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Solano
Historian
The Solano Historian is pub-
lished twice yearly at Vallejo,
California, by the Solano
County Historical Society.
Edited by
Matthew and Lee Fountain
and Robert Allgood.
P.O. Box 922, Vallejo, Ca. 94590
Printed by
Gibson Printing and Publishing, Inc.
The purpose of the Solano
Historian is to stimulate the
enjoyment and preservation of
history by publishing pictures,
stories, articles, and letters fur-
nished by its readers. Much
valuable material that would
flesh out our knowledge of the
past is lost each year because
those who might save it either
do not realize its value or lack
the motivation to take any
immediate action. The Solano
Historian will supply the moti-
vation by showing there is an
appreciative audience for such
material and that people are
intensely interested in items
relating to their own back-
ground, that jog their memory,
remind them of memorable
events, and satisfy their
curosity.
Readers who furnish material
for publication will find they are
amply rewarded by their own
feeling of satisfaction and the
recognition earned by their
contribution.
The Solano Historian is now
soliciting material of Solano
and North Bay interest for
future issues. More details con-
cerning this may be obtained by
contacting President Mary
Higham or Lee Fountain. Com-
ments on this issue are also
welcome.
The Society does not assume
responsibility for the accuracy
of statements or opinions of con-
tributions although every effort
is made to be historically
correct.
Solano County Historicat Society
P. O. Box 922, Vallejo, CA 94590
On the Cover
Preservation and restoration of fine
old Solano homes are vital concerns of
the Solano County Historical Society.
The Monterey Colonial on Green Val-
ley Road, known at different times as
the Stiltz house and the Jones home,
was open, empty, vandalized, and
being used by transients in 1983 when
the Solano County Historical Society
solicited the efforts of the Sheriffs
Department, the absentee owner, and
preservation experts.
After a year of quiet work the signifi-
cance of the house was established.
Meanwhile the house had been sold
and the new owner set about saving the
structure. Now the venerable ranch
house which contains an early adobe
under a portion of its clapboard exte-
rior is beautifully restored. Its gleam-
ing white exterior, new roof, and
pillared verandas make it a treasure
for the entire valley.
Ernest Wichels in his column "Pages
from the Past," August 20, 1967, quotes
Dorothea Jones, owner of the home at
that time, "One of the first non-Indian
settlers in the Valley was the John
Stilts family who bought a good por-
tion of their land from General Vallejo.
Stilts also purchased one of the first
prefabricated houses that came around
the horn in 1847. ..He built it near an
adobe which was on the property."
Actually the adobe is incorporated
into the house as a summer kitchen.
Few people have been aware of the hid-
den adobe. Historians have not deter-
mined the origin of the rubble stone
structure, but rumor has it that it may
be the adobe General Vallejo had built
for a contingent of his soldiers.
The interest of the Solano County
Historical Society acted as a catalyst to
start appropriate preservation mea-
sures to save this important ranch
home. It is unfortunate this pattern of
concern was not evident when the
Hastings House in Benicia was des-
troyed. Read the story about Benicia's
mansion elsewhere in this issue of our
Historian.
About Our Authors
Eileen Hogan DeLaMater is a
native Vallejoan and member of a pio-
neer family. Although an avid traveler,
she has lived here most of her life. She
taught elementary school to several
generations of local school children.
Her quiet expertise on things "Vallejo"
make her a resource person for inquir-
(Continued to page 16)
Dear Members:
It gives me great pleasure and a
profound sense of pride to add a
message to our Society's very first
journal.
This issue is the result of the fore-
sight of our Past President and Editor
Lee Fountain and her committee.
Many of you may recall when the first
thoughts were put into action. Last
year at our annual Christmas party,
Lee spoke to our members regarding
the collecting of material for a publica-
tion. Now, after nearly a year, a goal
has been realized. A sincere thank you
to the committee members and the con-
tributors for bringing our goal to frui-
tion. We present this work to our
members and readers with pride. What
better way to celebrate our thirtieth
anniversary!
The Society has a busy year planned.
We look forward to seeing you at our
scheduled programs. The Christmas
party committee is hard at work to
bring you the merriest Christmas
party ever. General meetings will be
held at three of our county's museums,
which are always in full operation and
offering many exciting exhibits.
Please join in giving support to our
museums; they are the backbone of
local history.
During the summer it was learned
the historic Waterman house in Fair-
field is being restored and occupied by
the new owner and his family. We are
invited to tour the old house when the
February meeting is held in the adja-
cent renovated barn. We are lending
our support in placing the house on the
National Register.
Many future projects and ideas sug-
gested by the membership are still in
the planning stages. With your con-
tinued support and cooperation, these
too will become achievements we can
be proud of.
Mary Higham
SCHS President, 1985-86
General John Frisbie,
Solano Entrepreneur
by Thomas Lucy
John Frisbie was not only the
founder of the city of Vallejo, but also
one of the builders of California, and in
later life a dominant figure in Mexico.
He was the patriarch of the American
colony of successful industrial promo-
ters in Mexico. 1
He was born in Albany, New York,
on May 10, 1823. After attending the
Albany Academy, he and another stu-
dent, Leland Stanford, later famous as
a railroad magnate and governor of
California, studied law with a promi-
nent lawyer in that city. Frisbie
enjoyed a lucrative practice, and in
1846 was elected captain of the Van
Rensselaer Guard, acknowledged to be
the best drilled in the state. 2 - 3
During the Mexican War Frisbie re-
cruited a company which joined the
New York Volunteers under Colonel J.
D. Stevenson for duty in California,
arriving in San Francisco, March 5,
1847. Captain Frisbie was given com-
mand of the Sonoma Barracks in 1848
and remained there until mustered out
on August 25, 1848."
After his discharge, Frisbie per-
suaded General Mariano G. Vallejo to
open stores in Sonoma, Napa, and
Benicia to outfit the miners. In 1849 he
ran a mercantile brokerage in San
Francisco with his brother Eleazer,
and in the same year established a
home in Benicia where he was engaged
in the sale of property and cattle. 5 - 6 - 7 - 8
Even though he was not a delegate,
Frisbie took part in the Constitutional
Convention of 1849 held in Monterey
and helped develop the political future
of California. He ran for lieutenant
governor, but lost to John Mc Dougal. 9
In 1850 General Vallejo gave Frisbie
power of attorney over all his claim to
Suscol Rancho, which amounted to
84,000 acres in the present Solano and
Napa Counties, allowing him to bar-
gain, grant, and sell land on the Ran-
cho. Frisbie sold substantial portions
of the claim to San Francisco capital-
ists who with the aid of Frisbie and
Vallejo made the new city of Vallejo
the capital of the state. 10 - 11
In 1851 while residing in Benicia
Frisbie was promoting the sale of prop-
erty in Vallejo among capitalists and
the general public. On New Year's Day
of 1851 he was the Speaker of the Day
December
John Frisbie at his prime.
at the first celebration of the Society of
California Pioneers in San Francisco,
and he was on the first Board of Direc-
tors of that organization. On April 3,
1851, he married Epifania Vallejo, eld-
est daughter of General Vallejo. An
attendant at the wedding was Colonel
Joe Hooker, who was to command the
Army of the Potomac during the Civil
War. 12 - 13 - 14
While Frisbie was busy in Vallejo
and Benicia, the United States was
investigating sites for a Pacific Coast
naval base. A commission appointed
by the United States Government
decided to locate a navy yard in Sausa-
lito, but Frisbie lobbied for a new com-
mission, which after a thorough
investigation, recommended Mare
Island. 15 The government purchased
Mare Island in 1854 for its west coast
navy yard. Frisbie was therefore
instrumental for both the state capital
and the navy yard being located in
Vallejo.
In the spring of 1853 Frisbie and his
wife left for New York where he sold
portions of General Vallejo's Suscol
and Petaluma properties. When they
returned to San Francisco early in 1854
they boarded with the Thomas Larkin
family. 16
General Vallejo deeded the Town of
Vallejo to Frisbie on December 9, 1854,
for $25,000, 17 and for the next twenty-
SOLANO HISTORIAN
two years he promoted the City of Val-
lejo, engaging in enterprises with
energy, perseverance, and sagacity. By
1876 he had invested in a livery stable,
the Maine and Georgia Street wharfs, a
wharf in Contra Costa County, schoon-
ers on the Bay for transporting freight,
the Vallejo Water Company, the Val-
lejo and Benicia Telegraph Company,
the Pacific Insurance Company
agency, the California Pacific Rail-
road of which he was vice president,
the Vallejo-Sonoma Stage Company,
the Vallejo Building Association, the
Vallejo Grain Elevator, the Vallejo
Savings and Commercial Bank of
which he was president, the Vallejo
Coal Mining Company, the Emma
Mine in Utah, Vallejo Land and
Improvement Company in partnership
with Leland Stanford and others, the
Vallejo Gas Light Company, the Rus-
sian River Water Company, the Vallejo
Tanning Company, the Vallejo Boot
and Shoe Company, a ranch outside
Vallejo, and the Vallejo Dock Com-
pany. 18
In 1860 Frisbie chartered the ship
Oracle to ship wheat grown near Val-
lejo to Liverpool, the first shipment of
wheat overseas from California. 19
In 1861, to help secure California for
the Union, military units were formed
throughout the state. One of these, the
Vallejo Rifles, was mustered in on Sep-
tember 8, 1861, with Frisbie appointed
the first captain of the unit. He was
appointed to the rank of general by
Governor Leland Stanford in 1862, a
title which was to remain with him for
the rest of his life. 20 , 21
Frisbie was the heaviest taxpayer in
Solano County during the period from
1867 to 1875 and was also a heavy tax-
payer in Napa County.
Frisbie purchased the White Sulphur
Springs, now known as Blue Rock
Springs, in 1869 for $30,000 and spent
large sums of money renovating the
park, making it one of the finest in the
state. 23
In 1871 Frisbie, in order to further
promote the City of Vallejo, offered
parties who would furnish one-fourth
the capital and establish manufactur-
ing of any description in Vallejo a loan
on the balance at ten percent. 24
He was generous in his donations of
land for churches, schools, and for
civic purposes. He gave land for the
original Methodist Church on Virginia
Street, the first Catholic Church on
Marin Street, the second Catholic
Church (St. Vincent Ferrer) on Florida
Street, the Episcopal Church, the
Presbyterian Church, and the Advent
Christian Church. He donated land on
York Street for the Baptist Church but
the Baptists chose to build elsewhere.
His other donations included lots for
public schools in Vallejo and South
Vallejo, for a cemetery on the Benicia
Road which in 1859 was divided into
the present St. Vincent and Carquinez
cemeteries, and one square block of
land for a city park. 25 , 26 27
One of Frisbie's most important con-
tributions toward improvement of Val-
lejo was the Bernard Hotel which was
completed in 1872. The hotel, one of the
finest in the state, had eight stores on
the street level and forty rooms on the
second floor. 28 In 1876 the Frisbies
moved into the magnificent residence
he had built at the corner of Sutter and
Virginia Streets in Vallejo. 29
General Vallejo had purchased the
Suscol Rancho from the Mexican
Government in 1844, but after the
Americans' take-over of California
there were many who questioned Valle-
jo's claim to the Rancho, thereby trig-
gering a run on the Rancho by
squatters. Frisbie devoted much of his
time for fifteen years before the Land
Commission, the Courts, and Congress
attempting to secure his claim and to
eject the squatters.
In 1862 Frisbie and his associates
persuaded California Representative
John Phelps to introduce a bill in Con-
gress which would enable those who
were in possession of land purchased
from a discredited Mexican claimant to
preempt it at the government price of
$1.25 an acre. The bill was tabled. They
tried again in 1863. This time they won
a major victory when both houses
approved the Suscol Bill on March 3rd.
It was not until 1867 and 1868, how-
ever, that patents were issued by the
United States Government and signed
by President Andrew Johnson grant-
ing the City of Vallejo and portions of
the Suscol to Frisbie and purchasers
from Frisbie. 30
In 1867 Frisbie was elected Califor-
nia state assemblyman in a bitter elec-
tion, serving one term. 31 In 1871 he was
elected to the Vallejo Board of Trustees
and was selected president of that
body. 32 In 1873 and 1874 he was one of
the leaders in a scheme to move the
county seat to Vallejo, agreeing to
donate land for county buildings.
