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NUMBER 0c 2029

 
   

AUTHOR: Oakland enquirer.

TITLE: Special edition illustrated.

PLACE: LC Oa.kland, Calié 1

DATE : [1998] VOLUME
 €F369 | S-
CALL 0202067 MASTER ' 0

 
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re hank?

F869 Oakland enquirer.

0202067 Special edition illustrated. Oakland

July enquirer. For the National educational asso-

1888 ciation, descriptive of Oaklend and vicinity.
edJuly, 1888s «<Oakland, Calif., i888a

p cover=title,40 po illus.,plates. 3lem.

64825 John Eowell purchase 12/12/47

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SHELF LiaT

 

 

-——— an. + —————

 

 

 
 

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LIBRARY PHOTOGRAPHIC SERVICE
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JOB NO. 8|6 0/5 95
DATE 11 8/5

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DOCUMENT
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ESGY IPTIVE or « OKLANI D AND VIGINITY.

RAT REY S.F.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

TL LUSTRATE I.

SIREN

 

 

LITH. BRITTO a REY

 

 

 
WINTER SCENES IN OAKLAND.

 

 

1AGODA HILL—RESIDENCE OF GEORGE J. AINSWORTH.
[From Photograph by Rudolph, November 17, 1887. 1.0%

 

 

TROPICAL PLANTS, IN THE GROUNDS OF F. M. SMITH—EAST OAKLAND.
[From Photograph by Rudolph, December 3, 1887.]

 

 

 

 

OAKLAND

Describing and Illustrating

 

 

ENQUIRER.

Oakland and Surroundings.

 

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, JULY, 1888.

 

HIS publication, having for its object to
make better known some of the attractive
features of the City of Oakland and of Alameda
County, is addressed more especially to the
distant reader, who is assumed to have little
previous knowledge of the subject, and a few
words of general description will be a useful
introduction. It ought not to be hard to con-
vince the traveler
or even the stay-
at - home reader
into whose hands
this paper falls in |
the distant East,
that Oakland has
some claims to §
the attention of
all well-informed
persons. In the
first place, it is [SEES
the second city in [&
population in Cal-
ifornia. Itis more
than that, for it
is the second in
population in all f
the states and ter-
ritories west o. ji
the Rocky Moun- f
tains. This side
of Denver, Oak-
land is the most
populous town in
the United States.
with the single
exception of San
Francisco. This
is stated upon the
assumption that
Los Angeles,
though growing
rapidly, has not
yet attained a le-
gitimate resident
population of 50,000. Oakland’s population in-
side its corporate limits amounts to that, and
the outlying residence districts generally re-
ferred to as a part of Oakland, but not within
her limits, contain 5,00omore. If Alameda and
Berkeley, smaller towns immediately adjacent
—the consolidation of which with Oakland
is agitated—were added, the total population
would be 65,000 or 70,000.
The geographical situation of Oakland is

upon the eastern shore of that inland sea—
San Francisco bay—of which the city of San
Francisco occupies a part of the western shore,
A distance of five miles intervenes between the
two cities, and it is sometimes said that Oak-
land is on the ‘land side,” and San Francisco
on the ‘‘water side”’—meaning thereby that
while Oakland is on the main land, and is easy

   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 

A. C. DIETZ, (GARDEN SCENE) SAN PABLO AVENUE.

of access from north, east and south, San
Francisco is built upon a narrow peninsula
which is impossible of access by land except
from the south. This cause gives to Oakland
the termini of the principal railroads already
existing, and also much greater prospective
importance, as destined to be one of the greatest
railroad centers in the United States a few years
hence. Railroads, a good harbor, numerous
large manufactories, and ample facilities for

more, give Oakland first-class importance
among Pacific Coast cities in an industrial
sense.

But there are more ways than these in which
Oakland should interest the traveler or the
student. Her intellectual importance is at
present equal, or superior, to her industrial
importance, since there can hardly be any dis-
pute of the state-
ment that this is
the educational

center of Califor-
; aia and the Paci-
4 fic Coast. The cul-
ture of this por-
3] tion of the coun-
d try, both present
4 and to come, has
its eyes turned
toward Oakland.
From the great
State University
—the most im-
portant and liber-
ally endowed in-
stitution of its
class west of the
Mississippi river
4 —down through
three or four oth-
er colleges and a
host of seminaries
d and academies, to
her unsurpassed
system of public
schools, Oakland
is an educational
cityifthere be one
in the country.
The intellectual
atmosphere is
largely what these
schools have
made it. A law
of affinity has drawn here a large proportion of
the most select elements of society. Culture
and wealth have united to make a home, and
we see the partial result in this beautiful city of
handsome streets, of elegant mansions and
tasteful cottages, of numerous and noble
churches, of public institutions, of crowded
schools, and of wide-reaching social and busi-
ness interests.

Oakland is a residence city. Nature prepared

 
to

SPECIAL

 

 

EIGHTH STREET—LOOKING EAST.

the means, and man has adapted them to the
end. The sharp contrast between the two sides
of the great bay of San Francisco impressed the
minds of the earliest settlers. On one side a
peninsula of land, surrounded by deep water,
but itself divided between the possession of
shifting sands of the beach and of steep hill-
sides, swept every day by chilly breezes and
often by volumes of fog from the neighboring
ocean—little herbage and scarcely a tree in
sight; on the other side there was a natural
park—a broad and gentle slope covered with
groves and groups of magnificent oaks, which
came down quite to the water's edge and
dipped their branches in the sea the whole
covered in winter and spring by a brilliant car-
pet of luxuriant grass and red, white and purple
flowers. But the better natural harbor being
on the other side of the bay the great city of
California was founded there, and Oakland was
left to grow slowly for many years. But grad-
ually, as means of communication were estab-
lished, and as people learned that the difference
between the climates of the two sides of the
bay was as great as can ordinarily be found by
going from one zone to another, and especially
as schools and municipal improvements in-
creased, the population of Oakland grew, be-
cause this was the best side of the bay to live
upon. The people who came had means and
taste. They spared—as often as they could—
the native oaks, and they planted European
forest trees between them; they lined the
streets with the trees of the temperate and the
tropical zones ; they built elegant houses and
surrounded them with beautiful gardens ; they
made streets which are a paradise for drives,
and, going further back to the nearest hills,
they planted their villas and their gardens upon
the slopes or in the warm elbows of the hills,

 

 

where they can look down upon the forest of
roofs and spires, upon the blue waters of the
bay, upon the western wall of mountains, upon
the Golden Gate opening through it, and upon
the distant ocean beyond. Such is fair Oak-
land, ‘‘the Athens of the Pacific,” and the
home of much that is best and most promising
in California.

Relative Advantages.

 

THE CITIES OF OAKLAND AND LOS ANGELES
CANDIDLY COMPARED.

 

PLUMB.

BY C. M.

am majority of new-comers seek Califor-
nia because of its climate.

wearied of Eastern frosts and snows, and long

for the land of the orange and olive, the fig

plain

They have

and raisin grape. In brief, phrase,
they desire to
“come in out of
the cold.” TItis
the method of
children or of
the unthinking
on entering a [&
warm room
from the chilly
atmosphere, to
crowd about the
stove or fire, in-
stead of com-
fortably settling
themselves in
the more per-
manently invit-
ing and health-
ful portions,
with a modified
but genial tem-

EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

CLAY STREET FROM TENTH—LOOKING NORTH.

perature. He who comes to California and
settles in the valleys, or upon plains at
not toc high an elevation, or too much ex-
posed to sea breezes, finds a semi-tropical cli-
mate as far north as Butte county, where the
orange ripens earlier even than in Los Angeles
county. The fig, olive, and wine and raisin grape
also flourish, and in many wide and fertile val-
leys one can find abundant heat in midsummer,
and need never fear any unpleasant degree of
cold in winter.

Strangers forget that pleasant winters are an
assurance almost anywhere in California. The
problem is to find those localities where the
summers are agreeable and healthful.

The fortunes of many who are coming to Cal-
ifornia, with all the impetuosity of the ea.lv
vold-seckers, and are settling quite as incon: id-

ately, are destined to be exceedingly unpleas-
nt, if not disastrous. To leap *‘from the fryi:g-
pan into the flame,” though a fabled climax, is
12ss serious in its results than the sudden tran-
sition from frost to fire. Not a few of these
hasty settlers will yet be seen ‘holding on to
themselves,” with as keen an experience of suf-
fering as we Eastern boys used to feel from the
tingling of our frosted fingers brought too near
the fire. The debilitating, depressing effect of
long continued and extreme heat is most seri-
ously felt by those least accustomed to it.
And people who luxuriate in the delightful
semi-tropical regions of Central California can
but regard with sympathy and pity the short-
sightedness of those who are crowding into
quarters they will find all too warm.

It is well to remember that a cold atmosphere
is more easily escaped, resisted or overcome,
than one that is excessively hot. Furnaces are
abundant and fuel is cheap at the North.
Refrigerators are rare and ice is dear at the
South. The true rule for one coming to Cali-
fornia to escape either the rigors of Northern
winters, or the sultriness of Eastern summers,
is to seek as high a latitude as possible, which
will afford the desired equability of climate,
and an altitude also that will insure escape
from enervating heat.

Which is better to find; as in Oakland, an
entire year of delightful moderation, with a
temperature of go° reached only on occasional

| Gil
land rare days; or as at Los Angeles, similar

   

——— —

 

pe

ke,

os ia

 

 

 

winter delights—though some degrees colder—
and in summer weeks of hot, sultry days with
the thermometer in the nineties? And Oak-
land is directly upon the glorious Bay of San
Francisco, and has its own salt-water lake, with
the seashore hourly accessible, and its breezes
constantly enjoyed ; while Los Angeles is essen-
tially inland, with its only water running
sparsely over the surface, and growing more
and more expensive. This brings us to our
second point of comparison or rather of marked
contrast.

Reader, have you ever experienced the dis-
comforts of a want of water? Ever practically
realized your dependence upon it? Have you
ever been at the mercy of a “pipe line,”" an *‘irri-
gating company,” or a ditch ‘‘ corporation,”
for that which is as necessary as the air God
has given you in un-
stinted measure, or the
land which, without
water, in many districts,
is so valueless ?

Do you know practi-
cally how it works ? Have
you ever “been there”?
Have you ever gone out
over your land, knowing
that unless your crops
have water af once they
must suffer serious in-
jury, perhaps fatal loss;
and knowing, too, that
all your neighbors were—
not in the * same boat”
(for alas! there is not
water to float a plank),
but on the same dry,
parched ground? All
need water most when
there is least to be had.
inches is all
very well, if some one
else has not the chance of
getting your inches first.

So many

Have you talked with
practical, small-farm irri-
gators? Not those who
are trying to sell, but
those who have sold and
left a “ditch district,” and
gone where land needs
no irrigation? Suppose
you do this conscienti-
ously, before buying dry
land by the acre, and a ‘‘ chance ” of water by
the inch! Who can compare the comfort and
security, the economy and convenience, the
settled assurance of the well-watered lands of
Central California with the dry, parched dis-
tricts which require to be ditched and soaked
to respond with fruit or grain?

California has its unfruitful years, its pests
and destroyers, as what lands have not? Who
cares to multiply these by an exceedingly un-
certain dependence upon a doubtful supply of
water not wholly under your own control?
You get a title to the land you buy, which
means ownership. No one can interfere with
its use or management. Have you any such
unqualified reliance upon and control of the

water supply in an irrigated district? In ruder
times ditch privileges were purchased at the
price of not simply eternal vigilance, but ever-
lasting warfare.

In the heaven-watered valleys of Central Cal-
ifornia we have the records of years to prove
the absolute healthfulness of very many dis-
tricts where, as in Oakland, the death rate and
the ratio of disease are far below those of the
most favored lands.

In Southern California, over much of the
territory water is yet to he applied, and the resi-
dents have yet to experience the effect of rapid
evaporation of surface moisture under the hot
skies of a southern clime. In many districts
the results are already known, in the almost
inevitable malaria, to escape which so many are
fleeing from sections of the Fast, which have

 

OAKLAND CANOE CLUB BOAT HOUSE.

shaken generations into
Why buy land which requires water and take
this risk when there are thousauds of acres at
lower prices, with equal productiveness, for pre-
cisely the same fruits, and where the winters
are equally mild and the summers more genial
and inviting, with no doubt as to moisture, no
labor of perpetual watering and no resultant
plague of chills and fever? Why not visit and
inspect Central California before buying? It
will cost you little. It may save you much.

premature graves.

The Canoe Club, a picture of whose boat-
house appears on this page, is composed of a
number of Oakland gentlemen. About twenty
canoes belong to the club.

SPECIAL EDITION—OAKNLAND ENQUIRER. 3

The City Beautiful.

OAKLAND CONSIDERED RELATIVE TO SAN

FRANCISCO AND UPON ITS MERITS.

BY COLONEL JOHN P. IRISH.

a: equability of Oakland’s climate and the

beauty of its location, joined to its obvious
commercial advantages, readily account for its
growth in fifteen years from a placid village to
a bustling city of 60,000 people. It is the habit
to speak of it as having received the spill of ‘its
neighbor, San Francisco, and it is sometimes
called the bedroom of that city. An analysis
of Oakland's population, however, and a quest
for the motives which brought people here will
show that San Francisco gets as much of our
spill into her business as we of hers into our
bedroom. Men of capital
who seek for their fami-
lies such climatic and so-
cial and educational ad-
vantages as Oakland has,
come here and buy and
build those charming
homes for which the city
is noted, and finding it
all that can be wished for
as a home, they carry
some of their capital to
San Francisco and add it
to her mercantile wealth
and energies.

So if it be said that
Oakland would not be so
big except for San Fran-
cisco, it may also be said
that San Francisco would
not be so busy were it not
for Oakland.

But leaving out all dis-
cussion of how Oakland
came to be, it is, and
every adds about
5,000 to its population.
It gets the best. And
we meet here in business
people
from every State in the
Union,and from every civ-
ilized land under the sun.
There is something in the
city and its surroundings
which attracts from all
quarters the best folk.

The great bay of San Francisco lies on one
side of the city, visible from many of its homes,
while from them all the semi-lune of mountains
on the other side may be seen, changing their
color with the seasons and at all times majestic.
All literature is jeweled with the inspiration of
the mountains and the sea, and here they are
facing each other with a city between them
basking in the beauties of both. But the
people of Oakland are not content with the
bay which nature hollowed out, and with
the mountains which she uplifted. These but
serve to inspire their good taste and sense of
the beautiful, so that this city, kissed on one
cheek by the sea waves, and on the other by
the mountain breeze, has beauties created and

year

and in society

 
 

4 SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

 

youn. al

PN
ra we

tu.
cbs

 

 

LAKE MERRIT1—WEST SIDE.

matured by its own people which divide with
what nature has wrought, the admiration of
the visitor.

On the lawns and private gronnds of its
homes, roses bloom every day in the year, and
are aided by a wonderful variety of other
flowers in verifying this as the place to which
summer never bids farewell. Violet and lily,
camellia and magnolia and their train of bright
hued blooms have all seasons for their own.
Here, then, we have beauty and variety of
scenery joined to such softness of climate as to
rid life of the strain of extremes in weather
which are so trying in the Fast, and their
advantages, provided for us by Providence, are
to be had in association with the best educa-
tional and commercial opportunity in the world.

Oakland is inhabited by lotus eaters. [I care
not from what part of the world they have
come, the blandishments of this locality sati-
ate their fancy to the exclusion of all rivals.
But when I call this the land of the lotus eater,
[ do not mean that its clemency of climate
softens the energies. Instead of enervating it
inspires to activity, for it is just at that golden
mean between the heat that makes life a
burden, and the cold that makes hibernation
necessary for its preservation, and so we are the
most enterprising and active people on the
continent.

It is the place where a lazy man is cured with-
out a whip, and a lazy liver needs no pad. Its
people have met here from the extremes of
south and north, of heat and cold, and find it
the place of perfection—the City Beautiful.

We and Our Neighbors.

HE EASTERNER INVITED TO DO A LITTLE
THINKING FOR HIMSELF.

BY GALEN M. FISHER.
HE denizen of that great belt of territory,
extending from the Atlantic to the Rockies
and from the Lakes to Mason and Dixon's line,
cannot but confess that for two-thirds of the year
he is either pinched with cold or annoyed by
heat. [It takes great diligence during three
months, when hay can be made, to obtain
forage cnough to keep his cattle through the

long collseason. Such a one, when he reads
of the land that is winterless, of the orange
and the vine and of flowers to be gathered in
the open air all the year round, and of six tons
of hay per acre, is very apt to say, ‘‘ that is the
home for me, and I will go, too, if I get a half
way chance.” Now, to such I say it is all true,
the half about California has not been told you.
Come one! come all! our State is wide and
long, and vour welcome, to the best we have, is
hearty. True, larks will not fall from heaven
to feed vou, but with moderate effort you can
The ch efest attraction of our great
It is indeed ‘‘the Italy of

live well.
State is its climate.
America.”

Now, in all that has gone before this, not a
word has been said to detract from the great-
ness and glory of Southern California in general
and Los Angeles in particular. It is not
necessary to (defame the memory of your neigh-
bor's mother or to pelt him with mud, simply
because he has become suddenly rich and set up
a carriage.

But when that neighbor claims a monopoly
of goodness and glory it is time to call him to
account. When the loquacious Angeleno de-
mands hundreds of dollars per lot or thousands
per acre, and you express surprise at the mag-
nitude of his prices, he comes down on you

 

 

with his clincuer: **Oh, but the climate!”
To illustrate, Santa Monica is a small seaside
town of perhaps 1,000 people, perhaps not so
many. The Southern Pacific Railroad Com-
pany desired to kill the place as a seaport, and
have effectually done it. Senator Jones lost
$700,000 there, and it nearly broke him up, they
say, but he is now on his feet again. A street
called Park street has been laid out from the
short Main street of four or five blocks, for
perhaps a half mile, to a so-called park. The
street and the park and the houses are mostly
on paper vet. I was asked to name a price for
lots on said Park street, said lots being 50XI50
feet. I said from $5 to $7 a foot front, and was
soberly informed that several Eastern people
had paid $3,5000 each for said lots—that is $70 a
foot front—the price of our best lots in Oakland,
with gas, water, sewers and pavement—none of
which these lots possessed. Exclaiming at
such preposterous prices, the agent, an old friend

1

of mine, said, * We sell climate!

Visiting Pasadena and thoroughly exploring
its best streets in a carriage, but little of interest
could be seen. On Magdala and Orange Grove
avenues were numbers of places well kept,
with grass and trees and flowers, something
like our best Oakland homes, of which they re-
minded me, but the streets were unpaved, full
of chuck holes and very dusty, with the excep-
tion of Magdala avenue. I will not quote the
prices demanded for land, but they were fabu-
lous. Pasadena lies, like Berkeley, elevated on
the mountain slope, and is very hot at mid-day,
and. I am told, correspondingly cold at night.

Now. what is the climate of Los Angeles?
It is from five to fifteen degrees warmer than
that of Oakland, after 12 o'clock, noon. The
nights are equally cold with our own. and the
fogs are frequent and hold on at this season of
the vear—November—till 9 or 10 o'clock. A
fire, morning and evening, is just as needful
for persons of delicate health as at the bay.

The general voice of the Oaklanders living
there was, that the extremes were greater than
here, and they did not feel as well or enjoy life
as much as at home. To the Eastern man,
after the first rains have fallen, after the dust
is laid and verdure clads the ground, coming
from frost and snow, it seems indeed a veritable

 

Calais

uu EA

HSI RH

Ses sr

 

 

SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER. 5

 

Cr a to i
paradise, bathed in soft vernal airs. He is en-
raptured, and assured that only ZZere, are such
scenes to be found. We, of Central California,
know better ; we know that, on thousands of
sunny slopes and in the close embrace of multi-
tudinous valleys are to be found just as
pleasant, charming home sites as the best that
Southern California can show. We know that
from San Diego to Santa Rosa the compensa-
tions of life and living are quite equal.

But the stranger here does not know it, and
until he has been secured as a buyer of a home-
stead near by, it is not for the interest of the

Munieipal Development.
THE CAUSES WHICH LIE AT THE ROOT OF
OAKLAND'S RAPID GROWTH.

 

BY WM. C. BARTLETT.

or - who have seen Oakland as a mere

hamlet of 1,200 people, and see it now with
60,000 people, and with nearly 10,000 more liv-
ing close to the municipal boundaries, have all
the assurance they need touching the future
growth of the city. It has reached its present
development without the aid of anything like a

is left to those who have examined critically
the latest census data to test these estimates.
What have been the chief elements of growth?
In the first place, the site of the city, leaving out
San Francisco, was the best in the entire State.
It was accessible before any railroads were built.
When these were constructed and the ferry
system perfected, Oakland became the most
accessible place. It was easier to reach it than
it was to reach San Francisco. It had advant-
ages over all the inland towns and cities in this
respect. The bay swept around the city. The
estuary, where ships are now riding at anchor,

 

real estate agent that he should know it. We,
of the North, know that the poor frost-bitten
man is paying three or four times the real value
of the land, and that some future day it will so
appear.

Of the “paper cities’ that surround Los
Angeles, a few will survive, but the great ma-
jority must be relegated to the plow and the
harrow again. Over high-sounding names of
streets and avenues and surveyors’ stakes, over
hopes and fears and many golden eagles spent
in vain, those humble instruments of agriculture
will draw their kindly veil.

RESIDENCE OF B. F. WESTON—LAKE STREET.

“boom.” It has had what might be called a
conservative growth, safe, certain and substan-
tial. There were many residents of Oakland,
as early as 1860, who were very sanguine asto the
future of the city. The late Isaac Brayton and
Henry Durant were in this respect representative
men. And yet these hopeful and sanguine men
would hardly have ventured the prediction that
for the next twenty-seven years the little city
would double its population for each five years.
And yet that has been about the ratio of growth.
To have doubled every five years since 1860,
there should now be a population of 64,800. It

led up to the heart of the place. An old ex-ship-
master says that the water-way between the
training walls of this estuary is wider than some
places in the river Thames, where ships are con-
stantly going to and from the largest city in the
world. We have hardly begun to appreciate
this land-locked bay. But the city of the future
—the city of 300,000 inhabitants—will estimate
all these immense advantages.

The site was good in another respect. There
was room for unlimited expansion without
digging down hills or filling up low places at a
cost equal to the original price of a lot. Land

 
  
   

4 SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

 

 

 

 

LAXE MERRIT1—WEST SIDE.

matured by its own people which divide with
what nature has wrought, the admiration of
the visitor.

On the lawns and private gronnds of its
homes, roses bloom every day in the year, and
are aided by a wonderful variety of other
flowers in verifying this as the place to which
summer never bids farewell. Violet and lily,
camellia and magnolia and their train of bright
hued blooms have all seasons for their own.
Here, then, we have beauty and variety of
scenery joined to such softness of climate as to
rid life of the strain of extremes in weather
which are so trying in the Fast, and their
advantages, provided for us by Providence, are
to be had in association with the best educa-
tional and commercial opportunity in the world.

Oakland is inhabited by lotus eaters. I care
not from what part of the world they have
come, the blandishments of this locality sati-
ate their fancy to the exclusion of all rivals.
But when I call this the land of the lotus eater,
I do not mean that its clemency of climate
softens the energies. Instead of enervating it
inspires to activity, for it is just at that golden
mean between the heat that makes life a
burden, and the cold that makes hibernation
necessary for its preservation, and so we are the
most enterprising and active people on the
continent.

It is the place where a lazy man is cured with-
out a whip, and a lazy liver needs no pad. Its
people have met here from the extremes of
south and north, of heat and cold, and find it
the place of perfection—the City Beautiful.

We and Our Neighbors.

THE EASTERNER INVITED TO DO A LITTLE
THINKING FOR HIMSELF.

BY GALEN M. FISHER.
HE denizen of that great belt of territory,
extending from the Atlantic to the Rockies
and from the Lakes to Mason and Dixon’s line,
cannot but confess that for two-thirds of the year
he is either pinched with cold or annoyed by
heat. It takes great diligence during three
months, when hay can be made, to obtain
forage enough to keep his cattle through the

long coliseason. Such a one, when he reads
of the land that is winterless, of the orange
and the vine and of flowers to be gathered in
the open air all the year round, and of six tons
of hay per acre, is very apt to say, ‘‘ that is the
home for me, and I will go, too, if I get a half
way chance.” Now, to such I say it is all true,
the half about California has not been told you.
Come one! come all! our State is wide and
long, and your welcome, to the best we have, is
hearty. True, larks will not fall from heaven
to feed you, but with moderate effort you can
live well. The chiefest attraction of our great
State is its climate. It is indeed ‘‘the Italy of
America.”

Now, in all that has gone before this, not a
word has been said to detract from the great-
ness and glory of Southern California in general
and Los Angeles in particular. It is not
necessary to defame the memory of your neigh-
bor’s mother or to pelt him with mud, simply
because he has become suddenly rich and set up
a carriage.

But when that neighbor claims a monopoly
of goodness and glory it is time to call him to
account. When the loquacious Angeleno de-
mands hundreds of dollars per lot or thousands
per acre, and you express surprise at the mag-
nitude of his prices, he comes down on you

 

 

 

 

 
   

 

  

 
 
 

 
  

  

    
  
  

  
 
 
 
 

  
 

  

  
 
 
  

 

with his clincuer: ‘Oh, but the climate!”
To illustrate, Santa Monica is a small seaside
town of perhaps 1,000 people, perhaps not so
many. The Southern Pacific Railroad Com-
pany desired to kill the place as a seaport, and
have effectually done it. Senator Jones lost
$700,000 there, and it nearly broke him up, they
say, but he is now on his feet again. A street
called Park street has been laid out from the
short Main street of four or five blocks, for
perhaps a half mile, to a so-called park. The
street and the park and the houses are mostly
on paper yet. I was asked to name a price for
lots on said Park street, said lots being 50x150
feet. I said from $5 to $7 a foot front, and was
soberly informed that several Eastern people
had paid $3,5000 each for said lots—that is $70 a
foot front—the price of our best lots in Oakland,
with gas, water, sewers and pavement—none of
which these lots possessed. Exclaiming at
such preposterous prices, the agent, an old friend
of mine, said, ‘ We sell climate!”

