Freight Stops: Los Gatos Canning Company & Hunts Cannery

South Pacific Coast boxcars sitting on the spur awaiting pickup at the Los

Gatos Canning Company, c. 1900. [John Baggerly]

For most of its existence, the Silicon Valley was known better for its crops than its computer technology. Fruit-growing was an established pastime, and in Los Gatos, it was one of the chief commodities of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Therefore, when the South Pacific Coast Railroad passed through town in 1878, it only made sense to utilize this newfound access to the national rail network to export the region's most profitable goods. It took three years before the town's patrons decided to build a fruit-packing plant in town, and another year before the corporation was formally founded as the Los Gatos Fruit Company in 1882. The usual suspects—town pioneer J.W. Lyndon and other prominent Los Gatos settlers—provided the joint stock backing the company, but the organisation was short-lived. The plant was built between Santa Cruz Avenue and Lyndon Avenue, across from Elm Street. However, the original company was forced to close shop in 1886 due to a recession.

Sanborn Insurance map showing the Los Gatos Fruit Packing Company, 1891. [UC Santa Cruz Digital Collections]

The company was eventually purchased by D. L. Beck & Son and reformed as the Los Gatos Fruit Packing Company, which retained George H. Hooke as the property manager. Two Sanborn fire insurance maps of the site reflect this period. They show a railroad spur jutting northwest from the mainline into the primary facility. It passes between the packaging plant and a warehouse, where boxcars could be loaded. Beyond the end of the spur was the primary drying facility, where fruit was received for processing and then dried before being sent to the packaging room. Other out buildings were scattered around the property for various purposes.

Sanborn Insurance map showing the Los Gatos Canning Company grounds, 1904. [UC Santa Cruz Digital Collections]

In 1894, George Hooke purchased the company and renamed it the Los Gatos Canning Company. Hooke began to quickly redevelop the facility. A seasonal stream that ran through the property was culverted around 1895, while the railroad spur was lengthened to the back of the property. Three large warehouses as well as cooking rooms, boxing rooms, and other structures were installed throughout the site until virtually no ground was visible. The photograph at the top of this page shows the facility during this time. At its height, Hooke managed to package 50,000 cases of fruit a year and employed up to 300 people during packing season. The facility packaged a range of fruits including peaches, apricots, apples, cherries, pears, and plums, much of which was shipped abroad. Because of the seasonal nature of the facility, women and teenagers were often employed at the facility.

Los Gatos Canning Company storefront along Lyndon Avenue, 1900. There is a spur with a branch is visible behind wall, although maps do not corroborate this additional track's existence. [Los Gatos Public Library]

In 1895, the tracks in Los Gatos were dual-gauged in anticipation of the full standard gauging of the line, which would take over a decade to complete. The cannery was one of the chief advocates of the track changeover and likely completed the process by 1900, and this may explain the slightly altered alignment through the facility. The great earthquake of April 1906, however, led to the cannery moving locations and changing ownership, thus abandoning the new spur.

Sanborn map showing the Hunt Brothers Packing Company along Santa Cruz Ave, 1908. [Los Gatos Public Library]

Workers at the canning table at Hunts' cannery, c. 1907. [Los Gatos Museum]

Likely due to earthquake damage to the primary facility, the Los Gatos Canning Company relocated to Amedee Delpech's vacant Los Gatos Winery on the corner of Santa Cruz Avenue and the Los Gatos-Saratoga Road (Highway 9). Delpech had built his winery in 1900 but died in 1903, after which his widow sold the building. Soon afterwards, Joseph H. and William C. Hunt, owners of the Hunt Brothers Fruit Packing Company (modern-day Hunt Foods), purchased the company. The winery already had a short spur behind the structure along the Southern Pacific tracks, but the cannery soon upgraded that spur into a full siding and built a freight platform beside the fruit storage warehouse. This new cannery was smaller than the former facility, but undoubtedly more modern and streamlined. By 1908, the railroad supported the new industry by extending one of their yard sidings an additional 0.4 miles to reach the new plant.

