Claus Spreckels
Encyclopedia
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
during the kingdom
Kingdom of Hawaii
The Kingdom of Hawaii was established during the years 1795 to 1810 with the subjugation of the smaller independent chiefdoms of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lānai, Kauai and Niihau by the chiefdom of Hawaii into one unified government...
, republican
Republic of Hawaii
The Republic of Hawaii was the formal name of the government that controlled Hawaii from 1894 to 1898 when it was run as a republic. The republic period occurred between the administration of the Provisional Government of Hawaii which ended on July 4, 1894 and the adoption of the Newlands...
and territorial
Territory of Hawaii
The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 7, 1898, until August 21, 1959, when its territory, with the exception of Johnston Atoll, was admitted to the Union as the fiftieth U.S. state, the State of Hawaii.The U.S...
periods of the islands' history. He also involved himself in several California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
enterprises, most notably the company that bears his name, Spreckels Sugar Company
Spreckels Sugar Company
The Spreckels Sugar Company is an American sugar beet refiner that for many years controlled much of the U.S. West Coast refined sugar market. Spreckels Sugar was founded by entrepreneur, industrialist, newspaper publisher, and railroad executive Claus Spreckels in 1881...
.
Life
Spreckels was born in LamstedtBörde Lamstedt
Börde Lamstedt is a Samtgemeinde in the district of Cuxhaven, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approx. 35 km east of Bremerhaven, and 15 km north of Bremervörde...
, Hanover
Kingdom of Hanover
The Kingdom of Hanover was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg , and joined with 38 other sovereign states in the German...
, now a state of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. In 1846, he left his homeland to start a new life in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. In 1852 he married his childhood sweetheart, Anna Christina Mangels (1829-1910), who had immigrated to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with her brother three years earlier. They had thirteen children, five of whom lived to maturity: John Diedrich
John D. Spreckels
John Diedrich Spreckels , the son of German-American industrialist Claus Spreckels, founded a transportation and real estate empire in San Diego, California in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
(1853-1926), Adolph Bernard
Adolph B. Spreckels
Adolph Bernard Spreckels was a California businessman who ran Spreckels Sugar Company and who donated the California Palace of the Legion of Honor art museum to the city of San Francisco in 1924. His wife Alma was called the "great grandmother of San Francisco".-Biography:His father was Claus...
(1857-1924), Claus August (1858-1946), Rudolph (1872-1958) and daughter, Emma C. (Spreckels) Watson Ferris Hutton.
The family first settled in South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, where Spreckels opened a grocery store business. Within a short time they moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, then in 1856 relocated to San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, where Spreckels began a brewery
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
and made a fortune.
Spreckels used some of his wealth to purchase vast tracts of land in California and Hawaii to grow sugar beet
Sugar beet
Sugar beet, a cultivated plant of Beta vulgaris, is a plant whose tuber contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production. Sugar beets and other B...
s and sugarcane
Sugarcane
Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...
. Spreckels entered the sugar business in the mid 1860s and came to dominate the Hawaiian sugar trade on the West Coast. His first refinery, built in 1867, was at Eighth and Brannan Streets in San Francisco, but by the late 1870s the Brannan Street facilities were running at capacity, so Spreckels chose a site in Potrero Point
Potrero Point
Potrero Point San Francisco is the location of the earliest and most important industrial facilities in the Western United States on the eastern extension of San Francisco's Potrero Hill, a natural land mass extending into San Francisco Bay south of Mission Bay. Potrero Point, the point of Potrero...
to open a larger sugar refinery with water access. He called his concerns the California Sugar Refinery. In the 1890s, he helped found the national sugar trust and renamed his property the Western Sugar Refinery and continued to increase his control over the Hawaiian sugar trade. This control over the industry was irksome to Hawaiian planters not directly affiliated with Spreckels and his associates. At the end of the 1890s, they attempted to break free. In 1905, the planters established a cooperative refinery in Crockett, California
Crockett, California
Crockett is a census-designated place in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The population was 3,094 at the 2010 census...
, the California and Hawaiian Sugar Company
California and Hawaiian Sugar Company
California and Hawaiian Sugar Company was founded in 1906 and operated from 1921 to 1993 as an agricultural cooperative marketing association owned by the member sugar companies in Hawaii...
(C&H). Spreckels's dominance in sugar was broken, but the Western Sugar Refinery continued operation in San Francisco until 1951.
While in Hawaii, he purchased the Pacific Commercial Advertiser in 1880 and became a publisher. This paper later became known as the Honolulu Advertiser
Honolulu Advertiser
The Honolulu Advertiser was a daily newspaper published in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the largest daily newspaper in the American state of Hawaii. It published daily with special Sunday and Internet editions...
and, prior to its demise in 2010, was one of the largest newspapers in circulation in the United States. Spreckels' conservative, pro-monarchy slant caused him to fall from favor in the business community, and he eventually sold the newspaper. Claus Spreckels also lent his assistance to William Matson when he first founded Matson Navigation Company
Matson Navigation Company
The Matson Navigation Company, a subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin, is a private shipping company with roots extending into the late 19th century...
. Spreckels financed many of Matson's new ships including Matson’s first ship called Emma Claudina named for Spreckels’ daughter. Matson had been captain of a vessel, engaged chiefly in carrying coal to the Spreckels Sugar Refinery and later worked aboard the Spreckels family yacht.
Spreckels was the President of the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railway from 1895 until it was sold to the Santa Fe Railway in 1901. The railroad built a line that competed with the Southern Pacific
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
through the San Joaquin Valley
San Joaquin Valley
The San Joaquin Valley is the area of the Central Valley of California that lies south of the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta in Stockton...
between Richmond
Richmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...
and Bakersfield. The railroad was welcome competition for shippers who were strangled by Southern Pacific's monopoly on shipping rates in the valley. Today this route is BNSF's main route to Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
.
Spreckels also built the 42-mile narrow gauge Pajaro Valley Consolidated Railroad in 1890 to ship his sugar beets from Spreckels
Spreckels, California
Spreckels is a census-designated place located in the Salinas Valley of Monterey County, California, United States. Spreckels is located south of Salinas, at an elevation of 62 feet . The population was 673 at the 2010 census, up from 485 at the 2000 census.Spreckels is one of the best-preserved...
(near Salinas) to Watsonville.
On July 9, 1893 Spreckels found a death threat graffitied on his house. He went into self-exile from Hawaii July 19 on the Australia vowing to “return to see grass growing in the streets of Honolulu.” Despite his vow he returned to Hawaii for one last time in 1905.
On Claus Spreckels's death, second son Adolph assumed the management of Spreckels Sugar Company.
See also
- John D. SpreckelsJohn D. SpreckelsJohn Diedrich Spreckels , the son of German-American industrialist Claus Spreckels, founded a transportation and real estate empire in San Diego, California in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
, son - Spreckels, CaliforniaSpreckels, CaliforniaSpreckels is a census-designated place located in the Salinas Valley of Monterey County, California, United States. Spreckels is located south of Salinas, at an elevation of 62 feet . The population was 673 at the 2010 census, up from 485 at the 2000 census.Spreckels is one of the best-preserved...
, named for Claus Spreckels - Spreckelsville, Maui, Hawaii, named for Claus Spreckels.
External links
- Spreckels and a Wharf in Aptos, CA at www.sandylydon.com