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    Pittsburg
    Pittsburg
    Pittsburg
    Ebook203 pages1 hour

    Pittsburg

    By Marti Aiello

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    About this ebook

    Situated at the far reaches of the Bay Area, Pittsburg has long been perceived as a commuter town, an out-of-the-way bedroom community. Yet this city has a rich and varied history stretching back to the early days of statehood and has played an important role in commerce, both to the state and to the Bay Area. Before long the burgeoning city had a fishing industry rivaling that of San Francisco's famed Fisherman's Wharf and a largely Italian fishing community. By the 1900s, a surprising number of industries set up factories along the waterfront property of Pittsburg. In 1942, the beginning of World War II brought the building of Camp Stoneman, an important departure point for many servicemen. Later, the city became known as a residential destination. Readers of this book will surely see Pittsburg in a new light as they enjoy the surprising and varied tales of the city's previous generations.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439630785
    Pittsburg
    Author

    Marti Aiello

    Marti Aiello, director/curator and past president of the Pittsburg Historical Society, has put together this striking volume of images that traces Pittsburg's story from the days when the town was an important shipping port for materials going to supply the Gold Rush.

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      Book preview

      Pittsburg - Marti Aiello

      years.

      PROLOGUE

      Consider this book a pageant, a procession of photographic portrayals of an ever-changing city of promise. Attempts to define Pittsburg change with each new discovery.

      The earliest recorded history of this area was in 1772, when Spanish explorers, led by Juan Bautista de Anza, ventured into the territory occupied by the Ompin Indians. In 1839, the Mexican government granted approximately 10,000 acres of land to two brothers, Jose Antone Mesa and Jose Miguel Garcia. Called Rancho Los Medanos (the dunes), the land extended south to the foothills of Mount Diablo and north to the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers. It was dotted with oak trees, and tules lined the river banks and marshes along the seven-mile-long property where the Ompin Indians lived.

      By the 1840s, nearly all of Contra Costa was owned by a few military officers, retired from the Mexican Army. To encourage rapid settlement in the state, territories were allotted to them. They built adobes, several of which survive to this day—in Martinez, Moraga, Alhambra Valley, and Pacheco. Some have been restored, and some altered.

      In a matter of 10 years, the Los Medanos grant changed hands. In 1849, Col. Jonathan Drake Stevenson, commander of the New York Regiment, who had earlier passed through the area, sought the blessings of President James Polk to conquer and occupy the land in California. In addition, President Polk gave Stevenson permission to raise a regiment of New York volunteers to accomplish his purpose.

      Today, the rivers are used for recreational sports.

      The first expedition was led by Don Pedro Fages, the acting governor of Alta California, in 1772. The Spanish hoped to locate sites for missions to be built in the area. In 1774, a second expedition was led by Juan Bautista de Anza, who was sent by the Mexican government to explore the region

      The coming of the Americans changed the West forever. Gone was the slow-paced life of early Californians, replaced by the frantic activity of prospectors, farmers, coal miners, and businessmen who saw gold and hard cash coming their way. Eventually large populations were sustained on smaller and smaller lots. Visionaries purposely sought to engage in commerce that might bring success and wealth, and industrialists wanted to enlarge their empire. Farmers reaped the benefits of the rich virgin soil. It seemed the newly acquired golden state of California was ripe for just about anything.

      Colonel Stevenson bought the property from the Mesa brothers as the first step in a grandiose scheme to develop the land and entice investors to settle here. The name, however, may have seemed pretentious to its new inhabitants, for it began to be called instead by its geographic location near the water—New York Landing and Junction. Near the train depot was Cornwall, home to a settlement of farmers. When the city was incorporated in 1903, it was called Black Diamond for the coal found in the hills. The city finally assumed the name of Pittsburg in 1911.

      In its 150-year history, Pittsburg had passed through many phases, beginning with the coal miners who worked the mines until a better source of energy was found. During this time, investors poured out their money into the mining industry. Black Diamond Coal Company and the Empire, Cumberland, Eureka, Union, and Pittsburg Mines operated for nearly 50 years in both the Pittsburg and Antioch side of the hills.

      Around 1904, during the great Industrial Revolution that took place during the 18th and early 19th century, Pittsburg began to develop an industrial base. It grew rapidly and flourished until the 1970s, then went into decline after a recognition of the damage being done to the rivers by factories pouring contaminants into the waters.

      Beginning in the 1940s, the war with Japan and Germany and the building of a large army camp in the south of town generated a booming economy for a 14-year period. Camp Stoneman became the largest debarkation center in the West, where soldiers received final training before going overseas, including amphibian exercises at the waterfront of Pittsburg.

      Col. Jonathan Drake Stevenson, commander of the 7th New York Regiment, was sent to California at his bequest, and by presidential approval, to conquer and claim the land for the United States.

      Famed Civil War hero William Tecumseh Sherman was hired by Stevenson to survey the townsite of New York of the Pacific and to make a plat of the area.

      In 1976, a parade of men representing the 1776 exploration came into Pittsburg on horseback and dressed in period costume.

      Fr. Pedro Font kept a diary of the de Anza exploration of the East Bay in 1776. This drawing shows Moraga, de Anza, and Father Font overlooking an elk herd in Contra Costa County.

      One

      THE BEGINNING

      The founding of the town in 1849 was the dream of Col. Jonathan Drake Stevenson, who saw the possibilities of establishing a great city along the river route to gold country. Stevenson, leader of the celebrated New York Volunteers, came west to guard the province of Alta California from the Mexican Army.

      Exploration into the area led Stevenson and his aide, Dr. William C. Parker, to see the merits and advantages of locating a city near the deep-water channel of the Bay of Suisun. The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers were a gateway to gold country. San Francisco was already a great seaport and commercial center. Sacramento was established as a portal to the gold mines of the north. Everything in between was fair game to an opportunist like Stevenson.

      Antonio and Jose Miguel Mesa had received the Los Medanos land grant from the Mexican government and sold it to Stevenson. A land sales announcement appeared in the

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