Tag Archives: mining

Cottle’s Cobble Stone

July 5, 2016Historical Researchargiculture, boundary, cobble, Cottle, creek, dove, dove hill, evergreen, family, farmers, farming, fence, generations, hike, hiking, hill, historic, mining, nature, orchards, silver, silver creek, Silver Creek Linear Park, silver creek road, stone, stones, traces, vineyards, wallevergreen

The Cottles were long time residents of Evergreen who lived in Silver Creek, creek adjacent along Dove Hill. You can see them here, O. B. Cottle, directly on Silver Creek Road on the left side of this map. Trusted historian, long time resident and valued Community member, Colleen Cortese, told me that I’d like pieces of Orval Cottle’s Cobble Stone fences along Silver Creek Road. Try to say that 5 times past. Cottles Cobble Stone, Cottles Cobble Stone…. I followed that lead and looked where she told me.

In fact, I followed that path specifically along Silver Creek, the creek, that continues once the road ends. This is a lovely little hike to commune with nature in a hurry. I had my computer packed with historic maps with me, trying to feel my way across the land and features. The Cottles lived around here somewhere. This beginning to the path would’ve been the first place the road and creek crossed. Where this meets Yerba Buena Road in another crossing of the creek as Silver Creek Road once led up the hillside. But… following the road didn’t do much for my hypothesis.

Along my hike to the West of the trail, I found two giant stones out in the open that I could align visually to be fence, but no visible guts of a stone wall like I’d suspect. I personally had zero desire to find out if there were rattle snakes certainly sunning on this gorgeous summer day. This path was old Silver Creek Road that connected to San Felipe Road some time ago, so it could’ve been the most Southern point of the Cottle Ranch.

I veered for a hike up to the base of the electrical towers here, which appears to be a dog friendly path into Silver Creek. Well, I found more giant stones like before, but there at the edge of the plateau was a great cobble stone barrier left in tact. At the high elevation, I could see it all over the place. I knew I had found it.

I found my way back to my car and saw a pile of the same stones at the base of the pond there, across from Silver Creek Linear Park, as I was leaving. I’ve been driving past here looking for Cottle’s Cobble stone a couple times and haven’t found it. That’s what this was the whole time. Not a decorative element by the home development company, but a genuine element. Rusted barbed wire along the path would’ve been the genuine article too. So I had to turn left off of Silver Creek Road and see if I could find anymore more of the cobble stone.

Jackpot. In fact, totally cobble stone wall formations left behind in construction. It’s apparent all over the place. It was probably expensive to remove but considered quite charming. This area, I suspect, was repurposed for the roadway here to the right. This cobble stone barrier is relic of a forgotten time. It’s beauty, however, never overlooked.

The Cottles were married in Wisconsin in 1842 and came West to Nevada County in 1850, where he entered the mining boom. Mr. Cottle did a little bouncing around as a kid. In 1854, the couple relocated the family to Evergreen. Orval had a hard time buying his property in Evergreen, Silver Creek adjacent specifically, and rumored to have paid for the same land 3 different times.

Thought the map above states 254 acres on Silver Creek Road, a contemporary 1860’s source describes the Cottle Estate as “Located seven miles south-east of San Jose, where the valley floor gives wasy to the low foothills of the Mt. Hamilton Range, was the Cottle Farm of some 320 acres.The little stream known as Silver Creek meandered through the Cottle acres at the foot of the hills and then some distance southward left the foothil area and ran through the valley lands.The home buildings of the Cottle Farm were located on the edge of the valley floor, as it broke into the wider expanse downward some ten or fifteen feet to the shallow bank of the creek.”

Children playing with their neighbors and cousins, rolling rocks down the hill would knock out a portion of the stone wall. That could be the reason these rocks have no noticeable debris between the giant rocks. It’s actually something I thought about looking at the landscape. The Cottles’ only daughter would end up marrying the neighbor boy, Frank McCray, who was present in the rocking and rolling that broke the cobble stone wall.

The Cottle Family cultivated orchards, vineyards, cattle, chicken and various other harvests. They would have taken full advantage of Silver Creek running through their yard, using the natural irrigation and spring nearby. It’s why the area is so grassy. It was cleared for farming over a hundred years ago. This is Mr. and Mrs. Cottle on their 50th wedding anniversary. They were very well liked and their grandkids were born in Evergreen as well.

