Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • Page 17

h-a ECPD(D)MDIL VOL. CXXXIII- OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1940 NO. 161 quipment of the new road. This, may or may sands of them had left forever. He was as old year.

Lore's appointment on January U'lkWliagMcordinj 1, which looked out on Ellis Street since 1910, nor be somethin unique in railroad have tried, with little success, to obtain some information concerning the San Rafael and San Quentin Railroad Company's' locomotive 'San which by the way, should not be confused with the North" Pacific. Coast Company's 'San Rafael' or No. 2. There is good reason for believing the old engine was 'junk heap' picked up second hand from some other road, possibly built by the Vulcan Company of San Francisco. So far as known there is no existing -'-ntographof this locomotive." Some Famous Engines "Railroads in early days made a practice of naming their engines in addition to numbering them.

Another' mystery locomotive was tl'j North Pacific Coast Company's No. 1 (Sauce-lito). This was a 2-6-0 Baldwin, built in 1873. in 1874 it was shipped to Tomajes Bay by steamer for use on the upper end of the narrow gauge before rail connection was completed tpeared off the road. None of the old timers seemed to remember where or when.

Recently we learned that this historical locomotive was acquired by the former L. E. White Lumber Company of 15 Stewart Street, San Francisco, and shipped to their mill at Elk, Mendocino County. There the engine was named the 'Tiger' while it served the new owners many years, hauling logs out of the forests. Its original name long forgotten, the 'Tiger' wound up a career of usefulness about 1903.

The engine was "dismantled and the -boiler installed in a creamery, photographs of this locomotive are in existence, but so far I have not been able tox" locate one. The career of the North Pacific Coast Company's No. 12 or 'Sonoma' Will prove more interesting to the general public. This was one of a group of three engines built for the narrow gauge in 1876.. It is said that the Baldwin, Company exhibited the "Sonoma' at the Centennial Fair in Philadelphia that year.

a short period of service here the No. 12 was sold to the Nevada Central. The memory of this locoma-r tive was forgotten; so completely that many stil' claim North Pacific Coast never owned a No. 12. Not so long ago, the Nevada Road was abandoned and a group of old railroad men and' other historically minded persons of Oakland and San Francisco bought one of its engines.

Leaders of the group advertised their relic, so well that they were able to place it with the Cavalcade on Treasure Island. In preparing the locomotive for the new role, rnany coats of old paint were scraped off its weather-beaten surface; down to the original coat the name 'Sonoma' was discovered to be painted on the cab. Forgotten for 60 years this old North Pacific Coast iocomotive suddenly came into prominence to' delight and entertain the thousands who attended that portion of the late Fair." Friend of Nature Recently in a reminiscent story' about Martin Beck Lwas moved to inquire of the whereabouts and health of Charles Kellogg who distinguished the old vaudeville stage for so many years. The response was quick and informative. It seems that Kellogg after 33 years on the stage with his bird calls and folklore decided that he had had enough of the city and its strife and retired i 1.

tt permanently to nis rancn near morgan niu. nc is a frequent visitor to Oakland, however, and spent a'recent evening with Dr. Ernest Sisson, who was one of the first in the mail bag with word of Kellogg. As proof of the fact that Kel logg is remembered by his' old vaudeville fans, Dr. Sisson cites a story ot recent Saturday when Kellogg was directed to a local hardware fifty-third session of the State Legls lature marked the conclusion of the long est as well as the stormiest period which members of the Senate and the Assembly have ever been called upon to serve.

They took office the first of January 1939, and except for a few weeks of recess during the campaign sea-. son nave been almost continually in session Sacramento or engaged in committee investigation. In additior. to the regular session of 1939 which in itself was the longest in the history of the State, there were five extraordinary sessions, the last of which wound up its affairs during the past week. Not a great deal was accomplished at this last, of the extraordinary sessions which brought the members together for four days.

