Oral History: Natale “Nat” Martino — May, 1975

Summary:

Nat Martino (1888-1977) gives us a sense of what daily life was like in the farm-centered rural area of the Springhill Valley. In 1919, he purchased a farm house on today’s Martino Road where he raised a family. He describes how he used farming practices he learned in Italy to create a successful fruit and vegetable farm.

Oral History:

Natale: I was a farmer over there… we had a little ranch, and my father was a mason, and I was taking mason-bricklayer. He was a small contractor who did fixing of houses… all the houses there were all mortar and rock, no wooden houses.

Betsy: Was this is Genoa?

N: Near Genoa, yes… not in Genoa… not in the city. We were about 30 miles from Genoa, in the country… and we were making our own wine and raising our own crops of potatoes, wheat and all the vegetables we used. Then my father died of sunstroke, when he was working on the school building, and it was such hot weather that he got sunstroke.

B: How old were you when this happened?

N: I was about 19 years old. My father died within five days, and I did work with my family. My brother was already in this country… I had a sister over there… she’ll be 89 in June.

B: Did you have just one brother and one sister?

N: Yes… then I was eager to come to this country because my brother was already here, and I left my mother, and my sister there, and I came to this country in 1912.

B: Now, let’s back up a little… why did your brother come to this country?

N: Well… every young man wanted to see America… it was a place for opportunity, so he came here in 1907, and I came in 1912 when I was 23 years old.

B: When your brother came, did he plan to settle here?

N: Well, I don’t know if he intended to stay here all his life or not, but he did, just the same, stay in this country until he died, about five years ago… he was 84 years old.

B: Did he live in this area?

N: He lived all his time in Oakland.

B: And what did he do?

N: He worked for the Southern Pacific.

B: Was he an engineer?

N: No, he was a laborer.

B: Had he heard about the jobs on the railroad before he came here

N: Well, I don’t think he heard about the railroad… but he went to work for them and in the beginning he worked on the track… then later on he was working on the warehouses where they did the loading and unloading… and he had a job keeping some books down there. He worked until he retired when he was 67 years old and lived down there with his wife and daughter.

B: What was his name?

N: Jim Martino. He used to come to the ranch… he had to help me out too… now and then, especially when I was picking fruit or picking grapes. I was making wine from the grapes we had here.

B: When you came from Italy, did you bring any grapes with you?

N: No… I just came.

B: Did you come to visit your brother… was that your idea?

N: Yes… you see… the whole idea was to see my brother because, you know, you came to this country, and when you don’t know a word or English, it’s a hard position. Now, when I came here, he was working in Oakland… all his life in Oakland… and he kind of helped me out until he got married in Oakland… and I got married in Oakland, too, in 1914.

B: And you came over in 1912?

N: From New York here on a train. Then I got married and worked in Oakland. I was washing windows in Oakland for seven years. Then I bought this ranch here, and I had already three children and one, Jimmy, was born on the ranch… I came here in 1919, to Lafayette.

B: Why did you decide to move out of Oakland?

N: Well, I’ll tell you, I wanted to live on a ranch because I knew more about ranching than washing windows, and was making $50 to $60 a month… that wasn’t enough to feed our family… and I came to the ranch, here, and didn’t make much money, but at least we had all the milk… we had five cows… we had all the fruit we could use, because I was making my living on fruit. I was taking it to Oakland to the wholesale produce.

B: How did you get the fruit from here to Oakland?

N: I bought a Model T Ford truck and took it on the truck. Some people here were driving a team into Oakland, through the old tunnel, but I never did drive a team, because I had the little truck. But they did use the team on the ranch here until about 1927. Then I bought a tractor, and I worked the tractor in the best place, but still kept the team for the steep places. Then I sold my tractor because Louie was doing a better and quicker job than I was doing, with his Caterpillar.

B: What year was that?

N: That was 1935.

B: Do you remember what kind of tractor yours was?

N: Yes… a Fordson.

B: I do want to talk more about the farming, but going back… where did you meet your wife?

N: I met my first wife in Oakland… I was washing windows and she was working in the Hale Brothers department store. She worked down there for 8 or 9 years.

B: Was she born in Oakland?

N: No, she was born in San Francisco, and she saw the earthquake… she was in it… right where everything was going down. They had to move to Oakland because there were hardly any houses left.

