The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 28, 1896, Page 4

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1896 STOCKTON--THE NEW CHICAGO OF THE GREAT SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY--STOCKTON HERE was once a very estimable and wealthy woman in Stockton who was not so wise in worldly Joreas she afterward became. How she ned the added wisdom isa neat little story in itself, which bears a moral for every resident of the Pacific Coast and may serve not inappropriately to introduce the theme that is to follow. The story—It happened a year or two ago that this very estimable and wealthy woman wanted nkets for the beds of her hot he was 1n a measure wise, for, baving an adequate purse, she resolved to get only the very best woolen blankets the market could afford. So she placed her order with the largest and most famons dry-goods importers in the United States—a New York firm. She stipulated no price, only requiring that the blankets should be the very b She waited a fort Then the pack- age came—and the bill with it. She paid the latter mnquestioningly, then opened the package to feast her eyes on the soit white woolen things that bad, perchance, come all the way from India, or at least from Germany or Scotland—or from wherever it was that sheep gave the best wool and men made the best blankets thereof. Behold! each fleecy bianket bore upon it a modest little blue trademark upon which was the unroman because fa- miliar legend, ‘‘Stockton Woolen Mi!lt,"' a legend which, to European or Asiatic ears, sounds of luxury and wealth. The very estimable and wealthy woman was nished and indignant. “You have sent me Stockton blanke! she wrote to the New York house. “You have cheated me! I could have bought these at home and saved the freight! I ordered the very best! “Madam, we sent you the best blankets to be had in the world’s markets,” wrote the New York house. The moral—It is so plain that he who reads may also run. The theme—This bustling, thriving city where ‘“the best biankets in the world's markets” are manufactured, the Chicago of the San Joaquin Vall Stockton. Extravagance in words, some may think, to compare Stockton with Chicago, but these know not the remarkable activities of Stockton, her ambitions, her energies and her almost limitless resources. Sup- pose old Captain Weber had been gifted with foresight enough to compare the vil- lage of Stockton that he founded in 1841 with the city of Stockton in 18%6; and sup- pose he had been daring enough to formu- late his vision into words to the rough cat- | tlemen and miners who helped him drive his tent-stakes into the rich soil; and sup- pose—but the analogy is already clear enough. Have you been to Stockton and seen its broad, level, well-paved streets, its hand- some ( use, its beautiful Public Library g, its noble and costly churches, its fine residences, its thousands of small homes and cottages, its imposing busin s hotels, its theaters, its its many busy fac- ts shipyard, its electric and steam nues, its parks, its fam, baths, its natu- ral gas wells, its wholesale and retail establishments, its immense warehouses, its schools and academies—have you spent weeks in the v and seen some of these ana more? you have not, then, in a It modern commercial sense, there is a very | large and interesiing chapter in California life still before you. What brings Stockton to claim so very large 2 share of p attention justat giant strides on t mercial supremac ompeting line of its strength and power in and will soon | be bringing treasures . of the great’ San Joaguin Valley to | her arms. Only yesterday the great San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad stretched out its steel rails from Stockion to the Stanislaus River. To-day the rails are being laid across Tuolumne River, maybe to-morrow they will have reached Fresno and next week Bakersfield. | Stockton is grasping. She is planning to lay under tribute all the wealth of the greatest valley of the Golden State of the Union. . She reaches out for the figs ana the wire and the grams of Fresno, and for the cattle and the oranges and the olives of Xern, and casts even glances of longing and wistfulness down inte the sunny gardens of San Gabriel and Riverside, though she has at her very door all the fruits of the earth that prosper under genial skies and on rich Stock- ton is ambitions! And she’is something more:; She has not only the possibilities of the present and future; she has within her a true touch of the spirit that made Chieago great. And in Stockton’s present and future greatress all the State rejoices. Fresno and Bakersfield will welcome the steel tentac esand pay their tribute gladly—even profitably to themselves—and Los Angeles welcomes her wistful and longing glances and will, in time, shoot outa steel tentacle from its own boundless resource TOSS the Tehachapi