c v. 3 R2 John Edwin Adams Dr. John Edwin Adams, a re nowned ncurosurgcon at the Uni versity of California at San Francis co Medical Center and an internationally known expert on ce rebral palsy, epilepsy and Parkin son's disease, died May 18 at the DC San Francisco Medical Center. He was 85. Dr. Adams was among the first to use radioisotopes to help unlock the riddle of brain functions. And he assembled an interdisciplinary team at UC San Francisco to develop a pioneering program in stereotaxic surgery for the treatment of Parkin- ; son's disease, cerebral palsy, epilep sy and intractable pain. A descendant of the Adams presi dential family, Dr. Adams was born on April 18, 1914, in Berkeley, where his father, George Plimpton Adams, was a philosophy professor at the University of California and a founder of the Berkeley Academic Senate. Dr. Adams attended Milton Acad emy in Boston and graduated from UC Berkeley in 1935. As an under graduate, he was a member of the varsity crew team. He continued rowing throughout medical school at Harvard, rowing with the Union Boat Club in the Henley Regatta in England in 1936. As a member of the Lake Merritt Rowing Club, Dr. Adams rowed again at Henley at the age of 80. He received a master's degree from Harvard in 1939 and was surgi cal house officer at the Brigham and Children's Hospital in Boston when his postgraduate training was inter rupted by World War II. A combat Marine parafrooper, Dr. Adams served in the Pacific The ater as a battalion surgeon with the Marine Corps parachute troops on the battlefields of Guadalcanal, Vel- la La Vella and Bougainville. In 1945, he was aboard the first Ameri can ship to enter Tokyo Harbor after V-I Day. v- Dr. Adams resumed his postgrad uate training at UC San Francisco in 1946. In 1948, he was appointed an instructor in the newly formed De partment of Neurological Surgery, rising rapidly to associate professor and then chairman of the depart ment in 1957. His innovative programs prompt ed the University of California re gents in 1970 to dedicate his labora tory as the Howard C. Naffziger Institute for Neurological Research, named for Professor Adams' men tor, and to name him director and Guggenhime professor of experi mental neurological surgery, a posi tion he held until his retirement in 1984. Dr. Adams married a Berkeley classmate, Sally Patterson, the granddaughter of a pioneer Califor nia settler, in 1935. Dr. Adams continued after retire ment to remain an eminent pres ence on the UC San Francisco neu rological surgery faculty. He was a member of the Harvey Gushing Society and the American College of Surgeons. He was also a board member of the Avery-Fuller- " Welch Children's Foundation in San Francisco, which provides grants to handicapped and disabled children. In 1968, Dr. Adams was elected president of the Neurosurgical Soci ety of America. He was co-founder of the Epilepsy Research Group at UC San Francisco. And in 1986, the Adams endowed the annual John and Sally Adams Neurosurgery Lec ture at UC San Francisco, which continues to this day. Dr. Adams is survived by -two daughters, Abigail Adams Campbell of Woodside and Susan Adams Engs of Reno; a son, Henry Patterson Ad ams of Camarillo; his sister, Corne-' lia Adams Lonnberg of Noce, France; eight grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren. Dr. Adams' wife of 60 years, Sally, died in 1995. Contributions in Dr. Adams' memory may be made to the Epi lepsy Research Fund, Department of Neurosurgery, Box 0520, UC San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif. 94143-0520. Regional Oral History Office University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley. California THE PATTERSON FAMILY AND RANCH: SOUTHERN ALAMEDA COUNTY IN TRANSITION Volume III THE PATTERSON RANCH. PAST AND FUTURE: THE FAMILY'S PERSPECTIVE Interviews with Donald Patterson William Volmer Jeannette Korstad Marilyn Price Sally Patterson Adams John E. Adams David G. Patterson Robert Buck Leon G. Campbell, Jr. Wilcox Patterson George Patterson Bruce Patterson Abigail Adams Campbell Interviews Conducted by Stanley Bry Ann Lage Knox Mellon Donald Patterson in 1964, 1977. 1986. 1987 Copyright (c\ 1988 by the Regents of the University of California Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing leading participant! in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral history is a modern research technique involving an interviewee and an informed interviewer in spontaneous conversation. The taped record is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The resulting manuscript is typed in final form, indexed, bound with photographs and illustrative materials, and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley and other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ************************** This manuscript is made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Director of The Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the Regional Oral History Office. 486 Library. University of California, Berkeley 94720. and should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: To cite the volume: The Patterson Family and Ranch; Southern Alameda County in Transition, Volume III, "The Patterson Ranch, Past and Future: The Family's Perspective," an oral history project of the Regional Oral History Office conducted in 1964, 1977, 1986-1987, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1988. To cite individual interview: Abigail Adams Campbell. "Summers at Ardenwood with Grandparents Sarah and Henry Patterson," an oral history interview conducted 1987 by Ann Lage, in The Patterson Family and Ranch; Southern Alameda County in Transition, Volume III, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California. Berkeley. 1988. Copy No. DONORS TO THE PATTERSON FAMILY AND RANCH ORAL HISTORY PROJECT The Bancroft Library, on behalf of future researchers, wishes to thank the following organizations and individuals whose contributions made possible this oral history project. Alameda County Water District Brooks Family Foundation City of Fremont East Bay Regional Park District Oliver De Silva Company David and Joan Patterson Dorothy Patterson J. B. Patterson Trust Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California Berkeley, California THE PATTERSON FAMILY AND RANCH: SOUTHERN ALAMEDA COUNTY IN TRANSITION VOLUME I AGRICULTURE AND FARM LIFE ON FREMONT'S NORTHERN PLAIN, 1890-1980s FRANK BORGKI Dairying on the Patterson Ranch, 1924-1950 ELVAMAE ROSE BORGHI Girlhood in a Patterson Ranch Farm Family, 1931-1948 RUEL BROWN DONALD FURTADO TILL IE LOGAN GOOLD WALLACE MCKEOWN GENE WILLIAMS MEL ALAMEDA Observations of a Ranch Worker's Son, 1918-1950s Working for Henry Patterson, 1930s-1950s The Logan Family in Alvarado A Neighboring Farmer Recalls the Early Days The L. S. Williams Company: Farming in Southern Alameda County, 1930s-1980 Fanning on Fremont's Northern Plain in the 1980s: Agriculture's Last Stand VOLUME II WATER, DEVELOPMENT, AND PRESERVATION IN SOUTHERN ALAMEDA COUNTY MATHEW P. WHITFIELD General Manager of the Alameda County Water District, 1953-1977 WALLACE R. POND JOHN BROOKS ROBERT B. FISHER The Pattersons and the Incorporation of Fremont Consultant to the Patterson Family: Master Planner, Developer, and Politician History and Politics: The Creation of Ardenwood Regional Preserve LAURENCE W. MILNES Ardenwood Regional Preserve and the City of Fremont WILLIAM D. PATTERSON The Alameda County Water District, 1914-1955 VOLUME III THE PATTERSON RANCH. PAST AND FUTURE: THE FAMILY'S PERSPECTIVE GEORGE WASHINGTON PATTERSON Overland Journey. 18A9 DONALD PATTERSON Family Lore: The Pattersons and Their Land Since the 1850s WILLIAM VOLMER Whipples. Beards. Ingalls. and Pattersons: Looking at the Havley Family Tree JEANETTE KORSTAD and Havley Family Memories MARILYN PRICE SALLY PATTERSON ADAMS Growing Up at Ardenwood JOHN E. ADAMS A Son-in-Law Remembers Henry Patterson and Assesses Ranch Development DAVID G. PATTERSON Overseeing the Transition from Ranching to Property Management ROBERT BUCK Patterson Property Management. 1970s-1980s LEON G. CAMPBELL Balancing Agriculture and Development. Family and Public Interests WILCOX PATTERSON Donald Patterson and Patterson Ranch Management, 1950s-1980s GEORGE PATTERSON Recalling the Pattersons' Past: The Family. Land. and Historic Homes BRUCE PATTERSON Youth on the Patterson Ranch. 1950s-1963 ABIGAIL ADAMS CAMPBELL Summers at Ardenwood with Grandparents Sarah and Henry Patterson TABLE OF CONTENTS — Volume III: The Patterson Ranch, Past and Future: The Family's Perspective PREFACE i INTRODUCTION by Leon G. Campbell v MAPS. SOUTHERN ALAMEDA COUNTY, 1956 and 1987 xv OVERLAND JOURNEY, 1849, by George Washington Patterson, 1872 1 PATTERSON FAMILY TREE 2 Reflections from the Older Generation DONALD PATTERSON Family Lore: The Pattersons and Their Land Since the 1850s 3 WILLIAM VOLMER Whipples, Beards, Ingalls, and Pattersons: Looking at the Hawley Family Tree 28 JEANETTE KORSTAD and Hawley Family Memories 61 MARILYN PRICE SALLY PATTERSON ADAMS Growing Up at Ardenwood 82 JOHN E. ADAMS A Son-in-Law Remembers Henry Patterson and Assesses Ranch Development 107 DAVID G. PATTERSON Overseeing the Transition from Ranching to Property Management 127 New Leadership from the Younger Generation ROBERT BUCK Patterson Property Management, 1970s-1980s 160 LEON G. CAMPBELL Balancing Agriculture and Development, Development, Family and Public Interests 199 WILCOX PATTERSON Donald Patterson and Patterson Ranch Management, 1950s-1980s 239 GEORGE PATTERSON Recalling the Pattersons' Past: The Family, Land, and Historic Homes 278 BRUCE PATTERSON Youth on the Patterson Ranch. 1950s-1963 338 ABIGAIL ADAMS CAMPBELL Summers at Ardenwood with Grandparents Sarah and Henry Patterson 378 APPENDIX Ardenwood Forest-New Town Development Plan. 1981 399 INDEX PREFACE The Patterson Ranch The historic George Washington Patterson home and ranch in Fremont. California, provides the focus for this oral history project which explores changing patterns of land-use in southern Alameda County over the past 130 years. George Washington Patterson was a forty-niner from Lafayette. Indiana, who left the gold fields to settle on the rich alluvial plain created by Alameda Creek, on the southeastern shore of San Francisco Bay. He accumulated properties to form a 4.000-acre ranch in this area known as Washington Township and an additional 10,000 acres inland in the Livermore Valley. In 1877, he married Clara Hawley and added on to his home to create the Queen Anne style mansion that now is the centerpiece of the Ardenwood Regional Preserve, a historic farm operated by the East Bay Regional Park District on former Patterson ranch lands. Since George Patterson's death in 1895, three generations of his descendants have continued to oversee the ranch operations, sharecropped in the earlier years by tenants who grew vegetable crops on family farms and later leased to larger-scale and more modernized agricultural operations. Agriculture continued to flourish on Patterson ranch lands while surrounding lands succumbed to the pressures of urbanization from the burgeoning Bay Area metropolis in the post-World War II population explosion. The rapid urbanizations of the area brought with it inevitable political changes. The several small unincorporated towns of Washington Township — Alvarado and Decoto; Irvington, Mission San Jose. Niles, Centerville, and Warm Springs; and Newark — incorporated into the three cities of Union City, Fremont, and Newark in the 1950s. The Alameda County Water District, formed to conserve the ground water for the area's farmers, expanded its operation and its water supplies to deliver water to suburban customers. The Alameda County Flood Control District channelized Alameda Creek, putting an end to rich alluvial deposits, but making year-round farming and, most significantly, housing development possible on the northern flood plain. By the 1970s the Patterson family succumbed to development pressures and began selling off major portions of ranch lands for housing development. Their sale to Singer Housing of the lands surrounding the historic mansion and its landmark eucalyptus trees precipated the controversy that, after several years of lawsuits and negotiations, resulted in the creation of Ardenwood Regional Preserve. In the 1980s, the family has organized into a corporation with professional management from family members and has managed the development process in accordance with a master plan that emphasizes planned development and preservation of open space. Three regional parks are on former Patterson lands: in addition to Ardenwood, the Coyote Hills and surrounding marshlands are preserved, and in Livermore, the Del Valle Regional Park stands in the middle of Patterson cattle lands. Adjacent to ii the industrial park and the suburban housing tracts, lands still held by the Patterson family are leased to a modern truck farm growing cauliflower, lettuce, and specialty vegetables for Bay Area gourmets. The Oral History Project With a series of twenty-six interviews, the oral history project explores the transformation of the Patterson ranch as a case study of the complex evolution from agricultural to urban land use. The idea for the project came from the collaborative thinking of Knox Mellon and Leon Campbell. Dr. Mellon, former director of the California State Department of Historic Preservation and professor of history, was assisting the Patterson family to place Ardenwood on the National Registry of Historic Places. He saw the potential for an oral history project and found ready support among the Patterson family, particularly his friend and fellow historian. Leon Campbell, who was part of the management team for Patterson Properties. David Patterson, who has a keen interest in tracing family history, also took a supportive role. Dr. Mellon came to the Regional Oral History Office with his idea, has worked steadily with us to formulate and direct the project, and has served as interviewer and consultant throughout the three years to the project's completion. Leon Campbell was instrumental throughout in arranging funding and serving as advisor. Because of his ability to look at the story of the Patterson Ranch with a historian's eye. as well as his first-hand knowledge as a family member, he was asked to write the introduction to the project, which places the twenty-six interviews in historical context. As the planning for the project evolved, three main themes emerged, and these are reflected in the organization of the interviews into three volumes. Volume I focuses on agriculture and rural life on the northern plain of Washington Township in the prewar years and on the agricultural operations of the L.S. Williams and Alameda and Sons companies, the two outfits which farmed on the ranch during the transitional period from the mid-fifties to the present. Volume II tells the tales of water, development, planning, and historic preservation in the area — topics seemingly diverse which are seen to be closely interrelated in these histories. Volume III focuses on the Patterson family, past and present. Two generations of family members combine nostalgic looks back to rural childhoods with insight into the processes of present-day property management by a family corporation. Each volume has been enhanced with interviews completed on previous occasions for other purposes, but ones which added so centrally to our project that we requested permission to include them here. These include, in Volume II. the interviews with William D. Patterson, son of George iii Washington Patterson, on his work with the Alameda County Water District; and Larry Milnes. assistant manager of the city of Fremont, on the city's role in the negotiations leading to the establishment of Ardenwood. Volumes I and III have interviews which were recorded in 1975 and 1977 by family member Donald Patterson for the family archive at the Society of California Pioneers. These include the interview with neighboring farmer William McKeown in Volume I and cousin William Volmer in Volume III. Donald Patterson also recorded his own recollections on tape and later was interviewed for the Society of California Pioneers by Stanley Bry. Transcriptions of these tapes are included in Volume III. The project was further enriched by the volunteer assistance of Bill Helfman. a Fremont resident who recorded two interviews for the project. His interview with Donald Furtado is in Volume I. To enhance the reader's understanding of the interviews, illustrative materials have been included. Maps of the southern Alameda County area in 1956 and 1987 are in the introductory pages for each volume. Family trees of the Patterson and Hawley families are included in Volume III (pages 2 and 31). The 1981 town development plan for the Patterson Ranch is in the appendix to Volume II. In addition, interview histories preceding each memoir give specifics on the conduct and content of the interviews. All of the tapes for the project interviews are available in The Bancroft Library. Society of California Pioneer tapes are in their archive in San Francisco. In addition to the transcribed interviews included here, three interviews recorded for background information are available on tape only. These are interviews with Dorothy Wilcox Patterson, wife of Donald, and Eleanor Silva and Mary Dettling, former housekeepers for the Henry Patterson family. Research Resources Many resources exist for research on the subject matters of these interviews. The Society of California Pioneers has papers and business records and photographs of the Patterson family. A guide to these papers, a useful bibliography, and other information exists in Faces in Time; An Historic Report on the George Washington Patterson Family and the Ardenwood Estate prepared for the East Bay Regional Park District by Susan A. Simpson. 1982. The local history collection and the Grace Williamson collection in the Alameda County library in Fremont is another valuable source. Their collection includes many untranscribed oral history interviews with individuals prominent in Fremont's history. The library of California State University at Hayward also includes works on the history of the region. A CSUH master's thesis in geography gives specific information about the history of land use on the Patterson Ranch; it ie based in part on a 1971 interview with Donald Patterson (Jerome Pressler. Landscape Modification through Time: the Coyote Hills, Alameda County. California. 1973). iv Research Use The diversity and the universality of themes explored in this series of oral history interviews insure that they will be consulted by a wide variety of researchers. They are intended to be of use to the East Bay Regional Park District in planning and interpretation. They provide information on the history of agriculture, particularly the loss of agricultural lands to urbanization and the problems of farming in an urban setting. They discuss the process of land planning from the perspectives of city officials, developers, and property owners. They give an indepth history of the Alameda County Water District and illuminate the role of water in development. Finally, they provide a candid look at a family business over four generations and give insight to the dynamics of personalities and intra-f amily, inter-generational conflicts in shaping decisions in family businesses. Ann Lage Project Director September. 1988 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California at Berkeley V INTRODUCTION by Leon G. Campbell The three volumes of interviews prepared by the Regional Oral History Office of the University of California. Berkeley, dealing with the Patterson family and ranch between the years 1851-1988, constitute a case study of changing land use in southern Alameda County from the days of the first Califomios to the present. George Washington Patterson (1822-1895) came to California with the Gold Rush but remained to found an extensive farming and ranching enterprise in Alameda County. Originally known as Rancho Potrero de los Cerritos (Cattle Ranch of the Hills), the 4.000-acre Patterson Ranch has remained in family hands as an agricultural and livestock enterprise to the present day. Under the ownership of George Washington's sons, Henry (1878-1955) and William (1880-1961). the Patterson Ranch became a dominant economic institution in southern Alameda County and the family an integral part of the emergence of Fremont as a major Bay Area community. Situated between the eastern terminus of the Dumbarton Bridge, which connects Alameda County with the West Bay, and Highway 880, the Patterson Ranch is a prominent feature of the East Bay landscape. Today known as "Ardenwood-New Town" in honor of the Shakespearean title sometimes used to describe the ranch. Ardenwood serves as the western gateway to Fremont and the entire South Bay. Despite the fact that the planned district of Ardenwood is less than four years old, the size and scope of the changing land-use patterns on the Patterson Ranch resemble those taking place on the Irvine and Bixby Ranches in southern California, where uninterrupted family ownership has retained influence over time and throughout change. Several important themes emerge from the various interviews contained within the three volumes. Volume I, Agriculture and Farm Life on Fremont's Northern Plain, chronicles the transition of the Patterson Ranch from a family farm in the nineteenth century to a large-scale agricultural enterprise operated by the L. S. Williams Company during the 1950s. The several interviews of tenant farmers and Patterson Ranch workers covering the period from approximately 1900-1950 constitute an excellent social history of farm life in Fremont's Northern Plain. Collectively, the memoirs of farmers and ranch workers not only inform about the Pattersons as owners but as well provide a third-party perspective upon changing public vises including the development of the Nimitz Freeway (1953), Alameda County Flood Control Project (1965-70), and the dedication of Coyote Hills Regional Park (1968). The oral histories in Volume I hint at subjects which Volumes II and III treat more centrally, namely the immense changes taking place in the area during the lifetimes of the individual interviewees, particularly during the period following World War II. During the fifties and sixties, southern Alameda County shifted from a rural to an urban orientation, resulting in the incorporation of cities and the initiation of water and flood control projects, as these new municipalities began to debate the land and water use issues which had prompted their incorporation. vi Volume I; Agriculture on the Ranch The initial interviews contained in Volume I represent a broad sample of ranch workers and tenant farmers who were closely associated with the Patterson family during the postwar. As a group, they reflect the value of family and neighbors and of traditional virtues associated with farming and farm life. Quite apparent is the fact that these attitudes ran as deep in rural Alameda County as in more traditional agricultural areas outside California. Indeed, the Pattersons considered many of these individuals as their extended family, sharing with them an ethic of hard work and perseverance in the face of drought, flooding, poor crop years, and economic uncertainty. The interviews also cover the transition from cattle ranch to farming and provide important data on the presence of Chinese laborers, Mexican braceros, and migrants of all nationalities who came to comprise the ranch work force. Also recollected are recreational activities from horse racing to duck hunting, the introduction of the tractor to Ardenwood. and the life of the mind in a farming environment, particularly within the context of the development of Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley where many of the early Patterson family members matriculated. The second section of Volume I covers the more recent history of the larger-scale L. S. Williams and Alameda family farming operations on the ranch. In addition to providing an excellent overview of the agricultural basis of the Patterson Ranch, this section chronicles the decisions to grow various crops and the reasons for so doing, particularly the ability of various crops to withstand increasing salinity levels as a direct result of the ranch's location on San Francisco Bay and saltwater intrusion into the underground aquifers. These interviews also reflect the rapidly changing agricultural orientation of northern California as East Bay farmland was converted to housing and industrial uses and agricultural operations relocated into the Salinas Valley, which in turn reoriented transportation and marketing networks. Increasingly isolated from the large growers and packers in the Salinas Valley, agricultural operations in southern Alameda have been forced to either transship their produce to the Midwest and other areas by means of refrigerated trucks or to diversify and reorient their production towards local markets. Since 1984. the Alameda Company has shifted from agribusiness to more of a diversified local farm operation. The Alameda family operates at Ardenwood for only half the year, relocating to Arizona and northern Mexico to grow cauliflower and lettuce during the winter months on a more convenient and large-scale basis. These growers' interviews provide an important case study of the decisions required when farming in a community which is making a rapid transition to urbanization in a precarious agricultural environment. vii Volume II; The Context for Rapid Postwar Development Volume II, Water, Development, and Preservation in Southern Alameda County, provides a more in-depth study of the dynamic tension between development, preservation efforts, and the water projects which have all impacted Alameda County during the period after 1945. The first-hand account of Mathew Uhitfield, general manager of the Alameda County Water District during the years 1953-1977, provides a case study of this process of change in the East Bay. Whitfield's vivid recollections, the longest interview in the history, offer a fascinating study of family, water and South Bay politics during the postwar period. Whitfield's oral history may well be the most important single contribution to the project, for the actions of the Alameda County Water District in the 1950s provided the foundation for the subsequent growth of Fremont and the Northern Plain. Whitfield was a close associate of W. D. Patterson, himself a director of the Alameda County Water District from its inception in 1914, whose recollections, based on a 1955 interview on the subject, are also included in this volume. Whitfield's perspective on the 1950s, the period in which the water district took a central role in planning for controlled growth, provides a context for assessing the subsequent changes which would alter Fremont and the Patterson Ranch thereafter. His reflections also touch upon an important aspect of Patterson family history not treated in this project. namely the events leading up to and including the creation of the Del Valle Regional Park in Livermore. which was created as the result of state condemnation of Livermore ranch land for the Del Valle reservoir. At one time the Patterson Livermore Ranch in Alameda County complemented the Fremont Ranch in an integrated farming-livestock operation. The Livermore operation is not treated herein in any detail, but is an important component of the history of the East Bay Regional Park system. In addition, Whitfield provides an important perspective on the State Water Project South Bay Aqueduct, which linked both Patterson ranches to the future of water transportation projects. These decisions to import water for groundwater recharge and the subsequent Aquifer Reclamation Program of 1974 to counteract saltwater intrusion were determining factors in the continued agricultural development of southern Alameda County in general and the Patterson Ranch in particular. This interview thus provides an important complement to the Regional Oral History Office's series of oral history interviews on California water issues and relates changes on the Patterson lands to statewide water issues. Another pivotal interview contained within Volume II is that of John (Jack) Brooks, an important developer in southern Alameda County from the postwar to the present and the primary planner of Ardenwood. Brooks's recollections, because of his long association with the Patterson family and his central position as a political force in Fremont, offer an invaluable look at the city as it has emerged to become the fourth largest municipality in the Bay Area. As Brooks makes clear, with the five communities making up Fremont, the Northern Plain was always anticipated to be a sixth or "New Town," its name today. viii Whether this concept of an urban area on the North Plain was acknowledged by Henry and William Patterson before their deaths as Brooke contends, it vas apparently supported by William's oldest son. Donald Patterson (1905-1980). who, as the oldest surviving Patterson son. assumed management responsibilities on the ranch after 1961 under an informal primogeniture (Henry Patterson's children were both daughters). Brooks holds that Henry and Will Patterson had virtually agreed to enter a development plan just before Henry's death in 1955. Subsequently, he recollects that the city of Fremont had begun to insist upon cancelling the Williamson Act. which had protected the Patterson family from future tax increases as an agricultural enterprise, so that the Pattersons would in the future 'pay their fair share of taxes. Although Brooks understates his role in the process, under his guidance and with Fremont's cooperation, Ardenwood was brought out of Williamson in 1981 and substantial parts of the Patterson Ranch were sold, initially to the Singer Company and later to Kaiser Development Company and to Brooks himself. No less important are Brooke's recollections concerning the advent of a planned district concept and the complicated series of negotiations which led to the creation of Ardenwood Historic Park and the preservation of the George Washington Patterson House at its present location adjacent to Highways 84 and 880. Brooks's interview also describes in some detail why particular land-use decisions were made as they were and how a series of urban villages were created to establish a residential new town and a commercial and high technology center amidst a traditional farming enterprise. The interview of Dr. Robert Fisher also provides valuable background on the politics of preservation involving Ardenwood. Fisher, the leading light in the Mission Peak Heritage Foundation, describes from his viewpoint how various interested local historical associations including the Washington Township Historical Society, Patterson House Advisory Board, and Ardenwood Regional Park Advisory Committee were all drawn into the question of who was to control and implement what had belatedly been recognized as an important historic and civic asset, namely, the Ardenwood Historic Farm and attendant Victorian mansion which formed its centerpiece. The recollections of Fisher and of Larry Milnes, assistant city manager of the city of Fremont, provide a balanced view of how municipalities become involved in the process of acquiring valuable assets for future preservation, how these assets are administered, in this case through the aegis of the East Bay Regional Park District, which also operates Coyote Hills Regional Park adjacent to the site. Besides corroborating Brooks' s reflections on the Ardenwood process. Milnes's interview describes how decisions were reached over the often controversial questions of deciding the focus and implementing the historical theme. Milnes also depicts, from the city's perspective, the evolution of the Patterson Ranch from agriculture to mixed use. ix Following the gift of forty-six acres, including the family home, to the city of Fremont by the Patterson family in 1981. the city consulted the State Office of Historic Preservation in Sacramento to verify Ardenwood's historic value. This in turn led to the city and the Patterson family petitioning the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington. D.C., to have the ranch placed on the National Registry of Historic Places, which was accomplished in 1985. Since then, the historic farm has become an increasingly popular tourist attraction featuring demonstration farming and the recreation of nineteenth century farm life. In sum. this volume treats the interrelated themes of water projects, municipal formation, planned district development and historic preservation within the context of Fremont politics, 1950-1988. It would be naive to contend that the issues delineated have all been resolved or to deny that choices forced upon the various groups involved have not produced bitter disputes. Nevertheless, these interviews, offered by the primary surviving decision-makers in each area, provide basic data about the campaign which transformed the Patterson Ranch from a sprawling agricultural enterprise beset by regular flooding and other natural hazards into a Planned Urban District (PUD). From the Patterson's perspective, however, a view no doubt shared by Fremont and EBRPD, pride is taken in the fact that a large portion of the Patterson Ranch has been converted to public use. first for the Nimitz Freeway in 1952, then for the flood control uses proposed by Alameda County, and later by the dedication of large tracts of permanent open space, including both the Coyote Hills Regional Park and the Del Valle Reservoir and Park in Livermore as well as the most recent dedication of the Ardenwood Historic Farm now operated by the Park District. The Patterson family's strong advocacy of open space preservation is reflected in the creation of no fewer than three East Bay Regional Parks on Patterson family lands and a substantial portion of the acreage within the planned district being dedicated to public use. This distinguishing feature of Ardenwood, like the better known Irvine and Bixby Ranches in southern California, for example, is intended to provide for the needs of future generations and is a part of the continuing stewardship of the Patterson family management group. Volume III: The Family Recalls the Past and Confronts the Future Volume III, The Patterson Ranch. Past and Future; The Family's Perspective, is devoted to the reflections of the third and fourth generation of Patterson family members. The variety of these interviews reflect the quite different personalities and temperaments of George Washington's two sons. Will and Henry, who apparently contemplated a division of their undivided landholdings prior to their deaths, a decision which was never consummated. It was traditional in most large landowning families for the eldest son to assume management responsibilities following his father's death. This was true in the case of George Washington's eldest son. Henry, who succeeded him in 1895 at seventeen years of age and subsequently with Will Patterson's oldest son. Donald, who assumed responsibility for ranch management in the period after 1961. Donald Patterson's interview, taped by the Society of California Pioneers prior to his death in 1980, provides interesting observations on both his father and grandfather and the nature of their lives at Ardenwood. Perhaps the most insightful observation corroborated by many others in these volumes was the respectful and cooperative relationship between Will and Henry Patterson, who "never had a disagreement*1 and consulted one another on every major decision to be made concerning the ranch. Although the two sons differed in temperament and personality and were not what one might call close, they accommodated these differences pragmatically, with the quieter Henry running the ranch and his more outgoing brother Will dealing with the public. Their mutual respect and deliberate way of reaching consensus decisions in addition to their division of labors, both running the ranch and defending the ranch's interests in the South Bay. resulted in a profitable landhold. Ardenwood dominated the regional agricultural economy through the production of row crops (lettuce, cauliflower) and other high quality produce. Will and Henry were excellent farmers, good businessmen, and outstanding citizens, who extended and consolidated their father's agricultural presence in southern Alameda County. The interview of David Patterson. Will's youngest son. who assumed management responsibilities for the ranch following the death of his older brothers, Donald and John (known as Jack), provides a frank assessment of the difficulties which a family agricultural enterprise faces when it suffers the loss of its patriarchs in a period of transition. During the period in which Donald Patterson ran the ranch, Henry's daughters. Sally Patterson Adams and Marjorie Patterson, were not actively involved in decision-making, this role having been assumed largely by John Brooks, a real estate developer who was close to Donald Patterson and both anticipated and orchestrated the development process. The interviews with Donald's sons. George and Wilcox. provide considerable information concerning the ranch and their father. None of these memoirs, however, sheds additional light on the process of decision- making between the city, the Pattersons, and John Brooks, although it is likely that the public records of the period (1980-1984) would be helpful to historians interested in understanding the development process. The next stage of land use clearly mandated turning over of substantial portions of the ranch for residential development as rising land values and the shortage of available land for homes resulted in a new Fremont and a transformed Northern Plain. Following Donald Patterson's death in 1980, David Patterson continued to manage the family farm as the city entered into a development agreement with Brooks. Despite serious rifts within the family, which included an abortive attempt by two of William Patterson's grandchildren to bring suit against their family to obtain the value of their undivided interest in the ranch property, the family held firm against this challenge. When the two xi young people hired the nefarious Kelvin Belli to sue the Patterson family and were defeated in court (1981). it prompted the Pattersons to move rapidly to incorporate as Patterson Fremont Management. Inc., (PFM) and to set up a series of limited partnerships to manage the land in order that one or more minority family members could not. through undivided ownership, lay waste to the family's plan for future ownership and management of the property. It was this incident which convinced the Pattersons that the days of consensus decision-making as it had existed with Henry and Will had ended. By 1982 the Patterson Ranch had converted to a true business organization. Interviews of Sally Patterson Adams and her husband. Dr. John E. Adams, shed light not only on the personages of Henry and Sarah Patterson but also provide an alternative recollection on how decisions were reached during the 1960s and 1970s, as the transition was made from agriculture to development by individuals and forces outside the family. Sally Adams provides an intimate portrait of growing up at Ardenwood. John Adams, an ardent preservationist, casts a skeptical eye on the chain of events which led to the ultimate transformation of the ranch, contending that the demand for change was orchestrated by a prevailing coterie at City Hall rather than by population dynamics or other inexorable forces. Adams clearly believes that the ranch could have continued in farming had the family been given the opportunity to make this choice through timely dissemination of information and discussion of alternatives to development. Interviews by the fourth generation of Pattersons are informative for their explanation of the transition from ranch management by individuals towards a corporate form of business organization. Bruce Patterson provides insights about his father. Jack, as well as the strongly independent natures of the W. D. and H. H. Patterson families. In this regard, interviews by the fourth generation of Pattersons make clear that the testamentary dispositions of their grandfathers, William and Henry, as well as their parents, has resulted in a current generation of Pattersons spread throughout the state and country, of different economic means and lacking common objectives for Ardenwood. This, in turn, has resulted in growing differences of opinion stronger than those developing during the tenure of the third generation. The implications of land being sold to outside developers and the first cash distributions to family members both raised expectations and produced further disputes, rather than silencing them. Certain limited partners began to question the decisions of those family members serving as general partners and to urge a liquidation of remaining ranch assets. In general, these disputes follow family lines. Interviews with other members of the PFM Board include those by former president Robert Buck, a Patterson son-in-law and attorney who currently serves as PFM's legal counsel. Buck provides yet another perspective on the events leading to the Ardenwood development, particularly the Kaiser land sales and the creation of the Patterson Properties business enterprise during the 1980s. xii Leon Campbell, another son-in-law serving as FFM's executive vice president, recounts how he and Buck were called upon to assume management and investment responsibilities for the Patterson family. As the vast, undeveloped acreage appreciated in value, situated within one of the most rapidly growing parts of the Bay Area, they completed tax deferred exchanges, putting the family into income-producing properties which PFM managed and operated. As they assumed their posts in 1985. Buck and Campbell were increasingly called upon to mediate between decisions which had been made prior to the Pattersons' complete awareness of a political process which had developed apart from them and future policy issues which loomed ahead, such as those of wetlands, the subsidization of agriculture, and the Town Center development. These business recollections are paralleled by those of Donald Patterson's other son. George Patterson, who provides a sensitive internal history on the family at Ardenwood. and Abigail Adams Campbell, daughter of Sally Patterson Adams, on her grandparents. Sarah and Henry Patterson. Taken together, the several interviews by the fourth generation of Patterson family management underscores the dichotomy of events which have transpired in Fremont's North Plain during the period since 1980 and particularly since 1984. when the initial land sale to Kaiser Development Corporation was instituted. Hardly conclusive in their entirety, these last interviews restate the younger generation's perspective on their fathers and grandfathers, as well as their own perceptions about the rapidly changing nature of the real estate which they have been requested to monitor in the future. These changes have rendered the personal managerial tradition of the Patterson family largely unworkable, although considerable nostalgia for the "old ways" still exists, which often precludes certain limited partners from adhering to a general partnership organization. In many ways the family runs each other rather than running a business, a not uncommon aspect of organizations with strongly paternal origins. The challenge ahead will be to forge a new consensus to accommodate an era promising even greater alterations in the Patterson Ranch and the East Bay. Conclusion and Acknowledgements In conclusion, this oral history of the Patterson family and ranch. 1851-1988. has much to contribute to the general history of southern Alameda County and is particularly informative on the transitional years between 1945 and the present, which are largely omitted in the historical literature, by drawing on the reflections of those who were the primary actors during those years. The Regional Oral History Office of The Bancroft Library at the University of California. Berkeley, has provided an ideal method for understanding the linkages between the Patterson family, its agricultural and ranching enterprise, and actions taken by city, county and state xiii organizations in response to the pressures of rapid urbanization occurring in the East Bay during the postwar period. These interviews with the surviving senior members of the Patterson family and key individuals associated with the family agricultural and business operations over the past fifty years not only underscore the enormous changes taking place in the area during the lifetimes of those interviewed, but they also indicate how and why these changes were implemented. Often it appears that matters of great significance were reached by informal agreement rather than formal debate both within the family and perhaps outside of it. These interviews reflect a simpler time, prior to the advent of citizen-sponsored initiatives and environmental impact reports, a period when many leaders shared common assumptions concerning the value of growth and development to municipalities. Few could have comprehended the scope of growth which was to transform the Bay Area so dramatically during the postwar period and the reactions which it would produce. The Patterson family is proud to have its history included in The Bancroft Library's treasury of interviews with major figures in the history of California and the West. The three-volume oral history project represents a substantial historiographies! advancement towards the development of a comprehensive history of the East Bay and its progenitory families. I should like to thank the staff of the Regional Oral History Office at Berkeley, particularly Division Head Willa Baum and Project Director Ann Lage, for the dedicated effort which they have made in bringing this project to fruition through the recording, transcription and editing of these interviews. The trained oral historians on the ROHO staff, whose careful research and sensitive interview techniques are clearly manifest throughout the project, have clearly set the tone for the entire project. My long-time friend, Dr. Knox Mellon, former head of the State Office of Historic Preservation in Sacramento, who skillfully directed the nomination of the Ardenwood Regional Preserve to the National Register of Historic Places, has also been pivotal in finalizing this project. Dr. Mellon's liaison as a consultant to the Regional Oral History Office and ROHO's strong ties to state and local historical groups both assure that the project meets specific needs as well as serving the larger scholarly community through the questions it raises and the information it preserves. This oral history project substantially advances earlier studies carried out by the East Bay Regional Park District, which were designed to analyze the property exclusively in terms of its archaeological significance. By recording the reflections of two generations of Patterson family members about life and work on the Patterson Ranch, the project also relates centrally to the history of Fremont and to the entire East Bay which otherwise might be lost forever. Through the incorporation of interviews with members of the Patterson Ranch labor force, water district officials and a broad spectrum of Fremont city officials and politicians, as well as interviews with other key individuals now deceased, recorded earlier by the Society of California xiv Pioneers, and interviews with individuals charged with the stewardship of the remaining lands of Patterson, this oral history project anticipates a full history of the Patterson Ranch and the South Bay. The subject should be of future value to scholars interested in urban planning, land use decision-Baking, agricultural history, the process of municipal formation and water issues, matters related to conservation and historic preservation as they pertain to the East Bay and. of course, the political matrix in which these issues are situated. In this regard, this project, which deals with life, land and politics on the Patterson Fremont Ranch, exceeds the sum of its parts. The personal and financial support of several individuals and groups also made the project possible. Financial sponsorship of the project has been provided by the East Bay Regional Park District, the Brooks Family Foundation, the City of Fremont, the Oliver De Silva Company, the Alameda County Water District, and various members of the Patterson family, especially David and Joan Patterson. Dorothy Patterson, and the J. B. Patterson Trust. David and Joan Patterson have been steadfast in their determination to preserve the history of the Patterson family over time and have supported this work at every juncture. The present project goes well beyond the Pattersons to focus upon the Patterson Ranch during the years in which it was transformed from a rural agricultural enterprise to the Ardenwood planned community. A "New Town" both in concept and in fact. Shakespeare's idyllic Ardenwood may be an elusive metaphor masking the difficult choices that changes in land use inevitably bring. Leon G. Campbell Executive Vice President Patterson Fremont Management. Inc. May. 1988 Fremont. California XV SOUTHERN ALAMEDA COUNTY, 1956 from the 1956 Alareda County map California State Automobile Association xvi SOUTHERN ALAMEDA COUNTY, 1987 from the 1987 Alameda/Contra Costa map California State Automobile Association nil G. W. Patterson home and ranch, from the Offical and Historical Atlas Map of Alameda County, Thompson and West, Oakland, California, 1878 PREFACE — Overland Journey, 1849 by George Washington Patterson In 1872, the founder of the Patterson family and ranch in California, George Washington Patterson, was asked by historian Herbert Howe Bancroft to write his recollections of his overland journey from his home in Indiana across Mexico to the gold fields of California. The following manuscript is a thoughtful and stirring account of his trip, undertaken in 1849 with a twenty men, "from fiery youth to vigorous middle age," from Lafayette and Americus, Indiana. Patterson, who is remembered in the oral histories in this project as being a reserved, perhaps dour, no-nonsense businessman-rancher, displays in this letter to Bancroft sensitivity, a colorful style, and good humor. He describes the group's gala departure on March 13. 1849, as they set out on an unknown route in high spirits. Several of the company were members of a brass band; they played for the group of well-wishers and carried their instruments along with them, only to have them later "dashed to pieces on bucking mules and tumbled over precipices in the Corderlas Mountains." On the arduous journey across Mexico, the company suffered severe privations: "That men from the Wabash — the land of pork and corn — should be limited in their eating was not to be endured." Despite the hardships, he was able to appreciate the beauty of the Sierra Madre as they traveled along their eastern base, a sight that was "to us, never having seen a mountain before, exceedingly grand." The depth of his emotions is revealed as he describes the loss of a young, favored member of the company to cholera. He breaks off his account of the journey after describing the youth's death, leaving the company in Durango and referring Bancroft to other members of the group who might furnish more information. His account is so lively and reveals so much of an unknown side of George Washington Patterson that the reader deeply regrets he was unable to continue at this point, "for want of time." It is fitting that this oral history project on the Patterson Family and Ranch, undertaken by The Bancroft Library's Regional Oral History Office, should include this letter from George Washington Patterson to Herbert Howe Bancroft. Bancroft was a regional historian from San Francisco who collected vast quantities of written documentation about western North America. In addition, he might be considered the father of oral history, for, recognizing that many pioneer westerners would not commit their recollections to paper, he hired a team of assistants to interview and record their autobiographies in a series of "Dictations." After publication of his thirty-nine volume history, Bancroft's vast collection went to the University of California in 1905. This collection became the nucleus of the university's Bancroft Library. A half-century la later, when the advent of the tape recorder made recorded interviews a good deal more feasible. Bancroft's "Dictations" became the inspiration for the establishment of the library's Regional Oral History Office. The G.W. Patterson letter is included here with the permission of the Patterson family and the director of The Bancroft Library. It may not be copied without the permission of the library. Readers should note and follow Patterson's page numbers as they read. Because he was writing on sheets of folded paper, the pages as presented here are not in numerical order. Ann Lage Project Director September. 1988 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California at Berkeley j^^i^^^^^^ ;SftgW:'^ •:.•• f%l:- -'4-^i ^xvi^||^___ ' ; ' ? '^'" '"•' --^' 'i • < V •'" *'"«? '; -~ • • " 1 i • ii ; ili. • ."«'««• •' .". . ;" ;- '*'' •' n •' •''••••• j( . i .'-'-. ,A- :>'.'V '.-',-•.":! . • -v -VJ1 'IMS .,nv.\v .; |.-.^,; . " . '.• - f * •• • . .,•-- "^ vV ' '* • .» i v .-lr< •" '. . - I - '. '. . -' .'•< ' i-"'- '•v f« \ r 'i , • - -. -^ • '• ;4 : . 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JH^ ^< ^ <, .1 c 2's i5 X ^ 4 x: <» 5 •* MM < I 4-2 >s> ,^fe $€ i • ** y^ ' i v^ * h'i I : , " •« •? -1 *x cL* X-^-7/l 6>( . /fasvt-4*^ // ^At'f stf V ^ y»" L<. f ' 0- V^fapJ^ &*-£_ 1L ' ci (J.M\/IT y^H 01*. ££ en- - 7i-X«^«. 1m MASWr\?*A~~> 0i ' cd ea c eg o o o CM T3 ON E o 2 o 4J 4J eg y^N BL, rH V£> T3 ON O 00 Q 00 ^ 2 (0 Q 0) t)0 C C •* o rH U 0) 4-1 - ^ U) u E eg tn oo m ^ O^ U r-l 3* ro m s o u CO o cu m •H ON rH CO o C m eg JZ r* 0 o a\ «-j vO CU H O O -J- T3 ») O Os C A rH rH eg -H •H • CO CO E ON eg ro •H os O w M 0) 4J 4J ^v eg m (Xi m rH 00 3 r- eg ao il C 0) X c eg 00 (H o £ 00 CM eg os 'oO i O rH 0) ON W E 1 U rH eg ,Q C o - c (U •x, to •**> & rH O O. •H -3- E flj ^ c^J OOrH U •H J3 • C < .a o 00 **~v C C en ej ON U M rH U 3 • eg co ^ 3 LEFT: George Washington Patterson BELOW: Clara Hawley Patterson LEFT: William (left) and Henry Patterson, ca 1886 BELOW: Henry, Clara, and William Patterson, ca 1895 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California Berkeley. California THE PATTERSON FAMILY AND RANCH: SOUTHERN ALAMEDA COUNTY IN TRANSITION Donald Patterson Family Lore: The Pattersons and Their Land Since the 1850s A Narrative Recorded in 1964 and An Interview Conducted by Stanley Bry in 1977 Copyright (c) 1988 by the Regents of the University of California DONALD PATTERSON TABLE OF CONTENTS — Donald Patterson INTERVIEW HISTORY I GRANDFATHER GEORGE WASHINGTON PATTERSON 6 Journey West 6 Acquiring Land in Southern Alameda County 7 A Hard-Driving Operator 7 Patterson Landing and the Changing Landscape 8 Clara Hawley Patterson, a Magnetic Personality 8 II FATHER WILLIAM D. PATTERSON 10 Father and Uncle, a Remarkable Relationship 10 Will's Stanford Days 10 Will's Interest in Mining and Travel 11 Reclaiming the Salt Marshes 12 Will's Home. Garden, and Autos 13 III THE EARLY DAYS ON THE RANCH 14 George W. Patterson and His Family in Lafayette. Indiana 14 Supervising and Feeding the Hired Men 15 Chinese Truck Farming 15 Native Grasses and Artesian Wells 16 A Boyhood Memory of the Winter Flood of 1911 Acquiring the Pope Ranch in Livermore 18 Family Stories: Eucalyptus Trees. Oranges, and Shooting the Steer 18 IV THE HAWLEYS. THE HOUSE. AND OTHER TALES 20 The Hawley Family and George and Clara's Marriage 20 Clara's Remarriage to William Lay son 22 Additions to the G. W. Patterson Hone 23 Memories of the House and Milk Room 24 Search for Buried Gold 24 George's Interest in Republican Politics and Lincoln School 25 The Flamboyant Andrew Patterson 26 TAPE GUIDE 27 INTERVIEW HISTORY — Donald Patterson George Washington Patterson, grandfather of Donald Patterson and the founding member of the Patterson family in California, was an early member of the Society of California Pioneers. His son William was also an active supporter of the Society; he gathered and preserved in the attic of his home old ranch records, account books, dairies, family letters and photographs. William's eldest son. Donald, continued this historical interest and the involvement with the Society of California Pioneers, serving as president of the Society in 1966 and 1967. Donald donated the collection of family artifacts and records to the Society and arranged to have it organized and catalogued. At the same time, Donald began to fill in the gaps in the written record by tape recording his own recollections of Patterson family history, as well as conducting interviews with an elderly cousin and a nearby rancher. When the Regional Oral History Office embarked on its documentation of the Patterson family and ranch, the first step was to transcribe these interviews to make them accessible to researchers by including them with this project. The original tapes are available at the Society of California Pioneers in San Francisco. The first two chapters of the following transcription were recorded in narrative form by Donald Patterson on October 10, 1964. The third and fourth chapters are the transcription of an interview of Donald by Stanley Bry of the Society of California Pioneers. Both sections were clearly seen as a supplement to the Patterson papers at the Society. Donald recalls family stories about his grandfather, presenting him as a "hard-driving operator" whose acquisition of land in southern Alameda County and Livermore and careful management of the farming and ranching operations provided the basis for the family's success. He recalls his grandmother. Clara Hawley Patterson, whom he knew as a child and remembered well, as a "magnetic personality". His narrative/interview also gives a first-hand picture of his father and his uncle, Henry, and their remarkable relationship in managing the ranch after their father's death. Donald, the oldest son in the Patterson family, took over the management of the ranch after his father's death. Two of his sons. Wilcoz and George, have been interviewed for this project and their oral histories in this volume give additional information about Donald, his many interests, and his management of the ranch. Ann Lage Project Director September. 1988 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California at Berkeley I GRANDFATHER GEORGE WASHINGTON PATTERSON Journey West [Date of Narrative: October 10. 1964] ## Donald P. : I am doing this in the hope that it will tie together some of the historical material which is available on my grandfather and my father. As you know, this material has all been deposited at the Pioneer Society in San Francisco and can be found there. My grandfather, George W. Patterson, came to California in 1849. He came by way of the Mississippi River, across Texas, down into Mexico, and out at a port which was important then but has practically disappeared now — the Port of San Bias. One of his companions, that is out of the four, died in Mexico. The three of them, arriving in San Bias, sold their horses, waited for the next ship, and got aboard because there had been such a mortality on the ship coming up from Panama that there was plenty of room. They went on up to San Francisco without any special happenings, as far as I know. Upon arrival in San Francisco, he went to the American River. We don't have very much information as to just when he went or exactly how long he stayed. The story is that he stayed a year, was moderately successful, but that he had found that the exposure and work was undermining his health. And, for that reason, came back to Mission San Jose in 1850. I know that he must have been moderately successful because among his papers you will find where he was loaning money to his associates. Much of this he never collected. ## This symbol indicates that a tape or segment of a tape has begun or ended. For a guide to the tapes see page 26. Acquiring Land in Southern Alameda County Donald P. : When he arrived in Mission San Jose, it would appear that he went immediately to farming, probably as a partner with Viejo. It would seem from the stories that I've heard that he probably actually acquired the first land in Alameda County around 1852. The usual method in those days was to make a verbal or unrecorded contract to buy a piece of land and then pay it off from the proceeds. The first deeds which we can find are from around 1856. But I believe that he had taken possession of the land and started to work it in about 1852 and was able to pay off in about ' 56. He made a policy of acquiring adjacent pieces of land (and this can be checked out from the legal records of the time). But if you'll notice, after the home piece, that is the willow field, as we call it, adjacent to Jarvis Avenue, he added progressively, piece by piece, out in all directions. Sometime, I guess it was in 1870 or so, he did buy, around Decoto, additional land which was not connected. Then in 1875 or '80, he acquired the Livermore ranch, which has a story (I don't know whether the story is accurate or not), but the story is that he got word that the piece would be available, that Mr. Pope was tired of cattle ranching and had expressed a desire to sell out. George got into his buckboard, went immediately to the bank, drew out in gold coin what he thought would cover the purchase, went up to Livermore, and talked to Mr. Pope. He was the first one to talk to him and, with the cash in his hand, was able to make a good purchase of the piece. He then, in later years, added to it, piece by piece, until it assumed its present acreage. This certainly was a characteristic of George, that first, he acted promptly, and second, he had the cash. A Hard-Driving Operator Donald P. : He appears to have been a very hard-driving operator, because as a boy, I talked to neighbors who had known him. Their stories would indicate that, for instance, he would follow around in his buckboard when the grain was being harvested, and if any of the grain was left on the ground, he would immediately stop the operation and make them adjust the machine, or whatever was necessary. He would do the same thing when they were bailing hay. If there was hay left on the ground, he would make the baler go back and pick it up, simply as an incentive to better work in the future. 