Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • Page 13

EDDDTT MAIL'S FEATURES VOL CXXX OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 1939 NO. 29 HE wind-up of the first portion of the fifty-third session the State Legislature sees a new a velopment in legis senger ferry boats into the system which estab- lished such a phenomenal record in safely carry- ing millions of commuters year after year be- tween their Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda and since this is the final last surviving member of the Oakland Guard group, the flag will be again folded away in its oiw oaken container and held by John J. Nagel, who as custodian was a demand that every Senator's vote be recorded on the question of giving the Governor his way in the matter, and it was resented by a majority of the members, including some who' are liberally disposed. It was felt that such a roll-call record, coming as it did on the day of adjournment, was for no other purpose than to enable the administration's friends to exert political pressure on the individuals during the recess. The net effect, as far as most observers oould determine, was to solidify the conservative group in the Senate, which will be even stronger during the second part of the session than it was during the last thirty days.

Senator William P. Rich of Marysville, who was injured in an automobile accident just prior to the convening of the Legislature, will be able to resume his duties in the Senate next March and will strengthen the Republican groufi materially. Senator "I was particularly interested in the article, inasmuch as I had a part in preliminary construction a number of years before that date, where it began on the west side of the Sacra- mento at Willows, now in Glenn County, formerly in Colusa County, and preceded northward to make a junction at Tehama as a part of the line under construction from California to Oregon. I was nineteen years old when I was selected as agent at the front. On July 5th, 1882, I took charge of the station car at Willows, proceeding by work train to and officially opened a railway agency at that point.

All scheduled trains, both passenger and freight, made that their northern terminal. In the latter part of September of 1882, the line was completed to Corning and the station car proceeded -ta that point for the purpose of establishing an agency." Who Recalls "When the car arrived it was switched out on a spur in the middle of a vast grain field, and lumber was on the ground for the erection. of4he station or depot. Four miles west of the proposed town was located a rather small settlement originally known as but in time had risen to the dignity of a Post Office and was renamed When it was definitely decided that the station would be located at the point where the station car had been switched out, there "began a general exodus from Riceville, and houses, both large and small, were moved by means of farm wagons, the larger buildings, such as the Million Hotel and the Aitken Simson Store, being moved by mWns of rollers. Within a few days there was the semblance of a 'Main Street' of dust and later a mudhole, and the town of Riceville was in existence.

For a short period, railway reports were made out in that name and then changed to 'Fillmore' in compliment to Mr. J. A. Fillmore, then General Manager of the Southern Pacific Company, but, from some unexplained reason, was 'again changed to 'Corning' in compliment to Mr. John Corning (then deceased), who was the predecesssor of Mr.

Fillmore. Corning, now a flourishing town in the and secretary of the pdkland Historical and Pioneers Society has taken, a great deal of interest and pride in relics handed, down through years by members of the oldest organization in Alameda County. 'Gold Everywhere' Story of young William Shaw, who arrived in San Francisco on the Mazeppa to see the gold days in their making, has been told in a book, "Golden Dreams and Waking Realities published in London in 1851. I quoted some from it a week ago, and take up the tale now as young Shaw found himself in a bewildering San Francisco: "It would be difficult to describe my sensations after the first day's ramble in San Francisco. I had witnessed so many start ling sights that if I had not been well assured of.their reality, I might have imagined them' phantasies of the Buildings "were springing up 'as at the stroke of an enchanter's Valuable merchandise strewed about iri every direction.

Men of every costume and color Down-Easters, with sharp-set features; sallow' Southerners, gaunt Western Squatters, vivacious Frenchmen, sedate Germans, sturdy English colonists Calif ornians and Chilians, Mexicans, Kanakas arid Celestials, hurried to and fro pursuing their various avocations, and business to an incalculable amount seemed to be transacted. Looking at the rude sigh-boards inscribed in varfqus. languages, glancing at the chaos of articles exposed for sale, and listening to the various dialects spoken, the city seemed a complete Babel. Gold was evidently the mainsprirng of all this activity. Tables piled with gold were seen under tents, whence issued melodious strains of music.

The most exaggerated statements were current respecting tht auriferous regions." On Way to Diggings Like most of, those of the time, Shaw moved about' and' was anxious, first, to get a sight of the gold lands. At Stockton, en route to the diggings, he wrbte: "At seven in the evening we halted. Here we met a band of '50 American over-landers, who had just arrived at Stockton. They were sadly emaciated and way-worn, with haggard eyes, long matted hair and beards of two, months -growth. Their forms seemed to have shrunk, lor their clothes hung loose from their attenuated frames, like rags on scare crows.

