feath- ered game, it is plentiful. Cali- fornia valley quail, one of the most tooth- s o m e of all game birds, is to be found in every wooded hollow ; while doves, in sea- son, furnish ex- cellent sport, not only among the hills, but in the valleys and on the plains. As for fishing, Alameda Creek ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA and its tributaries are alive with brook trout and up this and other streams the salmon run in the spawning season. All the above are summer sports. But it is when the rams of the mild California winter are at hand that the hunter finds the greatest sport. San Francisco Bay — especially the rim of marshy land along its eastern shore in Alameda County — is the favorite southern refuge from the northern cold of millions of wild fowl. Snipe and plover skitter along the beaches. Every kind and variety of duck — canvas-back, mallard, teal, spoonbill — darken the air above the marshes and cover the water along the shore. It is estimated that 100,000 wild ducks and geese are annually bagged by gunners in Alameda County. The vast numbers of wild fowl that come in the rainy winter permit the City of Oakland to furnish the visitor one of the most remarkable sights that may be seen anywhere. Almost in the exact geographical center of the city is beautiful Lake Merritt, covering 160 acres. It is connected with the bay and HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF WILD DUCK HAUNT THE MARSHY SHORELINE OF SOME PARTS OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY, AFFORDING THE FINEST SPORT DURING THE SEASON *»^»tJi»^ mm^ i m irram mmmmmm i ffm mt mmmmM it MmmimM ^smmmam i m^sl I M iW imS^m L. ^i. , ' ■,:•» ' -(H' ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA LAKE MERRITT, IN THE CENTER OF OAKLAND, SHOWING SOME OF THE THOUSANDS OF WILD DUCK WHICH FREQUENT IT GLORIOUS TROUT FISHING IS TO BE ENJOYED IN THE MANY STREAMS OF ALAMEDA COUNTY ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA A GLIMPSE OF NILES CANYON AND ALAMEDA CREEK its waters are therefore not only salt, but rise and fall with the tide. From autumn to spring this lake in the heart of the city is the home of literally thousands of ducks. No shooting is per- mitted, and even the big canvas-backs and mallards become almost as tame as domestic fowl. When storms of wind and rain are imminent the ducks may be seen from the streets, homes and office buildings of the busy city flying over in hundreds to take refuge in the lake. Lake Merritt is nearly surrounded by parks, and allured by a bushel of wheat that the Oakland Park Commissioners daily appropriate, the more venturesome of the wild ducks, and especially the gulls and mudhens that accom- pany them, frequently venture out on the clipped green lawns. The Park Commissioners recently refused permission to the operator of a hydroplane to alight in the lake lest it might frighten the ducks away. Which tends to prove that Lake ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA A FOUR CORNERS IN THE LIVERMORE VALLEY Merritt comes near being the wild duck's paradise of the west. But to return to Mission Peak. To the northeast, some- thing more than hills may be discerned — namely, in the distance a great and fertile valley. Let us descend to the Mission and motor three miles back to Niles (where, by the way, the Essenay Film Company maintains a great plant, because of the beauty and variety of the surrounding scenery) and "take the valley road." "The valley road" from Niles follows the upward course of Alameda Creek, at first with high, pardy wooded hills crowd- ing close on either hand. Along the stream and spreading their wide branches across the road are evergreen live oaks and laurel and the deciduous sycamore and alder. Suddenly, after a few miles, the canyon widens to a valley. Wide orchards and fields OQ U O X a, u. o u o a: H Q D o a o a: o u< u i: H O O wi >-' Ul J J OS o > o u tn a, J o o H z < en < J a. b o z o H U H Q z CQ Q z < H to a < X ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA appear and we arrive at the little town of Sunol, as beautifully situated in its valley as even Mission San Jose. In this valley, Lou Dillon, in her day the fastest trotting mare in the world, was foaled and was taught her paces. Continuing, northeast- ward, the valley still grows wiusr. A part of it here is covered by the greatest hop fields in the state. Soon we arrive in the shady streets of the town apdy named Pleasanton, with its famous race track and its tradition of noted race-horses. Ten miles further, is Livermore, the metropolis of the valley, set in the center of fields and vineyards and looking to the distant and en- circling hills. No one who has not actually seen Livermore Valley can conceive of its beauty and charm. The low hills on every hand, tawny yellow in summer and emerald green in winter, furnish a delightful contrast to the level valley floor. The three towns — Sunol, Pleasanton and Livermore — are strung like pearls on the slender thread of the stream that winds its way along the fertile THE LIVERMORE SANITARIUM, A PRIVATE INSTITUTION, SITUATED IN A LOVELY VALLEY ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA WATER TEMPLE AT SUNOL ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA A GLIMPSE OF THE RESIDENCE AND GARDENS OF PHOEBE A. HEARST, NEAR PLEASANTON, valley; and orchards of peach, pear and apricot; vineyards of white and purple grapes ; dense green of alfalfa fields and yellow of the summer grain, stretch away from the towns on every hand, while some of the finest roads in California, like white ribbons laid between the colored fields, tie the towns together. No wonder that overlooking the Livermore Valley, near Pleasanton, the late Senator George Hearst, with all California to choose from, fixed the site for his famous home. Hacienda del Pozo de Verona (The House of the Well of Verona), where his widow, Phoebe A. Hearst, now lives. This residence in its architecture and its setting carries out the best traditions of California. The great house is distinctly jn Mission style, with square towers, red tiled roof, wrought iron ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA balconies, and cream colored walls. Here is the very home of open-handed California hospitality. In the course of a year, literally thousands of distinguished visitors to the state and those with whom Mrs. Hearst comes in contact through her interest in the University of California and in good works generally, are entertained at the Hacienda. The place is a perfect bower of flowers and the hospitals of San Francisco receive from Mrs. Hearst hundreds of boxes of the choicest blooms. There is a marked contrast between the spacious villa of Phoebe A. Hearst, a great benefactress, on the hills above Pleasanton, and the humble cottage of Joaquin Miller, a great poet, on the hills above Oakland. But both chose their places MANY ALAMEDA COUNTY HOUSES, LIKE THIS RESIDENCE. SHOW SPANISH INFLUENCES IN THEIR ARCHITECTURE ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA of residence for the same reason — beauty, climate, view; in short, ideal conditions of living. From the porch of Joaquin Miller's cottage a vast panorama is unrolled — fold on fold of hills, deep and dusky canyons, the colored roofs of a great city, the waters of the vast Bay, and blue and distant mountains. The place where Joaquin Miller lived, wrote his immortal poems, and died, is reached by an hour's walk over a steadily climbing road, from the residence section of Oakland and is within the city limits. Here the poet planted innumerable trees of the many varieties that flourish in California; and took delight •in building of native stone a number of quaint monuments — one to Moses, one to Robert Browning, and one to John C. Fremont, who first saw and named the Golden Gate from near this spot. And here also stands the pyre built by the poet, where his ashes were scattered in the flames. In many of the poems of Joaquin Miller are enshrined hints JOAQUIN miller's HOME of the beauty of the landscape about his home. Here is just one of them. OAKLAND As Seen from the Hights. Deep below us lies the valley, Steep below us lies the town, Where great sea-ships ride and rally. And the world walks up and down. Oh, the sea of lights, far-streaming. Where the thousand flags are furled. And the gleaming bay lies dreaming. As it duplicates the world. The home of Joaquin Miller is being kept just as he left it, by his widow and his daughter, Juanita, and to that home on the hillside thousands make pil- grimage. The healthfulness of Alameda County is one of the things that make it the ideal place in all the world to live in. There are in the county, despite the warmth and geniality of the climate, no mosquitoes of the variety that convey malaria and yellow fever. Hence, these diseases are un- known. Furthermore, the ab- sence of snow and sleet, of ice and piercing wind, insures also the almost complete absence of half a dozen affections that fol- low upon chill and exposure. Pneumonia in Alameda County is very rare. So also are the diar- rhoeal diseases which accompany ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA very hot weather. Rheumatism is almost unknown. Hence it is that the City of Alameda with a population of 30,000 claims the proud distinction of being the healthiest community of its size in the United States. The United States Government compiles statistics regarding the death rate in all cities of 100,000 popu- lation and over. In this compilation Oakland makes a wonder- ful record. In 1911, the city had the lowest death rate of any city in the United States of 1 00,000 population and over. The figure was 12.5 per 1000. In 1912, Oakland was fourth in the long list of 50 cities, being excelled only by Portland (Ore- gon), Minneapolis and St. Paul. In 1913, Oakland was, with the exception of Portland (Oregon), the healthiest large city in the United States. Perhaps one of the strongest factors that make for health HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS YEARLY ENJOY THE PLEASURES OF SURF BATHING ON THE ALAMEDA BEACHES ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA and the "joy of living" in the balmy climate of Alameda County is the opportunity for outdoor recreation the year round. For example, on the white beaches that fringe the southern shore of the island city of Alameda, a quarter of a million people annu- ally enjoy the delights of surf-bathing. On sunny days, even in December and January, scores may be seen disporting in the waters of the Bay. It is not surprising, therefore, that some of the world's most famous swimmers — especially women swimmers — are natives of Alameda County. Among these are Nell Schmidt, Mrs. Tesch and her daughter. To a certain extent, yachting is enjoyed the year round in the open waters of San Francisco Bay, though many boats are laid up for the winter. However, in the enclosed waters, such as Lake Merritt, fine days in the dead of winter see gaily painted canoes, row boats and white-sailed sloops dancing over the blue surface of the water. The boat house on Lake Merritt, in the heart of the City of Oakland, is operated by the municipality and a hundred thousand persons yearly use the boats, for which only a small fee in asked. The boats and boating are in charge of the Playgrounds Department of the City of Oakland. Oakland has 38 public playgrounds with an aggregated attendance of a million children yearly. Berkeley and Alameda are also famous for their activities in the domain of healthful play. On these play- grounds, in use every day in the year, there are always crowds of happy young people engaged in playing tennis, baseball, basket- ball or volley-ball. NELL SCHMIDT, FAMOUS SWIMMER OF ALAMEDA ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA OAKLAND IS NOTED FOR ITS PLAYGROUNDS, WHICH ARE IN USE AT EVERY SEASON OF THE YEAR Social center buildings in the playgrounds and school houses are available for lectures, club meetings, entertainments and dancing. It is not remarkable to find here, in a climate that per- mits of outdoor games throughout the year, athletic excellence of a high order. Only one example need be mentioned here. Maurice McLoughlin, the world's greatest tennis player, is a resident of Alameda County, and much of his practice work is done on beautiful private courts in Piedmont, near his home. It is not alone young people who play outdoors in Alameda County in January the same as June. The golf links of the coujtry clubs all winter long are alive with players, many of the women wearing white duck skirts in winter as well as summer. ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA There are two well established country clubs. The Clare- mont Country Club is an old established organization with a commodious club-house near the end of Broadway, Oakland. On the three asphalt tennis courts are played many of the Cali- fornia State and Pacific Coast tournaments. The club-house is embowered in vines; the grounds are a flower garden, while the golf links, comprising 120 acres, are esteemed one of the most beautiful in California. A little stream lined with alders strikes through one corner of the property of the Club, while the hill above is clothed with pines. The Sequoyah Country Club is situated in the hills near the famous Foothill Boulevard, a part of the Lincoln Highway. This is a newly organized club, set in a wonderfully picturesque AN OAKLAND PLAYGROUND ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA location amid rolling hills, sparsely wooded with live oak. The Sequoyah Country Club links are laid out as a championship course, with ample room and the regulation number of holes. This country club also has facilities for tennis and other sports. The University of California has just finished the construction at a cost of $20,000 of nine new terraced asphalt courts, which indicates, in a degree, the attention which is given to healthful play in Alameda County. Nor is the aesthetic side of life neglected in this land of dreams on the shore of San Francisco Bay. The Greek Theatre at Berkeley naturally attracts great dramatic artists, and the dome of blue above and the green waving banners of the trees give to the great classics of the stage when produced here an unforgetable quality. GOLF LINKS OF THE CLAREMONT COUNTRY CLUB ON CHRISTMAS DAY, NINETEEN FOURTEEN. THE CLAREMONT COUNTRY CLUB, OAKLAND, WHERE TENNIS AND GOLF ARE PLAYED EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR A PRIVATE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS IN PIEDMONT, WHICH IS THE EXCLUSIVE RESIDENCE CITY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, HAVING FIFTEEN HUNDRED HOMES AND ONLY ONE STORE ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA As a dramatic critic once remarked: "When Ben Greet as Hamlet pointed to the sky and cried: 'Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in the shape of a camel?' he pointed to no tinsel sky, nor painted cloud, but to the blue heavens themselves. And high aloft by some strange chcince did indeed float a fleecy cloud in which it required little imagination to find a camel's shape." Oakland's auditorium, built at a cost of $1,000,000 and equalling in size old Madison Square Garden, New York, pro- vides for all the people the highest type of entertainment at nominal cost. Great orchestras, great singers, great speakers, here find immense and appreciative audiences. The auditorium is so constructed that it may be used for more spectacular enter- tainments — popular dances, horse shows, fairs, poultry and dog CADETS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. BERKELEY. o H O D Q O a: .OS Oh to < X a Z < H '^ n uj O tn 03 ^ f- < a < H s tJ o i OT ? o >- H So a: . fcj to < Q E U tn (J UJ Qi I! o r D uJ Di H < H O H ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA A GLIMPSE OF THE INTERIOR OF OAKLAND S MILLION DOLLAR AUDITORIUM ON ITS OPENING NIGHT — "tHE DANCE OF A THOUSAND COLORS" shows, circuses. In connection with the auditorium, there is a complete theatre seating 2,000, as well equipped as any west of New York City. Proximity to the population center of Western America also assures dwellers in the balmy climate of Alameda County enjoyment of the best in the way of Grand Opera, during ex- tended seasons. It is a well known fact that such musical aggre- gations frequently "make" but one city west of the Rockies, and that city the City of San Francisco Bay. On the aesthetic side may also be mentioned the remark- able gallery of paintings owned by Mr. F. C. Havens, on exhi- bition in beautiful Piedmont Park. This is said to be the most ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA extensive private gallery west of New York City. It is especially rich in modern American and Russian painters. Among the large canvases is the painting of "The Battle of San Juan Hill," by Vassili Verestchagin, the Russian artist — a picture painted under the direct supervision of Roosevelt himself and showing the colonel making the famous charge. Forty Sundays in the year (there is so slight a likelihood of rainy weather) Steindorff's Band plays to audiences of thousands seated on the turf in Lakeside Park, Oakland, and a "half hour OAKLAND S STEEL AND CONCRETE AUDITORIUM ONE OF THE LARGEST AND FINEST IN THE UNITED STATES of Music" is given in the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. Free band concerts are also given elsewhere in the East Bay Cities. Festivals are a feature of life in Alameda County. From the glamorous days of the Spanish regime has been handed down throughout California a love of outdoor gayeties of every description. San Francisco has her Por- tola Festival; Pasadena has her Rose Festival; Santa Clara County has her Blos- som Festival. The most notable festival in Alameda County is the Cherry Festi- val at San Leandro, which is the first town east of Oak- land on the fruitful coastal plain that borders San Fran- cisco Bay. Be it known that in the vicinity of San Leandro and its sister city, Hayward, there are miles and miles of orchards. Of the quarter of a million apri- cot trees in Alameda County, a large proportion are in the vicinity of Hayward and San Leandro. Acres of trays, covered with the orange-yel- C o O Id o >- Q DS i o a: u < o z. X >' Id OQ > P H O u X o < H 2 D Q z. „ O 23 U Q < o u. < o b. o >< H 35 u > z D >-* oi < OS CQ Id H H U < H :3 a, > to Z PC u EC a. o o ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA low apricots, drying in the sun, make a never-to-be-forgotten sight. Ever-to-be-remembered are the San Leandro cherry orchards. At the time of the Cherry Festival, when the trees are loaded with luscious Royal Anns and Tartarins, big as plums, all the world is invited to San Leandro to the Cherry Fete. It is car- nival time and you can have all the cherries you can eat or that you can carry away. There is dancing on the asphalt streets of the trim little city and everybody has a good time. Women's clubs are particularly strong in Alameda County. Ebell Club of Oakland, whose beautiful club-house on Harrison Street, is one of the distinctive structures of the city, was the first woman's club in California and the second in the United States. Throughout the county are scores of social and civic IN CALIFORNIA, WHERE WOMEN VOTE, WOMEN S CLUBS ARE PARTICULARLY POWERFUL. THE PICTURE SHOWS EBELL CLUB OF OAKLAND ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA INTERIOR OF .THE LIBRARY. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. THE SECOND LARGEST UNIVERSITY IN THE UNITED STATES clubs, for here the women vote and take a keen interest in all affairs. Possibly it is for this reason that the schools in Alameda County reach a high level of excellence. In the whole county more than 1300 school teachers are employed, and even the smaller schools of the rural districts offer courses in domestic science, agriculture and manual training. In the schools of Oak- land, the largest city of the county, there are 33 school bands and 30 orchestras. Oakland and Berkeley schools offer courses in dressmaking, millinery, salesmanship, homemaking for girls, and in printing and various branches of machinery and building for boys, in addition to the usual branches usually taught in modern schools. One Oakland school has an assembly hall seating 1 400 people. ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA ST. MARY S COLLEGE, OAKLAND Besides public schools, the University of California and schools for the deaf and dumb and for the blind, Alameda County has a number of noted private schools. Mills College, the only w^oman's college on the Pacific Coast, is secluded among the beautiful hills of the suburbs of Oakland, near the eastern shores of San Francisco Bay. This college has an ideal climate throughout the entire year. Its grounds comprise 150 acres. Much of this area is delightfully wooded, giving the aspect of a lovely private park. Special attention is given to the teaching of music and painting. Other notable schools for girls are Miss Ransom's School in Piedmont and Miss Head's School and Wellesly School in Berkeley. The California School of Arts and Crafts, in Berkeley, is recognized as one of the leading art schools of the country. In Oakland is situated St. Mary's Col- lege, a Catholic institution, as well as a convent school for girls. ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Living in Alameda County is no more expensive than in the Eastern part of the United States. In fact, in many respects, it is less expensive. Fresh fruits are in the market the year round. Strawberries are gathered from the fields near Niles and other Alameda County communities during nine months of the year. The richness of the soil surrounding the cities makes for a pro- fusion of vegetables of the best quality at very moderate prices. It costs considerably less to build a home in Alameda County than in the East. Fir from the forests of Oregon and from Northern California reaches the wharves of Berkeley, Oak- land and Alameda directly by water— that is to say, with a minimum charge for transportation. Hence lumber is cheap. A dehghtful California bungalow of five rooms and sleeping porch, hardwood floors, built-in buffet, fireplace, etc., may be com- pleted at a cost of from $2000 to $2500. Bungalow lots in LISSER HALL, ONE OF THE BUILDINGS OF MILLS COLLEGE FOR YOUNG WOMEN PICTURESQUELY SITUATED IN THE FOOTHILLS OF OAKLAND ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda, with 5-cent street car trans- portation, and also close to the interurban lines to San Francisco, may be purchased for from $400 up. On the gentle slopes of the foothills of Oakland and Berkeley, in sightly situations, with a sweeping view of the mountains and the Bay — 100 square miles of land and water — in the most glorious climate in the world, building sites may be purchased at from $35 to $80 a front foot. The climate permits of the building of lighter, slighter and more airy dwellings than are possible in the East. There is no snow-load to consider. Water pipes never freeze. Frost does not affect exposed plaster. The walls of dwellings do not have to be designed for zero weather and blizzards. Hence the typical California house in Alameda County has usually an attractive- ness unknown to colder climates. So come to Alameda County, in sight of blue and smiling waters of San Francisco Bay, and make your "ultimate home." Watch with us through the Golden Gate the sun slowly sink Into the bosom of the broad Pacific. See from your westward windows, hung in flowers, the ships sailing for the Seven Seas or homeward bound with the treasures of the Orient and the Spice Islands. Wander among the richly laden orchards. Play golf on green links on Christmas day and tennis on New Year's. Drive out in your touring car every day in the year. Bring home the limit bag of trout from the streams, quail from the fields, deer from the hills and hollow, and duck from the tidelands. "Loaf and invite your soul" in the sunshine. Or send your yacht skimming over January waters in the air of June. We offer you the open hand of hospitality. Come and live in Alameda County, and be happy. For additional information concerning Alameda County, address the Board of Supervisors, Oakland, California. Members of the Board: D. J. Murphy (Chair- man). F. W. Foss, C. W. Heyer, Joseph M. Kelly, John F. Mullins. Alameda County CALIFORNIA FARMS. ORCHARDS, VINEYARDS, TRUCK GARDENS, CHICKEN RANCHES. DAIRIES. STOCK RANGES PAY WELL HERE BY DANIEL H. BRADLEY PUBLISHED BY THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS D. J. MURPHY (Chairman), F. W. FOSS, CHARLES W. HEYER JOSEPH M. KELLEY. JOHN F. MULLINS Copyright 1915 By the Publicity Commissioners of Alameda County, California. Permission is hereby given to Reproduce and Publish any and all parts of this work, including illustrations. PROFIT FROM THE SOIL IN ALAMEDA COUNTY Ov ^A w! ORTY-NINE counties of California have a larger area than Alameda County, but there are only eleven that are credited with a greater value in the product of their fields and orchards. Only two counties in the state rank above Ala- meda County in population and wealth, and these are the Counties of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Another fact that the census bureau has made public is that of all the counties of California, marvelously fertile as they are, but one of less area has to its credit a greater output of farm products, measured in the price received in the market, than has Alameda County. That means that Alameda County pro- duces more dollars' worth of farm products per acre of area than any other county in the state except one. And let it be borne in mind that the one county that leads Alameda in this respect has citrus fruits and other high priced horticultural and vegetable products counted in the farm column. Alameda County does not enter into competition in the citrus fruit line commercially. This is something of a record for a comparatively small county, as counties are measured on the Pacific Coast, which-has also the third largest population of city dwellers in the state. All of this means but one thing to the man who is interested in growing things from the soil and selling them as a business. That meaning is that Alameda County must be a wonderfully productive district; its tillers of the soil must have mastered to a large extent the problem of handling their farms, orchards and truck gardens, and there must be some more than ordinarily favor- ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA able conditions of climate, transportation and up-to-date facilities for culture, handling and marketing. All of which is found on investigation to be true, and when the story is told it shows that Alameda County is one of the choice spots of the earth for living and working in the country districts at those pursuits that have for their object the production of those things that are sought after as foodstuffs for man and beast. Here is illustrated the commercial maxim that proximity, or its equivalent, ease of access to the market, is the prime essential for every producer. That spells dollars and cents in the net profit column for him. More than 300,000 people live in the cities of Alameda County and all of these every day in the year demand, and must have, a portion of the products turned off from the 2500 farms of the county. Most of those farms are within easy trucking distance from the Oakland markets and the others are located conveniently to railroads that give prompt and speedy delivery to the same destination. When the more than 300,000 mouths right at his door have been fed, the Alameda County farmer, orchardist and gardener has but to go a step farther and six miles across the bay he finds at San Francisco another half million of consumers. While he must, it is true, come in com- petition at the latter place with producers from up-the-river and across-the-bay districts, still he has the advantage of shortness of haul and consequent cheapness of delivery over most of these. With his consuming population of four-fifths of a million resi- dents and an average of one-tenth more transients almost at his elbow, the farmer has his market made for him, and the price even of the surplus, above the daily wants of his customers, is kept .at a steady figure. Fortunately his products and the surplus are of such a character that they are wanted in other parts of the world, and ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA A BIT OF ROAD IN LIVERMORE VALLEY the Alameda County farmer, orchardist and truck gardener have, even closer to them than the home patrons, the canning and pre- serving companies, who take all they can get and pay well for it. This proximity to a market which must be supplied daily explains many things that the man unacquainted with local con- ditions may find strange. It furnishes, without further illustration, the explanation of why Alameda County, though smaller in area than forty-nine others in the state, still stands fourth in the area planted to vege- tables other than potatoes and is seventh in the number of acres planted to potatoes. The productiveness of Alameda County farms and orchards is attested by the figures given above and by the fact that there are located in the county ten fruit and vege- table canning plants, a dozen large wineries and a large beet sugar factory established and operated to take care of the products not immediately used. ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA The stranger quickly sees the force of all these things and, by applying the ordinary business reasoning, understands from these conditions much of the advantages of such a district for the farmer, the orchardist, the vineyardist, the truck gardener, the dairyman, and all those who deal in the production of things from the soil. It is hard for the farmer of the middle west or northeastern states of the Union to get the full meaning of the winterless climate of Alameda County. When he is shown strawberries perfect in size, form and coloring, and is assured that they were picked from an out-of-door patch the week before Thanksgiving, he perhaps admires the berries and pays a silent tribute to the MILES OF VINEYARDS COVER THE LOW ROLLING HILLS OF THE LIVERMORE VALLEY ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA narrator of the tale. It is one of the cases where the Californian hardly dares to tell the truth, for fear it will sound too big. Unless the newcomer has had experience with Alameda County soil and climatic conditions he still will not understand all of the advantages of this district for farm living and farm working. He must remember that there are no frozen days or nights when ice has to be contended with. He must come to know that every month in the year is planting time for some farm or orchard or truck gardening crop and that every month is also harvest time for some crop. In other words, climate has a large part to play in making Alameda County the desirable place it is for farming operations. Alameda County is located on the eastern side of the Bay of San Francisco and opposite the counties of San Francisco and San Mateo. The map shows Alameda County running to a sharp point along the bay shore to its junction with the county of Contra Costa just north of Berkeley and Albany. The county line runs in a southeasterly direction along the crest of a high range of hills for a distance of about twenty miles, where it turns at right angles and runs inland across the Contra Costa Hills, the Livermore valley and the most inland spurs of the Coast range, making its eastern extremity reach to the edge of the San Joaquin valley. The eastern boundary line skirts the eastern slope of the Coast range and then turns back toward the bay, traversing the Livermore mountains to the south of the valley of that name, and crossing the continuation of the Contra Costa range, again dips down to the bay shore. All of the narrow neck forming the northwest corner of the county is occupied by the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont and Albany. This is strictly an urban district and nearly all of the farms, orchards and truck gardens are outside of that area. ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA The western slope from the Contra Costa hills down to the bay, with many fertile valleys reaching upward from the coastal plain, with the Livermore and Sunol valleys east of the Contra Costa hills, make up the valley lands of the county. The county has an area of approximately 843 square miles and of this a little more than 500, or about two-thirds, is classed as valley, and the remainder as hill land. The Contra Costa hills, and the southern continuation there- of, known as the Mission range, has an average elevation of about 1 000 feet. The highest point in the county is Eilu Peak, in the south end of the county, where the summit is 3839 feet above tide level. This outline of the county's topography will assist in under- standing the tables compiled by the weather bureau officials and which show the variations of temperature and the precipitation, both at Oakland and Livermore. The difference illustrates the effect of the interposition of the high range of hills between the valley and the ocean. CLIMATE Alameda County can practically be divided into two sec- tions as regards climate — the western part of the county lying along the bay, and the eastern section lying over the range of hills and comprising the Sunol and Livermore and adjacent sm^ll valleys. In the bay region of the county, the rainfall is about 25 inches, while at Livermore, in the interior, the normal fall is about 15 inches. In the interior of the county the atmosphere is clear and dry, while in the bay region cloudy and foggy days are not uncommon. The temperature is higher in the interior than in the bay region, but even there the thermometer rarely rises over 100 Fahrenheit, and then only for a few days. The nights are invariably cool, and usually the afternoons are tem- pered by a wind from the ocean. The western and southern ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA slope of the hills in the western part of the county is remarkably free from frost, and for that reason most of the early vegetables are grown here. Records kept for many years at Warm Springs, near the southern border of the county, show that this section enjoys nearly the most equable climate in the world. Comparisons show that THE COUNTY TEEMS WITH WILD DUCKS DURING THE SEASON. THESE ARE SPOONBILLS of several scores of places where there is the least variation, only one, a city of southern Italy, excells Warm Springs in this regard. NURSERIES AND SEED FARMS No better evidence of the adaptability of Alameda County soil and climate for producing the largest variety of products in the highest perfection could be cited than the fact that one of the largest nurseries on the Pacific Coast has, near Niles, 500 ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA acres planted to hundreds of varieties of trees and shrubs ranging from semi-tropical to north temperate habitants. Gathered from trees in that nursery is an exhibit in the possession of the county exposition commission containing more than 70 varieties of nuts. Incidentally, it can be said that 130 carloads of semi-tropical and other plants, trees and shrubs, v^^ere taken from this Alameda County nursery for use in planting the Panama-Pacific Inter- national Exposition grounds. Another great seed house of the coast has in Alameda County its farm of several hundred acres, used for testing all seeds and plants to determine their adapt- ability to the coast region. The Burbank corporation has a farm near Hayward where more than 300 varieties of the famous Burbank creations are tested and matured for market. It can be claimed that Alameda County in its field, orchard and garden products, is entitled to first rank as the producer not MILLIONS OF ROSE PLANTS ARE GROWN IN ALAMEDA COUNTY NURSERIES ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA ^■^-AaKa^ JANUARY PHOTOGRAPH OF AN ALAMEDA COUNTY VINEYARD AND FARM HOUSE only of the greatest variety of plants, but the largest number of perfect plants of their kind. Indeed, Alameda County is known as the "Gold Medal county" for the first prizes its soil products take in competitions at exhibits in the state and abroad. And Alameda County has a collection of gold medal prizes that have been brought from eastern exhibits and from across the ocean that well prove her claim to distinction in the line of growing things from the soil. Alameda County has to show not only the farms, orchards, vineyards and gardens that produce abundant crops of highest quality, but one of the choicest fruits of the land are the country homes which are found in every quarter among these farms or overlooking the fertile valleys from the surrounding hills. Fertile lands, idyllic conditions, convenience to travel by steam railroad and trolley line, good roads that tempt to automo- bile drives every day in the year, with the great cities having almost a million population right at the farm gates, it is the ideal place for home making. Not only the men whose business in ALAMEbA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA life is farming, but the city men whose principal occupations are in office, store and factory, have felt the charm of the region and have builded here their homes of comfort and elegance. When an automobile ride of an hour will take a business man from the furtherest confines of Alameda County to the heart of Oakland, the desire for a home in the country is easily satisfied and hundreds of such are owned by men of large affairs in Oak- land and San Francisco. GRAND ROADS AND MANY RAIL LINES One of the distinctly valuable equipments of Alameda County for the purposes of the farmer, orchardist and truck farmer is the system of splendid county roads traversing all dis- tricts and giving the means for quick transportation and travel between the farms and the cities. There are 760 miles of county roads. The Southern Pacific and Western Pacific steam railroad lines extend down the bay shore from Oakland to Niles and thence across the Livermore and Sunol valleys to the eastern border of the county. The Southern Pacific's line also continues southward from Niles through Santa Clara county to San Jose, this branch being a part of the Coast line system. The county is cut across from Niles to Newark by another branch of the Southern Pacific, which connects with the bridge across the Bay at the last named town, and gives a route to San Francisco in that direction. As all of these are main lines, the frequency of trains and the fast schedules are to the advantage of the dwellers in the town and agricultural districts of the county. The Southern Pacific's Danville branch reaches the Liver- more Valley from the northwest, connecting with the main line at Pleasanton. Additional transportation facilities are provided from the extreme northwestern corner of the county to Hayward, by the Oakland Traction, the street car system, and the Key ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA GOOD ROADS FOR AUTOMOBILES ARE A FEATURE THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY > System, the ferry trolley line of the San Francisco-Oakland Ter- minal Railways. The Southern Pacific's ferry feeder system of electric lines also reaches the same territory. These electric lines reach the districts of San Leandro and San Lorenzo. The Oakland, Antioch and Eastern Railway traverses a fruitful region of Alameda County, passing Mount Diablo and extending to Sacramento. Farm and orchard work is assisted by a telephone system that reaches every corner of the county and more largely by the abundant supply of Pacific Gas & Electric and the Great Western electric current that is distributed by the light and power com- panies' transmission wires on their way from the Sierra Moun- tains to the cities around the bay. Most of the farm houses are equipped with light and power plants fed by current from these lines. Irrigation pumps, cream separators, churns, and a hundred other kinds of farm and house- hold machines are operated by electric power, which is furnished ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA ft. ■w«*a?ML7feAf*'"- LIVERMORE VALLEY FROM THE NORTH at very low rates ; the schedule ranging from 3 cents per kilowatt hour for small amounts to 1 J/2cents an hour where $300 worth or more is used during the year. AGRICULTURE Alameda County, like all of tillable California, passed through the stages of ranging cattle and sheep, then of grain raising and perhaps, earlier than most farming counties, the care- fully cultivated fields took the place of the open range and care- lessly tilled grain fields. HAY More than one hundred and seventeen years ago the Franciscan fathers planted their church at Mission San Jose and the records show that up to the time the missionaries departed, actual results in farming were obtained that are very valuable examples to those now in possession. The large volume of the hay produced in the Livermore and Sunol valleys and on the rolling Altamont hills is made from wheat, oats and barley. For years the nutritious qualities of «**v ^ .