8 Donald P. : There is a story which we have not been able to substantiate — that when the Central Pacific Railroad wanted a right-of-way through the ranch, he not only refused to allow it, but he stood, gun-in-hand, at the border to see that they didn't come on his property. The story goes on further that he was about to be married; therefore, he couldn't guard his property. He hired somebody to stand with the gun while he went off to get married. But the railroad, through some devious method, either bribed or threatened this man, and he went off and got drunk. When my grandfather came back, the ties were laid across his property and he was not able to get them removed. I say again that this is an apocryphal story and probably is a better illustration of his character than it is a matter of fact. Patterson Landing and the Changing Landscape Donald P.: All of the produce from the ranch in the very early days was shipped to San Francisco by boat from what was known as Patterson Landing (just below what is now Newark Boulevard, where it crosses the slough). In my grandfather's day, this slough was nearly a hundred yards wide at the warehouse. It gradually narrowed by silting, so that in my father's day, it was probably half that width. My father used to keep his yacht at the Patterson Landing and sail up to San Francisco. To be able to tack out of the slough, it must have been at least one hundred and fifty feet wide. I can remember, as a bey, when it was still perhaps seventy-five feet wide, and easily navigable at half- tide or higher. At the present time, the slough has been almost completely obliterated by the progressive silting, to a point now where it's not five feet wide and you have to search carefully through the grass to find it. This indicates the change which has taken place since the early days. Clara Hawley Patterson, a Magnetic Personality Donald P. : My grandfather, of course, did not marry until late in life, and when he did, it would appear that it was somewhat precipitous. His great friend, James Hawley, who lived next door, and who had also come in 1849, had four daughters and one son. One of them, Clara Hawley, was apparently a very lovely girl. She was raised on her father's ranch near Centerville but apparently went to school in Oakland. You will find among the records some very interesting documents and comments on her education. She lived in the home of a, an apparently, doctor-friend. Donald P. : The wedding is somewhat obscured in mystery, in that it took place very suddenly and apparently came as a complete surprise t» the countryside. I think that research on this subject would be very rewarding. Perhaps locating some written records in the papers of the time — we don't have anything. It was apparently a very happy marriage, though my grandmother was very much younger than my grandfather. I think that it was at least twenty years. He built a very beautiful addition to his house, at the home place, presumably as a wedding present for her. May I say that the original house, as we understand it, was built in 1856, but that it was added to, to a point where there is none of the original house showing. Additions have been made from all sides, so that the original house is contained inside of the present house. When my grandfather died, my father and my uncle were in their teens. My grandmother remarried, and it's a subject which has never been discussed in the family, and there is no good reason for it. Mr. [William] Layson. or, I believe, Dr. Lay son, from all accounts was a very fine man. He was a distinguished linguist, and, I believe, was proficient in six languages. He was a churchman and, as far as I can determine, a very upright person. But for some reason or other, the marriage was net successful, partly because the teenage boys resented another man so completely different from their father. Their father was a two-fisted operator, a dynamic person, whereas Mr. Layson was purely a scholar. After a year or two, it would appear that Mr. Layson simply disappeared from the scene, lived his own life, and he died some ten or so years later. There seems to have been no misunderstanding or no bitterness involved. My grandmother was a remarkable person whom I remember very well. She was very gregarious, in the — my point being, that she had a great many friends, was active in good works, was a leading citizen in the community, a philanthropist, and, as I remember her. a very magnetic personality. And she was very handsome, even in her later years, and had a very charming personality. She had done a good deal of traveling. In fact, she spent most of her later years in traveling, her two sons handling the ranch affairs while she was gone. LEFT: Four Generations ,ca 1910, left to right: Mrs. James Hawley, Clara's mother; Clara Hawley Patterson; William Donald, Jr.; William Donald, Sr. BELOW: May Bird Patterson, wife of William Donald Patterson, Sr. 10 II FATHER WILLIAM D. PATTERSON Father and Uncle, a Remarkable Relationship Donald P. : My father and my uncle operated the ranch as equal partners during their lifetimes. It was a remarkable relationship, and one that would be hard to duplicate. I always had a deep interest in the ranch. I spent a good deal of time, after I was not living at the ranch, there on weekends with my father, and there in holidays and summer vacations, so that I saw a great deal of the relationship between the two. They met on the ranch at some point almost every day and would sit down and talk over the day's problems. They would then come to a common decision, and that would be acted upon. And in all the years that I was associated with them in this manner, I never heard a basic disagreement. It was unusual because you would think that there would be times when there would be a perfectly natural disagreement, but at least in my opinion, it never occurred. They both spent as much time as possible right on the ranch, watching all of its activities. I think that is one of the secrets to the success of their operation. They were there, personally, on the job, and never delegated their responsibilities to anyone else. Will's Stanford Days Donald P. : You will find a great deal of information and memorabilia of my father, during his school days, in the collection. Apparently, he was a man who had a great many interests from the time he was a boy. He was an excellent athlete, an indifferent scholar, a very gregarious individual who had many friends and enjoyed seeing them. He had a yacht during the time he was at college and apparently was quite a man- on- cam pus. His football activity was somewhat remarkable, in that he played on the Stanford 11 Donald P. : freshman team when he weighed only 150 pounds; he was the lightest man on the team. He told me that the reason that he made the team was that he had studied the rules of the game so carefully — committed them to memory — and when the coach was asking questions in the preseason training periods, that, in one case, he was the only man on the squad who could answer the question. He was a first-class drop-kicker, and it was his function to kick goals from drop kick. He told me that he hadn't missed a drop kick in the games prior to the Big Game with the University of California, at which time he stepped on the field and overconf idently missed the goal; however, Stanford won, nonetheless. Will's Interest in Mining and Travel Donald P. : After college, he. of course, came back to the ranch and operated with my uncle. However, he very early became interested in mining. His greatest interest in activity outside of the ranch, during everything except the last of his life, was in mining. He was conspicuously unsuccessful. He always told me that he realized that he should stay out of it* but that he felt it was, in a manner of speaking, his hobby; therefore, the money that he lost was really what he might have been spending on ether hobbies. And. I think, within reason that is true. He first became interested in Alaska. He went in 1900 on an exploring — and also mining — trip into the interior and claimed to have been the first man to come out from the interior of Alaska over the Taku Glacier in winter. This, I think, is probably true because he was a first-class explorer and out door sm an. He then became interested in other mining ventures; you will find most of the data on them in his business files [at the Pioneer Society]. There must have been a dozen. It was very interesting; as I became old enough to understand it. around ten or twelve years old. I went with him on many of these trips to the mines; I followed it closely. This is the reason 1 took mining engineering in my undergraduate work. The people he dealt with were mainly his college friends — engineers, people he had known in college — and it was on a personal basis. He liked these people, he trusted them, and therefore, he went into these ventures. There were a few that were successful. The Eight [? ] Oil Company paid very well. He also went into a non-mining venture; he and three others financed the originators of the Magnavox Electronics Company. That was quite successful, and he made a handsome profit out of 12 Donald P. : it. However, overall, the business program outside of the ranch was a very considerable loss. However, looking back on it, the fun that he had, I think, was worth it. Another aspect of my father's life which is worth mentioning is that he enjoyed travel very much. In 1913, he took my mother and my grandmother and myself to Europe for almost a year. Then, I believe, en two later occasions (I didn't go along) he took my mother and also my brothers. And both my father and mother enjoyed Europe to a point where, if they had felt it were possible, I think they both would have lived abroad. My father was a great skier, and Switzerland meant a great deal to him. My mother enjoyed Switzerland very much, and she would have lived there in her later years if she could. Reclaiming the Salt Marshes Donald P. : I think it is worth pointing out the basic policy ef land use on the ranch. My grandfather bought the ranch as a grain farm. But as he got into it, he found that there was a very lucrative market for vegetables in San Francisco. And as an ex-farmboy, there was a fresh vegetable operation on the ranch in the very early days, and they then shipped them up by sailing scow to San Francisco. My father and my uncle, when they became active in the ranch, decided that some of the lower country, which is salt marsh, could be reclaimed. They put up a series of levees, starting about 1912 or 1913, which cut off the salt water and allowed the floods to deposit sediment in the lower country. They carried this on and actually diverted the Alameda Creek by plowing in the overflow channels in the summer and letting it wash out in the winter, until the full flow ef Alameda Creek came through the ranch. This greatly increased the deposition of sediment and was instrumental in filling up the tidal channels, as well as making new land behind the levees. In this manner, the entire lower salt marsh of the ranch has been reclaimed to a point where, at the present time, we are going to be able to farm intensively practically the entire old salt marsh. This reclamation has come about naturally, but it has taken at least fifty years to accomplish. 13 Will' s Home. Garden, and Autos Donald P. : My father built a house soon after he was married, which was quite large, even for the times. I can remember when we had a gardener full time on the lawns. There must have been an acre of lawns. We had a cook and. at one time, an upstairs nurse. The house was impractically large, and always was. until it was finally disposed of after my father's death. I can remember when the house stood in the middle of the open fields and you could see out on all sides. My father was a great tree planter, and he must have planted forty acres of trees around the house. These have grown into a large forest. He also planted an extensive orchard, and always was very interested in it. He spent a lot of time, particularly in his earlier years, grafting, putting new varieties in, watching them — He was also interested in the garden, as my mother was. My mother was a good gardener (understood it), and we always had a large garden. My father was interested in automobiles, as well. He had a very early model — in, it must have been, 1905 — of the Brush car, which has since disappeared. He then got White Steamers. And I can remember, as a small boy. seeing him under the car, making some kind of an adjustment, when he started a gasoline leak, which then caught fire from the pilot light and enveloped the car in flames. He came out from under the car, scrambled out. and jumped into a horse trough, which was conveniently nearby, and then quickly got out, dripping with water, got into the car and drove it away from the barn, or garage, so that it wouldn't burn the place down. The car was a loss, but the barn was saved. He then went on and bought the gasoline car put out by the White Company, which was never very satisfactory, in my opinion, but he was very proud of it. We also had one of the very early Hupp roadsters, which we used to take up into the Sierras on our camping trips and trips to the mines. It was a fine car, but underpowered. On the steep grades, it was my job to jump out and help push it up the grade. At one time, we also had horses and buggies, but that didn't last very long. As soon as the cars became effective. Dad got rid of the horses. My father's most important contribution to the community was his work in originating and carrying on the work of the County of Alameda Water District. He was on the board, or was president, for over forty years and saw it develop from a very small beginning into an important factor in the community. It was mainly concerned [with] and started for the conservation of the underground water supply. Water was always a problem on the ranch and was my father's particular field of interest. 14 III THE EARLY DAYS ON THE RANCH George W. Patterson and his Family in Lafayette, Indiana [Date of Interview: May 20, 1977] ## Bry: What do you knew of George W. Patterson's youth, that is, his life before he left for California in March of 1849? Donald P. : I don't have very much information on George's life back east before he started for California, except that I know that the family lived in the little town — their house was in the little town — and they were farmers [in Lafayette, Indiana]. So they must have been farming somewhere adjacent, and I would suspect that they rented seme of the land and didn't own it. I'm sure that they didn't own any large amount of land. I know that they were relatively poor, had a hard time making ends meet. There were, as I recall, five children — four boys and one daughter. The daughter, Sarah, seems to have taken the lead in the family, as far as helpfulness and decisions [that] were made. The mother, Lydia Patterson — George's mother, seems to have been in rather poor health. Now, I can't tell you whether his father (George's father) was alive just before he left for California or not. I don't knew. From what I've heard, most of the acquisition of the Patterson Ranch was from early American owners, rather than from the original Spanish grant. I think this can be explained by the fact that, when George Patterson started farming in 1850, he didn't own any land. His early acquisitions of parcels were done by mak ing an arrangement with the owner that he would buy a piece of land with a small down-payment and pay for it over a period of years out of the produce. Thus, the passing of title would take place when it was finally paid for, and would show on the records as being relatively late. For instance, land which he started te farm in, say, 1851, he probably did not take title to for perhaps ten years later. This would explain, I think, the relatively late acquisition of some of the early parts of the ranch. 15 Donald P. : He went step by step in his acquisitions and had a basic policy »f buying adjacent land, rather than pieces which were in ether parts of Washington Township. This was based on a very sound economic theory that an efficient farming property should all be in one piece, so that there wouldn't be the lost time and prob lems of supervision of separate pieces. Later in the acquisition of the ranch, there were cases where this policy was not followed; but, in general, he would pay high prices for adjacent land but was not interested in picking up independent pieces. Supervising and Feeding the Hired Men Donald P. : Some of the small items that I have heard my father tell about my grandfather are such as when they were threshing grain, which they did on quite a large scale (they raised wheat in the early days, and then a little later they also raised barley and oats), he would follow, in his blackboard, the threshing that was taking place. If the hired men dropped any of the unthreshed material, or if they let any grain go onto the ground, he was right there to find it and immediately took drastic action to see that nothing was wasted. He was a very hard-fisted operator, but as far as any comments I've heard, he was very fair. They had a large group of men who were hired on the ranch in the early days — perhaps as many as thirty or forty. They lived in what they called a bunkhouse, near the residence. Of course the feeding of these men was an important factor. They had a Chinese cook who lived in a small house by the main bunkhouse, and occasionally they would send one of the men out with a buckboard into the grain fields in the fall with a ten- gauge, double-barrelled shotgun and a barrel to put on the back of the buckboard. He would drive through the fields, and the wild geese were so thick in those days that in a couple of hours, he would come back with a barrel full of geese. They would be used as meat in the bunkhouse. Chinese Truck Farming Donald P. : One of the reasons that land was far more valuable and sold for higher prices than many people realize in the very early days — in the 1850s and early '60s — was that southern Alameda County was the source of fresh vegetables for San Francisco. Milk and cheese and butter came down from Marin County, but most of the onions, potatoes, and cabbages were raised in southern Alameda County and were shipped up to San Francisco by sailing scow. 16 Donald P. : The actual raising of these crops on the Patterson Ranch was in the hands of the Chinese. The Chinese apparently came from an area in China where they had similar crops, or perhaps they learned quickly when they came here. But they were considered to be the best truck farmers that we had. They used long, square spades — not the type of shovel you often see now, but spades which would turn the soil fairly deeply. They farmed in what we called the Willow area, the swamp area of the ranch, which was (and still is) the lower elevations. This was a black peat soil, extremely rich and productive, but difficult to work because, if it was too wet, it was sticky; if it was too dry, it broke up into large clods. So the Chinese would follow the drying of the soil in the spring, and turn over by hand, with these spades, just the soil which was in the right condition for the growing of vegetables. My father has told me that the yields that they got per acre were probably larger than we've ever had since on the ranch. These vegetables would then be taken down to Patterson Landing, put on the sailing scow, and would sail up to San Francisco with the tide. They would go from the landing down the slough, out into the bay, and up to San Francisco, and then come back the next day. The records of some of these shipments have been retained and we have them in the documents, and they are very interesting in showing what was raised, in what quantities, and the prices that were paid for it. Native Grasses and Artesian Wells Donald P. : A small point that I believe was told by my grandfather to my father, and which he then told me, was that it's hard to realize how tall the native vegetation (the grass and weeds in that part of Alameda County where the ranch is situated) was in the early days, in the Spanish days, just before my grandfather came. They say that a man on horseback, riding across through the trails and the open fields there (before they were cultivated) — you could only see the upper part of his body. Whether this is a true statement which has been passed down, or whether it has grown in stature during the years, I don't know. But I do know that in the early days the area on which the ranch is situated now was what they call subirrigated, in that it was artesian. The pressure of the water in the aquifers was such that, if you drilled a well, it would become artesian and flow under pressure. There were springs on the ranch which ran all year round. The old — what we called — Pacheco Ditch, which shows on the early maps, and which ran just back of my 17 Donald P. : grandfather's house, and of which there are still remnants to be seen, was a slowly flowing marshy area year round. This fact, that there was so much moisture underground, is probably the explanation of why the vegetation in the area was so heavy, and why they were able to get such very heavy yields both in grain and vegetables. It was an important factor in the economy of the area and is one of the reasons that the land values in southern Alameda County, in the very early days, ran as much as four or five hundred dollars an acre. It took almost a hundred years for land values to equal these ef the fifties. A Boyhood Memory of the Winter Flood of 1911 Donald P.: Another factor in the agricultural economy, which is of prime importance in this area that we are speaking ef, is the effect of the winter floods which came down through Niles Canyon and spread out on what they call the Niles Cone, which was, in general, the area of the Rancho Petrero Los Cerritos. It did two things. It irrigated the land, so that the moisture lasted well into the summer, without any further addition of water. It also deposited a fine silt ever the entire area, which is another explanation of the very productive nature of the soil. In my grandfather's time, and in my father's time as well, they depended on the winter floods for both these factors, and a dry winter, where there was no flooding, meant that the ranch productivity would be substantially less than in the wet years. The magnitude of the floods is hard to realize now because the tributaries to Alameda Creek have been dammed up and the creek itself has been confined within banks due to the various flood control procedures. But. in 1911, which is about the first of my memories of the ranch, we had a very wet winter, and I can remember that my father put me in a five-gallon washtub. tied a rope to the handle, and towed me (he was in rubber hip boots) from our home to my grandfather's home, which was about a quarter of a mile away. I can very well remember the slowly flowing water of the backed-up flood, and the wildlife (particularly rabbits) which had been isolated on patches of driftwood. The animals, such as small mice, rabbits, even snakes — because of the, I suppose, traumatic experience — appeared to be perfectly tame in that you could go up to one and just pick it up. I remember picking up one of these wet rabbits off floating debris, putting it into the washtub, and then taking it home and taking care of it. 18 Acquiring the Pope Ranch in Livennore Donald P. : Going back to the acquisition of property, my grandfather acquired the cattle ranch south of Livermere around 1870-1880. Again, he picked it up piece by piece, buying adjacent pieces, until he had developed the entire ownership. One of the stories which my father told me illustrates the way my grandfather operated. He heard that there was a piece known as the Pope Ranch that would come up for sale. He got word of this, went immediately to the local bank, drew out what he thought would be the asking price in gold coins, got into his buckboard, and went, posthaste, up to Livermore, which was a drive of thirty miles. He got there late that afternoon or evening and went into Mr. Pope's cabin and sat down to buy the place. Because he had gold coin in hand, [he] was able to buy the property for a good price and before anybody else had been able to even bargain for it. This was a good illustration of his business methods. He was very aggressive, he knew what he wanted. Later in his business career, he had the capital to operate with, and he used it to the best advantage. Family Stories; Eucalyptus Trees. Oranges, and Shooting the Steer Donald P. : The story on the eucalyptus trees on the ranch that's come down in the family, and, again, I have no proof of its accuracy, is that the eucalyptus trees which are now adjacent to the old house (my grandfather's house) were the second planting in California. I don't know where the first planting was, but my grandfather had a ship captain friend who brought seed back from Australia on one of his trips, gave it to my grandfather, and he is reputed to have planted them. Now, these are the same trees now well over a hundred years old. This is in character because he was always interested in new crops, new trees, shrubs, fruit, whatever. Another story which has come down in the family is that — in his interest for exotic plants, trees, and so forth — somebody, perhaps his friend the ship captain, gave him an orange. This was in — I don't know the date, but I know it was early. His two boys were very anxious, of course, to taste the orange. But, instead of allowing that, he planted the whole orange. And, of course, oranges in the first place don't grow from the seed, and in the second place, you wouldn't plant the whole orange. So, nothing ever came up, and the two boys still remembered, even in my time, how disappointed they were that they didn't get a chance to taste that first orange. 19 Donald P. : Because ef the amount of food necessary for the men that worked on the ranch, they depended «n their own beef. Every week or two it was necessary to kill a steer. One of the men, and his name was Andy Logan (worked for my grandfather), had a rifle — I believe it was a A5-70. I think that's one ef the early rifles, heavy rifles — and he would go out and shoot one of the steers in the field. Then it would be brought in and butchered and the meat used both for the family and for the men in the bunkhouse. They tell the story ef — . I believe that someone else had borrowed the rifle and changed the sighting. In those days, with those rifles, they didn't shoot very flat; therefore, you had to raise the sights if you were going to shoot long distance. Somebody had raised the sights without his knowledge. He went out, shot the animal, and, instead ef killing it, he just wounded it. It started charging around the field. He then changed his sights. He shot it several times, which would normally have killed the animal if it had been cool and unexcited. but it kept raging around, and it took an unusual number ef lethal shots to kill the animals because it was already excited. 20 THE HAWLEYS. THE HOUSE. AND OTHER TALES The Hawley Family and George and Clara's Marriage Donald P. : I've said elsewhere that my grandfather had a reputation ef being a rather stern and hard individual. My father has told me that, when he and my uncle were small boys, they were not allowed to speak after dinner in the living room without being spoken to. I think that the discipline in the family must have been very, very strict if this is an example of it. My grandmother, whom I knew as a small boy, was just the opposite. She was a very outgoing, very pleasant person, and I'm sure that the strict discipline was imposed by my grandfather and not by my grandmother. Bry: What can you tell us about the relationship between your grandfather and James Hawley. the father of dara Hawley? Donald P. : George came to San Francisco in about August of 1849. James Hawley also came about the same time. They didn't meet in San Francisco. My grandfather went to the mines and my other grandfather, James Hawley, went to Mission San Jose. George spent almost a year on the, I think it was the, American River (it's in the records, somewhere), then went up to Siskiyou County, spent. I guess, a few months there. [He] was not too successful in Siskiyou County and came down with some kind of a fever, which made him quite ill. So, he came back to Mission San Jose to recuperate and met my other grandfather there. They became friends. They both did some farming, though not together. James Hawley was a carpenteer and later a contractor, and built a hotel in Mission San Jose. He then brought his family out from the East a few years later, and they settled there. He owned a small piece adjacent to my grandfather's ranch and built a house there. They continued their close friendship through the years. James Hawley had, I believe it 21 Donald P. : was. four daughters and one son. The youngest daughter. Clara.* was really a strikingly beautiful girl and went into Oakland to complete her high school education and lived with a family there — a doctor. My grandfather seems to have fallen in love with her about this time; but for some reason, [he] had kept his feelings to himself and te Clara. We know that they were anxious to get married, but for some reason. George didn't want it known ahead of time among his friends. It may be that he felt a little reticent about marrying the daughter of his best friend because of the age difference. (There was a difference of almost twenty years between them.) So, they arranged to go to Sacramento and be married there, which they did. and then he brought her back to his house on the ranch. There is no evidence that there was any objection on the part of James Hawley — in fact, quite the contrary. It seemed to have been a very happy arrangement, and it developed into a very happy and outstanding marriage. It [his reticence] seems strange because in those days it was quite usual for an older man to marry a younger girl, because the feeling was that one should be able to take care of one's wife in the best possible manner. There seems to have been no reason for this reticence, but nevertheless, that's the case. My grandfather lived in a modest house. He brought his bride back to this house, and they lived that way for quite a while, while he was building up his land holdings. I have heard it said that he might be called a stingy man, and it's been said in the family through the years that he would not allow his wife to have her own carriage. However, this changed because, by 1883, the house had been enlarged and had become, one might say. a modest mansion. And I know that my grandmother had her own carriage by that time because we still have the carriage. One of the reasons, perhaps, that the marriage was successful, is that the two personalities were entirely different. My grandfather was extremely able, hardworking, aggressive, and far-seeing. My grandmother was very charitable, had many friends, many interests, and a very outgoing personality. She belonged to local organizations; she was interested in travel; she did a great deal of reading. So she complemented the character of her husband. * James and Hettie Hawley had five daughters and a son. Clara was the third-born. She was born in 1853 and married to George Washington Patterson in 1877. 22 Clara's Remarriage te William Layson Bry: What do yeu know of your grandmother's remarriage, after the death of George Patterson? Donald P. : My grandmother, after her husband's death, ran the ranch with the two boys, who were now in their teens. They formed, apparently, a very effective management group because the ranch continued to prosper. They made additions to it. The records show that it was very successful. A minister came to the — I believe it was — Presbyterian church about, I guess, five years after George's death. My grandmother was very much interested in the church — always had been. They met. He was a rather exceptional man in that he was a scholar, a linguist of almost national reputation, had a very good background. They became engaged and married [in 1900]. It would seem that it should have been very successful; however, for some reason, it did not work out. One, perhaps, factor was that the two boys were, by this time, almost men. They had taken a lot of responsibility for the ranch. They were constantly involved with my grandmother, and tension developed between the boys and the second husband. This is understand able, I think, because he was so entirely different in background and interests from what the boys and my grandmother were doing. They did take a trip to the Holy Land. I think it was very successful; I think they enjoyed it. But they gradually drifted apart and, presently, they separated. Dr. Layson went on in his profession in Oakland and was highly regarded. I don't think there was a divorce. I think it was merely a separation. We do have papers which show that he renounced any claim to her estate, so that it seems to have been an amicable — [tape ends] I* Dr. Layson died sometime after 1900. We have his obituary, and by that time, there seemed to be no communication between them.* * William Layson died March 8. 1909. At the time he was living with his sister, Mrs. H. L. Todd, in San Francisco. 23 Additions to the G. W. Patterson Home Bry: What can you tell us about the Patterson house — when it was built, when the additions were made. when, perhaps, the family moved into it? Donald P. : We have always thought that the original house was built in 1856. Dr. Robert Fisher, the local historian, has almost convinved me that the house which we think is the original house, may net have been it at all. and that the first part of the present, so-called, old house was built at a considerably later date. It was a small, square house with a kitchen, dining room, living room, stairway up to the upper story, and I'm not sure how many bedrooms. It probably could be worked out by studying the attic configuration; but. anyway, it was a very modest house. Over the years, four different additions were made. I am not sure just the sequence of the additions, but one was made fairly early, where they built an enclosed office, you might call it. and the front door and a porch. The front doer apparently opened right out into the yard, but then that was moved and enclosed. Then there was some kind ef an addition put en the rear of the house. Then there was a main addition in 1883. which is the major part of the house now, and is a very fine job of carpentry, construction, and particularly the paneling. This addition was made under the supervision of James Haw ley, who had become a contractor. It seems, in some of the documents, that he built, or was involved in the building of. one of the early lighthouses on the coast. He also was involved in a mine and construction project in Alaska. We don't have any details of this, except we know that he went to Alaska and was a partner in the project there, that the other partners were lost at sea. and that the project then was discontinued when he came back home. But at any rate, that addition, which is the most interesting part of the house, was built in 1883 under his supervision. The last addition was made in about 1920 when my uncle and my aunt were raising their family of three girls and needed more space. That was the fourth addition. I have been told by architects that the house is of interest because it was typical ef that period when the early settler built a modest house, and then as his family grew, additions were made, so that it is a mixture architecturally, but from a sociological standpoint, it was typical of the development of early California homes. 24 Memories of the House and the Milk Room Donald P. : As a small boy, I can remember the bowling alley in the attic. (There are three stories and a completely finished attic.) In rainy weather, I was sent up to keep me out from under foot. I can remember the fun it was bowling, though it was noisy and the noise could be heard downstairs. An incident of some [laughs] interest is that, when I was quite small, I can remember going over to my grandmother's house and seeing my mother and my grandmother carefully pulling a sofa apart — that is, the fabric — piece by piece, and going through the stuffing. My grandfather had three diamond studs in his shirt-front. These were rather handsome gems. They were, I think, somewhat over three carats apiece. This was a common practice in the early days — to put your money into negotiable jewelry of that type because the banks were not well developed and this was a safe place to put some of your money. At any rate, there were the three diamonds. One was given to my mother when she was married; one was given to my aunt when she was married; the third one was never found and the supposition was that it had been hidden somewhere in the house. In those days, they very often put jewelry into the upholstery of furniture because, again, there were no banks and safe deposit boxes. So, this sofa was pulled apart, but they did not find the gem. But as a small boy, it made quite an impression on me to see the stuffing all over the living room floor. The stone structure [in] back of the house was known, when I was a boy, as the milk room, and I'm sure that it was used for that in my grandfather's time because there was no refrigeration then, and they had to have a place which was cool in the summertime. And it was specially built: half underground, and half above ground, heavy stone construction, and a heavy roof. This is still standing, and I can remember, as a boy, the flat milkpans that were left there for the cream to rise to the surface and then be skimmed off. And the remainder was either taken out and fed to the chickens or allowed to sour and then turned into cheese. Search for Buried Geld Donald P. : Somewhere along the line, in the early days, my grandfather took a leather pouch that contained fifty-dollar gold slugs and buried it back of his house. When he went to dig it up again, it was not there, and of course, he dug extensively looking for it. My father and my uncle, as boys, also dug extensively. 25 Donald P. : When I was a boy. I went out and dug for it. And my sons have also gene out with metal detectors and tried to find it. but it's never shown up. It would be quite valuable now because. I believe, there were forty er fifty gold slugs, presumably, and they would be not only intrinsically valuable, but extremely valuable as numismatic treasures now. But I suppose that somebody was watching when they were buried and quietly went and dug them up when nobody was looking. George's Interest in Republican Politics and Lincoln School Bry: What can you tell us about the political activity of George Patterson? Donald P. : Not very much, except that, as far as I know, his only outside interest (outside of business) was politics. He was a streng Republican. He belonged to a group of his associates who had come in the Gold Rush and apparently was active with them. But beyond that, I don't know. They had a — wasn't it a Tippecanoe dub. or something of that nature? That's correct. There was a club that he belonged to by that name. He also had some interest in education. His friend on the adjacent ranch gave the land for the Lincoln School. And he organized either a party or some sort of an affair — that is, George did — to raise money for the school building. And he did take considerable interest in the local school. This school was first to eighth grade. My father went there, and I went there when I was a boy for a couple of years. It was an interesting experience because the school had changed practically net at all since my grandfather's time. All eight grades were in the one room. There was a wood stove with a pile of wood to keep it warm in wintertime. The teacher sat on a raised dais in front. The girls came in one door, and the boys came in the other door. The big boys brought the wood in. The type of education, I think, was very good because you heard what was going on in the grade above you. so that you absorbed some of it, and you helped with the grades below you. which gave you practice. I think that there were only twenty children in the entire eight grades, but I think that we probably got a pretty good basic education. We certainly had excellent social training and the discipline was outstanding. 26 The Flamboyant Andrew Patterson Bry: What de you know of Andrew Patterson, who also came to California? He was George Patterson's brother and also was in farming and ranching. Donald P. : I believe that as George Patterson became successful in farming, he sent back home to his brother Andrew and suggested that he come out, which he subsequently did. [He] went into farming in what's now Union City but was then Decoto and acquired substantial area. The piece that he had there was at least four hundred acres, and I think he had more than that. He also acquired the Black Ranch, near Livermore, which is the basis of our present cattle ranch. That was, I think, twenty-seven hundred acres, so he was a substantial operator. He must have had help from his brother, George, to set him up in business to this extent, but I don't have any direct data on that point. Now, Andrew was an entirely different character from George. Andrew was apparently a rather flamboyant operator. The story which had come down in the family is that his problem was that his women were toe fast, and his horses were net quite fast enough. I know the horse part of it must be true because we have an old lithograph showing his farm with a racecourse en it and a racehorse standing there with a blanket, on which is the name "Clara." The supposition is that this racehorse was named for his sister-in-law, CLara Patterson. Later en, he failed in his business and the property was taken over by George. We do know that he died in George's house, I believe, just before George was married.* So he was living with George at that time. Andrew did marry. He must have married a widow because there's a daughter with a different name, and this lady and the daughter are both buried in the family cemetery. But, exactly the details of his family life, I've never heard. In fact, the reason that we know so little about Andrew is that it was not a subject for conversation in the family when I was a child. When Andrew's name was mentioned, there was always a significant sil ence around the table; but I'm wondering if, perhaps, Andrew was the only member ef that early Patterson group that really had any fun. The other people were all working hard, apparently. * Andrew Patterson died en November 2, 1895. He was 66 years eld. Transcribed by Katie Stephenson Final Typed by Shannon Page 27 TAPE GUIDE — Donald Patterson Narrative of Donald Patterson, October 10, 196A tape 1, side A Interview of Donald Patterson by Stanley Bry, May 20, 1977 14 tape 1, side A tape 1, side B 22 28 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California Berkeley, California THE PATTERSON FAMILY AND RANCH: SOUTHERN ALAMEDA COUNTY IN TRANSITION William Volmer Whipples. Beards, Ingalls, and Pattersons: Looking at the Haw ley Family Tree An Interview Conducted by Donald Patterson in 1977 Copyright 1988 by the Regents of the University of California 29 TABLE OF CONTENTS — William Velmer INTERVIEW HISTORY 30 Hawley Family Tree 31 James Hawley, First Generation in California 32 The Volmer Family and Business 34 Bertha Faull. Niece of dara Patterson 36 V aimer's Memories of the Patterson House 37 Clara's Good Works. Second Marriage, and Travel 38 Scows. Warehouses, and Duck Hunting. 1900s-1910s 40 Family Quarreling over Alaskan Mines 42 Recalling Early Ranch Structures 44 Tracing More Hawley Cousins 47 Andrew Patterson 51 Pattersons and Hawley s: Mutual Assistance 52 Hawley Family Gatherings 55 The Hunting Lodge and Deer Park 57 TAPE GUIDE 60 30 INTERVIEW HISTORY ~ William Volmer As part of his effort to preserve his family's history. Donald Patterson recorded this interview with his cousin, William Volmer, on August 12, 1977. The interview was recorded at the Society of California Pioneers in San Francisco. To refresh memories, the two men looked over photographs in the Patterson family archive at the Society and referred to the Hawley family tree, a copy of which is included on page 31. William Volmer was related to Donald Patterson through the Hawley family. His grandmother. Charlotte Hawley Whipple, was the eldest sister of Donald's grandmother, CLara Hawley Patterson. Volmer was eighty in 1977, when the interview was recorded, about eight years older than Donald. His memories of the Hawley family reunions go back further than Donald's, and his knowledge of the Hawley family's several branches is more extensive. Still, they had enough experiences in common for interview to become an occasion of shared reminiscence, which gives us a fuller picture of Donald's recollections of his grandmother and of his interest in family history. This interview was transcribed with the permission of the Society of California Pioneers. The original tapes are available at the Society. Ann Lage Proj ect Director September, 1988 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California at Berkeley 31 00 t ~. -o * .=3 t« f CX5 CXD i co 0) II 0) O 4J 00 O V i-l 0) g B W • « ; u •£ ^» 1-5 ** 111 — - e _ - ~ ~1 «g I/ .• •» ^i .15? .."ti •- .- • I? E ^ 5 K ^ -II — T • — *"* -I = = Z' *" — • £~ I '• I 5 . S :'!• = I«fl i '5 - "I1 ^ >^ E Jj jt M [; !„ L='^-L \ 32 James Hawley, First Generation in California [Date ef Interview: August 12, 1977] ## Donald P. : Bill, let's review, for a moment, the family relationships. James Hawley, then, was our great, our grandfather. Volmer: Yes, our great-grandfather. Donald P. : Great-grandfather, that's right. So, we're, in effect, the fourth generation in California. Volmer: That's right. Donald P. : Now, he came to San Francisco, I know, in 1849, and I have copies of some of the letters that he wrote home. They are very interesting and they are in the collection here [at the Society of California Pioneers]. Volmer: You let me read them before you — Donald P. : That's correct, yes. Then, he went to Mission San Jose in 1850, and I believe built and operated a hotel there. He was a contractor; did you know that? Volmer: Well, I took it from his letters that he arrived here in 1849 with a tool set. Donald P.: That's right, yes. Volmer: Or, a box of tools. Donald P. : Yes, and we have those downstairs, too, that's right. Then he sent east for his wife. His wife came out. And they had — was it, am I right? — five daughters. Volmer: Well, yes, let's see. There was — The oldest was your grandma, d ara — Donald P.: Oh, she was the oldest. This I didn't know.* ## This symbol indicates that a tape or segment ef a tape has begun or ended. For a guide to the tapes, see page 60. * Clara was the third Hawley child. Refer to Hawley family tree, p. 31. 33 Volmer: I think. And then, well. I can't give you — well. I'll give you the names. Now, whether they're in order. I don't know. Lizzy, Elizabeth Hawley, who became Elizabeth Beard. Aunt Lizzy Beard. Aunt Em Ingalls, Emily — Emily Hawley. who became an Ingalls. My grandmother. Charlotte Hawley. who married a Whipple. Donald P. : Which Whipple was that? Was that John Whipple? No, that was — Volmer: No. that was Charlie Whipple, John Whipple's brother. You see, John Whipple was a bachelor — well, the old man. you see. And then, next was May Hawley [May was the last child], who was an old maid till, oh — And then, she finally got married to a man by the name of Paterson — Donald P. : That was Uncle Billy. Volmer: Uncle Billy, yes, right. Donald P. : Yes. Now, did you ever hear that he's the man who invented the Fresno scraper? Volmer: I heard something about it — I'm not quite sure. Donald P. : Well, that was the story that I heard. I knew him quite well. Did you know him? Volmer: Oh, very well. Donald P.: Yes, he was a jolly fellow, with a red face — Volmer: Yes. yes, typical Scotch. [laughter] Donald P. : Yes, that's right. And he spelled his name was one "t". Volmer: Yes, one "t", that's right. And then, there was Ed Hawley, the only son that I know of. Donald P. : Yes, I see where that fits in. Well, that makes four daughters, then, and one son — five children. [Actually five daughters and one son. ] Volmer: [thinking] Yes, I think that's right. Donald P. : I think that's right. Because I remember the five, but I forget the boy. 34 The Velmer Family and Business Donald P. : Well, now, tell me where the Volmers come into the picture. Volmer: Well, my grandmother, Charlotte Haw ley, became a Whipple. And that family — there were five children, I believe — and my mother was the oldest. Donald P. : And what was her name? Volmer: Luella Whipple. And she married Rudolph Volmer. So, there you've got the Volmers. Donald P. : Now, did they live down in that area when they were first married, or did they come up to San Francisco? Volmer: You mean the Volmers? Donald P. : Yes. Volmer: Yes. My father started the warehouse in Decote in 1888, say. And the name of the firm was Lowry, Steller, and Volmer. Donald P. : Which Lowry was that? Volmer: Well, that was a San Francisco Lowry — Will Lowry. No, not a local Lowry. And Steller got out very early. I don't know which, I think around 1900, something like that. Or maybe before. And then the firm became Lowry, Volmer, and Perry. Donald P. : What Perry was that? Was that a local Perry? Volmer: That was a local Perry that lived on the — Well, they had a place right — The corners, there, where you go down to your — Donald P. : Sure. Volmer: You [have] any ideas that Perrys lived there. Donald P.: Yes, because — I'll tell you why I'm so interested. We've just purchased the Brown ranch. And Joe Perry is farming it. So, he'll keep on as a tenant of ours now, and it's the same family, and he's related to the one that you're talking about. But, whether it's — probably, it's the third generation. Volmer: Oh, it probably is. But, there were three brothers in this Perry family. Charlie was one, and another Perry lived in San Francisco, and the third lived on the ranch. Donald P. It's the same outfit. 35 Volmer: Yes. the same outfit. And that firm went on till 1903. when they sold out to Sauls. Donald P.: Oh, that's where the connection came in with Sauls. Volmer: That's right. And that's how Sauls got the old iron-clad warehouse. Sauls used to have the other warehouse on the other side of the — Donald P. : Now, is your family home still in Decoto, or — ? Volmer: No, that was torn down, maybe, fifteen years ago. Donald P. : I see. Do you have any of the early records anywhere of either the business or the family — any letters or documents? Volmer: All I have is a letter to my father from Stanley Moore's father that owned the ranch on Mission Creek. Well, I suppose this is... My father went broke in the warehouse — in the grain business. He was broke in 1930 [sic] and Mr. Moore was his attorney, and he advised him not to go through bankruptcy. So, he and Charlie Perry came down to San Francisco and started the firm with Volmer and Perry in 1903. And I have a letter that — from Moore — In other words, [he] cleared my father with his credit piece. And I still have that — Donald P.: Was that A. A. Moore? Volmer: Well, that was Stanley Moore's father. That was the A. A, Moore who was — well, [inaudible] married into the Moore family, that was the same family. Donald P. : Yes, same one. Volmer: So. I have that letter now, if it's any use to the historical society. They can have it, but I don't imagine they'd be interested. Donald P. : Well, I think we could — you could loan it to us to put with the heard down here, [laughter] When did your family leave Fremont, which was then Decote? Volmer: The Velmer family? Donald P. : Yes. Volmer: 1903. Donald P. : Came to San Francisco? Volmer: In 1903. 36 Bertha Faull. Niece of Clara Patterson Donald P. : Now, let's get to the Faull family. Bertha Faull was who? Now where did she tie in? Volmer: Bertha Faull was — Donald P. : — the daughter of — Volmer: Well. Bertha Faull was my mother's sister. So. she must have been a Hawley, too. That's why we're missing — Donald P. : Yes, sure, that's right. That's where it ties in. Now, she was apparently very close to my grandmother. Did you ever hear of that? Volmer: Yes. Your grandmother practically educated her. Donald P. : Now, why was that? Volmer: Well, your grandmother always picked somebody in the family to help. Donald P. : Yes. But why did she need help? Volmer: Well, I don't know. Maybe your grandmother just took a liking to her. [See interview with Jeanette Korstad and Marilyn Price.] Donald P. : Now, there's a story in the family that, at one time, my grandmother was going to give her a part of the ranch. Did you ever hear that? Volmer: Yes, I heard something of that. Donald P. : Apparently, it never went through. Volmer: It never went through. Donald P. : But, she was very, I know they were very close. And, as I remember, I can remember her as Bertha Faull. And, she was a very nice person. My memory when she was very — Volmer: Now, let's go back. I think we made an error here. Bertha Faull was my mother's sister, SG she wasn't a Hawley. She was a Whip pie. Donald P.: You're right. Her grandmother was a Hawley. That's right. That straightens it out. Now, then her daughter — the one that I saw so much of because she's about my age — 37 Volmer: Virginia. Donald P. : Virginia. Volmer: Yes. I imagine she's about your age. Donald P.: And, so she's now living then in Alameda. Velmer: Alameda. yes. Donald P. : And she would probably remember quite a few things. Volmer: No doubt. Donald P. : You'll have to talk to her sometime about — She probably would have memories of my grandmother, too. Volmer' s Memories of the Patterson House Donald P. : Did you ever hear a discussion as to when George Patterson's original house was built, or where it was? Volmer: No. I couldn't — Donald P. : We haven't been able to — Volmer: No, that was back before my time. Donald P. : Oh. yes. It would be before that. In thinking back when you were a boy. around the old house (the old Patterson house), do you recall whether there was a little — well, you might say. quarters for the help — back of the kitchen, a little house there? Volmer: I have some recollection of that. yes. Donald P. : You do. Then, beyond that was the — whatever you call it — the stone house, where they kept the milk. Volmer: Yes. that's right. Donald P. : But. you think there was a little wooden house. Volmer: I can remember something of that. Donald P. : Well I can remember, back as far as I can remember, it was there. 38 Volmer: Yes. Donald P. : Did you — ? You probably — Oh, another question. You remember some of the big gatherings. Volmer: Yes. Donald P. : We have some pictures of those and I want to, sometime, have you look at them and see if you can identify some of the people. Some of them are identified, but many of them are not. You see, that was — I can j ust barely remember the gatherings, let alone the people. Clara's Good Works, Second Marriage, and Travel Volmer: Well, when your grandmother was alive, she had quite a few gatherings, as I remember. Donald P. : Yes, I think so. Do you know, did she tend to — was she sort of the center of the family, and she'd gather the family together? Volmer: Oh, yes. She would — Well, I'm trying to find a good description. She was, I would say, a leader of the family. I mean, she — your grandmother did a lot of good. Donald P.: Yes, I think that's right. Volmer: She did a lot of good. Donald P. : She must have been fairly strong-willed. Volmer: She was. She did a lot of good. And she helped a lot of people, including Bertha Faull. And I know she also — Another member of the Whipples, Jim Whipple — I think she put him through the university. Donald P. : Now, he made quite a record in the university. Volmer: Why, yes, he was a football, yes — he was captain of the team, and later coached in 1904 or 1905. Donald P.: No, I didn't know that. It's a sensitive area, but have you any idea of why my grandmother's marriage to Layson didn't work out? Volmer: Well, I don't think your father and your uncle really approved of it. Now, that's the impression that — Donald P.: I'm sure you're right. You think that's what broke it up? 39 Volmer: Well, [it] had something to do with it. I can just remember Mr. Layson — he was a very nice gentleman. I can remember one time when we had dinner there, and your Uncle Henry was there (that was before he was married) and I think, my father and mother — I forget who was there. But I can remember Layson was there. Donald P. : Is that so? Volmer: Yes. Donald P.: Oh. that's interesting. Well, you know — Volmer: He was a kind of a nice-looking person, rather mild-looking. As I can recall, a kind of sandy complexion, you know, I mean — Donald P. : You know he was quite a scholar? He was a linguist — spoke five languages — and was well regarded scholastically. Volmer: Wasn't he a minister? Donald P. : Yes, he was the minister of a local church there. Yes. he came to the, I think, a Presbyterian church. Well, I think you're right. From what I've been able to dig out of the records, to an extent that was it. The boys, of course, were older. Here was a stranger coming in. and I think they made it difficult for him. I've always wondered why my grandmother, who was a strong character and quite self-sufficient, would have remarried. There didn't seem to be any reason for it. She had a, you know, happy family. She was happy with the boys; she was busy with the running of the ranch. I never could resolve in my own mind why — I suppose she was lonesome. Volmer: Well, she was always Aunt CLara Patterson. She never was Aunt Clara Layson, as far as my end of the family was concerned. I always referred to her as Aunt Clara Patterson — I never could get to call her — Well, she was a very fine person and, you know, what she would do on some of her trips, oh, like — And I guess she did it for the whole family. One of her trips, she came back, and I was just a little, young boy, I guess, maybe, I don't know, thirteen, fourteen, and she brought a stick pin back. I believe, from Egypt. You know how you used to wear stick pins in your neck ties, or cravats, or whatever you want to call them? Those are the things she did. She never forgot anybody. And, of course, she traveled a lot. You know that. Donald P. : Yes. Shortly after my grandfather's death, as soon as the boys, apparently, could take over on the ranch, she traveled. And, it must have been much more of an undertaking then for a women alone to travel the way she did all around the world. 40 Volmer: Yes. I don't know whether she took anybody or not. I can't recall- Donald P. : No, she went with her husband. Layson. to Egypt and the Holy Land, and she took the boys east to the, I guess it was the mid winter fair, or something like that. But, outside of that, her trips were apparently alone. She'd go alone on these long trips. Scows, Warehouses, and Duck Hunting, 1900s-1910s Donald P. : Do you remember anything about the shipping of produce from the ranch? Do you remember discussions about the ship Broadgauge? Volmer: Just slightly. I know it used to come up to Mr. Patterson's landing, there. Donald P. : But that was really before — Volmer: Well, that was about the time that there were a couple of scow- schooners coming up to the Jarvis landing, too. It was about that time. Donald P. : Do you remember those — ? Volmer: Yes. They were the Murray Fernandez and the George Washington. Donald P. : Now, the George Washington. I've run across that name. That wasn't the Patterson boat — Volmer: No. Those are the ones that brought to Jarvis, Jarvis Landing. Donald P. : That's correct, yes. Well, do you remember Patterson Landing and the warehouses there? Volmer: Oh, yes. Donald P.: I guess they weren't still using it, though, when you — Volmer: Well, I really don't know, but I knew they were there. But they were using the Jarvis Landing warehouses up till, oh — after you were born, I know that. Past 1906, I know that. Just about that time. Donald P. : Now, when did you first go duck hunting down there, do you remember? Al Volmer: Well, the first time I ever shot ducks — I'm right now. let's see. you can figure it out. I'm eighty years old and I was sixteen when I shot ducks there. Donald P.: That would have been about 1910 or 1911. Volmer: Yes. along in there. Donald P. : And you went to what we call the old shooting lodge, with the little house by the lake. Volmer: Yes, that was the — Yes, the house was right on the lake, wasn't it? Donald P. : Yes, I think it was. Volmer: [laughs] Do you want to hear a funny story about that? My father always liked finnan haddie, and we always brought a finnan haddie, and he was supposed to soak it just before overnight. So my dad, the next morning, went out and had a hold of the fish by the tail, and he had a hold of the pan. and he threw the water out into the slough, and he only was left with the tail. [laughter] So we ended up by having eggs for breakfast. Donald P. : The slough must have been pretty close — Volmer: Well, you could, just like you come out on a balcony, look over it. Whether it was the main slough, or what it was. it might have been a smaller slough — Donald P. : Did you shoot there, or did you go down — ? Volmer: Oh. no. We had to go quite a ways. Donald P. : To the Indian mound. Volmer: That's right, the Indian mound. Donald P. : See. I got in a little bit later on that. But they were still shooting for a few years there when I started. Now. at that time, were they still raising grain down in that — below what we called Marsh Road? Or would that have gone into vegetables and field crops, sugar beets, and that sort? Volmer: I think, mostly, as I remember, sugar beets. I don't remember so much grain. Maybe there was some grain. It might be so. But. I— Donald P. : You remember the sugar beets. 