When "Oatsie" died recently at age 99 it closed the final chapter on Santa Rosa's history with the Oates family.
Much has appeared here about the doings of the Comstock clan in the 20th century. But if not for a twist of fate her father might have owned (what would become known as) Comstock House - and had her family stayed here, their wealth along with her celebrity and forceful personality would have undoubtedly left its mark on Santa Rosa, for better or no.
It's a shame the obits for Marion Oates Leiter Charles (at least, those which have appeared so far) dwell mostly on her final sixty years, with those everyone-who's-anyone Georgetown parties and her place as the doyenne of Newport's mansion dwellers. Interesting as that part of her life was, the beginning of her tale - the Oates part - is waved off with short shrift.
This is not a personal memoir of Oatsie; we corresponded very briefly (my first and only email with someone over ninety) and solely on details related to her family visiting Santa Rosa. She invited me to visit her in Newport a decade ago and to my regret, I did not take the trip. Most of what appears here is cobbled together from old issues of the Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser together with interviews and private correspondence from others who crossed her path.
When done here, scan some of the items in the sidebar below, particularly the Owens article. There you'll meet the mature Oatsie as she matches wits with young JFK, Ian Fleming (creator of James Bond), Katharine Graham - and surprisingly, Nancy Reagan.
She may have started life as an ingénue little different from the others who wallpapered the newspaper society sections, but she made herself into an indomitable woman. In 1955, a year after divorcing her first husband, she was found to have breast cancer and had a radical mastectomy. She recalled, "One day, a nurse stood me up in front of the mirror and said, 'No one is ever going to look at you again.' So I told her, 'Don't count on it.'"
Marion Saffold Oates was born on September 29, 1919, about four years after her father made the worst mistake of his life.
We don't know what her dad said (or did) during the six-week visit with his rich California uncle but less than three weeks after he headed back to Alabama, James Wyatt Oates added a codicil to his will which completely disinherited his nephew. Before that, William C. Oates Jr. - who was his closest blood relative - was to get one-third of the entire estate (before taxes and any other distribution) which would have been about the equivalent of $900k today. Uncle Wyatt even dropped the bequest of a gold watch which came from Will's father, suggesting the offense was so great as to shatter family bonds.
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There was no directive in uncle Wyatt's will concerning the house, but as the main heir he could easily have made a deal with the executors for it - and since Will was an attorney, he might have even slipped behind his late uncle's desk in the law partnership with Hilliard Comstock. Will might have considered that his sizable inheritance would have instantly made him a big fish in Santa Rosa's very small pond, but the greatest draw to living here would have been the chance to get him away from his parent's very long shadows.
Will's late father was General William C. Oates, former Alabama governor, seven term congressman, and most importantly in Alabama, a Confederate Civil War hero - even though his most famous moment in the war was a humiliating defeat in the Battle of Little Round Top at Gettysburg. He died in 1910 leaving an estate equivalent to $5+ million today.
Inevitable comparisons of the son to his father only reminded Alabamans that Will was not only lacking his pop's character but he was something of a bounder. Will was admitted to West Point in 1900, only to be abruptly booted out in the middle of his junior year along with three other young men. The official reason was "deficiency in trigonometry and higher mathematics," but it was said to be a cheating scandal. Although his father told a reporter he "could have had his son re-appointed to the Academy without any trouble," the letter from the Academic Board was clear they would not consider letting him retake the classes - which certainly suggests there was a bigger problem than flunking trig. He was sent to public universities and earned his law degree in 1908.
When his father died Will was named executor and tasked with creating a trust on his mother's behalf. The paternalistic general had long bullied his wife by accusing her of being a spendthrift, demanding postmortem that a trust be created so "that she may not waste the means I leave her." Administering that trust was apparently most of what he did for most of the next two decades; I can't find a single reference in a newspaper of Will representing a client - it's all small-scale property management. He and Georgia also lived with his mother until he was 43.
And it's a good thing they were living there once Marion was born; it seems Will and "Georgie" were lousy parents. The newspapers didn't print anything about his lawyering, but there was frequent news about the couple partying and taking off on trips. Oatsie always said she was raised by her grandmother, Sarah Toney Oates - who went by the abbreviation "T" - and her African-American servants. “If I have any nice traits - any kindliness, any awareness of anything - it’s because I was raised by loving black hands.”
The year 1919 was pivotal for the family. Oatsie was born and her maternal grandfather died, which gave his widow, Oatsie's grandmother Minnie Saffold, the freedom and finances to have her fill of world traveling. Also from this year on, Will would henceforth refer to himself as "Captain Oates" because during WWI he was an officer of 117th Field Artillery Regiment (they never left Camp Wheeler near Macon, Georgia). And Will also finally landed a real job by being appointed head of the Alabama State Securities Commission, a position he would hold until 1935 without somehow screwing it up.
By the time Oatsie was seven family dynamics had shifted. In 1926 they began living with Georgia's mother in an ostentatious mansion Will had built just outside of Montgomery, about three miles away from where grandma T lived. They called it Belvoir, and it was an over-the-top interpretation of an antebellum plantation house with the same name as a similar manse built a century earlier by Georgia's great grandfather. We can only hope Oatsie still lived with T (or mostly so), because the place with grandma Minnie reeked not only of sickly-sweet honeysuckle but of the stench of 19th century racism.
Georgia and Minnie were tight with the Bankhead family and as a child Oatsie was often around Marie Bankhead Owen, a close friend of Minnie's and the aunt of movie star Tallulah Bankhead. (One of the most often repeated Oatsie stories concerns Tallulah getting her blackout drunk while telling her about the birds and bees.)1 Marie was the Alabama state archivist and historian, prolifically writing children's plays, biographies of those whom she and her late husband deemed notable, plus all sorts of articles and books on historic topics. She wrote one novel, "Yvonne of Braithwaite: a romance of the Mississippi delta" - sort of a precursor to "Gone with the Wind" - which had a romanticized portrait of Georgia Oates on the dust jacket to represent the plucky heroine. Marie was also an unabashed white supremacist who had fought against women's suffrage because she feared it would lead to weakening the state's Jim Crow laws.
But little Oatsie didn't have to visit Tallulah's aunt for a dose of racist attitudes. Grandmother Minnie was known for her "light dialect poetry" which she had privately printed into book titled, "Pickaninny Pickups." She did readings at women's club and Georgia - who fancied herself a serious composer - set some of them to music. Their musical high water mark was "Good Mawnin' B'rer Mose" being performed at a 1943 Carnegie Hall recital by an inconsequential Russian violinist.2
Their lust for the good ol' days of slavery was also on inglorious display at a 1929 costume party at Belvoir. "Once again the 'deep South' reigned supreme," reported the Montgomery Advertiser. Guests impersonated famous people in the Confederacy by wearing their ancestor's Civil War uniforms and antebellum wedding dresses while "all the servants wore bandannas and hoop ear rings." (Bear in mind this disturbing Confederate cosplay was happening in a city with a 45 percent black population.)
Grandmother T - probably the person in town with the best Confederate bonafides, being the general's widow - didn't attend that party. (Weirdly, a couple came dressed as her mother and father.) Her views on race seemed to match what sadly passed as moderation in the South, with T objecting in 1904 to President Teddy Roosevelt's tiny steps towards recognizing African-Americans as being "negro socialism." But to be fair, this was likewise the view of many here in Santa Rosa in the day, and exactly mirrored the opinion of Press Democrat editor Ernest Finley. She might have felt more at home in Santa Rosa than rabidly rebel world of Montgomery.
While granny Minnie was preoccupied with demeaning slaves and descendants of slaves (she also wrote "Sugar Babe: A Sketch of Plantation Life in the Seventies"), T had literary and artistic interests which rubbed off on Oatsie, who once wanted to be a writer and was bookish her entire life. T was a charter member of the Ionian Club in Montgomery, which was the women's cultural society. Like the Saturday Afternoon Club in Santa Rosa, members were expected to make presentations on intellectual topics of all sorts. Classical music was performed at meetings and the club hosted professional musicians touring the area.
The family faced financial disaster in 1932, according to a new article by Mitchell Owens (see sidebar - it's a must read). Oatsie was called home from school for an announcement. "My father stood up in front of the fireplace and said, ‘I am sorry to inform you all but I have been wiped out'...we were told we had absolutely no money whatsoever." What that meant is unclear; had he foolishly invested all of T's once-enormous trust fund, or had he only lost his personal nest egg? T died the next year, so if there was any of that left, Will must have inherited a fortune (at least by the standards of it being the depth of the Great Depression).
