San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JAMES M. SCHOFIELD
Not many well-boring contractors
have had half of the experience of James M. Schofield, of 845 South San Joaquin
Street, Stockton, and certainly few, if any, have had his good luck in
completing what the sets out to do. He
was born at Hull, in Yorkshire, England, on august 15, 1851, the son of a
sear-fairing man who was an expert North Sea pilot. James Schofield was taught by the well known
educator of that time, namely Zebider Scaping, in Trinity House School at Hull, England, entering
when a lad eleven years old. This
historic school continues to be a leading school of navigation for boys and
dates back to 1729. It is related that
after the publication of “Robinson Crusoe” in 1719, the Trinity House took a
practical view of the question, and in order to stimulate the youth of Hull to
take up sea life, formed a Marine School in 1729. In the examinations, which were held under
the auspices of the science and art department of the Committee of Council on
Education of South Kensington, England, he showed himself an apt pupil, passing
satisfactorily examinations at twelve years of age in the follow subjects: physical geography, mathematics, steam,
navigation and nautical astronomy. He
then took to sea, sailing under Captain James Bell on the ship “Cape Horn” of
Liverpool. Before sixteen years of age
he had doubled Cape Horn three times, and crossed the equator four times in a
sailing vessel. When
only fourteen years old he received the Queen’s Prize on navigation. The prize consisted of a case of nautical
instruments, which together with the various certificates of examination are
still in his possession. The Queen’s Prize
is inscribed as follows: Science and Art
Department of the Committee of Council on Education. Presented to James Schofield for his success
in the examination of science classes held May, 1865, 2nd Grade in
Navigation. By Order
of the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council on Education. MDCCCLXI.”
Mr. Schofield made three trips to
the Bay City of the Pacific and arriving in San Francisco in the fall of 1866,
after a voyage of 128 days, he left the ship, and soon supported himself by
following various occupations.
By 1873, however, he had found the
field in which he was destined best to succeed, that of well-boring, for which
there was increasing demand; and for some time he made his headquarters in
Merced. In 1898 he located at Stockton;
and since then he has bored thousands of feet of wells from Turlock to above
Sacramento. He had the contract to bore
the wells needed by the Western Pacific Railroad, when they were building
through the Valley, an undertaking which required plenty of experience and
foresight to conclude with success. He
sank two wells of twenty inches on A. B. Humphrey’s ranch at Escalon, and this
alone added much to his enviable reputation as one of the noted authorities on
well-boring in the state. The importance
of having such work as this entrusted to an experienced man of exceptional
knowledge is seen in the peculiar and imperative problems he is called upon to
solve daily. In his work in the Delta
District he finds that care must be taken not to go too deep where one may
strike salt water, although some of the wells around Stockton sunk by him have
been 200 feet deep. He also finds that
in late years the gas seeps into the water and causes much trouble. In his drilling operations, he uses power
from his automobile, a device of his own invention, and he finds that thereby
he is economically successful.
When Mr. Schofield married, he chose
for his wife Miss Minerva W. Campbell, a native of Mariposa County; and the couple have made the best of working teams. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias of
Stockton, and it is needless to say that he is one of the most popular of
members.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
533-534. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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