42 Volmer: I can remember the sugar beets and the cattle coming down from the — Donald P.: The beet tops. Volmer: The beet tops. And twisting off the beet tops and turning the cattle over to Hellers over there in Alvarado. In [inaudible], I think. Donald P.: Yes, that's right. Family Quarreling over Alaskan Mines Donald P. : Can you think of any track that we haven't pursued? How did all of this group get into mining? When the hell did that start? Volmer: Well, you mean — I think it started with Jim Whipple when he went up to Alaska. Donald P. : I see. And, he went up on the, what, the Alaska — Do you know? Volmer: Well, I guess he was with the — yes, that was part of Alaska — and what was the name of that other mine, now? Donald P. : Kensington. Volmer: Kensington. Donald P. : Was your father in on the Kensington — ? Volmer: No, he wasn't. No, my dad was never in on any of that stuff. Donald P.: Oh, he wasn't? He was lucky. Volmer: Yes. It was just your father and your uncle. Will and Henry Patterson. Now, maybe Fred Morris was mixed in there. Donald P. : Yes, he was. And I wonder if it must have grown out of their college association, I think. Morris, you know, was a geologist. Volmer: Yes, Fred Morris was a mining graduate. Fred Morris and Jim Whipple and your Uncle Henry Patterson all went to [the University of] California at the same time. Donald P. : I've got a mass of correspondence and diaries and papers and so forth on those mining — I think Dad must have kept a lot of the correspondence. It was a lot of fun. They had a lot of fun out of it. A3 Volmer: They had some trouble, toe, if you remember. Do you want to bring that up? Donald P. : They lest money en it. What trouble do you mean? Volmer: Well, Jim Whipple died, you know, in 191 A. And there was a lawsuit going on at that time. Don't you remember anything? Have you ever heard anything about — ? Donald P. : I probably — no, between whom? Volmer: Well, between the Whipples and — Jim Whipple — and, I don't knew, and Bart Thane was in on it. Donald P. : Now, Bart Thane I know. They would never speak to him. Volmer: Jim Whipple married Bart's sister, Laura Thane, you know that. Donald P.: That's right, sure. Yes. Volmer: And. it was my father that settled that claim. He went in and they all — it was really settled just before Jim Whipple died. And, of course. Jim Whipple died there in Niles — it was the same place. And I was going to school at that time at the university in Reno — University of Nevada. But, I've heard afterwards it was my dad that settled the thing. The lawyers couldn't settle it, and my father went up there and — Now, whether it was his friendship with your father and your Uncle Henry — what happened, I really couldn't say. Donald P.: There's nothing in the record. Volmer: But. from then on. my dad wouldn't speak to Laura Thane, and I don't think that your Uncle Henry would neither. I think your father relented, finally. Donald P. : Yes. But the real, the fellow that they were really mad at, was Bart Thane. Volmer: Well, probably. Donald P. : Because he was the big operator. Volmer: Yes. Donald P. : He was the fellow in the Kensington and Alaska gold. And, he's the fellow that went over to England. He was going back and forth, and he was the organizer — No, I — that's all I know about. 44 Volmer: Yes, well I'm just quoting from what I've heard my father say. And I know my mother was very, very upset with my dad because he would have nothing to do with Laura Thane. If there was a family picnic, and Laura Thane was there, my dad wouldn't shew up — he'd have an excuse. Donald P. : I wonder why they were so bitter about Laura because I wouldn't think that she would have gotten into the business end of it at all. I suppose it was just — Volmer: That I couldn't say. I don't know how much influence Laura had — I don't know. She was pretty sharp, like Bart Thane, too, you know. Donald P. : I only knew her, of course, when she was very young. Volmer: The last time I saw her, she was very, very old — Well, that's about all I can tell you, Don, on that side of the family. Donald P. : Well, now, tell me. The Ingalls — are there descendants of the Ingalls family left, now? In the area? Volmer: Oh, I think so. I think there are some younger people. Elizabeth Ingalls is — There were three Ingalls girls, I know that. Maybe the youngest one is still alive. I don't know, I could find out. One of the boys — one of the younger Ingalls — have you heard about that fight between your brother, Jack, and — ? Donald P. : Yes. [laughs] Volmer: That was one of the Ingalls. That was quite a show. That was a family gathering. Your father and mother were there that day. Donald P. : Yes, I missed that for some reason. Volmer: Yes, I think you were away at school, or something. Recalling Early Ranch Structures Donald P. : You remember, as you go down to the Coyote Hills, you turn off Marsh Road and go down Coyote Hills, there where the dairy is on the left-hand side, and there was a little house on the right- hand side — Volmer: A little white house, yes. A5 Donald P. : And that we always called the Parish house because the Parish family lived there. Did you ever know any of the Parishes? Volmer: No. Donald P. : That was before your time. You never heard any discussion of when that house was built? Volmer: No. Donald P. : We can't find out. It was built in the sixties. It's one of the very oldest houses in that whole area. The only house that's older is the [inaudible] place. And we can't establish when it was built, and there is none of the Parish family left. They went to Los Angeles, and then we lost the trail again. So. we're left — we just don't know. But. I'd like to know because about ten years ago — you remember Captain Thompson and Mrs. Thompson, who were the keepers for the Pheasant CLub, there, remember? Volmer: Yes. I do. Donald P. : His wife was very energetic and she was an antique dealer before she went down there and retired. She took that house and completely restored it to its original condition and decorated it inside and everything. And. it's really a very good replica — not replica — it's the actual house with the furnishings that you would expect in the sixties and seventies. But. we can't establish when it was built. Volmer: There's no record? Well, of course, that one would be part of the old Briggs ranch. Donald P. : No. The old — well, I've forgotten the name, but I've checked the eld maps of the sixties. The maps of the fifties don't show any house. The maps of the seventies show a house. Who were the dairy people that were there, before Marchy? Volmer: They also had a place up on the mountain, opposite the Masonic home — Donald P.: I can't recall at this time. Volmer: Well, yes. I was trying to think of that name when you were mentioning this country — it's a funny name — Donald P. : That was very well operating as far back as you can remember. So, they must have come pretty early. Volmer: Yes... Zwissig. 46 Donald P. : No. before the Zwissigs. Volmer: Oh. before the Zwissigs. Donald P.: Now, the Zwissigs took over from these people that I can just barely remember, and then they bought the place up at Decoto. Then they left, and then Marchy came right after. But there's one before that — Volmer: No. I couldn't remember. Donald P. : You don't remember? I guess you remember the little station, the Arden Station. Volmer: Oh, yes, Arden Station. Donald P. : You didn't go to the play, down there, did you, where it got its name — Midsummer Night's Dream? [As You Like _It was the Skakespeare play which takes place in the forest of Arden. — Ed.] Volmer: No, no, I think that was very early in your grandmother's time, wasn' t it? Donald P. : No, it would have been — because Dad was — Yes, I guess it would have been — Volmer: Yes, I've heard about that place. Donald P. : Do you remember the deer park? Volmer: Oh, very well, very well. Donald P. : You heard the story about the — t* — up into the tree. Volmer: Yes, yes. And I remember they used to go out and feed the deer. Yes, I remember the deer park. Donald P. : Now, do you remember there used to be a bunkheuse and a kitchen where they fed the men? Do you remember that? Volmer: Oh, yes. That was down by the stables, there, you know, where your stables were. Yes. yes, I remember that house. I know it wasn1 t a barn. It was a house there. Donald P. : And wasn't there a low building that was the bunkhouse? There was some kind of a house there and then a — 47 Volmer: And then wasn't there a shed on one side of it. or something? I think where your dad used to keep his old Knox there, to cool a little. 1906. [laughter] Donald P.: I don't knew, you've got me there. Volmer: Yes. I remember that Knox. you know, with the — you had a folding seat in front that folded down. Donald P.: This I don't remember. Volmer: You don't remember. Donald P. : No, no. Volmer: That was alongside of the bunkheuse. [tape turned off temporarily] Tracing Mere Hawley Cousins Donald P. : Well, you take over. now. Volmer: Well. no. you just ask me questions. Donald P. : Well. now. let's see. Let's take the Meyer branch. Did they have the ranch and the lady just died and gave the ranch to the park, didn't she? Volmer: No, that's the maid. Oh, now, wait a minute. Annie Meyer was my mother's sister. She married Fred Meyer. Annie Whipple — she married Fred Meyer. And they had that little piece of property up on Dry Creek, which, I think, Fred Meyer originally owned, and then he went broke or something. And the Pattersons — your grandmother. 1 guess — took it over and they rented that for years. You know that piece of property. Donald P. : No, no, this is news to me. Volmer: Well, it's Mission Boulevard, now. You know where you cross the bridge there? Well, you know where Dry Creek comes down. Donald P. : Yes. sure. Volmer: Well, do you know where the cemetery is? Donald P. : Yes. 48 Volmer: Well, it would be. I guess, west of the cemetery, wouldn't it? Donald P. : Yes. Volmer: Well, there was a piece of land right around Dry Creek and ran as far as the railroad track. And it went down — the other boundary was Whipple Road. Donald P. : Oh, yes, I know where that is, sure. Volmer: You know the corner there? And Dry Creek went through the middle of it. Well, they lived there for years. That was another one of your grandmother1 s — Donald P. : Well, now, is any of them left? Volmer: Yes. There is, of my generation, there's one left: Harold. Donald P. : Where does he live? Volmer: He lives in Oakland. Donald P. : Well, now, we've followed the Ingalls and we've followed the Meyers. Now — Volmer: You want the Mays? Donald P.: Yes. That was August May, wasn't it? Volmer: No, no. This was Henry May. August May's brother married Clara Whipple. There's three of my generation left in the May family. There's Henry May, and Marj orie and Gertrude. Now, Gertrude married Kennedy, and had a ranch further towards Hayward on the same side of the road there. Oh, I guess you never knew the Kennedys. Donald P.: No, I don't think so. Volmer: Well, they were farmers, and then young Kennedy, he — And they had also a ranch en the Bell ranch, down, I believe, Alameda Creek. Now, there's three of them left. There's Henry, Gertrude and Marj orie. And they're all around my age. I mean, Harold is a couple years older than I am — Harold Meyer. Gertrude Kennedy is Harold Meyer's age. Marj orie Kennedy is my age, and Henry is four years younger than myself. And they're still alive. And Henry lives on the old place out on Dry Creek. Donald P.: He's still there? Volmer: He's still there, yes. He was married a second time. 49 Donald P.: I didn't notice his name on this — Volmer: No. Donald P. : I wonder if he should be taped. I wonder if these folks should — Volmer: Well. Henry is not too well. Gertrude lives in Hayward. and Marj orie lives up — she married a fellow by the name of King, who has got a ranch up on the — You know Niles Canyon where Fernbrook Park is? And, you know the road that goes where you turn to the left and go on up to — the Palomares, isn't it the Palomares? Donald P. : Palomares? Or is it now Stonybrook? Volmer: Well, it's Stonybrook, but — yes — up Stonybrook. I think they call it the Palomares, something like that. Donald P. : Well, I'm going to make a note of this — Volmer: And her name is King. now. Donald P. : Do you know her first — ? Volmer: Her first name was — Well, her first name was Marj orie. Her maiden name — Donald P. : Now. but who is the oldest of that group? You said — Volmer: Mrs. Kennedy is the oldest. Donald P.: Oh. she's the eldest. I see. Volmer: Marj orie comes next. And Mrs. King comes next, and Henry May comes — he's the younger one. Donald P. : Okay, now, you say Ed Hawley — did he have any descendants? Volmer: Yes. he had — and I think he's still alive — Kenneth Hawley, who would be your cousin. He would be your second cousin. And I don't know where Kenneth is; I can find out. Now. there's another one that your, either your grandmother or your Uncle Henry, sent up to the University of Nevada. That's another one of the family, [laughs] Because, he came up there when. I think. I was either, let's see. I was a sophomore, and he was a — They sent him up there for me to kind of look out after him. And he was a tough monkey to look after. [laughter] Donald P.: A real job. huh? 50 Volmer: Well, you haven't covered the Beard family, which — Donald P.: No. by golly, that's right. Volmer: The Beard family — now, uh — Donald P. : Elias Beard came in the forties, before the Gold Rush, and settled in Mission San Jose. That, I guess, was the original of the whole bunch, wasn't it? Volmer: I imagine so. Donald P. : Yes. Volmer: Now, Aunt Elizabeth — which we called Aunt Lizzy — well, it was Elizabeth Hawley, she married this — I forget — this Beard. I forget his first name [John Lymon Beard]. I knew, at one time, that he was a member of the California legislature, whether that means anything to you, or not, I don't know. Donald P. : Now this, we'll be able to spot this on this genealogy. Volmer: Oh, yes. Donald P.: It'll show there. Volmer: Oh, it shows up there. Donald P. : Now, did they have children, and have they got relatives? Volmer: Oh, yes, they had four [who lived], and I think they had two that passed away. And you'll find this on this family tree. Well, the oldest one was Jessie — she never married. And she became a nurse. And she did a lot of work. I think she even went to do her work in Bellevue in New York. Isn't that — they call it Bellevue — that hospital? Donald P. : Yes. Volmer: Oh, yes, John Beard, oh, yes. He was named after his father. This was John Beard that married Elizabeth Hawley. John Beard became a doctor, and he passed away about, it seemed to be a heart — they all had heart attacks — John Beard. And then there was Hawley Beard. Donald P.: These names are all familiar to me, but I don't know — Volmer: And he's passed away — passed away about, oh, in his thirties, sometime. John Beard passed away. And then, Clara Beard, who I think is still alive and married now (I don't know what her 51 Volmer: married name is), but she lives in Lone Pine. California, or she did. Now. John Beard had a son; he did have a son. Now. I don't know what happened to him. That's beyond me. Donald P. : Then, as far as — you don't know any of that Beard group who live around here, then? Volmer: No. Now. where John Beard's sen is. I don't know. I think the last time I heard of John Beard — the father, now I'm talking about — he was practicing medicine in. I believe, Martinez. This younger Beard might be up there in Martinez. Now, whether dara Beard has any offspring, I can't tell you. Donald P. : Now, some of your family, then, are probably at the same cemetery — the family plot up there. Volmer: Oh, yes. They're all up there. Donald P. : All of them? Volmer: Practically all of them, except my mother. She's not there. She's down in Colma, and my father isn't there. My brother isn't — They're all — Donald P. : I see. Volmer: Yes. But all the rest of them are up there — most of them. Donald P. : Do you know, were they in the same plot in that same — ? Or did you have an area of your own? Volmer: Well, there's a Whipple plot. And the Patterson plot. Donald P.: They're doing quite a nice job up there. Have you been up there recently? Volmer: Last time I was there was at Jack's funeral. Donald P.: Oh. yes. They're taking good care of it. Volmer: Like I told you before, I took Sally up there and had to explain — I pointed out all of her relatives. [laughter] Andrew Patterson Donald P. : This is going way back. You never heard any discussion of Andrew Patterson and his marriage, did you? 52 Volmer: No. no. I just knew of an Andrew Patterson, that's all I knew. Donald P. : Because he's one of the most colorful figures in the whole bunch, you know, because, as the story that came down, he's the fellow whose women were too fast and his horses were not quite fast enough. [laughter] But he did marry. And his wife's grave is there, and a daughter — but it was not his daughter. Apparently, it was her daughter, and he married her — she must have been a widow. Volmer: Well, is his grave there too? Andrew Patterson's grave? Donald P. : Oh, yes. I haven't been able to find out when he came to California, either. And this ties in, as I say, with the history of the Livermore ranch, which is — I haven't been able to find very much about. I really don't — Did you ever hear that my father, when he first got out of college, went up there to learn the cattle business? Volmer: Just a little bit. I heard something of it, yes. Donald P.: You think that's correct then? Volmer: I think so. Donald P. : Because I run across pictures of him, which apparently were taken up there — in their cowboy outfits. Well, let's see, can you think of anything now that — I'm beginning to run dry. Volmer: Well, I think you've about covered everything, Don, that I can remember. There might be some small incidents — Donald P. : Well, let's do this, then. We'll stop now, and maybe after we've thought about it, sometime we'll have another session. Volmer: Fine. [tape turned off and on again at some later time] Pattersons and Hawleys; Mutual Assistance Donald P. : We're talking about — Volmer: The little ranch that Grandpa and Grandma Hawley lived on. Donald P. : Oh, well. I know where that is because their house was there until a few years ago, and then it was — yes. 53 Volmer: Yes. that's right. Donald P.: It was adjacent to our present property. Volmer: Yes. Your property bordered it. say, property on the west. Donald P. : Right. But. Bill, I was thinking of the wrong area. Now. let's go over this again, because I never knew this connection. In other words, that little piece, you say, was given by my grandmother — Volmer: I don't know whether it was given by your — But, after your Grandma Hawley died — and Aunt May wasn't married then, you know. May Hawley — it was arranged between your father and, I guess, your grandmother and your father and your uncle, that — Now, whether they gave it to May Hawley I have — Donald P. : I think so. Volmer: I think they did. Donald P. : Yes, I think so. Volmer: And then she lived there till this Uncle Billy came along — Uncle Billy Paterson. Donald P. : Right. Volmer: And now, what became of the property after that, I really don't know. Donald P. : Well, now, did Uncle Billy live there? Volmer: I don't think so. Donald P. : No. Where did he live? Volmer: They lived in Oakland. Donald P.: Yes, that's right, you're right. They used to come down. Okay, well, then, that's good, because that gives me the history of that piece ef property that I had always wondered about. Volmer: After Uncle John Beard died, or John Beard died — the original Beard — the ranch was in trouble. Donald P. : Which ranch? Volmer: The Beard ranch. Donald P. : Oh. yes. 54 Volmer: That was across the road from where the Hawleys lived, you know. Donald P. : Oh, yes. I know where that is, yes. Volmer: And your family helped Aunt Lizzy Beard out — to what extent, I don't know. Because I remember there was a lot of discussion in the family, and Aunt Lizzy was. well, she wasn't exactly strapped, but she was not in too good a shape. Donald P. : This I didn't know. Volmer: And it was through the goodness of your grandmother and your father and uncle that — took care of her. I don't know how they did or what they did, I don't know. Donald P. : We're now talking about the acquisition of the Briggs ranch. I think it was in 1916, wasn't it? Volmer: No, no, I think it was long after that, I'm pretty sure. Donald P. : Well, whenever it was, go ahead. Volmer: So your father and your uncle's kindness that helped my dad in 1903 — He was very proud that he was able to lend him the money, some amount of money, I forget which. It was close to fifty thousand dollars, I think, to buy the Briggs ranch. Donald P. : No, that I didn't know. [tape turned off and on again] My grandfather was at least twenty years [thirty] older than my grandmother, and apparently my grandmother was a very lovely- looking young girl. Volmer: That's right. Donald P. : And her father was the contemporary of my grandfather. They came to San Francisco in 1849 and knew each other in 1850 in Mission San Jose. I think that the old fellow was a little bit ashamed ef himself because in the first place, apparently, he married, he took her off to Sacramento, where they were married. And his friends didn't know what had happened until it was all over. This is just an inkling on my part that, from some of the notes and correspondence, what took place. But, beyond that, I don' t know. But, as far as I know, it was a very happy marriage. Volmer: Yes. Well, her father knew your grandfather very well and, I think, did quite a lot ef business with him, too. I think they got along very well together. 55 Donald P. : New, I've also heard the story that my grandfather. George Patterson, was a very hard. well, not hard, but a very — yes. I guess I'd say a hard man — that he had the reputation of being very business-like. And they say that he would follow the thresher around through the field, and if there was grain left on the ground where it shouldn't be. he'd make them go back and pick it up. Volmer: Well, that's a typical Scot. [laughter] Donald P. : Well, you can't blame him too much, else, though, since — You haven't heard anything Volmer: Well, the only time I've ever heard — that my father always had a very high regard for this. I guess he went up there as a fairly young man — well, they got along well together. He spoke very well of him. Donald P.: That's interesting. Well, that's about all — ff Hawley Family Gatherings Donald P. Volmer: Donald P. We are discussing some of the old pictures that we've found in the Patterson collection. I'm going to ask Mr. Volmer, now, to tell us about this picture of his family. Well, this picture taken on May 21, 1905, the sixtieth anniversary of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. James Hawley — On the steps are the oldest representatives of the four generations. The first generation, Mr. and Mrs. Hawley, the second generation, Mrs. Emily Hawley Ingalls. Mrs. Ingalls was the oldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hawley. Mrs. Luella Volmer — the eldest of the third generation, the daughter ef Charlotte Hawley. Miss Charlotte Meyer — the oldest generation of — the daughter of Annie Meyer, who was the daughter of Charlotte Hawley. This photograph, taken about 1908, is a group picture of the first of the five generations of the family of Mr. and Mrs. James Hawley, taken at the tennis court of the George Patterson house. Now. tell us a little bit about those gatherings, be a lot of big family gatherings. There used to 56 Volmer : Donald P. V ol mer : Donald P. Volmer: Donald P. Volmer: Donald P. Volmer: Donald P. Volmer: This is one of the many family gatherings that had taken place during this period at different places, including the Beard residence which was across the street from the Hawley residence. And also, later on in the years, family gatherings [were] at the Ingalls1 place down in Berryessa. Mrs. Ingalls was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Hawley. Does that sound all right? Did you have plenty to eat? Did they have it out in the open? At these gatherings, generally, everybody brought something along, and there was ample food for everybody and most of the neighbors. [laughter] Well, at most of these gatherings, and pretty well most all of them, no hard liquor was served. It was mostly coffee and milk and soda pop for the kids. Practically no liquor was served, to my knowledge. Well, you should know because you were there, right. That's what I remember, too. I think that's Yes. How long did they last? you leave? When did you get there, and when did Well, these affairs generally started a little before noon and probably lasted until about five or six, up to seven o'clock at night, all depending on the length of the day and the period of the year. Now at that time, did you come in automobiles, or was it still buckboards and surreys and — ? Well, in the early days — in the earlier pictures, I've described the first picture, here — generally, people arrived with horses and buggies. Later on, after World War I, and just prior to World War I, mostly everybody arrived by automobile. New, when they came with horses, what did they do with the horses while you were at the party? Did they unhitch them and put them in somebody's barn, or what happened? Well, the horses were always pretty well taken care of. Most of these places had ample places — large barns and so forth, and plenty of room. Generally the horses were unhitched. Sometimes, they were tied up to hitching posts — Donald P.: — and left in the harness. 57 Volmer: Yes. But, regardless of all that, everybody seemed to have a very fine time. [laughter] Donald P. : This was kind of a means ef communication among the family people. I suppose. Volmer: Yes. Well, generally these gatherings were generally about once a year or once every two years, and were generally in the spring or the summer. Mostly, [they] were outdoors and the weather around the bay region was generally nice weather. Never too hot and never too cold. Donald P. : I remember the story they used to tell about — was it a codfish that your father got mixed up in at the duck club? Volmer: No. it was a finnan haddie. My dad wasn't a very good cook, but he prided himself for bringing this finnan haddie to the duck club for the early breakfast. After soaking this finnan haddie all night long, he decided that he'd have to throw the excess water away. Instead of taking the finnan haddie out of the pan. he walk ed out onto the porch, which overlooked a little slough, or ditch, full ef water, and. hanging onto the pan with one hand and the tail of the finnan haddie in the other, he gave a swish to throw the water out. and he ended up with the pan and the tail ef the finnan haddie, the rest of which sailed out into the ditch, [laughter] We ended up by having bacon and eggs for breakfast, [more laughter] The Hunting Ledge and Deer Park Donald P.: This is the old duck club [looking at photograph], before it was moved up onto the Coyote Hills. I was only seven or eight years old at that time, and I wasn't invited down there very often, but when they were not shooting. Dad occasionally went down to see what was happening at the old building. So I remember it, and I remember particularly that there was an artesian well behind the little house, which ran continuously. This ran into a ditch, and down on into the marsh. As the pumping in the valley get heavier, water level dropped, and I would think that the artesian flow stopped sometime around, perhaps, 1915. These wells have never flowed since. About 1921 or 1922, this hunting lodge was abandoned, and went up onto, what we called. Coyote Hills (which was the Briggs place and was bought at about that time). I'm sure that they took part of this building and moved it up onto the Coyote Hills and then, later on. it was added to to make the second shooting club, which would sleep about ten people, which was larger than the original club. 58 Donald P. : Bill, you remember the deer park, but it was a little bit before my time. I think I can just barely remember it. They had quite a few deer there at one time, didn't they? Volmer: Yes, Don, they had quite a few deer. Donald P. : Do you remember what — a dozen or so? Volmer: Oh, I imagine close to it — all the way, maybe, from eight to twelve deer. Donald P. : You never heard where the deer came from? Volmer: No, that I never — Donald P. : Do you remember how high was the fence? How did they keep them in? Volmer: Well, I would say that the fence was at least fifteen feet in height. Donald P.: They're great jumpers. Volmer: Yes. But, to my knowledge, I have never heard of any deer escaping. Donald P. : Yes, well that sounds about right. Did they feed them, or did they have natural food? Volmer: Well, I think there was plenty of natural feed in there. But, as I recollect, they were fed every evening — I would say maybe about four to six o'clock, about that time. I can remember them bringing stuff in there. Now, whether they were fed every day, that, I can't say. Donald P. : Were there any bucks among them? Volmer: Well, there was one buck, in particular, that was supposed to be very mean, and outsiders weren't supposed to go in there. They were warned to keep out, especially us kids. [laughs] Donald P. : Bill, I think that's right because I can remember the story my parents told about a Chinaman taking a shortcut through the park once. The buck ran him up a tree, and he was there all night. They had to get him out from the — Volmer: Well, yes, Don, I think I heard that story, too. And I know that they're very particular to have outsiders kept out of there. Perhaps the deer, if they knew they were being fed, they were probably quite tame. 59 Donald P. : Volmer : Donald P. Volmer: Donald P. Volmer: I wonder why my grandparents had chat deer park. That wasn't usual at that time. Did you ever hear any reason why they had it? Well. I think it was more your grandmother's idea. She was a very remarkable woman and she loved the outdoors, she traveled a lot, and maybe she got this idea once with her travels in England, or something. Yes. I'll bet that's it. I think that's a good suggestion, [tape turned off, briefly] We have a genealogy, here, on the back of a picture, which shows two generations back of Hettie Munn and James Hawley, who were my great grandfather and great grandmother. Bill Volmer is here, and he has a comment about this, which we're not sure of. but we'd like to get it into the record. Well, it's — I'm not quite sure of this, Don, but, somehow, in the back of my mind, the reason James Hawley left his family in New Jersey to come out to California was — there was a mortgage on the farm, and he evidently figured that he could come out here and make enough money during the Gold Rush to clear the mortgage. As I remember, in a letter that he had written back home, he tells of his arrival in San Francisco in 1849 (or thereabouts) and described his landing here and his first job as a carpenter in San Francisco in August of 1849. The daily wage at that time for a carpenter was between fifteen and twenty dollars a day. And that was big money, then. That was supposedly big money, but it wasn't so big — barrel of flour cost twenty dollars, or so. So he was making fair wages, [both laugh] If 60 TAPE GUIDE — William Velmer Date of Interview: August 12, 1977 tape 1 . side A tape 1. side B 46 tape 2, side A 55 61 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California Berkeley, California THE PATTERSON FAMILY AND RANCH: SOUTHERN ALAMEDA COUNTY IN TRANSITION Jeanette Korstad and Marilyn Price Hawley Family Memories An Interview Conducted by Ann Lage in 1987 Copyright (c) 1988 by the Regents of the University of California JEANETTE KORSTAD in 1880s decent costume, Patterson House, Ardenwood 1987 62 TABLE OF CONTENTS — Jeanette Karstad and Marilyn Price INTERVIEW HISTORY 63 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION — Jeanette Kerstad 64 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION — Marilyn Price 65 Hawley Family Connections 66 Clara Hawley Patterson and Her Sisters 68 Proper Manners and Educated Women 69 Clara's Travels to Japan and Europe and Her Marriages 71 Chinese Families in Washington Township 73 Hawley Family Roots in England: The Shakespeare Connection 74 Good Works and Church Membership 75 The Arderweod Decent Program 76 TAPE GUIDE 79 APPENDIX — Letter of January 17. 1988 80 63 INTERVIEW HISTORY — Jea tte Korstad and Marilyn Price An interview with Jeanette Koretad was suggested to us by David Patterson, who knew of Mrs. Koretad' s interest in Hawley family history. Mrs. Korstad is the granddaughter of Elizabeth Holt Hawley. the younger sister of Clara Hawley Patterson. To give us a fuller picture of the Hawley sisters. Mrs. Korstad invited to the interview session Marilyn Meyer Price, the great-granddaughter of Charlotte Hawley. Clara's oldest sister. Both women were steeped in Hawley family history, learned as children and young adults listening carefully at family gatherings: Mrs. Korstad tells of visiting her grandmother: "you just sat and listened, and you heard the family story any time you listened." Mrs. Price's grandmother, Annie Hawley W hippie Meyer, had traveled with Clara Hawley in the 1890s and shared some of those experiences with her granddaughter. (See the Hawley family tree on page 31.) Together these two descendents of the Hawley family are able to give a picture of the women in Clara Hawley's generation: reserved, well- mannered, cultured, church-going, and precise, they "never tolerated anything but ladylike behavior and speech." Most of the Hawley sisters married into prominent families of Washington Township; Mrs. Korstad' 6 grandmother married the son of E.L. Beard, the man who gave George Washington Patterson his start in farming in 1850. Mrs. Korstad and Mrs. Price continue the Hawley family interest in their family history, evidenced by the geneological research Clara undertook in 1907. Mrs. Korstad serves as a docent at the Ardenwood Regional Preserve, where her knowledge of the family and of Washington Township and her skills as a retired teacher are put to good use. The interview was held on April 8, 1987, at Mrs. Korstad's home in Castro Valley. Portions of our conversation which were not as pertinent to the project's interest in Patterson family and ranch history were not transcribed but are briefly summarized in the transcription. Mrs. Korstad returned her transcript with a very informative letter responding to some questions raised by the editor and expanding on several topics. This letter has been included as an appendix. The tapes of the interview are available at The Bancroft Library. Ann Lage Interviewer/Editor Project Director September. 1988 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California at Berkeley Regional Oral History Office Room 486 The Bancroft Library 64 University of California Berkeley, California 94720 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION (Please write clearly. Use black ink.) 1 Your full name Date of birth^ Father's full name Occupation Mother's full name Occupation Your spouse Your children Where did you grow up? /?/7 Birthplace Present community Education ^3* /// . - / Birthplace Occupation(s) Areas of Other interests or activities Organizations in which you are active <&Stx£'fci Regional Oral History Office Room 486 The Bancroft Library University of California Berkeley, California 94720 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION Your full name (Please write clearly. Use black ink.) •7/Lnt-i ?-iL<2 J, 't y/x£- Date of birth " Birthplace Father's full name £<.' /7. Occupat ion yC^L-c c C^Ji r <-f' . Birthplace Mother's full name ^••*p^" i Occupation iJLt&t-tL fat c Your spouse Birthplace . ^ '. *-£ J. Other interests or activities *-..«: ' 66 Hawley Family Connections [Date of Interview: 4/8/87]## Korstad: What we're doing is taking the family tree, which was compiled by CLara Hawley Layson. When Patterson passed away, she married a Presbyterian minister by the name of Layson. and then he passed away, and then she passed away five days after I was born, Anyway, CLara traced the family tree way, way back — to the Staffordshire Underbills in England. Lage: Before we begin, I want you to give me your names and tell me what branches of the Hawley family you are descended from.* Korstad: I am Jeannette Beard Korstad. I am the granddaughter of Elizabeth Hawley, who was often called Lizzie and who was the sister of CLara Hawley Patterson Layson. I am the daughter of John Beard, who became an M.D., and we lived in Martinez, California. I became interested in tracing the family history more or less at the urging of the family and meeting David Patterson recently — he spurred us on to finding out more about the Haw leys. Lage: He is very interested in tracing his family. Korstad: Yes. He knows a great deal about the Pattersons but very little about the Hawleys. The Hawleys seemed to intermarry with the southern Alameda County residents, including the Whipples and my father's side, E. L. Beard and John Beard, Sr. The connection with E. L. Beard and George Patterson was that both came from Lafayette, Indiana. They must have known each other there. E. L. Beard came out in February 1849, and George came out by July or August. Of course he went immediately to the gold fields, but E. L. Beard was more interested in farming. He settled on the mission lands of Mission San Jose and established his home right in the mission buildings. After two years, George Patterson called it quits on looking for gold and came down to Mission San Jose and worked for E. L. Beard, who by that time had quite a bit of acreage. And so George Patterson encumbered himself to work for E. L. Beard, and he acquired his land from Beard at, I think it was, six dollars an acre. So that was the beginning of his land purchase. ## This symbol indicates that a tape or segment of a tape has begun or ended. For a guide to the tapes, see page 81. * See Hawley family tree, page 31. 67 Lage: Are these facts that you have searched out yourselves? Korstad: No. these are in other sources. This is what the story is at Ardenwood when we tell the story of George Patterson. Both he and Beard knew farming; it was only natural that they would become interested. So the shoe is on the other foot now; the Pattersons have the land and the money, and we have nothing. [laughter] Lage: Well, they kept theirs intact for a long time. Korstad: And the Stevensons, too. Stevenson was the ranch manager of the Beard ranch. Look at the Stevensons today. Lage: [to Price] Let's get your family history. Price: I am Marilyn Meyer Price. My father was Earl Whipple Meyer, the fourth of Annie Hawley Whipple Meyer's children. Her mother was Charlotte Hawley. who married Charles Whipple. Charlotte Hawley died after giving birth to her last child. Bertha, who was taken by the eldest child, Luella, to live with Grandma and Grandpa Hawley. They were parents of dara Hawley Patterson Laysen. Lage: And Bertha's daughter is still living in Alameda. Price: Yes, Bertha is the one I said had the pictures of the Haw leys and all. She was the baby that was taken and raised by James and Hettie Hawley. Her mother died a year after she was born so she was taken by the eldest to live with grandma. Then my grandmother was the next in age; she stayed on and raised the rest of the children. But baby and big sister went to live with James and Hettie. She's the one whose daughter. [Virginia Faull Sargent], lives in Alameda and has the pictures and would be thrilled to death to talk with you. Lage: I would love to talk with her, but I am supposed to be sticking with the Patterson-Clara Hawley side of the family. Korstad: Well, they all tie together because Clara and her mother were very, very close, and her mother was over there all the time. I have some pictures here showing Clara with her two boys and her mother. They were a very close family, and we have kept in close contact up until Aunt May's death, I guess, most of us. [Price shows maps from old books showing the various properties of the old families — from History of Washington Township. Discussion of Price's family and other old families in the area. The statue at the University of California at Berkeley commemorating the 1898 football team is of James Whipple and friend Bart Thane. Whipple married Bart's sister, Laura Thane, who was active in the community. She established the auxiliaries of the Children's Hospital. Thane's mother was a Tilden. and her uncle was the deaf 68 sculptor. Douglas Tilden. who did the football statue and the Mechanics statues in San Francisco. Edith Harmon Whipple's family donated Harmon gymnasium to Gal. Lots of intermarriage among old southern Alameda County families.] Clara Hawley Patterson and Sisters Lage : Let's focus now en dara. Neither of you knew dara, but were there family stories? Korstad: We knew the family stories because my grandmother was very close to Clara. Lage: [to Price] Did you know this generation of Clara's sisters, too? Price: I knew Aunt May, the younger one, and I think I remember Edwin Hawley. Uncle Ed. Didn't he bicycle? I remember him as an old man bicycling along. He was sort of eccentric. Aunt May is the one I remember. She was a typical spinster-type aunt. Lage: Now, which one is Aunt May? Price: This one [points to a family tree]. She was my grandmother's aunt. She married at the age of fifty to a Paterson, with one "t", Uncle Billy. Lage: I understand that she was raised, in part, by Clara or came to live with her. Korstad: Yes, she did. And she helped raise my father and family. I guess wherever there were small babies, she took residence. Price: She was just a Norman Rockwell- maiden aunt-looking lady, erect, with skinny little legs. Lage: And you remember her? Korstad: Oh, yes. In fact, wasn't the last family picnic down at Dry Creek for her ninetieth birthday? Price: That's what it was for. It was after the war. Aunt May was a delight. Korstad: Yes, and very precise. I used to go over there when I was going to Cal and stay overnight. For breakfast, if I cut the butter wrong, she would reprimand me, "You cut the butter straight." And when she came up to Martinez, when our oldest daughter was born, Kirsten was crying and I let her cry. Aunt May bawled me out, 69 Korstad: "You never let a baby cry!" She had raised most of her nieces and nephews. I know that she lived with my grandmother when my father and his brother and sister were young. Price: When I was first married I had a flat in my grandmother's home — Annie Hawley Whipple — in Oakland. She was a very modern, charming lady. She was telling me once that she went on a trip back East with her aunt. Clara Hawley Patterson Layson. They were supposed te go by way of Grand Canyon because the Fred Harveys always had good food and the family were always good eaters; they enjoyed good food. But. she said, "We couldn't go that route because that old Indian was on the warpath." I said. "What do you mean, Nana?" And she said, '^eronimo." And I looked at this lady that had been giving me marriage advice the moment before, and it was hard to realize that this charming lady had not been able to travel the southern route because Geronimo was on the warpath! She went back East with Clara Hawley in the late 1890s, when CLara was a widow. They met the Lenox brothers, one of whom became quite enamored with CLara. and they had made presentation porcelain pitchers and gave one to my grandmother and one to Aunt CLara. but hers was very special. Nana had both of them, and my Aunt Charlotte got Aunt Clara's and I don't know who has it new. 1 have a set of demitasse spoons Aunt May gave me as a wedding gift that she and Aunt CLara Layson got on a trip back East in 1896. Korstad: Clara Patterson was a great one for liking spoons. Proper Manners and Educated Women Lage: You told me on the phone that that generation. Clara's sisters, were very proper. Could you tell more about what kind of a manner they had? Korstad: They were raised very well. They were very cultured and very precise. My grandmother never tolerated anything but ladylike behavior and speech — you had to measure up. Price: And always, tea was served correctly. You always addressed everybody "aunt" and "uncle." I once slipped and called Charles Whipple s wife "Carrie" — I was about twenty-four — and she reared up and said, "Aunt Carrie." She was just lovely, but there were manners, and we always conducted ourselves in a mannerly way. [laughter] Lage: What about education? Do you know where they were educated? 70 Korstad: I think some of them vent on to San Jose Normal. Lage: Even in Clara's generation? Korstad: Perhaps it was Clara's nieces who went to San Jose Normal. My grandmother taught school for six years before she was married, and I know that Clara Hawley Patterson, I think, was going to business school at the time that she eloped with George Patterson, so the story goes. Lage: Somehow that surprises me that they would be getting this practical education. Korstad: I guess they went to Washington High School. Price: There was a private academy. Anderson Academy was in Irvington. It was a private girl's academy, and my mother's aunts went there. So they did educate the women. Lage: I found reference to Clara being educated somewhere in Oakland. Korstad: That's what I thought. This is what I heard from being a decent. But they had a good education, and their manners and all were instilled by their parents. The Hawleys had very little money, but they had the proper English background. There was none of this folksy business. That's why I dislike this new guide to Ardenwood, which has CLara coming out and saying, "Howdy, folks." Why, she would never do that 1 Price: No, I don't think so. My father was raised with one sister and all the rest boys, active men, and never was there any swearing, cursing, anything — neverl Everyone was very proper, and I don't think that was that uncommon in that era. Korstad: Why does Frank Jahns have that in the Ardenwood brochure? I told Frank, "This is not how CLara Patterson would have spoken at all because she would have been very proper. She would have welcomed people but in a formal manner." This "Howdy, folks" is out of character. Price: There was always a great gathering of the clan, a very close and warm family. My memories are more of my grandmother and her sisters and the one brother who survived. The sisters would get together; they were great for having teas and playing bridge. Summer gatherings too, and all the family would make a great effort to attend and keep up with all the family gossip and information about who married whom. 71 Clara's Travels to Japan and Europe and Her Marriages Korstad: We spoke about traveling. In 1911, Jessie, accompanied by Qara Patterson Layson. traveled to Japan. And this is her scrapbook. [Jessie was a niece of Clara's, and Korstad's aunt.] They visited with Hideo Nakagaki who had lived with the Beards and studied horticulture on the Beard ranch.* ff At Ardenwood there was the Japanese pavilion. Most families had Chinese help, but Hideo had come over to learn viticulture, and then when he went back, he started his winery. Then Qara and Jessie Beard stayed with Hideo and his family. I have this booklet in Japanese that tells all about the winery. And here is a letter from Hideo. And this is one reason why I hope they can rebuild the teahouse and finish it, because I think this is what Clara would have liked to have had. She died in 1917. Shortly after the 1915 Exposition [The Panama- Pacific International Exposition] closed, she purchased this teahouse and had it brought over to the ranch at Ardenwood. She had it set up but never completed; it still had a dirt floor. It wasn't completed because she became ill and passed away before completion. I think this would be a great thing to have this rebuilt. They do know what it looked like, and they know where it was — they found the foundation. Perhaps the United Motors [a joint Toyota-General Motors company in Fremont] might be interested. Lage: She seems to have had a cosmopolitanism that you wouldn't expect on a kind of isolated ranch. Price: They had a private railroad car with a spur into the ranch so she was a well-traveled woman, but I didn't know about this Japanese trip. [information about the life of Jessie, Korstad's aunt, who received the letter from Hideo in 1939. Korstad has the letter and many of Jessie's mementos.] Lage: Were there any family stories about Clara's eloping with George Patterson, who was thirty-one years older than she? * See Korstad letter following this interview for further information on Clara's interest in Japan. Above : Japanese tea house, moved from the Panama -Pacific International Exposition to the Patterson Ranch, ca. 1916 Left: Clara Hawley Patterson in kimono, ca. 1916 72 Korstad: We were told about that in our decent training, and I don't have any other information from the family. Evidently, George was very well received because he was very close to James Hawley. They lived right across the read, and George Patterson most likely knew all the sisters very well. [See Korstad letter following this interview] [Korstad tells about her grandmother, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Hawley, who was especially close to dara. When she was married to John L. Beard, dara and George Patterson were the witnesses to the cere mony. And her grandmother traveled with dara. Tells story of Lizzie's marriage at the deathbed ef her father-in-law, E. L. Beard.] Price: That famous ermine coat by Worth, who was the designer in Paris for all the debs and the ladies. That must have been made when dara Patterson Layson was on a trip to Europe about 1904 or 1905. There was always an ermine coat in the family that had been Aunt dara's. This is what's left of it; now it's brown. My Aunt Charlotte ended up with it and her last request was that Clara Talbot should get the Worth ermine. I think maybe Charlotte had it dyed. But it was made for dara Patterson and she passed it on. Korstad: And when dara Talbot passed away, I received it. Price: I wonder who went with her on that trip? When did Layson die? [March 8, 1909] Korstad: She could have gone with him because they were married about that time. [dara and the Reverend William Layson were married January 1, 1900.] Lage : Is that marriage something that was talked about on the Hawley side of the family? Apparently, the Pattersons never spoke about that marriage. Price: When I was a youngster, she was always referred to as Aunt dara Layson, and I finally got it straight that this was a second marriage. He was a minister. Lage: Was he a local minister, or someone she met on a trip? Price: I have had the impression that he was sort of a traveling minister. I really don't know. Korstad: I think he was from Santa Barbara. I think she heard him speak or give sermons here. I'm not certain how they met or got together, but after her marriage to Layson, I know that she moved away from Ardenwood because Henry by that time was running the farm. By the time she passed away in 1917, Henry's three daughters were born. So dara must have had her residence elsewhere. [See letter following interview.] 73 Korstad: [shews a picture of the burning of Will Patterson's house] Will's heuse was familiar to me because Clara and I went down to visit Will not too long before he passed away, and he had his rocking chair and sat on the porch, and we visited there. Lage: How well did you know Will and Henry Patterson? Korstad: Not very well because I lived in Martinez and it was only when my Aunt Clara would come up to the East Bay from Bishop once or twice a year, then she would sometimes take me along on her visits with the family. And this is a Patterson wedding [showing scrapbook with pictures of a 1957 wedding, discussion of pictures of Pattersons in scrapbook] [tape interruption] Chinese Families in Washington Township Lage: We were talking about the Chinese and some of the old family retainers when the tape was off. Price: Well, this was in the thirties when my sister and I and my cousin would go down to the tomato field and have tomato fights. The Chinese farmers treated us royally. We would all get acquainted. Once my mother said, "Well, did you meet your namesake?" Apparently, the young Chinese brides would have their babies, and Dr. Grimmer and some of the old-time doctors out in Centerville would help the women deliver. They would give them a Chinese name and then say. "Now, we have to give them an American name." I think Dr. Grimmer had several sisters, and there are little Chinese children named after all of his sisters. Then they started naming them after my mother's children, and one was named Marilyn Lee. My mother then went to visit Lee; her children went to Cal and are teaching and are very prosperous. They have come a long way. Mother says she remembers Mrs. Lee coming as a picture bride and her mother teaching her how to cook because she didn't know how to cook or shop or anything. This was very common. All the ranches had Chinese. They weren't often household help, although there were household hired help, but these were tenant-farmers. They had been there when my mother was a girl, because her younger brother had an old Chinese gentleman who was his best pal. Woo. My uncle would call Woo. and the old Chinese gentleman would come up and visit him. 74 Korstad: Because of the Chinese Exclusion Act, at that time they could not buy property and they worked for the various families. My father was always very fond of the Chinese. It was just part of his growing up. Price: We went te Chinese funerals out in Irvington and the christenings. They were so elaborate it would practically impoverish them. A month after the baby is born they celebrate the baby's birth. This would be done in a very fancy San Francisco restaurant and for just poor farm folk it would be elaborate. Lage: How were the living conditions for the Chinese families? Price: The ones that I remember were not very great. They cooked in a charcoal brazier, inside, as I recall. It was kind of one-room- with- a- lean-to situation. A dirt floor, and they had kind of bunks. Lage: Would they be responsible for building their own house? Price: I don't know. It was kind of down in a hollow, and we would always go down and visit because they would usually be cooking and it tasted great. And they would give us something. They must have thought we were starving; we'd go down there and eat their food. But it was good. We'd sit and visit. They spoke terribly broken English, but we children seemed to understand them. Lage: What about the children? Price: Oh, we played with the children. They went to school out there. This would have been in the mid-thirties that I am remembering. Korstad: Martinez had their counterpart with the Japanese. Hawley Family Roots in England; the Shakespeare Connection Lage: We were talking off the tape about the name, Ardenwood, and I wanted you to put those memories on tape. We've heard about the tie to Shakespeare's As You Like It [which takes place in the forest of Arden], but you also said that the Hawley family in England sold Newplace, a home, to Shakespeare in 1597. Korstad: That's where I think the name came from. Price: Clara Hawley Patterson had this researched when she was preparing the family tree in 1907. I'm sure that the researcher coming across that would have dwelt on it quite heavily. Now this may have been passed on in the family as rumor prior to that. 75 Korstad: She might have known abou. that before. Her father perhaps knew that. If the family was like my grandmother, you j ust sat and listened and you heard the family stery anytime you listened. Whenever I visited my grandmother at the Hotel Semerten where she lived her last twenty years, she would sit in her little rocking chair and recite the family story. Of course. I kept both ears open. Lage: Did the family stories go way back to England? Korstad: She would talk about her early life, running the farm, or about the children, and about the Beards, the lineage and all. They were very determined that they pass on some of their stories, some of their history. Lage: Did she talk about Clara? Korstad: I knew that they were close and that they traveled together, but I don1 1 have any. . . Price: My father could tell the most interesting stories. We were without radio and television, and we would get reintroduced to the family and the family stories at these gatherings that we remember as youngsters, and this was much more common in our parent's generation. This was part of how you were raised — you heard this story about this one and that one and if you were a wise enough little child you listened. Korstad: And if you asked too much, you were told very promptly to keep quiet. U Good Works and Church Membership Lage: One thing that comes up again and again with Clara is sort of the tradition »f good works — hospital work, and helping families on the farm, and all. Is that something that you— Korstad: Well, this is generally what you did. You did your volunteer work; you gave to organizations; you helped sponsor — Price: They were all church-going people. Korstad: They were Presbyterians. Lage: The Hawley family was Presbyterian? 76 Korstad: Right. Price: I know my grandmother founded the church in Decoto; Bhe was one of the signers, a Congregational church, My grandmother. Annie Hawley Whipple Meyer, was the signer to start the church there. So they all were active in the church at the time, which was part of the social mileau at the time. You attend church, and you attend family gatherings, and this was their social life. What is interesting to me is that they traveled daily quite a distance, several miles. As I say, in my grandmother's diary that she kept when she was fifteen or sixteen, she would go down to grandma's to see baby and come home and wallpaper the dining room and then go skating that night in Saltz's barn, or something. They were very active for the times. [discussion about other Hawley family members — James's sister, their diaries, other artifacts, some given to Robert Fisher. Discussion about one-hundredth anniversary of the Congregational Church in area.] The Ardenwood Do cent Program Lage: Korstad; Lage : Korstad: Lage: Korstad; Lage: [to Korstad] entail? How do you like being a decent? What does that I love it. You take tour groups through the house. How often do you do it? You are supposed to put in eight hours a month. We all wear costumes of the 1887 time. You provide your own costumes, which are supposed to be as authentic as possible. I was recommended to a seamstress who makes costumes, and she fashioned a jacket and skirt to be of the 1887 style, with a bustle and all. So all of us are trying to be as close to the period as possible. And what kind of training do they give you? We had ten sessions. We had different speakers. Dr. Fisher showed slides one time. One of the Pattersons, I think it was Abigail, came one time. Someone came up from San Jose from the historical society in Kelly Park and told us about ^heir program. Another one from the decent s who is into fashion design showed us pictures of the 1887 clothes, and from that we tried to choose patterns that could be modified to look like that period. Do they focus in your training, and in what they want you to tell, on the family or on the 1880s? 77 Korstad: Well, you greet them in front ef the house, and you tell about George Washington Patterson coming out here, how he came, and going up to the gold fields, and then, after two years of being disappointed with gold, he decided he was a farmer and settled down here. Lage: So you have a set speech that you are supposed to give? Korstad: I think each decent has her own little way of talking, but you are given guidelines and what to point out in the house, the nature motif all around and the different types of wood that were used, the doorknobs. Lage: Korstad: Price: Korstad: Price : Lage: The architecture of the home. Right, the Queen Anne style, and the furnishings in the different rooms. I have all of this training material here, and each time we are given a few sheets to read and memorize. So we have about the same patter, but I notice that each of us seems to go in a slightly different direction as we go through. I like to take children through and ask them, "No television, no radio, what did they do?" [more on tours for children] Children nowadays don't have an opportunity to go to grandma's and grandpa's and feed the chickens and so forth... We took it for granted — everybody had a ranch to go to. This is one of the best things that could have ever happened — to preserve Ardenwood as a historic preserve because those children just romp around and jump in the hay and they can see the blacksmith at work there, and they can see the barrelmaker making barrels. Of course, all the farms had a blacksmith. They were an important item for self-maintaining, repairing hubs and so forth. The farmers were often j acks- of -all- trades in wheel repair and taking care of animals. [seme discussion of Marj orie Patterson and her running the ranch for a time. Discussion of decent material and of Ardenwood farm brochure. Talk about gift given to Price's relative when she was an attendant in a Patterson wedding in the early 1900s — all the bridesmaids were given a fitted leather traveling case from Shreve' s.] Did the Pattersons stay in touch with the Haw ley family? either one of the brothers have a closer tie? Did Korstad: I think Will was always more friendly than Henry. 