Sketch of the Hunt Brothers cannery on the Southern Pacific tracks north of Los Gatos, c. 1910. [Los Gatos Museum]

For roughly twenty years, Hunts remained at the site packing and canning all sorts of local fruits. But the Great Depression led to the quickly closure of the facility. The plant went quiet after 1930 and, after a decade of use as a simple warehouse, was sold to W.J. Gould in 1942, who in turn sold it to Seagrams distillery in May 1943. The Hunt cannery was the only packing house in the Los Gatos area at the time and its closure signalled the end of an era.

Undated label from a Los Gatos Canning Company product. [Peggy Conaway]

Geo-Coordinates & Access Rights:
37.224˚N, 121.983˚W (Original site)
37.229˚N, 121.980˚W (North Los Gatos site)

The site of the original cannery along North Santa Cruz Avenue was eventually repurposed for commercial uses. The Los Gatos Cinema opened up on part of the property and newer buildings have been added since. Gardino's Ristorante Italiano and Gilley's Coffee Shoppe now sit where the spur once passed into the cannery. Much of the rest of the property is open space for parking, with an annex—Howley Hall—of the St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church sitting atop the site of the original fruit drying plant.

The later cannery structure can still be explored as the Los Gatos Shopping Center, located on N Santa Cruz Avenue just north of Los Gatos-Saratoga Road (Highway 9).

Citations & Credits:

• Bowdidge, Robert. "Bad Years in the Valley." Robert's Vasona Branch Blog. 13 January 2012.
• Bowdidge, Robert. "Hunt Brothers Packing Company." Packing Houses of Santa Clara County. 2013-2017.
• Bruntz, George G. History of Los Gatos: Gem of the Foothills. Fresno, CA: Valley Publishers, 1971.
• San Jose Evening News, 23 September 1942.
• San Jose News, 10 June 1932.

Railroads: Santa Cruz Portland Cement Company Railroad

The Santa Cruz Portland Cement Company in Davenport, first opened in 1905 and was initially serviced by the Ocean Shore Railroad, although the Coast Line Railroad, a Southern Pacific subsidiary, essentially took over operations in 1907 by placing their tracks between the Ocean Shore's and the refinery. Yet neither of these railroads were directly involved in the mining of limestone from the quarry above Davenport. Over the autumn of 1905 and winter of 1906, 300 men carved a right-of-way 3.5 miles long above San Vicente Creek. The journey to the quarry was rough, with sharp turns and deep cuts atop a steep gorge. A total of eight redwood trestle bridges crossed gulches and ravines and they were not entirely stable. The elevation difference between the base and the top of the grade was 550 feet, leading to a maximum incline of 2%.

SCPC #1 on a high trestle bridge, January 10, 1907. [Alverda Orlando]

The company built the railroad at the same time as the rest of the facility in 1905 using standard-gauge tracks, making it, at least technically, fully compatible with the adjacent Ocean Shore and Coast Line railroad lines. Why none of the lines connected is unknown, but perhaps there was simply no need for the two railroad lines to cross over onto the other's track or perhaps there were legal issues. A 129-foot grade also separated the two lines. The two tracks never joined throughout the history of the private railway.

SCPC #2 outside the tunnels to the Santa Cruz Portland Cement Company quarry, c. 1910. [SCPC2]

Two custom Porter 0-4-0 locomotives operated on the line, one a 35-ton model built in 1906, the other a 45-ton locomotive, brought in to supplement the first in 1909. Within the quarry itself, a separate tiny narrow-gauge network of cars shuttled around, transferring their loads to the waiting standard-gauge trains. The first upgrade of the line occurred in 1913. Since the route had first been constructed, the rickety, cheaply-built bridges had frightened crews. Thus, the company decided to fill all eight trestles, with material probably gathered from the original construction of the line and nearby quarry refuse. Nonetheless, the task was not completed until 1916.

