Stockton

Stockton, the county seat of San Joaquin county, is seventh in size among the cities of California. In advantages it is second only to San Francisco; for here where waterways and railways meet, where the product of the vast fertile valley must come to reach tidewater, where miners from the foothills and mountains come for supplies, surrounded as it is by a country of marvelously rich soil, with natural gas wells for cheap fuel and lighting, with a climate so mild that the storm-bound New Englanders cannot but regard it as close to Eden - here are ideal conditions for the building up of a great city.

For many years Stockton has drawn to it large manufacturing interests. Here is the home of the combined harvester, that product of inventive brain, which enters a field of standing grain and passing through it, leaves behind filled sacks ready for shipment. Here are also woolen mills, flour mills, tanneries, a pottery that the old world might envy, the only window glass factory on the Pacific Coast, factories that turn out complicated mechanism for dredging the rivers and sloughs, big establishments that produce farm and mining implements. Between Stockton and San Francisco ply steamers carrying both freight and passengers, and the steamer trip in summer down the picturesque channel and river on through the straits of Carquinez, Suisun and San Pablo bays into the bay of San Francisco, is a favored one for the traveler.

That Stockton should be known as the "Delta City," instead of the more common term, "Gateway," is the contention of many proud residents, for by reason of its location upon the rich delta of the San Joaquin come most of its natural advantages. The rare combination here of cheap power, raw material and low transportation charges makes the city an ideal spot for the manufacturer. Natural gas underlies the city in great quantities. The oil region of the San Joaquin valley and the unlimited water power of the Sierra are easily accessible. The Tesla coal region, close at hand, comprises over twelve square miles, a remarkable mineral soil, producing good fuel coal as well as clay for pottery, limestone, manganese, glass sand and cement gravel.

The schools of Stockton and San Joaquin county rank high among educational institutions. The two high schools of the county prepare students for the University of California and Stanford University as well as for the State normal schools.

Jas. A. Barr, city superintendent of the Stockton schools, says:

"While the family man seeking a new home may inquire about soils, markets, crops, he seldom fails to ask about the schools of the particular locality he is investigating.

"The resident of San Joaquin county, present or prospective, whether his lot be cast in city, village or outlying district, is certain to secure for his children a good common school education. The eighty-four school districts outside of Stockton with their 106 teachers provide a system of schools that covers every part of the county and that furnishes as thorough a primary and grammar school education as any parent could wish for.

"In the graded schools of Stockton the course of study provides for eight years of instruction below the high school. In the schools of the county, both graded and ungraded, the course of study extends through a period of nine years, the extra year being added for the benefit of the large number of pupils who are unable to attend a high school.

"While in many of the county schools one teacher has all nine grades to instruct, the course of study is so arranged as to secure thorough instruction in those subjects that are of most use in everyday life. The larger villages and towns have excellent graded schools, employing from two to seven teachers each.

"To the homeseeker looking toward the gateway city it may be of interest to know that the Stockton course of study is used as a text book in various State normal schools and universities, that it has been placed on each teacher's desk as a reference book in various cities in Canada and the United States, and that it has been taken as the basis for courses of study in many cities and counties throughout the country."

The assessed valuation of the counties of the San Joaquin valley has been steadily increasing by reason of the added productiveness caused by the industrious residents as well as by the general prosperity of the entire State. The total assessed valuation, according to the latest figures of the State Controller (1902), of all the counties of the valley is $164,777,761, an increase of $6,911,306 over the preceding year. These counties comprise a land of opportunity to-day equal to any section of this State. Men are needed here for developing not only the soil but the mines; for lumbering and irrigation projects, for home-making and for lending their brains and their labor to upbuild the State.

Rev 2000-02-18