Although the move was approved by a
majority of voters of Solano County, it
was killed by the State Legislature. 33
Frisbie had embarked on many and
important enterprises in Vallejo and
elsewhere. These required expendi-
tures of large sums of money, much of
Frisbie Mansion, later the Widenmann home, and still later the Vallejo
Elks Club until it burned in 1933, was built on the corner of Virginia and
Sutter Streets. The group posed in the garden are possibly members of the
Frisbie family.
which was borrowed. Some of these
investments proved remunerative and
others did not. He held 18,000 shares in
an extension scheme for the California
Pacific Railroad, a $50,000,000 corpo-
ration promoted with a view of build-
ing a network of railroads in the coast
states. 34 , 35 Because of the collapse of
this grand scheme, the Vallejo Savings
and Commercial Bank closed its doors
on September 28, 1876, and went into
liquidation. To satisfy his debt Frisbie
sold all his holdings, including his
home, the Bernard Hotel, the White
Sulphur Springs, and all his other
property. In addressing the depositors
he stated that the assets of the bank
exceeded liabilities. His statement
proved true as no depositor lost any
money and the bank reopened. 36 Fris-
bie, however, had lost everything. 37 , 38 ,
39
Frisbie borrowed money from his
brother-in-law Patrick Lynch for funds
to visit New York with the hope of re-
establishing himself financially. The
press dispatches announced his arri-
val in New York on November 4, 1876.
While in the east he made plans to visit
Mexico to determine if there were
opportunities for him to recoup his
fortune. 40
Rutherford Hayes was president at
the time. His administration did not
recognize Porfirio Diaz as the Presi-
dent of Mexico and had plans to annex
the northern states of Mexico. The
State Department upon hearing that
Commercial building built by Frisbie and called variously Bernard Hotel
and Bernard House. It was on the S.E. corner of Sacramento and Georgia
streets where Levee's store was, and is now called Georgia Street Plaza.
SOLANO HISTORIAN
December
Epifania (Fannie) Vallejo before her
marriage to John Frisbie, her father's
trusted associate.
Frisbie was going to Mexico and that
he was taking General Vallejo with
him, asked him to check into the situa-
tion there. Rumors in the American
press that Vallejo and Frisbie were in
the northern states of Mexico as secret
agents for the United States proved to
be false. While in Mexico Frisbie won
the friendship of Diaz and agreed to
represent him in Washington to see if
he could resolve the problems between
the two countries. Proceeding to
Washington with a letter from Diaz,
Frisbie was told by the Secretary of the
Senate that there would be war
between the two countries. Frisbie met
the congressional delegation for Cali-
fornia, Nevada, and Oregon and pre-
vailed on them to adopt his view
favoring recognition of the Mexican
Government. An attempt was made at
this time by the State Department to
discredit Frisbie with the Mexican
agent in Washington because they
believed he was gaining concessions
from Diaz of a personal nature. They
failed in their attempt. Frisbie met
with Senator Roscoe Conkling of New
York, who was also a native of Albany,
in a long session resulting in the sena-
tor introducing a resolution in the
Senate asking for a committee to look
into Mexican affairs. A similar resolu-
tion was introduced in the House, and a
clash with the Hayes Administration
commenced. 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45
Frisbie left for Vallejo but received a
telegram from Senator Conkling call-
ing him back to Washington to appear
before the congressional committee on
Mexican affairs. Appearing before the
committee Frisbie spoke for an entire
day favoring the recognition of Diaz. 46
He then returned to Vallejo for a short
visit and returned to the east coast on
January 18, 1878, with three of his
daughters. The rest of his family joined
him there after settling their affairs in
Vallejo, and all proceeded to Mexico. 47
With his family settled in Mexico,
Frisbie, now fifty-four years old, began
a new career. The Hayes Administra-
tion at last recognized the Mexican
Government, so Diaz, grateful to Fris-
bie for his part in the affair, gave him
an abandoned gold mine in addition to
a large fee. Frisbie had secured a con-
cession from the Mexican Government
to build a railroad from Mexico City to
Cuernavaca. He was in the employ of
the Huntington-Stanford Railroad and
an agent for the Pacific Steamship
company in Mexico. He became
involved in mining, and in 1879 was in
New York selling bonds in his mining
company. 4 8- 4 9- 50
Mrs. Frisbie was a frequent visitor to
Vallejo, usually accompanied by one or
more or her children to enroll them in
California schools. Not fond of Mexico,
she returned to Vallejo in 1899 and pur-
chased the home her husband had built
in 1876. 51 - 52
Frisbie joined her in the winter of
1899, his first visit to Vallejo in twenty-
one years. He organized the Citizen's
Bank of Vallejo, which was incorpo-
rated November 29, 1899, holding 910
shares out of a total of 1000 shares and
was president of the bank. It was the
intent of the Frisbies to remain in Val-
lejo but their plans did not materialize.
They returned to Mexico. 53
In 1901 the Frisbies celebrated their
golden wedding anniversary at their
San Nicholas Rancho, a sugar planta-
tion. In the same year Frisbie sold his
El Oro mine to an English syndicate
for $1,000,000, retaining his interest in
another mine. 54
When Frisbie died May 11, 1901, at
the age of eighty-six, he was worth over
$1,000,000. He had interests in rail-
roads, banking, stock raising, dairy
farming, sugar mills, and an electric
light and power company. At the time
of his death he was survived by three
sons and four daughters, all married
and all residents of Mexico. There are
many descendents in Mexico today. 55 -
56.57
There are many memorials to Fris-
bie, but perhaps the most appropriate
Fannie Frisbie, although still young, in
deep mourning after the death of a
child.
is from the Benicia Tribune, reprinted
in the Vallejo Evening Chronicle on
February 18, 1874, which read "Never
was a city more indebted to one man
than Vallejo to Captain Frisbie."
Lighthouse A lert
Lighthouses have recently become
the center of national attention for pre-
servationists. One by one these pre-
cious structures that have sent out
their life-saving beams for generations
have been allowed to die — by storm,
by neglect, by vandalism, and by re-
placement — as the men and women
who tended the lamps, lenses and fog
horns were replaced by automation.
Today there are keepers at but 30 of
the roughly 500 light stations still
standing in the United States.
A new national organization for the
preservation of extant lighthouses has
emerged. The famous Fresnel lenses
are being saved and restored, and local
groups are being organized to save the
structures.
The recent Northern California His-
tory Symposium held in Crescent City
centered around local lighthouses.
While heavy seas prevented close
approach to St. George's Lighthouse,
all attendees were able to visit Battery
Point Lighthouse, still manned by a
devoted couple.
December
SOLANO HISTORIAN
The Village That Vanished
A Suisun Valley Tragedy
by Evelyn Lockie
The following story is written from a tape
made when Evelyn Lockie spoke before a
California Historical Society tour of Solano
County during its luncheon break at Joshia
Wing's restaurant June 2, 1981. The story
begins after a few introductory remarks.
I was somewhat shocked to learn
how few people nowadays remember
Chinatown, a village of several
hundred that stood on the shores of
Suisun Creek near Rockville. It was on
the old Hatch Ranch, so well organized
it was destined to last forever, but on a
bright August day in 1928, a sudden
tragedy brought it to an end. Today it is
forgotten; the majority of the residents
hereabouts, meaning Suisun Valley ,
never heard about it. Those who do
remember it have put it out of their
minds. To me, it remains a vivid
memory. I suppose it could be called
"living through history", so I am writ-
ing down this story as my contribution
to Solano County history, to tell you a
bit about Chinatown and a bit about
the great influence the Chinese had in
the settling of our valley.
To begin with, why did the Chinese
come here originally? Most of them
came from the province around Can-
ton. By 1848, 49, and 50 there had been
much political upheaval in China, and
then there were crop failures for sev-
eral years in succession. And then
came news of the great gold strike in
California. News crossed the Pacific by
ship almost faster than it reached the
east coast of the United States. Canton
was a huge port with lots of ships
which offered low fares; sometimes a
mere $40 could bring one to the Gam
Saan or the "gold mountain" as Cali-
fornia was known to the Chinese.
When more and more laborers were
needed, free fares were offered. The
men and boys of the families came
first, the women nearly always being
left behind in China.
And so they came, all expecting to
get rich quickly. They worked hard and
long. And because they were so strange
with their baggy trousers, loose cotton
jackets, dark olive skin, and their hair
in long pigtails, much abuse was
heaped on them. In gold mining,
although they were successful, even
inventing the famous sluice box, they
were outrageously taxed as foreigners.
In addition to mining, the Chinese did
many other jobs, mostly menial work
that the Americans wouldn't do.
Almost our first introduction to the
Chinese in Solano County is the census
tabulation of 1870 which shows a total
of 441 Chinese here. All came directly
from China. There were 14 farm labor-
ers in Montezuma township, (that is
where Collinsville is), 53 wood-
choppers in Rio Vista township, 10
laundrymen in Dixon township, 13
Suisun Chinese community gathered to celebrate
memory of Sun Yat-Sen in 1925, three years before the
Leung murders. Most of the members shown here were
still living in the encampment at the time of the tragedy.
Mrs. Wong is the tenth from the right in row one. Ruthie
and Helen are the twelfth and thirteenth in the same
row. Mr. Wong, superstitious about photography,
refused to be photographed.
SOLANO HISTORIAN
December
laundrymen and clothes washers in
Suisun City, 90 woodchoppers in Green
Valley, (address, Bridgeport), but there
were 261 farm laborers in Suisun
Valley.
Today you can see many results of
their labor-drive out to Grizzly Island
where all the levees were Chinese con-
structed. Drive into Green Valley
where all the rock fences were built by
Chinese and are still as solid and sub-
stantial as they were more than one
hundred years ago.
The construction of the western half
of the transcontinental railroad is a
story in itself, but its success rests on
the backs of the Chinese. It was consid-
ered the outstanding engineering feat
of the century, but when it was finished
in 1869, there were 25,000 Chinese out
of work and looking for new jobs.
They turned to every kind of work.
They went into fishing, manufactur-
ing, even shoemaking, both here and
on the east coast. They did everything-
housework, laundry work, cooking.
Even we on the ranch had a Chinese
cook when the fruit crops brought in a
profit. I remember our cook so well. His
name was Wong and he always made
cake by mixing and beating the ingre-
dients with his hands. He beat them
and beat them and beat them. He
turned out the most beautiful cakes you
ever saw. And today I can still tell by
the pie crust if the pastry cook in a
restaurant is a Chinese.
There was nothing the Chinese did
not do. They reclaimed swamp land,
worked in vineyards and orchards,
developed shrimp and abalone fishing.
They clung together, followed customs
of their own lands, living in China-
towns. When they were able, they sent
for wives and families. If they never
were able to do that, they wanted their
bodies returned to their native land for
burial. And, oh yes, they opened
restaurants.
In Suisun Valley practically every-
one had a "Chiny" cabin, usually kept
for the bossman. You would never
know if he'd be there alone himself or if
the place would be full to overflowing
with his friends. Ours was over on
Ledgewood Creek, the creek being the
western edge of our ranch. I remember
it as a rather small, dark cabin with a
well and a hand pump outside. I don't
remember ever going into it nor do I
remember the bossman who lived
there. Maybe it was because it was a
mile from the house. But I used to make
regular visits to the bossman who lived
a short way across the pasture on the
Towner ranch. I loved his cluttered up
December
Near the east end of this bridge over Suisun Creek on Suisun Valley Road was the
concealed exit from the tunnel that connected with the opium den.
cabin and we used to talk by the hour.
Once he had a brand new picture up on
his wall and he told me that it was Sun
Yat-Sen, the new president of China
and that he was a great man. That
must have been around 1912 as that is
the year that Sun Yat-Sen took office.
Out on the banks of Suisun Creek,
about a mile north of Rockville, was
Chinatown. Houses, bunk houses, big
stables for the horses, wagon yards,
fruit sheds, all were part of the village.
A good Chinese friend always insisted
it was not a village, absolutely not a
village but always a camp, but it
included a store and a Buddhist Tem-
ple so that it seemed to take on the
bigness of a village.
There were gambling rooms too as
the Chinese were great for gambling.
And it was whispered about that there
might be a hidden opium den among
the buildings. In other words, it was a
place sufficient unto itself. Oh, yes,
among the buildings were a number of
bunk houses for the single men whose
wives were in China. Each bunk house
had a good number of wooden beds and
its own kitchen and cook. Sometimes
these houses were full, especially dur-
ing the fruit season, and sometimes
almost empty. Also there were laundry
facilities where the single men as well
as the families could do their washing.
When I was very small, I made many
trips there with my father, driving in
the spring wagon with a pair of fast
stepping horses. My father and Wong
Gee, the bossman, were good friends.
