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HISTORY   OF 

TULARE  and  KINGS  COUNTIES 

CALIFORNIA 


WITH 


Biographical  SJ^etches 


OP 


The  Leading  Men  and  Women  of  the  Counties  Who  Have  Been  Identified 

With  Their  Growth  and  Development  From  the 

Early  'Days  to  the  Present 


^ 


HISTORY  BY 

EUGENE  L.  MENEFEE 

AND 

FRED  A.  DODGE 


ILLUSTRATED 
COMPLETE  IN  ONE   VOLUME 


HISTORIC  RECORD  COMPANY 

LOS  ANGELES,   CALIFORNIA 
[1913] 


•IT  1^5 


G 


A 


\ 


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Lf  30 


CONTENTS  ^ 


CHAPTER  I. 

Introductory  to  History  of  Tulare  County 5 

Earliest  White  Comers  to  County  Bore  Name  of  Smith — Indian  Records 
of  Prior  Inhabitants — The  Year  1849  Brings  Changes — First  Real  Settler 
Locates  in  1850 — Other  Settlers  Follow — Rescue  of  the  Wingfields — 
Election  of  Officers — Derivation  of  Name  Visalia — Survey  for  Railroad 
in  1853. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Indian  War  op  1856 -ry. 20 

Indians  a  Factor  in  Growth  of  Settlement — Interesting  Accounts  by 
Stephen  Barton — Cattle  Stealing  the  Source  of  Trouble — ^Tocsin  of  War 
Continues  to  Sound — War  Is  Waged  Between  Whites  and  Indians — 
Indian  Troubles  in  Owens  River  District — Hospital  Rock. 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Effect  of  the  Civil  War  on  Tulare  County 28 

Southerners  Constitute  Larger  Part  of  Tulare's  Population — Troops 
Sent  to  Visalia — Whiskey  Plays  a  Part  in  the  Difficulties — Union  Meet- 
ing Held — Southern  Sympathizers  Meet — Killing  of  Vogle — Killing  of 
Stroble — Rowley  Affair — Destruction  of  Newspaper  Plant. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Visalia 34 

Impress  of  the  Vise  Family  on  the  Little  Settlement — Settlers  Who  Fol- 
lowed— Early  Newspapers — View  of  the  Town  in  Early  Days — First 
Fireworks — Gas  Works  and  Electric  Plant  Established — City  Hall 
Erected — Effect  of  the  Wyllie  Local  Option  Law — Visalia  of  Today. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Tulare  County's  Citrus  Fruit 41 

Eastern  Slope  of  the  County  Almost  Continuous  Orange  Grove — First 
Orange  Tree  Planted  in  1860 — Growth  of  the  Industry — County's  Fruits 
Displayed  at  St.  Louis  Fair — Tulare  County  Ranks  Fifth  in  Point  of 
Citrus   Production   in   State — County's   Present    Area. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  General  Rodeo 46 

Cattle  Raising  in  the  Early  Days — Act  of  Legislature  of  1851 — White 
River  Incident — Interest  in  Mining  Superseded  by  Cattle  Raising — "No- 
Pence"  Law. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Exeter  and  Other  Towns 49 

Railroad  Reaches  Exeter  in  1888 — Pacific  Improvement  Company — 
Exeter's  Steady  Progress — Monson — Kaweah — North  Tule — Pixley — 
Tipton — Alila —  Poplar  —  Frazier  —  Woodville  —  Strathmore  —  Eshom 
Valley — Alpaugh — Tagus — Goshen — Paige — Angiola  —  Yettem  —  Piano 
— Three  Rivers — Springville — Mineral  King — Traver — Hockett  Meadows 
— Redbanks — White  River — Giant  Forest  —  Orosi — Naranjo — Monson — 
Oriole  Lodge — Venice — Klink  —  Waukena — Woodlake  —  California  Hot 
Springs — Terra  Bella — Ducor  and  Richgrove — Farmersville — Camp  Nel- 
son— Camp  Badger — Auckland — Kaweah  Station. 


V  i  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

PORTERVILLE  AND   OthER   TowxS 75 

Located  on  the  old  immigrant  road — J.  B.  Hockett,  a  camper  of  '49 — 
Town  named  for  Royal  Porter  Putnam — Cattle  raising  chief  occupation 
Coming  of  railroad  in  1888 — Porterville  becomes  a  town  of  the  sixth 
class  in  1902 — Schools — Water  system — Packing  houses — Library — 
Churches — Banks — Newspapers — Fraternal  Lodges — Dinuba — Tulare — 
Lemon  Cove — Sultana — Lindsay. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Anecdotes 88 

Adventures  with  Indians — Poindexter  nuptials — Fiddling  from  Donkey's 
back — The  McCrory  Episode — Morris-Shannon  affray — Stapleford-Dep- 
uty  affair — James  M'Kinney's  High  Life — The  Magana  Butchery — Mis- 
cellaneous Items — Crossing  Streams  in  the  '50s — County  Scrip  and  Gold 
Dust — An  Indian  Runner — Visalia's  First  Business  Directory — Second 
Courthouse — Cemeteries — Visalia's  Title — Politics — Arrival  of  the  Tele- 
graph— A  Vigorous  Protest — A  Novel  Engine — Flood  Times — The  Lost 
Mine — Some  Statistics  of  1870 — Mankins'  Party  Arrival — No  Fence 
Law — As  Seen  by  Fremont. 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Mussel  Slough  War 110 

Early  Settlers  in  the  Mussel  Slough  Country — Land  League's  Fight 
With  the  Railroad. 

CHAPTER  XI. 
The  Kaweah  Colony 113 

One  of  the  Greatest  Community  Enterprises  Ever  Inaugurated  in  the 
United  States — Its  Chief  Promoters. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Aborigines 118 

Traditions — Creation  Myth  of  the  Yokuts — Diet — Indian  Weapons — 
The  Medicine  Man — Gathering  Salt — Capturing  Wild  Pigeons — Novel 
Fishing — Hunting  Deer — Charming  a  Squirrel — Catching  Ducks. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

National  Parks, 123 

General  Grant  Park — Sequoia  National  Park — Mountain  Trails — County 
Roads  During  the  Late  '50s. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Development  of  Industries 130 

Electric   Power — Irrigation — Alta  District — Tulare  Irrigation   District — 
Artesian   and   Other   Wells — Dairying   Industry — Deciduous   Fruit — The 
'  Watermelon. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Railroad  Dream 144 

Bidding  for  the  Railroad — The  Visalia  and  Tulare  Railroad — East  Side 
Railroad — Coming  of  the  Santa  Fe — The  Visalia  Electric — The  Por- 
terville NorthEastern. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Great  Train  Robberies 148 

First  of  Five  Robberies  Occurs  at  Pixley — The  Dalton  Gang — The  CoUis 
Robbery — The  Evans  and  Sontag  Tragedies. 


CONTENTS  V  i  i 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Churches,  Schools,  Population 154 

The  South  Methodist — Baptist — Sunday  Schools — Presbyterian — Luth- 
eran— Episcopal — Catholic — Methodist  Episcopal — Christian — Training 
of  the  Young — Population — Property  Values. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Tul.\re's  Officers 163 

Supervisors — The  Judiciary — The  Lawmakers — Sheriff — District  Attor- 
ney— Assessor — Surveyor — Tax  Collector — Treasurer — Recorder — Public 
Administrator — Auditor — Superintendent  of  Schools — Coroner. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

TuL.\RE  County  Today    167 

The  County's  Boundaries — Nature  of  the  Soil — Towns  and  Cities — Or- 
ange Groves — Forests. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

The  Organization  of  Kings  County 174 

Creation  and  Organization  of  the  County — Received  Its  Name  from 
Kings  River — The  Division  Fight  a  Feature  of  the  Session  of  1892-93 — 
Area  of  the  County. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Lucerne  Valley 178 

Mussel  Slough  Rechristened  Lucerne  Valley — The  Founding  of  the  Han- 
ford  Weekly  Sentinel. 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Early  County  Politics 179 

Political  Organization  of  Kings  County — First  Election  Called — Parties 
in  Action — Setting  Up  Housekeeping — No  County  Building — County 
Without  Funds — First  Tax  Rate  Fixed — County  Elections. 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Irrigation   192 

Beginning  of  Irrigation  in  Kings  County — Pioneers  in  the  Venture — 
Settlers'  Ditch — Last  Chance — Lakeland  Canal  and  Irrigation  Company 
— Blakeley  Ditch — Kings  Canal  and  Irrigation  Company — Rainfall  for 
Twenty-one  Years. 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Exit  and  Return  of  Tulare  Lake 200 

An  Interesting  Natural  Phenomenon — Original  Area  of  Lake — Swamp 
and  Overflow  Land  Act — "Lakelanders" — Lake  Disappears  in  1895 — 
Water  Returns  and  Grain  Is  Destroyed. 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Railroads  202 

San  Joaquin  Valley  Railroad  Company — Its  Promoters — Upbuilding  In- 
fluence of  Improved  Transportation  Facilities. 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Dairy   Industry 207 

Dairying  in  County  Dates  from  1889— Co-operative  Company  Formed — 
Factories  Built — Alfalfa-Raising  and  Cheese-Making — Butter-Making — 
County  Has  Five  Incorporated  Creameries. 


V  i  i  i  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

City  of  Hanford 209 

City  Laid  Out  in  1877 — Named  After  James  Hanford — Officers  of  City 
From  1891  to  1913— Hanford  of  Today— Vanishing  of  the  Saloons- 
Churches — Schools  of  Kings  County — Free  Public  Library. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Lemoore 219 

Location  and  Population — Its  Founder — Early  Settlers — Coming  of  Rail- 
road— Churches  and  Public  Buildings — Industries. 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Evolution  of  the  San  Jo.\quin  Valley 220 

Address  by  John  G.  Covert  Upon  History  of  the  Valley — First  Seen  by 
White  Men  in  1772 — Mount  Diablo — Valley  Begins  to  Attract  Attention 
in  1849 — Cattle  Raising  First  Industry — Wheat  Farming  Follows — Area 
of  Valley — Oil  Fields — Improvement  in  Railroad  Facilites. 


INDEX 


A 

Abbott,  Daniel 534 

Adams,  Frank  C 424 

Adams,  William  J 423 

Agnew,  Jesse   B 875 

Ainsworth,  Francis  M 761 

Akin,  James  M 364 

Alford,    William 829 

Allen,   Byron 783 

Allen,  George  E 832 

Antrim,  Calvin  H 841 

Arnett,  Richard  H 513 

Ashley,  A.   N 687 

Askin,    Herbert 598 

Askin,  Capt.  Robert  M 784 

Atwell,  Allen  J 855 

Aiilman,   Phillip 527 

B 

Baca,  Santos 752 

Bacon,  James  A 830 

Bacon,  John 839 

Bagby,    Earl 494 

Bairstow,  John  W 602 

Baker,  Chauncey  M 496 

Baker,  Sands 357 

Balaam,   Alfred 757 

Ballou,  George  A 464 

Bardsley,  L.  W 662 

Barnett,  Bright  E 702 

Barney,   B,   L 552 

Barney,  Fred   M 648 

Bartlett,   George 679 

Barton,  Orlando  D 483 

Bass,  Alexander  W 505 

Bassett,    Mark 717 

Bassett,  William  G 715 

Batchelder,  Elmer  A 617 

Baumann,  George  W 380 

Baxley,  John  W 553 

Belz,   Andrew  G 276 

Bequette,   Charles   C 419 

Bequette,   James   R 669 

Bequette,    Louis 772 

Bequette,  Paschal,  Jr 456 

Bergen,  Jasper  N 858 

Bernstein,  William  F 625 

Berry,   R.   L 695 


Bertch,   Henry 482 

Best,   Alexander   M 621 

Bezera,  Joseph 597 

Biddle,  Joseph  D 315 

Biddle,  Samuel  E 326 

Blain,  Frank   L 533 

Blain,  William  H 546 

Blair,   Thomas   H 418 

Blakeley,  Frank 528 

Blakeley.  James  M 588 

Blamquist,  Charles  R 509 

Blaswick,  Charles   F 477 

Bliss,  George  L 796 

Blossom,   Ira 628 

Blowers,  Cassius  M 298 

Bloyd,   Levi 650 

Bloyd,  William  W 323 

Bloyd,  Winfleld  S 382 

Bloyd,  W.  W 716 

Bondson,   Peter 755 

Booker,   Sanford 243 

Boone,  James  T 763 

Borgman,  Henry  J 596 

Bowker,  N.  B 874 

Bozeman,  John  W 833 

Braly,  William  H 794 

Brazill,   M.   P 689 

Brewer,  Samuel  A 481 

Bridges,   George 785 

Brooks,  Parker  R 660 

Brothers,  John 502 

Brown,  H.  P 871 

Brown,  Joseph  C 272 

Brown,  Philip  S 759 

Brown,  Samuel  C 754 

Brown,  Volney  A 272 

Brown,   William   S 664 

Brown,   William   W 756 

Bruce,   Lewis 654 

Buckbee,   Martha  J 668 

Budd,  William 678 

Burgamaster,  Julius 550 

Burke,  Ivan  C 374 

Burke,   Richard 835 

Burnham,  John  B 580 

Burr,  Walter  S .- 531 

Burrel,  Cuthbert  703 

Burrell,  John .-. 615 

Burton,   Absalom 689 


INDEX 


Burton.    Arthvir 724 

Bush,  Edward  E , 877 

Byron,  E.  H.,  M.  D 404 

Byron,   Henry   W 676 

Byron.  Lincoln  H 485 

Byron.  William  P.,  M.  D 426 

C 

Campbell,  F.  D 427 

Cann,  .James  M 661 

Carle,  Charles  J 648 

Carlisle.  Frederick  M 776 

Carter.   David   F 880 

Cartmill,  Wooster  B 296 

Cartmill.  W.  F.,  M.  D 446 

Chance,   Edward   H 398 

Charles,  William  B.,  M.  D 868 

Chatten,    John 632 

Chatten.    Richard 489 

Chatten.  Wilmot  L 632 

Church,    Caryl 492 

Church.  Elery  H 672 

Clark,  Harry  A 551 

Clark,   Isaac 309 

Clark.  William  B 590 

Clark,  William  M 867 

Clarke,   Robert   C 381 

Clarkson,   Thomas   J 616 

Clement,  George  S 735 

Clemente,  John  V 593 

Click,  Martin 838 

Coats,  Claude  D 657 

Cochran,  S.  D 729 

Cody,  George  W 536 

Collins.  Albert  H 468 

Collins,  Oscar  F 554 

Collins.  William  W 425 

Colpien,    Henry 549 

Comfort,   Aimer   B 417 

Comfort,   Byron   G 650 

Conkey,  Fred  W 800 

Cooke,   William   R 805 

Coolidge,  Wilbur 518 

Cooper,  J.  R 730 

Cosper,  Elias  T 654 

Courtney,  Samuel   E 352 

Crabtree,  James  A 516 

Cramer,    M.   L 855 

Crane,  Henry  A 589 

Crawshaw,  J.  A.,  M.  D 629 

Creath,  John  V 658 

Crook,    Alexander 537 

Cutler,  A.  R 420 

Cutler,  John 420 


D 

Daly,   Arthur  G 486 

Danner,  .lohn  C 441 

Davenport,  William   H 607 

Davidson,  John  W 674 

Davis,   Andrew   J 601 

Dean,  Gilbert  M.  L 582 

Dean,  .label  M 868 

Dean.  William  F 766 

Deardorff,  Oscar  S 515 

Decker,  Louis 591 

De  La  Grange.  Barney 847 

DeMasters,  David  W 728 

Denny,  Harvey  N 641 

DeWitt.  E 665 

DeWitt,  William   M 407 

Dibble,  A,  Leroy 516 

Dibble,  Judson  A 721 

Dineley,   Samuel 765 

Dingley,   Willard  E 445 

Dockstader,  John  W 524 

Dodge,  A.  Fred 524 

Dodge,   Fred   A 307 

Donager,    Benjamin 637 

Donahue.   Martin 767 

Doyle,  John  J 801 

Dreisbach,  A.  M 836 

Drennen.  Winfred  D 597 

Dungan,  A.  Clifford 807 

Dunlap,  James  E 592 

Dunlap.  John  W 555 

E 

Eccles,  Alexander  C 501 

Eklof,  Charles  J 423 

Elliott,   James   M 556 

Elster,  C.  A 771 

Erlanger,   Edward 726 

Esrey,   Jonathan 685 

Estes,  R.  J 651 

Evans.  John  F 558 

Ewing,   John,   Jr 690 

F 

Farmer,  George  T 586 

Farmer.   Lyman  D 538 

Fenwick    Sanitarium 493 

Ferguson.  Josiah  M 837 

Fickle,   Benjamin   J 764 

Ficklin,  Joseph  L 535 

Fincher,   Robert  P 666 

Findley,  William 840 

Fine,  James  W 768 

Finn,  Daniel 758 

First  National  Bank  of  Lemoore 308 


INDEX 


X  1 


First  National  Bank  of  Tulare 451 

First  National  Bank  of  Visalia 731 

Fisher,   Charles 722 

Fisher,  James 733 

Fitzsimons,  Frank  E 436 

Follett,  Lyman  L 735 

Fontana,  M.  J 872 

Foster,  Earl  P 642 

Foster,  E.  C,  M.  D 457 

Fowler,  Perry  D 397 

Frans,    John 691 

Freeman,  C.  E 641 

Fry,    Walter 704 

Fudge,   Edmund   J 603 

Fulmer,  Alfred   C _ 348 

Furman,  William  E 514 

G 

Gallaher,  W.   C 367 

Gamble,  David 770 

Garcia,  Mike  V 652 

Garr,  John  W 430 

Gavotto,    S 696 

Giannini,  Frank 559 

Gibbons,  O.  E 545 

Gibson,  E.  J 688 

Gill,  Charles  0 587 

Gill,  Fred 584 

Gill,    Lee 406 

Gill.  Levi  L 686 

Gilligan,  Michael 846 

Glasgow,  John  M 723 

Glover,   Louis   N 706 

Goble,  William  E 258 

Gordon,  George  370 

Gough,    William 566 

Grabow,  J 639 

Graham,  R.  M 643 

Gray,  Dallas  H 759 

Gregory,  Levy  N 725 

Gribi,  Albert  E 673 

Griffin,  Asa  T 484 

Griffith,   Frank 439 

Griswold,  Oscar  T 544 

Guiberson,  J.  W 411 

Gurnee,  Brewster  S 791 

H 

Halford,  Isaac  T 787 

Hall,  Albert  A 618 

Hall,  John  E 513 

Hall,   Samuel  W 671 

Hamilton,  Hugh  L 389 

Hamlin,  Benjamin,  M.  D 335 


Hanford  National  Bank 636 

Hannah,  J.  A 723 

Hansen,  Christ  S 653 

Harris,  G.  C 376 

Harris,  Jesse  W 586 

Hart,  Charles  W 458 

Hart,  Edwin  F 793 

Harvey,  John  W 530 

Hastings,   U.   G 720 

Hauschildt,  John  H 4S7 

Hawley,  Luther  C 395 

Hayes,  Frank   P 876 

Hays,  John  N 314 

Headrick,   Daniel : 595 

Henley,    Stepnen    E 508 

Herrin,  Daniel  M 506 

Heusel,  William  P 775 

Hickman,    David   H 644 

Hicks,    Benjamin 261 

Hicks,  Stephen  B 548 

Higdon,  William  J 304 

Hight,  Frank  R 148 

Hill,  Melvin  A 718 

Hine,   John   H SSI 

Hockett,  John  B       «48 

Holley,  C.  H 732 

Holley,  H.   H 732 

Homen,  Manuel  R 715 

Homer,   Joseph   W 788 

Horsman,   Henry  C 039 

Hoskins,   Charles  W 802 

Houston.  George  W 719 

Houston,    James 851 

Howard,  Charles  H 657 

Howe,   Albert   P 705 

Howe,   Edwin  H 532 

Howe,    Frank    E 519 

Howe,   Fred   C 490 

Howes,  Thomas  E 495 

Howeth,   Lewis  W 738 

Hubbs,   Arthur   P 786 

Huffaker,  Jacob  V 670 

Hunsaker,   I.    B 554 

Huntley,   John   H 255 

Hyde,  Jeremiah  D 692 

Hyde,  Richard  E 682 

J 

Jacob,   Elias 737 

Jacobs,  Hon.  Justin 278 

Jacobs,  H.  Scott 405 

Jameson,  Irving  L 414 

Jasper,  George 461 

Jenanyan,   Moses  S 568 

Johnson.  James  L 817 


X  1  1 


INDEX 


Johnson,   John   C S44 

Jordan,  John  F 331 

Joyner,   Charles  E 630 

K 

Kaehler.  Mrs.  Ida  M 496 

Kanawyer,   Napoleon   P 640 

Kellenberg,  Frank  R 859 

Kelly.  Samuel  W 403 

Kelsey,  Hiram 861 

Kennedy  &   Robinson 4.'j5 

Kenney.  Samuel  L 837 

Kimball,  S.  C TS9 

Kincaid,  Roland  L. 520 

King.   Lowery   B 4S0 

Kinkade.  Squire  H S15 

Kitchel,  Elmer  L 795 

Klindera.  John 697 

Kneeland.  Joel 696 

Knierr.  Albert 694 

Knight,  U.  G _ 368 

Knight.  Zenias 581 

Knox,   George  W 256 

Knutson,  Iver 873 

Kyle.  T.  W 392 

L 

.Lafever.   Andrew   J 808 

LaMarche,    Joseph 434 

LaMarsna,  Eber  H 673 

LaMarsna.  Jeffery  J 699 

Laney,  Archie  P _.  565 

Lathrop.    Ezra _ 288 

Leach.   John   H 753 

Leavens.    Peter ^ 675 

Leavens.   William   A 675 

Lee.  Anderson  W 816 

Leebon,   John  A 547 

Lemos.  Manuel  B 776 

Leoni.   Leo   665 

Lewis,  D.  W 707 

Lewis.   Thomas 445 

Ley,   Joseph „...  852 

Light.  H.  J 320 

Lindsey,  Tipton 270 

Lorendo.  Gideon 391 

Loucks,  Hon.  Geo.  P 821 

Lovelace.  Byron  0 396 

Lovelace,  Joseph  W., 631 

Luce.  Eugene  A 792 

Lynch.  Jlichael  M .S21 

McAdam,  Frank  S 325 

McAdam,  James 746 


McAdam  Ranches 319 

McAdam,   Robert 744 

McAdam,  William  J 363 

McCarthy.  Thomas 512 

McClure.  Benjamin  E 700 

McCord.  William  P 345 

McCracken.   W.   H _ 521 

McFarland.   Charles   G 616 

McFarland.  J.  H.  C 283 

McLaughlin,  Stiles  A 843 

McLean,   P.  A 336 

Macfarlane.  W.  C 778 

Machado.   Manuel  1 497 

Maddox,    Ben    M 362 

Majors,  Columbus  P 241 

Mardis.   Oliver   P 361 

Marshall,  Lionel  W 390 

Mathewson,  Arthur  W 541 

Mathewson,    Earl 625 

May.  James  H 504 

May.   Jonathan   W 764 

Mayer,  James  B 511 

Mayes,   Francis   M 842 

Melidonian,   E.   G 354 

Michaelis,   William 845 

Miller.    Herman   T 747 

Miller.  Robert  W 324 

Miller,  William  H..  M.  D 882 

Miller.    William    R 360 

Millinghausen,  William  H 572 

Mills.  Merritte  T 748 

Mitchell.   Adolphus ^ 803 

Mitchell.    Levi 769 

Mitchell.    S 731 

Montgomery.  Elbert  R 518 

Montgomery.  John 523 

Montgomery.  Litchfield  Y 287 

Moore.    Hiram 529 

Moore.  Orlando 379 

Moore.   Robert  A 429 

Moorehead.  James  A 452 

Morgan.  John  T 626 

Murphy,    Daniel 569 

Murphy.  Henry  and  Philena  A 656 

Murphy.  Rev.  James 812 

Murray,   Abram   H 448 

Murray,  ^y alter  D 645 

N 

Navarre.   Elizabeth 570 

Newman,  Frank  A 310 

Newman.  Robert  0 478 

Newman.  Thomas  C 613 

Noble.  George  A 275 

Null.  Robert 749 


INDEX 


X  1  1  1 


0 

Oakes.  James  W 853 

Ogden.  Robert  K 864 

OgiU-ie,  Albert  G 6*9 

Osborn.  Frank 359 

Overall,  Daniel  G 428 

P 

Parker.  Hiram  L 781 

Parrish.   F.   M 540 

Parsons.  Ulysses  G 573 

Peacock.  Harrison  F 701 

Perry.  A.  J 814 

Peterson.  Alfred 347 

Peterson.   Carl   A 525 

Phariss.   Tillman   B 875 

Phelps.  A.  W 790 

Phillips.   Perry   C 777 

Piatt.  Louis  F 527 

Poe.  Frank 721 

Pollock.  George  W 750 

Powell.   Frank 385 

Powell.  Harrison  A 634 

Powers.  Richard 811 

Prestidge.  J.  L 799 

Price.  James  S 788 

Putnam.  Robert  A 620 

R 

Ragle.  Emanuel  T 249 

Ragle.   Henry   0 752 

Ragle.  J.   Albert 609 

Raisch,  Harry  J 604 

Ramsey.  George  D 698 

Raney.  Asbury  C '. 883 

Ratliff.   William  P 870 

Rea,  Frank 814 

Reed.   Henry   W 818 

Reed.  John  R 619 

Rehoefer.    Samuel 714 

Reinhart.  William 557 

Renaud.    Emerie 561 

Rhodes.   William   C 575 

Rice.  John  C 605 

Rice,  J.  Clarence 606 

Rice.  J.  W.  B 373 

Richardson.   Freeman 638 

Richardson.  Gustavus  A 510 

Richland  Egg  Ranch 778 

Rivers.  William 883 

Robertson.   Frank   P 574 

Robinson.  William  W 820 

Robison.  George  A 567 

Rock.  Henry  F 708 


Roes,  Henry  C - 856 

Boss.  Ean 677 

Rosson.  Charles  T.,  M.  D 290 

Rourke.  Michael  F 522 

Russell,  J.  C.  C 708 

S 

Sage.  J.  M 609 

Sahroian.   Fred   823 

St.  Bridget's  Catholic  Church 462 

Salladay.  A.  J ■  782 

Scher.  Rev.  Philip  G 462 

Schimmel    Brothers 473 

Schnereger  &   Downing 663 

Schueller,  John  J 824 

Sciarone.    Andrew 610 

Scoggins.  Andrew  J 269 

Scoggins,  J.  E 884 

Scoggins.   R.   E 886 

Scott  Francis  C 339 

Sears,  William  A 821 

Sellers.  Edward  G 680 

Setliff.  James  M 469 

Shannon,  Carleton  J 594 

Sharp,  Benjamin  V 543 

Shippey,  Ahin  B 498 

Shoemaker.   Robert  M 472 

Shreve,  H.  M 433 

Sickles,  Lewis  A 571 

Sigler,   John 611 

Silveira.  Joseph 563 

Singleton.  M.  F 797 

Slocum,  Alvin  H 342 

Smith.  A.  Frank 542 

Smith.  Cecil  H 819 

Smith.  Charles  E...... 470 

Smith.  Clark  M 709 

Smith.  Enoch  A 865 

Smith.  Frank  711 

Smith,   Frank   P 739 

Smith,   Henry   C 862 

Smith,  John  H 437 

Smith,  Lewis  S 866 

Smith,  Thomas  819 

Smith,  W.  J 474 

Stayton.  Charles  F t)47 

Steuben.  William  N 740 

Steves,  George  H 683 

Stokes,  John  W 2S1 

Stokes,  S.  C 295 

Storzback.  Fred   514 

Stubbelfield.  William  N 806 

Sturgeon.  Joseph  W 71i» 

Swall.   Arthur 380 

Swall.  William  849 


X  1  V 


INDEX 


Swan,  William 359 

Sweeney,   James 741 

T 

Taylor,  J.  L 622 

Teague,  George  H 825 

Thayer,  J.  Carl 773 

Thayer,  William    H 383 

The  Old  Bank  of  Hanford 433 

Thomas,   F.   A 488 

Thomas,  Isaac  H 263 

Thomas,  Jesse  A 742 

Thomas,  Louis  L 774 

Thomas.  Martin  V 499 

Thomson,   Peter 780 

Tomer,  George 341 

Tompkins,  Charles  W 884 

Townsend,  Homer  C 693 

Tozer,    Charles   W 33? 

