History of Orange County, California : with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its earliest growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 21

Author: Armor, Samuel, 1843-; Pleasants, J. E., Mrs
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1700

USA > California > Orange County > History of Orange County, California : with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its earliest growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 21

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When once started, tomatoes will propagate themselves like weeds in this county ; but, like other plants, the better the selection and care the better the product. So far as natural conditions are concerned, there is practically no limit to the quantity that might be produced; the limit is in the profitable disposal of the product after it is grown. The crop of 1910 was reported as follows: fresh tomatoes, 2,568,000 pounds, worth $25,680; canned tomatoes, 20,000 cases, worth $30,000. The crop of 1919, including tomato seed, is valued at $350,000.

The production of tomato seed for the marts of the world is being carried on successfully by the Haven Seed Company, now located south of Santa Ana. This company was established in 1875 at Bloomingdale, Mich., by the late E. M. Haven. The seeds of this company soon attained a world-wide reputation for purity and reliability which they still maintain to this day. A good name is a valuable asset in any business, so the company grew and prospered in its first location for many years ; but, notwithstanding its euphemistic title of Blooming- dale, the place was badly handicapped for growing plants by its rigorous winter climate.

Accordingly the Haven family moved to California in 1904, and made their first planting in 1910 near Tustin. Different tracts were leased year after year, but always of increased acreage, until finally a tract containing 100 acres was pur- chased on Edinger Street, just outside Santa Ana's southern boundary, and a half mile west of Main Street. On this tract, shortly after its purchase, an office building and a warehouse were erected and the headquarters of the company were established there. In 1918 a fine, large, three-story warehouse was built of hollow tile, strengthened with reinforced concrete pillars. This building will give ample room for cleaning, sacking and storing the seed ready for shipping. and will have a fairly even temperature throughout on account of its hollow tile construction. The building is equipped with modern machinery driven by elec- tricity.

Three years ago, that is in 1917, the elder Haven died and left the business to his sons whom he had trained until they knew every detail of the work. The company was reorganized with A. B. Haven, the elder son, as president and gen- eral manager, and L. S. Haven, the younger son, as secretary. The company was capitalized at $100,000.

In 1918 the company produced 75,000 pounds of tomato seed and about 15,000 pounds of pepper, melon and miscellaneous varieties of seed. More than $50,000 was paid out in wages. In 1919 the company is harvesting 400 acres of tomato seed and 200 acres of lima beans, egg-plant, peppers, cucumbers, etc. It expects to harvest about 100,000 pounds of tomato seed and other kinds in proportion from the above acreage. That is, it expects to harvest 12,000 tons of tomatoes from which it will extract approximately 100,000 pounds of seed, or eight pounds of seed from each ton of tomatoes.

As the price of everything has advanced within the last three or four years and still is unsettled, it is difficult to give what might be regarded as a fair average of the annual productions of the company. However, the round figures on sales for 1918 were approximately $200,000 for all kinds of seeds produced by the com- pany, and it would be reasonable to expect as much from the 1919 harvest, which

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is not yet completed at the date of this writing, or even more from the increased acreage, noted above.

As a further indication of the advantageous conditions of Orange County and the superior merits of its productions, the fact may be cited that this county, in competition with the whole world at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, received twelve gold medals and four silver medals as testimonials of the superiority of its products exhibited there. Orange County took second prize of $250 for fine display of products at Riverside in October, 1919. The judges credited San Ber- nardino County with 92.8 points and Orange County with 90.8 points. Concerning the exhibit of this county, the Riverside Enterprise says: "The Orange County display is in a class by itself, both as to the products shown and the manner of their showing. It is a finished picture in a superb and worthy frame, a magnificent study in still life almost over-elaborated but saved from that criticism by an auster- ity of arrangement that suggests sureness of touch and certainty of selection. It suggests the studio rather than the farmstead, the salon rather than the show tent ; but this is said in no spirit of detraction. When such a display, so arranged, can be brought to the Southern California fair from the neighboring county, there is no longer any argument to be made against the claim that this is a sectional rather than a county fair. The artist who arranged the exhibit, for he has shown himself an artist-is D. W. McDannald. The setting of the display is sumptuous -redwood, heavy brown burlap, deep green velour hangings, brass fixtures and jardinieres holding ferns and admirable lighting effects. For the display itselt, it contains picked specimens of the fruits, grains and vegetables, as well as the mineral products for which Orange County is famous. There are also novelties like the Feijoa, a new fruit from Uruguay and the Chinese varnish nuts from which the so-called tong oil is extracted."