Most of the which were passed might just as well have been postponed until next January when the new regular session will be convened. But the four day ses sion was importantfor the light it cast upon the temper of the session when Governor Olson will submit a new program for the members to work on. There are several episodes which took place lasteek that indicate what might be expected when the members convene in January. Of first importance is the unof- ficial decision that Gordon Garland, conserva- tive Democrat from Woodlake and a member of the economy bloc, will lead the Assembly as speaker. His election cannot take place until the members convene on January 6, but tjie caucuses which took place last week have established his leadership already, and it means that the economy bloc of conservative Democrats and Republicans will have control of the Lower House.

Democrats Divided The Olson Administration Democrats in the Assembly proved to be a minority, and the caucus revealed that their best strength is 26 members although there are 48 Democrats in the Hnnsp William Malnnp rhairman nf Othe Democratic State Central Committee, also took a defeat in the maneuvers during the special session, and it appears now that he will exert less influence than was expected. Malone tried to bridge the gap between Democratic members of the Assembly who are opposed to' the Governor and those who stand with the Chief Executive. His program called for a united front of all Democrats in the State Legislature for the sake of the party regardless of opinions regarding the Olson leadership. The Democratic members turned down his proposal when a group of them walked out of the caucus. Malone, as chairman of the State Committee is a rival of Governor Olson for control of the Democratic patronage in California, and has assumed a leadership which has won him strong support outside of the legislative Last week it appeared that the Democratic members of the Legislature cared little about the control of patronage in the State.

George Miller, Assemblyman from AJameda County's 14tb dis- trict and secretary of the Democratic party in California, stands with Malone on the issue of party unity, but Miller's efforts were as fruit- less as those of the State chairman. One interesting development of the week was a revival of purge threats issuing out of the Malone camp" in an effort to force the Democratic members together." I heard the statement made that unless the conservative Democrats of the Assembly would join forces with their left Wing and New Dealish fellow members they would be subjected to party discipline and would be opposed by Pemocrats when they come up for re-election two years hence. Most observers had the opinion that Malone was too smart to pick up the purge practices attempted by Olson which only widened the rift in tHe party. Old Issues Revived There were also indications during the special session that Governor Olson will revive some of the hot issues of the 1939 session, and will again try to force action from a Legislature which he knows to be hostile. In press conference last week the Governor clearly indi-r cated that he would again press for legislative action leading to a costly experiment in power development in the Central Valleys.

He made -as the-hillsr. said the- inhabitants of the Sierra region. In fact, he was older than the town of Downieville itself, which' began life in 1849. And I found him. He was quietly sitting on the rickety wooden steps of Downieville's combination county hospital and old people's home, puffihgV away unconcernedly at an old, brier pipe.

It was something-of a breathless moment for me, for "here, surely, in the' flesh, was the living California Chinese. His name was Buckeye Sam. And his age was about one hundred and two. A thin, wispy creature, with -wispy gray hair and a few white' wispy strands of a moustache. His teeth had parted from him many Summers ago and a century of living had told on his small Cantonese frame.

Hisface was all wrinkles, like a preserved Chinese plum. But he wes still agile on his feet, running back and forth on the porch, pinching tobacco from other inmates and stowing away matches wherever he could find them. No one knew Buckeye's real name nor exactly when he came to Downieville. He had apparently lost the power of speech ex- cept for a few occasional words in English. He ad seemmgly-also lost his ability to speak Chi nese.

1 here- had been no countrymen or his own in Downieville to talk to in the last fifty years, and so, through disuse, Buckeye had gradually forgotten his native tongue. gut One Question "According. to the local legend Buckeye Sam came to Downieville when he was only a boy. Wtio and what brought him there no one knew. But he was on the ground when the town was one of the most famous gold fining centers in Oaliiorma, when as much as a day couia be mined from each of the numerous rich dig gings, when gold nuggets by the pounds could, be found in the Yuba River beds.

