San Joaquin Valley Business Perspectives

              v-belt drives, shoes, hose, and industrial paints; this
phase of our business constitutes about 15 to 20
percent of our total volume.
We also do a certain amount of custom
manufacturing of specialized equipment for such
businesses as chemical plants and food-processing
plants - particularly in the San Joaquin Valley. This
service goes beyond our immediate area; we do some
custom work for clients such as Union Carbide,
Monsanto Chemical, and Occidental Chemical in
plants that they have in Texas, Arizona, Southern
California, and other areas of the United States.
What is the historical background of Valley Foundry
and Machine Works?
Valley Foundry (at that time, known as Valley
Machine Works) was organized in 1898 as a small
machine shop for doing repair work in Fresno County
and particularly in the Fresno City area. After a few
years, it was determined that a foundry could be used
in Fresno, so the name was changed and the business
was incorporated.
The firm made castings for plows, disks, harrows, and
other farm implements. When irrigation was
introduced to grow crops in the dry, arid Fresno area,
a need developed for irrigation pumps, so Valley
Foundry devoted its efforts to the manufacture of
centrifugal pumps. However, there was not enough
electricity available, so the firm turned its efforts to
the manufacture of gasoline engines to rotate and
operate pumps. Later, as electricity was brought into
the valley, a conversion was made from the gas to
electric engines. As the water table began to recede,
the pumps were made into kits and were placed in
deeper pits. When it became obvious that the water
table could not be followed down, a conversion was
made to manufacturing deep-well turbine pumps.
In 1933, Prohibition was repealed. Valley Foundry
was having a very rough time. Employees had
dropped from 16 to only 5 or 6 workers. We were
looking for opportunities to bring in business from
other industries, so I started to devote my time
(instead of selling pumps) to canvasing industrial
plants such as the bakeries, laundries, creameries,
canneries, and raisin factories for whatever repair
work we could do for them or supplies we could sell
them - anything to make a few dollars so we could
keep our doors open.
When Prohibition was repealed, there seemed to be an
opportunity for us to service a new industry where
there was less competition and some new
opportunities. We pursued the wine industry for a
number of years. It was very difficult to get started
with the wine industry because we were competing
with    firms   who   had   manufactured   wine-making
machinery prior to the establishment of Prohibition;
but we got a foothold, developed our equipment, and
began to manufacture wine-making machinery.
How did you personally get started with Valley
Foundry?
/ was asked to join Valley Foundry in 1929 as a
salesman to sell irrigation pumps to the agricultural
interests around Fresno. My father had a ranch in
Fowler, and as a young man, I helped him negotiate
the deal for trading in our gas engine to Valley
Foundry for a deep-well turbine pump. Oddly
enough, my very first assignment on the job with
Valley Foundry was to sell the gas engine that my
fa ther and I had traded in.
When did you become the owner of Valley Foundry?
As we progressed into the development, design, and
manufacture of wine-making equipment, the owner
of Valley Foundry decided it was time for him to sell.
He was getting old, the business's finances were in a
very depressed condition, and he couldn't foresee any
progress in the industry. He offered to sell the
business, but I didn't want to purchase a depressed,
bankrupt business from him. I was certain that the
business could show a profit in a couple of years. I
told the owner that if he wanted to sell the business
as a profit-making enterprise in a couple of years, I
would entertain the idea of purchasing it.
My suggestion was taken for what it was worth. We
did a total business of $84,000 in 1939 and made a
profit of $2,200. In February of 1940, the owner
offered to sell the business, and I agreed to purchase
it.
If you were starting this business all over again today,
what would be some of the difficulties encountered?
The cost would be much higher, the interest rates
would be higher, and the arrangements for financing
would be a little more difficult; but everything would
be relative. At the time I bought the business, we
were in a depressed period, and we had just as many
problems then as we have today. As we surmounted
our problems at that time, so do we still attempt to
take advantage of opportunities to surmount our
problems today.
Is your major market in the San Joaquin Valley?
No, we are more national in scope-even a little bit
international. The majority of the wineries in
California are outside of Fresno County. We serve the
wine industry in Kern County; all of the counties of
Southern California; and areas northward through
Modesto, Lodi, Napa, Sonoma, and along the coast.
Because we are in the wine equipment manufacturing
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES