3 minute read
Travel
Photos by Tarmo Hannula
HISTORIC The town of Spreckels grew up around the American Sugar Refining Co.
Advertisement
On the sugar trail
Linking Watsonville to Spreckels
By TARMO HANNULA
Recently my wife Sarah and I took a day drive to Salinas and its surroundings to learn a little more about the place.
A few spots on the map grabbed our attention, like the former sugar plant in Spreckels (three miles south of Salinas) and a place once called Confederate Corners.
We drove east on Highway 129 from Watsonville, swung onto Highway 101 south and hit logjam traffic right away. Once we realized the traffic backed up for miles, we changed plans and turned onto eastbound Highway 156 to San Juan Buatista.
The diversion turned out to be a gold mine because Sarah found on our smartphone a way through the back door into Salinas just off of Highway 156 out of SJB.
Though it was a rough surface and slow going at times, the curving mountainous route offered one dramatic view after another of lush green hills, stunning pastures and ag fields.
Thirty minutes later, after a breathtaking stop on a pullout along Salinas Road to soak in that new beauty, we were ushered into a part of Salinas we’ve never seen, all while avoiding big traffic.
Though nondescript, we found the former Confederate Corners, now known as Springtown, was just
a handful of businesses, including a gas station. The place was first named Confederate Corners after a handful of Civil War veterans moved there in the late 1860s.
Nearby, Sarah spotted a brass plaque attached to a small stone tower. It was California State Parks Landmark 560 for the former Hill Town Ferry.
The California Office of Historic Preservation states that the ferry was one of the first to cross the Salinas River. Monterey County Supervisors regulated the toll which ranged, in 1877: from 25 cents for buggy and horse to 12-and-a-half cents on foot. The ferry operated until a bridge was built in 1889.
Next we rolled down the long, peaceful Harkins Road, lined with large shady trees, that spelled the way into the tiny town of Spreckels and the old sugar company. This is where the remains of the American Sugar Refining Co. still stand beside the small town. We were surprised that we could drive into the company grounds and grab a few photos and take in the grandeur of the place. The plant was a continuation of an initial company that first opened in Watsonville in 1888, the Western Beet Sugar Company on Walker Street at the hands of Claus Spreckels. They started out processing 350 tons of sugar beets a day and churned out 45 tons of sugar a day, according to “Watsonville, Memories That Linger'' by Betty Lewis.
Eventually their production outsized the plant and they merged with the American Sugar Refining Co. in Spreckels and began producing sugar, with many of the beets still being grown around Watsonville and Aptos.
The American Sugar Refining Co. operated in Spreckels from 1889 to 1982.
Famous American author John Seinbeck lived and worked in that area for a spell and is said to have used the place as a setting for his novel “Tortilla Flats.”
We ended our short journey with a caffe latte at Counterpoint Coffee in Seaside and thought differently about the sugar we spilled into our drink before sailing north along Highway 1. Being early evening, we decided to top our day with dinner at the Sea Harvest that overlooks the Moss Landing Harbor.