^^ ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA Livermore valley hay has been celebrated and this hay is shipped across the continent, to Europe and to Australia. Alfalfa hay has in late years become an increasingly im- portant item in the agricultural products of Alameda County. Each year sees a larger area devoted to this crop and the fact that all that can be raised is eagerly sought by dairymen in the vicinity gives assurance of a constant market. Irrigation from v^rells which tap the subterranean flov\^ en- ables the farmers in the Livermore valley to make this a very profitable crop and artificial watering from the same source is now extensively practiced on the western side of the county. One of the advantages the irrigation has, in addition to the quality and quantity of the hay produced, is in drowning out the gophers, which are the chief alfalfa pest in this section. The profitable character of the alfalfa crop may be judged from the average rental of $20 an acre, which is paid for the land by dairy farmers and others who grow the hay for sale. GRAIN FARMING Closely connected with the business of grain hay production is the grain farming in the same districts. The occasional seasons of insufficient rainfall in the higher valleys and foothills result in the shortening of the grain in the heads of the stalks and when that faces the farmer he utilizes his crop by cutting it at the proper stage for making the best hay. There is not the disadvantage that comes for the ordinary short crop in many sections of the country, because the same climatic conditions that make the short crop, make the price of hay high and the farmer is often not very far behind in actual cash balance of what he would have been with a fully matured crop of grain. The cereals in relative importance and popularity with farmers of Alameda County for grain production are barley. ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA wheat and oats. For many years wheat was the principal grain crop in the county, but this has of later years given place to barley. Barley is not as highly prized for hay as the wheat and oats and this induces the barley grower to cultivate it for grain almost exclusively. Livermore valley farmers have introduced and are planting extensively two new types of barley, called the Moravian and the Hanchen. These types mature two weeks earlier than others and have beards that are less stiff and in consequence are better for hay. The drought-resisting qualities of these varieties also commend them. The method of growing generally adopted by the farmers for cereals, whether for hay or grain crops, in the Livermore valley is a regular system of rotation. The best farmers keep from one-fourth to one-third of their tillable land in pasture all the time. Grain planting and preparation for it is usually by plow- ing after the first rains in the fall. Then the seed is planted, usually by a broad-caster, in January or February, a cultivator or harrow following the seeder to smooth down the land. The average yields of grain in the several districts are barley, one and three-fourths tons per acre, oats about the same, and wheat about three-fourths of a ton. Maize, or Indian corn, grows to a splendid maturity in several districts of the county, but it is not extensively produced as a stock feeder crop. Alameda County sweet corn, for table use, has a wide reputation and is extensively grown for home con- sumption and the use of the canners. Sugar beets have been grown in Alameda County for more than forty years, one of the first beet sugar mills established in the United States being that which still is in operation at Alva- rado. The soil and general conditions were very favorable for the beet on the sandy alluvial coastal plain and for many years ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA AMONG THE GRAIN FIELDS IN THE FOOTHILLS the factory supply was drawn from that district. In late years more land has been put into beets in the Livermore valley, near Pleasanton, and the area near the factory has decreased, the beet being supplanted to a large extent by alfalfa. LIVE STOCK The first industry developed in Alameda County, as far as history goes, was the raising of live stock. At the old mission farm and ranch, which was established at Mission San Jose in 1 797, the records show that at one time the fathers owned and ran on their ranges more than 23,000 head of stock. In those early days, the peculiar qualities of the climate and grasses naturally brought the live stock industry to the front. ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Those same conditions exist today, with the improvement which has been made by time and better methods of cultivation, which have added to the stock feed provided by the natural grasses, alfalfa and the several varieties of grain hay and grain itself, on which the animals are finished for market. Great as was the number of live stock in the palmy days of the old Spanish ranchers, and when the Mission fathers were at the height of their prosperity, there are probably more cattle reared, grazed and fattened in Alameda County today than ever before. Not taking into account the cattle which are kept within fences on dairy farms and. around the small ranches, which will probably number fully 25,000, there are today ranging on the hills of Alameda County fully 55,000 to 60,000 head of cattle. A recent estimate made by several cattlemen of the Liver- more valley puts the number of cattle running in the fall of 1914 on the range of hills extending from the foothills of Mount Hamilton across to the Altamont district, owned by Alameda County stock men, at 40,000 to 45,000. In addition to these, 5,000 to 10,000 head of cattle owned in adjacent counties are, a part of the season, run on the hills on the Alameda County side of the line. ASPARAGUS HAS MADE A GOOD LIVING FOR MANY AN ALAMEDA COUNTY FARMER ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA In the Mission range and in the Contra Costa range of hills are also found a large number of cattle. The natural grasses of these hills and higher valleys prove to be the best feed for fattening cattle that can be found. The famous alfallaria, com- monly known as fillaree, is very plentiful in these hills, and the stock come off the range butter fat. RHUBARB IS ONE OF THE BIG PAYING CROPS NEAR SAN LEANDRO The climatic conditions on the range are such that stock are not stunted in their growth, nor do they lose flesh on account of rigorous weather. Unquestionably, the great and profitable industry of the farmer in the future will be feeding these range cattle during the season when the range pasturage is scant, and also in finishing ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA the animals with grain food for the butcher. Such splendid range lands are to be found so close to the grain farms and meadows where the alfalfa and other varieties of hay are har- vested, that a day's easy drive will bring the range cattle to the farmers' feeding yards. The peculiar qualities of the soil and climatic conditions ^ 4' ffi i^ £ ■■Riimffl2R&f$JM'-9Bi M !K3I[.L!lJPf7TiiiiiBI*Bl v§f:|l^j • f^^-^.i;^^ 7': ■■ A 1 !^:rfii:.'^l^- - V- - cs'.' ■■ «P^- ' ■■: . .y,.,^ WKSSSKKm ' 1 VT m^KM ^nm ^'3^jn ».«!%*_ r*f?^*#;''''1i-^1^ RASPBERRIES, BEANS, ASPARAGUS AND CURRANTS GROWING AMONG YOUNG APRICOT TREES have brought about in Alameda County, as they did in the famous blue grass region of Kentucky, the development of a superior specimen of race horses, both runners and trotters, saddle horses, light harness animals and heavy draft horses. Early in the history of the state the name and fame of Alameda County farms and the horses that went from them to win on the fastest ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA tracks in the world, were thoroughly established. At Pleasanton and at Sunol, near Irvington, and in the Livermore district, the breeding and training of horses is still an important industry. The climate of the Livermore valley permits of training the racers on the Pleasanton track all through the winter season. This is taken advantage of not only by the near-by horse owners, but animals come to Alameda County from eastern states for the purpose of taking their winter training and being in condition to start in the earliest spring races. The sheep industry in Alameda County has not been kept up of late years, but there are, it is estimated, 12,000 to 15,000 sheep grazed in the hills. This is a profitable pursuit, as the animals are not subject to the severe weather of early spring which in a more rigorous climate cuts down the increase of the flock. Hog raising in Alameda County is carried on extensively, two or three model ranches, representing heavy investments, being devoted to this industry. In addition, the number of hogs turned off for the butcher from the small ranches and dairy farms is in the aggregate very large. The alfalfa districts and the grain farms are preferred for bringing the porkers to perfection. FORTY THOUSAND CATTLE RANGE THE HILLS OF ALAMEDA COUNTY ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES An important part of the product of the soil of Alameda County is the output of vegetables. Several standard varieties are produced in quantity and of a quality commanding good and quick returns. The warm, fertile soil and excellent climate also bring a number of these products into the market before those from any other district. These, of course, get the top price. ARTICHOKES ARE ALWAYS IN DEMAND Asparagus. An instance of this is found in the asparagus grown on Bay Farm Island, a district just south of the City of Alameda, which is devoted entirely to vegetable culture. For many years the first asparagus to reach the Oakland and San Francisco markets has come from Bay Farm Island, and this occurs usually the latter part of February. ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA Potatoes. One of the most important vegetable crops of Alameda County is the Irish potato. It is estimated that the annual output of the potato farms of this county amounts to 1 75,000 to 200,000 bushels. Potatoes are grown along the foothills and the valley lands adjacent to these hills from San Leandro to Mission San Jose. There is also considerable potato growing in the Liver- more and Sunol valleys. The early potatoes come from the western slope of the foothills. The early potatoes are planted in November and Decem- ber and are harvested in March and April. TTie late potatoes are planted in April or May and harvested in September and October. Early potato yield is on an average about fifteen sacks to the acre, the price varies from $5 to $10 a sack. Late potatoes yield from 50 to 100 sacks to the acre, and the price averages $1.50 to $2 a sack. Peas. Field peas are grown from the Hayward district south to the Santa Clara line, the earlier varieties on the lower slopes of the hills, and the later varieties on the flats. The early varieties are gathered from February to May, the harvest lasting about three months. The earliest of these in the market command 20 cents a pound, but the general average for the season is about 4 cents. Many farmers are developing and growing special varieties of peas, which are much sought after when dried, and are ex- ceedingly profitable to them, as they can get an average price of 12 to 14 cents a pound, while the ordinary pea is sold for a third of that. Though the pea crop requires careful handling, it is made very profitable by the farmers who devote their lands to this purpose. ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Beans. The bean crop is very profitable in Alameda County, the varieties used for stock feed and those for human consumption both being extensively grown. The thrifty Portuguese farmers through the San Lorenzo district raise thousands of pounds of beans in the spaces between the roadways and their fences. The total annual yield of beans in this county is approximately 750,000 pounds. This crop is easily cultivated, and in great part is raised in the nooks and corners and on strips that would not otherwise be utilized. Tomatoes. Tomatoes are grown from the San Leandro and San Lorenzo districts down to Niles, with a considerable acreage in the Castro valley. Canning varieties are harvested the latter part of August, and the picking continues until about the first of November. The market varieties come from the first pickings, and the quality of the Alameda County grown tomato is very high, according to the canners, who use large quantities. The yield of tomatoes is from eight to ten tons to the acre. The canners pay for the stock from $8 to $10 a ton. First class market stuff sells for from 1 j/^ to 5 cents a pound. This is the earlier and limited yield, however. It is estimated that the average profit on tomato growing is about $45 an acre. Cucumbers. The cucumber crop of Alameda County is estimated at more than a million pounds annually. It is grown in the rich lands about the San Leandro and Hayward districts. The cucumbers are planted in April and harvested from July to the middle of September. Late seasons find fresh cucumbers in the market up to the middle or the last of November. The cucumber grower grades his cucumbers for pickles according to the diameter : No. 1, 14 inch; No. 2. % inch; No. 3, '/2 inch; and No. 4 ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA SAN LEANDRO CHERRY ORCHARD A-BLOOM including all large enough to slice. The price ranges in the order of the classes above given, from 2'/2C down to %c. Five tons to the acre is considered a good crop, and the cucumbers gener- ally are about half in class I and 2, and half in class 3 and 4. Counting the cost of cultivation, gathering and marketing, the profit is about $66 an acre, without counting rent of land or interest on investment. Garli c. One of the vegetable crops of Alameda County that is principally raised by Chinese gardeners is garlic. The Chinese produce annually about 750,000 pounds of garlic. It is planted in November and December, and harvested in July. The yield is about 25 to 40 sacks to the acre, and price runs from $3 to $5 a sack. The net profit is about $25 an acre. ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA SWEET CORN GROWING IN A YOUNG ENGLI! Rhubarb. Rhubarb is one of the important crops, being grown from San Leandro south, between the foothills to the bay. Land suitable for rhubarb culture is held at about $1000 an acre, and there is but a limited area that is rated as prime for this culture. Rhubarb is planted by dropping pieces of the root in furrows from the latter part of December to February. Careful prepara- tion of the soil by plowing and cultivating during the fall is necessary to bring the best results. The rhubarb plants begin to yield the second year, and it is estimated that a good planting will give 100 boxes of 40 pounds to the box during the second season. This increases to about 200 boxes the third year after planting, and the fourth year the peak of production is reached with about 250 boxes. From this time on, there is a steady de- cline, until, in the sixth year, the planter finds it advantageous ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA •f^mtrimm 1^ ,j/^ . H ^iN ^v- i 1 i g 1 KJ^ffi ^™fti^fl 1 p 1 1 S'-'ii^^i B ^ g m K 1 I - V 4^ S ^S H ^"^ ^ ^ m i (^ ffi ^m m aft] M A.LNUT ORCHARD IN THE LIVERMORE VALLEY to replant. • The' early prices for rhubarb are about $3 a box, though $1 is a good seasonal average. A large quantity of Alameda County rhubarb is shipped to the eastern market, but most of it is consumed in the Cali- fornia cities, and is taken by the canneries. After a rhubarb planting is prepared, it is estimated that the cost of cultivation and harvesting is about $40 an acre, and the returns for the vegetable sold about $200, the profit, not counting the invest- ment in land, and the cost of preparing and bringing to bearing, being about $150 to $160 an acre. The amount of rhubarb turned off by Alameda County farmers annually is about 3,250,000 pounds. Celery. Alameda is one of the foremost celery producing counties in the United States. Within five miles of Oakland is grown" ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA the largest celery produced in North America, and the value of the annual crop of this vegetable is more than $1,000,000. According to the official report of Alameda County, the celery crop marketed last year amounted to more than 10,000,000 pounds in weight. Celery growers have occupied the alluvial lands on Bay Farm Island, adjacent to the City of Alameda, and joining the City of Oakland on the other side. These are not the only lands that have been found to be adapted to this crop, however, and as the market increases, the celery growers have extended their operations to include the level lands along the whole east bay shore. In the vicinity of Alvarado, where first in the United States sugar beets were grown, and along the upper central plain, the rich lands are being changed to celery production. Though the prices at which the celery lands are held is considered high by those who are unacquainted with the value of the crops pro- duced, there are always purchasers eager to snap up any proved celery ground that is offered for sale. As in the case of vegetable raising generally, the area de- voted to celery is rapidly increasing from year to year, and the practical men are constantly testing out new ground that may be added to the celery planters' domain. Onions. The principal onion district in Alameda County is around Alvarado, the warm, loamy soil of that district being peculiarly adapted to the growth of this vegetable. The yield is about 1 50 sacks to die acre, and the profit, not counting the interest and taxes, is about $75 or $80 an acre. The production of onions amounts annually to 3,750,000 pounds. In addition to these vegetables enumerated, which are the most important and of which the largest quantities are raised, Alameda County farmers and gardeners grow practically every vegetable that can be found ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA FORAGE PEAS HARVESTED IN A SAN LORENZO ORCHARD in the temperate zone. In Alameda County, especially in the San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Decoto and Centerville districts, is to be found an example of what has come to be called intensive farming that is hardly equaled on the American continent. The skilled orchardists and vegetable and small fruit growers utilize every square foot of ground space. In carrying out this plan, a large proportion of the land which in this booklet is treated as orchard land, is also used for the production of vege- tables and small fruit between the rows of trees. Frequently the profit derived from the vegetables, small fruit and berries is equal to that of the larger fruit gathered from the trees, and this should be taken into account in estimating the yield to the acre, in con- sidering the value of the land. FRUITS AND BERRIES Alameda County has always ranked high as a fruit-grow- ing district. It is a matter of history that the first exportation ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA PEAR ORCHARD IN THE FOOTHILLS of fruit from California in commercial quantities was a shipment made from an Alameda County orchard in 1847. The market for the fruits and berries, as well as the vegetables grown in this county, is provided not only by the large number of city dwellers in the communities about the bay, but canneries are established in every neighborhood in the county for the purpose of taking the surplus which does not find another market. There are in Alameda County in operation at this time ten large canneries, which preserve the fruits, berries and vegetables that later find their way to all parts of the world. Besides the varieties of fruits described in the following, which are the principal ones produced in commercial quantities, Alameda County produces practically all of the fruits grown in the temperate zone . Peaches and Nectarines. — There are 12,500 peach trees in bearing in Alameda County. ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Apricots. The apricot is one of the important fruits of Alameda County, both in quantity produced and in net profit. While apricots grow in all parts of the county, the region in which the greatest production is found is from San Leandro to Warm Springs, and from the foothills half way to the bay shore. The apricot is grown on its own root, or that of the wild plum, the peach or the almond, according to the soil in which the planting is made. Apricot growers in the Niles district of late years have taken to irrigating. The Niles district is underlaid by water, which is reached at about twenty-five feet, and easily raised with electric power pumps. The yield of apricots averages about eight tons to the acre, and these command at the cannery about $35 a ton. If dried, the yield to the acre is about 3500 pounds, and the dried apricots find a market at a steady average price of 1 cents a pound. The cost of production per acre is approxi- mately $126, so that the profit per acre, not counting taxes or interest on the investment, is about $225. The land suitable for apricot culture is of the highest quality, and is valued at from $600 to $1000 an acre. Cherries. San Leandro is a well known center of the cherry growing industry. The favorite region for this fruit in Alameda County extends from the Oakland city limits to and south of Irvington, and from the foothills about half way to the bay shore, a district about 25 miles long and 1|/^ to 2 miles wide. Growers of cherries differ as to the need for irrigation in this district, as in the case of the apricot. The growers near Niles have of late years practiced irrigation, raising their water by pumps from wells, which yield an abundant supply. The yield of cherries, the Royal Annes, is about 125 pounds to the tree, and there are to < a. o z Q ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA from 70 to 100 trees to the acre. The cannery price for this variety, which is the favorite, averages about 6 cents. TTie gross receipts from an acre amount to about $440. The cost of pro- duction and harvesting per acre, not counting interest and taxes, is about $145, leaving a gross profit of about $300 an acre. Cherry trees in this region live about 30 years. After 20 years they begin to die out, and the trees must be replaced in this period. Land suitable for cherry culture is held at from $600 to $1000 an acre. Pears. Pears are principally grown in the district extending from Hayward to Niles. Both the Bartlett and winter varieties thrive here, and are found to be exceedingly profitable to the grower. Some excellent orchards, however, which are yielding handsome returns to their owners, are outside of this limited district. The climatic and soil conditions favorable to cherries and apricots seem in a general way to be excellently suited to the growth of pears. The cost of handling the pear orchard is about the same as the cherry orchard. The Alameda County production of pears annually is about 1 ,250,000 pounds, and this is disposed of in the local markets and through the local canneries. The profit in pear culture to the average orchardist is about equal to that derived from the apricots. Land suitable for pears is held at about the same price as good apricot and cherry land. The pear is one of the long-lived fruit trees. In this respect it is probably next to the olive, and that the climate and soil of Alameda County are conducive to the thrift and long life of this tree is shown by the fact that on the old Mission San Jose farm there are growing and bearing today trees that tradition tells us were planted before the Mission was established in 1 797. Prunes. Prunes are grown from Irvington south to the Santa Clara ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA line, but around Niles and Hayward the prune industry has not been developed as fully as other kinds of fruit growing in Alameda County. The gross product of prune orchards, how- ever, is considerable, amounting to about 2,500,000 pounds. Prunes yield on an average of 1 '/4 tons to the acre. The cost of cultivation and harvesting is about $18 to $25 an acre, and WINTER PLOWING IN AN ALAMEDA COUNTY ORCHARD the gross profit about $82 an acre, not including interest on in- vestment, taxes or replacing trees. Olives. The soil and climate of many districts of Alameda County are particularly well adapted to the growth of the olive. About Mission San Jose aiid in the Sunol valley are several orchards from which the fruit is used for pickling and for oil. Throughout the Livermore valley the trees are much used for borders along the roadways. While the olive industry has not been developed ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA to as large an extent in Alameda County as it is capable of, the annual production is about 250,000 pounds. Citrus Fruits. Orange, lemon and lime trees grow in several parts of Alameda County to perfection, and the fruit produced is the equal of any in the most favored sections of the United States. While the citrus fruit industry has not been largely developed in Alameda County, the fact remains that magnificent specimens of the trees and of the fruit are constantly seen in all parts of the county, from Berkeley in the extreme northwestern end to Livermore and Newark on the southeastern and southern bor- ders. Lemon and orange trees are grown as ornaments and in home orchards throughout the county, and the fruit is seldom and the trees never damaged by frost. There are, however, but few orchards of any size. The growing of lemons is being under- taken on a commercial scale near Niles, and at Mission San Jose there is a fine four-acre planting of seedless limes that at the age of five years yielded about 50 dozen limes to the tree, while three year old trees gave a crop that more than paid for their cultivation. There is no doubt among fruit men of experi- ence that thousands of acres of Alameda County land, where the soil is right and where there is shelter from cold air currents, could be profitably planted to citrus fruits. Strawberries. Alameda County is peculiarly adapted to the production of the strawberry, and, as it has a harvest season of about eight months, it is one of the most profitable crops of the soil. Straw- berries grow and thrive in all parts of the county, and there are several 40 to 80 acre patches in the Niles, Irvington, Decoto, Hayward, San Leandro, San Lorenzo and Livermore valley dis- tricts. A resident of the middle western or New England states ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA ORANGE TREES THRIVE IN ALAMEDA COUNTY can hardly appreciate the fact that Alameda County strawberries are picked ripe in early April and from the same vines there is a continuous harvest until the latter part of November. The marketed crop of strawberries of Alameda County amounts an- nually to 1,750,000 pounds. ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA Strawberries during the bearing season require constant irrigation. Water is put on the ground between the ridges on which the plants are grown about every five or six days. The strawberry vines bear the first year after planting, yielding about 50 chests (from 65 to 80 pounds each), but the full yield comes the second year, when 220 to 225 chests are gathered. The grower receives on an average of about $3.50 net a chest, so that the profit per acre runs $775 to $800 annually. Most of the strawberries are raised by Japanese, they being given half of the gross returns for the labor and care of the berry fields. The usual practice is for the berry grower to make a contract with the Japanese and pay them their half when the returns are received from the commission men and canneries. Most of the strawberries raised in Alameda County are sold to city markets of California, though shipments are made to Port- land and other Pacific Coast cities. It is only a question of sufficient care in handling to enable the shipment of the fresh berries to any part of the United States, and in the cultivation of these markets, the limit of consumption of the Alameda County portion would practically be the buying capacity of the northern half of the United States. Currants. Currants are grown in Alameda County, particularly in the San Leandro district, from the foothills to the bay. The plants exhaust the soil in a comparatively short time, and they can best be grown on land that has never been planted to currants before. Dark, loamy soil that is well drained seems to be best adapted to this crop. Only the red varieties are raised for market, there being no demand for the black or white currant on this coast. Land suitable for currants is valued high, most of it being held from $600 to $1000 an acre. The currant is readily propagated from cuttings, and sometimes they are set out between the rows ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA of an orchard. The currants seem to like the shade afforded by the fruit trees, and they take about the same amount of cultiva- tion. They are pruned similarly to the grape, but are not cut so far back and more wood is left. The life of the currant is about ten years. They begin to bear in the second year, but do not bring the maximum yield until the fifth year. The harvest begins about the first of June. The cost is about 1 cent a pound in this district for picking. A good yield is fifty 1 1 0-pound chests a year. The average price per chest is about $5, making a gross return of about $250 per acre, while the cost of caring for and harvesting 50 chests amounts to about $66, making a profit of $ 1 84 an acre. The area adapted to currant culture is quite limited, and suitable land, consequently, is in great demand. Among the berries that are grown extensively in Alameda County are the blackberry, loganberry and raspberry, all of which find a ready market at the canneries, and, while the amounts sold are not as large as in the case of strawberries, these fruits PACKING CURRANTS FOR MARKET ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA are extensively consumed in the families of the growers, and are sold directly to consumers in the towns and cities adjacent to the farming district, so that the volume of product does not show in the commercial reports. NUTS Alameda County is favorable to the growth of many kinds of nut-bearing trees. For many years there was maintained by the county an exhibit in the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, containing over seventy varieties of nuts grown on the grounds of the nursery company located adjacent to Niles. At one time the growing of almonds was one of the im- portant industries of Alameda County. Owing to the fact that land formerly planted to almonds can be more profitably used for other purposes, the large growers have mostly worked out these trees and planted other orchard products. Walnut trees thrive throughout the county, and one of the distinctive features of the country roads in many sections is the continuous rows of walnut trees bordering the highways. There are in Alameda County in bearing, 2 1 , 1 90 almond trees, 3,750 Persian or English walnut trees, and several hun- dred pecan and chestnut trees. GRAPES Alameda County is one of the famous wine grape growing districts, not only of California but of the world. The principal grape section is along the southern side of the Livermore valley, and extends from the Sunol valley east of Livermore. In this district there are located ten large wineries. The names of some of these establishments are world-famous, and their products have taken the first prize in competition with the wines of the most favored sections of Europe. Outside of the Livermore valley, a comparatively small acreage is devoted to wine grapes in the ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Mission San Jose district and in the low foothills near Decoto. The original vines in Alameda County were brought by the early Spanish settlers and the Mission fathers. The early settlers found that Alameda County soil and climate were particularly adapted to the growth and develop- ment to a high degree of perfection of a large variety of grape vines. An evidence of this is found in the mammoth vine which ^^ P ^9v«'J^«^^F E^^ ^^Br^ *■ M Mffifr^"*^' •* ^E^ «^^ m mn^^BP' ^ , -tJB ■^ ~ "-3?.-- "^^ 1^- '_, , ^ 'i _ j-t^r-^^jj!^ \.d ,j " ■*'■ PALM BORDERED ROAD THROUGH A LIVERMORE VINEYARD is today growing in the yard of the Estudillo Hotel at San Leandro. The life of this vine has covered a period equal to several generations of human beings. In the warmer sections, or, rather, the sections in which the summer temperature rises to the highest point, table grapes of a very fine quality in coloring, flavor and sugar content are devel- oped, but Alameda County grape culture is in the main confined to the growing of the varieties used for wine production. In the ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA Livermore valley, where the most of the wine grapes are grown, the mean annual temperature is 60 degrees; the average rainfall is 15 3-10 inches, and this all comes during the winter months, after the grape crop is harvested, the summers being dry with but few foggy days, and even during these days of fog there is but little moisture that would injuriously affect the vines. The result of this climatic condition is that one of the great draw- backs to grape culture, mildew, is an almost negligible matter with the vine growers. In seasons, and in the particular districts where mildew does threaten, it is easily controlled by sulphur sprayings. The soil on which the wine grapes are grown is generally a gravelly, sandy loam. It is on the heavier soils that the mildew is likely to be troublesome. The price of land suited to the Hnest varieties varies from $125 to $250 an acre, this difference in price being caused largely by the distance from the winery where the product must be delivered. Bearing vineyards are valued from $300 an acre upwards, dependent on the variety and the condition of the vines. The leading white grapes are the Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Voile Blanche and Burger, the last two named being usually low in sugar, and used largely for blending purposes. The leading varieties of red grapes grown in this district are Matero, Carignane and the Zinfandel. Some Dariff grapes are grown for coloring purposes. Vines planted on resistant stock come into bearing in four or five years, and the life of such a vine is from twenty to thirty years. The cultivation of vineyards begins in February by plow- ing away from the vines. Then the weeds are hoed out from between the vines, either by hand or with a hoeing machine. The next plowing is toward the vines. A number of cultivations fol- low, depending on the year and the farmer. Usually four culti- vations are all that are necessary. During the winter the vines ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA are pruned back to a couple of eyes on each cane. Some vine- yardists in the Livermore valley use the trellis system of pruning, such as is in vogue in France. The yields, however, are smaller, and the expense greater where this method is used, and it is not considered a success in Alameda County vineyards. The picking of grapes usually begins about September 15, the exact date being determined by the sugar content. The red grapes are picked when they run 22 per cent sugar, but the white grapes are allowed to remain on the vine until they reach 24 to 26 per cent. The average yield is from 2J/2 to 3|/2 tons of grapes to the acre, though there are many vineyards in the dis- trict that average much higher. The picking is all done by hand, and the cost is about $2 a ton. Most of the grapes raised in Alameda County vineyards are made into wine, either by the growers themselves or by the wineries to which the smaller growers sell their product. The price of grapes varies from year to year. For the last ten years the average has been about $18 a ton. It is esti- mated by vineyardists that the cost of starting a vineyard of twenty acres and caring for it for five years, until it comes into bearing, is about $5,800. In this estimate, the value of the land is included at $150 an acre. This brings the total cost on an investment close to $300 an acre. It costs about $14 a year for maintenance of an acre of bearing vines, not including harvesting, hauling or the interest on the investment. The wine-making method pursued is to ferment the red grapes with their skins, but the juice or must of the white grapes is drawn off at once into puncheons, where it ferments. The skins are again pressed and the juice saved. In crushing the white grapes, care is taken not to mash the seeds, as it injures the flavor. The wine is aged about two years in the wood. It costs about $2.50 to convert a ton of grapes into wine, and a ton will make 165 gallons. Most of this wine is sold in bulk by the wineries ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA DAIRY COWS IN THE LIVERMORE VALLEY. OLD HOP KILNS IN THE BACKGROUND when it is six months old, and the average price is about 1 5 cents a gallon. More than 7,000 acres are devoted to vine culture in Ala- meda County, and the valuation of these vineyards, exclusive of the buildings, wineries and other, accessories, is $1,950,000. There are now in bearing more than 3,500,000 vines, and the annual value of the grape crop is approximately $250,000. There are about 2700 people employed, with a payroll amount- ing to a little more than $2,000,000. DAIRYING With the growth of population in the cities of Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, Emeryville and Piedmont on the eastern side of the bay, a very decided impetus has been given to farm- ing in Alameda County during the last six or seven years. The spread of urban population southward to San Leandro