Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1956)

more than $2 million now. Turkey growing is a $8.5 million industry. Merced merchants welcome another group of big spenders aside from its native sons. Nearby is the permanent installation of Castle Air Force Base, home of the 93rd Bombardment Wing. MODESTO This is the town that packs and freezes your "television turkey dinner" and a lot of other popular foods. C. A. Swanson & Sons, food packing firm, is Modesto's biggest private employer. Swanson doubled the size of its plant a few months ago. The county seat of Stanislaus County and its principal trading center, Modesto has seen a big surge in food processing industries with a $17 million payroll and $115 million farm income, to supplement the county. A dairy and peach growing leader, the county is well irrigated and has a diversity of multi-million dollar fruit and field crops. Just northwest of Merced and straddling U. S. 99, Stanislaus County represents 963,840 acres of rich valley floor, 90% of which are private farms, considered a high proportion. The county during the period 19401950 jumped 70% in population and another 13% by 1954 for a total of 144,000. In 1952 individual incomes in the county soared to $208.9 million, 330% above 1940. John Inglis Frozen Foods, Borden Co., Milk Producers Assn., E & J Gallo Winery and Pacific Can Co. are other major companies in Modesto. Marathon Corp. has recently built an 85,000 square foot plant to make food packages. California's Modesto State Hospital is the biggest single employer, having about 900 on its professional staff to care for 3,600 patients. The state has planned a $23 million addition. SONORA — Tuolumne County A little east of Modesto is Sonora, a small town of 2,500 population, rich with gold rush lore and the hangout for Mark Twain in those days. Now it is a principal trading center for timber-rich Tuolumne County. Lumbering is the major industry although some agriculture, chiefly turkeys and cattle, account for about $4.5 million farm income. The county's 14,100 people have total individual incomes of about $22.3 million, almost double that of 1940. Retail sales run about $19 million. Population increase since 1950 was 12%. Scenic Stanislaus National Forest area brings considerable tourist trade. STOCKTON — San Joaquin County When farmers of San Joaquin County look up from their rich delta soil and scan the horizon they are just as apt to see an ocean-going ship as the familiar doubletrailer diesel truck chugging along the highway. Both are headed for San Francisco to the west, but the ship will exchange San Joaquin wealth with more distant U. S. markets and abroad. The economic heart of this rich agricultural area is Stockton, engulfing California's only inland port and spewing forth into ship, truck and train a wide range of grains and other farm products, processed foods and manufacture. Conversely, volumes of goods flow into Stockton destined for the county's 230,000 people and the hundreds of thousands of other consumers in the fertile San Joaquin Valley to the south. Historically a vital inland trade center and jumping-off place to southern gold mines, Stockton today is growing in manufacture to equal its long-standing farm wealth. Agriculture reaped $135 million last year, as manufacture payrolls accounted for another $56 million alone. The city of Stockton has grown to 82,000, with a total of 135,000 in its urban area. Areas outside of the city have increased at a more rapid rate. The county jumped 50% in population from 1940 to 1950, another 14% since. Cash incomes are up 340% since 1940, to nearly $400 million at last official count. Per capita income is up 175%. Wages and salaries are up over 400% to about $245 million. San Joaquin County geographically is the natural northern gateway to the San Joaquin Valley and its other rich markets. The county's 902,400 acres are substantially all privately owned and farmed, with reclaimed slough lands to the west of Stockton, along the San Joaquin River and its tributaries, looking like Holland with dikes and canals. Always a prosperous port town, Stockton today is making a strong bid for the title of "Grain Capital of the West." Beside its deepwater channel, Stockton Elevators is completing construction on a $4 million installation. The headhouse soars 24 stories and is surrounded by 52 silos. The deep water channel winds westward for 88 miles to San Francisco Bay. The port facility, completed in 1933, represents a $10 million installation. More than 350 ocean ships called last year, handling tonnage of 2.5 million. Here is the focal point for 1,000 miles of waterways within the county which accommodate commercial and pleasure boats with drafts up to 9 ft. Boats are big business for Stockton, along with hunting, fishing and other recreation. County retail sales have jumped from $72 million in 1940 to $284 million in 1950 and around $320 million today. The city of Stockton accounts for nearly 70% of this total. With government the largest single employer in the county, Stockton enjoys considerable proportions of local military purchases and payrolls to civilians and military personnel. Nearby Sharpe General Depot (Army), and Stockton Naval Annex pay civilian help alone some $15 million each year. San Joaquin County's estimated $135 million agricultural crop is well diversified. Fruit and nuts exceed $30 million, almost three times their 1940 value. Field crops are over $35 million, up from $11.5 million in 1940. Vegetables have increased from $8.8 million 15 years ago to better than $32 million today. In the same time, seed crops soared from less than a quarter-million to over $2.5 million and livestock went up from $5.96 million to nearly $16 million. Dairy, accounting for $3.6 million in 1940, is a $14 million business today while poultry has jumped from $1 million to $4.4 million. The delta lands include a unique variety of soils which favor growing of an unusual variety of 60 different crops, representing Broadcasting o Telecasting January 30, 1956 • Page 117