USA > California > Sonoma County > History of Sonoma County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county, who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present time > Part 28
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119
"Great men are usually men of simple, direct sincerity of character. These marks are found in Burbank. As swect, straightforward, and as unspoiled as a child, always interetsed in the Phenomena of Nature, and never seeking fame or money or anything else for himself. If his place is outside the temple of science, there are not many who will be found fit to enter.
219
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
"All that Luther Burbank has received,-observation of the keenest type, unsurpassed intuition, knowledge, understanding, scientific attainment, in a word, genius of the highest order for the interpretation of the work to which he has devoted his life,-he has accepted as a sacred trust, not to be dissipated but to be administered with unswerving fidelity to the common interests of mankind."
Elbert Hubbard in his inimical way thus gives his impression of Luther Burbank at close range:
"I saw Burbank in his garden there at Santa Rosa. A man with iron gray hair, furrowed face of tan, blue eyes, that would be weary and sad were it not for the smiling mouth, whose corners do not turn down. A gentle gentleman, low voiced, quiet, kindly, with a willing heart of love. On Broadway no one would see him, and on Fifth avenue no one would turn and look. His form is slender, and smart folks, sudden and quick at conclusion, might glance at the slender form and say the man is sickly. But the discerning behold that he is the type that lives long, because he lives well. His is the strength of the silken cord that bound the god Thor when all the chains broke. He is always at work, always busy, always thinking, planning, doing, dissatisfied with the past, facing the East with eager hope. He is curious as a child, sensitive as a girl in love. strong as a man, persistent as gravitation and gifted like a god.
"His hands are sinewy and strong-the hands of a sculptor. His clothes are easy and inexpensive. Children would go to him instinctively. Women would trust him.
"Luther Burbank was born in Massachusetts, and those prime virtues of New England, industry and economy, are his in rare degree.
"Henry Thoreau said: 'The character of Jesus was essentially feminine.' That is to say, the love that could embrace a world was mother-love, carried one step further. The same could truthfully be said of Luther Burbank.
"Much has been written in an exaggerated way of Burbank's achieve- ments, but the fact is his genius is of a kind in which we can all share, and is not difficult to comprehend.
"Genius in his case is a great capacity for hard work. . Fused with this capacity is great love, great delicacy, great persistency. Among scientists there is almost as much bigotry and dogmatism as there is among theologians. There is canned science as well as canned religion. In truth, most so-called scientists are teachers of text-books-purveyors in canned goods.
"The most beautiful words I heard him utter were these : 'I do not know.' He makes no effort to explain things he does not understand. He lives out his life in the light.
"'The land that produces beautiful flowers and luscious fruits will also produce noble men and women,' said Aristotle. Also in producing beautiful flowers and luscious fruits, men and women become noble.
"The finest product of the life-work of Luther Burbank is the man him- self."
BUILDING THE GREAT SHASTA DAISY.
The great Shasta Daisy, white as the noble California mountain that gave it name, was born of home-memory. When Luther Burbank was a boy wooing with child-love the wild flowers of his native hills, there was one bloom in which
220
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
he took a particular interest, possibly because every man's hand was against it. This was the little wild field daisy, to many a farmer an unmitigated evil, a pest to be fought at every possible point. When he had begun his seed-raising for market, years after, he frequently went to the hills for wild flower seeds, plant- ing them in his garden and noting with curious interest how the plants varied from the parent-plants. A certain chivalry, it may have been, a desire to re- claim the daisy from the company of the outcast weeds, caused him to include it in his experiments. There came a day in after years when he was to demon- strate again his tenderness for his flower-sweetheart, the little waif he loved through pity, and to become its champion in a still larger way. For he had laid out in his mind a scheme for the ennoblement of this wild-wood flower ;--- he would lift it from its low-estate among the serfs and make it a queen.
