The San Joaquin Historian · Volume IX, New Series, Number 1 The San Joaquin Historian Quarterly...

Volume IX New Series Number 1

The San Joaquin Historian

Quarterly Journal of The San Joaquin County Historical Society Spring 1995

This Issue

Robert Shellenberger Editor

Published by

The San Joaquin County Historical Society Inc

Micke Grove Regional Park po Box 30

Lodi CA 95241 - 0030 (209) 331-2055 (209) 953-3460

Gary Christopherson President

Craig Rasmussen President-Elect

Elise Austin Forbes Secretary

Robert F McMaster Vice-President

Alan H Johnson Vice-President

Olive Davis Vice-President

Robert Shellenberger Vice-President

Timothy J Hachman Past President

The Society a non-profit corporation meets the fourth Monday monthly except July Augustand December Membership includes subscriptions to the San Joaquin Historian and the monthly newsletter News and Notes Additional copies may be purchased at the Museum

The Society operates the San Joaquin County Historical Museum at Micke Grove Regional Park in partnership with San Joaquin County The Society maintaIns an office at the Museum

Manuscripts relating to the history of San Joaquin County or the Delta will always be considered The editor reserves the rignt to shorten material based on local interest and space considerations Inquiry should be made through the Museum office

San Joaquin County

Historical Society and Museum

Michael W Bennett Director

copy 1995 San Joaquin County Historical Society Inc

In telling the important story of George Harris and the Harris Harvester Bill Biddick takes us back to the era when Stockton was the second largest manufacturing center in California (after San Francisco) an era when Stockton industrialists were on the cutting edge of the mechanical revolution in agricultural

Wheat was what San Joaquin County was all about in the last century Flour mills lined Stockton Channel Over 1000 vessels per year were carrying Valley produce and Stockton machinery to San Francisco and thence to the world By 1890 California ranked second in wheat production in the US

In the 1870s farmers back east tended to remain in a subsistence era consuming much of what they grew and with little cash for new machines The Great Plains still had buffalo and Indian Wars But the big Far West with its huge bonanza farms had the need and the money for new technology

The combined harvester had been conceived and even built as early as 1836 It didnt work well but the basics were there Here in San Joaquin County a number of farmers and manufacturers rushed to fill the local need all at about the same time In 1870 the machine didnt exist Then William Marvin built one that ran for nearly 20 years Dave Young and Je Hoult built their Centennial in 1876 Hoult was locally regarded as the inventor of the combine By 1890 the grain grower had his choice of nearly a dozen machines all built locally (See page 4)

It cannot be fairly said that the combined harvester was invented in San Joaquin County but there is little doubt that it was perfected and made practical by local talent We exported the machine along with its peculiar lore to the rest of the grain growing world It is a forgotten San Joaquin County legacy

The combined harvester brought about a revolution the most important agricultural invention of the last 300 years according to one historian And it is as much a product of San Joaquin County as the gang plow Ben Holts caterpillar tractor or Bob LeTourneaus rubber tired scrapper

011 The Cover This photo of a 1923 model Harris Side Hill harvester at

work was selected as perhaps best illustrating the Harris Harvester heritage The side hill machines were a favorite of George Harris and perhaps the best remembered of all Harris combines

Page 2 San Joaquin Historian Spring 1995

The Last Survivor

George Harris and

The Harris Harvester by

Judge William Biddick Jr

Introduction

Mention should be made at the outset of the reason why one whose career was entirely in the legal profession would be interested in George Harris and the Harris Combined Grain Harvester

George Harris was my uncle His wife Nellie and my mother Bertha were sisters They were two of nine children of James and Elizabeth Tretheway (originally spelled Trethewey) Jory James was a grain farmer in the Lockeford area and both he and my grandmother were born in Cornwall England They came to California separately in the 1860s and were married in 1870

George Harris was born in Cornwall in 1871 and came to Stockton in 1890 He was introduced to Nellie by Tretheway relatives and they were married in Lockeford in 1895

My father William Biddick Sr was also born in Cornwall and came to Stockton via Canada in 1910 Nellie and Bertha were the only two sisters of a family of nine children who married Cornishmen so there was a very close bond between the two families George was like a second father to me and the Harrises only child George Vernon Harris like an older brother George died in 1934 when I was almost fourteen

Vernon as he was called married Ruth Hamman 1928 after his graduation from the College of the

Pacific and they had one child Vemyce Dee who married Jack Wickware in 1949

Vernon and Floyd Mitchell chief engineer at Harris for twenty years operated the Harris plant for seven years after Georges death under the name of Harris and Mitchell

Vernon had retained many records of the Harris Company which operated under several names including the original Harris Manufacturing Company and later Harris Machinery Company and Harris Harvester Company

These records dating from the early 1900s include sales brochures parts catalogues operating manuals business correspondence photos customer lists letters and numerous other documents

After Vernon died in 1973 and WALLAWAUA Washington Ruth In 1979 the records were left

to Vernyce Dee who had lived in Orinda California for many years Vernyce Dee died early in 1994 and her surviving husband Jack has

made available all of these records to me

There are two Harris Harvesters at the San Joaquin County Historical Museum at Micke Grove one under cover and one outside described later on in more detail Jack and I thought it would be of general interest to those concerned with the agricultural history of the area to organize the Harris materials and prepare an account of an important chapter in the history of agricultural machinery

Spring 1995 San Joaquin Historian Page 3

George Harris at work in his office in 1918

This was his normal office attire but his gnarled and calloused hands reveal he was a hands-on supervisor

Walking to Work

This was the era when the working man expected to commute to work by walking So too with owners management and their families None of Harris family originally lived more than four blocks from the plant

In the early days George and Nellie lived at 837 N Pilgrim Street the southwest corner of Pilgrim and Poplar across the street from the Jewish Cemetery and in easy walking distance of the factory Nellies parents my grandparents

James and Elizabeth Jory lived around the comer on Flora between Pilgrim and Ophir My grandparents had moved into Stockton when my grandfather retired from farming My mother lived with them until she married my father in 1917

In the early twenties George and Nellie moved to 1345 N Lincoln Street on the West side of town where they both lived for the remainder of their lives George dying in 1934 and Nellie in 1962


Background A brief background is necessary to understand the

development of the combined harvester and the state of the industry when the young George Harris went to work for Matteson and Williamson in Stockton in the early 1890s The word combine or combined means that the machine performed the combined functions of cutting threshing and cleaning

Prior to 1876 all combines were made to order In that year Matteson and Williamson began to manufacture a standard combine Dr E W Hilgard a University of California professor referred to a wondrous and fearful combination of header thresher and sacking wagon moving in a procession side-by-side through the doomed grain

