{"id":536,"date":"2021-04-05T13:56:58","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T20:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aptoshistory.org\/?p=536"},"modified":"2021-04-05T15:29:53","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T22:29:53","slug":"george-porter-and-his-tannery-by-john-hibble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aptoshistory.org\/?p=536","title":{"rendered":"George Porter and his Tannery by John Hibble"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A tannery\nonce occupied the land where Temple Beth El stands today just west of Cabrillo\nCollege and a piece of that tannery still remains. Today, that property is in\nthe Aptos 95003 zip code, but it was originally considered to be in Soquel. The\ntannery\u2019s origin goes back to the days when Monterey was the capital of Mexican\nCalifornia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1833,\nMartina Castro, (Rafael\u2019s sister), requested and was given the Soquel Rancho by\nGovernor Figueroa, a grant of 1,668 acres. The rancho stretched from Soquel\nCreek, east to Borregas Gulch, (which would also put Cabrillo College in\nSoquel). In 1850, Martina divided her land among her children and gave one\nportion to her daughter Luisa, who was married to a Frenchman, Jean Richard\nFourcade, known as Juan Ricardo to the locals. The Fourcades established a\ntannery on the property in 1853 from which Tannery Gulch derived its name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The property\nchanged hands several times from 1855 to 1859and, as a result of a\ndefault on a loan by William Andrews, the deed was transferred from Sheriff\nJohn T. Porter to his brother, George K. Porter, for the sum of $740, recorded\nMay 27, 1859.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George\nKeating Porter, born February 9, 1833, was the son of Ann Thomas and Dr. John\nThomas Porter, a sixth generation descended from John and Priscilla Alden of\nthe Mayflower. They lived on a portion of the farm settled by the Aldens in\nDuxbury Massachusetts. The farm was part of the estate granted by the King of\nEngland. Dr. Porter was educated at Dartmouth College and was the attending\nphysician of Daniel Webster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

George was\nthe first of the Porters to be lured to California during the “gold\nrush”. Sailing from Boston on February 7, 1849 on the brig Acadian, <\/em>he\ncelebrated his sixteenth birthday at sea. After a voyage of 264 days, he\narrived in San Francisco and promptly set out for the mines. From there he\ntried his hand at farming, lumbering, and drayage, (hauling freight with horse\nteams). The drayage business proved unprofitable, but George was able to pay off\nall his debts out of his own pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1859,\nGeorge purchased the Soquel property and with his cousin, Benjamin Franklin\nPorter, operated and enlarged the tannery built by Fourcade, eventually\nprocessing 25,000 hides per year. Tannery Gulch became alternately known as\nPorter Gulch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This drawing shows the tannery in 1878. George\nPorter\u2019s house is in the lower center of the drawing. Benjamin Porter\u2019s home is\ndrawn farther to the right and half way up. Today\u2019s Sesnon House on the\nCabrillo College campus was built next to Benjamin\u2019s home.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1861 to\n1863 George was the State Senator for Santa Cruz County. George and Ben\npurchased additional Soquel property in 1864, 1866 and 1872.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1863,\nGeorge contracted with the State to use convict labor. 100 prisoners from San\nQuentin were trained to make boots and shoes using leather from the Soquel\ntannery. Within two years, they were producing 3,000 boots and shoes annually.\nIn 1870, the San Quentin plant burned, and a modern factory was built at the\ncorner of Sansome and Clay Streets in San Francisco, under the name of Porter,\nSlesinger and Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George built\nhis home at the tannery in the early 1870’s. Then in 1874, George, Ben and\nSenator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles\nMaclay bought approximately 60,000 acres in the San Fernando Valley of Southern\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

California,\nincluding the old San Fernando Mission, at a cost of $3.33 per acre. Thousands\nof acres of grain were planted, and horses, dairy cattle and sheep were raised.\nThe property was undivided until George married Katherine Caystile, sister to\nThomas Caystile, founder of the Los Angeles Mirror newspaper and later took\nover the Los Angeles Times Los Angeles newspaper. The property was then\ndivided, and George took the smaller portion which was closer to the railroad.\nIn 1887, he planted the first citrus orchard in the valley which was called\n“The Porter Strip”. It was a half mile wide by two- and one-half\nmiles long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 1905,\nGeorge sold 17,000 acres to the San Fernando Mission Land and Water Company for\none million dollars and a ten percent interest in the company. He kept 2,400\nacres and built a three-story mansion at a cost of $50,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George\nKeating Porter died November 16, 1906, at the age of 73. His daughter\nremembered him as “a big man, physically and morally, dressed in black,\nwearing a white shirt and a black string tie. He always wore the most\nbeautifully, bench made boots” He was truly one of California’s most notable\npioneers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1966,\nPeter Farquhar purchased George Porter\u2019s Soquel house and together with Barbara\nBuckmaster, his wife, began restoring the building. They opened the home as\nAptos’ first Bed and Breakfast Inn on May 1, 1983 as the Apple Lane Inn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The building\ncame complete with a ghost, conveniently located outside. A woman named\nCatherine Butler died in childbirth at the farmhouse and was originally buried\nin the field to the east of the house. At night, after the field has been\nplowed, a young woman in a white blouse and black skirt has been seen roaming\nthe field. Sam Butler, her son, visited the Inn in December 1997 and confirmed\nthe story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second\nowners, Doug and Diana Groom, had an interesting discovery in 1991. While doing\nsome work on the foundation of the carriage house, which is now attached to the\nmain house, they found an antique Worcestershire sauce bottle. The Lee &\nPerrons Company said that type of bottle was produced prior to 1876. A rare\nfind indeed. The Inn had five guest rooms and served a full country breakfast.\n\n\n\nAn economic downturn eventually made the inn\nunprofitable and it was returned to use as a private home. The building is\nlocated on a separate parcel above Temple Beth El.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tannery once occupied the land where Temple Beth El stands today just west of Cabrillo College and a piece of that tannery still remains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":538,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[33],"tags":[25,39,69,70],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aptoshistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aptoshistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aptoshistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aptoshistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aptoshistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=536"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aptoshistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":546,"href":"https:\/\/aptoshistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536\/revisions\/546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aptoshistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aptoshistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aptoshistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aptoshistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}