78 Lage: We need to wind up now. I have taken toe much of your time. Are there any other Patterson-related memories that you can share? Korstad: Most ef these pictures of [Hawley family] picnics were taken at Berry essa. I don't believe I have pictures of any at the Patterson house, [shows pictures of May Paterson and Uncle Billy and other Hawley s. Discussion of Hawley family reunions. Last picnic was Aunt May's 90th birthday, 1951 or 1952.] Transcriber: Ann Lage Final Typist: Shannon Page 79 TAPE GUIDE — Jeanette Korstad and Marilyn Price Date of Interview: April 8. 1987 tape 1. side A 66 tape 1, side B tape 2, side A 75 80 APPENDIX 17917 Beardsley Street Castro Valley, CA 9*4-546 January 17, Dear Ms. Lagej Thank you fcr sending the transcript of the Oral History of the iiawley family. I pencilled in some comments and corrections; otherwise, it is all right as stated. On p»ge 7 I added the note about Clara Patterso'* Layson taking her niece, Miss Jessie Beard (ny aunt) or. a trip to Japan in 1912. I.i checking the scrapbook, they sailed on the J.J. Manchuria on March 12, 1912, for Yokor.ama, Japan, nfhile there they were guests of liideo .akagaki, who had lived with the Beards on their rar.ch near the Pattersons in the early 1900's. He had come from Japan to study viticulture and upon his return to Japan started his own winery. The Beards had an early-day wiiery, called aarciana (?) a.id Hideo learned winemaking there. According to records, Hideo's winery was very successful. Also, while in Japan, these women (and I imagine the tour group, but I have no record) were invited to a Cherry Blossom Garden Party by the Emperor Xeiji and the Enpress. The invitation ^i; the scrapbook) reads April 26, 191^, at 2:30 p.m. . ikewise, Jessie meitio.is dinner with friends, including -.he -iev. a-id Arx . Johr. .'lills, a Presbyterian miss^n^ary. (it might be noted that Clara's second husband, the :t., 3ar. Francisco. I remember some of the tales my fa*n?r told ibout t-.c Chinese help. There was always a good rapport with the Chinese. One of the .".cries we deceits tell is that George Patterson's favorite tennis partner was his Chinese cook. The tennis court was next to the house and the asphalt remains. ile always point this out on our house tours. On page d - the story of the elopmer.t of Clara and Georre. In our docent notebook, there are some pi:> sheets telling the history of Arder.wooaLa.nd the Patterson family. Included are two letters written oy George to Clara telling her to "disguise ner handwriting so as to deceive them there" (referring to Centerville). Clara was living in Oakland (with relatives, I believe) and attend IT g business school and these letters were addressed to her there. If you can get a copy of these decent notes, it will shed some interesting light or: George and Clara, and also the newspaper articles on her marriage to Layson. 81 Marilyn was at ir.y home on Friday arid we went over the notes and made a few corrections, rfe laughed about the ermine cape that Clara bought in Paris and has passed on down in the family - first to Clara's niece Charlotte, who when she passed away asked that it be given to her cousin, Clara Talbott, my aunt. And, when my Aunt Clara passed away I received the cape. Believe it or not, it is still in excellent condition. I have worn it with my costume at Ardenwood - and on other occasions. Clara Beard Talbott was the niece and namesake of Clara Patterson. Clara Talbott lived in Bishop, California, and made several trips to the Bay Area each year. I accompanied her several times on visits to Will Patterson. After her marriage to the Hev. Layson, Clara Patterson went by the name Clara Hawley Layson, or Mrs. C. h. Layson (as it appears on the S.S. Manchuria passenger list). I could check her headstone at the Chapel of Chimes Cemetery where she is buried in the Patterson plot - I think there her name appears as Clara Patterson. (This is in answer to the last question 01 page 8.) The Patterson family has a big plot in the pioneer section of this cemetery on Mission Boulevard in south Hayward (Decoto) On page 9> the question "/ias he (Layton) a local minister..." The copy of the newspaper article about the marriage states "Mr. Layson, who is a few years Mrs. Patterson's junior, is a graduate of the Jan Anselmo Theological Seminary. His first charge was at Newark, in this county, and it was whle preaching there that he met Mrs. Patterson. ater he removed to 3a.;ta Ana, where he is now pastor of the Presbyterian church." I assume that they made their home in ~>anta Ana. (l really do not know) I mentioned that Clara and my grandmother, i:-zie Beard, were very close in age as well as being together. George Patterson had been a close friend of E.L. Beard (my grandmother's father-in-law). Both came from Lafayette, Indiana, in 1349, Beard settled in Mission San Jose and owned considerable farming land when George Patterson quit his railing venture and went to work for Beard. He then acquired his first laid holdings from Beard at $6.00 an acre (This was the beginning of his holdings at Ardenwood.) It was E. L. Beard's request that Lizzie Hawley and his son, John Beard, get married before his death. It was a small wedding with only close relatives present. George and Clara Patterson signed the marriage certificate as witnesses. (l have a copy). James Hawley, the father of Clara and Lizzie, was also a close friend of George Patterson in the early days before George married his daughter. James and George were exactly the same age (born in 1622). James was a carpenter and built the original farm house for George. I do not know whether James Hawley helped with the Quean Anne addition. You might be interested that John L. Beard was graduated from the College of California (forerunner of U.C.) in 1666 and later was the first alumnus to be appointed a regent of the University of California. He was a otate Senator, was instrumental in establishing the State Agricultural Fair (forerunner of the State Fair), a farmer, vintner (some prize wines - Chicago 1692, and Calif. State Fair), member of the Bohemian Club, and traveler. His father, E. L. Beard, was one of the earliest farmers in Southern Alameda County and had extensive holdings (which he lost in later life) His first home was in the mission buildings (Mission San Jose) which was later taken back by the Catholic Church. He then built a lovely home across the road, which he called Palmdale. He was a friend of John C. Fremont, and with him built the fortification in St. Louis during the Civil War (cause of claim against the U.S.) - I could go on, but this has nothing to do with Patterson. 82 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California Berkeley. California THE PATTERSON FAMILY AND RANCH: SOUTHERN ALAMEDA COUNTY IN TRANSITION Sally Patterson Adams Growing Up at Ardenwood An Interview Conducted by Knox Mellon in 1986 Copyright Q 1988 by the Regents of the University of California 83 TABLE OF CONTENTS — Sally Patterson Adams INTERVIEW HISTORY 8A BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION 85 Schooling. Family, and Family Friends 8& Remembering the House and Gardens Sunday Parties. Outings. Holidays 96 The Ranch Grounds and Outbuildings TAPE GUIDE 105 84 INTERVIEW HISTORY — Sally Patterson Adams The interview with Sally Patterson Adams was conducted by Dr. Knox Mellon on July 2. 1986, in Mrs. Adams's home in Piedmont, California. Mrs. Adams is the daughter of Henry and Sarah Patterson. She lived in the George Washington Patterson house on the Patterson Ranch from her birth in 1913 to age eight or ten, when the family moved to Piedmont to put their children in Piedmont schools. Henry Patterson continued to work at the ranch daily, and the family lived there during summer vacations. Mrs. Adams's interview gives a picture of growing up at Ardenwood (which was not called Ardenwood during her youth), of childhood pastimes on the ranch, and relationships with the William Patterson side of the family. Mrs. Adams reviewed her transcript for accuracy and clarity and responded to additional inquiries of the editor. The interview tape is on deposit at The Bancroft Library. Ann Lage Proj ect Director September. 1988 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California at Berkeley Regional Oral History Office University of California Room 486 The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California 94720 85 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION (Please print or write clearly) Your full name Date of birth UtL j, / 4 /7 Place of birth QuJfJ^f.4iJ/ . C- A~ full name ^ S /? / • /g . /) /-{ 6 >"~< / Birthplace Occupation full name ft* -;L Birthplace Occupation ' / / fi Where did you grow up ? .LL-{j/-^/ . l/V? «/ L^ LL^-J^^ii^/ / L/r l K. : &s If /"• Occupation(s) Special interests or activities -J/t.'!^'! \ (.<. C^' 86 Schooling, Family, and Friends [Date of Interview: July 2, 1986] Mellon: Mrs. Adams, could you tell me something about your early life, where you were born, where you grew up? S. Adams: I was born in Oakland, California at the Fabiola Hospital, on December 2, 1913. Mellon: How long did you live in the George Washington Patterson house? S. Adams: Since right after I was born, until I was married. Mellon: Why did you leave, was one of the questions, and you left when you got married. S. Adams: Right. But before that the family moved here to Piedmont, and I received part of my education here. Mellon: That would be your father, Henry Patterson, and your mother, Sarah. They moved to Piedmont; when would that have been, roughly? S. Adams: But they still had the ranch. My father went out every day to the ranch, but we lived in Piedmont, just for us to go to school. Mellon: When would that have been, roughly, when they moved to Piedmont? S. Adams: I guess I was eight or ten years old. Mellon: So in the early twenties. Can you tell me about your early education as a child and as a teenager? Where did you go to school? S. Adams: I went to public school in Newark. There were eight grades in one room. ## This symbol indicates that a tape or a segment of a tape has begun or ended. For a guide to the tapes see page 105. 87 Mellon: One-room school house. After you finished that, where did you — ? S. Adams: I only went there for two years. Then the family decided they better move — that wasn't adequate. Mellon: That's when you moved to Piedmont. S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: Did you then enter the Piedmont school system? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: And did you stay in the Piedmont school system through high school? S. Adams: No, I went to private school — Miss Ransom's school. Miss Ransom's Bridges School here in Piedmont. Mellon: Did you graduate from there? S. Adams: Yes, I graduated. Mellon: Then did you go on? S. Adams: I went to the University of California for two years. Mellon: Do you recall your grandmother, Clara Hawley Patterson, at all? S. Adams: Yes, just vaguely. I can remember — probably one of my first memories — I sat on a swing with her on the porch there at the ranch. That waswhere she was living. She used to come over, I was told. I have a faint memory of her. Mellon: In your grandmother's letters, she comes across as a lady of wide interests — in culture, the arts, music, current events, women's suffrage, travel, friends, etc. Even though you didn't know her well, was this the kind of image handed down of her by your mother, Sarah? In other words, how was Clara Hawley Patterson projected in the Patterson family tradition? How did they talk about her, or how did they describe her? Or did they? S. Adams: I don't think they did, not to my memory. Mellon: There's not much reference in the archives to your mother, Sarah. Could you tell me something about her, where she was born, where she grew up? S. Adams: She was born in Los Angeles, and when she married my father — she was married there — they came up to the ranch. 88 Mellon: Do you know how she met your father, Henry? S. Adams: At a party when she was going to the University of California. One of the neighbors at the ranch had a party, and he met her there. They met twice and then they were married. Mellon: Did your mother have interests beyond the home? She belonged to the Garden Club of America, Childrens Hospital of the East Bay, Book Club, played golf, and took extension courses at U.C. Berkeley. Did she take any role, for example, in the running of the ranch? S. Adams: No. Mellon: You had two sisters — Georgia and Marjorie. Were you the eldest? • S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: Did you and your sisters all attend the same schools? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: By the turn of the century, the Pattersons were probably the most important family in southern Alameda County. Do you think this affected you at all as a child? Do you think you had a normal kind of childhood? S. Adams: Oh yes. I didn't even know that they were that important. I don't think they were. Mellon: Were there other children on the ranch? S. Adams: Just cousins, that's the William Patterson family. Mellon: Did you play with them? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: Where did the children play, all over the ranch? S. Adams: Oh yes, in the barns. Mellon: What types of play and games did you engage in, do you recall? S. Adams: King of the mountain. Hide-and-go-seek. You know, children's games. Mellon: Were reading and music part of your upbringing? S. Adams: Reading was. 89 Mellon: What kind of relationship did you have with your cousins — the children of William Patterson: Don, Jack, and Dave. S. Adams: Well, Donald was older so he didn't play. He was always off at school. Jack was just like a brother. David was younger; we used to tease him. Mellon: Your father, Henry, is described by some as being reserved and rather taciturn. Is this accurate? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: What was he like? S. Adams: I would say he was shy. Mellon: The letters and photographs of your Uncle William depict him as an outdoor type who loved sailing, camping, hunting, ranching, mining and oil ventures, and travel. Did your father share any of these interests? S. Adams: I'd like to come back to that. Mellon: Did your father talk much about his mother or father? Did he relate stories about them? S. Adams: No. Mellon: Was there a sense of pride in the achievements of George W. Patterson, even by his own sons who were only second generation- has that feeling of pride continued down to the present time. S. Adams: No. We almost call him a scalawag. They'll love that, won't they? Mellon: The Pattersons were well-to-do, and their success was based in large measure on the hard work of your grandfather and his sons. Was there a work ethic among the Pattersons that included the children as well? S . Adams : No . Mellon: Was thrift stressed in the family? S. Adams: Oh yes. Mellon: Could you say something about the political and religious views of your mother and father? Was politics ever discussed much in the family gatherings? 90 S. Adams: Oh yes. Quite a bit. They were both strong Republicans, as farmers were. My mother was maybe a little on the fence. Mellon: What about church affiliations? S. Adams: None whatsoever. I never went to Sunday school or church. Mellon: Can you describe your mother and father physically — were they large, small, tall, short? S. Adams: My mother was tall, and she was a large woman, I'd call her. Mellon: What about your father? S. Adams: They were supposedly the same height. Mellon: Were you an athletic family? There was a tennis court at the George Washington Patterson house. Was it used a lot? S. Adams: We used to use it when we were young. My mother and father both played with us as children. It was built, of course, by my mother and father when we were young. Mellon: Someone reported that Helen Wills Moody was a friend of the Pattersons — is that accurate? S. Adams: Yes. Dr. Wills was a friend of my father's, and he lived out there in Newark or Centerville — in the vicinity. And his daughter, of course, was Helen Wills. He used to bring her over, and I can remember bringing us tennis rackets that were autographed to us as presents. Mellon: Did she ever play on the court? S. Adams: Oh, she used to hit a ball back and forth to us. Mellon: There appears in the records to be an almost continual push by your grandfather and his two sons to improve the soil of the ranch by the removal of salt water and other impurities. Do you recall discussions by your father or uncle on this subject? S. Adams: My father, I remember, was always concerned about salt in the wells, but I don't know any more than that. Mellon: In a letter to your grandmother in June, 1897, her son, William Patterson, talks about making ice cream and root beer and gathering blackberries. Do you remember doing these things as a child? S. Adams: No. I remember making apple cider and ice cream. 91 Mellon: Dorothy Patterson and her husband Don talked about cider parties. Do you remember these and can you describe what took place? S. Adams: Yes. They just made cider. Mellon: They came in the morning, and they made it — S. Adams: And then they drank it, obviously. They took some home. It was their friends who did this — Donald and Dorothy. Mellon: Was alcohol consumed at all at the ranch in the early days? S. Adams: No, never. Not my early days. Mellon: Was the deer park still functioning when you were growing up at the ranch? S. Adams: I have a faint remembrance of the deer park, but it wasn't used as a deer park. I just remember where it was, and it was fenced in. Mellon: In letters to their mother, both Henry and William Patterson seemed close to, and concerned with, one another. Did this sentiment continue in later life? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: . How did they share the job of running the ranch? What was the division of labor? S. Adams: It was more management than labor. I believe my father, when he was alive, did all the management, though my uncle was interested in the water. Mellon: Yes, I remember he did a lot of work in the early days at the water district. S. Adams: I think he was one of the founders of the water district out there. Mellon: Clara Hawley Patterson left $5,000 in her will to Lottie Whipple. Do you know who she was? S. Adams: Was it Laura Whipple? Mellon: Lottie, I believe. Was there a Laura Whipple? S. Adams: Yes. It could have been. She was a cousin. 92 Mellon: Because there was a wedding held at Ardenwood, at the ranch, and I think it was a May Whipple who was married there right after the turn of the century. It may have been a cousin. S. Adams: I think that was probably Laura. I don't recall any Lottie. Mellon: According to a newspaper article at the time, Clara Hawley Patterson's marriage to the Reverend W. H. Layson in 1900 "stirred Washington Township to its depth." Was there ever any discussion of Mr. Layson by the family in subsequent years? S. Adams: Oh my, yes. My mother never knew him. He died before she arrived. Mellon: He died 1909. S. Adams: Mother didn't arrive until 1913. It was with great trial and tribulation — my father, I think, didn't even speak to him. Remembering the House and Gardens Mellon: Was the George Washington Patterson house a site for any family weddings that you recall? S. Adams: John and I were married there. Mellon: Were they indoor or outdoor? S. Adams: Outdoors. The indoors is sort of cut-up so it wouldn't be — . And Sue, our daughter, was married there. Mellon: Is this Abby's sister? S. Adams: Abby's older sister. Mellon: Were they large weddings? S. Adams: Three hundred. Mellon: Did your father or uncle take an active role at all in local politics or state politics? S . Adams : No . Mellon: Did any of the Patterson women get involved in civic or political affairs? S. Adams: No. 93 Mellon: Did the furniture in the George Washington Patterson house remain fairly consistent during the period that you lived there, or were new pieces added? S. Adams: Oh yes. It was always done over. Mellon: A number of photos show lots of flowers around the house in your grandmother's day. Was this the case when you were growing up, too? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: There were a lot of exterior plants. S. Adams: Right. Mellon: Your father and uncle seemed, in the letters at least that remained, quite interested in horticulture, planting, eucalyptus trees, things of this nature. S. Adams: My father had a vegetable garden. He liked that. Mother had her flower garden. Mellon: A number of photos show a piano. Was it played by the family? S. Adams: The rosewood piano, you mean, in the parlor? Mellon: In the parlor. S. Adams: Yes. We took piano lessons, but my mother's sister used to play the piano for us on that piano. She sang and played the piano to entertain us. Mellon: So music did play a role. S. Adams: Slight, yes. Mellon: When you were a child, were there certain rooms in the house that were more or less off-limits to the children? S. Adams: No. Mellon: You had a free run of the house? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: In photographs, the downstairs rooms of the house always looked spotlessly clean — was this always the case? S. Adams: Yes. They always had help. 94 Mellon: That's my next question. Did your grandmother or mother have much help? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: How many servants did it take to run the house in their day? S. Adams: Well, a couple, and an upstairs maid. When we were little I can always remember a nursemaid. Mellon: Can you identify any of the servants by name? S. Adams: Ellen Logan was — . I remember her. How far back do you want to go? Mellon: As far as you can remember. S. Adams: Always a Chinese cook. Mellon: I was going to ask you about nationalities. So you had Chinese — S. Adams: And Japanese and Portuguese. Mellon: There were a lot of Portuguese in that area so some of the maids may have been Portuguese. S. Adams: Joe Brown was one — of course, he changed his name from something Rodriguez or something Portuguese. He had a daughter and she used to work for the family. My mother became intrigued with her and sent her through the University of California. Mellon: Was this Inez? S. Adams: Yes. Do you know anything about her life? Mellon: No. S. Adams: She married a colonel whom she met in the ROTC at the university at that time. Mellon: Was the attic always used as a playroom for children? S. Adams: No. Mellon: How far back in time does the bowling go? S. Adams: It was way before my time. I don't remember any bowling up there. Mellon: Did you play up there as a child? 95 S. Adams: Hide-and-go-seek, or spooks, or something. Mellon: There's some story that circulates in the family that you climbed out on the roof. S. Adams: Yes, I did. I can remember. But I couldn't get back because I was scared. Mellon: Do you recall ongoing maintenance on the grounds surrounding the house — were there gardeners regularly working? S. Adams: Oh yes. And extras when it was needed; during the summers especially with irrigating, the watering. They used to use irrigation pipes. Mellon: Do you remember when the pool was installed? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: Was it there in your day? S. Adams: Oh my, yes. My mother and father installed that. I must have been fifteen years old. Mellon: Did you use it a lot? S. Adams: Lots. We always went there in the summer. Mellon: Even when you were living in Piedmont? S. Adams: Oh yes. They closed the house here In Piedmont during summers. Mellon: As a youngster growing up, did you and your sisters play a lot in the fields surrounding the house? S. Adams: No, not too much. Mellon: How far away were you from neighbors who had children? Did you play with any of the neighbors' children? S. Adams: No, they were miles away. Mellon: They were too far away. So it wasn't easy to get back and forth from the ranch to some other house? S. Adams: The closest place we ever played — and it was a treat — was to go to the Shinns. I remember playing little girls' games. Mellon: The Shinn house — that's a historic structure now, you know. 96 Sunday Parties, Outings, Holidays Mellon: Do you recall your mother holding large family gatherings or other social functions? S. Adams: No. We used to go to family gatherings way back at the Hawley place, which was... I don't know where. Mellon: Your grandmother's family. S. Adams: Yes. But the Sunday parties — there were lots of those, practically every Sunday. But that was when I was in college, or in high school, I guess. Mellon: Were those luncheons? S. Adams: Luncheons. Mellon: Would there be family and friends? S. Adams: Family and friends and their children. It would be an all-day family affair. Mellon: Could you describe — the children would obviously be playing, and the adults would be talking back and forth. Was there lots of food? S. Adams: Loads of food. There would be tennis tournaments, that sort of thing. Mellon: Was there any croquet? S. Adams: Croquet tournaments. And they used to pick the corn, and dig a great pit, and cook the corn. Mellon: Bury it on coals. Did they barbeque? S. Adams: No. My father didn't like barbeque. Mellon: The food was done in the kitchen and then brought out? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: Was most of your travel — local travel — to Oakland and San Francisco by car or train? S. Adams: Train. Mellon: Did you use the Arden Station? 97 S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: Was the trip to San Francisco considered a special outing? S. Adams: Oh, very special. Mellon: How long did it take? S. Adams: It was a full day. Sometimes we'd spend the night in San Francisco and come back the next day. There was a regular train that left something like 9:30 in the morning and got back at 5:30, but it would take at least two hours. Mellon: You'd take the train up to Oakland and then catch the ferry across? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: Did you spend most holidays at the ranch? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: Were there family gatherings at Christmas or Thanksgiving down there, or were they pretty much up to the individual family members to have their own? S. Adams: They had their own. But we spent ours at the ranch. Mellon: Was the house decorated in any special way for these gatherings? S. Adams: No. Just the Christmas tree. It was always done in those days the night before. You didn't see it until the next morning. Mellon: That was the way, when I was growing up. I rather liked it. Did your father conduct business in the house, or was it only used for family living purposes? S. Adams: He had an office. That was one place we were not allowed to go or play in. Mellon: As a child, do you recall guests staying often at the house? S. Adams: Mot often, but occasionally, yes. Mellon: Did you have children friends stay with you? S. Adams: Oh yes. We'd bring our school chums. Mellon: Were you aware of the house requiring much maintenance in terms of repairs, painting, etc., inside and out? 98 S. Adams: No, just normal. Mellon: Were there any additions that you recall being made, while you were there? S. Adams: Not while I was there. Mellon: What was the nearest town when you were growing up? S. Adams: I guess Centerville. Mellon: Did you ever feel isolated as a child on the ranch? S. Adams: No. Mellon: What was the mailing address of the ranch? S. Adams: Box 46 R.D., Newark. The telephone was Centerville, the mail was Newark. I remember the mailman. He drove a funny little old Ford — his name was Mr. Lax. He got a present from the ranch — a sack of walnuts every year. I always wondered how he ever got through a gunny sack of walnuts in a year. Mellon: When you were born, were there telephones in the house? Or did they come later? S. Adams: I don't remember the house ever without a telephone. I can remember the first use of the telephone — somebody called my father, and we were going to bed. It was a friend of his in Centerville to tell him that Harding had been shot — was he shot? Mellon: Harding, I believe, died of poisoning over here in San Francisco at a party at the Palace Hotel. S. Adams: I know that was the first. Mellon: Do you remember the phone number? Sometimes those numbers were quite short. S. Adams: Centerville 673. Mellon: Was there a sleeping porch upstairs in the house? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: Did you and your sisters use it? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: Do you recall discussions about your Uncle William's Alaska trips and mining adventures? 99 S. Adams: Not really. Mellon: There are a number of photos of your father hunting. Was this something he took pleasure in most of his life? S. Adams: Yes, he always liked it. Mellon: Did you or your sisters ever get to go on a hunting trip? S. Adams: Just duck hunting, or deer hunting up in Livermore. Mellon: Do you recall family visits to Ben Loraan in Santa Cruz County? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: Could you describe a little bit? S. Adams: My grandmother had a house near Ben Loman, but I don't remember it. Mellon: That's how I came across the reference — reading through your grandmother's diaries and correspondence. S. Adams: I can remember taking the train at Ardenwood, and riding to Santa Cruz. And who met us and how we got to Ben Loman, I don't remember. Mellon: Where did you take vacations, do you recall? S. Adams: We used to drive around the country, like to Yosemite, Tahoe. Mellon: This would be with your mother and father? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: Did you go abroad with them at all? S. Adams: Not until I was in college. Mellon: Your Uncle William appears to have been interested in camping, travelling and trips. He was also a yachtsman. Was your father interested in sailing? S. Adams: No, and I wouldn't call Uncle Bill a yachtsman. He used to have a little rowboat, maybe, and he did have a boat that Donald sank for him, with my father's guns on it. Mellon: I was thinking of the Starlight. There are pictures in the archives of that boat sailing across the San Francisco Bay. That was about an eighteen to twenty foot sailboat. He also had a power cruiser in the twenties — did you ever go out on that? 100 S. Adams: I was never invited. Mellon: Your Uncle William appears to have been active in the Bohemian Club. Was your father interested in that? S. Adams: He was not a bit interested in it. Mellon: Was your father a joiner of fraternal groups? S . Adams : No . Mellon: Did you ever spend much time at the cattle ranch in Livermore. S. Adams: Yes. On summer vacations, I can remember my mother used to take us up there. S. Adams: We would go with another woman — Mrs. Whipple — with her family, and the husbands would come maybe every other day to bring food or to see how we were doing. Mellon: Was Mrs. Whipple a cousin? S. Adams: No. Mellon: Could you describe your relationship with May Patterson. S. Adams: Which May Patterson? Mellon: This would be Uncle Will's wife? S. Adams: There was also a May Paterson who was May Hawley, and she married a Paterson with one "t." That was my grandmother's young sister. She used to come out to the ranch. Mellon: Did you know Mrs. Louise Koons , who took a trip to Seagross Island with your Uncle William's wife? She is referred to as Aunt Louise Koons. Now she may have been an aunt of May Patterson1 s. S. Adams: She must have been. Mellon: Did you play a lot as a child in the deer park area? S. Adams: Yes. In the eucalyptus grove it was. Mellon: You remember those trees quite well? S. Adams: Oh yes. 101 Mellon: Did you ever go out to the old duck club by Indian Mound Pond? S. Adams: I don't think so, not by Indian Mound Pond. There was an old duck club there, but I was too young then. Mellon: Do you recall if your mother ever went up to Eagle River Mine in Alaska, or your father? S. Adams: I can remember my father took us all up to Alaska, but I don't know the name of the mine. He was going up looking at mines. Mellon: Apparently, reading through the sources, your Uncle William engaged in a lot of oil ventures and mining ventures. S. Adams: Yes, fly-by-night things. Mellon: According to his son, Donald, none of them very successful. S. Adams: Very unsuccessful. Mellon: Did your father do that kind of thing? S. Adams: No he didn't, except my uncle got him interested in oil wells in Wichita Falls, Texas. The Ranch Grounds and Outbuildings Mellon: Were there always eucalyptus trees around the ranch as long as you can remember? S.Adams: Yes. Mellon: Do you remember the water pump for the George W. Patterson house? S . Adams : No . Mellon: When you were growing up in the house, was it illuminated by electricity? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: S. Adams Mellon: Did the house keep warm or cool? In winter or summer? Yes. We had all open fireplaces or stoves for heating. In photographs, your father Henry appears different in looks and physique from his brother William. Is this accurate? 102 S. Adams: Later on, I think it was. He was heavier, my father was. But, I think, when they were young they were about the same physique. Mellon: A number of photographs show Patterson family women and others on bicycles. Was this a popular sport with the famiy? S. Adams: I wouldn't know. Mellon: There's one, for example, with your grandmother, Clara Hawley Patterson. S. Adams: I don't remember. Mellon: What outbuildings do you remember that surrounded the ranch house? There was a barn, wasn't there? S. Adams: Blacksmith shop, the granary, carriage house, garages, stables, also where the help stayed — the cook. Mellon: Was he the only live-in help? S. Adams: No, it used to be couples. Then the big barn. Mellon: Do you remember the old Arden railroad station? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: Was it used a lot? S. Adams: Not too much. It was used by the family and a few neighboring people. They would park their cars there. Mellon: Would the train automatically stop, or would you have to signal to it? S. Adams: You'd just walk up and it'd see you. Or you'd signal. Mellon: Were there always cats and dogs at the ranch? S. Adams: Oh my, yes. Mellon: Do you remember some of their names? S. Adams: Hiram. Mellon: Was that a cat or a dog? S . Adams : Dog . Mellon: Did you have much contact with the William D. Patterson house? Did you visit there regularly? 103 S. Adams: We used to go over, yes. Mellon: Could you describe that house a little bit? How would you contrast it or compare it with the house in which you grew up? S. Adams: It was built much later, and there was a porch all the way around. Mellon: Was it impressive? S. Adams: No, it was dark. It was sort of depressive. Mellon: Did the Depression in the 1930s have an adverse effects on the family ranching operations? S . Adams : No . Mellon: Your grandmother took an interest, as I indicated earlier, as shown in her diary, in the women's suffrage movement in the 1890s and the first decade of the twentieth century. Was your mother interested in this at all? S. Adams: Not to my knowledge. Mellon: Do you remember Chinese workers on the ranch, either indoors or out? S. Adams: Yes. Mellon: The Patterson ranch remained in agriculture when property around it was being subdivided and developed. Was there division in the family toward development, as opposed to remaining in agriculture? S. Adams: Oh, I think so, yes. Mellon: Do you recall if you did any other taped interview, beside the one with Dave Lewton, which didn't turn out? Some people said that they thought that perhaps a young woman named Susan Simpson may have talked to you at one time. S. Adams: No. Mellon: So this, then, may be the only tape that we have. Do you feel that there was a close relationship between your father, Henry, and his brother, William? S. Adams: They were very close. 104 Mellon: It seems to come through that they were close. There was at one point, when I was talking to Mrs. Dorothy Patterson, when she said in the late fifties her husband Don felt that the time had come when his father and his uncle — your father — probably needed some assistance. That's when he gave up the job with the bearing company and came back and took over the management of the ranch. It's the intention of Leon, and obviously with the consent and cooperation of you people, he would like to bring the oral history interviews down to the present when the company became a corporation and was making the transistion from purely agriculture to subdivision and things of this nature. Talk a little about this transition. This would be from 1960 to the 1980's. S. Adams: I think John is the one to talk to about this. Mellon: I appreciate very much your talking with me today. [interruption] Mrs. Adams is going to add a couple of things that she remembers. S. Adams: The old ranch house, where the ranch hands stayed, and they used to live there during the week. They had a Chinese cook there, also, who cooked for the ranch hands. Then when Manuel Martin and Joe Brown came, the house was cut in half, and one moved to the house and the other one down at the corner, where they lived and got married and raised their families. But the ranch house — has anyone told you about that? We were never allowed to go there because of the men — that was their place. I can remember, though, the old Chinaman used to come out and bring us cookies. Mellon: Stories are really important on these tapes. S. Adams: Well, I'll have to think about them for a while before I can — . Editor: Was the ranch called Ardenwood during your youth? S. Adams: No. But the station was called Arden. Transcriber: Final Typist: Maria Wolf Maria Wolf and Catherine Winter 105-106 Tape Guide - Sally Patterson Adams Date of Interview: July 2, 1986 tape 1, side a 86 tape 1, side b 100 107 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California Berkeley, California THE PATTERSON FAMILY AND RANCH: SOUTHERN ALAMEDA COUNTY IN TRANSITION John E. Adams A Son-in-Law Remembers Henry Patterson and Assesses Ranch Development An Interview Conducted by Knox Mellon in 1986 Copyright (c) 1988 by the Regents of the University of California 108 TABLE OF CONTENTS — John Adams INTERVIEW HISTORY 109 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION 11° Making the Rounds of the Ranch with Henry Patterson. 1930s 111 Early Discussions of Developing the Ranch Henry. Sarah, and the Family Heritage 115 Relations with the William Patterson Family 116 Donald Patterson's Management of the Ranch 120 Loss of Patterson Agricultural Lands — A Disaster 121 The Family Corporation in the Eighties 122 Jack Brooks and Donald Patterson — Working Hand and Glove 123 TAPE GUIDE 125 109 INTERVIEW HISTORY — John E. Adams As the husband of Sally Patterson Adams, the son-in-law of Henry and Sarah Patterson, and a member of the board of directors of the Patterson Properties management corporation, John Adams has been in a position to observe the transitions in the management of the Patterson Ranch since the 1930s. Although a practicing physician whose career centered at the medical facility of the University of California in San Francisco. Dr. Adams visited the ranch frequently, was close to both Henry and Sarah Patterson, and was involved in decisions regarding ranch management over the years. His interview, conducted at his home in Piedmont. California, by Dr. Knox Mellon on July 14, 1986, contributes a fresh perspective to the series of family memoirs. He includes sympathetic portraits of Henry as a ranch manager with a great deal of foresight and of Sarah as a woman with a keen intellect, an open and inquisitive mind, and a somewhat irreverently humorous attitude toward the family past. Dr. Adams recalls discussions of ranch development dating back to the 1940s, the opposition of Henry and Sarah to development at that time, and Henry's plan, as early as 1937, to divide the ranch between the two branches of the family, presumably because he foresaw the diverging interests between his and his brother's families. Dr. Adams places these first discussions of ranch development earlier than any of the other interviewees in the series. During his review of the transcript, he clarified dates and elaborated on these important early discussions. His comments have been integrated into the interview transcript. Dr. Adams is an environmentalist voice in Patterson Property management. He is concerned about preservation of farm lands and open space around the heavily urbanized Bay Area and considers the loss of Patterson agricultural lands a "disaster." His perspective is a vital one for this series of interviews on the Patterson family and management of their ranch lands in southern Alameda County. Ann Lage Project Director September, 1988 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California at Berkeley Regional Oral History Office Room 486 The Bancroft Library 110 University of California Berkeley, California 94720 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION (Please print :>r write clearly) Your full name Date of birth '.,'l-.J ''' i':" ^ <~- Mother's full name Birthplace , .,.._. J,. / Occupation , / . , Where did you grow up ? Present community Education > / ... • / /_ Occupation(s) Special interests or activities J ' / - : <.• Ill Making the Rounds of the Ranch with Henry Patterson, 1930s [Date of Interview: July 14, 1986]## Mellon: Dr. Adams, could you tell me when you first became involved with the Patterson family and under what circumstances? J. Adams: It was when I met Sally, Mrs. Adams, and that was when we were both in college. The year was 1932. Mellon: Where were you in college? J. Adams: At the University of California, Berkeley. We were in the same class. Mellon: Prior to meeting your wife, had you known about the Patterson family? J. Adams: No. Mellon: Could you tell me something about Henry Patterson — what he was like, and something of your relationship with him? J. Adams: I got to know Henry very well over the years. He wasn't an easy person to know, but as one saw more of him he became more outgoing and more communicative. We had, ultimately, a very close relationship. His essential characteristic, I think, was one of reserve, to the point, at times, of shyness when one first initially met him, but fundamentally he was an extremely warm, open person. After Sally and I were married, and I was in medical school — the first two summers we came out here and stayed on the ranch. I would go around the ranch with him every morning. He had an old car, and he would drive around to inspect the ranch. It was his custom, as we would call it in medicine, to make rounds, where he would visit all of his tenants and farmers, look at the water situation, that is, who was using the water. We ##This symbol indicates that a tape or a segment of a tape has begun or ended. For a guide to the tapes see page 125. 112 J. Adams: would often meet fellow farmers from adjacent farms. We would have lots of long talks. So it was a very enjoyable, warm relationship. Mellon: Henry Patterson has been described as less of a social mixer than his brother William. Is this assessment accurate? J. Adams: Yes. Henry, although he enjoyed friendships with many close friends, was not what you'd describe as a joiner. He enjoyed social events, but he was not given to going to such things as the Bohemian Club. He did not belong to any clubs to my knowledge. If he did, he certainly did not go to any meetings. Early Discussions of Developing the Ranch Mellon: Did you continue to see much of Henry Patterson through the years? Were those relationships both social and business? Did you discuss operation of the ranches in southern Alameda County and Livermore with him? J. Adams: Yes, many times, as I've indicated, we would discuss the whole farming operation. I made a good many trips up to Livermore with him, when he would go up to see what was going on up in the hill ranch. As I say, we would discuss the farming operation below, in Fremont, particularly the problems of salt intrusion in the water table and the possible future of the ranch. I can recall one in particular: the last summer that we came out, which would have been 1937. It was that summer the possibility of development began to rear its head. The Will Patterson family was interested in the development, and at the same time Henry Patterson developed a proposal to change the whole format and structure of the ranch from that of what it had been — namely an undivided half interest — to actually dividing the ranch between the two families and he had maps drawn to accomplish this, [interruption] I was mentioning the fact, in answer to your question about business operations, that Henry had thought for a long time that it would be better, if agreeable with the other family, to actually divide the ranch into separate ownerships, because of the diverging interests between the two families. As I've indicated, he thought about it a great deal. He had several maps made about what he thought would be suitable, equitable division. This was then broached to the other family. The Livermore ranch was to be kept as it was — namely an undivided half interest — but this represented the lower southern Alameda County ranch. 113 We discussed this a great deal. This was not acceptable to the other family, so it was dropped. In retrospect now, I think that many of our present problems would have been avoided if this had gone through. I don't know, and I never did know, what the reasons were which the other family gave for their failure to accede to this. But that was quite an undertaking. Editor: Are you sure of this 1937 date? No one else has placed discussions to divide the ranch so early. J. Adams: Yes. The discussion to divide the ranch did run in 1937. The second relationship, businesswise, was of interest, and it was in the summer of 1947, right after the war, when the other family began to express an interest in developing the ranch. A developer who later on became very prominent in development, namely Mr. Wayne Valley, came out after, I'm sure, getting an appointment. I can remember spending a whole Sunday in the living room with Henry, and I think Sarah was there--in and out--and Mr. Valley was talking about the possibilities of developing agricultural land in general and, specifically, portions of the ranch. He showed us maps, brochures of all the development that was taking place in Houston, Texas, which was one of the earliest places to be developed, apparently. He was trying to persuade similar developments to take place on the southern Alameda County Patterson properties. I think, although this is somewhat of a guess, that he had talked previously to Will and to Donald. Although it was not known to me at the time , he had a partner named Jack Brooks , who subsequently has been very intimately involved with the Patterson family in the development of the land. Again, I did not meet Jack Brooks at that time, but it's apparent now that he was involved also from the start. In any event during that summer, Henry asked me what I thought of it, and we had many discussions, and actually Valley gave us a proposal- -a very informal "contract." I went over it in detail. We discussed it, and both Henry and I reached the conclusion, and I'm sure that Sarah, his wife, shared in this, that at that point we felt that development was a great mistake for the ranch and it should remain in agriculture. Editor: Can you recall any more specifically what Henry Patterson's objections to developing the ranch were at that point? Did he wish to keep farming? Did he think farming would be viable for some time? Was he concerned about the fate of his tenant farmers? Who did he think would take over the running of the ranch after his death? What were your own and Sally's specific objections to development at that point? J. Adams: Henry certainly wanted to keep the entire ranch operation in agriculture during his lifetime, and always looked out for the interests of his tenant farmers. These discussions did take 114 J. Adams: Mellon: J. Adams: Mellon: J. Adams: Mellon: J . Adams : place in 1947 after the war. I presume that Uncle Will would have been his choice to run the ranch after his death, although he did ask me several times if I could give up medicine and become part of the ranch. Sally and I really did not consider the advisability of development then, as we were too involved in our own (medical, etc.) affairs. However, we did deliberately turn down the development of her portion of the "big field" (which had been deeded to her by her father sometime in the late thirties). The other family went ahead and developed their half of the big field (with Jack Brooks, I believe, but am not sure). How would you describe Henry Patterson as a businessman? really run the ranching operations or was it a shared responsibility with his brother William? Did he Well, I think that since the Pattersons were sort of a traditional family in terms of their structure, that the concept of primogeniture was very much in evidence, and the management of the ranch passed down to the older son, namely Henry. He actually did run the ranch in every respect. I described the rounds he would make. I don't think there were any real written agreements with the farming tenants; it was all done by word of mouth and by a handshake. But he made the decisions, although there's no question that he and Will consulted and agreed upon everything, and it was a mutual decision. To put it another way, I don't think Henry would have ever made a decision contrary to the wishes of Will, in terms of ranch management, because theirs was a very close relationship also. In reading through the records that exist in the Society of California Pioneers, for example, I find that William Patterson travelled a great deal. Was this true of Henry Patterson as well, or did Henry tend to remain pretty much on the ranch? No, Henry, by the time I knew him, did very little travelling. He had done travelling in his earlier days when he was in college. He went to Alaska, and I've seen letters that he wrote to his mother. But by the time I'd met him, he stayed pretty much at home. He would go to San Francisco occasionally. He made a weekly trip to San Jose, where he had a concrete pipe manufacturing plant, which of course was in great use in those days, for it represented the irrigated pipe that they buried. I think it did well, and he was the sole owner and sole manager of that plant; Will was not involved in this at all. Henry usually would make a weekly journey to San Jose. I went with him a couple of times, but I don't know much about that business. Is that business still in the family? No, it was sold after both Henry and Sarah's death. 115 Henry. Sarah, and the Family Heritage Mellon: Do you recall Henry talking much about the achievements of his father, George Washington Patterson? J. Adams: Not a great deal. Henry really didn't have a great deal to say about his father, at least I cannot recall much that was said about George Patterson. I think most of what I recall is that Sarah used to talk about George. She would joke about him, primarily. He was the object of a good many jokes in the family, most of which emanated from Sarah. And Henry would just sort of giggle and laugh after Sarah would joke about him. Mellon: Did Henry Patterson ever convey that he saw himself as somebody special, because after all "he was a Patterson."? J. Adams: Not in the slightest. That would be the last way I would characterize Henry. He was a very modest person — very quiet. I think he had a tremendous sense of pride in the ranch. He loved the land and it was certainly his life much more so than I think it was Will's. But I don't think he had any sense of ancestral heritage at all. Mellon: What about William? J. Adams: I think William had more, but again, I really don't recall ever hearing discussions about their ancestry other than the fact that they came from somewhere in the Midwest — Indiana. That's about the extent of my knowledge of it. Mellon: What was your relationship with Sarah Patterson? Can you describe her? What was she like? What were some of her particular interests? J. Adams: Well, Sarah was a very interesting woman. She had a very keen intellect. I don't know if you know, but she actually got a master's degree in astronomy at Berkeley and wrote a thesis, if I recall, a mathematical analysis of the orbits of asteroids. She had a fine intellect. My relationship was a close one with her also. I was very fond of her. As an aside, we used to have a lot of political discussions. This was during the days of the Depression, and Franklin Roosevelt had been elected. Henry had no use for Franklin Roosevelt because he was very conservative politically, and I was a great supporter of Franklin Roosevelt. So we used to have interesting discussions — never acrimonious — and I would essentially support the concepts of the New Deal, and Henry was opposed to them. But Sarah often sided with me. She was much more, what we would call today, liberal than Henry was. She had 116 J. Adams: a very free mind, an open mind, and an inquisitive mind. She loved her garden and spent a great deal of time in her garden. It was an exquisite, beautiful garden that she nurtured. Mellon: Did she read a good deal? J. Adams: She read a great deal. Mellon: Do you recall Henry Patterson talking much about his mother, Clara Hawley Patterson? J. Adams: Again, I don't recall him talking about his mother, but Sarah once again talked a great deal about his mother. She would often, again, make little jokes, and he would appreciate them and laugh about them. But she talked a great deal about Clara. Mellon: I had the feeling, in reading through the records, that Clara was a very bright lady too. J. Adams: I guess so. I really cannot say anything about that in terms of what I've heard from either Sarah or Henry. What I recall about the remarks about Clara were just sort of passing remarks. They weren't anything in depth at all. Mellon: Do you recall any mention ever being made of Clara Hawley Patterson's marriage to the Reverend Lay son? J. Adams: Oh, yes. That was the subject often, again, of discussion, and it was always in a humorous way. Sarah would make jokes about Clara's second husband. At times, she would do this just to tease Henry, and he would accept it gracefully, because he had no use for Mr. Lay son. Relations with the William Patterson Family Mellon: Did you have much contact with William Patterson over the years? How did William contrast with his brother Henry? J. Adams: It was only during the two summers when I was out there — after 1937 I was so involved in medicine that I could not spend any time at the ranch and did not to any degree — that I used to see Will several times a week because Henry and I would bump into Will during our morning rounds around the ranch. And I also used to see Will occasionally when he would come out to shoot ducks, and I happened to be out shooting ducks on the Hill Pond. Mellon: Was there a duck club out there? Did they have a club house? 117 J. Adams: Yes. The pond was on the site where the present park [Coyote Hills Regional Park] is, and they had a very nice little club house halfway up the hill toward the summit. This had been there for a long time — I don't know when they first started out there — it was many years before I knew anything about it. Henry, and there was a regular duck club, mostly of Piedmont businessmen: Mr. Volkman, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Stuart Rawlings; Earl Warren used to come out and shoot ducks; Mr. Allen Chickering who was a lawyer for the Southern Pacific Railroad. I guess there were eight or ten of them. They would get out there Friday night, have dinner, quite a few drinks, and they'd shoot ducks in the morning. Usually they didn't stay over, they just shot that one Saturday morning. Sometimes I would go out Sunday and shoot with Sally, or sometimes during the week. I would often bump into Uncle Will because he would be out there shooting. Uncle Will was also a member of the duck club. Editor: Were these Henry or Will's friends, or both? J. Adams: Both, but more Henry's because of the Piedmont house, etc. Mellon: Were there any other of the Patterson women, in addition to Sally, who shot? J. Adams: Marjorie occasionally shot — Sally's sister — and no others. Mellon: Henry and William Patterson worked together on business matters during the period when you knew them. Did they mix together much socially? J. Adams: Not a great deal, surprisingly, and I suspect this is because of the relationships of their respective wives. Henry and Sarah would have frequent Sunday lunches. They would bring out a long table from the attic — I usually had to help carry it out. Then they would have a lot of their friends. They would have a wonderful lunch of cold corned beef, all local produce, vegetables from Henry's garden. But I don't remember ever seeing the Will Pattersons at those lunches. Because most of Will Patterson's friends were over in Palo Alto and in that area. Most of the Henry Patterson friends were in the East Bay and Piedmont or Berkeley. Mellon: Was any alcohol served at these lunches? J. Adams: Oh yes, indeed. Mellon: There was no heavy temperance feeling among the Pattersons? J. Adams: No, I don't think either family had any feelings about the "evils" of alcohol. 118 Mellon: It's been stated by some observers that the William and Henry Patterson sides of the family were not always close, especially as new generations arrived on the scene. Are the two sides of the family different, and if so, how? J. Adams: I think anything I might have to say about this has to be viewed as representing a certain amount of bias in terms of these relationships. Yes, I think they were close in some respects and not close in other respects. All I might give you are some examples. Certainly Sarah and Aunt May — Will's wife — were not at all close, and, I don't think, really liked each other very much. They were cordial, but there was no warmth in their relationship at all. As far as the next generation is concerned, the relationship between Sally and her cousins, namely Donald, Jack, and David, were not at all close, except — at least in my observation when I got to know them, they were in their early twenties. The relationship between Donald and Sally was not close. Donald was a very difficult person. He was secretive. Henry used to say this many times: Donald's left hand doesn't know what his right hand was doing, and that was just exactly the best way to characterize Donald, in my opinion. Jack, on the other hand, was very warm and outgoing. Sally was extremely fond of Jack, as I was. Although Donald got along with Jack, I think Donald disapproved of Jack in many ways. And David was just too small. Although when David was in college and when I came out in the summers, I would play tennis with David occasionally. But I don't think Sally really saw anything of David — again from the time I knew the family. Mellon: Don Patterson, on the tapes he did in the sixties, refers to his brother Jack as being somewhat of a high liver. J. Adams: That's an unfair characterization. Jack liked to drink, but I never saw him in any way not handling alcohol very well. I think one of the occasions for this might have been the fact that Jack did have lady friends. For instance, one summer he had a young woman he lived with up on the hill ranch. But Will accepted this quite well, although I think it bothered Will, but I suppose Donald disapproved of it — knowing Donald. Mellon: The Pattersons were well-to-do and their success was based in large measure on the early efforts of George Washington Patterson and his two sons. Did you ever observe a particular work ethic among the Pattersons, including the children? Was thrift stressed in the family? 119 J. Adams: I cannot answer that insofar as the Will Patterson family is concerned. I think Jack spent money freely. I don't think he spent it recklessly, but I don't think he pinched pennies in any way. But I think Donald probably was sort of a penny pincher from what I could observe. I can't tell you anything about David. As far as the Henry Patterson side of the family, I think thrift is not the proper expression. Both Sarah and Henry — of course when I knew themvthis was during the Depression and things weren't all that favorable — but they did not withhold spending money. But they didn't throw it around by any manner or means. But I think management would be a better term than thrift. Mellon: Did you have much contact with William's wife May? What was she like? J. Adams: I saw very little of May. All the times that I was at the ranch, living there, both prior to my marriage and after my marriage, I don't think I ever saw May Patterson come to the George Patterson house where Henry and Sarah were living. So the only times I ever saw May was when I went to the William Patterson house for one reason or other — to see Jack. I went there maybe twenty-five to thirty times. I would see May then and then just briefly discover that she was a very sort of, she was a hypochondriac, I think. Many things, physically, she would complain about. She was sort of like Donald. She wouldn't say very much. And Donald was very much like May, on the basis of a casual observation. That's the best way I can characterize it. Mellon: Did your children have much contact with the children of Don, Jack and Dave? Adams: No, none at all. Our children — when we were out there, they were little. [Sue, b.d. October 12, 1936; Abby, b.d. October 18, 1940; Henry, b.d. May 30, 1946.] Then by the time we got back after the war, when we would go out to the ranch occasionally on weekends, they were all spread around. So they really never saw each other. Mellon: Do you recall spending time at the ranch for festive, social occasions? Were these usually held at the Henry Patterson house? Did the William Pattersons give social gatherings that everyone in the family attended? J. Adams: No, I don't recall any social occasions. Maybe they've slipped my memory but I can't recall any social occasions where the two families participated together. There were many social occasions, as I've described, at the Henry Patterson house, but I can't recall the William Patterson family as a whole participating. 