THE STORY OF BOUCHAINE WINERY

PRELIMINARY DRAFT - HISTORY IN DEVELOPMENT
Copyright by John M. Olney, March 11, 2005. All rights reserved.

Bouchaine Vineyards
(Now owned by Gerret & Tatiana Van S. Copeland, a duPont heir)

Progression of ownership
Boone (a.k.a. Boon) Fly
Johnny Garetto
Beringer Brothers
Gerret Copeland, et al

This property lies within the region known as the Spanish name “Carneros”, which translates to “sheep” in English. It is one of a few appellations, which cross county lines as it contains wineries located in both Napa and Sonoma Counties.

The first owner to grow grapes on this land was a man named Boon (a.k.a. Boone) Fly. Although my research to date has revealed little about the individual, he was apparently a man of some significance in the region as sites named after him such as “Fly’s Landing” in the marshlands along the Napa River approaching San Pablo bay. From what I can gather, he was primarily a general farmer on property he purchased in the early to mid 1850s. He grew a limited number of vineyard acres.

Another man who became well known in Napa County worked on the Fly farm. Theron H. Ink was born in New York in 1831. In 1852, he heard about the land and prospects of the newly opened state of California from friends he made while he was a schoolteacher. With these friends he completed the journey by wagon train arriving in the Sacramento-Stockton area. He tried his hand at gold digging and was somewhat successful in the town of Colma: town in which the sawmill worker, John Marshall found the first gold on John Sutter’s property in 1848. In fact, Ink’s claim was almost on top of the stream area where Marshall made his find. Ink was able to earn up to about $200 per day working his claim. When it dried up, he moved on to American Flat, along the American River. Here, he hired on with a company using flume technology in attempt to extract gold. It bellied up and Ink and expended most his savings in hope of riches.

He then moved to Napa Valley in 1853 and hired on at Jonathan Hungerford’s farm who lived off Sonoma road. He left there and went to work for Boone (a.k.a. Boon) Fly plowing fields hauling wood and threshing. In 1854, Ink and a man named Reese Smith rented Fly’s place. Ink and Reese planted and cultivated 200 acres of wheat. Unfortunately they lost all but a few acres to a wheat disease. (Why Ink rented it out is not explained. I am still seeking an answer in my research work).

Ink is next found working land on property owned by one T. O. Larkin. Ink had been informed that the property was Government land but he learned that it was not. He was forced to buy the 240-acres of land that required him to incur heavy debt financing. He lived and farmed the land until 1860. San Francisco was his principal market that he delivered to by boat. In 1861, he sold his interests and moved to Marin County. (See my expanded research on Mr. Ink and his return to Napa Valley in another chapter of my stories.)

The next time I read about Boone (a.k.a. Boone) Fly, it is on the website “pjwines.com” where the write-up indicates that Fly was growing grapes and fruit tries on his property in the late 1880s. (I am still attempting to collaborate this statement).


From the Bouchaine website, I find that about 1900, Southern Pacific railway built a station near Fly’s property, which was called the “Bulchi Station.” This still requires research to confirm, but I’m pretty sure that this done near or on the land of John M. Buchle (a.k.a. Bulchi). He was born in Switzerland, in 1843 and migrated to California in 1870. In 1882, he purchased his Carneros region ranch where he maintained cows, six acres of vineyard and a small winery where he produce wine from his own grapes.

One reference, “carneros.org/history,” records a Johnny Garetto as having built a winery on his place: the former Fly property, in 1899. However, the following extraction from the Bouchaine website seems to indicate that Fly still owned the property: “Around the turn of the century the Southern Pacific Railroad erected Buchli Station in the lower part of Napa Valley to accommodate all the commerce going in and out of this agricultural paradise. Livestock fruit grains wines (including Garetto’s wines) and people all departed from Buchli Station for adventures around the globe.”

I contacted the Carneros Quality Alliance and by e-mail received a reply that indicated Garetto purchased the Fly property in 1927 and began construction of a winery shortly thereafter. The pjwine.com site indicating that the date was 1929 and that Garetto was an “Italian home winemaker.” Then, in ___(ref.)____ , it was alleged that Johnny Garetto might have been “bootlegging" wine during the years of Prohibition. The Carneros Quality Alliance e-mail said the following: “John Garetto built the first winery building on the property before Prohibition but it was the only one in Carneros that survived Prohibition.” Most of the reference resources kind of come together about the year 1935 as when Garetto completed his winery and become a bonded producer. The Carneros.org site indicates that Garetto’s winery was the first post-Prohibition winery to operate in the entire Carneros region.

It seems to this author that everybody is walking lightly about the Prohibition era and trying not to get pinned down to saying that Johnny Garetto ran illegal wine during Prohibition. It really does not matter, as the whole 14-year period of Prohibition was a silly exercise in attempting to legislate social behavior. Those who were caught selling booze during that period were really no more or less guilty than their buyers, few of which were ever prosecuted for illegally drinking an outlawed beverage. There, I said it! I got my biased opinion out there! I am attempting to meet with some of the old Napans from that era and area who are still with us to develop a census opinion as to what happened to and on Fly’ property during the 1900 to 1933 timeframe.

The next owner of the property was Beringer Vineyards. The Beringer family bought the property in 1951 for use as wine blending and storage facility. For more information on this period, please refer to my separate story on the Beringer Brothers (now owned by Fosters of Australia).

About 30 years later, in 1981, the owners of Beringer no longer wanted the property and it was sold to group of investors composed of Gerret Van S. Copeland (an heir of the duPont family), Richard Sutton and Austin Kiplinger (publisher of the” Kiplinger Washington newsletter” and "Changing Times" magazine.) They originally renamed the winery “Chateau Bouchaine.” The old white barn-like building was remodeled into a modern winery.

About Richard Sutton. (In research)

About Austin Kiplinger. His father, W.M. Kiplinger, created a form of business journalism --”Kiplinger Washington newsletter” -- that simplified complex financial matters so the average reader could grasp them and make monetary decisions. Although Austin worked at his father’s newsletter when he was growing up, he sought a different career. He was a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle just before he served in the navy during WW II. Following the war, he returned home and assisted his father in the start up of the publication, “Changing Times” magazine in 1946.

He still wanted his own career, so departed and joined the “Chicago Journal of Commerce” as a columnist. About this time television was making itself felt in the media and he saw opportunity. So while still in Chicago, he jumped to NBC and ABC to cover politics. He was the first broadcaster on TV business news.

In 1961 he succeeded his father as editor-in-chief of the Kiplinger newsletter that were collectively renamed, “Kiplinger Personal Finance.” He also became involved as a member of the board of directors in a number of community projects.

About Gerret Van S. Copeland. Gerret is the son of Lammot duPont Copeland, the 11th president of duPont and his wife, Pamela Cunningham duPont. Both parents are deceased. The du Pont family members are no longer active in management of the duPont business. Lammot du Pont Copeland was the last family member to head the firm and hestepped down in 1968.

It is estimated that the family members, on a whole, control about 20% of the company’s stock, thus, the can still exert their influence on the operations of the great company. The duPont family heirs who remain shareholders receive a private meeting once a year with senior executive and management about the status of the company.