Don Carlos Matteson came to California overland in 1850 went back to illinois then returned overland in 1852 He entered into a partnership with T P Williamson in 1865 Dr William CampbelL a retired Stockton dentist is the great-grandson of Don Carlos Matteson Interestingly enough Dr Campbell and his wife Addie were good friends of Vernon and Ruth Harris

Matteson and Williamson purchased the block bounded by Main Market Grant and Aurora in 1870 for $7500 The factory was located on this block and four new buildings were added in 1883 In 1890 the firm manufactured sixty harvesters

Another combine placed on the market in 1876 was built by Daniel Houser and David Young In 1881 Houser fonned a partnership with George Haines and began the manufacture of the famous Haines-Houser combine This pioneer firm was also located in Stockton There is a 1904 Haines-Houser in the Holt Room of the Haggin Museum in Stockton

Eventually Benjamin Holt purchased the rights of Matteson and Williamson in 1895 as well as the patents of Houser and Haines in1901

By 1890 the transition to combined harvesters was taking place with great rapidity and by 1900 the change was complete on the huge bonanza farms Although these giant farms were then in the process of subdivision still two-thirds of all wheat in the San Joaquin Valley was being harvested by combines

Pioneer Combined Harvester Inventors and Builders Builder Model Started Comment

William Marvin Marvin Harvester 1869 Discontinued 1872

Je Hoult amp David Young Centennial Harvester 1875 Discontinued 18

Dan Houser Houser Harvester 1882 Sold toSCHampA Works 1886

Herbert Benton Benton Harvester 1884 Discontinued 1885

James Trethewey Trethewey Harvester 1884 Discontinued 1884 Samuel Gaines Gaines Harvester 1885 Discontinued 1888

George Minges 1-1inges Harvester 1884 Discontinued 1887

Dr Myers Myers Harvester 1884 Discontinued 1885 David Young Young Harvester 1885 Sold to Benicia Agr Works in 1889 DE Matteson Matteson amp Williamson 1884 Sold to Holt 1amp6

LUShippee Stkn Combined Harvester 1884 Bumedin ISW amp Agricultural Works

Daniel Best Daniel Best 1885 Merged with Holt Mfg Co

Benjamin Holt Holt Harvester 1885 Became Caterpillar 1925

JH Houserj Geo Haines Houser amp Haines 1~ Sold to Holt 1 ltm HT Preble amp FL Kincaid Victor Harvester 1892 Sold to Holt I894 Ingersoll amp Tesch Ingersoll amp Tesch 1895 Sold to Holt 18977

George Harris Harris Harvester Im Ooorl Stockton plant 16 Built in Fresno through 17

Source TI~omas H Luke - 1929


Early Years By 1902 George Harris had become supershy

intendent and manager of Matteson and Williamson by then owned by Holt and in that same year started his own firm Charles Cullums who was employed by Holt joined my Uncle George

The business started as a small harvester repair shop The first few years were devoted to ~epairing and rebuilding and to experimenting With a gas engine assisted harvester that would withst~nd extremely severe conditions With the threshmg cleaning and separating machinery being indepenshydently powered by the gas engine it was poampltibie to greatly reduce the number of horses required for pullshying the machine since they did not have to also proshyvide traction power

Early harvesters without the auxshyiliary engine proshyvided power for the cutting threshing and cleaning opershyations by gearing this machinery to two of the turning wheeJs-often called the bull wheelsI Thus the horses had to not only pull hard enough to move the combine they had to pull hard enough to also operate all the attached machinery Early day harvesters with power transferred from the wheels were called ground powered The Haines-Houser in the Haggin Museum is ground-powered

The firm was incorporated in 1904 as the Harris Manufacturing Company originally located in a small factory at Park and Ophir Streets in Stockton (Ophir is now Airport Way)

The original incorporators were George Harris and Charles Cull urns each with 23040 shares of stock James Trethewey with 3840 shares and Nellie Harris and Ada CulluffiS each with 40 shares

James Trethewey a carpenter and a Cornishman was a first cousin of my grandmother Elizabeth Tretheway Jory He was born in 1854 and died in 1ltni when tlle firm was in its infancy He had built a harshyvestor in 1884 The original patent for his Traveling Harvester was obtained by James Trethewey in 1904

Early in 1912 plans were made for the building of a new factory as the demand for gas harvesters was increasing dramatically The new plant was located on Wilson Way then called East Street at Park The address in later years was 702 N Wilson Way It occushypied four and one-half acres with five buildings and a combined floor area of 100000 square feet Railroad spur tracks had been constructed into the plant and over one hundred persons were employed

In the first detailed sales brochure printed in 1916 the harvesters are referred to as gas harvesters ie the operation of the combined functions of the harvester as distinguished from the pulling of the harvester was powered by a gas engine The placement of the engine was a distinctive feature of the Harris design

Two models were built at first the Upland Gas Harshyvester and the Lowland Gas Harvester The lowland harshyvester was intended for heavier work had a larger capacity and more engine power The upland model had a 30 inch cylinder a 42-12 inch separator an 18 inch by 6 foot main

wheel and a 40 horsepower 4 cylinder gas engine The lowland model had a 35 inch cylinder a 48-1 2 inch separator a 30 inch by 6 foot main wheel and a 45 horsepower 4 cylinder gas engine (Harvesters will be deSignated hereafter by cylinder and separator widths in inches with the cylinder size being first as 3042-143548-12)

The headers came in a variety of sizes and were not generally used to designate a model The cylind~r performed the primary function of threshing the gram while the separator was a complex series of operashytions to separate the grain from the chaff

It was not specified in the sales material who manshyufactured the gas engines but by 1918 Harris was prodUCing its own gas engines Earlier Ha~ris machines had been powered by an Atlas Manne engine

The lowland harvester which operated in the Delta had more power and also wider wheels for operation in the softer ground


UPLAND GAS HARVESTER Regular 11odel

PRINCIPAL DIMENSIONS

30 Inch Cylinder Main Wheel 18 In x 6 Ft

42 Inch Separator Front Wheel 12 In x 3 Ft

44 Inch Draper Horses Required 14 to 18

20 Foot Cut Capacity 30 to 50 Acres Per Day

Gas Motor 4 Cylinder 40 Horse Power

According to the brochure There is positively no other combined harvester on the market that will handle such a large volume at such a small cost for running expenses and upkeep It shows to the best advantage under exceptionally severe conditions Where other makes fail and give up the Harris Gas Harvester goes serenely on and handles the most difficult work

The pictures in the pamphlet show the harvesters being pulled by horses but the discussion of the lowland harvester states that it can be easily pulled by an average gas tractor

The concluding page of the brochure is a partial list of recent purchasers fifty nine in number with an invitation to readers to contact them about their experiences with Harris Harvesters The addresses are from throughout the Central Valley plus addresses in Oregon and Idaho