Tozer,  Roy  S 'J38 

Traeger,   Henry   G 49T 

Traut,  Mrs.  Catherine  L 659 

Trewhitt,  W.  D 798 

Tulare    Home    Telephone    and    Tele- 
graph  Company 376 

Turner,  Jesse  T 668 

Turner,    Lucius    H 622 

Tyler,  John  D 250 

Twaddle,   Thomas  B 404 

U 
Unger.  William  576 

V 

Vail   Brothers 863 

Vaughan,  William  T.'. 313 

Vaughn,  David  A 471 

Visalia    Plumbing    and    Sheet    Metal 

Company       309 

w 

Waddell,   George   E 242 

Walker,  John  E 681 


Walker,  John  and  Serepta  .  686 

Walker,   William   G 6.S4 

Ward,  Harvey  L 826 

Warner,    Erastus   F 023 

Warren,  Isaac  H 889 

Webb,  Octavius  H MV) 

Weddle,  Ethelbert  S G08 

Weddle,   M.   E 762 

Wegman.   George  J..... 442 

Weigle,  Martin  L 579 

Wells,  James  M 888 

Wells,  Morgan  J 599 

Wendling,  G.  X 375 

West,   Joshua   E 889 

West,   William   B 662 

Wheeler,    Alexander   W 646 

Whitaker,    William 634 

White,   Capt.  Harrison .'...  301 

Whittington,  William,  M.  D 712 

Williams,  Alpheus  C 627 

Williams,  George  W 450 

Williams,  Joel  W 585 

Williams,  John  W 743 

Williams,  William  A 828 

Wilson,   Henry   L 713 

Wilson,  John  A 851 

Wilson,   Osborne   L 612 

Wirht,   Martin 834 

Wood,  Daniel  751' 

Wood,   George   477 

Woodard,  Homer  D 577 

Woods,  A.  J     526 

Wookey,  Sidney  H 636 

Work,   Enoch  507 

Wray,  George  U 563 

Wright,   Harland   E 330 

Wright,  Isaac  N 351 

Wright,  James  W 500 

Y 

Young,  J.  N 887 

z 

Zumwalt,   Daniel   K 401 


HISTORICAL 

CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTORY  TO  HISTORY  OF  TULARE  COUNTY 
By  Eiigejie  L.  Menefee. 

A  preat'lier  and  a  teaclicr,  it  apitears,  curiously  euou.uli  wore  the 
two  first  white  leaders  to  enter  what  is  now  Tulare  county.  Each 
l)ore  the  name  of  Smith.  Jedediah  S.  Smith,  the  preaclier,  arrived 
in  1825  or  '26,  accompanied  by  about  fifteen  trappers,  he  being  the 
first  white  man  to  cross  the  Sierra  Nevada  mountains.  Entry  to  the 
valley  was  made  via  the  Tejon  pass.  Thousands  of  naked  Indians 
were  seen.  Tulare  lake  was  observed  and  successful  trai)i)ing  for 
beaver  was  conducted  along  the  upper  reaches  of  the  Kings,  San 
Joaquin  and  Sacramento  rivers.  In  1827  Smith  made  a  return  trij), 
entering  through  Walker's  pass. 

It  should  be  understood  that  Jed  was  not  an  ordained  minister, 
but  being  a  strong  and  aggressive  Cliristian,  he  endeavored  to  con- 
vert to  that  faith  the  reckless  and  lawless  men  who  joined  his  band. 
Bible  readings,  prayers,  exhortations  mingled  with  reproofs  were 
features  of  each  day,  no  matter  how  wearisome  had  been  the  march. 
It  is  said,  however,  that  his  efforts  at  reform  were  not  entirely  suc- 
cessful. 

"Pegleg"  Smith,  the  teacher,  visited  our  vicinity  in  1S:5(1,  and 
was  eminently  successful.  "Pegleg"  did  not  hold  a  degree  nor  even 
a  certificate.  He  was  a  horse-thief  by  profession  and  he  took  u]) 
quarters  among  the  Indians,  establishing  friendly  relations  with 
them  and  thus  obtained  a  place  of  refuge  and  a  rendezvous  for  the 
round-up  of  stolen  stock  when  ready  to  proceed  on  the  return  journey 
to  the  Santa  Fe  country.  In  return  for  the  hospitality  extended  him, 
Mr.  Smith  allowed  some  of  the  Indians  to  accompany  him  on  raids 
to  tlie  ranchos  of  the  coast  and  taught  them  all  the  elements  of  a])i)ro- 
priatiou.  Due,  no  doul)t,  to  Mr.  Smith's  ability  as  an  educator, 
these  lessons  were  not  forgotten  and  tlie  practices  inculcated  by  him 
were  so  i)ersistent]y  folh:)wed  that  in  the  course  of  time  the  Indians 
gained  the  merited  title  of  "the  horse-thieves  of  the  Tulare." 

Oiie   of  Pegleg's   ])arty  met   a   tragic   fate.      Missed   from    cami) 

on  Kern  river,  near  the  site  of  the  present  Keyesville,  he  was  found 

dead  alongside  the  carcass  of  a  huge  grizzly,  his  body  mutilated  and 

his  head  crushed.     '^I'liere  had  evidently  been  a  deadly  fight  in  which 

both    contestants    had    succumbed.      'i'lie    I'ude    wooden    cross    whicli 
1 


6  TULAEE  AND  KIXGS  COUNTIES 

marked  bis  lonely  fi,rave  still  stood  in  1H'A\  when  the  Kern  river  j^old 
rush  took  place. 

Closely  following;-  Jedediah  Smith  came  Ewing  Young  and  party, 
who  started  tra])])ing  in  the  San  Joafpiin  valley  in  1831,  finding 
beaver  plentiful.  Young  hunted  in  the  vicinity  of  Tulare  lake  for  a 
short  time  and  theu  took  his  way  northward.  During  the  next 
decade  several  other  groups  of  trapjiers  passed  through  the  San 
Joaquin  valley.  Between  the  Tulare  valley  and  the  Calaveras  river 
there  was  at  that  time  an  estimated  Indian  iwpulation  of  20,000. 

For  any  accurate  knowledge  of  the  county  as  it  existed  then  we 
must  await  the  coming,  in  1846,  of  John  C.  Fremont,  an  account  of 
which  will  be  given  in  a  later  chapter. 

History — human  history — began  to  lie  recorded  in  what  is  now 
Tulare  county  at  a  time  long  prior  to  the  events  just  related. 

So  remote  is  this  date  that  we  of  the  present  day  can  scarcely 
hazard  even  a  guess  as  to  the  number  of  centuries  that  have  elapsed 
since  this  civilizatioji  flourished.  Probalily  it  existed  co-eval  with 
that  of  the  mound  builders  of  the  Mississippi — with  that  of  the  cliff 
dwellers  of  Arizona.  It  is  probable  that  at  that  time  the  waters  of 
the  Pacific  filled  the  valley  of  the  San  Joacpiin  so  that  the  area  of 
our  county  was  once  smaller  thau  it  is  now.  These  surmises  are  based 
on  the  fact  that  in  numerous  places  throughout  the  Sierra  Nevada 
mountains  are  found  picture  writings  of  the  origin  of  which  our 
latter  day  Indians  have  not  even  a  tradition.  They  cannot  interpret 
them,  nor  do  they  possess  any  knowledge  of  the  art  of  making  the 
indesti'uctible  paints  used. 

On  a  bluff  near  the  railroad  bridge  across  the  Kaweah  at  Lemon 
Cove,  at  Rocky  Hill,  near  Exeter,  in  Stokes  valley,  at  "VVoodlake,  at 
Dillon's  point,  at  Hospital  Rock  on  the  middle  fork  of  the  Kaweah, 
some  thirteen  miles  above  Three  Rivers  and  in  many  other  jilaces 
these  pictures  are  found. 

In  several  instances  the  arrangement  of  the  figures  is  in  columns. 
This  would  seem  to  indicate  that  they  are  tribal  or  genealogical  rec- 
ords. Swords  and  spears,  weapons  absolutely  unknown  to  present- 
day  Indians,  are  among  the  objects  represented.  Others  are  bears, 
birds,  pine  trees,  man,  the  sun,  a  fire,  circles,  crosses,  etc.  Up  to  the 
present  time  no  key  has  been  found  to  these  hieroglyphics.  A  fac- 
simile of  the  paintings  on  Hospital  Rock  has  been  sent  to  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution  at  Washington,  but  as  yet  the  learned  men  there 
have  been  unable  to  decipher  the  record.  As  the  fund  of  knowledge 
regarding  the  sign-writing  of  all  tribes  throughout  the  world  is  con- 
stantly increasing,  as  they  are  studied  and  com]>ared  and  grou]ied  in 
systems,  and  certain  meanings  definitely  established,  it  is  not  improb- 
able that  at  some  future  time  the  first  chapters  of  Tulare  county's 
history  mav  vet  be  translated  into   English.     Even   so,   then  would 


TULARE  AND   KINGS   COUNTIES  7 

elapse  a  period  of  thousands  of  years  without  a  line.  No  tradition 
existed  Iiere  among  tlie  Indians  as  to  any  migration  or  se])aration 
from  another  tribe.  They  believed  themselves  to  be  al)origines.  Yet 
there  were  trails  known  to  them  l)y  which  the  Sierras  could  be 
crossed. 

No  reports  from  the  passing  l)ands  of  trappers  hastened  the 
coming  of  settlers.  With  them  a  country  was  good  or  liad  according 
as  many  valuable  pelts  could  or  could  not  be  there  obtained,  and  no 
note  was  taken  of  its  adaptaliility  for  agriculture.  Neither  was  it  by 
the  accounts  set  fortli  by  Fremont,  wliich  were  meager  and  of  a 
scientific  nature. 

Tlie  fact  was  that  in  the  '4!l  rush  to  tlie  gold  fields  of  Calif ornia 
many  trains  came  l)y  the  southern  route  and  passed  through  the  Four 
Creeks  country,  as  this  section  was  tlien  called.  Out  of  a  desert  they 
came,  and  pursuing  their  way  northward,  Inick  into  what  was  then 
almost  a  desert  they  went.  We  can  well  imagine  their  delight  at  the 
sight  of  the  vast,  oak-forested  delta  covered  with  knee-high  grasses. 
We  can  imagine,  too,  their  chafing  at  the  delay  here  occasioned  by 
the  necessity  of  getting  their  animals  in  condition  to  proceed  farther. 
All  were  keenly  anxious  to  reach  the  foot  of  the  rainbow.  And  when, 
after  toil  and  trouble,  hardship,  misfortune  and  ill-luck,  they  failed 
to  find  it,  we  can  imagine  them  as  keenly  anxious  to  return  to  the 
delightful  land  they  had  left. 

The  first  to  really  settle  there  was  a  trader  named  Woods,  who  with  a 
party  of  about  fifteen  men  arrived  in  December  of  1850.  This  party 
came  from  Mariposa  and  was  well  equipped  with  saddle  and  pack  ani- 
mals, arms,  implements  of  l)uilding,  etc.  They  located  on  the  south 
bank  of  the  Kaweah  river,  about  seven  miles  east  of  ^^isalia,  where 
they  built  a.  substantial  log  house.  Of  the  fate  of  this  ]iarty  accounts 
vary  somewhat.  The  accepted  version  is  that  in  the  spring  of  '51,  an 
Indian  l)earing  the  name  of  Francisco,  speaking  some  Si^anish,  and 
probably  one  of  the  renegades  from  the  ranches  of  the  coast,  with 
a  number  of  Kaweahs,  of  whom  he  apj^eared  to  be  chief,  ordered  the 
settlers  to  leave  that  section  of  the  country  within  ten  days,  with 
the  alternative  of  death  if  they  remained  beyond  the  allotted  time. 
The  settlers  agreed  to  go  and  made  prejiarations  for  their  departure, 
burying  the  provisions  and  such  farming  implements  as  they  pos- 
sessed and  proceeded  to  gather  their  stock.  'While  thus  engaged  the 
tenth  day  passed,  and  the  Indians  returned  to  fulfill  their  threat. 
Ten  of  the  settlers  were  killed  while  hunting  their  stock,  two  made 
their  escape,  one  of  whom  was  wounded. 

The  savages  then  approached  the  house  in  which  was  Woods  and 
another.  They  professed  friendship,  and  thus  removed  the  aii])re- 
hensions  of  their  victims,  who  were  unconscious  of  the  fate  of  their 
fellows.     One  of  the  whites  was  asked  to  hold  up  a  target  that  the 


8  TULARE   AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

ludiaiis  miylit  exhiliit  their  skill  with  the  bow  aud  arrow;  he  com- 
plied, whereupon  the  treacherous  Kaweahs  turued  their  aim  uijon 
him  aud  f|uickly  shot  him  to  death.  Woods  fled  to  the  cabin  and 
fastened  the  door.  This  the  savages  attacked  with  great  fury,  but  it 
was  strong  and  resisted  their  assaults.  Woods  had  a  single  rifle  and 
a  short  sujiply  of  ammunition,  aud  with  this  he  attempted  to  defend 
himself.  Of  all  this  we  have  the  reports  of  Indians  only,  as  from  the 
time  the  two  escaped  none  other  was  left  to  tell  the  story  of  the 
treachery  and  the  tragedy.  The  entrapjjed  man  determined  to  sell 
his  life  as  dearly  as  possible.  As  opportunity  offered  he  fired  through 
the  apertures  of  the  logs  and  with  deadly  effect,  as  during  the  contest 
seven  of  the  Indians  were  killed.  At  last  the  scanty  ammunition  was 
exhausted,  and  the  despairing  condition  of  the  helplessness  overcame 
the  l)rave  Woods.  The  assailants,  finding  their  prisoner  no  longer 
able  to  do  them  harm,  renewed  their  efforts  on  the  door,  until  it  at 
last  gave  way  and  the  enemy  was  in  their  ]iower.  Woods  had  made 
a  brave  defense,  had  slayed  and  wounded  many  of  their  numlier  and 
a  revenge  in  consonance  with  the  Indian  spirit  was  determined  upon. 
This  was  nothing  less  than  flaying  him  alive.  The  doomed  man  was 
bound  down  and  while  defying  his  torturers,  his  skin  was  taken  from 
his  liody  aud  afterwards  nailed  to  an  oak  tree. 

According  to  Stephen  Barton  the  cause  of  the  outbreak  as  given 
by  the  Indians  was  that  Indians  from  the  north  sought  the  aid  of  the 
Kaweahs  as  allies,  representing  that  the  whites  were  seizing  their 
country  and  driving  them  out.  When  the  tribes  of  this  valley 
declined  to  assist  the  visitors,  these  made  war  upon  them  and  cap- 
tured many  of  their  women.  The  majority  of  them  fled  to  the  hills. 
the  few  remaining  slaughtering  the  Woods  ]:)arty.  Other  accounts 
are  that  from  seven  hundred  to  one  thousand  Indians  took  part  in  the 
butchery. 

A  party  headed  by  a  man  named  Lane  arrived  within  a  day  or 
so  after  the  massacre  and  rescued  a  wounded  man,  whose  name 
was  Boden,  aud  carried  him  back  with  them  to  Marii)osa,  where  he 
recovered.  To  C.  R.  Wingfield,  Boden  gave  a  detailed  account  of  the 
fight  at  the  Woods  cabin. 

A  report  of  the  massacre  was  taken  to  Fort  Miller,  on  the  San 
Joaquin  river,  and  a  detachment  of  troops  in  command  of  General 
Patten  inarched  to  the  feceue.  The  log  house  stood  intact  and  evi- 
dence of  the  In-ave  defense,  the  massacre  and  the  butchery  remained. 
What  was  left  of  the  bodies  was  buried  and  work  was  commenced  on 
the  construction  of  a  fort  about  half  a  mile  from  the  Woods  cabin, 
but  before  its  completion  the  troops  were  withdrawn. 

The  above  story  is  essentially  as  given  by  Stephen  Barton  in 
his  early  history  of  Tulare  county,  his  data  being  obtained  from 
several  of  the  first  settlers.     In  the  issue  of  the  Visalia  Sun  dated 


TFLABE   AND   KINGS   COUNTIES  D 

September  5,  1860,  Ahriilwnn  llillianl,  who  arrived  in  the  sprini;'  of  '.'')4 
and  lived  for  three  months  in  the  Woods  cabin,  gives  i)rac'tically  the 
same  version.  i)la('insi'  tlie  date  of  tlie  massacre,  however,  as  Decem- 
ber 13,  1850. 

Gilbert  M.  L.  Dean,  who  arrived  in  the  Fonr  Creeks  conntry 
when  a  lad  abont  twelve  years  of  age,  states  that  his  father's  family 
came  from  Texas  in  a  party  conducted  by  Nat  ^"ise.  Both  the  Vise 
and  Dean  families  remained  for  a  time  at  Los  Angeles,  and  Vise, 
taking  young  Dean  with  him,  left  for  the  northern  country,  traveling 
on  horseback,  and  with  a  i)ack  outfit.  They  remained  a  few  days 
near  the  Kaweah.  Vise  decided  to  push  onward  to  the  mines  and 
left  the  Dean  boy  with  Loomis  St.  John  (for  whom  the  St.  John 
river  was  afterwards  named),  who  then  had  a  cabin  near  the  river. 
al)out  a  half  mile  from  that  afterwards  constructed  l)y  the  AVoods 
party.  Thus  the  general  belief  that  the  latter  structure  was  the 
first  permanent  lialiitation  erected  by  white  men  within  the  present 
limits  of  Tulare  county  is  disputed  by  Dean,  who  was  living  in  St. 
John's  caliin  wlien  the  Woods  party  arrived  to  establish  their  settle- 
ment. 

St.  John  and  his  young  companion,  who  were  glad  to  have  neigh- 
bors of  their  own  race,  went  over  one  day  where  they  had  before 
seen  Woods  and  his  men  felling  trees  and  building  their  house.  They 
were  surprised  to  hear  no  wood-chopping  or  other  noise  when  they 
approached,  and  when  near  the  cabin,  which  was  almost  completed, 
they  were  horrified  to  see  the  body  of  a  man  lying  on  the  groTind. 
The  skin  had  been  removed  and  was  fastened  to  the  bark  of  a  large 
oak  tree  hard  by  on  the  bank  of  the  stream.  They  were  unable  to 
find  any  other  member  of  the  ]>arty,  alive  or  dead,  and  saw  no 
Indians. 

S(ildiers  and  otliers  arrived  within  a  day  or  two,  among  tliem 
being  some  of  the  men  wlio  had  been  with  Woods.  They  stated  that 
Woods  had  gone  to  the  cabin  to  ])repare  dinner  or  had  remained 
there  after  l)reakfast  and  was  attacked  by  the  Indians  when  alone  at 
the  cabin.  The  others  heard  the  firing  of  Woods'  gun  and  the  shout- 
ing of  the  Indians,  and  lieing  unarmed  or  poorly  armed  and  unal)le 
to  reach  the  cabin  to  assist  AVoods,  they  hid  their  axes  and  mauls  and 
saved  themselves  by  flight. 

Dean  says  he  never  heard  of  any  other  person  than  Woods  having 
l)een  killed  at  tliat  time,  but  does  not  remember  to  have  heard 
whether  an.\-  of  the  survivors  were  wounded  or  molested  by  the 
Indians.  The  Woods  cabin  was  used  for  a  schoolhouse  afterwards, 
and  Dean  and  his  l)rother  attended  school  there  later,  when,  after  his 
return  to  Los  Angeles,  tlie  Dean  family  came  to  tlie  Kaweah  settle- 
ment to  reside  permanently.  Dean  was  therefore  at  this  i)]ace  as  a 
pupil    in   the   first  school   in   Tulare  county  and   he   still    has   a   vivid 


10  TULARP]  AXD  KIXGS   COUNTIES 

recollection  of  the  locality.  When  visitin.o-  the  i)lace,  with  othei's.  a 
few  j'ears  ago  lie  at  once  recognized  the  tree  on  wliich  Woods'  skin 
was  hnng  by  the  Indians  and  pointed  out  the  location  of  the  honse 
and  about  the  spot  where  Woods'  ))ody  lay,  and  an  involuntary 
shudder  was  noticed  to  pass  through  the  old  gentleman's  frame  as 
he  stood  there.  Although  the  oldest  resident  of  Tulare  county,  the 
l)ioneer  of  Tulare  pioneers,  he  is  still  vigorous,  retains  all  his  faculties 
perfectly  and  remembers  distinctly  the  [iriucipal  events  of  that  early 
time,  many  of  which  he  participated  in. 

Apparently  uuterritied  l)y  the  fate  of  the  Woods  i)arty,  settlers 
and  traders  continued  to  straggle  in.  In  the  fall  of  1851,  C.  B.  Wing- 
field  and  A.  A.  Wingfield  arrived  from  Mariposa.  On  the  way  the>' 
met  two  men  named  McKeuzie  and  Eidley,  who  had  been  trading 
with  the  Indians  for  several  years  and  who  were  somewhere  in  the 
neighborhood  when  the  Woods  jiarty  was  slain.  A  bridge  had  been 
l)uilt  across  the  Kaweah  near  the  Woods  cabin,  but  there  was  no 
settlement.  The  Wingfields  settled  near  the  cabin,  laying  claim  to 
the  land  from  the  river  southward.  They  found  the  Indians  friendly 
and  sociable,  and  although  their  outfit  was  within  the  reach  of  hun- 
di-eds  of  this  people  and  contained  a  multiplicity  of  small  articles, 
yet  the.v  never  missed  so  much  as  a  needle. 

In  December  of  tlie  same  year,  Xathauiel  and  Abner  Vise  came 
to  what  is  now  \'isalia  and  l)uilt  a  log  cabin  on  the  north  bank  of  Mill 
ci'eek.  ()n  the  site  of  the  camps  of  these  two  pairs  of  brothers  were 
afterwards  built  the  two  towns  that  contended  for  the  honor  of  being 
the  seat  of  justice  of  Tulare  county.  These  two  pairs  of  brothers, 
between  whose  camps  were  seven  miles  of  almost  unbroken  jungle, 
appear  to  have  been  the  only  settlers  in  the  country  witli  a  fixed 
domicile.  They  were  unknown  to  each  other  and  ignorant  of  the 
other's  whereabouts. 

The  state  legislature  was  in  session.  Many  first-class  politicians 
at  Mariposa  were  either  out  of  a  job  or  i)ossessed  of  one  the  emolu- 
ments of  which  were  not  satisfactory.  These  events  and  conditions 
would  not  have  interested  either  the  l)rothers  Vise  or  the  Wingfields. 
Yet  so  interwoven  are  the  strands  of  destiny  tliat  life  or  death  to  the 
Wingfields  was  later  to  dei)end  on  the  activity  of  the  Mari])osa  schem- 
ers and  their  "pull"  with  the  legislators.  It  was  at  the  l)ehest  of 
this  horde  of  hungry  office-seekers  that  the  legislature  passed  an  act 
and  the  same  was  approved  A])ril  20,  1852,  as  follows: 

"The  county  of  Mariposa  is  hereby  subdivided  as  follows:  Be- 
ginning at  the  summit  of  the  coast  range,  at  the  corner  of  Monterey 
and  San  Luis  Obisi)o  covmties;  thence  running  in  a  northeasterly 
direction  to  the  ridge  dividing  the  waters  of  the  San  Joaquin  and 
Kings  rivers;  thence  along  the  ridge  to  the  summit  of  the  Sierra; 
thence  in  the  same  direction  to  the  state  line:  thence   southeasterlv 


TULARK   AND   KlXfJS   COUNTIES  11 

along  said  line  to  the  comity  of  Los  Angeles;  tlience  sontliwesterly 
along  the  line  of  Los  Angeles  connty  to  Santa  Barbara;  thence  along 
the  summit  of  the  coast  range  to  the  point  of  beginning. 

"The  southern  portion  of  Mariposa  county  so  cut  ofi,  shall  l)e 
called  Tulare  county.  The  seat  of  justice  shall  be  at  the  log  cabin  on 
the  south  side  of  Kaweah  creek,  near  the  bridge  built  by  Dr.  Thomas 
Payne,  and  sliall  l)e  called  Woodsville,  until  changed  by  the  ijeople  as 
l>rovided  l)y  law. 

"During  the  second  week  of  July  next  there  shall  l)e  chosen  for 
Tulare  county  one  county  judge,  one  county  attorney,  one  county 
clerk,  one  recorder,  one  sheriff,  one  county  surveyor,  one  assessor,  one 
coroner  and  one  treasurer. 

"The  county  judge  chosen  under  this  act  shall  hold  his  office  for 
two  years  from  next  October,  and  until  his  successor  is  elected  and 
ciualified.  The  other  officers  elected  shall  hold  their  resi)eetive  offices 
for  one  year,  and  until  their  successors  are  elected  and  qualiiied. 
The  successors  of  the  officers  elected  under  this  act  shall  be  chosen  at 
the  general  elections  established  by  law,  which  take  place  next  pre- 
ceding the  expiration  of  their  respective  terms." 

James  D.  Savage,  M.  B.  Lewis,  John  Boling  and  W.  H.  McMillen 
were  appointed  conunissioners  to  cari-y  out  the  law  and  conduct  the 
election. 

The  i)rime  mover  in  this  scheme  to  form  a  new  county  was 
William  H.  Harvey.  He  and  his  associates  knew  of  the  nuissacre  of 
the  Woods  party  and,  fully  expecting  to  have  to  tight  tlieir  way  to 
the  P^our  Creeks,  ])laced  the  cx])editiou  under  the  connnand  of  Major 
James  D.  Savage. 

Orlando  Barton  says:  "Major  Savage's  party  as  it  left  Mari- 
posa was  com]K)sed  mostly  of  men  on  horseback.  Many  men  with 
families  ])re]iared  to  follow  with  teams.  The  first  general  rendezvous 
was  on  Grand  Island.  A  settlement  was  already  forming  on  Kings 
river.  I  have  heard  it  stated  that  the  office-seekers  from  Mariposa 
hired  enough  Whigs  to  come  with  them  to  outvote  the  Democrats  on 
Arkansas  Flat.  On  Grand  Island,  July  8th,  the  commissioners  held 
their  first  meeting.  They  ordered  an  election  to  be  held  on  July  10, 
1852,  and  appointed  William  J.  Campbell  to  act  as  the  ins])ector  at 
Poole's  Perry  and  William  Dill  to  act  as  inspector  at  Woodsville. 
These  were  the  only  ])recincts  established.  All  the  wagons  with  the 
women  and  children  stayed  on  Grand  Island,  while  Major  Savage 
marshaled  the  fighting  men  for  the  advance  on  Four  Creeks. 

"Including  the  board  of  commissioners  they  were  fifty-two  strong 
and  on  the  morning  of  July  !)tli  they  started  from  Poole's  Ferry  to 
cross  the  plains.  It  lacked  about  an  hour  and  a  half  of  sundown  when 
they  arrived  in  the  outskirts  of  the  timber  at  the  foot  of  \'enice  hills. 
Here  they  saw  hostile  ludiaus.     Major  Savage's  party  rode  along  the 


12  TULARK  AXD  KTX(!S  COFXTIKS 

southwest  side  of  the  A'enit-e  hills,  Hriiii;-  riiilil  and  left  at  eveiv  Indian 
they  saw. 

RESCI'E    OF    THE    WIXGFJELDS 

"On  the  mornino-  of  July  8,  1852,  three  lumdred  armed  Indians 
came  to  the  Wiugfiekl  hrothers'  camp  and  took  them  and  an  Indian  boy 
who  was  with  them  jirisoners,  and  marched  tliem  across  tlie  Kaweah 
and  St.  John  rivers.  Near  the  north  banl<  of  tlie  St.  John,  the  Indians 
tied  the  Wingfield  brothers  and  their  companion  liand  and  foot  and 
laid  them  on  the  ground.  Tlie  Wiugtields  were  kept  in  this  ])lace  all 
one  day  and  the  succeeding  night.  The  9th  of  July  was  hot  and  sultry. 
The  Indians  were  morose  and  sulky.  They  stayed  at  a  distance  from 
the  Wingfields  and  talked  only  to  themselves.  Neither  the  AVingfields 
nor  their  companion  could  understand  the  cause  of  their  imprison- 
ment. They  knew  nothing  of  the  advance  of  Major  Savage's  ])arty. 
They  did  not  know  that  tlieir  captors  constituted  one  of  tlie  forces 
sent  to  hold  the  fords  of  the  St.  John  against  the  men  from  ^lariposa. 

"If  I  were  a  novelist  I  would  novr  tell  what  the  AViugheld  broth- 
ers thought  at  this  crisis  in  their  lives.  I  would  tell  how  they  were 
tormented  by  swarms  of  Hies,  armies  of  ants,  and  cold  lizards  with 
poisonous  fangs.  But  as  I  am  only  an  historian  I  can  tell  only  what  I 
know.  Charley  Wingfield  said  that  he  did  not  know  what  was  to 
become  of  them.  The  fate  of  Woods  was  fresh  in  their  minds  and  we 
may  reasonalily  be  permitted  to  guess  that  they  expected  to  be 
skinned. 

