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SANTA ROSA’S PALM TREE FRENZY

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Here’s how the Chamber of Commerce wanted to beautify Santa Rosa in 1912. Step #1: Get rid of those big trees lining Mendocino Ave. Step #2: Replace with palms, all the same size and the same distance apart.

(RIGHT: The present corner of Mendocino Avenue and 7th Street looking in the direction of College Avenue, c. 1905. The large house nearest the camera would be the current location of the Trek Bicycle Store. Photo courtesy Larry Lepeere collection)

Santa Rosa has always shown a willingness – nay, eagerness – to trash its own heritage when it stands in the way of progress. Sometimes “progress” is the justification for following a popular trend and as palm trees were quite the rage at the time, the Chamber of Commerce promoted a plan to fill the entire length of Mendocino Avenue with them.

“Mendocino avenue is the main thoroughfare north and south through the city and has on it some of the handsomest homes in the city, so it is only natural that is should be made one of the best so that strangers passing through town will take away a fine impression of the city,” the Press Democrat cheered. Apparently PD editor Ernest Finley feared motorists would go home and tell their friends, “Santa Rosa’s an alright place, I guess, except there’s not enough contrived landscaping to my taste.”

This wasn’t the first local case of palm tree fever. The year before, the Board of Supervisors endorsed a scheme to plant date palms all along the highway that was then in the planning stage. As Mendocino Avenue would be a portion of this new highway, it makes a certain bit of sense that it should match. But unlike portions of the road that would pass through farmlands, the plan here was to tear out mature trees. Click or tap on the photo to the right to enlarge and some of the trees in the distance must be 30+ years old – and the picture probably was taken years before the palm frenzy peaked.

That image also shows, however, why it could be argued the plan was somewhat forgivable; people were planting palm trees anyway and doing a bum job of it. Three, maybe four varieties are seen in the photo ranging in style from squat to spindly, which together makes it look like a patch of tall weeds (no argument from me there). And this sort of willy-nilly palm planting was underway all over Santa Rosa during the early years of the century; there’s hardly a street scene snapshot to be found from this period where there is not some forlorn palm or three to be spotted by the curbside (here’s another example from about a block away).

One of the articles transcribed below mentions the work should be done soon in order for the town to look its best for the upcoming Panama-Pacific Exposition (PPIE) in San Francisco. This is the first mention of Santa Rosa specifically planning for the 1915 mega-event, and “the attraction Santa Rosa will be for the great crowds of visitors during the exposition year.” What “attraction” the Chamber of Commerce hoped would draw hordes of tourists here was not spelled out, but it’s a safe bet they were thinking of Luther Burbank. If so, they were about to be disappointed; Burbank’s company was planning on advertising “Luther Burbank’s Exhibition Garden” near Hayward specifically to lure fans away from trekking to Santa Rosa and bothering the famous man. (UPDATE: A 1913 PD article confirms that yes, the Chamber was expecting Burbank to be the town’s star attraction, with tourists also drawn “on account of the fame the city has gained as the scene of many rose carnival triumphs in the past.”)

While here, though, out-of-towners could admire our new palm trees, all exactly alike. Visitors could scratch their heads and wonder why a town like this was trying so hard to look like it was next door to San Diego or somewhere else with a semi-tropical clime.

TREES GIVE WAY TO SHOWY PALMS
Improvements Being Carried Out on Mendocino Avenue North of College Avenue

Property owners on Mendocino avenue from College avenue to the city limits are planning to improve that street this summer. Already those on the west side of the block from College to Carrillo have removed most of the large elm trees and planted out palms which will make the thoroughfare a palm avenue if the work is continued.

Now the property owners, R. W. Peterson, H. H. Elliott, D. J. Paddock and W. H. Lumsden have begun the work of laying a concrete curb and gutter. This part of the work will be extended rapidly on both sides of the street as the city is assisting in the work by furnishing the gravel required and hauling away the dirt which it is necessary to remove. Other property owners have already signified their intention of continuing the work as soon as the first block is completed.

