Then As Now
John Rico
As the decade of the ‘70 came upon us just a few days ago there was concern and speculation as to just what the next 10 years would be like. Residents of our yesteryear in Vacaville, who saw the century of the 1800 pass on, and the new century of the 1900’s come into view, were as much perplexed as are those of us today, wondering, hoping, and daring to predict for the future. For some of the happenings of 69 years ago, we turn to the Vacaville Reporter file of that year and at random pick out some of the amusing points that made news:
A man has been in town this week buying horses for the United States government. He is paying good prices for the horses and has secured many.
The football teams of Vacaville and Elmira played to a 5 to 5 tie last Saturday. It was a game between brain and brawn. Elmira outweighed, but Vacaville outplayed.
Last Tuesday afternoon while Fred Reams was driving Peterson’s delivery wagon down Elizabeth street, a tug broke, frightening the horse and causing him to run the wagon into a fence. Fred, who was still holding the lines, was pulled in¬to the mud but was unhurt.
Girls, don’t hang around the depot unless you are going away or are there to meet friends, and don’t go to church and take a back seat with your escort and then whisper and giggle through the service.
The north wind which began to blow Sunday was very welcome. It has dried up the moist fields and permitted the sowing of grain to be renewed. Generally, the north wind is an unmitigated evil from the North Pole to the Isthmus of Darien, but it was certainly welcome this time.
There should be an effort to secure an all-night telephone service. Vacaville now has 80 subscribers, and is one of the best telephone towns in the state, according to size. In fact there are few places where the telephone company receives as large an income per capita as from Vacaville.
John Reed narrowly escaped serious injury last Wednesday. He was doing some hauling when his team became frightened and suddenly started to run. A clothesline caught Reed and he was pulled from the wagon. He was only bruised.
Lum Ah Tany, who fired a shot from ambush at Ah Tom on the 1st of November as the latter stood in front of his place of business on Dobbins Street has been brought to trial and was sentenced to two years in Folsom. The defendant may thank his Chinese saints and bless his Chin¬ese stars, that he got off as well as he did.
We think from all the statistics available, the cherry crop in Vacaville this year should be worth about $40,000. In another venture, F. C. Chapman has started to crack apri¬cot pits for making oil and prussic acid by-products.
Local youngsters have been warned repeatedly not to ride on top of the boxcars as the train travels near the depot, and furthermore youngsters have been noticed stealing rides on the train’s cowcatcher.
An early riser Sunday morning reported 20 drunks lying around the street. The men who labor only long enough to be filled up with bug-juice had better be removed from temptation.
On Friday of last week a miscreant smashed an apricot cutter at Frank Buck’s upper ranch. The party doing the act is certainly an unintelligent friend of labor. No one but a fool would destroy a machine to cut apricots.
Some of the merchants have been warned not to sweep trash and papers into the street. When any offender gets into court we shall hope for a fine of not less than $25 to make him understand that his convenience must sometimes be sub¬ordinated to the demands of others.
Mrs. Philip Lepley was injured on the road near Walter Black-lock’s house last Sunday. Two Japanese were riding on bicycles and ran into the horses causing them to run. The Japanese, realizing they were responsible for the accident, paid for the damages done to the wagon and harness.
And that’s what happened in the year of 1900—just 69 years ago in Vacaville.
About
This is an archive of "Around Vacaville" written by John Rico for the Vacaville Reporter Newspaper. Mr. Rico was the Publisher of the Reporter from 1935 to 1973.
His love for his community continued throughout the years as he chronicled Vacaville's history in his personal weekly column, "Around Vacaville".
Mr. Rico passed away in October of 2001.