"The  sun  was  about  au  hour  high  in  the  west  when  an  Indian 
came  running  around  the  southernmost  of  the  Venice  hills  holding  one 
of  his  arms  straight  u])  in  the  air.  His  arm,  which  was  covered  with 
blood,  was  shot  through  with  a  bullet.  Some  of  the  Indians  who  were 
guarding  the  Wingfields  ran  forward  to  meet  him.  A  short  palaver 
was  held.  Then  three  or  four  of  them  went  to  the  place  where  the 
Wing-fields  were  tied  down.  They  untied  them  and  then  all  the  In- 
dians suddenly  disappeared. 

"The  AVingtields  went  to  the  river  and  after  swinuning  it,  were 
climbing  up  on  its  south  bank,  when  they  saw  Major  Savage's  party 
coming  around  the  point  of  the  hill  from  the  direction  of  Mount  A'iew 
Park.    The  Wingiields  re-crossed  the  river  and  joined  the  ])arty. 

THE   ELECTION 

"As  soon  as  Major  Savage's  party  arrived,  the  commissioners 
commenced  to  prejiare  for  the  election.  For  this  purpose  they  selected 
the  tree  that  stood  farthest  out  on  the  open  ground.  This  was  done 
so  that  they  could  get  the  benefit  of  any  breeze  that  might  lie  blowing. 
There  has  been  recently  a  sign  ])laced  on  this  tree  and  any  person  can 
find  it.  It  stands  about  half  way  l)etween  the  Tulare  Irrigation  com- 
pany's flume  and  the  Southern  Pacific  railroad  bridge  across  the  St. 
John  river.     '^Die  jiioneers  occujiied  the  ground  between  the  election 


TULARE   AND  KINGS   COUNTIES  13 

tree  and  the  river,  and  utilized  the  shade  of  several  oilier  trees.  IMes- 
sengers  were  sent  hack  to  Poole's  iVrry  and  night  found  the  Mariposa 
adventurers  in  possession  of  the  camp  that  the  captors  of  the  Wing- 
fields  had  so  recently  occupied." 

The  poll  list  of  the  Woodsville  i)recinct  was  as  follows:  Augustus 
John,  S.  D.  F.  Edwards,  Early  Tiyon,  Martin  Morris,  J.  B.  Marsh, 
John  A.  Patterson,  T.  Hale,  Richard  Matthews,  J.  M.  Snockters,  R. 
P.  Cardwell,  S.  P.  Carter,  C.  Keener,  Benj.  Mettors,  A.  B.  Gordon, 
J.  M.  Jackson,  Henry  Crowell,  Wni.  B.  Hobbs,  John  Reefe,  Clark 
Royster,  S.  M.  Brown.  J.  G.  Morris,  P.  F.  HesJjerp,  B.  B.  Harris. 
A.  H.  Corbitt,  L.  B.  Lewis,  William  Pedersen,  W.  C.  McDougal, 
George  H.  Rhodes,  Joseph  A.  Tivy,  W.  H.  Howard,  Charles  J.  Jones, 
Isaac  McDonald,  Joshua  Sledd,  W.  H.  Erving,  James  D.  Savage. 
Robert  F.  Parks,  J.  L.  Avenill,  William  Dougle,  W.  W.  McMillen, 
William  Dill,  Penny  Douglas,  George  H.  Rogers,  L.  St.  John,  James 
Wate,  A.  J.  Lawrence,  Thomas  McCormick,  B.  B.  Overton,  James 
Davis,  A.  A.  Wingfield,  R.  Schuffler,  A.  M.  Cameron.  C.  R.  AVingtield 
voted  at  Poole's  ferry,  as  did  Nathaniel  Vise. 

In  looking  over  this  poll  list  the  observer  is  at  once  struck  with 
the  infre(]ueucy  of  well-known  names  of  early  pioneers.  This  was 
because  there  were  few  bona  lide  settlers  in  the  settlement. 

After  the  election  the  commissioners  remained  in  camp,  received 
the  returns  from  Poole's  ferry  and  canvassed  the  entire  vote.  The 
following  officers  were  elected:  for  county  judge,  Walter  II.  Harvey; 
county  attorney,  F.  H.  Sanford;  county  clerk,  E.  D.  F.  Edwards; 
recorder,  A.  B.  Gordon;  sheriff,  William  Dill;  surveyor,  Joseph  A. 
Tivy;  assessor,  James  B.  Davis;  coroner,  W.  W.  McMillen;  treasurer, 
L.  C.  Fraukenlierger. 

On  July  12th,  the  county  otlicers  took  the  oath  of  office  and  the 
county  seat  remained  for  some  time  under  the  election  tree,  although 
most  of  the  county  officers  returned  shortly  to  Mariposa. 

Edwards,  the  county  clerk,  was  killed  in  a  quarrel  with  a  man 
named  Bob  Collins,  shortly  after  his  arrival  in  Marijiosa,  and  soon 
afterwards  Major  Savage  was  killed  by  Judge  Harvey.  Franken- 
berger.  in  a  fit  of  delirium  tremens,  wandered  off  into  the  swamp  and 
died.  Later  in  the  season.  Dr.  Everett  was  engaged  in  gambling  at 
Woodsville  with  a  man  named  Ball  and  a  dis]mte  arose  about  $5. 
Everett  asked  Ball  if  he  was  armed.  P)all  replied  that  he  was  not, 
whereujion  ?]verett  co/mnanded  liim  to  go  and  arm  himself.  Ball  said 
that  he  would  and  started  for  his  camji.  Everett  said  he  would  go 
with  him  and  see  that  he  did  it,  ]>ulliug  out  his  pistol  at  the  sanu' 
time.  P>all  then  tf)ld  him  that  the  best  way  was  to  leave  the  matter 
till  another  day  and  it  would  pro1)ably  be  settled.  "No,"  said  Ever- 
ett, "one  of  us  must  die  now."  Ball  stoojted  over  and  carelessly 
rubbed  his  leg,  saying,  "If  I  must  fight,  I  shall  fight  for  Ijlood."  and 


14  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

at  the  same  time  suddenly  lifting  iiis  jiantaloons  and  drawing  a 
revolver  from  his  boot,  shot  Everett  dead  without  drawing  the  pistol 
from  its  scal)bard.  Ball  was  examined  before  a  justice  of  the  peace 
and  discharged.  "W.  J.  Campbell  and  Loomis  St.  John  were  justices 
of  the  peace  and  they,  acting  as  associate  judges  with  the  county 
judge,  constituted  the  court  of  sessions  liy  which  county  affairs  were 
administered. 

At  the  lirst  meeting  of  the  court  of  sessions  held  October  4,  1852. 
Judge  Harvey  ])residiug,  a  license  for  a  ferry  on  Kings  river  and 
for  a  toll  bridge  at  the  Kaweah  was  granted.  Thomas  McCormick 
was  appointed  assessor  to  succeed  Everett,  and  P.  A.  Eainholt  was 
named  to  succeed  J.  C.  Erankenberger.  An  election  proclamation 
was  issued  for  the  general  election  to  be  held  on  the  first  Tuesday 
of  November,  1852,  for  county  and  state  officers  and  for  presidential 
electors.  Bona  fide  settlers  had  now  commenced  to  arrive.  Among 
the  first  were  S.  C.  Brown.  A.  H.  Murray  and  family,  three  Matthews 
families,  three  Glenn  families.  Colonel  Baker  and  family.  Bob  Stev- 
enson and  family,  Abraham  Ililliard  and  family,  0.  K.  Smith,  Samuel 
Jennings,  Tom  Willis,  Tom  Baker,  G.  F.  siiip.  J.  C.  Reed,  John 
Cutler,  Nathan  Dillon  and  Edgar  Reynolds. 

Nat  Vise  induced  most  of  these  parties  to  accompany  him  to 
the  neighborhood  of  his  claim,  where  they  could,  he  said,  find  lietter 
land.  They  were  i)leased  with  this  locality  and  got  Vise  to  release 
his  title  to  the  claim  he  had  first  taken  up,  with  a  view  to  laying  out  a 
town  and  having  it  become  the  county  seat.  For  protection  against 
Indians  a  stockade  was  built  large  enough  to  hold  the  wagons  and 
supplies  and  several  log  houses.  This  fort  was  situated  on  ground 
now  bounded  by  School,  Bridge,  Oak  and  Garden  streets,  and  was 
constructed  by  setting  puncheons  upright  in  a  ditch  about  three  feet 
deep.  An  extension  of  about  four  feet  was  made  at  each  corner 
which  permitted  a  raking  fire  on  the  side  to  be  directed  against  an 
attacking  party,  should  an  attempt  be  made  to  climl)  over. 

The  naming  of  the  new  settlement  ai)i)eared  to  be  the  occasion 
of  some  dispute.  The  majority  of  the  citizens  favored  naming  it 
after  its  founder,  Nathaniel  A'ise.  l)ut  Ihc  lioard  of  supervisors  desig- 
nated it  Buena  Vista.  The  word  A'isalia  lirst  appears  in  the  record 
of  the  court  of  sessions  in  August,  1853,  when  an  order  was  entered 
dividing  the  county  into  townships.  Woodsville  and  A'isalia  town- 
ships were  divided  by  a  line  running  north  and  south  from  the  cross- 
ing of  Canoe  creek. 

Its  derivation  is  believed  by  some  to  be  from  Vise  and  Sally  or 
Salia,  the  name  of  ^'ise's  wife.  Others  believe  it  to  be  a  combination 
of  Vise  with  Sa-ha-la,  the  Indian  name  for  sweat  house,  and  still 
others  think  it  merely  the  termination  "alia,"  as  in  Vaudalia,  Cen- 
tralia,  etc.,  chosen  on  account  of  its  ])leasing  sound. 


TULARE  AND   KINGS  COUNTIES  15 

lu  October  of  1853  was  lield  the  tirst  session  of  the  board  of 
supervisors.  Town  lots  were  parceled  out  and  the  record  shows  the 
entry,  "Ordered  that  tlie  seat  of  justice  be  Buena  Vista."  In  the 
records  of  the  court  of  sessions  for  February,  1851,  the  name  Buena 
Vista  api)eared  for  the  last  time,  all  suljseciuent  jiroceedings  being 
dated  Visalia.  On  the  11th  of  March,  1854,  the  board  of  supervisors 
entered  an  order  granting  the  prayer  of  certain  ])etitioners  that  tlie 
name  of  tlie  seat  of  justice  be  Visalia.  So  much  concerns  the  dispute 
over  the  name.  The  election  l)y  which  tlie  transfer  of  the  seat  of 
justice  from  Woodsville  was  effected  was  held  in  '[SoA.  Judge  Cutler 
was  tlie  cham]>ion  of  Woodsville  and  Judge  Thomas  Baker  of  \'isalia. 
The  vote  was  \ery  close  and  bribery  and  corruption  were  alleged  to 
have  l)een  used.  The  friends  of  Woodsville  charged  that  the  result 
in  favor  of  ^^isalia  was  from  the  bribery  of  two  or  three  voters  and 
there  was  at  least  one  uotable  ease  where  one  man  obtained  an  eligi])le 
location  a  half  mile  south  of  the  site  of  Visalia  and  that  he  thus 
seemed  to  desert  his  Woodsville  friends. 

Although  Baker  carried  the  day  in  respect  to  his  choice  of  county 
seat,  he  was  defeated  for  judge,  as  Cutler  proved  far  the  more  pop- 
ular. There  was  constructed  a  sort  of  courthouse  of  rough  boards 
affording  an  enclosure  and  a  shelter  and  records  were  kept  on  scraps 
of  ])aper  and  deposited  in  a  wooden  box.  Much  of  the  ])roceedings 
and  accounts  were  kei^t  in  memory. 

At  the  session  of  the  l)oard  of  supervisors  in  March,  1854,  many 
town  lots  were  sold  anil  an  order  was  entered  for  building  a  jail 
sixteen  feet  in  the  clear  inside  and  ten  feet  between  floors.  The 
building  to  be  two  stories  high,  to  be  built  of  hewed  logs  eight  indies 
square,  dove-tailed  and  i)inned  at  the  corners;  the  wall  to  be  double 
with  a  space  iietween  six  inches  wide,  to  be  filled  with  liroken  rock. 
The  floor  was  to  be  of  logs  of  similar  size,  planked,  and  the  planking 
to  be  held  down  by  "double  tens,"  one  nail  in  every  superficial  inch. 
This  order  was  to  be  pulilished  in  a  Mariposa  newsjiaper.  Although 
this  was  the  first  jail  and  courthouse  in  the  new  county,  it  was  not 
built  in  time  to  acconmiodate  the  first  prisoners  or  to  furnish  a  place 
in  which  to  hold  the  first  trial. 

The  first  arrest  in  the  county  was  that  of  Judge  Harvey  for 
the  killing  of  Major  Savage,  luit  notliing  came  of  it.  As  previously 
related,  Ball  was  acquitted  for  the  killing  of  F]verett.  Tlie  first 
case  ti'ied  in  the  county  was  before  a  justice  of  tlie  ])eace.  It  was 
that  of  a  young  Indian  charged  with  shooting  an  arrow  into  a 
work-ox  whereby  the  animal  was  more  or  less  disabled.  At  this 
time  few  i)ersons  had  allowed  themselves  to  think  of  a  lightei' 
jumishment  for  an  Indian  tliau  that  of  summary  execution.  All 
concurred  in  the  oiiiiiion  tliat  siicli  mischief  should  not  be  toler- 
ated.     The   mass   of   the    Indians    were   disposed    to    be    friendly,    but 


16  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

were  not  disposed  to  lake  the  same  view  of  the  uecessity  of 
adoptin.o'  a  more  severe  penalty  for  the  Indians  than  was  meted 
out  to  whites  for  similar  offenses.  The  chief  was  anxious  to 
preserve  jieace  and  volunteered  his  services  to  aid  in  the  arrest 
of  the  culi)rit.  The  officers  de]iutized  to  make  the  arrest  were 
C.  R.  "Wingfield  and  Jim  Hale.  They,  in  company  with  the  chief, 
went  to  Cottonwood  creek,  near  Elder  Springs  (AVoodlake).  Here 
the  old  chief  suggested  the  plan  of  having  the  officers  remain 
under   a    tree   while   he    should    go    and   make    the    arrest. 

Among  these  Indians  the  jirdxince  of  a  chief  is  to  advise 
rather  than  command,  and  the  old  chief  perhaps  regarded  it  as 
.uncertain  wliether  the  young  men  of  the  camp  would  acquiesce 
in  the  surrender  until  they  knew  what  the  character  of  the  ])un- 
ishment  would  1)e.  The  chief's  pony  was  well  jaded  and  "Wing- 
field  suggested  an  exchange  of  horses.  After  the  officers  had 
remained  under  the  trees  until  they  ))egan  to  grow  impatient, 
they  saw  two  or  three  Indians  on  foot  aiijiroaching  from  a  dis- 
tance. They  came  up  and  sullenly  seated  themselves  under  the 
tree.  Soon  after  three  or  four  more  appeared.  They  were  hounti- 
fuUy  supplied  with  bows  and  arrows  and  "Wingfield  made  tJie 
comment  that  they  were  going  to  be  able  to  make  an  arrest  quite 
beyond  the  scope  of  their  original  purpose.  He  saw  no  other 
plan,  however,  than  that  of  awaiting  the  return  of  his  horse. 
Soon  the  chief  nuide  liis  appearance  with  the  prisoner,  followed 
by    about    forty    Indians    fully    equipped    for    war. 

"When  they  came  up,  the  officers,  assuming  a  bold  front  in 
an  uni^leasant  emergency,  took  the  pi'isoner  in  charge  and  started 
for  cam]),  a  distance  of  about  ten  miles.  Arriving  there  the  jiro- 
cession  halted  in  front  of  the  office  of  the  justice  of  the  peace, 
i.e.,  mider  the  election  tree.  The  Indians  were  resolved  to  allow 
no  punishment  which  they  did  not  sanction  to  be  inflicted.  The 
whites,  of  whom  there  were  eighteen,  were  unaccustomed  to  brook 
anything  like  insolence  from  an  Indian  without  shooting  him  down, 
and,  having  started  in  with  the  case,  they  saw  no  means  of 
retreat   without   feeling   a    loss    of   dignity. 

Such  an  astounding  capture,  though  unexpected,  was  fully 
comprehended  and  both  parties  were  well  assured  that  the  first 
display  of  force  on  either  side  until  the  matter  was  arranged 
would  lead  to  indiscriminate  slaughter.  For  two  days  and  two 
nights  the  matter  was  angrily  discussed  and  finally  the  Indians 
submitted  to  having  the  case  tried  in  the  white  man's  way.  'i'lie 
evidence  on  both  sides  was  heard,  and  a  judgment  rendered  that 
the   accuse<l   Indian    pay   a   fine   of   fifty   l)uckskins   to   the   owner   of 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  17 

the  ox.  Tlie  ludians  aeoe])ted  this  verdict  as  being  ])erfectly  just, 
the   fine   was   at   once   paid    and    .yood   feeling   re-establislied. 

In  the  new  settlement,  by  the  close  of  '53  and  tlic  beginning 
of  '54.  many  enterprises  had  been  undertaken  and  much  activity 
along  many  different  lines  manifested.  Warren  Matthews  was 
building  a  millrace  and  a  gristmill,  using  largely  Indian  labor. 
Nathan  Baker  had  o]iened  a  store ;  a  man  named  Ketchem  started 
a  saloon;  many  settlers  made  the  trip  to  Stockton  for  seed,  im- 
plements and  ])r()visitms.  A  school  was  started  with  aliout  half  a 
dozen  scholars.  Children  had  been  born,  Commodore  Murray  being 
the  first  and  "Sieb"  Stevenson  the  second.  0.  K.  Smith  imt  up 
a  sawmill  for  cutting  oak  timber,  about  half  a  mile  east  of  Visalia. 

But  we  will  pause  here  in  the  narration  of  historical  events, 
while  we  have  the  opportunity,  to  survey  the  conditions  in  which 
the  settlers  found  themselves.  In  1853  the  Williamson  topograph- 
ical survey  party,  in  search  of  a  railroad  route  through  the  in- 
terior of  California,  passed  through  this  valley.  The  impressions 
of  mineralogist  William  B.  Blake,  set  down  at  the  time,  are  so 
vivid    and    interesting    that    they    are    reproduced    here. 

"Kings  river  to  the  Four  Creeks,  Aug.  1,  40.4  miles:  Left 
camp  on  the  borders  of  Kings  river  and  travelled  along  its  right 
bank   to   Poole's   ferry,    twelve   miles   below. 

"From  the  banks  of  the  river  at  this  ferry,  there  is  nothing 
to  obstruct  the  vision  across  the  whole  breadth  of  the  Tulare 
valley,  and  the  coast  mountains  may  be  dimly  seen  rising  above 
the  limits  of  the  far-stretching  jilains.  The  Sierra  Nevadas  also 
present  a  magnificent  spectacle  from  this  place.  The  chain  aj)- 
pears  to  reach  a  great  altitude  and  to  rise  abruptly  from  the 
surrounding  subordinate  ridge.  The  outlines  of  the  distant  chain 
were  sharply  defined  and  the  prominent  peaks  showed  out  boldly 
against  the  clear  blue  sky.  Snow  was  resting  on  the  summits  in 
broad  white  fields  that  glistened  under  the  rays  of  an  unclouded 
sun  and  by  its  rapid  melting  kept  the  rivers  well  su])plied  with 
water. 

"From  Kings  river  to  the  Four  Creeks  the  si;rface  of  the 
ground  shows  but  few  undulations  and  may  be.  considered  as 
nearly  level.  The  soil  contains  a  large  proportion  of  clay  and 
must  necessarily  become  soft  and  miry  during  the  rainy  season. 
Al)out  three  nnles  northward  of  Elbow  creek  a  large  area  of 
surface  is  composed  almost  wholly  of  clay  without  any  admixture 
of  sand  or  gravel  and  has  evidently  been  nearly  fluid  in  the  wet 
season.  This  was  shown  by  the  deep  tracks  of  animals  in  the 
then  hard,  sun-baked  surface,  and  by  great  numbers  of  skeletons 
of    cattle    that    have    smik    in    the    deep,    Hiick    nuul    and    been    left 


18  TULAEE  A}<D  KINGS  COUNTIES 

there    to    die    of    starvation.      Their    wliitened    liones    stood  uprinlit 

in    the   clay    like    posts    around    a    srave.      The    drying    up  of    this 

clayey    ground    has    produced    deep    slirinkage    cracks    and  fissures 

similar    to    those    observed    in    the    rich    soils    around    tlie  bay    of 
San    Francisco. 

"Four  Creeks:  From  the  level  of  the  arid  and  treeless  plain 
(what  is  now  our  richly  productive  tree  and  vine  covered  Alta 
district)  Iiounded  on  the  west  by  equally  barren  mountains,  we 
made  a  sudden  descent  of  about  ten  feet  to  the  bottom  land  of 
Four  Creeks.  Here  the  aspect  of  the  landscape  suddenly  changed. 
Instead  of  the  brown,  parched  surface  of  gravel,  to  which  the  eye 
is  accustomed  on  the  surrounding  plains,  we  iind  the  ground  hid- 
den from  view  by  a  luxuriant  growth  of  grass  and  the  air  fragrant 
with  the  perfume  of  flowers.  The  sound  of  flowing  brooks  and 
the  notes  of  the  wild  birds  greet  the  ear  in  strange  contrast  with  the 
rattle  produced  by  the  hot  wind  as  it  sweeps  over  the  dried  weeds 
and  gravel  of  the  plain. 

"The  whole  scene  is  overshadowed  by  groves  of  majestic  oaks 
and  the  eye  can  wander  down  long  avenues  of  trees  until  lost  in 
the  shadows  of  their  foliage.  This  scene  of  natural  beauty  is  the 
result  of  natural  irrigation,  the  ground  being  abundantly  watered 
by  the  Pi-piyuna  river,  which  supplies  the  water  that  forms  the 
Four  Creeks  *  *  *  In  fact,  a  broad  delta  is  here  formed  between 
the  Ti;lare  lake  and  the  mountains,  and  the  profuse  vegetation 
may  not  only  be  referred  to  the  presence  of  water,  but  to  the 
fertility  of  the  soil,  which  is  alluvial  and  is  frequently  enriched 
by   overflows   of   the    creeks." 

Visalia  at  this  time  was  practically  situated  in  a  jungle  sur- 
rounded by  a  swamp.  On  the  plains  beyond  and  in  the  more  open 
portions  of  the  oak  foi'est,  deer,  elk  and  antelope  abounded.  Here, 
too,  were  numerous  bands  of  wild  horses. 

CajJt.  Thomas  H.  Thompson,  in  his  history  of  Tulare  county  thus 
graphically  speaks  of  these:  "The  region,  too,  as  early  as  the  summer 
of  1850,  had  been  visited  by  large  numbers  in  the  pursuit  of  wild 
horses,  these  being  in  droves  of  thousands  on  the  plains  and  about  the 
lake.  Westward  but  a  short  distance  were  the  great  ranchos  of 
the  Spanish  period  and  from  these  the  Indians  had  driven  large 
bands  of  horses  which  became  wild  on  the  plains  and  increased  in 
vast  numbers.  These  animals  in  their  wild  freedom,  their  grace  and 
beauty,  their  long  flowing  manes  and  tails,  their  speed  and  numbers, 
had  attracted  the  attention  and  won  the  admiration  of  the  immigrant 
of  1849,  as  he,  with  feeble  ox  or  wornout  mule,  passed  from  the 
southern  deserts  through  the  valley  on  his  painful  journey  to  the 
mines    farther    north.      He    was    fascinated    with    the    beautiful    and 


TULARP]  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  l!) 

roiuautie  siylit,  as  great  trooi)8  ut"  the  fat  and  glossy  animals  gal- 
lo]>ed  past.  Many  of  these  immigrants  and  many  other  adventurous 
spirits  returned  the  following  year  in  the  hoi)e  of  wealth  by  captur- 
ing the  wild  horses  of  the  Tulare  i)lains.  Large  corrals  of  brush  and 
fence  and  tule  with  branching  wings  were  constructed,  pits  were 
excavated  and  other  devices  were  essayed;  fleet  horses  with  skillful 
riders  with  lassos  were  emi)loyed,  and  all  the  efforts  possible  were 
made  to  capture  the  wild  horses.  Many  were  taken,  a  comparative 
few  were  tamed  and  subdued  to  use;  great  numbers  were  killed,  and 
so  vigorous  was  the  onslaught  that  but  a  year  or  two  elajised  when 
the  wild  horse  was  a  rarity  in  the  valley.  They  were  beautiful 
animals,  and  in  numbers  a  grand  sight  in  their  wild  state,  but  when 
captured  difficult  to  tame,  always  dangerous  to  handle,  skittish  and 
nervous,  retaining  during  life  their  wild  and  untamable  spirit.  At 
least,  such  is  the  experience  the  writer  of  this  had  with  the  wild 
horses  from  the  Tulare  in  1850." 


20  TULARE  AXD  KlXfJS  (OrXTIES 


CHAPTER   II 
INDIAN  WAR  OF   '56 

In  the  growtlt  of  the  settlement  Indians  materially  aided.  They 
were  docile,  frieudl\',  willing  to  work  and  were  employed  in  taking 
care  of  stock  and  in  farm  and  household  work.  And  yet  in  1856  the 
settlers  had  trouble  with  them  of  so  serious  a  nature  as  to  develoj) 
into  what  has  been  called  the  "Indian  War." 

For  an  account  of  this  we  are  i)rineii>ally  indebted  to  Stephen 
Barton,  writing  in  1874,  when  the  principal  actors  in  the  drama  were 
still  alive  and  he  had  every  opportunity  to  obtain  an  accurate  version 
of  the  matter.  Additional  facts  secured  through  the  researches  of 
George  W.  Stewart  in  1884,  are  linked  in  with  the  narrative  which 
we  }iresent  here. 

In  the  spring  of  this  year  there  came  a  rumor  that  a  large  l)and 
of  cattle  on  Tule  river  had  been  stolen  by  Indians  and  driven  off. 
Without  investigation  hurried  preparations  for  war  were  at  once 
begun.  Scores  of  young  bloods  were  ready  to  spring  to  the  service 
of  their  country  at  once.  Now,  the  Indians  were  generally  employed 
by  the  settlers  in  farm  work  of  all  kinds,  in  the  care  of  stock  and  as 
household  servants,  and  were  proving  themselves  honest  and  trust- 
worthy. Therefore,  a  few  of  the  settlers  conceived  the  idea  of  hear- 
ing both  sides  of  the  story  and  inquired  of  the  Indians  what  they 
knew  of  the  stealing,  and  were  soon  astmiished  to  find  that  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  no  cattle  had  been  stolen.  The  Indians  said  a  young 
man  by  the  name  of  Packwood  had  married  an  Indian  girl  and  that 
according  to  their  custom  her  tribe  had  assembled  for  a  feast.  Pack- 
wood  contributed  a  yearling  calf  taken  from  his  father's  herd. 
Thus  dwindled  to  almost  nothing  the  rumor  that  five  hundred  cattle 
had  been  stolen. 

Nathan  Dillon,  Wiley  Watson,  Mr.  Kenney  and  several  otliers, 
feeling  that  it  was  an  outrage  to  drive  the  Indians  to  the  wall  on 
so  slight  a  pretext,  undertook  to  remonstrate.  These  men  were  among 
the  most  high-minded  and  substantial  citizens  of  the  county,  but 
their  arguments  proved  Avithout  avail.  The  tribe  camped  a  mile 
below  Visalia  were  ordered  to  surrender  their  arrows  and  to  move 
their  camp  up  to  the  western  edge  of  the  town.  A  party  of 
mounted  men  went  to  the  camp  of  the  Yokos,  near  Exeter,  and  with 
yells  and  shots  dispersed  the  Indians  there,  who  fled,  terror-stricken, 
to  the  swamps.  A  band  of  ruffians  met  one  Indian  on  the  road  near 
Outside  Creek  and  killed  him  without  provocation. 

A   crowd   of  lawless   men   in   Visalia    conceived   the   idea    of   be- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS   COUNTIES  21 

siej^iiig  a  caiiiii  ol'  aliout  I'di'ty  uiianiicd  and  frii'iidly  Indians  ol'  all 
ages  and  sexes,  ahout  two  miles  east  of  town,  and  of  i)nttin,<i-  them  to 
death  l)y  ni.iilit.  D.  B.  James  and  a  few  others,  liearin.y-  of  this 
diabolical  scheme,  hronght  the  Indians  into  town  where  tliey  conld 
receive  ihe  i)rotection  of  those  averse  to  the  shedding  of  innocent 
blood. 