My father raised hogs and the Chinese
were his main customers. Too, we
bought rice there. It came from China
SOLANO HISTORIAN
in fifty pound ricks, sacks made from
woven reeds. Papa and I would go into
a sort of office for our business with
Wong Gee. He always gave me a bottle
of strawberry soda pop that was
always warm. This was before the days
when ice was abundant. Anyway,
because I was unused to soda pop at all,
I always thought it was a special kind
of Chinese concoction. How I savored
it, drinking it slowly to make it last,
loving those biting tastes that soda pop
brings, even to the tingling in the nose.
But most of all I remember Wong Gee
coming to our house on Chinese New
Years. He always brought a bulb plant,
Chinese lilies mostly, in a beautiful
pottery bowl for mother as well as a
basket of jasmine tea. And there was
always a little Chinese doll for me.
How I loved those dolls with their
straight black hair in bangs over their
wee almond eyes and their dresses of
brocaded silk. There were lichi nuts
and such good candy, like sugared
coconut strips, brown sugar candy,
and sugared melon candy. Then there
was my favorite special candy, the
rich, rich almond cakes. One of the
things I remember most about China-
town was the swinging bridge across
the creek. It was on cables and bounced
with every step. No doubt it was easy to
cross if one could adjust to the up and
down motion. But the only time I tried
it, I got to the center and I froze. There
was nothing to hang on to as the cables
swooped down to the walkway itself at
the center. There I was, screeching at
the top of my lungs, the creek below
looking like a grand canyon. My father
rescued me but you may be sure that I
never stepped on that bridge again.
So that was Chinatown, thriving
and happily existing in 1928. In
August of that year, as happened each
August, it was augmented by many
tents full of campers, all helping in the
fruit harvest. Peaches were in full
harvest and the days began at dawn
and ended at dusk.
At that time I was the correspondent
for the Sacramento Bee from Fairfield,
and I received an early morning tele-
phone call that all hell had broken
loose in Chinatown. There were deaths
by shooting, and for me to get there
pronto if I wanted a grim story.
Knowing I needed help, I called
Sacramento, telling them I needed a
photographer and reporter, telling
them I would meet them at the sheriffs
office, and hurry. In less than an hour
they were down and we joined the sher-
iffs deputy and reporters from Oak-
land, San Francisco, and Vallejo.
Our guide, the sheriffs deputy, knew
the facts and gave them to us. A young
Chinaman had gone berserk and mur-
dered a number of people, including
nearly an entire family. Hardly a ques-
tion was asked. About the only noise
was the scratching of pencils on note-
books, as we furiously wrote away,
flinching at the more gruesome details.
All of Chinatown was in a state of
confusion. People still seemed to be in a
state of shock, with very little talking
going on.
We first went to the old office where
as a child I used to drink my straw-
berry pop. It looked the same, maybe a
little dustier, and a little more bed-
raggled, but our guide stooped over,
flipped over a rug, and raised a trap
door leading to a dusty room beneath,
lit by a rather dim electric light globe.
There was a short ladder and four
bunks down there. "Here," said the
deputy, "is where Wong Gee was lying
having a pipe of opium before he went
to work. And the way we reconstruct it,
one of his men came down to get the
orders for the day. Then a young
Chinaman by the name of Leung Ying
appeared with a sawed-off gun, shoot-
ing Wong Gee first, then the farm
worker."
The bodies had been removed, but
the blood, a lot of it, was still there.
Wong Gee had never risen up but his
companion had gotten halfway to the
door. I stared at the blood, looked at the
dim electric bulb giving light, heard
the buzzing of a fly, and felt panic
creeping into my being. The man con-
tinued, "Now here is the other exit," he
said, opening a door into a tunnel that
emerged into Suisun Creek. The
entrance from the creek was com-
pletely covered with vines. No one
would ever guess that such an under-
ground chamber as this existed. The
long suspected opium den was just a
little room, not much after all.
On we went to the laundry, where
another man was killed, to the cutting
shed where several lost their lives. And
then into our cars to drive to Wong
Gee's home, a half mile away. We
talked practically not at all. We were
too shaken; there was just so much
blood.
The guide continued, "Leung got
over here just as Nellie, Wong Gee's
fifteen year old daughter, was coming
down the front steps to go to school. He
shot her in the abdomen." Nellie was
gone. She was still alive at the hospital,
but her books were there lying on the
steps covered with blood. "They don't
think she will survive," said the
deputy.
Then he went inside. We followed.
"This man met Mrs. Wong Gee at the
door. She was carrying her ten-day old
baby. He shot her. She fell to the floor
and in her dying moment flung herself
over the baby to protect it. He walked
over to the crib where Johnny, four,
was sleeping. He shot him. He must
have run out of shells by then because
he picked up a cleaver from the kitchen
table and split three-year old Willie's
head. And then he grasped Mrs. Wong
Gee by the shoulder, turned her over,
and cut open the baby's head. He did
not know that Ruthie and Helen, seven
and nine years old, were upstairs still
in bed. He had killed eight people out-
right and three more were believed
dying, eleven in all, in barely no time at
all."
We were through the gruesome reci-
tation. We went out to our car. My Bee
photographer pulled out a pint of whis-
key and handed it to me. "Here take a
slug," he said, "before you pass out.
You are as white as a sheet". And I did,
a heavy slug, and so did he. And I'm
sure that was what got me back to nor-
mal. Somehow, somewhere along the
way, I kept remembering little Chinese
dolls dressed in rusty red brocade, the
same color as all those pools of half-
dried blood we had been seeing-and
seeing.
The murderer was Leung Ying, a
young Chinese of about thirty, if I
remember correctly. He had driven
away in Wong Gee's car. The proper
bulletins were sent out and finally he
was apprehended up near Grass
Valley.
I remember when the sheriff and dep-
uty brought him back the next day.
There had been no word as to when
Chinese houseboys, wearing work clothes, in the garden of a Vacaville
home.
6
SOLANO HISTORIAN
December
they were expected, but there was a big
crowd gathered at the jail entrance.
Many Chinese. It was a scary moment,
totally unexpected by the lawmen, but
outside of mutterings softly voiced,
nothing happened. It was with great
relief that he was finally lodged in a
cell.
Meanwhile there was a funeral. I had
best tell you about that by quoting an
article from the Sacramento Bee. "Chi-
nese of Suisun Valley and the neigh-
boring countryside as well as many
from San Francisco and other cities
gathered in Suisun City to bury their
dead. Slowly they filed through the
funeral chapel to gaze at the bodies of
ten who met death at the hands of a
drug-crazed maniac. (Nellie didn't die
until five days later, after the shoot-
ing.) With reverence they looked upon
their friends, from the aged man who,
it is said, cried out to his dead mother in
his last moments, to the wee ten-day
old baby nestled in the arms of its beau-
tiful mother.
"And the unemotional Chinese for-
got they were unemotional. Tears
rolled down the checks of men who
probably had not wept since they were
children. Sobs racked their bodies for
there was not one amongst them that
did not behold a close friend or relative
among the slain. Revenge was forgot-
ten. Only sorrow and sadness held
sway.
"Then the caskets of those to be bur-
ied here were loaded in the six hearses.
And car after car of both Chinese and
white followed in line. Devil papers
were stewn along the funeral line, a
superstition of old China wherein it
was believed the devil, being of curious
nature, would stop to read each one,
thus permitting time to inter the body
before the devil reached the grave. To
each person in the procession a coin
wrapped in red paper was given, as
well as a piece of Chinese candy, both
ancient beliefs.
"When the peaceful Rockville ceme-
tery was reached, closely tucked
against the hillside and a mass of color
from the myriad blossoms that fill it,
the huge crowd gathered around the
grave site with people mingling, white
people mingling with the Chinese, for
they had come to pay their respects to
those who had won from them their
esteem and admiration.
"Slowly the caskets were lowered
into the six graves, side by side-- Wong
Gee, Mrs. Wong Gee and her baby, Wil-
lie, Johnnie, Wing Hong, and Young
Gum Foon. (Later Nellie joined them,
seven graves in all.)
"Then silence. Gone was the out-
burst of grief, and the stoic mask of the
Chinese was readjusted back with one
exception. Little nine-year Helen
sobbed as her mother, father, and three
brothers were lowered into their final
resting place. And her arms stole
around Ruthie, her seven-year old sis-
ter, as if to protect her from the fate of
the others.
"A Chinese minister, holding a tiny
Chinese Bible in his hand, began the
services. In a soft melodious voice he
seemed to speak an international lan-
guage, for all present realized he meant
his words for every one-the story of
Christ and of the Resurrection-The
Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord."
And then it was over.
As for Leung Ying, the murderer,
after due trial he was sentenced to be
hanged.
Why did he commit these murders?
Well, as far as we could find out, and
according to his own version, he had
been the subject of much teasing. He
was an ugly little man, whose face was
deeply pock-marked, probably from
small pox, and he wasn't too bright.
The teasing irritated him. He found out
that opium swept away his unhappi-
ness and became addicted to it. As
"hopheads" were not encouraged on
this ranch, he couldn't get any opium,
and this coupled with his being teased
so much led his warped mind to the
path of murder. He knew exactly who
his targets would be and methodically
went about disposing of them.
He was never once remorseful. The
only regret he ever voiced was that he
hadn't been able to find a certain
elderly Chinese woman he wanted
dead. In fact, he once propositioned the
deputy at the County Jail that if he
could be free long enough to find and
kill this particular woman he could
come right back.
Yes, he was sentenced to be hanged,
but before that day arrived, he braided
a towel and a strip of blanket into a
noose and hanged himself on Death
Row in San Quentin.
As for Chinatown-that was its end.
In about six months no one was living
there. Little by little the many build-
ings were either torn down or
disintegrated.
Today (1981), some fifty-three years
later, no solitary vestige remains. The
little village of Chinatown has van-
ished from the face of the earth.
While Mary Higham and
Donna Marie Girton were tak-
ing pictures of the Chinese
graves in Rockville Cemetery,
they met a Chinese woman
putting flowers on the graves
of relatives. After a friendly
chat, Mary asked if she knew
about the Suisun murders. She
responded that her mother
was nineteen in 1928, living at
the camp, but was not present
at the time of the murders
because she had gone shop-
ping early, something she
ordinarily never did. She
knew about the unpopular
Leung. After talking with her
mother who now lives in San
Francisco, Mrs. Quan said the
two girls, Helen and Ruthie,
were spared because they
slept in a small porch attached
to the back of the house. The
girls were later taken to San
Francisco where they went to
school and were graduated
from nurses' training. They
worked many years in their
profession and are now
retired.
Mrs. Quan loaned the
Society the picture of the Chi-
nese community taken in 1925
when almost every member of
the Chinese community was
present; however, Mr. Wong,
who was present, declined to
be in the picture.
The remains of those mur-
dered in 1928 were later
removed by the Teung Sen Ton
Benevolent Society of San
Francisco and buried at
Colma.
The Historian recognizes the
debt that Solano County citizens
owe to columnists and writers of
local history who have contrib-
uted to the knowledge of the
County, the North Bay, and the
land around the "inner Golden
Gate." Ernest Wichels, Robert
Power, Wyman Riley, Sue Lem-
mon, and Harry Gray have writ-
ten well of our past. Their fine
books, stories, articles and
vignettes are an inspiration to the
hundreds of second, third and
fourth generation Solanoans who
have family letters, diaries, sto-
ries, and pictures that hold the
keys to many a fine story yet to be
told.
December
SOLANO HISTORIAN
Cordelia, When
I Was Young
by Pearl Fowler
I was raised in Green Valley when all
the trees and vineyards were young
and green. I was surrounded by a green
orchard of pears and apricots. It was
three miles to Cordelia, my home town
where I went to school and church. My
brother drove the horse and cart to
school for three of us. We put a sack of
hay under the seat and tied it on for the
horse's lunch. We picked up the neigh-
bor's kids, three of them. One hung on
behind and one sat on each shaft of the
cart. Yes, six small kids can get into a
cart.
There was always a center of interest
in my young world. It was the old yel-
low depot with the post office opposite
and the general store run by Peter
Siebe and Sons nearby.
The store had groceries and rows of
glass jars with candy in them. It had a
pot-bellied stove, a coffee grinder, stacks
of blue overalls, and bolts of calico. It
had a warehouse joining, filled with
sacks of beans, rice, sugar, flour, pota-
toes, chocolate, and a stack of daily
papers. Every one read the paper as
there were no T.V.'s yet. Such was our
supermarket to date. The farmers
charged their groceries until the crops
came in and then they paid the bill.