Most of them carried rifles. provisions, were transported in two high spring-wagons drawn by bullocks. They were the remnant of a party of settlers from the backwoods of Illinois, arid had come the Gila Route. The difficulties they had encountered were inde scribable; ascending and descending mountains and crossing rivers; dogged by Indians and wild beasts Many had died on the way, and the latter part of the tract, they said, resembled a retreating The road was strewed with abandoned goods and broken-down Funereal mounds were raised by the wayside, whileXcarcasses of bullocks and, the skeletons of men bleached in the sun. Arriving in a coun try like California, devoid of comforts and hos-' pitality, their broken constitutions and exhausted frames were scarcely able to endure the hardships of the gold diggings, for which object they had made such sacrifices." The last mules that came in brought two sacks of potatoes from the.

Sandwich Islands; a most welcome supply, as many, from eating salt pro visions, were suffering from scurvy. These potatoes, had a very rapid sale at four shillings apiece, and were eaten raw." Peck's Bad Boy lative practice, an experiment which may prove useful if it is properly carried out, or a waste of time and money if the program is shunted into the side roads of impracticality. The experiment calls for public hearings before Jnterim committees set up in 'both the Senate and the Assembly in an effort to speed the work of the entire membership when the Legislature reconvenes on March 6. The idea was originated in the Senate, where Republican leaders believed that much of the controversy over the Democratic Administration's revenue and tax proposals could be ironed out in preliminary hearings. It was not until the plan was adopted by the Senate that the Democratic members of the Assembly gave it consideration in a party caucus and decided do the same thing in the lower house.

I am informed that it was more from a standpoint of self -protection than rorn any other influence that the majority party leaders decided to go ahead. It was pointed out in the caucus that, should the Senate committees come to any understanding over a legislative program involving revenues and taxes during the Constitutional recess of thirty days, it would be extremely difficult for the Assembly to break through the program with any schedule which might be afterward determined in the lower ho.use. It was decided, therefore, to set up similar committees in the Assembly and to hold hearings at the same time in order that business groups and private individuals who desire to be heard on the question of the State's financial and social program for the next two years could make their appearance before committees of both houses. Reports and recommendations will be prepared for submission to each house of the Legislature as a result of the hearings. Unless the Assembly recommendations coincide to some committees, however, the two houses will be far apart on the program, and the issues will have to be threshed out during the regular session as usual.

Cooperation Needed Whether or not the experiment will succeed depends upon the willingness of the public to participate and upon the attitude of the committees in seeking the information that is needed. Strenuous arguments were advanced in the Assembly against the committees being armed with the power of subpena and the authority to call private individuals as well as State departmental chiefs before them for questioning. There are certain ultraliberal elements in the Assembly make-up which are prone to use authority to probe Into the private affairs of business groups their search for information with which to support their social and economic theories. Many of the members object to the subpena power because it will give these groups the opportunity to sidetrack the proposed activities of the committees and delve into affairs which are of no concern to the committee and have no relation to the legislative measures which are being contemplated. Another objection to the plan is that the -true purpose of the legislative recess will be defeated.

Measures which have already been introduced in the Legislature are supposed to carryjthe administration's program, and the recess is called for the purpose of permitting general study of these bills before the members start to adopt or reject them. The usual procedure is for interested groups of business and civic organizations to appear before regular legislative committees during the session to present their opposition or support of measures which they have been able to read and study. The interim committees will have no such measures before them because of the inability of the State Printing Office to print and distribute the tremendous number of bills much before the reconvening of the Legislature. With this situation facing them, those who ap- pear before the committee will be more or less in the dark concerning the objectives, and it is feared some confusion will arise. Olson's Attitude After four weeks of legislative activity, the State Senate is still sharply divided along con-servative and liberal lines, and there is yet to be seen any disposition on the part of Governor Olson to dish out any of the syrup he mentioned in one of his press conferences prior to the convening of the Legislature.

At that time he anticipated no difficulty with the Senate and implied that he had several favors he could bestow which would win over some of those members who were opposed to his program. The attitude he has taken thus far, however, has shown little of the spirit of compromise. This is particularly true with regard to his nominations for membership on the San Francisco Har- bor Commission, which must be confirmed by the Senate. His most recent action, as expressed through Senator John Shelley of Sa'n Francisco. homes and their work in San Francisco.