Meantime,  the  tocsin  of  war  continned  to  sonud.  Settlers  and 
miners  from  distant  parts  gathered  and  a  military  organization  was 
effected  nnder  the  command  of  Captain  Demasters.  These  prepara- 
tions frightened  the  Indians  and  they  fled  to  join  their  companions 
on  Tnle  river.  The  coimnand  of  Demasters,  nnmberiug  tifty  or  sixty 
men,  started  in  jtnrsnit  and  the  same  day  a  party  of  nine  mounted 
men  followed  the  trail  of  a  hand  of  sixty  Tejon  Indians,  who  were 
traveling  southward  in  the  direction  of  the  White  river.  Cai)tain 
Demasters'  comi^any,  after  reaching  Tnle  river,  continued  uj)  the 
north  fork  several  miles,  where  columns  of  smoke  pointed  out  to 
them  the  location  of  the  camp.  They  found  the  Indians  occupying 
a  strong  iDositiou,  which,  to  their  surprise,  was  well  fortified.  The 
location  was  admirably  chosen,  and  the  defences  would  have  done 
credit  to  an  experienced  military  engineer.  A  line  of  breastworks 
from  two  to  four  feet  high,  composed  of  boulders  and  brush,  extended 
a  distance  of  eiglity  rods  along  the  face  of  a  hill  at  the  head  of  a 
little  cove,  or  jdain.  Immediately  in  the  front  of  the  position  the 
ground  was  rough  and  l)roken,  but  to  reach  it  it  was  necessary  to 
traverse  the  open  i)lain  mentioned,  exposed  to  a  fire  from  behind 
the  fortification.  At  either  end,  and  in  the  rear  of  the  defences, 
was  a  dense  thicket  of  clmparral  extremely  difficult  to  i>enetrate. 
The  position  was  defended  by  a  force  numbering  in  the  neighborhood 
of  seven  hundred  warriors. 

Demasters,  confident  of  the  superiority  of  his  men,  small  as 
their  numbers  were,  ordered  an  attack.  To  protect  themselves 
against  the  arrows  of  the  Indians  while  attempting  a  breach  of  this 
enclosure,  a  portion  of  the  troops  had  uniformed  themselves  in  a 
sort  of  jjetticoat  made  of  duck,  jiadded  inside  with  cotton.  The 
petticoat  brigade  inarched  boldly  to  the  fray,  but  their  shields  ]iroved 
more  vulnerable  than  anticijiated  and  the  whites  made  a  precipitate 
retreat   to  a  ])oint  about  a  mile  distant  to  await  re-enforcements. 

The  party  of  nine  men  previously  spoken  of,  on  the  trail  of 
the  Tejon  Indians,  ke])t  in  their  saddles  all  day  and  night,  and 
about  daylight  on  the  following  morning,  near  where  the  village  of 
Ducor  is  now  situated,  came  upon  the  Indian  camp.  The  dogs  began 
barking  and  one  of  the  Indians,  painted  and  decked  with  feathers, 
stepped  forward  to  a  little  knoll  that  commanded  a  view  in  all  direc- 
tions, to  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  disturliance.  John  \V.  Williams, 
afterwards   cily   marshal   of   \'isalia    for   several    veai's,   directed    the 


22  TULARE  AND  KIXGR  COUNTIES 

man  nearest  liini,  who  had  a  liHe,  ti)  slioot.  The  Indian  dropped 
dead,  and  the  Americans  charged,  firing-  ra])idly  at  the  Indians,  who 
scattered  preci]>itately,  leaving  five  dead.  Williams  and  party  tlien 
rode  l)ack  to  Tide  river  to  join  the  force  under  Demasters.  It  was 
the  supposition  at  the  time  that  this  i)arty  of  Tejon  Indians  had 
l)een  im])Iicated  in  cattle  stealing  in  Frazier  valley,  and  had  gone  on 
a  marauding  expedition  to  White  river  to  massacre  the  few  whites 
living  along  the  stream;  liut  nothing  was  heard  of  them  afterwards, 
and  as  they  had  a  few  women  with  them,  they  were  probably  only 
returning  home  to  their  own  tribe. 

When  the  party  of  whites  rejoined  tlie  command  under  Demas- 
ters, it  was  decided  to  dispatch  Williams  to  Keyesville  for  assist- 
ance. Williams  set  out  inunediately,  going  by  way  of  Lynn's  valley, 
Poso  Ulat  and  (xreenhorn  mountain.  At  Lynn's  valley  he  changed 
horses  and  William  Lynn,  after  whom  the  valley  was  named,  agreed 
to  accompany  him  i)art  of  the  way.  During  their  ride,  after  dark, 
through  a  heavily  timbered  region,  where  bears  were  i)lentiful,  an 
incident  occurred  that  is  worthy  of  note.  After  riding  a  short  dis- 
tance into  the  forest  they  heard  a  noise  behind,  and  turning,  saw  a 
large,  black  animal  following  them.  Williams  was  mounted  on  a 
fractious  mustang  which  became  frightened  and  darted  up  the  steep 
mountain  side,  but  floundered  back  into  the  trail.  Soon  they  reached 
a  small  opening  and  here  they  determined  to  try  the  eflfect  of  a 
shot  at  the  briite,  which  followed  them  persistently.  L^^Tin  dis- 
charged a  load  of  buckshot  and  the  l)ear  fell  at  the  first  fire,  greatly 
to   their   relief. 

Sixty  miners  from  Iveyesville  armed  themselves  and  accom- 
panied Williams  back.  On  the  return  the  '"bear"  killed  by  Lynn 
was  found  to  i)e  a  large  black  mule  owned  by  a  settler.  It  took 
$90  to  square  with  the  mule's  owner,  but  that  was  the  least  of  it. 
For  a  long  time  afterwards  the  mere  mention  of  "bear  oil"  was 
sufficient  to  cause  either  Williams  or  Lyini  to  stand  treat  and  before 
the  joke  wore  out  it  had  cost  them  in  the  neighborhood  of  $500. 

When  the  Keyesville  party  arrived  the  entire  force,  numbering 
one  hundred  and  forty,  was  placed  under  the  command  of  W.  (!. 
Poindexter,  sherifT  of  the  county,  and  a  second  assault  made.  During 
this  attack  two  young  Americans,  Danielson  and  St.  John,  were 
severely  wounded  and  one  other,  Thomas  Falbert,  was  shot  in 
the  th.igli.  These  were  the  only  whites  injured.  The  attack  ])roved 
futile  and  Poindexter  ordered  his  command  to  fall  back.  A  ]iortion 
returned  to  A'isalia,  the  remainder  remaining  encamped  nearby 
awaiting  re-enforcements.  Of  the  force  which  returned  to  Visalia 
Ste]ihen  Darton  says:  "Now  connnenced  one  of  the  most  disgrace- 
ful scenes  connected  with  the  history  of  this  valley.  Having  inglor- 
iously  fled   from   the   Held  of  battle,   this   force  now   sought  a   cheap 


TULARP:  and  kings   counties  23 

l)laii  of  rt'ti'ieviii.n'  a  rejuitation  for  lieroisiii  hy  tiu-niii,!j,'  on  those 
citizens  who  liad  counseled  moderation  and  fair  dealins"'.  The  Msalia 
Indians  liad  heen  conipelled  to  surrender  their  arms  and  cam])  at 
the  edge  of  town.  The  same  autliority  which  required  this  now 
required  that  tliose  wlio  o])j)osed  the  war  should,  at  tlie  peril  of 
their  own  lives,  as  well  as  of  the  lives  of  the  Indians  involved, 
convey  the  Indians  out  of  the  settlement.  Dillon,  Watson,  Keeney, 
Judge  Baker,  the  Matthews  and  several  others  were  the  men  who 
now  found  their  lives  imperiled  hy  the  fury  of  a  lawless  mol),  for 
no  other  reason  than  that  of  having  used  words  of  moderation  during 
a  moment  of  i)0])ular  frenzy.  *  *  *  Dillon  gave  $10  and  a 
thousand  j^ounds  of  flour,  the  Matthews  gave  fiour,  and  the  other 
l)arties  named  gave  in  iJrojiortion  and  Jim  Bell  was  hired  to  take 
a   heavy  ox  team  and   haul   the   i)oor   outcasts   to   Kings   river." 

The  "soldiers"  left  in  camj)  occupied  themselves  in  searching 
out  and  destroying  the  caches  of  jn-ovisions  which  the  Indians  had 
made  at  ditTerent  ]ioints  along  the  foothills.  These  were  found 
without  difficulty,  as  they  were  usually  placed  in  the  forks  of  oak 
trees  and  covered  with  thatch. 

In  a  few  days  a  company  from  Millerton,  under  connnand  of 
Ira  Stroud,  and  one  from  Coarse  (rold  Gulch  under  connnand  of 
John  L.  Hunt,  arrived.  From  Fort  Miller  was  sent  a  detachment 
of  twenty-live  soldiers  under  Captain  Livingston,  bringing  with 
them  a  small  howitzer;  and  from  Fort  Tejon  half  as  many  mounted 
cavalry  under  the  command  of  Alonzo  Ridley,  an  Indian  sub-agent. 
Captain  Livingston  assumed  the  chief  command  of  the  force  which 
now  numbered  about  four  hundred  and  comprised  nearly  all  the 
able-bodied  men  of  the  valley.  After  all  had  reached  camp  a  con- 
sultation was  held  and  it  was  agreed  to  divide  the  command  into 
four  divisions  and  attack  the  Indians  at  daybreak  the  following 
morning,  from  the  front,  rear  and  both  flanks.  Parties  were  sent 
out  to  view  the  country  so  that  the  several  divisions  might  be 
guided  to  their  respective  positions  without  confusion,  and  Ca))tain 
Livingston  with  his  soldiers  and  about  sixty  volunteei-s  ascended 
an  eminence  connuanding  the  Indian  fortification  in  order  to  select 
the  most  advantageous   position    for   mounting  their   howitzer. 

The  Indians  unexpectedly  made  a  vigorous  attack  on  this 
party,  precipitating  the  engagement.  Livingston  ordered  a  charge 
and  with  his  officers,  led  the  men  in.  They  forced  their  way  througli 
the  brush,  at  the  same  time  firing  upon  the  Indians,  who  liecame 
demoralized  and  fled  from  their  strong  position  into  the  mountains 
where  they  had  loft  their  women  and  children.  The  Americans  con- 
tinued the  jjursuit  for  several  days  but,  failing  to  discover  another 
caju])  or  any  large  body  of  Indians,  retired  to  the  valley.  Several 
dead    bi'aves  were   found    inside    the    fortilical  ion    and    (here   was   evi- 


24  TULARE  AXl)  KINGS  COUNTIES 


deuce  of  many  liaviui;'  lieeii  liunie  oif  through  the  )n•u^sh.  This  was 
the  last  real  engagement  and  the  loss  to  the  Indians  in  killed  and 
wounded  from  the  first  hreakiiig  out  of  hostilities  was  estimated 
at  about  one  hnudi-ed. 

Although  the  whites  i^osted  detachments  to  prevent  the  Indians 
from  returning  to  the  valley,  several  ]5arties  of  mounted  Indians 
succeeded  in  reaching  the  plains  at  night  and  killed  or  drove  off 
quite  a  number  of  cattle.  They  also  burned  a  few  houses  in  the 
foothills,  and  all  l)ut  one  along  the  Tule  river  and  Deer  creek, 
thirteen  in  number,  the  owners  having  deserted  them  for  the  time 
being.  These  raids  continued  for  several  weeks,  until  William  Camp- 
bell, the  sub-agent  at  Kings  river,  sought  the  Indians  out  in  tiie 
mountains  and  found  them  willing  to  come  to  terms.  The  war  liad 
lasted  six  weeks,  when  the  Indians  returned  to  the  valley  and  they 
have  remained  friendly  from  that  time  to  the  i)resent  day,  althougli 
a  little  more  than  a  decade  later,  a  few  murders  committed  on 
Tule  river  caused  the  government  to  send  troops  from  San  Francisco 
and  force  the  Indians  of  that  section  onto  a  reservation  set  apart 
for  them. 

George  Stewart  says:  "Thus  ended  the  Tule  river  war  of 
1856;  a  war  that  might  have  been  ju-eveuted  had  there  been  an 
honest  desire  on  the  part  of  the  white  settlers  to  do  so,  and  one 
that  brought  little  glory  to  those  who  participated  therein.  The 
responsibility  cannot  now  be  fixed  where  it  properly  belongs.  Pos- 
sibly the  Indians  were  to  blame.  Certainly  the  whites  were  not  blame- 
less, and  it  is  too  seldom,  indeed,  that  they  have  been  in  the  many 
struggles  with  the   aboriginal   inhalutants   of   this   continent." 

The  period  between  1854  and  the  beginning  of  the  Ci\-il  war 
was  chiefly  remarkable  for  the  discovery  of  gold  and  the  mining 
excitement  and  boom  following,  and  for  the  Indian  war  of  1856. 

D.  B.  and  Brigham  James  made  the  tirst  discovery  of  the 
precious  metal  in  1853  at  Kern  river.  A  stampede  followed  in  which 
several  thousand  miners  ]iartici})ated.  Nearly  all  returned  disap- 
pointed. However,  other  discoveries  at  White  river,  Keyesville, 
Owens  river,  in  the  Slate  range  and  in  the  Coso  district  caused  other 
mining  booms  so  that  for  some  seven  or  eight  years  there  was  a 
large  population  of  miners,  and  the  supplying  of  their  wants  liecame 
an  important  feature  of  business. 

Two  trails  were  cut  across  the  Sierra  Nevada  mountains  over 
which  pack  trains  carrying  supjjlies  were  sent.  A  wagon  road  was 
also  constructed  from  Visalia  through  Keyesville  to  Lone  Pine  and 
Fort  Independence. 

As  early  as  1858  there  were  three  quartz  mills  in  operation  in 
the  Kern  river  district.  These,  by  the  way,  had  a  greater  value 
according  to  the  assessor's  figures  than  all  the  taxable  real  estate 


TULARE  AND  KINGS   COUNTIES  25 

in  the  oounty.  A  few  years  later  several  other  .stanip  uiills  were 
constructed  to  mill  the  ore  of  the  Coso  and  Owens  river  districts 
and  the  freighting  of  supplies  became  a  Imsiness  of  great  magnitude. 

Unfortunately,  while  rich  strikes  were  found  in  all  these  localities, 
it  appeared  that  the  gold  generally  was  found  either  in  pockets  or  in 
leads  that  "])inch('(l  out,"  and  no  ])ermanent  wealth  ])roducing  camps 
resulted. 

INDIAN     TKOITBLES     IN     OWENS     EIVEK     DISTHICT 

The  war  of  ISoG,  with  its  final  engagement  at  Battle  mountain, 
settled  completely  all  trouble  with  Indians  in  Tulare  county  i)roi)er, 
or  that  portion  lying  on  this  side  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  mountains. 
For  many  years,  however,  sporadic  trouble  in  the  Owens  river 
valley  caused  much  uneasiness  to  our  people.  At  times  these  as- 
sumed such  magnitude  that  several  troops  of  regular  cavalry  were 
employed  to  subject  the  lighting  red  men. 

Nearly  every  Visalian  of  prominence  was  at  this  time  interested 
in  either  the  Coso  or  Owens  river  mines.  Valuable  cargo  trains 
were  at  all  times  on  the  road  and  the  menace  to  these  as  well  as  to 
the  lives  of'  smaller  prospecting  parties  at  times  assumed  serious 
proportions.  These  troubles  culminated  in  1862  and  1863.  It  is 
impossible  to  obtain  sufficient  data  to  give  a  connected  account  of 
the  different  uprisings,  but  the  dangerous  character  of  the  warfare 
and  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  providing  protection  to  settlei's 
and  miners  may  be  judged  by  the  following: 

In  the  spring  of  1862,  ^'isalians  sent  a  jiarty  with  stores  of 
arms  and  ammunition  to  render  assistance  and  gather  information. 
Warren  Wassen  reported  in  part  as  follows:  "Being  unable  on 
ray  arrival  at  Amora  to  obtain  provisions  or  transportation  for  the 
company  organized  there  to  receive  the  arms  sent  in  my  charge,  I 
was  compelled  to  leave  them  and  proceed,  accompanied  by  Lieu- 
tenant Nol)le  and  his  command  of  fifty  mounted  men.  AVe  arrived 
at  the  upjier  crossing  of  Owens  river  on  the  evening  of  A]u-il  6. 
On  the  next  morning  we  met  with  Colonel  G.  P^vans  witli  Tiientenants 
French  and  Oliver;  Captain  Wynne  of  his  connnaud  having  ))een 
left  with  seven  men  to  garrison  the  stone  fort  forty  miles  below.  These 
were  under  Colonel  Mayfield  of  Visalia. 

"It  appeared  that  during  the  past  winter  the  Indians  had  been 
in  the  lial)it  of  killing  cattle,  which  had  led  to  the  killing  of  some 
Indians,  after  wliich  the  Indians  a\aih'd  themselves  of  every  ojiitoi'- 
tunity  to  kill  wliite,s. 

"The  whites  finally  collected  their  cattle  at  a  jioiiit  about  tliii-fy 
miles  above  the  lake,  fortified  themselves  and  sent  messengers  to 
Visalia  and  Carson  for  relief.  They  were  reinforced  by  a  jiarty  of 
eighteen  men  who  left  Amora  on  March  28.  About  noon  on  the  (itli 
there   was    a    verv    lnisk    engagement    in    which    C.    J.    Pleasants    of 


■26  TULAKE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Amora.  Mr.  Morrison  of  Msalia  and  Slieriff  Scott  of  Mono  county 
were  killed.  The  whites  took  refuge  in  an  irrigating  ditch,  whenoe 
they  fired,  inflicting  some  damage.  At  night,  after  the  moon  went 
down,  tlie  Indians  ceased  firing  and  the  whites  retreated,  leaving 
behind  seventeen  or  eighteen  of  their  horses  and  considerable  am- 
munition   and    provisions. 

"Colonel  Evans  the  next  day  met  this  i)arty  and  persuaded 
about  forty-five  of  them  to  return  to  the  pursuit.  The  remainder 
retreated  to  the  fort.  Our  i)arty  joined  that  of  Colonel  Evans  and 
we  camped  that  night  on  the  battleground  of  the  previous  day.  The 
next  day,  about  noon,  the  Indians  were  re])orted  located  in  a  canyon. 
The  command  was  divided  into  three  columns,  one  under  Colonel 
Evans,  one  under  Lieutenant  Noble  and  the  other  under  Colonel 
Mayfield.  "We  proceeded  up  the  mountain,  facing  a  terrific  snow- 
storm which  prevented  our  seeing  three  yards  ahead  of  ns.  Failing 
to  find  Indians,  we  returned  to  camj).  After  dark  the  Indians  were 
located  by  their  campfires  as  being  in  a  canyon  about  a  mile  north 
of  the  one  we  had  ascended,  and  in  the  morning  a  reconnoitering 
party,  under  Sergeant  Gillispie,  was  sent  out.  After  advancing 
some  three  hundred  yards  they  were  fired  upon.  Gillisi)ie  was 
instantly    killed    and    Corporal    Harris    severely    wounded. 

"Lieutenant  Noble  was  sent  to  take  possession  of  the  moun- 
tain to  the  left  of  the  canyon.  This  ))osition  he  gained  with  difficulty, 
facing  a  destructive  fire  and,  unable  to  maintain  it  without  severe 
loss,  was  forced  to  retreat.  Colonel  Mayfield,  who  accom])anied 
him,  was  killed. 

"The  whole  party  under  Colonel  Evans  were  forced  to  retreat 
down  the  valley,  the  Indians  following.  .  Colonel  Evans,  being  with- 
out i)rovisions,  was  comjielled  to  return  to  his  former  post  near 
Los  Angeles.  Lieutenant  Noble  accompanied  him  as  far  as  the 
fort  for  the  purpose  of  escorting  the  citizens  in  this  direction  out 
of  the  valley  with  their  stock,  which  numbered  about  four  thousand 
head  of  cattle  and  twenty-five  hundred  head  of  sheep. 

"There  wei'e  not  over  twenty-five  Indians  engaged  in  this  fight 
Imt  they  wei'e  well  armed  and  from  the  nature  of  their  iiosition 
could  have  held  it  against  any  odds." 

In  the  following  year  numerous  other  tiutbreaks  occurred,  ^'^isalia. 
again  despatched  a  wagon-load  of  arms  to  i)rotect  the  Coso  mines. 
In  the  skirmishes  of  this  season,  the  whites  were  generally  suc- 
cessful. 

In  one  battle  the  Indians  jiosted  themselves  in  a  ravine  near 
the  lake,  whence  they  were  dislodged  and  utterly  defeated  after  an 
engagement  lasting  over  four  hours.  Only  a  small  number  made 
their  esca]ie.  Of  these,  "Joacpiin  Jim,"  a  noted  chief,  succeeded 
in  reaching  a  rancheria  near  Msalia  where  he  was  killed  while  trv- 


TULARE,  AND  KINGS   (^OUNTIES  27 

ing'  to  escape  capture  l)y  a  detacliineiit  of  soldiers  sent  to  l)riny 
bim   in. 

In  July,  1863,  tlie  Owens  river  Indians  were  as  a  body  tbor- 
ougbly  sul)dued.  Practically  the  entire  tribe,  to  the  number  of  nine 
Imudred,  were  marched  to  the  Tejon  Indian  reservation.  They 
were  escorted  by  one  hundred  cavalry  men  under  connnand  of  C'a])- 
tains    McLaughlin,    Noble    and    Ropes. 

Minor  outl)reaks  and  outrages  continued  to  occur  for  a  few 
years   following,   since  which   time  a   lasting  peace  has   ensued. 

HOSPITAL     ROCK 

About  ten  miles  above  Tliree  Rivers,  on  the  middle  fork  of 
the  Kaweah  river  near  the  present  extensive  construction  works  of 
the  Mt.  Whitney  Power  company,  stands  an  enormous  rock,  under- 
cut in  sucji  a  way  as  to  form  a  considerable  shelter. 

It  is  covered  with  the  painted  sign  writing  of  a  prehistoric  race 
and  until  recent  years  was  the  abiding  i)Iace  for  a  settlement  of 
Indians.  The  name  "H()si)ital"  rock  arose  through  an  accident 
that  befell  A.  Everton  in  1873  or  1874.  Mr.  Everton,  in  company 
with  George  Cahoon,  was  hunting  and  trai)]>ing  in  the  vicinity  and 
had  out  several  set  guns  for  bear.  One  morning  the  finding  of 
fresh  blood  on  the  trail  indicated  a  wounded  bear  and  Everton 
started  to  return  to  camp  to  get  dogs.  On  the  way  he  accidentally 
s]inmg  one  of  the  set  guns,  receiving  the  load  in  his  leg,  a  nasty 
woimd  from  which  he  could  scarcely  have  recovered  bad  it  not  been 
for  tb.e  Indians.  These  carried  him  to  camp  and  the  scpiaws  nursed 
him  back  to  health,  applying  such  embrocations  of  herbs  as  were 
suited  to  the  case.  As  Hospital  Rock  it  has  therefore  since  been 
known. 


28  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

CPIAPTER    ITT 
THE  EFFECT  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAK  ON  TI'LAHE  COI'NTY 

"When  the  Civil  war  broke  out  Tulare  county  was  peopled  lar.nely 
by  southerners.  In  addition  to  the  permanent  settlers  there  were 
(piite  a  number  of  stockmen  from  Texas  and  Arkansas  who  had 
driven  their  cattle  here  for  the  piirpose  of  fattening  them  and  of 
hiter  drivino-  them  on  to  the  Marii)osa  mines  to  sell. 

Sympathy  for  tlie  South  was  very  strong  and  yet  the  peo]>le 
here  did  not  feel  called  upon  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  rebel- 
lion. They  were  now  citizens  of  the  sovereign  state  of  California, 
which  had  no  cause  for  revolt.  Their  homes  and  property  were 
here  secure;  personally  they  had  no  (|uarrel  with  the  government. 
The  counsel  of  the  cooler  heads  was  to  be  moderate  in  speech  and 
quiet  in  demeanor,  confining  their  activities  to  the  passing  of  resolu- 
tions condemning  the  action  of  the  Republican  party,  and  objecting 
to  the  coercion  of  the  South.  This  course  of  action  naturally  did 
not  appeal  to  the  younger  hot-blooded  element.  They  wanted  action 
and  the  young  bloods  went  around  with  chips  on  their  shoulders 
and  hurralied  for  Jeff  Davis.  There  were  not  lacking  among  the 
supporters  of  the  Union  cause  those  also  whose  blood  ran  wai'm 
and  who  were  quick  to  take  offense  and  eager  to  resent  insults. 

If  auythiug  more  was  needed  to  cause  trouble  to  start  it  was 
whiskey,  and  there  was  whiskey  galore.  At  every  corner  was  a 
saloon — some  Union,  some  Rebel.  Courage  and  recklessness  were 
purchased  freely  and   street   brawls   l^ecame  common. 

Following  a  request  of  the  Union  men  for  protection,  a  com- 
pany of  troops  was  sent  into  Visalia  to  maintain  order.  The  ar- 
rival of  these  by  no  means  ])ut  a  stop  to  brawls,  altercations  and 
street  disturbances.  Many  bullies  were  among  the  number  and  these, 
knowing  tlie  irresistible  i)ower  that  lay  behind  their  organization, 
became  very  insulting  and  overbearing  in  their  conduct,  esjiecially 
when  under  the  influence  of  li(|uor. 

A  ]iarticularly  disgraceful  e])isode  occurred  on  the  4th  of 
July.  A  crowd  of  drunken  soldiers  filled  one  of  their  wooden 
canteens  with  whiskey,  draped  around  it  the  American  flag,  and 
marched  up  and  down  the  street  demanding  of  each  person  they 
met  that  he  drink  with  them  to  Abraham  Ijincoln  and  the  Union. 
Those  refusing,  among  whom  were  Wiley  Watson,  Doctor  Riley 
and  John  Williams,  prominent  citizens,  were  arrested  and  taken  to 
Camp  Babliitt. 


TULARP]  AND  KINGS   COUNTIES  29 

UNION      MEETING     HELD 

On  ]May  25,  18()1,  in  response  to  a  call  which  was  signed  by 
more  than  one  hnndreil  names,  the  Union  men  of  Visalia  and  vicin- 
ity met  in  mass  meeting  at  the  court Iiouse  and  exjiressed  their 
adherence  to  the  cause.  The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  S.  R. 
Dummer,  who  nominated  AV.  N.  Steuben  for  president.  This  motion 
was  carried  and  ^\r.  Steulien  took  the  chair.  Messrs.  D.  R.  Doug- 
lass. Joseph  H.  Thomas,  D.  G.  Overall  and  Peter  Dean  were  chosen 
vice-presidents  and  James  11.  Lawrence  and  H.  G.  McLean  secre- 
taries. 

Previous  to  the  reguhir  i)roceediugs  of  the  meeting  Miss  Louisa 
Kellenberg,  lieautifully  attired  as  the  Goddess  of  Liberty,  came 
forward  and  presented  on  behalf  of  the  ladies  of  Visalia  a  beautiful 
national  flag  made  of  silk.  The  banner  was  received  by  A.  J. 
Atwel],  who   returned  thanks   in  an  eloquent   speech. 

S.  R.  Duunner,  J.  M.  Hayes,  E.  E.  Hewitt,  F.  Bacon  and  B.  B. 
Lawless  were  apjjointed  a  committee  on  resolutions  and  after  a 
short  speech  by  S.  C.  Brown,  they  presented  a  set  which  were 
adopted.    Among  the  resolutions  were  these  -. 

"That  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  is  not  a  league  or 
confederacy  of  states  in  their  sovereign  capacity,  but  a  government 
of  the  i)eople  of  our  whole  country  founded  on  their  adoption,  and 
creating  direct  relations   between  itself  and  the  peojile. 

"That  no  state  authority  has  ])ower  to  dissolve  these  relations. 

"That  we  are  opposed  in  the  i)resent  condition  of  affairs  to 
the  formation  of  a  Pacific  rejniblic,  and  will  discourage  any  attempt 
to  induce  California  to  violate  her  allegiance  to  the  Union." 

.SOUTHERN      SYMPATHIZERS      MEET 

In  the  following  month,  June,  a  nuiss  meeting  of  those  espous- 
ing the  cause  of  the  Confederacy,  or  at  any  rate  believing  in  the 
doctrine  of  states'   rights,  was  held. 

Tins  meeting  was  held  in  a  gi'ove  near  the  courthouse,  where 
seats  and  a  rostrum  had  been  provided,  and  was  very  largely 
attended.  W.  D.  McDaniel  had  been  chosen  marshal  of  the  day 
and  the  audience  formed  in  jirocession  in  front  of  Warner's  hotel 
and  marched  to  the  scene  to  the  tune  of  Yankee  Doodle. 