and join hands with: tock- ton. Consider the geographical loc:ticn of Stockton—at the head of all that t won- derful valley of the San Joaquin; at the head of tidewater navigation on the San Joaquin River. fieient to inspire ull faith inits future greatness. California cannot grow with: out benefiting Stockton. The great valley must cease to produce the richness of the #0il and sun or else Stockton will go on and on. = s direct tidewater com- munication with San Francisco Bay. Cap- tain Weber chose the site for his first tent stakes better than he knew. Consider Stockton’s present thrift and greatness. Skim over it but in the briefest fashion; a volume could not do it full jus- tice. Hold on! Stockton is not the only eity in the world. It is well to consi beforeband that there are other cit oads and streetcars, its tree-lined ave- | he is taking | Its situation alone is suf- | jeven in the interior of California, and Stockton herself is not insensible to this fact. The prosperity of the whole State is ] bound up together in bonds that cannot be severed, so that what is said of Stockton must redound not alone to the glory of | Stogkton, but to the State as a whole. However, the present theme is Stockton— her present thrift and greatness. Where shall the beginning be made? The water front is as good a place as | | any. Two lines of river steamers land you from San Francisco—land you in the very | heart of the city, one block from the | Courthouse and City Hall. Passing up the channel to the stone and concrete quay, you see first and most conspicuous of all the great flouring-mills—the Union, the Crown and the Sperry. These have at present an aggregate capacity for 9000 barrels a day, which will soon be increased, { by the installment of a 700-horsepower engine in the Crown mill, to 9200 barrels. The change increases the capacity of the one mill from 1500 to 1700 barrels. In ail | there is over $1,000,000 invested in milling at Stockton. | Walking one block to the south from A Glimpse of the Thriving Commercial, Railroad and Manufactur- ing Center at the Head of Navigation. macadamized, and laid out et right angles. It is 2 modern city—you see that at a glance. You see that there are many, very many, handsome and imposing busi- ness blocks, so many in fact that it would be folly to undertake to mention even a few of them. The streets are crowded; people jostle each other; men and women hucry here and there; bicycles are numerous; several | systems of electric streetcars run here ana there and seemingly everywhere, and wide though the streets be there is no more room than is needed for the countless vehicles through which the pedestrian | must pick his way carefully in crossing. Here is focused not alone the retail trade for a rapidly growing city of 20,000 inhabitants, but here are gathered men from all parts of the county of San Joaquin, besides many visitors and strang- STOCKTON Is not & boom ejty. Was founded by Captain Charles M. Weber in 1841, Bears the name of Commodore Stockton of the United States na: Is one of the cleanes States. Has many pleasant resorts. | Has a handsome convention hall or pa- | vilion that covers an entire biock. | Has four big flourmills, with an aggregate capacity of 10,000 barrels a day. | Has the largest woolen-mills in the State. | Ships fine tanned leather and manufac- tured woolen goods to Chicago and New ities in the United | York. | Hasalarge shipyard. Has an excellent business college. | Manufactures harvesting machizery and | ellkindsof agricultural implements, ! es employment to nearly 2000 men in | its them about factories, and pays 1,300,000 & year. 3 Expects to become the second city of com- mercial impertance in_the State, and has ! | | better prospects in that way than any ¥ north of Tehachapi. rage rainfall for twenty-one cturing city of the | Has direct tidewater communication with San Francisco Bay. | Has two lines of passenger and freight | steamers, that make daily trips to and from San Franeisco. Is already a railroad center of no small im- | | portance. Has a State insane asylum that is an orna- ment architecturally and a source of revenue to the city. It covers 110 acres, and its nandsome buildings cost $1,100, 000. | | interior. | | | | | | | | | { | AN ARCHITECTURAL GEM—FREE LIBRARY BUILDING. INTERESTING SCENES IN PERFECT CLIMATE. i _ | A Modern City Inhabited by Men | and Women of Industry and Business Capacity Who Have Made the Most of All Their Many Natural Opportunities. | partment stores of the metropolis, and | there are other stores of the same kind, though of lesser extent, of which the same is true. For a few blocks on Main street, on eitherside of the Courthouse.and indeed al1 the thoroughfares immediately surround- ing the big public square, one might | easily imagine himself to be in the midst | of a city of 100,000 or more population. And this is very