Memorial Day and the Forgotten Comfort Women of WWII

Silicon Valley may have it's first monument to the suffering of "Comfort Women," the young women and girls who were coerced into sexual slavery in Imperial Japanese Army-occupied East Asia during WWII, if a monument to remember the Holocaust and World Genocide is approved by one of our local cities

To date, discussions on erecting a monument of this type have been tabled, apparently based on possible controversy with partners in local sister City programs. A group of area residents continue to revise and redesign memorial plans to accommodate concerns, hoping to to revisit approval for a world genocide memorial at future council sessions, much like the group who assisted Sonoma State University achieve consensus for it's elegant, educational Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Grove, mentioned below:

"Hundreds of bricks display the messages of love, honor and hope. This project was launched by a few people with a budget of hope and promise, the joint efforts of the Sonoma State University School of Social Sciences, The Center for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, The Alliance for the Study of the Holocaust, and donor principal donor Mr. David Salm. It was made possible, too, by the generosity of the whole community and especially the businesses who have extended themselves in a most meaningful way to affirm the phrase 'Never again.' ” http://www.sonoma.edu/holocaustgrove/

Sonoma State University
Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Grove

Why Remember Comfort Women?

Comfort Women have been viewed as victims of genocide, since many of the girls and young women who were coerced into sexual slavery during WWII, were left at the front to die by retreating Imperial Japanese Army troops. 

Likewise, many surviving Comfort Women were left infertile due to shots they were given to control venereal diseases during the war.

 Sonoma State University, after careful deliberation and study, erected a Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Grove on campus. The focus of the memorial is a lovely sculpture by Jann Nunn which serves as a beacon for peace, when lit after dark. 

Tiles with names of those who were lost to genocide form stylistic railroad ties under metal rods representing train tracks. These "track" converge under the green glass memorial, in a peaceful grove setting near a man-made lake on campus.

A quote by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is inscribed at the base of the cylindrical sculpture:

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

You may view a segment of  the 2009 Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Grove Dedication Ceremony at Sonoma State University below, or at: http://youtu.be/RvpkvNIctz4

Jan Ruff-O'Herne, a Netherlander, who
was forced to serve as a Comfort
Woman at 17, in a WWII Imperial Japanese
Army Comfort Station in East Asia.

The History of Comfort Women During WWII

In 1932 the first Comfort Station in Shanghai was allegedly staffed by "volunteer" Japanese prostitutes. As the war expanded into Eastern Asia, more comfort stations were required by the Imperial Japanese Army, however, "volunteers" could not be found to fill new locations. More aggressive actions were employed to coerce, force or trick women and young girls into sexual slavery from regions surrounding new Imperial Japanese Army encampments beyond Shanghai. 

There is controversy as to whether the army or their agents or both, engaged in the coercion. What is clear, however, is that girls and women were sexually exploited and held captive for up to three years during the war, and in some cases murdered or left to die by retreating Imperial soldiers.

Girls and women from Korea, China, the Philippines, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Netherlands Dutch East Indies and Australia, were reportedly among victims coerced into sexual slavery for Imperial Japanese Army bases in East Asia.

The girls and women were called ianfu by the Japanese, a euphemism meaning, "Comfort Women." Some teenagers and women came from vulnerable circumstances and were offered work in factories and laundries, yet were sent to fill new Comfort Stations outside of Shanghai, then not allowed to leave or return home. 

Other Dutch women, like Jan Ruff-O'Herne (pictured above left) were found among girls living in Japanese concentration camps, who were told to line up and be inspected by Imperial Japanese Army officers. Officers selected girls from the lineup, then transported them to a military brothel, where they were told to either submit to officers or be murdered, and as O'Herne states, were raped repeatedly soon after they arrived.

Video of Jan Ruff-O'Herne and her daughters, telling her WWII story: http://youtu.be/Mard9WrYn2I

According to Japanese military documents, the Comfort Stations were developed to prevent local "rape crimes" by Japanese Imperial troops. 

Surviving Comfort Women like Jan Ruff-O'Herne, report that they were raped multiple times each day by troops, with the number of rapes multiplied 4 to 5 times over weekends.

Reparations for Surviving Comfort Women

Former Comfort Woman Ok-seon Lee at a
shelter for former sex workers. Guardian

Ok-seon Lee, (right) who stated that she was coerced into sexual slavery as a 15-year-old hotel worker and waslater stabbed by an Imperial Japanese Army officer, visited Washington DC to celebrate the anniversary of (2007) House Resolution 121 during a July 17, 2013 reception at the House of Representatives.