Now, as promised at the beginning of this chapter, the foregoing is by no means an exhaustive list of the fruits, grains and vegetables grown in Orange County ; for instance, there are onion fields near Anaheim, whose rows stretch away in the distance almost as far as the eye can distinguish the plants from other vegetation, and there are many other products worthy of mention. Then, too, many plants, that in the East are grown in small beds in the garden or in the hot house, are here grown in large fields and in the open air. Enough, however, has been mentioned to substantiate the claim that Orange County can produce nearly everything grown in the temperate zones and many things indigenous to the torrid zone, and that, too, in almost limitless quantities.

CHAPTER XXIX

HISTORY OF THE CELERY INDUSTRY

By George W. Moore

Less than fifty years ago, the now famous peat lands of the Westminster and Bolsa country, known as cienegas, were regarded as worthless. These cienegas were tracts of swampy lands containing usually ponds of water in the middle, skirted around with a rank growth of willows, tules and nettles. During the rainy season the entire area of the cienega was overflowed. In the fall and winter these marshy lands were the resorts of millions of wild geese ; they were also the haunts of wild ducks and other water fowl, and were the favorite hunting grounds of sportsmen of that day. The early settlers counted the cienegas as so much waste land, or rather as worse than waste, for the drier portions of these swamps were the lurking places of wild cats, coyotes, coons and other prowlers, which preyed upon the settlers' pigs and poultry.

Early in the history of the county the supervisors were petitioned to construct a ditch in this territory under the "Drainage Act of 1881," which authorized the cost and care of such ditch to be apportioned to the adjacent land according to the

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benefits derived therefrom. This work was undertaken in 1890 and was contested before the board of supervisors and in the courts for about three years by those for and against the improvement. Finally the Bolsa ditch was completed; and that, with other drainage systems since established, has turned thousands of acres of comparatively worthless land into some of the most productive soil in the county and opened the way for the establishment of the celery industry in Orange County. This industry has become famous throughout the world and, according to a local writer, raised the value of the land from $15 to $500 per acre ; but without drain- age no celery could be grown on these lands and they would still be comparatively worthless.

The following sketcli of the origin and growth of the celery industry of Orange County is compiled from the Santa Ana Blade's Celery edition of February 7, 1901: "The first experiment in celery culture on the peat lands was made in 1891, on a tract of land south of Westminster, known locally as the Snow and Adams place, on which several thousand dollars was expended, but without satis- factory results. E. A. Curtis, D. E. Smeltzer and others were the prime movers in making the experiment, the outcome of which was such a flat failure that all but Mr. Curtis gave up the idea. Mr. Curtis' pet scheme came to fruition sooner than was anticipated, for about this time he entered the employ of the Earl Fruit Com- pany, and with the consent of the firm resolved again to give celery culture a trial.

"The proposition had many drawbacks, not least of which was the scarcity of help to cultivate the crop and the entire lack of experience in the laborers avail- able. In this extremity Mr. Curtis bethought himself of the Los Angeles Chinese market gardeners and their knowledge of celery growing, and at once entered into negotiations with a leading Chinaman to undertake the work of growing eighty acres of celery on contract, the Earl Fruit Company to furnish everything, includ- ing implements needed in the cultivation of the crop, also money advanced for rental of the land and the supplying of water where needed by digging wells : so that $5,000 was advanced before a stock of celery was ready for shipment. The re- sult was fairly successful, notwithstanding the untoward experience of the Chinese laborers at the hands of white men, who worried and harassed the Celestials, both in season and out of season, carrying their unreasonable resentment to the extent of burning the buildings erected by the Earl Fruit Company, carrying off the im- plements used in the cultivation, and terrorizing the Chinamen employed to the imminent risk of driving them away entirely and thus sacrificing the crop for want of help to attend it.

