Univerait$ of Galifo~nka. BenelpaL ~ibra?y/Berkeley

Regional Oultural Ef;le~toxyProject

All mcsd ef this mnubc~ipt;a m czovwsd by

an agrtewsnt ,batwean the Rscsnta ub &%ur Wntuerste

of Ca3lfutnla m d h u t s "*rtrPe$tt, drat& Pbetreh 4, 1957, Tht~manusc~igtis thza~ebyrnde avaiIabl+

for ~aareaurahpurp08~11. A 1 1 litt)ra~s]~r igh?~in

except that thob Librurf had granted t o M r

Bartile%$fh@csxc%rx8fvarighf: t o p~nblish4 w h g h l ~

lifettae. 'bBa prarf of the reanuse~iptmy be qMtted

POP publieation by myone oth& than Zauir %~&let t

exeept by mItt4n gertnlrssion of tha Ltbmrirn af

Gha Unfversiky of California at Berkeley

Laas BartXatt, h5s f 4 t h e ) ~ ~ indeedl hiahi^ u n ~ l a8314,

bro%breend hi8 cousins and hlr aunts (not t o aseation U s

f3jlar.b w i f ~ t a rf d % y , ths 02nsys) have t a l l bean of t h ~ ,a h i f

that aWhe*rWhela" a m madre of, l%aaoh(ganeratisn hresr

aanCributed pabl%6-apirited ePvie and otiXWal leadera t o

CaliPtmnZa -- noted lawprsJ aduaato~a, a Regeat of

interview tap@-recorded in Berkeley on Marah 3, April 8,

and OQtobsr 28, 1954* Loals Bar~tlettrrsaalla same of the

higUigh.t;r and dxlamatio epirodee of' hirr own ezperieaae~in

highep education, legal work, city p o l i t i a s , and water a d

power devtalopnrent ln LQo~thernC a l i f o m l a over thFe@quarters

of a czrmtury. Partiolpantra in 'tido sf t b reuordlng laeaeiom

were -sfessor Walton Bean of the University of California

Hiatory hga~tssent:and h.Robert E, fhuPk6 of the Banaxoft

Libraryta Hmusaript Division, Bart let t : wae in his

smly eight ieo when t b inbmiew was rcsaoNeQ. AlCharrgh he

elmeked over the t m e r t p t and retrimdl 5% ea~erf'ully, he felt

that hla asemmy waa not what it aaae had been and that scum

phases of tha story could be covered only IJn a fmgmentwy

way. That there, were ohapbrs yet t o rroons bn h2r lang,

varied, and bway l i f e was rsvfdenaed when an May L1* 1957, he

in San ~anaPeecrsLna s ~ t honeymoon uhieht %oldoff on a R B ht~~

Regional. CuZ%tamZBi~tot+yh j a t e f Co~.ZnneL, FPlb TTnfversity aP Cafifornfa Library, krkeley % . ~ c kb., 1957

ADMIt35JCOW 'F3 !BIB W3 Am %AH FRABacIScjr) CITY POLITICS

QOVEIZbJaR ROGPB ATD 'I'm CEBTRAL VALLkY BROJECT

HVS1TfGIPAL WZLI'PY DISTRICT8

IWRIGATTO-Et DISTRICTS

C)OVRR?7OR OLSON

TVA FOR CAL3PORHIA

PARTIAL INDEX

FAMILY A2fD EDUCATION

Bwtlet t : I was born i n San Francisco i n 1872, and l ived

there u n t i l we moved t o Alameda i n 1884. We

l ived on E l l 1 8 S t ree t , between dough and Octtavia.

It was a new s t r e e t , and w e faced a reeky hill-

side of about f o u r blooks, not graded nor b u i l t

on u n t i l long a f t e r we l e f t 8an fianalsao,

Gilb t You were t e l l i n g me t ha t you spoke Freneh before

you spoke English. How d i d that come about?

Bar t l e t t : My mother was Louiee b1, born on Staten Island,

New York, i n 1841, I n '49 my grandfather John

Me1 decided t o come t o California, Ee had cousins

around Bordeaux, Prrance, and h i s oldest Ban, Lou18

Mel, was sent there i n 1850 and remained i n ban08

u n t i l 1858, as his father98 correspondent, He

returned t o California Pn 1878.

My grandfather l e f t Hew York f o r California

i n 149 via Panama, and there he had the $Panama'

fever. That l a i d h i m up f o r three month8 o r

so, and he arrived in California too l a t e t o be

a California pioneer. I n the beginning he kept

a s to re in one of the abandoned s a i l boats t h a t

Bar t le t t : was stuck i n the mud on the San Francisco beaeh,

Quite a number of boata that came t o San Francisco

never went back. They were r e l a t ive ly small, and

f o r a number of years houaed the s tores and the

homes of the pioneers.

When my grandfather came t o California, he

sent h i s family t o Prance where hia s i a t e r s lived.

They remained there u n t i l 158 o r 59, when they

sai led t o C a l i f o ~ n i a from Bordeaux around the Horn.

They l ived i n San Franciaoo,

My mother, one of the younger members of the

family, was married i n '68, and ahe and my fa the r

began a family r ight may,

Gilb: There were ten children i n your family, d i d a f t you

say?

Bar t le t t : Yea, my oldest a i s t e ~was born i n '70, and the reat

of us arrived a t two ye- in tervals ,

Gilb : What was your fa ther ' s family l ike? Where did they

come from?

Bapt le t t t My fa ther ' s ancestors came from England -- mieaed the f i rs t boat - the Mayflower -- but caught the

Bar t le t t s aecond, They arrived i n Massachuaetta, and fmaa

there, i n the cotarse o f a few generations, went

north t o few Rampahire.

The earlierst member of the famfly I can r e c a l l

was Joslah Rar t l e t t , a signer of the Derrlaratian

of Independenee. Somtimea I think he was the only

man l iv ing i n Bew Hampshire, beuause he was a

doctor, a lawyer, a college president, G O V ~ P ~ O F

of the s t a t e , and Chief Justice. f don't b o w

exactly how these jobs f i t t e d i n with each o t h r ,

but apparently he was the mst important man i n

Hew Hampehire during the period of the Amriaan

Revolution, My d i rec t ancestor was his brother,

Stephen, He was born and l ived i n Hew Hampahire.

And h i s descendent8 went down south, taking it

in gradual ateps: my f a t b r waer born i n ColWha

Georgia, Itve never known whather he was named

a f t e r the town o r tha Diaeaverer, but U s name

was Columbus Bart le t t . Shortly thereaf ter , my

grandfather went . t o Florida, A t t h a t time it wae

a new country bought from Francs. And a lot sf

Bar t le t t : get-rich-quickera went there; they had -- I was going t o say, a l l the graces, but perhaps a l l the

~oughneasi s mare exact -- of pioneers, He was an inf luent ia l m, though, and beoame myor of

Appalaehioola, whieh w a B and e t f l l i s a l i t t l e

town,

Gilb a Being mayor goes way baak i n your family1

Bar t le t t : Goes way back, yea, The woods are f u l l of Bar t l e t t

mayors, H i s only s % o q I remember wsla that h6

disapproved of w h a t some of the pioneers i n

Florida were doing, and acquired the enmity of

two men who were t~gingto ~ l t e a l everything i n

sight, These two came in to h i s -- I was going t o say his a f f l ce , but t ha t was juat a pioneer shack

-- as a l l building8 were. An offiee in those clay1 was a place where you kept everything t h a t you

had, As he w a s warking, these men came i n and

announced they would take him out and hang h i m ,

"well," he safd as he pulled out a m t a h and lit

i t , to his l i t t l e keg daun here a t my feet BIB gun-

powderl ff you don't ge t out of here, I'll drop

thfs match and we' l l a l l go t o h e l l togetherem They

beat it, (Laughter) That's the only atory I

Bar t le t t : recal led when a member of a Florida h i e t o r i t a l

society wrote me f o r da ta about hila h om 30 yews

ago. But i t sounds l i k e a Bar t l e t t , I would say.

To catalog the mayopa i n the family, Grand-

fa the r war Mayor. of Appalachic~ola, Florida; Uncle

Washington Bar t le t t , San Franciaao and Governor

of California; b r o t b r Francis He Bar t le t t ,

Alameda and l e t e r W y e v i l l e , Californiaf Louis

Bar t l e t t , Mayor of Berkeley.

Q i l b: How did the B a r t l s t t s ge t t o California?

R a r t l s t t t I n '49, my Father's e ldsa t brother, Washington

Bar t l e t t , came t o California v i a the Panama. He

was qui te successful and was aoon elected aounty

Clerk i n San Francisco.

Gilb: How did your f a t h e r aome out?

BartPett t My f a the r came out l a t e r , i n 1852, via Panama. H i s

fa ther was a pioneer l iv ing i n Florida. Then hie

aons were pioneers too, and went on t h e f r own as

they reached 17 or 18; three came t o California,

two t o New Orleans. T h y were a l l named a f t e r

famoua men: Washington Montgomery, Franklin Adarms,

Bar t le t t : W i l l i a m Tel l , Colurabus, His daughters were named

a f t e r Southern atatea: Louisiana, Texaa, eta ,

My father , a t 17, s t a r t ed ear ly and ran a

newspaper i n a tiorthern Mississippi town, u n t i l

hia brother Washington invbted h i m t o wm t o Sari

Franclaco i n 1852, I don't know mueh about h i r

ear ly work, except t h a t he waa a pr in te r and worked

on a newspaper2 he studied l a w , and then began

praeticf ng it , and was b i n 1 3 t h i s when I arrived

on the scene, I remember ae a very small chi ld

going down t o his offloe on Montgomery Street

where Wells Fargo Bank now is,

He married my mother In ' 6 9 , when he was 36,

She was h i s second wife. H i s f *st w t f e died i n

childbirth, having twin g i r l s , A l l three died

together, H e married my mother In 1869, and f r o m

then on there was a child every two y e a ~ su n t i l

held had nine. And then, for some reaason o r

another, there was a gauae f o r three or four yeara,

when the l a s t one was born,

Gilb t Where d i d cyou come in?

Bartlete: I was the second, I had an o l d w s i s t e r , My

fa the r was a good and rsu6oesaful laruyer, He

didn't make any fortune, but he managed t o keep

ua a l l going, u n t i l he got toward 70, when he

gradually faded and died a t 72.