Mendocino avenue is the main thoroughfare north and south through the city and has on it some of the handsomest homes in the city, so it is only natural that is should be made one of the best so that strangers passing through town will take away a fine impression of the city. With the bitumen from the courthouse to College avenue extended to the city limits the street will be one of the most desirable residence sections of the city and make it a popular drive. At present the street north of College avenue is anything but inviting for driving, owing to its roughness in dry weather and muddy condition in wet seasons.

– Press Democrat, March 21, 1912
PALM PLANTING ENDORSED BY THE IMPROVEMENT CLUB

The further beautifying of Santa Rosa by the planting of palms along the streets, at uniform distance, and of uniform variety, met with very hearty endorsement at the meeting of the Woman’s Improvement Club, of which Mrs. Herbert H. Moke is president, held in this city on Monday afternoon.

Dr. P. A. Meneray and Max Rosenberg addressed the Club on the subject of palm planting and pointed out the charms of parking in the beautifying of any city. At the last meeting of the Chamber of Commerce the plan was endorsed.

Mrs. Moke and Mrs. John Rinner were named a special committee to call upon Luther Burbank and ask for his opinion regarding the best variety of palm to plant. The Club will also district of the city [sic] and have committees call upon property owners and solicit their co-operation in the campaign for palm planting. They will ascertain the names of those who will be willing to pay for the planting and purchase of the showy foliage. The plan is to plant one palm every fifty feet so that it can be readily seen that the cost will be very little.

With the approach of the Panama-Pacific Exposition and the attraction Santa Rosa will be for the great crowds of visitors during the exposition year, it is conceded that the making of the city as attractive as possible by that time should commence as soon as possible, and the planting of palms is a good start. With the backing of the energetic women forming the Improvement Club the scheme is sure to be successful.

– Press Democrat, December 10, 1912

WILL PLANT PALMS FOR THE BEAUTIFYING OF THE CITY

A great plan of beautifying the city by the systematic planting of palms along the sidewalks, producing a park effect that will at once be a delight and an inspiration, is to be impressed upon the people of Santa Rosa through the co-operation of the Woman’s Improvement Club and the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce. The idea is to have Santa Rosa look as attractive as possible by the time of the holding of the 1915 Exposition when many hundreds of strangers will come within our gates, lured here by the fact that Santa Rosa is the home and work place of the greatest of scientific horticulturists, Luther Burbank, and also on account of the fame the city has gained as the scene of many rose carnival triumphs in the past.

The suggestion for palm planting in Santa Rosa has been urged for a long time but recently was given fresh impetus…the committee decided to recommend the Dracena, commonly known as the “Dragon palm” as the best for sidewalk planting. Another suggestion is that the Canary palm or orange or lemon trees are suitable for the yards so as to produce a tropical and delightful effect.

The joint committee hopes that people all over Santa Rosa will co-operate in this plan for the adornment of the city. They hope, too, that orders for the palms and trees will be left with the Chamber of Commerce. The palms can be obtained at a considerable reduction of cost if purchased to large quantities by the Chamber of Commerce for the purposes named.

Not only is Santa Rosa preparing to beautify for the world’s fair crowds but all over the State the same idea prevails and in many other places just such spirit prevails.

– Press Democrat, February 15, 1913

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ON THE ROAD TO MORE ROAD

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

It’s election day, 1910: Will you vote for California to create a state highway system? It’s not an easy decision.

Another use for the modern automobile: Dressing it up as a parade float. Florence Edwards, wife of Santa Rosa mayor James Edwards, and her sister Katherine Rockwell driving their entry in the 1910 Santa Rosa Rose Carnival. Underneath all those blossoms was a 1909 or 1910 model Buick Model 10 Runabout, which was a 22.5 horsepower three-seater (there was a “mother-in-law” seat in the rear not visible in this image). The local Buick dealer was Santa Rosa Garage at 216 B Street. Photo courtesy Rockwell family archives 

There were now three auto dealerships in downtown Santa Rosa and judging by the large, expensive ads crowding the pages of both local papers in 1910, the town was more car crazy than ever. Buying a car was usually no longer a newsworthy item, but the gossip columns kept track of whom was driving where for whatever. The first auto fatality was also recorded that year; a nine-year old boy was killed by an auto at the corner of Third and B. The coroner’s jury found the driver blameless – the child simply dashed in front of the car without looking.