B: Then her whole family moved to Oakland?

N: She had only her father and mother.

B: What was her name?

N: Mary… Mary Poggi. We met and were married in 1914 and Louie was born in 1915.

B: What did Mary’s father do?

N: I don’t quite remember exactly… he died before we got married. I think he was a scavenger.

B: Do you think he did the same kind of work he’d done in San Francisco?

N: Well… when they moved to Oakland, I don’t think he worked anymore. He was an old man already. In fact, I don’t think he was working at the time of the earthquake. I think he had retired.

B: Did your wife tell you much about the earthquake?

N: Yes… she said quite a few things… everything was destroyed… they just got by… collected some clothes and things and boarded a boat and came to Oakland. Then in a short time they got a house.

B: Did they know people in Oakland?

N: I don’t think so… not then. But then she said they knew some old people from the same town in Italy… but when they came to Oakland, they hardly knew anybody there.

B: Did you know how many people lived in Oakland when you arrived?

N: No.

B: Was it a large city?

N: Yes… it was, but many streets were still gravel… they were not paved yet.

B: And did you still see a lot of horses along with the cars?

N: There were only a few cars… only the rich people had cars. Most people were still using the horse and buggy and the streetcar. There were no buses yet. But there was the streetcar, and then some small buses that went to the center of the city. Then, too, they used to ride the Southern Pacific from East Oakland.

B: Did you live with your brother when you first came to Oakland?

N: No… I was living in a private home.

B: Do you remember the street?

N: Yes… I think it was 400 Castro Street.

B: When you would go to work, would you take the streetcar?

N: No, I was taking a bicycle.

B: Did you work for a company or did you go out on your own?

N: There were a few boys that were with me in some kind of a company… we were all partners.

B: Now we’ll get back to Lafayette… this was 1919… who did you buy this property from, and did you buy the entire piece of land when you moved out here, or did you add to it?

N: Well, there happened to be two owners involved… Mr. Close had 10 acres here, and the other party we bought it from sold it through a loan association… 80 acres. We bought 10 acres from Mr. Close, making the same deal… two deals, actually, made at the same time. Mr. Close said that he was leaving his house there… this house. He decided to sell at the same time as the other people were selling, because otherwise, if people were moving, and selling he’d have to move away from the house… there was no other house there. Well, there was another house over on the knoll where Louie has his house now, but it was vacant, and he lived over here with his sister.

B: Was he a farmer?

N: Yes… he was a farmer… he was taking the fruit, too, like I did after.

B: How many people lived in Lafayette at that time, do you have any idea?

N: Well, let’s see… I don’t know, but I think it was about 300. There were only farms here and there, and I don’t think there were more than 30 people in Lafayette proper, and only about a dozen buildings.

B: Do you remember what sort of buildings were there?

N: Yes… there was a hotel… the wayside Inn… there was a saloon, and I think a little restaurant… I didn’t go there often; it was mostly for travelers. Most people came to Lafayette by horse and buggy, but there were some people that would come from Oakland by car… and then there was a Post Office.

B: Was the Post Office in a store?

N: It was in sort of a little shack. Here’s a picture of Peter Thomson… I never knew him, but I knew his son. After I moved here, I needed some blacksmithing work done. He was already there; I was going to Bill Thomson.

B: Was he in the blacksmithing business then?

N: Yes… but I never knew Peter Thomson because he was dead long before I came into Lafayette.

B: Did Bill Thomson stay in that business long?

N: Oh yes… until he died.

B: And you were telling me he had one son… is that right?

N: Yes… he had one son who became a judge in Walnut Creek and is still living in Concord… retired.

B: Was the railroad here when you moved?

N: There were two railroad stations, West Lafayette and Lafayette, and the children used to use it to go to school in Concord.

B: How did you decide to settle in Lafayette?

N: Well, the first thing… I had a cousin here… I would come to see him and wanted to buy a little farm because I didn’t like the work in the city anymore… so I visited him several times, and then found this little place here.

B: Where was your cousin doing his farming and what was his name?

N: Down there where the Acalanes High School is… it used to belong to a doctor, Hunsaker… then he went North some place. His name was John Scramalia. He had his family here too, but they moved to Oakland, and some years after they built Acalanes High School.

B: Do you know how long he lived out here?