has forced the dairymen out of the district which ten years ago was occu- ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA pied by them, between the foothills and the bay and between Oakland and San Leandro. The dairy farmers have simply moved a little further from their city customers and are now located in the Livermore valley and along the coast plain from the San Leandro district south to Newark. While the dairy farms are more distant from the consumers measured in miles, the improvement In rail transportation and handling by auto trucks over the improved county roads bring them in reality as close to their point of ultimate distribution as formerly. In fact, in many cases the distribution of milk, cream, butter and dairy products is accomplished more quickly and at less actual cost than when the dairymen had a team haul of a quarter or a fifth of the same number of miles. The increased demand for dairy products in the east bay cities during the last ten years can be estimated from the increase in the population. According to the federal census of 1900, the total population on the land area now covered by the cities of Richmond, Albany, Berkeley, Piedmont, Emeryville, Oakland and Alameda was less than 1 00,000. The estimated population of these cities at the close of 1914 was close to 325,000, an in- crease of more than 325 per cent in fourteen years. This would mean that there is a market in these cities for 3j/^ times as much of the products of dairy farms as there was in 1 900. As a matter of fact, the increase in the quantity of dairy products consumed in the cities mentioned is greater than the proportion of population would indicate. This comes from the fact that twelve or fourteen years ago the population of the cities and towns mentioned was smaller, more scattered, and there were more family cows which gave the supply to their owners, and sometimes to the near-by neighbors. Sanitary regulations and the more compact building that has come with the growth of recent years have banished these cows, until the sole source of supply for milk, cream, butter and ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA dairy products is now the regular dairy farms. The increase in population and the changed conditions have probably increased the consumption of the products of dairy farms in the Alameda County cities fully four fold in the last ten or twelve years. The dairying industry has felt the influence of this large increase in demand, and this has resulted in developing the busi- ness of dairying until it is now one of the most important pursuits of the agricultural community. ,«' ' A. '4i w TOGGENBURG GOATS — A SWISS IMPORTATION The excellence of the forage crops and food supplies for the dairy cows and the climatic conditions, which are conducive to the comfort of the animals, all contribute to make Alameda County an ideal dairying region. Great as has been the in- crease in the quantity of dairy supplies produced in Alameda County, this has not kept pace with the increased demand of the cities on the east shore of the bay. The figures of the railroads show that there is more milk, cream, butter and cheese shipped into Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda from points outside of the county" for consumption here than ever before in the history of the district. ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA It is not a question with the dairymen of finding a market, but this class of business men is facing the problem of how to supply the demand at their doors. The dairy farmers of Alameda County use high grade cows of the approved milking strains, and their herds come from the stock farms of Alameda and adjacent counties. The last estimate of the number of dairy cows in Alameda County is approximately 20,000. The value of these animals at a conservative estimate is fully $1,500,000. The investment in lands, buildings and other accessories to the dairying business will probably exceed this amount. The dairy business in Ala- meda County gives employment to a large number of. men, as caring for the stock, milking, handling the milk products and marketing entail a great deal of labor. Alameda County dairy farmers are large users of alfalfa hay, and from choice they locate their dairies, where possible, near the alfalfa fields. In the Livermore valley and in the alfalfa growing section in the Niles, Irvington, Alvarado, Newark and adjacent districts, the dairymen are large renters of alfalfa lands. As a general rule, they pay $20 an acre for a year's rent, and the irrigating and cost of care of the hay crop added to this makes the price they pay for this feed. It is not unusual to find dairy farms where 500 to 700 cows are milked twice daily. As has been mentioned, hog raising is an adjunct of some of the dairy farms, and is a means of utilizing what would other- wise be waste on these places. The importance of dairy products in the daily food ration of the city dwellers and the assured increase of the city popula- tion and consequent demand for these products, make it certain that dairy farming in Alameda County will be a safe invest- ment for the future. Proximity to the market must always be a strong factor in the development of this business, especially in handling the fresh milk and cream where there is a limit on the J J < > O cc H tn < O u X H H O Q < H D o a, ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA time thai must be used in getting the article to the consumer. The equable climate found in Alameda County is such that even in the mid-summer months there are but few hours when it is hot enough to endanger the quality of the dairy product, even when there is no icing or other cooling appliance used. Dairymen can comply with the most rigid inspection re- quired by the pure food laws with less inconvenience and less cost to themselves under the conditions found in Alameda County than in almost any other region of the United States. This adds to the chances of a profitable business, as it lessens the average losses. It is the opinion of those who are best acquainted with facts and conditions that the extension of the dairying industry in Alameda County, either by enlargement of the plants of the men now engaged or by the addition of other dairy herds, is to be one of the developments of the near future. There are thou- sands of acres of land, both on the west side of the hills, and in the Sunol and Livermore valleys, that are admirably adapted to dairying, and which are held at prices which would make it profit- able to devote them to this purpose. POULTRY RAISING The genial climate, with the absence of harsh winds, cold rain and chilling fogs, has attracted to the region just east of the Oakland city limits the most expert poultry men of the Pacific Coast. Those who have come to this section of Alameda County to investigate have been convinced and have stayed. Beginning but a few years ago, this movement to develop a great poultry district has grown at an incredible rate, until the Hayward district is now recognized as second in desirability to none, from the poultry man's point of view, and easily one of the most important producing regions for the dealers and con- sumers. That poultry thrived in Alameda County and returned good ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA profits on the capital and labor invested was demonstrated in the early settlement days. That the proximity to a market composed of the dwellers in the rapidly growing bay region cities gave assurance of larger profits, because of the cheapness of delivery charges, was a large factor in the later development of the in- dustry. Steam and electric roads, and the finest oiled macadam county roads, give to the poultryman in Alameda County facili- ties for marketing his products that are not excelled anywhere. From Hayward to the business center of Oakland is about fourteen miles. Auto trucks collect the newly laid eggs and marketable fowls in the early morning, and deliver them to hotels, restaurants, housewives and retail stores in the cities of Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, Piedmont and Emeryville before ten o'clock the same day. Four such collection and delivery trips are easily made by auto trucks between poultry farms of Hayward and the doors of a quarter of a million consumers each day. This facility and cheapness of transportation gives the poultryman a greater profit, and it increases the amount of eggs and poultry used by the householder, the hotel and restaurant patrons, because the latter get the products while they are fresh. With the development of the Hayward region as a poultry producer, the industry has taken on greater activity in the Niles, Irvington, Mission San Jose, Pleasanton, Livermore and other districts of Alameda County. All these enjoy the advantages of right soil, climate and easy access to market. The mammoth proportions of the poultry business in the United States is shown by the report of the Department of Agri- culture, which gives the value of the yearly output at more than a billion dollars, nearly equalling the total national debt. The Hayward district alone in Alameda County, it is esti- mated, will turn out this year more than six million dozen eggs, affording a profit to the ranch owners that will well repay them for their investments and labor. ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA Plants with capacity for hatching 50,000 eggs and more at one time are not unusual, and the young chicks which are to figure on the menu cards later as broilers, fryers, baked, roasted, stewed, pie fillers, etc., are hatched in Alameda County by the million. The industry, while it gives a most profitable "side line" to the orchardist, truck farmer, stockman, dairyman and general farmer, is the sole occupation of hundreds of owners and em- ployes. The residents of California cities are the greatest con- sumers of poultry and poultry products in the world, and the Alameda County poultry raiser has the advantage of a market that is never overstocked, right at his door. All varieties of barnyard fowls, chickens, ducks, geese, tur- keys, guinea fowl, pigeons, as well as the fancy pheasants and quail, thrive on Alameda County poultry farms. The poultry raisers of Alameda County have gone about their business in a thorough, systematic manner. They have realized not only the problems that must be met in caring for and marketing their poultry products, but they have taken hold of the business of purchasing supplies and selling their poultry yard output through co-operative organizations. This is especially seen in the Hayward and Castro valley sections, where the Poultry Raisers' Association numbers approximately 200 mem- bers. This organization was primarily intended to provide for collecting and marketing the poultry and eggs of the members, through an accredited agent, and he contracts for a sufficient length of time to run to give the producer a basis for estimating the volume of his business. Directly connected with the selling machinery, the organization undertook to purchase food stuffs and all the supplies used on the poultry farm, both in the poultry yards and in the dwellings of the members. After several years operation, this has proven to be. extremely satisfactory to the members of the organization, and highly profitable as well, so ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA WILD TURKEYS AT THE STATE GAME FARM AT HAYWARD that the pouhry men in adjacent districts are working toward joining the organization. The success with which poultry raising has met on the large commercial scale in which it is being carried on in Alameda County during late years is causing a steady increase in the num- ber of persons engaging in it, and more small plots of land are being equipped every year for handling chickens and other domestic fowls. Notwithstanding the large increase shown in the poultry yard production in Alameda and other California counties during the past six years, the State of California still continues to be an importer of eggs and fowls for food purposes. The result of this is that the poultryman's products command a good price and a ready market. These prices range higher than in other parts of the United States. While there are a number of large places consisting of five to twenty acres devoted to poultry raising, there are to be found scores of small plots on which the family living is made in this ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA industry. Poultry raising requires as much care, patience and prompt attention and knowledge of the particular business as any other pursuit, but there are no insurmountable difficulties in the way of the success of the person who makes up his mind to give this attention, labor and study. There are poultry "farms" in Alameda County of one acre, on which 1000 chickens are kept. The dwelling house of the small family is located on it, the barn, with accommodations for the horse, cow and light rig, and few tools for cultivation, and, in addition, there is enough of the acre kept in kale or other vegetables to supply the 1000 chickens with green food. One of the difficulties the poultry raiser has to contend with is finding help that will give the attention to details at the proper time, which is essential to success in the business. The result of this has been that a large number of the most successful poultry men and women lay out a plant of such size that it can be either entirely handled or very closely supervised by the owner. The favorite capacity of a plant conducted in this manner is from 2,000 to 3,000 hens, where chickens are raised, and a corre- sponding number of layers or other varieties of fowls. Some of the poultry farms having this range of capacity occupy from four to twelve acres, the number of fowls being taken care of on any given area being largely dependent on the method of handling, the variety of fowls, and the character of soil as to drainage and fertility. It is estimated by careful poultrymen that it costs approxi- mately 10 cents a month to feed and care for each hen or other fowl. The handling of poultry for egg production is the most profitable branch of the industry, and it is desirable to have a variety of fowl that will command a fair price for the table, when the young stock is culled out, and when the older hens have reached the maximum of egg production. It is estimated that after a poultry farm is stocked, the price for which the hens ALAMEDA COUNTY. CALIFORNIA have sold for the table will recoup for the expense of bringing a young pullet up to the laying age. In other words, the pullets and hens of a once-stocked farm take care of maintaining the flock at the desired size. There is a small net profit derived from the sale of young pullets that do not promise to make pro- ductive layers and of young cockerels. NILES CANYON WITH A GLIMPSE OF THE FERTILE VALLEY BEYOND Estimated on the number of laying hens, the well-cared-for poultry plant should pay a net profit of $ 1 .25 a year per hen. The practice of marketing directly to the retailer is adopted by many of the poultry farmers of Alameda County. The asso- ciation members follow the plan of selling the whole product of all the members of the association on contract to jobbers. Where the poultryman builds up his personal market, he usually selects some large retail dealer in Oakland, and contracts with him to ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA deliver all the eggs and fowls turned off from his place. • The fowls handled on poultry farms of Alameda County are divided into four classes : ( 1 ) The egg breeds — Leghorns, Spanish Minorcas and Hamburgs; (2) The meat breeds — the Brahma, Cochin and Langshan; (3) The general utility fowls which furnish a fair quantity and quality of both eggs and meat, and which are the Plymouth Rocks, Rhode Island Reds and Wyandottes; (4) Fancy fowls that are reared chiefly on account of appearance, extra size or some other quality that appeals to the fancier. OSTRICHES The breeding of feather-producing ostriches is very success- fully carried on in Alameda County, a large farm located in the eastern part of Oakland having been in operation for several years. The business of raising and handling ostriches and their product is a special one, and the profit to be derived will depend on the management and the success secured in rearing the young birds and the production of feathers of good quality. The average yearly yield of feathers from an ostrich is about one and a quarter pounds. The birds produce from twelve to twenty ounces of feathers at each plucking, with an average of about sixteen ounces. The amount received from feathers from each bird varies from $20 to $30, depending on the yield and market price at the time. A pair of breeding birds is estimated to be worth about $800, and chicks of a month old are valued at $100. For additional information concerning Alameda County, address the Board of Supervisors, Oakland, California. Members of the Board: D. J. Murphy (Chair- man), F. W. Foss, C. W. Heyer, Joseph M. Kelly. John F. Mullins. ALAMEDA COUNTY CALIFORNIA, U. S. A. THE LOGICAL LOCATION FOR THE PACIFIC COAST FACTORY ASSEMBLING OR DISTRIBUTING PLANT OF THE EASTERN MANUFACTURER F ALAMEDA COUNTY WHERE INDUSTRIAL OPPORTUNITY OFFERS A CHALLENGE TO CREATIVE GENIUS BY MARK M. JONES PUBLISHED BY THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS D. J. MURPHY (Chairman). F. W. FOSS, CHARLES W. HEYER JOSEPH M. KELLEY. JOHN F. MULLINS TABLE OF CONTENTS Manufacturing Today 4-av Leading Lines of Manufacture ' ' Lumber Industry ' ' Foundry and Machine Shop Products ' ^ Shipbuilding ' ^ Food Products *^ Building Materials ^ ' Textiles, Wearing Apparel. Etc 21 Printing and Publishing ^^ Chemical Products ^* Salt 25 Liquors 25 Paper Products 27 Other Industries 27 Factors in Production 35-61 Markets 35 Raw Materials 38 Transportation 42 Power 48 Fuel 50 Cost of Living 51 Cost of Labor 52 Climate 53 Lands and Buildings 54 Water 55 Insurance 56 Taxes 58 Banking 59 Homes 60 Statistics 62 It is believed that there are opportunities for manufac- turing in Alameda County as follows: Auto assembling plants. Lampblack. Candles. Linoleum. Cotton goods: Qil cloth. Uenims, ^., „ , . Sheetings. 