Oatsie's privileged life continued uninterrupted. At thirteen she was attending an exclusive girl's school in Montgomery (the 1935 commencement exercises for the ten members in her class was held in Belvoir's garden). After that she was packed off to European boarding schools 1935-1936, first the equivalent of three semesters at an english-speaking school in Brussels which Minnie interrupted at Christmas time to drag her around to meet former German royalty. This was the second time she had been her grandmother's "darling little fifth wheel." When she was eleven she had spent the summer in Germany with Minnie, who wrote a letter to the Montgomery paper boasting of all the wonderful and expensive places they stayed and all the very, very important people who warmly welcomed her. And her granddaughter.
A semester at a convent school near Munich followed. The family's description (read: Minnie's) emphasized this place practically injected blue blood into Oatsie's veins - she was supposedly the first American as well as the first Protestant allowed to attend Kloster St. Joseph, as the nuns traditionally only accepted girls who were the crème de la crème of European dynasties (which no longer existed, of course). Oatsie later spoke of sentimental memories where the young women cut hay alongside the local pesants, then lunched on black bread and white radishes by a stream. Since this was 1936 Germany, a portrait of Hitler hung in every classroom but the nuns had it turned to face the wall, flipping it forward when the Nazis dropped by.
Like her relatives, Oatsie was now making regular appearances on the society pages in the Montgomery newspapers. Long before she was born her parents and grandmothers were often mentioned for their social doings; Minnie's globe trotting is particularly easy to track because she knew folks back home in Alabama were sleepless, wondering just how many crown princes and baronesses she had checked off during her latest tour of Luxembourg. Oatsie likewise was given VIP treatment. The Montgomery Advertiser printed its first portrait of her at age two, another when she was a 13 year-old "sub-deb," and the 1935 photo, shown at right, ran on the top of the front page. In between she popped up in class pictures and similar groups.In her late teens she began attracting national attention for her good looks; Marion Oates might not have been a household name outside of Montgomery but her face was unforgettable, with her distinctive eyes and lantern jaw. (Yale, BTW, has a lovely photo of Oatsie and mother Georgia in 1937.) Three or four pictures of Oatsie circulated on the wire services every year in the late 1930s and early 1940s. She wasn't alone, of course; glamor shots of pretty socialites and starlets were in papers almost daily all over the country, but she appeared often even though she was then a celebrity for no other reason. The images were a kind of Great Depression upper class pornography, just as movies in that same era might gratuitously throw in a scene at a glitzy nightclub or a palatial drawing room.
And lo, then came the Great Upheaval of 1938. It began right before New Years', when the Montgomery newspapers printed a last-minute announcement that the upcoming party at Belvoir had been indefinitely postponed. No reason was given.
Then on January 14, 1938, the marriage of Will and Georgia Oates was dissolved by divorce.
Oatsie was then attending (yet another) finishing school in New York City and was called home on February 4 because her father was gravely ill. William Calvin Oates Jr. died two days later.
After waiting a respectful 34 days, Georgia married Philip Green Gossler on March 12 in New York City.
You can bet tongues were wagging back in Montgomery. A couple of stories were handed down that I won't repeat here, except to say they are probably what you'd expect. Clearly problems had been brewing for some time.
The Montgomery Advertiser all but blacklisted any mention of the family, which must have given attention-hound Minnie the cold sweats. Even Oatsie's blowout debutante party in New York (there were two, actually, both covered by the NY Times) merited only a few cursory paragraphs in the back of their hometown newspaper.
In late 1939 the Advertiser reprinted a lengthy article about Georgia which portrayed her as someone who was likely very mentally ill. Introducing the item with the snarky remark, "Mrs. Phillip Gossler of New York, formerly the lovely Georgia Saffold Oates of Montgomery," the story claimed she rarely slept, believed she had psychic powers, was so sensitive she became sick when seeing clashing colors or discordant music and couldn't bear to be far away from her huge collection of newspaper clippings. She was convinced F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a story about her which was clearly about his future wife. When you read about manic, schizophrenic Zelda Fitzgerald and see a portrait of yourself, time's overdue to seek help.
Let's wrap up our story in 1940, when 21 year-old Oatsie was profiled in the Hearst's Syndicate "Cholly Knickerbocker" gossip column. It's mostly fluff about her taste in clothes and jewelry but gives us a peek at her unbounded life at the time: Fly fishing at her stepfather's fishing lodge in New Brunswick, winter at his family's estate in the Bahamas, a month at Belvoir every April. "Her clothes have a permanent crease from packing." Her business mogul stepfather was stinking rich, and the man she would marry two years later stunk even more.
It would seem two paths were always open before her. Like her parents and Millie, she could have embraced their morbid antebellum sentimentality - "borne back ceaselessly into the past,” per the famous closing line of The Great Gatsby. Or she could have surrendered to the great wealth which she always enjoyed and idled away her days in the social whirl of the leisure class. Instead, she created a little world of her own and challenged the brightest and most interesting people to keep up. “She was a snob about intelligence but not about background or social things,” her daughter said.
I offer this as an epitaph: She made herself into a remarkable person, in spite of her crippling advantages.
| 1 Oatsie apparently told the birds-and-bees story often. This version appeared in "The Story of Edgewater House" by Nancy Glidden Coffey: Just before her wedding in 1942, a friend took her out to dinner. "After dinner he said, 'Let's go see Tallulah. She should be home from the theater by now.' So we went to see Tallulah. And she said, 'I know Georgia's not going to tell you the facts of life,' so she proceeded to tell me. In the meantime, I had [laryngitis and] no voice, so she was giving me bourbon on sugar. She more or less said sex wasn't all it was cut out to be. I woke up the next morning and mother came in with a wedding present and some sort of tissue paper was rustling. I said, 'My God, what's that horrible noise?' And I've never remembered what Tallulah told me." |
| 2 Only a single work by Georgia was published: a choral church piece, "For thy Gifts Untold." It is unclear if Georgia could actually read music; a 1943 profile said she composed in a dark room with her eyes closed as one of her "arrangers" put it all down. |
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| Marion Oates Leiter Charles at ages two, seventeen and eighteen |
ALABAMA RELATIVES OF COLONEL J. W. OATES
Mr. and Mrs. William C. Oates of Montgomery, Alabama, are visiting Col. James W. Oates at his home on Mendocino avenue. William C. Oates is a nephew of Colonel Oates and is the son of Gen. William C. Oates, former Governor of Alabama. He is a capitalist and a member of the bar of that State. Mr. and Mrs. Oates will probably remain here until fall. They have made several visits to this city and at all times seem loath to go and anxious to return.
- Press Democrat, August 6, 1915
Society and Club Gossip by Dorothy Ann
Flashing lights, beautiful gowns, scintillating jewels and pretty women were paramount in the brilliant assemblage that gathered at the invitation of Col. James Wyatt Oates, Wednesday evening, at which time Mr. and Mrs. William C. Oates of Montgomery, Ala., and Miss Lois Granberry and Miss Pat Granberry were the honored guests. Amaryllis lilies cast their dainty fragrance from every nook and corner of the beautiful home, with long sprays of asparagus fern to enhance their pink beauty. The strains of soft music floated down from the balcony of the broad stair cases into the spacious rooms, where many friends gathered to bid welcome to the charming quartet of southerners.
Interest centered in Mrs. Oates, whose attractive beauty, sweetness of manner and charming simplicity won as one the hearts of those invited to meet her. Sharing with her the honors of the evening were Miss Lois Granberry and Miss Pat Granberry who have been with us a sufficient length of time to establish for themselves a prominent place in our social circles.
Particularly attractive were some of the gowns worn, that of Mrs. Oates greatly enhancing her flower-like beauty, it being white taffeta, trimmed with Bohemian lace and crystal trimming. A little scarf of tulle was draped around her shoulders and she carried Amaryllis lilies tied with graceful bows of pink tulle. She wore diamond ornaments...
- Press Democrat, August 22, 1915
Mrs. G. Frank Comstock has issued invitations for a tea to be given Tuesday afternoon complimentary to Mrs. William C. Oates and the Misses Granberry.
- Press Democrat, August 29, 1915
Mr. and Mrs. William C. Oates left for San Francisco Friday morning, on route to their home in Montgomery, Alabama. They will spend this week at the Exposition and then go to Los Angeles, where they will make a brief stay. They will be joined at the latter place by Miss Lois Granberry and Miss Pat Granberry who will accompany them home.
