CLARENCE JESSE BERRY

Los Angeles County

Biographies

CLARENCE JESSE BERRY

BERRY, CLARENCE JESSE, Mining and Oil Operator, Los Angeles, California, was born at Little Lake, Mendocino County, California, June 23, 1867. His father was William J. Berry and his mother Annie Martha (Coates) Berry. He was married to Ethel Dean Bush at Selma, Fresno County, Cal., on March 15, 1896.

Mr. Berry received his education in the public schools of his native State and devoted the early part of his life to farming. He moved with his family from Mendocino County to Fresno County when he was about seven years old, and there he was reared. He worked on his father’s farm as a boy and later became a farmer on his own account, at one time having the largest wheat acreage in that entire section.

Mr. Berry was born with the blood of pioneers flowing through his veins, however, and when he was still a young man the desire to hunt gold became so strong in him he gave up his great wheat fields and headed for the “Frozen North” – the Klondike country – in 1894, long before the Klondike boom.

When Mr. Berry pointed his way to the barren ice fields of the Far North he had no exact destination in view. His journey was that of a pioneer, beset with all the perils and difficulties of an unopened country. He made his way, after an arduous trip, to what is known as Forty Mile, now an important little Alaskan city, but at that time hardly more than a trading post. He immediately commenced his search for the precious metal, but found this task quite as difficult as the trip itself had been, for there were no saw mills in the interior of Alaska at that day, and he had to make his own lumber and build his own crude machinery. After staking out a claim, he whipsawed enough lumber for sluice boxes, hired a few shovelers and went to work.

This claim, which was worked with no better facilities than had been those of the pioneers in California, showed paying quantities in a short time, and for nearly two years before the rush to the Klondike Mr. Berry was getting out gold in large quantities in Alaska. He worked unremittingly until the latter part of 1895, and then, with a fortune in nuggets to his credit, made his way back to civilization. It was on this trip he married, in Selma.

He wedded Miss Bush on March 15, 1896, and that night started on what is perhaps one of the most remarkable wedding journeys in history. Instead of seeking the urban luxuries of the big cities, they directed their steps to the frozen fields of Alaska, and it was here that the bride showed herself of nerve and hardihood almost equal to that of her husband.

They got as far as Forty Mile, prepared to work on the original claim of Mr. Berry, but found the camp excited over reports of a big strike in the vicinity of Dawson City, the district which afterwards became known to the world as the Klondike, made by McCormick; the well-known Yukon trader. Instead of working his old claim, Mr. Berry decided to go to the new field. There was no means of transportation except the canoe of the Indian, so, taking one of these, which he had to pole for hundreds of miles upstream, Mr. Berry set out alone, determined to get into the much-praised new country as soon as possible. It was one of the most daring and hazardous undertakings in his entire career.

Mrs. Berry, who had been left at Forty Mile, waited a long time for his return, but receiving no tidings of him decided to follow into the unknown regions farther north. Accordingly, she purchased all the provisions she could in Forty Mile, and when the first steamboat came up the river with the opening of navigation in the fall, boarded it. After a good many days the steamer came upon the lone miner tirelessly poling his way up the stream. He was taken aboard and the trip to Dawson continued.

Reaching Dawson, Mr. Berry at once staked out a claim. He located on what later became famous as the richest gold creek in the world, El Dorado, the name being given it by the Californian in memory of that other great gold field of his native State. There Mr. Berry located several claims and he immediately began sinking holes. He was the first man to get a shaft down to bedrock – the first man to strike pay dirt – and his discovery was the cause of the real rush to the Klondike.

Mr. Berry’s find showed that El Dorado Creek had the richest gold deposits ever discovered in a similar area, and in the fall of 1896 he had taken out a tremendous amount of the metal. He returned to the United States with nuggets in such abundance that the entire world was startled, and his reports of the country started the most stupendous gold stampede in the history of the world, not even exepting the days of ’49 in California.

Despite his great good fortune, Mr. Berry retained his equilibrium, refusing to be swept off his feet by the excitement, and from the primitive mine which brought the first gold out of El Dorado Creek he built the modern mining plants which still are producing in large quantities. His mining property known as the Mammoth Mine has eleven miles of ditches and embraces more than five miles of “pay dirt” along Mammoth Creek. This mine is equipped with the largest hydraulic plant in Alaska and is regarded as one of the greatest properties in that country today.

Another great mine which is owned by Mr. Berry is located on Eagle Creek, Alaska.

After his many years of hard work in the sterile mining country, Mr. Berry, having thoroughly modernized his business and placed his properties in perfect working order, decided to leave the active work to others and seek a more congenial place of residence. He picked out Los Angeles for his home and there he has been located since.

About the time he located in Los Angeles the country was just awakening to the great oil possibilities in California, and there, as in the golden pioneer days of Alaska, Mr. Berry was stirred by the desire to conquer. He was among the first investors in oil lands, and since has organized three separate oil companies. Mr. Berry was one of the first men in the McKittrick field to get a well down to bedrock, and he was rewarded be a gusher which spouted the product high above the casing. This well marked the beginning of the recent oil boom in the San Joaquin Valley.

That well was followed by others, and with each new success Mr. Berry’s name has grown until he is now known as one of the most extensive mining and oil operators in the United States.

His interests include the two great mines in Alaska, the C. J. Company (oil), the Ethel D. Company (oil), the Mammoth Oil Company and the Eagle Creek, also an oil corporation, all located in the Kern River district, California. Another enterprise is the Berry Development Company of Fresno, Cal.

The growth of his various operations has had a natural bearing upon the development of the State’s resources in general, and also upon the commercial advancement of Los Angeles proper, because of the tremendous amount of business transacted through that city. In addition, Mr. Berry has aided in many movements to improve the city.

Mr. Berry is a member of the Union League Club of San Francisco, Los Angeles Athletic Club and the Tananah Club of Fairbanks, Alaska. He is a member of the Blue Lodge of Masons of Selma, Cal.; a life member of the Mystic Shrine of Islam Temple, San Francisco; of the Scottish Rite of Fresno and the Knights Templar of the same city.

Transcribed by Bill Simpkins.

Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Pages 840-841, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.

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