History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches, Part 12

Author: Morrison, Annie L. Stringfellow, 1860-; Haydon, John H., 1837-
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1070

USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches > Part 12

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Cultivation of the Wheat

The first plowing in the county was with a sort of forked stick with, in some cases, a piece of iron fastened on one side, a sort of rude plowshare. A branch drawn by oxen harrowed in the wheat scattered by hand. The first real plows used, and they were very crude, William Dana had made in his blacksmith shop on his Nipomo rancho. The great "caterpillars," steam plows, and wonderful modern ranch machinery now in use in the county show we have progressed with the best.

From a hand flail or trampling out the grain with horses, to an up-to-date combined harvester, is the story of the progress in threshing. After the wharves were built, steamers carried away the surplus wheat and barley, which is now shipped mostly by rail to the various seaports and warehouses. England and other European countries, with China and India, are California markets.

Mills

The "molino," a rude contrivance with a wheel at one end and a mill- stone at the other run by either water or horse power, was the first mill used in the county. In 1854-55, seed wheat was brought down from San Francisco and "smut" was introduced; proper care in preparing the seed does away with "smut" in most instances.

In 1854, Branch built a grist-mill on the Arroyo Grande, run by water power, and ground wheat for the ranchers of that end of the county. Judge Bonilla had built a mill on San Luis creek, grinding grist from El Chorro, Potrero de San Luis Obispo, Morro, Cayucos, Santa Rosa, San Geronimo.

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

Santa Margarita, and Piedra Blanca ranchos. Grists were also brought to Bonilla's mill from Paso Robles and the Estrella.

In 1868, Messrs. Pollard, Childs and Sauer built the El Chorro mill. The building was 50x25 feet on the ground, four stories high. The machin- ery, consisting of three run of stone with all the latest improvements, was run by a water wheel forty feet in diameter. The water of El Chorro ( the waterfall) was capable of driving one stone the entire year, and all three part of the time. With one set of stones running, four hundred and eighty bushels could be ground each twenty-four hours.

In 1872, William Leffingwell, at a cost of $8,000, built a mill at Cambria. This was a steam grist-mill having two run of stone, and capable of making Mymy-five barrels of flour per day. From the assessor's report of 1874, we Jesin that Branch's mill produced thirty barrels per day; the Chorro, then owned by Pollard & James, fifty barrels per day ; and the Cuesta or Bonilla's will. then owned by S. Sumner, twenty-five barrels per day. Later still the Eile null was erected in San Luis Obispo by S. A. Pollard and D. W. James. The py- a powerful steam mill, making flour and crushing barley. After the somthin Pacific Railroad came, the Sperry Milling Co. built a fine grist-mill at Paso Robles. In the early nineties the "Farmers' Alliance" put up a mill at sen Mignel and turned out fine flour. This mill later became the property W Tay Morr\ Milling Co. At San Luis Obispo the Sperry Flour Co. handles

Irrigation

Ma tout the future prosperity of the county is going to depend upon what her is nande of the water in the streams and in the underground reser- YMR. Miyorjest is too much or too little rain that causes the hard years, or if onma fit the wrong time. When we conserve the millions of gallons my mumle min the sea er rampaging out of their usual confines and wash- m2 AWo wo - pul acres of valuable soil, as on Old creek or Arroyo Grande why not w li- are sunk, as on the Henry ranch, now the Atascadero (oba wood woderful wells, even artesian, have been sunk in the Shandon wetran When in a word, we control the water instead of letting it control us, will do When we can choose our crops and arrange the "season" to suit un fond Wiese; r irrigation in any degree has been used in the county, jurahenty, bmw like degree, has come to the landholder. We will cite one 11 -varer So belki man ever lived and worked hard in Templeton than i Tasti" Steinlivet. He was, for many years, agent for the S. P. Milling Th bericht a tract of land just across the Salinas from town, a mehr force of alluvial land one would call it, set out a pear orchard, and ywir h und yer onil spent his salary in caring for it. One year the trees were Half for so con ver mind you, not every year-and Charlie hired all do Lun Te concel, peked, packed and shipped his big pear crop East. He var we boxes and for loading the car, out of his salary, and wanted sarto new bonn his car load of pears. It came-a bill for freight. Tv-sofie Inabile pars and asked for more to defray freight charges. Mi year- to do- wwwbet thing Mr. Steinbeck passed over his land to the www we. and left for Hollister, where he is now, a suc- ccctal Tiffor meu bm - the children say, "listen here." That land Watch wa al w a laiffol pense to C. M. Steinbeck is now a little gold