- Press Democrat, September 19, 1915
"Fire the Worst in the History of the City," read the Press Democrat' screamer headline on July 6, 1903. The article continued:
| Santa Rosa was visited by the worst fire known in years on Sunday afternoon and for several hours peoples' hearts were almost in their mouths with anxiety, for it was well known that a sudden shift of wind would probably mean the destruction of a wide area of business blocks and houses. |
They had good reason to be fearful. Fanned by those damned northerly winds, the entire west side of Railroad Square was a wall of flames.
Thousands of people rushed to the scene to watch the burning of the train depot, the Western Hotel and most of the warehouse district. With only an 1886 steam pumper fire engine, the volunteer Fire Department was ill-matched to fight more than a dozen simultaneous fires. Nor could they call on Petaluma for more equipment and firefighters, as they would do after the Great Earthquake three years later; since the conflagration included five boxcars burning on the tracks, Santa Rosa was essentially cut off from the outside world.
From its onset around three that afternoon, the fire spread quickly. It began at the freight depot, on the west side of the tracks across from the passenger depot. Station Agent Spridgen, who lived on the second floor of the wooden building, had only time to grab a few days' paperwork from the safe before evacuating. Clare McWilliams, who was in the residence part of the depot at the time, had to jump from the building.
The PD's coverage of the disaster (transcribed below) was detailed and can be faulted only for its "ripping yarn" sensationalist tone: "Another bound of the fire fiend and the passenger depot was wrapped in flame and the driving wind made the fiery furnace ten times hotter." Four houses "went like so much tinder before the fast driving wall of flame" and "the firemen battled with the fiend and the wind was too much for the powers against it."
It was hoped Santa Rosa Creek would act as a firebreak, but embers flew into the Olive Park neighborhood and three houses caught fire. As their entire community was at the ready with wet sacks and garden hoses, no serious damage was reported.
Three hours into it, there was a new worry; the blaze was poised to cross Second street (this portion no longer exists) and if the wind shifted just slightly, the Grace Brothers brewery and a tannery directly west of it. The brewery had burned down once before in 1897, but the brothers had rebuilt it into a much larger enterprise - they even had their own fire brigade on alert should the fire reach them. That afternoon it was good news, bad news: Hooray that the wind did not blow towards the brewery, but continued due south. Woe that this put the flames on the path to the tannery's enormous tanbark pile, with its 400 cords of fire-friendly tinder. Once that began burning, it took the SRFD working around the clock for two days to bring it under control, extending the threat to the town.
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| Approximate locations of significant Santa Rosa fires on July 5, 1903 |
Lucky Santa Rosa; once again it narrowly escaped complete destruction by fires driven by strong northern winds. (Besides the three well-known wildfires, I still say the town was at greatest risk from the 1908 Fountaingrove fire, where an enormous old building at the crest of the hill popped off like a roman candle, burning too fast and furiously for firefighters to respond.)
Not so fortunate were other places that July 5th. While the SRFD was tackling Railroad Square, Oakland faced its worst fire in a decade and a firefighter was killed; north of Sacramento, nearly all of Wheatland was destroyed by fire. A couple of days earlier the Press Democrat reported the Russian River Valley and Healdsburg were smoky from bad wildfires in those areas.
Since the start of that month all of Northern California had been suffering from extremely high temperatures - San Francisco reported a high of 98° - and hot winds from the north reduced humidity so low that hop growers feared losing their crops. All of this meant great fire danger, and the mayor of Santa Rosa ordered no firecrackers on the Fourth of July until evening, as well as demanding homeowners not water their lawns so as to keep the reservoir at highest possible capacity.
In the days before and after the Railroad Square blaze, the Santa Rosa Fire Department was called out almost daily for a significant fire - a record-breaker, according to the Fire Commissioner's report. Some were started by a cause unknown but others were reported in the PD as having an "incendiary origin," which meant that they were set deliberately. Arson, in other words.
While the Railroad Square conflagration was apparently listed as cause unknown, two days afterward the City Marshal offered a reward for information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of the "incendiary." In the months that followed, the Fire Chief and police repeatedly told the paper we had a firebug at work here. But take a step back and a larger picture emerges, showing waves of arson activity in Santa Rosa stretching between 1902 and 1904 - and the Railroad Square fire exactly matches the arsonist's overall pattern.
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| Man and woman on bicycles view the aftermath of the fire. July 6, 1903 San Francisco Chronicle |
FIRE DOES GREAT DAMAGEThe Loss Estimated at $100,000 - Fire the Worst in the History of the CityCAUSE UNKNOWNFANNED BY A HIGH WIND THE FLAMES SWEEP ON IN MAD FURYGrace Bros. Brewery and Santa Rosa Tanning Company Have Narrow Escape from Destruction — No Loss of Life
Santa Rosa was visited by the worst fire known in years on Sunday afternoon and for several hours peoples' hearts were almost in their mouths with anxiety, for it was well known that a sudden shift of wind would probably mean the destruction of a wide area of business blocks and houses.
As it was, the big California North Western passenger and freight depots, the Western Hotel, the big Peterson Brothers’ warehouse, and the ice factory, used as a warehouse by Cnopius & DeGus, four houses, a barn and a number of smaller buildings were reduced to ashes.
Another building, notably the big brick warehouse occupied as a warehouse by B. A. Deaveraux and owned by Wesley Hopper was seriously damaged by the fire and narrowly escaped destruction.
For hours the big plant of the Santa Rosa Tanning Company and the tannery buildings and the great brewery of Grace Brothers were in imminent danger and but for the fact that the course of the wind remained unswerved, these buildings would have been destroyed.
After jumping by bounds, which probably took in a block at a time, the flames struck the immense pile of tanbark, the property of the Tanning Company, on the bank of the creek, containing about four hundred cords. This the fire attacked fiercely and on Monday morning the flames were still burning briskly.
The flames were driven on their tour of destruction — extending from the railroad depot across two blocks to the bank of the creek and the tanbark pile — on the bosom of one of the strongest northers that had struck the city for a long time. Sheets of flame leaped across a block at a bound and belched forth heat that was prostrating. A worse day for a fire could not be possible.
Where the Fire Started
It was at four minutes to three that the alarm called the fire department to the scene. Then the flames had already commenced to sweep through the building. The fire started in the north-western corner of the big freight building underneath the platform. When it was first discovered men rushed to remove a pile of empty egg cases and boxes thinking that the light material might serve to feed the fire. In a few minutes they had to jump from the platform, as the flames shot up from underneath. From then on the fire swept unrelentlessly from one end of the building to the other. Station Agent Spridgen says that from the time the first alarm was given until it was impossible to remain in the building was only the space of a few minutes. He had barely time to enter the office and unlock the safe and grab the records of a couple of days' business, when he had to rush out into the open air to avoid the blinding and suffocating smoke.
Fire Spread Quickly
The flames from the burning freight depot set fire to five box and freight cars on the track, fronting the passenger depot, and this served to intensify the flame and heat. Another bound of the fire fiend and the passenger depot was wrapped in flame and the driving wind made the fiery furnace ten times hotter and the building and the upper story, used as a residence by Station Agent Spridgen, was in ashes in a very short time.
On the other side of the burning freight depot another box car caught fire and was burned to the wheels.
The flames bounded from the burning depot building across the block and kindled the old Western Hotel, on the corner of Fourth street. That building and the saloon were destroyed in a few minutes. On the east side of the hotel, across an empty lot, the brick building belonging to William Hopper balked the fire from reaching the carpet beating works. South of the Western Hotel site the flames encountered the brick warehouse owned by Wesley Hopper and occupied as a storage warehouse by E. W. Deveraux. After burning up under the flooring of the building — the fire being extinguished with some difficulty — the flames bounded across Third street and tackled the large warehouse formerly occupied by Peterson Brothers’ fruit packing establishment, and the old ice factory. The building was occupied as a storage warehouse by Cnopius & De Geus. In the building was stored coal, lime, cement and dried fruit. The firemen battled with the fiend and the wind was too much for the powers against it.
Beyond the warehouse stood four houses and a number of outbuildings, the stable of the tannery and a huge pile of tanbark containing some four hundred cords of bark. These houses went like so much tinder before the fast driving wall of flame. When the fire came up to the tanbark and the wind did not change there was a sigh of relief, as it was seen then that the tannery buildings and the brewery, up to this time in the most imminent danger, were at any rate safe for the present. It had been a continuous battle with the fire element for over three hours, when the flames wound up in the tanbark pile.