Gilb: I s t i l l wonder how yon happened t o learn Frsnoh

before you learned Engli sh,

Bart lete: Hy mother, as a s m a l l g i r l , went to Franae, Xy

grandmother took the family there when xny grand-

father l e f t for Califo~n2.a i n 1849, She stayed

there eight y e a r s , giving her children an education,

and came t o California i n '58, As my mother went

to school i n Prance, French r e a l l y became a e much

her native tongue as Engliah,

When she married my father , plhe made up her

mind tha t a l l of her children were going to mrpeak

French. As my fa ther went t o his office r a the r

ea r ly and came back r a the r l a t e , she apoke and

taught French t o us i n the daytime. O f couree,

when it got down t o the youngeat children, there

was a l o t more English spoken i n the house, and

B m t l e t t t they d i d n f t have the same chancre t o learn Prenuh

a8 the older ones had. However, they a l l epoke it.

I want t o t e l l a s to ry about my great-great-

grandfather, w h o m name waa hapard Barnabe Me1

de Fontemy, H e was born i n 1732, died %n 1808,

He was tax-gatherer for Louis XVI, with the title

'~arrner-0eneral i n the Province o f Geronde and

Receiver of Taxesu. When the Frencrh Revolution

broke out, tax-gatherepa were f a i p game, And

ppeaently he found himelf i n the Chatelet pri8on

i n P a r i s , w2th a one-way t i cke t t o the gu i l lo t ine

the fallowing raorning, But during the nlght (and

we've never been quite cer ta in of how he got out

o r who g o t h i m out) he g o t away, and we next

heard of him as being 6n the is land of P h u r l t u a ,

jus t north of Madagascar, i n the I n d i m Ocean,

He stpyed there about a year, We know tha t he died

as a Captain i n the Br i t i sh Wavy. But we have f e w

deta i le ,

Gilb: He must have married somewhepe along the l ine ,

Bar t le t t : He did, and we'll come t o that. When Theodore

Bartlett i RoosevelB was Prasident, he eent the flee&amund

the world, jusrst to l e t 1% b o w that; Bha Unitad

States was mllftrsplly Important* And aauin*

Harpy PIe l , five yeapa younger khan I, wrm an board

as a junioro offiucsr* When he gat t o *ha i 8 l m d sf

PIawitlu~,he wendere8 If he eon18 find any tmba

of his great-granMather* Qae afternoon thrs

atfioers we= a91 invltail to a reeept2on at the

@overnor-bne~al*rpause, r a he put on a32 hi*

regirrtsntalcl arid went, O n reachlag tho fmnt door

of the palacre, he was m e t by a great big Negm

who wore more deesrationa than the enti- k e ~ i c a n

fleet. big fellow took hie ear~d,owned %hs

door and. boomed oats wL1eutenmt &I." So Har~y

joined the line and presently raaehed the Bovarasr-

Oeneral, he was being introduead he bawd t h i a

Negro x sjordorrao calling; out, "Tba Misses h1,' H4

turned and saw two big btlx~mmilatto girl8r Fhat:*s

about a 11 I kmw of that ancesta~.

GIIb 8 He wasn't in go- direet l ine of anaeatry, uaa he?

Baptlett: Oh yes, Be WILB q y grandfather8b grandfather.

captain of' a veasel ahat e a & ~ i & dBrltish.e~lrainala

Botany Bay i n Auatrallar gmnQiabkPb~ John

'blrenembered a t * -Xe to ld me thab when he

waa a i i t t l r boy, he warn taken on e m of B h a u

vwagea.

M b n we we&@ children, my mth-+rran tha

Uiaclpliaa of the family* Hy fathe* hated t 9

puniah ua and v e r y aelden did, 8hr diQn*t l i k s

t o do it, bu* we were quits and 110~4lsdit*

But aha was apmlng 81 the mdr wba3 ~dmn&~br

I wae twirlre and-living in Alameda. @UF mXO door

neighbor had- two bog8 about: %he agrr & myself

and q next brotber. Their flat he^ was a lsar'bixaet,

He war ro rrtriet Wmt when ha wen* oak walking

with th. boya, head hare t h . m h e a l hir a# '

ha would hare a dog, H e war a tarribfa m ~ ~ % i n e t ~

Z remambr~one of the~bboja te l l ing he, after) a

l i t t l e eemes with hi8 father, that he war be=

sn ?he m r s g aPde of bhe fanes1 WhSath I think i r

a .ad thing for a ron t o 8.7 oi hi8 iatbr , & rr(

Bart le t t t father and m o t b ~drove us with a verg l i g h t

r e in -- very l i t t l e BieeiplZne, There were a s many of as we more o r l e s s dlaeiplined eaah othar,

G11b t Were you readerr -- d i d you read a t a l l or we- you mom t l y doers?

Bart le t t t We a l l were great readerrf

Qilb t Wh~taorta of k h i ~ , simpressad you when you were a

boy?

B a ~ t l e t t8 I went t o It, Ignatitui College i n S m Prraneiaeo (I

graduated a t 16 with an A.B, , i n 50871, and en, of the requirements i n the English elarr was t o learn

and rec i te a poem evesy day. That took us through

a great deal of Englirh l i t e r a tme , I read a great

deal or poetry and, of cowne, novels, l i ke Seott'e

and Diokenr', were just eaten a l ias by us, I read

a good deal 18 a boy. I think every m e k e ~of the

fad17 did. 24y o l d e ~8ia ter partieularlg, Sha

waar a great thinker and read v e q intsll lgently.

Gilb t Was that a Catha110 family?

B a ~ t l e t t: 5 mother wasr a Oatholie. My father was not.

B w t l e t t t Before ehe married my father promi8eQ her t h a C all

the childran r b u l d be brought up a r Catho1i6sr

A l l of them were, but reven of them ahnnped In their

mature l ives, I war raised a Catfiolis, and graduated

from St . Igrutiur and ~ast~k114da CathO110 w k i l

I was aboaS 21.: Whsn I got haak f ~ e g amy Alaskan

t r i p , following, i n the foatrtepr sf D w i n and i

rbaorbhg from b a t I raw ud read i n h i 8

book8 (though mrrt of them were way beyond m e ) ,

opened mind t o a minor extent, 'Phen 9 wan* t o

the Univerelty of Caliiornia. Bne of my cla6snult8r

war Charles Keeler. Reeler war a born nat;urlaliat,

had read ar. great deal, and had gone afield, Ha

f e l t he knew a great deal firat-hand abauk 8volution,

and was interested i n d l s ~ u a s l ~ n a ,He 8 twtad a

group that me% a$ his house every Satwday night

(!i!he Evolution Club) a He warr tre~nsCourrly i n t m r t a d

i n Darwin, Of caurae, Dam-~inwas new i n those dayr,

and was pathema t o $he Cntholia shurah, Ws mad

and d i s c ~ s e d ,an8 had an inte~8861ngtime, And

then, from the University, ]: got different s lants

B u t l e t t t than the Catholic an a great many %Magsr Haring

been a t sea and having gone through my yeair'a .

expsrienue i n watching racientista a t wo~k,f

gradually oame t o the canelurion that I wantad t o

leave the ohurch, which I did afhr I had graduatsd.

1 wao mueh interested i n philosophy as tangh*

by 6eorgcs H, Howirsn, P r o f e r s o ~fiowiaon.

Gilb t A very great man.

B a r t l s t t t He was an ext remly f i n e peraon, and I knew h i m

intimately. In faut , I was his a t t o ~ n e yand hi8

wife's, after I got out of the l a w s ebo l , Howiron

w a s a lgan who wanted to have a world of philoeophbrs,

So whenever he eould 68% 8omeboQ t o work along

that l i ne , he'd help h i m ars mu~has porsible. And

he w a n verg interested i n me Be had already

organized and was the head of th Philosophisal

Union. Every month someone read a paper om some

philosophical subjeet, w h i c h was disanared by the

meeting. A s -on aar I graduated -- I'd calready joinad the Philoaophiaal Union whila I was in

eollege -- he asked me to wri te a paper on the

Barrtlett: gtsleolsglaal a~gumentf o r the exiatenoe of Gud,*

Do you underatand t2mtY

ltilb a I do. But I think weld bettap geB it into thls

manuscript.

Bartlettt Well, telealegioal argument i r tha a?qpamnb

far the exis tenab of God f r o m dsrign i n rsatrne, I

anpposa 1 read svergtNng i n t b English and Frensh

language at that time, avaifabla i n the l i b r a r y

here (whleh was quite conelderable). And I mad

that paper. My mtbr didn't l lke it. S b h e w

I w a ~getting away f r o m the ~atholicc ~ d h ,

I d i d actnatlly and deffnikely gult the Ca$holic

akwch then.

?4y brothers and a i a t e ~ a ,with two exeeptione,

did the earn thing in a d i f f ere& way, bn$ quietly,

My oldep sister, who wan an extmmely senrltivs

and kindly person, w a r r l d n t t hurt my sothb~by

letting her k n e w that s b i P ahanged he^ views. 18b

waa a semi-invalid, although shs o r g d a e d am3 wag

the head of the ~odonsstieScienas Deplrtmsnb in

S a n Franeiaco publie ach6ols. She worked h a ~ 4a l l

Satardaya and S d a p a , ao she did net ga to ehrrroh.

She didntt prop.g&idise or talk religion. My

nother never knetw that she^ brad l e f t the Catholia

ahureh,

Unfwtunatsly, I left with an sxplsmian. And

that happsmd with two or three of $Re othe~r,ba8

not aa bad an exploaism a8 &nee

Bilb t Did you find m y somotion between beirrp; a Cabholie

and any'politlaal problem8 in running t o r offlee?

Bartlett? No. Of courae the catholic^ w e ~ ealanniah pelitla@lly

aa well as otherwire, buk they never ganged up

against me. I didnit blazon the faot that I I Q

f~iendaknew it* When I ran in San 3Pranaiaos iS

uaen't used against ma, nor when 9 ran far mayor in

Bs~keley,nor when 3 ran for the EhsB Bay Muni4~2gaJ.

Utility Diatrict. I . m u ~ tsay that ths CathoZZe thurah

haa never treated me baU2y. The parieh p ~ i s r tin

Berkeley and ~e& Hall were ~ C a a n ~ hsupporter8

of many of the things I wrde~taok,

Qilb t I'd l ike to hear a l i t t l e blb mupa abotzt you^

yeare a t the University, What kind o f studant w e d

you? Were you gregarisua or did you work hard at

your atudIeeP What did yon rtudy there?