Visiting Pasadena and thoroughly exploring
its best streets in a carriage, but little of interest
could be seen. On Magdala and Orange Grove
avenues were numbers of places well kept,
with grass and trees and flowers, something
like our best Oakland homes, of which they re-
minded me, but the streets were unpaved, full
of chuck holes and very dusty, with the excep-
tion of Magdala avenue. I will not quote the
prices demanded for land, but they were fabu-
lous. Pasadena lies, like Berkeley, elevated on
the mountain slope, and is very hot at mid-day,
and, I am told, correspondingly cold at night.

Now, what is the climate of Los Angeles?
It is from five to fifteen degrees warmer than
that of Oakland, after 12 o'clock, noon. The
nights are equally cold with our own, and the
fogs are frequent and hold on at this season of
the year—November—till 9 or 10 o'clock. A
fire, morning and evening, is just as needful
for persons of delicate health as at the bay.

The general voice of the Oaklanders living
there was, that the extremes were greater than
here, and they did not feel as well or enjoy life
as much as at home. To the Eastern man,
after the first rains have fallen, after the dust
is laid and verdure clads the ground, coming
from frost and snow, it seems indeed a veritable

 

 

FOURTE: NTH STREET —LOOKING EAST FROM CASTRO. ___a«

  
   

 

paradise, bathed in soft vernal airs. He is en-
raptured, and assured that only Zkere, are such
scenes to be found. We, of Central California,
know better ; we know that, on thousands of
sunny slopes and in the close embrace of multi-
tudinous valleys are to be found just as
pleasant, charming home sites as the best that
Southern California can show. We know that
from San Diego to Santa Rosa the compensa-
tions of life and living are quite equal.

But the stranger here does not know it, and
until he has been secured as a buyer of a home-

stead near by, it is not for the interest of the

 
 

 

real estate agent that he should know it. We,
of the North, know that the poor frost-bitten
man is paying three or four times the real value
of the land, and that some future day it will so
appear.

Of the ‘“‘paper cities” that surround Los
Angeles, a few will survive, but the great ma-
jority must be relegated to the plow and the
harrow again. Over high-sounding names of
streets and avenues and surveyors’ stakes, over
hopes and fears and many golden eagles spent
in vain, those humble instruments of agriculture
will draw their kindly veil.

  

Retake of Preceding Frame

A ———— a. ~~

Munieipal Development.
THE CAUSES WHICH LIE AT THE ROOT OF
OAKLAND’S RAPID GROWTH.

 

BY WM. C. BARTLETT.

HOSE who have seen Oakland as a mere

hamlet of 1,200 people, and see it now with
60,000 people, and with nearly 10,000 more liv-
ing close to the municipal boundaries, have all
the assurance they need touching the future
growth of the city. It has reached its present
development without the aid of anything like a

 

RESIDENCE OF B. F. WESTON—LAKE, STREET.

“boom.” It has had what might be called a
conservative growth, safe, certain and substan-
tial. There were many residents of Oakland,
as early as 1860, who were very sanguine asto the
future of the city. The late Isaac Brayton and
Henry Durant were in this respect representative
men. And yet these hopeful and sanguine men
would hardly have ventured the prediction that
for the next twenty-seven years the little city
would double its population for each five years.
And yet that has been about the ratio of growth.
To have doubled every five years since 1860,
there should now be a population of 64,800. It

SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER. 5

is left to those who have examined critically
the latest census data to test these estimates.
‘What have been the chief elements of growth?
In the first place, the site of the city, leaving out
San Francisco, was the best in the entire State.
It was accessible before any railroads were built.
When these were constructed and the ferry
system perfected, Oakland became the most
accessible place. It was easier to reach it than
it was to reach San Francisco. It had advant-
ages over all the inland towns and cities in this
respect. The bay swept around the city. The
estuary, where ships are now riding at anchor,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

led up to the heart of the place. An old ex-ship-
master says that the water-way between the
training walls of this estuary is wider than some
places in the river Thames, where ships are con-
stantly going to and from the largest city in the
world. We have hardly begun to appreciate
this land-locked bay. But the city of the future
—the city of 300,000 inhabitants—will estimate
all these immense advantages.

The site was good in another respect. There
was room for unlimited expansion without
digging down hills or filling up low places at a
cost equal to the original price of a lot. Land

 
   
SPECIAL EDITION

-

VIEW ON ALICE STREET.

was so cheap that people of moderate means
could buy large lots. For this reason the town
has spread over a large area. There is elbow
room enough. From the first it became a city of
homesteads. People came because they wanted
homes, schools, churches and all the advantages’
of a good environment and a good neighbor-
hood. And so it came about that Oakland be-
came a city of homes beyond any other in the
State of equal population. The speculative
tendency was subordinated to this higher aspir-
ation. And that is true to this day. It ought
to be true for the next quarter of a century.

Growth in this way has always a solid basis.
If it is not so rapid as where there are successive
paroxysms of speculation, it is safer and amounts
to more in the long run. It securesa fixed and
permanent population. These are the builders,
the creators of values. The man who buys alot
and builds thereon a goo:l house, not only aug-
ments the value of his own premises, but of the
wiole city. But the man who buys a lot, or a
hundred, for speculation, and has parted with
them without making a single improvement,
has added nothing to the real value of the
place. You cannot safely count on that element
of growth. It appears and disappears. The
intervals of depression reduce the value of the
high pressure, speculative season almost to a
cipher. Twenty thousand people on the streets,
eager to buy lots one day and just as eager to
sell them the next at an advance, are not the
best evidences of growth and prosperity. The
most satisfactory demonstration would be that
they should all keep their lots, improve them,
build homes for their own occupation, and be-
come permanently identified with town or city.

Now, a city where the desire for homes sub-
ordinates the mere speculative feeling will
always draw to it the best element of popula-
tion. The one man who is interested in creat-
ing his own homestead, and who chooses his
building site because there are good schools
and good improvements generally, is worth
more than the ten men who want nothing but
the mere gain on the lots they have bought to
sell again.

In the next ten years, without any special
excitement, something like five thousand lots
will be wanted for building purposes, provided

the present ratio of growth is maintained. At
the end of that period how much unoccupied
territory will remain ? ‘The next sixty thousand
will come for reasons similar to those which
have induced a majority of the present adult
population to come here—accessibility, schools,
climate, churches, a city growing in grace and
beauty every year, and every year more to be
desired for the sum of its advantages. So far
from any disadvantage, it has been a great
advantage to Oakland that it was so near the
commercial metropolis of the Pacific Coast.

Was it any disadvantage to Brooklyn to be
within a few minutes’ travel of New York?
Or to Newark that it is only about twelve miles
distant or twenty minutes by rail and ferry?
If Oakland draws largely upon the business
resources of San Francisco, so much the better.
These, it is certain, will never be less. There
are those now living who will probably see San
Francisco with a million of inhabitants. How
many will there then be in this city of Oakland?
The future will take care of itself. What is
most needed is a good municipal policy, so
-arefully revised that it shall be the best, not
only for the present, but for that near future
when Oakland, with its population more than
duplicated, is still the second city on the Pacific
Coast.

Oakland Aspects.
THOSE FEATURES OF THE CITY WHICH PAR-
TICULARLY COMMAND ATTENTION.

 sivne has been as prodigal of favors to
»®& Oakland as if she had especially courted

the foundation here of a great metropolis. It
is doubtful whether the most diligent search
would reveal another city where streets and
sewers of equal quality have cost so little
money, mile for mile; where the conditions are
so favorable for establishing rapid transit by
rail; where the natural sanitation of the at-
mosphere and the soil has left so little for the
inhabitants to do ; where there is left so large
an area stitable for manufacturing establish-
ments and railroad yards without invading the
choice residence districts; where the distribu-
tion of land and water is more advantageous

OAKLAND ENQUIRER,

for business or pleasure, and where so many
advantages are combined with a peculiarly soft
and yet not enervating climate.

Deep water immediately adjacent to the shore
on the front of the city was almost the only
great advantage denied to Oakland, and the
harbor question presents no difficulties which
have not been partially, and may not be entirely
overcome. When the Government work, now
half finished, is all done, access will be pro-
vided for deep-water vessels to the very heart
of the city. ‘The bay pushes its arm boldly in-
land, and one of its extremities has been seizel
upon and dedicated to pleasure, while the rest
is given up for trade. For bringing ship and
car and ship and factory together the meandei-
ing shore line of Oakland is singularly favor-
able.

The harbor is fringed in all but a few places
with marshes of considerable extent, and this,
which doubtless seemed regretable to the firs:
settlers, has proven an actual advantage, since
it insured a reserve of many hundred acres of
land undesirable for residences but which can
be made fit at no great outlay for manufactur-
ing uses, and which is now being converted
thereto.

Lake Merritt was originally the north arm
of the estuary, and the tide ebbed and flowed ‘n
it. A dam pushed across its mouth has changed
all this and converted the former tideway into
an inland lake, which is the pride and joy of
Oaklanders. What other city has in its very
center a lake with 240 acres of area and cver
three miles of winding shore line? The banks
are more or less elevated, especially on the
eastern and northern sides, and the rising slopes
are the choicest residence districts. There are
many beautiful homes looking down upon the
smooth waters of the lake, and there is room
for many more. Take Merritt is dedicated to
the city as a water park, and it is the paradise
of the gentle sailor. There is usually wind
enough to chase the fleet sailboats over its
surface, and yet not so much but that ladies,
and even children, fearlessly row their little
skiffs from shore to shore. On the western
shore the grassy lawns come down to the
water's edge, or the willows on the margin
are mirrored in the placid surface. All visitors
are taken to Lake Merritt ; a moonlight row or
sail is considered the highest enjoyment, and
daily parties come from San Francisco to in-

OAK TREES—ADELINE & 12TH STREETS.

 

SPECIAL EDITION

OAKLAND ENQUIRER. 7

 

STATE UNIVERSITY BUI 1L.DINGS—BERKELEY.

dulge in the am The next grect im-
provement will be to build a boulevard around
the lake, making one of the most magnificent
driveways in America. It will cost from $2350,-
000 to $350,000 to do this, but the people stand
ready to vote the money as soon as some re-
maining legal obstacles are removed.

But Lake Merritt is not solely for pleasure
and ornamentation. It ministers also to the
public health. The main sewer of the city
connects at its upper end with the lake.
When the tide rises, the automatic receiving
gates of the lake close, and then the gates of
the sewer are opened and the water sweeps
through and carries the sewage to the bay.

The topography of Oakland is fortunate in a
number of respects. The rise from the water
front is just sufficient to give ample fall for
sewers—omne in two hundred is the average
and the improved pipe sewers with which the
streets are ramified can be laid at the minimum
of cost. There are now 60 miles of such sewers
varying in diameter from six to eighteen inches.
In general terms it may be said that Oakland
has the best sewer system on the coast, San
Francisco not excepted. In this respect we
contrast happily with Los Angeles, where no
effective way of disposing of the scwage has
been suggested which will not cost more than
a single million.

In Oakland everybody drives, except, of
course, those who cannot afford to keep horses
More than half the turnouts one meets are
driven by ladies. The smooth macadamized
streets are a great temptation to lovers of fine
horses, and some wealthy families live here for
no other reason than that they can indulge
their fondness for unlimited driving. In all
except some portions of the city where build-
ing is recent, grading was almost unnecessary.
No ugly cuts offend the eye or double the cost
of property. Houses, lawns and gardens are
on the level of the street, and the growing
practice of leaving the finest private grounds
unfenced adds greatly to the artistic harmony.

One of the best pieces of luck which fell to the
lot of Oakland was that the nearest ranges of
hills were stored with quantities of red and
blue trap rock of unexcelled quality, which can
be extracted cheaply and used to make streets.
The cost of macadamizing is from 7 to 7)
cents a square foot, and often the total cost of
street improvements is not over $1.60 per run-
ning foot of the abutting property. There are
now fully sixty-five miles of these macada-
mized streets.

Our city is as yet without an extensive park,
though an agitation for the purchase and
improvement of one is in progress. But there
are eight small parks of a block each, most of
which are finely improved, and one of ten
acres as yet unimproved. These public squares
were reserved and dedicated to the city at the
date of the original survey.

The principal division of the city is by the
arm of the estuary and Lake Merritt, separat-
ing East Oakland from the rest of the town.

East Oakland is with many the
favorite residence portion, and
it is at this time growing very
rapidly. While some of the
handsomest residences are in
East Oakland, it is especially
the paradise of cottages, which
abound in profusion of styles,
nearly all being tasteful and
come masterpieces of happy archi-
techturaleffort. The largest hotel
is in this part of the city. There
are a number of fine churches,
three of which have been erected
during the past year. The Episco-
palians have the Church of the
Advent, a handsome building in
the Episcopal Gothic style, situ-
ated on Thirteenth avenue. Near
it on the same avenue, but facing
on Fifteenth street, is the new
Brooklyn Presbyterian Church,
of which a cut appears elsewhere.
The Tenth-avenue Baptist Church,
dedicated about three months ago,
is a modern structure which
is pleasing to the eye, both outside and
in. St. Anthony's Church, (Catholic) is another
ornament, and stands in the midst of finely-
kept grounds. Back of East Oakland the
ground is rolling, and many of the residences
have a fine elevation. Peralta Heights over-
look the lake.

At the opposite end of East Oakland is
Highland Park. Here the elevation is suffi-
cient to cause marked climatic effects; frosts are
rare and slight, and as a consequence winter
gardens are particularly luxuriant. Highland
>ark is inhabited mostly by well-to-do pecple,
and the houscs are elegant. It is the seat of
the new California College.

Beyond Highland Park, and outside the
present limits of the city lies Fruit Vale, a
charming spot, where there are many attractive
residences, and many inducements to make
more. Still beyond this is Mills College, with
its magnificent grounds—the most charmingly-
located woman's college in the country.

PALM TREE—UNIVERSITY GROUNDS—FROM PHOTOGRAPH NOV. 10TH,

 
8 SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

Within a few years past the lower ground
adjacent to the estuary in East Oakland has
been building up with manufactories. There
are the cotton mills and jute mills, besides pot-
teries, tanneries and other establishments.

Returning now to the main part of the city,
we find, after crossing I.ake Merritt by the
causeway. a residence district which is the
present center of fashion and wealth. Oak,
Madison, Jackson and Alice streets, and the in-
tercepting east and west streets, including Lake
and Durant, are built up with many of the finest
houses in Oakland. It is the show place of
the town, and the visitor never fails to express
admiration of the striking styles of architecture,
the elegant lawns, the palms and other tropical

next. All the cross streets between these are
devoted to business, as is also San Pablo avenue,
while Telegraph avenue is essentially a resi-
dence street, and a most magnificent one.
Naturally, the leading churches are situated in
close proximity to the business center. The
First Presbyterian, situated on Fourteenth and
Franklin streets, is the second largest Protes-
tant church in the city, seating over a thousand
persons on the main floor. The interior of
this edifice, with its high-vaulted ceiling unob-
structed by pillars is especially effective. The
First Congregational church is a splendid
structure, standing on the corner of Twelfth
and Clay streets. Itis thoroughly modern in
its ronetrurtion, and there is no church edifice

 

 

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County Court House, the Hall of Records and
the County Receving Hospital.

West from Washington street to the bay, and
running north as far as the city line, there ex-
tends the residence district in which the major
portion of the population of Oakland lives. It
is impossible to give a general description of it,
for this part of the city is less distinctive than
the portions already mentioned. Streets vary
in degrees of improvement and elegance.
There are a large number of fine residences, and
a still larger number of an humbler kind.
Many of the majestic oaks are still standing
here, and should be permitted always to stand.
Chabot Observatory, occupying a site on Lafay-
ette Square, is one of the features of this region.

 

RESIDENCE OF COUNTY TREASURER S. HUFF—SAN LEANDRO.

trees and plants. A Catholic convent, called
the Convent of the Holy Names, which is
surrrounded with magnificent grounds, stands
on the bank of the lake at the northern end.

Vernon Heights, another residence quarter
possessing peculiar advantages, is at the head
of the lake. The houses here are not numer-
ous, but are handsome and costly. The eleva-
tion is great enough to command a view of San
Francisco, the Golden Gate and a part of the
Santa Clara Valley, while the lake is seen from
a height which makes the view very beautiful.
Glen Echo, another residence quarter now com-
ing into favor with wealthy families, lies north
of Vernon Heights.

Of business streets, Broadway is the most
important, and Washington and Franklin come

to be found to-day anywhere better fitted for
the uses of a strong church organization, with
its Sunday school and numerous auxiliary soci-
eties. The main auditorium seats 1,400. The
First Methodist Episcopal is another large and
costly church, and the South Methodists, the
German Lutherans, the Hebrews, and the Bap-
tists have churches in the same neighborhood.
The Seventh Day Adventists are now complet-
ing a large church.

Aside from the churches and the principal
business blocks, there are several other build-
ings to attract attention. The City Hall, with
its small "but exquisite park, faces on Four-
teenth street. On Washington street there is
the very handsome Masonic Temple. Near the
lower end of Broadway there are the $250,000

Among the churches here the Church of the
Immaculate Conception, the finest Catholic
Church in the city, is conspicuous. The vener-
able St. John’s Church (Episcopal) is another.
That portion of the city near the western side
is generally referred to as the Point, and it
seems to be the chosen home of the persons en-
gaged in the railroad industries.

Of the suburbs which remain to be noticed,
Claremont is one of the most important. Here
there are located several magnificent residences,
a few of which are pictured in this publication.
Claremont is a garden spot—one of the most
favored of the many favored localities round
about Oakland. :

Piedmont is reserved for the last, but not
from any unworthiness to be mentioned before.

HIGHLAND PARK—EAST OAKLAND.
[From Photograph by Rudolph, December 14, 1887.]

 

 

 

LAKE MERRITT, FROM TWELFTH STREET.

 

 
SPECIAL EDITION—OAKILAND ENQUIRER.

 

FILBERT STREET—LOOKING SOUTH

City and Citizens.

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT OF OAKLAND
FOR THOSE WHO LIVE UNDER IT.

DOES

6 HAT kind of a town is it to live in?”

™ is the first inquiry of the stranger
about the place which he is considering in the
light of a possible home, and often he means
by that, what does the municipal government
do to make life tolerable or agreeable? Cli-
mate and environment are not everything.
Without a certain degree of intelligent paternal-
ism in the local govetnment, the best advan-
tages may fade away before absolute disadvan-
tages. What kind of government he must live
under, and what his taxes will probably amount
to, are fireside concerns of every Eastern settler
selecting a home in California.

Oakland is a well-governed city, and taxes
are moderate. It is not meant that City Coun-
cils are always intelligent or disinterested, or
that fiduciary have in every
stance proven honest. But the protection to
life and property are efficient, public improve-
ments are in an advanced stage, the city debt
is light and the money has been well spent.
There is more difference than the ordinary set-
tler arriving from the East will be apt to im-
agine between ‘settling in a Southern Califor-
nia city without improved streets or good sew-
ers and settling in Oakland, where both those
blessings exist and will not have to be waited
for.

agents in-

Streets and sewers are considered in another
article. Public and private schools are de-
scribed elsewhere. Those efforts of a good gov-
ernment will, therefore, not be discussed in the
present article, and only a few words will be
said about the form of municipal organization,
which has nothing about it very unusual or dis-
tinctive. The legislative body is a Council of
seven members, elected by wards and serving
two years. Executive authority is lodged in a
Mayor elected annually. A Board of Educa-
tion controls the schools, and a Board of
Health has supervision of sanitary matters. At
this time there is the
new city charter, which will thoroughly reform
the local government.
guard guaranteed by the State coustitution
which Eastern people of means settling in Cali-

before people a

Jut there is one safe-

fornia will ap
preciate—no
city govern-
ment can cre-
ate a bonded
debt ; it can be
done only by
direct vote of
the people.
This year’s tax
for all munici-
pal purposes in
Oakland is 95
cants on pIoc,
which is
‘he usual rate.

abcut

A large po-
lice force is not
: nceded here,
for the quiet and law abiding dispcsition of the
immense majcrity of the peoyle is such that
the number of criminal offenses is not large.
Thirty men, commanded by an efficient head,
are found sufficient for patrol and peace duty.
There are three companies of soldiers, compos-
ing a part of the National Guard of California,
to be called upon in an emergency, but their
services are never required. There have Leen
times when politics impaired the efficiency of
the Oakland police force, but it is now upon a
non-partisan footing and is likely to remain so.

FROM NEAR I2TH.

Besides the regular police force, there are
special policemen, so-called, who are really
night watchman paid by volunteer subscription
to do patrol duty, but who are under the orders
of the captain of police. Of these officers
there are usually fifteen to twenty. The effi-
ciency of the force is further increased by the
police alarm telegraph and patrol wagon sys-
tem. Alarm boxes in sufficient number are
scattered about the city, and it is not necessary
for an officer to leave his post when he has
made an arrest, as the patrol wagon is sum-
moned by electricity and removes the criminal
without loss of time or trouble.

The Fire Department is a paid one and,
judged by the figures of fire losses, is remark-
ably efficient.

Oakland is a
safe city to live
in and a safe
one to insure
property in, be-
cause the con-
ditions are not
favorable to ex-
tensive fires.
Gardens and
wide spaces
around the
houses make
the spread of
fires slew, and
water
and

a good

supply
good extin-
guishing appar-
atus contribute
in an equal de-
gree to the
further pro-

CLINTON PLAZA—EAST

tection of property. are
hydrants, the

proved patterns, and the

There plenty of
steam fire-engines are of ap-
force of hands is
great enough to man the machines efficiently.
The fire alarm telegraph is extensive in its
ramifications, and is managed with great ex-
It has been well said that this city is
“surrounded and guarded by electricity.” The

actness.

average destruction of property in the city lim-
its by fire is not over $30,000 a year,

In respect to street lighting Oakland is as
well off as the majority of cities. Although
the area is a large one, gas lamps are burned at
short distances apart, and a request from citi-
zens for additional lamp posts is scarcely ever
refused.
also been introduced to a limited extent, the
principal business streets being so lighted. Iix-
isting contracts for lighting the city with both
gas and electricity are with the Oakland Gas,
Light and Heat Company, but there is another
electric light company in the city—the Oakland
Electric Light and Motor Company.

Electric lighting of the streets has

One thing the municipal government of Oak-
land does for its citizens which some cities of
much greater population neglect. An excellent
free public library is maintained by general
taxation. This is permitted by general law in
all cities of California, but not all have availed
themselves of the privilege. The Oakland
Public Library contains about 15,00 volumes,
and at the present time over nine thousand
members are entitled to draw books.
nual revenue is now about $12,000, of which
$10,c00 pays the expense of maintaining the
library and four reading rooms, and $2,000 is
available for the purchase of new books.
These reading rooms are scattered about the
town in the localities where they will do the
greatest good to the greatest number. One is
in the same building with the library, one is at
East Oakland, one at West Oakland, and one
near the northern limits of the city. Oakland’s
free library is an object of pride and a source
of benefits too great to measure.
treasures of literary cultivation and instruction
open to old and young, rich and poor, without

Its an-

It throws the

OAKLAND.

 
10

money and without price. The librarian for
several years past has been Miss Ina D. Cool-

brith, the well-known poet.

Our Water Supply.

ABUNDANCE OF WATER FOR A CITY

MILLION OF PEOPLE.

AKLAND and suburbs are supplied with
water by the Contra Costa Water Company
from three sources, the first of which is Lake
Temescal, located in the hills northeast of
Oakland. This lake is formed by a dam across

SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

miles in lengdi and the surface level has an
elevation of about 230 feet above the city. It
carries, at the present rate of consumption,
several years of supply. According to the
official statement of the company, they have
expended about $3,500,000 in establishing this
system of water supply, and have set aside
about a half million more for further improve-
ments in the way cf storage, settling and dis-
tributing reservoirs. About 160 miles of water-
pipe have been laid by the company. It is esti-
mated by competent engineers that the water
supply for Oakland is sufficient for a population
of fully one million people, and when our city

gm

iin

wn

 

liberal policy in imposing no burdensome re-
strictions on the use of water for irrigating
purposes.

.  Seraps of History.

THE STORY OF THE GROWTH OF A CHARAC-
TERISTIC CALIFORNIA CITY.

are history of that portion of California
now embraced in the limits of Alameda
County may be said to begin with the founda-
tion of the Mission San Jose in 1797 by the
Franciscan fathers. It was one of the last

TT

url

1.

Foy
axe’ (ABC TR,

 

CAKLAND’'S WATER SUPPLY SOURCES—LAKES CHABOT AND TEMESCAL.

Temescal creek. It has had an approximate
capacity of 190,000,000 gallons, but during the
past fall the dam has been raised and the
capacity about doubled. This was the first im-
portant source of supply. It has an elevation
cof about 430 feet above the Oakland base line.
Being considerably higher than the other
sources, the water from this lake is principally
used for the most elevated parts of the city and
subuibs. Sausal creek, east of the city, is made
to furnish the water for Highland Park and
vicinity. The main source of supply, however,
is Lake Chabot, located in the hills about eight
miles east of the city. This lake is about four

contains that many inhabitants, there are other
sources yet untouched, adequate for the in-
creased demand.