But the most significant event of the year was the upcoming vote on the State Highways Act. California voters were being asked to approve a state bond for a jaw-dropping $18 million that would last until the futuristic year of 1961. The bond would pay for the construction of two highways running north-south. One would follow the the Central Valley through Sacramento, becoming more-or-less the route of today’s I-5; the other highway route would be “along the Pacific coast,” although it was left undetermined if that would be a true coastal road such as modern highway 1 or follow the trail of El Camino Real, becoming highway 101. “Several county seats lying east and west” of each highway were promised connections via new branch roads.

At this point, Gentle Reader’s mouse finger is probably getting twitchy; reading about old state bond measures sounds just about as boring as, well, reading about old state bond measures. But there is a point to be made and hopefully you’ll stick around for a few more paragraphs.

James Wyatt Oates, president of the Sonoma County Automobile Association, wrote a lengthy defense of the Act in the Santa Rosa Republican. He argued the new system would probably be more cost-effective (while admitting he didn’t know how much was currently being spent on county roads) and that the system would end the haphazard local maintenance (while overlooking it would be up to the same locals to maintain any new state road construction, and doing so without state financial help).

There were loopholes and other unsavory details in the Act that Oates neglected to mention but were being hotly debated in newspapers around the state. Warnings were sounded over the politically-appointed advisory board that determined the exact locations of the new roads; they would be wielding enormous political power – a sensitive issue in California, which was still trying to wriggle out from under the cloven hoof of the Southern Pacific Railroad.

There was particular concern over the repayment demands. Whenever any bond money was spent in a county, it was required to pay four percent back to the state (the amount of interest paid on the bonds). That sounds fair on paper, but consider that neither highway would cross through bridge-less San Francisco County – the wealthiest part of California – so the region most likely to profit from the new intrastate road system would pay little or nothing. Counties in the path of the highways might gain an income windfall for turning county roads over to state ownership, but that would create holy hell in Los Angeles County, which had recently sold $3.5 million in road bonds; paying the state its four percent for roadwork plus the interest due from those earlier bonds meant that Los Angelenos would be double-taxed. There were many poor, eastern counties such as Amador complaining they would see no benefit at all because they were too far away from the action. For these reasons and more, opposition was stiff. The popular California Good Roads Association and the Automobile club of Southern California campaigned against approval.

With all that it mind, let’s pretend it’s the morning of November 8, 1910, and you are an average Santa Rosa voter (meaning, you are male and have a receipt showing you’ve paid the poll tax). How will you vote?

Before marking the ballot yes or no, further consider this: You and yours can’t expect to personally ever enjoy the new road system. The average household income in 1910 Santa Rosa was around $600, which meant that a car big enough to seat your family would cost around two full years’ pay. Even the tiny Buick runabout shown in the picture above was out of reach (it sold for $900). Yes, the situation would change in the near future, thanks to Henry Ford; five years later, a new Ford would cost as low as $360, making autos affordable to nearly everyone – but 1910 voters couldn’t see into the future. So while the new highways might offer local advantages in trucking crops to market and such, cruising around the Golden State on those endless miles of beautiful fresh pavement was a pleasure reserved for the wealthy. People like James Wyatt Oates, relentless crusader for more roads.

Come election day, Los Angeles voted against it 3 to 1. It won 55 percent approval in Sonoma County and passed statewide.

Passage of the State Highways Act bond was a turning point in California’s history; it’s impossible to imagine the state would have experienced its later decades of explosive growth and agricultural development without those major north-south arteries. Sure, had it failed to pass, the WPA might well have built similar highways 25 years later – or just maybe we would have been stuck with a fractious system of county toll roads that evolved in its absence.

Yet it’s also hard to see California voters approving something like the State Highways Act today. That $18 million might not sound like much to our ears, but it was an enormous sum at the time; with inflation it works out to $8.6 billion in modern dollars, equal to about three-fourths of all California state bonds sold last year. Every special interest in the state would now fiercely lobby against such a proposition simply because it would suck all the air out of the investor’s bank vaults.