The following purchasers are listed from San Joaquin County

Spring 1995 San Joaquin Historian

Ansbro Bros FredKuckuk Jones Bros JEMeyers Von Glahn and Turner Borden and Cantrell Diando and Del Carlo Geoljen and Rhodes NKoster Gerlack Bros Hannah and Grimsley J S amp G A Sanguinetti Alex Salmon E C amp G A Steinmetz Fabian-GrunauerCo Giovacchini Bros

Banta Stockton Neoon Banta Escalon Victoria Island Roberts Island Banta Vernalis Tracy Stockton Peters Lathrop Banta Tracy Stockton

A selected price list which was published with the first brochure in 1916 lists prices as follows

3O42-l2Standard 3548-12Standard 4O54-l2Standard

$3400 $3850 $4100

Page 7

The 1918 Harris Gas Motor-40-45 horesepower

A new brochure was printed in 1918 which indicated that the business was thriving The area of the factory had now expanded to eleven acres and there were now in the neighborhood of two hundred employees

The 1918 publication again offers both upland and lowland gas harvesters with the same dimensi~s an~ specifications as the 1916 models Featu~ed In this presentation is the Side Hill Harvester which was to be a key machine in the Harris models for many years This model had only received passing mention in the 1916 brochure According to the description The Harris Side Hill is built for extreme heavy work and will operate on the most extreme hillsides and on account of the even distribution of weight will stay to the hill and cut a full cut at all times

Harvesters are depicted being pulled by tractors but also by horses The number of horses or mules required for pulling the lowland harvester was specified as 14 to 18 Ground-powered harvesters would be pulled by 30 or more The distinctive feature of the side-hill model was that the header or cutting machinery could be elevated or depressed The wheels also adjusted so that the separator could remain level

The two centerfold pages of the publication contain pictures of Harris FourCy~de~Gas E~gines Harris manufactured its own engmes In two SIZes at this time 4O-4S and 50-55 horsepower Later smaller engines were also produced The engine is described as valve-in-head with high carbon steel crank shafts chrome nickel valves throttling governor high tension impulse starting magneto force f~ oilers on cylinderslarge crank shaft planetary fnctlOn ~utch and two exhaust manifolds The Harris gas engme IS now an important component of the sales promotion

Some of the old-timers say that the Harris gas engine was very similar to the Holt One said that

Harris paid Holt a set amount for each Harris engine produced but there are no records or correspondence to support this

Harris was also manufacturing combined bean harvesters made in two sizes A letter from G A Turner of the Old River Farms headquartered in Stockton on the letterhead of the California Bean Growers Association states that in 1918 Old River Farms discontinued the use of all machines but the Harris and that they used four of the same

Another letter from River Farms Company of California with offices in San Francisco referring to grain harvesters advised that they had six Harris Harveiers in use and were ordering five more

The Twenties

By 1920 Charles Cullums was no longer associated with Harris George Harris remained alt president and F H Kennedy had become vice-president and actively involved in management Other direct~rs were F J Viebrock C E Williams Edward F Hams a banker but no relation to George and attorney O B Parkinson

The firm had financial problems in 1921 Demand exceeded production in 1920 Preparation for 1921 resulted in stockpiling of material not required in 1921 due to a business recession in agriculture The crisis was weathered with the issuance of bonds

A new issue of sales brochures was printed in 1923 By this time a second plant for the assembly of harvesters had been established at Walla Walla in eastern Washington just north of the Oregon border The decision to establish a branch plant in Walla Walla was armounced in October 1919 with large feature stories in two Walla Walla papers the Union and the Bulletin The articles stated that Harris had purchased an existing factory the Gilbert Hunt plant which had produced agricultural machinery including the Pride of Washington Thresh~ng Machine It walt further armounced that the operatIon would commence as an assembly plant

By the end of 1920 the plant was ready to commence operations with 90 harvesters to be produced for the 1921 season Progress reports appeared over the next sever~l years in a l~cal monthly magazine Up-To-The-Tttne~ The operation continued as an assembly plant With 30 to 40 men being employed

The 1923 offering of harvesters was five standard machines and three side hill models The largest harvester manufactured was the 40-54-12 which was the largest combine then manufactured It was referred to as The Giant This machine came with a 20 or 24 foot header


A 1919 Harris Hemp Machine at work in San Joaquin County

The other standard harvesters were the 35-4812 the 30-42 12 the 24-36 12 and the 22-33 12 The headers were in various sizes all the way down to 12 feet All models were still equipped with Harris engines with horsepower ratings from 50-55 down to 25-30

The largest of the harvesters was designed for work in the Delta The 30-4212 was the original standard size

Harris as it expanded in the Northwest found a receptive market for the side hill combine The first side hill was a 26-3612 but conditions dictated smaller and lighter machines for side hill work In 1923 a 24-36 12 model was manufactured with a smaller engine In 1923 an even smaller model was featured a 22-33 12 For the first time the Harris engine was replaced on this model with a Lycoming Model C4 This was described as a very durable engine exceptionally well adapted for its purpose and possessing a very considerable reserve of power

The customer letters extolling the virtues of the Harris Side Hill were for the most part from Oregon and Washington

A typical letter reads ao follows

All of my land is very steep and hilly and from varied experience with other haroesters will say the Harris stays to the side hill cutting afull swath at all times and saving all grain It is far superior to any of the other makes of machines

In the 1928 sales brochure the customer letters again are mainly from Oregon and Washington and from users of the 22-33 12 model This model was one used by farmers on relatively modest--sized farms and would indicate that the huge corporate farms of earlier years which used large numbers of large standard harvesters were no longer as common

Instructions for the care and operation of Harris Harvesters issued during this period emphasize the fact that the harvesters were made of wood

Han-is Harvesters are made ofwood The very highest grade ofpine and fir make up the main frame and body The reason for this is obvious On no other type of farm machinery are there more jolts jars and strains to be absorbed These working conditions demand aresilient yet light and strong construction Nothing can compare with clear straight-grained wood for securing these qualities The best ofwooo Iwwever will shrink andfor this reason it is very important to keep the bolts and nuts tight


Troubled Times The business records and correspondence of the

Harris Company from 1928 and 1929 along with newspaper clippings indicate that the company was having financial problems Attempts were being made to secure additional financing In 1929 the stockholdshyers twenty-five in number executed a Consent to Transfer under which the Board of Directors could sell or transfer all of the business and assets of the Harris Manufacturing Company a California Corporation to Harris Harvester Compashyny a Nevada corporashytion for a consideration consisting of preferred and common stock in the Nevada corporation The principal stockholdshyers of Harris Manufacshyturing at that time were George Harris and G J Hollenbeck