In England there grows the daisy beloved of the English poets, "Flora's page-with silver crest and golden eye," larger and coarser of stem than its American cousin; in Japan is another of the family, not so large as the other two, but with petals like the dazzling snow-peak of sacred Fusiyama. From three continents Burbank would select his new daisy-America for the strong constitution that would bring life to the hybrid; Europe for a liberal circum- ference of blossom, and Asia for the virgin snowy whiteness that is now the marvel of the new creation. The choicest seeds were sent him from over the two seas, and from the wild daisies of New England hie personally selected those of the third subject. He planted in his grounds at Santa Rosa and planned for his new flower as he always plans, with systematic care. It should have grace, beauty and strength; a slender but firm stem at least two feet in length, free from branches; a big, big blossom, and petals of the purest whitc. In the rich Sonoma soil and under a Sonoma sun the three exotic cousins soon flowered and he crossed them, joining them in a union that was to bloom above the grave of their old selves-a new resurrection. So completely was the pol- lenating done that after the merging was ended the strain of blood, so to call it, of 'each plant now flowed in the veins of one. And yet this act of fertilization or new birth was but an early incident in the creation. The real struggle was ahead. The seeds from the first united-flower were six or eight in number, and from their plants only the few approaching the ideal were selected. From the third crop about fifty seeds of the union-plants were chosen, and the fourth in the progression produced a selection of a hundred thousand seeds. These took their burial to come anew into life, to seed, to be selected, to be planted and go the round, season after season, year after year.
DOWN IN THE LIFE-CRYPT OF THE PLANT.
People passing the Burbank grounds note the great beds of flowers, some old acquaintances, others strangers, all in vivid color, and wonder at the prodi- gality of bloom-the waste of work and plant. They do not know that among those thousands and thousands of blooms massed in one grand bouquet there may be only one flower bearing the seed long sought. One day Mr. Burbank said to his men engaged in planting twenty thousand seeds in a plot of ground- "if I knew which one of these was the one wanted, how much time and work that knowledge would save us." Neither do they know that over the thousands and thousands of blossoms almost daily during the "selecting" season there is a supervision. a scrutiny that marks the most minute detail of growing
221
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
change in leaf or stalk or petal. As he makes his way among the rare plants his genius has called into flower, he measures and records the individual growth, the variation of the young plant from the parent stock, and sets aside the can- didate chosen to carry ahead the creative work. Somebody has said that so strong is Mr. Burbank's perceptiveness, and his constant supervision over the grounds, that not a stranger-bee can come buzzing among those floral nurs- lings without its presence being known to the master. Even his workmen are trained in this labor where the utmost care is necessary and where an awkward move or step may ruin the result of ten years' work or destroy a tiny plant worth ten thousand dollars. Not only does he demand care, sobriety, nerve, but SYMPATHY. The man who works for Burbank must labor with him -must follow him down into the life-crypt of the plant, and be near when the Master touches the key that bursts the new bloom or swells the new fruit in the kingdom of vegetation. The countless companies of visitors who seek Bur- bank,-many scientists like himself, equipped in mind and purpose to under- stand and appreciate and gather information concerning the sublime character and colossal magnitude of his work, and others who come through childish curi- osity and whose only purpose is a nosegay or an autograph, do not always under- stand that Luther Burbank's minutes are worth more to humanity than the days of any other man on earth. Conventions have come demanding to be enter- tained by this rare-minded analyst and explorer in the unknown, and have gone away dissatisfied because they did not have freedom to tramp and pluck at will among plants that had used up a decade of Luther Burbank's life, and whose commercial value is the ransom of a king.
Returning to the new daisy, the re-creating work went on for seven years, the salient characteristics of the three originals, blended, slowly producing the flower sought. In the process of development often strange things would hap- pen. Hybrids will sometimes show a tendency to double like the chrysan- themum, and with petals strangely convoluted. The new daisy occasionally developed unusually large flowers, almost two feet in circumference-too large. They had grown to their great size under peculiarly favorable conditions, and this unfitted them for use for all sorts of soil, climate and people. Such blooms, however beautiful, are rejected, and Mr. Burbank never permits himself to be deceived by a show of surpassing excellence, which under ordinary conditions would not again manifest itself. "If I deceive myself," said Mr. Burbank, "I deceive the public, too." Deception has no part in the soul of Luther Burbank. Finally he was satisfied, and the great Shasta Daisy was born to brighten the surface of the earth. It is a beautiful flower, a rare brilliant white, the center a pure yellow, with long, graceful stem,-and in every detail the flower Mr. Burbank planned years ago. The little, humble daisy of the Massachusetts hillside grown into the queenly Shasta Daisy of the golden west.