Silver Creek – the Creek

July 4, 2016Artwork, Concept, Historical ResearchChaboya, Cottle, cottle family, creeks, dove hill, evergreen, hassler, hassler family, hellyer, mines, mining, nature, north almaden mines, piercy, Rancho Yerba Buena, silver creek, silver creek mines, silver creek valley country club, Silver Oak, the ranch, wildernessevergreen

How else do we learn about our creek beds and their healthy or climate than taking a look at them up close and personally? I ventured into our creek beds which gave me an awesome understanding of our fair Evergreen. Today, we’re going to discuss a creek bed which is the namesake for the Western region of Evergreen between its namesake and Coyote Creek.

That’s right. I’m talking about Silver Creek. I went to Silver Creek High School, built in 1969, and never once wondered why the name. When I first started this project, it appeared that Silver Creek was an important part of Evergreen’s story. Farmers with land attached to creeks had the upper hand. Before Silver Creek, the area, was an idea, the creek was there and Cunningham Lake was named Silver Lake. This creek must’ve been so large, it contributed to the naming of the region. In fact, the whole network of creeks through Evergreen contribute to the Lower Silver Creek Watershed.

Silver Creek, as in the neighborhood and Evergreen’s first high school, has beenlocated on maps at least into the 1860’s. Silver Creek, the area and the Creek, are historic. This 1867 Altas shows it off predominantly. It’s 2 miles outside of Downtown Evergreen, located off San Felipe Road and Evergreen Road. It might’ve grown up as a town had stores not opened in nearby Township of Evergreen. Because of its closeness to Edenvale and Downtown San Jose, it was incorporated into the City Limits earlier than Downtown Evergreen. Evergreen is the entire Rancho Yerba Buena. This area too being so far West would’ve been settled pretty early on by squatters. Some of the defendants in the Chaboya case from these area specifically were the Cottle Family.

Evergreen was a haven for farmers because of its creeks and natural water delivery system in gravity, hillsides and natural springs throughout Evergreen. Springs will appear whenever seismic activity is taking place, like Silver Creek and the Silver Creek Mines behind Silver Creek Valley Country Club. Oak Trees and wild berries line the creek bed, with poppies, wild lupin and grasses around the surrounding hills. These Oaks are Coastal Live Oak for the most part, even though Evergreen hosts a wide variety of oak trees. An illness makes oak trees white like this. It’s called root canker. Amongst the spectrum of oak diseases, Silver Creek’s oaks are really looking pretty good.

Silver Creek’s ecosystem is fairly healthy, as indigenous birds and wildlife still call it home. Silver Creek’s existing water formations are very clean and free from pollutants. When I examine this Creek, the only littering I see is on road ways nearby – not in the water itself. Here, by Silver Creek Linear Park where Silver Creek appears to end, the Cottle’s cobble stone walls along the Dove Hill border are still evident.

Silver Creek Road, King Road, White Road, Quimby Road and Evergreen Road back in those days were the huge arteries into Evergreen. You can see in this enlargement to the left that Silver Creek Road and the Creek intertwined through modern day “the Ranch” development over Hassler Parkway. Below you can view the entire length of the creek and roads. Where Silver Creek Road straightens out has always transitioned to King Road. King Road would’ve been the way to get to Downtown. Kinda still is.

Silver Creek had its own grammar school at one point too. I couldn’t find it on an atlas map, but Evergreen historian and trusted source, Colleen Cortese, has it closer to Coyote Creek than Silver Creek, but hey. It served this whole area.

Silver Creek Road picks up again today near a Spring that contributes to Silver Creek’s Watershed. Springs are created by the geology in the surrounding areas, not the gathering of water heading down the slope like lots of Evergreen’s creeks.

Silver Creek Mines are also located off of this portion of Silver Creek Road. You can see North Almaden Mines here in this 1890 map above. This same road used to connect over the hillside before its development. Bradford Investment was involved with the Mining Industry in those days, establishing Silver Creek Mines, and would’ve built this road through to his jobsite. You can see the entrance off San Felipe Road. The Hellyers and Piercys too would’ve mined in Silver Creek region. Brothers George and Daniel would choose opposite sides of Coyote Creek along the border with Edenvale, another small township. Coyote Creek creates the western most point of Silver Creek and therefore Evergreen. There’s a wicked rumor that someone accidently contaminated the Creek with quicksilver and their orchard turned to silver. This may or may not have happen to oak trees in the area.