largely due to the ad- wirable business methods of the retail | merchants of Stockton. They take care not to hide the light of their wares under a bushel, and you have only to keep both | eves open to appreciate theextent of their | activities, the desirability, the cheapness, | the quality, the profusion and the di- | versity of their commodities. Five wealtiny banks handle the sinking ’funds of Stockton merchants, so to say. The. Stockton Savings Bank is one of these, with resources of over $1,000,000. The San Joaquin Valley Bank, the First | National Bank—these are institutions that enjoy the confidence of some of the | wealthiest men in the State. A circumstance that ougbt not to be left | unstated here 1s that vacant houses are | scarce articles in the city of Stockton, and | | desirable vacant houses are almost an un- ‘ known quantity. This fact in itself speaks volumes for the real estate market, i and Mr. Wilhoit, who is one of the best- known of a score or more of enterprising | and yet conservative real estate brokers in | Stockton, adds the further information 1 that there 18 a very good inquiry for busi- f P ATt R ny JLLLELE! STOCKTON — THE HANDSOM men, There’s the Holt Manufacturing Company, selling between $200,000 and $300,000 worth of combined harvesters each year, and making them all at their big works in Stockton. This is one of the largest concerns in the State, but not the only manufacturers of agricuitural imple- ments in this city. The Haines-Houser harvester is manufactured here and in large quantities. The firm is putting a patent side-hill machine on the market now, and the orders are coming in. The Holt company, by the way, is also famous for the quantity of wagon and carriage wheels it turns out in a year. The Matte- son & Williamson house manufactures plow castings and other bardware. These are a few of the manufacturing enterprises | of Stockton—just a few by way of sample. | All of them could not be told about in a singie newspaper article, and the few | stilt greater financially, commercially, as | {Orin S. Henderson is its secretary, and that Mr. Buell is president of the Stockton Commercial Association, an ur.:,aniza_uon { whose prime object is to m:ake Stockton a railroad and as a manufacturing center. the entire State is preity well familiar with the long line of prominent business men that make up its membership, The list is foo long to quote here, for there is yet much to be said of Stockton and time | and space ate short and fleeting. In the matter of hotels Stockton is by | no means lacking. There are the Yo- semite, the Commercial and the Grand Central—these are the biggest in the city, well appointed and run on a modern sys- tem. And another botel is being built by D. and Fred W. Rothenbush, proprietors of Stockton’s brewery. It is goingto be a fine affair and modern throughout. Two stories in brick are up now, and two more stories are being piled atop of them. There is also a new church in the course of construction, and a business block and some residences are being contracted for. Stockton’s not standing still. How could it, when the Valley Railroad CENTRAL M. E. AND ST. JOHN’S EPISCOPAL CHURCHES. WHITE COURTHOUSE. The Mayor, the President of the Council and the Four Councilmen. A PICTURESQUE VIEW ON McLEOD'S LAKE. the head of the quay brings you to a| | broad open square, across which there | | faces you the Courthouse, a handsome | | ¢ surmounted with a tall dome and | | tower, built with a blending of classic and | | of and on all four sidesof the imposing | ; structure give it a dignity-and beauty that | ers from all parts of the State and from the East. Most of them come in vehicles and all of them have business to transact. The retail trade is extensive and is carried on with as much push and enter- modern architecture that is very pleasing | prise as is displayed in many a city of five | Californi: to the eye. The great open space in front | times the population. Windowsare hand- | somely dressed and goods of all kinds at. tractively displayed. At Hale's, Bost- | is shared by no other public building in | wick’s or the Arcade dry-goods stores you | der | the State. You notice at once that the | will find conditions ies, | streets are broad, tree lined, well paved or | much the same as in the modern de- and commodities f e S ness properties and residences. The real | estate market is strong and steady. It never did boom and jump to extravagant values, but it has steadily grown and | grown, and keeps growing month by | month. When you buy a lot or a house | or store or acre property trom u Stockton real estate man to-day you may be sure | you are paying just about what the prop- | erty is worth—no more and no less, And | this time ‘next year it will be worth still more. What will make it valuable? The ! steady, the rapid growth of Stockton. What will make the rapid growth? Many