"All this risk and expense fell directly on the Earl Fruit Company, for returns for their investment could only come when the crop was ready for market, and it may easily be imagined that E. A. Curtis, as a prime mover in the venture, occu- pied a most unenviable position. But-Mr. Curtis kept right on, and overcame every obstacle that presented itself, and to him is due the credit for demonstrating the superior advantages of Orange County for the successful growing of celery and the introduction and establishment of an industry that has permanently added hundreds of thousands of dollars to the resources of the county.

"The crop from the land thus experimented with was shipped to New York and Kansas City and consisted of about fifty cars, a considerable shipment at that time, as prior to then a carload of California celery was an unheard of quantity. There was, of course, not much profit made for that season after everything was paid, for the items of expense were many and included all the loss and damage suffered while the crop was maturing and a bill of $1,100 paid an officer of the law for protection afforded the Chinese laborers while at work during the season. But it paid a margin of profit and proved beyond dispute that under favorable conditions celery culture might be undertaken with prospects of success, and this fact once established, the rest was easy."

Celery growing developed into one of the leading industries of Orange Coun- ty. The area of celery culture exceeded 275,000 acres and extended from the peat lands where it was begun, over a considerable portion of the "Willows," a

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tract of land lying between the old and the new beds of the Santa Ana River, the scene of the squatter contest of over thirty-five years ago.

Quoting from the April (1919) Bulletin of the State Commission of Horticul- ture: "The total movement of celery from California for the season of 1917-18 was 2,775 cars. Florida had the second heaviest shipments with 2,458 cars. New York ranked third with 1,739 cars. * * * The falling off of shipments from October to the first of January was due primarily to a short acreage. Discour- aged by slow transportation, unsatisfactory returns, and high labor costs, growers cut their acreage in two for the season 1918-19. Very heavy rains in September injured many fields in the Delta district of central California, which resulted in about twenty per cent damage. Stock in Southern California made slow growth and much of it was shipped while still small." Orange County's acreage was reduced by planting sugar beets or other crops instead of celery. The Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce estimated the value of this county's celery crop for 1919 at $100,000; but the California Vegetable Union gave 100 cars at $800 per car, or a total of $80,000, as its estimate.

CHAPTER XXX ORANGE COUNTY'S LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY

Horses

The aborigines and their successors, the Mexicans and Spaniards, paid little attention to domestic animals. Their nomadic mode of life was not conducive to the acquisition of flocks and herds. There was, however, one exception and that was the horse. This animal was such a help in traveling and hunting and so little expense to keep that nearly every person provided himself with a pony. In fact, in many places the cost of keeping was nothing, the animals running wild, getting their own living and propagating their kind. Whenever one or more was needed, the natives would round up a band of wild horses and lasso the requisite number. It is not strange that animals thus reared and treated should be hard to tame and never become entirely trustworthy.

In later years the Mexicans, Spaniards and Americans, who succeeded the Indians, established an ownership over the different bands of horses, which owner- ship they maintained by branding and herding the animals. More or less friction arose between the owners of the different bands and also between them and the other settlers who were growing crops instead of raising stock. Various stories are told of the clashes between the farmers and the stockmen, which at this late day sound rather apocryphal. It is said that in one instance a Mr. Sepulveda, who owned hundreds of horses and cattle, came to take them away; but he was afraid to go near them, because some settler was picking them off with his rifle from a hiding place. In order to save their crops the settlers banded together and ran three hundred animals over a high bluff near Newport, killing them all, and chased a thousand head into Mexico.

With the incoming of better breeds these Mexican ponies were largely dis- placed or were improved by crossing with the other strains of horses. Of course there are still some Mexican horses in the county, handed down from generation to generation with little or no improvement : but such animals are the exception to the rule that Orange County is well supplied now with good horses. The improve- ment, which would have come about gradually through the immigrants bringing in better horses, was greatly accelerated by the importation of thoroughbreds for breeding purposes. The late Don Marco Forster of Capistrano is credited with being the first, in the territory now included in this county, to attempt to improve his stock by the introduction of blooded stallions. He kept thousands of horses and sold them for all purposes wherever he could find a market. A number of other breeders were active in improving the horses of this section, among whom

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the most prominent were E. W. Squires, George B. Bixby, Walter K. Robinson, Jacob Willitts, R. J. Blee, J. H. Garner and George W. Ford.