Tall milk cans were perched beside
the depot and the boys lounged around
them until the train came in. Then the
cans were put on a platform and
wheeled into a freight car.
There were three hotels and four
saloons. The two families running the
hotels near the depot each had beauti-
ful daughters. They would doll up, put
on their hats and come over to the post
The Siebe store that had glass jars of candy, sacks of beans, chocolate, and daily
papers.
office at train time. They got their mail
and saw their friends. People of the val-
ley drove down to get the paper and
the mail.
The railroad track ran through the
center of Cordelia and it is still there for
freight trains. There was a gravelled
road on each side of the track, (now
paved), with ditches beside them. The
sidewalks were gravelled and narrow.
There was a row of houses along the
gravelled walks. Most of them had
white picket fences and luscious
gardens with grape arbors. There were
fields in back of the houses for a cow
and chickens and a pig pen hidden.
There was Dunkers meat market, a
saloon side by side and a dance hall
upstairs where many dances and meet-
ings were held. Also a small white
Methodist Church and later a Luthe-
ran Church. I attended a two-room
grammar school with eight grades
which I went through. We were pro-
moted from one grade to another by
written exams. On graduating from
PETER SIEBE.
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ESTABLISHED 1875.
OTTO GLASHOFF
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PUBLIC TELEPHONE. Agency CHRONICLE, CALL, EXAMINER
the eighth grade there was a real pro-
gram, a speaker and the presentation
of diplomas.
The following year we could go to
high school. We went by train from the
Cordelia Depot to Suisun and walked
into Fairfield. The train came from
South Vallejo through Napa Junction
to Cordelia where we all got on to go to
Suisun.
We walked from Suisun to Fairfield's
Armijo High School. We named the
train "the old plug." The train went
from South Vallejo to Suisun in the
morning, then turned around at Suisun
and went back to Vallejo. It carried
most of the county officers, such as the
tax collector, the assessor, the auditor,
the district attorney and us, the high
school kids. I have forgotten how they
got to the Court House, but we walked
all the way from Suisun and I suppose
they did also.
Although Armijo building is still
standing it has been changed to a
Court House, and the walk is still there
but the palm trees along the walk are
towering over everything now.
The Cordelia Depot, the store, post
office and meat market with the dance
hall on top burned on one awful hot
summer day.
I remember the winery on the other
side of the hill from school. The wagons
drawn by horses brought lug boxes of
grapes from Green Valley vineyards
owned by Pierce. They stopped the
horses and let the kids climb on the
back of the wagon to get a bunch of
grapes. We got beautiful muscats,
pinots, large purple grapes, and one
called "sweet waters."
The vineyards of the upper Green
Valley have all died and the lower ones
SOLANO HISTORIAN
December
were just taken away recently. There is
still one vineyard left. The old winery
in Green Valley is gone as is the one in
Cordelia. My memory is faint like the
seventh carbon sheet of print, pale and
fading but still there. And I remember
the poem that we sang in school that
began —
When all the world is young lad
And all the trees are green
and ended —
God grant you find one face there
You loved when all was young.
There is one face, or rather, place left
in Cordelia I loved when all was young.
The old Thompson Corner. It was Stud-
er's Corner then. It too had a dance hall
above it. The men still play cards there
and use it for their social club. The fire
department gives its dances across
from it in a larger hall and the ladies
still make cake for supper time for the
dance I loved when all was young.
The Cordelia Station where high school students caught the train for Suisun.
The flourishing community of Cordelia had three hotels
and four saloons as well as its railway station that
shipped out tons of fruit and nuts each year. Social life
centered around the buildings at Studer's Corner.
December
SOLANO HISTORIAN
John Frey and the
Vallejo Water System
by Sally O'Hara Woodard
Experts admonish writers of history
"not-to-begin-with-the-flood!" One,
writing about water, is more tempted
than others for, after all, the flood was
of water, and water is the substance
that makes life possible. The presence
of water, plus a physiologically mild
temperature, led to the start of the evo-
lution of life on earth 1.5 billion years
ago. And hydrogen was formed in the
"big bang" 15 billion years ago. The
stunning words of Genesis tempt us
even more to carry our subject back to
the creation of life, but we must resist.
We know that water covers about
70% of the earth's surface in the oceans,
lakes, rivers, and glaciers. We know
that 97% of earth's water, the oceans, is
saline (salt) water and that only 3% of
earth's water is fresh. Of this 3% fresh
water, we know that 2/3 of it is locked
in polar ice caps and glaciers and that
the remaining 1/3 is found in ground
water, lakes, streams, and in the
atmosphere. It is this 1/3 of 3% — one
percent of all earth's water-from
which we draw our sustenance-our
life.
What portion of earth's fresh water
was available to those who first settled
Vallejo? If we could have flown on high
for a bird's-eye view of our land, we
would be struck by the fact that Solano
County was largely defined by boun-
daries of abundant waterways. In the
north, Putah Creek (Rio do las Putas)
leads the boundary eastward to the
Sacramento River which carries it
southward and thence westward to
Suisun Bay and then to the Carquinez
Straits and into San Pablo Bay. From
there the Solano line proceeds north-
west to where Sonoma Creek and Napa
Slough enter the Bay. Running then
due east across numerous islands and
salt marshes, it crosses the Napa River
at the northern end of Napa Bay at
Slaughterhouse Point. It continues
east until up in the hills of eastern
American Canyon it proceeds north-
ward, passing west of Elkhorn Peak,
west of Wildhorse Valley, and through
the Vacaville Mountains until it
returns to Putah Creek.
Thus, water appears on all but one
side of Solano County. Vallejo, near
the southwestern corner of the county,
fronts on the Carquinez Straits, on the
Mare Island Straits, and Napa River.
Water, water, everywhere...?
If we had read the diary of Jose de
Canizares, first sailing master of the
San Carlos, written as he brought the
first Spanish boat into San Francisco
Bay, we would have gained some
insight about our future water supply. '
Canizares noted, as he neared Carqui-
nez Straits from San Pablo Bay, that
the hills were without trees and
barren. Also, his boat was miles (four
or five leagues) northeast of Vallejo at
Suisun Bay before he found fresh
water "that could be drunk." Of
course! Vallejo's boundary waters are
saline. Must the water supply then
come from inland -from this land
which appeared so dry to Canizares?
Again viewing from on high, we
would have seen that there were no
rivers or natural lakes in Solano
County. We would have seen many
small creeks or creek beds, but only
nine that would seem sufficient for a
water supply. Of these nine, five were
north of or close to Vacaville. These
were Putah Creek on our northern
border, Sweeney, Ulatis, Alamo, and,
to the west, the Pleasants Valley
Creek. In central Solano County,
Suisun Creek, rising in Napa County,
flowed southeast to the salt marsh 1.5
miles east of Bridgeport (Cordelia),
and Green Valley Creek with a
watershed roughly between Wildhorse
Canyon and Twin Sisters Mountain
emptied eight miles downstream in
Cordelia Slough at Bridgeport.
In southern Solano County there
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Beautiful Green Valley Falls, the scene of many happy outings and picnics before it
was secured as one of the primary sources of the Vallejo water system.
10
SOLANO HISTORIAN
December
-Lake Madigan
Lake Curry
Gordon Valley Treatment Plant
Fleming H
Water Treatment Plant
were but two streams appearing suffi-
cient. Rising on the eastern (Benicia)
side of Sulphur Springs Mountain was
Sulphur Springs Valley Creek, which
ran a southeasterly course through
Sulphur Springs Valley and emptied
into the salt marsh two miles north of
the U.S. Barracks (at the Benicia Arse-
nal, the source for Lake Herman). In
the Vallejo area was Sulphur Springs
Creek, rising from the watershed of the
western Sulphur Springs Mountain,
coupled with the runoff from White Sul-
phur Springs, three miles east of Val-
lejo. This creek ran a westerly, then
northwesterly, course, emptying into
Napa Bay three miles north of Vallejo. 2
It is the Sulphur Springs Creek
which would later become the source
for Vallejo's first water system. This
stream "like all other Coast Range
streams, is torrential in character.
Their flow in summer time is almost
negligible, though rising to floods in
times of heavy rainfall. To equalize
their flow and utilize them for water
supply purposes, storage is necessary.
Storage means reservoirs, transmis-
sion mains, distribution pipes--an
entire networking system-a costly
enterprise for a struggling town." 3 It
would be eighteen years from the time
Vallejo became capital of the State of
California in 1852 until Vallejo had its
first water system. It would be twenty-
two years from the date of its founding,
1854, that Mare Island Navy Yard
would wait for its water supply.
Thus, Eden, Eureka, or Vallejo, as it
has been variously called, relied upon
ground water and rain water for over
City of Vallejo. California
Existing Water Supply System
K/J 4075
June 1985
Figure 2.01
twenty of its early years.
Ground water-natural underground
reservoirs or storage basins-has sev-
eral advantages over surface water
storage. It is often cheaper; the water is
filtered naturally by percolation; and
there is little loss through evaporation.
The basin also is a natural distribution
system enabling water to be pumped
out when needed. In 1975 it was esti-
mated that 40% of California's water
needs was supplied by these ground
waters. The quality of underground
water depends upon the balance
between the amount filtering into the
basin and the amount going out. With
little rain or precipitation when the
basins are not replenished and with
excessive pumping, contamination by
salt water intrusion in basins that are
connected hydraulically with the
ocean or other bodies of salt water is
common. 4 Such was the case in Valle-
jo's early years. There are many refer-
ences to the harsh and brackish well
water. In the dry season, the saline in
the wells was intolerable in Vallejo.
The town depended heavily upon
rain. Cisterns and water tanks were
the best hope for pure water. The qual-
ity of the water stored in these
depended upon the cleanliness of the
container and the method of catch-
ment. It was not easy to keep roofs and
drains clean. Animalculae were contin-
uous problems. Pollution from one's
own earthclosets and those of neigh-
bors ever threatened the cisterns and
wells in the ground as did the occasions
of tragic leakage. Water tanks, made of
boards, were subject to rot and warp.
Evaporation lessened precious
supplies. 5
When the rain was heavy, the town
suffered from endless mud. In dry
spells, water was too precious to sprin-
kle the dusty streets. Water in those
lean times became a luxurious com-
modity. Enterprising men brought
water barges from Benicia, Contra
Costa, and the Sacramento and San
Joaquin Rivers where water was in bet-
ter supply, and sold this vital sub-
stance by the bucket or the barrel.
For many years, Mare Island was
especially dependent upon the water
bargemen. In 1870 the Vallejo Direc-
tory commented on the Navy Yard,
saying, "The arrangements for supply-
ing the Yard with water are at present
wretchedly defective. There is not a
well in the Yard, and the inhabitants
are compelled to use cistern water, not
only for culinary, but drinking pur-
poses. Some years ago an attempt was
made to sink an artesian well (near the
S.E. corner of Bldg. #45), but after bor-
ing some four hundred feet, the appro-
priation gave out and the work has
never been resumed, although there is
no doubt an abundance of water can be
found if they go deep enough. The neg-
lect of the Government, in this particu-
lar is the more striking when it is
reflected that in case of war, should the
Island be blockaded, it would be at the
mercy of the enemy, who could easily
cut off its present precarious water
supply. One or more artesian wells are
an imperative necessity, and should be
sunk without delay." 6
The hazard to the health of the resi-
dents was obvious. The growth and
development of a healthy and prosper-
ous economy were impossible without
more and better water. The spectre of
fire must have been haunting. The first
two fire companies were formed in 1859
and 1865. In 1866 Vallejo suffered its
first major fire. A poignant petition to
the Board of Trustees in July, 1878,
makes the reality very clear. One of the
fire companies requisitioned the city
"to replace the many tin buckets lost in
fighting the last fire." 7
Life was not easy in the early years,
but Americans had already conquered
a continent. Their spirit and enthusi-
asm were unquenchable. In the late
1860's Vallejo's population neared
6500. In 1869 the intercontinental rail-
road would be linked to the west. Val-
lejo became a city on April 6, 1868. The
Civil War was over-many would look
to the west for their fortunes. The Gold
Rush was over-prosperity would now
come from commerce. Vallejo stood at
December
SOLANO HISTORIAN
11
the headlands of the "western Bos-
phorous, the strait of Carquines, the
inner golden gate of San Francisco
Bay. ..where much of the wealth of the
country would flow." 8 Vallejo must
have water.
