Farm House Recipes

In celebration of Thanksgiving, here are a few historic recipes that originally appeared in the Vallejo Evening Chronicle in 1881, under the heading “Farm House Recipes.”

Minced Fowl

Take the remains of a cold roast fowl and cut off the white meat, which mince finely without any skin or bone; but put the skin and bone into a stew pan, with an onion, a blade of mace, and a handful of sweet herb tied up. Add nearly a pint of water. Let it stew for an hour, and then strain and pour off the gravy, putting in a teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce. Take two hard-boiled eggs and chop them small, mix them with the fowl, and salt, pepper, and mace, according to taste; put in the gravy, also half a teaspoon of lemon juice, two tablespoonfuls of flour, made into a smooth paste with a little cold water, and let the whole just boil. Serve with snippets of toasted bread. Some persons prefer cayenne to other pepper.

Stamscott Buns

Buns are easily made, and are excellent when this recipe is followed: Take one cup of yeast, one cup of sugar, one of butter, three cups of sweet milk: mix at night, omitting the butter and sugar; make a very soft sponge, let it stand till morning and then add the butter and a pinch of soda and the sugar; let it rise again, until it is very light, then knead lightly and put into tins. When light enough bake in a moderate oven till the top is dark brown; while hot rub over the top with a little bit of butter, this makes the crust tender and smooth. If you choose you can add English currants, and when brought to the table warm they are said to resemble the wonderful tea cakes of Mrs. Southey, which Shelly, having once tasted them, wished his wife to serve for supper ever after.

Manchester Pudding

Line a pie-dish with a good short crust, and then a layer of jam; take a teacupful of warm milk, and mix with three ounces bread crumbs, three ounces of butter, three ounces of white sugar, the rind and juice of a small lemon, the yokes of three and the white of one egg. Stir all three together until it becomes a kind of custard, then pour the mixture into the pie-dish, and bake one hour and a quarter; serve very hot with the whites of two eggs whipped up on the top.

A Winter Sunset in Vallejo

This beautiful postcard of a winter sunset was published c. 1900- 1910. The green hills in the background are the southern tip of Mare Island, site of the Naval Ammunition Depot. On the far left are the buildings of the Sperry Flour Mill. This photo provides one of the clearest views of the low, swampy bay that once separated Vallejo and South Vallejo. A thin black line through the water may be the beginnings of the dike that was built to enclose this inlet. The bay originally reached inland to the area known today as Lake Dalwigk. When the dike was completed around 1915, the bay was drained, then filled to create new usable land for the city.

Earthquake of 1868

On this date in 1868 a massive earthquake struck northern California, centered on what is now known as the Hayward Fault. Damage was extensive throughout Contra Costa and Alameda counties as well as in Oakland and San Francisco. Vallejo, located just north of the quake’s epicenter, was badly shaken but not severely damaged. The Vallejo Weekly Chronicle reported on the effects of the temblor:

“About 8 o’clock Wednesday morning, the city of Vallejo felt the effect of the earthquake that proved so destructive to San Francisco, Oakland, San Leandro, and other towns in the counties of Contra Costa and Alameda. The shock was of longer duration and severer than any experienced in the State heretofore, and having a vibration from northeast to southwest. Lighter shocks followed at 25 minutes to 9; 15 minutes past 9; 20 minutes past 10 (was sensibly felt); 3 minutes to 11. The introductory or heaviest shock occasioned considerable alarm among our citizens, as it commenced with an easy motion but gathered strength and greater activity in every quiver in its duration, and almost everyone having the idea that it would culminate in a general destruction of buildings. Many ran out into the streets, others of less excitability stayed where they were; some remained in their apartments on account of their not being able to present a very respectable appearance outside in way of toilet. No damages or injuries were sustained by any building or person in Vallejo, probably owing to the firm foundation upon which the buildings of the place are erected. The following ‘shakes’ caused an involuntary start by most everyone. At any rate the agitation of mother Earth was the topic of conversation during the balance of the day, completely absorbing politics. At almost any hour of the day a small number of men could be seen standing in different parts of the street relating their ‘experience’ to one another. The annexed are incidents that came to our knowledge:

A number of people were at breakfast, some of which were seized with a nauseating sensation, so much so that they had no desire to complete their meal. (Page says he made money by the ‘shake’).

A man lately from Peru was writing at the time - he didn’t appear to notice it, as he did not lift his pen off the paper. He is regarded as a natural curiosity by some.

The Bulletin says many chimneys were toppled down in Vallejo. A mistake, as no chimney was injured, if we except that of a dwelling on Virginia street, which lost two or three of its topmost bricks.