The Orange County Fair Association was organized in 1890 with a race track located southwest of Santa Ana. This track was considered one of the best in the West. Some of the records reported as being made on it were Silkwood, 2:07 ; Klamath, 2:0712; Ethel Downs, fastest five-heat race ever trotted on the Coast. These records, and others not readily obtained now, gave the track and the county great praise abroad and stimulated the raising of blooded stock at home. As a result of this increased interest, some of the finest strains of thoroughbreds and fastest race horses have been produced in this county. Horses for other pur- poses have been improved in like proportion until Orange County can justly take pride in all its horses.

The county statistician in his report for 1910 gave the following figures on the horses of the county and other kindred animals, viz .: Horses, thoroughbreds, 39, value $7,800; common, 7,649, value $780,000; colts, 1,257, value $63,850 ; jacks and jennies, 2, value $1,000; mules, 2,035, value $407.000. The county assessor in his report for 1919 gives all kinds of horses, 6,787, value $848,500; mules, 2,440, value $549,000.

Although the work and activities of the people in the county, demanding horse power, have greatly increased since 1910, the number of horses in the county is now about 1,000 less than at that time. The reason is not far to seek. The gasoline engine has displaced the horse as a motive power. With 9,794 registered motor vehicles and over 750 tractors in the county, each motor vehicle being propelled by an engine rated at from eighteen horsepower to sixty horse- power and each tractor by an engine rated at from ten horsepower to forty-five horsepower, it is easy to see why horses have decreased in the county instead of increasing in proportion to the increase of the work. Then, horses are too slow for this fast age; even the best of them make a poor show at "keeping up with Lizzie."

Cattle

The cattle of Orange County passed through a very similar process of devel- opment to that described of the horses of said county. In the early days, when hunting for a living was being displaced by the pastoral life, some cattle were brought into this region from other states or countries. These animals may have been of poor quality or their offspring may have degenerated through a long period of abuse and neglect. At all events they were better fitted for perpetuating their existence under adverse conditions than they were for dairy purposes. Ownership of cattle was maintained in the same way as that of the horses, by branding and herding. The flocks and herds of the Spanish dons roamed over the hills and valleys which are now dotted with orchards and farms. Dependent almost wholly upon the variable rainfall and native grasses, the cattle industry of early times was subject to great fluctuations between affluence and poverty. It is related that. in periods of bountiful rains, the children of the cattle barons cut a swell in the educational institutions of New York and Paris; but that, in periods of extreme drouth, hundreds of animals were driven into the sea to prevent their carcasses from breeding pestilence on the land.

With the American occupation of the country came diversified farming and some precautions against the capriciousness of Nature. The diversified farming necessitated smaller holdings of land and permitted a denser population. Such a change, however, might not decrease the number of live stock, for, while the size of the herds would be decreased, the number of owners would be increased and the subsistence of the animals would be more certain.

The Fletchers near Olive were credited with having made the first importation of blooded stock in the territory now included in Orange County. Later Henry West of McPherson shipped in a number of registered Jerseys, as did G. Y. Coutts of Orange still later, and there were doubtless other importers in different parts

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of the county. Whenever animals of high grade were brought into one part of the county, stockraisers in the other parts would breed from them and thereby improve their own herds; thus has the stock of the entire county been brought to a high standard of excellence. As corroborative proof of this claim, the stock sale of the Santa Ana Jersey Farm in December, 1909, may be mentioned. In order to reduce stock the owner, J. T. Raitt, sold 122 fine cows at prices ranging from $30 to $150 apiece, the average being $74 apiece. The total amount of the sales was $9,028; nevertheless the owner had a sufficient number of cows left to continue to supply his customers, over a large range of territory, with milk.