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

mine. The present owner just pumped some water up out of the Salinas and ran it out on the alfalfa that covers those acres. It feeds sleek dairy cows and waddling porkers, and you couldn't buy that land today, for it is not for sale.

In the dry year of 1898-99, the cattle on the P. W. Murphy ranch died by hundreds, for no way had been provided to feed the cattle if Nature lay down on her job, as she quite often does all over California, as well as else- where. When Mr. Henry bought the ranch he put down wells, irrigated plots here and there, built great barns, stored them full of hay, and the "dry years" were robbed of their terror and destruction so far as that ranch was con- cerned. A book might be filled with these stories. Irrigation is coming into the county fast, and it brings peace of mind as well as a comfortable living. Fields of fragrant blue-blossomed. emerald-green alfalfa gladden the eyes of those who roll along in their automobiles over the great state highway that now runs clear through our county. Several years ago bleaching cattle bones lay beside the same roadway as it crossed the obf Murphy ranch, for then we waited for Nature to do the "job" we are learning it is wise and profitable to do for ourselves-irrigate.

Vegetables

Vegetables will grow anywhere in the county if soif is properly prepared and water supplied. The Arroyo Grande valley has long been famous for its fine vegetables, berries and mammoth pumpkins. Splendid gardens are cultivated by Japanese and Chinamen on plots around San Luis Obispo and along the Salinas river.

Beans

The "bean land" of the county is very valuable and lies mostly south of San Luis Obispo, in patches along the coast and the creeks flowing into the sea. More and more land is being annually plantel. Usually the returns are good, sometimes very profitable. The report of the State Poarl of Agri- culture for 1915 gives 11,169 acres planted to Beants in this county, which produced 207,674 bushels of dry beans. The crop of 1882, according to the assessor's report, was 123,570 bushels from 0,530 acres. If these statistics be true, the average per acre was twenty bushels in 1982, and eightrei and one-half bushels in 1915. Threshing then was with fails or trampling out by horses. Now there are bean threshers, cutters and all sorts of modern machinery for working the crop. Large acreages were planted in the year 1916, but the season was rather late for planting, or some thought so, and the beans were mostly still in the field when the rain began falling on September 28, and continued, with but little let-up, to October 10. The official report from the town of San Luis Obispo is 4.16 inches, and the fall was heavier south. The great bean crop was badly damaged. Some means of housing the beans after they are pulled would have saved thou sands of dollars. Sheds with tiers of racks might solve the problem. One man, a Portuguese, was heard telling that he had 1,800 sacks of beans in the warehouse and was "going to quit and go to Europe." Buyers offer 1 77 cents per pound in the sack, and as high as 1012 to 11 cents. The great European war is given as the cause of the high price of beans as of every thing else.

( Dec. 28, 1916 .- In spite of heavy rain and added expense the beans turned

SW LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

om: www Te In Hey Tom wa- thought possible when the heavy September rain brian wmm xwinnie' an into October. Ten cents per pound meant big