Until Silver Creek High School opened, students had to travel outside of Evergreen to go to school. The Creek would’ve existed where 101 lies now near the school. Many sections of Silver Creek, the Creek and the Road, have been paved over for the 101 Freeway in the 1930-40’s and built on top of for Silver Creek Valley Country Club’s construction in the 1990’s. Silver Creek Road which once followed the creek’s path also met up with San Felipe Road in the early 1900’s.

Silver Creek is a giant chunk of Evergreen, like a third. It’s presence influenced people to settle in and raise their farms and families here. Silver Creek is older than any Country Club, Park, or School. All this time, I thought it just described nearby Dry Creek / Thomspon Creek when this was the larger watershed hooked up to Silver Lake or now Cunningham. Here’s the Artwork featuring Silver Creek.

Nirum Cadwallader – Evergreen’s generous Mining Tycoon

June 11, 2016Artwork, Historical Researchbusiness, cadwallader, Cadwallader Avenue, california, downtown evergreen, family, generations, Gold Rush, invention, inventor, mining, namesake, nirum, Pat Loomis, patent, quicksilver, school, schoolhouse, Sign Posts, street name, vacation, women's relief corps, WRCevergreen

Nirum’s an awesome name, as is Cadwallader. For the purposes of my research, I much prefer it to Smith, Stevens, Jones or John. However, when looking into Mr. Cadwallader, he occurs all over the map. The fabulous women of History San Jose pulled it all together for me. I’m always looking for a portrait on my Evergreen individuals. This one happens to be in print, not a photograph.

Mr. Nirum Cadwallader, for whom the school is named, as previously discussed donated the lands to both the Evergreen Schoolhouse at the corner of San Felipe and Evergreen Roads in 1860 and to the Women’s Relief Corps in 1887, located on Cadwallader Avenue. The WRC is probably one of these subdivision plots. By my estimation of the 5 acres donated, I think it’s probably 34 or 57. Those are the only ones bigger enough and “on” Cadwallader. At the time, Cadwallader Avenue started at San Felipe Road. Now, there are only foot bridges connecting Cadwallader to Keaton Loop, formerly San Felipe Road. We’ll discuss this in further detail later. No doubt, Mr. Cadwallader helped shape Evergreen as we know it.

The earliest records of Mr. Nirum Cadwallader appear from Birchville, California, because that’s where he initially struck it rich. Originally from Ohio, Nirum Cadwallader would be apart of the Gold Rush of 1849. In an illustrated version of Popular Science in 1866 would bring attention to Mr. Cadwallader’s patent on a technique of compressing air in dynamic to create larger blasts.

Nirum Cadwallader (1833-1890) was the great grandson of Ohio’s Seneca County’s Hopewell Township’s first settler, Nathan Cadwallader. Nirum’s father Samuel Cadwallader and wife Mary would raise 7 children, of which Nirum was the eldest. He would’ve been sixteen as he would’ve heard the news of gold from California. As a young man, Cadwallader would work his way up the chain at the Milton Mining Company, surely getting the necessary experience that took him to his future heights. The Cadwallader family name is quite popular there in Ohio and along the east coast, also spelt Cadwalader. It and the family originate from Wales, being a descriptive term for the Welsh people. The family’s lineage can be traced back to a Welsh King. Chances are the Cadwalladers were well off in Ohio. There are a long line of Cadwallader inventors preceding and succeeding him. The first Cadwalladers would leave England in 1640, arriving in Virginia, and slowly migrating west from there.

As a young man, Cadwallader would work his way up the chain at the Milton Mining Company, surely getting the experience that took him to his future heights. However established, Nirum Cadwallader would break out from Milton and arrive in California in 1855, at the age of 22. Nirum would become a prolific businessman, acquiring stocks and equity in numerous mining, telephone, water and utility companies in Nevada County, California. He was a very rich and well-respected man quickly after coming to California. Mr. Cadwallader would be married twice, but his first wife passed away while he still lived in Birchville. I couldn’t find any records of the first marriage or the children they might have had. After returning home, no doubt to grieve, Nirum would marry the much younger Emma J. Hart (1847-1930) also from Ohio, having 3 children together. Nirum Cadwallader would own 160 acres in Ohio as shown to the left in this 1874 Atlas. Samuel, his father, would live with Nirum for part of the year, probably during Ohio’s colder months.

