History of San Luis Obispo County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 58

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 538

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With jingle, jangle, jingle, Soft tones that sweetly mingle, The cows are coming home; Malvine, and Pearl, and Florimel, De Kamp, Red Rose, and Gretchen Schell, Queen Bess and Sylph-and Spangled Sue. Across the fields 1 hear her "100-00," As she clangs her silver bell; Go-ling, go-lang, go-lingle-dingle. With faint far sounds that mingle, The cows come slowly home. And mother sings of long gone years, And baby joys and childish fears, And youthful hopes and youthful tears, When the cows come home.

With ringle, rangle, ringle, By twos and threes and single, The cows are coming home; Through vi'let air we see the town,

The summer sun is slipping down.

The maple in the hazel glade,

Throws cross the path a longer shade, And the hills are growing brown; To-ring, to-rang, to-ringle-ringle, By threes and fours and single, The cows come slowly home. The same sweet sound of worldless psalm,

The same sweet June day rest and calm,

The same sweet smell of buds and balm, When the cows come home.

With tinkle, tankle, tinkle,

Through fern and periwinkle, The cows are coming home, A loitering in the checkered stream, Where the sun-rays glance and gleam. Clarine, Peachbloom, Phebe, Phillis Stand knee-deep in creamy lilies, Each wrapt in a drowsy dream; To-link, to-lank, to-linkle-linkle, O'er banks with buttercups a-twinkle, The cows come slowly home. And up through mem'ry's deep ravine Comes song of brooks and old-time sheen, From crescent of the Silver Queen, When the cows come home.

With klingle, klangle, klingle, With lo0-00, and moo-oo, and jingle, The cows are coming home; And over from yon purpling hill, Sound plaintive cries of whip-poor-will, And dew-drops lie on tangled vines, Through the poplars Venus shines, And over the silent mill;

Ko-ling, ko-lang, ko-lingle-lingle, With ting-a-ling and jingle, The cows come slowly home. Let down the bars; let in the train Of long gone songs, and flow'rs and rain, For dear old times come back again, When the cows come home. -

Throughout the county are a great many prosperous homes, made so by the profits of the dairy. The farm- ers of the coast region may gladly welcome home the cows. With but little capital other than industry, skill, and care, they have become wealthy from the manufact- ure of butter and cheese, and the production of other marketable articles incidentally resulting therefrom, as cattle, pork, lard, poultry, etc. The abundant and nutri- tious grasses, for which the county was early celebrated, are supplemented by a genial climate, which permits cat- tle to remain unhoused throughout the year, therefore avoiding the expense to which the dairymen of the East and Europe are subject. The equable climate is also very favorable to the manufacture and keeping of butter and cheese, and the breezes of the ocean bring with them health and vigor to man and beast.

A NEWSPAPER'S NOTICE OF DAIRYING.

As has been previously stated, the business of dairying was begun in this county by Steele Brothers, in 1866. Of their work, and the condition of the business in Febru- ary, 1870, the San Francisco Commercial Herald said :-

A feature of dairying in this State consists of a large number of cows, often owned by a single party, of which from 150 to 170 animals are apportioned to each dairy. Next to Shafter & Howard, Marin County, the Steele Brothers are the largest owners of milk cows in Califor- nia; their entire herd, kept in two different counties, amounts to about 1,400. Of this number, they keep 750, subdivided into five dairies, at Pescadero, San Mateo County, and a like number on an extensive tract of land owned by them in San Luis Obispo County, near the town of that name. They make only cheese, the article produced at these dairies ranking deservedly high in the San Francisco market, and always commanding the high- est prices current, averaging the year through about sev- enteen cents per pound. These cows consist of Ameri- can crossed with English breeds, with a slight mixture of native stock, and are superior milkers, between 500 and 600 pounds of cheese being made from each animal yearly. They are found to be hardy, docile, and easily kept, subsisting chiefly on the native grasses and herbage

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of the country. In special cases stall feeding is resorted to, and in seasons of extreme drought, or during cold rains, some grain and fodder-the latter in the shape of hay or straw-is given to such animals as most require it.

The greater portion of these lands lying near the ocean, the moisture of the sea air keeps the grass green and growing most of the summer, thereby affording an abundance of rich and succulent pasturage. There are also considerable patches of marshy land on the San Luis Obispo estate, on which the grass remains verdant, renewing itself throughout the year. At this place, too, large quantities of barley are grown, some of which is fed to the stock when needed, the most of it being used to fatten the swine, a large number of which are raised an- nually. In milking, eighteen or twenty cows are as- signed to a hand; the laborers employed all being white men, to each of whom about thirty dollars per month, with keep, is paid.