things. The energy and enterprise of her business men and the local pride and | patriotism of her citizens, for one thing. The growth of her present manufactures | foranother. Take the woolen - mills for | example—those that turn out the best | blankets in the world. They make other | things as well—"Scotch tweed’ suitings, for instance, or at least what a good many fancy-priced tailors sell for that famous | line of goods. These make enormous | | profite on it, and the dandy thinks he is | | wearing an imported suit or tronsers. He | Is wearing one just as good, only he is | paying more money than he need. Every | | year this plant is being added to and the number of employes increased. | There's the Pacific tannery for another | | thing—emploving sixty men and a capital | | stock of $300,000—turning out some of the | | best harness leather in the world and ship- | ping largely to Boston, New York, St. | Louis, Chicazo, Japan and elsewhere. a bark has no equal for tanning, There's the big shipyard, where barges, | schooners and steamers are built and re- ‘ paired. Its scope i constantiy increasing. "_l‘here’s Shaw’s plow works, manufactur- ! ing a patent plow of its own that has a big sale and employing large capital and many A COUPLE OF STOCKTON’S NATURAL GAS WELLS. STOCKTON Manufactures the best woolen blankets. Has some of the most enterprising busiv ness men in the world. Offers magnificent opportunities for men with brains, energy and capital. Has in many industrial and commercial ways made greater progress then any other in city. Has pleasure resorts that are very attrac- tive. . Gave the State its present Governor. Has an athlet sociation with an excel- lent and well-appointed club building, with football, boating, camera and bicycle annexes. Has a railroad that will soon tap arich coal field and land fuel in the city at 2 a ton or less. Has resources in almost every possible di- rection that are unlimited. Has an assessment roll (real and personal) of about $12,000,000. Householders pay $1 a month for the first thousand feet of natural gas and 50 cents for each suceeeding thousand. And the water thet comes from the gas wells has peculiar medicinal properties 1t for bot gar faciory. immense grain ware- | | ave a beet-s number of hoases. Hes cheap passenger rates by water to and from San Franeisco. Has an abundance of real estate that i3 | growing in value solidly and rapidly. Has a brewery. Gives employment to thousands and is con- stantly increasing her manufacturing facilities and broadening her commer- cial énterprises. Inbabitants read THE CALL, which has a larger circulation than any other San Francisco paper. T Qun. names that are cited are given rather as a | is rushing its work southward and pre- matter of ‘‘good faith,'” as the contribution editor would say. There's the. big lumber-yard of P. A.|almost completed to the coal mines. The Buell & Co., over on the Mormon Chan- nel. It’sone of if not the very largest in | honest pride in both these big enterprises. the Btate, but it's not the only one in Stockton. There’s the Stockton Lumber Company for instance, also near the Mor- mon Channel, and thus possessed of ex- cellent facilities for handling lumber at the least expense. It is worth mentioning | { [ paring for a handsome depot at Stockton terminus, and the Corral Hollow road is people of this region take a good deal of | The Corral Hollow road promises to bring | good coal for the manufacturers at the rate of $2 a ton, delivered in Stockton. That's a big thing for the manufacturers ; bigger stiil for Stockton. | ties for shipping. ‘| to a manvfacturing community. | of Churches.” beet-sugar factory being located ‘on the 4000-foot canal now 1n the process of construction off - Mormon Channel. The prospects amount - almost to a certainty, for the farmers are planting beets on a heavy soil that is peciliarly adapted to their culture. Fuany thing about that soil. 1It's as good for oranges as it is for hay and grain, and as good for olives as it is for sugar beets. Claus Spreckels has said that Stocktoen will probably be the site of one of the first of the new sugar refineries that will soon be constructed in this State. While on the subject of farming and soil and products of the earth, just consider what Professor George Davidson, one of the most noted scientists in geology, as- tronomy and civil engineering in America, recently wrote to the editor of the Stoc¥- ton Record: But a few miles' within your foothills and paraliel with the outline thereof lies the great mother lode of California, the lode from which hundreds of millions of dollars have been taken; the lode from which as many more mil- lions will be taken in & systematic and certain manner. This great lode. is awakening to a new life of activity,and the people thereof will draw from this irrigable area a large part of their supplies, and in