News stories in the Stockton Record in 1928 and 1929 state that Edward F Harris former president of the Commercial and Savings Bank in Stockton and a longtime Harris director had taken over the manageshyment of the company

In 1929 Edward Harris identified in a news story as president and general manager of Harris Manufacshyturing announced production of a new tractor and a motor--driven railroad hand-car This production was designed to keep the plant busy in the off-season when the harvester production was down There is no further mention of any production of the new lines although Harris tractors were again manufactured after World War II (The San Joaquin County Museum collection includes a rare Harris four wheel drive Power Horse tractor currently being restored)

I do know that my uncle continued to be active in the operation of the plant But the country was

c 1934 Side Hill Model with bulk grain handling equpment

gross weight of 15 tons and was the largest harvester

One bright spot 1mS the shipment oftwo carloads of manufactured in the world at that time 35-48-1t2 harvesters to Russia in 1931 This model

The days when the had agross weight of15 tons and 1mS the largest Central Valley was a sea of

grain from one end to theharvester manufoctured in the rrorld at that time other were long past And the days of the huge grain farms

nowheading into a deep depression and the business had financial difficulties although continuing to manushyfacture harvesters

Articles in the Stockton Record in 1933 indicate the reduced activity at the Harris plant Forty-three harvesters were shipped in 1932 although normal proshyduction was said to be 150 Seasonal operations were employing between 75 and 150 workers but the off-season employment was only SO

One bright spot was the shipment of two carloads of 35-48-12 harvesters to Russhysia in 1931 This model had a

with a demand for fleets of harvesters were also gone

During these difficult days one of the chief financial officers of the company embezzled a large sum of money from the company and was charged and conshyvicted The prosecution was handled by District Attorshyney Guard Darrah father of retired Superior Court Judge James Darrah and father-in-law of Stockton Mayor Joan Darrah

At about this time my uncle was diagnosed as havshying cancer These were the early days of radiation and the results of treatment were very severe We visited him at Stanford Lane Hospital in San Francisco and in his home on Lincoln Street

This was a very sad time in the family as it became obvious that the condition was terminal He died on Easter Sunday April 1 1934 at the age of 63 He was buried in the Jory family plot in the Pioneer Harmony Grove Cemetery on Locke Road near Lockeford

0 San Joaquin Historian Spring 1995

The Patents George Harris had no special training in

engineering He had a standard elementary school education in England and an apprenticeship in carpentry but the rest of his knowledge and expertise came on the job This was not at all unusual in those days and was the common pattern for most of the pioneer manufacturers of agricultural machinery

He had many patents in his field which demonstrates the breadth of his interests and his innovative talents

Jack Wickware the surviving husband of George Harriss granddaughter has obtained copies of many of these patents These were utilized in a paper prepared by Jeffrey Wickware the ten year old great great grandson of George Harris for a school project

The basic harvester patent as noted before was obtained in 1904 by James Trethewey and assigned to The Harris Manufacturing Company

James Trethewey himself produced one harvester in 1884 This was built by Joseph Martyn also a Cornishman and a carpenter He was the grandfather of Ed Hannay former Stockton City Councilman and Jessie Hannay a retired teacher living in Sacramento

A part of the Specification which is included within the Letters Patent for the harvester reads as follows

My invention relates to improvements in harvesting machinery of that class which is designed to cut thresh and clean grain during the travel of the machine over the field

My invention consists in the combination of parts including a gasoline-engine by which the cutting tllreshing and cleaning mechanism are driven while the mac1tine is hauled over the ground by separate and independent power and in details of construction which will be more fully explained by reference to the accompanying drawings

In the operation of machines of the class herein described it is common to haul such machines over the field either by large teams of horses or by traction-engines and the power to drive the sickle the transporting belt or draper and tie threshing and cleaning mechanism is generally derived from the main bearing wheels which depend on their traction moving over the ground to provide such power In some cases steam-engines have been mounted upon one side or upon the f0111Jard end of the harvester and so disposed as to do a portion of the work but it has been necessary to mount the engine upon such portion of the machine as to make an objectionable weight and strain upon the machine

It is the object of my invention to apply the power of a plurality of internal-combustion engines which are

centrally located and with such relation to the main bearing-wheels as to assist in counterbalancing the weight of the machine and by means of supporting-girders extending across the machine the engine is centrally located approximately above the threshing-cylinder and in position to transmit its power to best advantage to all parts which are to be driven by the engine

In the same year 1904 James Trethewey secured a second patent for a bean thresher and a one half interest in this patent was aSSigned to George Harris as an individual

Patents issued to George Harris were an Elastic Power Transmission Device in 1905 a series of five patents relating to headers in 1925 and 1926 a patent for a driving mechanism for harvesters in 1927 and one for a cargo net in 1934

Transition Years From 1935 following George Harriss death until

1941 the company was run by Floyd Mitchell who had been the Harris chief engineer for nearly twenty years and by Vernon Harris

Mitchell had acquired a one-third interest in the company before my uncles death My Aunt Nellie received my uncles two-thirds in the distribution of his estate She sold one-half of her interest to Vernon and the other one-half to Mitchell

The new sales brochure follows the format of earlier years but the name of the company is now The Harris Machinery Company rather than Harris Manufacturing The logo is the familiar triangle superimposed on the world globe but the name on the logo is Harris Harvester rather than Harris Manufacturing

Two models are described-both 2638 machines-one standard the other side hill with headers of varying sizes from 16 to 20 feet The engines in both are Waukesha 6 cylinder engines with a 48 horsepower rating

In February of 1941 a news story in the Stockton Record stated that Vernon Harris and Floyd Mitchell had sold their interests in the company According to the story the operation of the plant for the first three years after George Harriss death was devoted almost entirely to the manufacture of parts for Harris Harvesters The firm had however built 142 harvesters in the three years preceding the sale The Harris Company was in 1941 the only manufacturer of combines in the West The story further states that it was for many years the largest exclusive manufacturer of combines in the world a claim which is also made in sales publications over the years


The Watson Years-World War II He recalls that in addition to war contracts Harris

Photo of Harris employees in 1915 George Harris is in second row third from right


In the late 308 and on into the W orld War II years Harris promoted and produced a much praised flax harvester called Cal Flax The inventor was Waldo W Weath of the University of California Chief engineer was E J Remple The distinguishing feature of the harvester was the use of rubber rollers

Agricultural writer Hal Higgins described the machine as doing the most perfect job In 1941 the company manufactured 50 Cal Flax Harvesters

