LOS GATOS, CALIFORNIA Forbes Mill, Forbestown The first building in this now thriving town was Forbes Mill, and for many years the place was known by that name. This enterprise was begun by James Alex. Forbes, in 1850, but it was not completed until four years afterwards. It was an old-fashioned structure with overshot wheels twenty feet in diameter, which, owing to the lack of power, the water-head being only twenty feet, was not successful in its operations. It passed from Forbes to a French firm, V. Marzion & Co., who also made a failure. A. Pfister & Co., of San Jose, then leased the property, but found it unprofitable. It then passed into the hands of Samuels & Fanner, who raised the water, by means of a dam, to a height of thirty feet. In 1866 W. H. Rogers & Co. purchased the property, raised the head to sixty feet, and substituted the turbine wheel for the old overshot. In 1870 the head was raised to two hundred feet. This gave abundance of power to all the machinery. At this time the company was made a joint-stock concern, W. H. Rogers, J. Y. McMillan, W. H. Rector, W. S. McMurtry, and C. C. Hayward being the incorporators. It was known as the Los Gatos Manufacturing Company. A four-set woolen mill, two stories high, was erected and operated successfully until 1872, when it burned down and was not rebuilt. The flouring mill continued operations, changing its system, in 1883, from stones to improved rollers, and turning out a product that became noted throughout the coast for its uniform excellence. In 1886 the Central Milling Company of San Jose was formed. The Los Gatos Mills went into the combination and were closed. Up to 1859 there were no houses in Los Gatos except the mill and a few cabins occupied by the workmen. In 1862 Mr. Samuels built a house, which has since been occupied by W. S. McMurtry as a residence. McMurtry & McMillan started a store and lumber yard in 1863. This store afterwards came into the hands of the Los Gatos Manufacturing Company. The country around the town was settled more rapidly than the town itself. The history of these early settlers will be found in our biographical sketches. These settlers found the wildcats numerous in the adjacent hills, and very destructive to their property. This gave the name Los Gatos to the town. The first hotel was kept by H. D. McCobb, who was also the first postmaster, having been appointed in 1864. The establishment of the woolen mills attracted a few people to the place. In the meantime the lumber, wood, and timber industry commenced to grow in the mountains, and Los Gatos became a stopping-place for the teamsters. The building of the Santa Cruz Turnpike road placed it on the route of travel between Santa Cruz and San Jose.. A few people became attracted by the beauty of location and salubrity of climate, and made it their home. A church was built in 1871. There was a good school building long prior to this. Although Los Gatos kept along in the march of progress, its real prosperity dates from 1877. Early in this year the South Pacific Coast Railroad was completed to that point, and the town and surrounding country immediately came into notice. Travelers saw the orange and lemon trees in the grounds of Mr. Rogers and Mr. McMurtry, with their heavy fruitage and the luxuriant growth of the fig and vine and other semi-tropical fruits, and realized that they were in the true warm belt. They told their friends, and from them the report spread, and the people of Los Gatos awoke to find their town lots worth nearly as much per front foot as they had formerly been per acre. At this time the settlement had been almost exclusively on the east side of the creek. But the location of the railroad depot on the west side, and the great demand for property anywhere in the vicinity, caused the town to cross the stream and extend in that direction. About this time, also, there came into bearing a few of the orchards that had been planted by enterprising people, and it became known that the Los Gatos red-lands, which had been a comparative failure for grain, were perfectly adapted to horticulture. They had been selling at from $15 to $25 per acre, and the success of these early orchards sent the price up to $40 and $60 per acre. Non-progressive settlers who had no faith in the horticultural resources of this section, subdivided their land and sold it at these figures, congratulating