Electric train on the mainline heading down the hill, c. late 1920s. [Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History]

The entire railroad was overhauled in 1923 when the cement company purchased a narrow-gauge railroad from the Gastineau Gold Mining Company in Thane, Alaska. To support the new system, all the tracks had to be narrow-gauge, so, in as little as two days in 1924, all the tracks were shifted to new places on their old ties. Meanwhile, two 18-ton 1914 Baldwin electric locomotives replaced the original steam locomotives. Electric wires were strung overhead to power the trains. At the quarry, four battery-operated locomotives shuttled the 65 mine cars around the area.

Birdseye view of Bella Vista just below the glory hole, c. 1940. The railroad line passes directly through town. The large machine shop can be viewed at right, obscured by the trees. [Alverda Orlando]

Bella Vista was located just before the quarry across from the confluence of Mill Creek into San Vicente Creek. It was first established around 1920 when a hostel was erected for single quarry workers. It could house up to fifty employees and was operated by Frank Bellangero and Gino Catterni, as well as the former's wife, Angelina. The food served at the hostel was highly praised and compared to upper class fare in San Francisco and elsewhere. Over the years, the settlement grew. Throughout the 1920s, improvements were made to the hostel, expanding its capacity to 100 men. Small four-room homes were also built to support families, while mail deliveries from Davenport became a regular occurrence. A road was also built from Davenport to reach the town, although the company preferred people travel by rail. However, the lack of telephone service to the settlement meant that many visitors came to the village. The idyllic location was situated under the redwoods with a view of the ocean, hence its name. At its height, the houses in the town sported manicured yards, well-tended gardens, and sturdy structures. While most of the refinery workers lived in New Town, just north of the plant, most of the miners and quarry workers probably lived here.

Streetcar near Bella Vista, with a siding visible beside it, 1968. Photo by Robert W. Brown. [Industrial Railway Record]

For the first three decades of operation, transport between Davenport and the quarry was via rock hoppers or flat cars, depending on the weather. But as more families settled in Bella Vista, this became untenable. In 1942, the company folded to popular demand and purchased an electric interurban streetcar for passenger use. The car was originally from the Pacific Coast Railroad that ran between Santa Maria and Guadalupe in the 1920s. It was little used in the decade before it was purchased, and the company had to restore it to operational status when it purchased it. The car was never very attractive, but it did its job well enough for the people working and living on the line.

Map drawn of the railroading operations near Davenport, 1968. Designed by Robert W. Brown. [Industrial Railway Record]

A railroad worker tightening a plate outside the machine
shop. The two quarry entrances can be seen in the
background, c. 1960. [Lonestar Industries]

The railroad by 1968 had a surprising amount of trackage. At the base, beside the refinery, the mainline split between two spurs, one of which forked twice more resulting in five total spurs. The spur closest to the refinery went into a transfer facility that conveyed the limestone into the plant. Two holding spurs sat beside it, while a final pair of spurs ended in the engine house, allowing the locomotives to be parked safely at night. Along the route, there was a stop at a shale quarry and another at the railroad's powerhouse. Just before the quarry itself, at a site known as Bella Vista, the track split off along a tiny spur and two longer sidings. Two tracks passed into the glory hole, where transfers with the mine cars could be made. Another spur ended inside the railroad's maintenance shop, which was originally located in Bella Vista until 1962.

Quarry battery locomotive hauling mine cars, 1968. Photo by Robert W. Brown. [Industrial Railway Record]

The Santa Cruz Portland Cement Company was purchased by Pacific Cement & Aggregates in 1956. Plans soon were put in place to replace the railroad with an automatic conveyor system, but such a conversion did not occur immediately. However, on March 7, 1962, a landslide decimated Bella Vista, forcing the residents to relocate to Davenport or Santa Cruz. The lack of residents living on the railroad line undoubtedly made the decision to abandon the route much easier when Lonestar took over operations in August 1970. The original limestone deposit was tapped out and the company had to mine higher up the hillside, out of reach of the railroad. With little fanfare, the tracks were removed and the railroad was sold to a private party. Cement continued to be shipped out via the Southern Pacific tracks until the closure of the plant in 2011, but railroads would never again transport the limestone from the hills to the sea.