120 Mellon: J. Adams: Mellon: J. Adams: Mellon: J. Adams: J. Adams: Do you have any feeling about the George W. Patterson house as being imposing or ornate? What are your impressions of it? Well, I think it's a perfectly beautiful house. I've always loved it. It's an extremely well built, solidly Victorian house. The wood inside is perfectly beautiful wood — it was brought around the horn. As far as I know, I don't think an architect was responsible for building the house, but I consider it perfectly set in the garden. It fits in beautifully with the landscape. So I have great fondness for the house, and I think it is a lovely building. Did Henry Patterson or Sarah Patterson comment from time to time on the house? Yes, they did comment. I do remember them talking about the house, but it was just their home. I don't think I ever heard them say anything about what it represented in terms of historical significance — it was just their home. What were your impressions of the William Patterson house? Do you remember the circumstances surrounding its destruction by fire? I don't remember because we were not there. If I don't know if it was before Henry died, or after he died, I think it was before, that we were discussing what the future might hold for the ranch and the houses and so forth. I remember Sarah saying that Will had either put in his will, or said definitely that after he and May died, he wanted to have the house burned. Then I remember very well — I wasn't there — a picture in the newspaper of Sarah sitting in a chair watching the house burn when they did it. It was in the Oakland Tribune I think. Donald Patterson's Management of the Ranch Mellon: In the mid-to-late 1950s, Don Patterson began to take over leadership in running the ranch. Did you have much contact with him then? J. Adams: No, I had essentially no contact or minimal contact with him then for several reasons. The first reason, I was very busy with my own medical affairs at the university. I rarely got out to the ranch. Donald, I would say, true to character, ran things 121 J. Adams: completely with little communication — certainly with us, and I think probably also with other members of the family, which by that time was Jack and David. So Donald really ran the ranch single-handedly. He would call us up and tell us about a decision that had been made, particularly if it required a signature in terms of a negotiation of some sort or other. Mellon: You're answering part of the question I was going to ask, and that is, how would you characterize the years of his stewardship of the Patterson properties? J. Adams: Well, it's just as I've described. Donald did, and wanted to, control things pretty much the way he saw it. I can remember, as a matter of fact, I think Donald visualized — and this is from discussions with him later, a little bit later — the development of the ranch. I think he wanted to see a good part of the ranch developed, though I never discussed the pros and cons of it because the decisions were made. Donald worked very closely with Jack Brooks, who I mentioned before, and all these plans for the subsequent development and subdivision of the ranch were made by Donald and Jack Brooks, to the exclusion of the rest of the family, certainly to the exclusion of us. In retrospect, I have regrets about this. If I had really thought about it at the time or had been more involved, I would have liked to have been a part of that, and objected to it. Loss of Patterson Agricultural Lands — A Disaster Mellon: That leads in to my next question. You've been described by some as being the most ecologically and conservation-minded member of the family. Is this accurate? Have you been supportive of the movement by the company toward development? J. Adams: I'm pleased to think that they think of me as conservation- minded. I have strong interests in conservation, particularly not only of open space, wilderness, but also, specifically, I have strong feelings about the need to preserve agricultural lands in the area. I might .just put in a plug in this regard — there 've been good studies done. Something like three dollars out of every ten dollars that is accrued by agricultural efforts in this country, is accrued by agricultural lands very close to urban lands, so that the lands around large cities — still in agriculture — are very important. They should be maintained, and I considered the loss of the Patterson agricultural lands, as far as I'm concerned, an ecological disaster — not ecological, but in a sense a disaster, although I'm sure it's inevitable. 122 J. Adams: Certainly by the time the zoning had been done by the city and Brooks, who had at that time access to the city council and planning commission in Fremont, which was very pro-development and very pro-growth — these things were all done. At the time I became aware of it, it was too late. Yes, I think the development on the whole was too bad. Mellon: There has been an effort, I understand, on the part of Patterson Properties, to retain for a fairly protracted length of time some land that will remain purely in agriculture, with one of the families that has worked for the family for many years. J. Adams: Yes, the western-most portion, which unfortunately is also the poorest portion from an agricultural standpoint, 450 acres are still in agriculture. They have been labeled by the city planning commission as "urban reserve," which connotes an ominous tone, as far as I'm concerned. But I think it's the intent of the family, at the present time, to maintain this in agriculture as long as it can be done. The Family Corporation in the Eighties Mellon: George W. Patterson built the ranch and his two sons ran it down until the late 1950s. Can you describe briefly the changes in leadership that occurred after Henry and William's death, and what new directions came along with new leadership? Who followed, for example, Don Patterson's leadership years? J. Adams: Don, as I've indicated, when he was living, ran the ranch single- handedly. I don't know how much David had to do — but I think David had little or nothing to do with running the ranch and was also excluded. Jack, of course, was dead by this time. Sally and Marjorie were not involved at all other than the placement of signatures on documents. When Donald died, which happened very quickly, then David assumed direction. By this time, of course, the development was getting started, and shortly thereafter the plans at least were developed very rapidly, with Jack Brooks dominating that. We would have family meetings at this house, our own house, most of them. They would be comprised of David, Jack Brooks, Sally, myself, and the attorney that was representing Marjorie. These meetings primarily had to do with the development of what was going to be done and where it was going to be done. We didn't really discuss much about the running of the agriculture itself. Wilcox was also at these meetings — Donald's oldest son — representing his family. 123 J. Adams: The actual management of the ranch at that time was — Wilcox would spend some time dealing with the Livermore tenant, the cattle people in Livermore, the Bankes . He and David sort of cooperated. Then ultimately — I think at the instigation of Brooks to some extent — but David was the driving force then to form a family corporation, which was done. Mellon: Are you supportive of the direction the company is taking at the present time? J. Adams: Well, I think I've expressed myself clearly on that — although it's too late, I think. The family corporation now is being managed by my son-in-law, Leon Campbell, and David's son-in-law, Robert Buck. The ultimate responsibility rests with the board of directors on which I sit, with David, Wilcox and Jack's son, Bruce. On the whole I think the management is being well done. There are differences of opinion, as you might expect, but everything seems to be managed well, so I really have no thoughts beyond that. Jack Brooks and Donald Patterson — Working Hand and Glove Mellon: Could you say anything further about Jack Brooks 's relationship to the Patterson family and Patterson properties? What kind of person is Jack Brooks? J. Adams: Jack Brooks is a very shrewd, very smart, essentially developer. I remember when he first started to develop the ranch. I don't know whether Wayne Valley was involved or not, but I know Jack Brooks did a development with Donald and David — what was the "big field" — and that was the first development on the ranch [in the early 1950s]. I can remember him then as a younger man. Just as a curiosity, which I don't remember, but Jack Brooks has told me that, right after the war, I operated on him in the Veterans' Hospital in San Francisco — took a little tumor off his skull. But I don't remember it. But Jack is an extremely shrewd and very successful developer. He, I think, for a long time really ran the city council and planning commission in Fremont. He could do pretty much anything that he wanted to do, which from the standpoint of ranch development, obviously, was advantageous if you were interested in developing the ranch. He and Donald, I think, worked hand and glove. I can remember, for instance, going out there on a weekend one time after the war — it was after both Henry and Will died, probably late sixties or .early seventies. 124 J . Adams : Mellon: J. Adams: Mellon: Sally and I drove around with Donald. Donald said, now this is all going to be houses, and this is going to be industry. This was the first I knew of that. By that time it was too late. Following up a little on something you said a week or so ago when I was interviewing Mrs. Adams, looking at it in retrospect and knowing a lot about the Patterson family, why do you suppose George Washington Patterson succeeded as well as he did in building a small empire in southern Alameda County? This has to be pure speculation, obviously. From the history of the area, from what I have heard or in terms of what Sarah and Henry might have said, I suspect George Patterson came out, and like so many other people — you might say white Americans — they were adventurers, fortune seekers. They came out and acquired land from the native Californians , namely the Spaniards. This has happened over and over again. I suspect George Patterson was shrewd. He acquired this land by some means or other. I don't think dishonestly, but he drove a hard bargain every time. Then he was industrious, and the time was ripe for the raising of wheat and the markets for wheat back East. Then subsequently he raised produce. I'm sure it was well managed — it was extremely well managed when I saw it under Henry, and this was during the Depression, but it was functioning, and well done. Thank you very much Dr. Adams, opportunity to interview you. I appreciate very much the Transcriber: Final Typist: Maria Wolf Maria Wolf and Catherine Winter 125-126 TAPE GUIDE - Dr. John Adams Date of Interview: July 14, 1986 tape 1, side a tape 1, side b 120 127 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California Berkeley. California THE PATTERSON FAMILY AND RANCH: SOUTHERN ALAMEDA COUNTY IN TRANSITION David G. Patterson Overseeing the Transition from Ranching to Property Management An Interview Conducted by Knox Mellon in 1986 Copyright fc) 1988 by the Regents of the University of California DAVID G. PATTERSON 1988 128 TABLE OF CONTENTS — David Patterson INTERVIEW HISTORY 129 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION 130 I A VIEW OF THE FAMILY AND RANCH 131 Education in Palo Alto and Centerville 131 Service in the Air Force in World War II 132 Patterson Family Traditions 134 The Two Family Homes 135 Remembering Father Will and Uncle Henry 136 Mother May and Aunt Sarah 138 Will Patterson's Interests in the Outdoors. Sports. Travel. and Agronomy 139 Brothers Don and Jack 141 II SEEKING A BALANCE ON THE RANCH LANDS 144 Sales and Development in the 1950s 144 Burning of the Family Home 145 Management by Eldest Son and by Trustee Company 146 The Agricultural Operations and Open-Space Uses 148 Jack Brooks, Consultant to the Family 150 Ranch Lands for Coyote Hills Park and Alameda Creek Flood Control Channel 152 Family Incorporation and Professional Management 153 Current Role Overseeing Policy Decisions 155 TAPE GUIDE 158 129 INTERVIEW HISTORY — David G. Patterson The following interview with David Patterson was conducted by Dr. Knox Mellon at Mr. Patterson's home in Alamo, California, on November 3. 1986. As the youngest son of William Patterson, David Patterson brings his own unique recollections of life on the ranch and of his father and his uncle, Henry. Educated at Stanford University, with a master's degree in business administration, he was well prepared to assume a leadership role in Patterson family business upon the death of his elder brother, Donald, in 1980. Development of the ranch lands was underway, and pressures for further development were intense. David Patterson was instrumental in the family's subsequent incorporation, which allowed an orderly management of properties and led to development guided by a master plan. In his interview, as well as in his role as Patterson family advisor. David Patterson stresses the family's commitment to seeking a balance in the development of ranch lands. He notes that a significant portion of the lands have been dedicated to public use, at Ardenwood Regional Preserve, Coyote Hills Regional Park, the Alameda Creek flood control channel, and. in Livermore, at Del Valle Regional Park. Other lands are to remain in agriculture as long as possible. David Patterson and his wife, Joan, have a keen interest in Patterson family history. They have traced the family in East Berlin, Pennsylvania, where George Washington Patterson was born, and Lafayette, Indiana, where he grew up. We are grateful to them for their support of this oral history project and their assistance in locating family photographs to include in the interview volumes. Ann Lage Proj ect Director September. 1988 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California at Berkeley Regional Oral History Office Room 486 The Bancroft Library University of California Berkeley, California 94720 130 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION (Please print or write clearly) Your full name David George Patterson Date of birth August 13,1920 Place of birth Oakland, Calif Father's full name William Donald Patterson Birthplace Alameda County, Calif. Occupation Rancher Mother's full name May Bird Patterson Birthplace Yreka, Calif Occupation Housewife Where did you grow up ? Southern Alameda County, Calif Present community Alamo, Calif. Education B_. A. -Engineering (Stanford Univ.);MBA (Stanford Univ.) Occupation(s) APProx 12 years in engineering and production nana.vsir.ent; Approx 25 years in business management( investments; raal estate;as individual and as Trustee) Special interests or activities/c*vr«xV)yV. Community service; leadership positions , financial and hands-on support of U.S. Air Force Veteran's Memorial library & support organization, and of local emergency communications services; substantial financial suppor local and national char itias , Business ; active in business management of family assets and trusts, -Recreation; active pilot/airplane owner;active tennis player ,skii2r, hiker/mountain recreation" ivities, boating/water skiing(have small boat), -Home; married, have 7 children/stepchildren(all now adults, some with children of their own) .Wife Joan and I enjoy above recreational activities , plus travel and social activities connected with local community and organizations. Above: David and Joan Patterson, 1987. Below: Left to right, David Patterson, age 8; May Bird Patterson, mother; rson. older brother, aee 17. in 1978. and : to right, David Patterson, age 8; May Bird Pati John Patterson, older brother, age 17, in 1928. 131 Mellon: I A VIEW OF THE FAMILY AND RANCH Education in Palo Alto and Centerville [Date of Interview: November 3, 1986] ## Mr. Patterson, could you tell me something about your early life; where you were born and where you grew up? David P: I was born in Oakland August 13, 1920, at Fabiolo [now Kaiser] Hosiptal, and for the first two years of my life I lived in Piedmont in a rental house. Then we moved to the house at the Patterson Ranch, the W. D. Patterson house. That would have been about 1922. I lived there until my college years, when in 1938 I started my studies at Stanford University. Mellon: Could you tell me a little bit about your early education, prior to entering Stanford? David P: Yes. When I was still pre-school, my father spent quite a bit of time each day in the evening teaching me to read and write. This started when I was probably four or five years old. After that I went to a Palo Alto school [Castilleja] for my first two grades, and then the Peninsula School in Palo Alto for the third and fourth grades. During this time, my family rented a house in Palo Alto, so that during the school year we lived in Palo Alto, and during the rest of the year we lived at the ranch. My father, of course, went back and forth daily. Then I went to public school in Palo Alto for the fifth grade [Walter Hays School], and the sixth grade [Addison School]. In the sixth grade, which would have been about 1932, I contracted — I think it was scarlet fever — anyhow, it led to a serious illness and subsequently to a critical mastoid operation. I was quite ## This symbol indicates that a tape or segment of a tape has begun or ended. For a guide to the tapes, see page 158. 132 David P: ill. I spent my time of illness at the ranch, then, and because of that my parents wanted me at a school close to home. So, the seventh and eighth grades were spent in the Centerville Grammar School, and I lived at the ranch. Then, from there, I went to Palo Alto High School for four years, and then Stanford for four years after that, prior to the war. Mellon: When you lived at the ranch and went to school, how did you go? Were there buses — did you take a bus, or did you walk, or ride a bike? David P: In the beginning, at high school, the first two years of high school, I took the local Peerless Stage Bus, which traveled fairly close, on Jarvis Road, and my parents would take me out to the road and then I would pick up the bus, and it would take me to Palo Alto. And then in my junior year, they got me a little car, and from then on I commuted from the ranch. Mellon: Why don't you finish up on your education? David P: The balance of my education — I was at Stanford from '38 until "42. My graduating class should have been 1942; however. I needed a few units to finish up in engineering school when World War II started. So in the early part of 1942 I went into the service, and I served until the end of the war. When I returned. I was given credit by Stanford for having gone through flying school and with the army, air corps to finish up my engineering credits that I needed. My engineering [B.A. ] diploma was awarded me in 1945. So then I started the Graduate School of Business at Stanford — that would have been in 1946 and 1947 — and earned an MBA degree from Stanford in 1948. Prior to that time. I had attended UCLA one summer school to make up some credits, and that was in 1939, I believe. But that consisted basically of my education. After that time I was employed at U.S. Steel, and. in the early sixties, I went to the University of California [at Berkeley] to their evening school certificate program in real estate, and finished a two-year program there, earning their Certificate of Real Estate. That pretty well wrapped up my educational experience. Service in the Air Force in World War II Mellon: Could you comment just briefly about your service during World War II in the air force? 133 David P: Yes. I went into active duty in June of '42. I was commissioned in army ordnance through the ROTC program at Stanford. There was a tremendous need for Signal Corps personnel, as the Signal Corps was expanding rapidly in 19A2. So they transferred me immediately into the Signal Corps, and I went to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey [the eastern Signal Corps School] for three months of retraining. From Fort Monmouth, I went to Desert Training Center, out in the area east of Indio, and worked maneuvers with the 4th Armored Corps. That would have been the late summer and fall of '42 and the spring of '43. Just prior, General Fatten and the 2nd Armored Corps had been training at Desert Training Center. He went on to Africa with his corps, but our unit wasn't trained soon enough and well enough, so we stayed back. Thereafter we would have gone overseas with the 4th Armored Corps, but the African campaign started to wind down. Our desert training was tailored to service in the African desert, so our 4th Corps desert training was no longer needed. A bunch of us young fellows were very eager to get into the fray and decided we wanted to get into something more exciting. One time when we had some days off, ten of us went into San Bernardino to the army air base there. It was called the San Bernardino Army Air Base, I guess, in those days; it's now Norton Air Force Base. We processed the paperwork and passed the physicals and applied and were eventually accepted for air corps training. I went through pilot training. Class 44f was my class, and I graduated from advanced twin engine pilot school at Pampa, Texas, June 1944. After that, I went through flying transition schools — ended up flying B-24 Liberator bombers in combat with the 8th Air Force, 445th Bomb Group, based in England. I stayed with them and flew a number of missions over Germany. I was shot down once (on a mission over Berlin) and was rescued by the Russians and got back to my base. I flew a few more missions, and then the war was over in Europe. During this period of combat flying over Europe I was awarded the air medal, three battle stars, and my group received a unit citation. We were scheduled to transfer into B-29 training and go to the Pacific theater [Japan]. However, first we came back to the U.S. and were given a month of leave, and then by this time — this would have been July and August of '45 — we got back to our new training bases and got ready for training. Why, fortunately, the Japanese war ended suddenly with the dropping of the atomic bomb, which saved an awful lot of us from any further possible destruction. So at that time (later 1945), I got out of the active service as soon as I could, because I did have this strong desire to go back to school and finish my education. 134 Patterson Family Traditions Mellon: The Pattersons were certainly one of the most prominent and affluent families in southern Alameda County. When you were growing up, did the realization that you were a Patterson have any special effect on you? David P: No. My parents were very much two feet on the ground, and were very much part of the community. I didn't personally have any feeling that I was any different from anybody else. I guess, at the time, I didn't realize that I was getting education in better schools in Palo Alto. I played with kids locally — although, being isolated, raised en a farm as I was, it was difficult to find playmates. That is one of the main reasons why my parents had me in the Palo Alto schools and moved there during the school year into a community where there were neighbors nearby, where I did have kids to play with. I think this was very important in their reasoning, that I needed to have friends that were nearby to play with. But I never felt any distinction. It was just that it was more fun after school, to be able to play in a vacant lot nearby with a bunch of kids, play baseball or football, as against being out on the farm and being lonesome and by myself. Mellon: Of course, the Pattersons were well-to-do, and their success was based in large measure on the hard work of your grandfather and his two sons. Was there ever a work ethic among the Pattersons that included the children as well? Was thrift stressed in the family? David P: Absolutely. My father set up a pattern of hard work. 1 knew, as I grew up, that every day he was managing the ranch properties. Typically, he would leave in the morning to make his rounds of the farming and direct the various operations along with my uncle. Many times, as a youngster, my father would take me along after school or on weekends, and we'd first stop at my uncle's house. My uncle had an office (which was the sun porch at the G. W. Patterson house), and my father and 1 would go in and I would sit down in the corner, and my father and my uncle would discuss the current problems on the farm. Then we would continue to make the "rounds" ef the farm lands. I was very definitely raised with the idea that work was the way to go. My mother was very busy running the home, and that was the whole context. There was no question in my mind that I was going to go on to higher education. It didn't even enter my mind that I would do anything except continue on and get a degree and learn some profession. My father and my mother always pointed out to me that I should have a prime profession, which steered me towards engineering, even though the other, ranch property management, was there in the background. They felt that I should have a separate profession, as a safety valve. 135 The TWo Family Homes Mellon: What are your first remembrances of the G. W. Patterson house? Were you a regular visitor to the house your grandfather built? Who lived there at the time? David P: From the age of two, I grew up in my father's home nearby to the G. W. Patterson house. My father's house was about a quarter of a mile away from the G. W. Patterson house, which was occupied by my uncle and aunt and cousins. In those days, it was typical that the older brother occupied the family home, and the younger brother built a home for himself. So my uncle, being older than my father, took over my grandfather's house when my grandparents died. My early recollections of the house were very fuzzy. You must remember that I was youngest of the six children in the two families. My brother Jack, who was closest to me in age, was six years older than I was. My oldest brother, Don, was some fifteen years older than I, and cousins Sally and Marjorie were of that same vintage. The younger daughter, Georgia, I really didn't ever know. She was killed when she was fairly young. So I was kind of the "little kid on the block." I did go over to their house occasionally — they had a swimming pool that we were all invited to use and used quite often. I would join swimming parties with my cousins and my older brothers, but again, I was the little kid. I was kind of there because there was no other place to put me, I suppose. But I did enjoy the swimming pool. (We did not have one at our house.) In my two years when I was living at the ranch and attending school in Centerville, in the seventh and eighth grade years, I got quite involved in playing tennis. They had a tennis court at my uncle's house, and we didn't. My aunt and uncle invited me to use the court anytime, and that is where I really learned a sport that I'm still playing, at my age of 66, and I'm very thankful to have had that wonderful opportunity to start. My father started with me, showing me how to play. My brother Don, when he was down from college or work, would play with me. We had a gardener and cook on the premises at our house almost all the time I could remember; and the gardener (several of the gardeners) really loved to get out and exercise after work, and they would play tennis with me. So that's where my tennis got started. It's been a wonderful thing for me. It has helped me maintain excellent health and a sound physical condition throughout the years. (Many of these gardeners eventually owned their own homes and businesses and enjoyed tennis in their later years too.) 136 Mellon: Some of the sources describe the William Patterson house as being almost the equal of the G. W. Patterson house — very fine construction and a lovely home. Is this your recollection? David P: Oh, I loved it. It was huge by today's standards. Again, in those days, a farm house was typically where a family lived and worked together. It was a different world than it is now. It was roomy; each of my brothers, even though they weren't there all the time, had rooms; I had my own bedroom. And baths — oh, I forget how many baths now. But I remember the two floors, plus a basement and an attic. All had facilities. It was just a very comfortable house. I can remember as a child in the wintertime, for instance, going up into the attic, which was big but unfinished, and there were storage trunks and all kinds of things like that that you read about in stories, where little kids go up and play during the rainy days. I remember doing the same thing. All in all, my home was just a very comfortable place to live and grow up. Remembering Father Will and Uncle Henry Mellon: What kind of contacts did you have with your father, William Patterson? What were your early impressions of him? David P: I knew my father as a very kind person who loved people — little people as well as big people. He was very gregarious; he was very well-liked. As I said earlier, when I was very, very small — pre school — I can still remember after dinner looking forward in the evening to running into the front room and getting out my reading book and sitting down on the couch. My dad would come in and sit down, and he'd teach me to read. I still remember that as a wonderful experience. He taught me basic writing and arithmetic too — the "3 Rs". As I get older, why, he spent time with me in teaching me not only school work, but to camp, to fish, to hunt. He took me on backpacking trips, he taught me to ski. He was a great outdoorsman. He loved the outdoors. He taught me — and, I'm sure, before me he taught my brothers too. I know my brother Jack was young enough so that he would accompany us on skiing trips and that type of thing. So my dad was my teacher and was my companion in many ways through the early years. He was very active in community affairs himself, too, and in the managing of the ranch. 137 Mellon: Did your father discuss the operation of the ranch with you; and if so, when did he begin to do this? David P: I believe right from the beginning. I said earlier that whenever I was off from school he would take me in his car and drive around and point out the various things to me. His attitude was always that I should understand and learn but that I should always look forward to another profession, and I believe that had a lot to do with the fact that I was the littlest kid and there were a lot of older ones that would come before me regarding management of the family's ranch businesses. I think that they (my father and my uncle) were operating under the old philosophy of family management wherein the oldest was the first in line, and I, of course, was the youngest. Mellon: Did you have much contact with your uncle, Henry Patterson? What were your impressions of him — what kind of a man was he, what kind of an uncle? David P: Well, Uncle Henry was a very quiet person but a very kind person, as I remember him. He and my father would chat about business; as I mentioned earlier, we'd go over to the ranch office, which was in my uncle's house — the G. W. Patterson house. He was always kind to me and always pleasant — a man of few words but a comfortable person to be around. His kindness, for instance, showed in one specific example. When I came back from the war, after the end of the war, I had a little airplane. I was still flying out of Hamilton Field with the U.S. Army Air Corps Reserve, and I had a small plane of my own that I would fly over to Hamilton Field, land, and spend my weekend tour, and then come back. My uncle, unbeknownst to me, had an airstrip — just a dirt airstrip, but a useful landing strip — graded out back of the ranch houses in a field that was used as a roadway. Lo and behold, he let me know one time that "we have an airstrip for you; anytime you want to use it and anytime you want to come down, you just go ahead." And I thought that was a wonderful thing — so thoughtful. It was a kind thing — he was a man of not many words but nice thoughts. And that was a really nice thought, and I did use that airstrip from time to time. Mellon: In the written records, your father comes through as more of a gregarious, out-going person, and your Uncle Henry as more taciturn and reserved. Is this accurate? David P: I would say yes. I would say that the two complemented each other. Uncle Henry and my father were both, in my estimation, very kind people and very compassionate people. Uncle Henry showed it in a different way. As I've explained, my father was more outgoing, more of a joiner. When I really knew them, of 138 David P: course, they were along in years, as Uncle Henry was born in 1878, and my father was born in 1880 and by the time I was fifteen (that would have been 1935) they were already in their mid-fifties. My father put aside one day a week (when business allowed him the time) wherein he would join his men friends at the Bohemian dub in San Francisco. The Bohemian dub was a highly regarded men-only club, much like the exclusive men's clubs found in England. This was a regular thing. He went each Thursday afternoon, when the club had special programs. I remember my mom always said, with approval, 'Veil, Father's going to the Bohemian dub for their weekly get-together." He also attended the Bohemian dub's annual one-week "retreat" at the Bohemian Grove, where the club invited well-known opera and stage stars to perform. (I believe the great singer Enrico Caruso performed there, for instance.) This was just the way he was, whereas I really don't know about Uncle Henry because I wasn't as close te him, but I don't believe he was as active socially. My father also was very active in community affairs. For instance, he was on the Alameda County Water District Board of Directors for, oh, more than forty years, and he was president for almost that period of time. As these were elected offices, it reflected the fact that a lot of people in the community knew him and respected him and obviously voted for him. The Bohemian dub people — I know they and other people he knew would often gather at the ranch. We had two flooded ponds that we used for duck-hunting. We had a duck shack — hunting lodge — and he would have quite a few of his friends down for weekend duck shoots regularly during duck hunting season. And Uncle Henry was included and shot and socialized with them, but I feel that it was more my father's acquaintances that my uncle enjoyed than truly just my uncle's acquaintances. Mother May and Aunt Sarah Mellon: What was your relationship with your mother. May Patterson? What kind ef a person was she? Do you recall her taking any role in the running of the ranch? David P: Well, my mother was not involved in the business itself. Again* at my age, she was already—by the time I knew what was happening businesswise, she was already in her fifties. But I remember my feeling that she was very good with household budgets and a very thrifty person. I know that she watched over the household's finances, but not the business finances. 139 David P: Again. I felt she was gregarious. She had a lot of friends in the Centerville and in the Palo Alto areas. She was quite a bit involved in charities such as the Children's Hospital of the East Bay, the Episcopal Church at Centerville, the Garden (Hub in Washington Township. But basically, she was a homemaker and a family person, and she did those things that a homemaker- wife would do in the community and in the home to make for a well- balanced home, I'd say. She was a wonderful mother to me. Mellon: David P: Did you have much contact with your aunt, Sarah Patterson? were your impressions of her? What Aunt Sarah I don't remember too well. I saw Uncle Henry because he was involved in the ranch business, but Aunt Sarah — as I remember, she was involved in helping with the ranch books, but I wasn't involved in that part of it, so I don't really know — again, she was kind enough to invite me to use the tennis court and the swimming pool, and she was always kind to me and pleasant. But I didn't have a close relationship with her, personally, outside of that. She had her own kids to raise, and I guess like my mother, she was concentrating on raising her family. Her children were much older than I was, though. I didn't really have a close relationship with Aunt Sarah. Will Patterson's Interests in the Outdoors, Sports, Travel, And Agronomy Mellon: The written records depict your father as being interested in the outdoors, in hunting and camping and travel. Is this accurate, and did you participate with him in these activities? David P: I'd say that was very accurate. He, as we were talking about before, took me hunting and fishing and taught me skiing. Again, before my time, I heard about the fact that he made quite a few trips up into the Yukon and the Peace River area of Canada, and into Alaska, the Lake Bennett area. Much of it was the excitement of going into areas that were wilderness, on his own or with a guide. For instance, he had great aspirations to be the first person to ever climb Mount Whitney in the wintertime. He and a fellow named Dennis Jones, who was an alternate on the American Olympic Ski Team back in the thirties, prepared one summer with caches of food that they placed on the trail up to the top of Whitney. I suppose this would have been in the early thirties; I can't remember now really. But they were going to be the first people to ever climb Mount Whitney in the wintertime. 140 David P: As it turned out. they got part way up. and Dennis Jones had been a ski jumper, and he had a bad ankle, and his ankle went bad and they had to turn around and come back. But this illustrates the type of person my father was. He loved the wilderness; he wanted to do things that were unusual, that tested his skill. I suppose, for survival in the wilderness, and just to enjoy the beauty of the wilderness, too. This was his type of thing. In addition to that, in 1928 he took our family to Europe. He (and my mother) felt that my brother Jack and I should have the educational advantages of such an experience. We were in Europe for, I would say, almost a year. We attended Swiss schools and spent time touring and sightseeing in England. France, Italy. Switzerland. One of the main reasons that I believe he wanted to go was also because he wanted to ski in the Alps — which he did do extensively and taught Jack and me how te ski. Mountaineering, skiing, and outside activities were important recreational activities for my father. He continued to ski and enjoy the wildernesses and mountains well into his sixties, which for that generation was very unusual. I still ski and enjoy backpacking in the mountains, but our generation's a little different. Mellon: Would you describe your father as an environmentalist; and if so, would you describe some examples of this? If David P: I believe he was more of an agronomist rather than an environment alist. He was a person whose business life was dedicated to agriculture. He was always experimenting with trying to raise something new. We had in our backyard a large farm area that was dedicated just to raising small amounts of many different types of crops. We also had an orchard in which he experimented with grafting of various types of fruits. He was intensely interested in improving the agriculture as it pertained to the ranch agricultural business. He had exotic trees that he tried — for instance there was a papaw tree that he tried to raise from seeds from Mexico — it didn't work well. He had oranges and lemons, and grapefruit, which in those days, in our cold climate, was quite unusual. But I would say that his major thrust was agriculture. He enjoyed gardening too, as a hobby — which of course is related to agriculture. He also was involved in the water district, because that had to do with agriculture, and the preservation of water for agriculture was very important to him. Mellon: Did your father keep in close contact with his college classmates after graduation? Did he take an active interest in Stanford? David P: Again, by the time I became aware of his activities, he was in his fifties. I understood that he was active in his class at Stanford, was a fraternity man and a good athlete. He played football at Stanford and earned his freshman numeral in his class of 1904. He prided himself (when I knew him) that he never missed 141 David P: a Stanford-Gal football game all through the years. In fact, as I remember, he didn't come over to Europe until right after the Big Game, just to keep his record perfect. [laughter] He taught football as a volunteer after he got out of Stanford. He was a volunteer football coach for the local Centerville high school — it was called Washington Union High School. He was a fraternity man at Stanford (I can't recall right now the fraternity), but as far as keeping in contact with his Stanford classmates, I couldn't tell you about it. It could very well be that a lot of these people that were duck hunting with him and that were at the Bohemian dub in San Francisco could have been Stanford people, but I don't really know. Brothers Don and Jack Mellon: Your brother Don has been called the historian of the Patterson family. Is this accurate? David P: No. I think custodian is a better word than historian. Don was an entomologist by hobby, a good one. He had a moth named after him that he discovered. He collected data from the ranch business, historical data, and he took it to the Pioneer Society [the Society of California Pioneers in San Francisco], and it was just put there. He did some taping of some of the events, but it was more of a custodial function — taking the data and putting it in custody for future reference rather than actually developing a history of the family. My wife and I have done more of the true family history in the last few years. We have been to East Berlin, Pennsylvania, where my grandfather, G. W. Patterson, was born and his parents and grandparents lived. We've been to Lafayette, Indiana, where he and his sisters and brothers grew up. I remember years ago when we mentioned East Berlin, Don said, "Well, no use going there, you wouldn't find anything." In contrast, we did find much of Patterson history there. So what that is saying is that Don was collecting data and storing it so that it wouldn't be destroyed, but actually, as far as developing a history, no, I don't believe that he did that, outside of just the data that he had at his fingertips. Mellon: What kind of relationship did you have with your brother Jack? What was he like? Did you have much contact with him through the years? 142 David F: Jack was six years older than I. which is quite a bit of age difference when you're little. So my contact with Jack in the earlier years wasn't much. But as time went by. we became closer and closer. Jack was definitely not a scholastic person. He did not do well in school whatsoever. But on the other side of the coin, he was unusually good at what he liked to do. For instance, he studied history and French, and I can remember when he was in high school and I was in grammar school, he would sit at home and read French history books, French novels, and French magazines instead of doing his homework in school. He just wasn't interested in following the school curriculum. He was a very gregarious person. He was very much like my father. People liked him; he got around socially a lot; he had a lot of friends. But he didn't pay attention to his school work. Where he really shone was in what he enjoyed doing. When World War II started, he displayed a very, very strong loyalty to his country. He was the kind of person that just believed in America; he believed in our way of life; he believed that he and all of us should be supporting that. So he went into the military service, he volunteered, and he excelled in his duties in the service. He had been doing some work on the cattle ranch prior to the war — not very well, but he loved horses — and he had tried his hand at cattle ranching and hadn't done very well. But he did like horses, so when he volunteered for army service when the war started, he went into the cavalry. He worked hard and eventually became an officer. Then he went into paratrooper school and became a para trooper. Then he went to commando school and became a commando, and he ended up in Europe in the OSS, which was an undercover unit of the U.S. Army, in which he was very outstanding. Among his awards, he earned a silver star, which is one of the highest awards that the United States gives for gallantry in action — bravery in action. He also earned many battle stars. He did an outstanding job in that field and, again, I would say that he was intensely patriotic. I felt also that he was a devoted family man. He was married to Joan Meek before he went overseas. When he was serving overseas. I met him at one time when I got back from being shot down. I met him in Paris (he was on a rest leave from the front lines) and we spent two or three days together, and he was always talking about his family at home. He just was that kind of guy; just really a nice person. But the academic life, the mundane life of an ordinary business person, as a farmer or a rancher, wasn't exciting enough for him, I'd say. And yet he had a good business mind. He had good common sense when it came to business. 143 Mellon: Did your brother Jack ever take an active role in the running of the ranch? What kind of relationship did your brother Jack have with Don Patterson? David P: Jack tried his hand at cattle ranching on part of the Patterson Ranch. That was in the late 1930s. He was net a manager for the family but was on his own. He didn't do very well at it. He also tried farming on Patterson lands, on his own, and he didn't do very well at it either. I feel one of the problems that Jack had was that Don was a very domineering person, and Don was the oldest in the family. I believe Don was raised to be the leader of the families, in the old feudal system where the oldest son of the family is the one that is supposed to carry on the family business. I do believe that was instilled in Don. I remember my mother, when I was a kid, always pointing out that Don was, you knew, the person to follow, and so forth. I was so young that there was no competition between me and Don, but Jack was close enough in age so I think that he felt it, and I think that Don's domineering — whether it was because of Don's nature or because he was forced into the spot — caused Jack to back away. They always had good relationships, but I think that Jack was subdued by Don's position, really, and that indirectly affected his performance. Mellon: Some people have asserted that the Henry and William sides of the Patterson family were polite and communicative, but never close. Is this true? David P: I have in recent years heard this, and I have stated to Sally [Henry's daughter] and John [Dr. Adams, her husband] that that could have been, but it surely isn't any more. Whatever happened, I didn't know anything about it. I remember, as I said earlier, going over to Sally's house, Uncle Henry's house, to use the pool and use the tennis court which were open to me to use anytime. I didn't see the alleged differences, and yet I've heard of this allegation. But I wasn't involved in it, nor did I ever see evidence of it. Maybe I was too little, you know. Maybe I was fortunate — but they certainly were communicative; they certainly were polite and very nice to me. I saw my brothers and my cousins playing together. As they grew older, they grew apart, but that's understandable; everyone has their own direction. 144 II SEEKING A BALANCE ON THE RANCH LANDS Sales and Development in the 1950s Mellon: Mr. Patterson, what was the date of the first Singer purchase of Patterson Ranch acreage? Were there two purchases — one in 1965 and one in 1972? David P: Well, let's go back. In the 1950s, some big changes took place in what is now the Fremont area in the location of the Patterson Ranch. The Nimitz freeway was constructed through the ranch property. The cities of Fremont, Newark, and Union City incorporated. Master plans were designed by these cities, shewing plans for industrial, commercial, and residential areas in the agricultural lands. The whole area started to change its image from a strictly rural farm area to a potential urban /sub urban area. Seeing the potential changes in planned land uses, our side of the family in the 1950s made a sale of about 300 acres to a developer. That was followed very shortly, in the early sixties, by my Uncle Henry's side of the family, with a sale of about the same amount of acres. So, really, both sides of the family made similar moves, both recognizing the land-use trends that would eventually affect farming. Moreover, in 1955, I remember that my father and my uncle were very desirous of dividing up the rest of the lands and selling more for development. These first 600 acres that had been sold had already been divided (they were on the northeast side of Jarvis Road). Then, continuing in the 1950s, my father and uncle began a program of dividing other portions of the ranch into two- family ownerships. The beginning tracts are what we now call the K tracts. About this time, in the mid-fifties, Wayne Valley and John [Jack] Brooks, principals in a very successful development company called Besco, approached my father and uncle about a sale of some additional 350 acres of our tract 0, which included much of the lands surrounding the two family homes. I know from listening to 145 David P: my father and visiting with my uncle that they were on the verge of making that sale then. My uncle died suddenly, and that shut down the whole process, and nothing more was done at that time. Eventually, in 1971, the same property was sold to Singer Housing Company, a division of the Singer Company of sewing maching fame, for residential development. In the meantime, in the 1950s, the city of Fremont was organized. Our property became part of Fremont, with a small part in Newark. Fremont commenced master-planning the whole area, as I stated before, changing the whole land-use concept from agriculture to eventual suburban/urban uses. I felt my father and uncle, although basically agriculturalists, were good businessmen and wise enough to recognize these trends and align their business actions to suit the inevitable changes. Burning of the Family Home Mellon: What was your reaction, and the family reaction, to the burning of the W. D. Patterson house? Could anything have been done to delay or avoid it? David P: My father's will stated that any of the three boys, myself, or Don, or Jack — could have the house if we would live in it and maintain it. Otherwise, my father wanted it destroyed because he was well aware of the potential problems of vandalism. This was a huge house by today's standards, a huge farm house, that had had quite a bit of years of use. It was built around 1905, so the plumbing was on its last legs, really. The roof needed repair, the wiring was the old style single-wire, rather than romex cable, and its safety was questionable. It was just, for our generation, impossible to afford to keep in repair to live in or to own. So we opted not to try and live in it. It would have been too much of a financial and physical burden for any of us. In the meantime, while we were settling his estate, for the few months that that took, disposing of his personal things and so forth, the house was left during the evenings and time when we weren't there, and even though it was locked, it was broken into several times. Fixtures were torn off the walls leaving exposed wires. The walls were destroyed, just by wanton vandalism. Cans of paint were splattered throughout the interior. Certain wall, floor, and ceiling areas were torn out. F^/en bricks from the patio and fireplaces were removed, and big piles of debris left. It was an awful thing for us, who had grown up in this home, to see. 146 David P: So finally, we — my brother Don was in charge — arranged with the Newark Fire Department to have them use the house for fire drill practice. So the fire department used it for that purpose. They would light it. and then they would have their fellows training to put the fire out. and then they would light it again, and so forth, as I remember the story, until it was finally all burnt down. The only attempts at preserving it would have come from anyone who could have afforded to keep that size of home, and it was way outside of our ability financially. There were people who called and said, "Can't we preserve it?" The answer was. "Well, do you have the money to do it?" The bottom line became, "No. the expense is too great." And in the meantime, the vandalism was going on. So, in my estimation, it was a godsend that it was burned down because vandalism was destroying not only the physical structure, but tearing at our feelings concerning our home. Mellon: Was there ever any talk of tearing down the G. W. Patterson house? David P: I don't ever remember of anything like that. It was sold to Singer in 1971, and the contractual agreement was that it would be preserved and someday it would become, hopefully, a historical building. There were other buildings in Fremont — there's one close to the hub and there's the Shinn house — which have been preserved in that way, and that was our hope, and that was our understanding with Singer. The fact that all during the years that Singer (and later Citation Homes) owned the property and they were having a dispute with the city, they maintained it, they kept a caretaker there at the property to preserve it, to make sure that it wasn't vandalized, I think points up the fact that there was no feeling that it should or would be destroyed. Ma na gem ent by Eldest So n and by Trustee Committee Mellon: When did you begin to take a role in managing the family ranching business? What had been your business relationship with Don? Had he kept you informed, and did he seek your advice about decisions? David P: My father died in 1961. my uncle died in 1955, and my Aunt Sarah died in 1965. My father's health started deteriorating in the late 1950s, and it was pretty obvious that there had to be somebody to step in to take care of the affairs. Don was the one who stepped in to do it, again, he being the oldest son. After my father died, he worked with my Aunt Sarah, who kept the books, and eventually, because she was getting along in years, the ranch books were turned over to a CPA organization. Don ran the day-to- 147 David P: day ranch management himself. He talked periodically to brother Jack and myself. I don't believe he asked our opinion so much as he used us as a sounding board. Don liked to run things his own way. He did a good job of it; he kept things running well. But he was pretty much a one-man show. The rest of us felt that this was his way of working. I attempted to get involved, and I did some small projects under his direction. For instance, we had a horse-boarding operation for a short period of time, and under his direction I did some work on that. I did a few other small jobs. But Don was in charge, and there was no question that he was in charge. That was it. Mellon: Did you take over after Don's death? David P: After Don died, which was in 1980, we had by that time — due to the programs of gifting of properties by my father and my uncle — we had, oh, some eighteen to twenty separate owners of undivided ownerships in some thirty-five parcels, including both ranches. These were all tenant s-in-common. and they all had a right to dictate to anybody else, regardless of their percentage of ownership, what they wanted to do with any particular parcel. When Don died, we had a "rudderless ship." I immediately wrote to my cousin Sally, who was the eldest member of the Henry Patterson side of the family, and said, "We have to get together and do something. " So we got together, as trustees, because the majority ownerships were in two trusts, one administered chiefly by Sally and the other by myself and Wilcox Patterson. We formed a trustee committee to do the management. For the first time since my father's and uncle's deaths, we had agendas for meetings, and we met regularly and kept meeting minutes. The committee consisted of representatives of the major owners: Sally and Dr. Adams, her husband; an attorney [Dick Rahl] representing Marj orie Patterson, Sally's sister; Wil Patterson; and myself. We asked Jack Brooks to come in as a consultant because he had worked with the family since the early 1950s. So we worked as a committee. I was chairman of the committee, but I was not manager per se. We were managing the property jointly. And this was a new breath of fresh air for the family because instead of one person running it pretty much, why, now it was a group action, representing the owners. Mellon: It is said that Wayne Valley came to the Pattersons in the 1930s, with talk about land development on the ranch. What was the earliest discussion of development that you remember, with whom, and what was the outcome? 148 David P: Wayne Vail.., could not have come in the 1930s because he isn't much elder than I am snd he would have only been a teenager then. I think that maybe that should have been the 1950s, and that goes back to what I referred to before, around the mid-fifties, just before Uncle Henry's death, wherein Uncle Henry and my father had discussions with Wayne Valley and Jack Brooks together — they were. I believe, principals in the Besco Company at that time — about a purchase of some 350 acres of what we called Tract 0. As I said earlier, this fell through because of the fact that my uncle Henry died. They had a final contract drawn up, they were en the verge of signing it. and Uncle Henry died suddenly. Otherwise, as I remember, it was a foregone conclusion; it was all worked out and ready to go. Mellon: Have there been differences between the two branches of the family over development decisions, and if so, how have they been resolved? David P: From what I've said about Uncle Henry and my father, they seemed to be in unison in their feelings. I think that in our generation we have a good balance in our ownership, in the fact that we have some who are very conservation-minded and want no development; then we have some who are conservationists, but very much realists toe, and recognize that we need to preserve a balance between open space and development; and we have some of the younger fellows in the family who might want to see "wall-to-wall" development. But I don't think the division is between the two families. I think it's division among the various members that are owners and are representatives. And I think it's great to have a balance. I think it would be terrible if we were all developer-minded or all conservation- minded, because, as an example, a sole position of conservation would be great if, for instance, our lands were rural, remote, with no population growth of consequence in the foreseeable future (as with our Livermore ranch range lands). But in Fremont our property is surrounded by ever- increasing urban growth, and we must yield to the needs of a population which requires places to work, to shop, to live. The Agricultural Operation and Open-Space Uses Mellon: Did you deal with tenant farmers on the ranch? Who were they, and what did they grow, and what kind of business arrangements did you have or do you have with them? David P: Well, starting when my uncle and my father became older and declined in health (that would have been in late 1940s and in the 1950s) the hands-on farming that they did through their own crews 149 David P: gave way to renting the property out. The Livermore property was rented out to what is now the W. P. Cattle Company. Later, in the sixties, the herd of cattle were sold to them, so we are now basically just lessors in that area. In the Fremont area the same thing happened, with a transition from the time when I was growing up, when my father and uncle managed the farming of large crops of grain, tomatoes, and peas and sugarbeets, etc. As time progressed, this property was progressively rented out to others, and now there is basically one company, the Alameda Company, that rents from us, and their main crops are cauliflower, lettuce, some cucumbers, etc. As far as the relationship with these people, it has been as part of our committee, our organization, representing the family interests with these people. The Fremont people, the Alameda Company, are on a year-to-year lease, which we renegotiate each year, and the Livermore people are on a four-year lease, which is renegotiated every four years. #tf Mellon: Is it currently the intent of the family to maintain agricultural operations on the ranch, and how extensive? David P: Yes. There, again, we believe in a balance. Of course, in Livermore, the cattle business is progressing, even though these are tough times for cattle. Nevertheless, we have operators up there that are doing a good job and want to continue operating a cattle ranch, and will, as far as we know. If they were to drop out, we would definitely find other cattle people to operate that ranch. As far as Fremont is concerned, when the city ef Fremont started their intense program in the late 1970s to rezone the north plain of which the Patterson Ranch is part, they had some twelve or fourteen various plans presented for review, all the way from 100 percent open space to 100 percent development. We were able, through brilliant work by our consultant, Jack Brooks, to convince the city of Fremont planners to strike a happy medium wherein the property was divided into two parts, half of which would be developed — and is now under development — and the other half of which would remain in agriculture. I think we were very fortunate because many of the real estate and business people in Fremont and the pro-growth city council wanted to see everything developed, and we felt that balance was the best for the community. So, out of that (we had eleven hundred acres by that time), approximately 450 to 500 acres will remain in agriculture for as long as we possibly can maintain it. Again, we are in Fremont, and the Fremont area — the Bay Area — is going to be eventually urban, and we can't help it. but we will hold agriculture as long as we can. 150 David P: I would like to point out that, in all the Patterson's property, which included lands in Livermere and Fremont, approximately two- thirds »f all that property has already gone into open-space uses. Up in Livermere. the Del Valle Reservoir and park, which is some thirty-five hundred acres and was part of the Patterson lands, is open space and used for a green belt. And in Fremont are the Ardenwood Park and the Coyote Hills Parks, both of which were, at one time Patterson Ranch property. In addition, much of the Alameda Creek flood control lands with their hiking trails were also part of the Fremont Patterson Ranch. So overall, taking the entire thirty-five hundred acres that was owned by my father and my uncle back in the 1940s before the big change occurred in the Bay Area land uses, almost two-thirds of it is going to remain in open space. Of this, as I say, about four or five hundred is in agriculture; we will keep in agriculture as long as it's possible. But I'm afraid that that part is subject to the pressures of population growth in the Bay Area. Mellon: Were the open-space areas acquired from the Pattersons by purchase? David P: By purchase and condemnation for the most part; but much was also by dedication. Jack Brooks, Consultant to the Family Mellon: What has Jack Brooks's role been in relation to the Patterson Ranch business? When did he come into the picture? What plans did he present? How did the family receive his ideas? David P: Mr. Brooks came into the picture in the early 1950s, when the Fremont area started to change from agriculture to urban/suburban uses. He was a World War II navy engineer, started after the war in real estate, and got his contractor's license, and got into building. He started with very meager means and built himself up through the years, through his abilities. During this time he also earned a law degree and an engineering degree while he was working. He got involved with us in the 1950s. He has worked with the family all through the years. He is presently a partner in ownership in some of our Fremont properties. He was a consultant for my father and for my uncle and for Donald. Before I got into the picture, he was a close consultant with Sally and Dr. Adams. He met with them many times at their home to discuss what was going on in Fremont, and so forth. He is no longer a developer or involved directly in the real estate business, having retired from 151 David P: these active businesses. He is strictly a consultant, and we still heed his advice as far as things in Fremont are concerned. He really has been almost "Mr. Fremont", in the development work that has gone on to build Fremont as it is today: housing, shopping centers, industrial complexes. Mellon: How did you view the long lawsuit involving ranch development and the settlement process in the mid-1970s?