Mark your calendars for Saturday evening, December 12th, for a favorite event! It is when Santa arrives by boat to meet all the good boys and girls at our Club.

A little history: Years ago, Santa came for the adults not the children.  Then, as many of our members became grandparents, it gradually became a night for Santa to come to be with the children.

I started singing with the children in 1993. We had brought our grandchildren to see Santa and the children started to run all over the ferry.  I was afraid they would get hurt, so I called them all together to sing Christmas carols and the rest is history. 

Following is a poem I wrote in 2004 for this special event:

Twas just days before Christmas and all through the ferry many creatures were stirring especially those merry.

The children were all waiting to come to the boat to see their friend Santa come up from the float.

They come to eat treats and sing with the teacher, to ring jingle bells and hear stories of a long ago preacher.

Santa arrives all dressed in his finest, to see each child and ask of their kindness.

The children all smile and look up at Santa as he hands them a gift in a very nice style. They say they were good, but many of us know, some had trouble as they started to grow.

Their pictures are taken as they smile with Santa in hopes he will know what all their wants are.

As Santa leaves and we say goodbye, we can see the merry twinkle in his eye. He says he must leave and pick up his reindeer, that he left on West Island to rest for the journey.

As we look towards the sky, we can hear him exclaim, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

In May 1948, the Lady Sailors raised enough money to buy one dozen folding card tables and had a case built to store them. In July 1948, they donated new stools for the restaurant and a freezer for the caretakers.

In September 1956 they raised money to put in new vinyl for the dance floor, replacing a warped hardwood floor; they also purchased 74 folding chairs that were badly needed.

In 1961, the Lady Sailors talked about disbanding due to lack of interest and attendance at meetings. Only six ladies out of 63 were present at the August 1961 meeting. Gradually attendance picked up and the Lady Sailors continued. They bought a new TV for the social hall and some new furniture for the keeper’s living quarters, (which is now the Board Room).

In 1964, the men used to purchase bar ice in fifty pound bags and store the bags in the old refrigerator on the lower deck. Needless to say most of it melted before it could be used. The Lady Sailors decided to do something about it. They purchased an ice making machine in 1965.

As you can see the Lady Sailors did a great deal in the early days to help the Club and they should not be forgotten.

There was a very active group at Sportsmen YC that many of you don’t know about. Recently, I was given a folder that contained, “The History of the Lady Sailors.” I would like to thank the person who gave it to me and share parts of it with our members.

In the summer of 1939, several women decided to meet once a month, bring sandwiches and their fancy work, and have a picnic in Mosswood Park in Oakland. These ladies were wives of Sportsmen and they were not permitted on the lower deck of the Ferry. The men were using this area to store their fishing tackle etc. The ladies held rummage sales and bazaars to raise money to help their men repair the clubhouse.

Interesting note about the clubhouse: There were no flush toilets and water was hauled up from the river by a bucket with a rope on a handle to flush after use.

Note from the 1942 bulletin, “Sportsmen Inc. invites the Lady Sailors to enter any articles for the good of their club in this bulletin” and the November 1942 bulletin notes, “The last regular meeting, which was a joint meeting proved to be very successful.”

Their first contribution to the bulletin was five lines, asking for articles for a rummage sale.

The ladies knitted watch caps for seamen, lap blankets, pillow slips for patients at Oak Knoll Hospital, as well as putting together gift boxes for overseas servicemen. In addition, quilts were made and raffled to raise money to buy wheelchairs for injured servicemen at Mare Island Hospital.

With the war going full blast, the Lady Sailors were far from idle and their projects were many, among them was the purchase of a Seeing Eye dog for the blind.

In February 1948 the Lady Sailors purchased a second gas stove for the social hall; hoping to ward off the winter cold.

In last month’s historical article, I didn’t give you the daily time schedule for a trip from San Francisco to Sacramento. If it was the Delta King or Delta Queen, the legendary paddle-wheel steamboats left San Francisco at 6:30 p.m. and arrived in Sacramento at 5:30 a.m. They made this run from 1927 to 1940.

From the book, “King & Queen of the River”, a former freight-clerk Gordon Ridley recalled, “While passengers were enjoying their overnight trips, the crew worked hard. But they also found pleasure in traveling on the river. Sometimes, it was merely a quiet moment in the darkness of the outer decks.”