Not Certain as to Cause
There were a number of rumors as to the cause of the conflagration. A report current at the scene of the fire was that a small boy had been seen in the vicinity of the freight depot setting off fire crackers. Rumor had it that they had been seen poking firecrackers under the building. Police Officer Hankel stated to a reporter that he had run this rumor down and that it lacked foundation. Another theory is that someone may have thrown a cigarette end or cigar end, which might have lodged in the rubbish eddied by the wind against this building. According to another report several Indians were seen in the vicinity of the place and that they might have thrown the cigarette end away.
Station Agent Spridgen was in his house at the depot all the afternoon and says that he did not hear any fire-crackers explode and he is sure he would have heard them. So that on Sunday night there was no absolute certainty as to how the fire originated. An engine was standing on the track at the Flour Mill siding at the time, but it is not thought hardly probable that a spark could have started the fire.
The fire department worked nobly and so did the volunteers.
- Press Democrat, July 6 1903
LUDWIG’S ADDITIONTHE RESIDENTS OF THAT SECTION TURN OUT ENMASSE TO SAVE THEIR HOMESMen, Women and Children Fight Fire For Three Hours With Wet Sacks to Keep the Flames From Spreading
Some idea an to the force of the wind and the distance the fire was carried can be imagined from the fact that some stubble was burned as far away as the Maccaroni factory.
In different parts of the Addition small fires were started and a fence around the residence of Mrs. Young was burned. A quantity of hay standing in shocks of the Hopper property caught fire. The residents of the Addition turned out en masse, men, women and children, to fight the fires and to keep on the alert. They were armed with wet sacks Happily no serious damage was done, but the people were prepared for any emergency.
The Cannon and Wylie residences and that occupied by Mrs. Brown caught fire, but were extinguished with the aid of a small hose. Had not the people been on the watch all three houses would have gone up in smoke.
Engine Was Scorched
While the steamer was at work at the hydrant near the Western hotel it was scorched on one aide by the flames, but was not seriously damaged. A couple of feet of hose was burned up before it could be rescued. The heat was terrific and the wind made it worse. The burning of the hose resulted in the bringing into use of other hose and occasioned slight delay. Several streams of water were used. The need of another engine was given a forcible object lesson at this fire. For over three hoars Engineer Jim McReynolds poked coal into the furnace under the steamer and the machinery worked like a charm.
Thousands at the Fire
Thousands of people rushed to the scene of the conflagration during its progress and there were many willing helpers volunteering assistance. Tho crowd behaved well and watched the work of the firemen with great interest. The volunteer firemen did effective work.
The Estimated Loss
The loss sustained by the railroad company was the heaviest. Their loss was at least $50,000, and may go higher. In addition to the two well built depot buildings and the six box cars, a great quantity of freight went up in smoke with the building. This freight had been stored in the warehouse over the Fourth.
Three cars were loaded with freight, one for the north and the others remaining here. One of the loaded cars contained stoves and all of them were ruined. Most of the freight in the warehouse was for local merchants or was being shipped by them. Station Agent Spridgen said Sunday night that it was impossible then to ascertain the amount of the freight loss that the company would sustain. He said that there was a large quantity of freight stacked up in the building. Mr, Spridgen is at a loss to know how the fire originated. It is understood that the buildings were insured.
The Western hotel property was owned by J. B. Doda of Fort Ross. It was an old two story frame building and was occupied by A. Cottini. There were a number of guests rooming in the house at the time. In addition to the hotel business Mr. Cottini ran a saloon, and his stock in trade and considerable of the contents of the premises were destroyed. The fire burned so quickly that there was no time to save anything.
The building and its contents were probably worth $4,000. Cottini estimates his loss at $2,500. He carried $1,000 insurance. Wesley Hopper’s loss, by damage to his warehouse, will probably foot up $1,000 or $1,500. The Santa Rosa Bank was the owner of the old Peterson fruit packing warehouse and the old ice factory and the ice plant. From Cashier L. W. Burris, of the bank, it was learned that the building was valued at six thousand dollars and the plant at two thousand. The property was insured for $5,500. The loss to Cnopius & Co., who had the warehouse stored with dried fruit, coal, lime, sulphur, salt, etc., was estimated Sunday night, in the absence of either of the members of the firm, by an employee, at about $6,000.
It was learned that the machinery of the old ice plant would probably have been disposed of in a few days.
Of the four houses destroyed, between the warehouse and the creek, three were the property of the Santa Rosa Tanning Company, and the other was the private property of E. W. Rurgren, the president of the company. One of the houses was a two-story one, and all that was left of all the structures was the chimneys. Five thousand dollars would cover the loss as far as houses are concerned. The tannery also lost their stable and some small out buildings, and the barn on the Santa Rosa Bank’s property was also destroyed.
Two of the houses burned were rented by a Mrs. Berry, who belongs to the Salvation Army and were sublet to roomers. Her loss was probably a matter of a couple of hundred dollars. When seen she said she could not tell the amount of her loss. Some of her household effects were saved. A.J. Hurst, the freight hauler, lived in one of the houses, and kept his wagon in a barn adjoining. The house was reduced to ashes but he saved most of the contents, assisted by other willing helpers. He lost his wagon. Between fifty and one hundred dollars would cover his loss, he said, which means considerable to him. A man named Augustus was one of the occupants of the other cottage destroyed. The loss here also was not very great.
The tanning company's principal loss will be the tanbark. The great pile contained some four hundred cords and the loss will be from $8,000 to $10,000. Station Agent Spridgen lost several hundred hundred dollars worth of furniture in the destruction of his home, which was over the passenger depot. The city was also a loser to the extent of a couple of hundred feet of fire hose. The exact loss is estimated at $100,000.
Cleared the Tracks
A small sized army of section men from as far south as Novato arrived here Sunday night and worked with a will clearing the track of the debris of the burning cars and in laying about two hundred feet of the track destroyed by the fire. The men worked up to nearly midnight.
Clare McWilliams, while assisting in removing the household affects of Station Agent Spridgen was almost hemmed in by the fire and had to jump from the building.
- Press Democrat, July 6 1903
TO REBUILD AT ONCEPRESIDENT POSTER ARRIVES AT MIDNIGHT AND LOOKS OVER THE GROUNDSays that the Railroad Company is Fully Insured and That Work Will Be Commenced Immediately on Reconstruction
Shortly before midnight on Sunday night, President A. W. Foster and General Superintendent F. K. Zook of the California Northwestern arrived here on a special train...
...The fire delayed passenger traffic on the railroad for over two hours as far as the passengers on the early afternoon train were concerned.
The other trains were also some what delayed as the heat was too great to allow the cars to be brought by. The trains from the Guerneville branch and the north were crowded with people, and long before the trains pulled into the siding at Santa Rosa the passengers aboard had heard of the conflagration and were eager to see what had happened. Scores of those on the train left the cars here to inspect the damage.
Worked All Night
All night long the fire engine waa at work pouring water on the burning pile of tanbark and the fire department from the brewery were at work. Two streams of water were being poured on the flames. The fire had got a firm hold on the bark and the heat from the furnace was very great. The fire fighters were most resolute as they knew that a sudden change of wind might result disastrously.
Notes on the Fire
The boys at the brewery fought like braves to save the big institution and deserve a great deal of credit for the manner in which they protected the property. Grace Bros, have a good fire department of their own when put into action. This was exemplified at Sunday’s fire.
Attorney W. F. Owen, while working at the fire Sunday, had his hand badly burned. The injury will be very painful for several days.
Fireman Ed Hyde was slightly burned about the face during the progress of the fire.
Walter Adams, son of Fire Chief Adams, was overcome by the heat; while fighting fire and had to be carried to his home. He had a very narrow escape but is getting along nicely.
While the firemen were at work fighting the flames men were stationed all over the big brewery and tannery buildings armed with firefighting appliances, ready to do what they could should fate have driven the fire too near the danger line.
- Press Democrat, July 6 1903
When the first train entered town in 1871 and stopped at today's Railroad Square, it was Santa Rosa's coming of age moment. Step aboard that morning train and you'd be in San Francisco by lunch, instead of being lucky to arrive in the city even the same day. But progress did not come without pain - in the weeks following its debut the railroad also brought chaos and violence, the likes of which Santa Rosa had never seen.
This is the second story to appear here concerning the arrival of the railroad in Sonoma county. It may be helpful to read the part one with its background on some of the fits involved in bringing the train to Petaluma and Santa Rosa (well, nearly to Santa Rosa). The previous item, a whimsical overview of 1870 Santa Rosa, also helps set the stage for these events. The sidebar at right further explains who the players were.