Talk of water abounded. On April 13,
1867, the Vallejo Recorder wrote of the
Sulphur Springs, "after 24 hours expo-
sure to air the water is freed of its sul-
phurous taste and becomes far more
palatable than the well water of Val-
lejo. Parties are looking into the ques-
tion of conducting surplus water from
the springs in pipes to supply the town.
There is sufficient water to supply all
those who are likely to patronize. We
may have water conducted to our own
doors this summer!" The Chronicle,
June 29, 1867, reported, "Finally the
talk about introducing water from Sul-
phur Springs Creek into Vallejo will
come to pass. Outside of cistern water
there is little if any good water to be
had in town. During the dry season the
masses have to use the saline water
from wells." On July 20, 1867, The Val-
lejo Recorder wrote, "Parties in Vallejo
are figuring upon the matter of intro-
ducing water into the town from Amer-
ican Canyon and the White Sulphur
Springs. It is the best speculation we
know." And, on February 14, 1868, the
Recorder said, "Vallejo can obtain by
an artificial channel thirty (30) miles
long, a supply of 40,000,000 gallons
daily from Clear Lake, and the abun-
dance will make it cheap."
There were venturesome ideas about
the source of water. Who would bring it
into town? Six water companies were
incorporated and their certificates of
incorporation filed in Solano County
during the period of July, 1867, to
November, 1871. 9 It was their intention
to bring water to Vallejo. This flurry of
incorporations hints at the profitabil-
ity of the water business. The compan-
ies that were formed, the dates filed,
and proposed source of water, and the
incorporators were:
The Vallejo Water Company, July,
1867; from the several springs and
creeks to the north and westward; Cal-
lender, Brownlie, Wood, Snows &
Wright.
The Vallejo Water Company, March
2, 1868; From Solano White Sulphur
Springs and other sources; Marvin
(S.F.), Conolly & Frisbie.
The Vallejo City Water Company;
August 1, 1868; from the several
Springs and Creeks to the north and
eastward; Wright, McCue &
Edgecumbe.
The Suscol and Vallejo Water Com-
pany; October 29, 1869; from waters
found between the road at Suscol in the
County of Napa and the fountainhead
of the stream crossing said road...;
Shirley, USN, H. Cullum, W.L. Brown.
The Vallejo Water Company;
October 11, 1869; from Solano White
Sulphur Springs, and American
Canyon, and Clear Lake, and artesian
wells to be sunk near Vallejo and other
sources; Rutter, Musheimer, Toomy,
Denio & Lickens.
The Russian River Water Company;
November, 28, 1871; to supply the
towns of Healdsburg, Santa Rosa,
Sonoma, and the City of Vallejo with
water from the Russian River, Santa
Rosa Creek, Los Guilleros Creek in
Sonoma County, Sonoma Creek and
Huichira Creek in Napa County and
other sources; by Frisbie, Atherton,
Babcock, Lathan, Parrott, Green, and
de Laske.
We have no record of negotiations, if
any there were, between the City and
companies other than the Vallejo City
Water Company. It was this Company
that petitioned the City of Vallejo, on
August 24, 1868, for "leave to lay down
water pipes and to erect hydrants and
reservoirs within the city limits for the
purpose of supplying the city with pure
water from the Sulphur Springs
Creek." The City awarded this fran-
chise only after negotiating an agree-
ment whereby the company would
furnish "water for the extinguishment
of fires gratuitously"- a good bar-
gain. 10 The franchise was to run until
1891. Another corporation, the Vallejo
Water Company, organized in 1883,
acquired all the properties and the
franchise of the Vallejo City Water
Company in 1883 and continued to
serve Vallejo, 11 apparently with the
same principals involved, Joseph
Edgecumbe, Michael Reese, and
Anthony Chabot.
There is excellent documentation of
the construction of the storage reser-
voir built north of Vallejo called Cha-
bot Reservoir or Lake Chabot,
including maps, diagrams and draw-
ings of the transmission lines and 7.2
square mile watershed of the Sulphur
Springs Creek. 12 The new water distri-
bution system was based on gravity
flow from Chabot to the City of 6500
inhabitants. By 1869 many lovely
homes and St. Vincents Church were
being constructed on the hills sur-
rounding central Vallejo. Early in 1872
the City Board of Trustees formed a
reservoir committee assigned to
explore the possibility of a reservoir on
Capitol Street hill-obviously the grav-
ity system was insufficient to serve the
higher areas. On April 25, 1872, Mr.
Edgecumbe of the water company
received permission to erect a tank on
Napa Street north of Capitol to meet
the need until the completion of the
John Frey, left, clasping hands with the other men involved with the development
of the municipal water supply
12
SOLANO HISTORIAN
December
reservoir. It is interesting that the City,
rather than the water company, built
and paid for the Capitol Hill Reservoir
property, for this property was listed as
a company asset in later years. John
Frisbie, of the Vallejo Land and Devel-
opment Company, agreed to loan the
city $50,000 for fire and water purposes
including the building of the reservoir.
The loan was for 90 cents on the dollar
plus interest. The minutes of the Board
of Trustees contain detailed informa-
tion on the costs, specifications, bids,
and construction of the reservoir. 13
The Vallejo Chronicle on December
24, 1875, reported that, "water was let
into the Capitol Street Reservoir yes-
terday" thereby ending the problem of
pressure pumps and private wells. 14
In July, 1876, happy news came for
Mare Island. 15 "Orders from Washing-
ton D.C. have been received to com-
plete the reservoir on Mare Island."
Thus ended the twenty-two year period
in which the Yard's only water was
from cisterns or the water barges. Mare
Island was soon connected to the Cha-
bot system by two pipelines, one run-
ning from the Capitol Hill Reservoir
and the other from the Chabot Reser-
voir. The Mare Island contract was an
important source of income for the
Water Company. The company's
annual receipts were $32,000 to $35,000
per year (16 to 17.5% on their $200,000
investment), of which $9,000 would
come from Mare Island. 16
Were the dreams of Vallejoans com-
ing true? Did a surge of growth and
prosperity follow the acquisition of
water? The diary of John Frey answers
our questions. Mr. Frey was elected to
the Board of Trustees in 1890. He was a
business man who owned a jewelry
and stationary store, but it was his per-
severance, dedication and spirit which
earned him the title: "Father of Valle-
jo's Water System". His diary says:
"This new water company, called the
Vallejo Water Company, located its
storage reservoir — its source of supply
— about three miles from Vallejo on a
creek whose source is the White Sul-
phur Springs. A portion of this sulphur
water would find its way into the stor-
age reservoir, called Lake Chabot, but
nearly all the water for the supply of
Vallejo had to be made up by catch-
ment from the winter rains which
would have been well enough had the
watershed been fairly clean. But such
was not the case. White Sulphur
Springs was operated for a time as a
public resort and for a while as a state
institution, a home for the feeble-
minded for the whole state, occupied by
TA.It1)TTI2?Kll,
rr — A vf? F agr x»-
Map SHowine
Vicinity of Vallejo
AMD
Chabot Reservoir.
several hundred human beings. The
balance of the watershed was all occu-
pied by 8 or 10 different farms so that
all the sewage or filth that would
accumulate during the summer or dry
season would find its way to this reser-
voir, so-called Lake Chabot.
"During the storms of the winter or
rainy season, while this filth may have
increased the quantity it certainly did
not increase the quality of the water
furnished by this company. While no
doubt this kind of water was dangerous
to the health of the consumers, one of
the worst features was that the water
supply was inadequate for the needs of
the community. At one time the water
supply gave out entirely for ten
months. The people had to go back to
the primitive method of supplying
themselves. The old wells were brought
into use again. The water cart again
went from door to door. Flat boats
brought water from the Sacramento
and San Joaquin Rivers and some
brought water by various conveyances
from San Francisco.
"The farms in the catchment area
were under cultivation, and if the rain
fell in such a manner that the ground
could absorb it, there would be little or
no catchment and the natural conse-
quence would be a water famine for
Vallejo. If the water consumer was fur-
nished with water for one hour a day,
he considered himself a happy fortu-
nate being for a little water was better
than no water at all." 17
Easily the most colorful description
of Vallejo's water was in a document
written by John Frey in 1892: "(the
Company proposes to) furnish the peo-
ple of this city for all time with a sort of
nauseous soup composed of vegetable
refuse, animalculae and pollywogs, the
water in the mixture seeping to the catch
basin from a watershed composed in
part of the drainage from barnyards, pig-
pens, and water closets and pastured
and enriched by numerous hogs and
cattle which bathe and wallow in the
shallow".
We are told that the Company greet-
ed every request for relief or refund
with a stock statement: "If you don't
like the way we serve you, you can have
your water shut off." It was apparent
that the Board of Trustees, prior to
1890, was lenient with the water com-
pany and allowed it to collect water
rates as high as the traffic would bear.
Frey states that the election of an
entirely new Board of Trustees in 1890
was "apparently by the merest of acci-
dents", but it is certain that an angry
and thirsty populace was "accident"
enough to account for the new slate. As
one of its first official acts, the new
Board, consisting of Trustees Hackett,
Rounds, Frey, Bergwall, Brown,
Saunders, and Michaelis, in June,
1890, passed a resolution, offered by
Trustee Frey, acknowledging the im-
portance of "a good reliable and whole-
some water supply" for the city and
"Respectfully" requesting the Corn-
December
SOLANO HISTORIAN
13
pany to "take such action as lies in
their power to secure an unfailing
supply of good wholesome water." The
Trustees pledged that, thereafter,
water rates would be full rates for full
service, and proportionally lower for
shorter supplies; and that they would
use all of their powers to remedy the
existing danger and protect the inter-
ests of the city.
For over one year, the Water Com-
pany replied only with scorn and inac-
tion. On August 5, 1891, the Board
again acted, this time with more resolu-
tion. The Board had not been idle. They
were now armed with the conviction
that the city could, and would, if neces-
sary supply itself with water. A com-
mittee of three Trustees was appointed
to recommend solutions for this prob-
lem. They were Frey, Rounds, and
Brown. After a thorough investigation
this committee recommended that: the
Chabot Dam be raised no less than 10'
to increase capacity and that the Com-
pany acquire the lands necessary for
this increase; that the Company lay a
10" pipe from American Canyon Creek
to double the watershed; that the Com-
pany remove all sources of pollution;
and that if the Company refused to
comply with the above, the City would
proceed to construct new water works
itself. The Company replied that it
would not spend one dollar on improv-
ing its plant and that the people of Val-
lejo could "help themselves if they
could". Under pressure from the
bondholders of the Company, who held
$185,000 in outstanding bonds, the
Company suddenly reversed its tac-
tics, and humbly agreed to all requests
and posted $50,000 bond to cover the
necessary work. Unconvinced, the
Trustees investigated and found the
bond to be worthless. Meanwhile
secretly the Company had secured a
court order enjoining it from raising
the dam even an inch.
The city had had enough. The Trus-
tees called for an election to be held
March 16, 1892, to authorize the issu-
ance of a $250,000 bond issue to finance
the purchase of 1,200 acres of Suscol
Creek property in Napa County and to
construct a municipal water system.
The election fell 30 votes short of the
required 2/3 majority needed. The
Trustees, undaunted, called another
election for June, 1892. This time the
Suscol water bond issue carried by 39
votes over the 2/3 majority.
Elated with its success, the city
water committee rushed to complete
purchase of the Suscol property. The
owners had agreed orally to the sale.
Surprisingly, two insurmountable
obstacles intervened. The Vallejo
Water Company had secretly offered
the owners $45,000. Now, the owners'
price was $60,000 — an impossible
amount. Secondly, the disgruntled
water company had filed suit in Napa
County for the condemnation of the
Suscol properties. Suscol appeared to
be hopeless.
It was clear that the water company
would try to defeat the city at every
turn and "had plenty of coin." What-
ever was to be done must be carried out
in secrecy. The committee knew that
the Green Valley Creek, with its "never
failing mountain stream of the purest
of soft waters" must be its objective.
The difficulties seemed insurmount-
able — the distance of the stream from
Vallejo was 21 miles by wagon road;
there were innumerable right-of-ways
that must be secured; the 1657 acre
watershed, the Hastings ranch, must
be purchased; and a low pass for the
transmission mains would have to be
found. It seemed almost impossible to
accomplish all of these things for
$250,000 and without the water com-
pany hearing of it. John Frey knew
that it had to be done and took com-
plete charge of the matter.