2 •"^'^'^'nery. Shirtings, Shippmg tags. Dress goods, Wire goods. Hosiery. Woolen goods. Copyright 1915 By the Publicity CommissioDeis of Alameda CouDly. California. Permission is hereby siven to Reproduce and Publish any and all pans of this work, includios illustrations LAMEDA COUNTY, the center of Western industry, is located on the con- tinental side of the Bay of San Francisco at the Pacific Gateway to the North American Continent. Its western frontage on the Bay directly faces the Golden Gate. Within its borders may be found an endowment of riches representing the supreme effort of nature in bringing a great number of things worth while into small compass. Alameda County is the focal point in the west for those important factors upon which great industrial and home centers are builded. Its strategic position is the heart of the great commercial arena of tomorrow. The westward trend of civilization and the westward expansion of commerce are rapidly moving this county of riches from a position which was once on the rim of the great western commercial circle right to its very center. Production in Alameda County is given powerful impetus by a moderate temperature, never too hot nor too cold; one which infuses the joy of life and the disposition to work into every fiber. Combine with this, unusual facilities for distribution and incompar- able home advantages and you have the reasons for the rapid strides conservatively chronicled on the fol- lowing pages. EPIRT Lumber Vessel Discharging at E. K. Wood Lumber Co. — Oakland. A COUNTY OF INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS LAMEDA COUNTY is the present tense of Industrial progress. Factories within her borders produce a great variety of articles ranging from needles to steamships. The industrial growth of the county has been a steady advance year in and year out. The United States Bureau of the Census uses three hundred and fifty classifica- tions in making the Census of Manufacturers. Out of this total you will find that one hundred and sixty are required to cover Alameda County. This wide variety of factory products not only means economic soundness, but it also means that here is a nucleus of manufactured articles which will furnish many of the basic materials for the factories yet to come. The importance of Alameda County, industrially, may be judged from the fact that it is third in population and property, being out ranked in those particulars by Los Angeles County and the City and County of San Francisco, only. GENERAL There are approximately 537,600 acres in Alameda County. About one- eighth of this total comprises the great manufacturing district which includes Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland, Alameda, and San Leandro. These six municipalities together brought the county to the position of third in number of factories and value of manufactured products in the State of California, under the last Census of Manufacturers. All are in the western portion of the county and group themselves together into one great community of 320,000 people. Their position on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay directly faces the Golden Page 4 Fruit Cannery of H. 6. Prince & Co. — Oakland. Gate. The ships of the Pacific Ocean sail straight through that great portal to the point on the western boundary of Alameda County, where they meet the steam, and electric railroads which radiate throughout California and the western slates. OAKLAND Oakland is the manufacturing, commercial and financial center of the district. Within its borders alone are to be found 2 1 5,000 people. Three transcontinental railroads terminate in the city, where their tracks meet the waters of the western ocean. Oakland typifies harmonious development. During her years of recon- struction and re-building, she has not neglected a single phase of community inter- ests. Her expenditures as a municipality have been evenly apportioned between her waterfront. City Hall, Auditorium, parks, playgrounds, streets and schools, etc. The bond issues aggregating eight millions of dollars, which were enthusiastically voted by her progressive citizens four years ago, have practically been expended. Seventy per cent of the manufacturing in the district on the East Bay Shore of which it is the center is carried on in Oakland. Her great industrial section is built up along the miles of railroad tracks which run along the western and southern waterfronts. Back of the factories and extending easterly and northerly is a grad- ually sloping expanse dolled with homes which are gradually building up toward the tops of the foothills. Within all these thriving cities may be found residential features to suit the most fastidious. BERKELEY Immediately adjoining Oakland on the north is Berkeley with its combina- tion of factories, schools, and residences. Along the Bay in the western section Page 5 Pacific Vinegar and Pickle Works — Hayward. of the city are located many large and growing manufacturing enterprises. Back of the industrial section are located thousands of beautiful residences, which are building up toward the tops of the foothills, from which a view may be had of San Francisco Bay in its entirety. ALAMEDA Across the Oakland Estuary and south of Oakland lies Alameda, an island with many factories and homes. The industrial section extends along the northerly shore line, where many large factories are now located and where work is rapidly being carried on for the reclamation of a large area of partially submerged lands. It has many attractive residences and its bathing beaches attract countless thousands during the summer months. OTHER CITIES IN THE DISTRICT Emeryville is next in importance from a manufacturing standpoint in the East Bay Shore Industrial District and is principally a manufacturing city. It corn- New Pacific Coast Factory — Oakland— The Shredded Wheat Company. Page 6 California Cracker Co. — Oakland. prises about one square mile of territory, within which will be found some of Alameda County's largest plants. Albany, with one and three-quarters square miles of territory, lies to the north of the City of Berkeley and immediately adjoins Contra Costa County. It has been recommended as the site for the proposed U. S. Naval Base on the Pacific Coast. Along its western portion on the railroads are many sites suitable for indus- tries. San Leandro, which adjoins Oakland on the southeast, has several canneries and preserving plants. Combined with its industrial activities will be found residential Coastwise Vessel Discbarging Cargo at Oakland. Page 7 5?Z0S Zh.«2 •d80 wOoS« ?§^^^ .H << OtgzH yZoggU. Zd; Do zqs^Sh D- t« HZ OMPAN AL OF RS IN IDICATI T. o y 0£Z a, CQ .[i] a >- a Q2 Z H < U Q, n lEQ ELL EN MENT. CTED OCCU DEVEL w S: Id ^ td O H S^ QO'Q'^ P AND LINE BEST lRBOR PUM PIPE THE ER H.^ ^Su.z g|oS u.[3§i EzO< H -3 J S^-Z5^ fe§°^ ^yi^ .'««)' ^^^^^^^>HM^HH^| p' #^telA-' ■ ' '^^^^^^fer-'^^^^^'^ssJ. HI"" "l^ f K M 1 ^P Page 20 Interior — Terra Cotta, and Pottery Plant. BUILDING MATERIALS Five large plants producing clay products in Alameda County supply a great proportion of such materials for the new construction in central California. Three plants in Oakland and Alameda manufacture brick, terra cotta, pottery, etc., in enormous quantities. One plant at Decoto produces paving brick, and another at Livermore manufactures the ordinary clay brick. The plant of the Paraffine Paint Company, one of the largest roofing factories in the world, is located in Oakland, from which point their products are distributed in all the countries on the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Three firms manufacture wallboard, which is used in great quantities in the many new bungalows that are erected each year. Crushed rock is produced by two plants located at the quarries in the foothills within Oakland's limits. TEXTILES. WEARING APPAREL. BOOTS AND SHOES, ETC. The California Cotton Mills is one of the greatest and oldest of Alameda County's factories. It is the only plant of the kind on the Pacific Coast, and has seven and a half acres of machinery. It draws the highest quality of cotton pro- duced in the world from the Imperial Valley, in the southern part of California, and handles the cotton through all the different stages necessary to produce the One of Five Salt Refineries in Alameda County. Page 21 BOB. Pacific Coast Borax Co. — Alameda. towels, sheeting, cordage, comforters and various high grade textiles. They supply the majority of these products for all the Pacific Coast cities and states, and market many things as far east as Chicago. One Oakland firm manufactures overalls and working garments which are sold throughout the states west of the Rocky Mountains. Another company makes up 'waterproof garments, tarpaulins, etc., for protec- tion against rain. They sell from Alaska to Panama and throughout the Orient and Australasia. Four factories make leather gloves of every kind and description. Two knitting plants located in Berkeley manufacture various knitted articles of wearing apparel, such as sweaters, hathing suits, etc. Boots and shoes are also made in an Oakland factory and sold throughout ' the ':ountries on the Pacific Ocean. Other textiles and articles of wearing apparel are manufactured to a limited extent, but the foregoing gives the principal lines. ^i:r^ '':,;:- ;; 4 «tt iferso-ALKALlNl 4. J 1^^^^ Ijg^f; Jj j \- ':ri ^. IP^Miiil ■bH^^^^^^^^^^^^H|^HH[^H^^HH^H| Chlorine for BleacMng — Oakland. Pa%z 11 S. W. FrlcUiam Company — Oakland. PRINTING AND PUBLISHING There are ten printing plants of special prominence in the industrial section of the county outside of the daily newspapers, which all have job departments. There are three photo engraving plants and one lithographing plant located in Oakland. Most of these firms do bookbinding, while one company specializes on that work. CHEMICAL PRODUCTS Foremost in the production of chemical products is the paint and varnish in- dustry with seven factories in Alameda County. These firms produce paint for every purpose ranging from that for interior use up to cement paint, and that for the painting of vessels. Some of them do an international business, having devel' oped wide markets not only on the Pacific Coast, but in the Orient and Australasia. One Oakland firm manufactures writing inks, and a large factory in Berkeley produces the majority of printing inks used on (he Pacific Coast. Two soap factories manufacture soap flakes, chips and every grade of soap, one being located in Berkeley and the other in Oakland. Their products are dis- Americau Buliber Manufacturing Company. Page 23 BE Lawrence Warehouses — Oakland — An Aid to Industry. tributed throughout the states and nations on the Pacific Ocean. The plant of the Pacific Coast Borax Co., where the 40-MuIe Team borax products are made, is located in West Alameda. They produce borax, soap, soap chips, scouring compounds, etc. Powder and dynamite are manufactured by one factory in Alameda County, while most of the fuse used in the west is turned out by a large factory in the Livermore Valley. Patent medicines and pharmaceutical supplies are manufactured by an Oakland firm for distribution throughout the western states and the countries on the Pacific Ocean. The Faraffine Faint Company — Emeryville. Page 24 .GOBBB New Plant, Union Ice Company— Oakland. Chlorine, for bleaching purposes, is manufactured by a new Oakland firm having the only plant for thai purpose west of New York. They use the most modern electrolytic process, which is made possible on account of the exceedingly favorable power rates. - One large sulphur company in Berkeley turns out thousands of tons of this article annually. One Oakland factory produces carbonic acid gas, and one Berkeley firm does the same. Another company located in Emeryville have a new and modern plant for the manufacture of oxygen gas. Other chemicals are produced in small quantities and in great numbers, but the foregoing indicate the principal lines. SALT Five large salt factories are located along the Bay shore of Alameda County to the south of the great industrial section. These plants extract the salt from the waters of the Pacific Ocean and supply the Pacific Coast markets. LIQUORS— MALT AND VINOUS Five breweries are located in Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley, among which will be found two of the most modern plants of that kind on the Pacific Coast. One of Five Faint Factories — Oakland. Page 25 Pag6 26 Alameda Sugai Company — Alvarado. Their products are distributed throughout the Bay cities and central California, as well as along the Coast. Three wineries operate in the valleys in the central part of the county and produce some of the foremost California vintages. PAPER PRODUCTS Three large plants turn out paper boxes, pie plates and paper articles for every purpose. A new factory recently started in Oakland manufactures fibre board shipping cases, being one of the only two plants engaged in that line of manufacture in the west. OTHER INDUSTRIES While the preceding paragraphs give an idea of the more important lines of manufacture, there are many other, some of which have attained considerable promi- nence. Two factories make artificial limbs, another produces asbestos packing, three manufacture awnings, two turn out petroleum products, greases, etc.; five manu- facture furniture of various kinds ranging from rattan to the latest designs in eucalyptus; one, rubber goods such as hose, belting, heels, etc.; four, brooms; one, brushes; five, rugs, rag carpets, etc.; four, coffee and spice roasting; one, caskets; two, cooperage; one, fertilizer; two, flour and grist mills; two, macaroni; one, manufactured fuel; one, fur goods; one, gas furnaces; two, gas machines; four. i 1 ^l^H ^ -'- '_j^iM^^I ''»^ 1 I ^^^^H It & f -■■■■ t^.— A U,. 1 4 J y Iteii \ ^^U|^P^^ WFMWm - ■^f-^ New Artificial Ice Plant. Page 27 EK MiBM Shops — Western Pacific Railway — Oakland. glass cutting and ornamenting; one, graphite; two, ice plants; five, jewelry; one hundred and six laundries; one, leather goods; one tannery; three match factories; seventeen mattress factories; nine, mineral and soda waters; three, motion pictures; one, photo-player pianos; one, peanuts, grading, roasting, etc.; ones refrigerators; one, sugar; three, cigars and cigarettes; two, trunks and valises; one, cotton and wool waste; one, shade cloth; three, blinds and ladders; one, creamery sup- plies, butter bowls, etc. The extent of manufacturing in Alameda County is thus briefly shown. The factors responsible for the growth and development of concerns making so many different articles are the same that will build the other lines of industry not now rep- resented, such as: (a) the eastern factory having a sales organization on the Coast with an established business about to engage in manufacturing on the Coast; (b) the eastern factory that has not entered the field in the west, but which can profitably engage in production in Alameda County; and (c) the local organization. In one line of manufacture not now represented in Alameda County the manu- facturer situated on the Coast has the advantage over the eastern man to the extent of 32%. Others have a greater one, but this is suflicient to emphasie the importance of concerns having an established trade manufacturing their products in Alameda County, even though upon a small scale comparatively. The freight charges on many lines can be more than saved and amount to an enormous sum alone. Many other eastern factories have never given serious consideration to the Moving Picture Plant— Bssanay Film Co.— Niles. Page 28 World's Largest Marine Gas Engine — 600 H. F. Built in Oakland ^XJnlon Gas Engine Co. Pacific Coast markets nor have tKey anticipated the opportunities for trade extension into other countries on the Pacific Ocean which can be reached most satisfatorily from Alameda County. Local organizations are developing to a much greater extent and enlarging the industrial activities of the county. The salesman or the superintendent of their fac- tories, with his experience and knowledge of the trade and conditions, and certain amount of capital takes a most prominent place in the launching of new factories. The opportunities are numerous and the rapid growth in the west is causing enlarge- ments and expansions in Alameda County factories each year. Specific consideration of the most important factors in production is taken up in the following pages under the following heads: Markets. Cost of living. L ands and Buildings. Industrial opportunities. Raw materials. Cost of labor. Water. Statistics. Transportation. Fuel. Insurance. Homes. Power. Climate. Taxes. Banking. M. W. Hodkins Co. — Oakland — Leather Gloves. Page 29 Page 30 Gasoline Slotor Cars and Aeroplane Motors. Hall Scott Motor Car Co., Berkeley. Dlscliarglng Soft Coal at OaJdand — tbe 'Sew Center of California Fuel Supply. ^ ^»^, as i^^^T "**W«ri?^WBi ""^ 'fiw -'^^^KaMlHiawWWB^^BBBBBHlHWBBBSHI^^ Gasoline Motor Car — Built in Berkeley. Page 31 Page 34 ■JMrKlAJJ MARKETS Alameda County's trade territory contains over one-half the world's popula- tion. It comprises not only the rich valleys of California, but also the western slates, Alaska, the Gulf and Atlantic seaboard, the U. S. possessions in the Pacific Ocean, and all of the foreign countries bordering on the Pacific. The county enjoys a dominant position for handling business in the territory where is developing the world's greatest commercial arena. Scores of manufactured articles made in Alameda County are now distributed throughout the domestic and foreign field above shown. Her gas engines propel the boats on the rivers of China, her culverts carry the flood waters under the roads in the Philippines and Australia. Her petroleum products are used extensively throughout the Straits Settlements, her chemical products move in enormous quantities to Japan, her canned goods are distributed throughout the entire United States and every foreign country. Numerous other articles made in Alameda County are distributed in the territory shown, but this is sufficient to emphasize the fact that the trade territory of the Alameda County factory is world wide unless circumscribed by limited working capital or something of that kind. It all depends on the industry and the manage- ment as to whether they will sell within the city alone, or throughout the western states and in the countries on the Pacific Ocean. DOMESTIC MARKETS The domestic field is very broad. Its first division is in the cities on the Bay of San Francisco, where will be found a population of 1,000,000 people. Within the limits of Alameda County 359,000 reside. Next to this in importance comes the Sacramento and San Juaquin valleys with their agricultural and horticultural resources and rapidly increasing population. Following next will be found southern California, convenient of access by water transportation and then the great forest, mining and agricultural sections of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and the western portions of Montana and Wyoming. Com- paratively small in population when eastern states are considered, but with enormous purchasing power. The next division of the domestic market is Alaska, with its limitless possi- bilities. The natural resources of this northern country have hardly been touched and it is expected that the construction of the United States Government Railroad, which is now under way, will „„„, „ .r^.„^, ,„,r-n.^r.nvT ., « , ., . . / J POPULATION WESTERN U. S. mark the mauguration of a de- D/->oci7ccTr^Mc , . • 1 .1 . -11 i POSSESSIONS velopment period that will be . T^.cn, . ■ . -I ■!■.• t .L Calirornia Z,Dli,3Uj rich in possibilities tor the man- ,, , „« „^-> £ . . . , J -- _ Nevada 89,062 uracturer m Alameda County. TL . T I c . -1 Utah 410,686 The next U. S. territory ^^^^^ 35^,53 most convenient or access is „ -,.««.. ., . , . , J , ., Oregon 740,041 the Atlantic seaboard and the opening „. „... Montana (^) 225,000 Panama Canal has brought ^ ._ o,x ,aQ these markets right to the door r- ir TL £ .i Washington 1,256,189 tjulr. Ihe opening or the ,, , ,^ .,.,,„„„ Montana (^) 225,000 Arizona 224,789 r ,, . , , p , Wyoming (^) 80,280 or the Alameda County manu- .,.,.,,, .«««., £ . u . £ .. New Mexico (^) 180,015 racturer. Here is one or the ,. .. „,.„„„ ,£..,.,,, , . Hawaii 21 1,099 most terhle helds tor market „, ... . ■ _ _,„ „„„ ..... , , 1 • Philippines 7,750,000 exploitation by a local in- "^"^ dustry, as each and every day 14,140,617 Pait 35 ■JMJMAJJ Gas Engines Beady for Trans-Faciflc Shipment. develops new and greater possibilities created by certain factors in production that are more advantageous in Alameda County than elsewhere and which are therefore enabling a local factory to compete more strongly with the plants in other sections of the nation. FOREIGN MARKETS The foreign market is even more extensive than the domestic. Western Canada has a large and rapidly growing population and wonderful resources, the develop- ment of which, now going on, means new and greater markets for western industries. Mexico, Central America, and the west coast of South America are countries with limitless possibiHties and markets that are most prolific. Australasia, the Straits Settlements, China, the Philippines, Japan, and Siberia, have already been visited by the industrial pioneers of the Pacific Coast and the future progress of the DENSITY OF POPULATION f . . ,, .