AS THE PLANT-SO THE CHILD.
This story is a page of the history of Luther Burbank and his mission. Volumes would be required for the full story of his life-work, much of which has never been toid. Hundreds of new creations in fruit and flower, tree and plant, have gone out from his grounds and are growing in distant places, pro- ducing for the men who have forgotten the creator. The writer of this brief account acknowledges his obligation to Mr. W. S. Harwood, whose "New
222
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
Creations in Plant Life" is an excellent and just tribute to Luther Burbank. But all who come to Burbank must honor that grand, simple character, molded by extreme poverty and toil, and hopes and fears, and striving after ideals that were almost too high, too rare for human reach. Grand, simple character- grand as nature and simple as the child whose purity of soul he can appreciate, as shown in the following from a recent public address :
"I love sunshine, the blue sky, trees, flowers, mountains, green meadows, running brooks, the ocean when its waves softly ripple along the beach, or when pounding the rocky cliffs with its thunder and roar, the birds of the field, waterfalls, the rainbow, the dawn, the noonday, the evening sunset-but children above them all. Trees, plants, flowers, they are always educators in the right direction, they always make us happier and better, and, if well grown, they speak of loving care and respond to it as far as is in their power ; but in all this world there is nothing so appreciative as children,-those sensitive, quiver- ing creatures of sunshine, smiles, showers and tears."
Whence in all the world of melody e'er came a sweeter strain to vibrate along the pure, deep reaches of the soul,-sensitive tones of sunshine, smiles, showers, tears.
Recently at a banquet given by the California Board of Trade in his honor, Mr. Burbank likened child-culture to plant-culture, and from his remarks the following is taken :
"I was brought up in a family like most of you and my eyes have always been wide open when something appeared which promised to be useful to my- self or others. Among other things flowers and children never escape my notice, but children respond to ten thousand subtle influences which leave no more impression on a plant than they would on a sphinx. You may say, 'well. what do you know about children?' Anything we love, we study, and I have observed that in searching for good teachers you do not choose parents of large families on account of their superior knowledge of children. You gen- erally select those who have no families of their own, do you not? Therefore, as one of the latter class, I claim the privilege of saying a word for the helpless little victinis.
"We in America form a nation with the bloods of half the peoples of the world within our veins. We are more crossed than any other nation in the history of the world, and here we meet exactly the same results that are always seen in a much crossed race of plants; all the worst as well as all the best qualities of each are brought out in their fullest intensities, and right here is where selective environment counts. All the necessary crossing has been done, and now comes the work of elimination, the work of refining, until we shall get an ultimate product that will be the finest human race which has ever been known. It is perhaps this country which will produce that race. Many years will pass before the finished work is attained, but it is sure to come. The characteristics of the many peoples that make up this nation will show in the composite with many of the evil characteristics removed and the finished product will be the race of the future.
"In my work with plants and flowers I introduce color here, shape there, size or perfume, according to the product desired. In such processes the teach- ings of nature are always followed. Its great forces only are employed. All
223
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
that has been done for plants and flowers by crossing, nature has already accom- plished for the American people. By the crossing of bloods strength has in one instance been secured, in another intellectuality, in still another moral force. *
"And now, what will hasten this development most of all? The proper rearing of children. Don't feed children on maudlin sentimentalism or dogmatic religion ; give them nature. Let their souls drink in all that is pure and sweet. Rear them, if possible, amid pleasant surroundings. If they come into the world with souls groping in darkness, let them see and feel the light. Don't terrify them in early life with the fear of an after world. There never was a child that was made more noble and good by the fear of a hell. Let nature teach them the lessons of good and proper living combined with an abundance of well-balanced nourishment. Those children will grow to be the best men and women. Put the best in them by contact with the best outside. They will absorb it as a plant does the sunshine and the dew."
224
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
CHAPTER XLIII.
FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS OF SONOMA COUNTY. By G. N. Whitaker.
In writing the origin of Pomona Grange and other farmers' organizations of Sonoma county, I do not claim any literary or historical talent. I shall only give the facts and instances as my memory serves me, with the dates and figures as far as they can be obtained. To do this I must go back to July 6, 1872, at the court house in Santa Rosa, when the Sonoma County Farmers Club was organized with the late H. P. Holmes as president, G. N. Whitaker vice president, and the late A. W. Middleton secretary.
At that time wheat was "King" in the productions of Sonoma county, and in the state, for that matter. Farmers' clubs were being organized in all the wheat producing counties of the state to fight Friedlander, the "wheat king," as he was called by the grain farmers of the state. He controlled the foreign shipping, had a monopoly in grain dealing and practically controlled the grain markets of the entire Pacific coast. Hence the organization of the grain grow- ers to procure better prices for their product and to buy grain bags at a lower rate. Sonoma county farmers were among the first to organize for their own protection.
The wheat crop of the county in 1884 was 2,160,000 bushels, and that year the wheat crop of the state was estimated at 60,000,000 bushels, the largest wheat crop ever produced in any state of the Union. After deducting for seed and home use it left 50,000,000 bushels for export. Sonoma county's estimate for export was 2,000,000 bushels.
The farmers' club was foremost in advocating direct railroad connection from Sacramento to Santa Rosa for the purpose of having eastern connection for their fruit crops. At that time, 1872, it took three days to go from Santa Rosa to the Capitol city, now it takes three hours. The subject of a jute fac- tory was first introduced by the late W. H. Rector, a sturdy Scotchman who had been trained in the linen factories in Scotland. He followed the subject through all the farmers' organizations from the Farmers' Club to the Grange, and it was through his influence that the jute bag factory was established at San Quentin. Mr. Rector was also the inventor of the Turbin water wheel; the first one for use was at his Mark West flour mill, situated where Burke's Sani- tarium is now located.
The Farmers' Club demonstrated by actual growth that sugar beets could be grown in the county at a profit. We quote from the report of the com- mittee : "To the president and members of Sonoma County Farmers' Club : Your committee, to whom was assigned the duty of testing sugar beets grown in this county, beg leave to report that we have tested four separate lots of beets grown on different varieties of soil from which, with very imperfect appli- ances, we have obtained from four to seven per cent sugar. The best obtained
225
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
was from beets grown in Bennett Valley by G. N. Whitaker, but we are of the opinion that we would have obtained more satisfactory results from the others but for the fact that owing to some delay in getting the machinery in opera- tion, the beets were allowed to remain in the ground until they had taken a second growth after the rains set in. From the result of the experiments made we are satisfied that beets grown in the vicinity of Santa Rosa are as rich in saccharine and are as free from deleterious salts as those grown in any other locality. For the foregoing reasons and others too numerous for explanation in this report, your committee most earnestly recommend the enterprise to your favorable consideration. For a detailed account of the experiment we refer to the report of Mr. Veling, who made the test. The seed was procured from France, the best variety, by our secretary, E. W. Maslin.
"S. T. COULTER, "R. A. THOMPSON, "THEODORE STALEY, "H. P. HOLMES, "JOHN ADAMS, "Committee."
Mr. Veling wrote his report, which is too long for publication here. On motion, the thanks of the club were tendered Mr. Veling for his interesting report. A committee was appointed to confer with our citizens on the subject of the establishment of a beet sugar factory and straw-paper mill. The presi- dent named upon the committee S. T. Coulter. George Hood and George W. Davis.