Frey dared not hire a surveyor to test
the elevations, lest the news leak to the
water company. He purchased survey-
ing equipment and, alone, made the
measurements. Knowing that property
owners would charge astronomical pri-
ces if they knew of a major public
works project, Frey enlisted the help of
J.M. Gregory, a former Solano County
Superior Court Judge and trusted
friend, to assist with the purchase of
the lands, in cases where Frey's pres-
ence might reveal the nature of the
project.
Frey's diary details his many adven-
tures. A low enough pass was found,
the property rights were secured and
Mrs. Remi Chabot, the city's most
14
SOLANO HISTORIAN
December
dogged opponent, was eluded. With
careful management, Frey believed
that the project could be accomplished
for the bonded amount. In all, Frey
made 245 trips out of Vallejo to secure
the project.
The first and second elections in 1892
referred to the Suscol properties. This
legal technicality could only be cleared
by a third election. It was called for
November 7, 1892. Mr. Chabot was not
through fighting. At his request, Con-
gressman English introduced a bill in
the U.S. Congress proposing that the
government buy the Water Company
for $250,000 as a water supply for Mare
Island. The city needed the Mare
Island contract. At that time, Mare
Island produced $9,000 in water
revenues. Representative English was
contacted. He admitted little interest in
the bill. It failed to pass in Congress.
Next, the water company filed suit to
enjoin Vallejo from selling water to
Mare Island on the grounds that it had
no jurisdiction to do so, even if the
Island was within the city limits,
because the Yard was under the juris-
diction of the U.S. Government. The
decision of Judge Buckles, included in
the Frey Collection, favored the city.
Prior to the election, the Company
had spread vicious rumors. The most
common tale was that the water com-
mittee would profit handsomely from
hidden deals involving the Hastings
Ranch property. John Frey met every
charge with openness and full disclo-
sure in numerous letters published by
the local press. On the eve of the elec-
tion the water company placed 50
workmen prominently about the
streets digging and measuring to give
the impression that the company was
eager to please the people of Vallejo.
The people were not fooled. On election
day, the measure passed by a vote of
1066 to 397. Construction began imme-
diately thereafter.
On January 27, 1894, five thousand
Vallejo residents joyfully crowded
around the street square at the corner
of Georgia and Sacramento streets. It
was a Saturday evening. The town was
lighted by bonfires; a salute of 1 01 guns
was fired; music, fireworks, and the
ringing of bells added to the celebra-
tion. Vallejo owned its own water
supply! The fact that the celebrants did
not see their precious water that night
due to a break in a pipe did not dim
their enthusiasm. A banquet later that
night honored John Frey. The bever-
age accompanying the first course was
Green Valley Water.
Did the new municipal water system
December
work? Yes. In 1914, a glowing tribute to
the system confirmed its success: "If
there is one thing Vallejoans can point
to with pride, it is the municipally
owned water system, one of the first
successfully operated in the State, and
a criterion of what municipal owner-
ship can accomplish for the people
when intelligently managed.
"...the reservoirs were natural, as far
as it was possible to secure them and,
located 1200 feet above the city's base,
provided for a complete gravity flow.
This gravity feature has been one
important factor in the success of the
enterprise. Other features are an ade-
quate supply of good quality and the
enthusiasm of the people in their own
property. With the worth of the system
demonstrated, the voters have never
hesitated to authorize money for
improvements and extensions when
they became necessary, and now the
city's investment represents an actual
value of more than a million dollars. Its
moral value is many times that
amount.
"It is now at its highest state of devel-
opment. Two lakes, (Frey and Madi-
gan) with a capacity of 1,002,741,000
gallons, constitute a supply to the city
and navy yard for three years. From
these lakes, the water sparkles over a
mile and half of picturesque cascades
to the diverting dam, from where it is
piped to the distribution reservoirs at
Fleming Hill, a mile and a half from
the city. Two mammoth concrete bas-
ins, with a joint capacity of 11,633,700
gallons, here pick up the ice (sic) cold
water and from the elevations of 216'
above the city's base, send it into the
local mains at a high pressure. The
reservoirs are so located that they can
be used singly or together, this
arrangement providing easy facilities
for constant cleaning, thus insuring at
all times a perfectly pure product.
"The city system consists of 3,000
taps, 150 fire hydrants, and distribut-
ing pipes cover about 50 miles. Most of
the consumers are on meters with a
minimum rate of 75 cents per month,
and meters are being connected at all
taps as fast as they can be installed.
The average consumption is one and a
quarter million gallons daily, the navy
yard using about half this amount.
"Not only has this system saved the
consumers exactly one-half of their
former tolls, but it has saved the Uni-
ted States approximately one million
dollars since it has been in operation.
Every month this amount is aug-
mented. The advantages are especially
noticeable by naval officers when war-
- J5»i»_rf»
Lake Chabot during its draining for construction of Marine World, spring of 1985.
SOLANO HISTORIAN 15
ships are forced to take on inferior
water in other ports at more than dou-
ble the rates.
"Not only has the consumer benefit-
ted by a lower price of service, but the
tax rate is reduced by the handsome
annual surplus that goes to meet the
running expense of the city. (Ed. add.
$55,796.18 fiscal year 1910-11). So sub-
stantial is this surplus that street
sprinkling and water for schools and
public buildings is (sic) supplied to
other branches of the city government
free of cost.
"Vallejo is justly proud of its water
system, one of its best assets, and every
week inquiries come to the city clerk
from other cities, asking for data on the
plan. He explains to them that we not
only have the best water in the state,
but that its cost to the consumer is the
most reasonable, and that every year it
reduces taxes by diverting to the city a
good sum of money to meet the
expenses of government." 18
In July, 1985, the Vallejo City Water
System served approximately 90,000
persons. By the year 2000 estimates
show it will serve 115,000. By 2020 it
will serve 150,000. During the 1940's
the draft from Green Valley averaged
one million gallons a day. The highest
annual draft in recent years has been
one-third million gallons a day. All of
this water is consumed by customers in
the Green Valley Country Club area.
Lake Chabot, purchased by the city in
1947, is part of the city's recreational
system and at the moment is drained in
preparation for construction of Marine
World. The city now draws 37.66 mil-
lion gallons per day from 5 sources — a
marvel of planning and engineering
skills. But that is another story...
C ommencement Program
About our authors . . .
(Continued from inside front cover)
ies about long-time Vallejo residents
and early school personnel.
Marion Devlin, who wrote "Hast-
ings' Folly" in 1937, was Women's Edi-
tor for Gibson Publications for
forty-seven years. A native Vallejoan,
she had press credentials to cover the
coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and
the marriage of Prince Charles and
Lady Diana.
16
March from "Athalia" Mendelssohn
Miss Dorothy Doyle
Invocation Rev. W. H. Johnstone
Vocal Solo "O Wondrous Youth"
Miss Edith Nash
(Violin obligato, Russsll Mayhood)
Address, "The International Peace Move-
ment" Miss Alice Mason
Address "A Local Educational Problem"
Marshall Woolner
Piano Solo, "Dance of the Demons," Ed-
ward Hoist Miss Pearl Mason
Address, Prof. Thomas H. Reed, University
of California.
Violin Solo, "Simple Confession," Thome
Russell Mayhood
Presentation of Diplomas, Mr. S. R. Bar-
nett. Secretary of Board of High School
Trustees.
The above program of the 1912 Commencement of Armijo High School was
thoughtfully saved in the Mezclah yearbook. The pianist, Pearl Mason, is the
author of the story «on Cordelia. Such artifacts are indispensable in historical
research.
Pearl Mason Fowler was born on
a ranch in Green Valley. At one time
her family, the Masons, owned the
largest cherry orchards in Solano
County. She taught at the Rockville
Grammar School for sixteen years. She
was teaching there the day of the Chi-
nese massacre described in the story by
Evelyn Lockie. She is an accomplished
painter.
Evelyn Woolner Lockie, a Solano
native, was a valedictorian of Armijo
High School, attended Mills College,
and spent three years studying theater.
She was an official reader at KPO
when radio was new, a correspondent
for the Sacramento Bee, and a women
deputy in the Solano County Sheriffs
Department before she decided to see
the world. For seven years she tra-
SOLANO HISTORIAN
veled, visiting over a hundred coun-
tries before returning to retire in
Solano County. Recently she has
moved to a south Bay Area.
Tom Lucy, a historian at the Vallejo
Naval and Historical Museum, special-
izes in Vallejo history. He is head of
cataloguing and accessioning for the
Museum as well as curator of the photo-
graphic collection.
Sally O'Hara Woodard, a fourth
generation Vallejoan, attended Vallejo
schools, but was graduated from Anna
Head School for Girls in Berkeley. She
received aB.A. from University of Cali-
fornia at Berkeley and LL.B. and J.D.
from Hastings Law School. She was an
associate of the law firm of O'Hara,
Randall, Castagnetto, and Kilpatrick.
She is the great granddaughter of John
Frey.
December
The Last Day of the Sehome
A great part of the charm and impor-
tance of life in Vallejo in the first quar-
ter of the Twentieth Century was the
busy and interesting ferry and steamer
system that kept the city in touch with
San Francisco and other Bay Area cit-
ies. The master of the system was the
Monticello Steamship Company which
had a fleet of steamers coming and
going constantly. Among these were
the well-known ferries Sehome, Gen-
eral Frisbie, and Napa Valley, all in
service on the frightful day of
December 14, 1918.
The Sehome left Vallejo for San
Francisco at 7:30 in the morning carry-
ing 125 passengers and five automo-
biles on her usual run. These included
commuters on their way to work, tra-
velers celebrating the month old
Armistice, and Christmas shoppers
wanting to take advantage of the large
department stores. And among the
passengers was a fifteen-year old girl,
Eileen Hogan, who still has a vivid
recollection of the events of that day.
As her father had not indicated other-
wise, Eileen assumed this Saturday she
would be traveling alone. She had made!
a number of such trips to the city, with
her father escorting her down to the>
ferry in Vallejo and her aunt meeting
her at the docking in San Francisco.
After a quick but delicious breakfast
of eggs, toast, and cocoa, she rushed to
make the early departure time her
father had set. As they stepped out into
the blackness of the December morn-
ing, they were immediately aware of
the dense fog, the moist deep silence
that surrounded them as they searched
for the familiar Georgia Street land-
marks. Only the low, hollow warning
of the fog horn on the Straits pene-
trated the cloud that separated them
from the well-known homes and fences
they were passing. It was an easy walk
for it was all downhill and the young
girl was able to keep up with the long
strides of her father.
When they reached the dock, father
and daughter joined the crowd that
was waiting to file onto the Sehome, a
favorite vessel that had been on the
Vallejo-San Francisco run for a
number of years and had been entirely
rebuilt only four years before. Survey-
ing the fog and the crowded ferry care-
fully, the father suddenly changed his
mind. Instead of bidding her goodbye,
he said, "I think I'll go all the way with
you today. There is no reason for me to
stay home, and I'd enjoy a bit of a
change." Eileen was pleased with the
new arrangement even though she
enjoyed the feeling of independence
and freedom of the ninety minute trip
when she spent her time watching the
other passengers as they paced the
deck, enjoying the passing shoreline,
and seeing the sun come up from
behind the Contra Costa hills.
However, this day would afford no
Vallejo waterfront 1912, showing ferries Napa
Valley at left and Arrow at right, both operated
by the Monticello Steamship Company for the
Vallejo-San Francisco run. The Napa Valley
assisted in the rescue of the Sehome passengers.
The waterfront was the center of transportation
activities until the advent of Carquinez Bridge in
1927.
December
SOLANO HISTORIAN
17
sight-seeing. The persistent fog was
heavier than she ever remembered it;
and the chill of the winter morning
soon forced the passengers inside the
spacious cabin where they settled
down to reading the morning news-
paper or to desultory conversation with
a neighbor.
An hour passed uneventfully while
she told her father about her school
activities, and enjoyed the five-cent
Hershey bar he always bought her,
when suddenly a shuddering crash
startled all the passengers. A cracking
noise and heavy vibrations warned the
passengers that something was terri-
bly amiss. In seconds the crew and pas-
sengers were vividly aware that
another steamer had struck the
Sehome amidships and cracked open
the hull. The invader was the General
Frisbie, also from the Monticello
Steamship Company.
Both vessels had been going on "the
slow bell" trying to make their way
through the thickest fog any could
remember when suddenly the Frisbie
saw the Sehome loom up before her, but
so close the collision could not be pre-
vented. The Frisbie, loaded with
marines going to a football game in
Berkeley, plowed into the port side of
the Sehome and was stuck fast in the
gap in the side of the smaller vessel.