Thomas  R.  Davidson  was  elected  president  ami  Messrs.  Wiley 
Watson,  William  Coddington,  Cai)t.  E.  Hunter,  Robert  Conghran, 
R.  K.  Nichols  and  R.  P..  Lawless  vice-jnesidents.  R.  P.  Gill  and 
R.  C.  Redd  were  chosen  as  secretaries.  The  committee  on  resolu- 
tions, consisting  of  Joseph  II.  Clark,  E.  E.  Calluran,  W.  A.  Russell, 
William  B.  Poer,  Burd  Lawless,  L.  T.  Sheppard,  James  L.  Wells 
and  Wiley  Coughran,  ])resented  the  following,  which  were  adopted. 

"Resolved,  That  as  American  citizens  imbued  with  a  spirit  of 
fidelity  to  the  constitution  and  the  laws  and  seeking  only   tlic  hajv 


;^0  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

piuess,  ijrosperity  aud  preseivatiou  of  our  common  t-ountry,  vre 
deem  it  our  duty  in  view  of  the  declared  hostility  to  the  South  aud 
her  institutions  by  the  Republican  administration  to  oppose  the 
same  by  all  constitutional  means;  that  we  regard  President  Lincoln 
as  the  exponent  of  a  sectional  party  whose  avowed  policy  towards 
one  section  of  our  country,  pursued  through  a  series  of  many  years, 
has  been  the  fruitful  source  of  all  our  national  evils;  that  the  war 
now  being  waged  by  the  Republican  administration  is  unjust,  inhu- 
man and  unconstitutional,  having  for  its  object  the  subjugation 
of  states,  the  obliteration  of  state  lines,  the  ])olitical  degradation 
of  their  people  and  the  deprivation  of  their  jtroijerty,  and  shouhi 
meet  and  merit  the  just  condemnation  of  all  true  friends  of  con- 
stitutional liberty;  that  we  believe  that  the  best  interests  of  the 
country  demand,  and  her  iiolitical  existence  as  a  nation  depends 
upon  the  speedy  inauguration  of  a  peace  i>olicy  characterized  l)v  a 
spirit  of  concession  and  an  honorable  compromise  as  the  onlv  proper 
basis  for  the  satisfactory  adjustment  of  the  differences  between  the 
northern  and  southern  states." 

On  May  2:^.  18(U,  a  meeting  was  held  at  Music  Hall  in  Visalia 
for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  military  company.  G.  A.  Botsford 
presided.  It  was  decided  to  call  it  the  Msalia  Mounted  Rifles,  and 
the  following  officers  were  elected:  Oaptain,  G.  W.  Warner;  first 
lieutenant,  J.  H.  Kennedy;  second  lieutenant,  G.  ^Y.  Roberts;  third 
lieutenant,  Robert  Baker;  sergeants,  William  C.  Hill,  William  Ely, 
E.  Peppard,  G.  Francis  and  T.  J.  Preston;  corporals,  H.  Cha]mian, 
H.  E.  McBride,  William  Baker,  Orrin  Barr;  ]iermanent  secretary. 
Horace  Thomas. 

It  will  be  noted  that  there  was  no  lack  of  officers. 

In  I860  a  volunteer  cavalry  company  called  the  Tulare  Home 
Guards,  was  organized  at  Outside  Oreek  with  sixty-one  members. 
The  following  officers  were  chosen:  Captain,  W.  S.  Powell;  first 
lieutenant,  George  W.  Duncan;  senior  second  lieutenant,  J.  T.  Col- 
lins;  junior    second    lieutenant.    William    C.    Deputy. 

Company  D,  Second  Cavalry,  under  command  of  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Evans,  arrived  in  September,  1862,  crossing  the  mountains 
from  Indei)endence  by  trail.  A  wngon-load  of  melons  was  donated 
them.  In  ( )ctol)er  they  took  ui)  headquarters  at  Camp  Babbitt,  a 
mile  north  of  "N'isalia,  now  known  as  the  "Cain"  tract. 

Com))any  I,  Second  Cavalry,  arrived  from  Placerville  in  Octo- 
l)er,  and  Comi)auy  E,  Second  Cavalry,  called  the  Tuolumne  Rangers 
and  supposed  to  be  the  ones  who  destroyed  the  office  of  the  Etjual 
Rights  Expositor,  completed  the  brigade  of  regular  troops.  It 
would  appear  that  three  com])anies  of  federals  and  two  of  juilitia 
should  have  been  am))le  to  preserve  the  peace,  but  it  seemed  that 
they  rather  served  to  provoke  distu!bances  and  many  ipiarrels  icsult- 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  31 

in.U'  fatally   were   laid   directly   to   their   iireseuce. 

Ill  accordance  with  the  appeal  of  the  sanitary  commission  for 
funds  to  aid  the  sick  and  wounded,  W.  N.  Steuben  took  the  matter 
in  charge  at  ^''isalia,  J.  M.  Harer  at  Tule  River,  J.  M.  Keyes  at 
White  Ri\er  and  J.  F.  Ewing  at  Kern  River.  About  $300  was 
raised. 

On  October  27,  18(52,  Senator  Baker,  Tulare  county's  most 
prominent  citizen,  was  arrested,  charged  with  discouraging  enlist- 
ments ill  the  United  States  army  and  of  uttering  treasonable  senti- 
ments, and  Ix'iiig  denied  a  ])arole,  was  placed  in  the  guardhouse. 

THE      KILLING     OF     VOGLE 

On  November  2i>,  1S()2,  Eugene  Vogle,  a  soldier  of  Company 
I,  Second  Cavalry,  California  ^^olunteers,  was  shot  and  killed  by 
Frank  Slawick,  l)artender  at  the  Fashion  saloon.  This  ]ilace,  kept 
by  "Ki"  O'Neal,  was  known  as  a  "rebel"  saloon  and  threats  had 
been  made  by  soldiers  to  do  up  its  proprietor.  About  midnight,  a 
crowd  of  drunken  soldiers  entered  and  ordered  drinks  for  which 
they  declined  to  pay.  They  then  ordered  cigars,  which  Slawick 
refused  them,  saying  "I  have  no  cigars  for  your  kind."  A  row 
started  and  Slawick  reached  under  the  bar  for  his  gun,  which  was 
accidentally  discharged.  A  fusilade  followed  in  which  Vogle  was 
killed.  Slawick  was  shot  in  the  arm  and  two  soldiers  were  slightly 
wounded.  O'Neal  was  struck  in  the  forehead  by  a  glancing  shot 
and  knocked  senseless. 

Slawick  made  his  escajie  and  was  taken  by  "Uncle"  Billy 
Cozzens  to  his  place  near  Lime  Kiln  (now  Lemon  Cove)  to  be  cared 
for.  A  meeting  of  citizens  and  officers  was  held  in  conseqiience 
of  the  affray  to  devise  means  of  keeping  the  peace.  Col.  George 
S.  Evans,  in  command  of  Camp  Babbitt,  said  if  the  soldiers  were 
the  aggressors  he  would  punish  them,  or  give  them  over  to  the 
civil  authorities,  but  he  would  punish  none  for  resenting  insults  to 
them  or  the  flag.    He  would  expect  them  to  protect  themselves. 

KILLING    OF    STROBLE 

On  August  fi,  1863,  Charles  Strolile,  sergeant  of  Com])aiiy  I, 
Second  Cavalry,  California  A'olunteers,  was  shot  and  killed  by 
James  L.   Wells. 

It  ap})ears  that  the  trouble  started  near  the  corner  of  Main 
and  Church  streets.  Tilden  Reid,  who  afterwards  became  sheriff, 
had  been  drinking  some  and  yelled  "Hurrah  for  Downey"  (the 
Democratic  candidate  for  Governor).  Jim  Donahue,  a  soldier,  told 
him  that  he  would  shoot  him  if  he  said  that  again.  This  trouble 
caused  (juite  an  embrogiio  in  which  Wells  joined.  Reid  was  ar- 
rested and  taken  to  the  guardhouse  at  Camp  Babbitt,  and  Wells 
started   home. 


32  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COFXTIKS 

He  had  beeu  preceded  by  Doualme  and  Strohle,  wiio.  for  tlie 
IJiirpose  of  picking  a  row,  awaited  him  at  the  entrance  to  Knoble 
(S:  Krafts  restaurant  (near  Rouse  &  Sons'  i)resent  place  of  busi- 
ness). Donahue  here  kicked  a  chair  at  "Wells,  which  struck  him  in 
the  leg,  saying  "I  meant  tliat  for  you."  Wells  declined  to  take  up 
the  ])roffered  insult  and  walked  on,  Donahue  and  Stroble  following, 
making  insulting  re)narks.  Wells  stepped  inside  the  doorway  of  a 
tin  shop  at  the  corner  of  Main  and  Court  streets,  and,  sheltering  him- 
self behind  a  pillar,  secured  his  revolver.  Donahue  saw  this  action 
and  yelled,  "Look  out!  he's  got  a  gun!"  Wells  lired,  killing  Stroble 
and  took  repeated  shots  at  Donahue,  who  escaped  into  the  Union 
saloon  across  the  street.  A  stray  shot  is  said  to  have  cut  G.  A. 
Botsford's   necktie. 

Wells  ran  through  the  alley  to  the  Overland  stables  (across 
the  street  from  their  present  location)  and  secured  a  saddle  horse 
which  he  rode  to  the  edge  of  the  swamp  belt  near  the  site  of  the 
sugar  factory.  AVhile  this  was  going  on.  Bob  Houston  and  Gordon 
Douglass,  friends  of  AVells,  drew  their  six-shooters  and  were  taken 
in  charge  liy  soldiers.  Wells  had  narrow  escapes  from  capture.  At 
one  time,  when  he  was  hiding  under  a  log,  several  of  tlie  pursuing 
soldiers  came  up  and  sat  on  it.  He  wandered  as  far  east  as  the 
Cottage  postoffice,  where  his  friend,  Jesse  Reynolds,  secreted  him 
and  supplied  him  with  provisions.  He  later  disguised  himself,  got 
to  San  Francisco  and  from  there  went  to  Mexico.  His  relatives 
took  up  the  matter  and  secured  a  change  of  venue  to  Merced  county. 
whereu])on  Wells  returned,  submitted  to  trial,  and  was  acquitted. 

During  the  night  following  the  affray.  Wells'  house  in  \'isalia 
was  burned,  a  deed  generally  beliexed  to  have  been  committed  by 
the  soldier  comrades   of  Stroble. 

THE     BOWLEY     AFFAIR 

Some  time  in  '()3,  a  half-witted  boy  named  Denny  McKay,  had 
secured  a  ])air  of  pants  from  a  st)ldier,  and  was  wearing  them.  Hugh 
McKay,  a  brother,  happened  along  and  said,  "Hello,  Denny,  are  you 
going  to  be  a  soldier.'"  and  made  some  contemi)tuous  reference  to 
the  soldiery.  Richard  Rowley,  a  private  of  the  Second  Cavalry, 
took  uj)  the  matter  and  chased  McKay,  who  was  unarmed,  tiring 
as  he  ran.  A  volunteer,  seeing  the  i^ursuit,  also  took  a  shot  at 
McKay,  but  he  escaped  unharmed. 

On  March  4,  1868,  Rowley  was  assassinated  in  Portervillc  while 
sitting  at  dusk  before  the  fireplace  in  the  hotel,  the  cause  being  at 
first  attributed  to  the  war-time  incident.  It  develo])ed,  however, 
that  Rowley  had  an  implacable  enemy  in  one  Smith  Fine.  Rowley, 
it  was  alleged,  had  gone  to  Fine's  house  in  his  absence  and  at  the 
point  of  a  revolver  compelled  Fine's  wife  to  dance  for  his  amuse- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  33 

ment.      Fine    was   accjuitted    of    the    murder,    liowe\-er,    tlirougli   lack 
of  evidence. 

DESTRUCTION    01-'    NEWSPAPER    PLANT 

In  1862  L.  P.  Hall  and  S.  J.  Garrison  establislied  a  iiai)er  in 
Visalia  called  the  Civil  Rights  Expositor,  later  changing  the  name 
to  The  Eqttal  Rights  Expositor.  The  office  was  located  above  the 
Visalia  House.  It  was  a  red-hot  secession  newspaper,  ably  edited 
liut  extremely  radical  in  its  utterances,  and  at  once  gained  great 
favor  with  its   readers   and   ac(]uired   a   large   circulation. 

On  account  of  his  open  advocacy  of  the  southern  cause  Hall 
was  arrested  and  taken  to  Camp  Babbitt,  where  he  was  forced 
to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance.  After  this  incident  tlic  editorials 
in  the  Expositor  were  more  bitter  and  inflammatory  than  ever 
liefore,  angering  lieyond  measure  the  soldiers  and  volunteers.  Among 
the  choice  utterances  were : 

"We  have  said  that  Abraham  Lincohi  has  perjured  himself, 
and  have  proved  it.  We  now  tell  those  who  participate  in  this 
detestable  war,  to  the  extent  of  their  support,  that  they  participate 
with  Lincoln  in  the  crime  of  perjury." 

"Let  our  states'  rights  friend  look  around  them  and  note  the 
passion  slaves  of  the  President,  who  ])rate  al)out  rel)els  and  traitors, 
while  they  hug  their  chains  with  the  servility  of  a  kicked  and  cuffed 
hound. ' ' 

Dr.  Davenport,  owner  of  the  building  in  which  the  printing- 
office  was  located,  fearing  that  Hall's  vituperative  utterances  would 
incite  a  riot  and  damage  be  done  to  his  property,  ordered  them  to 
leave  the  premises.  The  office  was  removed  to  Court  street  adjoin- 
ing the  lot  on  which  the  Times  office  now  stands. 

On  the  night  of  March  5,  1863,  a  party  of  soldiers  from  Camp 
Babbitt,  together  with  a  number  of  townspeople,  entered  the  office, 
tied  Garrison  up,  threw  the  type  into  the  street  and  destroyed  the 
printing  presses.  Guards  were  posted  at  the  street  corners  to 
l)revent  interference  with  the  diversion.  So  resentful  of  this  act 
were  Hall  and  Garrison's  friends  in  Mariposa  that  a  jiarty  of 
seventy  or  eighty  armed  men  came  down  for  the  ])uri)ose  of  "clean- 
ing up"  Camp  Babbitt.  These  hid  themselves  in  the  swamp,  ex- 
pecting to  be  reinforced  from  A'isalia.  Cooler  counsel  among  the 
leaders  of  the  southern  sympathizers  here  prevailed,  however,  and 
they  were  induced  to  disband  and  return  to  Marijiosa. 

Hall  and  Garrison  for  several  years  tried  to  get  a  l)i!l  through 
the  legislature  compensating  them  for  the  money  loss  incurred, 
and,  in  1868.  succeeded  in  doing  so.  Governor  Ilaight,  however, 
vetoed  the  bill  on  the  ground  that  the  pro])erty  had  been  destroyed 
by  soldiers  under  the  authority  and  control  of  the  United  States, 
for  which  the  state  was  not  responsible. 


:U  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

CHAPTER   IV 
VISALIA 

Necessarily  tlie  history  of  Tulare  county  was  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  in  the  early  period,  the  history  of  Visalia,  as  the  activities 
of  the  entire  i)oi)ulatiou  centered  here. 

The  early  Iieginninss  are  familiar.  It  will  be  remembered  how, 
in  1852,  alone  in  the  wilderness,  Nathaniel  and  Abner  Vise  located 
for  a  future  homestead  the  site  of  the  city;  how  the  first  immigrants 
thought  it  necessary  to  build  a  stockade  to  defend  themselves  from 
Indians.  Also  will  be  remembered  Nat  Vise's  generous  offer  to 
donate  his  claim  to  the  people  if  they  would  locate  the  coimty.seat 
here;  how  the  offer  was  accejited  and  liy  the  election  of  1853, 
ratified. 

The  first  enterprises  tending  to  making  a  town  here  have  also 
been  detailed  in  the  general  history;  how  Baker  started  a  stoi-e 
and  Matthews  a  mill ;  how  a  school  and  church  and  a  two-story  log 
jail,  planked  and  "pinned  with  double  tens"  followed. 

Nearly  three  score  years  have  ])assed  since  these  things  were, 
and  here  is  only  space  for  the  bare  mention  of  the  milestones  of 
l)rogress  Visalia  has  since  passed.  Many  of  these,  too,  marking  as 
well  the  jirogress  of  the  county  as  a  whole,  are  treated  under  sep- 
arate headings.  Thus  the  first  two  causes  tending  toward  increased 
population  were  the  discovery  of  gold  as  early  as  1856.  and  the 
establishment  of  the  Overland  stage  route  through  the  town  in 
1859.  For  a  number  of  years  following  the  town  showed  a  rapid, 
if  what  might  be,  perhaps,  termed  a  hectic,  growth. 

Those  were  the  days  of  easy-going  ways,  the  day  of  dollars 
easily  acquired,  easily  s]ient.  Between  1856  and  1860  it  was  esti- 
mated that  from  five  and  six  thousand  miners  ]iassed  through 
Visalia,  en  route  to  the  gold  fields.  Outfitting  and  freighting  and 
the  accommodation  and  transportation  of  travelers  develoj^ed  into 
a  business  of  magnitude.  And  the  miners,  whether  going  or  com- 
ing, whether  hopeful,  successful,  or  discouraged,  were  always  thirsty. 
and  whether  they  had  been  lucky  or  unlucky,  were  still  always  ready  to 
take  another  chance. 

And  catering  to  these  wants,  saloons  and  gambling  flourished; 
dance  halls  were  enlarged,  musicians  imported.  Faro,  roulette, 
monte,  poker  and  dice  games  all  assisted  in  the  general  scheme  of 
the  retention  of  a  goodly  portion  of  the  traveler's  coin.  And  when 
the  lull  in  mining  began  to  make  itself  felt,  the  Civil  war,  with  its 
pay  days  for  soldiers  and  its  grafting  quartermasters,  again  made 


'im^ 


5 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  35 

life  of  tliis  kind  pleasant  and  in'otitable.  New  mines  in  the  Owens 
River  district   were  discovered  and   business   flourished   anew. 

Dnrini!,'  tliese  years,  of  course,  the  ])0])ulation  had  been  increased 
by  the  addition  of  all  classes  of  men.  There  were  now  keen  law- 
yers, shi'ewd  merchants,  skilled  physicians.  There  were  teachers 
and  ]irearhers.  Two  newsi)a])ers  had  been  estal)lished,  the  Delta, 
by  John  Shannon  in  1859,  and  the  Equal  Rights  Expositor,  by  S.  J. 
Garrison,  in  1<S62.  The  Masons  and  Odd  Fellows  had  organized. 
With  it  all,  however,  was  lacking  the  element  of  stability.  The  fact 
was  that  although  set  in  the  midst  of  a  most  fertile  section,  and 
being  the  only  town  within  a  score  of  miles,  the  community,  while 
apparently  i)rosperous,  was  not  really  self-supporting.  This  arose 
from  its  location  remote  from  markets  and  the  lack  of  communica- 
tion and  transportation  facilities.  For  a  few  years  retrogression 
set    in. 

And  now,  liefore  we  considei'  the  next  era,  let  us  take  a  survey 
of  the  old  town  and  try  to  visualize  it  as  it  existed  before  the  war. 

A  view  taken  from  the  Palace  hotel  corner  on  Main  street, 
looking  east,  will  serve  for  a  foundation  for  a  correct  mental 
building  of  the  picture.  The  Exchange  hotel  appears  on  the  left 
and  S.  Sweet's  store  in  the  right  foreground.  Certainly  it  is  a 
vision  of  ramshackle  neglectfulness,  of  general  unkemptness  and 
untidiness.     No  sidewalks,  no  curbs,  no  cleanliness. 

Commencing  on  the  south  side  of  Main  street,  at  the  corner  of 
Bridge,  was  located  the  general  merchandise  store  of  O.  Reinstein, 
a  two-story  building,  almost  the  only  one  in  this  neighborhood.  The 
Birley  and  Pierce  blacksmith  sho})  adjoined  on  the  west  and  at 
the  corner  was  Swat  and  Wells  emporium. 

At  the  corner  now  occuined  by  the  balconies  was  a  brick  build- 
ing used  as  a  general  store  by  John  G.  Parker.  The  Cosmopolitan 
saloon  was  next  in  order,  then  a  little  brick  drug  store,  ojteued  by 
Henry  Bequett(\  Then  came  a  general  store  kept  by  a  Mr.  Johnson 
and  at  the  Uhl  corner,  an  old  frame  building  housing  the  general 
merchandise  store  of  D.  K.  Douglass.  At  the  corner  where  is  now 
located  the  Citizens  bank,  stood  the  Masonic  Hall  building,  then 
Hockett's,  then  Rogers'  stores.  In  the  middle  of  the  block  was 
Keener 's  butcher  shoji,  then  the  Fashion  saloon,  the  Bostwick's  tin 
shop.  Around  the  corner,  where  is  now  the  Ilarrell  building,  was 
Peter  (Joodhue's  stable.  The  National  Bank  site  was  occupied  by 
the  dwelling  house  of  John  Majors,  which  later  made  way  for  a 
two-story  building  erected  by  H.  and  I.  Cohen,  the  lower  floor  used 
for  the  St.  Charles  saloon  and  the  up])er  for  Music  ITall. 

Commencing  once  more  on  Main  street,  o])i)osite  our  point  of 
beginning,  we  find  Turner's  blacksmith  shop  occupying  the  site  of 
the    Ballon    Imilding.      Oji    the    flarvev    House    corner    stood    a    two- 


36  TULARE  AND  KIXOS  COUXTIKS 

story  hiick  Imilding  rim  as  a  hotel  originally  l)y  L.  R.  Ketchuin 
and  G.  (i.  Xoel.  In  1858  (J.  W.  Warner  assumed  charge,  calling  it 
the  Exchange  hotel. 

At  the  American  hotel  corner  was  the  apjjropriatcly  named 
Deadfall  saloon,  dance  hall  and  bowling  alley.  Between  there  and 
the  corner  was  a  dwelling  house  and  then  a  restaurant  and  two 
stores,  occupying  the  lower  floo)-  of  a  building  located  on  a  portion 
of  the  Visalia  House  site. 

The  Delta  office,  built  by  Shannon,  its  first  i)roprietor.  stood  at 
the  corner  now  occupied  l)y  the  National  Bank;  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Lipscomb's  pool  liall  was  a  two-story  frame  building  occupied  as 
the  general  store  of  H.  Mitchell.  At  the  Palace  hotel  corner  stood 
Dick  Billip's  hotel,  which  later  came  to  be  called  the  Exchange 
hotel.  Nothing  now  until  about  tlie  site  of  the  Carnegie  library, 
where  was  located  the  steam  flouring  mill  originally  built  by  Wagg, 
later  ojierated  by  Jack  Lorenz,  son-in-law  of  Dr.   Matthews. 

On  east  Main,  in  the  lilock  where  now  the  Santa  Fe  depot  is 
situated,  stood  the  Eagle  hotel,  kept  tiy  Capt.  S.  R.  Dummer,  and 
later  by  G.  W.  Warner.  Matthews  &  Co.  flour  mill  of  hewn  oak 
timbers,  operated  by  a  little  turbine  wheel  set  in  the  race,  stood 
about  where  the  present  flouring  mill  stands.  The  wasteway  cut 
across  Main  street  and  emptied  into  Mill  creek  near  the  depot  site. 

Outside  of  some  minor  shops,  the  above  constituted  all  the  business 
houses,  although  a  big  stable  and  barn,  surrounded  liy  a  high  brick 
wall,  was  built  at  the  present  location  of  Armory  Hall  by  the  Overland 
stage  company  in  1859,  when  the  route  was  established  through  Vi- 
salia. Townsend's  saloon,  in  the  neighl)orhood  of  Huffaker's  stables, 
also  came  into  existence. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  there  were  no  sidewalks  except 
those  of  plank  in  front  of  the  different  business  establishments; 
there  were  no  ])avements,  no  curl)s,  no  sewers,  no  lights.  Remem- 
ber that  this  constituted  the  entire  business  section  of  town  and  that 
the  dwellings,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  lirick  residences,  such 
as  Wiley  Watson's  and  A.  J.  Atwell's,  were  mere  shacks,  scattered, 
separated  from  each  other  by  dense  growths  of  brush,  weeds,  briars 
and  a  general  tangle  of  vegetation.  Streets,  while  laid  out,  were 
not  necessarily  strictly  followed  where  cut-offs  enabled  one  to  reach 
main  roads  by  a  more  direct  route. 

Siich  was  Visalia  in  the  late  '50s,  and  it  was  a  good  town  and 
a  growing  town;  there  was  life  and  gaiety,  brisk  business  and 
abundant  money.  A  spreading  oak  tree,  just  visible  in  the  back- 
ground of  the  photograph,  stood  in  the  street  at  the  corner  of 
Bridge.  The  American  flag,  one  juade  by  Mrs.  G.  W.  Waiiier. 
was  stretched  from  it  to  the  Warner  hotel  and  flung  to  the  In-eeze 
for  the   first  time  in  Visalia  in  1856. 

The  first  firecrackers,  imported  in  1858,  were  liailed  with  delight 


TULARE  AND  KTXGS  COUNTIES  37 

by  the  fun-luviii.i;-  puiJiilace  and  sold  readily  at  from  $1  to  $1.5(J 
a  pack.  Horee-racing  was  a  sport  in  those  days  entered  into  with 
great  enthusiasm.  Local  stock  was  used  and  a  large  i)ortion  of  the 
available  cash  was  in  the  hands  of  stakeholders  before  the  start  was 
made.  Sometimes  the  races  were  postponed  until  late  in  the  day 
that  visitors  from  a  distance  might  all  have  a  chance  to  arrive  and 
"get  their  money  up."  Some  pleasures  were  more  expensive  then 
than  now.  Seven  dollars  was  the  usual  price  for  a  ball  ticket,  al- 
though on  exceptionally  swell  occasions,  such  as  the  o])ening  of  the 
St.  Charles  hotel,  a  $10  charge  was  made. 

That  the  love  of  "red  licker,"  wdiile  natural,  and,  in  fact,  essen- 
tial, might  be  carried  to  extremes  and  that  therefore  the  ai>])etite 
should  be  somewhat  curlied,  was  early  recognized.  The  \^isalia 
Dashaway  Association,  for  the  furtherance  of  temperance,  was 
formed  and  many  able  citizens  joined,  and  speeches  of  impassioned 
eloquence  were  made.  As  some  slight  stimulant  was  necessary  to 
exalt  the  mind  to  a  degree  of  inspiration  in  the  i)rei)aration  of  such 
speeches,  and  as  it  was  necessary  in  some  measure  to  recuperate 
after  the  violent  physical  effort  of  delivery,  report  hath  it  that 
some  of  the  officers  of  this  association  were  often  inclined  to  over- 
rate their  capacity  for  the  cu])  that  "brightens  and  invigorates  the 
consciousness. ' ' 

We  pass  on.  Came  the  Civil  war.  Of  the  duel  to  the  death 
in  the  campaign  preceding  it ;  of  the  organization  of  home  guards 
and  the  coming  of  troops ;  of  the  street  lirawls  and  nmi-ders  and 
house  burnings  and  newspajjer  destroying  during  the  jieriod,  there 
are  accounts  elsewhere. 

After  the  war,  the  need  for  rail  transportation  facilities  made 
itself  severely  felt  and  for  a  long  period  of  years  untiring  efforts 
were  made  by  Visalia's  leading  citizens  to  secure  some  such.  The 
production  of  wool  was  becoming  important,  wheat  farming  offered 
prospects  but  excessive  freights  caused  development  to  halt.  AVhen 
it  became  known  that  the  Soutliern  Pacific  company  had  definitely- 
left  Visalia  off  the  map  by  leaving  it  seven  miles  to  the  east,  R.  K. 
Hyde,  the  leading  financier  of  the  city,  with  assistance  from  many 
enterprising  citizens,  built  the  Visalia  and  Goshen  railroad,  com- 
pleting it  in  1875. 

In  the  meantime  the  city  had  been  incor]K)rated.  This  measure 
had  been  defeated  by  \-()te  at  an  election  held  in  ISfiO,  Ijut  it  was  not 
until  February  27,  1874,  that  the  approval  of  the  legislative  act  gave 
tlie  rank  of  city  to  the  town.  The  first  officers  were:  S.  A.  Shep- 
pard,  M.  Mooney,  I.  A.  Samstag,  W.  B.  Bishop  and  W.  G.  Owen, 
trustees;  J.  C.  Hoy,  marshal  and  tax  collector;  Julius  Levy,  assessor; 
J.  A.  Nowell,  school  suiK'i'iiitendent  and  city  clerk;-  S.  C.  Brown, 
S.  H.  Collins,  J.  C.  Ward  and  AV.  F.  Thomas,  school  directors,  and 
A.   Elkins,   recorder. 