The Route Today: 
Very little remains of the original right-of-way. Portions of the tracks were taken over by service roads or the conveyor, while others were abandoned and allowed to overgrow. Google satellite images show virtually none of the right-of-way still intact.

SCPC #2 outside Chicken Kitchen in Stockton, c. 1990s. [SCPC2]

SCPCC #2 remains in service as a tourism locomotive. In 1924, it was sold to the Henry J. Kaiser Company quarry in Oroville. It remained in service until 1967, when it was purchased by Chicken Kitchen restaurant in Stockton. It sat outside the store, advertising the restaurant until 2006. During this time, it earned the nickname "Chiggen." It was restored to service over a period of eight years and is now at the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, Washington. It briefly visited Santa Cruz in 2014 on its way to its new home.

SCPC #2 cruising north to Davenport on a special excursion, July 11, 2014. Photo by Elrond Lawrence. [railpictures.net]

Citations & Credits:

• Brown, Robert W. "Santa Cruz Cement." The Industrial Railway Record 21 (1968): 314-316.
• Gaudinski, Julia. 'The Other Railroad in Davenport." Mobile Ranger. 2014.
• "Home of 'The Chiggen'". Santa Cruz Portland Cement Co. #2. 
• Orlando, Alverda. "The Wildest Ride in Town: Davenport's Cement Plant Railroad System." Santa Cruz History Journal 2 (1992): 17-24.

Freight Stops: Sacred Heart Novitiate Winery

Novitiate Winery main structure, c. 1900. [John Baggerly]

Perhaps an unlikely patron of the Los Gatos freight yard was the Sacred Heart Novitiate Winery that for over a century has overlooked Los Gatos. Originally, the ranch of Harvey Wilcox sat atop the hill, but in 1886 the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) purchased his 40-acre orchard, which already contained a small vineyard and many orange trees, to house their new facility. An initial structure was erected in 1888, followed by the large cement building still extant, which was completed in 1893. The Jesuits of Santa Clara College (now Santa Clara University) partially constructed the winery to fund a nearby seminary school for the college. The wine produced at the Novitiate was intended for use in the Eucharist, but other types of wine were quickly developed. The winery employed almost exclusively seminary students—novices—from the nearby seminary college. Work at the winery was a form of devotion, and students were encouraged to pray and remain silent during work hours, but could enjoy the evenings freely. The primary and oldest building of the winery is a three-story, gravity-flow winery that remains in use today. Other support structures, such as the large administrative building, also remain in place, albeit heavily modified.

Birdseye view of the Sacred Heart Novitiate, with Los Gatos and the railroad station visible in the background, c. 1900.

When precisely the winery began shipping out wine via the local railroad is unknown, but it could date to as early as 1888 and was definitely in use by 1919. No rail service ever made it to the base of the Novitiate property, although it came close along the Los Gatos Manufacturing Company spur that terminated just before the Main Street bridge. It seems more likely that the wine was carted across the bridge and loaded at the freight depot, and this was definitely the case after 1909 when the old spur was removed. Waiting boxcars would sit on one of the team tracks at the depot and ship out on passing trains or, after 1940, with one of the daily mixed trains. No special facilities were built for the Novitiate except possibly a loading mechanism of some kind to gently load the cases of bottled wine onto the cars.

Sacred Heart Novitiate campus with vineyards, 1897. Photo by Hill and Tucker. [Novitiate]

Novices working in the Novitiate vines in 1953. Photo by
Margaret Bourke-White. [California Province Jesuit Archives]

When Prohibition hit in 1919, the demand for altar wine jumped exponentially, causing the winery to expand. Over the course of the next two decades, the Novitiate began purchasing available nearby land, including 250 acres from the Harry Tevis estate in 1934. This property became Alma College, a new home for the seminary that was once at Santa Clara College. A total of 83 acres were dedicated exclusively to wine manufacturing and grape growing. The total volume of wine reached over 100,000 cases per annum. However, the soil had degraded during this period of expansion and the grape stock began to decrease in quality. Student numbers also began to decline, making it more difficult to recruit students for the hard work of tending the vines and winery. At its height, 120 students 14 priests resided at the Novitiate, but numbers dropped drastically beginning in the 1950s. Meanwhile, the population of Los Gatos was growing and rail service was replaced by truck in 1959.