Orchards

The armiar with came into the country during the late sixties and early serenilies se voit orchards and found that almost all deciduous fruits and berra dud weil i certain localities. Apples. peaches, plums and apricots i4 weil wy the little canons or valleys opening to the sea. Over about Porc jo vice- and plums throve, and in some places pears were excellent. Oil the All Blackburn ranch just south of Templeton was a fine orchard. The Gwost cherries grew on great trees near the house. Mrs. Blackburn was very kind and gracious to her new Templeton neighbors, who were often invitel to come down and pick cherries. Such delicious fruit as those trees vieldel willing pickers, and how good they were in winter, canned! \ for- tune in cherries awaits some one who will buy that old orchard tract and set it to cherries. Old "Uncle Misenheimer" used to bring in wagon loads of fruit raised on his hill ranch out in Summit district, and peddle it in Tem- pleton ; so when the real estate agents advised us to buy land and set out orchards we all took the bait and bought. We had not then learned that the difference in soil and climate, between a little bench on a hillside of some valley in the mountains or hills, on the one hand, and the open Salinas valley on the other, meant all the difference between failure and success. Hundreds and hundreds of acres about Templeton and Paso Robles were set out to prunes, apples, olives, pears, peaches and plums. Thousands of dollars were spent caring for the orchards, but not one of the many who set out the orchards ever got back his investment. At Templeton, William Horstman, Hans Petersen, Mr. Aiken, H. Wessel, C. M. Steinbeck, King, Putnam, and scores of others, set out orchards; and in the end, after years of trial, the orchards were left to die or were dug out. This is the truth, for the writer came there in 1887, got "stung" with the rest, and in the fall of 1898 did newspaper work to earn money to pay for pulling out and burn- ing up six acres of fine, big, fruitless prune trees. What was true of that or- chard was true of others. Witnesses can be found to corroborate this state- mient. Some contend that since the great earthquake of 1906, the climate has changed and good peaches and apples are now being raised on some of the - Ime Places where they were failures twenty-five years ago. Across the river from Paso Robles. R. L. Shackelford set out a very large prune orchard. It weer pand. We saw it when it was an abandoned wreck of dead, scraggly tr - url :@tin when a booming chicken ranch was on the site of the old or- cho Should have paid good returns in some localities about Paso Robles, and in 1 6 00th of that, large acreages have been set out. It is hoped that De que it owners of orchards will suffer the losses the pioneers of When weTror Da. The trees always grew. Those orchards as far as wood siecio red Bean howling successes, but alas for the fruit !

Th So warm . lony, on the old Atascadero, Murphy, Henry ranch, harali wi trees. They say experts told them just where and How To post sted Ili Pees prew fairly well- so did ours four miles north of dens Em for u fac that the "quake" or the "experts," or old Dame Maccor Defectrysvill to & Tviter job than ever any of us were able to do when

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

it comes to making those trees bear fruit. This is history, not fiction, so we are sticking to the truth as it was demonstrated from 1887 up to 1900, a period of thirteen years. Since irrigation has been given a trial and alfalfa sown, the question of making a living from a small or great acreage has been changed. Feed the alfalfa to the cows, sell the cream, feed the separated milk to the calves, hogs and chickens, and use ordinary wit about the rest, and you can make a comfortable living now where, twenty-five or more years ago, we made nothing.

Walnuts are very profitable when grown in the right section. D. J. Matthews set out walnuts and a profitable orchard resulted. Out in the Ascunsion district, the York, Anderson, Matthews and other families have raised quantities of wine grapes, and the York Winery has made money. San Luis Obispo County is all right, soil, climate and people ; but it is, as we have stated before, "a county where the pioneers made the mistakes and the people are now profiting, or can profit, by them, and reap fortunes where they lost them."

