Читать книгу History of Fresno County, Vol. 3 - Paul E. Vandor - Страница 16

Interesting both as a pioneer of the eventful "boom" eighties, and as the Nestor of Selma's men of commerce, hiving been in business continuously here longer than anyone else, Christian Bachtold enjoys the esteem and good will of all who know him, and especially of all who have had business dealings with him. He was born at Schafthausen, the beautiful "Niagara of Switzerland," on January 20, 1853, and there received his elementary education. When about thirteen he was confirmed in the Evangelist Reformed Church of Switzerland, in the faith of Zwingli, and at sixteen he was apprenticed to a miller, taking a position in the large merchant flour mill at Stuhlingen, in Baden, just across the line of Switzerland, where he worked for three years. He still possesses the certificate of his proficiency as a journeyman miller, issued to him at the end of his apprenticeship, which he prizes highly, as he also has the passport issued to him by the Swiss Republic, permitting him to leave his beloved fatherland, in order to come to another Republic that was to become to him quite as dear.

For a year he worked as a journeyman miller in Alsace-Lorraine and Belgium, and then he sailed from Antwerp for New York, by way of Liverpool, arriving at the old Castle Garden on May 1, 1873. He had a brother at Syracuse, N. Y., and having made his way to that city, he engaged as a miller with the Jacob Amos Flouring Mills in Syracuse, with which concern he remained for a couple of years. Then he came west by rail to the Coast, arriving in San Francisco, in December, 1875.

Having answered an advertisement of George McNear, at Petaluma, he engaged with him as his first miller in his large steam mill at Petaluma, and after two years of successful employment, he arranged to go out to Winnemucca. Nev. This engagement was effected through John Frey, whom he met at San Francisco, and who promised him the position of head miller in the Charles Kemler mill at Winnemucca. For eight years he remained at Winnemucca, and then he returned to San Francisco. There Jacob Hauptli induced him to come to Selma in January, 1886, to see the mill property which he had bought at sheriff's sale, and to buy the same for himself; and on the fifth of April he took possession.

The Selma mill certainly had a history. It was built by Samuel. Jacob and William Frey, fellow countrymen of Mr. Bachtold's, completed in 1880 and fitted with machinery hauled from Bakersfield. It was originally built as a water-mill, water being provided by the Centerville and Kingsburg Canal; and later the Freys' put in a seventy-five horsepower steam engine, so that the establishment was a four-burr steam and water-mill when Mr. Bachtold bought it. The Freys became financially embarrassed and were closed out by the sheriff. As already stated, Mr. Bachtold took charge in the spring of 1886; and ten years later, in December, fire destroyed the old mill, after its owner had changed it to a roller mill, and changed the name to the Selma Flouring Mills. It was partly insured, but Mr. Bachtold lost $12,000 by the conflagration.

In ninety days, however, he had the present mill running, and this new establishment also goes by the name of the Selma Fouring Mills. It has a capacity of seventy barrels of wheat flour daily, and there is a full equipment for crushing barley and grinding corn meal. This means really a capacity of three and a half tons of wheat per day, of twelve hours, and this is manufactured into the Charter Oak Flour, and Magnolia brands, justly famous throughout the San Joaquin Valley for their purity and high quality. Approximately 15,000 sacks of barley are also worked up in a year, and this is prepared for feed by rolling, steaming and crushing. Mr. Bachtold, in addition, buys about 150 tons of corn per year, which he makes into corn meal and feed. To meet California conditions, he has made a special study of all kinds of stock and poultry foods, and he prepares a number of special brands, such as the Imperial Chicken Food, and the Imperial Egg Food. He also carries a full line of mill stuffs, while the grain, and corn he uses are largely grown in Fresno, Madera and Kings Counties. In 1908, Mr. Bachtold equipped his mill with electricity, but he retains a seventy-five horsepower steam engine in reserve.

In 1888, Mr. Bachtold was married to Mrs. Libbie Hartman, nee Hursh, a native of Indiana, who had three children by her first husband, all of whom are now living in San Francisco. One child, John C. Bachtold, a partner with his father in the Selma Flouring Mills and acting as the outside man, resulted from the second union. He was married, in turn, in Selma, to Miss Ada Snyder, a daughter of C. C. Snyder, and a granddaughter of Selma's well-known pioneer of the same name, whose life-story is elsewhere given in this work. He stood high as a Mason, and was one of the four original townsite men of Selma. They are the parents of two children, Dorris and Max.

These descendants of Mr. Bachtold recall the matter of his progenitors. His father was Hans Kasper, who married Verena Meier; and they both were born, married, lived and died in Switzerland. His father was a tool-smith, who made all kinds of tools and razors. Our subject, therefore, is a fine mixture of the old Roman and German blood. He was brought up, on account of his particular environment in that corner of Switzerland, to use the German language, but he also became proficient in French and in English. Most of his parents and grandparents have lived to become between eighty and ninety years old. It "runs in the family" to have large heads, full chests, square shoulders and powerful hands and arms.

In 1904 Mr. Bachtold bought and rebuilt his residence in the block northeast of the mill. On February 5, 1897, his fellow townsmen presented him with a fine regulator clock, which still adorns the office of this mill. It is inscribed: "Presented to C. Bachtold by his friends of Selma, February 3, 1897." His friends surprised him, took possession of the mill, and old and young danced there until the small hours of the morning.

Mr. Bachtold was very active in encouraging the establishing of a fire company in Selma, and encouraged the old fire commission, a quasi-public organization for fighting fires in the early days. The town of Selma was incorporated on November 15, 1893, and Mr. Bachtold was elected to serve on its first board of trustees. He was repeatedly reelected, and served eight years in all. In 1897 he was elected President of the Board, practically Mayor of the town, and for years he served to the entire satisfaction of everyone, and with great credit to himself. During the time that he was on the city council, and largely through his efforts, the property of the old fire commission was taken over by the city of Selma, which ever since has maintained a very efficient fire department. There was considerable wrangling about prices of the old fire apparatus, and it was largely through his good judgment that an amicable adjustment of differences was made, and the affairs of the old fire commission were finally settled. As mayor, Mr. Bachtold kept strict tab on all the city's business, and he allowed no graft or dishonesty on the part of the city officers.

Mr. Bachtold served for many years as vice-president of the Old State Bank of Selma, which was the forerunner of the present First National Bank, and, together with T. B. Mathews and Major M. Sides, he was among its early stockholders. He is now a stockholder in the Selma National Bank, and is valued in all his transactions for his honesty and integrity. In national affairs, Mr. Bachtold is a Republican, of Progressive tendencies, and was a great admirer of the late Col. Theodore Roosevelt and a stanch friend of Senator Hiram Johnson. He has clear views and decided opinions on political matters pertaining to nation, state, county and city, and at times he has made some enemies by the firm stand he has taken. But even those who have opposed his political views are ready to admit his honesty and sincerity. All in all. Mr. Bachtold is easily one of Selma's most efficient, most valuable and most highly respected citizens.

Mr. Bachtold is an honored member of the Selma Lodge of the Knights of Pythias. He is also a prominent Mason, and a member of the Selma Blue Lodge and the Royal Arch Chapter in Selma. He is best known, however, as an Odd Fellow. He is Past Grand of the Selma Lodge of the I. O. O. F., and helped organize Encampment No. 76, at Selma, of which he has repeatedly been Chief Patriarch. He is the District Deputy of District No. 45, which includes Madera and Fresno Counties.