C.
CLARK, one of the old residents of San Diego County, [CA], was born in
Greenville Mercer County, Pennsylvania, May 13, 1832. He lived upon a
farm and attended the district schools until he was eighteen years of
age. He then apprenticed himself to learn the trade of iron-molder,
working two years in a foundry in Mercer County. He then went to
Springfield, Ohio, and worked in Leffell’s foundry until he completed
his apprenticeship. During this time he had also mastered the mystery
of the steam engine, and was not only able to run one but also
understood its construction. This was to serve a good purpose in the
future. From Springfield he went to Cincinnati and St. Louis, where he
worked at his trade until 1854, and remained through the winter.
In
the spring they started again toward the Pacific slope with the first
train. After leaving Salt Lake the train was attacked by Indians
several times, but they had a strong company and their assailants were
repulsed. They arrived at Sacramento June 5, 1855. Then Mr. Clark went
to Amador County. It was now that the knowledge of the steam engine he
had acquired while working at his trade in Ohio came into play. A man
was wanted to run the engine in the Oneida Quartz Mill. He applied for
the position and obtained it. Afterward he was foreman, during 1855 and
1856, of the Tibbitts foundry at Sutter Creek. Subsequently he engaged
in mining on the Mokelumne river, with varied success. He was for a
time general superintendent of a large foundry at Silver City, Idaho,
receiving, with one exception, the highest salary paid to
superintendents in the Territories.
When the Fraser river
excitement broke out in 1858, Mr. Clark caught the fever and made the
pilgrimage to British Columbia, returning, with thousands of others,
poor in pocket but with an addition to his store of experience. For a
short time after this he was foreman of Worcester’s foundry at Angel’s
Camp, Calaveras County. Then in 1859 he went East and visited his old
home in Pennsylvania, returning to California the following year. J. S.
Harbison had previous to this time imported several colonies of bees
from the East, and Mr. Clark and his brother bought some of him and
established several apiaries in Tone valley, Amador County. In this
venture the brothers were very successful. One year afterward he, in
connection with his brother James, went to Nevada and bought a farm
called “Little Meadows,” now known as Clark’s station, on the Truckee
river. He prospered in farming on the Truckee and remained there for
seven years, but finally, on account of malaria, he was obliged to sell
out and seek a change of climate. He decided to come to San Diego and
arrived here in 1868. A few months after this he went back to
Sacramento, and in company with his old bee friend, J. S. Harbison,
engaged in silk culture. Their experiment, however, was not a success,
owing to a disease breaking out among the silk-worms, and they gave up
the business. Then, in conjunction with Mr. Harbison, he started for
San Diego, bringing with them 110 hives of honey bees, arriving here
November 28, 1869. From that time up to last spring Mr. Clark continued
to be largely interested in bee culture, and did much to create the
reputation which San Diego honey enjoys in the market of the world.
In
1876 Mr. Clark began the culture of fruit and forest trees and the
making of raisins, in the Cajon valley. He owned at first 230 acres,
all under cultivation. Eighty acres were in trees and vines, and the
balance in grain. He was the first man in San Diego to practically
demonstrate the productiveness of the soil of El Cajon for raisin
culture. Cured and made the first raisins in this county in 1878. He
introduced a system of sub-irrigation in his vineyard, running a
continuous concrete cement pipe, with outlets at convenient distances,
under ten acres. His was the only vineyard in the valley that was
irrigated, and although it was not necessary the experiment was one
that proved not unprofitable, as double the crops could be raised by
irrigation. Mr. Clark has always shipped the largest portion of his
raisins to the Eastern markets. For the last two years the house of
William T. Coleman & Co. has handled his crop. His raisins are
pronounced by the best judges to be equal to any imported. When
he first came to San Diego Mr. Clark was laughed at for bringing bees
here, but before long lie demonstrated the natural advantage of the
county for bee culture. He was met with the same kind of encouragement
when he first began growing grapes in the Cajon. People claimed that
the soil was not suited for the purpose. Mr. Clark sold out all his
interests in the Cajon in December, 1886, and came to San Diego. On the
13th of April following, in company with his family, he started for an
Eastern trip, and traveled all through the Eastern and Middle States,
but found no place in which he could be content to live outside of San
Diego County. He owns considerable real-estate in the city, and has
built a beautiful residence on the corner of A and Thirteenth streets.
In the first year of his residence in San Diego County Mr. Clark
labored very hard and surmounted obstacles under which men of less
determination would have succumbed. When, however, his orchards and his
vineyards were well under way, and he began to see some of his most
cherished ideas realized, he felt amply repaid for all his trials and
temporary disappointments. Ever since his first crop of raisins they
have paid him on an average of $100 per acre net. Mr. Clark also
planted the first Australian blue gum forest in the county. He is
constantly in the receipt of letters from all parts of the country
asking information in reference to vine and bee culture.
Mr.
Clark was married in 1871 to Mrs. Anna L. Corbitt. They have one child
living: Edgar Franklin Clark, fourteen years of age; and have had a
daughter, Florence Ida, who is now deceased.
Source:
An Illustrated history of Southern California: embracing the
counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the
peninsula of lower California, Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1890, pages
211-213
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