Still believe the Act would be approved by modern-day voters? Compare criticism against it in 1910 to recent arguments against funding the SMART trains. Just as then, SMART opponents charged the project is a boondoggle, that it will benefit only a privileged few, that the choices for the route (train stops) will be decided on political favoritism, that it can’t be completed as promised without additional rounds of future funding. It took two attempts to gain voter approval for SMART and it nearly faced a recall. Think back over all those years of heated struggle on SMART funding, then realize that cockfight was squabbling about two percent the relative size of the State Highways Act bond.

The 1910 Act passed because it won approval in counties that expected to gain state highway status – Los Angeles excepted – with a big boost from San Francisco, which at the time had a quarter of the state population. It should be noted, too, that 1910 was near the peak of the Progressive Era, when many people eyed civic betterment as more important than “what was in it for them.”

Skeptics were right, however, in predicting the State Highways Act bond would fall short on money. Additional bonds were passed in 1915 and 1919 to complete the work. Over the course of that decade Sonoma County built roads in a frenzy; by 1913, Santa Rosa was spending over $28,000 a year for highways – among the highest of California cities of its size – and the county was spending almost as much on new roads as larger Alameda County and far more than Marin. For better or ill, Sonoma County was among the vanguard in subsidizing the car culture using public funds.

GOOD NEWS FOR AUTOMOBILE MEN
Roads in Marin County From San Rafael to Sausalito Are to be Improved Soon

Santa Rosa autoists as well as those on all sides of the bay will be glad to know that through the efforts of the automobile owners of San Francisco and Marin county, aided by the proper authorities, steps are to be taken very soon to improve the roads in Marin county, particularly from San  Rafael to Sausalito, a road much used but in a very bad condition.

The Sonoma County Automobile Association, of which Colonel James W. Oates is president, will shortly take up some active work for the improvement of certain roads in the county. The Ukiah Good Roads Association, as has been stated heretofore, is doing fine work on the roads from the Sonoma county line northward to Ukiah. Already they have held two “good roads” days, and the members of the club have turned out in full force to help in the repair work on the roads.

– Press Democrat, April 29, 1910
AUTO BREAKFAST A GREAT EVENT TODAY
Splendid Time in Prospect–Anyone Favoring Good Roads Can Join the Association

Today the much anticipated outing, annual meeting and bull’s head breakfast under the auspices of the Sonoma County Automobile Association of which Colonel Jas. W. Oates is president, occurs in Bosworth’s Grove at Geyserville.

All members of the Association and their families are expected to be present as well as all others who become members of the Association prior to twelve o’clock noon–you can join on the field–when the big feast will commence. Anyone interested in good roads, whether he or she be owner of an automobile or not, may become a member of the Association, a prime move of which is to encourage the building of good roads throughout the state.

There will be all kinds of good things on hand for the breakfast menu. The Bismark Cafe proprietors, Bertolani Brothers, have charge of the feast, and they have secured the services of a special Spanish cook of note who will superintend affairs. Saturday night a staff of seven men left here for Bosworth’s Grove so as to get everything in readiness, for the grand breakfast will be enjoyed under the shade trees. The thoughts of that perfectly good feed should be an inspiration to membership in the Association, let alone the splendid object that is to be the strong feature of the meeting following the breakfast, that of boosting good roads.

– Press Democrat, June 5, 1910

COLONEL OATES EXPLAINS ACT
Synopsis of “State Highway Act” Now Pending

Santa Rosa, Oct. 19, 1910

I have been requested to give a synopsis of the “State Highway Act,” now pending and to be voted on by the people at the November election.

This act, speaking generally, provides:

1–For the issuing by the state of eighteen million dollars of bonds in serials, to fall due in equal amounts each year until 1961.

2–The funds raised from the sale of these bonds are to be for the construction of two main highways, one to run through the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, and from the Mexican line to the Oregon line; the other to run through the coast counties, both running north and south, and to connect every shire, or country town in the state.

3–These highways are to be constructed under the management and control of a state engineer.

4–The state pays the principal of these bonds by general taxation.

5–These bonds are to bear interest at a rate not over four per cent per annum, and each county in which any part of such highway is constructed is to pay the interest on the bonds represented by the amount of such highway fund expended in constructing such highway in such county.