The Copeland’s are involved in a number of community charities and projects in the home state of Delaware.

In the early 1990s, the Copeland’s (Gerret and Tatiana) bought out the interests of the other partners, renamed the winery property, “Bouchaine Vineyards,” and set about to totally upgrade the facilities again.

When I first arrived in Napa County back in 1984, I visited the winery to solicit use of their label on my first wine label poster-map featuring 85 labels from different Napa Valley wineries. I received their permission and the label is displayed on my first wine-label poster-map. I have witnessed the growth and changes in the look of Bouchaine over the years.

PART ONE - CHATEAU MONTELENA - ALFRED L. TUBBS ERA

Preliminary Draft -- History in Development

Copyright by John M. Olney, March 11, 2005 all rights reserved

Alfred Lovering Tubbs
(1827 - 1896)

The Major Business Enterprises
Tubbs Cordage Company, San Francisco
Tubbs Hotel, Oakland
Hillcrest Estate & Chateau Montelena Winery, Calistoga

Part 1 - About The Tubbs San Francisco, California Operations

Alfred L. Tubbs, born in Deering, NH, in 1827, came to California in the early 1850s with his older brother, Hiram, (also born in Deering, but in 1824). Alfred married Miss Elizabeth Chapin and Hiram married Abby Ann Stanyan. Apparently Alfred became a member of the San Francisco Vigilance Committee immediately upon his arrival for his signature is shown on the roll sheet of a _______, 1851 meeting of the Committee. Others in attendance who had business interests in Napa also signed in at this meeting. They were Sam Brannan, California’s first millionaire and creator of Calistoga, and Jacob P. Leese, who received one of the 14 Mexican Land Grants given out by General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo in the mid-1830s.

The brothers started the Tubbs Cordage Company in 1856 and they built their business on a site now occupied by San Francisco’s Muni’s Woods Yard. (See my photos coming soon). Originally the land was owned by the De Haro family. Prior to them the land was had been used for cattle and goat grazing. Review of the Sanborn Insurance maps of 1899, shows that Tubbs Cordage Company was located on a parcel encompassed by today’s streets of Iowa Street (west side), 22nd Street - formerly known as “Sierra Street“ (north side), 3rd Street (east side) and 23rd Street (south or bay side). (See my map coming soon ) They were producing rope and selling it to ship riggers and mining companies throughout the Western United States, Mexico, Peru,China and Japan.

This area is known as the “Potrero Hill” and Potrero Point” area located just south of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge about three miles from Market Street. The deep water adjacent to Potrero Point created an excellent opportunity for industrial development. The first to operate there were shipbuilding, ship repair and gunpowder storage. In 1854, E.I. du Pont de Nemours Company, one of the largest manufacturers of black gunpowder in the United States, constructed their first powder magazine on the West Coast near the corner of Maryland and Humboldt Streets, now the site of P.G. & E’s Potrero Power Plant. In 1855, Hazard Powder Company (Don’t you love that name!) constructed their gunpowder manufacturing facility on 23rd Street, between Maryland and Louisiana Streets. They built wharves for loading kegs onto ships. These gunpowder manufacturers continued operations until the encroachment of other bus- inesses and labor resource housing made it too dangerous to have people and hazardous materials in close proximity to each other. By 1881 both companies sold their plants to Claus Spreckels (the sugar giant) and moved to rural Contra Costa County. (See the history and growth of Port Chicago)

The establishment of San Francisco Cordage Manufactory (a.k.a. Tubbs Cordage Co.) at Potrero Point in 1856 had much to do with the industrialization of Potrero Point and the demise of the gunpowder manufacturer’s. These new industries also required land with deep-water access. The initial Tubb’s building was a 35’ x 1,000’, one-story, wood-frame shed that extended in a southeasterly direction from the present-day intersection of Iowa and 22nd Streets to a wharf in the bay (see artist rendition). Inside the shed was the ropewalk: initially about 1000’ long, it was eventually extended another 500’. The workers used this shed to twist strands of yarn made from hemp and abaca fibers into ropes. There was also a 1500-foot ropewalk extending to the bay shoreline, which was probably used as a wharf. This shed/rope walk reached the original shoreline right about 22nd and _______. Today, the shoreline, developed after massive landfill, is a good ______ away from the original site shoreline. Tubbs was also a ships’ chandlers company. (See Part 2 to my Tubbs saga)

In 1862, The Cordage Company, of San Francisco, became a full-fledged corporation with the filing of articles of incorporation in Sacramento. It was capitalized with $100,000 and it. Trustees were Alfred L. and Hiram Tubbs, James C. and Edward P. Flint, and George H. Kellogg. (My research on the latter three continues)

By 1889 the company was renamed Tubbs Cordage Company and it became one of the largest employers in the community of “Dogpatch” that had grown up just north of the plant in the l870s and 1880s. “Dogpatch” included roughly a nine-block area of residential housing of the industrial workers employed by the Potrero Point industrial companies. The neighborhood contains about 100 flats and cottages, and numerous commercial, industrial and government buildings. The area was developed between 1870 and 1930. The earliest surviving dwelling in Dogpatch was constructed in 1872 for a boat builder named William J. Thompson, employed by a local boat builder in the proximity of Illinois Street.

In addition to Tubbs Cordage Co., the Coast Survey Map of 1883 -- the first was taken in 1869 -- listed the following significant industries along the shores of the landfill area:

The boatyards (REWRITE BELOW)

The early shipyards illustrated the potential of the district as a major shipbuilding center, a realization not lost on the owners of Union Iron Works and other major San Francisco manufacturers. Most important to the history of Dogpatch, the boat yards began to attract a significant residential labor force to the area.

In 1862 John North, San Francisco’s most prominent shipbuilder, led the way by relocating his shipyard from Steamboat Point on the northern edge of Mission Bay to a large site near the foot of Sierra Street (now 22nd Street) on Potrero Point. Other boat and ship builders followed North to Potrero Point. The construction of boatyards began to change the landscape of Potrero Point. The 1869 Coast Survey map shows five wharves and shipways along the rugged coastline of Potrero Point, two blocks east of what is now Dogpatch ( See Figure __).

San Francisco Gas Light Company (later known as Pacific Gas & Electric),

The San Francisco Gas Light Company commenced operations in 1872 and parts of it exist today in the present plant owned by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Construction began in 1870 in four- block area fronting the bay and stretching between Humboldt and Sierra (now renamed 22nd) Streets. In 1873, the City Gas Company merged with the Metropolitan Gas Company and the San Francisco Gas Company to form the San Francisco Gas Light Company. In 1899 the company expanded its physical presence in Potrero Point by constructing a large power house, machine shop, meter house and purifying house on Humboldt Street to the southeast of the survey area (these buildings still stand).