If you’re mining for gold in Nevada County, California, you would need quicksilver to obtain pure gold and remove other elements from the compound. If you’re a forward thinking man with mining interests and better mining techniques like Mr. Cadwallader, you might look for some quicksilver mines of your own. This is what probably brought Mr. and Mrs. Cadwallader to San Jose for good in 1881. Although it is unclear whether or not he had any part of the Silver Creek Mines before their flooding and abandonment, Nirum Cadwallader would purchase land in the heart of Evergreen in the 1860’s, though they never lived there. This was a second property to vacation from their downtown home, which was located off of the Alameda, in the heart of Downtown San Jose. It’s been torn down. When Cadwallader donated the land because he hadn’t built on it, he made a huge impact on the Community of Evergreen. Mr. Nirum Cadwallader has been rumored to be a very generous man throughout his life.

In 1888, Birchville’s mining industry would dry up as the mines were picked clean. The population of Nevada County quickly shrank. Forward thinking Mr. Cadwallader had already set up shop elsewhere. His patent made him rich, as did his business ownings. Mr. Cadwallader died in 1890, a year after the WRC opened. Mrs. Emma Cadwallade, the widow, would deed a park in his honor. The small park still exists between 1st and 2nd Streets at Keyes Street. It is the cutest wedge of land with palm trees. This crossroads would dictate the direction you were heading before highways were built. Monterey Road was the closest thing to a highway, also being a portion of the El Camino Real. First Street heading North lead you Santa Clara and then the Alameda which turns to the El Camino Real to San Francisco. Heading down Second Street took you towards Oakland via Oakland Road from Thirteenth Street.

In donating the property to the Women’s Relief Corps in December 1887, constructed in 1889, a ceremony was held to commemorate the occasion in Evergreen on April 6, 1889. The WRC took a year and a half to build on Cadwallader Avenue. A mile long precession and banquet hosted by “ladies of Evergreen”, notable ladies like Mrs. E. J. Smith, Mrs. J. J. Jones, Miss Fowler, and Miss McClay. The occasion was celebrated with Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Edwards, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Cunningham, Mr. and Mrs. Lantz (neighbors nearby the WRC), Miss Minnie Keliher and the Chew Family. It was said that Mr. Cadwallader held the event to show off his beautiful wife from Ohio. She later remarried Mr. Taylor in 1910, twenty years later.

Mr. Nirum Cadwallader’s Evergreen property turned into one of the first densely built home developments in the downtown of Evergreen. It was all located around Cadwallader Avenue, named in his honor. Close by Cadwallader Subdivision were the Smith properties and General Store, Andy Kettmann’s Saloon and the Schoolhouse. When the town grew, it did so because people enjoyed having neighbors and countryside in the places like the Cadwallader Subdivision shown to the right. If you worked these farms nearby, you probably couldn’t afford lots of acres of your own. Plus, you were too busy to ever profit off of the land or tend to it yourself. Evergreen’s farming industry took the whole village to harvest. Evergreen School Sessions would sync with the harvest season, because the kids would be home working as well.

Patricia Loomis discussed the WRC’s opening with first person resources in her article “Cadwallader Ave. Has Had Problems” in her ‘Sign Posts’ series, revisiting historic events in San Jose’s history for the San Jose News in October 17, 1975. What I hadn’t realized before I found Patricia Loomis’s Sign Post was that Cadwallader Avenue went through to San Felipe. The road bridge would be washed out in 1893 after heavy rains. At the time, Cadwallader crossed Thompson Creek, formerly known as Dry Creek because it ran dry in summer months. The wash out surely as something to do with the redirecting of San Felipe Road. It’s never been replaced.

Redundant Theme – Mining for Evergreen

April 22, 2016Artwork, Concept, Historical Researchcinnabar, creeks, mercury, mining, quicksilver, silver creek, silver creek mines, townshipevergreen

Miners who would strike it rich in the Gold Rush would make Evergreen their home in the later half of the 1800’s. The discovery of gold would hasten California’s Statehood and spur immigration to the Golden State. Evergreen had a huge hand in bringing California to Statehood. Businessman, Orchardist, winemaker and French immigrant, Luis Pellier, would become the father of California’s Fruit Industry when noting the high price of fruit while he was panning for gold. With a little success gold panning and a little luck being a farmer from France, he managed to create his own gold. Henry W. Coe, for whom the park is named after, struck it rich importing mining equipment through the Gold Rush, enabling him to invest in such a large Evergreen property after pulling stakes up from Willow Glen.

A little known fact is that the Town of Evergreen would be that it is built up around active, productive mines. Tracking down these mines would be a little bit of a dig, but mining was a big deal for two distinct periods of time in Evergreen’s history. Mercury and Quicksilver are in the foundation of San Jose’s History, so much so that newspaper is called the Mercury News.