B a r t l e t t t 1 war in a division ca lbd nCette~sand FollticlldL

Scienaeu. Thia included literatme, X a n g u i g a ~ ~ ,

history, an amount of math@maties (whioh I ks@B

t o s minimum), physiea, c l h e d s t ~ yand semi natural

soience, Oh, I worked hard. I graduated numbar

four In thp class, But that iant t very good, when

there were only about 60 graduated, But I war a

coramexzoenmnt speaker, w i t h two others, and the nelrt

year, when the Shi Beta Kappa was organized her@,

I wae made one sf two, retpoactiveXy. I enjoyed nay

work v e q much, I joined the Beta !h38a Pi and walllr

an aative, ardmnt member of that f ~ a t ~ m i t y .

Gilb t Thatte a aoaial fraternsty.

I3artlett t Yea, that's one or the campus socia3 f ra te~n i t l er ,

at that time, I think, the best i n acholarslsip and

one ef the best in athletics. 3 didn't join any

religious fraternity,

Gilb t How about stndent astioitiea? Idhat s o ~ t et~f

thing8 did yon join?

Bartlett: f waa interested in the college paper, tried

football and fortunalaly far my appreciation of

muago I was badly used up in the redo&-f~eahtenrr

game, and had to give up football. My mother, to

conmle me, took me to h ~ a r Adalina Patbe# a e

wo~ldtagreateat singer, on her a n n u l farewell

tour. I engoye8 her vepy mucb, For an ancore

erkm song 1The Lart Rose of ~unmnsr', whiah I:

thought wars the m a t beautiml thing I4d ever

htsird.

Theme were some ver~rdistinguished men on the

University of Cal&fornla faoulty when I was a ntudent.

Bean: Did you know Preeident kheelarr?

13aPtlatt t Very well; i n t i ~ t e l ~ , though he warsI might Bay,

president m n y years after X g~admtted. Haraae

Davis was president when I entered. f hardly knew

him. he stayed only one yeaim and rerigned. X

never heard anyone laud hie admintst~ation,

There wa& q d t e a struggle for his ruoasealon.

Bernard Bbeee, who taught pol i t ical raeienaa, hi8Corg

and economalcar - a vary able man - w a r tha eandi8r$e a t f - a t favored by my fat he^, whs w a a a Rsglblif @f

the University, but there was aa am~ho p p o r l t i ~ n

from the fasnlty that Wartin Kellogg war f inal ly

choren. He w a a well liked, but warn gz!vwlng old8

he kept the peaee in the faeulty, an8 for tiha

time he warn preeident I think he w a r well f itted,

Ha war not a great prerident, but had great but

quiet abarm.

I knew b l l o g g very well, #y father waa one

of the Rsgenta of the University who helped eleat

him, when b a s s war definitely nut. He w a r a t

my father's house many times, and I was not

inf'rsquently his guest.

Bean: What w e r e your Imprelsslonrr of his prsridenay?

Bartle%tr He took the preaideney as a uomproxniss candidate

after considerable diaaenrion among prscsedlng

preeidents and the faeulty. h l l o g g waa able to

B b l ~ t l e t t$ ~e801vefaationa, and that seemad t o be w h C war

needed, He was a Latinlat , a f i m scholar and

gentleman, and, i n my opinion war we11 f i t t b d

f o r the t a s k he war given.

Oilb P When you went t o b s t i n g s , you were worHng than,

weren't you?

B m t l e t t r Yea, when I went t o b s t i n g r , I warr Csaehlng

achool a t night, and waa alas working f o r my father

i n the daytine a a a clerk, So I wola r e a l l y bury

during that period. I had no time a t a l l , My

fat he^ was losing his health, and a l s o his e l i sn ts .

I had t o make money not only f o r myself, but t o

help m y brothers and s i s t e r r get an education,

remember reading and making eyl labi f a r t en

volum4rs o f United States Suprema O o w t R e w t a f o r

a new encyclopedia, now i n present use. It w a r

very exacting work, but I learned a l o t of law at

it,

Peter Shield8 (JUQ~ aimilarri n sacramento) t e l l s a

s tory about hi8 health being damaged by reading law

books, Apparently tha t ' s very taxing wa~k.

I

BartletBt Well, it ie. If you w e making syl labi , that

mane you've got to understand every line that

you read, and learn a lot of law.

Gilb a You mentioned having gone to sea at 16. Kow dl4

that happen?

Bartlettr That's a most intere~t lng g e t of my l i f e , an4 I

think one o f my mbst developil3g; 743aF8. In 1888 the

U,S, government sent out to the coast, the t irh

Colamissfon steamer "~lbatross~. Sha was dea%peQ

to study the fauna and flora o f the sea and make

surveys of the ocean battam -- not at the share l ines, but to find out the depth, eharaotsr and

reeources of the ma. It was the f i r a t vessel

the Unitea Statea maintained for suth purposear, and

waa designed specially to that end, she wall built

i n 1881, and Thomas A. Ediean personally mapped

by hand the ship's electrie genepator.

The Albatrose started from Washington t o the

Paeifie Coast i n the early apring of 1888 and

arrived i n S m Praneisco via the S t r a i t r of

Magellan, in May. Zera L, Tanner, Lt. Ce-ndar,

U.S. Haw, a cousin of my fiathe~vs,was the Captain

of the shfp. He put her i n the Union Iron Worka

Barblettd i n San Fmntzisco for overhaul and r r g a i ~ ,getting

ready for a long sea voyage to exp lo~ethe North

Paoiiio,

E$ father had him over to o w hours, i n

A l m d a a great dealj they'd been frlelrider as boys

i n %he e o d h and were greater Friendr hem. About

a month later, a f t s r he had been t o our hone may

timea, he aaked m e if I would l i b to go t o the

Union Iron Works t o look a t the Albatrsrr. I'd

never been on a ~teamsr other than the San Franoiaao-

Oakland ferry. The sail ing vessel was t b fHistrerr

of the Seat st t;fib time, Them were oomparatively

few teame era, 'Fbe ateamer hadntt made l t r way,

and the i n t e r e ~ t i w thing about the Albatross was

that i t reflected the uncestain0y as t o which was

the better, the sailing boab or the atesuaer, !The

Albatrose had auxiliary sailn t o i nc~ease sff$ctivsnear,

though i n p ~ a c t i a e she almat never used them, Captrain

Tanner invited my younger brother Julian and me over

t o ree it, Ee waa moat graehua. Ee took us a l l

over the doat3 introduced ua t o the junior affioere,

Bartlet to and, oh, we had a wonderful time1 I wondered

even then why ao Important a nan wul4 take the

time to take a couple of kids aspound. About th ree

otclock i n the afternaon b raid, "b#is, ha#

would you l ike t o be my clerk? clerk whe cmw

through the S t r q i t s of Piagellan, to ld 194 th i8 morning

he wae leaving to get a job i n Sen Ipraneiuae. How ,

would you l i k e %o join us and go t o Alaska? If

you'd l fke t o be my secretary, I l d be glad t o hoe

you," Of course, I told him I would be delighted,

but woula have to g e t my father l a parmireion, whioh

waantt hard to get, becauee of his confidence and

respect i n Captain Trenner,

9 atarted out on the 4 th of Julj, 1888, headed

for the Aleutian Islands on the U.8* Piah C o m i s ~ i o n

a temer Albatross, Our f i r a t atop was st Sea t t l e ,

which conslated then of a few whartres emd houses on

the f i r a t rise in the land, Baek of it were several

m51es of v i rg in forest and then Lake WashingBen.

Some enterpristng paeple -- they mullrt hays, had nerve -- had dealded t h a t the be8t way to open qp

Bart let t : the baek count~ywas t o put in an electric l iner

And so they bui l t one from the beaeh t o Lake

Washington -- the f i r a t e lec t r io c a r 8 i n the United Stater, I took a ride on it. T b 6 o m t r y wall all

S o r e ~ t ,and M e Wa~hlrrgtonhsrd nothing t o canas a

ripplct except the boat6 that w e n t in f r o m the Soundj

and thsre weren't many of those,

Pmm Seattle we went t o Victoria and rpmt a

l i t t l e t i m e there. One thing I ebremod, which f

recalled on my next v i s i t 62 y e w 8 la ter , war a

long -ah a t the end of the harbor, and bask of

it a 15 OP 20 foot r i s e , When I came brok i n 1950,

I noticed that the ma~shhad been f i l l e d i n t o

quite a height an8 that the Vietoria Hotel and

several publio building# faad been b u i l t on th

f i l l , What aurgrirsd me met was the fabulous Hotex

Viotoria on made land,

From Victoria, we went %-ugh the inland

pasaage, between the Island and mainland, aeopplng

r a t a number of Indian villages. b a t of them a d

hardly seen white men, We saw many totem polem

Bwtlsttr i n theae villagem that are now d@eorating the pwka

of Victoria, T b Indians were very nia~W us,

Captain Tanner gave t h e m eome thing8 they appr@aiated,

and they reclprooated i n a nlae way* We mda a

few aoundlnge in the atraitr, fish& in tihe ma16

water, and made some se i ent i f i e observations. Then

went north t o the m e n Charlotte felandr and Queen

Chaplotte Sound. Up there, we started awveying the

sea far 008 and halibut. We had on b o d a fisheman

from the Chnd Banka on the $art Goast ishe war

an expert in these fishesieu.

Oilb t Did you have any relatione with ths Qdlnadiangovern-

ment?

Bartlettt I do not seaall any, but the Captain allwaya a a l l s d

an the official^ -- Juat a ceremonial @all . Gilb t They didn ' t m i n d y a w fiehing? T b ~ owere no Juris-

diatioml problems?

Bartkett o Ha, there wepe no jurisdicti~naPproblama. !!?hey

knew, of course, what the ehip was doing. Ar t h

Captainla Clerk, I wrote by h4nB all hi8 eorpas-

pondence, and have no recolleatian of hi8 dsalbgr

Bartlett r with the Canadian governnrent, though hQ alwaya

made ceremonial calls. I canrt be peaitive, b*

he never wrote letterer to them, Apparently there

were no problem between tb two ooturtriss at that

time. By the way, I wrots d i l l the lettara by hand,

The typewriter had not made i t 8 appearanas l n the

Navy.

We d i d quite a bit of exploring i n @eon

Charlotte Sound and beyond, and our fisherman

e x p e r t , who hew a l l about cod and halibut, waa

delighted with the reenulta, We would atop, and - eveqbody on board would f ish, We f lahed and firahed

and found i t an exeellenb fishing ground,

Gilb : There was no colamereial fishing, them, at that tiaras?

Bwtletta Not there at that time, though salmen fiahing i n

Alaaka had begun, After dark we ancshored for the

night, and our exper t fisherman put out a 1st of

llnea, every one of which caught f i s h by morning.