He was there when from three to five thousand Chinese swarmed over the' tailings and diggings all around that section. When Downieville's Chinatown was built Buckeye was one of the builders, nailing boardwalks together and putting up wooden shacks. "He saw Downieville's rise in the fifties, sixties, and seventies, when he himself dug for gold in the nearby hills. He saw its gradual decline when the gold panned out. One hundred and two years old! And about ninety years of it spent in California years in which California grew from a raw mining frontier td a great industrialized agricultural State; Years in which half a dozen wars had been foughHn all parts of the world, including the United States.

These thoughts flashed into the mind as one looked at Buckeye Sam. Only once did the oldest living California Chinese speak during the short time I saw him. After puffing away at his pipe for a while and getting up several times from where he was sitting, seemingly restless as a monkey, he asked a question. And he asked it in English, the only language he knew today. He wanted to know the progress of the present Sino-Japanese war.

Coming from any other California Chinese this would not have been a surprising query. But coming from this centenarian of this immortal of the California' hills, who had not been in touch with the outside world as long as he could remember, and whose memory of things past is practically gone, his questiori came as a mild shock. But I answered it as best I could." Exit HaDDineSS BOV i i 1 Billy Jones has followed his partner, Ernie Hare along the long trail and the radio audiences have heard the last of the Happiness Boys whose cheery voices brought so much simple enjoyment to the ether waves over a long period. Their audience was so large at one time that mail addressed simply "How-do-you-do every- withouFdelayrJones was'V discovery of Lew Fields who sienec. him for "Midnight Soris'a musical comedy, Subsequently Jones went into concert work, then vaudeville and finally I.

started to do recordings. It was in a phonograph recording studio that he met Ernie Hare and struck up a friendship that was, cemented into an inseparable business partnership of 20 years' standing. Hare died in the Spring of 1939. Jones was a New Yorker by birth and his first job was in the Customs House there. Later he became a bank employee, moving later to -North Wales where he operated a sheep farm for his uncle.

Back in New York he worked in an up-State ore mine, strung poles for the telephone company, pulled copper wire for the Western Union and worked as a carpenter' and blacksmith on the New York Central. Through all of this he was developing a naturally rich tenor. He died suddenly from a heart attack on Broadway as he was bound for Radio City and another broadcast. Jones and Hare always contended that they were the first entertaining combination to be sponsored by an advertiser and the first to incorporate the sponsor's product into their microphone billing. They got the Happiness title when they worked for the Happiness Candy Stores of New York.

THE KNAV" who talked over the situation with the Governor at the mansion in Sacramento last week Lore is not particularly anxious for the job, and as a matter of fact would much prefer to have some other appointment whi" would not expose him to conflict with Olscfl" policies. Lore was the spokesman for Olson on the Assembly floor in relief iters last year and during, the special sessions, but he has differed with the Governor frequently in private conversations and would want a free should he take over the relief administration. JJore Oil Old Gardens A few weeks ago, you may recall, the Knave bpd a couple of pieces on old Oakland gardens. Particular mention was made of the Potter Garden and some questions concerning it and ethers were put to readers of long memories or intimate associations. I have today a letter which, coming from-Jthe family, should settle all points concerning the famous Potter Estate, "George C.

Potter's two living children are Mrs. George C. Potter, Kula, Maui, H.T., and Dea- coness Mary I. Potter of Los Angeles. They both' left in 1876 and never returned to the old home.

In 1857, my father, Charles. S. Potter, moved with his bride from San Francisco to Oakland. He had acquired the property known as Lee's Garden, extending from 14th Street at the junction of San Pablo and Telegraph Ave- nues to the other side of what is now 17th Street. His property adjoined that of Judge Campbell on Telegraph Avenue My sister, Caroline, was born there June 25, 1860.

In 1862 father moved his business relations to Nevada and my uncle, Mr. George C. Potter, took over the place' My father passed away in December, 1863. Farly in the 1870's, 17th Street was cut through from San Pablo Avenue to -Telegraph Avenue. It was to the distress of us children, for it went through the asparagus bed and the gooseberry bushes.

