One of local history ’ s unsolved little mysteries is whether the “ good ” iron kettle used for soap making belonged to Thomas Oliver Larkin , or whether it was the cracked one belonging to a man named Garcia . We may never know , but in any case , one of them ended up at Soap Lake being used in a soap factory run by Jose Maria Sanchez .
What historians do tell us is that there were two iron cauldrons used at alternate intervals for local soap making . Larkin ’ s , possibly purchased from a whaler passing through Monterey , was apparently loaned out to various regional soap manufacturers . The other cauldron , also borrowed , belonged to the man simply known as Garcia .
The old iron cauldron that sits behind the Gilroy Museum today represents a period in our local history , when , for local landowners , soap manufacture meant the same thing as currency . The lucrative sudsy product was sent to Larkin ’ s store in Monterey , where it was purchased and taken aboard ship by English and American sailors . They said it lathered in salt water , thus worked well for doing their laundry at sea .
The infamous cauldron ended up at San Felipe Lake , known to locals as Soap Lake . The shallow body of water is situated along the south side of Pacheco Pass Highway between Bloomfield Avenue and San Felipe Road . Flat and unremarkable during dry spells , it belonged to Jose Maria Sanchez as part of his 16,016-acre Rancho Llano de Tequisquite , granted to him in 1835 .
Llano de Tequisquite , which means , “ Plain of Alkali ,” was named for the ionic salt of an alkali metal , used in soap making , that occurs in the dry lakebed and in surrounding soil deposits .
Several area landowners profited from their alkali deposits . Most notably , John Gilroy , his two brothers-in-law , Quintin Ortega and Julian Cantua , also Francisco Pacheco , and early pioneer Mathew Fellom all engaged in soap making either at San Felipe Lake , or on their own nearby properties .
In Monterey , Thomas Oliver Larkin was both the region ’ s United States Consul and a successful Yankee merchant . Today , tourists can visit the Larkin home , an example of the Monterey Colonial style , as part of the California State Parks system in historic downtown Monterey .
At Sanchez ’ Llano de Tequisquite lakeside soap factory , the iron cauldron was placed upright , then encased in an adobe base . To make the soap , a mixture of tallow and alkali were placed into the vessel . After being boiled for six to eight hours , a thick froth was skimmed off on the surface to make soft household soap . Salt was added for a hardened version , and then the mixture was poured into wooden molds to solidify . It was then stored and turned regularly to “ cure ,” before being sent to market .
A reliable stream of soap orders to Monterey was not always the case . Larkin ’ s business agent , Talbot Green , spent the summer and fall of 1842 overseeing accounts at John Gilroy ’ s Rancho San Ysidro . Besides soap , Larkin had also ordered grain , flour and hides . Green wrote to Larkin on July 12 , 1842 that he wasn ’ t receiving the right orders of wheat and flour from area ranchers . Instead Larkin received 2,308 pieces of soap . “ Most of them think that soap ought to be the only currency ,” Green complained .
Larkin himself complained to Francisco Pacheco , who owned four local ranchos : San Justo , Bolsa de San Felipe , Ausaymas de San Felipe and San Luis Gonzaga . Besides the soap , Pacheco also owed him a quantity of hides . Larkin wrote “... you appear to think you will send me only Soap and that whenever you see fit … Your next excuse I suppose will be that it is a dry season and you will have no tallow . You must remember you told me 3 or 4 times that you had all your soap ready for cutting so the dry season can make no difference .”
Agent Green , in his own spelling , brought up the borrowed iron cauldron issue in a September 26 , 1842 letter to Larkin , “ I asked Sanches if he wanted the pot the last of the month . He said yes but Graceia is not willing to let him have it until 15th October . I told him if he must have it I would order Graceia to give it up .”
Finally forced to give up the extra pot he ’ d borrowed from Larkin , Garcia returned it with a crack . Unable to determine whether he ’ d received Garcia ’ s bad pot instead of Larkin ’ s good one , a perplexed Green wrote to Monterey , “ Sanches might not take it if cracked .”
Sanchez did end up with one of the cauldrons , the one moored along the edge of Soap Lake . He apparently signed a contact with Thomas Larkin to manufacture soap in 1845 , two years after the wrangle over pot ownership .
But not for long . Within three years , the once profitable soap manufacturing ended at Soap Lake . In 1848 , after news of the Gold Rush swept through the region , laborers quickly left tedious , low-paying local jobs and headed for the Sierra gold country seeking more profitable venture . Today , the Soap Lake cauldron of mysterious ownership now sits behind the Gilroy Museum , where visitors can make up their own minds whose pot it was .
G M H T O D A Y M A G A Z I N E MAY / JUNE 2015 gmhtoday . com
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