California Seaports

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: ° Alameda: ° Berkeley ° Oakland
Contra Costa County: ° Crockett, ° Martinez ° Port Costa
Marin County: ° Point Reyes, ° San Rafael (China Camp), ° Sausalito, ° Tiburon
° Mendocino ° Sacramento
San Francisco (City and County)
Solano: ° Benicia (St. Paul's Church), ° VallejoMare Island
Sonoma: ° Petaluma ° Fort Ross
CENTRAL & SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: ° Long Beach ° Los Angeles ° Monterey County ° San Diego County ° Santa Barbara ° Santa Monica ° The Channel Islands

Alameda

California was a land of vast, rich and open meadows filled with oak woodlands, plentiful game, and countless distinct groups of native people who became dominated by a Spanish mission, the church and the Presidio after the arrival of Cabrillo (1542), Jose Francisco Ortega (1769) and Don Juan Manuel de Ayala (1775).

The City of Alameda is part of what became one of the most valuable land grants in California's history.

In 1818, a 35 square mile area, then known as Rancho San Antonio, was transferred from the governor of California to Luis Peralta. In 1842, Peralta divided the property between his four surviving sons. Antonio Maria got all of Alameda and much of Oakland.

Nearly a decade later, W. W. Chipman and Gideon Aughinbaugh, considered the city's founding fathers, became the first American settlers to arrive in Alameda. Their pursuits led to the establishment of a large peach orchard, signaling the beginning of the area's development. In 1853, the two men purchased the land that was to become the city, then a peninsula, for the sum of $14,000. The town's name was changed to Alameda, the Spanish word for a grove of poplar trees.

May 29, 1863, California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences

The Military Camp

The Camp of Instruction which was formed on Thursday last, across the Bay, may be considered a great success. The location is at what is called the Encinal in Alameda, in a grove or "oak opening," and is unsurpassed for beauty of scenery as well as adaptedness for the purposes of the occasion. Here the citizen military have been "playing" the soldier for the past week, acquiring the proficiency so desirable when called into service. But this encampment is only a delegation, as it were of the State military, being composed only of officers, commissioned and non-commissioned.

These are mostly promoted to the position of "high privates" and formed into a regiment of infantry, numbering from 800 to 1000 men, under Maj. Gen. Allen, with Gen. Ellis as Colonel, and the camp is placed on a "war footing," with its guards and officers, operations being conducted in strict military style. The time is well occupied in drilling, with the usual daily dress parades and studying tactics in the intervals of leisure. All the arrangements for the camp are very complete and reflect credit on the managers. The men are well fed (no easy task) and cared for, and except being kept away from business, we think rather like it. The Governor and staff have made a visit to the camp, being received with the usual parades and honors. On Friday (to-day) there is to be a grand parade with exercises in battalion movements, and reviews by the Governor and other State dignitaries. The Governor will pass the night in camp, and on Saturday the closing day, the Regiment will be transferred lo San Francisco, reviewed and dismissed in Union Square. This encampment will infuse new life into the military of the Stale, and we expect will induce a good turn out at the full Encampment, to take place next September.

December 5, 1887, Daily Alta California, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

A new tug boat is being built at the Alameda shipyard. Her dimensions are: Length 57 feet; beam 15 feet, and depth of hold 7 feet.

The narrow gauge depot on the Alameda mole is to be lighted by electricity in the near future.

On December 27, 1884, the City of Alameda was formally organized. On January 18, 1885, the Official Seal was approved and adopted. Its Latin inscription, Prosperitas terra mari que, freely translates as "Prosperity from the land and sea."

April 9, 1888, Daily Alta California, San Francisco

News from Alameda, Berkeley, Oakland and Environs.
Alameda
AN ACTIVE BUILDING BOOM.

It is probable that a Republican club will soon be organized in Alameda.

Health Officer Simmons' salary of $100 per month will be discontinued at the end of this month.

Several owners of property on Park street intimate that they will shortly build brick blocks.