The president and general manager of the reorganshyized firm was Dean D Watson a past president of the California Real Estate Association and a man with extensive farming interests in the Brentwood area Other officers were Paul Yancey vice-president and treasurer Eugene D Wilkinson vice-president attorshyney Stephen Dietrich F B Wray of Davis and Harry Craviotto of Berkeley Wilkinson was a prominent grain buyer who operated under the name of E D Wilkinson Grain Co and also as a partner in Wilkinshyson and Schuler Dietrich was a member of the firm of Rutherford Jacobs Cavalero and Dietrich

During World War II the reorganized company converted the major part of its facilities to the producshytion of military equipment such as wooden cargo truck bodies wood and steel trailers combat vehicles ship sections for later assembly and the rebuilding of jeeps During the war years it did not engage in the full scale production of harvesters as in the 1920s when it proshyduced two hundred harvesters a year 80 percent of which were sold before being built

I have had the opportunity of interviewing two men who were with Harris during the World War II and postwar period Fred Nessler of Stockton was with the company from 1942 to 1948 His father had also worked at the plant He became General Foreman before leaving to go to the Supermold Company in Lodi

pammiddot

had contracts with Sears to produce substantial quantishyties of hay rakes trailers and camper trailers

The plant continued to operate in Stockton up to 1956 and continued to manufacture harvesters switchshying to steel construction and self-propelled machines Self-propelled machines are referred to as pushers to distinguish them from older pull-type machines Harris also manufactured the Power Horse Tractor during this period

During most of this period Dean Watson was presishydent with J W Bauman as vice-president and plant manager Cliff Burroughs was in charge of research and development on harvesters

In 1952 there was a change in top management with E D Wilkinson becoming president and G P Sanguinetti vice-president and general manager

Lenard Daetwiler of Lodi went to work for Harris in 1945 and stayed until 1953 eventually becoming shop foreman

Both men recall substantial production of the self-propelled Harris Harvester Daetwiler recalls the production of over 100 harvesters in one year

Both are of the opinion that over-cornrnitrnent to production for Sears and lack of success with the Power Horse Tractor contributed to the ultimate closure of the plant in Stockton

Also in the 20s and 308 the dominance in agriculshytural machinery and manufacturing had shifted to the Mid-West Holt had established its first plant in Peoria in 1909 the first large Western manufacturer to move East

The development of water resources in California also changed the pattern of farming in the state from large holdings and dry-farming to smaller farms and more intensive cultivation

The Gates Close Harris sold off its agricultural

manufacturing equipment in 1956 At the time of the auction the Stockton Record ran an editorial which serves as an epitaph to the manufacture of the combined harshyvester in Stockton

Through information furnished by Robert Disch of Lockeford I was able to contact the successors to the Harris interests and trace the later activities of the company

After the closing down of the Harris factory in Stockton in 1956 the manufacturing and patent rights to Harris Harvesters were sold to Harvester Implements Inc a division of Wilkerson and Nutwell owned by Gus Wilkerson and located at 190 Santa Fe A veshynue in Fresno Production conshytinued in Fresno of the self -propelled harvester developed in Stockton

Disch a third generation grain farmer on his ranch has a Harris self-propelled harvester made at the Fresno plant It is a 2442 powered by a Hercules 100 HP engine It was acquired by him used in 1966

In 1964 B C Mathews of the M-C firm of Crystal Lake lllinois purchased the Harris rights from Harvester Implements and conshytinued manufacturing harvesters through 1967 in Fresno

I have been able to obtain a Harris Operation and Mainshytenance Manual prepared by Harshyvester Implements in 1958 and a sales brochure prepared by Harris Harvester Co in 1967 after Mathews acquired the company The last model produced was known as the 908 and was a self propelled hillside machine with a 30 cylinder and a 42-12 separashytor powered by aIlS HP Hershycules engine The 908 was the larshygest Harris made at the Fresno facshytory

The harvesters were operated

Spring 1995

by one person and the header was in the front rather than on the side Grain was harvested in bulk and transferred directly to an accompanying grain truck

End OfAgricultural Pioneer

No history ofgrain fanning in the West could be written without refershyence to the Harris Manufacturing Company In one sense it was the sucshycessor to the plant in which the first combined reaper and thresher was built in the West and perhaps in the nation for the founder George Harshyris was a superintendent ofthe origishynal enterprise

The impending auction of the Harshyris property on Wilson Way recalls the factoryS long association with western agriculture Throughout this region its harvesting machinery and that of another Stockton company Holt was the standard ofcomparison To a large degree the farming develshyopmen t of California was made pC6Sishyble by the machines invented and manufactured here

It may be said in fact that Harris and Holt pointed the way to the kind of industrial economy for which Stockton later would become noted This city continues to be acenter for the manufacture offarm equipment and for the fabrication and processing necessary to serve farmers in Califorshymao

One theory concerning the busishyness reverses which make the auction necessary is that the Harris company overexpanded to meet the demands placed on it by the war effort If this be true it is an ironic ending for an establishment whose start and long period success was founded on the peacetime needforfood and fodder

Stockton Record May 12 1956

In 1978 Farm and Home Supshyply Inc of Pomeroy Washington owned by Ferd Herres purchased the Harris rights from Mathews and continues to supply spare parts for the late model Harrises

San Joaquin Historian

Manufacturing of harvesters was never resumed (Pomeroy is in Eastern Washington about 65 miles north of Walla Walla)

Mr Herres has provided me with an invoice of the last Harris Harvester that he sold a Hillside 908 The date of sale was July 20 1970 although the harvester was manufactured in 17 The price was $2167200 including sales tax and the purchaser was Houser amp Son Inc of Clarkston Washingshyton

The property and plant of the Harris Company in Stockton was purchased in 1961 by Wilson Way Warehouse from the Bank of Amershyica which had previously reposshysessed the property in 1959 after the cessation of manufacturing in Stockton All of the machinery and contents of the buildings had preshyviously been sold-off Dr Joseph Barkett of Stockton was the spokesshyman for Wilson Way Warehouse For over twenty years the premises were operated as a storage facility However the age and condition of the buildings constituted a safety hazard and the buildings were levshyeled and the site cleared in 1981

In 1989-90 the first portions of the Eastland Plaza Shopping Censhyter were constructed on the premisshyes Later additional adjoining propshyerty was acquired and the expanshysion of the Center has continued up to the present

The Harris Company under several names operated with either George Harris or Vernon Harris and Floyd Mitchell from 1902 to 1941 a total of thirty-nine years The heyday of the company in the manufacture of combined harshyvesters was from 1912 when the expanded plant was built until 1934 a total of twenty-two years However harvesters were still proshyduced through 1967 so that Harris Harvesters were manufactured for a total of sixty-five years fifty-four of those being in Stockton