A partition in Bacheller’s building on Georgia street was slightly displaced.

The plastering in the public school house and in Capt. Wood’s dwelling on Capitol Hill, was cracked but not displaced.

A young man working in the Chronicle office considered it dangerous to continue work in a brick building; but upon being assured there was no likelihood of another quake he returned to his labors. However, the shock of 20 minutes past 10 ‘undone’ him. With a countenance expressing misplaced confidence and disgust for the country he left us.

Persons on the ferry-boat felt the shock, and say the effect was as if the boat’s bottom was bumping on a rock.

An officer on the Yard reports a wave of a foot in height. It was noticed by a number of officers, both at the City front and at the Railroad Terminus.

Nicholas, a hunter, was in Tules, about three miles above town, and reports the effects as startling; the banks of the small creeks closed and opened at short intervals. The tules having the motion of the swell of the ocean.

The water in the well on the property of the Rainbow Restaurant acted in such a manner as to cause the owner to have a disgust for the place, and advertise his place for sale, preparatory to leaving the country.

Thursday night at 15 minutes past 2, we experienced another ‘quiver,’ which lasted about five seconds, but was of a light character. At 20 minutes past 7, yesterday morning, a slight shock was felt.

One of our City Fathers was in the fifth story of the Cosmopolitan Hotel of San Francisco. He sat on the side of the bed and rode the shock out, making no effort to dress himself, probably thinking he was as well clad for leaving this world as many others.

A friend informs us that the scenes in the Occidental Hotel were both humorous and appalling. Men, women and children, completely paralyzed with fear, running frantically around the halls in their night clothes. He was partially dressed and consequently he got out into the hall with toilet very near complete; but he hardly made his appearance when an unknown female with toilet very incomplete caught him around the neck begging him to save her. Being a young man, and very modest, the ‘situation’ quite overcame him; and the only consolation he could offer was to assure the lady that it was only an earthquake; there was no danger, ‘for we’ll all die together!’ The young man hardly knew what he did say, for he was more scared by the woman than by the earthquake.”

FDR at the Mare Island Hospital

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During President Roosvelt's brief visit to Mare Island in September 1942 he visited wounded sailors at the Mare Island Hospital. The Vallejo Evening Chronicle carried a brief account of Roosvelt's visit with a sailor who had been wounded aboard the USS Houston:

President Chats with Wounded Man at M.I.

“The story of a sailor aboard the USS Houston who was wounded 25 times while two nearby ‘buddies’ were killed instantly was told in person by the enlisted man to President Roosevelt when he visited Mare Island last Thursday.

“Details of the conversation were revealed today at the navy yard here simultaneously with announcement in Washington by the White House that the Chief Executive of the nation inspected Mare Island while on a tour of U.S. defense plants.

“The wounded sailor is Thomas Borghetti, Jr., 35, fire controlman, first class. His home is Marseilles, Illinois. He has served in the Navy for the last 14 years, aboard the USS Salt Lake City, USS Colorado and the USS Houston, the latter when she was sent to the bottom during the Java Sea battle.

“The Houston was steaming into Macassar Straits to attack a Japanese convoy when she, herself, was attacked by an air fleet of 57 Japanese planes.

“Borghetti was wounded 25 times by shrapnel when an 800 pound bomb exploded nearby.

“Two buddies, names not revealed, who were standing only three and five feet away, were decapitated by the bomb explosion.

“Borghetti has five sisters and two brothers at home in Illinois. His father operates a grocery store.

“The greeting between President Roosevelt and Borghetti, as reported officially at the navy yard, was as follows:

The President smiled.

‘I’ve seen you before,’ he said.

‘Yes, Mr. President,’ replied Borghetti, ‘I made three cruises with you on the Houston.’

‘It was too bad about the Houston,’ commented the President.

‘Yes,’ answered Borghetti. ‘She was a fine cruiser and a great crew. She gave the Japs all she had as long as she lasted, which was plenty.’

‘Where were you hit?,’ inquired President Roosevelt.

‘Twenty-five different places, most seriously in the arms and legs,’ answered the sailor.

‘What hit you?’ queried the President.

‘The doctors decided it was an 800-pound bomb,’ answered Borghetti.

‘Was that all?’ mused the President as he shook Borghetti’s hand and wished him good luck.

‘I hope to get well soon and go back to fighting the Japs again,’ concluded Borghetti.

