Ho for California! The terminus of the first overland immigrant pack train destined for California was John Marsh's adobe, Brentwood. Since 1841, East Contra Costa County has been a grain and fruit basket to the world, a recreational playground for resort living, and a home for health and family life. Its wheat was exported for brewing Guinness beer, and fresh apricots, peaches, and cherries still bring produce fanciers for summer harvest. Weekenders houseboat, wakeboard, and fish through the region's thousands of miles of delta waterways. This sentimental history of the communities of Brentwood, Bethel Island, Byron, Discovery Bay, Knightsen, and Oakley reveals the importance of these California Delta communities in settling and developing the Golden State.
San Franciscos opposite shore is showcased for its maritime role in securing the citys financial preeminence. Located minutes from San Francisco by ferry or automobile, Contra Costa County provided deepwater ports for shipping agricultural, mineral, and manufactured goods around the world. Pacific commodity traders made use of these ports to ship products, ensuring Californias unique global economic role. Immense wealth was created from goods shipped from maritime Contra Costa County, securing a vibrant economy from the Gaslight Era to the days of Haight-Ashbury.
The beautiful Brentwood area of Contra Costa County is the oldest continuously populated community in California inland from the great coastal centers. Californios eschewed this challenging portion of the Central Valley, so pioneering physician John Marsh established a permanent settlement here in 1837 at his Rancho Los Meganos. Soon, the burgeoning viniculture, wheat, orchard, and cattle operations attracted many Gold Rush miners back to their original agricultural callings, now in the California Delta. The 1860s arrival of British agribusiness concern Balfour Guthrie Investment Company soon established the largest grain-export and fruit-packing venture in the West. Brentwood Township, established in 1878 and named for Marsh's ancestral home in England, includes some of the state's most bountiful land. The region fostered the greatest wheat production west of the Mississippi River during the 19th century.
The beautiful Brentwood area of Contra Costa County is the oldest continuously populated community in California inland from the great coastal centers. Californios eschewed this challenging portion of the Central Valley, so pioneering physician John Marsh established a permanent settlement here in 1837 at his Rancho Los Meganos. Soon, the burgeoning viniculture, wheat, orchard, and cattle operations attracted many Gold Rush miners back to their original agricultural callings, now in the California Delta. The 1860s arrival of British agribusiness concern Balfour Guthrie Investment Company soon established the largest grain-export and fruit-packing venture in the West. Brentwood Township, established in 1878 and named for Marsh's ancestral home in England, includes some of the state's most bountiful land. The region fostered the greatest wheat production west of the Mississippi River during the 19th century. Carol A. Jensen, author of Arcadia Publishing's Byron Hot Springs , The California Delta , and East Contra Costa County , presents here in vintage photography the best of Brentwood, culled from local archives and collections. Combined with Jensen's prose, these images showcase Brentwood's progression from rural beginnings as an agricultural stronghold to the modern city of houses, shops, schools, and places of worship we know today.
The beautiful Brentwood area of Contra Costa County is the oldest continuously populated community in California inland from the great coastal centers. Californios eschewed this challenging portion of the Central Valley, so pioneering physician John Marsh established a permanent settlement here in 1837 at his Rancho Los Meganos. Soon, the burgeoning viniculture, wheat, orchard, and cattle operations attracted many Gold Rush miners back to their original agricultural callings, now in the California Delta. The 1860s arrival of British agribusiness concern Balfour Guthrie Investment Company soon established the largest grain-export and fruit-packing venture in the West. Brentwood Township, established in 1878 and named for Marsh's ancestral home in England, includes some of the state's most bountiful land. The region fostered the greatest wheat production west of the Mississippi River during the 19th century.
Byron Hot Springs is sometimes called the "Carlsbad of the West," after the famed European health spas. The resort hosted the famous, the wealthy, the infirm, and the curious alike during the early 20th century. The 160-acre property, in eastern Contra Costa County near the San Joaquin River, featured three grand hotels designed by renowned San Francisco architect James Reid. Amidst this stylish backdrop were prominent guests in 19th-century finery, early Hollywood royalty, Prohibition entertainments, mineral water "cures" for various ailments, and secret interrogations of World War II POWs (when it was known as "Camp Tracy"). Aside from the hot springs themselves, the resort boasts one of the oldest golf courses in the western United States.