Page 13

The Harris Legacy There are two Harris Harvesters at the Micke

Grove Museum The one under cover is painted the traditional Harris red It was manufactured in 1919 and its serial number is 959 Many of the harvesters have serial numbers but I have been unable to locate a master list of numbers It is a 26-36 12 sidehill model Miss Grace I Nelson of Roberts Island donated it to the Museum in 1974 It was used on the Nelson ranch and pulled by a Caterpillar Tractor which also belongs to the museum The harvester had a header which made a 20 foot cut and was powered by a 40-45 HP Harris Engine number 735

The larger of the two harvesters is outside and has been repainted green It is a 35-48-12 standard model powered by a Harris 50-55 HP engine The harvester was purchased in 1919 and was donated by Jacob Sandoval and Robert Gruwell in memory of the Gruwell Family of Farmington

One of the early and operable Harris Harvesters still in existence is owned by Clifford (Cliff) Koster of Tracy It was purchased by his grandfather Nicolaus Koster in 1914 It is a standard machine and is the largest harvester manufactured by Harris a 40-5412 with a 24 foot header known as The Giant This 1914 harvester was powered by a 50 HP Atlas Marine engine manufactured in San Francisco Later models of the same size had Harris 55 HP valve in head engines

This harvester operated regularly from 1914 to 1958 From 1947 to 1958 Cliff Koster was the separator man or boss on the harvester He still lives on the family farm and has operated the harvester in a demonstration project every other year in the even years since 1972 as a part of the biennial meeting of the Early Day Gas EngineTractor Association at the Koster Ranch It is pulled by a Holt 75 Caterpillar manufactured in 1922 or 23 Cliff was preceded on the farm by his grandfather and his father William Koster

Cliff has handwritten a fascinating memo on the history and operation of the Harris Combined Harvester which I have used in preparing this portion of my artide

The crew on this big red consisted of the separator man or boss header tender tractor operator (cat skinner) and three sack sewers or two sewers and a jig The sack jigger hung the sacks and jigged them to get the maximum amount of grain in the sack and then took the sack to the sewer There were also two sack bucks on a truck or wagon to pick up the sacks and take them to the pile In 1942 the 1914 Koster harvester was modified for bulk harvesting

eliminating the need for sacks

Harvester crews were professional and followed the harvest starting at Tulare Lake in early May moving up the Central Valley and on to Oregon and Washington through the summer

The owner bunked the men in the bunk house and the owners wife was full-time and then some feeding six to eight men three times a day

The Kosters liked to average 1200-1300 sacks a day They did cut as many as 1500 but ordinarily didnt like to crowd or overwork a machine There were 225 bushels of grain in a standard sack with a sack of barley weighing around 105 pounds and wheat around 135 pounds

Certain characterizations of the Harris machines are shared by the old-timers The harvester was designed so that each succeeding function had more capacity than the previous function Once the grain got through the cylinder the rest of the machine took care of the material According to Cliff The Holt could hog in a little more grain but the Harris did a better job of saving the grain The authors of The Grain Harvesters Graeme R Quick and Wesley F Buchele characterize the Harris grain separation system as designed to steadily increase crop flow by maintaining each processing element at a slightly higher speed than the previous one

The Harris Harvesters during George Harriss days were made of wood The preVailing opinion among farmers was that George Harris personally selected his wood buying only ltl clear straight grain with no knots

The operators of the wooden harvesters tended to look down on the tin rigs which were smaller noisier and not nearly as smooth in operation

The Harris was known as a machine that was made by craftsmen who cared about their work and its performance was COnsistently rated as superior

Some of the language from the 1916 Harris brochure illustrates the concern with quality

They are substantially built ofthe best materials All woodwork is put together with mortises tenons and draw pins and every joint goes together with paint All siding is painted before being put together and screws are used instead of nails All shaft bearings are in perfect alignment as we take particular pains to babbitt all bearings after the shafts are set in the machine Theframe is exceptionally rigid and strong All joints are well braced and reinforced In fact it is practically impossible to spring or warp aHarris Frame

One problem noted by Cliff and others was the performance of the original barrel radiator which did


not cool the engine adequately and which leaked A common practice was to install a Best 75 tractor radiator as a replacement

It is hard to do justice in this article to many of the observations that Cliff has made on the practical operation of the Harris Giant such as the problem of keeping the header just far enough from the ground to avoid taking in rocks and damaging the cylinder or lifting the header properly on a tum to permit the header axle to move in a slot and avoid pushing the header wheel Sideways and perhaps breaking the header

Another old model Harris which is in storage and could probably be operated is on the Disch ranch in Lockeford It is a 24-36 12 manufactured in 1925 and acquired by the Disch family in 1928 It has a Harris 25-30 HP engine and makes an 18 cut It was used regularly until 1966 and was operated for a special demonstration in 1975 when it harvested 80 acres of grain

There is a 1919 Harris Side Hill a 26-36 12 model in the Fort Walla Walla Museum in Walla Walla Washington where Harris operated its assembly plant for many years A comment from Virgil BenningtoI an ex-salesman for Harris is that none of these machines were sold in the Walla Walla area as they were too large About 15 of these machines were sold in the Pendleton-Wasco areas

The harvester was owned by Cy Curl of Adams Oregon and purchagted by his father

The really unique feature of the exhibit is that the

The Harris Bean Harvester c 1918 Harris also designed and built special harvesters for flax and hemp

harvester is being pulled by 33 full-size fiberglass mules Normally though a gas powered harvester would not require this number of mules

For many years Harris and Holt were fierce competitors although Holt manufactured the world renowned Holt Caterpillar Tractor as well as the combine In 1925 Holt consolidated with the Best Manufacturing Company of San Leandro California and the tractor plant was moved to Peoria I1Iinois The consolidated firm known as the Western Harvester Company continued to manufacture harvesters in Stockton until 1930 at which time the plant was closed The harvester rights of Western Harvester had been purchased by John Deere in 1935 After 1930 Harris was the only manufacturer of combined harvesters in the West For one reason or another more Harris Harvesters seem to have survived in this area than Holt

The manufacturers in Stockton were unquestionably the pre--eminent leaders in the development and manufacture of the combine in this part of the country

Ninety percent of combines are now manufactured in the Midwest by the Big Four John Deere Massey-Ferguson Case (successor to International Harvester Company) and Allis-Chalmers

Our rich local heritage is fortunately being kept alive by area museums and by dedicated volunteers who help to preserve machines and material for the generations who might otherwise be unaware of this great history


Personal and Family Recollections George came to California with his brother John

Trethewey Harris who was a year and half older than George but John returned to Cornwall after two years and lived there the rest of his life The two brothers corresponded regularly until Georges death and most of Johns letters have been preserved George returned to Cornwall just once in 1901 when he and Nellie spent three months traveling and visiting relatives

Cornwall is the westernmost County in England a part of what is known as the West Country It is separated from the rest of England by the River Tamar Until the current century it was fairly remote from the rest of England Its people are of Celtic origin like the Irish Welsh and Bretons and had their own language as late as the eighteenth century