We don't know the exact date when the locomotive finally puttered across the newly-built bridge over Santa Rosa Creek, except it happened sometime in mid-March 1871. That may seem strange; one would expect some sort of ceremony, given that the Sonoma Democrat newspaper had spent three years beating the drum for a train to Santa Rosa. But its actual arrival was overshadowed by other news - that about a hundred Chinese railroad workers had just passed through town heading north to start work on a different railroad line.
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The so-called "railroad election" of 1868 also settled that the main rail line from Sonoma county to a San Francisco ferry would follow the route of today's SMART train, straight through the county. Santa Rosa and Healdsburg had instead voted heavily for this route California Pacific seemed now ready to build, which would terminate in Vallejo and avoid Petaluma all together. That vote ratcheted up the animosity between Santa Rosa and Petaluma, which began ten years earlier. The Santa Rosa newspaper argued Petaluma wanted to screw over the corn and wheat farmers north of them; it would be much cheaper to ship their crops to Vallejo, where there were grain silos. In Petaluma it was claimed the railroad company was plotting to just build a branch line between Calistoga and Healdsburg and claim the entire value of the bond on a technicality.
Now that Santa Rosa was poised to get what it wanted, the racist Sonoma Democrat was willing to (somewhat) overlook that California Pacific's workforce was entirely Chinese. And since the taxpayer bond money could only be spent on work in Sonoma county, California Pacific was starting with the route between Santa Rosa and Healdsburg.
Trouble was, Donahue's SF&NP railroad didn't stop railroading once they reached Santa Rosa. That crew - which employed mostly (or all) Irish immigrants - kept pushing on north, so that March there were two railroads being built, more or less side by side. "Trouble is confidently expected to spring from its action," commented the Democrat. "An irrepressible conflict is threatened between the rival forces on the roads — a sort of international war between Ireland and China."
You can bet that Northern California's racetrack-crazed hoi polloi were following developments closely and wagering on the outcome. All the local newspapers updated their gamblers in every edition, with papers from Sacramento to San Jose reprinting the latest status.
March 18: SF&NP is ahead, having finished grading to Mark West Creek. But they have only 300 men, working just picks and shovels; California Pacific has 500-1000 Chinese laborers with a hundred plows and scrapers to grade the roadbed.
On March 20 work on Donahue's line came to a halt as the Irishmen went on strike for $3O a month and board. The SF&NP agreed to their demands, but the walkout cost them a day. The Chinese continued working their eleven hour days for $5/month.
A hundred more Chinese men arrived and 200 more Irish; their campgrounds were compared to the bivouac of small armies. There were SF&NP construction freight trains running at night while California Pacific drove 100 horses and mules through Santa Rosa. Both crews were making progress at about a mile per day.
The first riot started around midnight on Sunday, March 26. Some three dozen SF&NP workers were in Santa Rosa that night; this might have been a regular practice for their day off or perhaps they were on hiatus because the company was focused on hiring carpenters to build a bridge over Mark West Creek.
From the account in the Democrat (transcribed below) a "big row" started at the boarding house where the men staying. "Most of them had been indulging too freely in fighting whisky" and it seems the ensuing melee pretty much trashed the place. "Several parties interfered, and it was with the greatest difficulty, they managed to put an end to the fight." They were dragged into court the next morning with their "bunged up heads" but where they were held after the situation was brought under control is unknown; Santa Rosa only had a small calaboose behind the jail for holding drunks, so they must have been all tightly crammed into the few available cells.
Besides being liquored up, it's quite possible the men were anxious about being fired. Working right next to a rival crew was certainly unusual; there was also the curious fact that the Chinese were only grading the road - there was no mention of California Pacific preparing to lay ties or rails or build bridges. There were also rumors that some sort of buyout deal between the railroads was in the works. "We have had a great deal of railroad gossip during the past few days," the Healdsburg Flag had reported a week prior. "Dame rumor has been busy promulgating reports of a variety of sales, transfers and negotiations between the various railroad companies of the country."
On April 13 came the news that Donahue had sold the SF&NP to California Pacific. The 300-400 Irishmen were promised they would stay on until the road reached the Russian River, which would take about ten weeks (train service to Healdsburg began July 1). Some left for San Francisco, some went looking for work elsewhere in the North Bay, and some apparently came to Santa Rosa looking for trouble.
"During the past week no less than half-a-dozen street fights have taken place, and in some cases deadly weapons have been drawn," the Democrat noted at the end of that week. Although "a number of belligerent individuals" were involved, it's not said whether these fights were individual brawls or rose to the level of riots.
California Pacific immediately abandoned the road they had been grading, with some 150 Chinese workers sent to Cloverdale to begin working on the road south of there. There was never any definite number of how many immigrants were employed by California Pacific in Sonoma county, but it can be safely said that hundreds were to be laid off.
On April 17 those men were ordered to Santa Rosa to await arrival of the paymaster. Per usual, California Pacific had not hired the men directly, but had subcontracted with one of the Six Companies in San Francisco, in the case the See Yup Company. "Having taken quarters within a short distance from town, they came pouring through our streets in small squads during the day." The Democrat continued with a description of what happened after he arrived:
| The paymaster, who is also a Chinaman, hired a horse and rode out to camp to make arrangements for paying off the men. He found the camp in a state of great excitement. The men seized him and took his horse away. They became furious, owing to a misunderstanding about wages, and, procuring a rope, started in to hang the China boss. We understand they put the rope around his neck, and would have carried out their intentions had not outside parties interfered. As soon as their victim could free himself from their power, he came to town... |
The paymaster was "decidedly frightened" and refused to return to the camp, holing up at the Kessing Hotel on Main street. The next morning the entire Chinese crew came into town and surrounded the hotel, "evidently determined to wreak vengeance." The standoff lasted all day, with some sort of agreement on how much they would be paid made that evening. Even with the deal made, he was so shaken he did not leave the hotel until the train left for San Francisco the next day.
Not all was grim in those spring days of 1871. Donahue's carpenters built a train platform between Third and Fourth streets and a little depot (the present stone depot building was not constructed until 1904). The irrepressible boys of Santa Rosa - noted here earlier in 1870 for racing horses through the streets at full gallop - hitched horses to railroad flat cars and spent hours riding back and forth on the tracks. "This may not be fun for the old plugs but it is jolly sport for the youngsters."
Now here's the obl. Believe-it-or-not! postscript: Sonoma county was incredibly lucky the entire rail project did not collapse in July 1871.
When California Pacific bought Donahue's railway, railroad bonds were as hot as internet stocks during the dot-com bubble. CAL-P appeared to be flush with cash and impeccable credit - its doings were mentioned in Chicago newspapers and in papers throughout the Eastern seaboard as it boasted of plans to expand over the entire West Coast. Its good reputation was due in large part to Director Milton S. Latham, also manager of the California branch of the London and San Francisco Bank, who brought in British investors from that institution in 1869-1870. ("Milton Latham" would be the correct answer to this Trivial Pursuit question: "Who was governor of California for only five days because he resigned to take the seat of a U.S. senator who died in a duel with the Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court?" Ah, 19th c. history...)
But in truth, California Pacific was badly mismanaged. It expanded recklessly even though its only reliable income was its Sacramento link to the transcontinental railroad. The company was actually deep in debt, borrowing in early 1871 to cover interest payments on its loans. (MORE)
RIGHT: Portion of a California Pacific/CPRR map c. 1872 showing the Sonoma county routes which were proposed after the acquisition (Bancroft Library)When SF&NP was sold, California Pacific promised it would connect the Sonoma county railroad with its main line, as seen on the map. "...A junction will be effected between the two lines, commencing at a point somewhere near Petaluma, passing one or two miles south of Sonoma, and connecting with the Napa road at a point between Suscol and Adelante" (Adelante was renamed Napa Junction and is now part of American Canyon). That extension was not built, nor was the branch shown to Bloomfield.
Central Pacific acquired control of California Pacific only three months after the deal to buy the Sonoma county train. It was a strategic move because the railroad giant needed the CAL-P route to San Francisco via Vallejo, or at least until it could build its own direct connection with the transcontinental line. Yes, they agreed to finish the road through to Cloverdale because that could be completed before the June, 1872 cutoff for the $5,000 per mile subsidy - but the company had no interest in pursuing Latham's dream of building a West Coast rail network which would not pay for itself.