themselves on having made a big thing out of the enthusiastic immigrant. Those who remained around the place, however, saw that same land go up to $200 and $300 per acre, and their gratification was changed to chagrin. They solaced themselves and each other with the declaration that people who bought at such prices were crazy fools; but as the orchards and vineyards came into bearing and yielded crops which annually amounted to more than the purchase price of the land, they confessed their mistake. Some of the old citizens saw the signs of the times and amassed fortunes. They were classed as lucky ones. The only luck was in being able to see the great wealth that lay in the soil of that vicinity. In 1877 there was, in the hills back of Los Gatos, large tracts of land still belonging to the government. It was then considered valueless But the horticultural prospector cleared it from the brush and planted trees and vines and reaped as rich a harvest as his neighbor in the valley. It required more labor, but the result has been equally gratifying. It is impossible to give the order in which the different families located in this place. When the tide of immigration started it came with a rush, and still continues. In 1887 the town had grown to such an extent that it required an independent government. In July an election was held to ascertain the will of the people as to the proposition to incorporate under the State laws. The question was answered in the affirmative by a majority of one hundred and twenty-six votes. On August 6 the final order was passed incorporating the town and declaring the following as its first officers: Trustees—J. W. Lyndon, P. Perkins, Geo. Seanor, D. D. Holland, H. Sund; Treasurer, Geo. S. McMurtry; Clerk and Assessor, A. E. Wilder; Marshal and Tax and License Collector, J. L. Gelatt. The following were declared to be the boundaries of the new municipality: Commencing at the corner of sections 21, 22, 27, and 28, in township 8 south, range 1 west, Mount Diablo base and meridian; thence northerly along the line between sections 21 and 22, and the same prolonged to the south line of lands of Levi Hill, or the same prolonged thence northwesterly along said Hills line to center of Los Gatos Creek; thence down the center of creek to its intersection with the continuation easterly of the south line of the Dawes tract, being also the continuation easterly of the north line of lands of Magnus Tait; thence northwesterly along said last- named line, and the continuation thereof to northeast corner of lands of H. C. Houghton; thence southwesterly along the east line of Houghtons land to its intersection with the Los Gatos and Saratoga road; thence southwesterly in a straight course through lands of Massal Buchanan and McCullagh, to the extreme westerly point of what is known as Fairview Addition, and continuing in the same course to its intersection with the line dividing lands of McCullagh and P. Herold; thence southeasterly along the last-named line to its intersection with the section line running north and south between lands of J. W. Lyndon and Livermore, thence southerly along last-named line to the south boundary line of section 20, township 8 south, range 1 west; thence along the south line of said section 20 and 21 easterly to the place of beginning. The census showed that there were fifteen hundred inhabitants within the limits of the new town. The Los Gatos Hotel is the lineal descendant of the first hotel established in Los Gatos. It had its beginning in a cottage owned by H. D. McCobb, which stood a short distance above where the railroad depot now is. McCobb sold it to J. W. Lyndon in 1868; Lyndon sold it to Morgan Covell, who conducted it several years. Jacob Rich then acquired it, and in 1872 it was repurchased by Mr. Lyndon, who enlarged it and greatly improved it. In 1878 it was moved to its present position, and practically rebuilt. The Wilcox House was built by Harvey Wilcox in 885. It was erected to accommodate the great tide of immigrants and tourists that has been pouring into Los Gatos seeking health and homes. The Los Gatos Gas Company was organized in 1885, in which year the present works were built. The company commenced supplying gas to consumers in June of that year. The Los Gatos School-house was erected in 1886, at a cost of $8,000. The building is fifty-three by seventy-six