6–After the construction of any highway inside a county, the management and control of the same is to be turned over by the state to the county in which it lies.

There are other provisions in the act, but they, in the main, deal with mere methods of procedure in putting the act into operation and for paying the bonds.

The way this act would operate in this country would be about this:

The only roads we have that would come under the operation of this act are the present ones from the Marin county line through Petaluma and Santa Rosa to the Mendocino county line, that from Santa Rosa through Sonoma to the Napa county line, and possibly from Cloverdale to the Lake county line.

These roads are now and have been for many years, county highways in more or less good condition, but never, within my knowledge, have they ever been in good condition throughout at the same time.

The construction of the state highway along these routes would be in all probability, by no means the same or as costly as the construction of new roads. In many places they would require much less work than in a new construction so that much of the expense of constructing new roads could be saved. All this, however, would depend upon whether the roads would be entirely reconstructed, and this is a matter of detail to be determined later by the proper authority.

To illustrate, we will say such construction within our county should cost $100,000 of this highway fund. When completed the roads would be turned over to the county government, and the latter would thenceforward have to pay the interest on $100,000 of the bonds, which would not be over $4000 per year at first, and would gradually grow less as the state paid off the principal of the bonds, till in the end the amount would be very small. The county, however, would have to keep up the roads.

From the Marin line to the Mendocino line, and from Santa Rosa by Sonoma to the Napa line is approximately 86 miles of road.

I have tried to find out how much money is spent each year on these roads, but from the present system it is almost impossible to do so. It would not, however, be far from the mark to say that such expenditure is annually not far from $4000 each year, which is the amount we would have to pay at first as interest on the bonds. Under the present system the results are by no means satisfactory. It is not much more than mere patchwork, at best. The system in inefficient and wasteful. Once a good road is constructed, the keeping of it in repair in a good system would not be very costly. Most of the nations of Europe have solved the trouble by letting a good road out to the lowest bidder for a term of years to keep it in good condition, and putting the contractor under bonds. One having a contract say on twelve miles of road, could watch it and by proper care keep it in complete repair at a nominal cost to him and make the upkeep to the county also much less than is expended now in patchwork, with the result of good roads all the time, instead of bad ones most of the time.

The economic advantages of better roads than we have had in America is just now attracting the attention of the people all over the Union; in fact the good roads movement is now on and will continue until a better system of construction and preservation is attained.

Some object to this “State Highway Act” because it is thought it might be better to have such portions of those highways constructed under county control. There are some advantages that might result from county construction, but the disadvantages greatly outweigh them. Inder that idea each county would have its own system of construction, and we would have nearly as many kinds of roads as we have counties. It would result in a huge piece of patchwork, and much of it, no doubt, would be a failure. Constructed under state control we would have at least uniformity of plan, construction and result; and it strikes me we can get that result in no other way. That this is a controlling consideration is obvious.

This plan is intended and will operate as an entering wedge for an improved road system in this state. With such highways through a county lie benefits and economic worth will soon be so manifest as to lead to similar treatment of all other roads in the county, from time to time, as the county can get at them. No one can rationally expect any system of good roads to be adopted and applied to all roads at once. A beginning must be made somewhere on some road, while other roads must wait their turn. In this way those fortunate enough to live on or near the first ones improved would reap an advantage, but under any system such would be the case. Unless some main roads are used for a beginning, all the roads will continue to be as they are.

The people vote in November on this “State Highway Act”; they can vote it up or vote it down; if they vote it up we have taken a long step towards bettering road conditions in the entire state. If they vote it down, we will have to continue to do the best we can with the road system as we have it.

JAMES W. OATES.

– Santa Rosa Republican, October 21, 1910

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DOWNTOWN SANTA ROSA’S OLD PROBLEMS SOUND FAMILIAR

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Reasons to avoid downtown Santa Rosa in 1910: Parking was a headache and it was too dark at night. So apparently, was ever thus.

The parking problem then was really a hitching problem, as posts for tying up horses were not included in the landscaping around the new courthouse. “Every convenience that a judge, a lawyer, a supervisor could ask for is there inside,” complained a Forestville fruit farmer in a humorous letter to the newspaper, “But outside, the old time privilege, dear to the farmer’s heart is taken away.”