As it worked out, Central Pacific sold the main Sonoma county railroad back to Donahue in January, 1873 and he eventually finished the line followed by the SMART train today, which will again connect us to San Francisco Bay ferries (knock wood). But it's easy to imagine that it could have gone afoul; Central Pacific might have put the train service on hiatus after it had the construction bond money if the company could not easily find Donahue or another buyer. That would have left our ancestors with abandoned, rusting tracks, unused except for kids being pulled around by those poor damned horses.
| * The "railroad election" of May 12, 1868 guaranteed California Pacific $5,000 per mile if it built five miles of track from the Napa county line by June 21, 1872. However, if any railroad company first built ten miles of rail and reached Healdsburg, California Pacific would get nothing and the other company would receive that $5,000 per. For more on the railroad bonds and the 1868 referendum, see "Redwood Railways: A History of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad and Predecessor Lines” by Gilbert Kneiss (the Sonoma county library has several copies). |
Another Railroad for our County.
At the annual meeting of the stockholders of the California Pacific Railroad, which was held a few days since, the subject of building the long-talked of Vallejo and Sonoma railroad was brought up and received with much favor. Mr. Jackson, President of the Company, in his official report said:
The subject of building what is known as the “Extension Road,” or Sonoma branch, will naturally engage the attention of the company at once. The building by another corporation of a line of railroad passing through a portion of Sonoma county, which contains our survey, has caused in the minds of the community generally a doubt as to our plans in the premises. When it is remembered that bonds have been issued, predicated upon this road to be built, it will be seen that good faith and legal obligation combine to compel its erection. How far the road already built from Petaluma to Santa Rosa may compete with the branch of this road proposed, is a subject that may well engage the close attention of the Board of Directors when it shall come to definitely adopt one or another line of survey.
From this it appears that the California Pacific is legally bound to construct the road in question, and that it is the intention to do so at an early day. In this connection the Vallejo Recorder states that work will soon the commenced on the road, and expresses confidence in the speedy completion of the enterprise.
- Sonoma Democrat, January 21 1871
San Francisco, March 7th. - Four hundred Chinamen to work on the Sonoma and Northwestern branch of the California Pacific Railroad were sent up to-day, and six hundred more will be sent as soon as possible. Grading is to commence at Santa Rosa, working toward Vallejo immediately. The road will be finished through to Cloverdale from Vallejo this season. It is rumored that Colonel Donohue [sic] will not extend his road from Santa Rosa northwards at present, but when he resumes work will continue the line down from Donohue, on Petaluma creek, to San Rafael or Saucelito, so as to greatly shorten the trip by steamer.
- Sacramento Daily Union, March 8 1871
The Vallejo and Sonoma Railroad.
For years this proposed railroad has been talked about, all manner of reports being put in circulation concerning it. Now, when hope had well nigh died out in regard to it, the prospect brightens up wonderfully. On Saturday last a party connected with the road came over to Santa Rosa and secured the right of way as far as Windsor, on the route to Healdsburg. From Napa we learn that active preparations are being made there to begin the good work, and the Vallejo Chronicle, of Monday last, says:
Arrangements were consummated on Saturday afternoon last, which give assurance of the early construction of the Extension Railroad of the California Pacific Company running through Sonoma County. The English capitalists interested in this Company have shown a disinclination to enter upon this enterprise without a definite guarantee of assistance from Vallejo, and their hesitation delayed operations until recently, when the embarrassments have happily been overcome. Their demand that the city of Vallejo should issue bonds to the extent of $100,000, redeemable in twenty years, conditioned that this shall be the lower terminal point, has been compromised on a satisfactory basis. General Frisbie, having the welfare of the town in view, proposed in lieu of the issuance of bonds, to transfer to them $100,000 valuation of his own property situated in Vallejo and suburbs. This offer met their approbation, the property has been transferred, and the last objection to commencing operations thus satisfied. W. L. Wrattan, of Sonoma County, will take immediate steps to secure the right of way, and Mr. Lemon, the contractor grading the California Pacific, will take charge of the grading of the first section of the road running northerly from Santa Rosa. The first road built in Sonoma County secures local aid from the county of $5,000 per mile — hence the reason for commencing in the middle of the road. It is extremely probable that this road will come into the present line at Napa City, pursuing a route from Santa Rosa through the Sonoma hills at the head of Carneros Creek, and coming down on the eastern side through Brown’s Valley. In the meantime, five hundred laborers will be employed in grading on the Santa Rosa section as soon as the stakes are driven. This road, stretching into the upper coast counties, will add another important link to the chain of railroads that form the railway system west of the Sacramento, and having its lower terminus at Vallejo.
We trust that every one of the "five hundred laborers" will be a decent white man. No Chinese serfs will be regarded with favor in this county, and the Company would do well to keep this in mind.
P. S. — Since the above was set up a gang of Chinamen, about one hundred in number, with picks, shovels, and camp equipage, said to be the advance guard of the railroaders, have passed through our town. We want to see the road built, but don’t like the employment of the "heathen Chinee.” In our opinion, no Company that employs Chinamen ought to get a dollar of subsidy.
- Sonoma Democrat, March 11 1871
RAILROAD HANDS.— The California Pacific Railroad Company have put on an additional force of Chinamen on their road between here and Healdsburg. On Wednesday last, a large amount of camping material was sent up on the road. Our people are now satisfied that this Company intend to construct this road, which will link us to the rising city of Vallejo. With two railroads running through our county, the chances for cheap trade and low freight, are decidedly favorable.
The railroad bridge is now completed and passengers are landed at the foot of Third street. The company are pushing on their road towards Healdsburg with all possible speed, and will doubtless reach that place by the early part of June. Capt. Wright, the superintendent, has displayed great skill in the construction of the road, and will leave nothing undone that will tend to its early completion, two hundred more workmen are to be put on the road immediately.
- Sonoma Democrat, March 18 1871
Two hundred and seventy-eight men are at work grading the road of the North Pacific Railroad from Santa Rosa towards Healdsburg, and it is calculated that the cars will run into Healdsburg by the 4th of July next.
In addition to this work, we now learn that the California Pacific Railroad Company have commenced operations for the building of a road from Suscol, via Sonoma and Santa Rosa, to Healdsburg.
The San Francisco papers have it that upward of a thousand Chinamen have already been sent, during the present week, upon the line of survey between Santa Rosa and Suscol, and that Gen. Frisbie has deeded property in Vallejo to the value of $100,000 to aid the construction of the road and secure its terminus at Vallejo.
- Marin Journal, March 18 1871
The Railroad.
Work on the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad is progressing with all reasonable dispatch. There are now some three hundred men actively employed between Santa Rosa and Healdsburg and the work of grading will be finished to Mark West Creek (a distance of six miles) to-night. The ties and iron have been secured, and will be shipped and laid down without a day's unnecessary delay. The Company claim that the road will be completed and the cars running into Healdsburg by the first of next June. Mr. Donahue avows his determination to push the work to an early completion, and we have no question that he will make good his declaration.
The Healdsburg Flag this week, in speaking of the rumors in circulation relative to the intentions of the rival companies, says:
We have had a great deal of railroad gossip during the past few days. Dame rumor has been busy promulgating reports of a variety of sales, transfers and negotiations between the various railroad companies of the country. But railroad companies are generally pretty good at keeping their business plans to themselves, particularly those not yet consummated, and therefore we are inclined to give these rumors little credence. This much, however, is certain: that the California Pacific has secured the right of way from the Napa line, by way of Santa Rosa, as far as Windsor. It is said they will complete the road to this place, and perhaps to Cloverdale, the present season. They have now on the line between Santa Rosa and Napa a force of five hundred to a thousand Chinamen and intend to push the work ahead with all possible rapidity. Meantime the Donahue line is going speedily forward. Capt. Wright has men distributed in squads nearly all the way from Santa Rosa to this place, and the grading will be done in three or four weeks from this time. Parties connecting with each of the roads have been surveying around the town within a few days past, but we are not aware of their having made any precise location for a depot. Sonoma county is destined to witness a great revolution in her commercial status within the next few months. We may not have two railroads through the entire length of the county, as now seems somewhat probable, but we certainly shall have one at least as far north as Healdsburg, and by that to San Francisco, and the other to Vallejo; and we shall have communication by two routes and be in easy and quick access to nearly all parts of the state. Russian River Valley is the garden of California - we may say of the world - and though not equal in size to the largest valleys of the State, yet in soil and climate it is unequaled by any other locality. But for want of easy communication, with all its natural wealth and beauty, it has, up to this time remained in comparative obscurity. A new era is dawning upon "Old Sonoma," and she will soon arise from her slumbers and walk forth in the front ranks of counties on this coast.