July 5, 1873, Judge T. Hart Hyatt, a farmer of Solano county, addressed the club upon the interests of agriculture. Again, at a subsequent meeting, the club was entertained by a paper read by Dr. A. S. Heath on "The composition of soils, plants and animals." The club was always very well attended and there were many quotations copied in the eastern agricultural journals from its meetings. There were many local questions of importance discussed and brought to the attention of the farmers and stock growers of the county. At a meeting W. H. Rector was invited to address the club on the subject of a jute grain- bag factory, to be located at San Quentin and operated by the prisoners of the state. The thanks of the club were tendered Mr. Rector on his very interesting address. I cannot leave this subject without giving the names of the charter members of the club, so far as my memory serves me, who pioneered the farmers' organizations in Sonoma county, viz .: H. P. Holmes, G. N. Whitaker, A. W. Middleton, R. A. Thompson, John Underhill. Robert Forsyth, A. Hagan, F. J. Drennan, G. W. Wilkes, A. J. Mills, John Hendly, Sr., Dr. J. D. Stockton, R. Fulkerson, W. S. M. Wright, J. Harris, J. Hughes, A. Lacque, J. Farmer, G. W. Davis, H. Witzer, P. Maddox, R. Maddox, Robert Crane, A. J. Peter- son, James Fulton, George Hood, I. De Turk, T. J. Drennan, S. T. Coulter, and E. W. Maslin. Judge Ross and others addressed the club and predicted good results from the organization. We regret that we did not have the names of all those farmers that pioneered the organization in the county. The club ceased to do business. apparently for the want of interest, but went down with all honors as being the pioneer of all farmers' organizations in Im- perial Sonoma.
220)
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
Much credit is due them for the notice they brought to the outside world of the wonderful climate, the varicd products of the county, their advocation of the farmers' interests and rights, and for the firm stand they always took for the best interests of the county.
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF SONOMA COUNTY.
On February 20, 1886, the Sonoma County Horticultural and Viticultural Association was organized. Those present at the organization of the Horticul- tural and Viticultural association of Sonoma county, which was called to order by W. C. Pridham, chairman pro-tem, were N. Carr, E. A. Rogers, J. C. Forbs, J. H. Hornbeck, L. H. Chinn, E. G. Light, G. T. Trowbridge, F. D. Munz, N. G. Finley, S. M. Martin, A. J. Mills, G. N. Whitaker, I. De Turk, Captain G. E. Grosse. Each member was urged to interest himself in the movement to enlarge their market, which was too small, and work together as a unit for the betterment of all. G. T. Trowbridge was appointed secretary pro-tem ; on mo- tion of E. A. Rogers and seconded by G. N. Whitaker the meeting was made a permanent organization under the name of Sonoma County Horticultural and Viticultural Association with its officers W. C. Pridham, president; John Mark- iey, vice president ; G. T. Trowbridge, secretary. A committee of five was ap- pointed to draw up by-laws and a constitution. The meeting then adjourned until February 29th to meet again at the Grand hotel in Santa Rosa.
This society continued to hold regular monthly meeings until the earthquake, April 18, 1906. Its aim was the betterment of the interests of the fruit growers of the county. There were many questions of much interest discussed and it was the means of inducing the growing of better fruits, how and when to combat the insect pests, to seek better markets and many other matters of interest to growers. During the life of this society it maintained an exhibit in the court house with much credit to the fruit growers and the county as a fruit-growing section of the state. In 1887-88 the society collected an exhibit of the various fruits grown in the county and exhibited them in Sacramento during the annual meeting of the American Pomological Society of Boston, Mass. This exhibit was in charge of Martin Braughler. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat had this article : "Another Trophy !" "Sonoma, as usual, gets away with the honors." "It will be remembered that the American Pomclogical Society, whose head- quarters are in Boston, Mass., visited Santa Rosa two years ago after an annual meeting held in Sacramento. At the Sacramento meeting an exhibit was made by the Sonoma County Horticultural Society of the products of this county in competition with other counties of the state. Nothing was heard of this critical test until a few days ago when G. N. Whitaker, who was then president of the society, received a registered package without a letter of explanation. The ex- president opened the package and, to his surprise, found it was a bronze medal of the American Pomological Society, awarded to Sonoma county for the best display of nuts, seeds and fruit. It was a surprise to Mr. Whitaker as well as a great satisfaction to him and Sonoma now has another decoration to add to many other triumphs along similar lines. No man has done more to win these honors than G. N. Whitaker, the eminent horticulturist, to whom this medal was forwarded."
At the time of the disaster of April 18, 1906, the horticultural society was weak and its exhibit was destroyed. There never has been another meeting
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.