The great extent of lawns and gardens in and
about our city, which are kept so bright and
attractive by irrigation during the summer
months, makes Oakland the largest consumer
of water, according to population, of any
modern city. The average consumption in
Oakland per capita per day is 235 gallons.
Washington, D. C., is the next largest consumer,
using 170 gallons, while London uses only 33
gallons per capita, and San Francisco 70

gallons. The company has pursued a very

enterprises undertaken by the first generation
of the Catholic conquerors of California, but in
a few years it had drawn around it a large
dependency of Indian neophytes, while the
cattle of the mission fathers multiplied on the
hillsides, and their orchards and gardens flour-
ished in the valleys. With the other missions,
it was stripped of its property when the act of
secularization was proclaimed by the Govern-
ment of Mexico in 1835. The crumbling adobe
walls of the church still stand, and the
orchards and vineyards of the priests became
the foundation of the horticultural interests of
the county, now amounting in value to millions.

 

SPECIAL EDITION—OAKRLAND ENQUIRER. n

 

BAPTIST COLLEGE—EAST OAKLAND.

Mission San Jose is in the extreme southern
end of the county, distant about thirty-five
miles from Oakland.

A Spanish soldier was the first possessor ot
the ground on which the city stands, his title
to it being one of those magnificent grants
which the Mexican governors parted with so
lightly, and from which in after years were
reaped such a harvest of legal strifes and
bloodshed before Spanish and American laws
could be welded. Luis Maria Peralta, this
fortunate warrior of Mexico, was born in
Sonora in 1758, and his California principality
of over 40,000 acres of the richest land in the
world was conferred upon him in 1820, after he
had served his country in arms for the long
period of forty years. The elder Peralta never
lived upon the grant, but his sons, Vicente and
Antonio Maria, who received portions of it in
1842, did so. Vicente established his pas-
toral home, with the usual Spanish retinue of
numerous servants and vaqueros, at Temescal,
now a northern suburb of Oakland, while
Antonio found a charming spot for his residence
at Fruit Vale. Both of these places are now
thickly sprinkled with population and will be
absorbed at the next extension of the corporate
lines.

An eloquent writer, discoursing of the primi-
tive state of Oakland, says: ‘This peninsula
was covered by forests of live oak, from which
the city derives its name, and it was threaded
by brooks fed by mountain streams. Here was
the ideal home of the early Spanish shepherds
and herdsmen who lived that pastoral life
which has been submerged by a more energetic
civilization.”

Moses Chase is the Yankee name of the first
American settler of Oakland, who, in 1849,
built a hunter’s cabin at what is now the foot
of the principal business street. In the sum-
mer of 1850 there arrived the three men who

were the actual

founders of the

city—Andrew

Moon, Edson Ad-

ams and Horace

W, Carpentier,

Like the other Ar-

gonauts, these ad-

venturers had a

lofty contempt for

2 Mexican titles, and

* without troubling

themselves to con-

fer with the haugh-

ty Peraltas, each of

the trio proceeded

to appropriate 160

acres of their

lands. If the Pe-

raltas had any idea

of using force they

thought better of

it and went to law;

they obtained a

posse of officers to

i dispossess the

rhe squatters. But a

compromise was

effected, the Pe-

raltas soon sold a part of their “superfluous

acres—parting wlth land for $10,000 which is

to-day worth as many millions—and the three

~quatters, without loss of time, hired a surveyor

and proceeded to lay out atown on the checker-

board pattern. The name of this surveyor, who

30 largely shapee the externals of Oakland, was

Julius Kellersberger, and to-day *¢ Kellers-

berger's map’ is as word of holy writ in land

conveyances. Carpentier and Adams are names

interwoven like warp and woof in the history of

the city for thirty years. Another name of

mark among the pioneers of Oakland was

Colonel Jack Hays, the redoubtable Texas

fi ghter, whose achievements American history

y ill always keep a glowing page to celebrate.

Since the Peralta grant has been mentioned

so prominently it is worth while to state that

the 40,000,000 acres of fertile land given to the

Peraltas were not the only regal fief which Mex-

can governors bestowed upon favorites within

the limits of Alameda county. There were

more than a dozen of these grants when the

Americans came, aad their boundaries took in

leagues upon leagues of land which now are
valuable orchards
or vegetable gar-
dens or productive
wheatfielns. There
were 196.000 acres
in the Alameda
County grants,
while the area of

7 Li}

government land
remaining was
275,000 acres. Of
all this landed
wealth the merest
fragment now
remains in pos-
session of any
descendents of

BO —

the Spaniards. their birthright
cheaply. Justice
however, that the loss of the vast estates,
which if still held by the original California
families would render them among the most
opulent in the world, was not always traceable

They sold
requires it to be said,

to Spanish improvidence or cavalier ignorance
ot business, for in many, many cases they were
simply eaten up by legal expenses in defending
the titles.
the first generation of California lawyers, while
Neverthe-
less some of the Spanish families of Alameda
County held their property together pretty well
for ten years, since we find that in 1859 the
richest men in the county, as measured by the
tax roll, were in Vallejo, Castro and Estu-
dillo counties.

Land suits were a rich harvest for

they left the Mexicans poor indeed.

Up to 1833 Alameda was a part of Contra
Costa County, and Martinez, then the only
place of importance in this region, was the
county seat. In May of that year occurred the
first election, which was called ‘‘the steeple-
chase,” because they were five or six candi-
dates for every office. Alvaredo, to-day a small
town only famous as the seat of the solitary
beet-sugar factory in the United States, was the
first county seat. In 1855 the county seai was
moved to San Leandro. Later on it was moved
back to Alvarado, but was once more estab-
lished at San Leandro. There it remained until
1872, when after a desperate contest, which
filled the pockets of the lobby and racked the
Legislature for weeks, an act was passed which
was the means of taking the local capital away
from a small country town and establishing it
in Oakland, then become a fine thriving city.
But to finally decide this a vote of the people
was required, and when it was taken, on the
29th of March, 1873, Oakland received over
two-thirds of the votes. Every resident of the
Western States, who knows how bitterly these
county seat contests are waged, will be prepared
to believe that this was the greatest political
fight which has ever occurred in the county.

Oakland was incorporated as a town in 1852,
and as a city three years later. Moon, Adams
and Carpentier, the three squatters, were among
the five original Trustees elected, Carpentier
“fixing the slate” with his usual thrifty fore-
sight. One of the very first acts of this Board
was the extraordinary one of passing ‘“ An ordi-
nance for the disposal of the water front be-

longing to the Town of Oakland.” The ex-

VIEW OF CASTRO STREET—NORTH FROM FOURTEENTH.

 
12 S.

clusive right to build wharves upon the water
front was granted to H. WW. Carpentier, upon
the easy condition that he should construct
three wharves within a certain time, and also
that he build and present to the infant city a
public schoolhouse. Oakland is justly noted
as an educational town, and liberality to the
public schools has been characteristic of her
citizens, but this extreme liberality of the first
Trustees was an act which was not appreciated
either at that time or at a later date. This
grant of the water front continued to be, at
intervals, a burning question of local politics
for more than thirty years. After the United
States Government had commenced the im-

 

The enterprise was in the hands of two men of
indomitable energy, Goss and Stevens, who, in
a single year had built the road and had it
running. A public street was surrendered for
the passage of this great public convenience
through the town, but the railroad has ever
since compensated for this cheap right of way
by carrying passengers back and forth within
the limits of the city free of charge. This free
travel amounts to thousands of persons daily,
passing to and fro between their homes and
business places, or upon visits of pleasure It is
one of the things which are distinctive of Oak-
land, there being, it is believed, no other city
(except the neighboring one of A’ameda) in

 

PECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

in the opinion that it was a singularly beautiful
residence spot, when it had few adornments ex-
cept natural ones, and when the oaks still stood
in their native majesty on the principal business
street.

In 1860 Oakland had at the outside not over
4,0000 population. Its growth had been that of
a prosperous Eastern village, and not that of
a California mining settlement or a natural gas
town of more modern Nothing that
could be called a boom occurred until 1869,
when the Central Pacific Railroad Company
bought the local lines and commenced its great
system of transportation improvements. Oak-
land then became the actual terminus of the

days.

 

provement of the harbor,
uncertainties arising
from this early grant to
Carpentier caused its sus-
pension for a year, and it
was not until thorough
investigation by the law
officers of the United
States showed the un-
founded of the
claims of the grantees
that the work
lowed to proceed,
Oakland experienced in
these first years all the
ailments to which munic-
ipal infancy is exposed. 7
One of the events of the
year 1855 was a mysteri-
abstract

nature

was al-

ous attempt to
or destroy the public rec- z
ords, which appears tc
have been partially suc-

A monopoly of m

cessful.
ferry privileges was
accorded to another of
the Carpentiers, and it
called forth much pc-
litical effort before a
Board of Trustees could
be obtained which would

 

remove this obstacle out
of the way. The original
tariff of ferry fares, estab-
lished in 1851 by act of the
County Supervisors, was
dollar for a single

um I
Hy

 

NE, HS
= 0 I] TTT HTT

Hl

] 5 I

 

 

 

 

 

VI) i

 

LL wn

 

one

trip, and two years later AR a

this had been reduced EE ;

to fifty cents. People = — ee
2 : i SEY or

would probably have been ANY Sv CC CEL

more discontented than
they were with these] rates if they could have
foreknown that ‘the time was coming when
passengers would ride back and forth a whole
month for three dollars,

The year 1862 was a notable one for Oakland,
for it marked the commencement of the local
railroad. ‘I'his was a great undertaking for that
day, since Oakland was then a town of only
3,000 or 4,000 inhabitants, and to furnish rapid
transit for this small population to and from
the metropolis, it was necessary to build a rail-
road running four miles in length through the
city, and then to construct a wharf extending
three-quarters of a mile to reach deep water.

which local travel is absolutely free. When the
new railroad commenced running the trips were
made once in two hours, and the people were
satisfied, thinking that the acme of convenience
had been reached. To-day thereare two ferries,
and boats and trains start from each end of
the route every fifteen minutes.

In 1854 Mayor Carpentier said in his annual
message to the Council: ‘There is no other
city in California that can boast so wide and
regular streets, or so numerous and beautiful
parks as ours >’—which shows something of the
appearance of the place at that time. All
accounts of the city in these early days agree

OO R0000506005 00
: T

 

RESIDENCE OF ALBERT BROWN (HAMILTON & BROWN), ALICE STREET.

transcontinental railroad,
and people were seized
with the faith that it
would be an important
city. There was a sharp
advance in the prices of
real estate, accompanied
with some excitement
and there was great ac-
tivity in building. The
census of 1870 showed
1 population of 10,500,
which continued to in-
crease rapidly until 1875,
when came the failure
of the Bank of Califor-
nia, and a commercial de-
pression, which affected
=| the whole State. Its ef-
He + fects had not entirely
worn off in 1880, but,
nevertheless, the census

=1—

 

 

| of that year gave a popu-
| lation of 34,555, or more

IIT :
NN ml than three times as great
Another

\ FAT en | as that of 1870.
prosperous era began in
Oakland in 1882, when
several large manufactur-
ing establishments were
planted. A conservative
/ estimate of the population
x wh si within the corporate lim-

 

 

its at this date is 50,000.

The most important

accession to the
— || population by annexation
was in 1872, when Brook-

made

lyn was admitted. Brook-
lyn itself had previously
absorbed two adjoining
pioneer scttlements, the
old town of San Antonio on the east and Clin-
ton on the west. Soon after the annexation of
Brooklyn, the people of Alameda voted on an
annexation proposition, but it was defeated
by a large majority.

It is interesting to note the dates of succes-
sive innovations as so many steps of municipal
progress. The first sewer was laid in 1866, and
the same year marked the introduction of city
water by the Contra Costa Water Company. In
1867 began the system of street improvement
with the macadamizing of Broadway. Ample
stores of good material were close at hand, and
the making of good streets thereafter pro-

gressed rapidly. In the year 1872 eleven miles
of street were macadamized, and the same year
the houses were ordered to be numbered. In
1875 the Main Lake sewer, by means of which
the Oakland street drains can be flushed twice
every day with clear salt water, was begun,
and a year later it was completed at a cost of
$166,000—the most expensive public improve-
ment which had then been made. In 1877 the
present handsome City Hall was built upon the
site of an older one, which was burned down.
The dates of several other innovations were
1853, opening of the first public

as follows:

 

i» AUTEN
a
qm

3 TE

YOO AX TIN)

Ii

RESIDENCE OF DR. E. H.

school ; 1854, first newspaper, a weekly called
the Contra Costa ; 1860, harbor improvements
undertaken at expense of city and county;
1864, first street railroad ; 1865, gas introduced ;
1865, jute mills established ; 1867, first bank ;
1868, fire limits established; 1868, ILusk
Canning Factory opened; 1869, High School
founded; 1870, Webster-street bridge built ;
1872, annexation of Brooklyn; 1872, open-
ing of San Pablo avenue; 1873, extension of
the local railroad; 1873, City Wharf built;
1874, United States Government work begun
on harbor; 1874, reorganization of Fire Depart-

 
 

 

ment ; 1876, Eighth-street bridge built; 1876,
fire alarm telegraph - introduced; 1878, Free
Public Library ; 1880, South Pacific Coast Nar-
row Gauge Railroad enters Oakland; 1881,
California and Nevada Narrow Gauge Road
stated; 1881, California Hosiery Company’s
factory ; 1882, Judson Iron Works and Pacific
Nail Works ; 1884, cotton mills; 1886, Board of
Trade established.

These are some of the dates which are re-
salled through their connection with the growth
and development of Oakland. During these
changeful vca's there were of course the

 

   

SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER. 13

the prisoners to San Francisco, but from over-
confidence they refused to do so. At two
o’clock in the morning the village was startled
by the cry of “Murder! Murder!” from the
jail, and the citizens who came running to the
place found that the prisoners were in the
hands of the mob. It is said that it numbered
not more than fifty or seventy-five persons, but
they were all armed with revolvers, which were
ostentatiously brandished. After the prisoners
hal been removed to East Oakland, Sheldon
was several times strung up to extort a confes-
sion, but proved obstinate each time, and finally

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WN
LL
HET

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

\
WEL
\

N

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ra STR
ufc MAIR nl ”
Wr — (A
. lay =a —.
z =

- Lo

occasional exciting events when popular feeling
swelled and foamed. One of these stirring
events was the famous mob murder on the 3oth
of January, 1855. A man named George W.
Sheldon was taken across the bridge to Fast
Oakland (Brooklyn, it was then called) and
hanged to the limb of an oak tree by an ex-
cited crowd, for no greater crime than stealing
a horse. Sheldon and a man named Nathan
>arker were believed to be partners in the
larceny. Both were arrested, examined and
held in bonds. Threats of
made, and the officers were advised to remove

lynching were

 

PARDEE —CORNER ELEVENTH AND CASTRO STREETS.

 

 

   

his neck was broken the last time he was pulled
up. Parker, being considered less guilty, was
released.

I'here were stirring times, too, in 1877, when
the Kearney excitement in San Francisco com-
municated some of its heat to Oakland. Mass
meetings were held in this city and incendiary
speeches made. Good citizens became alarmed
and a committee of safety was organized. A
thousand citizens were enrolled, officered and
drilled ; but there was never an occasion which
called for action by them, and probably the
cause tor alarm was ridiculously exaggerated.

 
   

  
 

14 SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

 

 

5 i $k
HA

TL

 

ml —_——

ELEVENTH STREET—LOOKING EAST EROM WASHINGTON.

Nevertheless, the Workingmen's movement
afforded a striking diversion in our otherwise
rather monotonous political history. Oakland
is a Republican city, and it is only very rarely,
and then under unusual provocation, as in 1883,
that a Democratic mayor is elected. But, sing-
ular as it seems, the first success of the Kearney
party was won in Oakland, although the com-
position of the voting population is here as
unfavorable to irregular political agitations as
that of any city in the country. It happened
that in 1877, during a session of the Legislature,
one of the Senatorial seats from this county
fell vacant. Nominations were made by the
Republicans, Democrats and Workingmen, and
to the vast surprise of everybody, Bones, the
Kearney candidate, was elected. He took his
seat and for a few weeks was the observed of
al observers at Sacramento. He was the first
candidate for any office elected by the new
party and it expected great things from him.
But his conduct in office was so little satisfac-
tory to the agitators that before the end of the
session he was loudly threatened with hemp
and was in considerable peril to his life from
those whose votes had elected him. In a short
time the Workingmen formed friendly relations
with the Democrats, and for two successive
vears—in 1878 and 1879—W. R Andrus, the
Workingman’s choice, was clected Mayor.
After this the force of the third pa ty abated,
and matters resumed their normal relations,
and have not since been greatly distubed.

 

Faith in Oakland.

A SAN FRANCISCO JOURNAL'S CLEAR EXPO-
SITION OF IT.
San Francisco Alla, September 29, 1887.
1) is moving in the right direc-
tion. The people of that city realize
that they can have the best streets and drives
and parks and sewers in the world, and they

are determined that there shall be no more
delay. We need not call the attention of San
Francisco to the effect of a hundred miles of
asphaltum streets and perfect sewerage, and a
boulevard around Lake Merritt. These things
will draw people across the bay. If Oakland
secure them it will have a population of 200,000
within three years. Its natural, unadorned,
unpaved and unpainted advantages are numer-
ous. When they are supplemented by science
and art, when engineering and scientific land-
scaping lift their hands in blessing upon it, that
city will be as marvelous in its growth as it is
in its soft and salubrious climate and natural
beauties.

San Francisco cannot afford to sit still on its
cobblestone pavements and unphysicked sew-
ers, and its lack of breathing spaces and play-
grounds for its toilers and children.

Oakland is too near to make it safe for too

great a cortrast. With clean and smooth

 

streets, washed daily and
clean as a New England
| kitchen floor, come in-
ducements, not only to
residents who like to
= raise a window for a
uw 5 3

fil mouthful of air without
getting a mouthful of
i dust, but also to the mer-
fl chant who likes to dis-
| play his wares without
having them so coated
with dirt as to conceal
| their beauties and
quality.

Oakland is agog with
progress. The raising of
a million to put into per-
manent and modern pub-
lic improvements will
surely follow an appeal
to the ballot-box. It
will employ labor, gen-
erate activity and start
an impulse which will
become as permanent
as the forces of nature
in which are laid the foundation of all the
improvement and adornment which man can
devise.

San Francisco cannot stand and mark time,
She must march, and on pretty quick time, too.
The Alta has time and again, in season and
out of season, shown the necessity for these im-
provements. Our efforts have stimulated pub-
lic meetings for their discussion, but that which
all these efforts have failed to do may be accom-
plished by the spectacle of Oakland taking her
destiny in hand and establishing a contrast to
the disadvantage of the larger city.

Let it be remembered that if more railroads
come they must come to Oakland. Manufac-
tures are largely located there now. There is
no foolish restriction in that city against ship
and car coming together. Did the merchants
and politicians of this city notice that a few
days ago a China tea ship lay at a wharf along-
side a railroad track at Tacoma, and discharged

 

 

RESIDENCE OF MR. HIRAM TUBES, EAST OAKLAND,

 

 

right into the cars one hundred and fifty car-
loads of tea? And did they remember that the
transfer of the same cargo from ship to car in
this city would have cost nearly $2,000 more
than at Tacoma, because we forbid ship and car
coming together? And will they further stop
and think of the consequences if Oakland add
to the improvement of her streets, sewers and
public grounds, the duty of saving the ship-

 

ik TT a
mn ll. 2
ou 3
? ya Kl)
/

3 RIS
2 SKS
OX

52
ae

eR
EEE
Ree
RHE
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Q

SL

ION
{JN

ona
etait

 

 

 

ping trade of this bay by bringing ship and car
together on that side instead of this?

Laws of Growth.

 

A LEGITIMATE FORECAST OF THE FUTURE

BASED UPON OBSERVED FACTS.

 

BY C. M. PLUMB.
HERE is a thoughtless and uneducated
faith in the future of Oakland, as of Cali-
fornia, which is of little value, if not indeed
harmful in its influence. On the other hand
there is a solid, substantial basis for expecta-

  

SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

tion that few, perhaps, stop to consider. ILet
us see what are not alone the possibilities, but
the inevitable future necessities, first of Califor-
nia, next of the City of Oakland.

The increase of wealth of the United States
from 1870 to 1880 was 170 per cent, or an addi-
tion of more than twenty-seven billions—an
increase greater than the entire wealth of
Russia with its eighty millions of people.

 

CITY AND COUNTY PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

From 1870 to 1880 we added thirteen and a half
billions, or more than four millions for every
working day of the ten years.

The increase of population in the United
States is about 30 per cent every decade, with a
diminishing ratio of say one per cent. This,
continued one hundred years, would give the
country nearly five hundred millions for the
present fifty. “Unless the growth of popula-
tion is unexpectedly and greatly retarded,”
says the author of ‘Our Country,” ‘many who
are adults to-day will live to see two hundred
millions in this country.”

 

15

Of this increase is not California likely to
realize its full share? Its situation is such as
to insure for it a much denser population than
the East—first because of its western location.
Who can doubt the westward course of empire?
And “there is no further west than California ;
beyond is the Orient.”
charms and advantages of its
and products, will attract increased population.

Next the undoubted
climate, soil

 

YE

ANN /

 

It ranks first as a State for permanent, enjoy-
able residence—a State for homes.

California is really but forty years old. The
discovery of gold in ’48 marked its birth as a
feature in American history. Before surrender-
ing to Colorado the supremacy in gold produc-
tion this State supplied the world with more
than eleven hundred millions of the precious
metals.

Following this
known for its generous soil, and sprang to the
front as a wheat-producing State, standing in
1884 No. 1, with its 44,000,000 of bushels. Itis

period the State became

  
   

 

SPECIAL

 

gn

[S
[

 

Re TN

 

I

Im
Winn

 

[Hin
TRL
{EE
RTE
iti

 

RESIDENCE OF MRS. II. C. FARNHAM—FOURTEENTH AND BRUSH STREETS.

now upon the road to a similar leading position
as to a multitude of products, fruit and wine
taking the lead. But especially is it advancing
into deserved prominence as a State for resi-
for attractive, luxurious and healthful
homes. California is no longer unknown, but
begins to be well known as the most favored

 

dence

land under the skies.

Twenty years ago California was practically
inaccessible. The completion of the Pacific
railroad in 1869 brought it within reach, and
from 1870 to 18S0 it added 50 per cent to its
population, notwithstanding the distance and
cost of passage, while the whole country grew
less than 30 per cent. It is no longer inaccessi-
ble, but has five transcontinental lines instead
of one, with others yet in prospect. It is too
arly to read the result of these increased facil-
ities, but who can doubt that the effect will be
to largely augment its ratio of growth?

And is there not room here for immense ac-
cesssions to our population? California has
158,000 square miles, a territory a little larger
than Illinois, Ohio and Michigan, with a popu-
lation of 10,000,000, or New England, New
Vork, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland with
11,300,000 inhabitants, or New York, New Jer-
sey, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio with
14,500,000. Its territory is larger than Great
Britain and Ireland with their 35,000,020, or
Japan with its 36,000,000, and 50 per cent larger
than Italy with its corresponding climate and
28,000,00) of people. Place the fifty million
people of the United States in 1885.all in Cali-
fornia and the population would still lack
twenty-five millions of being as dense as that
of Belgium. It would be only five millions in
excess of the ratio to territory in Great Britain
and Ireland.

Is it urged that California has a large extent
of unproductive territory, unavailable for agri-
How does it compare in
the States named on the
From the census of 1880

cultural purposes?
this respect with
Atlantic seaboard?

it appears that only forty two por cent of the
territory of those States was improved, leaving
fifty-eight per cent unutilized for the support ot
the eleven million population. If New York
and New England can support such a popula-
tion upon less than half their territory, what
may we not expect from the prolific soil of
California? Illinois, Ohio and Michigan, with
nearly the same territorial extent had but
fifty-two per cent of their lands improved in
1880, and New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio
but forty-five per cent.

In 1880 little more than one-tenth of the
agricultural lands of California were improved.
The area is somewhat larger to-day, but still
there is mo comparison to that of the older

states.
Our lands are only beginning to be sub-
divided, and in very small areas only to be

EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

thoroughly tilled. It is conceded that on no
large extent of the cultivated portion of the
country is more than half the possible crop
realized. In California we can double and
double yet again.

Next, as to urban population and the grounds
for Oakland's expectations.

What is the ratio of population of cities? In
England and Wales two-thirds of the whole
population are found in cities of over three
thousand, and the rate of increase of urban
population is double that of suburban.

In the United States in 1800 one twenty-fifth
of the population lived in cities; in 1820, one-
twentieth ; in 1840, one-twelfth ; in 1860, one-
sixth ; and in 1880, 22.5 per cent, or nearly one-
fourth. Our whole population increased from
1790 twelve fold ; our urban population, eighty-
s'x fold. In 1800 there were only six cities in
the United States with a population of 8,0c0 or
more. In 1880 there were 286.

As the country gains in wealth the popula-
tion living in cities Luxurious
homes abound, and the elegances and advant-
ages of city life are sought and enjoyed by
large numbers.

Illinois, Ohio and Michigan, with a similar
area to California, have over two million living
in cities. New York, New Jersey, Maryland,
Pennsylvania and Ohio, with about the same
area, have a city population of six and one-
quarter millions. Brooklyn, New York, alone,
though less favorably located than Oakland,
has 566,000 citizens.

Many of us may reasonably expect to live to
see 50,000,000 living in the cities of the United
States. What proportion of this number may
we not hope to see in the cities of Central Cali-
fornia, whose advantages and delights for resi-
dence, whose opportunities and comforts are
so greatly in excess of other sections of the

increases.

country ?