3 


38  TULARE  AND  KlXaS  COUNTIES 

Arthur  auil  Jaiiit's  Crowley  esstahlished  a  water  works  system 
in  1875,  gas  works  soon  followed  and  electric  lighting  came  in  1891. 

Increased  railway  facilities  were  necessary  for  growth  and 
tardily  came.  The  Visalia-Tulare  steam  motor  road  was  Imilt 
by  local  capital;  the  Santa  Fe,  originally  the  San  Joaquin  \'alley 
railroad,  arrived  in  1896;  the  Southern  Pacitie  made  connections 
with  the  east  side  branch  at  Exeter  in  1897,  shortly  afterward 
taking  over  the  Goshen- Yisalia  road;  in  1907  the  Visalia  Electric 
road  to  Lemon  Cove,  and  now  on  to  Woodlake  and  Redlianks,  was 
built,  and  in  191"2  was  inaugurated  the  Big  Four  electric  railroad, 
which  will  connect  Tulare,  Porterville,  AVoodville  and  Visalia. 

Prior  to  1890  municipal  imi^rovements  were  of  a  very  minor 
character,  in  fact,  only  within  the  past  few  years  have  they  become 
such   as   betits   a    modern,    rapidly    growing   city. 

The  prevention  of  the  flood  waters  of  Mill  creek  from  over- 
flowing the  town  had  always  constituted  a  problem,  and  in  1891 
the  channel  was  deepened  and  straightened  and  confined  to  a  plank- 
covered  flume,  which  answered  with  more  or  less  success  until  the 
excessive  high  water  of  190(5.  During  that  season  the  town  was 
repeatedly  flooded  and  adequate  piotective  measures  became  neces- 
sary. For  the  purpose  of  securing  immunity  from  this  danger 
bonds  in  the  sum  of  $70,000  were  voted,  and  in  1910  was  con- 
structed, according  to  the  design  of  the  city  engineer,  M.  L.  Weaver, 
a  cement-lined  concrete  aqueduct  over  half  a  mile  in  length,  the 
same  covered  for  nearly  all  the  distance  with  a  re-enforced  concrete 
construction. 

Prior  to  this,  in  1902,  a  sewerage  system  extending  throughout 
the  city  had  been  built  at  a  cost  of  about  $80,000,  and  a  connnence- 
ment  of  street  paving  had  been  made  in  1895,  by  the  laying  down 
of  twelve  blocks  in  the  Inisiness  section. 

In  1909  a  very  handsome  and  convenient  city  hall  of  mission 
design  was  built  in  re-enforced  concrete,  at  a  cost  of  $30,000.  Among 
other  recent  municipal  improvements  we  may  cite  the  magnificent 
new  high  school,  now  building  in  the  western  part  of  town,  to  take 
the  place  of  the  $40,000  new  building  com]>leted  in  1911,  and  burned 
to  the  ground  in  the  same  year. 

One  of  the  serious  passages  in  Visalia 's  recent  history  has 
been  the  numerous  agitations,  controversies  and  elections  over  the 
liquor  question.  This  matter  first  came  before  the  voters  in  1874, 
and  the  proposed  no-license  measure  was  defeated  by  a  vote  of 
178  to  120.  About  twenty  years  elapsed  before  the  sentiment  against 
saloons  reached  in-oportions.  This  became  especially  pronounced  in 
190(1,  when  nearly  all  the  precincts  in  the  county  outside  of  incor- 
porated towns  voted  "dry." 

After  repeated  efforts,  the  anti-saloon  forces  succeeded,  in  1911, 
in  inducing  the  city  trustees  to  call  an  election  for  the  purpose  of 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  3!) 

securing  by  a  test  or  "straw"  vote,  the  sentiment  of  tlie  people. 
Twelve  Imndred  votes  were  cast  at  this  election,  the  "drys"  win- 
nina,-  l)y  one  hundred  and  forty-one.  At  the  city  election  in  April 
following,  city  trustees  favoring  no-liceuse  were  elected,  the  ma- 
jority in  their  favor  being,  howe\'ei',  only  about  eighty.  An  ordi- 
nance closing  saloons  was  immediately  passed. 

The  state  legislature  had  in  the  meantime  passed  the  Wyllie 
local  option  law,  providing  for  a  submission  of  the  question  to  the 
people  u]3on  the  filing  of  a  petition  signed  by  twenty-five  per  cent 
of  the  voters.  The  advocates  of  the  saloon  cause,  confident  that 
sentiment  was  changing  in  their  fax'or,  as  shown  by  the  recent  vote, 
and  that  this  would  become  more  pronounced  upon  the  falling  off  of 
business  incident  to  the  closing  of  saloons,  determined  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  provisions  of  the  new   law. 

A  petition  having  three  hundred  and  four  signatures  was  filed 
and  an  election  held  July  17,  1911.  The  "wets"  olitained  a  majority 
of  six  votes  at  this  election,  there  Ijeing  five  hundred  and  sixteen 
votes  for  license,  five  hundred  and  ten  against  and  nine  thrown 
out  on  account  of  being  blank  or  incorrectly  marked.  The  city 
trustees  decided  that  as  the  saloon  advocates  had  not  received  a 
clear  majority  of  all  ballots  placed  in  the  box,  the  "drys''  had  won, 
and  refused  to  issue  licenses.  Intense  bitterness  was  engendered 
by  this  action  and  the  case  carried  into  court  on  mandamus  pro- 
ceedings. Judge  "Wallace  decided  that  the  election  was  carried  by 
the  "wets,"  but  that  as  the  Wyllie  law  did  not  jirovide  that  the 
liquor  traffic  must  be  licensed  following  a  majority  vote,  therefore 
the   writ   of  mandamus   would   not    lie. 

It  was,  in  other  words,  oi)tional  with  the  board  to  follow  the 
expression  of  the  will  of  the  peoi)le.  The  trustees,  standing  on 
their  legal  rights,  and  justifying  their  action  by  the  contention  that 
illegal  votes  were  cast,  maintained  their  ])osition.  The  saloons 
therenjion  gave  up  their  fight  for  a  time,  but  in  the  sjjring  of  1912 
a  final  effort  was  made  to  secure  a  lease  of  life.  This  took  the 
form  of  initiative  legislation.  An  ordinance  providing  for  the 
licensing  of  saloons  under  regulations  so  strict  that  it  was  thought 
that  they  would  meet  with  the  apjjroval  of  the  less  radical  opposi- 
tion element  was  prepared,  and  the  requisite  number  of  signatures 
was  affixed  to  a  petition  asking  the  trustees  to  call  an  election  to 
determine  whether  or  not  it  was  the  will  of  the  people  that  the 
ordinance  go  into  effect.  At  this  election,  held  in  April,  1912, 
women  for  the  first  time  participated  in  municipal  affairs.  The 
measure  was  defeated  overwhelmingly,  thus  finally  settling  a  con- 
troversy that  had  existed  for  years. 

The  fact  that  Visalia,  the  oldest  town  in  the  San  Joaquin  val- 
ley, has  allowed  some  to  distance  it  in  population  and  Tuany  to  out- 
strip it  in  rapid  growth  has   l)een  the  cause  of  connnent. 


40  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Tliree  principal  factors  there  are  wliicli  have  contributed  to 
this  state  of  affairs.  First,  may  be  placed  tlie  fact  of  its  not  being 
on  the  main  line  of  railway,  although  at  present  the  facilities  for 
shipment  and  for  travel  are  the  same  as  if  it  were  on  three  main 
lines.  Second,  is  the  fact  that  laud  in  the  vicinity  has  been  held  in 
large  tracts  by  owners  who  did  not  desire  to  sell.  Not  until  re- 
cently have  any  tracts  suitable  for  colonization  been  placed  on  the 
market.  Third,  is  the  fact  that  elsewhere  the  prospective  settler 
has  in  the  past  been  able  to  find  cheaper  land.  In  many  other  locali- 
ties, lands  of  low  original  value  were  rendered  suitable  for  settle- 
ment by  irrigation  or  other  enterprises,  and  with  the  cost  of  this 
and  promoters'  profits  added,  could  still  be  sold  at  a  low  figure. 

In  the  rich  delta  sub-irrigated  district,  trilnitary  to  Visalia,  land 
values  on  undeveloped  tracts  have  been  maintained  for  the  reason 
that  their  conversion  into  income  property  was  at  any  time  an  easy 
matter.  The  pressure  of  a  flood  of  homeseekers  is  now  at  the  bar- 
riers, and  an  exceeding  growth  and  an  increased  prosperity  will 
undoubtedly  result. 

Visalia  today  is  a  busy  and  growing  modern  city  of  fiOOO  in- 
habitants. In  addition  to  the  municipal  imi)rovements  ])reviously 
spoken  of,  such  as  the  new  city  hall,  new  high  school  building,  recent 
extensive  street  paving,  adequate  sewer  system,  etc.,  there  is  a 
handsome  public  library  building,  a  delightful  city  park,  a  building 
in  which  are  housed  the  chamber  of  commerce  displays  and  which 
affords  a  meeting  place  for  all  civic  bodies. 

The  city  is  peculiarly  ]ileasing  to  the  eye  on  account  of  the 
extent  of  shade  tree  bordered  streets.  Situated  as  it  is  in  the 
center  of  the  sub-irrigated  lielt,  natural  perennial  green  grasses 
flourisii  and  the  lawns  and  foliage  never  indicate  by  failing  verdure 
the  ])arcliing  el^'ects  of  sununer  heat.  Many  oaks,  remnants  of  the 
solid  groves  that  once  were  a  feature  of  the  landscaije,  remain  and 
add  to  the  charm. 

Quite  a  lai-ge  number  of  pretentious  residences,  with  carefully 
kept  lawns  and  gardens,  grace  the  environs.  Cement  sidewalks 
have  generally  been  well  extended  towards  the  outskirts,  aud  the 
streets,  outside  the  jiaved  district,  are  usually  oiled  and  kept  in 
good    order. 

In  a  business  way,  modern  requirements  are  fully  met.  There 
are  three  banks  with  deposits  of  nearly  $2,500,000;  two  canning 
factories ;  two  dried  fruit  packinghouses ;  two  creameries ;  two  green 
fruit  packing  concerns  and  a  l)eet  sugar  factory. 

The  amount  of  money  expended  by  these  concerns  in  payrolls 
and  payments  for  the  products  of  orchard,  dairy  and  farm  reaches 
an  enormous  total,  aud  forms  the  fouudation  for  permanent  pros- 
perity. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  41 

CHAPTER    V. 
TULARE  COUNTY'S  CITRUS  FRUIT 

The  eastern  slo]ie  of  Tulare  county  is  covered  today  witli  al- 
most one  continuous  orange  grove.  In  the  amount  of  capital  in- 
vested, the  culture  of  citrus  fruits  is  by  far  the  most  important 
industry  in  the  county.  In  yearly  revenue  it  equals  or  exceeds  any 
other. 

Roughly  speaking,  thei'e  are  about  twenty-seven  thousand  acres 
set  to  orauges  and  lemons,  one-third  of  which  is  in  bearing.  The 
production  last  year  was  four  thousand  carloads,  having  a  value 
of  $2,500,000.  A  conservative  valuation  of  these  orchards  with 
their  equipment  would  be  $13,500,000,  and  a  fair  estimate  of  the 
income  when  the  jiresent  acreage  reaches  bearing  would  be  $7,500,000. 
This  wonderful  develo]nnent  has  been  wholly  accomplished  within 
the  past  twenty  years,  but  a  few  words  relative  to  the  very  earliest 
efforts  in  this  direction  may  prove  of  interest. 

The  first  orange  tree  planted  in  Tulare  county  was  in  1860,  when 
Mrs.  H.  M.  White,  in  Erazier  valley,  planted  the  seed  from  an 
orange  brought  from  the  South  Sea  islands.  As  one  passes  now 
through  miles  of  groves  heavy  T\atli  golden  fruit  or  laden  with  odorous 
blossoms,  the  symbolism  of  this  act  appeals  to  the  imaginatiop 
It  seems  as  if,  endowed  with  the  supernatural  powers  of  one  of 
the  fates,  she  performed  the  ceremony  of  transferring  to  this 
inland  vale  some  of  the  spicy  fragrance  and  some  of  the  easy 
opulence  of  those  languorous  isles. 

Returning  to  facts,  Deming  Gibben,  in  1863,  also  ]ilanted  a 
few  orange  trees  in  his  yard  at  Piano.  At  dates  not  exactly  known, 
Peter  Goodhue  set  out  a  tree  in  Visalia  and  J.  W.  C.  Pogue  at 
Lemon  Cove  planted  a  few.  To  trace  the  extraordinary  growth  of 
the  industry  from  those  days  until  the  present,  when  trainloads 
are  shipped  daily  throughout  the  season,  would  fill  a  volume.  And 
yet  progress  in  the  beginning  was  hampered  in  many  ways.  Pew 
of  Tulare  county  residents  believed  in  it.  It  was  expensive,  the 
cost  even  in  the  beginning  reaching  $300  per  acre  for  bringing  an 
orchard  into  bearing.  The  area  of  adaptable  land  was  thought 
to  be  confined  only  to  certain  foothill  slopes,  or  coves  with  certain 
kinds  of  exposure.  Hog-wallow  land  was  deemed  unfit.  Failure  to 
obtain  water  on  the  first  trial  in  some  districts  was  considered  evi- 
dence that  none  was  there.  But  wlien  numerous  crops  came  into 
bearing  and  the  fruit  was  lieing  harvested  some  six  weeks  earlier 
than  that  from  Southern  California,  when  this  fruit  reached  the 
eastern  markets   in  time   for   Thanksgiving  and   Christmas   markets 


42  TULARE  AXD  KINGS  COUNTIES 

and  sold  for  exceediiioly  high  jirices,  there  came  visitors  from  tlie 
southern  orange  districts  vrho  perceived  at  a  glance  the  great  pos- 
sibilities  of  the  section. 

In  1870  W.  J.  p]llis,  county  assessor,  in  liis  statistical  report 
submitted  to  the  surveyor  general,  listed  one  hundred  orange  trees 
in  the  county.  In  making  u]i  his  hirge  total,  however,  he  had  re- 
course to  including  al)out  ninety  young  trees  still  in  the  nursery. 
At  this  period  there  was  no  thought  in  the  minds  of  anyone  that 
orange  growing  would  develop  as  a  commercial  industry.  This  did 
not  occur  until  1890.  In  that  year  George  Frost,  a  prominent  orange 
grower  and  nurseryman  of  Riverside,  took  a  look  at  the  county.  In 
Southern  California  there  existed  a  firm  conviction  tliat  orange 
growing  north  of  Tehachapi  was  impossible.  While  Mr.  Frost 
looked  at  the  country  with  doubtful  eyes,  he  was  more  unprejudiced 
than  the  majority.  Besides  this,  he  was  anxious  to  find  a  market 
for  nursery  trees.  At  the  time  he  had  on  hand  a  large  stock,  which 
he  was  unable  to  sell.  In  the  San  Joaquin  valley  for  Mr.  Frost's 
inspection  there  were  at  the  time  the  following  groves  only:  at 
Porterville,  five  acres;  at  the  ranch  of  H.  M.  White,  a  few  trees; 
at  Piano,  one  acre;  at  Lemon  Cove,  one  and  one-half  acres;  at 
Centerville,  six  acres;  and  at  the  old  General  Beale's  place,  south 
of  Bakersfield,  a  five-acre  tract  planted  to  a  general  assoi-tment  of 
citrus   fruits. 

The  prospects  for  a  new  district  apj^ealed  so  strongly  to  Mr. 
Frost  that  he  engaged  in  a  deal  with  the  Pioneer  Land  company 
of  Porterville  wherel)y,  on  land  owned  liy  the  corporation,  he  was 
to  set  out  one  liundred  acres  of  orange  trees  and  care  for  them 
for  two  years.  Then  he  was  either  to  buy  the  ]>roperty  for  $100 
per  acre  or  the  land  conijiany  were  to  repay  him  for  the  trees  and 
labor  expended. 

Immediately  following  the  ex]n-ession  of  oinnion  of  Mr.  Frost 
that  the  district  was  adapted  to  oranges,  numbers  i^repared  to 
engage  in  it,  and  the  next  year  witnessed  a  planting  that  would 
prove  a  commercial  factor.  Albert  and  Oliver  Henry  of  Portei-- 
ville.  who  already  had  a  few  trees  in  bearing,  ))ecanie  the  i)ioneer 
enterprising  growers,  and  boosters  for  the  Porterville  district. 

In  1891  Cajit.  A.  J.  Hutchinson,  together  with  Messrs.  Patten 
and  Glassell,  jnirchased  the  Jacobs'  i)lace  at  Lindsay  and  in  the 
following  year  set  out  three  acres  at  Lindsay,  which  became  known 
as  the  home  jilace.  In  1898  planting  became  general.  So  well 
pleased  was  Mr.  Frost  with  his  original  venture  at  Porterville 
that  he  imrchased  and  iiroceeded  to  set  out  an  additional  tract  of 
seventy-five  acres. 

Captain  Ilulcliiiison  organized  the  Ijiudsay  Land  company,  and 
proceeded   to    subdivide    his    tract    into    small    holdings,    agreeing    to 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  43 

care  for  the  oroves  of  non-residents.  No  ditch  water  for  irrigating 
was  avaihilile  at  Lindsay.  Wells  were  therefore  sunk  and  steam 
pumping  plants  installed,  the  first  in  the  county.  Water  in  al)und- 
ance  was  found  at  a  de]ith  of  ahont  seventy  feet,  which  rose  to 
within  twenty  feet  of  tlu'  surface.  The  experiment  generally  dis- 
believed in  proved  an  unciualitied  success.  A  high  water  level  in 
the  wells  maintained  itself  in  spite  of  the  drain  of  constant  pumping 
and  the   supply   appeared   tlien   as   inexhaustible. 

Thomas  Johnson,  Joe  Curtis  and  other  influential  men  of  San 
Jose,  became  prominent  in  ])romoting  the  Lindsay  district.  About 
four  hundred  acres,  mostly  in  ten  acre  tracts,  were  planted.  Be- 
tween two  hundred  and  fifty  and  three  hundred  acres,  also  in  small 
blocks,  were  planted   near  Porterville. 

Exeter  entered  the  held  in  1904  through  the  oi)erations  of 
George  Frost.  This  gentleman,  with  Messrs.  Merryman,  Carney, 
Hamtlton.  Davis  and  others,  set  out  about  four  hundred  acres  east 
of  Exeter,  naming  it  the  Bonnie  Brae  orchard.  In  passing,  it  nifiy 
be  noted  that  Mr.  Merryman  later  absorlied  the  interests  of  his 
associates  and  greatly  increased  his  holdings  by  the  inirchasing 
of  adjoining  iiroiterty.  In  addition  to  several  hundred  acres  of 
imdeveloped  land  and  a  considerable  acreage  devoted  to  olives 
and  deciduous  fruits,  there  are  seven  hundred  and  lifty  acres 
devoted  to  oranges.  It  is  the  largest  grove  in  the  county  and  this, 
together  with  the  elegant  residence,  large,  beautiful  gardens  and 
grounds,  make  it  one  of  the  "show  yilaces"  of  the  district. 

Development  at  Lemon  Cove  did  not  lag  behind  this  move- 
ment, iiromotion  work  there  being  first  accomplished  by  Messrs. 
Hammond.  Berry,  Levis,  Overall  and  Jordan  of  Visalia,  who  or- 
ganized the  Kaweah  Lemon  Company  and  set  some  two  hundred 
acres  to  trees.  The  Ohio  Lemon  Company  shortly  thereafter  set 
another   similar   tract   to    this   fruit. 

By  1904  develoi)ment  had  been  thoroughly  launched  in  the 
Porterville,  Lindsay,  Kxeter  and  Lemon  Cove  districts.  We  turn 
now  to  the  commercial   disijosition   of  the   product. 

In  1892  there  were  boosters  a-plenty  for  the  new  industry.  It 
was  deemed  desirable  to  show  the  world  that  a  new  citrus  district, 
producing  fruit  unecpialed,  had  been  discovered.  The  World's  Fair 
at  St.  Louis  was  to  open  January  1,  1904.  Above  all  things  it  be- 
hooved growers  here  to  make  a  big  showing.  P.  M.  Baier  was 
selected  to  ])repare  such  an  exhibit.  The  hrst  full  carload  to 
leave  the  county  was  the  fruit  foi'  this  display  and  it  required  prac- 
ticall\-  all  grown  in  the  county  lo  lill  it.  The  exhibit  was  first  shown 
in  the  Mechanics  Pavilion  in  San  l-'rancisco,  and  then  forwarded  to 
St.  Louis,  and  received  creditable  mention  at  both  ])laces. 

In  1893  there  were  four  carloads  at  the  Frost    orcliai-d,   and   in 


44  TL'LARE  AXD  KIX(JS  CorXTIKS 

the  next  season  Itotli  llie  Kxcliange  and  tlie  Earl  Fruit  Com- 
panies entered  the  field,  getting  out  a  i>ack  of  sixteen  cars.  This 
fruit  reached  the  eastern  market  in  time  for  the  Thanksgiving  and 
Christmas  markets  and  sold  for  extra  high  prices.  As  this  jieriod 
of  ripening  is  several  weeks  in  advance  of  Southern  California  a 
great  deal  of  attention  was  attracted  to  this  locality  and  many 
southern  growers  came,  saw  the  results  accomplished,  and  invested. 

Old  residents  of  Tulare  county,  however,  generally  held  aloof  from 
venturing  into  this  field.  In  fact,  the  whole  business  of  the  promo- 
tion of  the  sale  of  orange  lands  and  their  planting  ap])eared  to 
them  as  a  rank  swindle.  The  selling  of  foothill  land  at  $2.")  to  $50 
per  acre,  or  with  water  developed  at  $75  to  $100,  seemed  to  them 
as  merely  a  scheme  to  catch  suckers.  Only  within  the  last  few 
years,  in  fact,  have  numbers  of  our  own  citizens  taken  an  active 
part  in  the  enterprise,  these  now  freely  paying  for  lauds  treble  the 
price  that  they  formerly  believed  extravagant. 

During  the  first  years  of  the  rapid  extension  of  acreage  devoted 
to  citrus  fruits  investors  were  very  chary  of  straying  far  from  the 
original  bearing  orchards.  Objections  innumerable  were  in  fact 
advanced    toward    all    other    lands. 

The  Hutchinson  tract  at  Lindsay  was  held  to  mark  the  extreme 
westerly  lioundary  of  the  thermal  belt ;  only  slopes  and  coves  in 
the  hills  with  certain  exposures  were  suitable;  south  of  Piano 
there  was  no  water;  hog- wallow  land  was  unfit;  failure  to  obtain 
water  in  the  first  trial  in  a  new  district  was  considered  evidence 
that  none  was  there;  and  so  on,  endlessly,  with  able  reasons  why 
the  only  true  citrus  lands  had  been  planted  liy  the  first  growers. 
Largely  in  conseciuence  of  this  attitude,  the  bearing  orchards  today 
geuerally  lie  in  the  districts  tributary  to  Porterville,  Tjiudsay,  Exe- 
ter and  Lemon  Cove. 

Couuuencing  some  seven  or  eight  years  ago,  however,  there  has 
been  a  bold  exploitation  of  new  districts,  led  by  promoters  with  capi- 
tal, energy  and  o])tiraism.  These  have  by  actual  demonstration  shown 
conclusively  that  the  citrus  belt  is  not  bounded  by  such  narrow  limits. 
Water  in  (|uantities  has  been  develojied  almost  exerywhere.  Dinuba, 
Orosi,  Stokes  valley,  Yettem,  Orange  Heights,  Klink,  Venice  Cove, 
Redbanks,  AVoodlake,  Xaranjo,  Frazier  valley,  Strathmore,  Zante, 
Terra  P>ella  and  the  entire  district  from  Piano  south  to  the  county 
line,  including  Terra  Bella,  Ducor  and  Richgrove,  are  each  now  capa- 
lile  of  demonstrating  by  showing  hundreds  of  acres  of  thriving  or- 
chards that  they  are  adapted  to  this  culture. 

With  the  exception  of  Dinuba,  Orosi,  Yettem  and  Redbanks, 
which  have  other  sources  of  income,  all  of  these  new  districts  are 
solely  dependent  upon  citrus  fruit  culture  for  support.  In  this  con- 
nection the  solid  improvements  at  Woodlake,  Strathmore  and  Terra 
Bella,    ))articularly    in    the    way    of    substantial    business    structures. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  45 

hotels,  liauks,  news])ai)(M-s,  imiiiiciital  water  snijply,  cement  sidowalks, 
etc.,  indicate  the  conlideiice  of  moneyed  men  in  the  potential  prodnc- 
tive  capacity  of  the  community. 

All  of  this  expenditure  in  the  way  of  permanent  nmnicipal  im- 
provements, together  with  the  outlay  of  capital  incident  to  the  installa- 
tion and  maintenance  throughout  the  entire  district  of  electric  power 
systems,  necessarily  forms  a  ])()rtion  of  the  entire  siun  today  invested 
in  the  citrus  fruit  industry  of  the  county.  The  estimate  of  $i;'.,r)00,000, 
given  at  the  commencement  of  this  sketch,  is  shown,  therefore,  to  be 
far  too  low.  Twenty  million  would  perhaps  come  nearer.  Likewise, 
with  reference  to  the  pi-esent  income.  The  estimate  of  $2,500,000  of 
present  return  was  based  on  a  production  of  four  th.ousand  carloads, 
four  hundred  boxes  to  the  car,  value  $L50  per  box.  The  cost  of  labor 
for  handling  and  packing  and  the  salaries  and  profits  of  the  men  en- 
gaged in  this  business  were  not  included.  Thus  a  fairer  estimate  of 
the  present  revenue  from  this  source  would  be  $.3,000,000. 

The  first  plantings  were  seedlings,  but  practically  all  have  since 
been  replaced  by  AVashington  navels.  The  present  pack  of  four  thou- 
sand carloads  consists  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  cars  of  lemons, 
four  hundred  and  fifty  cars  of  Valencias  and  the  remainder  navels. 
There  are  thirty-five  packing  houses  in  the  district,  and  double  that 
numiier  will  be  needed  as  soon  as  the  present  new  acreage  comes 
into  bearing. 

Tulare  county  now  ranks  fifth  in  the  state  in  the  jiroduction  of 
citrus  fruits,  but  it  appears  certain  that  within  four  years  it  will  take 
first  place. 

TULARE     COUXTY's     DIMINISHED     ARE.\ 

The  present  area  of  Tulare  county  is  4,86.3  square  miles. 

It  is  still  a  large  county  and  its  diversified  topography  and  pro- 
ductions cause  it  to  seem  a  veritable  empire.  How  vast  the  area  once 
included  in  its  bounds  can  be  seen  by  the  following  slices  that  have 
l)een  taken  from  its  territory :  In  1856,  Fresno  county,  with  6,035 
square  miles;  in  1866,  Inyo  county,  with  10,224  square  miles;  in  18()6, 
Kern  county,  with  1,852  s(|uare  miles;  and  in  1893,  Kings  county. 
with  1,375  square  miles. 


46  TULARE  AXD  KINGS  COUNTIP^S 

CHAPTER  VI 
THE  GENERAL  RODEO 

Three  things  were  necessary  in  the  early  days  of  cattle  raising  in 
Tulare  county  to  insure  success.  These  were  a  branding  iron,  a  range 
claim  and  a  uunilter  of  active  cowboys. 

There  was  a  law  at  that  time  wliich  had  been  jiassed  l)y  the  legis- 
lature of  '51,  entitled  "An  act  to  regulate  rodeos,"  which  cau.sed  this 
condition.  This  law  provided  for  a  general  rodeo  on  every  stock  farm, 
and  if  a  rancher  failed  to  make  it,  it  could  be  made  by  any  of  his 
neighbors  at  his  expense;  and  provided  further  that  no  man  should 
mark  or  lu-and  his  stock  cattle  except  at  one  of  these  general  rodeos. 