One of the first businesses ever opened in Evergreen was the Kettmann Saloon. Andrew Kettmann’s establishment was located on San Felipe Road in Downtown Evergreen, just North of the historic Smith family homes and businesses. The turn of the 20th century watering hole was frequented by miners up until Prohibition. The inebriated patrons would stumble off to kiss under the bridges of creek crossings nearby Cadwallader neighborhood by Keaton Loop. Prohibition brought the business under and San Felipe Road would be rerouted.

H. R. Bradford would eventually come to own the mining prospect and property in the 1890’s. Mr. Hector R. Bradford came from a mining family and one with political interests. Father, F. W. Farnsworth and once Governor of Massachusetts and descendants of Mayflower passangers, would move the family out West to California in 1884. Eldest son H. R. was only nine years old and sweeping around mine shafts as child. As an adult, H. R. Bradford would accumulate mining interests across California, but especially adored his Evergreen holding. He and partner J. Treadwell would own and operate the Silver Creek Mining Company. His business acumen was something to be admired.

In 1895, a close examination of the flooding and mines was made and Silver Creek mines began delivering pay ore. Silver Creek mines was producers of quicksilver, mercury and cinnabar.

Mr. H. R. Bradford must have heard about furnaces like this at the mining prospect before making his decision about the Silver Creek acquisition. Quicksilver Mining would require lots of timber to fuel the furnaces. Evergreen had plenty of orchards pulling trees and natural oak trees. Bradford’s property in Evergreen was huge.

Silver Creek Mines and the Mining Company would be named after Silver Creek, a spring and creek which lay nearby the site of the mines. In fact, this mine is located directly Southeast from Silver Creek Valley Country Club, and you know you’re wicked close when you’re along the backside of the Country Club and get to the Creek. The mine now sits with the Espinosa family for some years now.

These mines in Evergreen, however, were preexisting. Bradford purchased historic cinnabar mines that were dormant and flooded for 25 years. These mines would be 5 miles North of the Almaden Mines. Their original name were the North Almaden Mines when it was owned by A. J. Piercy. Heir E. M. Piercy would sell to Bradford. Before the North Almaden Mining Company extracted cinnabar ore, it was known as the Adams Mine. The Comstock Panic would bring the mines to a halt in the 1860’s. The Comstock Panic brought to light poor money management and stock dealings in the mining industries in 1865. True interests and dividends were not being distributed properly. New Almaden would halt due to wage negotiations in the 1860’s. World War I & II would bring the mines back to popularity in the production of ammunitions.

Was Silver Creek named for the quicksilver found near by? Contamination could’ve been the reason for the name. It could also be named after its sparkling beauty. This is really a chicken-egg debate that only the Native Ohlone can answer.

The Native Americans here in Evergreen would take note of the red soil and water contamination. They knew about the cinnabar before the Spanish came to colonize California.

New Almaden Mines would date back to 1824. It’s name came from a combination of Arabic words “Al”, from, and “Maden”, the mine. Quicksilver would be cultivated at New Almaden then North Almaden in Evergreen. The largest producer would be Spain’s Alamden mines, or Old Almaden Mines. Quicksilver would be used in medicine and in the amalgamation of gold and silver ores as far back as the 16th century through furnaces and distillation.

Only faint traces of the mines and mining culture can be found in Evergreen today. Here shown to the left is historian Richard Neiman, showing of some 100 year old mining equipment found at Blauer Ranch in the 1960’s. One half of Blauer Ranch would become the front portion of the Villages. The other would become the Silver Creek Valley Country Club.

Mining creates a redundant theme in our Evergreen Mural Walk artwork. Here’s some of the Artwork with Mining overtones.

Pellier Roots

December 30, 2015Artwork, Historical Researchagriculture, apricots, business, evergreen, evergreen people, family, generations, mining, mirassou, orchards, pellier, prunes, Valley of heart's Delight, vineyards, vintner, winemakerevergreen

The Pellier family and their descendants have been long time Property and Business Owners in San Jose and Evergreen since the late 1840’s. Though one of the murals is designed specifically for the descendants of the Pelliers, I have another mural for what I’m calling the “Pellier Contribution” to San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley.

Mini-History lesson: The Spanish Missions ran the agricultural business and mostly did business with the local naval bases that protected them. The Indians were the farmers and the monks participated as well. However, when California became Mexican Territories, the missions closed down and the Indians were displaced. The vineyards and orchards went dry and much of the valley turned to cattle pasture.