San Francisco's "opposite shore" is showcased for its maritime role in securing the city's financial preeminence. Located minutes from San Francisco by ferry or automobile, Contra Costa County provided deepwater ports for shipping agricultural, mineral, and manufactured goods around the world. Pacific commodity traders made use of these ports to ship products, ensuring California's unique global economic role. Immense wealth was created from goods shipped from maritime Contra Costa County, securing a vibrant economy from the Gaslight Era to the days of Haight-Ashbury.
Ho for California! The terminus of the first overland immigrant pack train destined for California was John Marshs adobe, Brentwood. Since 1841, East Contra Costa County has been a grain and fruit basket to the world, a recreational playground for resort living, and a home for health and family life. Its wheat was exported for brewing Guinness beer, and fresh apricots, peaches, and cherries still bring produce fanciers for summer harvest. Weekenders houseboat, wakeboard, and fish through the regions thousands of miles of delta waterways. This sentimental history of the communities of Brentwood, Bethel Island, Byron, Discovery Bay, Knightsen, and Oakley reveals the importance of these California Delta communities in settling and developing the Golden State.
Welcome to the delta--California style! Over 1,000 miles of waterways lure sportsmen, boaters, and outdoor enthusiasts to the largest estuary in the western United States, surpassed nationally only by the Mississippi River Delta. For generations, the promise of lazy summer days has beckoned travelers to cruise the mighty Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. Along with vacationers, however, agricultural users and commercial vessels from around the globe share in the California Delta's bounty. Over 23 million Californians rely on the delta watershed for drinking water, and diversions sustain the largest agricultural industry in the nation. The small towns dotting the sloughs from Collinsville to Stockton to Walnut Grove tell of a simpler time, while today's delta faces such challenges as wildlife-habitat restoration, water rights, housing development, and politics. Complicating these issues, aging levees throughout the low-lying region threaten a disaster of national proportions--and with that prospect, the very future of the California Delta.
The beautiful Brentwood area of Contra Costa County is the oldest continuously populated community in California inland from the great coastal centers. Californios eschewed this challenging portion of the Central Valley, so pioneering physician John Marsh established a permanent settlement here in 1837 at his Rancho Los Meganos. Soon, the burgeoning viniculture, wheat, orchard, and cattle operations attracted many Gold Rush miners back to their original agricultural callings, now in the California Delta. The 1860s arrival of British agribusiness concern Balfour Guthrie Investment Company soon established the largest grain-export and fruit-packing venture in the West. Brentwood Township, established in 1878 and named for Marsh's ancestral home in England, includes some of the state's most bountiful land. The region fostered the greatest wheat production west of the Mississippi River during the 19th century. Carol A. Jensen, author of Arcadia Publishing's Byron Hot Springs , The California Delta , and East Contra Costa County , presents here in vintage photography the best of Brentwood, culled from local archives and collections. Combined with Jensen's prose, these images showcase Brentwood's progression from rural beginnings as an agricultural stronghold to the modern city of houses, shops, schools, and places of worship we know today.
Welcome to the delta--California style! Over 1,000 miles of waterways lure sportsmen, boaters, and outdoor enthusiasts to the largest estuary in the western United States, surpassed nationally only by the Mississippi River Delta. For generations, the promise of lazy summer days has beckoned travelers to cruise the mighty Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. Along with vacationers, however, agricultural users and commercial vessels from around the globe share in the California Delta's bounty. Over 23 million Californians rely on the delta watershed for drinking water, and diversions sustain the largest agricultural industry in the nation. The small towns dotting the sloughs from Collinsville to Stockton to Walnut Grove tell of a simpler time, while today's delta faces such challenges as wildlife-habitat restoration, water rights, housing development, and politics. Complicating these issues, aging levees throughout the low-lying region threaten a disaster of national proportions--and with that prospect, the very future of the California Delta.
Byron Hot Springs is sometimes called the "Carlsbad of the West," after the famed European health spas. The resort hosted the famous, the wealthy, the infirm, and the curious alike during the early 20th century. The 160-acre property, in eastern Contra Costa County near the San Joaquin River, featured three grand hotels designed by renowned San Francisco architect James Reid. Amidst this stylish backdrop were prominent guests in 19th-century finery, early Hollywood royalty, Prohibition entertainments, mineral water "cures" for various ailments, and secret interrogations of World War II POWs (when it was known as "Camp Tracy"). Aside from the hot springs themselves, the resort boasts one of the oldest golf courses in the western United States.
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