Other Voices
The old Santa Clara Valley truly lived up to its name, "The Valley of Heart's Delight."
We, the generation who grew up at the the end of the Depression and during World War II, felt it was truly a great place. For adults it was somewhat tougher because of the seasonal nature of agricultural work, but for we kids, it was great. The seasonal nature of the work meant that we could always find summer work in the fields or canneries, and the money we made helped with our school expenses. Summer jobs also helped us understand the value of hard work, and to respect those of different cultures and backgrounds.
I started picking prunes with a migrant family in 1939, and in the following several years, harvested peaches, pears, walnuts, garlic, squash, cauliflower, tomatoes, onions and strawberries.
I remember boarding some trucks of a government agency located on Fourth Street in San Jose to harvest crops, and I remember bicycling with a friend to a ranch near Agnews Medical Center to work. We helped the rancher with the walnut crop and drying apricots on weekends through November of that year.
When I became 16, I started working in canneries: Richmond-Chase, Barron-Gray, and TriValley, while my brother was working at American Can Co., and my sister was working in canneries.
Some of the kids got better jobs at Larson Ladder or at Food Machinery Corp., which was then on Julian Street in San Jose. I know FMC still exists, but I don't know if any of the other companies that I noted do.
As I think about it, this was a perfect place for Silicon Valley. The good work ethic of the young people, the great schools of higher learning that we had nearby (Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley, San Jose State University, Santa Clara University), the good weather and the school income supplied by agriculture combined to make those budding entrepreneurs and engineers who made this valley the economic powerhouse it is today.
I miss the old valley with its beautiful orchards, but perhaps Silicon Valley will help us achieve the goals we need for the 21st century. The main goal should be to preserve this beautiful earth and all its creatures. The second goal should be to better the lot of mankind, and a third goal might be to power the engine of mankind's exploration and settlement of the universe.
Jim Goodwin is a Los Altos resident.