As he circumnavigated courthouse square in a forlorn search for a hitching post, he sketched a neat little portrait of downtown Santa Rosa, its streets busy with trolley cars, dray wagons, “benzine buggies” and a steamroller “that noisily rolls a noiseless pavement:”


On Fourth and Mendocino is where the circus begins…Turning this corner with skittish horses, dodging the dangers named, not forgetting to throw one eye up to the clock tower in the new bank building, and then dropping it to the lesser dignitary in front of Hood’s jewelry store, to see which is the nearest correct in time, and the while looking out with the second best eye that none of the citizens on foot are run over — all this makes Fourth, Mendocino, Hinton avenue, and Third streets quite an interesting locality.

The Mystery of the Missing Hitching Posts was never resolved, but it was in line with other efforts by the City Council to make the town auto-friendly as fast as possible, which meant making the town horse-unfriendly. “I drove all around town,” bemoaned the farmer. “Mr. Editor, the thing came to me like a slap in the face. Bewildered, humiliated, a drive around the palatial building, vainly searching for posts. None was there. I drove all around town. Hitching places were at a premium–all homesteaded by serried ranks of teams. Warning notices attached to sundry trees, electric light poles, etc., drove me away.”

(RIGHT: Postcard of downtown Santa Rosa, 1910. The viewer would have been standing near the current entrance of the “Forever 21” store in the Santa Rosa Plaza. Photo courtesy the Larry Lapeere Collection)

While they were chasing away horses, it comes as a bit of a surprise to learn downtown was still being illuminated at the time by 19th century arc streetlights. Besides being dim, the lights needed frequent attention because they burned out after about 175 hours and would sometimes all turn off unexpectedly, as the public angrily complained at a 1908 meeting.

But that changed dramatically at the end of April, 1910, when the new incandescent light system was switched on along Fourth street, from Railroad Square to E street. “About 8 o’clock the current was suddenly cut in the street was lighted up as if by magic to the delight of everybody,” reported the Press Democrat. So exciting was the prospect of a well-lit street that “A large number of citizens, hearing of the lighting up of the street for the first time came down town during the evening to enjoy what all agreed was a fine change.” The lights were probably only 100 watt bulbs, but it was far better than the system they had before. Or, for that matter, superior to what we have today in many parts of downtown.


NOTES: A few points in the articles merit further explanation.

Farmer Pilkington’s joke about the horse trough refers to the Woman’s Improvement Club raising the height a little in 1908 to make it easier for horses to drink (an action parodied by the Squeedunks at the Fourth of July parade that year).

The PD called the new illumination system “electroller lights” but that was an error; they were “electroliers.” The 1910 paper should be forgiven because the names for streetlights were not at all settled at the time. Generally an electrolier was like a big candlestick with several globes that cast light on both the sidewalk and street. A “utilitarian” streetlight hung over the roadway and was usually attached to an overhead wire or to a power pole. (See this 1912 article for more detail on the differences.) But the article says both that there were globes and they were mounted on the poles for the trolley; which type was used in Santa Rosa? If you enlarge the image to the right, you can see they were clearly electroliers with two globes.
 A PLEA FOR HITCHING POSTS
 Farmers Entitled to More Consideration

 To the Editor of the REPUBLICAN:
 A few days ago I hitched up my nags and drove to Santa Rosa.

 With lungs filled with the tonic air of a Sonoma January, feeling at peace with all the world; calling no man enemy — (and only one woman, and that my old opponent, Madame Grundy) — I enjoyed that drive along the fine roadway from Vine Hill to the county seat.

 Along College avenue I held my course, whistling to such dogs as I had picked up a barking acquaintance with, on many previous trips, noting with interest the building and other improvements, commending or criticising these, as they pleased or offended my sense of the fitness of things. In due time I reached Mendocino avenue and halted at the watering trough, the one whereon is inscribed the pleasing legend, “Ponies, please take the elevator.”

 That water trough is surely a happy inspiration, a great convenience — and I have wondered this long time why the infernal masculine hasn’t ere this given credit where it is due, to the eternal feminine, through whose influence it was erected.