• J J 1 1 PER SQUARE MILE manufacturer m those nations depend largely ^ upon transportation. The islands in the California Pacific Ocean now depend upon the factories of the western United States for a large por- 1070 1 ■- tion of their needs, all of which shows that loon c c in the foreign field, as in the domestic, the . ggn 70 market possibilities are principally matters of | gQQ n n individual initiative, characteristic American I9I0 . . 15 3 resourcefulness, adaptability, and commercial UnileJ Slates courage. 1910 30.9 Page 36 _isQnaso 1-- \ j , \^^ K,.«, \ \ ^:ou,-iA-=f '^^^i:- PLACER JTrtSfSw"; L-YOM , ""X i \ ""■*! L'j^ r"^"A^'v-'S^ I ^^ ' . cwrjate 1 NYE : ^lt11.'k.l»l ,^ SAK IS I »UO«J«" LH««"»l»t\ U« V O I J ' OkfciI* Lincoln thy \ • RIVEREIDB / V^^SaMj Anj_ /_ -^^ ( lEGO j^l .\mptTm IMPERIAL KAP iSHOWIJ^G O1L1F0RNI/I & fiE^ADA irfDicAriKG COUNTIES - PRJflCIPJlL crriES A^D lOO MILE RADIUS POlflTS fromALAMEDA county Page 37 ■!M'«aM»arjl RAW MATERIALS The Alameda County manufac- turer has raw materials of many kinds and descriptions, products of the forests, mines, soil, and indus- try, right at his command. He is in the center of the western market for all the principal articles of commerce, and for the great ma- jority of raw materials turned out by an extensive industrial com- munity, FOREST PRODUCTS Products of forests, such as red- wood and Douglas fir, are right at hand. The redwood is a strictly California product, in which the state has no competition whatever. Douglas^ fir, or sugar pine, is the principal timber to be found in California forests, which comprise 22% of the total area of the state. These woods, however, for the Alameda County market, are secured principally from the northern coast of the state and from Oregon, and Washington, on account of the very low cost of water transportation, the redwood coming from Humboldt, Mendocino and Del Norte Counties, while the Douglas fir comes from the Coos Bay section of Oregon; Grays Harbor, Washington, and other lumber ports on the Pacific. Hardwoods are drawn in substantial quantities from the eastern states, from Mexico, Central America, and from the islands in the Pacific. Forest products as raw materials can be secured in Alameda County on the most favorable terms and under the most satisfactory conditions that can be found anywhere, for industries requiring such material; in other words, it is the center of the market of the western lumber industry, as will be seen on an accompanying table. MINERALS The principal mineral products of the state are shown on page 41. They embody the results of the state's activities in mining development to date. The mineral resources of California and the Pacific Coast states in general have scercely been touched. New factories are starting practically every month for handling A Portion of Stock, Yards — EmeiyylUe. Page 38 UfiKCULU! aoi Oakland's Cotton Mill — Ease for Supply of Cotton Articles. mineral products not previously worked on the Coast. Extensive deposits of iron ore are known to exist in thirty-one of the fifty-eight counties of the state, but to date there has been practically no development on account of the lack of a satis- factory coking coal. The Government Railroad into Alaska is expected to fill this long-felt want, as coal of every kind is available in abundance in that country. Pig iron and many steel products used in the western states are brought from the eastern portion of the United States, from Great Britain, Belgium, and from China. Bar iron, structural steel, steel castings, brass and bronze castings, babbitt, solder, etc., are produced in Alameda County factories in enormous quantities. One of the five known deposits of magnesite in the state is located in Alameda . County, which is also the logical point for handling the output of the other four. The quarries within the city limits of Oakland supply crushed rock for every purpose, while clay and stone are available in abundance. Cement is produced in Contra Costa County, which lies immediately to the north, and low freight rates make it available at a minimum cost. With hundreds of factories, Alameda County already supplies many manu- factured products that are drawn from the mineral deposits of all portions of the world to serve as raw materials for other industries already in existence or for which there is an opportunity. CEREALS, FRUITS, ETC. Industries producing cereal products or requiring them for different processes of production can secure barley and wheat in the local market, to which it is brought directly from the grain fields of the San Joaquin valley by water transpor- tation at very low rates. Fruits and vegetables are produced in the agricultural section of Alameda County in varying kinds and quantities, for the many large canneries already located within its borders. They are also brought from the interior portions of the state, both by rail and by water. Page 39 [^cmiaQ]. A Great Variety of Fruits and Vegetables of Highest Quality Produced on tie Fertile Lands of Alameda County. Live stock is supplied the western market by the grazing lands not only of California, but Nevada and Arizona, with favorable adjustment of rates for the purpose of maintaining the local supply. Barley is the principal cereal produced in the state, and wheat is next. Oats, corn, rye, and buckwheat are produced in small quantities. A large amount of grain is drawn from the Pacific Northwest, from which it is transported by vessel at low rates. Alfalfa and hay are grown in Alameda County, as well as in the fertile valleys of the interior. Potatoes, hops, rice, sweet potatoes, cotton, tobacco, and dry edible beans are produced in California in valleys directly tributary to Alameda County, which is the focal point for all lines of rail and water transportation reaching them. Apricots, pears, cherries, plums, berries, and apples, are used in great quan- tities by the canneries and come from the eastern section of the county, as well as from all different producing sections of the state. Dried fruits are also packed in great quantities, with raisins in the lead. Peaches, apricots, figs, apples and pears are also dried and distributed through- out the markets of the world. These articles are all mentioned as an indication of the wide range of materials from which the industries of Alameda County can draw their supplies. All the arteries of rail and water transportation extending between the producing points of forest products, mineral, agricultural, horticultural and manufactured products focus in Alameda County, thus making raw materials of every kind and description available under very favorable conditions. Page 40 ipgSQ] IHEQ Oakland — the Leading Lumber Distributing Center of California. VALUE OF TEN LEADING MINERAL SUBSTANCES California, 1913. Petroleum $48,578,014.00 Gold 20,406,958.00 Cement 7,743,024.00 Stone Industry 6,168,020.00 Copper ■ 5,343,023.00 Brick 2,915,350.00 Borax 1,491,530.00 Natural Gas 1,053,292.00 Silver 832,553.00 Quicksilver 630,042.00 MINERAL SUBSTANCES PRODUCED Asbestos California, 1913. Barytes Fuller's Earth Magnesite Quicksilver Bituminous Rock Gems Marble Salt Borax Gold Mineral Paint Sand, Glass Brick Graphite Mineral Water Sandstone Cement Gypsum Natural Gas Silver Chromite Infusorial Earth Petroleum Soapstone Clay Iron Ore Platinum Soda Coal Lead Pumice Stone Copper Lime Pyrites Tungsten Ore Feldspar Limestone Quartz Rock Zinc Page 41 E1HI1SH_ Central Treight Terminal— Southern Pacific Co.— Oakland. TRANSPORTATION The transportation facilities of Alameda County offer advantages to the manu- facturer that are second only to its equable climate. It is the Pacific termmus of three transcontinental railroads. It is truly the point where rail and water meet on the western shore of the United States and on the greatest and best protected harbor in the world. Oakland, on the western border of the county, is the focal point for- lines which spread out through California and the western states, just as it is the focal point for the water lines that spread out through the Golden Gate along the Coast and to the countries on the Pacific Ocean. The Southern Pacific Company have the greatest mileage of the three steam lines, serving Alameda County. It has tracks into all industrial sections and has in its terminal at Oakland the largest freight terminal on the Pacific Coast. Its pas- senger trains from the north, east and south have their terminus at Oakland. The Western Pacific Railway serve the southern portion of the industrial section, having their freight and passenger terminals in Oakland. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway serve the northern and western sections of the district, and particularly the . industries of Emeryville, where their passenger train terminus is also located. , The Oakland, Antioch & Eastern Railway operates a high-speed inlerurban line between Oakland and Sacramento, handling both freight and passengers. The San Francisco-Oakland Terminal Railways operate the street car service in Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley, having extensive track facilities for industries. The Luckenbach S. S. Company, operating between the Atlantic seaboard and The New Municipal Junction of Eail and Water — Oakland Terminal. Page 42 brH!HJ.l!W.»r.l!l Oakland's New 2,000-Foot Dock, Nearing Completion— One Unit of a Gigantic Waterfront Project. the Pacific Coast, dock their vessels at Oakland, and have a regular ten-day service between New York and this territory. The Pacific Alaska Navigation Company operate from two to four boats per week to Puget Sound and Alaska. The Dodge S. S. Co. operate to Portland, Oregon; the Inter-Ocean Transpor- tation Company to the Coos Bay territory; the Chas. Nelson Company to Humboldt County, in California; and the Independent S. S. Co. to San Pedro and Los Angeles. River lines, such as the California Transportation Company, handle freight to and from Oakland. The Oakland Transportation Company and the Bay Cities Transportation Co. operate lighters about the Harbor and around the Bay, while the Oakland Launch & Tugboat Company and the Crowley Launch & Tugboat Co. do the towing and handle excursion parties. Rail Facililies. — In the City of Oakland is found the most ideal combination of terminal facilities that exists on the Pacific Coast. The freight receiving and de- livering stations of three transcontinental railroads, and the Municipal Quay Wall, the principal water terminal in Oakland, are all located within seven blocks of each other. Within this compass freight can be received and delivered from or to any point in the world reached by the ordinary instrumentalities of commerce. The industrial section of Alameda County in the western portion extends over a very large territory, so that many receiving and delivering stations are required to handle the freight. The Southern Pacific Company has its principal terminal at Fifth and Kirkham New Freight Terminal of Atchison, Topaka & Santa Fe Railway — Just Opened- In the Heart of Oakland. Page 43 HBOEia. //4iW(. X OREGON I D AHO i i' I MUM BOLDT i .. ! I" 'i I' 1 'sT?^' All Lines Focus at Oakland— on tbe Western Side of Alameda County. Streets in Oakland. Other receiving and delivering stations are located at Alice Street, Twenty-second Avenue, Fruitvale Avenue, Forty-fifth Avenue, Ninety-eighth Avenue, in Oakland; Emeryville; Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, as well as University Avenue, Berkeley. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway has a large terminal, occupying about twenty-eight acres, at the foot of Alice Street, Oakland. This is new and has just been opened. They have a station at Fortieth Street and San Pablo Avenue in Oakland, and another on University Avenue in Berkeley. The Western Pacific Railway Company has its principal freight station at Third and Harrison Streets, Oakland, with a sub-station at Fruitvale Avenue. The Oakland, Antioch & Eastern Railway receives and delivers its freight at Fortieth Street and Shafter Avenue, Oakland. Page 44 SwitcUng by Eectric Locomotives in Certain Sections of Industrial District. All the above lines have interchange arrangements for receiving freight from or delivering it to points on connecting lines in the industral territory. All are well equipped with team tracks. Daily merchandise cars are loaded for the principal points in California and the western slates that leave the terminals of the respective lines every evening. The rail transportation facilities of Alameda County will best be appreciated by an examination of a good map, which will readily show that on its western border is located the focal point where all lines converge. Water Facilities. — The principal water terminal in Alameda County is the Municipal Quay Wall of the City of Oakland, extending from Clay Street to Myrtle Street on the Inner Harbor. Next in importance comes the Long Wharf of the Southern Pacific Company on the Outer Harbor, and various private wharves and docks along the Inner Harbor. The City of Berkeley also has a wharf at the foot of University Avenue on the western waterfront, where vessels of light draft may land. The United States Government, up to October 2, 1914, had expended the sum of $4,337,068.35 for the dredging and maintaining of a channel from the deep water of the Bay easterly through the Inner Harbor for about five and one-half miles. Enormous sums have been expended by railroads and private parties for facilities along the Harbor, and the City of Oakland has just expended $2,303,000 in laying the foundation for an elaborate harbor development plan. It has com- pleted the Quay Wall above referred to, has constructed a bulkhead with two 1,000-foot wharves on the western waterfront, has dredged a 25-foot channel 300 feet wide from the waters of the Bay up to those wharves, has rebuilt the Franklin Street wharf, and constructed a concrete wharf at the foot of Livingston Street in the eastern section of the city. During the 1914 season of navigation, 4891 vessels docked at Oakland, having a net registered tonnage of over 2,500,000. Page 45 h=M!kOCATELLO 892. 209 177 150 126 105 94 79 64 53 44 43 1.36 252 485 32 62 122 - SALT LAKE CITY. UTAH 815. 154 131 Il5f 96 79i 79i 62 56 46 36i 41 1.24 227 435 23 43 83 — COBBE, NEVADA 640. 154 128 Il5j 92 77 77 62 51 46 3BJ 37 1.07 1.95 3.70 23 43 83 — WINNEMUCCA " '412. IS7 106 95 77 65 6S 33 45 40j 35 33 84 1.47 2.75 14 24 44 — RENO iia, 97 Bl 73 59 50i 50i 41 35 31 87 27 55 90 1.60 14 24 44 - Terminus of Transcontinental Passenger Trains — Oakland Pier, Soutliern Pacific. Page 47 ELECTRICITY The electricity which operates the industries and electric lines of Ala- meda County is brought on high ten- sion transmission lines from the hydro- electric plants in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Three of these lines, ranging in length from 150 to 180 miles, extend across the valleys of the interior of the state to the focal point on the western shore of Alameda County at Oakland. At that point, the current goes into sub-stations, where transformers step it down and dis- tribute at the desired voltage and strength. Auxiliary steam plants rein- force these enormous sub-stations for use in case of accident or during heavy loads, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and the Great Western Power Company, both having several sub-stations reinforced by such Transmission line from Water Power Plants in Mountains. plants. For power purposes, the principal current used is three phase, 220 volt, 60 cycle ; 110 volt current is also available. A certain amount of 250 and 500 volt direct current can also be had by those industries requiring it. The rates for power purposes range from %c per k. w. h. to 3c per k. w. h., depending upon the quantity consumed, the time at which it is consumed, etc., the average running from l%c to 2c. The tariffs provide as follows. 3c per k.w.h. for first 500 k.w.h. per month. 2%c per k.w.h. for next 500 k.w.h. per month. 1; I li I A Beserve Steam Power Plant — Oakland. Page 48 Beseive Steam Plant — Pacific Gas & Electric Co. — Oakland, 2c per k.w.h. for next 1000 k.w.h. per month. \%c per k.w.h. for next 1000 k.w.h. per month. l%c per k.w.h. for all over 4000 k.w.h. per month. Minimum charge $i per month per horsepower installed up to and including 50 horsepower. All over 50 horsepower, minimum 50c per month per horsepower, with a minimum bill of not less than $10 per month. Lighting rates for factories range from 3c to 5c per k.w.h., while those for residences run from 5c to 7c per k.w.h. These very low rates and the excellent facilities provided by the different companies have brought about an increase of approximately 1000% in the electrical horsepower in use in the cities of Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley, between the years of 1909 and 1915^ They provide an additional striking example of the unusual advantages of Alameda County for production. GAS The Pacific Gas and Electric Company* whose gas plant is shown below, have the only producing plant in the East Bay cities, and they supply all the gas consumed by the 320,000 people located therein. The gas is manufactured from oil secured from refineries close at hand. The rale for general use is 90c per 1000 cubic feet, with lower rates for in- dustries, depending upon quantity consumed. Page 49 Pipe Lines from Oil Fields Focus on East Bay Sbare. One of Alameda County's Oil Befineiles. FUEL Fuel oil and coal supply the fuel requirements of the industrial section of Alameda County. COAL Soft coal is brought from domestic as well as foreign mines, coming from Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico, as well as from New Zealand and British Columbia. It sells for between $6.50 and $8 per ton, depending upon quantities, market conditions, etc. Anthracite coal is seldomly used in the industries, but for general use it sells for $12.50 to $14 per Ion. Screenings can be secured for between $5 and $6 per ton, and smithing coal from the eastern states costs between $9 and $10 per ton. OIL Fuel oil is used by the factories in enormous quantities, as about three and one- half barrels of the same contain the same number of heat units as one ton of coal. The .refineries are located on the Bay shore at the terminus of pipe lines which extend from the oil fields in interior California, so that an unlimited supply is right .at the command of the Alameda County industry. The oil can be secured at from 65c to $1 per barrel, depending upon whether purchased in small quan- tities or large, whether under contract for a term of years, etc. It is subject to market changes such as occasionally take place. The average price for small quan- tities is 85c to $1 per barrel, delivered. Deliveries in large quantities are made by tank cars, in smaller quantities by tank trucks, and in still smaller quantities by the barrel. Here again the strategic position of Alameda County as the focal point for the instrumentalities of commerce should be emphasized, as the pipe lines from the interior oil fields terminate at its very door. In the production of mineral sub- stances in California, petroleum products take first place, amounting to over $48,000,000 during the last year of record. The available fuel supply is supplemented by industries producing oil burners and other necessary equipment for use in factories. The result is economy and efficiency that mean much to every manufacturer. Page 50 ■iliMJ.MIl'il!lcl Interior of Oakland Market. COST OF LIVING A low cost of living results from the position of Alameda County in the center of the Pacific Coast market for the necessaries of life. In a comparative way, it might be said that grocery prices follow the general levels for the same articles as in cities of corresponding population elsewhere in the United States. The prices in most cases are made upon the same basic market. Ordinary milk in bottles is delivered at residences for 10c per quart. A special certified milk, produced under conditions required by the Alameda County Medical Society, is delivered at residences for 15c per quart. Produce sold in many places by the peck and bushel, is sold in Alameda County according to weight. Butter is made up in the several large creameries in Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley. Its price varies from 25c to 50c per pound, according to general market conditions, the high point coming in October and November, and the low in April and May. Electricity for lighting in residences costs 7c per k.w.h. Gas for lighting and heating costs 90c per 1000 cubic feet, with a minimum of 50c per month per meter. Soft coal is $7 to $9 per ton, delivered; anthracite coal, $12.50 to $14 per ton. The equable climate here again deserves mention, as the fuel bills of Alameda County homes are low comparatively. Water is supplied to residences under rates and minimums differing according to the city in which located. In Oakland, the minimum charge to residences is $1.50 per month, which is not exceeded unless more than 625 cubic feet of water is used; 7.48052 gallons to the cubic foot. Street car transportation costs are very low comparatively, as a universal transfer system and 5c fares are in effect throughout the three cities of Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley. A trip of 14 miles in one direction is possible for the sum of 5c, with from 3 to 10 minute service. Telephone rates for residences range from $1.00 to $3.00 per month, depending upon whether party or private line. Page 51 y.l.fcH.iaW:!.l:l / CLEAR \ / 170 DAYS \ t -'^^-^^ ^ '' ^ -^ ' '' ■ V'^'r':-F:^-l'i?''