H. Res. 121 read, in summary: 

"The Government of Japan should formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner for its Imperial Armed Force’s coercion of young women into sexual slavery, known to the world as ‘‘comfort women’’, during its colonial and wartime occupation of Asia and the Pacific Islands from the 1930s through the duration of World War II."

Previously, in August 4, 1993, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan had issued what has become known as the Kono Statement, which stated in part:

"The recruitment of the comfort women was conducted mainly by private recruiters who acted in response to the request of the military. The Government study has revealed that in many cases they were recruited against their own will, through coaxing coercion, etc., and that, at times, administrative/military personnel directly took part in the recruitments. They lived in misery at comfort stations under a coercive atmosphere.

Undeniably, this was an act, with the involvement of the military authorities of the day, that severely injured the honor and dignity of many women.
The Government of Japan would like to take this opportunity once again to extend its sincere apologies and remorse to all those, irrespective of place of origin, who suffered immeasurable pain and incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women."

In a March 2014 statement Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe responded to conservative Japanese politicians who requested that Abe, "water down" the 1993 Kono apology to Comfort women, alleging there was "no evidence of large-scale coercion by government authorities or the military." Abe refused, stating to a parliamentary panel:

"With regard to the 'comfort women' issue, I am deeply pained to think of the comfort women who experienced immeasurable pain and suffering, a feeling I share equally with my predecessors."

"The Kono Statement addresses this issue ... and, as my Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga stated in news conferences, the Abe Cabinet has no intention to review it."

Many surviving Comfort Women and their families believe that an apology is not enough.

In 2007 there was some confusion over how funds and services for reparations to Comfort Women were being handled, according to the BBC. Some Japanese citizens raised private funds for compensation to surviving Comfort Women through the Asian Women's Fund. However, the BBC states that in some cases, the money went to medical centers and homes for the elderly, rather than to victims, while a few survivors received $16,700 from the fund.

NPR has developed a slide-show on the testimonies of some surviving Comfort Women, some of whom state that they were coerced into sexual slavery and raped at just 10 years of age.

There were an estimated 200,000 women from East Asia who were trafficked as Comfort Women during WWII, according to historians, so the lack of memorials to these exploited women and girls, is troubling to many worldwide. 

Chinese and Malaysian girls held at an
Imperial Japanese Army Comfort Station during WWII

Koreans have spearheaded a movement to preserve the legacy of Comfort Women, so their suffering is not lost to history. 

In Seoul, Korea, the bronze statue of a seated Korean girl, representing a coerced WWII Comfort Woman, faces the Japanese Embassy in silent tribute.

Korean residents in Glendale, California, moved to erect a twin statue of the Seoul memorial statue at Glendale Central Park, yet were met with resistance from some in the Japanese community, who claimed that all military Comfort Women "were there voluntarily," which is only true in regards to the first Shanghai Comfort Station of 1932.

Some Japanese-American residents found the memorial "divisive," yet other residents referred to the statue as a "Peace Monument."

A similar outcry took place when a monument to Comfort Women was erected in Palisades Park, New Jersey in 2010. Japanese-American residents and representatives from the Japanese government asked the city council there to have it removed. However, Mayor James Rotundo stated that the monument was there for educational purposes, to raise awareness of the role of Comfort Women in WWII history.

Gendale city council member Frank Quintero stated that many complaints about the memorial came from Japan, where some believed that the so-called, "Rape of Nanking" was also a fabricated story, despite the fact that Japanese veterans who served in Nanking in December 1937, admitted that a massive slaughter of non-combatants took place.

Bok-Dong Kim, Survivor, Glendale
WWII Comfort Women Memorial
Contra Costa Times

Historians estimate that the number of civilians slaughtered in Nanking could be anywhere from 40,000 to 200,000, over the six-week period of time when the Japanese attack took place. 

Existing photos show some prisoners of the Imperial Japanese Army being buried alive, and some mothers and daughters raped with sticks, bottles and other weapons, then having expired from their injuries. 

Massacre photos were captured in a December 13, 1937 film by American Episcopal priest, John Magee, who was a missionary to Nanking at the time of the Imperial Japanese Army assault.