- Petaluma Argus, March 18 1871
THE SONOMA RAILROAD.— The Vallejo Chronicle of March 23d has the following:
The work of grading the two railroads through Sonoma county still continues. The California Pacific Railroad Company, by the personal attention there of G. L. Wratten, has secured the right of way from nearly every land owner on the line from Santa Rosa to Healdsburg, and the deeds therefor are in possession of the company. The survey from Healdsburg to Cloverdale is now engaging his attention, and from the favor in which the "valley route" is held by the citizens of that district, no trouble will be experienced in procuring all the privileges needed for laying the track of this company. The farmers there feel that Vallejo is the natural market for their wheat, and they exhibit a most lively interest in the rapid building and early furnishing of this branch road. Lemon, the contractor, has about one hundred plows and scrapers at work, besides his Chinese laborers, one hundred more of the latter having gone up from San Francisco on Saturday last. He is grading the road ready for the ties at the rate of a mile per day, and all camps of men and horses very much resemble a small army. On the other road the men who had quit work have been re-engaged at increased wages, they having refused, as we stated at the time, to continue under the original contract. They are working with pick and shovel, but of course with these tools make no such progress in grading as do those using plows and scrapers. We do not know whether both these roads are needed, but of one thing we are assured, and confidently state that the California Pacific Road means business and will surely build the branch from Santa Rosa to Cloverdale. If the Donahue road shall also be built our neighbors will have no cause to complain of monopoly. we do not know that any one need object to the building of either of these roads, as each will serve as a check upon the other in the matter of charges, and if the companies can afford it, the public certainly can.
- Sacramento Daily Union, March 24 1871
BLOOMFIELD. This town has the advantage of a rich agricultural country, and is steadily progressing. It boasts a number of handsome churches, stores, schools, and private residences. The Bloomfield people have been anxiously expecting railroad connection for some time, and they ought to have it. Provision was made for a branch road in the bill on which a subsidy was voted to the Petaluma route, and good faith requires that it should be built without unnecessary delay. Besides, the resources of the Bloomfield region, together with its trade and travel, give it importance in a railroad sense.
- Sonoma Democrat, March 25 1871
The Railroad.- Parties lately from the front report work upon the railroad in full progress. An addition has been made to the working force, and grading is going on at both ends of the line. Freight trains have been actively engaged in transporting material from Donahue to Santa Rosa, even extending their trips into the night. Superintendent Wright reports that iron will probably be laid and the road open for travel as far as Mark West Creek to-night. A force of carpenters are at work upon the bridge at Mark West, and will have the stream spanned at an early day. Meanwhile, grading on the section between Mark West and Healdsburg is being crowded with the energy characteristic of Mr. Donahue.
[..]
The California Pacific Railroad Company have put on an additional force of Chinamen on their road between here and Healdsburg. On Thursday last a drove of over one hundred horses and mules passed through town. They will be used in the construction of the road between Santa Rosa and Healdsburg.
Lewis N. Parson, the manager of the carpenter work on the Donahue railroad, has a number of carpenters at work building a platform along side the track between Third and Fourth streets, which is to be some one hundred and forty feet in length. The work of erecting the depot buildings will soon be commenced and prosecuted vigorously...Two hundred more workmen are to be put on the road immediately.
- Petaluma Argus, March 25 1871
ON A STRIKE. The Railroad Hands Drop the Shovel.
Nothing has been more apparent to the citizens of this place for some weeks past, than the fact that great dissatisfaction existed among the men employed on the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad. From the time the road reached this point, it was apparent to everybody that the workmen were far from being content with the condition of things, and this feeling increased day by day, until it culminated on Monday last, in a strike. All the trouble was embodied in the extremely low wages that the hands were receiving - $1.50 per day and find themselves. Now, every reasonable man will admit that on such wages the laborer could barely provide himself with the necessaries of life. One thing is certain, and that is that he could save nothing out of such a small pittance for his labor. Each month would find him without a dollar, and in the future he could see nothing but gloom and want. Surely it is not to be wondered at that white men were restless and dissatisfied with such meagre recompense for their toil. That they should try to better their condition was but natural, and that they succeeded in their effort is a fact that all who are in favor ot strict justice will be gratified to learn. On Monday last a portion of the hands working near town refused to go to work for the wages the Company had been paying. The rest of the force went to work as usual. During the day it was observed that those on the road were inclined to follow the example of the others, unless a change for the better took place speedily. When night came they held a meeting together, and resolved to make a united strike on the following morning. Tuesday came, and the men sent one of their number to consult with the proper officers, and inform them that not a man would go to work again for less than $3O a month and board. This proposition the Company at first refused to comply with, but after consulting with their Attorney here, who very properly advised them in the premises, they told the workmen they would acquiesce in the demand, and for them to go to work again. This was the proper course to pursue. The demand made by the workmen was anything but exorbitant, and the Company will see ere long that in granting it they have greatly advanced their own interests. In the afternoon the men resumed their labors, feeling content and happy over the change, and we are greatly mistaken if they do not show by their labor that while men can work with a will when they receive a reasonable return for the labor performed.
- Sonoma Democrat, March 25 1871
Healdsburg, March 30th - Work is being rapidly pushed forward on the railroad between this place and Santa Rosa. Passenger trains will run to Mark West on Monday next, and are expected to reach here in about six weeks.
- Sacramento Daily Union, March 31 1871
THE RAILROAD.- We learn from a gentleman who visited Healdsburg a few days ago that the construction trains on the Donahue line are now running to Mark West Creek and beyond, and the work is being crowded ahead with all possible dispatch. Three or four hundred men are employed upon the road, and camps are established within half a mile of Healdsburg. The California Pacific Company are running a huge gang of Chinamen, who are also grading pretty fast. We understand the Company have secured the right of way to Healdsburg, but the fact that they have no iron or ties in sight, gives rise to many uncertainties as to the immediate completion of this railroad.
- Petaluma Argus, April 1 1871
Fun for the Boys.—There are a couple of old horses running around our streets, which the young urchins seem to do pretty much as they please with. Sometimes one can see five or six of these youngsters perched on the back of each horse, and doing their level best to ascertain which can outrun the other. At other times they hitch on to one of the open cars on the railroad, and ride up and down the track for hours. This may not be fun for the old plugs but it is jolly sport for the youngsters.
- Sonoma Democrat, April 1 1871
BIG ROW.—On Sunday night last a big row occurred at a boarding house in this place, where some thirty or forty railroad hands are stopping. The most of them had been indulging too freely in fighting whisky, and about midnight it took effect, when the ruction began in earnest. Tumblers, chairs, and other articles of a like nature, were used to the best advantage by the combatants. Several parties interfered, and it was with the greatest difficulty, they managed to put an end to the fight. A trial took place on Monday morning, and of all the bunged up heads we have ever seen, we observed in Justice Middleton's court on that occasion.
- Sonoma Democrat, April 1 1871
Sonoma Railroad.— The Vallejo Chronicle has information of the progress of the grading of the Sonoma extension of the California Pacific Railroad. Above Santa Rosa ten miles of the grade are already completed, and in ten days more the whole sixteen miles to Healdsburg will be ready for the ties and iron. On the upper section three hundred men and one hundred teams are employed and the grading being light is expedited very rapidly.
- Daily Alta California, April 3 1871
The Donahue road, it is now stated positively, has been purchased by the California Pacific, and the work which, during the first part of the week was going on actively between Santa Rosa and Healdsburg, will be at once stopped.
- San Francisco Examiner, April 15 1871
NEAR CLOVERDALE.— One hundred and fifty Chinamen, together with a large number of wagons and teams, have been put to work about two and a half miles south of Cloverdale by the California Pacific Railroad Company. We are informed that that Company has taken possession ot the route surveyed by the Donahue surveying corps, and that trouble is confidently expected to spring from its action. An irrepressible conflict is threatened between the rival forces on the roads — a sort of international war between Ireland and China.
- Sonoma Democrat, April 15 1871
The [Healdsburg] Flag furnishes us the following; From one hundred to two hundred Chinamen were put on the line of the California Pacific Railroad, on Wednesday, between Healdsburg and Cloverdale.
- Sonoma Democrat, April 15 1871
FIGHTING. —The peace and quietude of our town has been greatly disturbed lately by a number of belligerent individuals. During the past week no less than half-a-dozen street fights have taken place, and in some cases deadly weapons have been drawn. Fortunately no more serious damage has occurred than bruising one another up, but if such disgraceful conduct continues it wil result in some one being seriously hurt.