We had a trawl eonstating of a metal framewo~k

with a net attached, and dragged i t along the bottoa

Bartlettt and gathered the f lora as w e l l ae the fauna of f

the oesan bottom+ We brought up a l l sort8 or

things; the mdf ish and the hallbut were by no

man8 everything, A l l these findings were 'piakled",

a8 we aalled it, and sent the Smitharenitan

Znlrtitute i n Washington for rtwy. !Phe aolleetiona

of sea fauna and f lora were made under the direation

of Profeesoa Gilbert, who had published a book by

nJordan and Gilbertw a year OP ~ W Qbefore. The

'~ordan' %n this t ~ a mwas David Stasr Jordan, who

fmd just been appointed p~esidentof Staniord

University by Senator Leland Stanford, and was then

engaged in planning the buildings and earnpus, and

eelecting the faculty, Gilbert was proferuor of

Ichthyology there for many yeCU18. Ee u.8 a great

acientiat, but the eoldett f i s h that ever a m out

of t b ooean.

We ,Began in seen Charlotte Srs\znd making submarine explo~ations, and collacting avsrything

that cme ~p In the trawl, It was put i n aleoh01

and sent t o the Smithsonian Institute i n Waahingtdn.

Many of the erpecimen~were then new to aroienae*

Bartlett s F ~ o mQueen Oharlotte bound ua went on a fa i r ly

straight l ine to W c h -or in the Aleutian Islandr,

do%%a l o t of sounding and fishing on the way, Not

only dishing for f iah but a l s o far a11 fomns of

marine l i f e , vegetable as well as animal, dnd the

vegetable l i re at the bottom of the m a is b e ~ l l t i f u l

indeed, and ranka i n beau%yw i t h what we cultivate

on lend,

Ws stayed a l i t t l e while i n Dutch -bar i n

Ala~ka,and made ~omeobaervationa and calPeeted

fauna and flora, and then started baek, That Pe

aB far west ae we went, The sea an4 islands at the

mouth of the Bering Sea are perpetually eove~edwith

fag, due to the flowing out f 'mm the h a t l a of

melted ice and snow, and meet- a wkumer atmosphere.

The owpent a ere fast , too, and mcrle rsailing di f f icul t i n areas then aketohily charted, So,

for ~afetytasake, Captain Tanner took on a Russian

pilot , Captain Popoff, t o help with the navigation.

Then we went baek toward Che mainlsuld, But

in the meantime the Oaptain deelded t o explore t b

great deep arevasse on the 'bottom of the oeean that

Bartlatt t parallels the aouthern shore of Alarka, part

the Aleutian I a l a d a , Kamchatka, Japan and the

Phillipinas, where the greatrart depBh Lans sinas

been found, Damin ha4 made him trig up thm A s i a n

coast f i f teen yeara or ao earlier, and had d i s -

covered thie great oeean canyon^ ba* he^ dMnlt

know it8 dlmensiona nap it8 length.

One of my duties war t o make a ~eeardof all

soundings. These were mad@wtth plans wipe wound

around e, drum, l e t out ani pulled up by a l i t t l e

engine. It wasn't very accurate beoams of m s n C a

and wind, and the d i f f Iculty of ksepfng Lhe ship

i n the aame spot. I remembe~one ver?p aold and

foggy night: 1 w a s on the upper deak with the

8ounding appaz-atus, making a ~ e e o r dof the tfms

it took to pay out every hundred fathcms, It

took urs nearly two houre, before we hit bottom a t

about 28,000 feet , I t was one o f the great, though

not the greatest, deptlis then Pound on the surfaas

of the eblrth.

In order t o learn abouO the ocean f loor, a

braes cylinder encased in what looked like a

B a r t l t t t t cannonball was attaehracl t o the end of the wire.

Whan it hit the ground the b a l l was ~ e l e a a e dand

a valve on the cylinder war pushed up to l e t In

water and other mater3al; the valve ulased when

the cylinder l e f t the efrourid and began its t r i p

up, bringing up a sample of the ooeun bottor.14 A n

attached themnometer ramked the temperature at

the lowest point, T h i s sounding book the greater

part of four) hours to get down an8 bask; and

provide6 mny data canoeming the ocean f loor .

Popoff,who h e w the curzcentu asnZ the ha~borr, was i n charge of the steering at that t i m e . We

went t o many islands large and small. Wherever

we atopped everybody went ashore with a gun or

rod, and brought back samples of anflmalm, blrdr,

f i ~ h ,and botanfeal specimens. The flat shore wae

mostly bundra. As a rule the mountain8 were very

ateep, and ewif't strearas brought down a l o t of

material which was spread out l i k e a platform

around them. These s t r e w were rapld and always

shallow, The salmon were m ~ i n gwhen we wepe

B r ~ ~ t l s t t x there and one could not hava, wa3ke4 aaparsr a

thirty-foot atream #ithmt stepping on a salmon

a t evdlpy sbep.

We anaho~adat KodiaPt, one sf t b l w g e r t

islandas perhaps the mat import;an* an* a t that

time -- before r;he geld rush, T b ~ s ,w m a f P m harbor whsm tkre was a trading rhtion f4~ fish

canning, saal-skina, eta, Qaptain Fopoff inviBad

me %a vis i t same friendr of his on an fa1anQ In

the harbor about two & l a b away, h ~ kW r a ahip'r

boat and rowed over. The hdiane aaw ua earning aRd

ware all an the beach t o gree* Popeff, an8 PnvPted

us into t b i r tepee t o m e a l i t t l e drink. mir

house was bnfltr for winter, POP aom PBaIQZls Z

do not recall, the7 had down a ooap1@ e2 %set

for their cabin floor and the #idle waI28 we- very

low. The fmnt &or was eo low we had t o erawl in#

thia we had t o do on our hamla and hems. 3%~mna

was, I should says twanty-five or thirtg feet long

wiBh a very aCeep ~oof,with a littla bola fa Wa

top whe~sthe smoke went out, when It dl&*$ st;ap

B a t l s t t t in* The Abu$s, of b ~ w u e ~offerad uu a &%rik4

Uilb t Did they talk BngBishT

B m t l s b t r E3a, Popoff d i d the tsjlkimg t o the Indianar, They

offerad ua their aountsrptgB o f whiekey, and sf

oourse I had some3 I eoulCln*t refuse e b l r horpitalitr, Its e f f e ~ taae gotserful and the m a w rfif3213g;*

W i n a ~ i l y ,tbqy wlred the building only whsn bh8

roof f e l l in. But, aayway, we had a nies soa2abPs

time. Theae friendXy Aleuts were iina fellwrs and

treated u a well, Then, a l l of a asuddan X waa

strmak by the thoqf i t t "How f n the diakenn am I

going to walk ont of this ~ l l a a e ? ~#hen f rbodl,

1 f e l t my loge b ~ c k l i n g.imb@rme. But 1 felt better

when I remmbersd that no on8 eonld wa9k a.trCj that

we had t o crawl out anyway, Burtif led bp %hat

idea, I gut an my mosB dignified wrmntbr, go& on

my bees and mawlad out in%s tb ai~,where 1

reeave~edquickly, and was a b l ~t e pall o a ~

with Cap-in Popoff.

- P r o m there we atarted on mar way bm an4 aailad ea~tward, But $he Captain had buaa d i ~ e ~ t i b d

%.rqs~aaequy tra @.arl%~~03 3aen en @saeqq rrioba

'J9%8T qW3 Q3 XTW e# *aTS=f%V e W a'$

-3 rmt) - p e q o d y y e afa$w swn I @xe%wq ' V O P 140 Wl m1

aden on ueqn qwqq peuJrreT ofi * p f q -4 ay gmzJds

mailto:@.arl%~~

Bar%leBt$ arid ths B ~ i t i r hlain inland, an8 between tZls I4;Larad

and no~thernWashington to the gasif i8, W@J found

owaePses i n a t e w i b l s artorm, ths w o r r t I baoa

ever experienced, Be we were plowing weak tow&

the Paelfie Oesan the wind B l e d aruddrmn3y and 16bt

ua w a l l u w i a g in a sea w l t h a swing af Bwenty-five

deg~ees. I was lying Elat on my back in Oh6 ehnrQ

room watchlag a pendulum ~ o l 3 ,bask and frsrth. X

wasnt t eeaisiek t o-- at least 1 t r l ~ Q think 8 0 ~

though I admit I was unesdortable, &an we $08

t o Gape Flattery on the P a e i f l c , the Captain dosided

them wasn't any use in trying t o r%ra;l.tsup w o ~ k

off. Washington until the Bea csa-4 down$ so w*

went up the coast of Vanwuvsr Irsland, ta Barelay

Sound, where we mu3d Mde behind a group s f

little islands tihat broke Bhe tremsra8aao swelb

&hat prevented owp,work, They W ~ P Bbeatl.t).%f'ul

little islandrr, cantaa'f. in shapa, eonred w%bh

magnWieent tree8 that had mter been kouehgd by

an axe. They affere8 a f ins refuge h m tha wake

of the atom ae we go% beMnd a group anhi1 0 b

Bartlett t area I enjoyed Barclay ~ o Wcalmed down, vep$

much; I thought I t om sf the mat beau$ifu3

places that I kaad eve^ been in, an4 rerolved %a . rertsit it; regaarly every 65 yeam* Fhir X

Gllb t What d i e you do with the speefmnsf did yon aab?xmulat@

t h e m all this time?

Bartle.trt t They were a l l piakled .In aleahof. or other preserv-

aClve and stored to await shiplnsnZ to the smith.*

sonian Insti.trute for ahdy and aflekeaping,

From Cape Plattsry, we bagan surveying tb

ocean bottom along the aoasts oi Warhlngton and

Oregon, not close t o the ~hore ,because we wem

not doing that. We wepe tsbudglrq the ocean floort

its f irh , fauna and f l e ~ a ,p~lscipal1ya d and

halibut. We would go straight out fro* the mainland

t m soun8f-s @very5 miles till we reaehea 100 fathome cw so$ then turned south ten milel,

bhen t o the ahare. Every once i n a while wet4

atop and throw out a l ine, and aet a1 hand8 t o

firhing to learn the value of these fPrhlng g~oaadar.

B a r t l ett t Whbn we gat back t o S m F~smebaeo, the ahig

was drydocked an8 put in condition. ?!hen we

atarted surveying olauth of B a n Franeiss-o. Ws feuad \

rame verg deep sowlB1ng1~and in the grreatar dep&h#

got quite '.a*mubar of ipaeimena u. men

up no~thjfish with eyss %ha%wuldn#tBee POP

they lived a t great depth for so mmy gsnaratiaw

and ha8 grown fll- over the 1 e ~ e e m ~WQ i d

theae not far o f f the eoasb of BanBa Barbara.