He recalled the trip up river was especially pleasant in the early hours of the morning. Once past the Rio Vista Bridge, the river narrowed and you could smell the fields and the blossoms along the way. On moonlit nights, the scene was one of enchantment. On dark nights, in the small towns along the way, only an isolated light or two made you know that there was another world out there. The pilot would whistle for the next bridge and slowly and majestically it would swing open. When they passed, there might be a car or two waiting on the ramp watching. As the sky lightened, you could see more and more, the fields, the narrow paved roads, the barns and homes.

“Sometimes as we pass, we hear birds singing in the trees, sometimes huge flocks move from one field to another. Finally, it is light and we round the last bend.”

History was made on June 1, 1927, when two identical riverboats, the Delta King and Delta Queen, made their maiden voyages from San Francisco to Sacramento. People lined up with their baggage in hand waiting to enter the big front doors. After a short wait in line, you get to the ticket window to buy your ticket that reserves your stateroom.

The grand staircase, with its beautiful bronze filigree and its large curved mahogany handrails, invite you to the deck above. Later that evening the lady passengers would dress up in evening gowns for the Captain’s dinner.

Prices ranged from $1 to $5. Fare and accommodations were sold separately so passengers could buy a ticket without paying for a cabin; they could sleep on a bench or chair. The fare was $1.80 for one way and $3.00 round trip.

All of a sudden, you hear a gentle sloshing noise from the paddle wheel as it starts to turn. The Captain, George Goodell, shouts commands through a megaphone to his deckhands and the boat starts out slowly at first then faster. The passengers cheer as they are all lined up on deck. They are on their way for a more than hundred mile nighttime journey.

Sometimes you could see the Ferryboat Eureka heading from San Francisco to Sausalito. You pass Angel Island and you have a wonderful view of Mount Tamalpais. It is starting to get cold so you go in and a warm dinner is ready. The Chief Steward greets you and leads you to a table next to a large window. He gives you a menu where you can choose a five course dinner for 75 cents. After a delicious dinner, the crew members move the chairs and tables to the side of the dining room to make room for dancing. A four piece band plays for your enjoyment.

Those were the days!

Steamboating in California began in the summer of 1847 when a Russian sailing vessel arrived in San Francisco Bay from Alaska and unloaded a small paddlewheeler that was disassembled. When they reassembled it and delivered it to its owner William A. Leidesdorff, who had bought it from the Russian-American Fur Company, the little steamer was only 37 feet long and nine feet wide.  After using the vessel on the Bay, he decided to take it on a voyage up the Sacramento River which was more than a hundred miles. This little paddlewheeler was called the Sitka. She made the voyage, but it took her six days and seven hours.

Less than two months later in January 1848, James Marshall discovered gold on the American River in the foothills of Sacramento. This discovery changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. It wasn’t long before people left the Bay in vessels powered by wind, not steam. But by the end of 1850, twenty-eight steamers cruised the Sacramento and Feather Rivers.

Steamboating continued to grow in the years following the discovery of gold. Many large and small transportation companies formed.

I know many of you know the history behind the 4S, but for the many new members I would like to repeat it.

This year will be the 62nd year we have come together for this great event.

It all started in 1953 when four yacht clubs (Sacramento, San Joaquin, Sportsmen, and Stockton) got together for an Over- the-Bottom Race. The host club would serve sandwiches at the end of the race. We have come a long way since 1953. Now it is a three day event with games, food, entertainment and fun.

The 4S is a wonderful event where old friendships are renewed and new friendships are made. It is a weekend like no other. I highly recommend everyone attend; you will have a marvelous time.  This year’s 4S is at San Joaquin YC on July 17th-19th. 

Why not come to the Games Try-Outs on June 19th where we will compete with other members to represent our Club at the 4S in July?  Even if you don’t compete, come to enjoy the day!  Let’s bring the perpetual trophy home.

Thanks to the book, “King and Queen of the River,” by Stan Garvey that was  loaned to me by Neal and Diane Essary, I believe I have some interesting history of the Delta for you.

Before the California Gold Rush, the Sacramento River flowed clear and pristine from its headwaters near Mount Shasta down the Sacramento Valley and into the San Francisco Bay. Known only to the American Indians and a few trappers and exploring mariners, the river teemed with fish and wildlife.

Captain C.A.M. Taber, sailing his vessel from the Bay to Sacramento in 1848, described what he saw:

“The sloughs of the main stream were alive with several species of wild ducks and the wooded banks of the river, as well as the tules (large bushes), were home for large bands of deer and elk. Grizzly Bears were often seen foraging for acorns in the oak groves near the river”.