-'i CLOUDY i J \^'/Mf:<:: ^^iiji 1^^^ Year 1913 — Oaklsind 268 Fair Days. COST OF LABOR The cool, even temperature of Ala- meda County's industrial district con- tributes greatly to the efficiency of labor, and is a dominant advantage, from the manufacturer's standpoint. It results in an output per man ranging from 10% to 25% higher than in the eastern states. The men in many factories which operate 9 hours pro- duce the same amount as those in eastern plants operating 10 to 12 hours. There are no extremes of heal or cold with the resulting effect upon men and machinery. The clear, cool air infuses the joy of life into every fibre and really makes one feel like vigorous continued concentrated effort. The available supply of male labor in Alameda County is of the highest class, as it is of the home-owning kind. No city on the Coast has a larger percentage of homes owned by operatives. In Alameda County 45% to 55% occupy their own residences. This naturally contributes to composure and dignified consideration of matters affecting their interests. The large residential population in the industrial section means that there is an abundance of female labor that can be secured at very reasonable wages, com- paratively, depending upon the nature of the work. A state law limits the hours of labor for women to 8 hours per day and 48 hours per week. Humanitarian practices and laws, in harmony with the times generally, have Ijeen anticipated in the county, and in no section of the nation are the industries more solicitous for their employees' welfare than here. The effect of this is natur- ally reflected in the class and mental attitude of those employees. Salaries and wages in some lines are occasionally higher than in other places in the eastern states, but it must be remembered that the employee produces rela- tively more, as the standard of efficiency is much higher. WAGES Bakers $3.50 per day Hodcarriers $4.50 Boilermakers 4.00 per day Laborers $2.00 to 3.00 Bookbinders 4.25 per day Lathers 5.00 Bottlers 3.75 per day Machinists 4.00 Brewers 25.50 per week Molders 4.00 Brewers helpers 24.00 per week Painters 4.50 Bricklayers 7.00 per day Pattern makers 5.00 Carpenters 5.00 per day Cement workers $2.25 to 3.50 per day Compositors 27.00 per week Electrical workers 4.50 per day Electric light wiremen . . 5.00 per day Page 52 Plasterers 7.00 Plumbers 6.00 Pressmen 27.00 Sheet metal workers. . . . 3.50 Teamsters 3.50 per day per day per day per day per day per day per day per day per day per week per day per day Page 53 ssra Factory Buildings of Corrugated Iron Predominate. Lands — There are about 12,000 acres of land suitable for factory sites near transportation facilities in Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley. In case of purchase, they can be secured for from $500 to $20,000 per acre. In many cases the land can also be leased under, the most favorable terms, the City of Oakland having on its western waterfront about 294 acres of partially filled-in property for lease. Much private property can also be secured on terms comparing favorably. Specific figures cannot be given on account of the varying conditions which affect them. The prices naturally depend upon location, and the location, in many cases, is determined by the nature of the industry. Buildings — ^The equable climate means low investment in structures, heating plants not being required, as a general thing. Outdoor work can be carried on during nine months of the year. The prevailing type of factory building is of galvanized corrugated iron with wooden or steel frames. The following prices of materials used in building construction give a general idea, and, of course, are subject to market variations. The amount of the purchase would naturally affect them also. 26-gauge galvanized corrugated iron (1 lb. to sq. ft.), per 100 lbs. in large quantities $ 3.60 Sand and gravel from the river and bay, per cubic yard 1 25 Cement, in carload lots (4 sacks to bbl.), per barrel, delivered 2.35 (10c per sack rebate when empties are returned) Lime (in carload lots) , per barrel, delivered 1 .50 (15c to 25c rebate on empty barrels when returned) Brick (in carload lots), per M., delivered 8.50 Plaster, per ton 11 .50 Lumber — Outside Prices, Delivered — Per M. Douglas fir studding (2x4 and 2x6) 1 4.00 Douglas fir joists (2x8 to 2x12) 14.00 Douglas fir joists (2x8 to 2x14) 16.00 Douglas fir joists (2x8 to 2x16) 18.00 Douglas fir posts (4x4 and 4x6) 1 4.00 Douglas fir posts (6x8 and 8x8) 1 6.00 Redwood siding 36.00 Douglas fir flooring 29.00 , Concrete form material 1 2.00 f age 54 S^^^^i'^ 1 1 ^^f .. 1 ..ji S^F* TVW m 1 ;^B H ■ ■ ■1 i'/ ;:■'■. JB s " 1.' ■''^^'l.r ■ j50^ i/j -r-'l 1;; 1 U.-^M hM fei/ ■4 F^ *J ^ H i:'. J t awMw Lake Cliabot— In FoothiUs Sontbeast of Oakland. Source of Water Supply for Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda. WATER Water for all the Bay cities, including Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emery- ville, Piedmont, and San Leandro is supplied by the Peoples Water Co., a private corporation. This system is a combination gravity and direct pressure system, the gravity supply being obtained principally from Lake Chabot and water being pumped from well fields located at various points, the larger ones being at Alvarado and Fitchburg. The rates for industrial purposes are shown below: 24c per 100 cubic feet for first 2,000 cubic feet 22c per 100 cubic feet for next 3,000 cubic feet 21 c per 100 cubic feet for next 5,000 cubic feet 20c per 100 cubic feet for next 10,000 cubic feet 19c per 100 cubic feet for over 20,000 cubic feet (7.48052 gallons equal I cubic foot) The average daily consumption in 1913 from all sources of sup- ply was 15,833,960 gal- lons. The company has 950 miles of pipe. There are five pumping sta- tions within the cities above mentioned, and six reservoirs distributed throughout the territory. Interior of a Pumping Plant. Page 55 Gas Fire Engine and Central Police and Fire Alarm Telegraph Station — Oakland. INSURANCE Well equipped fire departments characterize the cities of Alameda County's industrial section. The most thickly settled districts are served by motor driven apparatus, which is rapidly displacing the horse drawn equipment in all sections of the three cities. Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley have well organized paid de- partments, which are supplemented by an equal number of men subject to call in case of emergency. The business section of Oakland, and one industrial section, is protected by a high pressure salt water system for emergencies. The pipes ordinarily carry fresh water at 50 pounds pressure, which can be increased to 200 pounds within three minutes by cutting in the salt water pumping station. This station is operated by three large gas engines and the system is being extended and enlarged. The police and fire alarm telegraph system of Oakland is one of the best in the nation, and the fireproof central station shown in the photographs above is located in the heart of the city, at the corner of Thirteenth and Oak Streets. Up-to-date ordinances regulate building construction and prescribe the fire limits in the different cities as well as the rules governing the handling of inflam- mables, explosives and other dangerous articles. Insurance rates compare favorably with other cities of corresponding size in the United Slates, and the city rate in Oakland is next to the lowest on the Pacific Coast, amounting to 31c. The cities are all well policed, Oakland having over 200 men, Alameda 22, and Berkeley 33. A list of the fire apparatus in use in the departments of Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley, follows: Page 56 Motor Hose Wagon— Oakland. Oakland — 2 automobile pump engines; 7 automobile combination hose and chemical wagons; 1 double 80-gallon chemical; 1 steam fire engine with front drive tractor; 13 horse drawn steam fire engines; 7 combination hose and chemical wagons, horse drawn; 6 straight hose wagons, horse drawn; I single 60-gallon chemical, horse drawn; 5 city service trucks, horse drawn. Alameda — I Chief's auto; 2 auto pumping fire engines; 1 steam pumping fire engine (3d size), horse drawn; I hook and ladder truck, tractor drawn; 1 chemical engine (100-galIon lank), horse drawn; 2 combination chemical engines and hose wagons, motor driven; 3 hose wagons, horse drawn. Berkeley — (All motor driven) — 2 Chief's cars; 1 straight pump; 2 steamers; 2 straight chemical engines; 6 combination chemical and hose trucks; I straight hose truck; I 50- foot city service hook and ladder truck; 1 delivery truck. FIRE STATISTICS OAKLAND BERKELEY ALAMEDA Stations 22 9 5 303 75 63 Fire Losses — 1910 $266,501.45 $15,325.00 $18,665.95 1911 182,650.50 34,874.00 20,582.85 1912 102,462.60 21,005.00 31,585.75 1913 213,367.50 124,415.00 7,218.80 1914 353.559.60 20,910.00 7,737.67 Page 57 TAXES The municipal government in Oakland. Alameda and Berkeley administer the affairs of their respective communities entirely independently of each other. The Board of Supervisors conducts the business of the county as a whole. Oakland is the county seat. The cities of Oakland and Berkeley have commission forms of government, with five commissioners making up the legislative and executive body, and elected from the city at large. Alameda is governed by a city council of nine members. All three cities have passed through a period of very rapid growth and ex- pansion and are in the position of making numerous permanent investments out of funds received for taxes. These investments might be compared to those for which a corporation would issue capital stock, and for which bonds might be issued by the community. A high standard of credit, however, is maintained by handling the improvements in the manner outlined. The securities of Oakland are an example, being considered the best investment among all the securities of cities in the western states. This can be quickly verified by application to authorities on. such matters. A high standard of efficiency is maintained in the government of the different cities, practically all employees being under Civil Service. During the past four years, the City of Oakland has expended $2,500,000 for new schools, $2,500,000 on the waterfront, $2,000,000 for new City Hall, $1,000,000 for new Auditorium, besides the maintenance of all branches of the government. On all these outlays it has secured a dollar's worth for every dollar expended, and a solid foundation has been laid for one of the world's greatest cities. 1914-15. Tax Rate Bonded Debt Assessed Valuation * Alameda County Albany Alameda Berkeley Emeryville . . . . Hayward Livermore Oakland Piedmont Pleasanton ... San Leandro . . $1.70 .75 1.28 1.12 .50 1.00 1.10 1.98 1.13 1.35 1.13 None $ 12,000.00 693,075.00 1,341,980.00 None 63,600.00 27,500.00 8,899,470.00 185,250.00 70,000.00 23,550.00 $251,174,915.00 2,218.850.00 16,582,140.00 42,706,490.00 3,479,900.00 1.897,525.00 782.675.00 135,591,227.00 6,087,115.00 519,700.00 2,603.980.00 ^Applies to Industrial Section in Oakland and vidnity. Rate varies in other sections. Page 58 Broadway — Oakland. A Portion of Banking District, A list of the Alameda County Banks follows: BANKING Alameda County has 44 banks, of which 27 are lo- cated in Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley, Their assets of the last named aggregate $80,000,- 000, of which $69,000,000 represents deposits, their capital and surplus making up the balance. These de- posits are essentially com- munity assets representing purely local deposits, the amount of balances from banks in nearby territory being but a small portion of the total. This places the three cities in the position of the third community on the Pacific Coast, from a standpoint of local deposits. The largest institutions are located in Oakland, several having branches in other nearby cities and the outly- ing districts. The bankers are not only lending their money, but also their constructive, help- ful aid in the building up of this great industrial com- munity. Oakland — Bank of Commerce Bank of Fruitvale Central National Bank Central Savings Bank Citizens Bank of Fruitvale Farmers & Merchants Bank First National Bank First Savings Bank Fugazi Banca Popolare Italiani Western Commercial & Savings Bank The Oakland Bank of Savings Security Bank State Savings Bank Twenty-third Avenue Bank West Oakland Bank Portuguese American Bank Alameda — ^Alameda National Bank Alameda Savings Bank Citizens National Bank Citizens Savings Bank Berkeley — First National Bank Berkeley Berkeley. Bank of Savings Trust Co. Berkeley Branch the Oakland Bank of Savings South Berkeley Bank Homestead Bank of Berkeley West Berkeley Bank Emeryville — First National Bank of Emeryville First Savings Bank of Emeryville Haymard — -Bank of Hayward First National Bank Farmers & Merchants Bank Hayward Bank of Savings Livermore — Farmers & Merchants Na- tional Bank First National Bank Livermore Savings Bank Livermore Valley Savings Bank Niles — Niles State Bank Pleasanion — First National Bank Bank of Pleasanton Qf Amador Valley Savings Bank San Leandro — Bank of San Leandro. & First National Bank San Leandro State Bank Page 59 One of Many Magnificent Homes In Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley. HOMES The residential features of Alameda County cities place them in the front ranks among the cities of the nation. The topography, the excellent streets, the unexcelled parks, the modern playgrounds, and the school system, most ably sup- plement the industrial advantages in combining the features that go to build great communities. With ideal facilities for production, supplemented by the home ad- vantages of Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley, no more delightful combination can be found. The factories along the railroad tracks and the waterfront in the western portion of the cities, and the residences on the slopes and in the foothills facing the Golden Gate, the cool and sunny weather, the excellent transportation facilities, and location at the cross roads of commerce, are all working to build one of the world's greatest cities. Nature has here crystallized the fondest dreams of thousands. The figures Typical Bungalows. Page 60 Oakland Technical High School. gathered by the U. S. Census show that over 45% o( the homes in Oakland, Ala- meda, and Berkeley, are owned by occupants. Thousands of bungalows, embodying the magic of the world's greatest archi- tects, dot the hills and valleys of the East Bay cities. There is no housing nor tenement problem in Oakland, Alameda, or Berkeley. The traction lines have 245 miles of tracks that extend to all sections of the three cities. The development of this system has well distributed population. Homes can be purchased under practically any terms desired. Four or five room bungalows range in price from $1500 to $5000, depending upon location and the features embodied in them. A most noticeable feature in the bungalows of Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley, is the difference in construction as compared to homes in the eastern states. Many things are provided for in the plans and built in to the structure. Bookcases, linen closets, sideboards, settees, wall beds, and even ironing board, are built in when the bungalow is erected. The school systems of Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley occupy a pre-eminent position among those of the nation, the City of Oakland having just supplemented its very able administration of schools by an investment of $2,500,000 in new structures. Its new $500,000 Technical High School, with carpentry, machine shop, foundry and domestic science departments, is considered a model. Berkeley has voted $500,000 in bonds for new schools, while Alameda has recently voted $300,000 for the same purpose. The East Bay cities have 61 grammar schools and 6 high schools. The University of California is located at Berkeley, and is the second insti- tution in the nation, from the standpoint of attendance. It is one of California's greatest assets, being closer in touch with the economic structure and activities of the state than is the general rule among other similar institutions in the United States. The parks and playgrounds of the Bay cities are a striking combination of the useful and the beautiful. Thousands of dollars are expended annually for maintenance and improvements where Nature and the landscape engineer have co- operated in providing delightful spots for play and recreation. Lake Merritt, in the heart of the city, is a noted beauty spot and provides excellent opportunities for recreation. The City of Oakland operates the boats on the Lake. The playgrounds of these East Bay cities are famous as having attained a high state of perfection, as the pioneer work along these lines was here carried on. A visit to them is all that is necessary to convince one of their superior equipment and administration. Page 61 ■A«ilAil*l_ AREA In Square Miles Alameda County 843 Oakland 60 Berkeley 9 Alameda 5 Emeryville I San Leandro 2% Hayward I % Pleasanton % Livermore I ^ Piedmont 1 % Albany 1% POPULATION 1880 1890 1900 1910 1915 Alameda County. 62.976 93,864 130,197 246,131 359,000 Oakland 34,555 48,682 66,960 150,174 215,000 Berkeley 5,101 13,214 40,434 64,400 Alameda 11,165 1,6,464 23,383 33,500 Emeryville 228 1,016 2,613 3,300 San Leandro .... 3,471 4,400 Hayward 1,419 1,965 2,746 4,400 Pleasanton 1,100 1,254 3,300 Livermore 1,391 1,493 2,030 3,850 Piedmont 1,719 2,375 Albany 808 1.100 NUMBER OF FACTORIES 1914 1909 1904 1899 Alameda County Oakland Alameda Berkeley 1175 879 77 155 676 441 51 84 248 30 44 195 23 22 VALUE OF PRODUCTS Alameda County. Oakland Alameda Berkeley 1914 $51,000,000 38,000,000 3,277,000 5,200,000 1909 $35,332,717 22,343,000 2,554,000 4,435,000 1904 9,015,000 697,000 1,474,000 1899 5,363,000 1,335,000 651,000 Page ill Page 63 Page 64