Both steamers were locked together,
but the General Frisbie had sustained
much less damage than the Sehome. It
was obvious the Sehome was doomed
and would sink quickly. While the
frightened travelers surveyed their pre-
dicament, the captain of the General
Frisbie, Captain Charles Sandahl, and
the captain of the Sehome, Captain
Fred Olsen, quickly conferred, realiz-
ing the passengers from the Sehome
had to be rescued immediately.
Within fifteen minutes all the pas-
sengers and crew were transferred onto
the deck of the General Frisbie. In
those short fifteen minutes young
Eileen observing several ladies clutch-
ing prayer books and rosaries realized
how fortunate she was to have her
father by her side. He seemed bigger
and stronger than she had realized
before and his calm and quiet assur-
ance alleviated much of the fright that
accompanied the groans and shudders
of the doomed ship. She could even
appreciate the lively music the Marine
Band on the Frisbie was playing as
each of the passengers was gingerly
handed and guided to the uninjured
steamer. Captain Sandahl had
requested the band to help in the rescue
by playing its most spirited tunes. The
The steamer Frisbie was a regular on the Vallejo-San Francisco run. This picture,
taken two years before the Sehome accident, shows how commodious the local
ferries were.
ragtime melodies lifted the spirits of
everyone until all were safely trans-
ferred. Because of the trouble on the
Frisbie with her extra load of pas-
sengers, the rest of the marines were
ordered below deck to help stabilize the
ferry.
At almost the same time a second col-
lision occurred when a tug, towing a
rock barge, suddenly struck the Gen-
eral Frisbie a glancing blow on the
stern, the effect being to separate the
two steamers, permitting the Sehome
to sink slowly "to her hurricane deck
on the mud on the side of the San Pablo
Channel, close to buoy 3" opposite the
rocks, The Brothers. The only victims
to sink with the ship were the five auto-
mobiles.
Soon the Napa Valley, another Mon-
ticello ferry, appeared on the scene
making its way slowly through the fog,
and seeing the tragic circumstances of
her sister steamers, offered assistance.
This alleviated much of the problem on
the Frisbie as some passengers were
transferred to the Napa Valley to
return to Vallejo.
The Frisbie, carrying Eileen and her
father, returned to San Francisco.
After landing, she and her father were
amazed as they started up Market
Street to find that the first extra about
the collision and sinking was already
being hawked on the streets by young
newboys. How could some one get the
information and write about it at the
same time it was happening?
Later the young Vallejoan learned
that the ferry service between Vallejo
and other Bay Area points would be
considerably curtailed for sometime
because of the loss of the Sehome but a
new steamer, the Asbury Park which
would accommodate 2500 passengers,
was already being readied for service
for the Monticello Steamship Com-
pany, and she was so much faster, 23
knots, the whole trip would be shor-
tened to one hour. She was to be in ser-
vice in approximately three months.
Eileen also learned that the captains
of both steamers were congratulated
for their heroic efforts to save all pas-
sengers and crews, and the entire
blame for the collisions was put on the
worst fog any one had experienced on
San Pablo Bay.
She realized gratefully, no matter
how much fun it was to travel alone, on
foggy, foggy days when vessels are in
danger, a strong calm father is a most
satisfactory traveling companion, and
trips to San Francisco are more
enjoyable when they are uneventful.
The above article is a combination of the
personal recollections of Eileen Hogan De
La Mater and the newspaper account of the
marine tragedy in the Dec. 15, 1918, San
Francisco Chronicle.
18
SOLANO HISTORIAN
December
The Hastings' mansion was considered one of the most
beautiful homes in all of Solano County and dominated
the residential area of Benicia. It failed to become the
center of social and cultural activities, however, when
the family found itself suffering serious financial
problems.
Has tings * Fo lly
by Marion Devlin
"Now wrecking; the Hastings Estate
at West 2nd and L streets, Benicia;
Save up to 70% on lumber, brick, pipe,
etc."
These few words, buried in the classi-
fied columns of a 1937 issue of the Val-
lejo Times-Herald, spelled the finale to
Hastings' Folly-that magnificent and
tragic monument to pride and rivalry
that has been a landmark for more
than half a century in Benicia.
Built during the prosperous '80's,
this 40-room mansion rivalled many of
the palatial residences built in San
Francisco during the bonanza days,
and was pointed out with justifiable
pride by Solano residents as the coun-
ty's most beautiful private home.
Yet behind those solid walls lies a
story of financial worry, family trou-
bles, and unhappiness-bearing out the
name which has been attached to it
December
almost since its erection-Hastings'
Folly. The appropriateness of that title,
incidentally, was realized and admit-
ted by Hastings himself, who knew as
soon as the mansion was completed,
that it had swallowed up almost his
entire fortune and left nothing in its
place but trouble and worry.
Its inception dates back to the late
'70's and early '80's in Benicia, and the
rivalry between three of the town's
most prosperous and influential
citizens -Daniel N. Hastings, Andrew
Goodyear, and Lansing B. Mizner,
father of "The Many Mizners," whose
family history has been published.
Starting perhaps, as a casual discus-
sion, the trio found themselves one day
describing the homes they planned to
build for their families in Benicia. As
each enlarged upon the theme, their
architectural plans increased corres-
SOLANO HISTORIAN
pondingly, with Hastings striving to
outdo his two companions, and espe-
cially Mizner.
A native of New England, Hastings
had come to Benicia many years
before, and had established a comfor-
table, though unpretentious, home for
his family on G street. The Goodyear
home, which was finished a few years
later, was indeed a beautiful residence
for those days, and represented an out-
lay of perhaps $25,000. Mizner con-
tented himself with the home he had
been occupying already for many
years, but to Hastings the dream of
building a home to surpass anything
ever seen in Benicia had become an
obsession, and no time was lost in
engaging a contractor and laying
down the foundations.
The site was selected at the corner of
First and F streets and the foundation
19
was already laid when difficulties
developed between Hastings and the
Benicia Board of Trustees over the
grading of the property. Provoked by
the altercation, Hastings abandoned
the foundation and moved to West 2nd
and L streets.
Contractor A. L. Ryder was engaged
to do the work, and in 1881, Hastings'
Folly -complete with twenty-one bed-
rooms, a magnificent staircase costing
$8,500, marble floors, and fireplaces,
was completed to the envy and admira-
tion of the entire city.
In the rear was the huge dining
room, the ceiling bordered with Bella
Robbia garlands in rich shades of
orange, sapphire, and green.
In keeping with the general scale of
the house, the kitchen was unusually
spacious, with huge marble slabs on
the tables and drainboards, and roomy
cupboards and closets from floor to
ceiling. Adjoining was a large pantry
with sink and other cupboards, and
through another door one stepped into
a room the size of many a present-day
kitchen, which was devoted entirely to
the storage shelves for preserves and
kitchen supplies.
Bedrooms lined both sides of the
wide halls on the second and third
floors, and in front of the third story
one mounted that last lap of the pol-
ished staircase to reach the cupola,
which offered what was undoubtedly
one of the finest views of Benicia and
the surrounding countryside.
Not content with the reception rooms
and library on the main floor, a games
room and a billiards room were both
incorporated into the house plan, one
on either side of the basement stair-
case. The walls were beautifully
paneled and marble tiles covered the
floors of the two rooms, where the Hast-
ings' sons were wont to entertain their
young friends. Hastings' own office,
and a number of storerooms completed
the casement layout.
Aside from the staircase, woods in
the interior were of oiled and varnished
white cedar, teak, prima-vera, toa
tomano, and St. Domingo mahogany.
The floors were of yellow pine.
Almost as famous as the staircase
were the handsome mantels-five of
which were of unusual beauty and
value. One was entirely of white mar-
ble, another of Tennessee marble, one
of onyx and one black, and each was
placed in a room where wall tinting
and furnishings provided the most
artistic setting for its particular shade.
According to the contractor's plans,
there were 88 doors and 85 windows.
The house itself was 88 feet deep and 48
feet wide in front, 30 in back, while the
tower room on top of the house was 15
feet in height.
Heating was by the Harvey method,
with hot water radiators, and circuits
of hot water running through every
room. Speaking tubes and electric call
bells were installed throughout the
three floors.
Water was supplied from a spring
and carried 10,000 feet through iron
pipe. Under the residence was a cistern
holding 50,000 gallons and a gas
engine was used to pump from the cist-
ern to the floors above. On top of the
house another tank held 2,000 gallons.
Unusual little shell-like decorations
were in many of the bedrooms and
upper halls, in the form of a cherub's
head of plaster of paris, tinted to match
the delicate colorings of the walls.
The three bathrooms were in keeping
with the grandiose scale, with huge
tubs and washstands, and fixtures as
modern as the period offered.
During the construction period,
Hastings devoted almost all his time to
supervising the work. No detail was too
small for his attention, and nothing
short of absolute perfection, in his eyes,
was acceptable. According to friends,
when the plate glass arrived for instal-
lation, Hastings found the panes not
entirely to his liking, so the entire load
was stored in the basement and a new
order was placed.
Under his orders, too, the house was
made sound-proof and draft-proof,
with double flooring.
Laths were laid diagonally parallel-
ing the walls and ceilings and sand
was used to fill the two-inch space
between.
Financing the mansion was some-
thing of a problem at first, but was
finally managed with the aid of a loan
from his brother-in-law. Hastings him-
self owned extensive farm lands which
he farmed himself and rented out,
including the Daly Ranch, later known
as the John Borges ranch, the O'Hara
ranch, and the Sulphur Springs, Larry
Barry, and Paddy ranches, all of which
were later sold by his heirs. The income
from these was inadequate, however,
to meet the heavy building expenses,
and Hastings obtained a loan of
$85,000 from his brother-in-law, the
affluent Jordan of the firm of Jordan-
Marsh, one of Boston's leading depart-
ment stores. According to Jordan's
will, that debt was later completely
canceled.
That $85,000 was approximately the
cost of constructing the house alone,
while the complete furnishings, all in
the approved fashion of that period,
brought the total outlay to something
like $350,000.
Hastings was his own architect for
the home, which represented an ideal
he had cherished through years of
activity and hard work. A native of
Newton, Mass., Hastings was born in
1821, and after living in several New
England towns as a boy, moved to Bos-
ton at the age of fourteen. There he
entered the provision business, until
1849, when he went to New York, and
booked passage on the SS Florida for
Chagres, Panama, since through
tickets to California were not available
at that time.
After four days in Panama, he con-
tinued his journey to San Francisco,
arriving December 1, 1849. He
obtained a position as a carpenter for a
salary of $12 a day, and at the end of
the week had so impressed his
employer with his ability, that he was
supervising the work of eight men and
earning $20 a day.
In 1850, Hastings set out for Sulli-
van's Creek, and tried his hand at min-
ing near Stockton. Another short stay
in San Francisco preceded his coming
to Benicia, where he built a small
butcher shop and occupied the prop-
erty four months.
In 1852 he leased the property and
went east to bring his family to Califor-
nia. Accompanied by his wife and their
sons, George A., who was born in Bos-
ton in 1846, and William F., also born
in that city in 1848, Hastings returned
to Benicia aboard the SS Onward, com-
ing around Cape Horn and arriving
December 11.
Arriving home, he found his prop-
erty in possession of the sheriff, and an
expenditure of $1,600 was necessary
before Hastings could recover it.
In 1862, he sold out his business and
retired, owning at that time three-fifths
of 44,000 acres of land. He took an
interest in city affairs, held office
under the city government of Benicia,
and served as city trustee.
Three more children were born after
the Hastings' return to Benicia-
Hannah, in 1857, and Alice and Eben,
twins born in 1862.
So into their home moved the Hast-
ings family; yet strangely enough,
instead of enjoying their palatial sur-
rounds which understandably were the
envy of their entire circle of friends,
there was from the very first a hint of
dissatisfaction and worry connected
with it. Perhaps it could be traced to the
fact that Hastings, ordinarily a jovial
20
SOLANO HISTORIAN
December
and cheerful person, was increasingly
worried as he realized how deeply he
had involved himself financially.
While Benicia's younger generation
eagerly awaited invitations to the
round of parties they felt would inevita-
bly follow the family's installation,
Mrs. Hastings, a small woman, quick
and capable in her manner, and her
daughter found themselves far too
rushed trying to take care of the forty-
five rooms to further complicate mat-
ters with lavish entertaining. There
were, of course, several parties, but
nothing on the scale as elaborate as the
house suggested.
