San
Joaquin County
Biographies
CLARENCE L. DICKINSON
A man who needs little personal
introduction to the people of central California, the heart of which is the
Stockton country, is Clarence L. Dickinson, more familiarly known as “Dick,”
who for years on the harbor front and along commission row has been a familiar
figure, and whose popularity and success are deserved. He was born in Lockeford, San Joaquin County,
California, on March 31, 1883 a son of Everett C. and Helen (Yaple) Dickinson, the former a native of Wisconsin, the
latter of Ripon, California.
Clarence enjoyed the advantages of
the grammar school in Ripon and was graduated from the Stockton high school
with the class of 1903. He was president
of his class and president of the student body, and is a member of the Gamma Eta Kappa fraternity.
His first business experience was in the office of the Enterprise
Planing Mill and later with the San Joaquin Lumber Company of Stockton. In 1906 he became a partner in the firm of
Dickinson-Nelson Company, but in July, 1919 he sold his interest in the firm
and started in business for himself as an independent broker, and began
specializing in the buying, selling and handling of hay and grain, in the grain
department of his business representing the George W. McNear Company of San
Francisco. For some twelve years
previous to establishing his own business, Mr. Dickinson had been connected
with leading interests on commission row, and few of the younger merchants had
wider or more valuable acquaintance among the growers of the entire country
about Stockton than this able young operator.
Making a specialty of handling hay, grain, and other products of the
Delta and farming sections direct from the points of production to the points
of consumption, and thereby realizing better profits for the growers, Mr.
Dickinson established a system of his own which set a new standard in modern
marketing. Being familiar through years
of experience with differential freight rates, Mr. Dickinson has full knowledge
of transportation, and this is used to splendid advantage when serving growers
through shipments of their products. He
has made a careful study of conditions of supply and demand as regards the
agricultural and grain products in this part of California, and he specializes
in carload lot shipments from all distributing centers to points of
consumption.
In 1905 Mr. Dickinson made a visit
to the vineyard district of San Bernardino County and
seeing vineyards thriving in sandy soil, he became convinced that the rich soil
of San Joaquin Valley would be well adapted to the growing of grapes. In company with A. B. Lamasley
and Robert Ingles he purchased 160 acres of land between Ripon and Escalon and
planted a vineyard. The land which was
purchased for forty-seven dollars an acre, was planted
in 1918 and later was sold at a handsome profit; the same property is now held
at $1000 an acre.
Mr. Dickinson is a member of the
Chamber of Commerce and was at one time a member of the board of directors,
helping organize its traffic bureau. He
is past president of the Anteros Club and a member of the Yosemite Club and the
Golf and Country Club of Stockton; also of the Elks No. 218, and Masons. He is a loyal booster for the future of
Stockton, because he believes it to be the best city in the West, and enjoys
high standing in commission, business, civic and social circles.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1291. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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