This firm owns about 15,000 acres of land at Pesca- dero, and 45,000 at San Luis Obispo, the greater portion of it gently undulating, or but slightly hilly, and of excel- lent soil, being capable of producing good crops of grain, as well as the indigenous grasses. It is well watered with springs and small streams, and is timbered with scattered oaks and timbered dells, presenting landscapes of great beauty. In the inclosure of this land, some fifty or sixty miles of board fence has been erected, at a cost of more than $500 a mile. At each dairy, suitable buildings for carrying on the business of cheese-making, and quarter- ing the men, have been put up; the entire expenditure incurred by these parties, on account of land and stock purchases, improvements made, defending titles, etc., having been more than half a million of dollars; the present value of their property, all told, being now per- haps three times that amount.

Besides the milk cows, over 2,000 head of steers, calves, and young cattle are kept on these two ranches, the steers, with the superannuated cows, being turned out for beef. The calves are all raised, the heifers which come in at the age of two years, and sometimes sooner, being kept for milkers. The hogs, fed mostly on the whey, and which were formerly shipped alive on the steamers to San Francisco, are now slaughtered and cured on the ranches, by which plan much larger profits are realized than before.

The success that has attended the Steele Brothers, of whom there are three, a cousin also being associated with them, furnishes a notable example of what may be accomplished in California, through industry and intelli- gent application of labor, even when parties begin with small means. These men commenced the dairying bus- iness some years ago at Rock Valley, Sonoma County, having at the start but fifteen or twenty cows, and with but limited means besides; their present large possessions and property having been all gained since, through their own exertions, governed by economy and good manage- ment.

SUCCESS IN DAIRYING.

The value of dairying is shown in the success of those engaged in it, many of whose biographies are found in this book. From three of the principal dairies of the Steele Brothers, during the year 1882, there was produced 262,715 pounds of cheese, valued at twelve and one-half cents per pound at the dairy. The number of cows at each dairy averaged about 150, or 450 at the three; and about ninety large hogs were fattened from the milk and whey, with a slight addition of other food. At times the number of cows at each dairy would exceed 200; conse- quently the product must be considered as from at least near 600 cows. In May, June, and July of 1883, the

product of two of Mr. E. W. Steele's dairies was at the rate of 500 pounds of cheese per day, from the milk of 330 cows.

Mr. J. C. McFerson, of Cambria, in May, 1883, made the following estimates :--

Average product of each cow per year in butter __ $45 00

worth of calf. 10 00

66 hog fed on the milk 10 00

Total of products per cow $65 00

The system is generally to let the cows graze, and thus support themselves entirely, but the best dairymen raise hay, beets, corn and other fodder, which system adds greatly to the profits of the farmer.

In 1873 the dairy product of the county was 300,000 pounds of butter and 500,000 pounds of cheese; in 1876, 500,000 pounds of butter and 600,000 pounds of cheese; in 1881, 1,331, 160 pounds of butter and 872,362 pounds of cheese; and in 1882, 1,567,350 pounds of butter and 985,420 pounds of cheese, showing a steady increase. This product makes San Luis Obispo the second county in California in the production of butter (being first in quality), and first in the production of cheese-the Steele Brothers being classed as making the largest amount of cheese of any firm in the world.

The principal market for the surplus products of the dairy, out of the county, is San Francisco, to which point they are transported by the steamers of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, from the ports of Port Harford, Cayucos, and San Simeon. In June, 1883, the ship- ments were as follows: Of butter from Port Harford, 99,100 pounds; Cayucos, 94,600 pounds; San Simeon, 68,200 pounds. Of cheese from Port Harford, 764 cheeses; and from Cayucos, 93; cheeses averaging about thirty pounds each, or an aggregate of 261,900 pounds of butter, and 25,710 pounds of cheese. The spring and early summer months are the most favorable for the pro- duction of butter and cheese, and, although the ship- ments for June cannot be taken as one-twelfth of the yearly product, they indicate a large amount, making San Luis Obispo the leading county in the State in its dairy products. Butter is chiefly shipped in boxes con- taining fifty rolls of two pounds each, every roll wrapped in linen cloth and marked with the stamp of the dairy or owner's initial on one end. Some of the stamps from San Luis Obispo have attained the highest reputation in the first-class markets, and the butter commands the highest prices, or, as it is denominated, it is "gilt-edged," the retail price being from twenty-seven and one-half to forty cents per pound.

