Читать книгу History of Fresno County, Vol. 5 - Paul E. Vandor - Страница 34

A young man of much native ability, an excellent workman who thoroughly understands his business, and an exceptionally progressive young man distinguished as the prime mover in club and other social affairs, and in forwarding all that makes for the general uplift of the community, is William Arthur Trout, who was born in The Dalles, Ore., on April 8, 1885. His grandfather, J. H. Trout, was born in Kentucky and settled in Oregon; while E. W. Trout, the father of our subject, was a native of Maitland, Mo. In that state he was married to Miss Laura Gordon, of Maitland, and in time they came to what was then called The Dalles, Ore., where Mr. Trout worked at farming. In 1897, the family moved to Salinas, Monterey County, Cal., and there Mr. Trout was favorably known as an able carpenter and builder. In Salinas he died, in 1916, following to the grave his wife, who had passed away seventeen years before. Five children had been given these devoted parents — all sons, and each in his way promising — and three of these are still living; and among them, the subject of this instructive sketch was the second youngest. H. G. is a bookkeeper with the Shell Company at Oilfields; H. E. died at Salinas in 1902, when he was nineteen years old, and E. L. also passed away at the same place in 1904 and at the same age; and O. C. Trout is serving his country valiantly in the United States Navy.

Reared on an Oregon farm until he was twelve years old, William was educated in the public schools and in 1902 went to San Francisco where, at the age of past sixteen, he was apprenticed as a sheet-metal worker in John H. Blakeway's works. At the end of two years he entered the service of the Pacific Blower and Heating Company and in two years was made superintendent of their plant. Immediately after the great fire and earthquake, he opened business on his own account at the corner of Eighth and Folsom Streets. San Francisco, and for a year did sheet metal work of all kinds; but in 1908 he quit, lured by the greater attractions of Oilfields.

In April of that year he entered the employ of the California Oilfields. Ltd., as foreman of the tank department, and built and started their shop. In August, 1913, when the Shell Company took over the property, he not only continued with them in the same capacity, but he enlarged their department through his valuable practical experience. Now it includes all sheet-metal work, the plumbing and the operation of the three distilled water-plants. It is indeed a big, busy department; and Mr. Trout is the foreman of all that goes on there.

While in San Francisco, Mr. Trout was married to Miss Ann Irwin, who was born at Waco, Texas, but reared at Coalinga, where her father was one of the noted pioneers. One child has blessed this union — Doris, the charm of the household.

For five years Mr. Trout was a trustee and clerk of the Oil King school district, and he was one of the organizers of the Oilfields Club, and the only charter member now left. He was treasurer from the start, with its sixty-five members; it is now a large club of nearly 500 members, having some $12,000 of assets and handling about $17,600 yearly. He is supervisor of the social department, which conducts the dances, lectures, etc., of the club, generally held in the lecture hall in the winter, and the moving pictures, which are given in the air-dome outside in the summer. There are pool and billiard parlors, and cigar stands, a place where ice cream and confectionery are sold, a swimming pool and a circulating library, a branch of the county library; and provision for base and foot-ball. University Extension courses and private classes for men have been arranged by Mr. Trout and his committee, each member of which is keenly alive to whatever may prove of social and intellectual advantage to the workmen and their families.

Mr. Trout is a member of the Red Men in Coalinga, and a charter member of the Netana Tribe, No. 242, Coalinga, in which he is a past officer and a trustee. He is a Progressive Republican in politics, and a member of the Coalinga Chamber of Commerce, serving it also as a director.