Magee was credited with saving thousands of lives during the slaughter. His witness to that event is memorialized at Yale University's Digital Archive of  Documents and Photos from American Missionaries who Witnessed the Rape of Nanking.

Currently there are only four memorials to Comfort Women in the United States. 

Why a Silicon Valley Monument Remembering Genocide During WWII?

Honoring and remembering the girls and women who were often fatally coerced into sexual slavery during WWII after the first "voluntary" Shanhai Comfort Station was expanded, as well as other nations who lost citizens to genocidal events in world history, remains important in returning dignity and respect to those who were affected.

Jan Ruff-O'Herne & surviving Comfort Women, Japan, 1993
Sydney Morning Herald

By remembering thousands of Australian, East Asian and Netherlander Dutch East Indies women during World War II, the stories of those women will not be lost to history. 

Public memorials, like the monument being considered by one Silicon Valley city, serve to raise awareness and prevent similar atrocities, reducing the likelihood that atrocities will be repeated, based on increasing public education on world history. 

A public memorial may also serve to lift an undeserved residue of shame from those girls and women who were coerced and exploited into sexual slavery during WWII, yet have remained unable to speak of their wartime experiences and achieve healing. A growing wave of civic and global compassion for the suffering of Comfort Women through public monuments and programs, has slowly transformed the dynamic of hidden shame into a public recognition of courage and fortitude. 

A public memorial may also serve to remove the veil of shame from contemporary victims of sexual assault and coercion, a silent yet profound gift to the many abused or exploited women and girls in our communities. 

If we can acknowledge the Holocaust in our history books and monuments, without first paring-down history to avoid offending those Americans of Austrian, German or Eastern European descent, we certainly may acknowledge the whole-scale coercion, exploitation and rape, of many thousands of East Asian, Australian and Netherlander Dutch East Indies women and girls during WWII, as viewed through the lens of documented records from the WWII era, where the massive and continued exploitation of women and girls was deemed an acceptable act of war.

.................................................

The Conflict Surrounding UNAIDS and UN Resolutions Monitoring

Trafficking and Prostitution Near Military Bases:

Since prostitution near military bases has became a national and international issue, the United Nations, in 1950, attempted a treaty to monitor human trafficking and houses of prostitution. (Near military bases, these women were sometimes called "minor wives," since servicemen returned to the same woman regularly and often left children behind on exiting the service and returning home.) 

The most notable UN Resolution on this issue was the 1985 report, Activities for the advancement of women: equality, development, and peace: report of Jean Fernand-Laurent, special rapporteur on the suppression of the traffic in persons and the exploitation of the prostitution of others, found at WorldCat online, which also displays where you may find this publication in your area.

The UN history of Chapter VII: Traffic in Persons (Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others) may be found on the UN Web site, which includes a record of each country's comments on Chapter VII as it pertains to their nation.

Recently, in 2013 the United Nations group UNAIDS was criticized for wanting to decriminalize "voluntary" global prostitution in order to better control AIDS and reduce sexual assaults and abuse, as stated in their 2012 report. 

Many critics disagreed with the 2012 UNAIDS report, stating that global decriminalization of voluntary prostitution might lead to an increase in the illegal trafficking and exploitation of women and girls, supposedly working under the guise of "voluntary" service. It might not be easily proven that some so-called "voluntary" sex workers were in actuality, involuntary sex workers being held under duress due to enslavement or financial obligations to their employers. 

.................................................

Please also see my article about the Internment of the Japanese in the Bay Area during World War II. 

.................................................

---Catherine Alexander Bright, SiliconValleyLibrarian.org

Shasta Dam, Cement Plants and Liberty Ships: Henry J. Kaiser, the City of Cupertino and the battle to reduce Silicon Valley Mercury pollution

Not many people realize that old Silicon Valley has ties with Shasta Dam and the Liberty Ships of WWII, through industrialist Henry J. Kaiser.

Kaiser Overseas War Relief Poster
Wikipedia

Kaiser, owner of Kaiser Aluminum and Kaiser Steel, was reportedly most well known for his Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, California, where he built Liberty and Victory ships during World War II.

He was noted for the innovation of using welding instead of rivets to build ships in just 5 days, a skill which could be taught quickly to inexperienced workers during WWII. Kaiser got the idea to use welding after one of his associates visited a Ford Motor Plant and watched workers on the assembly line. 