An additional note: Wounded sailor Thomas Borghetti Jr. of the USS Houston was hospitalized on Java following the loss of his ship. When the Japanese invaded the island, Borghetti and other casualties were evacuated through the heroic actions of Dr. Corydon M. Wassell. The doctor’s story was praised by President Roosevelt in a radio address in April 1942. Wassell’s story was then made into a Hollywood movie directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Gary Cooper as the heroic doctor. In the movie (The Story of Dr. Wassell, 1944) Borghetti was played by actor Mike Killian.

To learn more about the USS Houston follow the link above or visit www.usshouston.net.

FDR at Mare Island: Part Two

During President Franklin Roosevelt’s brief visit to Mare Island in September 1942, he viewed two submarines – one Japanese and one American. The name of the U.S. submarine was not reported due to wartime secrecy. The Japanese sub was a small two-man vessel captured at Pearl Harbor and subsequently sent on a fundraising tour to U.S. military bases around the country. The photograph that accompanies this post shows Roosevelt in his car with Mare Island Commander RADM Willhelm Friedell as they stopped to look at the Japanese sub during the President’s visit. Reporter Merriman Smith of United Press reported the visit as follows:

U.S. Sub That Bagged Jap Ships Viewed by President at M.I.

“President Roosevelt looked today with great satisfaction upon two submarines – one Japanese craft captured at Pearl Harbor, the other an American sub with nine Japanese flags painted on her conning tower. Touring the San Francisco Bay Area, the President saw graphic evidence of the war in the Pacific, including sea-beaten submarines, wounded marines and sailors and supply ships loading for another long haul to the fighting fronts.

"Moving down the Pacific coast and the western sea frontier of the nation, the President paused for an afternoon’s inspection of installations in the San Francisco area, which showed plainly the signs of high-gear war activity.

"Inspecting the Mare Island Navy Yard and the embarkation station and naval supply depot at Oakland, the President got a good and realistic picture of the work involved in keeping forces of the United States in top combat condition.

See Historic Sub

"At Mare Island on San Pablo Bay, the Chief Executive saw one of the nation’s most active navy yards. Fighting ships of varied type were in for service, but the ones that caught the President’s eyes were two submarines – Japanese and American.

"The Japanese undersea craft was caught at Pearl Harbor. Small but menacing, she carried a crew of two men.

"A few minutes later Mr. Roosevelt saw a weather-streaked American sub moored at the navy yard and paused to look at her conning tower which bore nine red-and-white Japanese flags, each indicating a victim and probably ranging from small cargo craft to big Nipponese fighting ships.

"There were other fighting ships at Mare Island for repairs and supplies and the President examined each one as closely as his limited schedule would permit.”

FDR at Mare Island

On this day in 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited the Mare Island Navy Yard. Less than a year after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mare Island was then at the peak of its wartime production. Thousands of defense workers toiled round-the-clock to build and repair ships for the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Although Roosevelt’s visit was the talk of Vallejo, wartime news blackouts kept official word of the visit out of the local newspapers for a week. Finally, on October 1^st, the Vallejo Evening Chronicle told the story:

“One of the biggest stories in the town’s history became public property today,” Will Stevens wrote. “What every Vallejoan and his brother has known since Thursday, September 24, the White House officially revealed this morning. The President of the United States was here on that day, toured Mare Island Navy Yard for more than an hour, and was ‘astonished!’ at the growth of America’s No. 1 Navy Yard.”

“Newspapermen across the country – including, of course, Vallejo newspapermen – two weeks previous to the visit had been told by the Office of Censorship that the President planned to inspect various war camps and navy yards, that nothing was to be said about it until the tour was over.”

“As early as Thursday morning, when the President arrived in this area, not even a whisper had preceded his visit – except in those official Army and Navy circles in this area whose job it was to guard the safety of the chief executive.”

“At 11 a.m., preceded by a flock of Army chiefs and command cars, loaded to the hilt with guns and live ammunition, the Presidential automobile – fidgety secret service men hanging onto the side – sped down Tennessee Street headed for Mare Island. At the Causeway gate, Rear Admiral W.L. Friedell, commandant of the Navy Yard, greeted President Roosevelt, welcomed him to the Yard, climbed in the front seat of the Presidential automobile. For an hour – or more – the Navy had “taken over” from the Army.”

Precautions Taken

“It can now be revealed that the most extreme precautions were taken prior to the inspection trip of the President – and in direct contrast to his visit here several years ago it was really a secret until authorities were ready to let out as much as they wished the public to know.”

“Even now, the precise line Mr. Roosevelt toured through Mare Island cannot be revealed, but it can be reported that he stopped briefly in front of Shop 31, and again at the Mare Island Naval Hospital.”

“The scene at the Hospital was particularly dramatic.”

