Spreckels

The community of Spreckels in the Salinas Valley was the manifestation of the dreams of immigrant Claus Spreckels, later known as the Sugar King. Architect W. H. Weeks designed Spreckels Sugar Company's town near its massive sugar beet factory, the largest in the world. Neat rows of single-story homes sprang up on the valley floor, opening to workers in 1899. Spreckels also built a narrow-gauge railroad to cart his cargo to the docks at Moss Landing. Sugar beet production changed the focus of valley agriculture from dry to irrigated crops, resulting in the vast modern agricultural-industrial economy in today's Salad Bowl of the World. Although Spreckels died in 1908, his company continued to own and operate the factory and much of the town until 1982, and almost 500 residents still call it home.

Author: Gary S. Breschini, Mona Gudgel, Trudy Haversat
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing (SC)
Published: 10/16/2006
Pages: 128
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.72lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.34w x 0.35d
ISBN: 9780738546841

About the Author
Breschini, Gary S.: - Coauthors Gary S. Breschini and Trudy Haversat are archaeologists, and Mona Gudgel is executive director of the Monterey County Historical Society. This same team also coauthored the Images of America volume Early Salinas and 10,000 Years on the Salinas Plain: An Illustrated History of Salinas City, California. Together they sift out the finest images to illustrate this history of both a company and a community.

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