STOCKTON  , a

city and the county seat of San Joaquin county in central California, U.S.A., at the head of the Stockton channel of the San Joaquin river, about 48 in . S.E. of Sacramento . Pop . (1900), 17,506, of whom 4057 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 23,253 . It is served by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Western Pacific and the Southern Pacific railways, and has also a considerable river trade with San Francisco . It is at the head of regular navigation on the river; at high water boats occasionally go to Hills Ferry, 150 M. beyond Stockton . The channel has been much improved by the Federal government since 1877 . Stockton has a perfectly level site, broad streets and a regular plan . In the city are a good public library, the San Joaquin county law library, St Agnes academy, St Mary's college, a children's home (1896; under the Ladies' Aid Society), St Joseph's home (1899) for the aged, and St Joseph's hospital (1899), both under the Sisters of St Dominic, the Pacific hospital, a county hospital and a state hospital for the insane (1851) . Situated in the great valley of the San Joaquin, in the midst of a rich agricultural region, it is one of the largest grain, vegetable and fruit markets of the West . It manufactures flour, lumber, agricultural machinery and implements, &c . Its factory product in 1905 was valued at $8,029,490, or 45.3% more than in 1900 .

Stockton

rose into prominence in the early mining days . A settlement named Tuleberg, later called New Albany, stood on the city site in 1847; its future was precarious when the discovery of gold insured its prosperity . In the spring of 1849 a town was laid out and the present name adopted in honour of Commander Robert Field Stockton (1795-1866), who with Colonel John C . Fremont and General Stephen W . Kearny had gained possession of California for the United States during the war with Mexico . In 185o Stockton became the county-seat and was chartered as a city . STOCKTON-ON-TEES, a market town, municipal and parliamentary borough, and port of Durham, England, on the N. bank of the Tees, 51 M. above its mouth, and on the North Eastern railway, 236 M . N. by W. from London . Pop . (1901), 51,478 . The parliamentary borough extends across the river into Yorkshire, to include the municipal borough of Thornaby-on-Tees . At Norton, ' m. north, the church of St Mary, formerly collegiate, shows fine Norman work .

The

chief buildings are a town hall, with clock-tower and spire, borough-hall, exchange and public library . The quays are accessible to vessels drawing 20 ft. at high water spring tides . There are extensive steel works, blasting furnaces, iron and brass foundries and rolling-mills; and iron shipbuilding is an important industry . There are also sailcloth works, potteries, breweries and brick and tile works . Exports (iron manufactures, coal and agricultural produce) were valued at £435,439 in 'goo; imports (timber, iron, grain, &c.) at £280,371; trade being chiefly with Holland and the Baltic ports, and coastal . The parliamentary borough returns one member . The municipal borough is under a mayor, 10 aldermen and 30 councillors, and has an area of 2935 acres . Tt would seem that Stockton (Stokton) grew up round the castle of the bishops of Durham, to whom the town belonged even before their purchase of the earldom of Sadberge . In 1183 the Boldon Book records that the whole town rendered one milch cow and the ferry twenty pence to the bishop . The castle was probably built between 1183 and 1214 . King John visited Bishop Philip of Poitou (d . 1208) there and is said to have granted the place a charter similar to that of Hartlepool in 1214 .

Of this, however, no traces remain, the rights of the borough, which must have come into existence during the 13th

century, being purely prescriptive . Stockton was divided into two parts: the " town," governed by the bailiff of the bishop and afterwards by the vicar and vestrymen, and the borough, under a mayor and alder-men . The bishop's bailiff was also the keeper of the castle, though in the 17th century the office belonged to the borough-bailiff . The borough is first mentioned in 1283, when the king took tallage from it during the vacancy of the see . It occurs again in a record of 1328, and in 1344 the mayor and bailiffs entered into an agreement with the mayor and bailiffs of New-castle for the regulation of trade between the two places . Bishop Hatfield's survey (1377-1382) gives a list of tenants within the borough: 22 burgages and 15 half-burgages are mentioned, the rent of which varies from twenty-two pence to a penny half-penny . In 1644 the parliamentary troops besieged and captured the castle, which was dismantled in 1652 . In 1666 the population was only J44, for Stockton was an isolated place with little trade . It became a parliamentary borough, returning one member, in 1867 . In 1310 the bishop gave the town a market and a fair during the octave of the Translation of St Thomas the Martyr, reserving to himself the tolls; Bishop Morton revived the market, which had lapsed at the beginning of the 17th century . Camden speaks of Stockton as a neat, well-built corporation town and especially commends the ale brewed there and sent to various parts of the country . The importance of Stockton as a port dates from the end of the 18th century, when there was a considerable trade in lead, dairy- produce and timber .