 In pure shame for my sex I hereby thank the Ladies’ Improvement Club for the kindness of heart, the enterprise and motives in general which led its members to have the troughs placed for the convenience of the public. Should the thanks be scornfully received because of the lateness of the day in which they are given, I humbly beg pardon for myself and the 9999 others behind me, by hastening to assure that august body that the thanks were in the heart of us all from the beginning — even if the tongues and pens have been lax.

 From the trough to the court house the nags always made a fine burst of speed, the chug-chug of the autos being mainly responsible for this performance.

 On Fourth and Mendocino is where the circus begins, the nags having a great antipathy for the trolley cars, benzine buggies, Lee Brothers’ warehouse on wheels, and that monster of an iron hermaphrodite, that noisily rolls a noiseless pavement, but which some people call a steam roller.

 Turning this corner with skittish horses, dodging the dangers named, not forgetting to throw one eye up to the clock tower in the new bank building, and then dropping it to the lesser dignitary in front of Hood’s jewelry store, to see which is the nearest correct in time, and the while looking out with the second best eye that none of the citizens on foot are run over — all this makes Fourth, Mendocino, Hinton avenue, and Third streets quite an interesting locality.

 After all this is the peaceful port, on Third street, where for years and years I have hitched my horses — when in town. What I’ve done for years in freedom and with no man to make me afraid, I wanted to do again this January day in 1910, so I drove up with a final flourish to the hallowed spot to memory dear, the old hitching place by the court house — and “be gorra,” as my friend, Pat Daly, would say, “yez cud hav knocked me doon wid a — crowbar. Divil a bit av a hitchin’ post visible nor invisible wor there to mate wan’s mortal vision.”

 Mr. Editor, the thing came to me like a slap in the face. Bewildered, humiliated, a drive around the palatial building, vainly searching for posts. None was there. I drove all around town. Hitching places were at a premium–all homesteaded by serried ranks of teams. Warning notices attached to sundry trees, electric light poles, etc., drove me away. I got to wandering in a circle — got lost. Met with Uncle Josh and Aunt Manda from the Forks of Green Valley “Crick,” who were also lost. Held a council of war, decided to drive out into the country, find a convenient tree, tie thereto and tramp back afoot in town. Couldn’t find a tree. All converted into stove wood. Finally found a place, warm hearted merchant on Second street furnished us what we were looking for.

 And now, I want to know who is responsible for the removal of the tying places on three sides of the court house? Who has done such a thing?

 Every convenience that a judge, a lawyer, a supervisor could ask for is there inside that pride of new Sonoma, the court house; but outside, the old time privilege, dear to the farmer’s heart is taken away. I am told that there are cut glass cuspidors for (though I don’t believe it this yarn myself). But hitching posts for farmers? Not on your life! A half million (so rumor putteth it) for a building and furnishings!! But fifty cents for posts? Not a cent! Oh, the good old farmer — doesn’t he get it in the neck every time? Isn’t he turned down when he petitions for a privilege?

 Isn’t he? Ha! Ha! Bet your life!!
 THOS. J. PILKINGTON
 

 – Press Democrat, January 11, 1910

 4TH STREET NOW A BLAZE OF LIGHT
 New System Tried Last Night and Hundreds of Citizens Express Great Pleasure at Change

 Fourth street was lighted for the first time Thursday night by the newly-installed incandescent electroller system from E street to the Northwestern Pacific Railroad depot, and presented a very attractive appearance.

 No announcement had been made of the intention to turn on the lights, and when about 8 o’clock the current was suddenly cut in the street was lighted up as if by magic to the delight of everybody. Pedestrians on the street and people in the stores and hotels, who were attracted to the walk, expressed their pleasure at the great improvement over the old arc system.

 The movement to install the electroller lights originated with the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce, which presented the matter to the City Council and jointly the scheme has been successfully worked out, The city defrayed the expense of making the change from arc to incandescents, the poles of the electric railroad being utilized, by permission, to carry the wires and lights.

 The globes are on the way from the East, and when they are put in place there will be a marked improvement even over the first display. A large number of citizens, hearing of the lighting up of the street for the first time came down town during the evening to enjoy what all agreed was a fine change.

 – Press Democrat, April 29, 1910

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