return will send down their gold, and through Stockton will send their monthly output of bullion. This trade cannot feil to be of the greatest benefit to your thriving city and its surroundings. Above this irrigable area lie the great lines of drainage from the watershed of the Sierra Nevada. Every drop of water, before or after itis used for mining or irrigation purposes, can be made to develop a large percentage of the electric power which will be used in your city in the manufs ries and in lighting; in local transportation and in transportation throughout the county to the mountains. Perhaps, indeed, this power will be used in household and-farming operations ss it is now being used in France. One of the new enterprises that promises to increase Stockton’s fame and wealth is the Stockton Art Pottery Company. The organizers are all men noted for their suc- cesses in other business. undertakings. The capital stock is $100,000, half of which has been subscribed, and work will now soon begin. = There is an abundance of the very best material at hand. Designs are to be furnished by the very best artistsin that line. Consider now Stockton’s greatness asa center from which to ship wheat. It has immense warehouses and unrivaled facili- Grain stored in Stock- ton can be loaded on barges and deliv- ered anywhere contiguous. to San Fran- cisco Bay within iwenty-four hours. Last year, though the wheat crop was short, Stockton’s immense storage capacity was taxed to the utmost, and a greatly in- creased capacity has been provided this year. In the matter of tidewater shipments, Stockton has reason to be and is particu- larly proud. In 1893-94 the water ship- ments in and out averaged 2000 tons a day. The rail shipments for the same period were over ninety carloads a day. Since then two big railroads have been started. If the wheat crop is good this year, it is not at all extravagant to predict 2 total wheat shipment of 3000 t. a da] The natural - gas wells of Stockton Here is a gift of nature that cannot be overestimated. Bore anywhere, and limpid stream gushes forth. a gaseous odor to it and rare medicinal proverties. Build a gas reservoir over the artesian well. That is all that is necssary. The gas goes up to your storehouse and the water flows on. It isnes good drink- ing water, but the Jackson Baths of Stock- ton, fed by several constantly running streams, are famous throughout the State, not only for the soft pleasing quality of tbeir waters, but for their medicinal prop- erties as well. They are housed in a hand- some and commodious structure and form one of the attractions of the city. Think of the commercial blessings of natural gas Think of its blessings to householders and tax- payers. The most of this rare natural opportunity has not yet been made, and yet natural gas is retailed to consumers at the rate of $1 for the first thousand and 50 cents for each succeeding thousand cubic feet. Nature has been very kind to Stockton. And in the way of water power from the mountains Stockton has every facility, is | Her electric light plant is operated by power secured from running water out of the Sierra Nevadas. Here are possibilities unbounded, opportunities that are just beginning to be appreciated. Consider, briefly, the county of which Stockton is the county seat, the great San centage of arable land of any county in the State, and it is the only county whose soil Joaquin County. It has the largest per- consists entirely of a sandy loam, with a porous, sedimentary quality of a high de- gree of moisture. Ten acres in orchard will support a large family. . Btockton could aptly be called the “City There are nineteen church societies, all of which own ‘houses of wor- sbip; nineteen spires pointing heaven- ward, musical bells pealing forth the hours of devotion, and their portais ever ajar to those wishing to enter. The progress already made in the con- struction of the Valley Railroad promises splendidly for the future. Last week tele- graphic communication was establishea between the construction camp at the front and the main office in Stockton. The Val- ley road and the Postal Telegraph Com- pany will work together in this connec- tion, and this will increase the duties of Miss Annie J. Smith, the manager of the main office at Stockton. The Stockton and Lodi Terminal Rail- road will probably be one of the vainable lines centering in Stockton. From the city limits this line runs through «nd be- side the largest vineyards in tne State, and spurs and feeders have been thrown out to facilitate transportation. This is not ali of Stockton. There is much yet to be told, far more than could be told. It must be seen.. See Stockton Then there’s the prospects for a big if you see no more. SCENES ON THE SAN FRANCISCO AND SAN JOA QUIN VALLEY RAILROAD —AT THE FR — SR AN WITH THE CONSTRUCTION GANG, AND THE BIG BRIDGE ACROSS STANISLAUS RIVER.