Then we wen* furthsr noutb, rwveyina; an we

went, and leapnod asmething about the oeem bottom.

We didngt go aut always t o the great d a f l b , but

we did some W Q P ~ o f f the area w h e r e tb(b7 &ate since - ,

discovered oil, off of Southern Oa'i%fo~nla*

8,8, Supreme G m t ha8 just Beeideta, by a majority

vote, that CalffornPra enjoyed ownarrhip of %he 03L1

area aince early dare. They %18ntth o w mythlag

about Jti at that time, a8 the flathertes d i d not

eztend out 80 Pap. me dlbatpsss mad* tb m e . &

exploration. But of' emPse we didn' t Zmow anything

B a r t l e t t s about o i l , We ware doing the ardimwy thlng,

Pounding the bottom, noting i t r -actst, arnd

catching f i s h fhem and on the amfa&@.

From t h e ~ ewe went down along the t o l ~ s ftbf

h e r CdLifo~nSa, stopped at a msbabr of plaoer

slnce beeone w e l 3 , - b w n t Ensmada, which mis

practicq,lly nothi- than+ One of the inte~ssting

phc e s we went to uas $an Barthohe Bay, whieh wad

farther aouth. Wen w e went in, we found the U.S.

8 , Ranger, o coast rpwvey boat, making a eurveg+

We m e t i t s o f f i o e ~ s and men, who to ld a#, "Tbla

i t 3 a great plate for turtles. Do you like turt~ea?'

O f course we a l l Ilkad turtles. %ellw, they mid,

'you can g a t hundredr of t2-mm.m w e have ss 1-g~

seine and so hare you. We'll tie them t ~ g e t b r

and make a 1onge~one and throw it 0118a* loat tldts.

S a i l o ~ rfmn ther Blbatroea will lpan one end of tha

rope; our aallora w i l l man the other. Bad when we

&ag it in, we '11 get t h o u a d s af turtles. We

got r a many we d i d not regard that a0 an exagge~atian.

AB we pulled in Ohe l ines and orowded %hentogether,

Ba~tlettr their heads gapped yg excitedly. Ws filled the

hir foot do& on the deck3 actual4 wa-walkedon

the baaks of' Ba~$lesero we wen% f a ~ amd at%. I-wondadd w h a t would be done w i t h them all* bub when

we g o t t o San D i e g o , the Ce~owado.Hotelgot %bm,

On that tpig we went am,- the Lower Gallfornia

penllnsula and stopped a t a number) of rillagsrr,

among them LaPaz, on the W f ef hdltiomia, xww

becomtng a farhionable center, . I had a emera-+I&

me, aomth1n.g new PQ those daya, And 1 . h . d rome-

body take my pit ture with w h a t I would say would

be about a q u a ~ t s ~ 'Pha p % ~ h P @of' the populationr

rarhow~ a cactus about 15 feet high$., and BIB, an&

thak's all, !tl-mt was. EaFas in thaas dagr*

From them we 'went north t o the month of &he

Bolorads River. We didn't see i t e mouth beeaura the

s i l t brought down was for eve^ f i l l ing the hlf

of Californf a. We aonldntt even geC clarei bemause

of the shallomees @f *he water,

Coming baek, we stopped a t h a p m a , n w a

bmt'letts very fashtonable resor t , A t %ha$ %%mea t h r a wrrar

an Amriaan eensulate. X rewmbsr f%&a a wSdy,

bleak, grave31.gr place a t h o m wall, t o whl& all

the inbabitczn4is [about twenty or *%r%y) cmqb

for their wabr*

We stopped a t the muQhof Yaqyi fiver,

which has been in the news off an8 on fcar nrany ysnrrr

baaaxas ~i Indim dlartwbanues -.. m.t;lrtjely, bu%

15 or 20 yeme ago, We diBn*t sea %ha Iailiqna,

though we kept on %he lsskonb,for thm* ;,The ey!~Iara

(about the mouBh sf the Yaqd River) in9;epeata4 arrb

partimrbrly. It war, eneru~tedwi#W&heP, and %hey

were good, And t o me the intereating th2rsg wae that

they were large6 like the Easrtrrrn eys8e~8,naB

l i k e the oesy s m d X dalifornla 0y8tb~athat;used

ward that the s i z e l a largely &-9 Bo the sa'linity

of the water, San F~ancireoBay watez is mah

mxe saline than the estuwisre on the bClaptlcr f rom

which the lwge o y s b ~ seom. On ther way b-sr~kWe

Bartlett8 went t o one of the Revilla Gigado Irlande -- a group of l i t t l e Zslanda about 2 9 miles south ef

Cabo San Lucas a t the t i p of Lower o@lWoslnia,

We didn't go a W r e far the verg goad rerrson %ha$

the mowltainside is very, very steep axid a caat;us

bmd, Pmpassable for man OP beask. Rebody t H s d 80

get ashore. The la land ia connected w i t h an

interesting story, prior to the R l ~ a lWorld War),

wUch I w111 tell you Plater.

From there, we went baak ba te , !&at war the

end of my Albatraras axperienee, I uar 17 when X

got brok, and went t o the Univerrity of' Oaliformia

the f'olluwing Augt.uk.

.

http:Augt.uk

Gilb t Yo- career, ainoe you lef* s c b o l # has followed

thee main lime4 the pmetice of l a w b gublis

public power. There aserne ta haw, been ample

precedent in your falllfly for d l three of theae

intererata. Bid ycju observe your Uncle WasMng%on

Bartlettt~careel. a$ mayor cif S m F~aaeieee?

BartletGt Yea, I did, Aa a matter of fastt, my father sen*

me an errands to his officre seoeral times. I

remember one ocaasion when I was 11 and found the

South, my uncle had as maj o ~ - d ~ a b;ci g e g ~ o who

held the post for a generabion, He %oak ma ts

nrgr uncle who was presiding at a m e t - of the

Board of Supervi~ors,and being young, and havia

no better sense, f went up auld kiasad q unale, t o

the enjoyment of the Board of Superviaors.

My uncle had been catnty elsrkl a position

that w a s not poliey making, w i t h l i t t l a patronage,

B a r t X e t t : nothing to do with t h e handling of finaaeea b

was a competent, well-reapeeted, wall-liked, and

well-known pergon whose job was t o record t b

happenings of the Board of S U ~ B ~ ~ B O P ~ ~

$an Fsanclseo in thoae years waB pun by

grafters. The Board of 8upalrotisorr waa almost

unanimou8ly so, There were two p~litical

organizations fighting for power -- the Republlama and the DemcraCre, Both Bartiea were mbvl by corrupt

bosaea -- and there was then no segulatlon af sleetions through sffective regirtration of thoae

an.titledto vote and those who voted, The Republlcanr

would win the slractiaa one year; and the corruption

was ao flagrant the individuals eould selclora be

re-elected, So t b Pemocratrs went; in the next

t i m e and acted likewise, Both pa~lei~rrhad the

same Zcind of' baseres who, nevertheless, naruinated,

usually, a reerpeotable figurehead BLIa cmdida*e

for mayap, who had little power because the "solid

eighka of the Superviao~scould aver-~ida everything

' he did ,

B a r t l e t t ~ In 1882 they d i d n 3 t gat a ttgursheadj they

got; my uncle, Washington B ~ t l ~ k t rB ~ p ~ i s i n g l y ,

he was elected, by a rat he^ amall margin aa I

recall it, But, anyway, be found himelf i n a

posi t ion whsm he had t o veto a large nmbsr of'

bills. He made quite a repubation ar a v e t o e ~

during the first term a8 mayor, and the gublle re-

elected h i m , though he wae Democrat, it was the turn

of a Republican mayor, and the RepubZicmr had

nominated a very prominent Republican and f o ~ m r

clmbaersador to some Central American ctountry, hyway,

Washington Bartletf was re-elected, But the

Supervfsora were no *better than before.

Bemt Did he have a Board of Supervisors of the sans

party as his o m in Ssln Fpanciseo?

Bartlett t I do not know. 'kc Democratic bosa than warm Chriar

Buckley, a blind man, and bier slssPetrant w a s &am

Raineg. The Republican bosses at that time were

Kelley and Crimins, San Francis00 aB thtat time

was practically the S t a t e of California, as it

accountei! for a large par t o f the population, It

Bartlettt wa8 a centex-, aad the r e a t of the StaBe was not

well connected, either by water, ~ e i lor roada,

There were no r a i l r o d s other than the Southern

Pacific, md that en a limitad area,

Beant San FrancirGO was known ars The Uity

B a ~ t l e t t r 5e8. The people in the countrg around t h r e had

their l i t t l e nevepapar, aml go* new8 largely fmm

and o f S m Frmtleco, and them was plenty o f

news of po1itica.l corruption i n San Franuisca. When

the State election of' 1887 uamb along, my male

declared himaelf for the Demooratis nomination for

Governor, 'This created a great tussle between t b

e i t g and the country. The count~ywas disgueted

with San Erancieca pol i t ies , slna knew my unale'r

f ight for clean government, and were a11 fop hien,

The Democratic mchlnsr w ~ sagainsk hlm.

A t the time there were no elaetlen laws t a

dfreet and control nodnatione, %!herewape no

segiatration ~equfremntssueh a8 we have now,

There was j u s t a band of people ot&a go* together

and a a l l e d themselves Republicans or Deraoerats.

Bartlett t The v o t e r s actually belonged t o those partleu,

which were con.t;rolled by the bsrsee who organitsd

and controlled them, largely by money and joba.

I r~mtnbepb l t d Chrf.8 &aekley, a t the Jiverg

stable he used as headquarters in aoducting hi8

campaign, Be bad two or three t o u t s who would bring

voters to we4$ him, He would iahake handa, and leave

sl coin Pn the v o t e ~ ~ r s the^hand, tout would give

the vo$sr the right ba l lo t (eaeh group p ~ i n t e d1 % ~

own b a l l o t ) which he would hold over his head in

plain sight aa he walked tp the ballot; bon aad

dropped it in. Of course there were then, as now,

honest an8 intel l igent satere; but they had l i t t l e

ehanee.