From 1870 to 1880 the increase of total popu-
lation of the United States was nearly 30 per
cent ; of the cities, 40 per cent; of California,
50 per cent, and of Oakland 229 per cent. This

 

DG

 

RESIDENCE OF F.

 

K. SHATTUCK, BERKELEY.

 

   
   
  
  
   
   
   
    
  
   
     
  
   
  
  

 

  

SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER. 17

 

abundantly shows that the tendency above
noted is well fouuded, and is already strikingly
manifested.

While the whole country was gaining at the
rate of 3 per cent per annum, California was
increasing 5 per cent, the cities of the entire
country 4 per cent, and Oakland 22 per
cent!

No one doubts the continued growth of the
country. Can any one doubt that the attractive
causes here, which are just beginning to be
known and felt, with the facilities of access, so
greatly increased, will still more largely aug-
ment the proportion of California’s growth?

And if, while the State was simply doubling,
the city of Oakland more than quadrupled, will
not its future gain be correspondingly great,

L772
if 1) :

Poy

Climatie.
THE EQUABILITY OF TEMPERATURE IN OAK-
LAND UNSURPASSED ON THE COAST.

HIS article will be largely comparative and

statistical, because it is intended mainly to
refute preconceived opinions, and only absolute
evidence can do that. The Eastern mind has
been misled about the climate of California,
and it is the mission of this paper to aid in set-
ting it right. Tables in temperature and health
statistics are not interesting reading, but they
are very stubborn arguments. Let us then
assert at the outset that the climate of Oakland
is as excellent as tliat of any place in California,

 

majority of all preconceived ideas about distant
countries are exploded by travel and investiga-
tion, and those here enumerated will not survive
a trip through this part of California in winter.
The traveler finds the orange and the lemon
growing in the latitude of San Francisco, and
indeed a long way north of it; he sees roses
and lilies blooming in the middle of winter,
palms spreading their feathery tops on every
street, and the same open-air life lived which
he has been accustomed to think is possible
only in Tos Angeles, San Bernardino and San
Diego. If he stays long enough and investi-
gates closely, he will discover that citrus fruits
not only grow in Central California, but that in
a number of places they ripen earlier than they
do in Los Angeles and Riverside, and that they

Ii)
HI;
I

HH
TT]!

st EH
I

 

RESIDENCE OF J. S. EMERY—SAN PABLO AND PARK AVENUES—PHOTOGRATHED DECEMBER 12TH. [ #F

with any reasonable degree of activity in mak-
ing known its advantags to strangers?

These are not random figures, based upon
extravagant hopes. They are founded upon
well-established laws of growth and confirmed
by the undoubted records of the United States
census returns.

It is time the citizens of Oakland began to
realize the inevitable future of this city, and to
provide for the incoming host. It is time to
set our homes in order—not only to sweep out
the front yards, but to clear out every back
corner—sweeten, beautify and improve, to pre-
pare the way for the many now to come.

California has only eight inhabitants to the
square mile, and can support two hundred or
more. Oakland has but one two-hundredth of
the State population, and is entitled to one-
twentieth, or ten fold its present number.

and that in respects which will be mentioned
further on, it is superior to any other, and for
the substantiation of these claims the reader
is referred to the statistics in this article.
But while the above claim is made in behalf
of Oakland, it is not intended to assert any
monopoly of the blessings of a winterless
climate. The partially informed resident of
the Eastern States may be persuaded into the
belief that California is divided arbitrarily
between two climates ; that Southern California
is warm in winter, and that Northern and
Central California is cold ; that the orange and
the lemon flourish in Southern California,
while only the fruits of the temperate zone
grow in the rest of the State; that Southern
California alone has attractions for the visitor
flying from the blasts of a rigorous winter, and
seeking an agreeable mildness of climate. A

are actually gathered here in quantity and
shipped to Los Angeles before the crop there
comes into market. He will learn, upon in-
quiry, that the reasons for this greater earliness
of Central California in oranges, as well as in
other fruits, are considered something of a
mystery, but that it is a demonstrated fact,
and that it is so acknowledged by the most
trustworthy horticultural authorities in South-
ern California.

‘T'o be brief, the observant traveler will learn
that there are many things about the climate of
California which neither he norany one else can
explain, except upon some very general theory
of ocean and atmospheric currents, mountain
chains and valleys. The whole State enjoys a
climate which is very mild in comparison with
that on the Atlantic coast, while mountains
and other local causes produce a remarkable

 
 
 

 

diversity even in the midst of this uniformity.
Latitude is upset here, as it is in most moun-
tainous countries, and while some spots are
particularly favored in respect to uniformty of
temperature and salubrity, they cannot be
arranged arbitrarily according to their position
north or south of the Tehachipa mountains.

One of the things which can be claimed for
Oakland even against Los Angeles, San Diego,
or any other California town, is equability of
temperature.
mometer is a little less here than it is anywhere
else. Last year the Southern Pacific Railroad
Company printed an elaborate climatic map,
accompanied by statistics, from which these
comparative figures are taken.
average maximum, minimum and mean annual
temperatures of the places named, and also the
difference between the average maximum and
the average minimum :

The annual range of the ther-

They show the

Gi AVER. | AVER. | DIFFER] zo

 

 

LocaTioN. | Max. | MIN. | ENCE. |
Auburn. | | 58.
Chico... | { | 65.
Colton . .. os | | 62.08
Los Angeles ! | 64.75
Monterey. . | | |
Oakland... |

San Diego. |
Santa Barbara. |
San Francisco .
San Jose a |
Santa Cruz oe |

     

ence between the average maximum and
average minimum temperatures of Oakland is
less than the same difference at any of the
other placesnamed. San Francisco comes next,
and the third in rank is San Diego.

This shows a small annual range of tempera-
ture for this city, but it has also—what is really
more important to comfort—a small daily
range. That is to say, the extremes of heat
and cold during the twenty-four hours, average
less here than in other California cities. The
following are the figures for comparison with
Los Angeles:

Mean Daily Range of Temperature.

 

 

 

teva | Los v :
MONTHS. | ANGELES, | OAKLAND.

January.. ‘ | 21.5 10.2
February. . h.5 12.9
March 11 15.4
april... .3 10.5
May 8.4 | 136
June | ol 15.
July. | 8.3 | 11.2
August : 5 | 14.1
September. 16.1
October... | 14.2
November.. | 16.4
December... . | 10.3

Average... : 21.6 | 13.3

 

The figures for los Angeles in the above
table are the averages for a number of years,
which are published by the United States
Signal Service, while the Oakland figures are
those of Dr. J. B. Trembley for the year 1834,
which is a fair average for all years.

This comparison shows that the daily range
of temperature is greater in Los Angeles, the
vear around, than it is in Oakland. Cold
nights and hot days are the rulein Ios Angeles.
A climate of this kind is not so conducive to
comfort as one which is more uniform, which
that of Oakland is. To further illustrate the
alternations of Temperature during the day the
following figures, extracted from the Signal

SPECIAL EDITION—OARKLAND ENQUIRER.

Service record will prove interesting. They
show the average A. M., Pp. M. and midnight
temperature in Los Angeles for the months
named :

 

I Mm
MONTH. A.M. P.M, | NIGHT.
|
December | 47.9 63.3 52.9
Jahuaty....... ...| 46.6 { 60.6 SII
February. : 46.9 61.8 52.5
March..... 594 48.5 63.6 54.2

Next, let us take an average winter month
and compare the temperature in Oakland with
that in some Southern California town. The
statistics for Riverside for January, 1887, are
available, and will do as well as any. The fol-
lowing is a comparison of minimum tempera-
tures, from which it may be seen that it is colder
in Riverside than in Oakland. Riverside, it
nay be remarked, is the chief orange growing
town of Southern California.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RIVER-| OAK-
| SIDE

January 1 46
January 2 2
January 3 ae 39
January 4 | 41
January 3 37
January 6 arene RAO
January 7; 35
January 37
January go | 28
January 10 {25 38
January 11 | 28 36
January 12 30.0 4.0
January 13 | 31.0 | 51.0
January 14 | 33.0 | 520
January 15 33:0. | 530
January 16 4-0 | 37.0
January 17... 300 | go
January 18. 37.0 ; 46.0
January 19 . 35-5 | 50.0
January : 47-0 | 47.0
January 234.0 | 49.0
January 365 | 410
January 23. 320 1 38.0
January 24. 32.5 | 47.0
January 33:0 {35.0
January 340 | 36.0
January 2 31.0 | 390
January : 42.0 39-0
January 31.0 [40.0
January 3 36.0 | 42.0
January 31... 32.5 39.0

Averages. | 3359 | a30

 

It may be more interesting, however, to com-
pare both the maximum and minimum temper-
atures in Oakland and Riverside, and we will
do it for the month of February, 1887. The
figures will show that while in Riverside it is
warm in the middle of the day, the nights are

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cold :
| RIVERSIDE. | OAKLAND.
Ce
2 | Se ® =
BE {EE |E
8 i | E
February 1 : | 60 0 45.0 52.0 49 0
February 2, . 61 0 43.0 50.0 40 0
February 3. 63 0 32.0 5.0 36.0
February 4. 65 0 29.0 50.0 46 0
February s.. : 63 5 34.0 370 34.0
February 6.. 55.0 33.5 44.0 37.0
February 7... . 555 | 3s 47.0 40.0
February S.. j. 618 39 5 46.0 40.0
February g... 53.0 | 45.0 52.0 43.0
February 10..... 57.0 37-0 55 0 | 44.0
February 11. | 59 5 32.5 54.0 50 0
February 12. 56.0 330 | st.o 58.0
February 13. 58.0 41.5 50 0 46 o
February 14. 51.5 2.0] 49.0 47 o
February 1s. 52.0 41.0 | 49.0 | 480
February 16. 51.0 435 | 500 | 400
February 17 61 0 31.0 | 5320 | 0
February 18. 64.0 | 325 | 53.0 40 0
February 19. 57.5 | 30.5 550 35.0
February 2o. 56.5 | 325 {57.0 | 37.0
February 21... rs 59.5 | 295 | 47.0 | 44.0
February 22. : 565 | 36.5 51.0 | 34 0
February 23 . 61.0 | 300 52.0 | 39.0
February 24. 2s . 62 5 31.0 | 49.0 | 46.0
February 2s. 59.0 38.5 1530 | 310
February 26. | 55 345 550 | 340
February 27. | 75.0 14 0 64 0 48 o
February 25. i840 | 55.0 | 66i0 44 0

|
|
|
|

It may be seen from the above table that in
Oakland the greatest daily variation of temper-
ature was 22 degrees, and between the highest
temperature of the whole month and the lowest
there. was a range of only 35 degrees. At Riv-
erside, on the other hand, there was a range of
36 degrees on the 4th of the month, of 30 de-
grees on the 17th, of 32 degrees on the 18th, of
30 degrees on the 21st, of 31 degrees on the 23d,
of 31.5 on the 24th, and the same on the 25th
and 26th. The monthly range was 55 degrees
against 35 for Oakland. The smallest daily
range in Riverside was 7.5 degrees, while tke
smallest for Oakland was only 3 degrees. The
difference between the two towns is that Rivcr-
side is situated far inland while the temperature
of Oakland is modified by the neighboring ocean.

Let it be borne in mind that these com-
parisons are not printed to show that either Ios
Angeles or Riverside has a bad climate and
Oakland alone a good one; the climate in Ics
Angeles and Riverside is good, but they have
no monopoly of the blessing and the statistics
are introduced only to prove the latter asscr-
tion. Among other things shown by the fig-
ures already quoted. is the fact that tlie mean
temperature of Los Angeles, obtained by aver-
aging the cold nights and warm days, is some-
what higher than that of Oakland. But the
idea that it ever becomes perceptibly colder in
Oakland than in Los Angeles is disproved by
the records, for whereas the greatest degree of
cold ever known in Los Angeles, as shown by
signal service records, was 28°, the greatest
cold on record in Oakland is 25° which vas cx-
perienced one day in the year 1883. A differ
ence of three degrees is not enough to hz ma-
terial.

“But do you not have cloudy or foggy weath-
er in Oakland when they are enjoying bright
sunshine in Los Angeles?’ will be asked, per-
haps, by some. For an answer to this, the
reader is referred to the following table, which
shows the number of cloudy days and the num-
ber of foggy mornings in Oakland during
eleven months of the year 1887 :

 

 

 

 

 

No. or | No.or
MONTHS. CLOUDY | FoGGy
DAvs. | MORN'GS

January... ... 9 | 2
February. .... 14 o
March.. 8 2
April .... 7 | o
May....... 6 0
June. 5 0
July. 13 0
August. " 4 1
September . 3 2
October : 4 3
November.. .... 7 | 5

And finally we will submit the following sum-
mary of theometrical records for eleven months
of the year 1887, made by Dr. Tlembley :

 

 

 

 

 

 

7 : : = =
g.al 21 2] El.E
EvE gE | gf | g|58

1887. «E08 EB | BE | LF] =

’ Eni gl EA po _

nS Es | BES =

g Bl ZS | ES [| E @

Sd TSmiEe |S 18

~ [2 | A ~ a

iin mi pecs fa sf

January,... 66 35 3r 13.51
February ... 66 31 35 11.14
March 76 | 38 38 15.09
April 76 | 40 3 13.63
May 87 | 43 44 13.67
June. 85 | 48 37 | 13.76
July.. 71 | 51 20 13
August........ 79 | 51 28 12.03
September... S82 | 48 34 15.23
October. Sg | 46 43 17.45
November, 68 | a2 36 13.80

 

 

  
      
    
    
    
    
   
   
  
   
   
   
    
      
  

 

v
wisi

 

 

   
  
  
  

 
 

So much by way of statistics, which, let vs
say, we have not garbled or misquoted but
taken as found and have used legitimately to
show the equability of the climate of Oakland.
For other evidence of the winter mildness of
the atmosphere in Oakland, let the reader ex-
amine the pictures in this paper, which are
made from photographs taken during the
months of November and December. He will
notice that the palm trees, pepper trees, or-
ange and lemon trees abound in our gardens
and streets, and flowers are blooming in De-
cember untouched by frost. As evidence of
the tropical luxuriance of vegetation in Oakland
it is only necessary to say that the tropical
plants shown in the photo-engraving made
from a photograph taken in Mr. F. M. Smith’s
yard are only three years old, and that four

IE

 

2277

NN

AL

7

years ago the splendid garden of Captain J. C.
Ainsworth, shown in our artotype, was only a
cow pasture.

PERALTA HEIGHTS.—Shown in the fore-
ground of the illustration herewith is one of
the most attractive residence spots in all Oak-
land. The elevation commands a grand view
in every direction, and bordering on Lake Mer-
ritt, gives additional charm to the Heights. Mr.
Charles Newton, whose residence is also seen
in the foreground, was the first to make im-
provements here. He purchased the entire
tract of about seventy-five acres, and cutting it
up into desirable building lots, has sold off a
greater portion of the land.

 

Public Sehools.
AN EXCELLENCE ATTAINED BY THIRTY VEARS
OF WORK AND LIBERALITY.

 

BY CITY SUPERINTENDENT FRED M. CAMPBELL.
a Public Schools of Oakland closed for
the two weeks holiday vacation on the
16th of December, and pupils and teachers are
now enjoying the rest and the pleasure of this
glad season, after the labors and fatigues of a
most prosperous and successful term. Though

the examination held by the Superintendent
at the close of last term are by all pronounced
the most searching and thorough to which the
pupils have ever been subjected, the large per-
centage of the promotions to higher grades, as
shown by the list recently published in the

=
=
=

=

ENQUIRER, must be a source of special gratifi-
cation to pupils, teachers and school officers, as
itis of encouragement to our citizens, who so
freely provide the necessary means for main-
taining our schools in the very highest degree
of efficiency and usefulness.

While it is true that statistics of school at-
tendance, percentage of promotions, amount
of money expended, and description of com-
modious, well lighted, well ventilated and con-
venient schoolhouses, do not and cannot give a
correct idea of the real work of the schools,
yet it is a satisfaction to find them, so far as
they go, all indicating the successful working,
and the steady, progressive advancement of
this most important arm of our municipal gov-
ernment, the strong protecting arm namely
which it throws fondly around its future men

 

   

SPECIAL. EDITION—OAKLAND FE NQUIRER. 19

and women, offering to each and all, the chil-
dren alike of the rich and of the poor, the op-
portunity and the inducement to become intel-
ligent, prosperous and useful citizens.

As has been said, the real, true, genuine
work and influence cannot be fully, and can
scarcely, by approximation, be measured and
shown by tables of statistics. It consists in the
subtle influence of the mind and heart of the
teacher upon those of the pupils, the effect of
example in manner and bearing and the habits
which, in consequence, are imperceptibly weld-
ing themselves together to shape, and form,
and control the boys and girls as students, and
in all their future course. This it is which will
fix and determine their standards of honesty
and sincerity of purpose, act, word and thought;
their measures of right and wrong; in short

GGA

 

LAKE MERRITT, PERALTA HEIGHTS IN THE FOREGROUND, OAKLAND IN THE DISTANCE.

ther ideals of genuine manhood and woman-
hood. Any estimate therefore of a school de-
partment which stops short of a judgment as
to the personnel of its teaching force, is super-
ficial and misleading. The most elegant and
commodious schoolhouses, with all the modern
accessories and helps, but with incompe‘ent, un-
trained or trifling persons in the teacher's chair,
are powerless to build boys and girls up to the
full stature of true men and women; the honest,
faithful, conscientious and competent teacher,
with a just appreciation of the demands and the
responsibilities of the high calling, can accom-
plish the happiest results with the poorest
accommodations and the most meagre equip-
ment of appliances. The first and most
important question therefore is, not what
kind of schoolhouses have we, but rather,

  
SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

 

J pI
lr LHL? =

FA

SAN PABLO AVENUE—LOOKING NORTH FROM FOURTEENTH STREET.

what kind of men and women have we in them
as teachers?

I'he men who composed the earlier Boards of
Education of this city, recognizing this, fixed a
liberal schedule of salaries, at least for teachers
below the grade of principal, as a special in-
ducement, additional to those exceptional at-
tractions which nature and social surroundings
had given to Oakland as a place in which to
make a home, for the best, most experienced
and most successful teachers to be willing and
desirous of coming to Oakland from any and
all parts of the country. Those Boards availed
themselves of these favorable conditions, and
strong men, and especially strong women, were
placed in charge of our schools and classes.

Subsequent Boards have, and, as we main-
tain, wisely, resisted all suggestions to reduce
the schedule of salaries, and to-day the teachers
of Oakland, below the rank of principal, are
the best paid of any in the Uuited States. So
our old and tried teachers have stayed with us
so long as they cared to teach anywhere, the
various boards of education have always been
in position to command the very highest order
of talent, and to fill vacancies, and supply new
classes as they were formed, with the best
teachers in the land; and the cases in which
judgment has yielded to pressure for place, are
exceptional and rare. And thus the ENQUIRER
is to-day enabled to congratulate the good peo-
ple of Oakland, that, in the charaeter and abil-
ity of its teaching force, the Public School De-
partment is abreast of the first in the land; and
equally to congratulate them that it is the sen-
timent of this community, as it is its determina-
tion, to have it so maintained.

While our schoolhouses are inexpensive com-
pared with those of many, and indeed, most

Eastern cities, being built of wood, as most
suitable to our climate, and with but little
money expended upon exterior finish and orna-
ment, they are commodious and convenient,
surrounded in most part by ample yards and
recreation grounds, and in all cases with an
attempt more or less elaborate at adornment
with shrubs and trees and flowering plants.

Our schoolrooms are large, airy, well-lighted,
and well ventilated, and abundantly supplied
with blackboard space. In these respects our
classrooms never fail to attract the attention
and elicit the praise of visitors from abroad who
are accustomed to notice such things, and are
competent to pass an intelligent judgment
concerning them. Our late distinguished vis-
itor, Mr. Gove, President of the National Edu-
cational Association of the United States, said in
presence of the writer that in no city which he
had visited were the classrooms, taken as a
whole, superior in the respects named to those
of Oakland, stating at the same time that
within the last three years he had visited the
schools of over one hundred and thirty cities.

The furniture of our schools is of modern and
approved pattern, and the teachers are liberally
supplied with mags and charts, books of refer-

RESIDENCE OF ARTHUR

ence, apparatus, and all the necessary school-
room appliances.

As the character and ability of the teaching
force is the factor in the school system which,
in importance, overshadows any and all others
combined, in just that proportion is it essential
that the members of the board to whom is en-
trusted the important duty of selecting these
teachers and administering the affairs of the
department, should be men of mark, character
and standing in the community, disinterested,
conscientious, and fearless in the discharge of
their duties, performing all with an eye single to
the best interests of the high trust committed to
them. It will be well with our School Depart-
ment if in the future we shall have on the
School Board such men as have thus far served
as School Directors.

Scarcely less important is the intelligent and
wise supervision of such a school department
as ours, with all its multiplicity and variety of
details.

The course of study is arranged for eight
grades of one year each, or, including the High
School course, for eleven years. Four of these
are the Primary grades, four the Grammar
grades, and three the High School grades.
Each grade is subdivided into two divisions,
and a reclassification of pupils is made every
six months. This is done to prevent, on the
one hand, those who are able to advance from
being retarded by those who cannot go on so

fast, and, on the other, the undue crowding or
pushing of those who, from any cause, are not
prepared to go on. To overcome the only ob-
jection which could reasonably be offered to
this, viz., the frequent change of teachers which
it would seem at first sight necessarily to in-
volve, the teacher from the “B,” or lower di-
vision, advances with her pupils (which is
always the bulk of the class) to the “A,” or
higher divison, the teacher from the “A”
going back to the “B” division, and thus each

£4

3

BROWN—FILBERT STREET,

 

 

i SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND

i iF

ENQUIRER.

 

 

 

RESIDENCE OF JAMES GAMBLE (WOODWARD & GAMBLE), PIEDMONT.

teacher is with the same pupils practically one
year.

Pupils are received into the eighth or lowest
grade with no other requirement than that
they shall be six years of age, and by regular,
natural gradations are prepared for admission
to either of three courses in the High School at
fourteen. One of these High School courses is
preparatory to the University. The Oakland
High School being one of the few “accredited”
schools, its diploma is all that is necessary for
admission to the University. This latter institu-
tion with its unusually strong corps of over forty
professors and assistants, and its splendid equip-
ment in all departments, is at our very door, so
that our young men and women who attend it
from Oakland, can live at home. Its doors are
open to both sexes, on equal terms, to any of its
colleges, and all absolutely free.

The High School graduates two classes each
year, one in May and one in December. The
December or ‘‘ Christmas” class of ’87 was the
smaller of that year’s classes, and numbered
twenty-five.

Among the special features of our schools
may be mentioned the prominence given in all
our grades and classes to the study of our moth-
er tongue, and its correct use ; and this, with
mathematics, is specially prominent throughout
the entire High School course.

Also the study of drawing, which is taught,
not as an accomplishment, but as one of the
most useful and practical branches in the entire
curriculum. It is taught as the universal writ-
ten language of lines; as lying at the basis of
all mechanical and industrial arts; and this
language it is the purpose of the work in our
schools, in this branch, to teach the children to

intelligently read and write with facility and
precision. This is accomplished with a success
which is most gratifying, under the immed‘ate
direction of P. A. Garin, an expert enthusiast in
his chosen line of work.

It having been observed that, by reason of the
great amount of written exercises and recita-
tions conducted in writing, especially in the
upper grades, pupils were falling into careless
styles of penmanship, a special teacher of this
branch has been employed in the person of E.
W. Barker, who has established a most enviable
reputation, not only as a skillful penman him-
self, but also as a successful practical teacher of
the art, inspiring in his pupils something of his
own appreciation of the art, and ambition to
excel in it.

In connection with the Lincoln school, the
manual training department is a great attrac-
tion to the boys who are permitted to avail
themselves of its privileges, and many of them
are quite expert in the use of wood-working
tools.

The evening school is well attended by those
who, being obliged to work during the day,
cannot attend the day schools, none others be-
ing admitted. Three teachers are employed
there in assisting those who, after a hard day’s
work, have the ambition and the pluck to spend
two hours each night in mental work.

The Oakland Public School Department is
the only one in the country, so far as we are in-
formed, which has a fully equipped astronomi-
cal observatory. This is the Chabot Observa-
tory, built and furnished by the public-spirited
citizen whose name it bears, and given to the
School Department of Oakland. It is provided
with an eight-inch equatorially mounted tele-

scope, with all the accessories;
double pier transit instrument; a sidereal, and a
mean-time clock; a Negus chronometer; micro-
meter, and all the other necessary instrument;
of a first-class working observatory.

With this hasty, but honest, general review
of our department of public instruction, in its
most important features, the ENQUIRER is now
prepared to recommend Oakland, with all its
other advantages, natural and acquired, as de-
tailed elsewhere, as second to no other city on
the face of the earth, as a place in which to

a 4%-inch

 

——

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL—I2TH AND CLAY STS.

 
22 SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER. i i

make a home, and rear and educate a 1amily of
children.

There were enrolled in the public schools at
the close of last year, 6554 pupils; distributed
as follows:
Primary classes
Grammar classes
High School classes 394
Evening school classes 145

Of the whole number, 3299 were boys, and
They were taught by 147
Of this number,
They are

4072
1940

 

3255 were girls.
teachers, regular and special.
15 were men, and 132 were women,
accommodated in fourteen buildings, as follows :
High and Irving building
Cole +
Prescott

Tompkins

Lincoln

Durant

Franklin

 

Lorin.