EXCELSIOR CHEESE FACTORY.

In 1871 Messrs. Bower & Baker, as a joint stock com- paný, established the Excelsior Cheese Factory, at a point four miles south of Cambria; and there, in May, 1872, were making cheese at the rate of 1,200 pounds a day. This was after the plans adopted in the cheese fac- tories of the East, where the milk is collected from a number of neighboring dairies, aggregating 9,000 pounds per day, and the cheese made by a comprehensive sys-

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HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.

tem selling at from seventeen to eighteen cents per pound at wholesale. The Excelsior Company established a high reputation for its products. The factory consisted of a building forty by fifty feet on the ground, and two stories in height, fitted with all the best appliances used in the cheese factories of New York.

DAIRY CATTLE.

The dairymen of San Luis Obispo have taken much interest in selecting and improving the stock of milk cows. At an early day Mr. E. W. Steele brought to the county some thoroughbred Jersey bulls, as that breed was thought to afford the richest milk, although requir- ing more care than common American stock. By cross breeding, a good class of animals was procured-valuable for the dairy and good for fattening for the market. The

Shorthorns, Ayrshire, Dutch, and crosses were advocated as favorable breeds for the dairy, the first for its rich milk and the size to which it grew for beef; the Ayrshire for its hardy qualities and rich milk, and the Dutch for the quantity rather than the quality of its milk, and also for its size and easily fattening qualities.

JERSEY STOCK.

The favorite dairy stock is the Jersey, which is more fully described in the following extract from a prize essay by George E. Waring, Jr., and published in the Transac- tions of the State Agricultural Society :-

Within the past thirty or forty years a hardly less per- sistent effort has arisen among another class of breeders, to develop a cow of great beauty, gentleness of disposi- tion, continuous milking, and of extreme richness of product. This effort took its rise in the Channel Islands, and notably in Jersey, encouraged and seconded first in England, and afterwards in this country. The question of beauty has concentrated it very largely-we may say, so far as we are concerned, almost exclusively- on the cattle on the Island of Jersey; and although yet in its comparative infancy, there can be no doubt that its results will be as remarkable and as far beyond the early stand- ards set up, as even in the case of the short-horn.

THE ORIGIN OF THE JERSEYS.

The origin of these cattle is exceedingly obscure. They probably came first from .Normandy and Brittainy with the early settlers, perhaps a thousand years ago; but their characteristics are now quite different from those on the mainland, and are doubtless an outgrowth of climate, soil, and habit. If we could imagine France the center from which the cattle spread with the move- ment of the Gauls to the east and south, and of the Normans to the Channel Islands, we should find a re- markable instance of the development of original charac- teristics in opposite directions. Throughout Eastern France, Southern Germany, and Northern Italy, the cattle are very largely-in some wide districts almost universally-of solid color, with black switches, mealy noses, and rather coarse horns. They are somewhat larger and more beefy than the animals of Western France; and, as even the cows are regularly worked, their product of milk seems to be neither very large nor very rich.

In the Channel Islands, while the same general charac- teristics are to be traced, the question of color has obviously been disregarded, and a large majority of cattle have more or less white disposed in patches, white switches

more often than not, white legs and feet, finer horns, and much less size and fleshiness; on the other hand, they are, for their size, very large milkers, their milk is of an extreme richness, and their leanness and general want of force are such as might be expected of animals which do no work, not even the comparatively light work of roaming over pastures.

THE FORMATION OF THE TYPE.

Perhaps if we were to seek for the radical cause of the great difference in flesh and in milking quality, between these animals and their more eastern congeners, we should find it in this very question of physical work. The theories on the subject are not sufficiently well es- tablished for scientific certainty, but it seems probable that the development of the muscle by physical exercise tends to direct the nutriment of the food to the forma- tion of flesh, leaving less to enlarge the quantity and en- rich the quality of the milk. Perhaps, too, the degree to which the fat-forming portions of the food are con- verted into cream in the udder bears some relation to the demand which the lung action makes upon these substances to supply carbon for oxidation in the process of breathing.