In 1887 the Democratic convention for nomima8ing

s t a t e officers was the battle graund for two groups

-- the c i t y machine, and the sountry v s t e r ~ . The Southern Paeifio and the local bases supgorted

the Stan F~aneiacogroup. The wuntw, whioh had

been fed by the San Francisco papers o n San Francisco

graft, wanted aoxeone to ff ght graft, and bauked my

B w t l e t t t unalo. George 2, Marye had charge of organising

t h d ~group, He was afterwards appointed ambaseador

t o some Ataiatic cowltry by @roverC l e v e ~ d . After

the liveliest convention thus far -& lasting thee

days -- nge uncle oalne out on tog and wars elseCsd by the skin of U s teeth,

He became Itovernor i n 1887, Be was s sick

man after the election, and my father, Golwnbur

Bartlett, went w i t h him to Sacram~rrtaOo help out

as his secret- during the legislative aeasioa,

Bartlett waa a bachelor end during birr

stay i n Sacramento l i v e d in a boasding house. A

young lad natned Peter J. Shields alaa l i ved there,

CPhey became greatly @ttache$t o eaeh other, an8

every nzght after d i n n e r took a walk t0gcet;h.e~- a l i t t l e breather before my uncle bnekled down t o a

long evefing'a work, My father wan a p~omineat&an

Francis00 lawyer (he had t o be g o d t o raiee 10

children), but l e f t Ma practice to h i a juniarm and

acted a a grivsrbe secretary during Che lagialatire

~ession, I ssmember two Important thing# thmQ

Bartlett 3 happened -- f o r thsy were frequently talked o f t F i r s t , the f i r a t i r r iga t ion d i s t ~ i o t l a w ; and

eecond, a conet i tubional amendment t o provide

funds For the U n i v e ~ r i t y of C a l i f o ~ n l a amounting

t o one per cent on the property ~alutiition* 9'hlar

i r r i g a t i o n law wale not a wonderful act, but it;

was a s t a r t e r , not only i n California but e l ~ e -

where. Ten years later i t was improved by the

Bridgeford Act. That s t a r t ed the organization

of i r r iga t ion d t e t r i c t s i n earneat. Among them

were the b d e a t o and Turlock I r r iga t ion Diatricta,

I ' l l have something t o aay about them la t e r .

Bean t You spoke of the reorganization of the Univeralty

f inancial arrangements.

B a r t l e t t t Yes. U p t o t h a t time the U n i v e r a i t ~of California

was supported by biennial l eg i s l a t ive appropriattona,

The rscienae members of the faculty had been reermited

from able young men who had beaome followers of

Darwin, and hie theory of evolution, an8 thsy

discussed it i n the i r c l a ~ s e e . Among them were

John and Joseph LeConte, Slate, Hilgaud and others,

Bartlett t This discue aion wars an offenae against raligion,

particularly to the farmers, and the Univeraity

was tagged as a "Godless institutionw, There was

considerable opposition in the hgirlature to U,

C, appropriations, and the growth of the University

was elow; attendance dropped at first but began

faster growth under the new plan, It had started

rapid growth when I entered as a freshman, in 1889,

and a few yesra later tents had to be put up to

house classes.

During the next 30 yeare, a8 the University

grew, the religious feeling against it ceased.

The one per cent vkloatlon of property was found

to be an entirely inappropriate method of dstermlning

what the University needed. SO about 30 year8 later

the University everted to the method of biannual

appropriations. Actually the 1887 method wan a

good thing at the time, beaauss it prodded a

certain income, took the U.C. out of palitiaa, and

increased the University's appropriations as the

assessment roll of the State increarad, 'Phe

University would have starved to death without

Bartlett : t h i s change, Thi r ty yeare l a t e r , when f inanc i a l

suppost was rsaseumsd by the l e g i s l a t u r e # the temper

of the t imea had changed completely, and the

legislature was well manned by Univeralty of

Calif o rn ia gradua tea.

In 1887 I knew ~omethingabout the i r r i g a t i o n

d i s t r i c t s , because a g r e a t f r i end of niy father's

-- Judge James A. Maymire -- who l ived nem ua i n Alameda, was inone of t h e s t m n g e s t i ~ l u ~ n o e s

bringing about the i r r i g a t i o n d i s t r i c t act. 1

happen t o know about 2 t because my f a t h e r took me

f o r a walk every Sunday morning t o Judge Waymire's,

where I heard conversations about w h a t was being

planned f o r i r r i g a t i on.

G i l b t How d l d were you then7

B a r t l e t t : I n '87, I was 15.

Gilb: And you understood i t a l l ?

B a r t l e t t : I won't say n a l l m , Oh, yea, I knew what i t waa

about. I became in t e r e s t ed i n irrigation d i s t r i a t s

then, and 30 years l a t e r spent several ysara

campaigning throughout the S t a t e f o r the Water

Bart let t : and Power Act, and i n establishing Eunieipal

U t i l i t y Distrieta -- a l l in aid of irrigation, municipal water supply and public power,

Gilb s Ha& you had any intereat in it ecwl i e~than that?

B a ~ t l e t t : I t d been in the eountq quife a good deal , and a8

a child had heard about the woes of farmers, One

of' my uncles, Remy Mel, had a vineya~dIn the

Santa CNZ mountains -- quite a beautiful vfneyard. He was very hospitable and invi ted all the family

connections to corm everg summer and camp in the

orcharda, I semember we had two big tent8 side

by side, with the inside walle rolled up to make

one tent. The ground waa covered with atrau, and

the boys slept on one eide and the g ir l8 on the

other, and two mothera in between. With the lwal

couain.8 in their own b u m , there must have been

eighteen or twenty of us i n all* And every Satmday,

my uncle would fill up his bi8 wagon anel take a

load of kids -- the oldes ones holding the younger in their laps -- t o Santa C r a s for a &xu. Z t was a mrveloue party.

ADMISSION TO TflE BAR AHD SAH FRAHCISCO

CITY POLITICS, 18909s AWD AF!lZR

Bean t You began yow l a w practloe i n ban Franeiaoo i n

1896, did you not?

Bwtlett t Yes,

Bean t Did your law practice bring you InCo contact with

pol l t ias?

Bartlett r I think, rather, that i t was a l i t t l e diertraatlon

from pol i t ics .

Oilb : &w d ld you f i ~ s tget ertarted i n p o l i t l o s , through

your uncle7

Bartlett i KO, you see he died when I was 15, When I began

p o l i t i c s i n 1896, I ran for o f f i c e aa8 was defeated,

How I got i n t o i t , i s somthing that hasn't been

recorded i n any of the books 3oxitve ahown me.

I ran for Supervisor i n dan P~anciscloi n 1896,

just af ter b e i q admitted t o practioe law, and

joined a group headed by Gavin McBab, who was

trying t o beuome Leader. He was honeatly interested

i n good government and thought that the beat way t o

change the s i tuat ion i n 3- Pranuisoo waa t o put

B a ~ t l e t t r i n off ice young u n i v e ~ s l t y men who didn't have

a l l the habits and the entourage of tho89 who had

been running the city. 3e wanted a aomplete new

s la te .

I forget who introduced me to Gavln. But t h a t

was done rather early. I had just graduated f r o m

the Haatlngs College of Law, though I had ~ e c e i v e d

my license to prae t les the year before on exam.lnation

by the Supreme Court .

In thoae days the bar examinatlona were held

in the Supreme Courtla court room, with all justices

s i t t i n g black robed behind an elevated table, asking

questions i n turn. There were about 30 appllcahtm,

I n a a-le row facing them. A Jnatfee began on

the l e f t and asked a question, If not c o ~ r s o t l y

answered, he put It to the next ratudent and.paased

it dawn the line u n t i l someone got i t right. I

r e c a l l t h a t the 'Da~tmuth College 0assWvent along

the l i n e quite a b i t before anyone got It. The ncast ayetern' wan w a k i n g i t e debut in the Calif'o~nla

l a w schools, though W i l l i r a m Carpy Jonesl uaed it in

BartZettr his l a w claelses which I had attentled In Berkeley.

After a couple of hoarr , wh1uh meant f ive or

s i x querationre to each etudent, the oourt adjourned,

and a few days later we reoeivsd our notloea. I

stayed in the l a w achool t o graduate the following

8tllllSner.

When the election of 1898 aame along, &Nab

asked me Sf I wanted t o run for Supervieor. -OUT

uncle, Washington Bartlett ," he m i d , "had a

reputation ZOP honesty, brainer and gute, suzd Mar

mrae may carry you through,' I was looking for

experience as well as of f ice , and ran.

In thoae daya, b e f o ~ ethe Hew Oharter of

1898 came in, the c i t y was divided into 12 ward#

from eauh of which a superviaor war electmi. When

San Franeieco beecame a c i t y in 1850, its area was

almost entirely easB of Kearny Street narth of Xarkst

and saubh to Rinoosz Hill, its farhionable aaetion.

The district I was to regreeent waa down somewhere

ax-owld Battery S t ~ e e t . So ~ Q Pthe Banpaign I

moved into a little old dump ealled the 'Ooao

Bartlett: Eouaen, and lived there surrounded by a l l the ataw

bums of San Francisco -- pephaps not all of them -- but a11 the ward could hold.

In 1849 the orlqinal beach of? San Franeisuo

meandered from Kearny Street southeply and easterly

across Psarket Street t o Rincon B i l l . Ships beaehed

in the sand became stores and wwehouees, Hy

maternal grandfather, John b1, arrived from Hew

York i n the apring of' '50 (delayed by an interlude

of the Panama fever) and used one of these ships

as a atore, By the time I ran for of f i ce , the shore

was f i l l e d by jerry built shacks. I doubt if the

Coso House had eves been swept out o f fumigated,

It was a terrible plaae.

The d i s t r i c t I hoped t o repreasnt was a l i t t l e

one, probably not mope than a few aquare blocks,

I hated to go back t h e r e a t night and was glad t o

g e t out i n the morning and walk i n the fresh alp.

I wars revolted by the drunks who l i v e d t h e m , and

befng p e e n i n polities dfdntt campaign sunong them*

Of oourse, I stumped all over San Franeiseo because

B a ~ t l e t t t i t was a city-wide vote f o r a l l candidates.

One Sunday night during the campaign most

of the candidates of a l l pa r t i e s met a t Sanguinebt i '~ ,

a famous I t a l i a n peatawant, a t t h a t time claae t o

the waterfront. Why the candidates wanted t o orate

t o a l l the other candidatee I never understodd, but

we l i s tened t o the praises eash one lavished on

himaelf. Part icularly f ntereseing uas the speech

of "Rain-in-the-Facen Treadwell, a heavily b u i l t

and pockmarked hybrld -- perhape Indian md Negro -- running POP police juclge, R i a approach t o campaignfng d f f f e ~ e d from a l l o t h e ~ a . "A11 you

fe l l e r s " , he said, 'are trying t o t a l k yourselare8

In to office. I'm t rying t o 'look' myaelf Into

offfcew. He won, and half of ua ' t a lkem' loat.