feet and supported by a substantial brick foundation. The height to the top of the flag-staff is ninety-three feet above the ground. The building contains four class-rooms, thirty-two by thirty-four feet, and one room is 16x18 feet. The ceilings are fifteen feet high and each room is provided with blackboards which extend entirely around the room. All the windows are supplied with inside blinds in upper and lower sections. In the matter of ingress and egress the building is well constructed. The corridors are twelve feet wide and the stairways five feet, with handrails of white cedar capped with black walnut. The newels are of fine black walnut finished in oil. There are two sinks with faucets on the first floor and one on the second. The building and grounds are well drained by underground redwood boxes. The rooms are ventilated by large transoms opening into the corridors, from which a ventilating shaft four feet square opens through the roof. The rooms are furnished with single Star Bent wood seats and teachers cabinet stands. The house is so constructed that another four class-room building can be added whenever it becomes necessary, and so constructed as to appear as well as if the whole had been erected at once. The Bank of Los Gatos commenced operations in 1883 as a private enterprise, under the auspices of Kirkland & Conklin. In November of the same year it was incorporated under the State laws, with the following stockholders: John Stanfield, Samuel Templeton, S. F. Leib, H. E. Huggins, Robert Walker, A. E. Wilder, H. H.Kooser, A. Berryman, D. D. Holland, Geo B. Holland, James A. Hamilton, Chas. Milliken, J. S. Fowler, W. C. Shore, George Seanor, Mack Davis, J. W. Lyndon. The present officers are Samuel C. Templeton, President; John Stanfield, Vice-President; Eben C. Farley, Cashier. The capital stock is $50,000, all taken. The Los Gatos Ice Works were organized in 1885, by an incorporated company of which A. King is president, and W. D. Tisdale principal owner, superintendent, and manager. It has eight tanks, each of which has a capacity of ten tons. Its product is sold in San Francisco, San Jose, Los Gatos and Santa Cruz. The Los Gatos and Saratoga Wine Company was organized in June, 1885, by the vine-growers in the vicinity of Los Gatos and toward Saratoga. The capital stock is $20 000, and is all in the hands of vine-growers. The product in 1885 was eight thousand gallons; in 1886 it was eighty thousand gallons, and in 1887 the company made one hundred and ten thousand gallons of wine, and thirty-five hundred gallons of brandy. Its officers are: Henry Wadsworth, President; Wm. Warren, Vice-President; Geo W. Lynch, Secretrary; A. Malpas, Business Manager; H. A. Merriam, Superintendent of Winery. Santa Cruz Mountain Improvement Company.—Incorporated July, 1886, for the purpose of furnishing facilities for improving and building up the mountain district back of Los Gatos. Its officers are: J. S. Fowler, President; H. C. Morrill, Vice-President; V. Averill, Treasurer; C. E. Aiken, Secretary. The Summit Opera House was built by this company. The First Presbyterian Church in Los Gatos was organized by Rev. J. M. Newell, of Santa Clara, July 3, 1881, with twenty-three members and with G. W. McGrew as elder, to whose efforts previous to that date its existence is due. Rev. R. C. Moodie has been its minister from the first. Trustees were elected July 10, as follows: S. S. Butler, John Henderson, W. D. Hudson, E. W. Mills, and Samuel Templeton. The Sunday-school was organized July 17, with E. W. Mills as superintendent. Services were held every Sunday forenoon, for twelve weeks, in Lyndon Hall. By that time a lot had been purchased from J. Y. McMillan, with a dwelling-house, which was converted into a chapel and used as a place of worship, morning and evening, for three years. In 1882 Mr. Moodie built a cottage on the church lot, and in 1885 purchased a portion of the lot, with a frontage of fifty feet, including the chapel, which he joined with his cottage, making his present residence, which is intended for a parsonage, cost about $1,600. The church edifice was erected in 1884-85, at a cost of about $3,300, or $5,000 inclusive of furniture, organ, chairs, chandeliers, carpet, bell, fence, and sheds. It was first occupied for a union thanksgiving service, in 1884. It was completed by the following April, and dedicated, without