The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-25
SAN JOAQUIN
COUNTY BECOMING A GREAT
RAILROAD CENTER.
Three New Railway the Wealth of the Valley
the City StocktonThe Manufactures of the County
Increasing and Growing
Steadily in All Directions
Written for THE CALL by W. W. JOHNSON

Situated in a zone which on both CONT
nents is noted for its production OF cereals
and fruits; famed by the cool, balmy,
moisture-laden breezes OF the Pacific; with
six distinct varieties of soil-heavy, sandy
loan. black, adobe, rich deep loan, light
sandy loan and sediment of peat-all Of
which are especially adapted to the growth
of fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains; with
extensive valleys long ago turned into
wheat fields; with large, Davigabie rivers
draining its plains; bordered with timber
covered mountains, underlaid with vast
beds of coal and permeated with veins OF
almost all metals known TO the miner;
with innumerable rivulets and mountain
streams, some utilized for irrigation, while
Others are waiting to be harnessed in the
service of growing industry; with har-
Dor inviting to commerce, and with three
new railroads inside OF a year, San Joa-
uuin County is destined to make such
strides in the near future that every one
will look on in wonder.
No city in California has made greater
progress in the same length OF time than
Stockton, the metropolis of San JOAQUIN
County. and no other city would seem to
have so bright an outlook.
The banking-houses of this municipality
handle a trade that generation ago
would have been credit to New York.
Her warehouses and stores and railroad
building remind one OF a much more pre-
tentious city, and her citizens in their
talent for business cannot be excelled by
any people OF this bread commonwealth.
1t is now the grain, -four, lumber, mill
and manufacturing center OF California.
While many croakers in Stockton
doubted whether the city had any future
before it worth considering and many who
have since become rich through the in
crease in value of their property were ready
10 leave at d moment notice, as mum bers
did who lost heart altogether, Eastern
people from the most progressive States in
the Union were attracted by the alluring
prospects held out. They were many Of
them New England people, who believed
in having everything done decentIy and in
order, who believed in good schools and
churches, in the maintenance OF law and
order and the encouragement OF high
state of morality. They were largely
people OF taste and thoroughly understood
the art of embellishing their homes with
out any unnecessary ornamentation, and
the consequence is that the residences of
Stockton are among the most handsome
and home-like on the coast. The people
who came from New England and the
Middle States were, OF course, especially
anxious 10 have good schools and no effort
has been spared to bring them to as high
a state of efficiency as any OF the schools
in the East.
The schools are conducted by Board of
Education consisting of five mem ers and
a City Superintendent of Schools The
present board consists OF S. A. Kitchener,
president; H. G. Holman, A. R. Bogue, C.
J. Jones and E. ". S. Woods. The super
intenGent is James A. Barr.
The department is provided with twelve
school buildings. nine of which are brick
The school property is valued at $500, 000
There are fifty-fve teachers employed and
$500 children in attendance. The popula-
ton has been increasing so rapidly that
during the year it was found necessary to
erect large new building.
The High School is one of the best in the
State. It's graduates are admitted to either
the State or Stanford universities without
examination, and courses are offered
that viii fit any student to ehter any
course in any university. 1t is now pro-
posed to erect a fine modern High School
building to accommodate the rapidly in
creasing classes of that institution.
The Catholic schools are among the best
in the State, St. Mary's College for boys
having a large corps of teachers, and in
the neighborhood of 800 scholars, Will e
the St. Agnes Academy for girls has about
an equal attendance.
A grand adjunct to the school system of
Stockton is its large free library, the build
ing for which is one OF the finest struc-
lures in the United States devoted to that
purpose, being constructed of California
white marble at cost OF over 100000. 1t
contains over 10000 volumes of we'll