* Did the family take a political role in influencing city decisions? David P: No, the family took no role whatsoever. We stayed strictly out of it, and I would say that the family position would have been that we don't care, either way is fine. I think we were very fortunate that way. I, personally, don't recall any feelings. The lawsuit involved the city of Fremont versus Singer Housing Company, over development of Singer lands. Mellon: How did the land exchange following settlement of the lawsuit work out? Was land owned by the family as a group, or were there individual plots owned by individual family members? David P: Singer and the city of Fremont settled their court case on the basis that Singer gift to the city the G. W. Patterson homesites, with surrounding acreage, for a park — now Ardenwood Park. (Of course, we and Singer had already planned for this in their purchase contract with us.) The agreement also specified that Singer could then build a residential development on certain adjacent lands, more to the city's liking, which belonged to the Pattersons, if the Pattersons were willing to exchange with Singer, to continue the Pattersons' farming operation. The exchange lands we were to receive were much higher quality, and in addition. Singer offered in trade more acres than we were to give up. This proposal was very beneficial to us, and we proceeded to consummate the transaction. At that time [the Singer- Fremont lawsuit was settled in 1978] the land was owned by some eighteen to twenty individual owners, owning a small percentage as tenants- in- common in many different plots. However, most of these owners were children or grandchildren of the principals, who were my father and my uncle, and these peripheral owners were still young enough so that they really didn't have any business thrust of their own. Their desires were pretty well taken care of by the older generation pointing out that this is the best way to go, and there was no problem as far as getting them to join together. * Singer Housing Company sued the city of Fremont when, after Singer purchased Tract 0 of the Patterson Ranch, Fremont rezoned the northern plain area to exclude residential development. See interview with Jack Brooks in this series. 152 Ranch Lands for Ceyote Hills Park and Alameda Creek Flood Control Channel Mellon: Were you involved in the process by which the East Bay Park District bought land for Coyote Hills Regional Park? David P: I wasn't, no. Again, my brother Don pretty well dominated the management process, and the rest of us because we were owners or trustees, were told about it — maybe even asked our opinion — but the answers were already made for us. Mellon: In the Ceyote Hills purchase, there was apparently disagreement over pricing. What was your view? David P: I think that, generally speaking, the family members always felt that our property for farming was worth more than what the government agencies wanted to give. I guess I've always felt that this is a negotiating process; that any buyer comes in low and any seller wants more, and I think it's just a natural process that, when you grow up on land that you work and farm and own. you feel it's worth more than some outside concern coming in and wanting to use it and take it from you. Mellon: Could you discuss the relationship between the Alameda County Flood Control District and the development of Patterson land? David P: Yes. In the old days, when we were strictly in agriculture, much of our land flooded periodically. That was a real advantage for agriculture because it brought silt into the lands. It brought in new soil, but it also impeded the process of around-the-year farming. In the old days, they only raised one crop and that would be during the drier season. As time went along, we got more and more involved in winter crops as well as summer crops and fall crops. The flooding then became a detriment rather than a plus. So when the Alameda County Flood Control Project was started, they condemned lands of ours, as well as lands of other people, to run the flood control channel to harness the Alameda Creek waters so they no longer would flood. That then brought our land out of the flood plain and made it not only better for winter crops but also, potentially, would then make it more likely to be a target for development in the future. 153 Family Incorporation and Professional Management Mellon: Did the Kaiser sale play a role in the decision to incorporate? When was the decision to master plan the property made? David P: The Kaiser transaction had nothing to do with the incorporation of the family. The incorporation of the family really was triggered in 1980 with my brother's death, when we started a family management instead of a one-person management. We recognized the fact that, with all these individual, undivided owners in many, many tracts, any one person could have a dictatorial power over everyone else, even if he only had a small percentage interest. Under tenants-in-common law, with undivided interests, even a one- or two-percent owner could say, "No, I don't want that crop planted on that property," or, "I want to do something different with it," and he had the right to do that. We recognized that this would be disruptive. We had owners, for instance, who lived and worked nowhere near the property. As an example, one of the owners lives in Idaho. She hasn't seen the property for ten or fifteen years; really cared less about what the property is doing; and yet, because of her minority interests, she could have written a letter and said, "Don't do that to that property. Don't put that well in, don't plant that crop," and so forth. This was the way the family was. Many lived out of the area, and even though they had ownerships, they had no knowledge of the property. We recognized that we had to do something in the way of making a viable management, so we got together, and through attorneys and a lot of work, we put together a corporate form with limited partnerships. This gave us good strong, centralized management, and it provided a legally regulated business structure that everybody could understand, including the business community. It increased the values of the properties because now we had unified management and we had unified control by majority vote, instead of by the whim of any one minority owner. We also then had the provision through the corporate form of limited liability, and continuity and orderliness of the management team. Also, the other thing that triggered this was we did have two minority owners whose ownership in total was somewhere around two percent, and only in certain tracts, who hired the Melvin Belli law firm to disrupt the rest of the family's ownership interests and management. They were my son, Scott Patterson, and Don's youngest daughter, Eden — neither of whom had worked on or for the properties; both lived out of the area. It was an attempt to disrupt and try to squeeze more than their share from the other owners. I had to personally go to court against them, and we put them down. The court ruled in our favor and put an injunction 154 David P: against what they were doing. But we recognized that if one or two could do that, ethers out there could, too, unless we all got together. So. we did just that; we got together to provide unity. Mellon: Are there still divisions en the board of directors? David P: What do you mean by divisions? Mellon: Disagreements, and — David P: Oh, I think that we have a very good board of directors. We now have eight. We have representatives from the younger generation and my generation. We have differences of philosophy, which I think is wonderful. We have people who believe in conservation completely, and we have people who, particularly in the younger generation, are gung ho for development. I think in a board like this, we come out with a great answer because we find compromises that satisfy not everybody's hundred percent wishes, but enough so that we come out with a good end product. I have never seen any arguments, any lest tempers. I've seen strong presentations, which I believe we all admire and take into account. I've always had the feeling, and have expressed it. that if we have a strong difference ef opinion, really strong, we'll back away, and we won't just have a vote, a majority vote. But we'll back away and work to find a compromise. We'll restudy — we'll find a compromise so that everybody gives a little and nobody loses a lot, but everybody comes out with something that they can live with. That is the way it has always worked out since we began in the early 1980s. Mellon: Has the Patterson ranching operation made any use ef the Williamson Act? Has it been beneficial to their interests at all? David P: Yes. Starting about 1965, the taxes, the property taxes, went up, up, up. And we were actually running seriously in the red. We didn't have plans for converting out of agriculture, but we knew it was going to happen eventually. Agriculture was our only business in 1969 when the act was enacted, so we put practically all of our property — Livermore and Fremont — under the Williamson Act because agriculture was what we were doing and what we expected to do for the foreseeable future. Of course, it brought our tax bills down into line so that agriculture became profitable, instead of running in the red as it had been for several years by that time. Mellon: Were you influential in bringing Bob Buck and Leon Campbell into the running of the ranching operation? What changes, if any, have they made in the direction the corporation is taking? 155 David P: Our board of directors appoined a subcommittee to study the idea of bringing in a full-time staff from within the family. On that subcommittee were Dr. Adams, myself, and Stuart Engs. who is one of Dr. Adams' sons-in-law. We recognized that the properties were all going to go to the younger generation at our deaths, and we wanted to make sure that this generation in the family understood the property and would get experience in managing the property, which would someday be theirs. Also we wanted to develop a strong family management team that would gain experience in the local area, the local politics, and in the business world, too. And also would be able to handle the problems of the minority partners who, again, had ownerships through partner ship- owner ships but net the knowledge of the land itself or of the local problems. Out of that, we felt that the best people that we had in the family, and who were available, were Leon Campbell, who was one of Dr. Adams' sons-in-law, and Bob Buck, my son-in-law, who was a practicing attorney. Leon had had a number of years of experience as a professor and had proven himself to be intelligent and hard working and a good businessman — with no experience in real estate, however. Bob Buck had proven himself through the years as a fine attorney, but again with very little experience in real estate. We also had available Wil Patterson, who had a business career; he could not devote much time to Patterson business, but he contributes as a member of our board of directors. We determined that these people, if they were available, would carry forward the needs of the family to get the younger generation involved and knowledgeable. So I was one of those who was involved in this determination. Current Role Overseeing Policy Decisions Mellon: Mr. Patterson, what is your current role in the running of the ranch? David P: My current role is as a cochairman of the board of directors, along with Dr. Adams. Our management position is one of overseeing the overall policy decisions of the people who are doing the day-to-day work — Leon Campbell, and Bob Buck, and Leon's wife Abby, who is Dr. and Mrs. Adams' daughter. We also have a part-time secretary at the office. My job, then, is really to oversee the general philosophy of management and the directions they're going, along with John. In addition, we direct our special attention to significantly large management problems that may occur from time to time. 156 David P: For instance, now we have before us a sizable problem that we're working on. The local improvement district that was formed by the city ef Fremont to put in the major streets, the Paseo Padre Parkway extension, and the Newark Boulevard extension has resulted in an assessment against our property of several million dollars. That is a debt that we owe. We are quite concerned about the size of the debt because the Pattersons through the years have always kept the property as free and clear as they could, so that they could weather the ups and downs of the business cycle. We are concerned about funding that and paying that down to a manageable level, and are working with the board and the staff to design a financial plan to reduce this debt to manageable size. Another item of sizable proportions that we are working on is a method of distributing, by deeds, the various properties that we are obtaining through exhanges of the ranch properties as the ranch properties are disposed ef to developers. The partnership is in the process of making exchanges and as those occur, the individual owners then, as partners, obtain title to exchange properties. We would like to follow the philosophy that my uncle and my father started, back in the fifties, of then separating the ownerships to the individuals so that we don't have this mish-mash of ownership, so that each person can have his own property, in his own name. But we do want to continue the ranch management, so when the properties are dispersed we are trying to work some kind of a method of management contract or agreement, so that the ranch office — the Bob-Leon combination — will continue to manage properties even if they are no longer directly owned by the partnership and the corporation. So these are examples of the overall types of policy problems that we as board members get involved in, but as far as the details of the day-to-day work, we don't get into those, unless — I guess it's management by exception. If something unusual that affects the well-being of the owners comes up, we will do in-depth study, review, and recommendation. Mellon: What does the future hold for the Patterson family business operations? David P: The future will lie in management: first in managing some five thousand acres of Livermore property, with a park in its midst, which someday will have to also, as in most California properties, go from cattle ranch range land into something of higher and more intensive uses. Second, in Fremont, a diverse management: we are in the process now of exchanging some three hundred acres with a developer for other properties, which latter properties will need management. We still have some four to five hundred acres of farm land in Fremont that will require farm management. We have some fifty-five acres zoned for shopping center and apartment development. Management is going to be required because we are in 157 the midst, in Fremont, of rapid development, from Union City. Newark, the Fremont area itself. We have to eventually face up to the fact that on the remaining property changes in land uses will be inevitable. Our family management team must be involved in watching trends, influencing them where they can, to preserve property uses and values. So, in the end result, I see the Patterson Ranch management handling present properties for a number of years, and eventually then those properties that are exchanged for these — which may be warehouses or shopping centers, here and there — managing these. Transcribed and Final Typed by Shannon Page 158 TAPE GUIDE — David Patterson Date of Interview: November 3, 1986 tape 1, side A 131 tape 1, side B 140 tape 2. side A 149 tape 2, side B not recorded 159 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California Berkeley, California THE PATTERSON FAMILY AND RANCH: SOUTHERN ALAMEDA COUNTY IN TRANSITION Robert Buck Patterson Property Management, 1970s-1980s An Interview Conducted by Ann Lage in 1986 Copyright (c) 1988 by the Regents of the University of California 160 TABLE OF CONTENTS — Robert Buck INTERVIEW HISTORY 161 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION 162 I TRANSITION YEARS FOR PATTERSON PROPERTIES 163 Family. Education, and Legal Training 163 Management of Buck Family Business in Kern County 164 Changing City Plans for the Patterson Ranch Lands. 1979-1980 165 Land Sale to Singer Housing: Suit, Court Decision, and Settlement Agreements, 1970-1979 166 II THE MASTER- PL ANN ING PROCESS 171 Consulting Agreement with Jack Brooks 171 Family Differences Complicate Planning 173 Legal Entanglements: Mel Belli and Family Dissidents 174 Forming a Family Corporation 177 Philosophical Objectives: To Continue the Farming Operation 180 The Master Plan: Residential, High- Technology Park, Open Space, Urban Reserve 182 Marketing the Ranch Land: Sales to Kaiser and Ardenwood Development Associates 185 III CURRENT MANAGEMENT OF PATTERSON PROPERTIES 190 Need for Professional Management 190 Jack Brooks as Master Politician and Long-Range Planner 192 Ardenwood Park: Economic Considerations 193 Working to Preserve the Value of Urban Reserve Lands 195 TAPE GUIDE 198 161 INTERVIEW HISTORY — Robert Buck Robert Buck is one of the younger generation of Patterson family members who has taken an active role in the management of Patterson properties. As a lawyer with a background in the management of Buck family agricultural properties in Kern County. Buck was a natural advisor to his father-in-law. David Patterson, as the Patterson family began to grapple with the pressures of development and the problems of a disparate family ownership of ranch lands in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1984. when the family decided to hire family members as a professional management team. Buck's experience and previous involvement in the family business made him a logical choice. At the time of this interview, he divided his time between his law practice in Carmel, California, and the Patterson Properties office in Fremont. In this interview, recorded on October 6. 1986, at the Patterson Properties office in Fremont, Buck discusses the incorporation of the family and the transition to professional management of ranch lands. His account reveals the subtle influences of family interrelationships and differing philosophical outlooks on decision making within the family group. It gives a clear account of the master-planning process, the marketing of ranch lands, and the role of Jack Brooks as consultant to the family. Bob Buck reviewed the interview transcript, making minimal changes. Tapes of the interview are available in The Bancroft Library. Ann Lage Interviewer/Editor Project Director September. 1988 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California at Berkeley Regional Oral History Office University of California Room 486 The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California 94720 162 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION (Please print or write clearly) Your full name PORFRT R Date of birth July 4, 1945 place of blrth Berkeley, California Father's full name Frank H. Buck III San Francisco, California Birthplace [ Investment Counselor Occupation . Mother's full name Corinne Hellier Buck Birthplace Virginia City, Nevada Occupation housewife and mother Where did you grow up ? Alamo, California Present community CflrniQl , California — Education B.A. Dartmouth College 1967; J.D. Hastings College of Law 1970 Occupation(s) Attorney Special interests or activities PFM BOARD OF DIRECTORS- Left to Right: Bob Buck, Stu Engs , Abby Campbell, Wil Patterson, Sally Adams, Leon Campbell, Dave Patterson. PTLM BOARD OF DIRECTORS-Lef t to Right: Bob Buck, Stu Engs, Abby Campbell, Wil Patterson, John Adams, Leon Campbell, Dave Patterson. 163 I TRANSITION YEARS FOR PATTERSON PROPERTIES [Interview 1: October 6. 1986]//# Family, Education, and Legal Training Lage : We are going to start with some brief personal background about yourself and how you became involved with Patterson Properties. Buck: I was born in 1945 in Berkeley and grew up in the East Bay out in Alamo. My father was, and still is, a licensed investment counselor. Lage: When did your family move out to Alamo? Buck: Before I was born. I was just dropped off in Berkeley but raised in Alamo. After living in Alamo and going to San Ramon High School in Danville, I went to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and graduated from there in 1967 with a bachelor's degree, history major, cum laude, various other blue and gold ribbons, and so forth. Then I came back to the West Coast to go to law school at Hastings Law School in San Francisco. Lage: Why Hastings? Buck: At that point, I knew I wanted to go to law school, and since it appeared I was going to be practicing law or working with my family in California, it would behoove me to go to law school here rather than Yale or Michigan or Harvard, where I had thought about going. I was somewhat bored with school at the time so I chose Hastings because you could go to school half a day and work half a day. ##This symbol indicates that a tape or a segment of a tape has begun or ended. For a guide to the tapes see page 198. 164 Buck: That's what I did for three years; I worked for various law firms part time. I worked for Joe Alioto's firm first; that was before he became mayor of San Francisco. He was an antitrust lawyer at the time. Then I worked for an Oakland law firm, part time, run by Clayton Orr. In my third year of law school. I went to work for Crosby, Heafey, Roach, and May in Oakland as a law clerk. After I took the bar and passed it in 1970, I went to work there as an attorney, an associate attorney. Management of Buck Family Business in Kern County Buck: I stayed there until 197A when I left that firm, and we moved to Bakersf ield because over the period from 1970 to 1974 I became more and more involved in managing the Buck family business operations in Kern County. Commuting back and forth by car and by air was just not working out, so I wound up moving to Kern County in 1974. I was in the farming business and the oil business there until 1979. Lage: What kind of farming business was it? Buck: We grew cotton, alfalfa, mostly row crop farming, although through a family company we also had tree crops. Lage: Did you lease land like the Pattersons did here? Buck: No, we farmed everything that we had directly. We started doing that in 1972. I farmed directly about a thousand acres. The family operation had about twenty-four thousand acres, I think, by the time we developed everything the family had. That was in addition to the oil business that we were running at the time. So I stayed in Bakersf ield long enough to know better. The climate is not the best, but it was an interesting place to be, and I certainly learned a lot. I did some legal work while I was there but not too much. Then in 1978 it became apparent that the Buck family was going to sell about everything it had down there, so I decided I didn't want to stay in Bakersfield. We looked around for a place to move and decided to move to Carmel. I've been in the Carm el- Pebble Beach area, since. Lage: Are you in a law firm there? Buck: I have a law firm in Carmel, very small and really not very active anymore because I'm not there very much now, but from '78 until '82 or so I was there quite a bit. It was a slow transition out of Kern County and into other areas. 165 Buck: In 1972 I get married to Leslie Patterson, the oldest daughter of David Patterson. She was an employee of the Crosby law firm when we met. We married in '72, and we have three children: Jeremy, who is now thirteen; Alex, who is ten; and Lindsay, who is eight. That about brings us up to date. Lage: Up to the time of your involvement with managing the Patterson properties. Buck: That was another gradual thing. Over the years, both Dave Patterson and Don Patterson would chat with me about what they were doing. One time they came down to Kern County to see what we were doing down there. Changing City Plans for the Patterson Ranch Lands, 1979-1980 Buck: In 1979 or 1980, after I had relocated to the Monterey area, a couple of things had happened in Fremont which changed the rules. The first thing that happened was that the city decided to do a new general plan, I think for the city as a whole, but one of the things they were going to look at was the North Plain in Fremont, which included the Patterson Ranch properties. As part of that process, various people had various agendas for that area. Some people wanted all farming forever. Some people wanted all wetlands and open space forever, and other people wanted wall-to-wall houses. Some people wanted a mix of the two. I think there could have been as many as ten or twelve different scenarios drawn up by various participants in the process. The Fremont Chamber of Commerce had their version, and the Sierra CLub people had their version, and the debate went on and en and on. But the bottom line to Don Patterson and to Dave Patterson, who were sort of running the family operation, was that the city was going to change the rules. They were going to insist that that area be developed. It was going to be master planned for that, and they probably were going to cancel the Williamson Act on the property, which could result in an immediate tax increase.* *The Williamson Act [California Land Conservation Act, 1965] keeps taxes lower for land owners who contract with their local government to keep their land in agricultural use for at least ten years. Lands under this provision are assessed on their value for agricultural use rather than their development potential — ed. 166 Buck: At the time, that would have made it impossible for the Pattersons to continue holding the land because the taxes would have far exceeded the income, and at the time, the family was really what we call land peer. They had a lot of land out there, but nobody really had any cash. Of course, the family trusts and some of the major family members had cash, but they weren't favorably inclined to write a check back to the family operation. This was a small operation. It was a very simple farm. It was all leased. The family did nothing at all active other than collect the rent check, and it grossed maybe $100.000 a year. So on the scale of things it was a pretty small operation, fairly simple to manage. The asset base was very large, but that didn't appear anywhere on the books or in terms of income tax reports or cash flow or anything. Anyway, the city decided to change the rules so the Pattersons sort of had to get their act together and decide to master plan their own property or participate in the process; otherwise it was going to be done for them. So they, through Don Patterson and with some of Dave Patterson's input. . . Lage: When did Don Patterson die? Buck: I think it was 1979 or 1980. Somewhere in that process he passed away. Dave then sort of became the family leader, and he much more actively consulted with me about what to do and how to do it after Don passed away. Before Don passed away, Dave wasn't very actively involved. Don pretty much ran everything by himself. Land Sale to Singer Housing; Suit. Court Decision, and Settlement Agreements, 1970-1979 Lage: Now. there was the big decision made in 1974 to sell the four hundred acres to Singer Housing. Buck: That was in 1971, I believe, because the closing of that was in 1972. That decision was made primarily because that land that was sold to Singer was not under the Williamson Act. That land was for some reason left out of the Williamson Act. and the taxes were going up. and it wasn't economic to hold that land, so a deal was made to sell that land to Singer. I can't recall the price. At any event that occurred, and the sale closed in 1972. Lage: And then there was a let of trouble with the city about developing that portion of the land. 167 Buck: Yes, after that closed there was a no-growth city council that came into pewer. I think that before the election of that city council. Singer had gone down to the city and gotten a building permit or a zoning approval or something to allow them to build houses out there adjacent to where the eucalyptus groves are now. I think the eucalyptus trees were always going to be put into a park. And the home was going to be put into a park. But Singer bought the whole thing, including the land that is now the park. Singer had approval from the city, and then when the election occurred and the city council changed its mind and decided that this approval was going to be rescinded, there was Singer Housing having closed basically for cash, having had a permit, and ready to go, and all of a sudden the city council changed its mind and said they couldn1 t. The president of Singer Housing at the time happened t« be a fellow named Jack Brooks who the family had used before as a buyer of property. This was only the latest in a long series of sales. The family had been selling property out there for years and years and years. The first one I was aware of was '72, but long before I came along every time someone needed money or they had a buyer for something, they would sell some off. Lage: In kind of an unplanned fashion. Buck: Yes, it was sort of a haphazard thing, usually dictated by somebody else coming along and indicating they wanted to buy the property, or the taxes getting to the point where they exceeded the income from farming. There didn't seem to be much organization or much long- range planning in these decisions. And you had to have the agreement of everybody to make any decisions then. I don't know hew many owners they had then, probably ten or twelve, but unless everybody agreed, nobody could do anything. Lage: Is that a standard way for a family trust to operate? Buck: It often happens that way due to lack of planning, because when somebody dies owning a hundred acres, and in their will they split it up to three children, the three children end up with an undivided one-third interest in the hundred acres. And unless you do something else, that's the way it happens, and it happens a lot, unfortunately. So we come up to '72, and the latest in the series of sales was this four hundred acres. Brooks, as president of Singer, decided that Singer was going to sue the city and not put. up with their changing the zoning rules. He also was instrumental in getting some legislation passed in Sacramento which authorized these things called development agreements, where cities can agree with real 168 Buck: estate developers that certain things shall happen and certain things shall net happen, and as long as everybody performs their contract, a later city council cannot come along and change its mind. In fact, the court decision in the Fremont case with Singer Housing was lost by the city. The court decided that because the city had already approved whatever it was that Singer had planned, they could not come along and just change their mind because there was an election and a different city council came down the road. So the city of Fremont lost the decision, state law changed, and that all wrapped up probably in '76. maybe, or '77. It took three or four years for the dust to settle. Then the family traded with Singer, which. I think, by that time had decided it didn't like the housing business and lest a lot of money in it. Singer sold its residential construction business to a company called Citation Homes. That was basically Wayne Valley and some of his former associates. Because of the way development was working out there and where the sewers were and where the roads were, it became obvious to Valley and Citation that the logical place for them to build housing, if they were going to do so. was not at the south end of that open space along the Nimitz Freeway near the eucalyptus trees, but at the north end up by the Alvarado overcrossing. So the family traded land it held by the Alvarado overcrossing in the northeast portion of the ranch for the land that Singer had originally acquired from them in 1972. So the Pattersons wound up reacquiring ownership around the park. Lage: In land that wasn't protected by the Williamson Act? Buck: There were some interesting maneuvers made there, fortunately for the family; the Williamson Act contract was transferred with the exchange from the land at the northeastern end of the property to the land which had never had the Williamson Act on it at the southern portion of the property. So we wound up with the acreage surrounding the eucalyptus grove and the eucalyptus grove itself as Williamson Act property, and the development began up at the northeastern corner and began to work south. That's where Citation. I think, built 1660 homes or thereabouts, north of the Deep Creek flood control channel. Lage: Did the family get involved in all this maneuvering? Buck: No, the family had absolutely nothing to do with any of that. Once the deal closed in 1972. they were spectators. They had no say in it at all. Lage: Even though so much of it affected their interests? 169 Buck: They took no active role at all, as far as I knew. I think Don kept himself informed of what was happening, but they just continued to rent the properties that they had left and let things happen. Lage: Jack Brooks or somebody must have been looking out for things. Buck: Well, Jack was looking out for Singer, and later in the seventies when the trade occurred there were some logical decisions that were made and carried out by Brooks at no expense to the Pattersons. You have to keep in mind that at no time during those years were the Pattersons spending any money on future planning or on future development of their property. First of all, they didn't have any cash. Second of all, they didn't have support of the family for doing that because that involved real estate development activity, which was not popular among most of the family members. They wanted to be farmers, not real estate developers. But certain things did occur, mostly road planning, sewer planning, capacity planning, water planning. Jack Brooks did most of those things, I think pretty much on his own account. He talked to David, and he talked to Don, and just went ahead and did them. There was no formal understanding at all, but if those things had not occurred during those intervening years this project that you see out here now probably would not have been possible. You might not have had adequate sewer capacity, or street capacity, or water supply. Lage: But Brooks wasn't retained by the family at that time? Buck: Not then, not until — actually it was probably late 1980 before a formal agreement was reached with Brooks. Lage: He was planning ahead. Buck: He planned ahead, and he did it, I don't suppose, out of altruism but he was actively involved in the area as a developer, and I think clearly he saw what was going to happen out there in the future. I think because of the long tradition of cooperation between Brooks and the family — he had bought a lot of land from the family over many, many years, and he worked well with Don and other family members — I think he just felt that it was something he needed to do, and if he hadn't done it nobody would have. That's pretty clear to me. So that would bring us up to 1979 now, when Fremont came along and decided to master plan this area. Lage: I had asked if you had any knowledge of William or Henry Patterson, but I see you came along well after their deaths. 170 Buck: No. I didn't even know the Pattersons until 1971. The old William Patterson house was gone by then; even my wife has very little knowledge of them. She remembers her grandfather, but she was very small when he died. Lage : Did the family, do you know, have much interest in saving the George Washington Patterson house? They sold it to Singer Housing. Buck: I don't think there was a let of interest on the family's part in preserving that house, at least from what I could tell. I think that was the Henry Patterson home, and they may have been more interested on the Henry Patterson side of the family than on William's side of the family. With Dave's family and Don, it never seemed to be a big issue. Lage: But the house wasn't owned only by the Henry Patterson family? Buck: No. it was owned by everybody together. I can't tell you just what percentage because those weren't constant across the property. You had different tracts owned by different people in different percentages, and there was no unity among any group or any tract. It was different in nearly every one. How that happened I don't know, except, I guess, when they laid the land out years ago they would follow creeks and natural gullies and tree lines and whatever, and you would wind up with tract X owned by four people, and then tract Y next to it with six acres would be owned by eight people. It was a real hodgepodge. But the old Henry house that is now preserved was owned by everyone together, I think. 171 II THE MASTER-PLANNING PROCESS Consulting Agreement with Jack Brooks Lage : Let's get into the master— planning aspect. You said that the city was going to master plan the area. What made the family get more active? Buck: Well, they were scared because it would appear that if the Williamson Act got cancelled, they couldn't afford to hold the land at all, and of course, if the city master planned it for open space, that would have a big financial effect on the family. So that concerned some family members. Other family members were concerned because they did not want to see any development and wanted to stay in farming forever. So the family got quite agitated. Don, I believe, began the process with Brooks by asking Jack to take a more active role on the family's behalf to protect its interests through this master-planning process. An agreement was signed, I believe, in December of 1980 after Don passed away, between Brooks and the family. It took months and months and months to negotiate. It had to be signed by each and every family member who had an ownership interest in the property. Lage: This was simply a contract to have him as an advisor and master planner? Did it commit the family to anything? Buck: The deal was really pretty simple, but it took about eighteen months to negotiate because you had so many people to deal with, so many people who either hadn't been following what was happening and thought it wasn't necessary or had been and were concerned about small and large problems that they saw in the deal. Although I wasn't active in negotiating it, I remember being asked by Dave in particular, frequently, to give him my input as to what I thought should be done. 172 Buck: But the deal with Brooks was really pretty straightforward. He would do the planning work for the family, represent the family with all the city agencies that were involved, see to it that an environmental impact report got performed, do the site planning that was necessary so that you would have not just a general plan for the area but a precise development plan for the property that could be followed in the future. It would have a development agreement attached to it so that the city politics wouldn't cause a change. He was going to advance all the hard-dollar costs out of his own pocket for doing that — a fairly expensive piece of work, with the environmental impact report, traffic studies, other consultants, and so forth. You are looking at several hundred thousand dollars, which the family could not, and/or would not. advance. So Brooks said he would put that money up. and the family would pay it back under different scenarios — either out of sales, if there were any, or if there weren't any sales there was a provision as to how he would be paid and when, over quite a long period of time. He also was to be compensated by being given a fee in the amount of five percent of any sales that occurred. If there weren't any sales, he wasn't going to get paid. So that was the deal in essence. Lage : Would he present alternative plans to the family? Buck: He would consult with the family and present various alternatives, which the family could approve or disapprove. Of course, the city had the ultimate say over what the plan was going to be in any event. The key provision in the whole contract, which took the longest to negotiate and was the hardest stumbling block, was that there was a provision inserted that if eighty-five percent of the ownership in the property agreed on something, that would carry the day as to all matters, including sales. That was a very significant departure from what you had before because before, if you didn't have 100 percent agreement on everything, nothing happened. You couldn't sell anything, you couldn't borrow any money, you couldn't develop any property, you couldn't even lease the property to a farmer without 100 percent agreement from everybody. Lage: Maybe that's why the Pattersons stayed in farming for so long. Buck: That's probably one of the reasons — you couldn't get everyone to agree on everything. Anyway, the only way Brooks would do this would be to have some provision for majority, or even supramaj ority, rule. He felt concerned at the time, as I recall, that an undivided owner with 1/2 percent interest could hold up the entire project just because he didn't like it. It might have been different if the 173 Buck: fellow had a valid objection, but what he was concerned about was the invalid objection or the frivolous objection from a real tiny owner, giving that one tiny owner a disproportionate say in what was going en. I think they settled on eighty-five percent, and the deal finally got signed by everybody, and the master-planning process went forward. After Don died, they instituted a series of family meetings, which had never occurred before. The family would try to get together once in a while, usually at one family's house or another, and have a business meeting to discuss what was going on. Lage: How many generations would get together? Buck: Initially, it was just Dave and John or Sally Adams. I would show up. Wilcox Patterson would show up. Marj orie Patterson's lawyer would show up. Sometimes Jack Brooks would show up, and that was about it. There was no formal structure because there was no structure, no legal entity. They called them trustee meetings, so basically the trustees of the key trusts of the family would get together. Lots and lots of decisions were made during this process. It took all of '81 and '82 to do the planning. Family Differences Complicate Planning Lage: Were there lines of cleavage in the family that could be identified — points of view that divided among generations or branches of the family? Buck: At that time, I think, you had a philosophical difference between John Adams, being basically an environmentalist, and Dave Patterson, who was basically looking out for the bottom line as a businessman. So you have that division, and those two fellows were really the dominant people in the family. John Adams didn't really control anything; his wife, Sally, did, but he had a major say ever what happened on the 50 percent interest that the Henry Patterson branch had. The W.D. [William] side of the family was much more splintered. There were lots and lots of people involved, with little ownerships. But Dave pretty much had his input heard on that side of the family. fi Buck: One of the things that occurred during this time was the petition to cancel the Williamson Act. It was filed with the city, prepared by attorneys that were employed by Jack Brooks, probably in 1981, maybe as early as 1980. 174 Lage: Now this is something, you have said, that the city was instigating. Buck: The family had to file that petition. But the city, if we hadn't filed that petition in connnection with the development plan, probably would have initiated a cancellation petition on its own account and cancelled the Williamson Act. Both parties to that contract can cancel under those old rules. It is not the case any more. So the decision was made to go ahead and cancel, to go into a program to develop this property and sell off — I think at that time we wanted to sell it all, or at least the portion that was master planned for development. Various people in the family needed cash for liquidity purposes, estate planning purposes. As I said earlier, everybody was land poor, really, with too much raw land real estate assets in ratio to what else they had. Legal Entanglements; Mel Belli and Family Dissidents Buck: When that petition was filed, a couple of people in the family took exception to that. One was a young lady by the name of Eden Patterson, who was one of Don's daughters. Eden was living in a commune in Tennessee. The commune leader employed counsel in San Francisco, ostensibly for her. The Dinkelspiel office was the first to get involved, basically asking a lot of questions. The bottom line always seemed to be. "We'd like to get some money out of this property now. Yesterday would have been better than today but certainly not any longer than next week." Of course, anything they could do to get someone to write a check for the property seemed to be paramount. The problem that Jack Brooks and others in the family had foreseen in the Brookmat consulting agreement that was signed in 1980 was coming to pass. You had a very small owner. Eden Patterson, who had, I think, maybe 1 percent or less, maybe 1 1/2 percent of the total ownership, and there were some portions of the property where she had zero ownership, and her people were saying, "Hey. you can't do this." Lage: But yau had put through the 85 percent rule in the Brooks contract. Buck: True, but that didn't make any difference. They still felt that they were being taken advantage of. There were threats to partition the property. Despite the Brooks contract, any one of these owners could file an action to partition the property, have the court divide it up and sell it, or divide it in kind, or whatever. Anything like that, of course, messed the project up and brought everything to a screeching halt and caused major problems for everybody. 175 Buck: Another young fellow in the family named Scott Patterson took a similar tack, except I think he was possibly even mere interested in getting money yesterday than Eden was; the motivations were similar. Scott went down and had a little chat with Mel Belli, who obviously saw a no-lose case here and decided he would take it. The first thing Mel did was to take out an ad in the Wall Street Journal advertising the entire property for sale. That was received with great interest by the other family members because one of the ways you can sacrifice your non-dealer status when you own a lot of real estate is to do a lot of advertising for sale. Lage: Now, explain the non-dealer status. Buck: The dealer versus non-dealer status was a very important thing to the Pattersons back in the early 1980s. The family had been selling property over a long period of time. They had always been able to take capital gains tax treatment if they took cash for a sale ©f property, which was more favorable than being taxed at ordinary income tax rates. One of the ways you are able to do this, if you sell a reasonable amount of land, is to avoid becoming a dealer. The IRS always said that if your business was selling property en a regular basis, your profits from the sale of real estate would be taxable at the ordinary income tax rate, not at the capital gains rate. So under the tax laws at that time there was a big advantage to not becoming a dealer. If you became a dealer, you were out of luck. Anybody who is in the business of selling raw land runs this risk. So we were being extremely careful at that time to maintain our "wholesale" status, to not become dealers, not to record subdivision maps, not to put up "for sale" signs, not to hire brokers, or advertise in the newspaper, or sell a lot of little parcels of land. All of those things had to be done very carefully. Lage: Who was watching out for all that? Buck: Dave Patterson was pretty much watching out for that, and Jack Brooks was. That was one ©f the things that he did as our development consultant. Marjorie's attorney was doing the same thing. It was dene on an informal basis. There was nobody formally in charge of doing all this. Anyway, Belli hits the Wall Street Journal with this great ad. Scott Patterson maybe had 1/2 of 1 percent of a few little tracts ef the ranch, and he was going to sell the whole thing. Mel Belli wrote a wonderful letter to all the members of the family explaining how they were all going to get nailed by all these sharpies in Fremont, and they all better sign on with him. He would get their highest and 176 Buck: best price, and he would get cash right away. In fact, he had several cash buyers. All they had te do was call his office, and he would take care of everything. The response was that Belli had jeopardized the family's entire program. Eden Patterson decided to join the bandwagon, and she signed up with Belli. Nobody else did. but everybody's confidence was shaken. This was unheard of — a Patterson family member going to see a lawyer and threatening to sue. I think Belli said that to take the property out of the Williamson Act would take a Houdini. It was impossible; it couldn't be dene. It was a very ill-advised thing to do. You should not take the property out of the Williamson Act. There was a lot of scrambling around. Dave's recommendation. Brooks's recommendation, and my recommendation at that time was to immediately go to court and get an injunction restraining Belli and his two clients from advertising the property for sale, among ether reasons because they didn't own it. We did go to court, filed a request for a restraining order in Alameda County Superior Court, and that action was successful. Belli's office was restrained. It was a rather dramatic defeat for the Belli office. They spent about a half a day in court. The family hired my old law firm. Crosby. Heafey. Roach, and May. and got in Ed Heafey. Jr., who is an excellent trial attorney and did a very good job. He really did his homework and did a wonderful job of bringing everything to court at the right time. By one o'clock in the afternoon it was clear te Belli and his crowd — David Sabih, who was Belli's associate — that they were going to lose, bad, so they settled up. Jack Brooks agreed te buy eut Scott's interest and Eden Patterson's interest, and Belli's office got the court record sealed from the public view because it was an embarrassment te them. Little things like misrepresentation and fraud and other charges were being bandied about the courtroom rather credibly, and Belli didn't want that to get in the newspapers, so part of the deal was that the record would be sealed so that inquiring reporters wouldn't pick it up. This all didn't occur overnight. This took several months before the court date, and it took probably seventy to eighty thou sand dollars in legal fees. There were also lawsuits filed to partition the property to get Eden and Scott's interests segregated out. Anyway, all the matters were settled. Scott's and Eden's interests were purchased by Brooks for a fairly small amount of money over a long period of time. Brooks offered those interests that he had acquired to anyone in the family that wanted them. Nobody did, so Brooks wound up in the Patterson Properties through the Brookmat Corporation, which is one of his entities. So that's why today you will see Brookmat as one of the limited partners in our organization. 177 Forming a Family Corporation Buck: During that process with Scott and Eden and their lawyers, I remember a meeting down at Crosby's office in Oakland. We went out to lunch with Dave Patterson, and Brooks was there and one of the attorneys from Crosby's office that was working on the case. The question came up of what are we going to do in the future with these properties with this constant problem of fifteen, seventeen, twenty, and in the future, thirty, forty, fifty different owners in different places in different percentages. It created a real problem. The majority of the owners were basically hostage to any one, for whatever reason, good, bad, or otherwise. It was unfair. So we raised those questions and discussed them, and I remember suggesting that we try to get all the owners to create some kind of a legal entity that we could operate with and manage everybody's interests on a common basis. I had a model for this, not the same structure, but the success of joint family management was not lost on me because of my experience with my family and its associates and partners in Kern County, through the Bel ridge Oil Company. This had been a very successful story and worked because, and only because, we had common management. If we had had undivided ownerships on the oil property, we would have never, ever succeeded. We had just closed our deal with Belridge in 1979, so the object lesson was very fresh in my mind. So I suggested that we create some kind of a legal entity, and the fairest way that we thought of at that lunch meeting was to create a limited partnership. That way all the owners got basically the same tax benefits that they had currently, but instead of owning real estate they would own a limited partnership interest. Then we would add up all the owners and all the acres and make a ratio, and if you had ten acres out of a hundred, you got 10 percent of the limited partnership. You also would get 10 percent of the voting common stock in a corporation which would become the managing general partner of the partnership. So you had a corporation as a general partner, owned by all the landowners, or limited partners, in a ratio to their interests. If you had 50 percent, you basically controlled the corporation and controlled the family business. If you had 1 percent, you had a vote, but you couldn't dictate to 99 percent. It seemed to be the only fair way to approach the problem. Finally, after about a year and a half, we got that accomplished. Lage: Was that a difficult process, to get that approved? 