A little later my uncle, George C. Potter, had the point at the junction of 14th Street and San Pablo and Telegraph, excavated and put up a two-story business building. It was dubbed 'Potter's Folly' by the townspeople for they asked, 'How could anyone be so foolish as to expel business would ever come up to 14th The old home was not dismantled un til 1878. Sixteenth Street went right through where the house had stood. Some Memories "There are three things that I especially remember about the old garden.

First is the beautiful spreading oak tree that stood on the south side of the house. My father planted the ivy that later covered the tree. Second is the large clump of very tall Chinese bamboq that filled the point at 14th Street. An awesome spot! We children were never allowed to go down there without an older, person. Mother has told us it was both beautiful and unusual, Last is the century plant that blossomed, I think, in 1869 or 1870.

Mr. Stephen Nolan would possibly remember. It was considered very wonderf ul and my uncle allowed It to be exhib ited for the' benefit of the First Congregational Church of Oakland. Of course, there were beautiful roses and flowers, a long pergola covered with Gold of Ophir, but children remember the unusual. We old people live in our happy m'emories and mine of Oakland are very precious to me though I haven't been there since the end of the last century." More Questions Answered To keep on with the garden subject which I find has aroused more than a considerable interest, I.

can. offerthis testimonyjrom W. C. Sharpsteen who says: "I was examining" the title to property formerly owned by Henry Haile, in Alameda, located between High Street and Fernside Boulevard, when I received the clipping containing your article rom a relative who thought I might be able to shed some light on your inquiry. Accordingly, I mentioned the matter to'my wife, who carried the clipping to the meeting of the Garden Section of the Adel phian Club, of Alameda, and she learned that the Dr.

Haile mentioned by you was the one who nwnprf the nrnnertv I had under examina- tion. None of the ladies, however, knew about the lemon tree on that property. They did mention, however, a lemon tree on the property of a man by, the name of Thornton, situated, on the corner of High Street and Central Avenue which, because it was very large and old, they thought may have been the one about which you are inquiring. She also learnea mat a party by the name of Meyer or Meyers owned property in this same neighborhood." When You and I Were Young "The St Germain, a restaurant whose walls echoed laughter and whose lights burned brightly through the fabulous nineties and for nearly four decades afterwards, was a haunted house yesterday. Its broad, plate glass windows Its manager, Pierre Loustanou, who has been managing owner since it moved from Golden Gate and Larkin in 191Q, and who has nursed its dwindling trade down through and beyond the prohibition era, lies seriously ill.

Thus has passed the glory that was once associated with the St. Germain of the elegant cuisine, the St. Germain of the vintage champagne, the St. Germain where toasts were once drunk to the beauties of the city's society and stage. The old restaurant, after waging a losing fight against changing customs and an era that hasn't time for the refinements of artistic eating and drinking, has gone the way of the others the Poodle Dog, Tait's, the Techau Tavern.

Founded near the old Orpheum Theater in 1890 by the late Germain Pouchan and Louis Schlatter, the restaurant was destroyed by the fire of 1906 and for the next four years was located'near Golden Gate and Larkin." These words appeared in the columns of a newspaper in January this year, and startled the public out of its habit of expecting to find its favorite haunts where they were wont to be. Thought gave immutability to gay spots. Change was unwanted. too," says a friend, "was shocked by "the disappearance of the St. Germain, for almost my introduction to the city by the Golden Gate was by way of the restaurant.

I was young; I had never seen so brilliant and gay a scene." rp-T 'p i- ni I flOSe bating rlOCeS "A French dinner, with good claret -throughout the meal for fifty cents, and added to the superior repast was a long evening (if one cared to, make of it) and the mingling with familiar 'society folk, wealthy civic leaders, mining men celebrated for their milljQns acquired in the old Mother Lode of California br at Virginia City in Nevada, and the well-known' figures of the stage and comic opera who, for the moment, were the guests and entertainers of San Francisco. I saw many of them there; if one were not aware of the appearance of Qlga Nether-sole or the current Shakespearean actar, of Nat-Goodwin or a Floradora beauty, one's waiter obligingly called the arrival to one's attention. French restaurants were a component part of merry San Francisco before the earthquake and at the very mention of the early. 1890s these sparkling places rise promptly to mind. The, Germain and such other cafes stand out conspicuously as the rendezvous for the old citys merry-making.