Pacific Rolling Mills (Becomes Bethlehem Steel) On May 10, 1866 Pacific Rolling Mills was organized by the industrialists William Alvord, John Bensley and D.O. Mills. In that year they successfully received a grant of submerged land north of Potrero Point from the State Legislature. Alvord, the president of Pacific Rolling Mills then purchased approximately twenty acres on the north shore of Potrero Point and began building wharves and buildings at the foot of Napa Street (now 20th Street). In July 1868 Pacific Rolling Mills began producing rolled steel, the first product of this kind on the West Coast. Pacific Rolling Mills turned out about 30,000 tons of iron and 10,000 tons of steel annually and gradually specialized in the manufacture of rails, locomotive parts, marine and engine forgings, bolts, nuts, railroad spikes, track nails, washers and coil chains.

In the mid-1890s Pacific Rolling Mills was renamed Risdon Iron & Locomotive Works and the company changed its emphasis to building dredges,which had been invented by the company in 1897 to support gold mining operations. In 1911 Bethlehem Steel bought out Risdon and merged the plant with their adjacent San Francisco Yard.

Union Iron Works (VERIFY NAMES AND DATES SEQUENCE)

Union Iron Works was founded in 1849 by the brothers Peter, James and Michael Donahue and although little more than a blacksmith’s shop, the business was the first iron works established on the West Coast. Gradually, Union Iron works bought out its nearby competitors at Potrero Point,including Atlas Iron Works and Risdon Locomotive Works. In 1862 the company became known as Donahue Iron & Brass Company.

In 1865 Union Iron Works built the first locomotive on the West Coast for the San Francisco-San Jose Railroad. Within the next decade Union Iron Works was manufacturing most of the heavy machinery used by mining companies working the Comstock Lode. By 1865, Donahue had sold his interest in the Union Iron Works and it became known as H. J. Booth & Co. I n the early 1880s, Booth & Co. in turn was reorganized under the management of partner Irving Murray Scott and renamed Prescott, Scott & Co.

The first military contracts completed were the battle cruisers Charleston and San Francisco, which were launched in 1888, the first cruisers launched on the West Coast. Then came the cruiser Olympia and the battleship Oregon (launched in 1893).

In 1902 the United States Shipbuilding Company, a trust headed by Lewis Nixon and Charles Schwab, acquired Union Iron Works, as well as seven other major shipyards in the nation. After the company went into receivership Charles M. Schwab successfully bid $1,000,000 for the Union Iron Works on behalf of Bethlehem Steel, at a public auction in 1905. Schwab appointed Joseph J. Tynan as the new superintendent of Bethlehem Steel’s San Francisco Yard, as Union Iron Works was renamed. In 1911 Bethlehem Steel purchased Risdon Iron & Locomotive Shipbuilding Works (formerly Pacific Rolling Mills) and added them to the San Francisco Yard.

Sugar Refineries (REWRTE)

Sea Island Sugar House.

In 1863, Claus Spreckels sold his store for $50,000 and his brewery for $75,000 and organized the small Bay Area Sugar Refinery in San Francisco, and this business, like those before, boomed. In 1866, he reorgan- ized and built the California Sugar Refinery in San Francisco to produce 12 tons per day. By 1869, he was producing 60 tons per day. By 1871, 125 tons per day. The brand name for the Spreckels product was "Sea Island Sugar."

California Sugar Refinery.

In 1881, Spreckels purchased a five-block site (former gunpowder manufacturers) on the south shore of Potrero Point, east of Louisiana and south of Humboldt Streets, and commenced construction of the California Sugar Refinery. The massive brick buildings which comprised the plant included the Melt/Filter House, the Wash House and the Char House. All of this was from sugar cane imported from Hawaii, the Philippines, China, Java and the Sacramento River Delta (by barge). The plant produced 900 tons per day.

The California Sugar Refinery was purchased by the American Sugar Refining Company in 1891 and renamed the Western Sugar Refinery by its new owners. In 1949, California & Hawaiian Sugar Refining Corporation bought the Refinery. After determining that the plant was too old to be refurbished and modernized at a cost that would make it profitable, the machinery was sold for scrap in 1951 and the building demolished.

California Poppy Soap Company (My research on this industry continues)

California Barrel Company

First established at Potrero Point in 1884 on Louisiana Street, between Humboldt and Nevada Streets, the company was one of the earliest barrel manufacturers in San Francisco. In 1900 the factory was relocated to Sierra and Illinois Streets, where it remained in operation until 1956. The site is now occupied by a P.G. & E. parking lot.

Arctic Oil Works

San Francisco was the biggest whaling port in the world during the during time- frame of 1882-1908 and this company was part of it. (My research on this industry continues) The site was eventually replaced by Union Oil's petroleum depot by the turn of the 1900s.

Farming & Ranching

Ramon-Hawes Ranch

Charles Hawes build a fairly good size home and established the Ramon-Hawes Ranch with the Ramon family. They had a cattle barn and large windmill on the property all of which they operated until 1912.

Southern Pacific Cattle Yards

(My research on this industry continues)

Preliminary Draft - History in Development

SEE PART 2 for more stuff on Tubbs & Chateau Montelena

Preliminary Draft - History in Development

Copyright by John M. Olney, March 11, 2005

Folger & Tubbs, ship chandlers, 49 Pacific, San Francisco was another of the Tubbs Brothers enterprises in San Francisco. (more text coming here soon)

About the Tubbs Oakland, California Operations

In 1870, after amassing quite a fortune from their business enterprises, the Tubbs brothers created a magnificent hotel in the _________ area of Oakland. It was simply called “Tubbs Hotel,” but it was not a simple looking facility. (See picture coming soon) Its size was quite impressive. It occupied all the land between 4th and 5th Avenues and East 12th and East 14th Streets in Oakland. The brothers even constructed a streetcar system to transport vacationers and businessmen between their hotel and downtown Oakland.

Included in their guest lists were Anthony Chabot who’s brother built the Villa Remi winery near the St. Helena Hospital in Deer Park, along the road to Angwin in Napa County, California. Another prominent guest was Robert Louis Stevenson, the author who wrote about Jacob Schram’s winery (now Schramsberg winery) in his book, “Silverado Squatters,” after he and his bride visited Calistoga, California in 1880. Famous author-genius, Gertrude Stein and her brother, Leo, stayed at the Tubbs Hotel before she left America in 1904. She did not return for almost 30 years.

Sadly the hotel suffered the most common calamity of the times- massive fire - and burned to the ground in 1893.

About the Tubbs Napa Valley, California Operations

In the late 1870s, Alfred Tubbs and his family frequented the White Sulphur Springs Resort located just to the southwest of downtown St. Helena. The owner of the property at that time was Swen Alstrom who was a major partner in the San Francisco hotels Oriental and Lick House (corner of Sutter and Montgomery, San Francisco- burned down following the 1906 earthquake). (MORE HERE)

In 1882, Tubbs purchased the John Hoover farm (200 acres) and the J.M. Wright farm (122 acres) at the southern base of Mt. St. Helena in Calistoga. First he built his home, a magnificent mansion on a hill and a wood-frame winery with a reported capacity of 150,000 gallons. The 1st crush was in 1886. This wooden winery was later destroyed by fire. The estate consisted of 322 acres of vineyard and pasture lands upon the hillside as well as the flatlands of the valley. He had planted 110 acres of vines and envisioned planting another fifty with Cabernet Sauvignon. Tubbs retained Hoover to manage the estate property.