Oakland's local railroad was the first operated in the San Francisco Bay region, being, 46 days ahead of the initial in the San Francisco-San Jose line from 18th and Valencia Streets to Mayfield. But it offered by no means the first ferry service. That dated back to 1850, when Thomas Gray put his tipy propeller steamer Kangaroo on a twice-weekly schedule (tide and weather permitting) across the bay and up the "creek" to a landing on San Antonio's embarcadero, then a townsite in what is now East Oakland. Earlier in that year Captain Gray had experimented with his stern-wheel steamer General Sutter in Sunday excursion service to the beautifully wooded Contra Costa region across the bay from gold-crazed San Francisco. Its success prompted him to put the Kangaroo on in regular service, with fares as follows: $1 per person; $3 per horse; $3 per wagon; $5 per two-horse wagon; $3 per head of cattle; $1 per head of hogs; and 50c per hundred weight of freight, to the Kangaroo goes the distinction of having been the first regularly scheduled ferry boat, but for years before all manner of craft had engaged in 'taxi' and freighter service on the bay." Pioneer and Historian Henry Maloon, who died recently in Oakland at 92, was known.

for years as one of the most, interested and accurate of Alameda County historians. He loved the old stories and was zealous in seeing that they were preserved with accuracy. That which follows comes from one who knew him intimately, John i Wallace of Maloon was for many years a writer-contributor to The Tribune lander the. caption, "DovYou Remember," and has chronicled events since 1861, with undisputed accuracy. He was a first attendant at the first school established in Oakland, and a member and organizer of the Lyceum Lincoln Bureau, which subsequently proved the foundation for the Oakland and Alameda County Library system.

Malooii "fired" the first steam locomotive operated between San.Leandro and the foot of Seventh Street to connect by ferry with San Francisco. He was the first person to buy a ticket for ferry transportation from Oakland to San Francisco, and he still has among his effects Ticket No. 1, which he had never used. Maloon was the outstanding hero in the first ferry disaster attending inauguration of the ferry service, when an apron on the newly constructed ferry slip in Oakland gave way under a Fourth of July excursion and a score of lives lost. Maloon is credited with saving eight lives, among these being a girl whom he later married.

In the case of the Oakland waterfront controversy involving Carpentier as claimant of all estuary and bay frontage on the Alameda County side of the bay, for which Carpentier had exchanged a small lot and a small school building, Maloon proved a star witness, appear- ing in court constantly over a period of several years. ry: Last of Oakland Guard From records produced by Maloon, he appears as the storm center in one of Oakland's major shake-ups when city officials resisted his actions as license collector of the metropolitan area as it was first established. As a prohibitionist, Maloon stood against the powers that.be in the liquor control adventures of Oakland's early days. Incidental to the life history of Maloon and his contributions to Oakland progress, one of the treasures of his life was a flag woven oat of pure silk, and with stars of golden thread, a flag made by the women of 1861, Maloon's mother being one of that group. The flag was" made in the then newly constructed Courthouse of that day (not the present Courthouse), and' it was carried through the Civil War by the Oakland Volunteers, who had been mustered in and trained by Maloon and associates, known as the Oakland Guard.

Although frail, and yet active, Maloon took a great interest in the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge, and this writer was called upon to take him many times to the site of the structure, and the finished work, where he seemed to find much delight in modern building along lines of transportation Maloon had an almost uncanny way of recalling faces and family history, and many businessmen of Oakland found time to chat with him about their forefathers', whom he knew. He would trace down a family legend with deep interest, and was particularly proud of his memory. In his writings he startled present-day readers with tales of early Oakland, almost unbelievable, and sensational, yet true, according to records on file in' the" Alameda" County historical libraries. In the funeral held Tuesday, January 24, Maloon's casket was enfolded with the silk flag of 1381, referred to, Thomas McCormack of Rio Vista, another stanch Republican who has been absent from his seat because of injuries sustained in the same accident, will also return in March. A Gold Anniversary-Accepting the many signs of this year, it would seem that as time goes on Calif ornians express greater interest in observances of the anniversary of gold.

This year we had a great meeting in San Francisco, an excursion from Sacramento to Coloma, and, right now, the Park Commission is furthering a plan to have the site of the Sutter millrace, where James W. Marshall found the little flake of gold on January 24, 1843; preserved as a park. With this activity and enthusiasm present on the 91st anniversary, we may look forward to some unusual demonstrations nine years hence when the centennial is observed. Ten years hence, also, should be a large one, for it follows, by 100 years, the big "1849" which saw the great is stamped in records as the symbol of the era, a hallowed one in history. My friend Edmund Kinyon, who lives in the hills and has eye and ear for their tales and legends, has written that so much of vibrant history has been crowded into a short space of time as States and Nations' go that one can still almost hear the clatter of hoofbeats along the trail between" Coloma and Sutter's as Marshall rode, away to inform his boss, Sutter, of the finding in the millrace which he had been sent to dig a tiny particle which alternately gave off sheen, fiery effulgence.