The 1910 county statistics on this subject are as follows: Cattle, beef, 347, value $13,880; stock. 850, value $25,500; dairy cows, 5,141, value $257,050: heifers, 189, value $3,780 ; calves, 1,565, value $9,390. The assessment for 1919 gives all kinds of cattle, 17,676, value $1,237,320.

Cattle for beef and dairy purposes have no gasoline competitor ; hence they have more nearly kept pace with the increase of population in the county. The number of all kinds in 1910 was 8,092; that of all kinds in 1919 is 17,676, or an increase in number of more than 118 per cent. The value of all kinds in 1910 was $309,600 ; that of all kinds in 1919 is $1,237,320, or an increase in value of more than 299 per cent. Instead of the promiscuous herds of early years that continued to propagate their kind without let or hindrance, the cattle of late years are widely distributed in dairies and among families; hence they are better bred and better cared for, thereby increasing their quality and value, as noted by the assessor in the foregoing statistics. In order to encourage the dairymen of the county to still further improve their stock, the supervisors bought five head of fine Holstein stock at a sale in Phoenix, Ariz., in February, 1919. These animals consist of a bull, three cows and a calf, all registered in the records of the Holstein-Friesian Association of America, giving the pedigree and achievements of their ancestors and their own names and stock numbers. They are kept at the county farm in West Orange.

Sheep

About thirty-five or forty years ago the sheep industry was one of the important industries of this section. Large flocks were located at different points of what is now Orange County and were herded over the intervening territory during the day and returned to the camp at night. Jonathan Watson, in the Santa Ana Canyon above Olive, had 25,000 head of sheep along about 1876 and there were other flocks nearly as large within the present confines of the county at that time. The industry declined, however, as the range was occupied for other purposes.

The statistician's report for 1910 gives the following figures upon the sheep industry : Sheep, 18,030, value $63,105 ; lambs, 7,330, value $18,325 ; wool, 216.360 pounds, value $25,963. The assessment roll for 1919 gives only 739 sheep worth $7,390.

The sheep industry of this county has been annihilated. It is true there were 739 assessed in 1919; but this small band was temporarily in the county when it was listed by the assessor for taxation. The reason for the decline of the industry given in 1910, viz .: "The range was occupied for other purposes." did not tell the whole story, for, at the time that reason was given, there were 18,030 sheep and 7,330 lambs being pastured in the hills of the county. Now those sheep have all disappeared and that range is not being occupied for other purposes. The other part of the story is that the low tariff gave the death blow to the sheep industry in this country. One of the elder Eyraud brothers, who pastured sheep in the hills east of El Modena for many years, told the writer that they lost $30,000 under the low Wilson tariff act during President Cleveland's last term, and one of the sons told him in 1913 that, if the new administration adopted another low tariff act, they would get out of the sheep business. This they did

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when the Underwood tariff act was adopted. Others did the same until there are no sheep left in Orange County.

Thirty-five or forty years ago there were a few goats raised in some of the small canyons tributary to the Santiago Creek ; but with the removal of the regular residents from the canyons, the raising of goats in the mountains ceased. Within the past five years goat raising has taken a fresh start in Orange County, but this time the industry has broken out in spots over the valley section of the county. Recently the Department of Agriculture issued a bulletin urging the American people to turn their attention to goat farming as a means of reducing the high cost of living. One of the results of the awakened interest in the industry has been the increase in the price of goats. Where formerly goats sold from two dollars to five dollars now they bring from $50 to $200 a piece, because the demand has outrun the supply. The Huntington Beach News mentioned the following persons as being interested in goat raising in that community: L. T. Young, F. L. Snyder, George W. Wardwell, H. H. Campbell, Al. Clark and others. A. B. Collins of Villa Park is raising goats as a side line in connection with fruit grow- ing. He has a flock of thirteen goats of different ages, one of the bucks regis- tered and the other animals of good grade.

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History of Orange County, California : with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its earliest growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 21

Author: Armor, Samuel, 1843-; Pleasants, J. E., Mrs Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1700

Author: Armor, Samuel, 1843-; Pleasants, J. E., Mrs
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1700