Unfortunately the early ship welds cracked in cold temperatures (called, "brittle fracture"), causing some Liberty ship hulls to break in two at sea, before the hull design and welding process were more closely monitored between 1947-1955.

It is interesting to learn that Kaiser was also affiliated with the Joshua Hendy Iron Works in Sunnyvale, which built the EC-2 Triple Expansion Steam Engines for the Liberty ships Kaiser was constructing in Richmond. More history on Hendy Iron Works may be found at the Iron Man Museum, housed at the Northrop Grumman Marine Systems Plant in Sunnyvale.

Liberty Ship Triple Expansion Steam Engine
Wikipedia

During the construction of Liberty ships, Kaiser saw the need to provide a 10-bed emergency field hospital for workers in a wooden shed at his Richmond Kaiser Shipyards, which were the basis for the Kaiser Permanente medical plans and hospitals which are still in existence today. The original Kaiser Field Hospital in Richmond expanded to 160 beds by 1944, and continued to modernize until it finally closed in 1995 to become the "Rosie the Riveter" historical landmark and musem.

During the war era, Henry and Bess Kaiser owned a cabin along Permanente Creek above Cupertino, where  Bess felt the creek's name would also be a good name for their Kaiser health foundation, since Permanente creek ran perpetually, year-round, much like their health care for Alameda ship workers.

What was once known as the Kaiser Permanente Cement Plant in 1939 before WWII, or Permanente Quarry (also named after Permanente Creek), was incorporated for the construction of Shasta Dam, completed in 1944, to extract the unique seamount limestone from the hills above Cupertino, creating gravel, mortar and cement for dam construction. 

(Kaiser Permanente Quarry seems not to be related to the 1918 construction of ferrocement ships in Oakland or concrete barges later in 1943. Likewise, the concrete ship SS Palo Alto, which now resides at Sea Cliff Beach in Aptos, does not seem to be related to Kaiser Permanente Quarry or the Kaiser shipyards.)

An old railway line which can be seen near Hwy 85 and Stevens Creek Boulevard (near Cupertino Post Office), was once used to transport lime from the Kaiser Cement Plant to shippers for dam construction.

USDI/BR - Last bucket of cement used for Shasta Dam - 1944

Unfortunately, the Cupertino Kaiser Permanente Quarry has been an alleged source of ongoing pollution and controversy, since passing from Kaiser's ownership and becoming Lehigh Southwest Cement (a Heidelberg Cement Group affiliate). 

Petroleum coke used to fuel lime production (since 2007), which along with limestone, off-gasses mercury emissions during processing, has led some to believe that the Cupertino Lehigh Cement plant allegedly is responsible for 29% of all Bay Area airborne mercury emissions, perhaps impacting Calero Reservoir, 20 miles away, as well as local waterways.
Since mercury is a significant neurotoxin as well as a pollutant, and can become concentrated in local waterways, mercury now exists at allegedly 5.8 to 6.7 times higher in waterways near the Lehigh Cement plant, than at a site 2 miles away.

Likewise, groundwater is pumped into Permanente Creek from Lehigh quarry, so Selenium pollution in the creek (downstream from Lehigh quarry) was also found, indicating that the Lehigh quarry is allegedly the source of the pollution. 

"Quarry operations at the (Lehigh) cement plant have resulted in sediment discharges into Permanente Creek that are 3.5 times what would be expected under normal conditions," according to the USGS. This sediment threatens local fish, which can no longer be safely eaten from Stevens Creek Reservoir or Rancho San Antonio Reservoir, due to mercury pollution levels from the Lehigh Cement plant, according the to City of Cupertino.

Lehigh Cement Quarry above Cupertino Schools and
Homes, near  Rancho San Antonio Preserve and Reservoir
Google Maps 

Lehigh Southwest Cement has been the target of numerous environmental court cases and lawsuits brought by local cities and environmental groups. 

Bay Area federal and regional water and air quality monitoring agencies and the Sierra Club, have also closely followed mercury and selenium pollution from Lehigh Cement, to counter apparent failures by state EPA monitors to accurately assess risks from plant emissions.

Mercury News 6-4-2010 Report sites risks

Lehigh has worked to to bolster it's public relations efforts in the Valley, making large monetary and in-kind donations to the Cupertino Senior Center, the Cupertino Museum and Historical Society, and other local civic groups.

Brass wall plaques can be seen at the Senior Center, West Valley Community Services, and Quinlan Center (near the Cupertino Historical Museum), noting Lehigh Cement contributions to those entities, where Lehigh representatives also serve on boards of directors.

Unfortunately, the 20 worst mercury contamination sites in the state include five sites in Santa Clara Valley, with the worst being Almaden Lake. While some mercury pollution can be attributed to the Almaden Quicksilver Mines, the presence of Lehigh Cement pollution is also alleged to be a contributing factor to mercury pollution in our West Valley reservoirs and waterways, according the City of Cupertino.

Santa Clara Valley Water District
Posted Mercury pollution/unsafe Fish Sign

Most recently a $20 million judgment against Lehigh was won by the Sierra Club ($10 million for the clean up of Permanente Creek, plus a $10 million bond, ensuring the work would be done in a timely manner).

A Cease and Desist Order was pending against Lehigh Cement for anticipated inability to reach new cement plant EPA requirements in 2014, yet may not be implemented if restrictions are met.

The City of Cupertino has documented pollution, violations and lawsuits against Lehigh Cement to raise public awareness about mercury and selenium pollution. A chronology of citations and lawsuits, as well as public hearings concerning Lehigh Cement pollution, may now be found on the Cupertino City Web site.

---Catherine Alexander Bright, SiliconValleyLibrarian.org

Valley Vineyard and Winery History is a Story of Immigration and Dedication

I was surprised to learn that our valley was at one time covered with vineyards.

During the Gold Rush, entrepreneurs were attracted to our fertile South Bay Valley so they could produce wine, brandy, and other products and goods, for the influx of immigrant miners flooding into San Francisco. 

As I state on my Wine History page, some East Coast sea captains (who brought miners to San Francisco), migrated to the fertile Santa Clara Valley, where they bought property and planted vineyards to produce the fortified wine and brandy so popular at the turn of the century. The East Coast already had a thriving wine and brandy culture in New England, with some vines imported from Europe, so these captains brought wine making and distilling skills with them, along with a desire to produce spirits for shipment to San Francisco, which was thriving due to immigrant prospectors seeking lodging, food, wine, and a way to spend their new fortunes.

Captain Elisha Stephens (of "Stevens Creek") was one such English immigrant noted for his brandies in West Side (now Cupertino), whose vineyards became part of what is now Blackberry Farm in Cupertino. James Pieronnet Pierce (an Englishman, whose father gave his sons $10,000 to emigrate to America to make their fortunes), was part owner of the Empire Gold Mines in Grass Valley, after building a sea wall in San Francisco. Pierce then moved to Santa Clara where he purchased Enterprise Mill, which he renamed Pacific Manufacturing. What is not noted in area history records, is that J. P. Pierce and Richard Thurston Pierce (his son), were noted as the most important wine growers in the Valley in the 1870's. (A daughter, Frances Pierce, married Lester Morse, son of one of the founders of the Ferry-Morse Seed Company.)

Vitis Californica - UCANR

The French were attracted to the Valley due to economic tumult in France during the Revolution, and the promise of riches from California gold. 

Antoine and Delphin Delmas were early French immigrants who were instrumental in starting Valley nurseries which imported wine grapes from the East Coast and Europe, to replace the disappointing native California grapes, which did not produce remarkable wine, yet attracted the early Mission settlement in Fremont, since those native wild grapes were prolific along Valley streams and hillsides. 

Vitis Vinifera - Cornell

Charles LeFranc, another French Gold Rush immigrant, bought land for his New Almaden Vineyards, and is considered to be the father of commercial wine production. Philippe Prudhomme, Pierre Sansevain, John Auzerais, and others, also immigrated to the area and were considered to be fathers of local wine production and grape importation, during the Valley's wine heyday.

Many early imported vines came from New England and were of the Vitis Vinifera variety. The early "Black St. Peter's" version of this varietal was identical to Zinfandel, and was widely planted or grafted onto the Vitis Californica root stock. By 1860, it was considered to be the premier California wine grape, and in 1858 Delmas won awards for his "French Claret" made from his grafted Black St. Peter's grapes.

Leland Stanford (Public Domain)

The French Prune, Apricot and Cherry orchards of Blossom Hill are well known, yet Stevens Creek Boulevard, Branham Lane, Delmas Avenue, Pierce Road, Naglee School, Portal School, and other familiar roads and landmarks, are named for early vineyard owners who also excelled in other aspects of civic life. 

Like those men, Leland Stanford was another early vineyard owner. 

Stanford's ancestor, Thomas Stanford, emigrated to America in the 1700's and settled in Massachusetts. Leland Stanford, Sr. was born in New York where his father was a farm owner. He became a lawyer and practiced in New York and Wisconsin, until his law library and offices burned in a fire, and he decided to join his five brothers out West in California.

Jane's family would not allow her to move West with Stanford, so she remained in Albany, New York.

Stanford opened a store for miners in Placer County and became Justice of the Peace, then helped organize the Sacramento Library Association (now Sacramento Public Library.) He rejoined Jane in Albany in 1851, but found Eastern life too dull after life in California, so Stanford and Jane moved to San Francisco in 1856, where Stanford joined Charles Crocker, Mark Hopkins and Collis P. Huntingdon, the so-called "Big Four," in creating the Central Pacific Railroad, incorporating in June 28, 1861.

That same year Stanford was elected Governor in California, served for the required two years, then became involved in the Pacific Union Express Company, which would eventually merge with Wells Fargo and Company, where Stanford was elected Director and would serve almost consistently in that role until his death in 1893.

Lloyd Tevis, mentioned below in relationship to the Tevis/Novitiate vineyards above Lexington Reservoir, was one of Stanford's partners at Wells Fargo. Tevis was also a partner in Haggin and Tevis, a somewhat controversial San Francisco law firm. Haggin was an interesting pioneer from Kentucky who came to California during the Gold Rush to join Tevis, who was also his brother-in-law, in San Francisco. His family estate in Kentucky was ironically, near Lexington.)

After profitable railroad pursuits Stanford became enthralled with wine-making after travel to France, bought agricultural property, and planted vineyards not only in near Menlo Park, but in Tehema County.

The old Stanford Winery today.
Cahill SF image (Photo no longer online)

Stanford's property near Menlo Park, nicknamed "The Farm," not only had 900 horses, but a vast 158-acre vineyard which produced 60,000 gallons of wine per year.

The old town of Mayfield, now where California Street sits in Palo Alto, was once the home of 13 saloons. Stanford wanted the entry gates to his new university to reside on Stanford Avenue near Hanover Street, if Mayfield residents would only vote to "go dry."

Mayfield residents rejected Stanford's offer, so Stanford asked Southern Pacific Railroad owner Timothy Hopkins, the adopted son of Mark Hopkin's widow, Mary Hopkins, to purchase 700 acres of private property North of the university, and sell off small lots. This community became known as University Park and was later incorporated as the town of Palo Alto. 

Jane Stanford was also active in local efforts to have Mayfield became a hub of the "dry town movement" designed to ban saloons within the city limits. The Menlo Park-area vineyards were converted after his death by Jane Lathrop Stanford, however the winery building was preserved. Stanford's old brick winery is used for shops and restaurants, on the West edge of the Stanford Shopping Center complex.

The Governor Stanford Engine
(Public Domain)

We do not have a Wine History Center in Santa Clara Valley to remember these early winery and vineyard owners, despite the fact that wine and vineyards were the bedrock of our early economic history, and these men were notable for so many other civic accomplishments. One of those notable men was Henry Naglee.

General Henry Morris Naglee was particularly interesting in regard to our early history, since he was a Civil War Veteran who was also active in the Mexican-American War which ended in 1848. 

Naglee bought land in East San Jose in 1852 and planted vineyards on returning from his last campaign, after travel to Europe where he visited Cognac and studied brandy production. From his efforts to produce a clear brandy from grafted, high-quality Riesling, Pinot Noir, and Charbono grapes, San Jose became a center of brandy and fortified wine production.

Henry M. Naglee
(Public Domain)

Naglee won numerous awards for his "white lightning," not because it was like French brandy, but because it was considered to be excellent even by 1940, when remaining bottles were tasted by local experts. 

He allegedly invited a group of pro-temperance teachers from San Jose Teacher's College (Also called "The Normal") to tour "Naglee Park," in 1883, then served them lunch with lemonade laced with his clear brandy, causing some of the teachers to require assistance in mounting home-bound carriages. (1)

His daughters sold off much of the estate after his death, and there was eventually a monument in his memory erected in Saint James Park.