Until the middle of the nineteenth century Cornwalls economy was based largely on mining tin copper and china clay But the mines played out and there was a large migration of the Cornish for economic reasons with many going to mining areas in California Colorado Michigan Wisconsin and PennsylVania

I recall that my uncle along with my Aunt Nellie would drive up to Walla Walla in their Buick As I grew older I was in charge of watering the lawn at their lincoln Street home just a few blocks from ours when they were on trips These were the days before automatic sprinklers and the regular use of airplane travel

Nearby on Ophir lived another sister of Nellies Edna Beckman whose husband was a key salesman for the Harris Company James Trethewey lived on Park between Ophir and Pilgrim Various other Tretheway relatives lived nearby When Vernon Harris graduated from the College of the Pacific in 1927 and married Ruth they also established their first home in the same neighborhood on Ophir

I have pleasant memories of my uncle As the only youngster in the two families in the 20s and 30s I was always included in automobile trips and picnics and there were of course many family get-togethers in a very large extended family

George Harris was a good-sized and fine-looking man very outgoing and friendly

Like many Cornishmen he had close ties to the Methodist Church and was a longtime member of the Central Methodist Episcopal Church then at the comer of Miner A venue and San Joaquin where the Bank of Stockton is now located He was for many years the Superintendent of the Sunday School and a good friend of B C Wallace the funeral director who was also a pillar of the Church He was on the Board

of Trustees of the College of the Pacific and served as vice-president of the Board In those days the ties of the College to the Methodist Church were very strong Tully Knoles president of the College of the Pacific was an ordained Methodist minister and very active at Central

My uncle was appointed to the first Stockton City Planning Commission in 1918 by Mayor Alex Oullahan He was also on the Board of Directors of Stockton Morris Plan from its inception in 1917 until his death

A Ralph Yardley Stockton Record cartoon in his Do You Remember Series show George Harris in earlier days parking his car in downtown Stockton with this caption On a Sunday George Harris would park his Knox car two blocks away from his Church It would look too sporty to be seen riding up to the Church in an automobile

One vivid memory I have is riding in my uncles Hudson touring car with drop-seats with various family members en route to Pacific Grove with my uncle singing hymns sometimes slightly off-key

When the San Joaquin County Fair was held at its old site along Charter Way an agricultural machinery display area was located at the first turn of the racetrack For several years a Harris Harvester was located in the area in such a way that family members could sit on top of the harvester and watch the races much more exciting than watching from the grandstand

In one of the Harris sales publications of the late twenties was a letter from my uncle which Im sure he must have written himself He was certain that he built the best grain harvester in the business and the letter accurately conveys his direct and confident attitude

Vemon Harris Author Bill Biddick and George Harris pose for the Brownie at family event in 1926


A Letter From Mr Harris You are probably figuring on buying a

Combined Harvester some time or another

You want a machine that will harvest your grain---save it all-for you That machine must make good from the start-and keep on making good-year after year

You want a combined harvester that is backed by a factory that gives REAL SERVICE-because you know that delays are costly-sometimes disastrous

I want to say tl1is to you Into every Harris Combined Harvester is built the best design and construction that my twenty-five years in the Combined Harvester business have taught me

The material and workmanship-all the way through-are the very best available- money cant buy better These are reasons why you will get years of active service froft every Harris Harvester And reasons why with ordinary care a Harris Harvester will last you a lifetime

From motor to draper I KNOW the Harris Combined Harvester is right I can recommend ittoyou

As for service-that is the keystone on which the Harris ManufactUring Company has built its success

You can get Harris parts when you need them-quickly and at a reasonable price

Harris Harvesters are not assembled harvesters They are built COMPLETE right in this factory Designing patternmaking blacksmithing woodwork canvas and leather work--all is done here in this factory

I learned in the good school of experience I have driven harvesters repaired them designed them built them I KNOW what a combined harvester should be

And I personally see that every Harris Combined Harvester is built just as though Jwere to use that machine myself-and just as though that machine HAD to last a lifetime

I will be glad to have you write me or any of our distributors for more information regarding the Harris Combined Harvester

Every model is husky-powerful-effident and BUILT TO LAST You can bank on Harris performance

Decide now to write for a catalog-that when you buy a harvester it will be a Harris

0middot d dalds

Cliff Koster demonstrates his 1914 Harris Giant at his Westside ranch in 1986 It is being pulled by a 1922 or 1923 Holt 75 tractor This unit worked every season from 1914 through 1958


En d of the line

A fleet of eight Harris 908 combines harvesting wheat in the Pacific Northwest in 1 7-the last of their kind

In Retrospect

Why did Harris survive although it was the last manufacturer of combines to enter the California market

One easy answer is that it commenced business with only one competitor-Holt-which had bought all of the other competitors and that Holt then concentrated on its phenomenally successful Caterpillar tractor and eventually moved to the Midwest where the real action was

But yet Harris developed a loyal following and was still producing harvesters thirty-seven years after Holt moved all of its production facilities to Peoria Illinois

There is little doubt that Harris consistently made quality harvesters They were built substantially and of the best material George Harris was a hands-on

manufacturer He was directly involved in the design and manufacturing process

In addition parts and service were readily available and were reliable Cliff Kosters 1914 Giant is still operative over eighty years after it was purchased There are scores of the old Harriss still around

The other distinctive feature of the Harris was the efficiency of the operation It was known as a harvester that saved grain

In light of the change in emphasis in California agriculture and the transfer of agricultural machinery production to the Midwest the wonder is that the company survived as long as it did

William Biddick Jr


State Archives Office of the Secretary of State Sacranlento California

Sources

Books

Wallace Smith Garden ifthe Sun M Hardison Fresno California copyright September 1939 4th edition copyright September 1950

Graeme R Quick and Wesley F Buchele The Grain Harshyvesters American Society of Agricultural Engineers 1978

Holt-Atherton Pacific Center for Western Studies Benjamin Holt University of thePacific 1982

Special Papers

Leslie Crow and Clifford W Koster TheHistmy ifGrain Fanning aflll Development 0LpounddxJr-Saving Agricultural MachinenJ in San Jooquin County

Gifford W Koster TIle Operation ifthe Harris Combined Harvester 19)4

Notes and letters from Ruth Hartley Registrar Fort Walla Walla MWruffi

Thomas Luke sales manager Holt Co History ifthe Holt Hwvester 1929

George Hanis Collection 1 The Harris Mfg Co - Gas Harvesters 1916 2 The Harris Mfg Co - Gai Harvesters 1919 3 Harris SidehilJ Combined Harvester 1922 4 How Will You Harvest 1922 5 Its a Harris 1923 6 One Standard for Quality-Two Standard