Louis Pellier (1817-72), son of winemakers outside of Bordeaux, had plenty of experience keeping the family farm. At the age of 32, Louis left France during the French Revolution and traveled around Cape Horn to arrive in San Francisco in 1847-8. Louis sent for his brother, Pierre, and they found success gold mining in Weaverville. Pierre served in the French Army during the revolution and came to California in 1849.

Louis quickly realized that there were going to be a flood of people coming to California for the Gold Rush and American Dream. The price of the limited produce was extremely high. With family in France and experience he gained on the family farm, Louis could get into that business. Pierre came to California in 1849 in search of gold, but the Pellier brothers returned to their native country several times in search of a different kind of gold.

On their 1850’s journeys, Pierre brought back his long lost sweetheart, Henriette Renaud. Louis realized his business plans. Louis, Pierre and Jean, the Pellier brothers, stretched out across France, looking for fruit and vegetable varieties to repopulate the rich soil of the Santa Clara Valley. Not all of the plants would arrive alive when traveling by boat. There was a fair amount of learning taking place in the process. In steamer trunks and barrels, the brothers brought seeds, small potted plants and clippings to propagate once back in California.

The brothers improvised when water ran low, presumed to be due to underestimation on the first journey. They kept the clippings alive by inserting them into potatoes for moisture, which worked well.

The Pellier brothers brought some other notable names, the very young Delmas brothers, to California with them. The brothers made considerable amounts of money and bought large plots of land in San Jose and east of San Jose. Unfortunately, the Pelliers sold all their stock of seeds off the dock of Alviso, which meant they had nothing to plant for themselves after the first voyage. This created the necessity of return trips to France, possibly crossing through Panama by train on their way back to California.

Louis Pellier founded City Gardens Nursery in 1850 with Pierre, at the present day corner of St. James Street and San Pedro Street. The Pellier prune clippings were grafted on to wild Californian prunes, and arranged into rows making the first California prune orchards in 1856. City Gardens was open to the public for picnics and for the nuns to pick freely. The prune was a success, and City Gardens was a cultural hub of Downtown San Jose. The California Prune Industry and Valley of Heart’s Delight radiated outward from the Downtown Pellier orchards. This, however, will be a forgotten garden. The Pellier’s other pride lies east of San Jose in the 1860’s.

Louis and Pierre bought land in Evergreen, which was once part of the Chaboya Land Grant or Rancho Yerba Buena. When Louis sold his portion to Pierre, it became one of the largest ranches in the township of Evergreen.

Louis Pellier had a spat with his brothers, presumed to be due to the sale of all the plants or the neglect of their orchards on one of his journeys to France. Pierre took his horticultural skills and expertise to his ranch and vineyards in Evergreen. Louis stayed downtown. Louis took a wife, a woman of French heritage, who wasn’t well suited for him. She quite possibly drove him mad, possibly creating the wedge between brothers.

Don’t worry. There was a lot of love there between the Pellier brothers, even towards the end. Pierre even named his first son after his brother. In 1872, Louis died in a state hospital, due to a nervous breakdown after the separation with his wife. He and his wife had no children. His brother, Pierre, took care of the estate, and the family decided to pay-off the widow with proceeds of the Downtown property. There was a Will in place, but the greedy widow kept coming back for more until a cash settlement was reached.

Louis’s amazing business venture wouldn’t reach its height for many years. In 1929, California would cultivate 171,330 acres of prune orchards. The La Petite D’Agen from France grafted onto the wild prunes proved to be perfect for California. It was fruitful or meaty enough to be dried, making the prune easy to export all over the country. The growth of the railway system made the export possible. Pierre Pellier brought back the Black Burgundy, French Colombar, Chasselas, Fontainebleau, Pinot Noir, Madeline and others from France. With these new varieties, Louis and Pierre Pellier founded the Valley’s French wine industry at City Garden Nursery.

Pierre Pelliers’s vineyards and orchards a few miles east of San Jose would get passed down to his five children, who later became vineyard owners and winemakers themselves, following in the Pellier’s footsteps, even through Prohibition. The descendants of the Pellier brothers would, in fact, become one of, if not the, most famed business out of Evergreen. The family still has living descendants in family house in the neighborhood. They deserve their own mural in my humble opinion.

Here’s a look at the artwork I have planned for the “Pellier Contribution.”