Another candidate -- frank Kerrigan -- was elected a just ice of the peace i n that election and ended

his capeer on the appellate benah.

I learned qxite a l i t t l e , made quite a f e w

friends i n the campaign, but was lbob lsangufne of

being elected, and wasnBedlaappointed when

Bartlett: aefeated. Although defeated, I was fntregued

by polit ~ C S *

R e m x That was the eleotion before the Charter? What

year was that, Just:after yom graduation from

law B c b o lt

Bartlett: I t was 1896; the new Charter went into effeet i n

'98.

Bean t Garin MaNabt~nPufity Push' of 1898, that Intriguer

me. Gilb t Ztd l ike t o hear what this 'Furity Aiah" waa a l l

abouQ,

Bart let t t In 1896 and earlier, Bavin McEJab, a very able and

conscientious polit ic&l reformer who had a~quired

a considerable fallowing, became a leader in San

Francisco. He waB aiming pr%neip&lyat young

i n t e l l e c t u a l s ( the word had not then been asined).

Many were recent university graduate8 of my vintageb

though mart of tlm candidates eetLected were BOW-

what older,

James D. Phelan, a wealthy, well-educated,

and able man of great publio spielt was elected

Bar t le t t : Hayor i n 189'7 and ~ e - e l e c t e d when the new

char ter waa ca r r i ed i n 1898, m d served as & ~ Q P

u n t i l 1902, He did a g r e a t dea l t o improve the

c i t y government, appointed able adminiatratare t a

of f ice , and cleaned up m t e i p a l hau~ekeeping, Re

was doing very wel l with the c i t y government an8

had public support u n H l the "Teamsters* s t r i k e n

of 1901 -- the f i r s t important a l a sh between capital and labor since tls days of Dennifs Kearny ( i n the

1879'8). Union w o r b r s struok for more pay; the

employers refuaed, and a r e a l b a t t l e occurred

between e t r i k s r s and strike breakers, The employers

asked f o r police protect ion f o r their dr ivers :

Phelan placed pol ice o n the wagons driven by strike

bretikers, The c i t y was i n an uproar, and men were

mined and som ki l l ed . Phelan was blamed by the

l a b o ~ i n g c l a s s , and hia adtnlniatratioa? went down

t o defeat a t the next e lec t ion , when labor, though

the ad ro i t help of Abe Ruef came Into power uith

Eugene S c b i t z for Mayor,

There was no d l r e c t proimary i n Cal i f 'o~nia before

Bartlett t 1898, Gavln EjIcWab was then the t i tu la~head of

the Democrat1c party i n San Franaiereo, He walsnft

elected, but was a magnetic and great organizer,

with ideals that appealed t o young wlive~siby

graduate8 and their elders, who wanted olean,

efficient government. H e jmt about named a l l

the candidates, and backed a nwnbsr of us. He

actually nominated me for supervi~orin 1896,

though o f f i c i a l l y i t was done in the Demoora%ic

convention.

Before the next election, a new San Francieco

charter was passed by the voters land approved by

the Legislature, 80 the old twelve d i s t ~ i o t swere

elimtnated, and eighteen rsuperviaors were nominated

and elected by the c i t y a t large,

Becauee of my previous running %r office, the

convention made nae chairman, The group also wanted

me t o run For supervieor again, I wae dying t o do

i t , but unfortunately hadn't l ived i n San Franciacro

long enough, I lacked about three montha of the

five-year perlod required by the Charter, So I

Bartlett t dldn8t accept t h ~nomination, I know 1 wau3d

have been elected, beeanae we ebsOed f i f t een

out of the eighteen candidahes.

Ollbt On an anti-corruptton platform?

Bartlettt Yes, That was 1897 when JlwPhePan wen* in aa

myor.

Be= r Did you know l i l l i a m Randogph Hearst when he l i ved

i n San Frclnols t o t Re moved t o New Y o ~ k ,didn I t he?

Bartlett t Yea ,he moved t o Hew York. I met him bsforcr then. I attended a supper party he gave o n Jimmy Phelanqr

e l e ~ t i o nnight i n 1897. 1 was ohairman of the

campaign aommlttee that year, and Reslrat had a l l

of those act ive i n the campaign, for supper after

the votes were aounted. I 've forgott;en where it

was, Some plaee on the escond floor on Market

S t r e e t , I have had only one othes meting with

h i m -- this was i n LO8 A ~ ~ l e s * Bean t What impresaiona did you hate of Abe Rucbf 'l

Bartlett t H e was not particularly Important i n $he 1897

campaign, and hia orow8 wan defeated. I had na

Bmtlettt sympathy with him or w h t he wars daimg, and great

contempt for hi8 pr inc ip l e s , As you know, when

you're y a m , that p~events oaogerationf whan

you're older, you can meet anybody, and oooperate

for the epecific end8 you approv~,although yon

stmy dislike and dirrtmst the indlvidualr I

couldn't put up with people that were doing the

kind of thing that R u e f was doing, so while I

h e w h i m and bowed to him on the e t ~ e e t ,I nevem,

conversed with him,

Bean: Ruef always maintained later on that he hdld gone

into pol i t ics more or less as you had opiginally;

that I s , as a university man intereasted i n po l i t i t e l

~eform, Do you take that seriously?

Bartlettt No.

Bean 3 Re went into poIitia8 i n the middle '801s about

ten yeare before you did. I imagine that b s f a ~ e

you entered pol i t ics , he had gone downhill, morally

speaking.

Bartlett: 1 have n~ p+~8onalknowledge about his e w l y yearr,

Beans Did you take m y active part i n the Dnien Labor

Bemr party? You were always a Damaora+7

Bartlatt t In the beginn- the Union h b a ~party wars entirel~

of unlon labor men, though bossed by h e f ; I had no

conneetion with iC.

G13b r Haw did your attitude t o w a ~ dRaef a f f e t t yet#

parOicipation in politioa, after the t u ~ nof the

century? It must have eliminated you, didn't it?

After $cbfllite waat ar1eeted.l

Bwtlett? I wasn't so aetive in politica after the ele&fon

of Schmitz, Ply father had grown old and feeble,

andret lred from pract2ce. I bad to carry that

on, as best I could, and to help but in educating

my eQht brothers and sisters. So I taught in San

Frenciaco night school, mads sy l labi of ten v o ~ ~ r

of United Sta tes reporta, e t c r While 1 was Snte~ested

in politics and d i d w h a t I could, I. war no% among

the top workers, 6

Gilb : Did yon have anything to do wlth labs~in bhoee early

B-tlatt t go, though I knew P.H. HeOblrthy very wall,

Gilb t You did? T e l l us about him, what you thought of

htm.

B a ~ t l e t t : P.R. Henry, ueually spoken of aa( ~ a ~ r i c k " P ~ H * " )

was a master carpenter for the California Hatel

in the 1890ts, and was miginally one of Gavln

PlIGMabts "Purtty Pushw, Ha was in e b ~ g eof the

preclnet around the California Xotelj and waa an

effective person, I worked with htm fn the 18909r

before the labor pwty yeare,

GZlb t What did you think of his admlniatration as myor?

You didn't think he was any good?

Beanr T h ~ twas a fairly general iraprearfon ;(kaughter),

Bartlett 3 I think i t was, yea. MeCa~thy#a8 an effeotive

person when 1 first knew him, A t Chat tin8 he was

quite loyal t o the ideals that mat of urs had.

tb other hand, he was aneducated and had polltieal

mbitisn,

Gilb r Did you have ranythlng Bo do with the e a ~ l yProgreaaive

movement;7

B a ~ t l e t t r Yes , I w a e always uikh the Progressive movsmsn%though

a Demc~atr

Bartlett; P a ~ t ylines meant nothing t o me unleas the eandidatm W 8 8 &00d.

Ctilb t Did you ever meet John Francris Neylm before the

FIPeC World W a ' O

Bartlett r Oh, yeB. I met h i m after Johnson h d appointed

him on the S t a t e Bow4 of Control. I s v e only hown

him s l ight ly for m y years , and have seen h i m

infrequently.

Gilb : Do you h v e anything you want Bo ask, fJPafes~ro~

Bean?

Bean: Of course, there i s an interesting development i n

Neglanls career f r o m a l iberal young man t o a

coneervative alder one.

Bartlett t I was a great admirer of Jaek Heylan while he was

witk Hiram Johnson, but i n h ie l a t e r yeare he has

not imprsased me favorably. &It I have had no

quarrel witk him.

);fter 1905, though I psacticied l a w tn San

Francisco, I no longer+ l ived there. was mrrfed

i n 3903 and lived i n Ssln Franoisoo unt i l a mon%h

B a r t l s t t t before the great f ire , Then I wepk to Oakland,

as my wife was about tn have a baby and wanted t a

be near her mther, We rented a nea~bye o t b g e

but left moat of our belongings with our San

Francisco neighbors for a f e w months, We ware a l l

burnt out i n the San Franeleco f i r e and moved i n

with my father-in-law,

I was i n Oakland from 1906 to 1908 and then

i n M i l l Valley until 3.910, when we b u i l t our home

in B8rbley and m e there yet -- with a short interlude i n Sacrament0,

LAW RUCTICEt WILLTAM H, UEJQDOECI

Q i l b3 What was the nature of your law practice berose

the fire?

BartleZt t Small,

Oilb: Anything you could get, in other words.

Bartlett: I'll tell you one of the f i r a t things, X did in my

practice. My f a t h e ~had a friend and client, O.A.

Hooper, a Xtunber man. He bought seveml Chou~anB

acres ( my reoollect$on is, about 40,000 acme) of

land between ESartixaez and Antioch on the share below

the oonfluence of the Sacramento and S m Joaquin

rivera. The land had been papenfed, and was held

in several large ranchee, It Lncluded many miler

along the straits, and wae sparsely inhabited,

My father turned the fob O V ~ Pt o me, Of

course, I could always go back to hem, but the

task was simple because the land was a great holding

of about forty thousand acres, the title to whiah

had been qbtained In 40 or 160 aure parode. There

had been few transfers up t o the trime C.A. Hoopes

Barklsttt Bought it. A11 I had t o do was take a look at

the original applications and cheek a f e w tramsf~ra.