“Long before the Presidential car, still flanked by its vigilant secret servicemen, arrived on the Hospital reservation, American lads, wounded on this nation’s far-flung battlefronts, had been wheeled out by smartly clad nurses, brightly colored blankets thrown over the knees of the boys. Directly behind them stood the sailors in their whites. And directly facing this group was a trim line of medical officers, all attached to the hospital. Then came the hospital nurses, flanking the officers and the young, wounded heroes in their wheelchairs.”

“Next, a company of U.S. Marines marched up to the scene to form an Honor Guard for the President when he arrived.”

“And at last, he arrived, grinning and apparently very happy. The Marines presented arms, the officers saluted, even the wounded boys in their wheelchairs straightened their shoulders – and returned the confident grin of their Commander-in-Chief.”

Welcomed to Hospital

“An executive officer of the Naval Hospital reservation, Captain Walter A. Fort, Medical Corps, USN, welcomed the President, shaking hands heartily while the officers, nurses, white-clad sailors stood at stiff attention.”

“One of the wounded lads – his buddies chided him afterward for shaking hands ‘with the boss’ – was wheeled up to the Presidential car and greeted by the President.

“From hundreds of rooms in the hospital buildings, other lads – unable to be on the scene, looked down from windows, getting a thrill matching even those they had found ‘somewhere in the Pacific.’”

“And then, seemingly in three seconds, the Presidential car had been turned around, the nervous secret servicemen still 100 percent on the job, and the President and his car had disappeared, a dutiful Army jeep full of cameramen and Washington correspondents following.”

“At one point during the tour the President declared: ‘I thought we had seen all the workmen there are – but here are thousands more!’”

“At another point on the tour the President said: ‘I am astonished at the expansion of Mare Island Navy Yard since my last visit here.’”

“The chief executive, it was learned, left no doubt of his complete realization of the great job being accomplished at Mare Island Navy Yard, one of the nation’s biggest and most important defense plants.”

Pleased With Yard

“Indeed the general - and unofficial – impression was that the President was very pleased with what he saw in this area, only one of the many points visited on his nationwide trip.”

“Meanwhile, even before the President came along Highway 40 from Carquinez Bridge and then rode down Tennessee Street toward the Causeway, word had spread around town that ‘something big is doing’ – but what no one knew.”

"They knew only that Tennessee Street was being cleared by soldiers and Army jeeps – being cleared in a hurry for dome mysterious reason. Traffic along the thoroughfare halted right now, cars were shunted over to the side of the street, and the drivers told to stay where they were. They did.”

“The extremely effective veil of secrecy which characterized the early phases of the President’s visit to Mare Island was purposely dropped shortly before his arrival at 11 a.m., and office personnel at the yard were told of his visit, given permission to stand in one spot – and look when the chief executive passed by. Hundreds did look – and got a thrill they’ll never forget.”

“It was the general impression of onlookers that the President was in excellent health, a judgment confirmed by those who met him personally.”

“The tour of the yard completed, the Presidential car started toward Vallejo again. At the Causeway gate, Admiral Friedell left the car, and bade the President farewell, and the Army again took over.”

USS Woodrow Wilson

Mare Island celebrates its birthday on September 16^th. It was on that day in 1854 that Captain David G. Farragut arrived at the then- remote outpost to establish the first U.S. Navy Yard on the Pacific Coast. But in 1961 Mare Island celebrated its birthday three days early. It was on this day, 47 years ago, (September 13, 1961) that a keel laying ceremony was held for Mare Island’s 8^th nuclear submarine, the USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN 624).

Shipyard Commander RADM L.V. Honsinger presided over the brief noontime ceremony. After the Vallejo High School Band played, RADM Honsinger introduced the four honorary keel layers: E.J. Murray, Foreman of Shop 67; Edward Beutel, Foreman of Shop 72; E.C. Jensen, Deputy Chief Design Engineer; and Keith Kimball, Master of Shop 02. The keel was then “well and truly laid.”

After 17 months of construction, USS Woodrow Wilson was launched on February 22, 1963 and commissioned in December of that year. The Lafayette-class ballistic missile submarine departed Mare Island in January 1964, transited the Panama Canal, and eventually was homeported in Charleston, South Carolina. During her long career the “Woody Woo” made 71 deterrent patrols, in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. In 1990 she was converted from a ballistic missile sub to an attack sub and re-designated SSN 624. USS Woodrow Wilson served the Navy for 30 years, until her deactivation in 1993. The sub was decommissioned in 1994 and later scrapped. Former crew members still uphold the proud traditions of the Silent Service.