debt, May 3, 1885. One hundred and forty-two persons have been connected with the church as members. Its present membership is ninety-three, of whom twelve are absent. The Sunday-school numbers one hundred and twenty, with M. Howell as superintendent. The elders are M. Howell, E. B. Conklin, R. W. B. McLellan, and L. S. Wood. The trustees are S. S. Butler, E. B. Conklin, M. Howell, J. C. Mansur, C. H. Woodhams. Auxiliary organizations are a Ladies Aid Society, a Womans Home and Foreign Missionary Society, a young peoples society, and a mission band, called The Busy Workers. The pastors salary is raised by subscription. The church received aid from the Board of Home Missions the first four years, but has since been self-supporting. Current expenses and benevolent contributions are raised by church collections. Improvements are from time to time provided for by the Ladies Aid Society. The congregational expenses last year were $1415. The benevolent contributions were $353. R. C. Moodie was born in Craftsbury, Vermont, June 19, 1852. His father, Robert Moodie, was born in Scotland, April 23, 1788; removed to Craftsbury, Vermont, in 1831, where he died at the age of ninety, in 1878. His mother, Phebe Augusta (Blanchard), was born in Greensboro, Vermont, in 1810, and lived nearly all her life in Craftsbury. She was married to Robert Moodie in 1832, as his second wife, and was the mother of eight children (Robert Moodie having one daughter by a former wife), of whom R. C. Moodie is next to the youngest, and only two others are living. She died in 1877. Young Moodie worked on his fathers farm until he was nineteen, with an occasional term at the Craftsbury Academy and at a district school, when he taught in a district school one winter; went in the spring of the same year to an academy at Meriden, New Hampshire; then two years were spent in Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Massachusetts; then the summer vacation was spent at Amenia, New York, in studies that would have occupied the senior year at Williston Seminary ; and he entered Yale College at New Haven, Connecticut, in the autumn of 1874, and graduated in 1878; then spent three years in a Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Auburn, New York, graduating in May, 1881. He was married the eighteenth of the same month, came to California in June, and settled in Los Gatos in July. Carrie Augusta Root (wife of R. C. Moodie) was born in Craftsbury, Vermont. They have two children, Walter Chafey and Willis Beecher, ages six and four respectively. Ridgely Lodge, No. 294, I. O. O. F., was instituted at Los Gatos, April 4, 1882, by Past Grand C. J. Owen, D. D. G. M. Its charter members were: T. S. Cleland, B. J. Allen, L. A. Cole, James Eddy, Jay E. Fuller, J. J. Roberts. First officers: B. G. Allen, N. G.; J. E. V. G.; James Eddy, R. S.; T. S. Cleland, Treasurer. Present officers : E. A. Kennedy, N. G.; Geo. S. McMurtry, V. G.; L. E. Hamilton, R. S.; A. E. Wilder, Recording Secretary; W. Lee, Treasurer. Los Gatos Lodge, No. 76, A. O. U. W.—Organized January 11, 1879. First officers: J. T. Harris, P. M. W.; T. S. Cleland, M. W.; H. C. Black, F.; J. B. Waterman, O.; A. F. McFarland, Recorder ; H. U. Ball, G.; Thos. W. Cox, I. W.; Wm. Parks, O. W. Los Gatos Parlor, No. 121, N. S. G. W., was organized March 23, 1888. Officers: Past President, G. D. Wilson; President, Geo. S. McMurtry; First Vice-President, Edward C. Yocco ; Second Vice-President, N. G. Rogers; Third Vice-President; R. L. Hutchinson; Recording Secretary, Fen Massol; Financial Secretary, J. H. Coult; Treasurer, James Stanfield; Surgeon, R. P. Gober. There are three Trustees: Geo. R. Emerson, Fred. W. Perkins, W. S. Baker; Inside Sentinel, F. F. Watkins ; Outside Sentinel, A. M. Howell. Charter members: W. J. Baker, James J. Stanfield, Robt. L. Hutchinson, Freeman L. Howes, William A. Riggs, Robt. F. Kennedy, Daniel McCarthy, Wm. P. Veuve, Wm. C. Swinford, Robt. D. Baker, Frank F. Watkins, Edward C. Yocco, Fred. W. Perkins, Alexander NI. Howell, Geo. S. McMurtry, Geo. R. Emerson, Noah G. Rogers, Geo. D. Wilson, J. H. Coult, Hugh R. Roberts, R. P. Gober, Fen Massol. CLIMATE. The following description of the climate of Los Gatos was written by one who has made the subject a special study: The Santa Cruz Mountains shut off the harsh breezes from the ocean, and the creeping fog from the Bay of San Francisco very rarely finds its way into this vicinity. Calla lilies and the tenderest geraniums flourish and bloom in open air the year around. Tomatoes and green peas, gathered from the vines, often form a part of Christmas dinners, with strawberries, taken from the vines in open air, for dessert. The altitude above the ocean, between four and five hundred feet, and freedom from fogs, have caused the place to be sought by many invalids who have regained their health. The bay wind generally prevails through the day and the mountain breeze at night. This thoroughly ventilates the foothills and adds to their healthfulness. We have no thunder and lightning, and no cyclones, hurricanes or tornadoes; no heavy frosts or snows, floods or droughts; no malarious diseases. From the first of May to the first of November we have no rain, no showers, while in what we call the winter months showers and rains fall sufficient to thoroughly moisten the ground. We have much clear weather in winter—about the same as April and May in the East. The soil is so deep and open that where it is thoroughly cultivated it remains moist to within a few inches of the surface all summer. Travelers who have spent years in search of the model climate say that our climate could not be surpassed on the globe, and they certainly are correct. The great variety of growing orchards add beauty to the general appearance of the foothills and the valley, which spread out below Los Gatos into a picture without a parallel. Travelers saw the orange and lemon trees in the grounds of Mr. Rogers and Mr. McMurtry, with their heavy fruitage and the luxuriant growth of the fig and vine and other semi-tropical fruits, and realized that they were in the true warm belt. They told their friends, and from them the report spread, and the people of Los Gatos awoke to find their town lots worth nearly as much per front foot as they had formerly been per acre. At this time the settlement had been almost exclusively on the east side of the creek. But the location of the railroad depot on the west side, and the great demand for property anywhere in the vicinity, caused the town to cross the stream and extend in that direction. About this time, also, there came into bearing a few of the orchards that had been planted by enterprising people, and it became known that the Los Gatos red-lands, which had been a comparative failure for grain, were perfectly adapted to horticulture. They had been selling at from $15 to $25 per acre, and the success of these early orchards sent the price up to $40 and $60 per acre. Non-progressive settlers who had no faith in the horticultural resources of this section, subdivided their land and sold it at these figures, congratulating themselves on having made a big thing out of the enthusiastic immigrant. Those who remained around the place, however, saw that same land go up to $200 and $300 per acre, and their gratification was changed to chagrin. They solaced themselves and each other with the declaration that people who bought at such prices were crazy fools; but as the orchards and vineyards came into bearing and yielded crops which annually amounted to more than the purchase price of the land, they confessed their mistake. Some of the old citizens saw the signs of the times and amassed fortunes. They were classed as lucky ones. The only luck was in being able to see the great wealth that lay in the soil of that vicinity. In 1877 there was, in the hills back of Los Gatos, large tracts of land still belonging to the government. It was then considered valueless But the horticultural prospector cleared it from the brush and planted trees and vines and reaped as rich a harvest as his neighbor in the valley. It required more labor, but the result has been equally gratifying. It is impossible to give the order in which the different families located in this place. When the tide of immigration started it came with a rush, and still continues. In 1887 the town had grown to such an extent that it required an independent government. In July an election was held to ascertain the will of the people as to the proposition to incorporate under the State laws. The question was answered in the affirmative by a majority of one hundred and twenty-six votes. On August 6 the final order was passed incorporating the town and declaring the following as its first officers: Trustees—J. W. Lyndon, P. Perkins, Geo. Seanor, D. D. Holland, H. Sund; Treasurer, Geo. S. McMurtry; Clerk and Assessor, A. E. Wilder; Marshal and Tax and License Collector, J. L. Gelatt. The following were declared to be the boundaries of the new municipality: Commencing at the corner of sections 21, 22, 27, and 28, in township 8 south, range 1 west, Mount Diablo base and meridian; thence northerly along the line between sections 21 and 22, and the same prolonged to the south line of lands of Levi Hill, or the same prolonged thence northwesterly along said Hills line to center of Los Gatos Creek; thence down the center of creek to its intersection with the continuation easterly of the south line of the Dawes tract, being also the continuation easterly of the north line of lands of Magnus Tait; thence northwesterly along said last- named line, and the continuation thereof to northeast corner of lands of H. C. Houghton; thence southwesterly along the east line of Houghtons land to its intersection with the Los Gatos and Saratoga road; thence southwesterly in a straight course through lands of Massal Buchanan and McCullagh, to the extreme westerly point of what is known as Fairview Addition, and continuing in the same course to its intersection with the line dividing lands of McCullagh and P. Herold; thence southeasterly along the last-named line to its intersection with the section line running north and south between lands of J. W. Lyndon and Livermore, thence southerly along last-named line to the south boundary line of section 20, township 8 south, range 1 west; thence along the south line of said section 20 and 21 easterly to the place of beginning. The census showed that there were fifteen hundred inhabitants within the limits of the new town. The Los Gatos Hotel is the lineal descendant of the first hotel established in Los Gatos. It had its beginning in a cottage owned by H. D. McCobb, which stood a short distance above where the railroad depot now is. McCobb sold it to J. W. Lyndon in 1868; Lyndon sold it to Morgan Covell, who conducted it several years. Jacob Rich then acquired it, and in 1872 it was repurchased by Mr. Lyndon, who enlarged it and greatly improved it. In 1878 it was moved to its present position, and practically rebuilt. The Wilcox House was built by Harvey Wilcox in 885. It was erected to accommodate the great tide of immigrants and tourists that has been pouring into Los Gatos seeking health and homes. The Los Gatos Gas Company was organized in 1885, in which year the present works were built. The company commenced supplying gas to consumers in June of that year. The Los Gatos School-house was erected in 1886, at a cost of $8,000. The building is fifty-three by seventy-six feet and supported by a substantial brick foundation. The height to the top of the flag-staff is ninety-three feet above the ground. The building contains four class-rooms, thirty-two by thirty-four feet, and one room is 16x18 feet. The ceilings are fifteen feet high and each room is provided with blackboards which extend entirely around the room. All the windows are supplied with inside blinds in upper and lower sections. In the matter of ingress and egress the building is well constructed. The corridors are twelve feet wide and the stairways five feet, with handrails of white cedar capped with black walnut. The newels are of fine black walnut finished in oil. There are two sinks with faucets on the first floor and one on the second. The building and grounds are well drained by underground redwood boxes. The rooms are ventilated by large transoms opening into the corridors, from which a ventilating shaft four feet square opens through the roof. The rooms are furnished with single Star Bent wood seats and teachers cabinet stands. The house is so constructed that another four class-room building can be added whenever it becomes necessary, and so constructed as to appear as well as if the whole had been erected at once. The Bank of Los Gatos commenced operations in 1883 as a private enterprise, under the auspices of Kirkland & Conklin. In November of the same year it was incorporated under the State laws, with the following stockholders: John Stanfield, Samuel Templeton, S. F. Leib, H. E. Huggins, Robert Walker, A. E. Wilder, H. H.Kooser, A. Berryman, D. D. Holland, Geo B. Holland, James A. Hamilton, Chas. Milliken, J. S. Fowler, W. C. Shore, George