The Ch. Montelena website indicates that "by 1896 his stone winery (2nd he built), christened Chateau Montelena (a contracted form of Mount Saint Helena), was the seventh largest in the Napa Valley." The capacity of the cellar was reportedly 265,000 gallons.

Jerome Bardot was the cellar master. He was native of Arbois, in the Jura, France. In 1878 he came to Napa County and worked for Jacob Schram - now known as Schramsberg winery -who shared wine with the famous author, Robert Lewis Stevenson (wrote Silverado Squatters, Treasure Island among other great books). He remained with Schram until mid-year 1884. The wines he made earned gold metals at Sacramento and at London, England, for superior excellence. (GET EXACT YEAR AND VARIETAL) In 1885, Bardot made an extended visit throughout all the wine regions of Europe. He took with him a collection of the California wines and offered his contacts tastes of what could be made in Napa.. When he returned to California in 1885, he went to worked for the Napa Valley Wine Company (NVWC) which had been formed in 1883 by Tubbs, Charles Krug and others. In 1886, Tubbs stole Bardot away from the NVWC and he became cellar master at Chateau Montelena.

In 1891, Tubbs went on a buying trip to Europe where he purchased vines from the Liebfraumilch vineyard at Johannisburg, Chateau Yquem, and Chateau Latite to be used to further upgrade the quality of his wines.

Alfred L.Tubbs death came in 1896. His brother, Hiram, died a year later in 1897. In San Francisco, The street between 22nd and 23rd, and stretching between Indiana and Tennessee was named “Tubbs” in their honor. It is interesting to note that all of the male children and grandchildren of the Tubbs brothers’ were identified with the Tubbs Cordage Company in one capacity or another. Also, it should be noted that some of the husbands of the daughters of these two men were bookkeepers with the Tubbs Cordage Co.

Alfred and his wife, Elizabeth Chapin, produced three sons and one daughter. They would continue both the San Francisco and Napa Valley businesses. All three of his sons graduated from Harvard University.

Austin C. Tubbs, the third son, married Miss Anne Tallant, daughter of the late Drury John Tallant and they had two children. Austin C. Tubbs died in November 1899 (check shown by Pacific Club) The older son, Austin, died in 1901. Tallant, the younger son, was employed by Tubbs Cordage. However, his career took him to many endeavors. During the period 1925-1937, he served as a state Senator. In the year 1932, the Democratic party supported his canididcy for U.S. Senator. (MORE RESEARCH AS TO ELECTION OUTCOME)

The second son, William Bray Tubbs, also worked for the Tubbs Cordage Company until his death in December 1915 shown by Pacific Club. He married Jennie Filkins, and they had two children: Chapin Filkins Tubbs and Emilie Tubbs.

The first son, Alfred Steward Tubbs, assumed presidency of the Tubbs Cordage Co. He married Miss Alice Hagar, and they had no children as of 1924 . (NEED MORE HERE)

Alfred and Elizabeth Tubbs only daughter was Nettie Kellogg Tubbs. In 1892, she married Joseph S. Oyster, a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. (My research continues on her).
Tubbs Holdings following repeal of Prohibition (REWRITE ALL)

Prohibition brought about the closure of the Tubbs family winery operation in Calistoga; however, they continued to be in the grape growing business. Tallant Tubbs was active during the period of Prohibition in generating political support to repeal the 18th Amendment The Tubbs family continued to use the Hillcrest Estate until 1958 when they sold the property. It was good fortune that they sold when they did because the giant Hanley Ranch fire in 1964 swept through their former property totally destroying the mansion and farm building sparing only the stone winery nestled safely against the hillside.

San Francisco City Directories reveal that Tubbs Cordage Company remained a major manufacturer in San Franciscoand employer in Dogpatch from the late 1870s until the San Francisco facility was shut down in 1962. The complex was gradually demolished and in 1978 the last remaining buildings were replaced by a bus yard for the San Francisco Municipal Railway system.

In addition to having a Potrero area street named after him, the Tubbs Cordage Company office building was salvaged and moved to the Aquatic Park area at the north end of Hyde Street, near Fisherman’s Wharf, where it can be viewed as a National Historical Building. In addition to the above recognition, the most northern street north of Calistoga was named after Tubbs. (It crosses the valley floor and connects Hwy 128 going to Santa Rosa and Hwy 29 going to Clear Lake)

The Yort Wing Frank Era at Hillcrest/Chateau Montelena (REWRITE ALL)

“York and his wife Jade (SOME SOURCES SAY HER NAME WAS JEANNE - CONFIRM HER NAME) bought the property and converted the upper floor of the building into their residence. He did not use the winery facility however he created the Oriental Water Garden, which remains on the property today. It includes a 5-acre lake surrounding four island interconnected by curved oriental design walking bridges, and replica of a Chinese Junk.” (JUNK GONE ON MY MAR 10, 05 VISIT TO PROPERTY)

“Jade Lake is considered one of Napa Valley's most beautiful sanctuaries home to a variety of fish and wildlife and surrounded by weeping willows and native fauna.”

“During the long interval between Tubbs proprietorship and the current one, one owner, Yort Frank began to make the property into a showcase Chinese garden. His legacy --a lake with a tea houses on islands-- makes a serene setting for picnics."

The Rebirth of Winegrowing at Chateau Montelena (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

In 1968, Lee and Helen Paschich purchased the winegrowing property and they too resided in the converted second floor of the winery. They were joined shortly thereafter by two partners: James L. Barrett, a Southern California lawyer, and Earnest Hahn, a Chicago area supermarket developer and Southern California Mall developer. (more to come here)

Preliminary Draft - History in Development

"Part Two - Chateau Montelena Reborn" will be available shortly.

PART ONE - THE KRUG ESTATE - THE CHARLES KRUG ERA

Part 1 --Charles Krug Era (Duration: 1860-1892)
(Now owned and operated by the Peter Mondavi Family)