It is a well-known fact that a cow driven long dis- tances to and from pasture produces less butter than one leading a more indolent life, and the inference is that the increased respiration in this case consumes hydro- carbons of the food, which, if not destroyed, would be converted into butter. Assuming this to be true, may we not infer that an animal whose lungs have been en- larged by generations of work or exercise, breathing more largely because of greater lung capacity, oxidizes and expires a greater amount of the elements required for the production of butter. However true this theory, the facts on which it is based are unquestionable. The sim- ilarity of type between the cattle of Jersey and those of South Germany, and the fact that in the one case where they remain indolent throughout their whole lives, and in the other where they are almost constantly at work in the yoke, their yield of butter is very different, and would seem to indicate the soundness of the reasoning.

EARLY EXCELLENCE.

Before the beginning of this century, say more than one hundred years ago, the cattle of Jersey had a well recognized character, as a distinct race, peculiarly adapted for butter-making, and qualified by their great docility for the system of small cultivation which has always characterized that island. As long ago as the year 1789, they were considered so superior for the uses required in Jersey to any other known breed, that an Act of the local Legislature was passed, by which the importation of all foreign-bred cattle-cow, heifer, calf, or bull-was prohibited, under heavy money penalty, in addition to the forfeiture of the vessel and its tackle, and a consid- erable fine to be imposed on every member of the crew who did not inform the authorities of the attempt to vio- late the law. Every animal so arriving was decreed to be immediately slaughtered, and its flesh to be given to the poor. Subsequent enactments have been equally rigor- ous, and no foreign cattle are allowed to be landed in Jersey except as butchers' meat. This restriction does not apply to cattle from the Island of Guernsey; but these are so little esteemed by Jerseymen that there are rarely a dozen Guernsey cows to be found in the whole island.

ACTION OF THE ROYAL JERSEY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.“

Aside from this prohibition against the importing of cattle of other races, there seems to have been no regu-

DAIRY RANCH AND RESIDENCE OF P. O CONNOR, LOS OSOS VALLEY, SAN LUIS OBISPO CO. CAL.

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RANCH & DAIRY OF MORGAN BRIANS, GREEN VALLEY, SAN LUIS OBISPO CO.CAL.

AN In

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lated effort to improve the breed until about 1834, when a committee of the Jersey Agricultural Society selected two of the finest cows as models. One of these was held to be perfect in her head and forequarters, and the other in her udder and hindquarters. From these two ani- mals there was drawn up a scale of points to guide the judges at the island and parish exhibitions in selecting the best animals among those competing for prizes.

So strong was the adherence of the Jersey farmers to the single point of milking superiority, that for a long time, and in many cases, even to the present day, they sought no further. Their cattle had always possessed the deer-like head; the fine crumpled horns, the yellow secre- tions in the ears, the soft eyes, the lean throat and neck, the light frame, the fine tail, and, above all, in the better specimens, the large, well-formed udder, with prominent knotted milk-veins, which indicate the largest and richest production at the pail. Even now there are to be found in Jersey a very large number of ill-formed, slab-sided cows, hollow-backed, cat-hammed, and sloping at the rump, which show how largely the points of beauty have been neglected.

Nevertheless, the stimulus of the English and the American demand, the desire for success in competition at the periodical shows, have had, and are still having, a great influence on the form of the animal. The awkward, ungainly shapes are disappearing, and there is a constant improvement in general outline, though even to this day the great point to be considered in all breeding in Jersey is the production of a good yield of butter. This has been somewhat interrupted during the past few years by the mania for dark colors; but the mischief thus caused promises to be fleeting, and, under the strenuous efforts of the society to discourage this folly, it is not likely that any serious injury to the race will result.

MORGAN BRIANS

Is one of the veteran dairymen of California, being one of the early immigrants to the State, bringing with him his family of grown sons and daughters. This gentle- man was born in the State of Kentucky, November 24, 1807, remaining in that State until 1817, when his parents removed to Missouri. In that comparatively wild region, wild in the extreme to what it is at the present day, Mr. Brians spent the next thirty-five years of his life, there he married, and there his six children were born. He was married in 1835 to Miss Elizabeth English. This lady is a native of Tennessee, born in 1811. In 1852, Mr. Brians brought his family to California, cross- ing the plains in the long and toilsome journey of five months. Arriving safely, he located near Petaluma, in Sonoma County, and there engaged in the business of dairying. In that pleasant locality and profitable busi- ness, he continued until 1868, when he came to San Luis Obispo County and settled in Green Valley, where he now lives on his ranch of 1,335 acres. The resi- dence, shown in an engraving on another page in this book, is situated on the road between Cambria and San Luis Obispo, five miles from the former and twenty-five miles from the latter place. He milks from 150 to 165 cows, and devotes the product exclusively to the manu- facture of butter.