Los Gatos freight yard team track near the freight platform, c. 1940. [Railroads of Los Gatos]

Alma College was eventually relocated to Berkeley in 1968 to become a member school of the Graduate Theological Union. It is now the Jesuit School of Theology. The winery remained in limited operation for another eighteen years, after which it was leased to various local wine-producers. In 1997, Rob and Diana Jensen, who had been running a small vineyard on their property since 1993, purchased the Novitiate grounds and began to produce their home label Testarossa (Italian for "red head," in reference to Rob's hair color) at the vineyard. Their primary products are Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, of which they produce around 30,000 cases annually The continue to operate within the historic structures, although they also have upgraded the buildings extensively for efficiency, and health and safety. It remains the fourth oldest continuously operating winery in California.

Right-of-way north of downtown Los Gatos, with the Novitiate Winery on the hillside to the far left, c. 1950s.
Photo by Charlie Ward. [Railroads of Los Gatos]

Geo-Coordinates & Access Rights:
37.214˚N, 121.981˚W

The site of the Novitiate is now known as Testarossa Winery, but the location remains the same and can be accessed via Prospect Avenue. The property can be visited and hired out for special functions. The Sacred Heart Jesuit Center and the Novitiate of the Sacred Heart church sit next door and also can be visited.

Citations & Credits:

• Beal, Richard A. Highway 17: The Road to Santa Cruz. Second edition. Aptos, CA: Pacific Group, 1991.
• "For Almost a Century, Jesuit Novices Labored at Historic Novitiate Winery," Jesuits.org. 2013.
• Kelley, Edward. Images of Rail: Railroads of Los Gatos. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2006.
• "The Historic Novitiate," Testarossa Winery. 2017.

Freight Stops: Los Gatos Lumber Patrons

Railroading in the Santa Cruz Mountains was always dominated by the lumber trade. From 1875 until 1922, the lumber industry commanded every single local railroad branch line. But even after the route over the mountains was demolished in 1940, lumber remained important to the town of Los Gatos.

Los Gatos was essentially founded as a lumber town. The spiritual successor to Lexington, located a few miles south in the Los Gatos Creek valley, the town was founded partially as a location to ship lumber collected in the Santa Cruz Mountains from towns such as Glenwood and Laurel. As such, a lumber yard was needed and a rather large one arose on both sides of the tracks along Elm Street, possibly as early as 1878. This yard was owned by the Santa Clara Valley Mill & Lumber Company, founded by the Dougherty brothers, who harvested vast tracts of land in the San Lorenzo Valley and Los Gatos Creek region. They shipped all of their finished lumber over the South Pacific Coast Railroad line, which formally opened through Los Gatos in May 1880 (although tracks to Los Gatos were in place by late 1877).

The Dougherty firm operated largely through partnerships and their Los Gatos operators were no different. Their partner there was the Lindon & Silverton Lumber Company, which moved into the lot no later than 1888 and opened a box factory and planing mill. The box factory and planing mill were built immediately west of the railroad right-of-way through Los Gatos with an attached barley and grain mill. Goods were loaded directly onto boxcars waiting on the main track. A large lumber yard sat along a spur west of the fruit packing spur where awaiting lumber could be loaded onto freight cars.