Source (s): (1) History of Napa Co. California, 1881, Slocum, Bowen & Co. Publishers; (2) Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891; (3) History of Napa County, Wallace, W. E., 1901, Enquirer Print; (4) Wine Country - A history of Napa Valley - The early years: 1838-1920, Heintz, Wm., 1990, Capra Pres; (5) Old Napa Valley - The History to 1900, Lin Weber, 1995, Wine Ventures Publishing; (6) American Vintage - The Rise of American Wine, Paul Lukacs, 2000, Houghton Mifflin Co.
Charles Krug came to San Francisco, California from Philadelphia in 1852 and was a journalist-editor for Staats Zeitung, the first German newspaper published in California. It originated in New York in 1834. Krug remained at this position until 1854. {The German-American Herman Ridder bought out Staats Zeitung in 1892. Under his ownership it became an American corporate empire known as the media giant Knight-Ridder.}
Krug them moved to the Crystal Springs area of San Mateo where he worked a land claim in attempt to grow grapes. Colonel Agoston Haraszthy was also working grapes in the area. He would become labeled as the man who initiated California wine. How long, and the extent to which these two men knew each other in San Mateo, appears to be undocumented. They did however quickly learn that the cold, damp environment of the peninsula was not at all suitable to wine grape production. Then both men were next found working at the new San Francisco Mint constructed in 1855.
One can only presume that either Haraszthy or Krug, or both, conducted some sort of research in order to determine that they best move to the more agreeable grape growing conditions that could be found north of San Francisco, because that’s where they were subsequently found together in the Carneros area jointly shared by Napa and Sonoma Counties.
The origin of the great Charles Krug ranch begins with his introduction to the family of a man named "Dr." Edward T. Bale. Let me explain the importance of this introduction before going on any further about Krug himself. In 1840, Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, the Mexican government’s military authority in the northern California area, appointed Bale to be the surgeon-in-chief of his Army. None of my research reference material reports on exactly how he became a “doctor.” Apparently Dr. Bale had no degree and had not been formally trained as a physician. However, there was sufficient evidence of his talents to give Vallejo the confidence to choose him as his surgeon-in-chief. In 1841, when Bale married Maria Guadalupe Soberanes, the niece of Vallejo, he received a 17,000-acre land grant from the Mexican Government via Vallejo’s authority. It was only the fourth land grant awarded since the Mexican's wrestled sovereignty over Mexico -- and its northern area known as Alta California -- away from Spanish rule. Bale’s property stretched from the northern boundary of George Yount's land (the first land grant made in the area), all the way to about Tubbs Lane (Named after the creator of Chateau Montelena winery) in Calistoga. Dr. Bale constructed a gristmill on the western side of his property along the gentle sloping portion of land at the foot of the Mayacamas range.

For those readers unfamiliar with this equipment, it a building in which wheat is separated to extract the grain which in turn is ground under a very large stone wheel to produce flour. During this timeframe, the primary source of power was stream water dropping onto a paddlewheel connected through special gearing that turned the grinding stone.

On the eastern boundary of his land grant, along the Napa River, he constructed a sawmill.
{California State Historical Landmark No. 359 - Old Bale Mill -- The restored gristmill can be visited in the historical park of the same name located on the west side of Hwy 29/128, between St. Helena and Calistoga. Federal listing - Bale Mill (added 1972 - Building - #72000240)}
In 1858, Isadora married a man named Louis Bruck. Following Bale’s death, she received the gristmill and surrounding property as part of her inheritance. The subsequent relatively rapid dilution of the land grant property resulted in the creation of a number of well known, and still standing, wineries including Ehlers Estate, Beringer Brothers, Lyman’s winery-now El Molino, Tychson’s winery-now Freemark Abbey, General Keyes’ Edge Hill winery & distillery-now owned by Leslie Rudd, Greystone-now Culinary Institute of America, and other wineries, White Sulfur Springs Spa & Resort, and the city of St. Helena itself.The Bruck’s would sell the gristmill property about the same time that Louis became aware of the winemaking talents of Charles Krug.
Bruck’s interest in Krug was generated by the latter’s efforts with a John Patchett located in the town of Napa. Patchett met Krug in 1858 when he took a trip to Sonoma. Krug was working with Colonel Agostin (also sometimes written as Agiston or Agoston) Haraszthy -- often called the “Father of California Viticulture” -- and others on a 20-acre vineyard site in Sonoma (eventually known as Buena Vista Society winery). He liked what he saw and asked Krug to come to his winery in Napa and make wine for him using Patchett’s grapes crushed in a cider press. The only other commercial wine production of any significance prior to Krug’s effort for Patchett was that conducted by Colonel Haraszthy in Sonoma in 1857 and Charles Kohler of the San Franciscan wine merchant firm of Kohler & Frohling in 1855 {The wine was probably made at their large Petaluma winery site). Although many writers credit Krug with the first commercial winery building in Napa County, it is probable that that honor should rightly belong to John Patchett since Krug would not build his own winery until two years later.

In 1859, Krug made wine for Louis Bruck on the Bale Mill property and a year later for the county’s first Caucasian settler - George Yount. Making wines for the early pioneers David Hudson, John York, George Tucker and Henry Owsley quickly followed these efforts, all located in or near the heart of the “Hot Springs Township“ now divided into the two towns known as St. Helena and Calistoga. Based on all of these efforts, it could be said that Charles Krug can lay claim to being the “First Consulting Winemaker in Northern California.”

{California State Historical Landmark No. 564 - George Yount ‘s original settlement - Located off Hwy 29, go north of Yountville, turn on to Yount Mill Road and follow it easterly as it bends back towards Yountville along the banks of Napa River. There you will find the marker and across from it still stands remnants of the old sawmill}

{California State Historical Landmark No.’s 682 & 683 - Sites of the York and Hudson cabins originally erected in 1845. They were both located on the SW corner of the intersection of Kortum Canyon Rd.-Lincoln Ave. and Hwy 29/128 in Calistoga. You may have to move the bush branches and weeds around to read the plaque. York is credited with discovering the White Sulphur Springs, which later became the first California resort spa. Hudson would buy property from Dr. Bale that would become part of the Beringer Brothers winery compound}.
About the time Krug was working with Louis Bruck, he met the other Bale daughter, Caroline, and in 1860 they married. The dowry for this marriage included over 500 acres of the Bale land grant bordering Napa River just north of the town of St. Helena, which included the Bale Sawmill. Krug built his first winery on this land in 1861. It was a small facility, half dug into the earth and having only a straw roof over the interior. In 1868, he started construction of a second and much larger complex on the property. It was to include a two-story stone winery, distillery, stables and homes. Then in 1874, the interior of the second winery building was destroyed by fire. His general manager/winemaker at the time was a young aspiring vintner named Jacob Beringer who would in turn become a well-known figure in producing quality wines. Beringer was reported to have personally attempted to extinguish the fire but to no avail. Because of Krug’s strong drive he immediately began reconstruction of the facility. Jacob Beringer would leave the Krug ranch in 1878 to work exclusively with his brother, Frederick, on the development of his own winegrowing business. Somewhere about this timeframe, Louis Bruck became Forman of the Krug ranch.

{California State Historical Landmark No. 563 - Founded in 1861 by Charles Krug (1825-1892), this is the oldest operating winery in Napa Valley. The pioneer winemaker of this world-famous region, Krug made the first commercial wine in Napa County at Napa in 1858. Federal Historical listing -Krug, Charles, Winery (added 1974 - Building - #74000542)}

Krug would, over the remaining 18 years of his life, become a major keystone to the development of the winegrowing industry of not only Napa Valley, but for all of California; indeed, for the nation itself. In 1875, Charles Krug founded the St. Helena Viticultural Society along with other prominent winegrowers of the time. One of those men included Seneca Ewer. {Ewer was co-owner of Ewer & Atkinson winery that would eventually be purchased by Georges de Latour and become Beaulieu Vineyards. It is now owned by Diageo, plc, which is the result of the merger of Grand Met and Guinness; two British giants.} Krug was the first president of the Society that would swell in membership over the next few years. Although the Society was originally formed to spread the word about the tiny louse, Phylloxera, and its catastrophic damage to the sensitive European varietals, it appeared to grow into a technical information sharing organization as well as a marketing arm for the encouragement of new people to join in on winemaking in upper Napa County. The Society could be viewed as a forerunner of the present day Napa Valley Vintners Association as well as the Wine Institute.

