Sacramento County
Biographies
RALPH KNIGHT
The interests of occupational employment have taken Mr.
Knight into various parts of the country and have given him a broad knowledge
not only concerning his native commonwealth
of California, but also in regard
to much of the south and east. Brief
sojourns in many well-known cities and temporary association with a number of
Indus-trial and railroad corporations have made him conversant with the
opportunities afforded by different regions and with the condition of workmen
connected with various corporations. He
was, however, connected with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in a larger
degree than with any other organization and for five years was engaged as
foreman of the drafting department in the company’s shops at Sacramento,
filling the responsible position with an energy which is one of his
characteristics and with an intelligent comprehendsion
of the work acquired through former associations with similar departments
elsewhere. However, in 1912 he resigned
his position to engage in mechanical engineering.
In the city where he now resides Mr. Knight was born during
May of 1869 into the home of Capt. William L. and Mary D. Knight. The local schools afforded him excellent
advantages in the primary and grammar department, after which from 1880 until
1884 he studied in the public schools of Oakland
and then completed his education by a year’s course in the Spencerian Business
College. His entrance into the world of industrial
activity was made as an apprentice machinist in the printing press machine shop
of Hare & Berryman, printers, at San Francisco,
with whom he continued for a year.
Returning to Sacramento he
engaged as an apprentice machinist with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company
and during 1892 completed the
trade in these shops, after which
he went back to the coast and for two months worked as machinist with the south
San Francisco Land Improvement Company. The five months following were spent in San
Louis Obispo, Cal., as a
machinist. Upon his return to San
Francisco he took a course in mechanical drafting in a
school of engineering, where he studied for one year, later until 1896 engaging
as a machinist with the Southern Pacific Company in Oakland. Next he spent two years as a machinist in the
government employ at Mare Island Navy yard, where he held a position in the
steam engineering department. During
April of 1898 he returned to Oakland
as a machinist with the railroad company and afterward with the same company at
Dunsmuir, Siskiyou county, to work in the railroad
shops at that point, where he continued from 1900 until March of the next
year. From March until June he was with
the Southern pacific at Tucson, Ariz.,
as a machinist. The following month was
spent at Denison, Texas,
as a machinist in the shops of the Missouri,
Kansas & Texas Railroad, and he then worked for a similar period at Pine
Bluff, Ark., as a machinist
with the St. Louis & Southwestern Railroad.
The next position was at Little Rock, Ark.,
with the St. Louis, Iron Mountain
& Southern railroad.
A brief experience concerning conditions and environment in Indiana
came to Mr. Knight when for two months he worked at Lafayette,
that state, as a machinist with the Chicago, Indiana
& Louisville Railroad. From Indiana
he traveled across the line into Ohio
and secured employment as draftsman with the American Steel & Wire Company,
of Cleveland, with whom he continued until December of 1902. From that time until November 1903 he held a
position as draftsman with the Baldwin Locomotive Works at Philadelphia,
Pa.
Returning to Ohio he
became draftsman with the Columbia Chemical Company at Barberton,
but in March of 1904 he decided to resign and return to the south. After spending three months in Tucson,
Ariz., as a machinist with the Southern
Pacific railroad, he came back to California,
where he entered the Southern pacific shops at Rocklin, Placer county. During July
of 1904 he was employed at Ogden, Utah,
as a machinist with the same company, but in a very short time returned to the
company’s Sacramento shops, where
he was employed as a machinist until November of 1905 and then entered the
drafting room as a draftsman, being promoted in 1907 as foreman of the
department. In 1912 he resigned to
engage as a mechanical engineer, opening an office in Sacramento,
where he is practicing. He is loyal to
his native commonwealth and maintains an active association with the Society of
California Pioneers. Politically he
votes with the Republican party, fraternally holds
membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in religion adheres to
the doctrines of the Christian Science Church.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento
County, California, Pages 499-500. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1913.
© 2005 Sally Kaleta.