178 Buck: Yes. it was difficult and very expensive. It cost maybe fifty thousand dollars in legal fees to Crosby's office and other attorneys because it was new and everybody felt they were giving something up. naturally. We had to explain this to judges, for trusts. We had to explain it to judges who ruled conservator ships. We had to explain it to lawyers and accountants and owners and wives. It was just a long, difficult, time-consuming process. Lage: Did you have lawyers that handled it. or did you and Dave do it? Buck: Dave and I did a let of the work. I wasn't getting paid. I was a volunteer at that time. Lage: And Dave also. Buck: Yes, Dave never got paid. Crosby. Heafey's firm did a lot of the legal work when we finally got to the point where we were drafting documents and facing up to all the complicated issues that we faced in doing something like this. It wasn't as easy as I made it sound at that lunch meeting, where you could draw a chart en a piece of paper, with a circle for the corporation and a box for the limited partnership and a bunch of lines. It was very simple to look at. but not easy to implement. So Heafey's office did most of the legal work, and the family joined together and paid them. Finally, we got the structure accomplished, and we got nearly everybody in the partnership. Marj orie Patterson didn't join at first because she just couldn't make up her mind, and then she went into a conservator ship, and we had a lot of problems with that. That dragged on until last year, before we got her in. Lage: What would be the status of someone who didn't join the partnership? Buck: They would be an undivided owner, and until you had everybody in you really didn't accomplish very much because you still had a situation where somebody with a minority interest had a disproportionate say in what happened. Lage: Did anyone else hold out? Buck: Oh. we had a let of objections from a lot of people, and a lot of support from a lot of people. Some objections were valid, and some were frivolous. Some people didn't object; they just couldn't make up their mind and didn't want to do anything. It was a long, arduous process. Lage: How did John and Sally Adams feel about it? 179 Buck: They were strongly in favor of it. The lawsuits by Belli really brought home te everybody the risks they were incurring by trying to run the ranch the way they had. In a little family where everybody is friendly and everybody knows everybody else, you usually don't have these problems. But the bigger it gets, the more diffused, and the less people know each other, the more disparate everybody's needs and goals are, the more likely it is you are going to have a problem like this. Typically, it comes from the little owner, not the big owner. Finally, we got the entities created, we got everybody signed up, and we wound up with three partnerships — one in Livermore, two in Fremont — and one corporation which ran the two Fremont partner ships, and one corporation in Livermore which ran the Livermore partnership. The reason we had so many partnerships instead of just one was that the Livermore ownerships were very different from Fremont, and we didn't want to try to deal with the thorny problems of relative value and relative ownership. We wanted to try to keep the ownership basically commensurate with what it historically had been in each place. Then in Fremont, you had two distinct types of property: farmland north of Paseo Padre Parkway that was not zoned for development, and land south of Paseo Padre that was zoned for development and would be going into an active sales program or a development program. So we segregated those two because the values were different and the goals were different, but we had one corporation in Fremont which runs those two because the ownerships were similar en both sides of the family. Lage : Who runs the Livermore operation? Buck: We have a separate corporation out there, but it's run by the same people as Fremont's; it's just the ownership of stock in that corporation that is different. The management is exactly the same. The board of directors is basically the same. So that's how we wound up with the structure we have today. Lage: What is it called? What is PFM? Buck: PFM is the name of the corporate general partner in Fremont. Then we have PTLM, which is the corporate general partner in Livermore. Lage: Do these all mean something? Buck: I don't know. I think PFM was someone's idea of abbreviating Patterson and Fremont [Patterson Fremont Management], but that's one decision I didn't have to make. Dave and some of the lawyers cooked that one up, I think. Then we had Patbrook, which- is the development partnership in Fremont. I guess that was because of Breoks's name. 180 Buck: and he was the consultant on that. Then we have Pa tag, which, obviously, is agricultural property in Fremont. Then we have Patliv, which is the Livermore one. We got all that accomplished by late '83, when we had everybody except Marjorie signed up. Marj orie initially couldn't make up her mind, and then she had some real problems and went into a conservator ship, which is another story entirely. Lage: Does that mean that her attorney made up her mind for her? Buck: No. it meant that nobody could make up her mind for her at all. because she was under a temporary conservator ship, and it was a contested conservator ship, and we really didn't get her into the partnership until 1985. In the meantime, everything that was done had to be approved by the court. If Patbrook did X, you had to get the court in Palm Springs to approve X, case by case. Lage: So you had to justify everything as a good business decision? Buck: Over opposition from her counsel, in some cases. Some of the opposition was not really justified, but that's just how the game was being played at the time because it was a. contested cense water ship. It was very expensive and very time-consuming to the family, again the kind of thing that would have been avoided if we had had the limited partnership earlier. But everybody in the family had to dig in their pockets and pay, including Marjorie. It cost Marjorie a fortune, and she had to pay her own attorney's fees, as well as Sally's attorney's fees because Sally was the temporary conservator. It was ridiculous. And I was going to Palm Springs every six weeks. It was crazy. Philosophical Objective; To Continue the Farming Operation Buck: By '83, the development process was complete. We had a planned district approved, EIR [environmental impact report] approved, development agreement in place. Everything was set up for a sales program, so then we began to go into the current mode, which is selling and/or developing properties. We decided to hold a lot of land, and we've sold some. Lage: How about the decision that the family wouldn't sell off all the land? Buck: That was made by the new board of directors. After we got these entities created, we elected people to the board of directors, and the board would meet much as the family had informally met before, and decisions would be arrived at by majority vote. We now had minutes for the board meetings, and all. Once we got into the '81, 181 Buck: "82, '83 era, some minutes were kept. Of course, when the entities were created, we had a lot of minutes documenting what happened, whereas before there wasn't any record at all. Lage : Except the one you are creating now. Buck: Let's hope it's accurate. Let me make one more comment about these entities. At least the way I looked at it, and I think most of the people in the family shared my view, the entities gave the family the option to either manage the properties to the best advantage themselves, or to hire help, or a combination of the two. But they had a structure that could manage the property. Without that, they were going to get nowhere, and they would lose a lot of money, as well as their philosophical objectives. Lage: Was there a philosophical objective within the family? Buck: Yes, there is. I think a large measure of the family believes that the family should stay in the farming business. They felt it very strongly. Lage: At this time also? Buck: I think the family would like to see the farming operation continue. How viable it is over the long term I don't know. I would say that I would be real surprised to see an active farming presence other than just a caretaking operation beyond another ten years. They will always farm out there to take care of the ground, but as far as having an economic farm operation that makes money, makes a profit, and survives on its own, I don't think it can be done. The acreage is shrinking, the cities are not going to be interested in pursuing it anymore. Union City has already told us that if they have a chance they are going to cancel the Williamson Act for us on the forty acres that are north of the flood control channel. The handwriting is on the wall whether the family likes it or not. Then the choice becomes, if you want to farm, where should you farm and how much do you want to pay for the privilege of doing so? But certainly without a management entity, you don't have a prayer of continuing in the farming business. Lage: There is the land the park district owns that is being farmed. Buck: Some of that is being farmed on a lease basis. Lage: How much of Patterson family land is being farmed now? Buck: There are about 400 acres left in farming now. And the Alamedas lease that, or, basically, we give it to them, and they use it. We're not getting any rental income from it. That's how bad the farming 182 Buck: operation is. We get zero rent; in fact, we are subsidizing them. I think this year we are giving them probably twenty-five or thirty thousand dollars to keep them around. Lage : It is interesting that the family has this strong commitment to continue farming. Is it partly to save this land for better things later? Buck: I think if you asked that question to different people in the family, they would give you different reasons for it. A let of people in the family are interested in preserving open space and green belt areas, and they are interested in farming as an ideal. Lage: Is this the older generation? Buck: Mostly the elder folks. There are seme younger folks who are in the farming business and feel very strongly about it. too. How that is going to be affected by reality as we move along here remains to be seen, because it is going te become, in my opinion, unrealistic to try to farm out here eventually. Lage: Things are closing in. Buck: Yes. It is going to happen inevitably, and I am afraid it is going to happen out here mostly because of the decisions that were made by the family before to sell what they sold and develop what they developed. They've developed the best farming land. They've put the farmer on to the secondary land. Water quality is not as good. Soil quality is marginal. So that has made it even more difficult for a fairly marginal operation to survive. Lage: So if the master planning had been done at an earlier stage — ? Buck: Well, if the master plan had been done differently, with a farming orientation to it, I think you might have had a more viable farming operation. But the plan was not done that way. It was done for a lot of other reasons, mostly having to do with where the streets could be. where the sewer was. where the water was. and with very little attention paid to what the best farm land was. Economically, that was the only thing to do. It was a smart decision, economically, in terms of land value, but that decision certainly had its adverse impact on the farm. The Master Plan; Residential, High-Tech Park, Open Space, and Urban Re se rv e Lage: Can you talk further about the outcome of the master-planning process? 183 Buck: Oh. yes. I haven't explained the master plan. [See town development plan. p. 399] The master plan divided the property into about five different areas. One was residential, in various villages, mixed-type residential of varying densities, some single family, some condominiums, some duplex-type townhouses. Another area was called the town center, which is a commercial area. Third would be the high technology research and development park, which was very much in vogue in the early eighties, and everybody wanted it. It looked wonderful and had nice trees and all that. Lage : Something the city would want? Buck: The city loved that, yes. That was incorporated in the master plan. The high-tech area was basically in the southwestern ends of the pro perty, down toward the Dumbarton B ridge- Thorton Avenue interchange area. The other two areas were open space because down at the lowest, western-most levels of the ranch, adjacent to the Coyote Hills park, there was some land that, as part of the planned district process, was set aside as permanent open space. The family basically worked out a deal to sell the development rights for that property to the city, and they have a receivable for that, and the property stays in open space. Lage: Now, how does that arrangement work? The family was recompensed for the fact that the city put that land into open space? Buck: Yes. The city said that the family could receive compensation for that dedication by allowing the city to take the hypothetical residential density for that property and reallocate it elsewhere in the city. The method by which you get paid is a little complex. The city will not pay you for those density rights. When a developer says, "I want to increase my density over here on Stevenson Blvd from eight units an acre to sixteen." he has to pay the city, normally, what they call an amenity fee. Basically, he has to buy the density from the city. They exhort a contribution from the developer in order to get the higher density to compensate the city for providing the extra services. Lage: Sometimes it's a contribution of a park. Buck: Yes, sometimes it's a park contribution. In Fremont, frequently it is an amenity-dollar calculation, which is based on a certain multiple of the park dedication fee. What it amounted to was that the Pattersons got $16,000 a unit for the hypothetical density that could have been built maybe someday on that open— space land. It totals $2.4 million. Over a period of time, other developers can pay 184 Buck: us. instead of paying the city for increased density rights on their property. So gradually we are selling those off. It will take a while. Lage : Is that an unusual arrangement? Buck: It's a very novel concept. The density transfer concept has been tried in a let of areas, and it hasn't worked very well because it is so complex and difficult to administer and figure out. Everybody feels his ox is being gored more than the next fellow's. As far as I know, at least out here in the West, it hasn't been done very successfully, particularly on an interj ur is diction basis. The Coastal Commission has tried to do this a lot. but they found that while they could make it work well within the coastal zone, they were trying to put units of density from the coastal zone out to someplace in a cow pasture, and it just didn't work. Anyway, within the city of Fremont it seems to work, and that's how we did the open space. Lage: Was that open space suitable for development? Buck: No, not really. It's toe low; it really has a lot of wetlands problems. You'd have to fill it extensively, almost prohibitively. The cost of filling down there would be very high. Lage: Is the open space going to be used for farming, or is it just empty land? Buck: Some of it is farmable. We are hoping to reclaim some of it. but it is not very good land for farming. There is a lot of saltwater intrusion. Seasonally, it is marshy. You can go down there and see — you don't really need to be a farmer to tell what is going on. When they have a cauliflower crop, the heights of the plants just tail off as you go further west, until pretty soon a whole season's growth en a cauliflower plant will be about six inches, because the land quality is tailing off. So it is land that really had no other viable use to the family. Seme ef it may be reclaimed with some of the ground water work that we are doing, but it is pretty tough. The last area is called urban reserve, and that's the lands north of Paseo Padre Parkway that are net low and are not brackish, basically between Paseo Padre and the Alameda Creek, the area where the farm headquarters is down to the park and north to the Creek. That's called urban reserve. The city has reserved in their master plan. I think. 1400 units of residential density over there, and 100 acres for high-technology park. That's subject to change, of course; high technology is overbuilt and in oversupply, so who knows what will happen to that. But sooner or later the city is going to want 185 Buck: to see that developed. The pressure to develop that in the future will be pretty strong. In the meantime, we are farming it. That area is owned by the Patag partnership. Lage: So that is farm land only for the present. Buck: It will stay in farm land for the time being, one way or the other; if we have to send one of the family people out there with a tractor, we will still farm it. You really have to do that. You can't just let it go to weeds. Lage: But the Alamedas are farming that now? Buck: Right. Marketing the Ranch Lands; Sales to Kaiser and Ardenwood Development Associates^ Lage: Let's discuss the decision to sell to Kaiser and Ardenwood Developers. Buck: After the master plan was completed and we had our family board, the marketing program was very low key. Jack Brooks just basically let people know that this land was available. Residential at that time in 1983-'84 was really slow — high interest rates, poor market for housing, very few building starts. It didn't look like a particularly good time to be going into the residential development business. Remember, the family now was wholesaling only. They were not going to subdivide anything, not going to sell lots, not going to build streets, because we were concerned about becoming dealers, and the family did not have the expertise or the desire, at that time, to take a more active role. There were a lot of ways they could have avoided being a dealer without just saying we are going to wholesale things out, but at the time, the family wasn't ready for that. In this development, one of the things that was required to make it fly and make it work was off-site improvements, which are major things like streets, water lines, sewer lines, underground utility lines, railroad overcrossings, freeway overcrossings, freeway on-ramps, none of which was there. All we had in 1983 was a nice map with a lot of nice lines on it, and if you went out to the ranch, there was no evidence of it at all. So all of that had to be built, and it had to be paid for by somebody. The way they decided to do that was to form local improvement districts, two of them. Local improvement districts are local assessment districts which are formed by landowners in an area, who join together and agree to have their land taxed to pay for these 186 Buck: improvements. The city sells municipal bonds and takes the money and pays for the improvements, and then the landowners pay those bonds off over twenty er twenty-five years. Lage : In this case, was it all Patterson land? Buck: Mostly Patterson lands. There were a few little landowners in there in district 25. District 27 was. I think. 100 percent Patterson. Various companies looked at buying the property. There was Hewlett Packard, some other computer companies. Chevron Land and Development Company looked at it. Shapell Industries looked at it; Citation looked at some of it. Some of those reached the point of offers, some ef them didn't. Chevron was, I think, prepared to pay $80,000 an acre for the whole thing, cash. Kaiser came along and said. "Ve will buy the high-technology portion only" for, I think, about $100.000 an acre. That seemed to be acceptable to the family. fff Buck: It was a pretty good deal. It was higher than any other bid. it was all cash, or delayed exchange. Under the tax rules at that time, you could take a long time to exchange; that was before the 1984 tax reform. We signed that deal up in June of '83 and closed it in February of '84. We formed local improvement district 25. One ef the big benefits ef doing the Kaiser transaction that way was that it got most ef the major off-site improvements in, through the local improvement district. The assessments would be shared by all the other land owners, principally Kaiser, and the Bridges piece. The Pattersons would be responsible for about 15 per cent of the total, through their ownership of the Town Center and two neighborhoods in village 3. The engineers' reports for those off- site improvements came to about $45 million dollars, so you are looking at a major obligation in terms of off-site work, all ef which had to be done before you could do any ef the residential sales, really, before you could do anything with the Town Center. It was a good deal for the Pattersons. It's easy to second- guess that decision. A let of people in the family have come along and said that the family sold too cheap, or shouldn't have done it. but all things considered, it wasn't that bad a deal, and it did get the off-sites in. which turned out to cost close to $53 million before we were through, and that's certainly something the Pattersons couldn't afford. Lage: I thought it was paid for through revenue bonds, and then it was paid back through taxes. 187 Buck: It is paid by assessments on the property. When you get your property tax bill now, for the Town Center it amounts to $15.000 or $20,000 in regular property taxes; even with Kaiser's portion, you would be looking at $500.000 or $600.000 a year in bond amoritization for the improvements. So the family was not in a position to carry assessments on the whole thing. Of course, if they had done that, if all of this organization and all of this work had been done years ago, and they had gotten themselves in a real estate company position, that could have been done on the basis of the Pattersons paying for those assessments and doing the local improvement district themselves, and they would have sold the property for an awful lot more money. But they were not in that position. Kaiser, at least theoretically, was. It turned out they weren't either. [laughter] So anyway, they closed that deal. That decision was motivated primarily by the need for liquidity of the Pattersons. They wanted cash. Lage : And this cash was kept within the corporation? Buck: No. The way the Patbrook partnership works, the proceeds of sales are basically divided up in accordance with each partner's undivided interests and then distributed out of the partnership so that each owner can take his money and go away with it. From time to time, in various places, we do the same thing with exchange properties. We distribute those out. So the family eventually ends up with their own things in their own little family groups. They can stay together if they want. That option is always there, but if they want to take their marbles and go away, they can do that too. Particularly the cash proceeds. Except for cash that we need to retain for the Town Center development, or to amortize these bonds in the Town Center, until we can get something built, surplus cash proceeds are distributed to partners. Then, about the same time, during '84. we negotiated an eight- year option program on all the residential property, with the exception of the Town Center area, the apartments in that area, to Ed deSilva and Jack Brooks. They call themselves Ardenwood Development Associates, and they had the right, beginning in 1984 and over the next eight years, to take down at least $2 1/2 million worth of property per year. As long as they do that, and they pay all LID [local improvement district] 27 assessments, they have the right to acquire all that property over an eight-year period. They have far exceeded that goal. Total value of that property comes to about $30 or $32 million, and they are almost two-thirds through that, I think. Lage: So the housing market has picked up? 188 Buck: The housing market in the last year and a half has been very good, so they are just going like crazy out there. The same considerations apply there. The Pattersons approached it from a wholesale basis. Brooks and deSilva basically are middle men. They are building some finished units for their own account, and some of the Pattersons are going to exchange into some of those units. But basically they are middle men. They do the development work. They buy the property from us in a chunk. They do a subdivision and record final maps. Then they sell individual lots or groups of lots to builders, who then go down and get a building permit and build a house. Lage: Do they sell many individual lets? Buck: The builders that they have taken money from so far are all buying groups of lets. They are big builders, like Kaufman & Broad. Citation Homes, and Standard Pacific, and other major residential builders taking up big chunks of lots. Brooks and deSilva will make a hefty profit by turning that property around and reselling it. Lage: Why didn't the family do that themselves? Buck: Three reasons: lack of expertise, number one; concern about becoming dealers, number two, although that concern could have been handled; and number three, an unwillingness to take the risk that's involved. One of the reasons they didn't want to do that, is that, in order to do the residential development, they would have had to participate in the other local improvement district, number 27. The costs of the improvements that are necessary for that district run more than $2 a foot. Well, that's mere than $80,000 an acre. You have two choices: either do it through the LID and pay the bonds, or you pay that in cash. One of the things that sold the family on doing this thing with Brooks and deSilva was that Brooks and deSilva said, "We will do this project without selling bonds in the improvement district. We will pay for all the off-site improvements as we go, in cash." We are guaranteed that that will occur because the city won't give anybody a building permit until the assessments are paid. So we formed the district, the assessments were levied, but they are being paid off in cash as they go. so that buyers are getting lots, fully improved, with no assessments against them. And if there is a default in the option process — say we went along with the option program for three years and Brooks and deSilva had bought a third of the property and developed it and we had two-thirds left, we would not be sitting there with two-thirds of that acreage subject to huge assessments, which, historically, the family felt that it would not be in a position to pay. They didn't want to lose the rest of the property if the residential building program either failed, or deSilva and Brooks 189 Buck: went broke, or the housing market went down the tubes and they had to sit for five or six or seven years. This way they could still land bank, or hold the property indefinitely and farm it. Lage: So this was a more conservative approach. Buck: It was the most conservative approach possible. Lage: Was this discussed in the board of directors' meetings? Buck: Oh, yes. Lage: Different options were discussed, and this was the one decided on? Buck: This was the one that was decided on. And, again, there has been a lot of second guessing about whether this was the smartest thing to do or not. The family gave up a lot of profit opportunity, but they also avoided an awful lot ef risk. In this very early stage in their management, I don't think they were ready to assume a more active role. Years from now, if the same scenario occurs, I think they will have a lot more options because they've got a structure, they've got some management, and by that time they will have people who will hopefully know what they are doing. Then they will have more viable options to consider. These other options were there as options, but short of hiring some expert to come down and run the business for them, I don't see that there was anybody in the family at the time that was capable of doing that. Lage: When was this decision made? Buck: It would have been '84. It was after we had the structure, but we really didn't have any management. 19" III CURRENT MANAGEMENT OF PATTERSON PROPERTIES Need for Professional Management Lage : When were you hired to manage the family business? Buck: I was active in selling this whole thing from '82 on. I don't think anybody ever wrote me a check until the spring of '84. Lage: How did the family feel about actually paying seme of its members to take on this responsibility? Buck: They didn't like it at all. Lage: Did they not see it as a professional undertaking? Buck: No. families are funny. I've had the same problem with my family. For all the work that I did down there in Kern County for Belridge Oil Company, I never got paid a dime. Not one dime. That turned out to be a mammoth project and very successful. But families don't like to pay family members. It's a funny approach; they don't seem to mind paying some outside person lots of money, but if you are a member of the family, I guess you are not supposed to work for a fee. One of the themes I harped on all the way through this thing was that once we got to the point where there was professional management — if it is going to be me, or anybody — we have to pay for what people are doing. So finally they have done that, not without a lot of groaning and moaning, by the way. You should see these minutes — the howls of how much it's costing. That's the nature of families. Lage: Are they assessed for that, or do you have enough money from selling the properties that the corporation has retained? 191 Buck: PFM charges a management fee, now, to the various limited partnership groups for whatever it is that it is doing. And that money comes fr«m the partnership to the corporation, and the corporation pays salaries to the people that are here. We have an approved budget every year, and it's all gone ever quite carefully. Lage: Was there a deliberate decision to get someone from each branch of the family? Buck: I don't know that that was a deliberate decision. I know that I took the initiative originally to go beyond John and Sally and get some of the younger members of their family involved because there was a real lack of available family people to do anything, and I was not in a position to do it all myself. I couldn't afford to take that much time because I still had a lot of Buck family responsibility and always will. That's a much larger responsibility for me than this is. And it's going to get worse before it ever gets better. Lage: Have you been involved in the Marin County controversy?* Buck: Yes, I have been for the last year and a half, and that's going to go on forever, and I have all the rest of the Buck family to deal with. You see, that is just a part of what the Buck family has, so eventually I can't stay here and do this as much as I have. But the professional management was something that I really instigated, and it has worked out really well. Lage: Hew is the management responsibility divided between you and the Campbells? Buck: It is sort of an informal working arrangement. We don't really have a hierarchy here. There are certain things that I do because of my experience and background and knowledge — financial analysis, a lot of the accounting structure, and making sure the financial statements say what they want. I sort of supervise that. I do all the legal work, and I pretty much handle the hefty negotiations and the overall negotiating strategies. Leon does some of that and has been learning rapidly, amazingly rapidly, this wonderful business that we are in. He helps me on all of these things and does a lot of the day-to-day legwork that has to be done to analyze problems, like "should you stay in the Williamson Act or not," That really involves getting a lot of information together and studying it before making a decision. So he's here more than I am, and he does a lot of that — the nuts and bolts things. *The lengthy court case that decided the proper disbursement of monies left by Beryl Buck's will for charitable purposes in Marin County. 192 Lage: What about dealing with local governmental entities? Buck: It depends en what it is. Sometimes we both do it. In the case of getting our office out here [on Ardenwood Blvd.]. Leon has done all of that himself. I haven't had to do much there. Zoning problems, future planning problems, the planning process that is going on now in Union City. I have to get actively involved in that. Lage: Is Jack Brooks involved with you? Buck: No. his formal relationship with the family is kind of at an end. Informally, he helps us out with problems that come up. and he's available as a consultant. We pay him now on a case-by-case basis. If he is actively involved in a particular problem then he gets paid. He is not on the payroll. Jack Brooks as Master Politician and Long-Range Planner Lage: Tell me more about Jack Brooks. How would you assess his expertise in these matters of planning, dealing with cities, and so en? Buck: He is a master at the political arena. Most of the real estate business is political. He's very good at that. He's spent years at it, and he's very well connected politically, particularly in this area and in Sacramento. He can get a lot done because of that. So he is very effective and very knowledgeable. He's been in this business for thirty or forty years as a home builder and developer, so he knows what he is doing. He's been a big help. Lage: Is he good at long-range planning? Buck: Very good. He is very, very good at long-range planning. Lage: What kinds of questions should I ask when I interview him? Buck: Probably the same ones you have asked me, basically. He was very actively involved in everything that I have told you about — all these problems with the family and the partnerships and the structure and the lawsuits. He was en the ether side of the table in nearly all of these. Lage: And probably dates further back than your involvement. Buck: Yes. He was involved with Singer Housing and can fill in a lot of gaps in the '68 through '78 time period that I don't have any information on. 193 Lage: He was actually the principal negotiator, I believe, on that Singer Housing dispute with the city. Buck: He was it. The family had nothing to de with that at all, other than peripherally. They were decisions that he was making that had an effect on the family's property; he consulted with Don on that, very clearly. And seme decisions that were made did have a big effect on the family property — the sewer in particular, and roads, the Paseo Padre overcrossing over the Nimitz freeway. The decision to make sure that got in was made, I think, in the early seventies. Without that, the value of this property would net be what it is today, clearly. Lage: I had the understanding that he actually put in the overcrossing, that the city required it for fire protection access. Buck: Well, that's a chicken and egg problem that you ought to ask him about, because if you didn't have the evercrossing, the city probably would have master planned the property differently. So I'm not sure what comes first, the overcrossing or the master plan. Obviously, with the master plan they've get, they have to have the overcressing because you have to have access, fire protection, ambulances, all of that. I suspect that the overcrossing was hatched by Jack, knowing that without it the master plan would not become what he wanted it to become. It would be a lower, less intensive use, which means less value. Lage: He sounds like a real mastermind. Buck: That's right. He is very good at long-range planning because he knows how all the pieces fit together. The same thing with the Thorton Avenue interchange at the other end of the property. If you don't have a good interchange there, good freeway access, hopefully a four-lane bridge, you are net going to have as intense development. Ardenwood Park: Economic Considerations Buck: The same thing with the four-lane bridge that went across the Alameda Creek. Without four lanes you have a big bottleneck there. Immediately, that affects value. The Nimitz-Decoto Road interchange was the same thing. It's a tough piece of property to work with. A typical developer comes out and looks at the Nimitz and highway 84 interchange, and says, "That's where development has got to be." Well, that's the park! 194 Buck: I've had mere than one developer come in here and say we are absolutely insane to have designed the property that way. It's not true, because we've just put the emphasis someplace else, but most people leek at the freeway interchange and say. "That's where you build. " Lage: Was that considered, or did the city have that land in mind so strongly for a park that you couldn't fight it? Buck: I think the original impetus for the park was that the first developer that took that over. Singer Housing, didn't want to pay for demolition. It would have cost them an incredible amount of money to get rid of those eucalyptus trees, so it was an economic decision first and foremost that brought the park about. I think otherwise you very likely would have seen the development at the freeway interchange where everybody says it ought to be. Lage: That's interesting, because in talking to the historical people — I interviewed Dr. Robert Fisher — you get the background of the development of interest in this property and all the lobbying to see it as a park. And then your analysis comes down to an economic decision because George Washington Patterson planted those eucalyptus trees. Buck: Well, the developer probably would have pushed to have it developed over the opposition of the historians and the environmental groups because that land, in the traditional development process, is the most visible location. Everybody wants visibility, number one. and access, number one. And you could have had both at that corner which is now a park, but one of the things that tilted the developer's decision was the cost of removing those trees. It was a very significant aspect of the decision-making process; it is neither one nor the other, but it is a very important element. Lage: Does the park add any value to your property now that it is master planned the way that it is? Buck: I don't know that that is a significant contribution. It's just one of the things that makes it attractive. It's probably not as significant as some of the more mundane things like services and access, but it has a value, particularly for the residential property. It's hard to isolate these things, but it all has to be taken as part of the whole. You couldn't have gotten the master plan that was achieved through the city processing if you didn't give the city some of the things it wanted. The city knew that it wouldn't get the master plan it wanted and the things it wanted from the Pattersons if it didn't give us a few things, like the density-right transfer. So it was a give-and-take process. It's really hard to say that the park adds so many dollars. We just wound up with what we wound up with, and the value is what it 195 Buck: is. based on a let of other things, like the cost to develop the property, the off-site amenity fees, sewer costs, all those other things. Lage: Does the family corporation own other lands and manage them too? Buck: Well, as we sell, we are exchanging into other properties. Lage: That must have been a decision made along the way, toe. Buck: Yes. Some people wanted to exchange because they didn't want to pay the capital gains tax. You don't, if you exchange for other real estate, so we have other lands and, mostly, ether commercial properties that we are acquiring through that route, and we manage those out of this office. But they are elsewhere — San Diego, San Francisco, Carmel, Fremont. So that is one of the things that this office does. Gradually, this office will become more of a property management company, I think, which is what it was set up for. It's just going to manage a let of different kinds of property, instead of just the Patterson ranch. Lage: Can you think of anything else we should cover? Buck: [Referring to interview outline] Abby [Campbell] does the books, which I didn't tell you. You don't want to hear about my typical day. [laughter] Lage: Well, I've seen some of it now. You are up here two days a week? Buck: Yes, two to three. I'm net in Carmel very much anymore. Between Marin and here, I'm in the Bay Area more than I want to be. Working to Preserve the Value of Urban Reserve Lands Lage: Did we talk enough about the relationships with the cities? That has come in during our discussion. Buck: Yes, I have alluded to it. I think the most significant thing we are doing now, in addition to the day-to-day management problems, is trying to make sure that the value of the 400-odd acres that the family still owns and keeps in agriculture is preserved. That requires active, long-range thinking now. Development is a long way off. we think, but it could come up sooner than we expect. 196 Buck: The Ardenwood Villages have gone much, much faster than expected. Less than two years, and they are really almost through. The same can happen across the road with the Patag property. Whether it stays in farming or net is really immaterial. There are a lot of things we have to do new to make sure that those properties don't lose their future potential. Lage : How would they lose their future potential? Buck: They could become wetlands, for one. They could go back to a state — or not necessarily back to. but into, because they have been farmed for so many years that who knows what state they were originally in — but some of this property could become saltwater marshes if we don't take the right steps to control the effect of what the park is doing downstream, for instance. They have all these demonstration marshes and all these duck ponds and everything, which is wonderful from an environmental standpoint, but they are backing up the water. The water is backing up and coming into our farm ground, turning it into a saltwater marsh. That means two things to us: one. you can't farm it anymore, which is bad; and two. if and when we are required to develop that property, by political reality and the realities of the agricultural economy, we won't be able to. if it's a saltwater marsh. So there is a value there to the future members of the family that would be lost by poor decision making today. Lage: Are you working with the park district on that? Buck: We're working with the park district to make sure we don't have those kinds of problems. Lage: How cooperative are they? Buck: Surprisingly cooperative. They take a little nudge once in a while, but they realize that what we are saying is that they are damaging our property and they are going to take its value away. Unless they want to pay us for it. they can't do it. Lage: You do have legal rights, then. Buck: Oh yes. but if you j ust sit there, it is going to happen. One day you will wake up. and your land will not be what you thought it was. and then it's much tougher to put back. Some of these things are irreversible. You can wind up with property that is subject to the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers, for example. Lage: Do you think they were wetlands at one time? This whole area was something of a wetland before the flood control project. I guess. 197 Buck: It's really hard to say. That's a difficult definition to come up with. Originally, these were all alluvial flood plains from the Niles Canyon, and they formed seasonally like they did from the Tigres and Euphrates rivers or the Egyptian delta. They flooded every winter, and you would go out after the flood waters had gone away and plant crops and do wonderfully. So originally that's what all this area was. but no longer, because you have the flood-control ponds upstream and all the recharge ponds, and there is no longer an alluvial situation out here. So it is really hard to say what they were once. What we are concerned about is — if we don't do the right things today, not just with salt-water intrusion, but with streets and control of traffic, sewer capacity, the water system, what Union City does with its vacant land to the north of us. what Newark does to the south of us, what our neighbors do with shopping centers — all of those things have a big impact en what the family owns. That's where we mess with the cities so much. That requires a lot of imagination and long-range planning. That's kind of fun; it's a let more fun that deciding if the farmer is going to plant corn er tomatoes, [laughter] Lage: Let's end with that thought. Transcribed by Ann Lage Final Typed by Shannon Page 198 TAPE GUIDE — Robert Buck Date of Interview: October 6. 1986 163 tape 1, side A 163 tape 1. side B 173 tape 2. side A 183 insert from tape 1, side B 185 resume tape 2, side A 186 tape 2, side B 195 199 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University ef California Berkeley, California THE PATTERSON FAMILY AND RANCH: SOUTHERN ALAMEDA COUNTY IN TRANSITION Leon G. Campbell. Jr. Balancing Agriculture and Development. Family and Public Interests An Interview Conducted Ann Lage in 1986 by Copyright 1988 by the Regents of the University of California LEON CAMPBELL 1985 200 TABLE OF CONTENTS — Leon Campbell INTERVIEW HISTORY 201 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION 202 I CAREER BEFORE PFM. INC. 203 Family Background and Education 203 Teaching History at UC Riverside and Stanford 204 Beginning Involvement with the Patterson Properties 206 II PATTERSON FAMILY BUSINESS PRIOR TO 1980 207 Henry and William Patterson: Commitment to Agriculture 207 Donald Patterson and the Postwar Period 208 The Alameda County Flood Control District Decisions 209 The Singer Housing Sale 211 III PFM, INC. : PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT OF PATTERSON PROPERTIES 216 The Need for Incorporation 216 Master- Planning and Sales of Land Pressures for Development in Fremont's North Plain 220 IV MAINTAINING AGRICULTURE IN AN URBAN SETTING 223 The Changing Market 223 Water Problems 226 Relations with Agencies 227 V FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PATTERSON RANCH 229 Non- Agricultural Development 229 Union City. Newark, and Fremont City Planning A Historian Looks Ahead 234 Property Management and Stewardship 235 TAPE GUIDE 238 201 INTERVIEW HISTORY — Leon G. Campbell Leon Campbell brings to this interview the practical outlook of one who. as executive vice-president of Patterson Properties, is involved in day-to-day planning and management of the Patterson real estate holdings. At the same time, as former professor of history at the University of California, Riverside, he brings the historian's cast of mind to his observations of the past, present, and future of the Patterson ranch properties on Fremont's Northern Plain. Mr. Campbell is the son-in-law of Sally and John Adams and husband of Abigail Adams Campbell, whose interviews appear elsewhere in this volume of Patterson family oral histories. He was instrumental in working with Dr. Knox Mellon to place the George Washington Patterson home on the National Registry of Historic Places, and he was involved from the beginning in conceiving of, planning, and seeking funding for the oral history project. In addition to participating in this interview, he has written the introduction to this series. His remarks in the following interview focus on management decisions and master planning. In particular, he discusses the problems of maintaining agriculture in the midst of housing and industrial development and describes the process of coordinating the family's planning efforts with the three surrounding cities and other public agencies whose actions have an impact on Patterson properties. The interview was conducted on September 24, 1986. in the Patterson Properties office in Fremont, California. Mr. Campbell reviewed the transcript with care, elaborating on and clarifying his recorded comments. Tapes of the interview session are available at The Bancroft Library. Ann Lage Interviewer/Editor Project Director September, 1988 The Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California at Berkeley Regional Oral History Office University of California Room 486 The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California 94720 202 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION (Please print or write clearly) Your full name LCQu Cr . \~S\h f&fH J&. . Date of birth /7/Q/ £ lllX Place of birth Lc' /V-^-•> C<1 C {V. . H ; A.' A,' J.'l CM Occupation h h - /N/CAi'd ^ r^- O fl / ' Mother's full name f/fl/U. \.lcf F /Ai»T r Birthplace rK I J x k \ , - Occupation H 0 \A. ^ ^ .^ c . |\J J'Ux. Where did you grow up ? r (Ac.Kbyi-;A vf\ I Present community VA^Kfo'-l 1 L>F V/-V - Education ."? Aiu? 0^ V J r j . L/o'^n i A A /^ . Mn c (mo) Occupation(s) ) Special interests or activities 0'.-w\'w^.-. (1^3- ): £"x€ci-7ti/c V.P. Pnf/r 203 I CAREER BEFORE PFM, INC. Family Background and Education [Date of Interview: September 24, 1986] Lage: Let's start with a little brief personal background — where you were born and raised. Campbell: Surely, Ann. I was born in Los Angeles, California, on May 8, 1938. My grandparents had emigrated out to Pasadena from Minnesota. My grandfather had come over from Scotland, and the family had farmed in Minnesota. My father was a doctor, a heart specialist in Pasadena. He had gone to school at Stanford and Johns Hopkins, and my mother had been a nurse in Baltimore, and they had met in medical school. I grew up in Pasadena, attended schools there, went to Stanford. I received my graduate degrees ending up with a Ph.D. in history, which I took in 1970 after completing military service. Really, I think my education emerged out of a lifelong interest in history, with a specific interest in Latin America. My father was very involved as an agriculturalist himself in a joint venture with the DiGiorgio Fruit Company. I did labor negotiations that required my knowledge of Spanish. From there, I went down to the University of Mexico and became very interested in Latin America. Lage: When did the labor negotiations take place? Campbell: This was in the 1950s. The bracero program was in effect then. Those were contract workers, and I worked for my dad in arranging labor contracts and other details. That required a knowledge of Spanish, and so I took lots of Spanish at Stanford and at the University of Mexico. I traveled widely, and ultimately went back and took a master's and a Ph.D. ## This symbol indicates that a tape or segment of a tape has begun or ended. For a guide to the tapes, see page 238. 204 Teaching History at UC Riverside and Stanford Campbell: In 1970, after having lived in Latin America and written my dissertation. I came back and took a job at the University of California. Riverside, one of two UC jobs that year that were available. Lage : Those were tight times for historians. Campbell: Those were very tight times I And I should say that in 1963 Abby and I were married.* Her father, as you know, is a neurosurgeon at UC San Francisco, and so we were always anxious to come back and are very involved with the University of California as a family. Lage: Your background is similar to the Pattersons — the Scottish background, the agricultural... Campbell: Yes, there is some of that. I think. Sort of inadvertent. I guess we didn't realize the similarities as we went along. Certainly, the UC ties, traveling down in Latin America, living in Peru and Spain, doing work there and here which was very concerned with land, all contributed. Although I wasn't really doing anything in terms of agricultural history per se, we were living in areas that were agrarian and I learned a lot about farming economics. I was interested in that. At UC I started off as assistant professor, step one, and by 1976 I had gone to full professor. I was chairman of the Department of History for four years and I was dean in the Division of Undergraduate Studies there at Riverside. So I really was totally dedicated to an academic career at that point. And neither one of us, I should say, Abby or I. were even remotely involved with the ranch. Abby, as you know, visited frequently with her parents and spent a good bit of time there. In fact, my only association with the ranch was when I was in graduate school at Stanford and we stored all of our furniture over there in a barn and neglected to cover it. This was when we first went off to Latin America. What we didn't know was that the barn was inhabited by bats which severely "depreciated" our furniture and left it really a mess. We came back a year later, and we were appalled at what had gone on. So we did know the ranch, its buildings, Abby's grandmother, and that sort of thing. Abby, of course, was very familiar, having grown up there. * Abigail Adams Campbell is the granddaughter of Henry Patterson and the daughter of John and Sally Patterson Adams. See page 378 for interview with Abigail Adams. 205 Campbell: I stayed with the University of California just until recently: in 1982, we first came up to northern California on my sabbatical after I had left the chairmanship. I came up as a visiting scholar at the Center for Latin American Studies at Stanford. During that year, 1982-1983, we became somewhat familiar with things that had gone on at the ranch when Bob Buck briefed us, although I was writing and we weren't intimately associated with it. However, we began to attend board meetings and soon got up to speed. Then in 1984 I returned to Riverside to teach. That is, we stayed up here, our kids were in school here, and I began to commute to UC Riverside. During that year I would be down there for three or four days and up here on the weekends, so we became more intimately acquainted with what was happening at the ranch and began to participate as decisions were made. The board indicated its desire to open a Patterson Properties business office to plan and manage its real estate, and it wished to have family management. I think by this time everyone realized it was already a large and somewhat complicated operation and that it needed direct supervision. In 1985 I began to come over here to Fremont one or two days a week, still maintaining my visiting scholar position at Stanford and continuing research. Then in June of 1985, I began to work more nearly full-time at the Patterson Properties office as did Abby, Bob, and Wil. We had four phones (all ringing) and no secretary! It was an experience, a "start up!" We set up this office. Then in June of 1986, I resigned from UC and was rehired as an adjunct professor of history at UC and retained my title over at Stanford. But I'm really here at Patterson in a full-time capacity now. You can't be in this business on a part-time basis; it changes too fast. Lage: But you still have a link to the academic world? Campbell: There's a link to UC and Stanford, which I would like to maintain. Lage: Will you be teaching any courses as adjunct professor? Campbell: I'm not teaching any at present but that possibility exists. They would like me to teach. I continue to guide the projects of graduate students who are in the pipeline taking master's and Ph.D.s. UC has me on a consultant ship basis where they bring me down now and then for short courses and things of that sort. When I'm in southern California I give talks on my research, and I still maintain a speaking schedule at professional meetings around the country. I'm still active in my research, but my production is, of course, much slower. 206 Beginning Involvement with the Patterson Proper ties Lage: New maybe we can talk about why you decided to make the switch. Campbell: I think it was an organic process; it sort of evolved. First we began to attend board meetings. I think as early as 1983. and we realized that lots of responsibility had been shouldered by the family, and it was getting to be a burden. They couldn't be everywhere, dealing with Kaiser, the city of Fremont, the farmers, the park people, developers, engineers, etc. The board is composed of Patterson family members who are professionals, have careers of their own. families of their own; some are retired. The decision had to be reached reasonably shortly as to what the Pattersons were going to do with the remaining lands, and how they could keep control rather than give this over to others. That's one problem. The other was how actively they were going to manage and supervise the property which they had exchanged into and select other properties as productive investments. So it was sort of a natural process. I think, since Abby and I were here and Bob Buck was spending a great deal of time here, too, that the three of us would begin to take over those responsibilities. We did it on a part-time basis for over a year, and then it became clear that unless the remaining lands were going to be sold immediately or management was turned over to an outside organization, we were the logical choice. The farming venture, for example, was in transition and needed help to return to viability. After the sales to Kaiser for the technology park and the option agreement with Ardenwood Development Associates were executed in 1985. there was considerable remaining land in Fremont and Livermore. I think the family then determined that what they really wanted, in a positive sense, was hands-on family management, to retain the properties for the long-term and to plan the future, since it was both an ongoing responsibility and an opportunity. 207 II PATTERSON FAMILY BUSINESS BEFORE 1980 He nry and Wil 1 i am Patterson; Commitment to Agriculture Lage : We should go back and try to get some of your impressions of the earlier events. Campbell: The Patterson family business prior to 1980 was agriculture. My knowledge of Henry and William is secondary. That is, I'm only partially familiar with Henry, who died before I met Abby. I did know Sarah Patterson only slightly when Abby and I were engaged, and we spent some time down at the ranch. I think their commitment to continuing the agricultural operation was very strong. This you can see from the ranch itself. What's interesting, I think, was how these families remained intimately associated with the East Bay. The Henry Patterson family moved to Piedmont for the schools. They always had a very strong East Bay orientation; the family was always connected to the ranch. Fremont really was remote in those days. It was not in the immediate postwar growth path which was developing around Oakland and, of course, San Francisco. So it was very rural here well after San Jose had developed, and life continued on much as it had years before. The Nimitz Freeway did link up the East Bay some before Highway 680 was built. But Fremont remained an agricultural area and the Pattersons continued on in agriculture as they had from the 1850s, the time of George Patterson. That's remarkable continuity — well over a century of farming. Lage: And the Pattersons kept that going much longer than a lot of other families. Campbell: They did, for a long time, even as other farming interests went out of operation. The first lands developed were over on the east side of the freeway in Fremont proper. But in this northern plain, the Pattersons retained the land in farming, giving over some to form the Coyote Hills Regional Park. I can't think of 208 Campbell: any ether large agricultural operations here that remained in being up until the 1950s and 1960s. So that's unique, and I think that speaks to their commitment to agriculture and to the land itself. As for Henry and William, as I understand it, there was a division of labor. Henry operated the ranches. And William carried out the task — and a very important task — of dealing with the municipalities. The city of Fremont was growing and beginning to encroach on the ranch. The water district, and the Alameda County Flood Control District, those kinds of issues were really very, very important. So the ranch wasn't just accidentally preserved; I think Henry and William had a lot to do with that. Donald Patterson and the Postwar Period Campbell: After their deaths Donald took over. 1 did not know Donald either, but I think there was a very direct sense of Donald succeeding Henry and William's stewardship. His long association with the ranch is an important period in the ranch's history. Lage : Right, and it seems to be a period that we don't know much about. Campbell: I don't know much directly, but I think it's a very important part, and some of the persons whom you're interviewing can fill you in. It's during that postwar period that the future of the north plain area took shape as the East Bay developed and people moved to the Bay Area as jobs were created. Lage: It's a key period. Campbell: It's a key period because there was a tremendous housing boom going on, particularly in San Jose and the Silicon Valley. I guess what's remarkable to me as a newcomer is how the Patterson Ranch avoided becoming swallowed up at that point. I would think that the lack of direct access via 880 and the new Dumbarton Bridge helped. These bridges really make the "Bay Area" a reality. There were land sales, but the emphasis in that period was on dedications and condemnations. I mean the breakup of the Patterson Ranch in the period prior to 1980 stems more from the creation of the Coyote Hills Regional Park than land sales. These acquisitions in turn laid the groundwork for the creation of the Ardenvood Regional Preserve, since they allowed urban planning within an open space environment. The planning for Ardenwood Forest New Town probably began with Donald, I think, and Jack Brooks. 209 Lage: The Coyote Hills dedication is interesting, as I look through some of these newspaper clippings I've told you about [the Grace Williamson and local history collections, Fremont Public Library], It seemed to be quite controversial. Of course, the family's side is not in these newspapers, but it was apparently the first East Bay Regional Park that had to be obtained by eminent domain. So there was some unwillingness on the part of the family to have it dedicated, or at least there was disagreement about price. Campbell: That's something that I'm not really capable of commenting on. It never came up in any discussions. I think it's a source of pride today. Eminent domain is something that all large owners face, and it's regarded as a loss of livelihood. The Pattersons have faced it both in Fremont and in Livermore, and have deeded over not only Coyote Hills but Del Valle Regional Park. Today we maintain a cordial relationship with the East Bay Regional Park District [EBRPD] and know the directors of the district. We understand their objectives and they understand ours. Obviously, park districts have to be in the forefront of acquiring land, perhaps in advance of the population base to support them. The controversies may have had to do with the uses and boundaries of the park. After all, parks are public and farmers are private people. I would think those differences of viewpoint would probably be somewhat natural. Today we're intimately familiar with the need for preservation of wetlands and shoreline. But back in the 1950s, if you stop to think about it, those issues really weren't as apparent to owners or to municipalities as they are today. So a lot of it, I think, is a matter of understanding. We're very supportive of what the East Bay [Regional Park District] has done over in Coyote Hills, but preservation of agriculture also means protection of farmland. We still have to insure that the land and water are not harmed either from development or experimentation. We monitor water levels and water quality, since they affect crop yields a great deal. The Alameda County Flood Control District Decisions Lage: The other thing that struck me, in terms of this more distant past, is that it was the flood control district that made development possible on the northern plain. The flooding had actually promoted agriculture and enriched the soil. The flood control allowed development, and of course, William was president of the Alameda County Flood Control District. I wondered if you would know, although this may be much too much before your time, if he did that with foresight? 210 Campbell: If it was a conscious foresight? It's really hard to tell what was conscious foresight and what was done as preservation of agricultural lands. I think te some degree you're right. Pleading promoted certain types of agriculture. On the other hand, flooding precluded other more rational types of agriculture: two-cropping, winter and spring cropping of land. So it may have been an agricultural decision which ultimately allowed for ether successive land uses. I doubt this was a primary motive, though. It was just sound conservation practice. It seems that the lettuce and cauliflower operations tended to be the most profitable and logical for this area. It led te the long-term tenancy of the L. S. Williams Company.* Lage: So it could have been an agricultural decision as well as thinking of development.** Campbell: Yes. my guess is that agriculture would be paramount because I don't think, in the long run, one could have foreseen the kind of development that is taking place out here today. That would have been the ultimate in foresight. Land and water quality were their biggest concerns. I think, on the other hand. Donald Patterson certainly began te anticipate residential growth early on as the Nimitz Freeway linked up the East Bay. But I think, really, farmers tend to do things to preserve their land. That's their major concern. Certainly the owners didn't have the wherewithal to support those things such as flood control. Those were bond issues that counties were interested in passing, I think Alameda County was beginning to function as a county and look at the East Bay in general terms. County governments which, because of growth, focused on areas such as Hayward and Oakland began to think of Fremont, think of Livermore. think of the outlying areas. Local water districts acted, and transportation authorities. So it turns out to have been very foresighted. It has permitted growth. But I don't believe that was the primary reason. I think it was the preservation of agriculture. I would just back up and say one thing. The flood control district and the water district decisions clearly, to my mind, as an historian, are pivotal because the hydro-geology of the North Plain is really crucial, even today. It is bay-front land. It's excellent land, but you have potential saltwater intrusion all along the bay as increased pumping takes place. And you have policies being carried out now by flood control districts setting levels and creating salinity barriers and so forth, all of which * See interview with Gene Williams in this series. ** See 1955 interview with W. D. Patterson in appendix D to volume II of this series. 