In the late 1870s, the industry had grown to such size that most knowledgeable growers and vintners were concerned with over-production, use of inferior varietals, misrepresentation in labeling and even wine diluting by eastern brokers, and the news of the tiny louse, Phylloxera, that was destroying the great vineyards of France. Political forces were at work pushing the legislative bodies in Sacramento to come to the rescue of the vineyard owners and winemakers. Along with other important men of the industry, Krug spoke to the body in February of 1880 to encourage them to support creation of a state board to look out for the interest of this rapidly growing agricultural economic base. They met with success and in the spring of 1880, and the Board of State Viticultural Commissioners was created. There were seven districts throughout California, each with a Commissioner appointed by the Governor plus two at-large Commissioners. Therefore, it can be said politics probably played an important role in the selection process for designation of each Commissioner. Krug was the first Commissioner to represent the Napa-Solano-Contra Costa district. He was also selected to be one of the three officers of the Board: he was chosen to be Treasurer.

In the early 1880s, Krug and others formed the Napa Valley Wine Company. It was designed to market the company’s wines on a national basis to counter the often fraudulent (watering down) and deceptive (using European names on labels) practices of eastern wine brokers and wholesalers.The winegrowing business had been good to all, especially in the north valley area around St. Helena. All of the directors of the newly formed Bank of St. Helena in 1882 came from the winegrowing industry. They included Krug, Ewer (of Ewer & Atkinson - now Beaulieu), Judge Serranus Clinton Hastings (of Nook Farms in Rutherford, which was also purchased by Georges de Latour and absorbed into Beaulieu, and Hastings Law College at UC Berkeley), William Whittingham Lyman (now El Molino winery), William Scheffler (of Edge Hill winery/distillery - now owned by Leslie Rudd), Gustave Niebaum (of Inglenook - now owned by Francis Ford Coppola), Henry W. Crabb (of To-Kalon vineyards - now owned mostly by the recent Robert Mondavi/Constellation merger), and other major winery and vineyard owners of the times.

{Today, the Bank of St. Helena building is one of the hot nightlife clubs in Napa County. It is called the “1351 Lounge” and named after the street address. Even the original bank vault door remains in the back of the club.}

However, the 1880s saw the influx of the dreaded phylloxera and year-by-year large acreage of vineyards were producing seriously lower tonnage or just simply died off. Winegrowers were challenged by the costs to replant and then wait for commercial yields to be produced, which amounted to four to five years of growth. By the middle of the decade, like many other great winegrowers of the time, Krug was suffering economic set back. By the beginning of the 1890s about half of the vineyards of Napa County had been lost to this tiny bug. Many winegrowers were over-extended relying heavily on loans to carry them through and Krug was no different. The Napa County Reporter newspaper published an article in 1885 listing all of the debts owed to others by Krug including personal loans from some of the original directors (Carver, Ewer and Niebaum) of the Bank of St. Helena as well as the bank itself. Add to these creditors, the Bank of Napa, Jacob Levi, Sr. (of Levi-Straus), Alfred Tubbs (Chateau Montelena winery) and many more.Wineries began to collapse. Scheffler bellied up in 1887, Krug finally was forced to insolvency in 1891, about year before his death. Other great winegrowers in financial trouble were Gottleib Groezinger’s winery & distillery operations in Yountville (now known as Vintage 1870 Stores) which went under in 1891, Alfred Tubbs’ Chateau Montelena winery discontinued operations in 1899 and Ewer’s partner, J.B. Atkinson’s vineyard (now part of St. SupÈry winery), also went down in 1899. H.W. Crabb’s To-Kalon winery (vineyards now mostly owned by the R. Mondavi -Constellation merger.) went bankrupt.

Compounding the Phylloxera problem was the growing temperance movement. Even in Napa County, where so much of the economy had become based on the production of wine, there were serious candidates running under the banner of the Prohibition Party. Maine was the first state to vote itself dry in 1851. However, the real struggle to abolish alcohol as an evil beast of mankind had begun in the post-civil war era. It took a strong hold on the public’s conception of alcohol consumption in the mid 1870s with the formation of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). It gained its most significant notoriety with the axe-welding Carrie Moore Nation. Kansas was the second dry state (1880), and over the decade, at least five more state would vote to go dry.

In 1888, William B. Bourn, II, and Everett J. Wise envisioned a sort of communal economic approach to solving the dreadful social and economic dilemmas that seemed to be facing the industry. They began construction of the Bourn & Wise Winery; probably the largest and most expensive stone winery to be built in California, if not the entire wine world. It was the first to use the newly discovered source of power called electricity and light bulbs to provide continuous and safe illumination after dark fell. What the partners offered was to build a facility in which they would crush the grapes and the participating growers could store their wine in their own space, until Bourn & Wise found a buyer at the price that grower could accept. The grower would be paid when Bourn & Wise were paid from the buyer. Alternatively, the grower could go ahead sell the grapes directly to Bourn & Wise for immediate payment. However, the growers were not fond of this method of resolving the agricultural crisis of the time and it was never implemented. In 1891, Wise sold his interest to Bourn.{The Bourn & Wise Winery probably became best known when it was under ownership of the California Wine Association, then by The Christian Brothers, and today by the Culinary Institute of America.}

Charles Krug died in November of 1892, just a couple years shy of the formation of the great California Wine Association (CWA). The original membership in the Association consisted of the Napa Valley Wine Company (which included Charles Carpy and all of his holdings -- Uncle Sam winery, Greystone - now the Culinary Institute of America, and C. Carpy & Sons -- Krug and others), the four major wine broker-merchants located in San Francisco (Kohler & Frohling, Kohler and Van Bergen, S. Lachman & Co. and B. Dreyfus & Co.), and others. The formation of the CWA would ensure the failure of the Bourn and Wise scheme and thus their winery. Bourn himself had given up and sold “Greystone” to Charles Carpy in the year the CWA was formed, although the Bourn family continued to own their original family estate and winery south of St. Helena.

SEE PART 2 FOR MORE ON THE KRUG PROPERTY

PRELIMINARY DRAFT - HISTORY IN DEVELOPMENT

PART TWO OF KRUG ESTATE -- THE JAMES K, MOFFITT ERA

PRELIMINARY DRAFT - HISTORY IN DEVELOPMENT
(last updated March 24, 2005)
Copyright by John M. Olney, February 12, 2005. All rights reserved.