Bring up the subject in groups where the age reaches back that far and you are certain of interesting recollections. One man recalls an old-time 'eating place', where the proprietor had infinite faith in his fellow-man, to wit: A customer entering was given a long bill-of-fare on which each item was clearly listed with the cost opposite, He ordered and ate his food and, bill-of-fare in hand, appeared before the' proprietor with his finger on the items. The proprietor accepted the money his guest claimed he owed and the affair was satis-' factorily settled. Another recalls an experience of his own in a time long gone. He had a lunch-hour friend, one with whom he in variably ate.

On alternate days each played host. One day the companion whose time it was to stand the treat appeared at the usual meeting place andextending his palm on which lay a ten-cent piece, said wryly: 'Luncn for two. Your limit is five cents; I'm They ordered, perforce, a stein tof beer, but with the drink came enough more food pretzels -at start and finish than any man needed for a meal. That was a day when Western hospitality extender! itself at home, cafe, saloon and smart hostelry. Pioneers mention hospitality first on the ear1" day scene." Junk-Hedp Locomotive In the rail field, as in many others, the Knav -as learned that a little argument among old-timers and enthusiasts may be productive of interesting results.

The Wilkins story of early Marin transportation, recently, completed, has brought many thanks from men who know their vailroads and, with them, some little differences of opinion. A. B. Dickenson of Tomales tells me Wilkins was wrong in' saying that the first train over the San Rafael SariQuentin Railroad ran on October 1, 1869, and quotes an item in the Marin County Journal to prove his point. The article, dated Saturday, March 26, 1870, reads: "On Sunday morning last there was a rush at the depot of the San Rafael and San Quentin Railroad Company to greet the arrival of the locomotive 'San Rafael' destined for use on the road of this company.

After a vexatious delay of some weeks everything was in order on Monday morning last for the initial trip over the road. There was not an overplus of enthusiasm manifested as we expected, and at the appointed hour the train started for its first trip, carrying a full complement of passengers "Few remember," says Mr. Dickingson, "that the road was a broad gauge until talten over by the North Pacific Coast Company in 1875. The gauge was then reduced to 36 inches to fit the -store in search of He was insidebody, Jhow-do-you-do Avould reach the the Central Valley power issue one of the tests in his purge campaign during tke election but apparently is not satisfied with rebuke received at the polls when voters returned the legislators opposed by the Administration to power. His next move is to take the battle to" the door when a clerk appeared and introduced himself with "Will you let me wait on you Mr.

Kellogg." I 'used to go to see you years ago." Another note came from Thad M. Stevens, principal of the Rockridge School who is an old friend of Kellogg. Although he has retired from the entertainmentworld, Kellogg maintains both his interest and his contacts. He was a close friend of Beck and still corresponds with Beck's son who once wanted a job on the Kellogg ranch during his vacation days. Buckeye Sam There is a story in the fact that the 30,000 Chinese in California now have a weekly newspaper of their but that has been told in another column.

I was particularly interested in a yarn which this "California Chinese Press" printed ints first issue, November 22. It was of Buckeye Sam, who saw a century come and go, a pioneer of Downieville and older than that historic place. William Hoy writes the story: "This happened Way up in historic Downieville, on the northern fringe of the old Mother Lode country, not many years ago. I. had been told that there was one Chinese living there still, ah old, old timer who' had remained in this gold mining town after all the other Chinese thou- Washington in hopes that the New Deal Ad- authority for power development similar to the TVA which has caused so much discord and trouble in the Tennessee Valley.

There will alse be the old issue of Unemployment Relief Administration to' meet at.the next session. In tftlsT6tm'ection the story is making the rounds that Sydney G. Rubihow, relief director who has really iniected economy and efficiency into the Administration, will be removed by the Governor and replaced by Assemblyman Elmer Lore who retires from the Assembly at the end.