SKETCH OF ONE OF OAKLAND’S
DELIGHTFUL SUBURBS.

no is presented a view on Fairview

A BRIEF

avenue. This street is in the northern
saburbs of our city, and is one of the most
beautiful avenues to be found anywhere on the
coast. It extends from San Pablo avenue to
the foothills, and is graded and macadamized
for the entire distance. Both sides of the
avenue are lined with graceful shade trees. At
a point near where the Berkeley railroad crosses
the avenue, Mr. E. D. Harmon a few years ago
purchased aflarge tract of vacant land, which
he cut up into building lots sox135 feet. He

fat
An
[IE

 

 

Lafayette 2 754
Grove street i 193
Harrison $0
Swett “83
Garfield * 140
Grant ne 149

a5

Clawson

 

Total 5 ..6554

For the last school year the total expendi-

tures were $187,659.51.
Salaries of teachers

Real estate and building
Repairs >

Fuel ... ae ius
Stationary and Supplies
Other expenses .....

 

Total ict senin $187,659.51
The receipts were : =
From State School Fund $81,554.20
From County School Fund 36,444.22
From City taxes ... sis 59,706.98
Tuition from non-resident pupils 1,658.00

179,563.40

Balance on hand from previous year 12,456.12

 

 

Oakland, Jan. 3, 1888S. $191,819.52

VIEW ON FAIRVIEW AVENUE—LORIN.
sold off a large number quite readily, which
were built upon at once. He erected several
neat cottages himself, which he also sold with
the lots on the installment plan, at a cost to the
purchaser of about $3,000. Some of these cot-
tages are shown in the illustration. The settle-
ment is called “Lorin,” and is one of the most
attractive portions of Oakland's surroundings.
A greater portion of the residents of Lorin are
San Francisco business men. The lots are now
selling at from six to seven hundred dollars for
inside selections, and one thousand dollars for
choice corner lots. The locality commands a
fine view of San Francisco, the bay and Golden
Gate. Ilorin has a postoffice, a church and a
good school.

Mr. J. W. Crawford is another gentleman who
had the enterprise to buy a large tract of land
at this point and cut it up into residence prop-

erty. He, too, is engaged in building and
selling on the installment plan. The Berkeley
branch railroad to the San Francisco ferry runs
through the tract, and there being a station at
Lorin, the residents have the same half hour
communication with the metropolis as other
portions of Oakland.

 

Piedmont.

This suburb is celebrated for its views. Its
elevation is from three hundred feet up, and
standing on any spot where the trees allow
an unobstructed look, the visitor has one of the
loveliest views the world can afford. Such a
sweep of vision over land and sea is seldom ob-
tained, except from some lofty mountain top.
The City of Oakland is unrolled before the eyes

 

like a map. Lake Mercitt shimmers in the fore,
ground like a burnished mirror, and a little fur-
ther away the bay glows with its opalescent
hues. San Francisco is seen through a veil of
smoke from her thousand factory chimneys.
The Coast Range Mountains are sharp cut
against the sky, and the ocean is visible through
the Gate. A dozen or more fine residences
have already been erected at Piedmont. The
climate is perceptibly warmer than in Oakland,
and Piedmont may be said to occupy a favored
location in the thermal belt. There are sulphur
springs at Piedmont and a hotel, and a line of
horse-cars makes half-hourly trips. A cable line
is contemplated and is a certainty at no distant
day.

« BEAUTIFUL OAKLAND.” — [rentice Mul-

Jord.

rm ——C—————

 

 

 

 

oa

RN
RAS

AN

Z
[

Nu

A Poet’s Home.

 

THE UNIQUE HOME OF JOAQUIN MILLER, ON
THE MOUNTAIN SIDE, NEAR OAKLAND.

 

BY WM. F.

Ao four miles from Oakland, upon the

BURBANK.

hills above Fruit Vale, the Poet of the
Sierras has his home. He has selected it as his
final abode on this earth, for, says he, “I have
traveled over most of the world, and I find no
spot mare beautiful than lies at my feet.” Joa-
quin Miller has 143 acres of land on the
mountain slope. It looks to the south and the
setting sun. Viewed from his door-step, Mount
Tamalpais frowns on the bay of San Francisco,
and the sun takes his farewell beyond the
Golden Gate. Oakland, Alameda and San Ie-
andro are almost under foot, while the Metrop-
olis of the West can be easily seen upon her
many hills. The islands that dot the bay, the
Marin county hills, the Sau Mateo shore, the
high and low lands of Alameda county, make a
panoramic view quite unsurpassed.

The house in which the poet lives is such a
house as no one else lives in. There is but one
story; the roof is rather low and slants slightly;
no carpets cover the floor, no ceiling is over-
head, no paper adorns the walls. It is simple
and almost rustic in its every particular.
The first room you come to is small and has
three small windows. On the wall, above a
writing table, is pasted or pinned a picture or
photograph, a little map, some clippings from
newspaper and magazine. Letters are tucked
in under the eaves. His copyright of “The
Danites of the Sierras,” issued in June, 1882, is
tacked to the wall. Near a mirror hangs a
saddle, and by the stovewood on the floor are
less than half a dozen books which, including
the Bible that rests on the stand close by, con-
stitute his library.

Adjoining is his bedroom, furnished simply;
a fur rug by the bed, a little stand and a plain
wooden shelf for candle or lamp. Next be-
yond but with a floor romewhat raised, is the
longest room, with a cathedral-shaped roof and

 

 

 

 

CALIFORNIA HOSIERY CO.’S WORKS—CORNER JEFFERSON AND SECOND STREETS.

ornamental wooden cross, stained windows and
steps of stone, earth and grass, built with his
own hands. Curtains are stretched across the
room’s width. Pull them aside and you behold
his little kitchen stove, utensilg and cup-
boards!

Stuck to the wall of this unique room is a
writing drawn up as if to be signed by a small
company of men and youths who are to make
these mountain sides their settlement. It ends
with a ‘general creed of Faith,” as follows:
“That man, as a rule, is good or trying to be
so; that the world, as a rule, is beautiful or try-
ing to be beautiful. And that the largest duty
of man is to help man to be better and to help
the world to be more beautiful. Where there
is a weed or a thistle in the heart of man or of
mother earth to try to make a flower grow.”
Beyond this room are two bedrooms, one for
the use of his mother. In front of that is a
little porch where, in a rocking chair, she may
sitand see the beautiful picture below.

“Forestry—tree-planting and culture—is my
hobby. Every man should ride a hobby; if not,
then he must walk.” And so Joaquin Miller is
planting these hillsides with trees of all de-
scriptions—trees for beauty, trees for profit;
trees which turn a golden color to the autumn

ALIS

TI
LTT
Ty

———

 

SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER. 23

sun, trees which wave in the winds their ever-
lasting green. Citrus fruit trees, nut-bearing
trees, trees whose ancestors lived in the forests
of distant lands are taking root to make a beauty
spot, and realize the ideal of the poet's dream.

A wound has been made in the mountain side,
and Mr. Miller shows his friends the water pur-
ling out perpetually in a miniature brook. Fif-
teen springs will help to make a garden of this
These
springs are named, most of them, after intimate
friends.

place or furnish trout pools with water.

The rocks, some of them large and unsightly,
have been removed in many places, and the
ground thus cleared has been planted in trees.
Turrets and walls are heaped up of the rocks,
and on a more commanding location than his

“cathedral” cabin home will be built his cas-
fle.”

But the poet has built another home where
he shall bid farewell to the world; where his
mortal body shall be resolved into its original
dust by the agency of fire. It is higher up the
mountain where the trees are thicker and the
stones more A piece of ground,
shaped like an hour-glass, is almost surrounded
with trees. Two among them are Italian cy-
press trees from the grave of Shelley at Rome.
But there is an opening toward the dying sun.
The space grows narrower, and then enlarges
again. Within is the tumulus or mound on
which his body shall be placed. He has told
in advance of his exit from this world—told it
strangely and beautifully—bravely and hope-
fully :

‘I have a summit home here and the Golden
Gate is my doorway, and San Francisco is at
my feet. I shall stay here. I am content,
thank God, and grateful I am planting my
stony, steep hills and turning the deep, cool
mountain springs into trout pools. And away
up on the top of my highest hill, that knocks
its forehead against the stars, I have made a
great heap of rocks piled up and covered with
cords of wood. When death comes, I shall be
laid on that high heap of wood in the blankets
in which I die. The men who lay me there
will light their cigars with the same hand that
lights the woodpile and go down to breakfast,
while I, phew ! up to God in clouds of smoke.”
Soon upon this high hilside will be visible,
even from the distant bay, an immense land-
scape cross with its trees bowing an acknowl-
edgment to nature and to nature’s God!”

numerous.

 

 
 

24

Our Religious Advantages.

THE SPIRIT OF CONCORD WHICH EXISTS
AMONG OAKLAND'’S FORTY CHURCHES.

 

BY F. A.

() 200 is a highly favored city from a
J religious point of view. We can set forth
our ideas in no better way than by taking up

HORTON, D. D.

particulars.

The sabbath is a good point to note. We
have no Sunday laws in this state. Yet the law
written upon the nature of man, and upon the
conscience of man, ages before it was given
upon Snai, secures to us a blessed day. It could
not do in an undeveloped condition of the

religous nature. It would be overborne and

 

7
Lei

IIs

 

trampled upon as in early California days, and
as in up-country camps to-day. But now in
Oakland the morning dawns and in the early
gray can be heard the popping of shotguns on
sonre distant marsh where duck-hunters are at
work, but there is nothing nearer to disturb the
quiet. As day wears on, now and then, but only
occasionally, can the hammer be heard on some
rising building. Early the church bells peal out
upon the air their first call to Sabbath school
and worship. Possibly a glinting, glancing,
gliding procession may be seen, not heard, as a
cycling club spins away out into the country.
Very seldom does a brass band jar the air on
the way to some picnic resort. On the out-
skirts in vacant fields boys do assemble to play
bal. But, sum it all up, the violations of Sab-
bath propriety, while ever to be condemned,
are at their minimum. Transfer our conditions

SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

to Chicago or Cincinnati, and their preachers
would begin to discourse about the millennium.
This condition is to be accounted for in the
character of our people. Noisy Sabbath dese-
cration is all around us and the Sabbath dese-
crator finds more congenial quarters elsewhere.
This is a great thing to say, that we have taken
on such a character and have gained such a rep-
utation for morality, for love of quiet and good
order, for respect for holy things, for ascend-
ency of the religious sentiments, that we attract
people who love such things, and repel those of
other tastes. This is a point for all who intend
settling in California to note, and itisone that we
ourselves should guard with the utmost fidelity.
We have a Sabbath day as quiet and orderly as
anv in the land in a citv of our size, and one that

 

 

 

 

 

takes his part of the work, seeking the one end
of saving men, and not the upbuilding of any
particular denomination. Union meetings in
the week of prayer are generally held. Thanks-
giving services are always of a union character.
Frequent meetings of all the clergy for prayer
and consultation are held. The whole atmos-
phere between the churches is sweet and broth-
erly. The stranger entering any one of these
churches meets with a cordial welcome and is
not a stranger long. If disposed to work, am-
ple opportunity is afforded. Does he wish to
have his money work for him? Here are all
the missions crying for lots and bulidings.
Does he wish to teach? Here are classes upon
classes to accommodate him. Does he fancy
work amon< the lower classes? Then yonder

92.944 gi¢ |
ONS COMPANYS

WASHINGTON STREET FROM SEVENTH—ILOOKING NORTH.

in its keeping at large presents no obstacle to the
highest usefulness of the churches. Invited by
the day itself to worship, we find churches on
every side to supply the opportunity. For white
and colored people, for Jew and Gentile, for Pa-
gan and Christian, for Orthodox and Liberal,
we have a full supply and are adding as the city
expands. Some of our churches are very large
strong, with nearly a thonsand members each,
with costly buildings, elaborate music, thor-
ough organization, efficient Sunday schools,
supporting one, two or three missions, sending
out workers and money into many quarters,
near and far, beehives of industry, distributing
reservoirs of charity. Others are smaller, but
growing, all are carefully manned, all in the
most perfect harmony. Evangelistic meetings
are being held two weeks at a time in each
place all about the city, in which every minister

is the kindergarten mission. And so onthrough
the list. The opportunities offered to get or to
impart spiritual benefit are exhaustless.

The young people are alive and working.
The Sabbath evening prayer meetings of these
are full of life and power. Timid ones are en-
couraged and developed, all are benefitted. As
yet the churches are the fostering parents of
charities. None as yet are endowed sufficiently
to goalone, but by the efforts of male and female
members of the churches they are sustained.
Outsiders contribute handsomely, but the labor-
ing oar is in the hand of the church people
as yet.

In point of doctrine, the pure gospel is
preached to the people, not so much in the
second-hand statement of creeds and confes-
sions as in the first-hand utterances of inspira-
tion. It is a biblical pulpit. Subordination to

  
  
    
  
  
    
   
  
  
     
      
 
    
 

 

 

 

JUDGE GARBER’S RESIDENCE AND GROUNDS—BERKELEY,
[From Photograph by Rodolph, November 17, 1887.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

CHARLES NEWTON'S RESIDENCE AND GROUNDS—PERALTA HEIGHTS

 
 
  

    
 

  

 

 

 

the word of God is the characteristic, and what
this means any Bible Christian can say.

So that, in one word, our advantages are very
great for the development of our moral and
spiritual natures, and as such we offer induce-
ments to the better classes of in-comers second
to none. Our history shows that this fact is ap-
preciated. We believe that Oakland is destined
in Providence to exert a wide influence for
religion on this coast and far beyond it, across
the seas, on lands sitting in darkness and moral
death.

Commercial Opportunities.
OAKLAND’S HARBOR,
MADE

AND WHAT
OF 17,

WILI, BE

ture cannot be ignored, nor the commer-
cial present, either, though the latter is not
what we should like to see it. On the Pacific
Coast the wholesale merchandise businesss is in
a state at once less advanced and more concen-
crated than in other parts of the country. So
far, we have here only one real commercial
city, while on the Atlantic seaboard, not only
do ports like Boston, Philadelphia and Balti-
more hold a large trade which New York can-
not take away from them, but even interior
cities, like Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo
and Pittsburg do a wholesale business in do-
mestic and imported merchandise. The whole-
sale trade of these cities has been of very
gradual growth, and is largely the product of
the enterprise and perseverance of individual
firms. Chicago does not so entirely over-
shadow neighboring cities, but that Milwaukee,
Peoria, Springfield and Quincy have numerous
large and growing wholesale houses. It will
be the same way in California when, in due
time, the commercial situation here comes to

A N writing of Oakland, the commercial fu-

HOPKINS ACADEMY.

  

SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

resemble more nearly that in other parts of the
Union—except that wholesale and shipping
traffic, once established in Oakland, will per-
haps be of more rapid growth, because there
is here a harbor which promises to cut a great
figure in the future commerce of the Pacific
Coast, while most of the towns mentioned
above as contesting the jobbing trade with the
first-class cities are inland places.

Whether the position of Oakland is such, in
the opinion of conservative merchants, as to
entitle her to count upon a commercial future,
may be best judged, perhaps, from the alarm
which prevailed in San Francisco some years
ago, when it was believed a bill would be
passed by
Congress al-
lowing the
Central Pa-
cific railroad
to build a
bridge to
Goat Island,
on the Oak-
land side of
the bay, and
construct
wharves and
ware houses.
It was de-
clared that
San Fran-
cisco would
be ruined,
by its com-
merce de-
serting it
and flying
to the Oak-
land side,
and the out-

 

 

25

 

cry was loud and violent, until the Goat
Island bill was defeated. No one believes
now that the commercial destruction of
San Francisco would have followed the
passage of that bill ; the alarm was a fool-
ish panic. But the fear which such a
proposition excited at that time showed
clearly enough that San Francisco cap-
italists felt that their city was less advan-
tageously situated than Oakland is, in re-
lation to the main routes of transporta-
tion. To-day the same fact is equally
evident, and every thoughtful man in
that city foresees that, in the near future,
a very great part of the shipping must be
transferred to the Oakland side of the bay.
The difference between now and then is
that it is no longer believed that such a
change will depopulate San Francisco,
though it is acknowleded that it will pro-
mote the growth of Oakland.
Furthermore, it is only a question of
time when Goat Island will be sold or
leased by the Government, for it is of no
military value since long-range guns have
been used in warfare, and its commercial
importance is such as cannot be exagger-
ated. Surrounded by wharves and ware-
houses, it could easily accommodate a
shipping traffic several times greater
than now comes into San Francisco
When the Central Pacific was de.
its efforts

bay.
feated, by purblind jealousy, in
to obtain Goat Island, it allowed matters
to drift a few years, and then it built the
shore line railroad through to Contra Costa
county, and obtained on Carquinez straits a

deep water frontage of several miles. Its track
runs at the water’s edge, and the heavy traffic
which would have been done at Goat Island has
now been established on the straits, twenty miles
away in the interior. But other railroads will

be built, and they will have no object in build-
ing up shipping trade on Carquinez straits.
That is a Southern Pacific monopoly, since the
tracks are so closely hemmed in by the high

 

SNELL SEMINARY—TWELFTH STREET.

 
26 SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQU IRER. |

 

VIEW ON BROADWAY.

hills and the deep water that no other railroad
can get in. When the other transcontinental
railroads arrive, therefore, they will seek a dif-
ferent place at which to discharge the products
of the State, and that place will be Oakland.
They will try to get Goat Island as a place to
build wharves and warehouses, but if they fail
in that they will still have abundance of other
opportunities on the extensive shore line of
Oakland. Recently the Southern Pacific Com-
pany has expressed its intention of building
more wharves at Oakland; it may do so this
vear, or it may wait till some other railroad
comes in and forces its hand; it is a question
only of a little more or less time.

But all this is in the future, not “a distant
future, but still the future. Let us come down
to the present. We find that Oakland has, in
effect, two harbors—an inner and an outer,
The former will admit vessels drawing eigh-
teen feet of water, and the latter possesses a
depth varying from nothing at the shore line to
a depth accommodating the largest ships at the
outer end of the existing wharves. About all
the transhipments from vessel to car, and vice
versa, are madeat the end of these long wharves,
while the local shipping traffic is conducted in
the inner harbor—the estuary and the basin, as
the lower and the upper portions are, respect-
ively, known. During the year 1886-7 the
shipping traffic in the estuary and the basin
amounted to 1,751,674 tons, and the traffic at
the end of the pier to perhaps halfas much more.
When the depth of water in the estuary and its
approaches has been increased from fourteen to
twenty feet or more, there will be scarcely any
limit to the growth of the commerce of Oak-
land, and that can be done if the present
plans of the United States engineers are exe-
cuted. Even with the present depth of water, the
shipping trade of Oakland would amount to
several times its present magnitude if there
were more wharves, and more particularly if
there was warehouse accommodation. Per-
haps there is nothing for which Oakland waits
with so much impatience at this time as a good

dock and warehouse system. There is money

 

in it for the company which will undertake to
supply it.

Before proceeding to speak of the harbor im-
provements by the United States Government,
let us present a few statistics of overland rail-
road commerce. San Francisco is credited with
two-thirds of all the railroad shipments made
from California to the East, and all of these
San Francisco shipments are made by way of
Oakland; but of overland freight originating in
Oakland the following is the statement for last
November:

Barley, 1bS...... ...- .. .cohh its enaeiin rane 1,047,520
ER le SR SE 227,650
Canned GOOdS.........c.oovne crnraiinririenien 1,599,970
Hops...» nisi senha nse eis 11,3C0
Leather. ea avai 20,410
Miscellaneous. . 12,870
NRES... 0. od cai a a es 59,860
Powder... ...... ears sree Sdn rea 23,300
Wine........ 25,640

OLA)... eerie inh savas seers . 3,028,520

From January Ist to November 3oth of the
past year the overland railroad shipments from

 

Oakland amounted to 18,124,300 pouunds. Of
course the shipments to points in the State were
many times heavier, but the statistics are not
now available.

The work of improvement on Oakland har-
bor is generally interesting from a scientific
and popular point of view, as well as locally
interesting from the one of self-interest. When
the engineers commenced their task in 1874,
they found the harbor of Oakland (hereafter
we mean by this only the inner harbor) a small
bay or estuary, land-locked but beset at its
mouth by a bar having only two or three feet
of water on it at low tide. Inside there were
places where the water was deep enough for
large ships, but the whole harbor was slowly fill-
ing up from the sedimentary wash of the sur-
rounding country. There was not sufficient
water running in and out with the tides to deepen
the estuary or to remove the bar at its mouth.
Although some feeble attempts had been made,
at local expense, to improve the harbor, the
commerce done at that time did not exceed
150,000 tons a year. By the improvements un-
dertaken by the Federal Government, only half
completed as they are, this amount has been
increased more than ten fold.

It cannot be considered surprising that the
Government should undertake the work of im-
proving Oakland harbor, though the cost was
certain to be heavy, when the circumstances are
undertood. Glance at a map of the State; rec-
ollect that the Sacramento and San Joaquin val-
leys are the two great agricultural regions of
the State—our Italy and our Egypt—each with
the resources and almost the area of an empire;
observe that Oakland is the nearest point to the
ocean, where the products of these valleys can
be handled, without either a long and circuitous
land transportation or a needless transhipment
across the bay. Every dollar saved in the trans-
portation of the agricultural and horticultural
products to the seaboard and their embarkation
on ship is a dollar saved to the farmer, and in
this sense every acre of land in more than half
of the State of California has a direct interest in

 

 

r

 

OAKLAND ELECTRIC LIGHT AND MOTOR

  

CO.—COR. SECOND AND WEBSTER STREETS.

 

 

SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER. 27

the completion of the Oakland harbor improve-
The problem which the engineers set

ments.
themselves to consider was this—how to in-
crease the force of the tidal flow so much thatit
would scour out a channel and keep it clear.
The first thing to be done was to confine this
flow to limits as narrow as possible in order that
its effect might be multiplied by the concentra-
tion, and this was done by building two long
lines of stone, confining the current to a width
ot about 8oo feet between them. Between these
artificial barriers of rocR the tide is made to ebb
and flow for a distance of about two miles. By
dredging and by natural scour, the depth of
water in this channel has been increased to
eighteen feet at high tide, though it was origi-
nally only two feet on the bar, as before men-
tioned. To make the scouring action of the

 

furnish a flow of water great enough for the
purpose proposed. This was foreseen by the
United States engineers from the beginning,
and hence they proposed in their original re-
port an additional project. A few miles south-
east of Oakland there is a sheet of water known
as San Leandro bay, a large tidal basin with a
a narrow entrance. The bay is navigated by
small craft. It was proposed to dig a ship
canal through the low land separating this bay
from the head of Oakland harbor, and then put
a wall or dam across the mouth of the bay.
This dam would be high enough to prevent
most of the water flowing out with the ebb tide
through the natural entrance to the bay, but not
high enough to obstruct the flood tide running
over the top. Thus one-half or more of the
water of the bay would discharge itself through

 

 

— ——
ER

FURNITURE
A AucrignHIvEE

 

North California Oranges.
San Francisco Bulletin, December 8, 1887.

T is now about ten days since the first of

the new crop of oranges were gathered
from an orchard in Vacaville, Solano county, a
point about sixty miles north of this city, where
for years it has been well known that the earliest
cherries and other stone fruits have been pro-
duced for the markets. Now, this product of
oranges at Vacaville—not a few of mere speci-
mens, but many thousands—are as much as
five weeks in advance in maturity of citrus
fruits in the southern part of the State. Going
more than sixty miles further north of Vaca-
ville, the observer will reach the Oroville
district, in Butte County, where orange orch-
ards meet the eye on every side.

 

The citrus

Ap

TASS SSS

NINTH STREET—LOOKING EAST FROM WASHINGTON.

tide as great as possible, by increasing the vol-
ume of water ebbing and flowing with every
tide, nearly a million and a half of cubic yards
of mud were dredged out of the tidal basin, as the
nearly circular enlargement of the harbor at the
inner end is called. This mud is dug and
plowed up on the bottom, pumped into long
pipes and forced ashore by hydraulic pressure.
It is there spread upon the marshes, raising
their level above tide water. The effect is to re-
claim these marshes, building them up into
high, firm land, which will be immensely valu-
able for building and manufacturing purposes.
All the marshes around Oakland and Alameda
will ultimately be reclaimed in this way.

But the boldest part of this engineering pro-
ject remains to be described. The compara-
tively small enlargement of the tidal prism
which could be obtained by pumping mud out
of the harbor, even if the amount were several
million cubic yards, would not be sufficient to

the canal into Oakland harbor and then run out
into the bay. Fach day there would be twice
as much water flowing out of the harbor as flow-
ing in, and with this help there could be no
doubt of the creation and maintenance of a deep
and commodious ship channel.

This brilliant engineering undertaking has
been approved by Congress, and when the
money is appropriated to complete it Oakland
will be in a fair way to become the chief ship-
ping port of the Pacific coast.

LIVE OAKS IN OAKLAND.—‘The live oaks
in groves resemble the English parks. At the
ends are branches which hang down like weep-
ing willows. The mistletoe grows abundantly
on the oak trees. The Spanish moss, which
hangs in long lace-like gray beards from the
branches, also serves to give beauty to the
groves in the valleys.”—Grace Greenwood.

OAKILAND.—The healthiest city.—2Dr. Buck.

growers, as has already been noted, will hold
an orchard exhibition in that district before the
close of the present month. There are four or
five other contiguous counties in which exhibits
of citrus fruit could be held within the present
month. There is Santa Clara County, where a
Citrus Fair will shortly be opened.

 

BusiNESS.—The important feature of Oakland
is its growing importance as a business and man-
ufacturing center. In a few years Oakland har-
bor will be lined with great factories through-
out its entire length; for nowhere on the Pacific
coast are there facilities for rail and water traf-
fic with all parts of the world such as are
afforded here—the terminus of the transconti-
nental railroad and the central point of all
other roads. Then the manufacturer may trans-
fer his goods to ship or car at the very door of
his establishment, and in like economical man-
ner receive his raw materials. —S. /. Zs.