Part 2 -- 2nd Krug Ranch Owner
James Kennedy Moffitt (Duration: 1892-1943)

(Now owned and operated by the Peter Mondavi Family)

Source (s): (1) History of Napa Co. California, 1881, Slocum, Bowen & Co. Publishers; (2) Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891; (3) History of Napa County, Wallace, W. E., 1901, Enquirer Print; (4) Wine Country - A history of Napa Valley - The early years: 1838-1920, Heintz, Wm., 1990, Capra Pres; (5) Old Napa Valley - The History to 1900, Lin Weber, 1995, Wine Ventures Publishing; (6) Harvests of Joy, Robert Mondavi, 1998, Harcourt Brace: (7) American Vintage - The Rise of American Wine, Paul Lukacs, 2000, Houghton Mifflin Co.; (8) website: oldandsold.com; (9) website: Charleskrug.com

Charles Krug was in serious financial trouble in the mid-1880s and declared insolvent in the early 1890s, which led to the subsequent sale of the property. The deeds of this man are well documented and you might wonder why he was allowed to fail or why the winegrowing community didn’t come to his financial rescue? Well, it actually did. The list of his creditors included not only lending institutions but also most of the individual directors of the Bank of St. Helena who personally loaned him money. He had apparently used up every resource available to him but to no avail. The buyer of the insolvent Krug ranch as stipulated by Old and Sold Auctioneer web site literature was,“ his close friend and admirer, James K. Moffitt, who used the residence and gardens as a country home. The vineyards and winery were leased until Prohibition forced them into a dormant period.”

In the “Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California," The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891, it is said “He died in 1892, leaving only two daughters to carry on. They continued, with the help from a cousin, until Prohibition when the winery closed. It remained in the hands of a caretaker-owner until Cesare Mondavi bought the property in 1943." However, William F. Heintz, in his book “Wine Country - A History of Napa Valley” listed five siblings: “… Charles Jr., died in infancy, At Krug’s funeral daughters Linda, Anita and Lolita were present and a son Karl Krug (possibly with a middle name of Charles for he afterward went by that name).” My research to date has yet to reveal which two siblings were involved in the continued operations of the winegrowing operations. However the cousin that is mentioned was Bismark Bruck.

The uncle of the Krug children was Louis Bruck who died in 1881. Bruck was the second person for which Krug had made wine before starting his own winery, at which Louis later became Forman. Bruck married the other daughter - Isadora - of Dr. Edward Turner Bale and his wife, Maria Guadalupe Soberanes (Niece of General Vallejo). Of the children they produced, a son named Bismark Bruck eventually took over the position as Forman of the Krug ranch following in his father’s footsteps.

Who was this cousin, Bismark Bruck? His political career included being a three-time State Assemblyman, a member, and once Chairman, of the Napa Board of Supervisors, and member of the Board of Trustees (now called council persons) for St. Helena. Besides being manager of the Krug Winery, he owned his own grape juice company established in 1909. But he was more than just what these obituary-type summary comments describe. Bismark was instrumental in moving growers to graft foreign premium varietals on to Phylloxera-resistant American varietal rootstocks. He replanted the vines on the former Krug vineyards - renamed the Moffitt vineyards - and he sold bench grafts in the hundreds of thousands in the early 1900s.

His political abilities became important as the social experiment called “Prohibition” approached. The 14-year period when the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution was enforced does not do justice to the actual strength of the movement. Long before January 18, 1920, when alcoholic beverages were banned, many communities - indeed whole states - had already adopted ordinances, which outlawed the consumption of alcohol. Maine went dry in 1851. Other states that was dry before the implementation of the 18th Amendment included Kansas, Georgia, Oklahoma, North Dakota, North Carolina, Mississippi and Tennessee. All of these states went dry between 1880 and 1909. The long arm of the temperance movement reached Napa in 1901. The spirit of Carrie Nation, member of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), who had just destroyed a saloon, inspired a similar act in Napa. Lin Weber, in her book, "Old Napa Valley - The History to 1900," reports that Carrie Nation’s act seemed to have encouraged a Dr. C. H. Farman of Napa to do a similar act in a downtown Napa saloon a few months later.

Bruck was one of the initial members of the Napa County Viticultural Protective Association formed around 1914. This organization was designed primarily to fight the “Drys” who were attempting to move California towards Prohibition as soon as possible and well before the 18th Amendment was to take force. There was also a California Grape Protective Association (CGPA) of which Bruck was a member. These were most difficult times for the alcoholic beverage makers whether it is distilled liquor, beer or wine. Hard booze was the primary culprit of the Drys, but beer and wine were being included in the temperance movement to stop all consumption of alcohol. It is here that the wine industry probably made their most critical error, which hurt all of the industry. In attempt to keep their own form of beverage available in the market place, the wine and beer producers began disassociating themselves from the distilled spirits producers. This pitted the alcohol beverage makers against each other thereby assisting the efforts of the “drys” to ban all alcoholic beverages.

The legitimate political movement towards making Napa “dry” started just as early as it did anywhere else on the continent. In the book, “History of Napa Co. California,” 1881, Slocum, Bowen & Co. Publishers reported that “At the general election in 1855, the question of the prohibition of liquor was submitted to the people, and the result in Napa County was; Prohibition --yes 198; Prohibition --no 205.” Napa County winegrowing industry got its second major scare in the election year of 1908. Heintz, in his book, “Wine Country - A History of Napa Valley “ cited that in north St. Helena, the Lodi precinct (area north of St. Helena) voted to go “dry.” Fortunately, this was a minority view as other precincts voted for “wet” status. However, in the 1912 election voting, the ever increasing popularity of the Dry movement could be seen as having grown significantly - about 40% of the county was willingly to see the wine industry terminated by Prohibition!

But, the Viticultural Protective Associations came too late to have the necessary impact to counter the dry’s movement. In 1917, in response to the national plan for the ongoing events of World War I, all production of alcohol from grain products had been outlawed because grains were needed for the war efforts. The law also disallowed importation of whiskey. However, Brandy could still be produced but the President of the United States was given the authority to halt production of alcohol for wine and beer products if he felt it necessary. As a consequence of these federal actions, California passed a law in the same year requiring all counties to reduce the numbers of saloons that could exist in each community. In her book mentioned previously, Lin Weber indicated that for Napa County this meant a reduction from 23 to only 12 saloons countywide. The law required that the lucky 12 saloons raise money to compensate those saloons that would have to close. The majority of the 12 surviving saloons were located in the town of Napa.

Just before the 18th Amendment went into effect, Bismark Bruck introduced legislation before the California Assembly that would cause a review of the winegrowing industry to determine the economic impact of Prohibition on that industry. This was done in hopes that all would receive some sort of compensation for the anticipated losses in business and their investments do date. But his efforts would fail to be carried. Meanwhile at Krug winery, Bruck was attempting to find a way to produce a nonalcoholic wine that would taste like wine. The experiments failed to produce favorable results and all but for a handful of wineries in the Northern California area, were shut down by the “Feds.”

Bismark Bruck was very active in the organization, the Native Sons Parlors of California. While he presided over it he spearheaded the restoration of the old Bale Gristmill, built in 1846, which was officially dedicated in 1925 as California historical site # 359. The mill and adjacent land had been deeded to the Native Sons of the Golden West by Mrs. William Whittingham Lyman (wife of the builder of what today is known as El Molino winery). The Federal listing was added in 1972 (Building #72000240). It is fortunate that Bismark was able to complete this effort, as the year 1926 was when he expired.

