Collection: Directories and Documents > Pamphlets

About This Item:

Title: The Glassblower (PH 10-11)(February 1978) Collection Type: Directories and Documents Collection Name: Pamphlets Catalog #: PH 10-11 Author: Northwestern Bottle Collectors Association Published: February 1978 Subjects: Bottle Collecting # of Pages: 16 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Metadata By: Shelby Figueroa Printed or handwritten: All printed text Date Scanned: 2024-11-19 10:53:09 Scanned By: Shelby Figueroa Scanning Equipment: CZUR Book Scanner OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: JPGs First Created: 2025-03-17 05:48:59 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 05:48:59

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

Page: of 16  

8 Boca Brewery (continued) Prosser Creek was dammed, forming a 30-acre lake from which ice was cut and stored during winter in a large ice house. The transcontinental link was made with the driving of a golden spike at Promontory Point, Utah on May 10, 1869. Ice was now shipped via the railroad to Sacramento and San Francisco. The demand for this ice was great, and the ice industry flourished with other companies soon joining the ice trade around Boca. There is no evidence that brewers of this time took advantage of the new ice supply to make lager beer, perhaps due to a cost which was still high owing to the quantities needed. The logical step, with rail transportation now available, was to bring the brewery fo the ice rather than the ice to the brewery. L. E. Doan of Boca saw this advantage as well as the obvious benefits of having a large brewery located where the Boca Mill and Ice Company, in which he was a partner with two other men, owned most of the land, ice houses, and even the general merchandise store. On August 5, 1875 the Boca Brewing Company was incorporated in the State of California for the purpose of manufacturing beer, ale and porter, and the leasing of lands and other property necessary for business. It was also recorded that “the principal place of business shall be in the city and county of San Francisco.” Stock in the amount of $100,000 with 1,000 shares at $100 each was issued. The trustees were listed as L. E. Doan, B. F. Bacon and Charles Thompson of Boca, A. B. Dibble of Grass Valley, and J. B. Fargo of San Francisco. Construction of the brewery began August 18, 1875 ona portion of a 320-acre parcel sold to the corporation for $2,000 in gold coin by one of the trustees, J. B. Fargo. Jerome B. Fargo was at this time employed by his brother Earl A. Fargo in the wholesale liquor trade in San Francisco. Earl Fargo had come to San Francisco in 1868 from Virginia, Nevada where he owned some mining property. No doubt Jerome Fargo came into possession of the Boca property while with his brother in the gold country. He followed his brother in the move to San Francisco, and in 1869 he was listed as a clerk with E. A. Fargo and Company, a firm whose later embossed bottles are familiar with collectors. For a short time in the early 1870s, prior to his involvement with the Boca Brewing Company, Jerome Fargo was listed as the proprietor of the California Water Filterer, a venture that, due to its less than lengthy duration, must not have been profitable. The brewery was completed in 1876 at a cost of $110,000 which exceeded the capital invested by $10,000. At a special meeting conducted May 11, 1876, the board now consisting of L. E. Doan, William Hesse, L. Livingston and J. B. Fargo adopted a resolution to submit to the consideration of the stockholders the proposition of increasing the capital stock to $500,000 with 5,000 shares issued. Also at this meeting L. Livingston resigned and Joseph May was elected to fill the vacancy. Louis Livingston was at this time engaged in the wholesale wine and liquor trade in San Francisco with Joseph May as a partner. Livingston and Company produced a variety of embossed bottles between the 1870s and early 1900s. The certificate of increase was filed on June 12, 1876, listing L. E. Doan as president of the Boca Brewing Company and O. E. Johnson as secretary. New articles of incorporation were drawn up one month later, being the same as those filed nearly one year earlier except that no reference was made to the manufacture of ale or porter and, as noted, the capital stock was increased to $500,000. Although originally planned, evidently no ale nor porter was ever commercially brewed by Boca. On the same day the new articles of incorporation were drawn up, six acres of land were purchased for $1.00 from L. E. Doan and his partners in the Boca Mill and Ice Company, containing “‘the right of way for a side track and bridge from the line of the Central Pacific Railroad to the ‘Boca Brewing Company’s’ brewery. Said side track having been surveyed by the CPRR Company’s engineers.” George Gruenewald of Alameda was added in the new articles of incorporation as a trustee. Twenty-six men were listed as holding the 5,000 shares of capital stock. Among these men were L. E. Doan with 1,715 shares worth $171,500; a a Se,.