 
SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

A Railway Center.
THE VAST RAILWAY MILEAGE TERMINATING
HERE AND THE PROSPECTIVE LINES.
BY C. F. E.
a Union Depot at Indianapolis for years
claimed the distinction of receiving and
departing more trains per day

end of the San Joaquin Valley. By the time
the Southern Pacific reached Sumner it was
threatened with the Texas Pacific under the
management of Tom Scott, and instead
of meeting a rival on the border of this
State, it had to hasten to the Texas line
to head off what seemed a certain enemy
which would come into its territory by the

done Gould inspired the building of the Atlantic

and Pacific from Albuquerque to the Needles.
Three years ago Colonel Talmage visited San
Francisco, and upon his return to the East ad-
vised Mr. Gould that a shorter and better line
could be obtained to this coast than any then
built by extending the Missouri Pacific to
Pueblo, Colorado, thence by the Denver and
Rio Grande or Colorado Mid-

pm enemamay

 

CLOVERDALE

than any depot in the United
States, but within the past
few years St. Louis has sur-
passed it. To-day the Depot
in Oakland receives and de-
parts more trains than St.
Louis, while. the tracks on
Oakland mole accommodate
more trains per day than any
other piece of double track in
the world. And all of this
vast car movement has grown
out of the little railway and
ferry system owned by the
late A. A. Cohen, twenty years
ago. Oakland to-day is a great
railway terminus, not in com-
parison with other seaboard
cities of the Pacific Coast, but
of the Union. While it is true
that one corporation owns all
of the lines terminating here,
the fact remains that they
drain a territory greater in ex-
tent than all of Continental
Europe. And yet our railway
system is in its infancy. Our
seven thousand miles of rail-
way have their principal ter-
minus in Oakland. Four great
Transcontinental lines are
now headed for Oakland—the
chief of these being the Atchi-
son, Topeka and Santa Fe, and
the Missouri Pacific. And itis
strange that the genius of one
man suggested the routes over
which both of these lines
should get here. That man
was Col. A. A. Talmage, late
vice-president and general
manager of the Wabash Rail-
way. In 1871, when manager
of the Atlantic and Pacific,
which at that time included
the Missouri Pacific, Col. Tal-
mage proposed the extension
of the Atlantic and Pacific to
San Francisco Bay, through
the Indian Territory, New
Mexico, via Albuquerque,
across Arizona — through
Walker’s Pass into the San

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land to Ogden, and from there
come in by an extension of
the Utah Central (which was
owned by Gould and Dillon,
though operated by the Union
Pacific), by a line to be built
west from Ogden. This in-
vestigation proved that Mr.
Gould adhered to his original
desire of reaching the Pacific
Coast with his lines. That
summer (1885) Mr. Gould be-
gan his Kansas and Colorado
extensions of the Missouri Pa-
cific, building about two hun-
dred miles. But while he was
at it he decided to not leave
any vacant territory behind
him, and in the last two years
he has not only built nearly
across Colorado, but has prac-
tically gridironed the State of
Kansas. In fact as he has built
lines he has made them self-
supporting, and his adversa-
ries have made them still
stronger by building into the

Roscviuc S

same territory.

Mr. Gould is now in Europe
placing securities on his Cali-
fornia extensions, and while
there is placing his order for
nearly one thousand miles of
steel. This insures the build-
ing of his line to California,
and if he comes by the South-
ern route will enter Oakland.
The recent preliminary sur-
vey of a line from Los Ange-
les to Salt I.ake, made in the
interest of the Southern Pa-
cific, is intended to anticipate
Mr. Gould’s move in that di-
rection. On the other hand,
if he should enter the State by
Marysville, or near there, he
might follow down the Sacra-
mento Valley to this city.
During the most of last sum-
mer he had a corps of exami-
ners on both lines, but their
reports will probably never
reach the public.

0
TRES FINOS
ALINAS

 

Mince MACCACEECD

 

Joaquin Valley, and thence to
Oakland. Under his direction
a corps of engineers ran the whole line as far
as Walker's Valley. A few years later the
present Atlantic and Pacific road was built on
this survey, and would have come via Walker's
Pass, had not the Southern Pacific intercepted
it. Indeed it was this survey which compelled
the building of the Southern Pacific to the south

MAP SHOWING THE RAILROADS TERMINATING AT OAKLAND.

way of San Diego and along the coast to San
Francisco.

The great manager, Scott, of the Texas Pacific
became an invalid, and Jay Gould, who had
succeeded him, with Colonel Talmage for first
lieutenant, completed the line to a connection
with the Southern Pacific. When this work was

The westward strides of the
Burlington and the Northwest-
ern all point to Oakland, but their progress has
not advanced sufficiently to indicate the line by
which they will come. But it is certain that
neither of them will allow their lines to termi-
nate where they do now, in the middle of the
great American desert. It is therefore safe to
predict that within five years, three, if not all

SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER. 29

 

of these lines will terminate on the Bay of San
Francisco, and they will have to reach tide
water, through Alameda County.

Oakland owes its existence as anything more
than a small town to suburban railroads; it
owes much of its growth to being the terminus
of transcontinental lines, and its future import-
ance will be due to the arrival of more such
lines. As one of the San Francisco papers says
in an article quoted herein, ‘if more railroads
come, they must come to Oakland.” The rail
road map printed on the preceding page will
show at a glance how the lines of the State
radiate from Oakland.

The suburban train service of Oakland will

 

be described first. This is conducted by two
roads and connecting ferries, all being now un-
der the ownership of the Southern Pacific Com-
pany. Each road runs half-hourly trains, and
the times of departure alternate, so that there
is a boat leaving San Francisco for Oakland
and a train leaving Oakland for San Francisco
every fifteen minutes. Ticketsare interchange-
able, and the passengers enjoy about all the
privileges that could be asked or desired. On
one of these lines the train runs four miles—
the whole length of the city—and on the other,
which crosses the first at right angles, they run
only fourteen blocks. Cable and horse-car lines
are made tributary to these steam railroads,
which are thus able to furnish rapid transit to
the whole city, not merely in going to and from

1

San Francisco but from place to place in Oak-
land.

The younger and less important of these two
suburban railroads is the South Pacific Coast, a
narrow gauge road. Its main line extends
through Alameda and Santa Clara counties into
Santa Cruz, some sixty miles. It operates local
roads in Oakland and Alameda. The South Pa-
cific Coast Railroad has a pier, a wooden struc-
ture, something over 10,000 feet in length, ex-
tending into the bay just south of the harbor
jetties. The depot building in its general style
and arrangements is in imitation of the South-
ern Pacific depot, and is not greatly inferior
to it. -

and when he comprehends the marvelous opc:-
ations of the automatic block system, by which
the movements of all these flying trains are
controlled, and the frightful disaster of collision
is made impossible, he understands the useful”
ness of the mole. Four parallel tracks are laid
upon the mole from the shore end to near its
outer extension, where it widens, and additional
tracks are laid for switching. At its extremity
is the 600-foot slip for ferryboats and the mam-
moth depot building. This is a splendid struc-
ture, built of wood, with a roof of glass and cor-
rugated iron. It is constructed in three main
divisions, of which the central one, 120 feet wide
and 8o feet high, is used for overland and inte-

 

a

 

 

RESIDENCE OF H. D. BACON—OAK STREET. — *

Local and through trafficare handled together
at the mole, which is the terminus of the South-
ern Pacific’s passenger lines. The mole, reach-
ing out into the bay nearly two miles; the splen-
did depot; the large swift steamers on the bay;
the transfer boat, which carries over a whole
train of cars at once, and the shops and yards
at West Oakland, are parts of one of the most
magnificent terminal plants owned by any rail-
road company in the United States. Perhaps
nothing excites the surprise of the visitor the
first time he arrives so much as the long solid
pier on which the train rushes far out into the
placid waters of the bay, and he wonders how
such an extraordinary structure came into ex-
istence. When he sees a steady stream of trains
rushing along this pier at all hours of the day,

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rior California trains. Of the side divisions,
which are 60 feet wide and 40 feet high, the
northern is used for the outgoing local trains,
and the southern for the incoming locals. Be-
yond this depot a wharf extends several hun-
dred feet to deeper water, where ocean vessels
touch and discharge their cargoes into the cars,
and are loaded from trains with products of our
valleys and mountains.

There is another railroad making its terminus
on the Oakland water front which, although
not of great present importance, may become
very important in the future. This is the Cali-
fornia and Nevada railroad, a narrow gauge,
which has been built for a distance of eighteen
miles. It possesses valuable rights of way and
water-front privileges.

 
 

 

tially refined. J. Ross Browne,
with his charming home, ‘Pa-
goda Hill,” inaugurated the
fashion of building country
residences, and his example has
since been followed from time
to time by such people as Judge
Garber, Horatio P. Livermore,
Captain Ainsworth, J. Mora
Moss, Colonel Hays, Colonel
Crockett, John Deane, Chabot,
the Thornbergs, the Requas,
and the Shepherds, whose
charming homes and beautiful
grounds adorn the canyons and
foothills in all directions. Oth-
ers, like A. K. P. Harmon, Judge
Boalt, Albert Miller, the Cranes,
Genera! Kirkham, I.. G. Cole
and W. E. Miler have been con-
tent to settle down in beautiful
homes in more thickly popu-
lated quarters, and it is the in-
fluence radiated from refined
home circles of which these are
typical that has insensibly
brought together and harmon-
ized what might otherwise have
been dissonant elements.

 

ST. MARY'S COLLEGE.

Social Oakland.

WHAT OUR FRIENDS SAY WE ARE, AND WHAT
WE KNOW WE ARE.

a social essayist might discover in the

society of Oakland materials enough for a
series of articles longer than the ENQUIRER
would care to print, and perhaps the social phi-
losopher, the novelist and the satirist would
find it as good vantage ground as any for taking
views of life. Oakland society is Pacific Coast
society, but so much modified by local influ-
ences that it resembles the society of the best
considerably more than is
It is acknowledged that

Eastern towns
usual in California.

OAKLAND HOME INSURANCE CO0.’S BUILDING.

in forming a judgment of the tone of society
the foreigner sometimes has advantages not
possessed by the native, and, acting on this
idea, we shall delegate the description of social
Oakland in part to other hands. This we are
able to do by making liberal extracts from an
article written a couple of years since by Mrs.
Flora Haines Apponyi, a literary lady of San
Francisco. If in this article she has showed
the characteristic incorrectness of her sex as to
details, she has also displayed the feminine fac-
ulty of seizing the essence of the truth. Mrs.
Apponyi writes :

“Although only four or five miles of salt
water separates the suburban town of Oakland
from the parent city, a curious difference in
the social structure of the two places is evident
to the most careless observer. Yet they have
their points of similarity as well as of differ-
ence. Both are in the disorganized state com-
mon to all new communities before time has
done its appointed work of sifting and assort-
ing, as well as of eliminating obnoxious ele-
ments. Vet in the lesser city a distinct move-
ment toward organization is
taking place, and has already
borne fruit in many agreeable
results.

“The hegira of city people
holds within itself one peculiar
and notable advantage. The
coarser elements of urban life
remain at home. People of
vulgar tastes and loud ambitions
find the best opportunity for
their exercise in the publicity
of life in a large city. The
people who have taken their
abode across the bay are essen-

“Oakland never attained its
majority by slowdegrees, like
an honest country town. From
the beginning it was city-bred, cosmopolitan,
in its pretenses and habits, indifferent to ac-
quaintanceship, careless of its neighbors. Ten
years ago it had no society, or the elements
which might have formed it existed only in a
chaotic state. With the exception of a few
early settled localities, where people knew each
other and neighbored in the good, old fash-
ioned way, or a few of the older families, united
by various ties of blood or friendship, the inhab-
itants lived lives lonely and apart, uncheered
by the pleasures of social communion. The
chill of city life was still upon them and its
poison ran through their veins.

“About this time a gradual movement toward
crystallization took place. Small social experi-
ments were tried and met with marked success.
The inhabitants found that it was quite possible
to have a dinner party or reception without de-
pending upon the city to supply the guests, and
by degrees the city people found themselves in
the minority. A round of gaiety ensued, in
which the young town promised to become as
indecorous, as frivolous and depraved as San

CALIFORNIA COTTON MILLS—OAKLAND.

 

 

Francisco itself, had not new interests invaded
the field and commenced to exert their correct-
ive influences.

‘Foremost among these was the stimulus to
intellectual culture. The people of Oakland
had all along been predisposed to foster educa-
tional movements, a fact evinced by the numer-
ous schools, seminarics and academies that
flourished in their midst. The reflective influ-
ence of these institutions no doubt played an
important part in implanting a thirst for knowl-
edge in the breasts of mature inhabitants.

“Nine years ago this tendency first found
expression in the organization of the Ebell So-
ciety, a large andl active association subdivided
into numerous classes for special study, and

SPECIAL. EDITION--OAKLAND ENQUIRER. 31

tronomy with a brave disregard of connection
or sequence, imbibing at the fount of learning
with a greed that in some cases produced a spe-
cies of intellectual colic.”

This fluent writer might have added that the
“charity craze,” as it is sometimes called, has
been fully developed in Oakland and that it
now holds a sway which intellectual culture
never did. Whoever would be fashionable in
Oakland must be charitable. Socicty dances
for charity, acts (on the amateur stage) for
charity, sings for charity and almost lives for
charity. Eich benevolent society and each
church has its small knot of representatives
among the fashionable ladies of the city, and
they draw in the other elements who are per-

Z _

nl

The Oakland Harmonic Society, Mr. D. P.
Hughes, conductor, now in its fourth season, is
composed of seventy-five selected voices, who,
by the verdict of musicians of national reputa-
tion, render choral classics in a style second to
that of no society extant. The finest profes-
sional soloists, vocal and instrumental, appear
at the concerts, upon each of which from $400
to $500 is spent. The society is supported solely
by season subscriptions.

The Oakland Choral Society, which is occu-
pied chiefly with the rendition of oratorios, num-
bers one hundred an fifty trained voices, and
under the direction of Mr. W. H. Kinross has
now entered upon its second season of successful

concerts. Only the choicest talent is engazed

 

3
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Fr

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RESIDENCE OF GEORGE W. GRAYSON—MADISON STREET. OX

numbering in all about one hundred and forty
ladies, chiefly recruited from the ranks of soci-
ety women. From the organization of the Ebell
may be dated the beginning of Oakland’s mental
progress. The society did not create the move-
ment, as many worthy members have mistak-
enly supposed, but merely acted as the agent of
expression for tastes already conceived, ambi-
tions thirsting for development. Oakland
society went into intellectal pinafores, so to
speak, and commenced to eat with its fork.
Aside from the more systematic methods pur-
sued by the Ebell, special teachers and classes
of students sprang up in every portion of the
city, who rushed into literature and the fine
arts with no method at all, studying modern
and ancient languages, painting, faience, belles-
lettres, history, architecture, sculpture, and as-

haps not very much interested in the object but
who feel the contagious effect of example.
Society must have a motif for its assemblages,
and we can only wish that it might never have
a worse one than charity.

Of real cultivation in Oakland, a large part
is musical. Whatever may be said of the other
arts, there is no affectation in the musical devo-
tion to our ciiy.

At the churches the highest order of ecclesi-
astical music is rendered—at three of them by
chorus choirs numbering fifty voices and sup-
porting in each instance a quartette of the best
soloists to be found. Other choirs, though
smaller, do not lack in finish, and one
of the Episcopal Churches boasts the best
boy-choir outside of Trinity Church, New
York.

for solo parts, and the work of this society ranks
it as without a peer on the coast.

The Orpheus Instrumental Club numbers
forty young gentlemen, who, under the baton of
of Mr. J. H. Rosewald, have attained in this,
their second season, a precision and smoothness
of rendering in trying numbers that argue a
career of eminence.

The Ensemble Club, Mr. H. B. Pasmore, con-
ductor, has for its purpose the perfecting of ad-
vanced pianists in ensemble playing. The con-
certs are severely classical and greatly enjoyed.

Aside from these there are a host of minor
clubs of excellent character.

A most happy fruition of this musical culture
is found in the number of excellent artists who
have passed from the dilettante to the profes-
sional stage, prominent among whom may be

 
mentioned : Emma Moody, the prima donna;
Miss Lowell, a leading organist and musical di-
rector of New York; Mme. Pauline, leading so-
prano, last season with the Carleton Company;
Sylvia Gerrish of the Bijou Company, and many
others.

We have three violinists in the Berlin Con-
servatory, two of them prime favorites of Joa-
chim, another with Massart at Paris and by him
greatly esteemed, a soprano at Rome, another
in the Boston Conservatory, and several study-
ing in New York City.

Now let us look for a moment at the ‘‘state of
religion,” as brethren would say. Every church
is naturally a social as well as religious unit.
Dr. Horton's admirable article contains all that
need be said about religion in Oakland except
a few statistics. We have, as nearly as they
can be reckoned, forty churches, divided in
numbers as follows: Congregational, five;
Metho list Episcopal, five; Episcopalian, four;
Baptist, four; Presbyterian, three; and Free
Will Baptist, M. E. Church South, African
Methodist, Free Methodist, Seventh Day Ad-
ventist, Unitarian, Universalist, Hebrew, Ger-
man Lutheran, Latter Day Saints, Christian
Church, Church of Christ, New Church, Scot-
tish Covenanters and Salvation Army, one
church cach. In addition to this long list of
religious organizations, there are missions for
the Chinese, for the children of the poor and
for the general public. There is a vigorous
Young Men’s Christian Association not owning
a building yet but expecting to do so soon.

Returning to the subject of charities, we may
enumerate the Ladies’ Relief Society, the Oak-
land Benevolent Society, the Young Women’s
Christian and Fruit and Flower
Mission as good examples of all. By the for-
mer two relief homes are maintained, and
about two hundred helpless women and chil-
dren a-e supported by these noble charities

Association

Oakland is the first city to introduce on the
Pacific Coast the system of charity organization
which so generally prevails in Eastern commu-
nities. The Oakland Commission for Local
Charities consists of fifteen gentlemen promi-
i.e tly identified with philanthropic work and
clrosen at a general meeting of representatives
of city charities and churches. To their num-
ber are added ex-officio the Mayor, President of
the City Council, City Marshal, Chairman of
the Infirmary Committee, and City Attorney.
The Executive Committee consists of Rev. J. K.
McLean, D. D., Rev. Dr. H. D. Lathrop, A, J.
Ralston, Rev. Chas. W. Wendte, C. W. Kinsey,
and H. Garthwaite. The Commission has pro-
ceeded carefully, visiting in turn the various in-
stitutions and receiving detailed reports from
the same and introducing a simple system of
registration, andis now preparing a plan adapted
to the existing conditions for effectively asso-
ciating the municipal, church and voluntary
charities of our city.

But if Oakland is well supplied with churches,
what shall we say of fraternal orders, except
that it is overrun with them? The Masons, with
their beautiful temple on Washington street, are
the oldest and wealthiest, but all the other or-
ders—Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Chosen
Friends, United Workmen, Legion of Honor,

Redmen, and a dozen others—are repre-
sented. There are probably a hundred lodges
and fraternal societies all told. All the nation-
alities are represented by patriotic or benevolent
societies, and there are the usual trades’ unions
and leagues.

Of clubs, properly so-called, the Athenian,
whose occasional chirps are the talk of the town
when they occur, is the most considerable. Lit-
erary societies thrive, the Starr King Fraternity
being a representative one. Lecture coursesare
given during the winter by these societies and
by numerous church lyceums. There is no lack
of amusements and of a good class, too.

A New Year’s Walk,
IN WHICH EVIDENCE IS FOUND THAT OAKLAND
GARDENS BLOOM IN THE WINTER.

BY A. W. N,

E are told that it is a difficult thing to

convince our Eastern friends that the
winters in Northern and Central California are
not severe, and that here, as in Southern Cali-
fornia, flowers bloom and delicate plants flourish
in the open air the year around. Their minds
reject the evidence of tables of temperature, and
revolt from Signal Service records; but there is
an old saying that seeing is believing. —

It is the first day of January, the beginning of
a new year and of the second month of winter.
There have been two weeks of exceptionally
cold weather for our climate, and this has been
followed by nearly a week of heavy rains. The
season is thus unpropitious for flowers, and
moreover, most of the gardens have been rifled
of what floral treasures they possessed, for the
holiday decorations. But perhaps we can still
find a few flowers blooming. Let us go and
try.

Suppose we look around the garden at our
door before we start for our walk. At one side
of the old-fashioned veranda is a Lamarque rose
with buds and blossoms. On the other side, and
clambering over the railing at a height of some
ten feet or more from the ground, is a fuchsia
and an achania, both of them plants which our
Eastern friends know are peculiarly sensitive
to the cold, but which here are both in bloom
this first day of January.

As we pass into the garden we find a bed of
sweet alyssum and supported against the house,
to the height of six or seven feet, is a mass of
heliotrope, with its fragrant, purplish blossoms.
Overrunning a lilac bush is an ivy geranium,
while at our feet is a clump of the Lady Wash-
ington geranium, and a little further off a rose
geranium; while against the wall which divides
the garden from the adjoining one, and partly
screening it from view, are large bushes of
double geranium, with its brilliant, showy blos-
soms. The geraniums are such rank growers
that it is necessary to thin them out frequently
to make room for other plants. In going around
the house we pass under a large magnolia,
and looking up discover a half dozen or more
immense white buds, which in a short time will
open and fill the air with their strong odor.

We go down the street. The first few gardens
have no flowers, but have been given up to well-

32 SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

kept lawns, which have been freshened and
brightened by the®recent rains. Along the bor-
ders of these lawns we may see choice varieties of
roses, and many of them are in bloom.

The next garden has, for the time of year,
quite a wealth of blooms. Besides the roses,
we find pansies, daisies, carnations, marigolds,
verbenas and chrysanthemums. As we pass
along we note among the tender varieties of
plants, which in a less favored locality would
be greenhouse, or at least house plants, the
broad-leaved canna, the hydrangea, the salvia,
or flowering sage, the ricinus, the brilliant pas-
sion flower, the larkspur, the hyacinth, and
gladiolus, some pretty climbers, the calampelis
and the clerodendron, with its scarlet and white
flowers, and the delicate German ivy.

In almost every garden are bushes of the lau-
restinus, with its clusters of tiny white flowers.
One house we pass has the pillars of the little
portico before the door twined with growing
nasturtiums, which here and there put forth
their showy blossoms. We must not forget to
mention the large white callas, which are show-
ing themselves in almost every garden. Not
until Easter will they be in their glory, but still
there are numbers in bloom already.

A lady informs us that in her small garden
she counted this morning twenty-four varieties
of geranium, most of which are blossoming. A
number of begonias are blooming in the same
garden, and, as every floriculturist knows, the
begonia is by no means hardy.

We do not pretend to say that all these plants
are in a profusion of bloom, but on all are blos-
soms, and on some, more than a few. We could
mention many other tender plants which,
alil.ough not in flower, are fresh and thriving,
would space permit; but we think we have given
evidence enough that Oakland is indeed a city
of flowers, not in spring and summer alone, but
in winter as well.

California.
Worcester (Mass.) Herald.

California, with its 160,000 square miles of
territory, its 80o miles of seacoast, its Yosemite
valley, its stupendous water falls, its grand
trees, its towering mountains, presents within
the limits of a single State all the climates
known to the universe, all the differences of
surface from snow-clad peaks to valleys which
lie hundreds of feet below the sea level, all the
fruits between the equator and the pole, all the
minerals known to geology. She invites the
world to her table and all may be filled. Her
ships go forth to the ends of the earth, laden
with gold and with grain, with wool and with
wine, with oranges and oil, with cattle and corn.
She has added more than a thousand million
dollars to the wealth of the world in gold alone,
and the end is yet far off. But it is not the
beauty of scenery nor gold from her mines
which will make her future fame; it will bethe
grain from her wheat fields, the fruit from her
citrus groves, the wine from her vineyards, the
wool from her flocks, the cattle from her hills,
the spice-laden breezes which fill her sanita-
riums with health-seekers, the rose-clad homes
which shelter her workers. These will be her
glory and make her unending fame.

 

Hlameda County.

ONE OF THE WEALTHIEST AND MOST POPULOUS

COUNTIES IN THE STATE.

A es Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley,

there are many pleasant and prosperous

towns in Alameda county. Some of them are
attractive as places of residence without refer-
ence to business opportu-

SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND EN

Alameda, which is coextensive with Alameda
city; Oakland, embracing a part of the city of
Oakland and the city of Berkeley; Brooklyn,
also containing a portion of Oakland as well
as a large farming district, and Eden, Murray
purely agricultural

and ‘Washington, three
townships.
The largest of the agricultural towns of the

county is Livermore, situated in the great Liv-

QUIRER. an

De)

for the cultivation of fine wine grapes. The best
known vineyards here are the Olivina vine-
yard of Julius P. Smith and the Cresta Blanca

owned by Mr. Wetmore. But the total nmber
of vineyards, large and small, in the district is
not far from 100, and they embrace an area of
5000 acres. Some high-grade wines have
already been made here. But good authorities
think the district is equally well adapted to cer-
tain kinds of tree fruits, and

 

nities, but most of them
will be chiefly interesting
to the settler who comes to
California, as so many
Eastern people do come in
these times, to buy a small
farm in the place where the
advantages of a pleasant
home can be combined
with an opportunity to
make money. For this
class of persons there is no
part of California which
offers attractions superior
to the rural districts of Ala-
meda county and perhaps
none which offers equal
ones.

 

In the first place, the cli-
mate is the best; there is
not a spot in the county
which is not a healthful
one, and, agriculturally,
Alameda county is in the
garden of the State. Orch-
ards, vineyards and vegeta-
ble gardens are nowhere
else so profitable as here.
Nearness to market has in-
creased alike the value of
the lands and the profits
which they are capable of
yielding. Most of the large
ranches have been broken
up and small fruit and veg-
etable farms are worked in
great numbers. There are
good roads and good
schools in every neighbor-
hood, and the character
of the population is su-
perior.