* * *

While Bruck was busy doing Napan business, the landlord of the Krug ranch property was very busy doing his Bay Area thing. James Kennedy Moffitt (JKM) was descendant from a wealthy San Franciscan family. He was born in 1865 to James Moffitt and Delia Kennedy. The senior James was a printer who became a member of Blake, Moffitt & Towne: a prominent San Franciscan firm. What really stimulated my interest to find out more about Moffitt was the wording in the quote from the Old and Sold Auctioneer web site literature that Moffitt was Krug’s “ ...close friend and admirer…” Add to this statement that which is made in the Peter Mondavi web site literature: "At Charles Krug's funeral in 1892, hundreds of mourners listened to Frederick Beringer deliver the eulogy in German. James Moffitt, a business associate of Charles Krug's and a San Francisco banker, took possession of the winery. Remarkably, Moffitt held onto the property through Prohibition, and began looking for a winemaking family to carry on in the spirit of Charles Krug. He found that pioneering spirit in Cesare and Rosa Mondavi, to whom he sold the winery in 1943 for $75,000.“

Robert Mondavi, in his autobiography, “Harvests of Joy,“ discusses the meeting at which he and his father, Cesare, meet with Moffitt, in San Francisco, at his office at the Crocker First National Bank back in 1943. Robert reports how he marveled at his father’s ability to negotiate. He recalled how the two older gentlemen discussed family businesses and the pleasure derived from having children to take over. Robert also recalled that Moffitt indicated that he really wanted to hold on to the Krug Ranch property but that none of his children nor their husbands desired to carry on the winegrowing business, thus he was a reluctant seller. Robert goes on to indicate that while his dad and Moffitt continued their discussions, Moffitt received a call from another interested buyer to whom Moffitt indicated that he had just sold the property to Cesare and his boys.

JFM, born in 1865, was about 21 years of age when he graduated from college in 1886. Krug was born in 1825 so he was about 61, or 40 years older than JFM when the later graduated from college. These age differences alone bring into question just how close these two men could have been. Add to this the fact that Krug died just six years after JKM graduated from college. Based on my research results to date, I suspect that the actual Moffitt that was close to Krug was not James Kennedy but rather his father, James. Since Krug was a reporter/editor for the first German newspaper on the west coast, I’m currently guessing that it was the paper business they brought Krug and the senior Moffitt together. My continuing research should confirm which gentleman was the one claimed to be a “business associate“ and “close friend and admirer” of Charles Krug.

James Kennedy Moffitt was a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley Campus, with a degree in Education (B.S. 1886), which was followed by the bestowment of a LL.D. (hon.) in 1941. Moffitt was an adventurer as evidenced by his association with the Sierra Club founded by John Muir, its first President in 1892. In the company of James S. Hutchinson and Robert D. Pike, on July 24, 1903, James ascended Mount Sill (14,100 approx.) and the next day he ascended North Palisade (14,254) with Joseph N. Le Conte (the second president of the Sierra Club) and James S. Hutchinson. These are the first recorded successful conquests of these Sierra Nevada Peaks.

Continuing in his father’s footsteps, JKM was an active officer and director in the paper-manufacturing firm of Blake, Moffitt & Towne. He was in the lucrative water business during the growth of the peninsula. The Bear Gulch Water Company was incorporated in 1889. This company grew and ended up providing water to the communities of Atherton, Menlo Park, Portola Valley, portions of Redwood City, and Woodside, all located on the peninsula in the San Mateo area. In 1903 the University of California purchased 80 percent of the stock of this company and by 1919, purchased the remaining shares. During a number of years while associated to the water company now owned by the University, Moffitt was a member of the U.C. Board of Regents. His first service included the period from 1924 to 1940. In 1934, JKM became President of the Bear Gulch Water Company. In June 15, 1936, the California Water Service Company acquired the properties of the Bear Gulch Water Company from the University. Moffitt then served on the Board of Regents again during the period 1941 to 1948. He served as Chairman of that Board during the period 1942-1948.

Moffitt’s involvement in the water rights on the peninsula parallel those of another man who operated a water company on the Peninsula and who also played a significant role in Napa Valley winegrowing. You may recall this man from Part One of my Krug series -- William Bowers Bourn, II (of Bourn & Wise winery-now the Culinary Institute of America). In 1908 Bourn held the majority interest in the Spring Valley Water Company controlling dams, reservoirs and pipeline systems distributed among five Bay Area counties. Bourn’s water company was San Francisco’s water supply for nearly seventy years. To counter Bourn’s hold on water rights, reformers conceived the controversial Hetch Hetchy plan in 1901 to tap the waters of the Sierra and build a publicly owned reservoir in Yosemite National Park. This set up a classical “developer versus environmentalist” battle that featured city officials against environmentalist John Muir and the very wealthy capitalist, William Bourn. The city eventually prevailed which crushed the morale of John Muir and the Sierra Club membership. Throughout all of this battling, JKM must have had had to contend with water rights backlash for the Bear Gulch Water Company.

JKM sat on the board of the Schmidt Lithograph Company that opened offices all along the West Coast including their headquarters at Second and Bryant Streets in San Francisco. Lithograph printing grew as a commercial art form when growers began creating multi-colored labeling on their wooden crates. The building’s clock tower was a landmark keeping commuters over the years informed of just how late or early they were for work. Sadly the old clock is no longer in existence.

Pacific Improvement Co was another corporate directorship for Moffitt. This company was the developer of the plush Pacific Grove area of Monterey, California.

Performing on the Board of Regents of the University of California had addition business advantages to its board members. In 1904, the University Land and Improvement Company included among its owners, Moffitt along with Jane K. Sather, and Phoebe Apperson Hearst and other prominent figures of the community. This body was the original developer of The Cloyne Court Hotel, which later became a residency hall.

Moffitt was instrumental in the formation of the Bancroft Library of the Univ. of Calif., Berkeley. The university bought The Bancroft Library (named for Hubert Howe Bancroft) in the fall of 1905. Besides the initial donations to purchase the collection, a number of leading Bay Area citizens pledged to make annual donations to support the operational costs of the library. Besides Moffitt, donors included William B. Bourn (Bourne & Wise winery-now the Culinary Institute of America), William H. Crocker and Phoebe Hearst. Later, Moffitt’s own highly valuable personal library would be donated to the University and established with his name to honor the donation and years of service to the University.

His brother was Dr. Herbert C. Moffitt for whom an entire hospital wing is named at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). {Incidentally, in 1989, I spent almost two months in the cardiac intensive care unit and ward at Moffitt-UCSF Hospital recovering from heart failure and had no idea that I would eventually be finding out so much about the Moffitt’s and their connection to Napa Valley.}

Moffitt was a member of all the prestigious clubs in San Francisco including the Pacific Club and Bohemian Club. James K. Moffitt died in 1955 leaving quite a legacy.

See Part 3 - The Stralla Era at Krug Ranch - To be released in draft form shortly

PRELIMINARY DRAFT - HISTORY IN DEVELOPMENT