San Joaquin County California
San Joaquin County. Organized in 1850. Bounded
north by Sacramento, east by Amador, Calaveras, and Stanislaus,
and west by Alameda and Contra Costa. Area, 1,350 square miles.
Assessed valuation of property for 1874, $20,426,l21.
County seat, Stockton, an incorporated city. Principal towns:
Bantas, Ellis, Farmington, Holden, Lathrop, Lodi, Peters and
Woodbridge.
The county is rich in agricultural resources, and is
advantageously situated for commerce. Lying on both sides of the
San Joaquin River, which is navigable for vessels of ordinary
draught, and interlaced by numerous navigable sloughs and
branches of the main river, a great portion of it is reached by
steamers and sailing craft, affording cheap and speedy
transportation. In addition, the Central Pacific Railroad runs
upwards of 40 miles through it, from the north, passing the city
of Stockton, crossing the San Joaquin River and Valley, and
leaving it on the western border. At Lathrop the San Joaquin
Valley branch of the Central Pacific leaves the main trunk and
runs south-eastwardly through the county, and continuing through
the entire length of the valley 239 miles. The Stockton and
Copperopolis Railroad starts from the steamboat landing in the
city and runs east 15 miles to Peters, where it branches, the
northern arm reaching towards Copperopolis, though at present
terminating at Milton, 30 miles from Stockton, and the southern
arm intended originally to reach to Visalia, continues to
Oakdale, in Stanislaus county, 34 miles from Stockton. The
Stockton and lone Narrow-Gauge Railroad is in course of
construction. Thus is the county abundantly supplied with
railroads, as well as lines of water communication.
San Joaquin is entirely within the great valley, extending from
the foothills of the Sierra to those of the Monte Diablo range.
In the central portion is a large area of land subject to
overflow, but which is of great fertility, and when protected by
levees is very valuable. The entire area of the county is
arable, is well cultivated, and produces largely of grains,
fruits, and vegetables. Oak trees, of evergreen and deciduous
varieties, grow abundantly in the fertile soil of the valley,
giving a pleasant and park-like appearance to the broad plains,
and constituting a grand resource of wealth and comfort. With
such a fertile soil, aided by a climate at once healthy and
pleasant, where the summer heats are modified by the last breath
of the sea-breeze, and the frosts of winter are unknown, with
every facility of inter-communication, a basis of prosperity is
presented unsurpassed in the world.
Officers: William S. Buckley, County Judge;
George Tilghman, Clerk; Alfred W. Roysdon, District Attorney;
Thomas Cunningham, Sheriff; Charles T. Elliott, Recorder;
Charles Grunsky, Auditor; Minord S. Thresher, Treasurer; William
T. A. Gibson, Tax Collector; Calvin H. Covell, Assessor; Charles
M. Ritter, Surveyor; Joshua Seamonds, Coroner; Thomas Hennesey,
Public Administrator; Thomas O. Crawford, Superintendent Public
Schools.
California Gazetteer |
AHGP California
Source: Pacific Coast Business Directory for 1876-78, Compiled
by Henry G. Langley, San Francisco, 1875
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