- Sonoma Democrat, April 15 1871
Out of Work.—In consequence of the sale of the Donahue railroad, a large number of white laborers who have been working on the California Pacific road near Healdsburg were thrown out of employment. Some of them started back to the city, while others wended their way towards Napa and Vallejo. As Donahue is to complete the road as far up the valley as Russian River, he keeps his men steadily at work.
- Sonoma Democrat, April 22 1871
Row Among Chinamen.
On Monday last, a large gang of Chinamen belonging to the See Yup Company, of San Francisco, but who had been working on the California Pacific Railroad between this place and Healdsburg, were discharged, owing to the Donahue Company having been bought off. They were ordered to come here and pitch their tents until they were paid off. Having taken quarters within a short distance from town, they came pouring through our streets in small squads during the day. The paymaster, who is also a Chinaman, hired a horse and rode out to camp to make arrangements for paying off the men. He found the camp in a state of great excitement. The men seized him and took his horse away. They became furious, owing to a misunderstanding about wages, and, procuring a rope, started in to hang the China boss. We understand they put the rope around his neck, and would have carried out their intentions had not outside parties interfered. As soon as their victim could free himself from their power, he came to town, and his countenance wore anything but “a smile, childlike and bland.” On the contrary, he was decidedly frightened, and had no desire to return to the camp. At the Kessing Hotel be found Mr. Lemon, the contractor, and told him of his trouble. The Chinamen insisted that as they had been hired for a month, they must be paid a full months’ wages. The contractor would only pay them for the number of days they had worked. Things remained unchanged until Tuesday morning, when the whole gang came into town, and, finding their "Injun” at the hotel, they surrounded the premises, evidently determined to wreak vengeance on the Chinaman who had been acting as paymaster. In the evening a compromise was effected, and each received pay for the labor done, when they returned to camp, and had a big pow-wow. The one that was threatened with having his wind shut off did not accompany, but kept himself closeted in the hotel until the train started the next day for the city.
- Sonoma Democrat, April 22 1871
Purchase of the Donahue Railroad.
[From the Vallejo Chronicle.]
On Thursday afternoon, as announced in the Chronicle of that day, the negotiations that have been pending for some two weeks past between Peter Donahue and the California Pacific Railroad Company, terminated in the purchase by the latter of the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad line from Donahue past Petaluma and Santa Rosa to Mark West Creek, a distance of thirty-one miles. The purchase includes the dock and wharf at Donahue, also the hotel, enginehouse and car house at that point, some fifty acres of ground, and the two steamboats, Sacramento and Milton S. Latham, together with all the side track, station-houses, watertanks, bridges, etc., in any way appurtenant to the road. The effect of this purchase has been to stop work on the Sonoma branch of the California Pacific Road, which will not now be constructed. Instead thereof a junction will be effected between the two lines, commencing at a point somewhere near Petaluma, passing one or two miles south of Sonoma, and connecting with the Napa road at a point between Suscol and Adelante. The exact line will depend upon a presentation that a new survey shall make, which has already been undertaken. The joining of the two roads will be at once effected, and the wheat crops of Sonoma and Russian River valleys will this year add their tribute to the swelling shipments of Vallejo’s commerce. Petaluma will be added to the cordon of cities bound together by iron bands, and her citizens will be welcome visitors in our streets, as they pass back and forth in their visits to the Capital of the State, or the commercial metropolis below. In addition to the link from Petaluma to the Junction, the branch will be built to Bodega and that extensive lumber region will be brought thus closely to our doors. The President of the road, Colonel J. P. Jackson, and Colonel Donahue went over the line on Friday, with a view of arranging for the finishing of the road at its upper terminus, the location of depots and the discharge of one set of laborers. The price paid, or the terms of the payment, are matters not given to the public, but being satisfactory to the parties themselves, we can afford to be content with the possession of the road, be the cost to the owners what it may. There are a number of benefits for Vallejo which the purchase above named secures and which we will again refer to at greater length.
- Sonoma Democrat, April 22 1871
The California Pacific Railroad have abandoned work on their own road between Santa Rosa and Healdsburg, and will push work on the Donahue road, that being the more advanced.
- San Francisco Examiner, April 24 1871
Santa Rosa.
Within the past few weeks while out looking for items of a local nature to interest our readers with, we have had a good opportunity to judge of the progress in the march of prosperity and improvement that our town has made within the past year. To those who have not investigated this matter we would say, that if they will devote a few hours to rambling over the town, the many evidences of life and enterprise now going on in our midst, will strike them with astonishment. It is our firm belief that there is not an interior town in the State at present that is making such rapid strides forward as Santa Rosa. There have been some one hundred and fifty buildings erected within the past year. Many of these are large and elegant residences, while the majority consist of stores and cosy cottages. This does not include the buildings that are now in course of erection. It does not matter in what direction the footsteps may wander, the ear will be greeted with the sounds of the mechanic’s hammer and plane. That portion of our town where the depot is located is almost entirely built up, and complaints can be heard every day on our streets that the lumber yards cannot procure building material from the mills fast enough to supply the great demand. The scarcity of lumber has compelled some to send to San Francisco and have the frames of their buildings made there, and then shipped here in such a manner that they have nothing to do but put them together. This difficulty will soon be remedied, for we have redwood and other timber in our county in a sufficient quantity to supply the whole State. But on our main streets we observe a disposition on the part of our business men to do away with old frames and erect on their site fine fire proof brick buildings. Within the past week, Mr. J. M. Roney and Mr. Mapes, owners of property on Fourth street, bare commenced the erection of two or three brick buildings, which are to be two stories high. The old stable, formerly Wood Bostwick’s, is being hauled away, and in a little time a force of masons will be at work putting up we are informed, as substantial a brick building as can be found this side of the Bay. The Hall of Records is nearly completed, and soon our elegant and commodious College will have received its finishing touch. Every branch of business is now thriving. Our hotels and restaurants are crowded. The merchants have no complaints to make of hard times, and our farmers are perfectly content with the healthy condition of their varied crops. What do these signs of busy life indicate? That our town is going backward instead of forward! Certainly not. That now as the railroad has gone by us we are necessarily dead and buried! No. That because we voted a subsidy that we are impoverished and bankrupt! Again the answer comes, no. Then what do they indicate? Simply the fact that the railroad has been a benefit instead of an injury to us. It has brought men of means along with it to develop and build up out of the vest resources which we have at our command, one of the moat prosperous and handsome towns in California. It has brought about a competition of capital, which on more than one occasion has proved beneficial to those who are compelled to pay interest money. It has created new life in our midst, and in a very short time from now Santa Rosa will rank first among the important towns on the Pacific Coast.
- Sonoma Democrat, May 20 1871
To Healdsburg. —The railroad has now been completed to Russian River, within a very short distance of our beautiful sister town of Healdsburg. It seems to be the opinion of most people that the company will not bridge the river this summer. Should this be the case, it is difficult to tell when the directors will resume the work of pushing the road on to Cloverdale. As things now stand, Healdsburg will receive as much benefit, if not more, than any other town in the county from the construction of this road, and we are far from being envious of her good fortune. Although the road will terminate where it is for the present, our Cloverdale friends can rest assured it will reach them in the course of time.
- Sonoma Democrat, May 27 1871
Healdsburg Items. - The section men of the Railroad have struck for higher wages, and it is reported that the company will employ Chinamen in their stead.
- Sonoma Democrat, September 23 1871
A New Town.
Since the completion of the railroad, new towns are springing into existence all along its line. We are informed that a plat of the town of Fulton, on Mark West, has just been made, and that lots will soon be offered for sale there. The place can already boast of a large warehouse which contains about eight hundred tons of grain. Many dwelling houses are in course of construction, and a blacksmith and wagon shop. The Railroad Company contemplate erecting in a short time a passenger and freight depot, and a store for general merchandise will also soon be established. Fulton is pleasantly located, five miles north of Santa Rosa, in the midst of one of the richest agricultural districts of the county, and must in time grow to be a place of considerable importance.
- Sonoma Democrat, October 14 1871
Description of the County Bridge Across Russian River.
The want of a bridge over Russian River on the county road, at Healdsburg, has long been felt. The improvements caused by the railroad and consequent increase of local traffic necessitated that it should he done. Accordingly the Board of Supervisors, encouraged by the Railroad Company with a contribution of $5,000 of county bonds - a portion of the subsidy granted to them - proceeded to carry the long desired want into execution.
Plans and bids were advertised for and a Howe Truss structure 400 feet long, is three spans of about 125 feet each, was contracted far. The dimensions of the bridge and its principal timbers are as follows, viz:
[..]
- Sonoma Democrat, November 11 1871
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