Naglee was quite a character and more information about him has been documented by local historians, notably, Charles L. Sullivan, Jack Douglas and April Halberstadt.

Because Phylloxera and The National Prohibition Act (also called the Volstead Act) had such a devastating effect on Santa Clara Valley vineyards and wineries, the vines were lost to inter-planted fruit trees, and the valley turned towards stone fruits for economic survival. Only a few hearty vine growers and wine making families held out during Prohibition, along with the Novitiate, which produced sacramental wine for parishes in the state. Of those, Paul Masson, Pellier/Mirassou, Kirigin, Martin Ray, along with Guglielmo and others, still retain historic vineyards.

Also of interest are the Tevis vineyards and the Swiss Chalet-style mansion which were located on 1,071 acres above what is now Lexington park and reservoir, now part of The Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District's Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve.

The Tevis vineyards and mansion were acquired in 1906 by Dr. Harry Tevis (son of the millionaire entrepreneur and 1872 Wells Fargo Bank President, Lloyd Tevis.) Photo's of the estate may be found in the Novitiate Collection at Los Gatos Library.

Tevis Clubhouse Dining Room 1917 - Los Gatos Patch

Dr. Tevis purchased the property from James C. Flood, owner of the 1871 stock brokerage firm, Flood and O'Brien. Flood was a colleague of Leland Stanford and one of the so-called, silver "Bonanza Kings." 

Flood's $100,000 investment in Virginia City, Nevada Comstock mines, eventually netted him, his partners and his investors over $150,000,000 from silver and gold, or approximately $3,000,000 per month for each year the mines were in operation. 

Dr. Tevis sold the property to the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Los Gatos, who then built Alma College on the site in 1943. Alma College was the first Jesuit Theological Seminary on the West Coast and Governor Jerry Brown was once a student there. 

The Tevis Mansion burned down on New Year's Eve night, 1970 and the property was sold to a Hong Kong casino owner in 1989, when it was slated to be developed as a gold course. According to historical records, Novitiate wine from early Tevas vineyards was used to try to douse earlier fires on the property.

Wine and Immigration - Partners in early vineyard life

The story of our Valley's wine industry exists side-by-side with the stories of immigrants who came to California, not only to follow the Gold Rush and it's related industries, but to escape from wars, revolutions, famine, ethnic repression and extermination, and capture the promise of a better life. That story continues today, although the industries now have changed to a more diverse economic culture.

"Californian Burgundy"
Yosemite Poster  by
London Wine Merchants

Development of the local Wine industry at Old Almaden Winery in 1852, created a cultural phenomenon in the Bay Area allowing our region to become a Mecca for food and wine lovers, wine retreats, wine and cooking weekends, Wine and Art festivals, wine tasting tours, and wine history, just over two centuries since the first Mission grape was harvested for sacramental wine at Mission San Jose, now located in Fremont. 

With the addition of Native American, South American and Pacific Rim cultures, plus their traditional foods and new ethnic markets, we have a solid immigrant culinary base with a deep affinity to our local wine culture.

From that shared experience, we have strong local cultural support for organic, sustainable, locally-grown foods, breweries and wineries.

It's hard to believe that some of us are only a generation or two away from our own immigrant roots, while some of us are just beginning our journey as today's entrepreneurs. 

Our wine history shares much of it's past with Santa Cruz, Sonoma and Napa Counties, where Santa Clara Valley families moved their wine making facilities after Prohibition and the housing boom here in the 1950's. If you explore those Santa Cruz, Sonoma and Napa Valley family names, you will see a similar salute to rugged and determined immigrant families who brought their native skills to the wines and vines of California, then stayed on to build civic centers, libraries, hospitals, and community places of pride and service, for today's families.

-------------

For more information about California Wine History, please see my Wine History Page and explore the wonderful books by Charles L. Sullivan, who taught a Wine History course at De Anza College for many years, and who was honored by the Wine Literary Foundation in 2008 for his exhaustive and intelligent work as a regional wine historian. 

--------

(1) Historic San Jose: Tales of Naglee Park, Second Revised Edition by Jack Douglas: A project of the Campus Community Association. (Page 23, "Naglee Brandy" Chapter.)
Published by Campus Community Association, c. 2001, ISBN 0-9668707-2-7
(Articles originally appeared in the Campus Community Association newsletter.)