Dairying: Its History and Growth

The great drought of 1862-63-64 had destroyed the herds of Spanish cattle and the owners of the grants could not afford to restock them. Settlers were coming in demanding surveys and the government land for settlement. These new settlers began to cultivate the land and asked protection for their crops from the ranging cattle; this meant fencing. Endless fights and not a few deaths were the result of this war between the farmers and the cattlemen. John Slack, who came to San Luis Obispo in the early sixties, in addition to plowing land and sowing wheat, had an American wife, a double offense; so various schemes were tried to get rid of him. Three different times plans were laid for killing him. Once an old Mexican woman, some called her plain "Injun," warned him that his home was to be attacked that night ; so he arranged not to be there. He "was gettin' reckless like" about that time, and the Mexicans concluded he was not a safe man to fool with. A few men, Slack with the others, had tried to tame native cows sufficiently to be milked Yankee fashion, that is, without tying up the hind legs and letting the calf suckle while the milker hustled to get a little of the drip. Possibly these men started the dairy business in the county, but by common consent the honor is given to the Steele brothers. These men, George and E. W. Steele, had been in the dairy business on a large scale in Marin county. Their leases were about to expire, so in June, 1866, E. W. Steele visited this county, rode over the Corral de Piedra, Pismo, Balsa de Chemisal and Arroyo Grande ranchos, and declared "This is cow heaven." lle arranged to pur- chase 45.000 acres of these lands at $1.10 per acre. Later, an heir to the Corral de Piedra brought suit against Steele Bros. on complaint of a flaw in the title. A trial in the United States district court, where Judge Hoffman presided, gave the land to Steele Bros., but the case was carried to the United States supreme court, where the decision was reversed and the Steeles had to pay $150,000; but even so they got the land cheap. They brought down six hundred good cows from Marin county, employed one hundred men and spent about $20,000 a year for five years in buildings, fences and improve- ments. They did not propose to let a dry year ruin them, so raised feed for their stock. Steele Bros. made cheese for many years, as that could be mar-

34X 1419 199590 COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

Fredai aos mond stenmors were the only means of shipment. Later ther mail frommar nella cheese. The great Steele dairy ranch was divided wat for years ago. F. W. Steele. Jr., has just sold out Saber in on the spot Both and homestead, forty seven acres Both of the mario with tony business in the county are dead, as are their wives. untuo . Intelsen, and E. W. only one son, who at present lives Til Ger Steele Bros, showed what a good dairy all ing the coast went into the business. Steamers at Dersom 10 ml Cayucos carrie l away the cheese and butter. in my the amie produced 300,000 pounds of butter, and 500.000 der leyen - and 9,609 calves were reported. In 1876, the mer Immer 300 0 pounds : che. 0000 9 pounds; cows, 19,000; Cosmin m 192, there were 1,331,100 pounds of butter, 872,362 pounds I1883 mere Were 1,567,109 pow de of butter and 985,420 pounds

S notmany Swy sime to the county, for here was a business they Fro TE Swifterbant, At fr-t most of the young men were employed as mailly con fe Amore popped ranches; but they had no intention of millie alles people can always. They saved their earnings, until they Mit par landro olebar , or may be less, rented a ranch and cows, and worked mineral for mede iras Soon the Swiss lal could buy some cows, then we turn: ord brolay the majority of the fine coast ranches are owned by Sme while the net are leased by them. One man told the writer of bor- Fame so bor i anes from a friend and coming to California at the age of youy D HE must repay that money and send money home to his old pom Frey be used to declare to himself that some day he would own Chp " thicko was then slaving en half the night, getting up at 3:30 A. M. po in wooda pain and milking shivering cow- in the open while his own 0 mont- owns som times frozen stiff. "He held the thought," and also de noemde this: end. He has owned that ranch for years and two If noton a string on Old creek. More than ten years ago he was of sieako ne jos land alone, but he did not feel like selling. His cows to sell ern d' Kanter ; no one freezes while milking on that ranch now; ac otros belas so ised in all the buildings and the big corral.

We tror good about fit most of the rich Swiss dairymen of the county. langt one theme have many comforts and are as automobile-mad as Axon mojbors. Their fine driving teams were the admiration is rogoal now it is the best in automobiles for them. The 1000- 300 the Portuguese for the beans. Now the dairy busi- fing Iamo de drenth. The cream is separated, and great truck loads mario brosteries in San Luis and at other points, while a m & we bring in the cream from the local ranches. The m1.alves. The work on the ranch is lessened, and 10 064. mdging by appearances.

got soon after dirty dairies in the county, and from 1 www. 1'14, thirteen dairymen were arrested for Mor was only fair to say the dairies were cleaned

(6 4000 in 1910 were the Polytechnic School cream- wool creamery at Cayucos, Maple Grove and