Three decades later John Muir remarked that “the forests along the river reminded him of tropical jungles.” For many years, the Sacramento retained much of its primitive beauty. By the turn of the century, however, most of the marshland along the river had become farmland protected by levees, yet the Sacramento still had a Huck Finn quality about it. Along its banks stood great cottonwoods, willows, oaks, and sycamores, wild grape and blackberry vines hung on the water’s edge.

Before I give you the last installment of our Club’s history, which is part XII, I wanted you to know before I started my last treatments, Keith and I gave the museum a good spring cleaning.

This is from a Sportsmen bulletin dated December 1975. This is the last part of the history. It is too bad the author is unknown; I would like to give them credit. We have to remember that what we do today is tomorrow’s history!

To answer the challenge of the changing times, Sportsmen Inc. met problems head on and proved to all their sound ability to grow with the community. Sportsmen gain recognition as a full fledged yacht club, thus allowing those who desired the opportunity of competing with the numerous other organizations on an equal recognition basis. They enlarged their harbor facilities to accommodate their rapidly increasing membership. They obtained their own liquor license to augment their other facilities.

The loan that was necessary to finance some of the aforementioned improvements was obtained from one of the local banking institutions. The transaction was not based on the co-signature of its individual members but on the recognition of the organization itself. This would convey but one thought that from the minds of a few visional men grew an idea that adapted itself and kept pace with the times. Sportsmen Inc. Yacht Club is no longer a club but an institution. It is bigger than an individual member or a combination of members. It is a symbol to all other clubs of a worthwhile aim. Surely this status would complete its fabulous history ----yet, if you ask any member he will tell you we are standing on the threshold of greater things. A twinkle will come to his eye as he begins to tell you the prospects of the future and you know, it doesn’t matter what those dreams are, when enough members start getting that misty look in their eyes ---they’ll soon roll up their sleeves and do it.

I would like to continue our Club’s History Part X from our Club’s bulletin dated October 1975.

The previous articles explained how, with the financial aid of many members, Sportsmen, Inc. purchased seven acres of waterfront property. It was pointed out that the Clubhouse ‘Sausalito’ was moved in and a 100 x 30  foot area was dredged out. This was indeed a great time for rejoicing. It was also a time for hard work. The job was tackled collectively by all members with the usual zest and ambition that had secured the Club in past years. This task, however, was an undertaking motivated with a newer zest and ambition. All members also realized that by owning their own land and facilities they could not help but reap the harvest of their diligent toil. The members also realized that at last their efforts were being expended for their own benefit. A sculptor will take a lifeless mass of clay and, with the deftness of his creative hands, mold and shape a statue that will live in his mind and often in the minds of others as a masterpiece in art of his own vision.

The members of Sportsmen, Inc. with their seven acres of land, hull of the Sausalito, and an abundance of vision began to sculpture  their masterpiece on the banks of the San Joaquin River. A look at one of the old newspaper clippings dated April 1, 1939, will give some idea as to the scope of their vision. The article quotes the then president Roy Hanford, announcing plans for a boat harbor, shaded picnic grounds, good beach, card rooms, dance hall with an orchestra playing nearly every weekend and sufficient cabins on shore to augment the cabins on board. These are to be individual housekeeping quarters with running water and electric lights. This was a vision that would truly be a masterpiece if it could be created without over-stepping the financial bounds that had been self imposed.

Part XI in March Bulletin.

Happy New Year everyone! As we start the year, I would like to get back to our History – Part IX.

The land was purchased. A dredging contract was signed for a land locked harbor 100 x 300 feet, a cradle for moving the Club House. The dredging was completed as preparations were being made to move the Club House. The moving of the Sausalito was a very simple matter after all. Scoville and his gang salvaged an old pump and motor which worked like a charm. Three hours and fifteen minutes after starting the pump the boat was pumped dry, and forty five minutes after the tug boats hooked on, the Sausalito was in her new berth without a bump or jar, even a vase of flowers in one of the roof cabins was not jarred out of place.

Although there are no official documents attesting to the preliminary work involved on the actual purchase of the property, the author of this history (who remains unknown) interviewed many members far and wide for data. In all of these interviews one name kept coming to light. Without stealing the glory and gratitude from the many who participated in devious ways, I would like to reveal the name for those who were not around at the time. He is a shy individual, still ranking amongst the most active members-----Joe Thoza (this was written August 1975).