Seanor, Mack Davis, J. W. Lyndon. The present officers are Samuel C. Templeton, President; John Stanfield, Vice-President; Eben C. Farley, Cashier. The capital stock is $50,000, all taken. The Los Gatos Ice Works were organized in 1885, by an incorporated company of which A. King is president, and W. D. Tisdale principal owner, superintendent, and manager. It has eight tanks, each of which has a capacity of ten tons. Its product is sold in San Francisco, San Jose, Los Gatos and Santa Cruz. The Los Gatos and Saratoga Wine Company was organized in June, 1885, by the vine-growers in the vicinity of Los Gatos and toward Saratoga. The capital stock is $20 000, and is all in the hands of vine-growers. The product in 1885 was eight thousand gallons; in 1886 it was eighty thousand gallons, and in 1887 the company made one hundred and ten thousand gallons of wine, and thirty-five hundred gallons of brandy. Its officers are: Henry Wadsworth, President; Wm. Warren, Vice-President; Geo W. Lynch, Secretrary; A. Malpas, Business Manager; H. A. Merriam, Superintendent of Winery. Santa Cruz Mountain Improvement Company.—Incorporated July, 1886, for the purpose of furnishing facilities for improving and building up the mountain district back of Los Gatos. Its officers are: J. S. Fowler, President; H. C. Morrill, Vice-President; V. Averill, Treasurer; C. E. Aiken, Secretary. The Summit Opera House was built by this company. The First Presbyterian Church in Los Gatos was organized by Rev. J. M. Newell, of Santa Clara, July 3, 1881, with twenty-three members and with G. W. McGrew as elder, to whose efforts previous to that date its existence is due. Rev. R. C. Moodie has been its minister from the first. Trustees were elected July 10, as follows: S. S. Butler, John Henderson, W. D. Hudson, E. W. Mills, and Samuel Templeton. The Sunday-school was organized July 17, with E. W. Mills as superintendent. Services were held every Sunday forenoon, for twelve weeks, in Lyndon Hall. By that time a lot had been purchased from J. Y. McMillan, with a dwelling-house, which was converted into a chapel and used as a place of worship, morning and evening, for three years. In 1882 Mr. Moodie built a cottage on the church lot, and in 1885 purchased a portion of the lot, with a frontage of fifty feet, including the chapel, which he joined with his cottage, making his present residence, which is intended for a parsonage, cost about $1,600. The church edifice was erected in 1884-85, at a cost of about $3,300, or $5,000 inclusive of furniture, organ, chairs, chandeliers, carpet, bell, fence, and sheds. It was first occupied for a union thanksgiving service, in 1884. It was completed by the following April, and dedicated, without debt, May 3, 1885. One hundred and forty-two persons have been connected with the church as members. Its present membership is ninety-three, of whom twelve are absent. The Sunday-school numbers one hundred and twenty, with M. Howell as superintendent. The elders are M. Howell, E. B. Conklin, R. W. B. McLellan, and L. S. Wood. The trustees are S. S. Butler, E. B. Conklin, M. Howell, J. C. Mansur, C. H. Woodhams. Auxiliary organizations are a Ladies Aid Society, a Womans Home and Foreign Missionary Society, a young peoples society, and a mission band, called The Busy Workers. The pastors salary is raised by subscription. The church received aid from the Board of Home Missions the first four years, but has since been self-supporting. Current expenses and benevolent contributions are raised by church collections. Improvements are from time to time provided for by the Ladies Aid Society. The congregational expenses last year were $1415. The benevolent contributions were $353. R. C. Moodie was born in Craftsbury, Vermont, June 19, 1852. His father, Robert Moodie, was born in Scotland, April 23, 1788; removed to Craftsbury, Vermont, in 1831, where he died at the age of ninety, in 1878. His mother, Phebe Augusta (Blanchard), was born in Greensboro, Vermont, in 1810, and lived nearly all her life in Craftsbury. She was married to Robert Moodie in 1832, as his second wife, and was the mother of eight children (Robert Moodie having one daughter by a former wife), of whom R. C. Moodie is next to the youngest, and only two others are living. She died in 1877. Young Moodie worked on his fathers farm until he was nineteen, with an occasional term