SAN MATEO?

In area Alameda county
is large, though not as com-
pared with some other
counties. It contains o
524,800 acres, or 820 square |
miles, which is just about

NN NVAPAGCITY
A

in this belief A. T'. Hatch,
the President of the State
Horticultural Society, is
now planting there an orch-
chard of 400 acres, mostly
in almonds. Livermore val-
ley deserves the attention
of every settler who comes
to California looking for
profitable farming prop-
erty. The price of good vine
and fruit land is from $30
to #125 per acre. It is bet-
ter land than that which is
sold in Southern California
for from $200 to $400 per
acre.

]
STOCKTON,
12 my 22>

CO,

Pleasanton and Sunol,
smaller towns on the rail-
road near Livermore, are
essentially a portion of the
same agricultural district
aud need not be separately
described. Around Pleas-
anton the soil is richer
than at Livermore; it is
fine alluvial vegetable land
and commands a higher
price. Sunolis in a circu-
lar valley of that name and
is a favorite health and
pleasure resort.

0A io URN

SAN

 

Another of the great ag-

 

REDOWO0D CITY ®
MENLO PARKGS

|
SAN MATEO
Co. !
|
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\

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aa send

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i,
'SANTA CRUZ CO.

ricultural regions of the
country is that embracing
the three towns of Hay-
wards, San Ieandro and
San Lorenzo. Of these
Haywards is the more im-
portant; it is a fine, pros-
perous town of over 1000
inhabitants, in which two
newspapers are published.
San Leandro is also a thriv-
ing town, while San Lo-
renzo is a farming village.
In this part of the county

 

 

two-thirds of the size of
the State of Rhode Island.
In 1880 the population was
62,976, and it is at least 85,000 at the present
time. Of this number 65,000 are in or adja-
cent to the three cities of Oakland, Alameda
and Berkeley, and 20,000 live in the smaller
towns and the rural districts. Agriculture in
some form or another is directly or indirectly
the support of nearly the whole population out-
side of these cities; it is distinctively an agri-
cultural county.

There are six townships in the county, viz:

 

“MARY

ow ALAMEDA GO.

ermore valley. It is a place of about 1500 in-
habitants, and a pleasant and substantial town.
It has great prospects, for the large valley is
being rapidly converted from a grain-growing
district into an orchard and vineyard district.
In the opinion of many experts, such as Charles
A. Wetmore, former executive officer of the
Viticultural commission and Professor E. W.
Hilgard of the State University, the Livermore
vineyard district is about the best in the State

fruit-growing and vegeta-
ble gardening are the great
industries. Haywards is
the principal cherry produ-
cing district of the State, and other tree fruits
are extensively cultivated. The vine is not so
generally planted, but in vegetables the product
is enormous. This business is largely in the
hands of Portugese, who are skillful and in-
dustrious gardeners. They are content with a
few acres of soil upon which, in their hum-

 

ble way, they thrive and often grow rich.
The largest orchards
belonging to the Meek family, consisting

hereabouts are those

 
Q
oO)

of several hundred acres of cherries and other
fruits.

The third important agricultural division of
the county is embraced in Washington town-
ship, and includes the towns of Niles, Irving-
ton, Alvarado, Centerville, Newark, and Mis-
sion San Jose, and the hamlet of Warm Springs.
Niles is on the Southern Pacific railroad and is
at the junction with the San Jose branch.
Irvington, also on the railroad, is a growing
farming town and the seat of a college belong-
ing to the Christian denomination. Mission
San Jose and Warm Springs are famous orchard
and vineyard districts. Alvarado and Newark
are on the South Pacific coast (narrow gauge)
railroad, the latter having the car shops of the
narrow gange road and the former a beet sugar
factory, which, up to the present year, has been
the only one in the State. The agricultural
resources of Washington township are enor-
mous. Part of the township, including Mission
San Jose and Warm Springs, lies in the warm
or frostless belt, and here the earliest vegetables
are grown for the San Francisco markets.
Green peas are marketed in February and
strawberries a month later. Tomato vines live
the year around. Oranges and lemons flourish.
At Mission San Jose there is a famous wine
cellar on the magnificent estate of Don Juan
Gallegos. This gentleman, coming here from
Central America with a large capital, has shown
an enterprise in its investment which is beyond
all praise. He has built the largest and finest
wine cellar in California and has planted a
magnificent vineyard, besides olive orchards
and groves of other trees. The grounds of his
residence are laid out with a liberality and
beauty almost unparalleled. The wine cellar
has recently been sold to a company called the
Gallegos Wine Company.

The newspapers of Alameda county outside
of the cities are the //erald and [cho of Liver-
more, the Reporter of Irvington, the Journal
and Sentinel of Haywards and the Ncporier of
San Leandro.

Laundry Farm.

SITUATION
HOMES.

A DELIGHTFUL FOR SUBURBAN

Sequestered among the foothills of the Contra
Costa, at an elevation commanding a superb
vista of the Bay of Francisco with Oakland in
the foreground, lies Laundry Farm. Sheltered
from the prevailing winds and above the bay
fogs, its climate is most delightful and salubri-
The several streams which head in the
an abundant water

ous.
hills hereabouts furnish
supply, and it was to utilize this that a laundry
association was once organized, from which the
location takes its name. The laundry project,
however, was abandoned long ago. Ior years
a portion of the farm has been a favorite picnic
and camp ground, and the Glen House a popu-
lar summer resort. In a wild, wooded canyon,
through which a clear brook winds its way, a
dancing floor has been constructed, The prop-
erty has lately passed into the hands of some
Oakland gentlemen, who propose to subdivide
a portion into suburban home sites. A contract
has been let which provides for the completion

within six months of a steam railroad to the
tract, which will afford local trains to Oakland
in ten, and to San Francisco in forty minutes.
Adjoining the Laundry Farm is the site of Mills
College, the Vassar of the Pacific Coast, and in
the immediate vicinity the elegant country
homes of many of the successful business men
of Oakland and San Francisco.

Oakland Conservatories.

BY W. A. P.

ae city can claim the finest and best

stocked conservatories in California. The
conservatory in Golden Gate Park in San Fran-
cisco is well known to be the largest in Califor-
nia, bat at least one of those in this city can
compete wiih it in beauty of architecture. The
one that can do this is that of Captain J. C.
Ainsworth at Rose Lawn, above Temescal. This
beautiful structure is built in the most modern
style of greenhouse architecture and is equal
in design to any in the United States. It cost
in the neighborhood of $12,000, and a like
building in the Eastern States would cost far
more; for here in this climate neither the wood-
work nor the glazing has to be so heavily and
expensively put together. Neither does the
heating apparatus have to be so large nor heat
conveyed to all portions of the house.

Captain Ainsworth is making a hobby of
orchids and has some of the most exquisite
specimens in the world. Some of his plants
have cost enormous prices, and only a wealthy
man like him could afford such high-priced
members of the vegetable kingdom. This con-
servatory is not exclusively devoted to orchids,
for alarge portion of it is filled with rare exot-
ics from the various parts of the world. This
conservatory, as well as those hereafter named,
deserves a longer notice, but space will not ad-
mit of more than a passing mention.

Captain Ainsworth also has on his beautiful
grounds one of the prettiiest camellia houses to
be found anywhere. Though not large, it ac-
commodates a fine collection of that beautiful
flowering plant. This building was erected at
a cost of several thousand dollars.

Another splendid conservatory is that of A.
K. P. Harmon, a partial view of which is shown
in the illustration on page 37 of this issue. This
house contains some magnificent plants. Rare
exotics, collected at considerable cost, are to be
found beneath its curved glass roof. Besides
the main house Mr. Harmon has several smaller
houses.

Mr. Harmon has been at an outlay of proba-
ably $10,000 for his main house, and several
thousand more for the smaller ones.

The magnificent grounds of Mr. Frederick
Delger on Telegraph avenue contain the third
conservatory referred to. The lawns within
Mr. Delger’s inclosures are as beautiful as a
green velvet carpet, and the beds of flowers
scattered here and there on the lawns and in
parterres are of dazzling magnificence. His
conservatory cost, together with the smaller
houses, about $11,000, and all of them are filled
with one of the richest collections of camel-
lias, azaleas, ferns and assorted rare plants in
the State. Mr. Delger is an enthusiast in ca-
mellias, and his plants show flowers that are

SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

perfectly beautiful. Of recent years he has
given considerable attention to azaleas, and
already he can show flowers of this class of
plants that are really exquisite. Near by his
conservatories he has a large aviary, which is,
no doubt, the most commodious on the Pacific
Coast. Mr. Delger is an ardent bird fancier,
and never misses a chance to obtain a bird of
rare plumage if it can be had for money. His
aviary is beautifully constructed and is of large
size.

Besides the above there are several smaller
conservatories in or near the city which con-
tain small though tolerably fair collections of
plants.

Several of the florists have large greenhouses
for the propagation of plants. Also, near the
city there are some very large forcing houses
devoted entirely to the growing of rosebuds for
the Oakland and San Francisco florists. It is
not a rare occurrence for these growers to fill
orders for rosebuds received from Salt Lake
City or even places beyond.

Semi~Tropiecal Produets.

THE GROWTH OF ORANGES, LEMONS, OLIVES
AND OTHER FRUITS IN AND ABOUT OAKLAND.

BY W. A. PRYAL.

ag a large portion of Alameda county

is the garden spot of California is a fact
that has not been successfully denied for a quar-
ter of a century. Her soil is as rich as that of
any other portion of the State, if not richer than
any other. All kinds of vegetation planted in
its genial bosom grow almost as if by magic.
Heavy crops are produced without irrigation.
The luxuriant growth and immense yields her
orchards and vegetable gardens produce annu-
ally do not come altogether from the fertility of
the soil nor the copious supply of the rainfall;
they are due also to the equability of the cli-
mate, which extends to the whole county. Ala-
meda County has a climate peculiarly her own.
The genial heat arising from the waters of the
bay of San Francisco, which are warmed by the
Japanese current, is wafted the year round to
the valleys skirting the bay. This warmth is
augmented by that generated by the sun in
the many ravines throughout the hills. In this
way are the winters of Oakland, and in fact in
all portions of the county, rendered so mild and
charming.

It is no wonder that under these circum-
stances the climate is compared to that along
the northern shores of the Mediterranean. And
with such a climate, is it any wonder that all
the semi-tropical fruits of Southern Spain,
France and of Italy, are grown through this
county? Here the orange, the olive, the lemon,
citron and other fruits of a semi-tropical clime
are grown and fruited with the same flattering
results as in the countries of Europe. In the
following article there is given a more detailed
account of the introduction of these fruits and
the places where they are principally grown:

I. Oranges. It was not until a few years
ago that oranges were planted to any extent in
Alameda County, although trees of large size
and good age were to be seen in several parts of
the county and gave evidence that this fruit
would grow to perfection in the vicinity of Oak-

 

 

RESIDENCE BUILT BY W. W. CAMRON—ALBION STREET

land. Undoubtedly the oldest as well as the WE
largest orange trees in the county are to be
found at the Mission San Jose, and they show a
growth and yield crops that compare fivorably
With those found in the lower portion of the
State. The oranges of Mr. Juan Gallegos, at
the place just mentioned, are of larce she tri
excellent flavor. Mr. H. W. Meek Tt San Lo-
renzo has a good sized orchard of oranges that
is now yielding first-class oranges. Many of
his trees are of large size, and when they be-
come older will return the owner a nice little
income for the golden fruit they will so bounti-
fully yield.

Mr. I. Stone at San Iorenzo has some or-
anges of good size which produce fruit as beau-
tiful and as richly flavored as those grown in
the most favored orange regions.

At Livermore the writer has seen some orange
trees not over five years old, and which were
the oldest he saw in that section, which were
just beginning to bear. Though the climate of
that part of the county is in a measure suited
for their growth, still from the look of those
seen there it is doubtful if the soil is as well
fitted for their suecessful culture as it is for the
vine and the olive. There is not a portion of
the county, however, in which this fruit will
not thrive. In Oakland, close by the bay
may be seen orange trees loaded with bright,

yellow fruit. The garden in this city Raving
the largest display is that of G. F. Smith, at the
corner of Castro and Eighth streets. Thosands
of visitors to the city are shown these beautiful
trees annually, and such people are convinced
that oranges can be grown in Alameda County

In the same large and beautiful garden where
these oranges are growing may be seen fine
specimens of camellia japonicas in full bloom in
the open air at any time during winter. There
is hardly a garden of any pretensions in the city
that has not one or more orange or lemon trees

Several places where oranges are growing, nota-

bly, in the grounds of Captain J. C. Alsons
and A. D. Pryal. The latter has a snl grove
of trees about twelve years old th a
remarkably handsome fruit.

IT. Lemons and Citrons. These are naturally
more tender than oranges, and still fice re
getting to be quite common throughout the
County. They grow from year to year without
being injured by the cold, which not only shows
how well the climate is suited for their crltiva
tion, but also—which fact the people of the
county desire to call the attention of ier.
visitors to—that the county is admirably suited
for a place for residence for people seeking
mild and even temperature, i

In the garden of E. B. Mastick, on Pacific

avenue, in Alameda, is a large lemon tree that
1s annually weighted with fruit of good size and
handsome appearance. In other parts of the
same city are to be seen lemons and other cit-
rous fruits, all of them doing exceedingly well
At the home of W. J. Dingee, in Hays’ Canyon
above Lake Temescal, are some fine specimens
of lemon trees. Mr. A. D. Pryal, half a mile
below the lake, has some citron trees bearing
fine, large fruit, and at the home of Sa
Vrooman, near by, are more citrons which pro-
duce fine large fruit. Judge John Garber, at
Claremont, has citrons, oranges and lemons
Also at the same place Mrs. Rebecca Denne,
Fred. Russ, and at the place lately occupied by
Mrs. John Kelsey, but now owned by R. B
Snell of Oakland, are lemon and orange trees
which are making a good showing in B fowih
and fruit. :

III. Alameda Olives. Nearly a century ago
the Spanish Missionary fathers recognized the
adaptability of the climate of this State for the
growing of olives, oranges and grapes. No-

at produce

a

 

where did these pious men believe there was a
more suitable climate for the olive than in Ala-
meda and Santa Clara Counties. At the mis-
sion headquarters at San Jose, in this county
they planted the olive and the vine, and their

growing in it.

Hugh Diamond has quite a little grove of
oranges just coming into bearing, at Fruit Vale.
Along the Temescal creek, from Temescal to

SPECIA r LEDITION—OAKL AND ENQUIRER.

ar
or «

good judgment is now shown, for the olive
trees are beginning to obtain a ripe old age and
are yielding enormously.

The olives planted at the Mission San Jose
though close on a hundred years old, may be
said to be yet in their infancy, for it is a well-
known fact that this tree lives to be over a
thousand years of age. The remarkable hardi-
ness and wonderful productiveness of fruit at
the place last named and at San Leandro, Oak-
land, Berkeley and Livermore have Aundantly
proved that it can be profitably grown in any
portion of the county.

It is a native of a semi-tropical zone and is
seldom found a great distance from the sea
never over fifty miles, but more generally from
three to ten. The heat of the interior valleys
of the State is unsuited to its culture. Neither
will it bear well where severe frosts occur in
midwinter. The mercury has to fall as low as
fourteen degrees above zero, however, before
any serious danger is done the trees, from which
it 1s apparent to the most casual observer that

the olive will never suffer in this county, where
the severity of the winter is seldem great enough

the upper end of Hays’ Canyon, are to he ir to kill heliotropes or geraniums.

Manufacturing.

THE FACILITIES FOR IT AND ITS PRESENT

STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT.

a history of manufacturing in Oakland
is essentially the history of manufacturing
in California—meaning by this that the same
vicissitudes of success and difficulty have been
experienced everywhere on the Pacific Coast.
By the census of 1880 California was assigned
the twelfth rank among the manufacturing
States of the Union; whereas in population she
was only the twenty-fourth. The necessities of
our situation make us a manufacturing State
but at the same time disadvantages balance ad
vantages.

There is no manufacturing region where the
business has had to contend with more diffi-
culties and there are few where there has been
a larger proportion of failures, while, at the
same time, some of the successes have been
correspondingly great. The labor market has
been disturbed and complicated. The rate of
wages for white workingmen is higher than in
the Eastern States, and while the presence of

=a

TENTH AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH.

 
36 SPECIAL EDITIO!

the Chinese has given us a cheap laboring force,
public opinion has made scrupulous capitalists
hesitate to employ it. The market for most
kinds of raw material has been fluctuating and
uncertain. Then the prosperity of the home
manufacturers has been greatly retarded by this
being made a dumping ground for Eastern
goods. A manufacturer who accumulates a
stock of goods of any class in excess of the de-
mand seeks to send the surplus as far away from
his home market as he can, and San Francisco
is the remote point at which these manufactur-
ers generally seek to unload their superabund-
ant commodities. As if this discouragement
were not enough, there has been the dangerous
opposition of a certain class of merchants—
wholesale importers and jobbers—who regard
the growth of Pacific Coast manufactures with
jealousy because it threatens their branch of
business. Nevertheless, the peculiar needs of
our population, demanding special manufac-
tures in keeping with their unique industries,
have prevailed, and therefore, in the main, our
manufactories have thrived, although hampered
by all the adverse conditions above mentioned
and by others not mentioned. .

Oakland, the second city in population, be-
yond reasonable doubt, is easily the second city
in manufactures. Both in the value and di-
versity of her products she occupies this posi-
tion and manufactures support more of the
people of Oakland than any other branch of in-
dustry. Perhaps few even of our home readers
appreciate the diversity of our manufacturing
interasts, and therefore let us give an idea of it
by enumerating here the chief articles which
are made in this city, viz:

Rolled iron,

Cut nails,
Horseshoe nails,
Tacks,

Files,

Steam boilers,
Mowing machines,
Fire engines,
Threshing machines,
Brass work,

Iron bridge work,
Bank vaults,
Electric machinery,
Patent wire fencing,
Wagons and carriages,
Cable cars,

Sash and doors,
Fire brick,

Filters,

Terra cotta ware,
Drain pipe,

Sewer pipe,

Tiles,

Powder of all kinds,
Scale preventive,

Maccaroni,
Cornmeal,
Oatmeal,
Perfumeries,
Cooking extracts,
Soap,

Neatsfoot oil,
Stationers’ goods,
Clothing,
Brooms,
Tinware,
Chairs,

Folding beds,
Picture frames,
Pickles,

Jellies,

Beer,

Cement,

Grain bags,
Coffee sacks,
Furniture cloth,
Jute carpets,
Linen towels,
Jute twine,
Cotton twine, .

Glue, Cotton rope,
Tallow, Knit stockings,
Bone dust, Underwear,

Marble work, Shirts,

Pianos, Horse blankets,
Trunks, Paraffine paint,
Books, Harness,

Cigars, Artificial limbs,
Leather, Gloves,

Boots and shoes, Hats,

Blinds, Portable houses,
Moulding, Cooperage of all kinds,
Water tanks, Patent medicines,
Fruit boxes, Druggists’ supplies,
Egg boxes, Ice,

Incubators, Soda water,
Building brick, Confectionery,
Flour, Cotton batting.

 

The advantages of Oakland as a manufactur-
ing city naturally fall under three heads—first,
location; second, transportation facilities; and
third, climate. The locality is good because it
is close to the present center of production and
distribution, and because it is certain that this
center will never move away from San Fran-
cisco Bay. All railroads lead here, maritime
commerce concentrates here; it is near the
geographical center and the center of popula-
tion. Fuel will always be cheaper at tidewater
than at any available interior point. At pres-
ent its neighborhood to San Franscisco counts
greatly in favor of Oakland as a manufacturing
city. A factory in Oakland may be counted as
in San Francisco and yet as outside of it. It is
in the metropolis so far as commercial conven-
jence is concerned, and it is outside of it so far
as concerns the cheapness of land and the en-
joyment of manufacturing privileges not pos-
sible in a crowded metropolis. Manufacturers
can, if they think it necessary, have their fac-
tory in Oakland, their business office in San
Francisco, and maintain constant communica-
tion between the two by telehone. Practically,
however, some of our heaviest companies, like
the Cotton Mills and California Hosiery Com-
pany, find it more advantageous to keep their
principal business office in Oakland, sell from
the mill and maintain only a branch office in
San Francisco. As compared with any inte-
rior city, Oakland possesses this signal advan-
tage—that the labor supply is always here or
within easy reach. Labor is the most essential
element in manufactures—the largest item of
cost.

The transportation advantages of Oakland are
pretty fully explained in the articles on rail-
roads and commerce, and need be only touched
on here. Our city is bounded on two sides by
railroads, as well as by the waters of the bay
and of the estuary. Some of our factories car.
unload materials from the ship at one door and
from the railroad car at another, and have the
same choice of facilities for shipping away the
finished product. It is evident that there will
eventually be an important economic advan-
tage in manufacturing in Oakland as compared
with San Francisco, since it costs time and
money to ship materials across the bay to that
city, which must afterwarwards be shipped back
again in the form of finished products. The
logic of business is all in favor of the theory
that Oakland will in the future be preferable to
San Francisco for a location for most descrip-
tions of manufactures. A great drawback at
the present time is the lack of warehouses on
this side of the bay. Because we have not got
them, our only woolen factory, for example, is
put to serious disadvantage; the wool it uses is
generally shipped to San Francisco for storage,
where it is sold and shipped back here to be
manufactured; thus a location which ought to
be an advantage is in this instance turned into
a disadvantage. From the industrial stand-
point the equable and pleasant climate of Oak-
land is of considerable importance. Extremes
of heat and cold are unfavorable to exertion,
and on the other hand, equability of tempera-
ture is favorable to obtaining the maximum
amount of labor. A man can do considerably

N—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

 

 

 

more work, day for day, the year around, in
Oakland or San Francisco than in places away
from the coast where the thermometer goes
up very high during the summer months. In
the textile industries a certain amount of damp-
ness in the atinosphere is essential. Thus the
cotton mills of England are located in Lincoln-
shire, because it is the dampest county in the
kingdom. Either Oakland or San Francisco is
satisfactory to cotton and woolen spinners, but
Oakland possesses a slight advantage because
there is less wind here and the air is freer from
dust and other impurities.

It is not the purpose of this article to go into
detailed descriptions of particular establish-
ments, but a short mention of the more import-
ant ones must be made.

THE METAL INDUSTRIES

Are represented, first, by the Judson Iron
Works and the Pacific Nail Works. The for-
mer is conducted by a company with a capital
of $525,000, which employs 400 hands. The
works occupy nine acres of ground and a large
group of buildings on the bay shore at Emery-
ville. Tacks, files, agricultural implements,
fire engines, bolts, spikes and rolled iron are
the principal articles of manufacture.

The Pacific Nail Works is the only establish-
ment on the coast wholly engaged in the man-
facture of nails, and it has a capacity of 25,000
kegs a month. The factory was built in 1882-3
in an advantageous location on the estuary. It
has been a successful enterprise and employs
250 hands. The plant cost about $500,000, and
includes the latest machinery.

THE CALIFORNIA BRIDGE COMPANY,
Which at the present occupies a part of one of
the buildings at the Judson Works, is the only
company on the coast engaged in the produc-
tion of iron bridge work. It takes contracts all
the way from the British line to the Mexican. It
is a new enterprise, but the foundation of a very
promising one.

The Oakland Iron Works, on First street,
McGrew’s Foundry, in East Oakland, Mitchell
Fischer & Ketscher’s straw-burning engine fac-
tory, and a number of wagon and carriage fac-
tories, are some of the other iron industries.

TEXTILE MANUFACTORIES.

Phere are three important textile manufac-
tories in Oakland—the California Cotton Mills,
the California Jute Mill, and the California Ho-
siery Company. The works of the former are
located in Fast Oakland, and were built in
1885. ‘This is the only cotton mill on the coast,
and draws its supplies of raw material from
widely separated sources—Texas, the Pacific
islands, and East India. A hundred and ninety
hands are employed and a great variety of goods
is made. Cotton twine, cotton and jute bag-
ging, cotton batting, rope, toweling, and car-
peting are a few of the articles turned out. The
goods made are of the highest grade, and it
may be said that as a rule only textile goods of
this kind can be made in competition with
‘Eastern factories. It is cheaper to import the
shoddy goods than to manufacture them here.
The capital stock is $600,000.

The Jute Mill is also located in East Oak-
land. It manufactures principally sacks of dif-
ferent kinds—for grain, potatoes, borax, and

ile : i SPECIAL EDITION ~O0AKLAND ENQUIRER.

flour—but twines and several other articles also
are made. There are 3coo spindles, and the
plant cost $250,000. Four hundred hands,

ea.

a y Company’s works, on
First street, have been several times enlarged
since they were established in 1881. The cap-
ital of the company is now $370,000, and the
annual value of the product is about £195,000.
A hundred and sixty hands are employed, Knit
stockings and underwear are the goods made
and they are first class in quality. This mill i
fitted up with a reading-room for the employees
and many other modern conveniences. ’

A flax factory has been built at East Oakland,

Cotta Works, and the Oakland Art Pottery
Both are situated in East Oakland and both are
engaged in the manufacture of sewer pipe. Be-
sides this, chimney pipe and terra cotta wares
are manufactured. The market is an extensive
one, including all sections of the State.

BOOTS, SHOES, TANNING.

A first-class boot and shoe factory is another
of the important manufacturing establishments
of which the city can boast. The Wentworth
company, whose factroy is situated near the
Sixteenth street railroad station, has facilities
for turning out 600 pairs of boots and shoes per
day. Seventy-five to eighty hands are em-
ployed.