The servant problem was in itself a
momentous one to the feminine
members of the household. To care ade-
quately for the four stories, a small
army of servants was required, and
aside from the expense of such a staff,
few servants remained at Hastings for
more than a few months, apparently
finding too arduous their duties which
involved climbing four flights of stairs
to polish the woodwork, keeping the
many recessed windows gleaming and
having the marble spotless at all times.
Hannah and Alice frequently
brought home schoolmates from Mills
Seminary for an inspection of the
showplace, or for a quiet evening with
the family on the wide veranda, which
was illuminated with bright lanterns
during the summer months. George
was sent east to Harvard, but returned
to Benicia for holidays and summer
vacations, bringing to his sisters and
their friends exciting stories of life at
the eastern college.
According to gossip, George sent
home for money following his gradua-
tion, whereupon Hastings, Sr., refused
with the commentary, "if a Harvard
education has not prepared one to earn
his own way, it was none too soon to
learn the rudiments of business."
Some weeks later, George arrived in
Benicia, his clothes showing hard
wear, far from the smart attire
expected of a recent college graduate.
The first of the series of tragedies
that pursued Hastings' family from the
time of the home's completion was the
suicide of their second son, William.
Moody and depressed over the loss of
an arm in a hunting accident, Will was
further plunged into unhappiness by a
romance to which his family objected,
and shot himself.
Grieving over Will's death, and real-
izing the financial impossibility of
maintaining the home in comfort, the
family decided to move to San Fran-
cisco shortly after the turn of the cen-
ii u i .^-H^VWU "U ' l .■ ■ »!, ' ",-U)
The Lansing Mizners' modest home in Benicia
tury. Rather than leave the house
unoccupied, Hastings asked Charles
M. Prince, Benicia realtor, if he and his
wife would make their home in it. For
three years, Mr. and Mrs. Prince occu-
pied the place until in 1906 the Hast-
ings family was stricken by another
misfortune.
Their new home in San Francisco, on
a much simpler scale than their former
residence, but nevertheless comforta-
bly and attractively furnished, was
wrecked by the San Francisco earth-
quake and fire. For the first week or two
after the tragedy, they camped out with
hundreds of other refugees in the city,
guarding the few possessions they had
managed to salvage.
Arranging with the Princes to return
to Benicia, the family again moved
into the mansion for the few months it
took until their San Francisco home
was again ready to be occupied.
Upon their departure, they were
again confronted with the problem of
leaving the house to the mercy of
prowlers, so it was decided that Eben,
commonly known as Zeb, should
remain there until arrangements could
be made to dispose of the property.
Alone in the gloomy, silent house,
with memories of the place as it had
been when first occupied, Zeb, who was
crippled, found pleasure chiefly in his
phonograph, which was one of the first
owned in Benicia. With a large collec-
tion of recordings, Zeb spent much of
his time at the open window of his
room, playing the selections for the lit-
tle groups of listeners who frequented
the adjoining park for the informal
concerts.
As negotiations progressed for the
disposal of the house, his brooding
increased, and shortly before its sale,
he died. Although he had been in poor
health some time, worry and unhappi-
ness over loss of the home were
believed to have hastened his death.
Actual details of the property sale
are vague, but its reported purchase
price was $10,000. It was bought by a
Catholic priest, Father McQuaid, who
obtained it chiefly to provide a home
for his mother. Until her death, she
occupied one of the upstairs suites, and
was visited frequently by her daughter,
Sister Christina, from St. Catherine's
Convent, and other Dominican nuns.
At Mrs. McQuaid's death, the prop-
erty was deeded to the nuns, who util-
ized it as a dormitory for the older boys
boarding at the convent school. Much
of the remaining furniture was
removed and stored, with some of the
elaborate framed mirrors, whatnots,
and other articles, stored in the two-
story laundry building and storehouse
in the rear of the lot.
According to rumors, some of the
most beautiful of the marble mantels
were removed and presented to various
churches to be used in the construction
of altars.
Until 1936 the house was occupied by
the schoolboys, who brought noise and
life again into the big rooms after years
of silence.
Finally, however, the dormitory was
abandoned, due to the fire hazard and
to the escapades of the youngsters in
scaling the cupola and exploring the
roof, to the concern of the Sisters.
As for the Hastings family, their con-
tact with Benicia became increasingly
slighter during their residence in San
Francisco. George had married Anna
Wallace of Benicia, and they had three
children, Wallace, Aida, and Zeta.
Alice became the wife of Charles Hunt,
a San Francisco insurance broker.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Hastings died in
San Francisco, and all their sons and
daughters have passed away. Thus the
final chapter in Hastings' Folly was
begun when the home was purchased
by Ray Boldt of Vallejo, who started
immediately on the job of wrecking the
house, a task that took at least three
months to complete.
Publicity given its wrecking
attracted many curiosity seekers to
wander through the empty mansion,
pathetic in its bareness and decay. Try-
ing to imagine each room as it once
might have been, they only saw dis-
mantled fireplaces with a few loose
bricks on the bare hearth; tarnished
chandeliers, one or two cracked flower
pots with hardened soil in the empty
conservatory, deserted rooms with
remnants of handsome tapestry, wall
papers and ornate moldings as remind-
ers of better days.
And listeners in the little city park
across the street no longer heard the
melodies from Zeb's phonograph in the
late afternoon — instead they heard the
shouts of workmen and the beat of the
wreckers' hammers sounding the
death knell to Hastings' Folly.
Gift Suggestion
A membership to the Solano
County Historical Society is a fine
Christmas gift for any Solanoan or
former Solanoan. It will assure him or
her of receiving the first two issues of
the Solano Historian. (Copies of this
issue are for new members.) To pur-
chase a gift membership, send to the
Society a check ($7. 00 for a single, $10. 00
for a family), the name and mailing
address of whomever it is for and the
name and address of the donor.
We respectfully thank the following
for use of photographs:
Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum
Ernest Wichels
Mrs. Ellie Mullen
The Rogers Collection
Roberta Quan
Times Herald
Benicia Museum
Frisbie — pp. 1-3
1. James Callahan, American Foreign Policy in Mexi-
can Relations, New York, Macmillan, 1932, p. 381.
2. Vallejo Evening Chronicle, May 11, 1909.
3. "Krisbie Reminiscences," Bancroft Library.
4. Lynch and Clark, New York Volunteers in Califor-
nia, Glorieta, N.M., Rio Grande Press, 1970, Vol II, p.
43.
5. Madie Brown Emparan, Vallejos of California, San
Francisco, Gleason Library Associates, 1968, p. 258.
6. Donald C. Biggs, Conquer and Colonize, Steven-
son s Regiment, San Raphael, Presidio Press, 1977,
p. 211.
7. Augustus Menefee, Historical and Descriptive
Sketch Book, Napa, 1 -ake, Sonoma and Mendocino,
Reporter Publishing House, Napa, 1879.
8. Bethel Phelps and Frisbie Ledger, John B. Frisbie,
67/24, Bancroft Library
9. M.G. Vallejo, "Power of Attorney to John B. Fris-
bie," 23 July, 1850, Vallejo Naval and Historical
Museum.
10. Biggs, op. cit., p. 182.
11. Paul Gates, "The Suscol Principle, Preemption and
California Latifundia," HBK 1870, Vallejo Naval
and Historical Museum.
12. Emparan, op. cit, p. 258.
13. John Frisbie, Clippings from an unknown news-
paper, 1851, HBK 1870, Vallejo Naval and Histori-
cal Museum.
14. "Annals of San Francisco 1854," Appleton and Co.,
N.Y., p. 284, Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum.
15. The Vallejo Recorder, September 7, 1867.
16. Emparan, op. cit., p. 264.
17. M.G. Vallejo to John Frisbie, Deed dated December
9, 1854, Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum.
18. "John Frisbie," HBK 1823, Vallejo Naval and His-
torical Museum.
19. Vallejo Recorder, January 4, 1868, Vallejo Evening
Chronicle. April 25, 1871, July 21, 1875.
20. Vallejo Evening Chronicle, May 29, 1871.
21. "Frisbie Reminiscences," op. cit.
22. Emparan, op. cit ., p. 267.
23. Articles, File 1342, Vallejo Naval and Historical
Museum.
24. Frisbie, HBK 1823, Vallejo Naval and Historical
Museum.
25. Fraser, History of Solano County, Wood Alley Co.,
East Oakland, 1879, pp. 204, 206, 207, 210, 211.
26. St. Vincent Ferrer Parish 1855-1980, p. 9, Vallejo
Naval and Historical Museum.
27. Vallejo Evening Chronicle, January 18, 1869.
28. Ibid., January 21, 1872, August 8, 1872.
29. Ibid, February 17, 1876.
30. Copies of Patents, President Andrew Johnson to
Frisbie etal., Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum.
31. Vallejo Recorder, September 7, 1867.
32. Vallejo Evening Chronicle, September 16, 1871.
33. Frisbie, HBK 1823, Vallejo Naval and Historical
Museum.
34. Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of California, VII
1860-1890 San Francisco, The History Company
1890, p. 585.
35. .Son Francisco Call, May 12, 1909.
36. Vallejo Evening Chronicle, September 28, 1876,
October 7, 1876, October 13, January 27, 1877.
37. Callahan, op. cit., p. 379.
38. Emparan, op. cit., p. 271.
39. Biggs, op. cit.. pp. 217, 218.
40. Emparan, op. cit., p. 271.
41. Callahan, op. cit., pp. 381, 400.
42. Emparan, op. cit., pp. 271, 272.
43. "Frisbie Reminiscences", op. cit.
44. Vallejo Evening Chronicle, June, 25, 1877.
45. Concise Dictionary of American Biography, 2nd edi-
tion, New York, Scribner's Sons, 1977, p. 194.
46. "Frisbie Reminiscenses", op. cit.
47. Vallejo Evening Chronicle, January 18, 1878.
48. Emparan, op. cit., pp. 275, 372.
49. San Francisco Call, May 12, 1909.
50. Vallejo Evening Chronicle, November 5, 1877.
51. Emparan, op. cit., p. 279.
52. City of Vallejo Assessors Books, Vallejo Naval and
Historical Museum.
53. Vallejo Evening Chronicle. December 1, 1899,
December 12, 1899.
54. Emparan, op. cit., pp. 285, 286.
55. Callahan, op. cit, pp. 381, 491, 507.
56. Emparan, op. cit, pp. 285, 286.
57. San Francisco Call, op. May 12, 1909.
Vallejo Water pp 10 - 16
1. John Galvin, ed., The First Spanish Entry Into San
Francisco Bay 1 775, The Report of Jose de Canizares
first sailing master of the San Carlos, to Captain
Ayala, Published by John How ell -Books, San Fran-
cisco, 1971, Translated from Bancroft Library
Microfilm of documents in Archivo General de
Indias, Estado 20, (Mexico 1) No. 19, reel 715/24/35.
2. Thompson and West, New Historical Atlas of
Solano County California, 1877.
3. F.C. Herrman, "Reporton Vallejo Water Company",
January 23, 1918, p. 2.
4. Bicentennial Edition, California Yearbook. 1975,
California Almanac Co., El Camino Press, pp. 185-
186.
5. Diary of John Frey, (Manuscript) (Vallejo Naval
and Historical Museum Archives). Elma May Cree-
don (Comp.), "John Frey, City Trustee, His Part in
Solving Vallejo's Water Problems"., 1943.
6. Kelly and Prescott, Vallejo Directory for the Year
Commencing March, 1870, (Vallejo Naval and His-
troical Museum Archives) p. 54.
7. City of Vallejo Minutes of the Board of Trustees, Vol. :
I, 1867- 1878, (Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum
Archives) p. 20.
8. Hubert Bancroft, Bancroft's Works, XXIII, History
of California, VI, p. 18.
9. "County of Solano Certificate of Incorporation",
(Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum Archives).
10. City of Vallejo Minutes, op. cit., p. 24
11. Hermann, op. cit.
12. Ibid, pp. 1-33.
13. City of Vallejo Minutes, op. cit., pp. 180-210.
14. Ernest Wichels, "Pages from the Past", Vallejo
Times Herald", Dec. 19, 1965.
15. Ibid.
16. Tom Gregory and others, History of Solano and
Napa Counties, California Biographical sketches.
Historic Record Co., 1912, pp. 110-112.
17. Diary of John Frey, op. cit.
18. Program, Native Sons of the Golden West, Vallejo,
California, Sept., 1914, (Vallejo Naval and Histori-
cal Museum Archives).
19. Kennedy/ Jenks Engineers, "Final Report, Water
System Master Plan and Hydraulic Network Analy-
sis. City of Vallejo, California", K/J4075. June 1985.
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