Of  the  law  and  its  workings,  Stephen  Barton,  writing  in  187-i, 
says:  "The  cap  sheaf  of  the  enactment,  however,  was  this  section: 
'All  unmarked  neat  cattle,  the  mothers  of  which  are  unknown,  shall 
be  considered  the  jiroperty  of  the  owner  of  the  farm  on  which  they 
may  be  found.'  These  provisions  of  law  resulted  in  this  county  in 
the  unoccupied  {)ul)li('  domain  being  divided  into  range  claims,  and  he 
that  was  unable  to  make  a  general  rodeo  soon  found  that  he.  had  no 
business  to  keep  cattle,  while  those  who  undertook  it  found  that  the 
business  of  the  year  simplified  itself  to  the  task  of  assembling  on  his 
rodeo  ground  as  many  unmarked  neat  cattle  without  mothers  as  it 
were  possible  to  do.  Can  it  be  wondered  at  that,  under  such  circum- 
stances, cattle  stealing  should  rise  to  the  dignity  of  a  science,  and 
finally  to  that  of  a  fine  art .'  The  business  of  manipulating  a  rodeo 
was  at  once  more  simple  than  that  of  stacking  a  deck  of  cards  or  that 
of  picking  the  i)ockets  of  an  unwary  traveler.  Further,  it  was  more 
respectable  and  re<iuired,  in  one  case,  less  capital,  in  the  other, 
less  courage." 

In  1907  occurred  an  incident  at  White  River  which  at  once  illus- 
trates the  wealth  once  frequently  found  in  the  gold  jiockets  of  this 
section  and  brought  to  light  a  story  of  a  mysterious  disapjiearance. 
buried  treasure  and  unfounded  siisjiicion  strange  as  any  fiction. 

It  develops  that  in  the  early  '80s  Tom  Bradford,  a  miner  thought 
to  have  been  quite  successful,  suddenly  disappeared.  No  clue  was 
obtained  to  his  whereabouts;  it  was  believed  that  he  had  met  with  foul 
play,  and  suspicion  rested  on  J.  M.  White.  At  this  time,  so  the  story 
goes,  Dave  Hughes  and  old  man  Caldwell  were  interested  believers  in 
spiritualism  and  gave  seances  and  table  rappings.  At  one  of  these 
])erformances  they  announced  that  Bradford  had  met  his  death  at 
the  hands  of  White.  Great  excitement  ensued  in  the  camp  and 
White's  denial  of  guilt  was  not  believed. 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  47 

Mr.  White,  by  means  of  letters  to  almost  every  town  in  the  state, 
finally  located  Bradford  and  received  letters  convincing  the  neighbors 
of  his  innocence.  In  one  of  these  letters  Bradford  stated  that  he  had 
buried  some  gold  in  Gordon's  Gulch,  described  the  location  and  told 
White  to  get  it  and  keep  it  to  repay  him  for  the  trouble  he  had  ex- 
perienced. Mr.  White  and  his  sons  searched  Gordon's  Gulch  over  and 
over,  but  failed  to  discover  the  treasure. 

In  1907  Bradford  returned,  having  lost  his  eyesiglit  and  one  arm 
tlaH)iigh  a  dynamite  explosion,  and  is  now  known  as  "Blind  Tom." 
Securing  a  guide,  Tom  Willard,  in  Delano,  Blind  Tom  arrived  in  Gor- 
don's Gulch  and  by  describing  the  location,  which  was  by  a  chimney 
and  near  a  flat  rock  surface,  was  conducted  to  the  spot.  A  little  dig- 
ging unearthed  gold  in  various  tin  cans  to  the  amoulit  of  twenty-five 
pounds. 

Following  the  Civil  war  the  failing  output  of  the  mines  caused  a 
lessened  i^rosperity.  The  lack  of  transportation  facilities  was  severely 
felt  and  many  endeavors  were  made  to  secure  rail  connections. 

Cattle  raising  continued  ])rofitable  and  herds  were  increased. 
The  discovery  of  the  immense  grazing  territory  of  the  Sierras  gave  an 
impetus  to  sheep  raising,  and  wool  became  the  principal  product. 

The  completion  of  the  railroad  tlirough  Goshen  and  Tulare  in 
1872,  with  the  westward  branch  tlirough  Hanford  in  1877  caused  a 
rush  of  settlers.  These  either  purchased  land  of  the  railroad  or 
acquired  title  bj^  pre-emption  of  homestead.  The  population  increased 
very  rapidly  and  farming  on  a  large  scale  had  its  inception.  Irrigating 
enterprises  on  a  large  scale  were  inaugurated. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  count}'  by  this  time  IkuI  been 
greatly  reduced  in  area,  Kern  having  been  cut  off  in  1856,  and  Fresno 
and  Inyo  in  1866. 

The  "No  Fence"  law  of  1871,  passed  just  before  the  coming 
of  the  railroad,  rendered  farming  i)racticable  and  now  connneuced 
the  era  of  wheat  growing.  Immense  ranches  were  sown  to  the 
cereal,  an  acreage  of  from  five  to  twenty  thousand  in  one  l)ody  not 
being  unusual.  A  section,  or  640  acres,  was  considered  a  small  farm. 
Tulare  became  the  banner  wheat  ])roducing  county  of  the  state. 
Fourteen  thousand  carloads  were  shipi)ed  in  one  season.  The  con- 
struction in  1888  of  the  east  side  branch  of  the  Southern  Pacific, 
passing  through  the  Dinuba,  Exeter,  Porterville  and  Ducor  country, 
brought  an  immense  acreage  of  fine  wheat  lands  into  cultivation. 
Sheep  raising,  meanwhile,  since  the  disastrous  drought  of  '77,  had 
been  declining. 

In  1890  the  county  experienced  what  may  be  termed  its  third 
boom.      The   extraordinary   yields    and   jirofits    of   fruit    raising    had 


48  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

been  demonstrated  by  tbe  crop  sales  of  oreliards  iu  the  two  preceding 
years  and  now  a  general  rush  to  plant  trees  took  place.  Probably 
fifteen  thousand  acres  were  set  to  trees  and  vines  in  this  season. 

The  discovery  of  the  adaptability  of  the  foothill  belt  to  citrus 
fruits,  the  finding  of  subterranean  rivers,  and  the  exploitation  of  the 
power  of  the  mountain  streams  were  incidents  of  the  succeeding 
years.  Dairying,  conducted  at  first  on  a  small  scale  with  inconsider- 
able profit,  became  shortly,  from  the  increasing  necessities  of  the 
rapidly  growing  city  of  Los  Angeles,  an  industry  of  great  im- 
portance. 

In  general,  tlie  history  of  the  county  during  the  last  fifteen  years 
has  been  the  prosaic  development  caused  liy  tlie  flourishing  growth 
of  industry,  accounts  of  which  are  given  under  separate  headings. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  49 


CHAPTER  VII 
EXETER  AND  OTHER  TOWNS 

When,  in  1888,  the  railroad  construction  crew  struck  the  town- 
site  of  Exeter  they  found  themselves  in  the  grain  field  of  John  W. 
Firebaugh.  Behind  them  and  before  them  stretched  other  lields 
of  wheat.  A  few  farm  houses  were  in  sight,  but  there  was  no  vestige 
of  a  town,  nor  did  it  appear  likely  that  there  ever  would  be. 

The  Pacific  Improvement  Comjuiny,  who  had  platted  the  town 
and  owned  the  "city,"  found  the  sale  of  lots  slow  indeed.  A  black- 
smith shop,  opened  by  John  Hamilton,  a  store  conducted  by  George 
W.  Kirkman,  a  saloon  and  later  a  hotel  constituted  for  several  years 
the  Exeter  business  establishments,  and  it  was  not  until  1892  that 
a  second  general  store,  opened  by  R.  H.  Stevens,  became  necessary. 
At  this  time  there  were  only  two  brick  buildings  in  town,  and  the 
remainder  consisted  largely  of  mere  shacks. 

Not  until  1894  did  the  first  stirring  of  life  manifest  itself.  George 
W.  Frost  and  associates  in  that  year  commenced  the  extensive  orange 
plantings  at  "Bonnie  Brae,"  a  short  distance  east  of  town.  Not, 
however,  until  about  half  a  dozen  years  after  this,  when  these 
orchards  came  into  bearing,  did  the  community  realize  the  value 
of  the  land  adjoining  and  since  then  growth  has  been  very  rapid. 
A  bank,  now  called  the  First  National  Bank  of  Exeter,  became  neces- 
sary as  early  as  1901,  and  in  1912  the  banking  business  had  so  grown 
as  to  justify  the  advent  of  another,  tlie  Citrus  Bank. 

Exeter  now  has  a  iiopulation  of  thirteen  hundred,  with  an 
assessed  valuation  of  city  property  of  $388,000.  The  business  section 
is  constructed  almost  wholly  of  brick,  many  of  the  buildings  being 
of  two  stories  with  handsome  pressed  lirick  fronts.  Business  is  not 
confined  to  a  few  large  emporiums,  but  distributed  among  a  score 
of  prosperous  merchants. 

At  two  elections  attempts  to  incorporate  Exeter  were  defeated 
because  of  the  opposition  caused  by  the  inclusion  of  much  farm 
pro])(M-ty  within  the  pro]iosed  cor])orate  limits. 

On  March  2,  1911,  the  measure  carried  and  under  the  leadership 
of  the  following  officers  the  city  commenced  its  career:  Board  of 
Trustees,  G.  E.  Waddell.  i)resident;  W.  P.  Ballard,  J.  F.  Duncan, 
James  Kirk,  W.  A.  Waterman;  city  marshal,  C.  E.  Mackey;  city 
treasurer,  E.  H.  Miles;  city  recorder,  W.  B.  Moore. 

The  first  im]iortant  measure  for  the  city's  welfare  undertaken 
was  the  establishment  of  a  municipal  water  system,  a  pulilic  service 
previously  in  private  hands  and  furnishing  inadequate  service.    Bonds 


50  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

iu  the  sum  of  $42,000  were  voted  in  1911  and  this  year  witnessed  the 
completion  and  commencement  of  oi)eratiou  on  a  fine  municii^al 
plant.  About  nine  miles  of  piping  thoroughly  cover  the  city  and 
jirovide  for  its  needs  for  several  years.  Four  wells  furnish  a  more 
than  adequate  supply  of  pure  water  and  a  storage  capacity  of  100,- 
000  gallons  gives  good  fire  protection. 

Modern  school  buildings  are  a  feature,  the  high  school  building, 
constructed  in  1910  at  a  cost  of  $10,000,  being  particularly  handsome. 
The  high  school  has  been  in  operation  but  four  years,  yet  sis  teachers 
are  eni])loyed  and  a  seventh  has  become  necessary.  In  this  connec- 
tion illustrative  of  the  city's  recent  rapid  growth  it  may  be  stated 
that  last  year's  attendance  was  just  double  that  of  the  jneceding 
year. 

A  very  ]irogressive  Board  of  Trade  has  for  many  years  materially 
aided  the  advancement  of  city  and  county  interests.  Through  its 
efforts  a  citrus  fair  was  held  in  1909  which  attracted  great  crowds 
of  visitors,  not  only  from  the  county  l)ut  from  the  large  centers  of 
population.  Both  financially  and  as  a  promotion  enterprise  this  fair 
was  an  imqualified  success. 

At  the  ]n-esent  time  the  Board  of  Trade  is  engaged  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  handsome  brick  structure  which  will  house  the  city 
officers,  afford  room  for  meetings  both  of  the  board  and  the  city 
council  and  furnish  the  abode  for  an  exhil)it  of  the  products  of  the 
surrounding  section. 

Hunt  Bros.,  a  big  firm  of  fruit  canners  who  are  also  owners 
of  a  large  orchard  in  the  vicinity,  have  recently  established  a  large 
canning  factory  which  gives  emi)loyment  through  the  season  to 
several  hundred  people. 

Prior  to  the  completion,  in  1899,  of  the  connecting  line  with 
Visalia,  Exeter  was  quite  a  stage  and  teaming  center.  Even  after 
this,  Exeter  remained  the  terminus  for  the  Lemon  Cove  and  Three 
Rivers  stages  and  when  the  orange  and  lemon  orchards  of  the  Lemon 
Cove  district  came  into  bearing,  the  i)roduct,  amounting  to  aliout  a 
hundred  carloads  per  season,  was  hauled  to  Exeter  to  be  placed 
aboard  cars. 

The  Visalia  Electric  Railway,  completed  in  1907,  necessarily 
wiped  out  this  traffic,  but  by  increasing  trading,  ti-aveling  and  sliip- 
ping  facilities,  has  been  a  great  benefit  to  the  city. 

Exeter  now  has  first  class  transportation  facilities  in  four  direc- 
tions. It  may  be  said  to  be  on  the  main  line  and  two  branch  lines 
of  the  Southei'ii  Pacific  as  well  as  having  an  electric  railway. 

Aside  from  these  connections  and  its  central  location,  Exeter  is 
situated  in  a  ]ieculiarly  favorable  position  by  reason  of  its  being 
practically  on  the  line  se]iarating  the  farming,  dairying  and  deciduous 
fruit  district  from  the  citrus  belt.  Of  course,  there  is  no  real  line  of 
demarcation  and  the  land  immediateh'  surrounding  the  town  is  adapted 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  51 

and  devoted  to  both  cultures.  Orange  groves,  alfalfa  fields,  ])ea('li 
orchards  and  vineyards  of  table  grapes  adjoin. 

Generally  the  farming  and  general  fruit  lands  extend  from  the 
lowlands  to  the  west  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  town,  and  eastward 
to  the  hills  orange  growing  is  in  almost  exclusive  vogue. 

The  result  is  that  the  prosjierity  arising  from  the  valuable 
l)r()duotions  of  the  fertile  soil  is  not  intermittent,  but  constant  through- 
out the  year.  The  facilities  for  caring  for  these  products  are  of  the 
best.  In  addition  to  the  cannery,  there  is  a  packing  house  for  the 
shipment  of  fresh  fruit  to  eastern  markets,  and  four  orange  packing 
estal)lishments. 

MONSON 

The  station  of  ^Monson,  on  the  line  of  the  Southern  Paciiic  noi'th 
of  Visalia,  is  in  a  fine  farming  section  and  there  are  a  number  of 
orchards  and  vineyards  in  the  vicinity.  It  is  a  small  village;  the 
school  employs  one  teacher. 

KAWEAH 

Two  miles  north  of  Three  Rivers  is  the  postofifice  and  stage  station 
known  as  Kaweah.  It  is  located  beside  a  picturesquely  tree  and  vine 
bordered  streamlet  that  is  a  feeder  to  the  north  fork  of  the  Kaweah 
river.  Much  tillable  land  in  large  part  devoted  to  apple  orchards 
lies  liereabouts  and  the  neighborhood  is,  for  a  mountain  settlement, 
well  poinilated.  There  is  a  daily  stage  to  Lemon  Cove  and  during  the 
summer  months  a  stage  is  run  from  this  point  to  Giant  Forest. 

NORTH    TULE 

North  Tule  is  the  name  given  to  the  fertile  valley  of  the  Tule 
river  after  it  issues  from  the  western  slopes  of  the  Sierras,  in  the 
southeastern  part  of  Tulare  county.  The  valley  is  about  thirty 
miles  long  with  an  average  width  of  five  miles  and  with  numerous 
side  valleys  entering  it.  The  soil  is  very  fertile  and  has  long  been 
known  for  its  fine  ajiples.  Many  villages  and  settlements  are  found 
along  the  valley,  among  which  are  Milo,  ('ramer,  l^aldwin  Plats, 
Duncan's  Flat,  Springville,  Globe  and  China  Flats. 

PIXLEY 

Another  of  the  stations  of  note  on  the  line  of  the  Southern 
Pacific  is  the  flourishing  town  of  Pixley.  It  is  in  a  rich  farming  dis- 
trict and  is  an  important  point  for  grain  dealers.  It  is  in  the  ai'tesian 
country  and  large  alfalfa  fields  have  been  sown,  and  dairying  is 
coming  to  the  front.  There  is  a  fine  school  house,  hotel  and  several 
mercantile  houses.  Much  of  the  lands  about  the  town  were  owned  by 
people  of  San  Francisco  and  they  named  it  in  honor  of  the  talented 
Frank  Pixley,  founder  and  editor  of  the  Argonaut. 


5-2  TULARE  AXl)  l\IX(;S  COUXTII'^S 

TIPTON 

The  town  of  Tiptou  had  its  origin  'with  the  comini'-  of  the 
Southern  Pacitic  Railway  and  was  made  a  depot.  It  is  in  the  midst 
of  a  rich  farming  and  dairying  country,  and  some  of  the  people 
have  planted  orchards.  It  is  the  natural  shipping  point  for  a  large 
part  of  the  lower  Tule  country,  but  the  town  has  not  grown  with  the 
rajiidity  of  other  places.  It  has  a  number  of  mercantile  and  other 
business  houses  and  the  business  men  are  confidently  expecting  that 
in  the  next  few  years  there  will  be  a  large  influx  of  people.  There 
are  a  number  of  artesian  wells  in  the  vicinity  and  the  dairy  liusiness 
is  growing  to  l)e  of  great  importance. 

ALILA 

The  most  southerly  town  in  the  county  on  the  line  of  the  rail- 
road is  Alila.  It  is  in  the  country  between  the  sinks  of  Deer  creek 
and  White  river,  and  in  the  artesian  belt.  It  thus  has  a  rich  and 
valuable  country  around  it.  There  are  good  warehouses  and  a  large 
amount  of  grain  is  handled  here.  The  school  and  churcli  are  well 
represented  and  there  are  a  number  of  business  houses  in  town. 

POPLAR 

Poplar  is  not  the  name  of  a  town,  but  rather  of  a  rich  farming- 
country  west  and  south  from  Porterville,  and  being  southeastward 
from  the  Woodville  country.  It  is  a  famous  stockraising  section  and 
also  a  fine  country  for  grain.  In  the  early  days  the  land  owners 
here  united  and  brought  in  a  supply  of  water  from  the  Tule  river. 
This  was  by  means  of  the  Bid  ditcli.  A  co-operative  comi)any  was 
formed  and  established  a  general  merchandising  house  that  is  still 
doing  business. 

FRAZIEE 

One  of  the  most  l)eautiful  sections  of  Tulare  county  is  Frazier 
valley,  which  lies  al)out  twenty-five  miles  east  and  south  of  Tulare 
City.  It  borders  the  Tule  river  above  where  the  river  emerges  into 
the  more  open  plains.  It  has  a  po^toffice  and  a  number  of  farms 
and  orchards.  It  is,  witli  its  side  valleys,  some  fifteen  miles  long 
and  five  miles  wide.  The  valley  is  now  attracting  much  attentioTi  as 
being  a  choice  locality  for  early  fruit  and  vegetables.  It  is  finely 
watered  and  is  comparatively  free  from  frosts. 

WOODVILLE 

The  name  Woodville  was  given  to  a  rich  farming  country  lying 
along  the  south  side  of  Tule  river,  eight  miles  west  from  Porterville 
and  twenty  miles  south  of  Visalia.  It  derived  its  title  from  the 
extensive  groves  of  white  oak  covering  the  country.  A  store  was 
established  at  an  early  date  and  a  postoffice  located  there,  besides 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  53 

a  solioollunise,  and  jieople  in  the  neighborhood  are  l)eginnini>'  to  put 
out  orchards  and  lioi)e  in  a  few  years  to  have  a  ])rosi)erous  town 
there.  The  soil  is  very  rieli,  and  alfalfa  fields  ai'e  liefoniing 
numerous  and  much  attentioii  is  paid  of  late  to  dairying. 

STRATHMORE 

One  of  the  late  towns  to  spring  up  in  Tulare  county  is  Strath- 
more,  and  it  has  from  the  first  shown  a  lusty  growth.  On  the  line 
of  the  railway  between  Lindsay  and  Porterville  it  is  the  depot  for 
one  of  the  tine  orange  districts  of  the  county.  At  the  citrns  fair  held 
in  Visalia  in  1910  Stratlimore  nuule  a  remarkably  fine  exhibit  of 
citrns  and  deciduous  fruits,  olives,  jiomegranates  and  other  jirodncts. 

ESHOM    V.\LLEY 

A  few  miles  east  of  Badger  lies  the  mountain  dale  called  Eshom 
Valley,  one  of  the  beauty  spots  of  the  county.  The  valley  is  several 
miles  long  and  in  ]>laces  a  mile  wide.  Though  situated  at  a  high 
elevation  not  far  below  the  edge  of  the  pines,  the  soil  is  warm  and 
fertile  and  farm  croj^s,  vegetables,  l)erries,  apples,  etc.,  produce 
exceedingly  well.  There  i.s  much  good  grazing  land  in  the  vicinity 
and  the  hills  being  thickly  wooded  with  acorn-bearing  oaks,  hog 
raising  has  proven  a  profitable  branch  of  the  stock  raising  industry. 

The  climate  is  so  tempered  liy  the  altitude  that  it  has  liecome 
a  resort  favored  l)y  tourists  in  snnnner.  Esliom  Valley  is  of  historic 
interest  as  being  once  the  home  of  a  great  tribe  of  Indians  whose 
powerful  chief,  Wuk-sa-che,  more  than  once  led  them  to  victory  in 
battle  with  the  Monaches.  The  Indian  name  of  the  valley  was 
"Oha-ha-du,"  "a  place  where  clover  grows  the  year  round."  Or- 
lando Barton  states  that  when  he  first  visited  the  valley,  in  the 
'60 's,  he  saw  droves  of  Indians  eating  clover  there. 

The  valley  was  visited  as  early  as  1857  by  James  Fisher  and 
Thomas  Davis,  and  derived  its  name  from  Mr.  Eshom,  one  of  the 
first  residents,  who  settled  there  and  engaged  in  farming.  In  1862 
Jasper  Harrell  laid  claim  to  the  valley  but  did  not  succeed  in  holding 
it.  His  foi'cman,  J.  B.  Breckeni-i<lge,  was  killed  l>v  the  Indians 
in  1863. 

ALPAUGH 

In  early  days  Tulare  lake  covered  a  much  greater  area  than  at 
present.  Near  its  southeastern  end  existed  a  large  island  owned 
by  Judge  Atwell  of  "N'isalia,  and  known  at  Atwell's  Island.  Long 
since  the  waters  of  the  lake  have  subsided,  the  island  no  longer 
exists,  but  its  location  is  marked  by  tlie  growing  town  of  Alpaugh. 
The  whole  section  hereal)0uts  was  for  many  years  used  by  Miller  & 
Lux  as  a  ])astnre  for  their  immense  hei'ds  of  cattle.  The  lands  were 
deemed  unlit   I'oi'  agi-iculturnl   purjioses. 


54  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

In  1!)()5  a  syiulicatc  of  Los  Au^eles  caiiitalists  obtained  control 
of  88G1  acres,  coniprisin.ii-  ^Vtwell'.s  Island,  and  ])la('ed  it  on  tlie 
market  in  small  tracts  on  easy  terms.  A  large  number  of  purchasers 
were  found  and  tiiese,  with  their  families — two  hundred  and  twelve 
persons  in  all — came  up  to  settle.  So  general  was  the  idea  among  old 
residents  of  the  county  that  this  land  was  worthless  that  the  enter- 
prise was  "knocked"  on  all  sides.  Every  Al|)augh  colonist  was 
told  that  he  was  an  "easy  mark."  The  '\"isalia  Board  of  Trade 
seriously  considered  the  passing  of  a  resolution  condemning  the  land 
sale  as  a  swindle,  but  were  dissuaded  from  liasty  action  by  Ben  M. 
Maddox. 

The  colonists  did  have  trouble.  AVith  most  of  them  funds  were 
scarce,  and  many  had  to  leave  temporarily.  There  was  trouble  in 
getting  a  supply  of  good  water.  Perseverance  o\ercame  these 
obstacles.  A  school  district  was  organized  in  1906,  a  church  and 
school  house  erected  and  home  building  was  recommenced.  Suc- 
cessful experiments  in  raising  alfalfa  and  vegetables  were  con- 
ducted, artesian  wells  were  sunk  and  a  sui)ply  of  water  obtained, 
this  not  sufficient,  however,  for  irrigation  purposes.  But  the  wells 
put  down  were  found  of  double  value.  Besides  water,  they  sup- 
]ilied  a  natiiral  gas  that  can  be  used  for  heating  and  lighting. 

The  colonists  have  increased  in  niuubers  and  umcli  activity  is 
shown  in  raising  vegetaliles.  Quite  a  Inisiness  has  been  established 
in  the  canning  of  tomatoes,  ]3eas,  etc.  The  raising  of  garden  seeds 
for  the  market  has  ]iroved  especially  profitable  and  it  has  been 
found  that  the  fine  silt  soil  is  peculiarly  adajited  to  the  production 
of  asparagus,  (uiions  and  other  vegetables.  The  colonists  have 
arranged  to  get  a  bountiful  suppl.\-  of  water  for  irrigating  purposes 
from  the  Smyrna  wells,  distant  a  few  miles  south. 

South  and  west  from  Alpaugh  nmch  work  is  being  done  in  the 
reclamation  of  submerged  lake  lands  by  the  construction  of  levees. 
Alpaugh  is  situated  eight  miles  south  and  west  from  Angiola.  The 
Santa  Fe  railroad  contemplates  tlie  building  of  a  spur  to  connect 
Alpaugh  with  the  main  line,  and  this,  it  is  believed,  will  not  be 
delayed,  as  shipments  fully  warrant   it. 

TAGUS 

AVliile  the  name  Tagus,  a])plied  to  the  switch  on  the  Soiithern 
Pacific  track  about  midway  between  Goshen  and  Tulare,  is  not 
worthy  of  mention,  the  neighlioring  country,  or  Tagus  district,  is. 
The  Tagus  ranch  of  several  thousand  acres  devoted  to  dairying, 
alfalfa  and  grain  farming  has  ])roven  exce])tionally  in-ofitable,  espe- 
cially since  the  experiment  on  it  of  raising  sugar  beets.  Of  neces- 
sity cultivation  for  this  purpose  was  very  deep  and  thorough  and 
crops   since   have  been   extraordinarily   large.      The   neighborhood   is 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIPIS  55 

almost  exohisively  devoted  to  alfalfa  aud  dairying.  Probably  no 
district  in  the  county  delivers  more  butter  fat  to  the  creameries  in 
proportion  to  its  area  than  the  Tagus  section. 

GOSHEN 

The  town  of  Goshen,  seven  miles  west  of  Visalia,  dates  its  his- 
tory from  the  com])letion  of  the  railroad  to  that  point,  in  May,  1872 
Here  the  contemplated  branch  of  the  Southern  Pacific  from  San 
Francisco  by  way  of  Gilroy,  Tres  Pinos  and  Huron,  was  to  join 
the  line  of  the  Central  Pacific,  proceeding  from  Stockton  south.  A 
passenger  and  a  freight  dejiot  was  built,  large  numbers  of  lots  sold, 
and  it  was  thouglit  that  l>efore  many  years  Goshen  would  become 
an  important  city. 

The  construction,  in  l!S7-i-,  of  the  X'isalia-Goshen  railway  insjjired 
renewed  hopes  in  the  future  of  the  town  as  a  great  railway  center. 
In  1876  work  was  conunenced  on  the  westerly  branch,  running 
through  the  Mussel  Slough  country,  and  supposed  to  make  connec- 
tions at  Tres  Pinos.     This  road  got  as  far  as  Alcalde  only. 

However,  Goshen  did  become  the  railroad  center  of  the  county 
and  of  the  San  Joaquin  valley.  Geographically,  it  is  admirably 
situated,  lying  midway  between  San  Francisco  and  Los  Angeles, 
within  touching  distance  on  the  one  hand  of  Visalia  and  Exeter 
and  on  the  other  with  TTanford  and  Coalinga.  Surrounding  it  lie 
extensive  tracts,  suitable  for  fruit,  vines  or  alfalfa.  Several  produc- 
tive and  lucrative  orchards  and  vineyards  in  the  vicinity  attest  the 
adaptability  of  the  soil. 

Notwithstanding  these  apparent  advantages,  Goshen  still  re- 
mains a  small  village.  The  cause  of  this  failure  to  grow  lies  no 
(loul)t  in  the  fact  that  the  soil  surrounding  the  de])ot  is  alkaline  in 
character  and  Tinfavora1)ly  impresses  home-seekers  looking  from  the 
windows  of  a  car. 

A  few  years  ago  Goshen  was  made  a  sub-station  on  the  Asso- 
ciated Oil  Company's  ])ipe  line.  A  numlier  of  neat  cottages  for  the  use 
of  emi)loyes  were  erected  and  these,  while  situated  in  the  cjuestion- 
able  soil  spoken  of,  are  now  surrounded  by  lawns  and  gardens 
creditable  to  any  locality. 

Within  the  last  few  years  the  exceedingly  fertile  character  of 
Goshen  lands  has  become  known  to  many  investors.  Orchards  and 
vineyards  have  been  planted  on  a  considerable  scale  and  it  is  be- 
lieved that  rapid  and  at  the  same  time  .solid  and  substantial  growth 
awaits  the  village  kept   so  long  dormant. 