PATRICK O'CONNOR,

Was born in County Kerry, Ireland, February 1, 1837. His father was John O'Connor, and his mother, before her marriage, Mary Mahoney. They had ten children,

of which Patrick was the eldest. When he was nine years of age his parents moved to America and settled in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. There the young immigrant spent his youthful years attending the public schools and working at farming, acquiring a fair educa- tion, together with habits of industry and a full knowl- edge of the neat and exact farming as practiced in the New England States. These lessons have proven of great advantage to him in after life.

In 1861 he came by steamer to California, with the object of seeking his fortune in the mines. His first venture was in the mines of Scott River, Siskiyou County, where he delved for one year for the glittering dust. Subsequently came the news of gold discovery in the Salmon River country of Idaho, creating a great ex- citement and causing a rush of miners to that distant region. Mr. O'Connor was one of the mass who went to that new el dorado, spending some time in Washing- ton Territory. After a thorough trial of the mines he returned to the Pacific Coast, eventually to the great dairy farm of the Steele Brothers in San Mateo and Santa Cruz Counties. In 1866 he changed his location to the dairy farm of the Steele Brothers in San Luis Obispo County, where, for four years, he remained, taking charge of one of their dairies which he worked on shares. After the expiration of his lease he established a dairy of his own on a part of the Los Osos Rancho, five miles from San Luis Obispo. The residence and its surroundings form the subject of an illustration in this book. The farm has an area of 1, 191 acres, well located in the Los Osos Valley, is well improved and supplied with an abundance of pure, soft water. The dairy num- bers 140 cows of choice quality, from which he manu- factures daily 335 pounds of fine cheese for San Fran- cisco, where it is consumed or exported to other cities and markets. Mr. O'Connor has had long experience as a practical dairyman, and his products are of unsur- passed excellence. He has the credit of being the pi- oneer cheese-maker of San Luis Obispo County. His pride in the fine quality of his stock is justified in their appearance, and he claims the ownership of one of the best teams of horses in California. While industriously engaged in the works of his farm he has time to attend to public affairs, in which he takes great interest and pleasure. He has served his district many years as School Trustee, and through his liberality a fine school house was built.

Mr. O'Connor was married April 28, 1860, to Miss Ellen Corhory, a native of Ireland, and seven children live to bless the happy union.

BEAN CULTURE.

Where the ground is suitable beans are cultivated with great success. The locality most devoted to this plant is in the valley of the Arroyo Grande. In the year 1882 there were 6,530 acres planted with beans, yielding 132,- 570 bushels as reported by the Assessor. At times the product has been known to be 4,500 pounds of beans per acre. Such land commands a price of from $200 to $300 per acre, which, in 1866, sold for $1.10 per acre. The beans of the Arroyo Grande are of a superior qual- 1

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HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.

ity, and command a price in San Francisco and Eastern markets in advance of others. As no machinery is employed in gathering the crop, as in wheat and other grains, the labor of the harvest is severe, and is done by pulling the vine roots out of the ground, and drying all in the sun before threshing. The threshing is by flails or tramping with animals, and winnowing in a fanning- mill, the whole being primitive and laborious.

FRUIT.

The soil and climate of San Luis Obispo change slightly with the different localities, but every locality is well adapted to some kinds of fruit, and some localities to every kind known to a semi-tropical country. The sea-breeze sweeps along the coast in summer with such force as to chill and blast the most delicate varieties when planted in localities most exposed to it, but gener- ally all fruits, grapes, oranges, apples, apricots, cherries- the citrus, seed, and stone fruits-grow to perfection. Many varieties, as orange, grape, olive, pear, fig, and others, were planted by the missionaries soon after their location in the county, and these fruits flourished to such perfection that there are now no grounds for exper- iment nor need of advocacy. The fig, olive, and pear trees of the missions of San Luis Obispo and San Miguel have been mentioned in this book. The apricot appears to be peculiarly favored by the climate, as those grown on the Corral de Piedra, near the coast, and at Las Tablas, in the hilly region of the north, and other localities widely separated, are much superior in size and. flavor to those of Alameda, Solano, and other counties where extensively grown for canning purposes to supply the foreign market. The extent of country adapted to this and similar fruits aggregates hundreds of square miles where it can be grown without irrigation and with certainty of a crop for which the market is unlimited. Through the same regions the apple and kindred fruits grow with wonderful luxuriance, and are of the most delicious flavor.

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History of San Luis Obispo County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 58

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : Thompson & West Number of Pages: 538

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 538