at the Craftsbury Academy and at a district school, when he taught in a district school one winter; went in the spring of the same year to an academy at Meriden, New Hampshire; then two years were spent in Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Massachusetts; then the summer vacation was spent at Amenia, New York, in studies that would have occupied the senior year at Williston Seminary ; and he entered Yale College at New Haven, Connecticut, in the autumn of 1874, and graduated in 1878; then spent three years in a Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Auburn, New York, graduating in May, 1881. He was married the eighteenth of the same month, came to California in June, and settled in Los Gatos in July. Carrie Augusta Root (wife of R. C. Moodie) was born in Craftsbury, Vermont. They have two children, Walter Chafey and Willis Beecher, ages six and four respectively. Ridgely Lodge, No. 294, I. O. O. F., was instituted at Los Gatos, April 4, 1882, by Past Grand C. J. Owen, D. D. G. M. Its charter members were: T. S. Cleland, B. J. Allen, L. A. Cole, James Eddy, Jay E. Fuller, J. J. Roberts. First officers: B. G. Allen, N. G.; J. E. V. G.; James Eddy, R. S.; T. S. Cleland, Treasurer. Present officers : E. A. Kennedy, N. G.; Geo. S. McMurtry, V. G.; L. E. Hamilton, R. S.; A. E. Wilder, Recording Secretary; W. Lee, Treasurer. Los Gatos Lodge, No. 76, A. O. U. W.—Organized January 11, 1879. First officers: J. T. Harris, P. M. W.; T. S. Cleland, M. W.; H. C. Black, F.; J. B. Waterman, O.; A. F. McFarland, Recorder ; H. U. Ball, G.; Thos. W. Cox, I. W.; Wm. Parks, O. W. Los Gatos Parlor, No. 121, N. S. G. W., was organized March 23, 1888. Officers: Past President, G. D. Wilson; President, Geo. S. McMurtry; First Vice-President, Edward C. Yocco ; Second Vice-President, N. G. Rogers; Third Vice-President; R. L. Hutchinson; Recording Secretary, Fen Massol; Financial Secretary, J. H. Coult; Treasurer, James Stanfield; Surgeon, R. P. Gober. There are three Trustees: Geo. R. Emerson, Fred. W. Perkins, W. S. Baker; Inside Sentinel, F. F. Watkins ; Outside Sentinel, A. M. Howell. Charter members: W. J. Baker, James J. Stanfield, Robt. L. Hutchinson, Freeman L. Howes, William A. Riggs, Robt. F. Kennedy, Daniel McCarthy, Wm. P. Veuve, Wm. C. Swinford, Robt. D. Baker, Frank F. Watkins, Edward C. Yocco, Fred. W. Perkins, Alexander NI. Howell, Geo. S. McMurtry, Geo. R. Emerson, Noah G. Rogers, Geo. D. Wilson, J. H. Coult, Hugh R. Roberts, R. P. Gober, Fen Massol. CLIMATE. The following description of the climate of Los Gatos was written by one who has made the subject a special study: The Santa Cruz Mountains shut off the harsh breezes from the ocean, and the creeping fog from the Bay of San Francisco very rarely finds its way into this vicinity. Calla lilies and the tenderest geraniums flourish and bloom in open air the year around. Tomatoes and green peas, gathered from the vines, often form a part of Christmas dinners, with strawberries, taken from the vines in open air, for dessert. The altitude above the ocean, between four and five hundred feet, and freedom from fogs, have caused the place to be sought by many invalids who have regained their health. The bay wind generally prevails through the day and the mountain breeze at night. This thoroughly ventilates the foothills and adds to their healthfulness. We have no thunder and lightning, and no cyclones, hurricanes or tornadoes; no heavy frosts or snows, floods or droughts; no malarious diseases. From the first of May to the first of November we have no rain, no showers, while in what we call the winter months showers and rains fall sufficient to thoroughly moisten the ground. We have much clear weather in winter—about the same as April and May in the East. The soil is so deep and open that where it is thoroughly cultivated it remains moist to within a few inches of the surface all summer. Travelers who have spent years in search of the model climate say that our climate could not be surpassed on the globe, and they certainly are correct. The great variety of growing orchards add beauty to the general appearance of the foothills and the valley, which spread out below Los Gatos into a picture without a parallel. SOURCE: Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated. - Edited by H.S. Foote.- Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 17:28:14 +0000