N: Well, I think about 10 or 12 years… farming… maybe 15 years, I think.

B: When you would come to visit him, would you come by train?

N: Yes… by train. We would go to 40th and Shafter and switch trains and come out from there.

B: What was the trip like?

N: It was an electric train… but then when we bought our place, we never used the train anymore because we had our truck. I drove the truck until 1929 and then I bought my first Chevrolet… a car… six cylinders… and I drove it about 75,000 miles.

B: When you drove into Oakland, how long did it take you?

N: A little better than an hour. The road was small… so many turns… and up the tunnel… it was narrow, only two lanes.

B: Were there gas stations?

N: We would buy or gas from Standard Oil, and they would deliver it then… to the ranch. It was cheaper than at a station, and there wasn’t any station in Lafayette. We used to buy from a station in Walnut Creek.

B: What was the name of the man again that you bought your property from?

N: Herbert Close. When the other party decided to sell the big part, the 80 acres, he decided to sell the 10 acres. He told them that they could sell together.

B: Did Mr. Close build this house?

N: No… this house used to belong to a man named Fred Easton… he had his family here and lived here for a long, long time. A daughter was born, and I met her after she was married.

B: Did you ever meet him?

N: Yes… he came several times to this place.

B: And he was the one who built the house?

N: I think the house was built by his father, in 1872, I think. The record of it was in the basement… but it disappeared because it aged too much.

B: Was any if this property planted in hay or grain or anything like that?

N: Yes… we had a big barn and grew hay for ourselves to feed the cows… about 15 acres of hay, up on the hill.

B: How far up did your property go? Did it go beyond Black Hawk Rd.

N: No… it went on the left-hand side of Springhill Rd., and the boundary used to be at a place that Mr. Hink bought in 1922. Mr. Spiegle lived there… no, he didn’t live there… he bought the ranch, but somebody else was working it for Mr. Spiegle. The place was between Buralho’s on Reliez Ct., and Mr. Spiegle’s.

B: Was Ken Brown here then?

N: No… that was the property that belonged to the Buralho’s. When I knew him, he was living on Reliez Road, and Ken bought this place from the Buralhos. When they built the schoolhouse there, on Springhill Road, he bought the hill while the county bought the bottom for the school.

B: Who were your nearest neighbors… the Buralhos?

N: Yes.

B: Was Springhill Road here?

N: No… I put the name of Springhill Road on it myself.

B: Was there a road at all?

N: There was a neighborhood road… a dirt road… and Mr. Taylor, who had the place up on the canyon, started to bring some rock to go into his place, and then we put rock down little by little… otherwise it was a dirt road.

B: Where was Mr. Taylor’s place?

N: At the end of the road… the Buckeye Ranch used to belong to Mr. Taylor. And where all those houses are now… above Mr. Hink… used to belong to Mr. Taylor. There was a little place in the canyon there that used to belong to somebody else…

B: Was Mr. Taylor a rancher too?

N: No… he was a fellow from Berkeley, and he bought that place there.

B: So, along that road how many houses were there?

N: Well… there were 14 houses, from Mt. Diablo Blvd. to Reliez Valley… to the top of the knoll, and Springhill Road with no name. I named the road for the place that used to be where Mr. Hink’s place is, called Springhill Farm, and then I named Martino Road because I was living here alone.

B: Do you know who owned Springhill Farm before Mr. Hink?

N: Yes… it was Spiegel… and before that it belonged to somebody else, a man named Redford… but I never met him, this was before my time.

B: Was it in orchards too?

N: No… they didn’t work the place. They had somebody else working the place, and I think they worked in the city. Now, Mr. Spiegle had a little orchard, and used to plant vegetables.

B: When they sold the vegetables, did they take them into Oakland?

N: Well, Mr. Spiegle used to grow just one crop… and then he would ship it to New York… pack it in Lafayette and ship it.

B: We were talking about this picture of Horace Carpentier’s house and you were telling me about Grant Burton’s grandfather.

N: Yes… I met him over here at the old ranch, but I passed there to go and see a friend of mine named Tony Fagundas. He bought a ranch over there past the Burton place and I passed nearby, and I saw Mr. Burton.

B: Could you drive your truck or your car over in that area?

N: Oh yes… we used to drive in the summertime when the road was dry… you could go through with the truck.

B: Getting back now to your place and your farming, tell me something about what you grew here.