I finished the exslmPnation i n about thee weeta,

b i l b * You mentioned to me one time eolaethlng about a Belgian settlement that you were helping to p~olrrate

just before the firs of 1906, %'hataent you 60

Europe -- do you remember it? Bartlett: Oh yea, I remember tht very well,

In 1905 I was attiommy for the Iblgiran Consul

i n San Franciaoo, and we ware good f ~ i e n d s , He

told me one day about a successful Dutch Colony

toward the southern end of the S m Joaguin Valley,

The Belgians were Interested i n ealonizing in a

new o o u n t r y sutih aa t h i s , for they were arowded

w i t h an increasing population in a small Larea,

The Consul, Rsne Rolew$ck, thought i t a goad idea

t o get a traet of p o d land and promote it8 settle-

ment by Belgian people,

X knew a real es ta te man employed by the

Southern PacVie RafbPaad t o colonize i t a valley

holding@, among akhera an 8,000 acre traet be%ween

BmtlaCti Tr;Prlock and the Sari Joaquin River, He ahowed it

to me, and I took the Belgian and h t o h consnlrr to

look it over, They had a university profearsor

made a survey t o determine whbthe~.the land waa

good far auth a projeet. fa; hmntbd out t a be

wonda;rfuI, excrel;? for a relatively rmt11 pwb

faiPly close t o %he r iver whieh wals aaline. Haw-

a-days, that wouldntt bother beeatme i t could be

leached out, Q u e t aa the United Sta tes h a done

recently far the h e l a in the -ahear near

Thermop~lae, It was a fine pieea of land,

I had just met the eon of the ehcdirman or

vice-president of the Belgian c h ~ b ~ ~of Deputies,

a% he passed through San Francisso an his way t a

Washfngton. The Belgian Conaul tosk as bbBh t o

lunch; and we b o k a l lk lng t o each other. Bis

father, he thought, would be intere~tedin thia

pro j ee t , bemuse blgim was overpopulated, and Bslgiana

were w e l l atlaptad for such a projett . 30 a8 0: waa

going to Eumpe on other business, I obtained am

option an the land asla took it w i t h ma.

Bartlett : When 1 got t o Washington, t h i s Belgian invited

me and 8.Bt.s. Bartlett ko lunch, arnd suggested:

would you l i k e a spread-eagle turkey for 11;mchTm

Nei$iher Rrs. Bart let t noF I had aver eaten a

spread-eagle turkey, so f was, vhy, wead be

delighted'. We wanted t o do whatever would !wake

the meting friends, We sat tamund and waited and

waited and waited, It twned out that the spread-

eagle had t o be taken from the chpphng block t b

the tabhe, So we waited ti11 about four f o r lunch.

But I g o t letters t o his father and a number of

people in high positions i n Belgium that proved

helpful. I stayed i n Belgium abou* a month, and

things were going fairly well, but not estt led.

Rowever, on Apr i l 18, 1906, after nry return h o m e ,

we had an earthquake. That ended all ehame of a

Belgian agricultural mlany i n Californiaj i n Paot,

it temporarily e$ogped the flow of capital far new

ventures in California,

Q i l b8 But they wouldntC come aftes the f ire?

Bartlettt Oh, no.

Gilb s Scared them outO

Ba~tlettr Investors did not come to California right a f t ~ r

the earthquake.

Oi lb : D i d the earthquake h m your poaetiee?

Bwtlett 8 Well, I suppose i t did. 1 don*%know, though.

I was l i k e a l l other lawyers collecting f ire

insurance P m m companies unable to m e % their

obligations in fult,, My practise wasnft extensive

but I nrade a f&.Lr l iving ont of it,

Bean t I'm interested in your acquaintance with Willfam

E. Langdon.

Bartlett : When I moved t o San Francfsco i n 1894, 1 want to

law school in the daytime and at night taughk

school in the Hamilton Evening SehooP in San

Francisco. Dr. Tbms B.W. Leland, the principal,

was elected Coroner in 1897 and I had taken hi8

place. Langdan came in and took my class, H e wa@

a little youngap *an I, and came Prom a ranch not

far f r o m San Leandro. His father had just died3

he had a teaching certifiea%a and bectam prinelpal

of the San Leandro gPammaP acshool. He M d h i 8

Bartlett: mother and two yourtgek afstsrs t o take oare of,

so, to supplement h2.~inaome he took a elaas in

the night school, He wals ambitlous Oo beeome a

Pawge~,and m a d l a w on h9a way t o and rPom San

Leandm t o the Hamllton Eventng Sahool, and soon

was admitted to practice.

Langdon and I were v e q c lose friends always.

I had great admiration for h i m , and w e went inta

partnership when U s work as DSstriet Atborney

i n San Fsancziaeo ended.

There fs a l i t t l e episode during my prinaipal-

ahip i n the Hamflton l3vening School. tb.t 1 would

like t o recite. One of' the elasma on the second

floor of the building coneiated la~gelyof older

boys and g i r l s who had misaed their early edueaOiah

and were wing t o catch up, One evening the boy8

decid.ed t o s l i d e down the b a n i s t e r an their way

to the a t~ee l t ; , Thfle was an awkwse~dbmaeh of

dfaeipline, ae they l a d e d in the stream of artudenta

going ourt the front &or. After Z had asked them

to cut it outl they continued, until X tbeatsnsd

Ba~taettt to give a l i ek ing to any boy a l l d i n g down again.

The boys were evidently ready for thbs, and the

next night the heavlest of them -- a boy of abut 20, s l ight ly ovar 6 fee t -- d i d t h ~sliding. I was In a fix, I coul&'t let that paas and sxgeet

t o be obeyed, s o I asked h i m t o come into my offioe.

He was a very studious boy, and had n e v e ~given any

C~oubls;but he exridently had bean pushed i n t ~this

by his olaaaraates. Bis father ran a livery sable ,

and hi8 job wa8 to buck hay, and the eallousea on

hla hands wars l i k e a rkinoceroue hide.

When I g o t i n t o my offfee, 1 looked the door

and asked him t o s i t down; we talked ovep what he

was at school fop; I %old ?aim that he wad doing

hfsr sehbof work w e l l and that he had been put up

t o this by the other Ssys; however, I caulldn2t l e t

tkds paas OP there would be no disoipline in the

school. He was reasonable and contpite, so I told

h i m to atand ~ n dhold out his hand; and with a heavy

strap, gave him all that was in me. Then we talked

ft over and I thanked h i m for acaepting the discipline;

Bartlektt we shook hands and parted on the best of term.

The fo l l owiw M a y morning on opening the

Exdner, 1 craw his picture as the new amtetw heavy-

weight ahampion of Calif'ornial I believe I am Ohe

only 5t6w man that ever l i cked an amatem heavyweight

b a r i t When did you go into partnership w i t h Langdon, do

you reoall?

Bartlstt: Right after the graft p~aaecutfons. b wanted t o

go into l a w practise, However, ahorhly a f te r , he

married the aharming widow of a large landowner i n

the fViodesto area, Her first husband had died shortly

before, and Langdon felt that he had to go t o Modesto

first t o put the rmch on a baeia that would 1eav8)

him free t o practice law. Re had had good ~anahimg

expepfence as a boy.

As he waa in Bbdeato, and I was in Ban F P ~ C I I C O ,

he did not help much in eamying on legal work in

San Francisco, though he brought in some cllenta.

We had some matters In Halesto that he'd take care

Bart l e t t : o f , though I went down off and on. We had our

names "~art let t& Lmgdona on the door of both

offices.

When Hiram Johnson became Governor he appointed

Langdon t o the S u p e ~ f o ~ Frombench a t Nodestor

there, Johnson appointed him to the District C o u r t

of Appeals, as presiding judge in San Frranciscs,

Later he was e l e c t e d to the Supreme Court, so o w )

partnership was brief and unspectacular.

You might t e l l me whether this i s comect: bangdon

was elected Superintendent of the S a n Francisco

Public Sclzaols ir, 1898 an the Democratic t icket with

Union labor endorsement.

B m t l e t t : !PhaZts right, That's correct, I ' d forgotten that

he had been Superintendent of Sohoole.

And then Ruef, according to my information, offered

him the nomination f o r District A t t o ~ n e y , This

i s from an art icU by Langdon himself on his own

career. He sa id that he ~uspectedthat severa l

other lawyers had refused the nomination.

Gilb : Did you have anything to do w i t h San Francisto

pol i t ics i n those years? You never had again?

B a r t l e t t t I was ac t ive u n t i l I got married In 1903, and

that cramped my style a l i t t l e ,

Gilb : Had t o concentrate on law a l i t t l e more7

Bar t l e t t : 1 had to make a living.

Gilb: You were going t o t e l l us today abouC some of your

famous cases, o r very i n t e r e s t i ng cases, any-way,

B a r t l e t t : Yes, The f i r e t one was t h e case of McClaughry vs.

McClaughry. Hrs. WcClaughrg was t h e d~tzghtero f

Lucky Baldwin, one of the r i c h e s t men i n t he s t a t e

and a l s o one o f the tougheat, He was a fabulous

f i gu re i n the f i r s t s i x t y years of Cal i fornia , In

San Franoisco he owned the Baldwin thea te r , the

Baldwln Hotel on Market St ree t , and other l a rge

holdinge! i n the hear t of the city, After the San

Francisco f i r e , I remember going down m k e t Stpeet

and looking down into a tremendous excavation that

occupied nearly an acre; Lucky Baldwin was down i n

the r u i n s looking over his property.

H i s daughter, Anita, was a f ine woman, She

married my classmate, Harry McClaughry, a f lne but

poor young fellow s t a r t i n g the p rac t i ce of the law.

Bartlettt Hep f a the r d idn ' t l ike this and d ia inhe~i tedher.

When I was first married, &a. Bartlett and

had Mac and Anita t o lunch, They were then l i v i n g

on the t o p of Telegraph B i l l . We h ~ dgone through

c%rkelay and the law school with me, and was starting

his practice whi ch had not then arrive8. They had

a very, very l i t t l e to l i v e on i n one room on

Telegraph Hill, Re m d e their furniture out of

cracker boxes painted black. I donit just know

why black was hie color; b u t he made little tables,

bureaus and benches out of suoh lumber aa he wae

able t o get. They were rea l ly very poor then. Poor,

but happy. And doing very well togethePo

Later, i n 1905, I met Anita at Lake T d ~ ~ e oBer

father owned the Tallac Hotel and thousands OP aaree

i n t h a t v i c i n i t y , and by then waar reconciled t o his

daughter; they were there together, He was decrepit.

Aa I got o f f the boat -- the re were no roads around there -- I saw him going up the outside s&airsof his hotel on Anita's m m , leaning heavily an her.

I spoke to her and met him. that'^ my only contact

Sartlett: with Lucky Baldwin, He had been reconciled with

his daughter for a gear or so and she and Mae were

living in Berkeley, as I then was.

When Lucky died, she moved south t o Lo8 Angelea,

where most of his fortune was then located,