Sanborn Fire Insurance survey map showing the Los Gatos Planing Mill, 1888. [UC Santa Cruz Digital Collections]

By 1891, the planing mill was open, though all signs of the barley and grain mill disappeared. The lumber yard moved to a more convenient home east of the mainline along a new spur built specifically for the yard and planing mill. When the line was standard-gauged in 1903, the spur was extended further north. 310,000 board feet of lumber could be stored alongside the track here. The planing mill was seasonally open. A second mill owned by Tice and Gregory was just across Mullen Street, though there was no spur supporting this smaller facility.

Sanborn Fire Insurance survey map showing the Los Gatos Planing Mill, 1891. [UC Santa Cruz Digital Collections]

In 1895, the facility passed into the hands of the Western Mill & Lumber Company, which slightly enlarged the mill and gave up on box-making. The vast lumber yards across the tracks were expanded to support more lumber and a second small lumber yard was placed just beside the engine house to the west of the main line.

Sanborn Fire Insurance survey map showing the Los Gatos Planing Mill, 1895. [UC Santa Cruz Digital Collections]

The planning mill did not last long. By the time the route was standard-gauged in 1903, the mill was gone. Sanborn maps dating from 1905 and afterwards show the new turntable and roundhouse sitting on the site of the mill. The lumber yard remained on the west side of the tracks and the spur was enlarged into a longer siding that lasted until the end of the line in 1959. In 1918, the Noah Adams Lumber Company purchased the property. Adams was certainly established by 1900 and quite likely earlier, although it was based out of Oakland, not Los Gatos initially. By the late 1910s, the Adams firm had purchased a number of lumber mills including ones in Auburn, Winters, San Lorenzo, and elsewhere in Central California. Although they remained in business until at least 1944, their Los Gatos facility was sold to the Sterling Lumber Company in 1922 for unspecified reasons.

Southern Pacific visibility photo taken from Elm Street looking south down the right-of-way, with the
 Sterling Lumber Company visible at left, 1928. [Museums of Los Gatos]

The Sterling Lumber Company was founded in late 1906 following the San Francisco Earthquake in Berkeley. Over the following years, the company made a habit of buying out small lumbering concerns across the West Coast, including in Oregon. Their main base, though, was always in the Bay Area, with offices and yards erected situated in San Francisco, Mountain View, Los Gatos, Salinas, Oakland, and elsewhere, totalling sixteen properties in California by 1927. Unfortunately, the origins of the company name are unknown and appear to be unconnected to the founders of the corporation.

Sterling Lumber Company entrance along the railroad right-of-way, 1930. [Museums of Los Gatos]

Due to the numerous photographs from the time and the fact that it survived into the 1950s, the Sterling Lumber Company is probably the best-remembered firm to use this large lot in downtown Los Gatos. Southern Pacific Railroad visibility photographs in the 1920s and 1930s prominently show the lumber yard alongside the tracks. The company loaded lumber onto cars that were parked on a team track (spur) that sat across from the entrance gate. The end of the spur was across the mainline track and a long siding, but the scarcity of customers along the line meant that loading and unloading of goods would have rarely been impacted by passing trains. No platform or other loading facility seems to have been built for the company.

Sterling Lumber Company along the right-of-way, 1930. Elm Street is in the distance [Museums of Los Gatos]

Sterling Lumber Company remained at the site in Los Gatos until 1956, when they sold the property to a local developer who built the Old Town Los Gatos Shopping Center. The lumber yard was converted into a parking lot for this new venture. The railroad tracks were subsequently removed in 1959 for use as additional parking.

Geo-Coordinates & Access Rights:
37.223˚N, 121.983˚W

The site of the Sterling Lumber yard was across the street from the Old Town Los Gatos Shopping Center on University Avenue, between the road and the current parking lot that runs behind North Santa Cruz Avenue. The site is now occupied by the Steamers's Grillhouse, the Gap, Sur la Table, Banana Republic, and Francesca's, all of which were built in the early 2000s.

Citations & Credits:

• Kelley, Edward. Images of Rail: Railroads of Los Gatos. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2006.
• Oakland Tribune, 1900-1964.
• San Francisco Chronicle, 1896-1930.
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Company maps, 1888-1922.