The Alameda pottery works are busy on twenty-four-inch sever pipe to fill a large order from San Diego.

Frank H. Robinson, formerly a resident of this city, is now publishing a paper called the CatholicVoice, in Los Angeles.

Gold Rush. A Literary Exploration.

William Campbell, the owner of the shipyards at Old Alameda, is negotiating for a site for a shipyard west of Bay Farm bridge. . . The auction sale of the unimproved property belonging to the McGlvnn estate, located, on Paru street and Railroad, Pacific and Buena Vista avenues, was well attended Saturday. Thirty lots were sold for the aggregate sum of $7947.50, being on the average of $10.63 per front foot, a price that is considered very low. The estate belonged to Daniel McGlvnn, deceased, brother of Rev. Dr. Edward McGlvnn, of Anti-Poverty Society fame.

May 2, 1887, Daily Alta California, San Francisco

ANTI-POVERTY SOCIETY. 
Henry George's and Father McGlynn's New Idea Launched.

New York, May 1st The Anti-Poverty Society, of which Dr. McGlynn is President, and Henry George is Vice-President, held its first public meeting tonight at Chickering Hall. The hall was packed to overflowing, and on the platform were a large number of leaders of the United Labor Party.

September 12, 1887, Sacramento Daily Union, Sacramento, California, U.S.A.

A BLOATED CAPITALIST
Henry George, the Anti-Poverty Leader, Living in Grand Style

New York, September 10th. The Commercial Advertiser, reviewing the career of United Labor leaders in this city, says that Henry George has come out about $50,000 ahead by his warfare on monopoly. At this time last year he was not worth $10,000. Now be is said to have $90,000 or $70,000. He has a very pretty house on a pleasant avenue in a fashionable suburb, and lives quite in the style of those bloated monopolists whom he denounces so freely. The books, which had a comparatively small sale before he ran for Mayor, have brought in $25,000 or $30,000 in the last ten months. He also makes money from his paper, the Standard, which was established on the basis of the celebrity he gained in the Mayoralty fight. In fact, the improvement in George's finances is due directly to his crusade against poverty.

shipbuilding.

February 17, 1890, Daily Alta California, San Francisco

Charley White has been busily engaged of late removing his plant from the old North Beach shipyard to Alameda Point, where he has located. The first vessel which he will build will be a four-masted barkentine, to be used in the island trade. It is to be 218 feet long, 40 feet beam and 25-12 feet deep. Its carrying capacity will be 1,100,000 feet of lumber.

San Francisco Call, June 12, 1902

Launching of the Fullerton.

The barkentine Fullerton. the largest wooden vessel built on the Pacific Coast, will be launched at 5 o'clock this afternoon, at Hay & Wright's shipyard, Alameda Point. The 4:15 narrow gauge boat from the ferry depot will connect with the launching and those attending will be able to return to the city by 6:30 p. m. The Fullerton has been built for the Union Oil Company and is equipped with tanks for carrying the liquid fuel. She will be christened by Miss Josephine Roller, and the builders, through The Call, extend an invitation to be present at the launching to any and all of the strangers how visiting the city.


California.Merchants of Grain. Merchants of Grain: 
The Power and Profits of the Five Giant Companies at the Center of the World's Food Supply
Ships, Shipping, Migration, World Seaports. 
Dan Morgan 
Details how a handful of families have controlled the worlds grain trade for centuries. A great piece for families that till the soil, but one that is even more important to the people who live in the city; and have no idea of the power and control that these families wield. 
From Captain John R. Sutton: "I am a captain on Mississippi River towboats. I have pushed millions of tons of grain down the Mississippi River for years. But I never really understood the global impact of the world's grain company's until I read this book."

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Sources: As noted on entries and through research centers including National Archives, San Bruno, California; CDNC: California Digital Newspaper Collection; San Francisco Main Library History Collection; and Maritime Museums and Collections in Australia, China, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Wales, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, etc.

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