Sizes for Service 1923 7 Harris 2233-12 Sidehill Combined Harvester 1925 8 Harris 2638 Standard and Sidehill Combined

Harvesters 1935 9 Harris Combined Harvesters 1937

Ferd Herres Files 1 Operation and Maintenance Manual Harris

Self-Propelled Harvesters 18 2 Harris Hillside Combine 17

Newspaper Articles Stocktoll Reconl May 121928Stocktoll Record February l 1929 StocktOIi Record February 22 1941 Stocktoll Reconl May 12 16 Stockton Record Maich 25 1981

Hal Higgins Collection Dept of Special Collections UniveISity of California Library Davis CA Magazine Articles

PaCIfIC Rural Press February 1937 Imp1ement Record May 1937 Califomia-Magazine ifOle

Pacific September 1939 Impiernent Record March 1941 Implement Reconl December 1941 Califomia Cultiootor July 1943

Penrose Memorial Library Whibnan College Walla Walla WA Lawrence L Dodd Archivist Newspaper and Magazine articles

Walla Walla Bulletin October 16 1919 Walla Walla Union October 17 1919 Up-To-TIle-~Times A1agazitle (local monthly)

November 1919 to March 1926

The Author

Harris Manufocturmg Co

People Interviewed CfiffKoster 10 n ~~~ Robert Disch Lenard Daetwiler Fred Nessler Walter JayHart Wilson JdmHammer Dr J~Barkett Ruth Hartley FerdHerres Dr William Campbell

TracyCADaVlSCALockeford CA Lockeford CA Iodi CA Stocktoo CA Stocktoo CA Stocktrn CA Stocktoo CA Stocktoo CA Walla Walla WA Pcmeray W A Stocktcil CA

Author Bill Biddick Jr is a modest man He has submitted a very sparse biography but then most of us readily recognize Bill because of his lifetime of public service

He is a native Stocktonian--of course He received his BA from College of the Pacific in 1941 He entered the us Navy in 1942 and served past the end of vrw II to 1946

After the war he completed his law studies and received his LLB from Stanford Law School in 1947

From 1952 through 1956 Bill was City Attorney for Stockton leaving that position when he was elected to the State Assembly in 1957

He served in Sacramento from 1957 through 10 before returning to Stockton after he was elected Superior Court Judge He served on the bench until his retirement in 1980

Judge Biddick and his wife Dorothy reside in Stockton and both are members of the San Joaquin Cmll1ty Historical Society


This issue ofthe San Joaquitt Historian is spottsored by

Jack D Wickware itt memory of

Vernyce Dee Harris Wickware attd itt tribute to

George H Harris

and the contribution ofthe Harris Harvester to Stockton

San Joaquin County and Americas grain growers

Address Correction Requested San Joaquin County Historical

Society and Museum PO Box 30 Lodi CA 95241-0030

Non-Profit Organization POSTAGE

PAID Pennit No 48

Lodi CA 95241

The Last Survivor

George Harris and

The Harris Harvester by

Judge William Biddick Jr

Introduction

Mention should be made at the outset of the reason why one whose career was entirely in the legal profession would be interested in George Harris and the Harris Combined Grain Harvester

George Harris was my uncle His wife Nellie and my mother Bertha were sisters They were two of nine children of James and Elizabeth Tretheway (originally spelled Trethewey) Jory James was a grain farmer in the Lockeford area and both he and my grandmother were born in Cornwall England They came to California separately in the 1860s and were married in 1870

George Harris was born in Cornwall in 1871 and came to Stockton in 1890 He was introduced to Nellie by Tretheway relatives and they were married in Lockeford in 1895

My father William Biddick Sr was also born in Cornwall and came to Stockton via Canada in 1910 Nellie and Bertha were the only two sisters of a family of nine children who married Cornishmen so there was a very close bond between the two families George was like a second father to me and the Harrises only child George Vernon Harris like an older brother George died in 1934 when I was almost fourteen

Vernon as he was called married Ruth Hamman 1928 after his graduation from the College of the

Pacific and they had one child Vemyce Dee who married Jack Wickware in 1949

Vernon and Floyd Mitchell chief engineer at Harris for twenty years operated the Harris plant for seven years after Georges death under the name of Harris and Mitchell

Vernon had retained many records of the Harris Company which operated under several names including the original Harris Manufacturing Company and later Harris Machinery Company and Harris Harvester Company

These records dating from the early 1900s include sales brochures parts catalogues operating manuals business correspondence photos customer lists letters and numerous other documents

After Vernon died in 1973 and WALLAWAUA Washington Ruth In 1979 the records were left

to Vernyce Dee who had lived in Orinda California for many years Vernyce Dee died early in 1994 and her surviving husband Jack has

made available all of these records to me

There are two Harris Harvesters at the San Joaquin County Historical Museum at Micke Grove one under cover and one outside described later on in more detail Jack and I thought it would be of general interest to those concerned with the agricultural history of the area to organize the Harris materials and prepare an account of an important chapter in the history of agricultural machinery




Walking to Work




























































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George H Harris






PAID Pennit No 48

Lodi CA 95241



Walking to Work




























































$3400 $3850 $4100

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George H Harris






PAID Pennit No 48

Lodi CA 95241























































$3400 $3850 $4100

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PAID Pennit No 48

Lodi CA 95241










The Twenties

































































pammiddot


















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Page 13

































































0middot d dalds



En d of the line


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Sources

Books




Special Papers

















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PAID Pennit No 48

Lodi CA 95241



























































pammiddot


















Spring 1995















Page 13

































































0middot d dalds



En d of the line


In Retrospect









William Biddick Jr



Sources

Books




Special Papers

















The Author














George H Harris






PAID Pennit No 48

Lodi CA 95241









Spring 1995















Page 13

































































0middot d dalds



En d of the line


In Retrospect









William Biddick Jr



Sources

Books




Special Papers

















The Author














George H Harris






PAID Pennit No 48

Lodi CA 95241

































































0middot d dalds



En d of the line


In Retrospect









William Biddick Jr



Sources

Books




Special Papers

















The Author














George H Harris






PAID Pennit No 48

Lodi CA 95241

En d of the line


In Retrospect









William Biddick Jr



Sources

Books




Special Papers

















The Author














George H Harris






PAID Pennit No 48

Lodi CA 95241


Sources

Books




Special Papers

















The Author














George H Harris






PAID Pennit No 48

Lodi CA 95241




George H Harris






PAID Pennit No 48

Lodi CA 95241

The San Joaquin Historian · Volume IX, New Series, Number 1 The San Joaquin Historian Quarterly...

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Transcript of The San Joaquin Historian · Volume IX, New Series, Number 1 The San Joaquin Historian Quarterly...