How demure and unassuming must have seemed that chance from the millrace as it passed from the trembling hand of Marshall to the sure grasp of Sutter! To have predicted that it was destined to set a large portion of the civilized world in foment, start migrations beyond the wanderings of the ancients, populate a great State and notably change the course of American history, would have been deemed Yet the Marshall nugget was to do all of those things and more. Mother Lode Musicians The Knave: In your issue of January 15, under "Those Were Races," you refer, to a meet at the Gwin Mine in 1878. I quote: "The ball Friday night was largely attended and a very pleasant affair. Kay and Turner furnished the music The turner mentioned was Billy turner, my father, who passed away at Sutter Creek 40 years ago. Kay and Turner played for years in Amador and Calaveras counties.

Bill Ky played the violin and my Dad played the bass viol and called and also sang a lot of the songs as they played. Wallace Kay, brother of. Bill, sometimes was with them, playing the cor-' net. His son (or nephew) was Ed Kay whpjiad Kay's Place at the North end of Silver Lake, now run by his widow, Mrs. Ed Kay.

We lived in Sutter Creek and the Kays lived in Jackson. Sometimes my Dad carried the big fiddle in the box in his buckboard, and sometimes he rode horseback and carried it over his shoulder. They played at towns, picnics and ranches, in houses and barns and generally all night. I do not remember the time at the Gwin Mine in for I was only a year old then, but I do know they continued it for some ten or twelve years more. Some of these items of past years, particularly along the Mother Lode, strike pretty close to home.

C. Turner, Livermore. A Rail Man Remembers Agah a brief recital out of the files and accepted chronicle stimulates an individual who was within scenes described to furnish us a bit of the intimate. Shortly after we reviewed that "last rail" or "golden spike" incident which connected Calif ornia and Oregon (with ceremonies at Ashland, Oregon, in 1887), I received this one from one who was within and behind the scenes in those days. F.

J. Morin of Berkeley writes out of interest that which should interest our railroad "fans" as well as those who live in' the area of Corning and the disappeared towrjs of "Scatterville" and Riceville. He, says: Sacramento Valley, could (probably did) have celebrated their semicentennial on October 1st, 1932." 'Bay Memories' No man need be told that enough tears to float a good-sized ship have been shed hereabouts, with the passing of the ferries, from their accustomed routes across the bay. As something to keep the stories in mind, the Southern Pacific has issued a little booklet in which various articles from bulletins of the past are reprinted. Included are many interesting facts of rail and boat, but I "can quote but a little which has to do with the first ferries: "San Francisco's pioneer daily newspaper, the Alta California, carried this unpretentious an- nouncement in its issue of September 1, 1863: 'Oakland Ferry-Railroad line, being completed from Oakland.

Cars will begin running in connection with the steamer Contra Costa on Wednesday, September 2. Every facility which could be 'wished is afforded for the safe and speedy transportation of passengers and freight; also every accommodation for the loading of horses and vehicles with safety and. Thus was born without pomp or ceremony 75 years ago the world famous rail-ferry interurban service across San Francisco Bay that has become through generations of commuters the beloved and colorful institution many, thousands will mourn when its doom is sealed early next year with operation of the electric trains over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. (Ferries will continue to operate to Oakland Pier to connect with main-line trains.) This original commuter service was provided by the San Francisco Oakland Railroad whose three-mile line extended from "Broadway in Oakland along 7th Street to a wharf at Gibbon's Point, about the present location of Oakland Pier, where passenger boarded the ferry Contra Costa. In San Francisco the ferry landing was on Davis Street belween Broadway and Vallejo wharves, north of the present Ferry Building." Six trips were made daily over, the rail-water route.

The 'Sutter' and 'Kangaroo' "There are two distinct eras in the history of San Francisco Bay ferry boats of the South-ern Pacific and its predecessor companies. The first period began with the earliest modes of transportation across the bay to the Contra Costa shore, as the-Alameda County region was known in those days, and extended up to 1863-' 64, when ferry operation was taken over by the newly launched Oakland and Alameda railroad companies. The second period encompasses the subsequent years that saw development of the world's latest and finest fleet of pas- While Hollywood is preparing to release a series of "Peck's Bad Boy" stories on the screen, with young Mickey Rooney in the role originally played on the stage by George M. Cohan, the original of the character died in MilwauMa at the age of 77, He was Edward J. Watson, who as a telegraph messenger in ttje early '80's came in contact with George W.

Peck, later Governor of Wisconsin, and then editor of a weekly paper called Peck's Sun. Young Watston was the inspiration for most of the comedy antics i which made the adventures of "Peck's Bad Boy" delightful reading in the late '80's and early '90's. By 1886, three years after the book came out, it had sold 500,000 copies, and Feci; often contended that young Watson was unwit- tirigly responsible for sending him to ths Governor's chair. Watson, however, used to with some amusement the last conversation 1 had with Peck. "You knw, Watson," he Peck, "that book earned a quarter of a dollars for me.

I wish I had p'ven to you. It's too late now. This is '1 1 1 of And Teck held up a.