California was fully integrated into the national economy and political arena by the late nineteenth century. Industrialization and its technologies, as well as the spread of union organizing and the farm-based People's Party, had seen to that. Consequently, California's anti-monopoly movement was part of a larger American anti-trust crusade beginning in the 1880s and lasting into the 1910s. The Southern Pacific Railroad, the state's dominant corporation, became the prime target for disgruntled farmers and reformers of all kinds. At the same time that state government was under fire for allegedly being a pawn of the railroad, voters in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities charged that their local officials had taken bribes from moneyed interests. Compounding these vexations, California laborers in the depression-ridden 1890s struggled for better treatment amid wage cuts and layoffs that were nationwide. In short, for the Golden State as for America at large the period was one of mounting public anger.
Pacific Eldorado: A History of Greater California, First Edition. Thomas J. Osborne. © 2013 Thomas J. Osborne. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Timeline
1878-84 San Francisco’s Trades’ Assembly serves as the umbrella labor organization for Bay Area factory workers
1880 A gunfight at Mussel Slough is fought over land claimed by both the Southern Pacific Railroad and
Farmers
1883 In the case of Ellen M. Colton v. Leland Stanford et al., Mrs. Colton releases as evidence of her
Husband’s importance in the Southern Pacific’s hierarchy several hundred letters that tarnish the railroad’s reputation
1885 Burnette G. HaskeU founds the Coast Seamen’s Union (CSU) in San Francisco
1886 John D. Spreckels’s Oceanic Steamship Company organizes the Shipowners’ Association, which passes over CSU members and continues to work with crimps in hiring seamen
1888 The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce is founded
California’s Labor Commissioner estimates that 81 unions operate in San Francisco with more than 19,000 members
1891 The Sailors’ Union of the Pacific is organized in San Francisco and led by Andrew Furuseth
In San Francisco workers’ leaders establish the Union Labor Party; this is a rare occurrence in American politics in that it is a labor party, like those in Australia, New Zealand, and Britain
1892 Phineas Banning’s three sons buy nearly the entire island of Catalina, developing its resort facilities and infrastructure while providing a steamer service to and from its anchorage at Avalon
The San Francisco Labor Council forms, embracing 31 unions
1899 With a federal appropriation, construction begins on building a major harbor at San Pedro
1901 Hundreds of San Francisco waitresses go on strike for higher wages, resulting in the shutting down
Of nearly 200 restaurants
1906 A major earthquake/fire destroys much of San Francisco; recent research puts the death count at above 3,000 people; property damage, in 1906 dollars, was in the range of $500 million
A major bribery investigation into San Francisco politics begins; the city’s Republican boss, Abraham Ruef, is prosecuted for graft, resulting in his later imprisonment in San Quentin Penitentiary
1907 In San Francisco female laundry workers and female employees at the GhirardeUi chocolate factory go on strike for higher pay and better working conditions
1909 The Southern Pacific Railroad’s entire bonded debt to the federal government is repaid
1910 In Los Angeles Mexican workers on the street trolleys are joined by laborers in other industries in striking to gain recognition
As a labor strike grips Los Angeles, an explosion traced to union operatives destroys the Los Angeles Times building, killing 20 men and injuring 17 others
1913 The Wheatland riot erupts, resulting from a clash between migrant workers and labor organizers on
The one hand, and a ranch owner and law enforcement officers on the other
World History