N: Mostly we had apples and pears. The apples weren’t bringing enough… we couldn’t compare with Watsonville and Sebastopol… our apple was kind of small, and sometimes would not bring a price, so that’s when I would throw them out and take pears. I put in the wrong kind of pear… I put the Japanese Root and it wasn’t any good… the best one was a French Root.

B: Did you plant the apple trees?

N: No… they were already here. They were already grown… at least 30 or 40 years old when I came to the ranch.

B: Was it all planted in apples?

N: No… some pears… some plums and peaches… but I planted mostly pears.

B: Do you know how many trees you have? Did you ever count them?

N: Yes… about 1000 trees, then I planted and acre of vineyard.

B: Where were your vineyards?

N: Right there below Louie’s house.

B: Did you grow the grapes to make wine?

N: To make wine, yes… and selling some grapes.

B: Did you have help?

N: Yes… my wife was helping me especially when we were picking… she packed peaches and tomatoes while I was picking them.

B: Was the work pretty hard, Nat?

N: Oh yes… we were working 10, 12, 13 hours a day during harvest and picking time. We had 14 varieties of peaches. Down where you are, we had seven of the Carmen variety peach… some plums, too.

B: Tell me a little about the farming operation… would you have to plow the fields?

N: Yes… we plowed the fields and cultivated 4 or 5 times in the summertime, because we didn’t have any moisture… we didn’t irrigate at all. And, of course, we were spraying… we’d spray apples 4 or 5 times. The pears didn’t require so much spraying… 2 or 3 times was enough.

B: Did you have people working for you or was it mainly your family?

N: We did the best we could ourselves… then I used to get one of the Borala boys, sometimes two, to help me with the hay and when we were picking… and in later years we had some Filipinos picking pears… just for the season… a week or so.

B: Did they camp around here?

N: They had some place for camping… I think it was in Concord… and they would come every day for about a week, picking until most of the crop was down and then they’d move away to some other place.

B: How much did you pay them an hour, do you remember?

N: I can’t remember… it was something like $2.50 a day… a pretty good wage then. Then we’d sell them for 50 cents a box… a 30-pound lot… sometimes a 40-pound lug for 50 cents.

B: What kind of machinery did you use?

N: The plow, the cultivator, the rake and buck rake. Mr. Thomson made me one for 32 or 34 dollars.

B: And how many cows did you have on your place?

N: 5 or 6… we sold some cream in the wintertime (in the summer they were dry) … then they’d start to calf again and we’d sell the calves… sometimes we’d raise one or two to replace the old cows… we’d keep the milk because we couldn’t sell whole milk. But we’d sell the cream to the butter factory in Oakland.

B: Did most of the things you sold go into Oakland?

N: Yes, almost everything. We’d take it in and sell it to a wholesale market.

B: You were telling me the other day about picking peaches in the morning?

N: That’s right… and put them on straw in the shade of the tree and then in the afternoon or toward evening we’d pack them when it started to get cool and the peaches were nice and cool… and then put them on the truck, and at 2 or 3 in the morning we’d start for Oakland. I did that at least for 25 or 30 years.

B: Tell us about not having enough light.

N: We had a little Model T Ford… and when we bought it, it was without a battery… running on a magneto… and when you went downhill you didn’t need any gas because you had to watch where you were going and you had hardly any light, because the motor wasn’t running fast enough… the magneto didn’t make enough light. Then a few years after, we bought a battery, so there was light all the time. But for packing peaches, we had to leave the truck running… otherwise we’d have no light.

B: Now… about the pears… didn’t you have to store them after picking until they were ripe?

N: No… sometimes we sold them to the cannery, and sometimes we’d put them in cold storage ourselves… we’d bring them into cold storage in the wholesale house name… then they’d get them out of cold storage themselves when they wanted to sell them. But we’d pack them the best we knew and take them into cold storage… they’d stay there a month, maybe 2 or 3.

B: Did you make more money from the pears than the peaches?

N: Yes… we were making more money from the pears than anything else. Sometimes we were selling them for $20 or $22 a ton… the cannery would come around with 20 or 22 dollars, and they almost cost us $20 a ton.

B: Was this during the Depression?

N: All the time. One or two years we had a frost early in the spring and they froze. And one time they paid $100 a ton because they were so scarce.