San Tomas Drying Company
| Business |
Dried Fruit Packer |
|---|---|
| Main Location |
Los Gatos |
| Predecessors |
Stillman A. Moulton drying yard, San Jose Dried Fruit Company |
The San Tomas Drying Company was a Santa Clara Valley dried fruit packer. The company operated from a packing house on Bascom Ave, perhaps in the former Stillman A. Moulton drying yard along the railroad tracks near Campbell. The spur was on the north side of the tracks, west of Bascom Ave.[1] The company was on the San Francisco Call 1900 list of dropoff locations for the California Cured Fruit Association.
A bit of their business process is seen in a lawsuit over the 1907 season's crop. San Tomas Drying bought the Morrell ranch's expected 100 ton crop of apricots for the 1907 season, "f.o.b. (freight on board) Wrights, tested at Wrights", with an expected average size of 75 per pound. "All fruit to be delivered f.o.b. packing house on Infirmatory Road, Santa Clara County."[2]
The principal owner in 1907 appeared to be Henry Booksin Jr.. according to the lawsuit. The 1911 city directory shows Booksin as a fruit broker, with offices in downtown San Jose.
The packing house, according to a 1907 railroad map[3] showed a sequence of sheds or buildings along the track: an office, box room, "facing room", packing room, and corrugated iron warehouse. The property also held a boiler house, covered platform, and sulfur house. The former Moulton drying yard probably extended to the west.
Locations
| Location | Years | Address | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Campbell | 1900, 1907 | "Infirmatory Road (Bascom Ave.) at railroad tracks (currently Borello Dr.) | "Moulton's Switch, Santa Clara County" according to lawsuit. |
References
- ↑ Moulton station valuation map. Southern Pacific Railroad, December 1907. In California State Railroad Museum library collection.
- ↑ J.B. Morrell v. San Tomas Drying and Packing Company and Balfour, Guthrie & Co., California Appellate Decisions: Volume X, January-June 1910, First Appellate Disrtrict, civil #720, April 26, 1910.
- ↑ Moulton station valuation map. Southern Pacific Railroad, December 1907. In California State Railroad Museum library collection.