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

San Luis creameries at San Luis Obispo, and Santa Ysabel creamery near Paso Robles. In 1914, the Polytechnic, California Central, Los Angeles. and Swift & Co. creameries were in operation in San Luis Obispo, and the Santa Ysabel near Paso Robles. In 1905. the county produced 1,309,831 pounds of butter and 61,569 pounds of cheese; in 1906, 1,388,551 pounds of butter and 147,717 pounds of cheese : in 1913. 1,816,828 pounds of butter and 156.380 pounds of cheese; in 1914, 1,909,176 pounds of butter and 246.000 pounds of cheese; in 1915, 2,759,751 pounds of lutter and 134,662 pounds of cheese. The creameries now operate as in 1914, and there is a fine cheese factory at Harmony owned by a company of dair men. The O'Connors of Los Osos have a cheese factory, and there are two mar San Miguel. For 1914, butter averaged 27.61 cents; for 1915, it aver ged 28.7 ) cents, and cheese 14.10 cents per pound.

Major William Jackson, a sketch of whom appears in (Dapter VIII, was among those who very early engaged in dairying. He settled on 100 acres of government land and later sold it to J. Il. Orcutt. It became a part of Laurel ranch, for forty years the property of Mr. Orcutt, who set out hun- dreds of eucalyptus trees along the little creeks and gullies of his big ranch. built a nice home, planted an orange orchard, built a reservoir to impound the waters of a little stream, piped it all over the place, irrigated orchards and gardens, and eventually had a fine herd of Jersey cattle. From the Orcutt herd many other dairymen improved their . Mr. Orcutt also owned and raised some fine driving horses in the days when a wift team was a valuable asset to any man. Laurel ranch containel alomit five hundred acres and lies just southeast of the city limits. It was sold to Mr. Johnson recently . About five years ago the Orcutt family removed to Manten Grove, in Orange county.

Grazing and the Great Landholdings

Grazing is the main business on all the grey Im hollings. Most of them lie in the eastern and southeastern parts of the county, but the Hearst holding known as the Piedra Blanca ranch, containing 52,577 acres, lies in the northwest corner of the county, and control- doce mil - ci smiccast and the deep sea harbor of San Simeon bay. The Nacimiento, owned by Isaias W. Hellman, lies partly in this county and partly in Monterey, 2-1,198 acres in this county.

Painted Rock ranch, 21,303 acres, is owned by Sarily Blakey. McDonald ranch, 41,125 acres, lies just west of the Chicote ran hed 23,400 acres owned by Miller & Lux. The Chimeneas ranell of 12.192 der ~ belongs to the Reis estate, as does also the Santa Margarita of 20,800 acres, a total of 35,998 acres in this holding. The Spanish runch of 9,080 acres belongs to the Orena estate and lies in the extrente southern part of the county. The Cuyama ranch belonging to George C. Perkins contains 9,878 acres. It is now on the market in subdivisions. John W. Uhn owns the Godfrey ranch of 9.295 acres lying in the northern part of the county west of the Nacimiento ranch. The Biddle ranch of 8,253 acres lies along the north bank of Arroyo Grande creek. The Newhall ranch, Alamo, lies in the southern part and contains 24,015 acres. S. Koshland owns 11,946 acres. The Santa Rosa ranch of 2,530 acres also belongs to the Ilearsts. It is south of Cambria. The