211 Campbell: affects our water quality, often in unforeseen ways, i.e.. by forcing some saline water through the shale eastward in response t© the recharging of fresh water aquifer. William and Henry did see early on that water was the key issue in maintaining agricul ture, so I think all of that is consistent with preserving the farm. William and certainly Donald later began to spend more and more of their time interacting with municipal agencies. The postwar really was a crucial period. It used to be. I think, that farmers sort of lived and let live. But the fact that they preserved the property really is a tribute to their successes with dealing with agencies and individuals since not until the 1970s, as I understand it, did the city concern itself with agricultural preservation and planning on this scale. The Singer Housing Sale Lage : In the seventies, it seems that the sale to Singer Housing was the first big sale of Patterson land. Is that correct? Campbell: Yes. Lage: Are you familiar with that? Campbell: I'm not really familiar with that. Only to provide some background, I believe that there was not a conscious decision at that point to sell land for development. I think, again, that many of the Patterson land sales were primarily motivated by tax considerations so that sales were carried out as a means of preserving the balance of the property in agriculture. Lage: And some of it was land exchanges? Campbell: There were land exchanges that took place, primarily since 1984. Lage: Did the family exchange for other agricultural land? Campbell: Yes. The family exchanged back into agricultural land in Oregon and perhaps California. I'm really not sure about the extent of this. The first lands sold were located south of Jarvis Boulevard. Remember that Highway 84 wasn't in, Jarvis Boulevard was the only access to the West Bay, so it was natural that that land was developed first. Lage: I'm thinking of a different land exchange, though. This was report ed in the newspaper, and you never know how accurate it is. I read that part of the payment for the property that the Pattersons sold to Singer was in other lands in northern California and Oregon. 212 Campbell: Yes. They bought cattle and agricultural property at least in Oregon. It may have been that seme of the family did trade for other agricultural land also. The commitment to farming and cattle raising has continued. Lage: I wondered if those were agricultural lands that the family considered continuing to farm. Campbell: That's quite interesting. Some of the family does raise cattle in Oregon today; this could be the same property. We've been consistent in making exchanges for. among other things, tax purposes, but also because the family now has property management capacity. We manage several properties for numerous Patterson family members. Lage: That sale to Singer turned out to be controversial, or the subsequent development that Singer Housing planned for it. There were a lot of political ins and outs. Was the family active in that, do you know? Campbell: I think Donald Patterson — and to back up a little bit, there's no doubt that Donald Patterson took over the management of the ranch following the deaths of Henry and William. So Don's memoirs at the Pioneer Society might speak to that. I think the controversial aspect probably comes, again, from the fact that in 1972 it was probably one of the larger developments in this rural area. It has to do, I guess, with the natural assumption of planning responsibilities on Fremont's part, looking at these developments, taking more of an active role in that. Cities began to take these duties on. Other than that, I don't know much about it. I do know, however, that the land sold to Singer was not in the Williamson Act, and the tax situation required a sale. Prop. 13 had not passed yet. Lage: At any rate, it was resolved. It did involve the house [the George Washington Patterson home, now preserved as part of the Ardenwood Regional Preserve], and maybe that's an important thing to look at. The house was sold along with the other acreage. Campbell: Yes, it did involve the house. The one thing I would reiterate is I think it was always the Patterson family's desire to have the house preserved and turned over to the public in some capacity. (I heard they had negotiated with the Boy Scouts of America and perhaps other groups.) The only question was how could that be financed. Because the city of Fremont, and I suppose even East Bay Park District at certain times didn't have the wherewithal to bring it back for public use. And you know, it was in a very dilapidated state following Henry and Sarah Patterson's deaths. The provision in William Patterson's will 213 Campbell: was to burn his house.* He didn't want it standing as long as it couldn't be maintained. Fortunately, the George Washington Patterson house was preserved. ** Lage: There was no sense of not wanting the house open to the public in the case of William Patterson? Campbell: I don't know. The matter of preservation, planned developments — the kinds of, oh, Irvine Ranch solutions — or planned developments in general which included significant historic preservation, they were relatively rare in the 1950s. I think, again, what you see today in the Ardenweod Historic Preserve is the result of certainly ten years of planning. They began with the house. The idea was how do you protect the house, how do you protect the eucalyptus groves? There was a provision for that in the Singer contract. So the family and Jack Brooks understood, and I'm sure the city of Fremont understood right away the value of protecting the grove and the home. The only question was 1) who had the capacity, and 2) who should bear the costs, which seemed significant and were significant. This is how the master plan evolved around 1980. As time went on, it became clear that the farming operation was also unique and that some of it should be put into a preserve. The question was how to do it; I suppose Singer and Brooks had some ideas on how to do it originally, but the logical resolution was to have it go to the city and East Bay Regional Park District in some sort of a partnership. Lage: So this was something you see the family as having a positive interest in? Campbell: Oh, yes, definitely. In fact, I can recall the discussions ongoing when I was teaching in the East, as to how can we best do this. How can we assure the preservation of the house because a great deal of money has had to go into the restoration of that house. I think initially the city contributed the salary of a full-time guard. Taking it from that step to what you see today, landscaped, rehabilitated internally, the decent program — that took a lot of community spirit by service clubs, the chamber of commerce, the family, etc. Everyone wanted to do it; the question was, who had the capacity to do it? * The William Patterson house was burned down after his death in 1961, in accordance with a provision in his will that it must be destroyed if none of his sons wanted to live in it. 214 Campbell: In my mind, the most creative element of the development itself is that it began with the inclusion of a great deal of open space. I'm net sure my data are correct, but if one takes into account all of the Patterson lands that are now under the auspices of East Bay Regional Park District, it may amount to about a tenth of their total holdings. If it's true, it's quite a contribution. Lage: Counting Del Valle? Campbell: Counting Del Valle. So I think it's unquestionable that the Patterson family had a concept of open space and farming and then acknowledged some development consistent with that concept. Lage: When we say "Patterson family" we talk about it as a unit, but was that actually the case? You had how many owners before you formed the corporation? Campbell: Yes, I think that certainly Donald Patterson took the lead and all that, but I know there was regular contact between Donald and the Adamses and Donald and his brothers. So I do think there was certainly informal agreement as to what should be done. Lage: Kind of an informal network of consultation? Campbell: Yes, I think they were all agreed on at least these goals. I don't believe there's any dispute at all about that as a goal. It's just that Donald was the business manager, which was traditional for the oldest son. but I think the family was certainly in agreement on it, even though some of them were in more secondary roles because they had their own businesses and their own professions. Lage: There wouldn't have been a formal means of coming to decisions at that point, would there? Campbell: I think they had a number of meetings at their residences, but things were done more informally then. I've gone back to our early minutes. They met on a regular basis, and certainly consulted by telephone. Lage: This would be prior to 1980? Campbell: Yes. It seems to me from the sixties on there was a lot of that. Lage: Some might want to disagree with you. Campbell: There's no doubt that the paramount fact is that Don ran things. That was very consistent with farm families where the oldest son was put in charge. I don't think there's any question of that, based on what I know. 215 Lage: Campbell: Lage: Campbell; Lage : Campbell : Several people have brought that up. Yes. It was a matter of the oldest son and that he was the one in charge. Someone had to do it. That's still true today. The fact is that these families acknowledged that the older son would do these things, and he in turn was prepared to do this job. They left him alone to do it. And he did it without any payment, I understand? Yes, that's right, as has David Patterson subsequently. I think we in this office owe them a tremendous debt for all the work that they did. They ran the ranch and ran their own businesses. And did well by us. Families who abdicate this responsibility usually regret it later. 216 III PFM, INC. : PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT OF PATTERSON PROPERTIES The Need for Incorporation Lage : Shall we look at that decision to form a family corporation and master plan the property? You've mentioned that to me as being kind of a key turning point. Were you involved in that? Campbell: Abby and I were not directly involved. Patterson Fremont Management was incorporated in 1983. PFM is the corporate general partner which runs the Fremont properties owned by several limited partnerships, as well as the properties that we've traded into subsequently as the results of exchanges, and handles all the other general business. Another corporation, PTLM. operates the Livermore ranch. Lage : And they are family corporations? Campbell: Yes. That came about, in my understanding, once it became clear that there was a management and development potential. I think essentially demographics indicated that there was going to be tremendous pressure for development out here, which is apparent today. As long as the ranch was in undivided ownership it meant that it was very difficult for the family to make decisions. With the death of Don, it moved past the ability of one individual to make all of these long-range plans en behalf of everyone else. No one person would want such responsibility. By that time you had several families, trusts, you had life income beneficiaries, you had people like ourselves, and then grandchildren — remainder men and women. It became very complicated, and there were legal issues. So the corporation was formed as a means of orchestrating concerted family planning. There had been some evidence of disorganization earlier. Lage: Within the family? 217 Campbell: Within the family. There were certain individuals with different interests who particularly wanted to sell their interests, which would have forced everyone to sell if they had been successful. So at that point PFM was capitalized and undivided ownership interests in land were exchanged for stock in the various partnerships. This took a while to accomplish, to explain why such a move was prudent. So everyone then was placed in a position where they controlled a pro rata share of a larger stock corporation. It meant that everybody voted their percentage interests and observed a set of by-laws, and you went back to majority rule. That was significant because it took the burden off family members who were having to operate on behalf of a lot of persons whom they couldn't contact daily or who didn't understand all that was taking place. A board of directors from the family was set up early in 1984 to jointly establish policy, and a staff was formed to implement these actions. Lage: Was that a decision that was accepted without much opposition? It seems like a logical way to go. Campbell: I think it was. As I say, there have been no indications of any departure from that idea once it was put into place. Again, it's very clear that decisions had to be made, but unless you're close to a rapidly changing situation like this one, you might not see the need for decisions and planning. As far as the partnerships which we manage, and we're in contact with all of the various partners through our quarterly newsletters and financial reports, the kinds of input we're getting is that they're very happy with the organization we have developed. Organization saves you money and protects your assets in the long run. Lage: How many members are there now? Campbell: Well, let's see. We have about twenty-five limited partners today. We have an eight-person board, which represents the various ownerships in the property. Lage: It includes all the active owners, are you saying, or the representatives? Campbell: All of the various ownerships are represented on that board through family representation; that is, one son of the William Patterson side of the family might sit en the board as a representative for his siblings and so forth. Lage: Is it assumed that the William Pattersons have a certain point of view and the Henry Pattersons another? Campbell: I think, historically, they probably had. I'm not sure it was always opposite, just separate. I'm sure you know independent farm families have very different points of view beyond their 218 Campbell: agreement en land use. Some board members as trustees favor development more than do ethers who are strong environmentalists. But today I think those points of view are beginning to conform. There's a coincidence of interests today. That really stems from better information flow, regular meetings, a full-time business organization which can get together with the various owners and let them know what's happening out here. That isn't to say that there is complete unanimity of opinion en the beard. I don't think there is, and I wouldn't expect it. There are very divergent interests as to whether sales should be undertaken, what sort of uses the property ought to be put to... Lage : Does it break down along family lines? I think that would be kind of interesting if the views down into the second and third generations still reflected the two branches of the family. Campbell: I would say not. I used to think that it did, but once you have equivalent representation en the board. I think that, en the continuum from, say. development te perpetual open space, you find representation in every family for both of those positions. I don't believe it's generational either. People just have their own opinions on where these uses should intersect or balance off. What's interesting, though, is that virtually all of our board votes are unanimous. There's a great deal of discussion and give-and-take prior to a vote, but the votes themselves tend to be unanimous, and we go on te the next matter. Again, you debate matters of principle and policy, but oftentimes it gets back to the question of feasibility, like in the preservation of the house. The Patterson board can make all the decisions it wants, but we have to remember at the same time that the city councils of Fremont and Union City and Newark and the Association of Bay Area Governments, and the Army Corps of Engineers, environmental groups, the farm tenants, all these different agencies have their own agendas. So we're really part of a larger scheme, and one of the jobs ef this office is to try and accommodate those various interests, to find seme common ground en which they can agree. Master Planning and the Sales ef Land Lage: Is there a particular decision that we could explore that would show these things you've talked about in the abstract — not only how a decision within the family is made, but how it's related to the feasibility issue? Campbell: Well. I think the two major decisions to date that the family has undertaken was the decision to master plan the ranch, and with respect to that master planning, to sell the technology park area to Kaiser. Then, secondly, te sell off part of the residential property to Ardenwood Development Associates. 219 Lage: And when was that decision? Campbell: In February of '84, the Kaiser sale was consummated, and the same year the Ardenwood Development Associate Open Agreement was signed. Lage: This was when you were involved? Campbell: That's when we were involved. Actually, I was elected to the board in December of '83, and we began to discuss both the Kaiser sale and the residential option agreements throughout '84. The Kaiser sale was all decided by the time I came on board; the ADA option was in the discussion stages. Those decisions were difficult to reach for the family because they represented the sale of a good bit of the property, and they also represented a clear development future. But, again, what made those decisions palatable, even to members of the family who would rather have seen the property stay the way it was, was that the deals were all cash, they produced improvement districts which added value to our remaining lands, and the development was reasonably restricted to certain parts of the ranch. In addition, a great deal of open space was preserved, and the farming operation was retained. If one takes into account the Coyote Hills and all of the property known as Tract M down the eastern slope of Coyote Hills, that acreage was dedicated as permanent open space, paid for through the assignment of saleable density rights. Lage: Under whose ownership at that period? Still the family? Campbell: No, that is open space under the jurisdiction of the city of Fremont. All of the property to the north and west of Paseo Padre remains in agriculture. Then the original commitment to the city to preserve the ranch house was expanded to include the preserve, the original farming operation, or about thirty-one acres in all. So I think, again, that's an example of planned development that was economically responsible but it also required developers to pay for the other amenities (streets, freeway overpasses, lighting, utilities) that would preserve the essential qualitites of the ranch as a public attraction. So that was a decision that was important; both of these decisions were important. Lage: Did you hire a master planner? Campbell: Jack Brooks served as master planner for this project. He, at that point, met regularly with the Patterson board and he has a small limited-partnership interest in part of the remaining Patterson lands. So that the Pattersons, I would say, were well informed as to what was taking place. It was an active role of the Pattersons; they were able to plan what was going to happen. 220 Lage: Would it have been Jack Brooks who was the liaison to the various public agencies? The city...? Campbell: Yes. definitely. Jack has had a long association with the East Bay — Oakland. San Leandro, Fremont. He's had something like a forty-year association with the family, knew Henry and William. worked with Donald. David, and today the entire group. So although the planning took a long time, the net result was that the city of Fremont probably began to see the possibilities of this as a model development. There weren't many big open-land plays of this sort in the Bay Area, in this area, that is, close in to the West Bay. The decision to permit the Ardenwood development was worked out. I guess, over a long period of time. The decisions were to build multi-family as well as single-family housing, cluster housing, which, we think, really meets a big need in this area, with the opening of the new Dumbarton Bridge, in about 1984. Lage: The family was able to sort ef come together, then? Campbell: Yes, I think the family began to realize that the sale of certain parts of the property were necessary in order to protect the rest of the property to do with as they chose down the line. It bought us the time, gave us the economic capacity to hold en to the Town Center area that you're familiar with, as well as the urban reserve land to the north. Pressures for Development in Fremont's North Plain Lage: Was one of the alternatives just not to sell at all and to keep more agriculture in operation? Campbell: Certainly it must have been an alternative. I wasn't associated with matters then, but I think it was an unworkable alternative. Municipalities have the right to cancel the Williamson Act which, prior to the passage of Proposition 13. was a means of keeping land in agriculture.* The city wanted this development — it provided a tax base and is an attractive addition to the city. It's changed Fremont some. I think. * The Williamson Act [California Land Conservation Act, 1965] keeps taxes lower for land owners who contract with their local government to keep their land in agricultural use for at least ten years. Lands under this provision are assessed on the value for agricultural use rather than their development potential. Proposition 13 was the 1978 initiative measure which limited property tax in California. — Ed. 221 Lage: The family had used the Williamson Act, I assume? Campbell: Yes. I think the family utilized the Williamson Act to keep farming after other farming areas were going under, but this was due more to the fact that it's good farm land. After the passage of Prop. 13, the Williamson Act has been less responsible than land quality and commodity prices for keeping land in agriculture. The structure of farming is such that farms have to pay for themselves. Higher yields don't always result in net profit increases. This farming operation has been up and down and farm prices are now in a trough, as you know. So if the Pattersons wanted to make up deficits of their own pockets it could have remained as it had. But that's difficult to do, when you're talking about eight, nine hundred acres of farmland. What we've chosen to do is to strengthen the remaining farming operation and make it profitable. Lage: You said that the Williamson Act could be cancelled. Campbell: Well, the point is that since cities can cancel the Williamson Act, it's quite possible that had the family wished to keep all the land in farming, if the Patterson family had taken that position, there's some indication, I would think, that the city of Fremont would have canceled it on their own initiative, as a result of wanting to plan and develop this area. Because the area south of Jarvis Boulevard was developed, Hayward was developing. Union City was anxious to — this was the kind of area that Fremont was quite interested in. You couldn't overlook its bay front location. Keep in mind, too, that this was a period of high technology growth; in fact, the whale definition of Silicon Valley was expanded out of San Jose north to include the Mil pitas corridor, even all the way up to Foster City, maybe not in a strict geographic sense. But the other aspect of this property is that it is located between Stanford and UC Berkeley, two of the premier research universities in the world. So its future as a research park ultimately was picked up en by Kaiser, but it was seen by a lot of people. On this whole Highway 84 corridor, if you drive down it, you'll see R and D [research and development] zoning on either side, and because it has bay proximity, proximity to the high tech entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and Sunnyvale, and land was cheaper here, it was a natural for this sort of usage. Cities were in competition to become the next Silicon Valley. 222 Campbell: So I think those are the kinds of pressures that really indicated that fanning of the entire region was going to be impractical. The way you protected farming was to master plan and allow for farming in certain areas. And for development to be restricted in others. 223 IV MAINTAINING AGRICULTURE IN AN URBAN SETTING The Changing Market Lage : The farming really seems like an anachronism as you look at the high technology park, the multi-residential... Campbell: Yes, it's been difficult. We've learned a let about how you maintain — in fact, that would probably be a good oral history project — how do you maintain a high quality agriculture amidst tremendous change.* It hasn't been easy. You look down at Irvine, and you look at Orange County. The classic example. They never could do it down there. Farming went out of operation because of commercial and population pressures; people wanted to live there, basically. Here, the farmers' problems really don't have so much to do with the surrounding development because we've controlled that. They have more to do with the farming market. So the farming operation is changing tremendously; it's changing to much more of a local, regional, specialized farming operation. But people do want to live here, close to the bay and the freeways. Lage: You mentioned on the phone that the family is going to take an active role in agriculture. Campbell: Well, only this — traditionally, large-scale farming has been mechanized, it's been oriented towards rapid transfer of farm produce to eastern markets, and it's been high overhead, high- technology farming. In recent years there has been a move away from that type of farming to specialized niches. Up here, for example, if you look at the labor situation — whereas in the Central Valley you have a built-in labor supply, and labor is migratory, it migrates all up and down the Central Valley from the wine country down to Bakersf ield and beyond to El Centre. * See also interviews with Mel Alameda and Gene Williams in volume I of this series. 224 Campbell: Up here, you don't have a stable labor pool, you have to provide labor housing in order to have large-scale farming. And labor's very expensive. This puts local farming at a disadvantage in a conventional market system. So that that, among other things, produces an inclination on the farmer's part to change to try and sell to local retail chains, market chains, to get into the specialty vegetable business, which is very hot now, to sell to restaurant chains, to market locally through fruit stands. All those things are a reorientation that would have taken place regardless of the development that's happened. Lage: But is that what is happening? Campbell: We're very involved now since the farming operation is in trouble and because we think that's one of the best ways to protect the farm operation. I should just stop to say that we've supported the farming operation; we've really made it possible for farming to continue up here. We built a new farm center; we built a new labor camp; we have reduced rents to zero, basically. Lage: The labor camp is located on the ranch properties? Campbell: Yes. We worked very closely with the farm tenants now, whereas in the past, farm tenants basically — like other tenants, sent you a check at the end of the month. Lage: Ran the operation totally. Campbell: Ran the operation totally. But let me emphasize again how much this property is changing. Development patterns are changing, farming's changing, and we have to be really involved in that. As long as we farm, we want to see the farming profitable and heal thy . Lage: How many acres are left now in farming? preserve. I know that there's a Campbell: Well, yes, there's about four hundred acres in farming — I would say we're farming something under five hundred acres right now. Lage: Dees that count the East Bay Regional Park lands? Campbell: No. the East Bay Regional Park lands are being farmed under contract, but I don't believe our people (the Alameda Company) are farming them. They're being farmed independently. We would be interested to farm those lands if they would be interested in having them extend their farming operation. I'm working on this now. So there's some chance that we might get involved in those kinds of farming contracts. Lage: You mean including it with the Alameda Company operation? 225 Campbell Lage: Campbell: Lage: Campbell: Lage: Campbell Yes, te see if they would be interested in expanding their operation to include the park — because East Bay is going te, eventually, have quite an extensive farming operation in the park. The Alamedas certainly know this area well. It's a matter of, I guess again, of logistics, of their ability to take on more farming. The specialty farming is very intensive, and the Alamedas have a retail farm outlet on the ranch, called Oak Grove Farm. This could give them a produce outlet at the park. They're doing a lot of direct marketing now with market chains, and they're starting to serve the population base out here. it [Discussion about interviewing Gene Williams, who farmed Patterson lands from the 1950s-1981.] What Gene tells you will — I think that's really a crucial period because that's the other side of the coin, what was really happening to farming as the Pattersons were making the decisions in flood control and development. Farming, you see, I think was on a gradual downslope. Production was falling off even before development began. Do you foresee agriculture making a comeback? It's a challenge, I would think, to fit into the urban setting. Well, it is a challenge, but I think it will; it's possible that farming will come back before high technology! That's the other local industry. It really is, I mean that seriously. Farmers will survive if they reorient and meet current demands. They're very sophisticated shoppers out there today; they're wanting fresh produce. Fresh produce is commanding very high prices in the markets; it's a matter of getting the right product to these people. It's certainly talked about enough — the need for local farming, for local markets. It's talked about a lot. Alice Waters [owner of Chez Panisse, a highly regarded Berkeley restaurant] goes all the way down to a local operation we know in Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego County to get vegetables; others use the Webb Ranch in Portola Valley. The Chine family operation is in Rancho Santa Fe. Yes, I know of them. Their produce is wonderful. You know that? All right, that's the one. That's the model that we're trying to see developed up here, something like that, because it's a splendid family-run operation and superior 226 Campbell : Lage: Campbell: Lage: Campbell : Lage: Campbell: Lage: Campbell preduce. Simply by word of mouth, they command a huge market down there. And with the freeway now, you see, too, the Paseo Padre freeway means that the farm produce operation is on a thoroughfare so the people can get to them now more easily. The crops would be much more diversified, too. Crops are diversified, yes. Yes, they're doing lots of bok choy and different kinds of lettuce, of course, cauliflower, tomatoes, two kinds of corn, white and yellow corn, beans, peppers. They're just getting into this. What kind of a labor pool do they have? The Alamedas have agricultural operations outside of Fremont, but their laborers run from unskilled agriculturalists to skilled tractor drivers, and I really don't know all the various types. But there are skilled and unskilled labor. They're housed right en the ranch. They're seasonal, but some of the people remain year-round, maintenance people. The family built the living quarters? The living quarters are barracks types, they're prefabs. But the family provided those and always has. Again, that's an additional expense because in most cases, in Salinas for example. you contract for labor. You just simply call up the labor organizer, whoever does it, and labor is provided on a temporary basis; it's much cheaper to do that. So there are lots of things that make farming here difficult. I can see that, but as you talk about the urban vegetable scene, that's the advantage of this area. Yes, well, we're hopeful, we're hopeful about that. Time will tell, but the residential development provides a local market, as do commuters. Water Problems Lage: You mentioned to me. when we were talking at one point, problems of saltwater intrusion. Is that a current concern? Campbell: It's been a concern for a long time. Lage: Matt Whitfield indicated that the water district had solved the problem of saltwater intrusion. 227 Campbell: It depends. I guess, on how you define saltwater. From a farming standpoint it has a direct effect on quality. There's lots of boron concentration here. There's a very active effort by Alameda County Flood Control to recharge the Newark aquifer up to traditional levels; 1916, I think, is the base year. There are some ambitious plans by the Bay Area Conservation District, BCDC, to develop a barrier that's going to prevent saltwater intrusion. But this recharging moves saline water into some of our wells. Nevertheless, saline intrusion's always going to be a problem here, and it has a direct impact on agricultural yields. That's just a fact of life; it has to do with the geomorphology of the bay. The farmland towards the bay is low- lying and not as productive as that out by the old ranch. The other thing is, when you get away from water quality, water quantity's an issue. The water tables are much higher than they traditionally were. East Bay Regional Park District has a very active program of ponding, demonstration ponding, where they test the waters going into the bay for trace metals and for oils. That's a bird refuge; fish and game is active out there. Well, the ponding has impacts on farming because standing water tends to back up and create sloughs on our property. We are very actively trying to pump out this water, for slough maintenance. Because sloughs, if you leave them unattended, will grow, and they fill and erode good farmland. So we're doing that as part of protecting our farming. When you have water tables being as high as they are, it means that you can't get two crops off farmland during the year. So the whole water issue — the wetlands, what is a wetland, what's a seasonal wetland, how can we keep farming effectively, those are issues that we regularly discuss with East Bay Park District and the other people out there. Relations with Agencies Lage : Is the Corps of Engineers involved in that? Campbell: Corps of Engineers hasn't been directly involved with us because we have no identified wetlands which we own. Corps of Engineers is more active, really, with some of the other owners out on the bayfront. All of these agencies, I think, have their own opinions about this land, and every development requires a full environmental impact report, so we spend a great deal of our time dealing with agencies. There is very little consensus in the wetlands area, beginning with definitions. 228 Lage : Sounds very complicated. Do you find that the East Bay Park District is — just take this pending issue — are they concerned with yeur needs, understanding of your needs? Campbell: They're beginning to be. One ef the things is that you have agencies that are very active, they have their own agendas, they own their own lands, and farmlands and absentee ownership tends to be sort of passive. Before we opened the office our general supervision of farming and water issues had been somewhat sporadic. So I think many of the things that have happened were inadvertent. If you're dealing with. say. a homeowners' association right next door, those things aren't going to happen because home owners are present, they're going to be protecting their own interests. But they've been very understanding once the Patterson agenda has been explained to them. That's true. too. of the municipalities. Before we opened this office and were a daily presence and were known quantities here, there was a little bit of a vacuum. Brooks looked out for our interests but it's not the same as handling your own affairs. I think we're actively taking our board's wishes and translating that into action at the municipal level. So I think we're getting along — so far! I do think there's a good bit of — good will may be the right word. There's an understanding that this is a unique area, that it has to be done right. This project has gotten very strong — strongly positive — reviews at the city level. And the Pattersons have been good for Fremont for many years. We have credibility. Lage: That was going to be my next question — did the city actively promote retaining agriculture there? What was their attitude towards it? Campbell: I'm not quite sure. Councils in the 1970s were more protective than their successors in the 1980s. I think the city has actively promoted the retaining of open space as part of development. I think their position on agriculture is certainly consistent with that. But their mandate really is to provide housing and jobs as well as open space, and Prop. 13 ended a lot of the municipal programs in terms of weed abatement and maintenance. That's been thrown back to the property owners. So since fanning is active and does a lot of those things, they have been happy with farming. However, the issue isn't joined yet since residential activity is consistent with current demand. 229 V FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PATTERSON RANCH Non- Agricultural Development Lage: We've talked a lot about agriculture; now, what about the lands that are going to be developed? Do you still retain some of those directly, or have you sold them? Campbell : We're retaining directly, Ann, an area called the Town Center, which is at the intersection of Ardenwood Boulevard and Paseo Padre. That is a sixty-acre parcel, fifteen acres of which are currently zoned commercially for a shopping center development. Another forty acres of residential, about 944 residential units, are presently zoned en that property. So we're concentrating on that right at this present time. Lage: Is that going to be developed by the family? Campbell: The family will develop that along with a development consultant in a joint venture. We're now exploring the exact structure of that venture, but we hope to be actively involved. Lage: That's been approved, though? Campbell: The project is approved. I mean the current zoning allows for that, and the Patterson family board has approved the concept of retaining the property; I think that's the crucial factor — planning and maintaining it, keeping the Patterson signature on the property. Lage: Was the approval of the zoning by the city controversial? Campbell: No, that was part of the Ardenwood Forest general plan. That entire eight- hundred-acre parcel was approved in 1982. I think you have in your office a map which I sent you which indicates 230 Campbell: the parameters of the general plan and the approved uses. Residential development requires industrial and commercial to keep alive the concept of working near where you live.* Lage: What about the Pattersons' lands in Livermore? Campbell: The Livermore lands are a different sort. Originally there were ten thousand acres or so of Livermore ranch land, that's down to about five thousand acres now. As you know, part of the Livermore ranch lands were given ever to East Bay Regional Park District for the Del Valle Park, which is an aquatic park. The remaining lands are leased out to a cattle operation. They'll remain as a cattle ranch; it's a hill ranch, and the cattle business, while it's not thriving, at least it's keeping its head above water. Lage: Are they protected under the Williamson Act? Campbell: That's a good question — that land is net in Williamson, although I don't know that for sure. Lage: But high taxation isn't as big a problem as it was before Prop. 13? Campbell: That doesn't seem to be a problem. The land is removed enough from Livermore. Livermore. certainly, is in the growth path of Highway 680. Pleasanten and all of these areas represent the end of that path right now. It's in the East Bay commute-shed. I guess the pressures will begin te develop in Livermore in the next decade. But again, it's all a function of absorption of built-eut areas now in Contra Costa. Lage: That might be your next master plan somewhere down the road. Campbell: Oh. gosh. I hope we resolve this one successfully firstl [laughter] Lage: Are there things that we need to talk further about? Things I may have missed that you thought of? One quick question, is Jack Brooks still involved? Campbell: Yes. he is. That is. Jack was on a consultant ship basis with the family, which ended with the Kaiser sale. That was a formal arrangement between the family and Brooks. The informal arrangement, as I say. goes back forty years and still continues. We talk with him a lot about planning and issue resolution. There's no one who's better informed than he as to land-use policy in this area. * See town development plan. p. 399. Lage: 231 He has the right connections, I understand. Campbell: Well. yes. he's earned those. He has very strong connections in the city. I would say as a result of doing the kinds of developments that the city favors. There's not ever been, to my knowledge, any controversy about the quality of the developments, although seme may oppose the fact of them. I'm told that this development has even received an award from the Sierra dub. which is unusual. Also, as a professional in the field, he's seen issues on the horizon which the family has only guessed at. such as the costs of our keeping the land and self- financing the improvement districts. He's emphasized planning a great deal. which has helped our own. So we emphasize planning with him, and he's saved us a good bit of agony. Union City, Newark, and Fremont City Planning Campbell: A great deal is going on. Unless you're familiar with decisions that are being made, unless you have a well-thought-out plan of your own, those decisions will be made in spite of you. This really means that it's our responsibility to take positions beforehand — well, let me give you a specific example. In Union City, located just to the north of Ardenwood, there's a tremendous interest in planning, in giving Union City a definition. There are Union City and Centerville. lots of little towns there. They are interested in creating, really, I would say, the same kind of planning that's gone on in Fremont. Newark is a bit more developed out, and I suspect planning has gene on there for a longer time. The Patterson lands located north of the flood control channel come within Union City's jurisdiction, so that we feel that it's to our benefit to observe the deliberations, to be aware of all the environmental impact reports, to get an understanding of the city's philosophy. The cities can assign uses, assign densities, and those have a great deal of future effect. They affect your valuation, but they also affect your abilities as a landowner to do your own planning. The only way you can impact those studies is to be involved in the process from the beginning. Lage: Is that part of your role? Campbell: Part of my role is te issue Patterson position papers, to appear before planning commissions and councils, and take the board's wishes and translate these into policy. The other ownerships up here are large builders, Ponderosa Homes, Citation Builders. 232 Campbell: Kaiser. Most of these large plots ether than ours have been taken down by large residential builders, and they're very active in the planning process, and so we have to be to*. Lage: What kinds of positions are you taking in Union City? Campbell: Right new. the position we're taking is to try to determine what is their thinking with regards to our lands. How do they view our lands? From a wetlands perspective? Can we stay in farming or will we be put into an assessment district as well? Do they see the future of our lands in industrial? In commercial? In residential? How are they acknowledging traffic flows? How will those impact on our lands across the channel? The Town Center area? We want to make sure that, if there is a development scenario adjacent to our lands, it's a well-planned one. If it's not well planned, then we want to insure that it's going te be and that our needs are recognized in the process. So it's a little different than planning your own lands. Once a general plan has been approved in Union City, then the rules are set. environmental impact studies have been completed, and then you have lost the choice of what you want to do with your own lands. So it's really in use determination. We need te balance our wishes with theirs. Lage: You want to be involved in this general plan. Campbell: You have to be involved early on. and you have te know what you want since they do. Lage: What is the quality of the people you deal with in the government in Union City and Fremont? Campbell: I'm impressed with councils and city governments. I really am. I've not had a great deal of experience dealing with them. I think these people spend a tremendous amount of time trying to understand the needs of their community and the extensive change that's taking place. They also have a very good conception of their cities. They're beginning te understand that they have a great responsibility in creating the city of the future. There is not likely to be agreement en many issues. Change bothers people, myself included. It's got to be explained and. better yet. made apparent that there are benefits. Lage: This is Union City in particular you're talking about? Campbell: I think you can apply the same te Fremont and. I'm sure, te Newark, too. They have tremendous responsibilities at the municipal level which perhaps they didn't have fifteen, twenty years ago. I don't want to misunderstand city government because I've net been a part of it, but choices today are so complex for volunteers — I mean city council persons. They put in a tremendous 233 Campbell: amount of time, and they're not paid large sums of money. They're the penultimate volunteers, really. Fremont appears to me to have planned well; the others are trying to catch up. We've been impressed wtih with staffs because my guess is that the whole planning process in southern Alameda County has not been as extensive as it has been elsewhere. I mean, the development crush hit earlier on, say, up the Highway 17 corridor, and in the West Bay. So Fremont has some negative examples to avoid. Lage: Fremont seems to have put a lot ef energy into planning. Campbell: Fremont's put a tremendous amount in. If you drive through Fremont, with the hillside initiative which assures no development along the ridge line, with the city hall complex, and the space which is designated for libraries, and all civic functions being located in one area. It's the only community in this area that I can think of that has all of the qualities which will allow it to grow in an orderly way. My prediction, and remember, you heard it here first, is that Fremont is going to be the next Palo Alto; it will attract professionals, and managers will want to live and work here, because it's got the capacity to be what it wants to become. It doesn't have a lot of in-f ill development that has to be altered and changed. I think it can create spaces like Ardenwood. I know that's the feeling of the city planners. To some degree we share that feeling in Ardenwood. The opportunity is still there, which can't be said for some other places. Lage: That's true. Do you find that same quality in Union City? Campbell: I don't know Union City as well at all. I know Union City is spending a good deal of time and money in trying to determine how it's going to fit into the general scheme of things; how it's going to look. My impression is considerable redevelopment is required in the older areas, and there's not yet any agreement on the area west of Union City Boulevard. Lage: Aside from your formal appearances in front of boards or commissions, do you try to make informal contacts with civic leaders, councilmen? Campbell: Try to. Yes, we have gone out and taken the initiative in getting to know councilpersons and the mayors, and the staff persons. We also have gotten to know developers, private planners, engineers. Just again, part of it was our own education. These people had been doing these things on behalf ef the Patterson family for many years, and so it's taken at least a year to introduce ourselves and understand the thought processes which led up to the current situation. 234 A Historian Looks Ahead Campbell: It's harder when you come on board in the middle. There's a lot of historical work to be done before you can get in a position where you really can plan for the future. You need to understand well the context first. Lage : Campbell : Lage: Campbell : So you understand that? So I understand that part of it. That's where the history professor comes in. [laughter] I understand that people really make a difference, shape events. Say you're dealing with cities, you're dealing with particular individuals who have long acquaintance with your properties. You have to sit down in the way we're sitting down today and understand just what's the whole history of the land use, where the process has been going for the recent past. Why is it shaping that way? Because once you understand that, then you can see where the process is headed and how much you can influence it. Net that everything is inevitable or inexorable, but many of the decisions have been made; it's clear that certain things are going to happen. If you want to prevent them or support them you have to know how to do so. Lage: Campbell : Do you want to give a prediction as a final word? Pale Alto your prediction? Or is the next My prediction is that this area (Le.. Ardenwood) will, in fifteen or twenty years, be unique because it is ideally located and because it has the planning opportunities that don't exist toe many ether places. There are seme other unique areas in the East Bay, this whole tri-city area (Union City, Newark, Fremont) that we're dealing with here — in which Ardenwood is really the central twelve or thirteen hundred acres — I think is going to have a direct impact on the development ef the greater San Francisco Bay Area. That was made possible by the expansion of the Dumbarton bridge. Work configurations today, where people cannot obtain affordable housing in the West Bay, yet the high- technology and white-cellar employment that tends to concentrate in Palo Alto and San Mateo can't continue indefinitely. Gridlock will occur before 2000 if it does. I think it's inevitable that Fremont is going to be associated with that kind of situation. Ultimately seme of those businesses and technologies are going to come this way and join up with the residential development which is taking place. It's get to happen; it's sensible. Lage: So you have people living where they work? 235 Campbell Lage: Campbell : Lage: Campbell: Lage: You have people living where they work and living in an environment that is healthy, and I think there's not lest opportunity time from commuting. Problems create preconditions for solutions. The South Bay needs another administrative/ commercial headquarters, and maybe even cultural headquarters, as Palo Alto has evolved into being now. In the Palo Alto area the dominant feature has been Stanford University, of course. That's what Fremont lacks. That's what Fremont lacks, a university. But, to my mind, Stanford and Berkeley are close by. and Ardenwood being situated bewteen them has the opportunity to be what Ardenwood calls itself, and that is a new town. Anything else you would like to add? Gee. I think I've talked too long already, clean copy and want to retract everything. I'll probably see the Well, I don't think you'll want to retract. You might find areas that we didn't think of and you can add then. Property Management and Stewardship Campbell: Lage: Campbell: I can certainly be informed en a lot of these areas. I hope I've filled in some gaps. When Knex Mellon and I conceived of the oral history project it was designed to be of use to people looking at use evolution, planning. Maybe what we see as successes new will prove shortsighted. The only thing I can think of to add is just to emphasize what we do here a little bit. We manage all of the agricultural operations and all of the Patterson properties which are not only in Fremont, but Livermore, and the investment properties. We operate several limited partnerships. The major limited partnerships are the development partnership of Patbrook, but also the agricultural partnerships. Patag and Patliv. Those are all divided down into subgroups, that is, individual groups of owners who own a property. So we manage for about twenty-five separate partners, individuals and trusts. Now we didn't really talk about Patbrook. partnership? Is this a separate Patbrook refers to the Patterson lands in Fremont out of agriculture, being developed or approved for development. So Patbrook refers to the more actively managed properties, properties which we're either going to develop ourselves or which are managed as investment properties. 236 Lage: And Jack Brooke is a partner — ? Campbell: Well. Jack Brooks has a small interest in the Town Center project, purchased from Pattersons who wanted out. So he's a minority partner. Lage: Then the other partnerships? Campbell: The ether partnerships are all composed of family members in different properties located throughout California. Lage: This gets mere complicated. Campbell: It is dene as a unit. Let's say we're talking about the ownership of a particular building or property. The ownership of a particular building might be held by five, six. seven or mere Patterson family members including trusts. Title is held by Pat brook, and the building is managed by the corporate general partner of Patbroek which is PFM Inc.. which means this office. We do more than just manage, though, since the managers are also owners. We act as owners since we are owners. Our activities are far mere extensive than those of outside management. n We talked a little bit about what we do with various municipalities, but I should emphasize that we have a very active management program of our own. As we take on the responsibilities of planning and developing some of these properties, the functions of the office will expand. Bob and I are stretched out pretty far as it is. running this big an organization. Lage: Is there a dollar figure we can put en the corporation or is that private information? Campbell: It would just be speculative. I think it's very hard to estimate the value of the properties because you have residential values which we could probably determine through sales prices of housing, the values of the R & D [research and development] properties, you knew, you could get evaluations. But it would be speculative. The commercial property built out at present allowances probably would have a value of one hundred million dollars or so. That's a guesstimate. The value of the property has probably increased tenfold in the last ten years. Lag*: Is the increased value attributable te this kind of active management, would you say. or to general demand factors in the area? 237 Campbell: It would be too presumptuous to claim the former but, to take one small area, our negotiations with Kaiser have resulted in considerable savings too numerous to recount. We opposed them en several issues which, had they changed uses as proposed, would have affected the Town Center uses. Just the simple supply and demand curve has added value, but planning continues to do so. The demand for housing; the kinds of retail uses we control are the only ones in the Ardenwood area. That is, we have allowable zoning for restaurants, for hotels, a shopping center, for these sorts of uses. Who's to say how valuable they are; they're net built yet. But they're unique in the sense that many of those uses aren't allowable otherwise in this North Plain area, in this proximate area. Se there's a great deal of potential to protect and to help establish, and our job, running the office, is just the stewardship. I suppose, trying to protect those future valuations. Everything we do is designed to protect the values that the family has built up over a hundred years. Lage: It sounds as if the family's interest in agriculture and maintaining it. in the long run was very economically beneficial, whereas other families sold out long age. Campbell: I think that's right. The Pattersons lasted longer than most. There's no doubt about that. Not selling everything off turned out to be probably the most appropriate solution. The family will be able te do what it wants to do when it wants to do it since it can afford te wait where ethers can't. Because this is not a syndication, there are no tax advantages te doing something immediately; the family can really pick and choose how it wants te proceed, and that's a big advantage as well as a big responsibility. Continuous ownership for over 130 years results in that. Lage: A lot ef planning and predicting involved. Campbell: Yes. [end of interview] Transcriber: Alexandra Walter Final Typist: Shannon Page 238 TAPE GUIDE — Leen Campbell Date of Interview: September 24. 1986 tape 1. side A 203 tape 1. side B 213 tape 2. side A 225 tape 2. side B 236 239 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California Berkeley, California THE PATTERSON FAMILY AND RANCH: SOUTHERN ALAMEDA COUNTY IN TRANSITION Wilcox Patterson Donald Patterson and Patterson Ranch Management. 1950s-1980s An Interview Conducted by Ann Lage in 1987 Copyright (c) 1988 by the Regents of the University of California WILCOX PATTERSON 240 TABLE OF CONTENTS — Wilcox Patterson INTERVIEW HISTORY 241 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION 242 I THE RANCH UNDER DONALD PATTERSON1 S LEADERSHIP 243 Wilcox Patterson's Schooling and Career 243 Donald Patterson's Education, Marriage, and Career 246 First Housing Development on the Ranch. 1955 249 Donald's Management of the Ranch 250 Donald as Explorer. Amateur Entomologist. Businessman, World Traveller 252 Donald's Goal: "The Orderly Liquidation of the Ranch" 255 The 1971 Sale of Ranch Lands and Home to Singer Housing 258 II FORMULATING A MASTER PLAN AND INCORPORATING THE FAMILY 261 Donald's Illness and Death. 1979-1980 261 A Model Master Plan 262 Family Mavericks Spur Incorporation 262 Transition to Professional Management by Family Members 266 The Current Board and Future Directions 267 III MEMORIES OF THE FAMILY AND RANCH 269 Grandpa Will Patterson 269 Hunting on Ranch Lands 270 Exploring the Secrets of the W. D. Patterson Home 270 Ranch Tenants and Employees 272 Henry. Will, and Family History 273 The Bountiful Harvest of the Ranch 275 TAPE GUIDE 277 241 INTERVIEW HISTORY — Wilcox Patterson Wilcox Patterson ie the grandson of William D. Patterson and the second son of Donald Patterson. During the 1970s he worked in the savings and loan industry in Menlo Park. His interest in real estate and his close contact with his father during this time gives him insight into his father's management of the Patterson Ranch. He clearly states Donald Patterson's guiding principles in these years: "the orderly liquidation of the ranch," while protecting the interests of the ranch tenants and family members. His interview is valuable not only for its insight into the period when Donald was managing the ranch, but also for its sympathetic portrait of his father outside the business setting. Reserved, controlled, conservative at work, he also had a wide range of interests — entomology, exploration, history — and is described by his son as an adventuresome person and a fascinating conversationalist. Wilcox Patterson was involved after his father's death in management of the ranch properties and currently serves on the board of directors of the family corporation. His interview provides additional information on the swiftly moving events of the 1980s. After discussing the business aspects of the ranch, Wilcox gives some fond reminiscences of visiting the ranch as a youth and provides a look at his grandfather Will, his home, and the people and produce of the ranch. The interview was begun on April 1, 1987. in the patio of Wilcox's mother's home in Menlo Park, California. His wife. Sandy, was present for this session. Technical problems caused the latter portion of this interview to be unusable, and a second session was held on May 20, 1987. This time we met in his father's upstairs office, surrounded by photos and mementoes of his father1 life. The setting seemed conducive to reminiscing about Donald, for it was in this office that Wilcox and his father had held many wide-ranging discussions during the 1970s. We were able to recapitulate the lost material from the first session and add to the portrait of Donald and the boyhood memories of the ranch. Wilcox reviewed his interview transcript, making minimal changes. Tapes are on deposit in The Bancroft Library. Ann Lage Interviewer/Editor Project Director September, 1988 Regional Oral History Office The Bancroft Library University of California at Berkeley Regional Oral History Office University of California Room 486 The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California 94720 242 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION (Please print or write clearly) \ i 0 \\ > L. c. ~> >. \- Your full name \\ > L. c. ~> >. \-^ T t £<; -\ vO. Date of birth \ - 2 ^ - \ _ Place of birth ^ tNK L M . O M Father's full name \x » Ll \ P\\\ OoK Kl£) \4cTTtP