'i "Dobbsie" Broadcasts Stockton's Harbor Devefopment

Material Prepared for 1'Dobbsie", Shetl Happytime Broodcast, over the Columbia Network from the Fox-Colifornia_Theatre, Srockton, Cati[, Mury i14,1932

By Stockton Chamber of Commerce

Dredgers at work on Stockton's western doorstep are fast changing the topography of Central California.

The old winding San Joaquin, at once the despair and pleasure of ,countless boatmen, is having its curvei tamed, and a course cut straight and true across the fertile Delta lands.

Already dredging of Stockton's $6,000,000 cleep water ship channel, whi,ch rvill pemrit 85 per cent of all pacific shipping to penetrate the heart of the ir.rterior of the state, is 75 per cent complete.

Levees, which have served to ,control the myriad water_ ways for many decacles and were constructed in many in_ stances by the sturdy Cantonese farmers rvith ,centuries of training in subduing the flood-rvaters of China's great rivers, are being moved back in the tremenclous construction proje,ct. Dragline dredgers have laid clown lines of restraining levees to control the spoil's area. Clamshell dredgers are erecting permanent retaining levees, and suction dredgers are hard at work removing the 21,000,00C or more cubic yards of earth from the bed of the channel.

The islands of the Delta with their rich, black soil and prolific crops are furnishing the stage-setting for a trans_ portation project that will have far-reaching efiects on the development of the interior valleys of the state.

Water-borne traffic is an old story in the industrial life of Stockton, for the San Joaquin and its hundreds of miles of tributary streams have served the city well. From the days of the Gold Rush, the river provided the main artery of travel between the frontier trading-post and San Fran_ cisco, and the world outside. Transportation by rvater has richly sustained the wealth of the community.

Today a fleet of light draft vessels plies the countless channels of the Delta district. Service akin to express, from the standpoint of speed, is furnished by the -river barges and steamers which thread their way among the islands picking up produce of field and orchard to be de_ lived on San Francisco rvharves in time for market the following morning. Nearly 1,000,000 tons of freight are carried on the San Joaquin annually.

When port facilities at Stockton, and the Z6-foot chan_ nel are completed from the inland city to deep water at Suisun Bay, an additional million of tonnage, at an annual saving of approximately $9@,000 in freight ,charges will be distributed from here. Stockton then will serv! as the shipping point for the great central valleys of California and bring their great agricultural and industiial producing areas 90 miles ,closer to a seaport.

Capitalizing the favored geographical location of the city in the heart of the two great level valleys of the state, railroads and truck lines follow the way of least resistance and flow naturally to Stockton. Thiee transcontinental railroads and many feeder lines tap a wide area. It is an_ ticipated that this city will serve as a concentration point and shipping'center for a greatly increased territory u.

isting transport lines are tied in with o.cean-going stripping at a point 90 miles inland.

The Federal government, the city of Stockton and the State of California are united on the $6,000,000 program to $eeg.en the existing channel and provid" prop., shipping fa-cilities that producers of the interior ma1. take of Stockton's natural outlet for commerce. by three transcontinental railroads and a network of paved highways tapping a wide area of great wealth'

There are but 14 miles of actual dredging to be done. In comparison with the tremendous outlay of ,capital and labor necessary to develop other inland ports, the Stockton proj_ ect seems like a gift of the gods. Specifi,cations call ior a channel 26 feet deep at mean lower low tide, l0Gfoot bot_ tom width, a surface width of 450 feet and a minimum ra_ dius on channel curves of 5,00O feet.

Historic Mormon Channel just east of the turning basin for sea-going vessels has been deepened to 9 feet 1y the 'United States government and will be utilized with the upper end of the Stockton channel by boats of lighter draft.

The belt line railroad is now under ,construction by the city and part of it is already being utilized. Materiais for use in the building of do,cks and transit sheds at the turn_ ing basin are being moved over.the publi.c belt line rail_ way. It is to be administered by the Santa Fe, the South_ ern Pacific and the Western pacific and a representative of the city. The three trans,continental lines are to erect a bridge over the San Joaquin river and continue the belt line road across Rough and Ready Island just west of the river to serve the industrial area along the channel there. The city may purchase the line within l0 y.".. for,cost plus l0 per ,cent according to the contract.

_ As the program of harbor improvements gets under way, hundreds of acres of additional industrial sites, adjacent to the deep water channel and served by the belt iine'railway, ar;.b-eing opened up. The property is on good solid ground which eliminates the necessity of using:piling_a -rurrirrg in constru,ction ,costs that the manufaiturer appreciates. Here where there is ample good, pure water for industrial use, and gas and electric power at reasonable rates, there is the additional advantage of ocean-going shipping, ,...ri."

. Primarily Stockton is the natural marketing center for 4 r,egion of tremendous' agri'cultural wealth, -and in-dustr.ies *il.t have developed in step with the intensive exploitation ' of the farm lands.

.: In the foothills of the Sierra, east of the city, aie vastr ' areas of timber lands and mineral resources waiting to be .utilized. Raitr and highway tap that distri'ct.

To "rru-erate the long list of agricultural products wotild be tedious. Fresh vegetables and fruits that supply the .tables of the nation's households, grains, milk products -and eggs leave San Joaquin county daily. Cherries from ,oichards of the Linden district are now on their way to market, and soon will go the apricots, the peaches' grapes' almonds and walnuts, and then the vegetables that add zest to the holiday season and the spring-all in regular .seasonal order. - in Stockton and the surrounding towns conserve the products for future enjoyment and shipping to foreign ports.

A;plant that supplies countless factories throughout the United States with containers that carry many well-known products into everybody's home is located in Stocktqn' Here are mills that make various feeds to supply the farmers of the state and abroad. Iron works fashion machinery, and pumps, utilized on surrounding farms and orchards, are sent to eastern and foreign shores.

Road-building implements made in Stockton were given hard service in the building of highways to serve the great Iloover dam under construction. Cedar slats are shipped from here by the thousands to be finished into pencils in Eastern and German factories'

Some of the finest pleasure craft in the state slip into the water from the ways in Stockton boat-building plants and are gaining wide recognition through their merit, -where boatmen gather on eastern or western shores. S-turdy boats that serve the fertile island farms are made in this city, anfsome of the passenger steamers that ply the rivers and bays of California are constructed here.

On completion of harbor facilities in Stockton at the ,close of the year, an increasing stimulus to industry is foreseen. A survey of river developments is one of the vpry interesting trips for the visitor to make.

The ardent boatmen have hundreds of miles of waterways to explore, and the fishermen may try their skill at the black seabass, or perch or crappie, and in season the gamey striped bass. To those who think there is no sport like fishing for the wily trout, a short motor-trip brings him into the streams of old Calaveras or Tuolumne. There he is transported into another era-when the adventurous Argonauts fluttered over the hills in sear'ch of gold-and yet more gold. Many are returned to the hills 'once more. to make a comfortable living panning gold in foothill streams. Some are merely staving off actual want and others are making real wages.

To the motorist, the romance of that district which the ,clever story-teller, Bret Harte and the beloved Mark Twain chronicled, is as potent today. Roads leading from Stockton to the hills follow the highways worn by the Fortv-niners of old.

Buy'a f1,0O0.00 bond issued by a company with Assets over f588,ooo,ooo. You may pay (if age 231 only $+t.S> annually for 20 yeats.

Z0x$48,91:$979.00

At the ehd of 20 yeats you will Receive in Cash, $1,662.13. If death occurs any time after contract is signed bond will mature and be paid in Cash to your heirs. Bonds issued. in any amount desired.