Charles G. Yale

Charles Gregory Yale (1847 – 1926) was a businessman and yachtman, Secretary of the San Francisco Yacht Club and cofounder of the Pacific Inter-Club Yacht Association. With William C. Ralston, founder of the Bank of California, he cofounded the San Francisco Miners' Association, renewing interest in hydraulic mining. He was a leading mineralogist and geologist who worked for the U.S. Geological Survey, and became statistician of the San Francisco Mint.

Early life The California Gold Rush, Charles G. Yale's emigrated on a Schooner as a child to San Francisco, as his father was one of the early mining lawyers in the state

Charles Gregory Yale was born October 22, 1847, in Jacksonville, Florida, to Colonel Gregory Yale of San Francisco and Frances Ellen Willey, members of the Yale family. His father was one of the early mining and maritime lawyers who sailed to San Francisco with his family, arriving there December 28, 1849. He defended, with Gov. Henry S. Foote, the Vice President of the Republic of Lower California, Col. Watkins, and was himself involved in a duel against a man named Bailie Peyton. He was involved in the case of Senator David C. Broderick, and with Don Salvador Vallejo, brother of Gen. Mariano G. Vallejo. He was an associate of pioneer Frank Turk, and was elected Chairman of the Whig Party committee. He was also one of the Vice Presidents of the Democrats of California during the Civil War, along with Gen. Henry M. Naglee and others.

Charles G. Yale's maternal grandfather was Charles Willey, sea Captain of a Schooner trading food between New York and Florida, who gave land to Jacksonville to build the Old City Cemetery. One of Charles G. Yale's brother was an engineer in Arizona. Another brother, Frank Willey Yale, married to Fannie Amelia Bleecker, of the Bleeckers of Bleecker Street, Manhattan. She was a daughter of Dr. Edward Bleecker of New York, whose father was Major General Leonard Bleecker.

He served the country by pushing for the rehabilitation of hydraulic mining, and was the only San Francisco mining representative at the hydraulic miners convention. He represented the miners on the committee and helped them organize a movement, and was helped in the venture by his friend William Chapman Ralston, founder of the Bank of California. He also cofounded and was made the first president of the Pacific Inter-Club Yacht Association. The association was founded in San Francisco on May 12, 1896, by five charter yacht clubs, including the San Francisco Yacht Club, in order to improve communication between the clubs, and to provide uniform regional racing rules, encouraging yachting competition and activity. Past members have included newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, U.S. President Richard Nixon, artist William Keith, artist Arthur Frank Mathews and artist Edwin Deakin. He was regarded as a well known journalist and official of the US Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps by the club, and helped them negotiate the acquisition of a ship named Casco. He was also a friend of artist Robert Louis Stevenson. He was a contributor to Scientific American, writing an article named "The Gold Deposits of Cape Nome". During the time of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Yale was the special geological survey agent on the Pacific Coast, and was near the event in San Francisco at the time. His offices were located in the Appraiser's Building, which wasn't much damaged during the event, allowing him to study its structure and give a report to the director of survey.

One of Yale collaborators was geologist George Davidson, who worked with surveyor Alexander Dallas Bache, of the family of Benjamin Franklin. He was made a special contributor to the Engineering and Mining Journal, and became a member of the California Historical Society. Yale was present as a delegate to the American Institute of Mining Engineers convention of 1911, and gave a talk about California's wealth in gold and land products. He took his retirement in 1923, and the dinner took place in the red room of the Bohemian Club with fellow bohemians.

Death

Yale was the father of Enid Yale, wife of diplomat Wilbur Tirrell Gracey, who was Marshal, U.S. Consul-General at Nanking, China and Hong-Kong, Vice-Deputy Consul at Fuzhou, and U.S. Consul at Seville, Spain and Progreso, Mexico, serving under U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.