 

 

 

but is not yet in operation. It will be the only
flax mill on the coast.
THE WOOD-WORKING INDUSTRIES
Of Oakland have been added to during the last
year by the erection of the large factory of the
California door Company, which formerly em-
ployed convict labor at San Quentin. The build-
ing is 268x222 feet, and the plant has cost, or
will cost when completed, fully $350,000. The
capacity of the factory will be 1000 doors a day
and 150 hands will be employed.
The planing mill business is a large one in
Oakland. There are seven or eight mills, some
of them extensive establishments,
POTTERY MANUFACTORIES.
Pottery is an article of extensive manufac-
ture in Oakland, there being two large estab-
lishments—the California Pottery and Terra

RESIDENCE OF A. K. P. HARMON—WLEBSTER STRELT.

Of tanneries, there are two, both in East
Oakland—called the Oak Grove, or Derby's
tannery, and the Brooklyn tannery. These are
among the pioneer manufacturing industries of
the city, one having been established in 1860
and the other in 1870, The annual output of
the two combined is valued at about $170,000.

THE LUSK CANNING COMPANY.

A legitimate claim to distinction in the in-
dustrial line which Oakland can make is that it
has the largest fruit cannery in the world. The
Lusk Canning Company, a concern which
started from the humblest beginnings, has at
Temescal a vast and costly plant for performing
all operations connected with the canning of
fruit and vegetables, including the making of
the cans. The labels upon the cans of the Lusk
Company carry the reputation of the fruit of

 

this district into all parts of the world. From
May to November the canning operations are in
progress, and the annual product amounts to
200,000 cases. During the last vear some Soo
car loads of these goods were “shipped East.

During the busiest season Soo hands or more

are employed in the cannery.
" SHIRT MANUFACTURING.

The shirt manufacturing business of M. J.
Keller is an illustration of the opportunities
open to an enterprising man. He enjoys a trade
extending to all parts of the Pacific Coast. One
hundred and thirty hands are constantly em-
ployed in the manufacture of the goods, and
the pay roll for this force is $6000 a month.

 

Zid

FLOUR MILLING

Is represented by three mills—the Bay City
Roller Mill, the Encinal Home Mill, and the
Golden Rule Mill.

MISCELLANEOUS,
At the shops of the railroad company there

are between five and six hundred men con-
stantly employed.

The printing or publishing houses of Oakland

give employment to about two hundred hands

T : ; ;
here are other manufacturing establish-

ments of more or less importance, but even a
reference to them is impossible in this article

OAKLAND. —"It is a city of beauiful homes
and its thoroughfares are rendered very attract,
ive by lines of shade trees and borders of lux-
urious gardens.” —Raymond's Excursions.

 
SPECIAL EDITION:

By the Quiet Sea.

We're earth's, here on this bank and shoal of time:
It matters much what ground we tread, what air
We breathe, what sky and hill from stair to stair
Lead down the little wond'ring hours. Fair clime,
Fair land, and life does sing in happy rhyme,
Careless of fortune. We're our mothers; we wear
Her colors—Heaven must wait till we be there
We're earth’s’ here on this bank and shoal of time.
And who may walk more pleasant ways than ours,
Good Oaklanders? In very truth we be
I'he favored ones of all the gentle powers
Of Nature: peace and mirth, sweet minstrelsy,
Are native here, charming, where no cloud lowers,
The white tents pitched beside the Quiet Sea.
—John 1'ance Cheney, Oakland, 1857.

Colleges and HAcademies.

THE MANY NOTABLE INSTITUTIONS OF LEARN-
ING IN OAKLAND.

ETWEEN the unsurpassed public schools

of Oakland and the University, there are
many other colleges, academies and seminaries
which must not be omitted from any mention
of the educational opportunities.

Mills College, for young ladies, is situated in
a beautiful spot three miles east of Oakland and
is surrounded by large and charming grounds.
The standard of the collegiate Department is
high and the corps of instructors an able one.
A seminary department is conducted independ-
ent of the college

The new California College, whose buildings
are at Highland Park, in Fast Oakland, has
been established by the Baptist denomination,
but its aims are broad and catholic. Dr. S. B.
Morse is the president.

The Pacific Theological Seminary is a Con-
gregational divinity institution—the only theo-
logical seminary which the Congregationalists
possess west of Chicago.

Hopkins Academy is a classical and prepara-
tory school for boys. It is situated on Ply-
mouth avenue, and H. E. Jewett is the prin-
cipal.

Sackett School, on Twenty-first street, is an
institution of the same general character. It
gives attention to fitting boys for college. The
principal is D. P. Sackett.

California Military Academy, situated on Tel-
egraph avenue, has eight acres of handsome
grounds. A good business education is given,
and the military training is strictand thorough.
Col. W. H. O'Brien is the principal.

The Oakland Business College and Institute
of Penmanship is conducted by D. C. Taylor,
principal, and a corps of teachers. It occupies
Medical College Hall on Clay street.

The Oakland Academy is a school for boys
and girls, of which Isaac Wright and D. P.
Haynes are principals. It is situated upon
Franklin street.

St. Joseph's Academy is a Catholic school for
boys. It has a building at the corner of Fifth
and Jackson streets.

There are in Oakland several high grade sem-
inaries for young ladies, none of which is bet-
ter known than the Snell Seminary, situated on
Twelfth street. It draws students from all
parts of the coast.

The Field Seminary is on Telegraph avenue.
It enjoys an established reputation.

“The Oaks,” of which Miss Lucilia Tracy is
principal, enjoys the advantage of beautiful
grounds on Oak street, near Take Merritt. It
is an excellent school.

At Seventh avenue and Sixteenth street, in
Fast Oakland, is located the new building of
Miss Bishee's school for girls. This school is
one of the boasts of that section of the city.

Miss Horton's select school for boys and girls
at the corner of Filbert and

It is a successful school.

is established
Twelfth streets.

St. Mary’s College, a Catholic college, suc-
cessfully conducted in San Francisco for many
years, is soon to be moved to Oakland on ac-
count of the greater salubrity of the climate,
and a large and costly building is now going
up on Broadway.

On the west bank of I.ake Merritt, surrounded
by spacious grounds, stands the large edifice of
the Convent of the Holy Names. It is one of
the principal Catholic schools for girls of this
State.

These sixteen colleges, seminaries, academies
and private schools, all successfully conducted
in this one city, in competition with excellent
public schools and the State University, are
sufficient to prove that Oakland’s claims to be
an educational center have not been overstated.

Real Estate.

A CITY IN WHICH PROPERTY IS NOT HELD AT
SPECULATIVE VALUES.

BY A. A. DENISON.

a estate in Oakland is intrinsically
worth all that is asked for it. Property
values rest upon a substantial basis. There is
no section of the city in which lots either for
residence or for business purposes at present
prices, if properly improved, will not pay a
handsome interest upon the investment besides
advancing in value. The best test of what real
estate is worth is the rate of interest which it
will return on an investment. Improved busi-
ness property on Broadway between Seventh
and Fourteenth streets, is at present paying
from six to seven per cent net; on Washington
and Franklin streets, San Pablo avenue and
Telegraph avenue from five to ten per cent
net, and residence property adjacent to lines of
street cars or local trains rents readily at rates

which net seven to ten per cent.

The prospective advance isalso a factor in de-
termining the present value. No city upon the
Pacific Coast gives more certain promise of a
great future. The growth of Oakland has been
gradual and permanent. The word “boom”
has a suspicious sound, and although expressive
of the development of some places does not
apply to this city. There has been no forced,
artificial growth or fictitious inflation in values.

The foundations of the fortunes of the most
substantial citizens of Oakland were laid in
judicious investments in real estate. Oakland’s
four leading payers of taxes on municipal real
estate and improvements are Frederick Delger,
assessed at $530,550; Dr. Samuel Merritt, $355,-
250; Edson Adams, $117,825; Francisco Galindo,
$101,400. In 1867 Delger’'s assessment was
£17,338; Merritt's, $74,085; Adams’, $18,050; Ga-
lindo’s, $6,800.

OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

The steady and rapid growth of the City ot
Oaks is strikingly illustrated by a comparison
of land values now with those of twenty years
ago. At that time some lots on Broadway in
the business district, between Seventh and
Fourteenth stréets, 25x100, were appraised at
from $500 to $1200, and inside lots from £300 to
#1000. To-day corner lots on the west side are
worth from $32,500 to $35,000, and inside lots
#25,000; corner lots on the east side $30,000, and
inside lots $22,500.

Business property on San Pablo
within five blocks of the City Hall, is ralued at
from %300 to $500 per foot front; Telegraph av-
enue frontage below Twentieth street is held at
from $135 to $400; Broadway above Fourteenth
street the same. On Franklin street, from
Seventh to Fourteenth, property may be pur-
chased at $100 to $200. Washington street
above Seventh has been bought within a year
for $400, but is now held at $500. Business
property on cross streets, from Webster to Clay
and from Seventh to Fourteenth streets, takes
in a wide range of values. Inside frontages on
Ninth, Eleventh, T'welth and Fourteenth streets
are worth from $200 to $400, and on other
streets range from $150 to $300.

The most valuable residence property in the
city is held at $100 a front foot. Medium prop-
erty may be had from #35 to $60, and cheap lots
which are accessible by steam and street cars
are sold at from $8 to $20 a front foot, while
suburban sites may be purchased at from $6 to
#12 per front foot.

A comparison of the prices of property in
Oakland with other cities shows that real estate
is cheap compared with other cities, considering
location, population and other advantages.
The following statement of comparative values
is carefully compiled, and although there may
have been some variations in localities, may

avenue,

generally be relied upon.
Price per foot of most valuable busines prop-

erty:

Chicago
Minneapolis ..
Kansas City .
Ios Angeles...
Oakland.. .
San Diego Se
San Francisco.. .. : : 5000

inn
Price per front foot of cheapest business prop-
erty within one mile of center of business:

Chicago.. =

Minneapolis... ...

Kansas City

Ios Angeles .

Oakland ..

San Diego.. ..... ;

San Francisco. . aie ;

Price per front foot of most desirable resi-

dence property :
Chicago .
Minneapolis
Kansas City.
Ios Angeles. .
Oakland..
San Diego ..
San Francisco. ; nn
Price per lot (with size) of good medium resi-
dence property :
Chicago, 25X150.
Minneapolis, 25X150.
Kansas City, 50x100
10s Angeles, 50X100..
Oakland, 50x100. .
#1 25X100 ..
San Diego, 50x140
San Francisco, 25XI00..
Price of cheapest residence property, giv-
ing size of lots, within two miles of business

$6000
1500
1750
3000
I 5¢ DO
2000

. $300
100

150

. $800
300
200
500
100
200

600

$5000

. 3000
3000 to $4000
3000 to $3000
1500 to $2000
$850 to $1200

.. $2000 to $3500
$1800 to $4000

center:

 

 

 

 

SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

TX IRD
EX EST I SE ad

OAKLAND GAS WORKS.

Chicago, 25x100 $2

Minneapolis, 50x100 Ha
Kansas City, soxioo .. . ro
Los Angeles, s0x150.. .. hh
Oakland, 25x100. . 4%
San Diego, 25x100 . .. .. I
San Francisco, 25x100 . : : oe

Highest and lowest prices of acres within
four miles of business center :

Chicago. .
Minneapolis. .
Kansas City.
Ios Angeles. .
Oakland .

San Diego
San Francisco.

Oakland has been advertised to the world as a
residence suburb of San Francisco, a delightful
city of homes. :

S10000 tO £20000
1250 to 5000
500 to 10000
1750 to 5000
250 to 2000
500 to 5000

It is this, and more. It has in a
measure merged its identity in that of its sister
city, San Francisco; yet Oakland is rapidly be-
coming the greatest manufacturing city of the
Pacific Coast. It is the point where ship
and rail come together and must be the
land terminus of all the transcontinental
roads upon the Bay of San Francisco. Tt will
have, when the government work is completed,
one of the safest harbors upon the continent.
It has a system of sewerage approved by the
best sanitary engineers. ,
the lowest recorded.

Its death rate is one of
Its system of public
schools is unsurpassed, and its private educa-
tional institutions are of a superior character.
Berkeley, destined eventually to be incor-
porated with Oakland, is the seat of the State
University. Such advantages and attractions
have brought together a community of educated
and cultured people from all parts of the coun-
try. Men of wealth, with business interests ex-
tending from Alaska to South America and
through Australia and the Orient, have selected
Oakland from among the cities of the coast as
the most delightful for residence. These are
some of the elements of Oakland’s advance-
ment and some of the reasons for faith in its
future.

The Lowest Death Rate.

compared with that of other cites of the
United States and Europe, Oakland will be
found to the most healthful city in the world.
This is a bold claim to make, but it is sus-

+ ey oO 1
A F the death rate for a series of years be

tained by the facts. The following is the num-
ber of deaths per 1000 for each of the thirteen
years last past :

13.00|1852. . .. 14.42
14.19/1553. 14.63
14.17/1884. .... 3.20
.13.32{1883. 7
10.64 1886. . . gL
12.911887

11.284...

the whole term is 13.02
deaths annnally per 1050. By comparison with
this, the death rates of most of the great cities
of the world, even though accounted healthy
places, seem high. Thus Chicago has a death
rate of 19.26 ; Cincinnati, 20.23 ; Boston, 22.40;
Washington, 24.20; Baltimore, 19,20. The death
rates of foreign cities average much higher.
A naturally healthful climate, combined with
good drainage and other public improvements,
have given Oakland this enviable prominence,
I'he proportion of deaths from zymotic diseases
to the total number of deaths is almost unpre-
dentedly small, which constitutes a really bet-
ter showing for Oakland than even the small-
ness of the total death rate.

The University.

A FREE COLLEGE SECOND TO NONE IN WEALTH
AND OPPORTUNITIES.

Qyovan the establishment of a university
was contemplated by the framers of the
State constitution of 1850, many years went by
after that before this capstone was added to the

public education system. It was not until 1868
that a State college, or university, as the act
called it, was created by law, but having once
committed itself to the undertaking, the State
has ever since been liberal and almost prodigal
in its favors. The University of California is
one of the richest in the United States, or per-
haps we might say the richest, for it has behind
it not only an endowment of $3,900,000 in
money and property, but virtually the whole
wealth of the State. That is to say, there is a
recently enacted law which devotes a tax of one
cent on the hundred dollars to the University,
and at the rate at which the commonwealth is
growing this will presently produce an im-

 

mense annual income, when added to that from
the endowment fund. But what the Regents
and faculty value more than the amount of the
income, is its certainty, and especially its inde-
pendence in politics—usually the bane of State
universities. The University of California is
planted upon a foundation of prosperity which
nothing—mnot even the rivalry of the Stanford
University, that wealthy institution now being
created by the liberality of a single person—
can seriously disturb. It has weathered storms
and is the stronger for them. This great Uni-
versity, embracing ten colleges and its more
than forty professors, its large library and rich
collections, lies at the very door of Oakland,
and if Berkeley is ever annexed, it will be
within the corporate limits. A half hour's ride
on the street cars takes the student from any
part of Oakland to the University, and many of
the professors and instructors live here. It is
the greatest free school in the country, for fees
have been abolished and the gates of learning
are opened to all who will come.

The propriety of the location of the Univer-
sity has never been questioned; its choice was
a part of a natural chain of events. For fifteen
years before the State created the present insti-
tution, a college had been growing up in Oak-
land, and though adversity alternated with
prosperity, it was the one out of the many early
attempts which ultimately succeeded. Rev.
Henry Durant, who opened his first humble
school in Oakland in 1853, was virtually the
founder of the University of California. When
it was merged into the latter in 1869, the Cali-
fornia College had, besides it hard-earned repu-
tation, property worth $150,co0 and a corps of
instructors which could have heen duplicated
only with time and difficulty. The present site
at Berkeley was a part of the inheritance from
the California College.

It is not the purpose of the present article to
enter into an elaborate description or discussion
of the University, but only to direct attention
to its contiguousness as one of the advantages
of residence in Oakland, whose importance ev-
ery educated family will appreciate. There are
a few—though very few—universities in the
country with greater reputation and more nu-
merous students, but there is none in which a

better literary or practical education can be ob-
tained. Its College of Letters embraces a classi-
cal course, a literary course and a course in
letters and political science; the other colleges
are the College of Agriculture, College of Me-
chanics, College of Mining, College of Civil

RESIDENCE OF THE LATE HENRY GRIFFIN,
f ' / .

 
40 SPECIAL EDITION—OAKLAND ENQUIRER.

Engineering, College of Chemistry, Hastings
College of the Law, Toland College of Medicine,
College of Dentistry and California College of
Pharmacy. In addition to these, there is the
Lick Astronomical Department, which controls
the magnificent observatory at Mt. Hamilton,
with the most powerful telescope in the world.
Though it is comparatively few years since this
University was planted, its young graduates are
now found in every vocation of life in the West-
ern States and I'erritories, and some of them
have already won the highest distinction in
the professions, as well as in the arts and sci-

€nces.

Alameda.

OAKLAND'S PROGRESSIVE NEIGHBOR UPON THE

SOUTHERN SIDE O1I' THE HARBOR.
AN LAMEDA is another ( yakland, but smaller
(VW and less developed. It retains more of
the merely suburban character, but as Oakland
did some years ago, Alameda is now reaching
out for an independent civic and industrial ex-
istence. Only the narrow width of the estuary
and some marshes separate Oakland and Ala-
meda throughout the most of their length, while
at their eastern extremity the two towns ad-
join, and it has often been proposed that the
big Oakland should absorb little Alameda. But
the people over there have a sturdy spirit of in-
sularity, which has so far prevented, and may
long prevent, the success of annexation pro-
jects.

Alameda has grown so much that it now re-
gards itself as a large town. It has about S500
population, and itis growing quite rapidly. For
a couple of decades or more—for Alameda is of
about the same age of Oakland—the pulse of
improvement beat slowly, and Alameda was, in
fact, a slow town. Its original inhabitants had
gained a livelihood by market-gardening, and
up to last year a number of large unbuilt spaces
in the city were still devoted to this bucolic
use, giving the town a truly rural appearance.
At the same time street improvements lagged
But Ala-
Iast year

and sewers were generally lacking-
meda has felt the spur of progress.

large investments in real estate were made by
United States Senator Stewart, Justice Stephen
J. Field of the Supreme Court, Charles PF.
Crocker of the Southern Pacific Railroad Com-
pany, and a number of other prominent railroad
men. In fact these purchases by railroad mag-
nates were so numerous that there was quite a
fever of curiosity to know what they signified,
and smaller capitalists felt like investing be-
cause there were such good precedents for do-
ing it. There were various speculations in-
dulged in, but whatever may have been the
ideas about the destiny of Alameda entertained
by these capitalists, it is certain that they com-
municated to Alameda an impulse of improve-
ment to which it had long been a stranger. Pub-
lic meetings were held, an improvement asso-
ciation was organized, street and sewer im-
provements were commenced, steps were taken
to suppress the market gardens, and plans were
executed or suggested for improving the exter-
nal appearance of the city. Since last May
eighteen miles of sewer have been laid, good

sidewalks ordered, and other substantial results
of the boom made manifest. Previous to this
new era, however, Alameda already had several
public improvements worthy of note. It is
lighted, and well lighted, by electricity, the
lights being mounted on towers 125 feet
high. The plant belongs to the city, and the
cost of operating it is a little over §roo per
lamp per annum. The water supply is from
artesian wells, and the system is operated by
private capital. Main sewers were built several
years ago. Good schools are maintained, and
also a good library, at the public expense, and
the churches of the various denominations are
neat, if not imposing.

Our neighboring city enjoys a climate deli-
ciously salubrious and balmy. There is no spot
on the peninsula where the land is elevated, but
there is a fall sufficient for drainage, and the
soil is sandy. The health record is a good one.
I. cge oak trees have been left standing to a
greater extent than in Oakland even, and every
yard is a flower garden. Alameda affords the
best opportunities to be found in any of the bay
cities for salt water bathing, and crowds come
from San Francisco and Oakland to enjoy a dip
in the warm waters of the bay which leave the
southern side of the peninsula.

Berkeley.

THE UNIVERSITY TOWN, ITS PLEASANT HOMES
AND ITS BUDDING GREATNESS.

O the north of Oakland lies Berkeley, the

seat of our great University, and a young
and growing city which enjoys the pleasantest
prospects of future greatness. Berkeley is nat-
urally divided into two towns, the upper and
lower, not a little different in character but
joined in the same incorporation. West Berke-
ley, lying adjacent to the shore of the bay,
with a steamer landing and several factories
near, is the business town, while upper Berkeley,
or Berkeley proper (to follow the designation
generally adopted) , which occupies the upper
edge of the slope which leads to the range of
hills seen in the background of our picture of
the University, is the fashionable residence
town. Here the professors have their houses
grouped around the University at convenient
distances, and here many gentlemen of means
and taste, who like to breathe the atmosphere
of learning, have made elegant homes. Some of
these find the town a little too undeveloped to
meet their wishes; streets and sidewalks are yet
only meagerly improved, but they foresee that
these things are not far off, and they are
content to wait, recognizing that their lines
have been cast in pleasant places, despite the
drawbacks to which a new town is necessarily
subject. It is only since the University was es-
tablished there, in 1869, that Berkeley has been
a town at all.

The site is commanding and healthful. It is
directly opposite the Golden Gate, and as the
elevation at the University is about three hun-
dred feet above the waters of the bay, a magnif-
icent panoramic view is obtained from every
place where vision is not shut off by trees. By
day the inhabitants look down upon the beauti-
ful bay and its islands and its kalaidescope of

moving ships. As the day ends they can enjoy
seeing the sun set through the Golden Gate,
for the fine sunsets are one of the scenic attrac-
tions of the place. In the evening the view of
the bay is hardly less charming than by day,
for the lights on the ships, the railroad piers,
the islands, and in San Francisco streets make
an illumination as pretty as could be imagined.
It is slightly colder in winter and warmer in
summer in Berkeley than it is in Oakland, but
the climate is a pleasant one nevertheless, and
the air is noticeably pure and the public health
good. For good sewerage no better site for a
city could be found in the world.

Berkeley is connected with San Francisco
and Oakland by two lines ot railroad. What is
known as the Berkeley Branch Railroad is a
broad gauge road, running by the most direct
line to the main track of the Southern Pacific
and to the mole. The Telegraph Avenue Line
is an extension of the South Pacific Coast Line
and leads through Oakland and thence to San
Francisco. Cheap and rapid transit is enjoyed
to the fullest extent, and as the price of land is
still low in most parts of town, the opportuni-
ties for securing a suburban home are first-class.
Along the whole length of the Berkeley Branch
road there is a residence district now mostly un-
occupied, which will some day be as compactly
built as the corresponding district is in Oak-
land, and as eligible building sites can now be
secured there for $15 a front foot, the opportu-
nities for investment and speculation are good.

The Board of Trade.

AN ORGANIZATION WHICH IS ACTIVE IN BE-
HALF OF OAKLAND.

ORDIAL co-operation among the capital-

ists, merchants, and other business men in
behalf of the city was always lacking until the
Board of Trade was organized. This was done
about eighteen months ago, and the unusual
progress Oakland has made during this year
and a half has been in part due to the intelli-
gent and successful activity of this organization.
It has sent out 150,000 circulars and pamphlets
reaching all parts of the country in this judi-
cious advertising effort. It has made known
our commercial, manufacturing and railroad ad-
vantages, and has done all that such a body
could do to attract the attention of capitalists
to these advantages. It has secured conces-
sions from the railroads, and it has prepared
statistics and arguments for submission to Con-
gress upon the subject of harbor improvement.
But probably its greatest accomplishment was
starting the movement that led to the establish-
ment of the State Board of Trade.

The Board of Trade keeps open commodious
headquarters at 461 Tenth street, and a secretary
is employed who devotes all of his time to these
duties. Visitors are always welcome at the
headquarters, where oral or printed informa-
tion on all possible subjects of interest in or ad-
jacent to Oakland will be supplied. Strangers
coming to Oakland are invited to call and make
themselves known, and persons at a distance
who may desire information are requested to
write, stating their desires.

 

 
 

 

 

 

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ZH. J. McAVOY &E:
NOTARY PUBLIC,
REAL ESTATE,

INSURANCE &nd GENERAL BUSINESS AGENCY

877 Washington St. bet. Seventh and Eighth,

OAKLAND, ALAMEDA COUNTY, CAL.

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Farms and all kinds of Business Interests For Sale and Ex-
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I have a large list of Property Improved and Unimproved in Oakland,
Berkeley, Alameda, Piedmont, Highland Park and Fruit Vale.

Send for copies of the “Oakland and California
Land Agency,’ furnished free of charge, containing a List
of Properties and Pricés in almost every part of the State.
Address,

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H. J. McAYOY,
877 Washington Street, Between Seventh and Eighth,

OAKLAND, ALAMEDA COUNTY, CAL.

 

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= PRESENTED BY =

=H. J. McAVOY =

NOTARY PUBLIC,

INSURANCE and GENERAL BUSINESS AGENCY,

877 Washington St., bet. Seventh and Eighth,

OAKLAND, ALAMEDA COUNTY, CAL.

———— 4D ——

Farms and all kinds of Business Interests For Sale and Ex-
change, Loans Negotiated, Houses Rented and Rents Collected.

I have a large list of Property Improved and Unimproved in Oakland,
Berkeley, Alameda, Piedmont, Highland Park and Fruit Vale.

Send for copies of the “Oakland and California
Land Agency,’ furnished free of charge, containing a List
of Properties and Prices in almost every part of the State.

Address,

H. J. McAYOY,
877 Washington Street, Between Seventh and Eighth,

OAKLAND, ALAMEDA COUNTY, CAL.

 

 
    

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