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

Estrella ranch nif 12.6.13 ieres lies east of Paso Robles and belongs to the

"The Sarmento ranch, 48,002 acres, lies south of the Estrella and belongs to C. W Clark. The Kern Land Company owns 28,431 acres in the similitastern part of the county. La Panza ranch, 24,000 acres, belongs to Jole -nul Barne Schoenfeldt. San Juan ranch, 59,175 acres, lies in the caseru jure of fle county and belongs to Henry Wreden. The Sinsheimers wen 30M crc or more; the Avenals, Spring ranch and Canyon ranch sontheart of Pozo. Cholame ranch, 22,993 acres. is in the northeast corner v Uin wennity and belongs to the R. E. Jack Company. Camatti ranch, 28.30 Acres, is northwest of the San Juan ranch and belongs to Ogden Mills. Wheat is raised on portions of the Sacramento, Cholame, Estrella, San Juan and La l'anza ranches, but cattle are the main dependence. Thousands of them are driven to stations on the Southern Pacific and shipped to the San Francisco market. The new valuation placed this year on these ranches may result in subdivision, but most of the owners are so rich already that they can choose to be land-barons and pay their taxes easily out of their cattle profits. The spring rodeos are still events, and the vaquero in all his cowboy dress, mounted on a flying pony swinging his reata, is just as pic- turesque and daring as ever he was. Less silver adorns his hat ; more wiry, clean-cut Americans, and fewer Mexicans, now "vaquero," but nothing of effi- ciency or bravery has been lost in the exchange. \ first-class "Wild West Show" is easily put on by the "cowboys" of our county when they want to cut a few shines to please the people at their annual Admission Day celebrations at Cambria, or at the biennial fairs of Paso Robles. The state board reports for 1915 give these statistics: Dairy cows, 24,193; other cows, 211,003; yearling heifers, 10,345; calves, 15,635; yearling steers and bulls, 808: other steers and bitlls, 33,180; total, 118,704; value, $2,789,415.

CHAPTER X Mineral Productions

GOLD

End you been found in many sections of the county. It has been mined los on monte of the northern part, has been washed out of the beach 00 6e 1541 San Luis, but only over in the eastern part in the La Post rom bu- it ever really paid. Over in the San Jose range, between 04x 1004 0 the Salinas (salt) river and the San Juan, which both odlo of Ond northwest, rises another stream, the La Panza, flowing 0000), .es sinking into the sand, at other times reaching the To ofte opali- mountain region of canions, as early as we have Tarro 00 00 Piesicans mined for gold. In 1878 there was quite a rifle me thed synes Pil in De la Guerra gulch a few Americans and about Yoo Ihmdo 6 00 -9000005 11] Mexicans were busily working. Over $100,000 eVorbaclen od m Itt. In 1882, Frank H. Reynolds prospected on Tp 910 gol 00 014 he packed water on a burro and washed out nie wold the 0. How's through a narrow canon. He reported

- -

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

averaging $+ a day. Haystack canon has a clear stream, its head waters falling over a perpendicular wall twenty feet high into a pool twelve feet deep. So clear is it that its pebbly bottom is plainly seen. Coarse gold was found all along the stream, which reaches the San Juan only during seasons of heavy rain.

Reynolds visited the famous "Painted Rock," the ancient temple of a race of sun-worshipers on the Carissa plains, and found gold in crevices of the ridge west of the temple. He carried the dirt to water and washed it out. The rock was soft granite, and while digging he exhumed live scor- pions, small, colorless and blind ; as soon as exposed to the light they died. In the soft sandstone west of La Panza he found scallop shells nine inches in diameter, sharks' teeth, bones and other fossils. Petrified oyster shells of great size are found on the high mountain shelves, showing unmistakably that once the ocean covered our highest coast ranges far inland. An old miner prospected the La Panza country, and in 1879 published an article in the South Coast under date of February 5, 1879. In it he says: "Pros- pects of fine gold are found nearly everywhere in the streams. Evidently there are rich 'pockets' of gold which wash into the streams from the lower hills and flats. A belt of cement gravel six miles long exists similar to that of Forrest Hill and Yankee Jim in Placer county, of Yon Bet and Little York in Nevada county, and of Monte Cristo in Sierra county, but there is not enough water to use the hydraulic process." He believed rich deposits existed in all the gravel belt ; he also reported that in the lime belt was a lead of rich-looking silver ore. Tests showed as high as $36 per ton silver and gold. The Comanche claim made several pulverized-quartz pan-tests which yielded about $30 a ton gold and silver, mostly silver. John Mason and T. C. Still reported an aggregate of $10,000 a year from the claims worked. During 1878-79 the output amounted to $50,000.

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History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches, Part 12

Author: Morrison, Annie L. Stringfellow, 1860-; Haydon, John H., 1837- Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company Number of Pages: 1070

Author: Morrison, Annie L. Stringfellow, 1860-; Haydon, John H., 1837-
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1070