PAIGE 

Paige  is  the  name  of  a  station  on  the  Santa  Fe,  west  from 
Tulare.     It   is   the   dei)ot   for   the   large   settlement    that    is   growing 


56  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

up  oil  and  aroimd  the  great  Paige  &  Morton  ranch,  which  once 
claimed  the  largest  vineyard  in  the  world,  besides  having  extensive 
orchards  and  grain  lands.  A  considerable  part  of  it  has  in  the  past 
few  years  been  sold  in  small  holdings.  Thus  an  important  settle- 
ment is  being  made  there,  and  the  surrounding  country  is  rapidly 
becoming  a  great  dairy  section. 

AXGIOLA 

Angiola  dates  its  history  from  the  coming  of  the  Santa  Fe 
railroad.  It  is  in  the  lake  region  on  the  main  line  of  the  railroad 
running  south  from  Hanford  to  Bakersfield.  It  is  an  important 
place  now  for  supplying  the  rapidly  growing  lake  country.  It  is  in 
the  artesian  belt,  and  the  surrounding  country  is  very  fertile.  The 
greater  part  of  the  soil  is  rich  silt,  capable  of  producing  all  kinds  of 
crops.  Grain  and  alfalfa  predominate,  although  a  considerable  acre- 
age is  being  used  for  beet  raising.  The  large  sugar  factory  at  Cor- 
coran is  largely  dependent  upon  the  lake  lands  for  the  supply 
of  beets. 

YETTEM 

Lying  north  of  Visalia  about  sixteen  miles  is  a  rich  farming 
district  formerly  known  as  Churchill.  It  is  along  the  base  of  the 
low  foothills  and  has  an  exceptionally  ricli  soil  and  comparative 
freedom  from  frosts.  A  few  years  ago  a  colony  of  Armenians 
bought  property  here  and  jjut  out  vineyards  and  orchards.  From 
the  fine  gardens  and  rapid  growth  of  tree  and  vine  the  Armenians 
named  the  settlement  Yettem,  "Garden  of  Eden."  There  is  now  a 
general  store,  a  school  and  a  fine  church  as  the  nucleus  of  a  town, 
lying  about  a  mile  east  of  the  line  of  the  Santa  Fe.  The  station  now 
called  Yettem  was  formerly  called  Lowell. 

PLANO 

The  town  of  Piano  might  well  be  called  South  Porterville.  as  it 
lies  south  of  that  town  and  just  across  the  Tule  river.  The  name 
was  suggested  l)y  its  location  in  the  great,  beautiful  plain  sweeping 
down  from  the  foothills  of  the  Sierras  and  extending  out  westward! y. 
This  ]ilain  is  one  of  the  fairest,  and  the  elegant  homes  that  have 
been  made  here  and  that  still  are  being  established  receive  an 
additional  charm  from  the  grand  view  of  the  snow-capi>ed  Sierras 
to  the  east. 

Being  on  the  main  stage  road  leading  from  Visalia  to  Los 
Angeles,  and  to  the  Kern  river  and  Owens  valley  mining  districts,  it 
was  in  early  times  a  stage  station.  William  Thompson  was  its  first 
pioneer  merchant  and  postmaster.  Dr.  F.  A.  Johnson  was  its 
earliest  physician.  Here  it  was  that  the  first  oranges  in  Tulare 
county  were  raised.     As  noted  elsewhere.  D.   Gibbons  here  planted 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  57 

a  few  trees  in  his  yai'd,  and  some  of  them  are  still  bearing  fruit. 
It  is  now  yrown  to  he  a  great  orange  center,  with  pleasant  homes, 
schools,  churches,  etc.  As  a  suburlj  of  Porterville,  the  social  ad- 
vantages incident  to  pojiulous  conunnnities  are  shared,  while  by  its 
separation  from  the  bustling  city  the  charm  of  suburban  life  remains 
unimpaired. 

THREE   EIVEKS 

Twenty-eight  miles  east  of  Visalia  at  the  junction  of  the  forks 
of  the  Kaweah  river  in  the  foothills,  lies  the  village  of  Three  Rivers. 
The  Three  Rivers  country  may  properly  be  considered  to  embrace 
the  territory  included  in  Three  Rivers  voting  precinct,  which  extends 
southerly  to  Yokohl,  westerly  to  Lemon  Cove,  northerly  to  Eshom 
and  easterly  to  Inyo  county,  an  area  of  twenty-one  townships. 

The  first  known  white  man  to  enter  this  section  was  Hale  D. 
Tharpe,  a  stockman,  who  came  in  the  fall  of  1858.  The  Works 
family,  William  Swauson  and  family,  John  Lovelace  and  family, 
Joseph  Palmer,  A.  Everton,  Ira  Blossom  and  family,  followed  soon 
after  and  were  the  pioneers  of  the  settlement. 

At  the  time  of  Mr.  Tharpe 's  arrival  Indians  in  the  vicinity 
were  very  numerous,  the  population  being  estimated  at  two  thou- 
sand. These  tribes  are  now  practically  extinct,  and  in  this  vicinity 
not  one  remains.  The  progress  of  the  settlement  was  very  slow, 
there  being  practically  no  immigration  until  1878,  when  the  gold 
excitement  at  Mineral  King  took  place.  The  mining  activities  at 
Mineral  King  and  the  construction  of  a  road  to  that  ])lace  caused 
a  temporary  influx  of  residents,  but  the  mining  excitement  dying 
down,  the  population   remained  practically   as  before. 

In  lS8r)  the  Kaweah  Co-ojjcrative  Colony  made  this  their  base 
of  oi)erations,  establishing  a  village  on  the  north  fork  of  the  Kaweah. 
These  colonists  commenced  the  construction  of  a  road  to  the  (iiant 
Forest  and  completed  about  twenty  miles  of  it.  This  project  was 
abandoned  in  18i)(),  most  of  the  colonists  leaving  the  county.  Quite 
a  number,  however,  remained  and  have  materially  aided  in  the 
development  of  the  district.  Settlement  has  slowly  but  steadily 
increased  until  the  present  pojiulation  numbers  six  hundred  and 
fifteen. 

In  1878  a  postoffice  was  established  at  Three  Rivers;  in  1892  at 
Kaweah,  on  the  north  fork;  in  1905  at  Hammond,  on  the  main  river, 
and  in  1907  at  Ranger  (Giant  Forest). 

Britten  Brothers,  in  1897,  opened  a  general  merchandise  store 
and  in  1910,  the  Rivei-  Iim  (*omi)any,  in  connection  with  a  hotel 
situated  at  the  junction  of  the  north  fork,  installed  anothei-.  In  1899 
the  Mt.  Whitney  Power  Company  ]mt  in  a  large  ])ower  plant,  in 
1905  a  scM'ojid  was  installed  and  at  the  present  writing  a  thii'd  and  a 


58  TULAKE  AXD  KINGS  COUNTIES 

fourth  are  in  coui-jse  of  coustnictioii.  There  are  two  good  scliools,  a 
public  liall,  two  blacksmith  shops.  Au  extensive  telephone  system 
owned  by  tlie  coiiiniiHiity  unites  the  iiUMiil)c'rs  of  this  widely  scattered 
settlement. 

In  early  days  the  sole  industry  of  the  section  was  stock  raisins,-, 
the  footliill  country  furnishing  an  almndance  of  s])rino-  feed  and  the 
mountain   ranges   contril)uting  the   summer   supply. 

In  the  early  '70s,  Joe  Palmer  carried  in  on  his  back  a  few  a])ph' 
trees  and  became  the  jiioneer  of  an  industry  that  now  adds  a  con- 
siderable (juota  to  the  jirosperity  of  the  region.  Apples  were  found 
to  do  exceedingly  well  and  numerous  orchards  now  dot  not  only  the 
river  bottom  lands  of  the  lower  sections,  but  are  successfully  grown 
as  far  up  as  the  jiine  belt  at  an  elevation  of  forty-five  hundred  feet. 

The  excellent  fishing  and  hunting,  the  climatic  advantages 
and  the  scenic  wonders  of  the  higher  Sierras,  bring  through  Three 
Rivers  each  year  an  increasing  number  of  tourists  and  sjiortsnien 
and  outfitting  and  catering  to  these  has  become  an  important  branch 
of  business  here. 

A    TALE    OF    INDIAX    TROUBLE    AT    THREE    RIVERS    IN    EARLY    D.W'S. 

In  May,  1857,  the  Works  and  Pemberton  families  had  sold  a 
herd  of  cattle  and  had  considerable  money.  A  few  days  after  the 
sale  transaction  a  band  of  some  eighty  or  ninety  Indians  came  over 
from  the  Owens  Kiver  valley  and  established  camp  just  across 
the  Kaweah  river  from  the  Works'  house.  Many  of  the  Indians 
bore  firearms,  and  amongst  them  was  one  man  that  had  recently 
killed  a  white  man  on  the  Owens  river  without  cause  or  provocation, 
and  was  wearing  the  dead  man's  clothes  at  the  time.  On  the  25th 
of  the  month,  when  the  men  settlers  were  away  looking  after  their 
stock,  a  portion  of  the  Indians  looted  the  premises  of  Pemberton 
and  Works.  When  the  men  returned  home  and  saw  what  had 
transiiired.  Joseph  Palmer,  H.  Works  and  Pemljerton  immediately 
started  out  for  the  camp  of  the  Indians  to  adjust  matters.  While 
enroute  to  the  Indian  camp  they  met  six  Indians  and  told  them  of  the 
depredations  they  had  committed.  Immediately  the  Indian  that  had 
killed  the  man  at  Owens  river  made  an  attem])t  to  draw  a  ])istol. 
whereuijon  Jose]>h  Palmer  struck  the  Indian  u))on  the  head  with  his 
gun,  instantly  killing  him.  Following,  several  shots  were  fired  at 
close  range  from  both  sides  in  which  three  or  four  Indians  were 
killed,  and  the  whites  not  injured.  The  Indians  all  left  the  c(uintry 
the  same  evening,  after  which  the  dead  Indians  were  all  l)urie(l  by 
the  whites. 

This  was  the  first,  last,  and  onlv  trouble  with  the  Indians. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  59 

SPRINGVILLE 

Among  the  lianilets  which  of  recent  years  liave  attracted  unusual 
attention  among  residents  of  the  southern  end  of  the  county  as 
well  as  among  visiting  prospective  settlers  is  the  town  of  Spring- 
ville,  situated  about  sixteen  miles  eastward  from  Porterville  at  an 
elevation  of  1072  feet. 

The  village  lies  near  the  Tulc  I'iver,  below  the  junction  of  the 
north  fork  with  the  main  channel,  and  takes  its  name  from  a  sjilendid 
soda  si)ring  found  there,  the  waters  of  which  are  noted  for  their 
agreeable  taste  and  for  their  cui'ative  properties.  The  town  is 
frequently  referred  to  as  the  "Gateway  to  the  Sierras,"  as  from 
it  diverge  roads  and  trails  reaching  many  mountain  jioints  of  interest. 
Its  chief  fame,  however,  rests  u]5on  the  superb  quality  of  apples 
grown  in  the  neighborhood.  These  have  taken  i)rizes  wh.erever 
exhibited  and  their  jiroduction  has  become  extensive.  Oranges  are 
also  largely  grown  and  with  success,  comparative  freedom  from 
fi'osts   being  enjoyed. 

Oi'iginally  the  town  was  named  Daunt,  from  William  G.  Daunt, 
a  ])ioneer  settler  who  opened  a  store  during  tlie  '6()s.  The  origin 
of  the  ])resent  village,  however,  dates  from  1889,  when  A.  M.  Ooburn, 
a  lumberman  operating  a  mill  in  the  mountains,  purchased  a  tract 
of  land  originally  taken  uj)  l)y  John  Crabtree,  and  set  aside  eighteen 
acres  as  a  townsite. 

The  prospective  value  of  the  springs  was  one  of  the  inducements 
for  purchasers  of  the  lots,  and  the  town  to  be  was  given  the  name 
Soda  Springs.  A  school  house  and  a  building  intended  to  be  used 
as  a  sanitarium  were  the  only  structures  on  the  land.  The  vision 
of  a  famous  "spa"  did  not  materialize,  but  as  Mr.  Ooburn  built  a 
box  factory  and  planing  mill  and  sold  lots  and  lumber  on  easy  terms 
to  his  employees,  a  number  of  houses  were  built  and  a  nucleus  of  a 
town  started.  The  "sanitarium"  was  converted  into  a  hotel  and 
later  torn  down  for  the  erection  of  the  present  Springville  hotel. 

The  postoffice  was  at  Mr.  Daunt 's  place,  nearly  a  mile  down 
the  river.  Originally  mail  had  been  brought  from  Visalia  twice  a 
week,  Charles  Lawless  being  the  carrier.  Later  it  was  sent  from 
Tulai'e  by  way  of  AVoodvillc,  Porterville  and  Piano.  On  the  com- 
pletion of  the  railroad  to  Poilerville  a  daily  mail  by  stage  from  that 
l)lace  was  established. 

In  1890  Mr.  Cobuni  bought  out  Mr.  Daunt 's  store  and  moved  it 
and  the  postoffice  to  the  present  site.  The  name  "Daunt"  for  the 
postottice  was  continued  for  several  years  by  reason  of  the  fad  tliat 
there  was  a  Springville  postoffice  in  Ventura  county.  This  latter 
having  lapsed,  the  name  "Springville"  applies  now  to  the  postoffice 
as  well   as  the  town. 


60  TULARIO  AND  KIXGS  C()l'X'lMi:S 

."\1INEKAL     KING 

Sixty  miles  east  of  Visalia,  reached  via  I^cinon  Cove  and  Three 
Rivers,  at  the  soiiree  of  the  east  fork  of  the  ixaweah  river,  lies  the 
mouutain  valley,  Mineral  King.  Here,  at  an  altitude  of  eight  thou- 
sand feet,  the  summer  climate  is  cool  and  invigorating,  and  this, 
together  with  the  numerous  nearby  scenic  attractions,  the  abundant 
wild  feed,  the  good  fishing  and  its  position  as  the  furthermost  moun- 
tain ])oiut  accessible  to  wagons,  has  caused  it  to  become  a  resort 
visited  in  summer  by  multitudes  of  people. 

Saw  Tooth,  a  peak  of  thirteen  thousand  feet,  towers  directly 
above.  J^'rom  its  summit  a  Avonderful  view  of  towering  peaks, 
divides,  declivities  and  nestling  lakes  are  obtained.  Monarch  lake 
and  Eagle  lake  lie  close  to  camp  and  are  readily  visited.  Soda  and 
other  mineral  s])rings  abound. 

The  valley  heads  at  Farewell  Gap,  a  pass  of  10,600  feet  elevation 
dividing  the  waters  of  the  Kaweah  from  those  of  the  Little  Kern. 
Over  it  pass  the  trails  leading  to  Trout  Meadows,  to  Kern  Lakes, 
to  Mt.  Whitney  and  to  Inyo  county.  There  are  also  trails  leading 
from  Mineral  King  to  the  Giant  Forest  over  Timber  Gap,  to  the 
Hockett  Meadows  over  Tar  Gap,  as  well  as  one  leading  directly  to 
Kern  Lakes. 

Many  people  from  the  valley  have  built  cabins  and  have  a  per 
manent   summer  camp  here.     There  is  a  stable   summer  population 
of    aliout    two    hundred,    and    the    total    number    of    visitors,    yearly 
increasing,  is  over  one  thousand.     There  is  a  store,  postoffice  and 
a  telephone  line  to  the  valley. 

But  time  was  when  the  activities  here  were  of  an  entirely 
different  nature.  Gold  was  discovered  here  in  the  early  '70s  and 
hundreds  of  miners  flocked  to  the  scene.  The  Mineral  King  Mining 
District  was  formed  and  locations  and  transfers  filed  under  the 
Federal  laws.  A  town  of  about  five  hundred  inhabitants  sprung 
up  and  was  named  Beulah.  Stamp  and  saw  mills  were  erected.  A 
road  from  Three  Rivers,  passing  over  a  veiy  difficult  territory,  was 
built  at  an  exjienditure  of  about  $100,000.  At  one  time  daily  stages 
from  Msalia  made  the  entire  distance  in  one  day. 

A  clear  idea  of  the  glory  of  Beulah  in  1S7i).  the  year  which 
marked  its  greatest  prosperity,  may  be  gained  liy  the  following,  from 
.the  pen  of  Judge  W.  B.  Wallace: 

"Ex-Senator  Fowler  had  purchased  the  Empire  mine  and  with 
characteristic  energy  was  completing  the  road,  erecting  a  (|uartz 
mill  and  tramway,  and  driving  a  long  tunnel  into  the  mountain. 
Things  were  moving  that  year.  A  sawmill  was  in  operation  and 
cabins  were  going  u])  in  all  directions.  An  assay  office  was  estab- 
lished and  mines  weie  located  bv  the  hundreds. 


TULAK1-:  AXl)KlX(iS  CUUXTIKS  61 

"The  X.  K.  Tunnel  and  Smelting  Company  was  incorporated 
in  1875.  anotlier  was  or,i;anized  in  1876,  and  the  White  Chief  (xold 
and  Silver  Mining  C'ompany  was  called  into  being  in  1880.  But  the 
year  1879  was  the  most  fruitful  in  the  production  of  these  artificial 
persons  for  that  camp.  That  year  ten  companies  were  organized 
with  an  aggregate  capital  stock  which  would  put  to  shame  that  little 
kerosene  side  issue  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company.     «     *     * 

"At  the  general  election  held  in  1879,  the  candidates  for 
lieutenant  governor  and  chief  justice  of  the  supreme  court  received 
one  hundred  thirt.v-seven  votes  for  each  office  and  the  candidates 
for  superior  judge,  assemblyman  and  district  attorney  received  one 
hundred  thirty-six  votes  in  Mineral  King. 

"There  were  ten  and  perhaps  twelve  places  where  intoxicating 
licjuors  were  sold,  and  events  ]n-oved  that  the  recorder,  who  received 
$5  for  recording  every  location  notice,  and  the  saloon  men  worked 
the  only  paying  mines.  But  there  was  very  little  riotousuess  and 
disorder.  There  were  no  such  essentially  bad  men  there  as  are 
iisually  found  in  new  mining  camps,  with  notched  pistol  handle.'^  and 
private  burying  grounds  to  which  they  could  point  with  blood- 
curdling suggestions.  There  was  but  one  shooting  affray  that  I 
recall.  It  grew  out  of  a  dispute  over  the  right  to  the  possession  of 
a  small  tract  of  land.  One  of  the  particiitants  received  a  slight 
wound.     *     *     * 

"There  are  but  two  graves  in  Mineral  King.  In  the  late  '70s, 
early  in  the  sjiring,  one  of  the  newcomers  went  to  Redwood  Meadow 
on  foot,  taking  no  provisions  with  him.  A  snow  storm  came  on 
which  fenced  him  in.  In  two  or  three  days  he  started  to  return, 
crossed  Timber  (iaji  and  struggled  through  the  snow  until  within  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  camj).  He  called  for  help  and  was  heard, 
but  his  voice  was  not  recognized  as  that  of  a  human  being  and  the 
next  morning  his  frozen  body  was  found  where  he  had  evidently 
sat  down,  exhausted,  and  after  vainly  calling  had  given  up  the 
struggle. 

"When  John  Heinlen  was  prospecting  the  White  Ch.ief  mine, 
two  of  his  miners  were  carried  down  the  mountainside  and  buried  in 
an  ;ivalanche  of  snow.  One  was  found  and  dug  out  alive,  Imt  the 
l)ii(Iy  (if  the  other  was  not  recovered  until   the  spring  thaw. 

"In  the  early  days  Orlando  Barton  was  the  X^estor  of  the 
camp,  having  the  most  extended  and  varied  fund  of  knowledge.  James 
Maukins  and  John  (/i-abtree  were  ])erliaps  the  best  prospectors. 
John  Meadows  was  the  most  enthusiastic  and  conhdent  of  the  early 
locators,  rating  his  jiossessions  worth  a  million  dollars.  lie  was  a 
farmer,  a  stockraisei-,  a  miner,  a  preacher,  and  a  fighter,  hut  withal 
a   l)i'a\'e.  honest  and  conscientious  man. 

"J.  T.  Trauger,  who  came  in  for  the  X^ew  England  Company  as 


62  TULARE  AND  KINGS  C'UL'NTIES 

its  superintendent,  and  the  last  recorder  of  the  district,  was  known 
to  all  and  was  a  favorite  in  the  district.  His  wife  was  foi-  yeais 
the  jj:ood  angel  of  the  camp,  wliose  cheerful  disposition,  sterling 
(|ualiiies  and  strength  of  character  won  for  her  the  respect  and 
admiration  of  all  the  curiously  assorted  denizens  of  the  district. 
The  trail  was  never  too  rough,  nor  the  night  too  dark  to  keejj  her 
from  the  hedside  of  the  suffering  miner  whose  cry  of  distress  was 
heard,  whether  stricken  hy  sickness,  crushed  in  an  a^•alanche  of 
snow  or  mangled  hy  an  untimely  hlast. 

"Politicians  early  discovered  the  necessity  of  winning  the 
Mineral  King  voters,  and  several  political  meetings  were  held  there 
when  local  orators  avowed  in  various  forms  their  willingness  to 
forego  many  personal  i)leasures  that  they  might   serve  the  country. 

"Itinerant  ministers  also  preached  to  the  assemhled  people,  not 
from  great  cathedrals  decorated  with  luiintings  of  the  old  masters, 
nor  accompanied  by  the  nmsic  of  grand  organs,  but  in  those  groves 
whicli  were  God's  first  temples,  where  swaying  pine  and  mountain 
streams  made  music,  under  a  great  dome  ])ainted  by  the  Master's 
hand,  set  with  a  thousand  gems  and  softly  lighted  by  the  moon's  pale 
beams,  and  where  all  nature  joined  in  anthems  of  praise. 

"Mineral  King  was  a  silver  camp  and  many  of  the  old  pros- 
pectors were  actually  silverized.  In  white,  seamless  rock  they 
would  point  out  wire  silver  and  horn  silver.  They  named  the  lakes 
and  the  ledges  silver  and  saw  and  admired  the  silver  lining  to  every 
cloud.  The  very  word  had  such  a  fascination  for  them  that  they 
talked  in  soft,  silvery  tones.  They  pricked  up  their  ears  wlien 
silver  gray  foxes  were  alluded  to  and  stood  at  attention  when  the 
old  bear  hiraters  sj^ike  of  the  silver-tipped  grizzly,  and  as  they  lay 
down  at  night  and  gazed  at  the  full  orbed  moon,  they  viewed  it  as 
the  original  of  the  silver  dollar,  having  milled  edges  and  a  lettered 
flat  surface,  and  wondered  whether  what  they  had  looked  at  from 
infancy  as  the  man  in  the  moon  might  not  after  all  be  a  mint  im- 
pression of  the  American  eagle." 

But  the  mines  proved  but  the  graveyard  of  many  fortunes. 
Nothing  came  of  them  but  disaster  and  the  little  town  was  a])on- 
doned.  Many  of  the  homes  were  left  and  for  years  were  used  by 
peoi)le  who  went  u])  into  the  valley  for  a  suunuer  outing,  !)ut  the 
snows  anil  the  rains  have  destroyed  them  all. 

T RAVER 

Traver  was  founded  >\pril  8,  1884,  or  rather,  that  was  the  date 
when  town  lots  were  sold  at  auction.  The  town  owes  its  origin 
entirely  to  the  construction  of  the  '76  canal  and  is  tlie  only  place 
on  the  line  of  the  Southern  Pacific  railroad  not  originally  owned 
by    that    corporation.      However,    the    Southern    Pacilic    ol)taine(l    an 


TULARPJ  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  63 

interest  in  the  property  lu^'ore  they  would  consent  to  the  establish- 
ment of  a  depot  there. 

Traver  is  three  miles  south  of  Kings  river.  The  bottom  lands 
of  the  stream  are  exceedingly  fertile  and  capable  of  producing  every 
known  product  grown  in  California.  It  was  named  after  Charles 
Traver,  a  capitalist  of  Sacramento,  who  was  interested  in  the  '76 
canal  enterprise.  At  the  time  of  the  sale  of  lots,  excursions  were  run 
from  San  Francisco  and  from  Los  Angeles.  The  sales  on  April  8, 
188-1-,  aggregated  $65,000.  The  only  bouse  then  in  Traver  was  a 
small  structure  that  had  been  moved  from  Cross  Creeks,  and  occu- 
pied l)y  Kitchener  &  Co.  as  a  store.  Buildings  were  soon  erected 
and  a  thriving  town  ensued.  Traver  has  suffered  greatly  from  fires, 
but  is  still  a  thriving  place,  and  center  of  a  valuable  farming,  fruit 
raising  and  dairying  section.  Fine  schools,  lodges  and  churches  are 
supplied. 

HOCKETT    MEADOWS 

The  Ilockett  meadows,  containing  about  one  hundred  sixty 
acres  of  land  lying  on  the  plateau  region  near  the  head  waters  of 
the  south  fork  of  the  Kaweah,  are  desirable  camping  ])laces.  The 
elevation  is  about  eighty-five  hundred  feet  and  in  consequence  the 
climate  during  the  sunnner  is  cool  and  bracing.  There  is  the 
greatest  abundance  of  feed,  botli  here  and  in  all  the  surrounding 
country.  Lake  Evelyn,  one  of  the  nuist  beautiful  of  mountain  lakes, 
is  distant  about  three  miles.  There  is  excellent  trout  fishing  in 
Hockett  meadow  creek,  in  Horse  creek,  one  and  one-half  miles  away, 
and  in  the  waters  of  the  south  fork,  two  miles  away. 

The  park  line  is  distant  but  a  mile  and  a  half,  so  that  hunting 
for  deer,  which  are  here  numerous,  is  within  easy  reach.  There 
are  trails  to  Mineral  King  and  to  Little  Kern  river,  each  distant 
aliout  eight  miles. 

REDBANKS 

Redlianks,  the  terminal  station  of  the  Visalia  electric  road,  is 
situated  about  fifteen  miles  northwest  of  Msalia,  and  takes  its  name 
froin  the  i)roi)erties  of  the  Redbanks  Orchard  Company,  which 
adjoin. 

This  orchard,  one  of  the  lai'gcst  in  the  county  and  the  only 
one  devoted  exclusively  to  the  ])roduction  of  deciduous  fruits  for 
the  eastern  market,  is  located  on  the  siiur  of  hill  known  as  Colvin's 
Point.  Pi'obably  no  part  of  Tulare  county  more  vividly  sets  forth 
tlic  rapid  change  from  i)arched  pasture  lands  to  green  gardens  and 
prodndive  orchards.  This  orchard  venture  of  some  thirteen  hun- 
dred jiiid  fifty  acres  had  its  inception  in  190-!-,  when  P.  ^l.  Haier,  Dr. 
W.  W.  S(|uires  and  Charles  Joannes  purchased  a  considerable  acre- 
age, since  adding  to   it.     INfr.  P>aier,   formerly  manager  for  the    Earl 


64  TULAKE  AXD  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Fruit  Company,  and  a  man  of  the  widest  knowledge  of  deciduous 
finiit  growing  and  marketing,  liad  become  convinced  by  observation 
of  vegetable  growth  in  the  \'iciuity,  that  here  was  a  remarka1)!y  early 
section,  the  products  of  wliicli  sliould  bring  extremely  high  ]irices  in 
the  eastern  market. 

No  care  or  expense  has  been  spared  on  the  orchard  and  the 
result  has  exceeded  expectations.  Carloads  of  several  varieties  of 
fruits  and  table  grapes  are  now  shipped  from  here  each  season 
several  days  in  advance  of  consignments  forwarded  from  any  other 
])oint  in  the  state. 

WHITE   EIVER 

White  Kiver,  situated  near  the  junction  of  the  middle  and  south 
forks  of  "White  river,  about  twenty-six  miles  southeast  of  Piano, 
arrived  at  early  fame  through  the  discovery  here  by  D.  B.  James, 
of  gold.  This  was  followed  by  a  wild  stampede  of  miners  and  a 
typical  early  day  mining  town  called  "Tailholt,"  sprang  up  at  once. 
Stores  and  shops,  saloons,  dance  halls,  gambling  hoiTses,  stage 
station,  a  quartz  mill  and  a  graveyard  became  necessary  to  supply 
the  needs  of  the  inhabitants  and  were  provided. 

Seven  men  were  soon  "planted"  in  the  last  mentioned  place, 
all  dying  with  their  boots  on.  It  appears  that  each  of  these  was 
named  Dan,  but  history  is  silent  in  regard  to  why  the  bearing  of 
that  name  was  of  peculiar  hazard. 

In  addition  to  the  mining  conducted  in  the  vicinity,  tlie  town 
prospered  by  reason  of  being  on  the  route  to  the  Kern  and  Owens 
river  mining  districts.  It  became  the  source  of  supplies  to  thou- 
sands of  miners,  and  the  principal  town  in  the  southern  jiortion  of 
the  county. 

In  all  these  districts,  however,  while  considerable  gold  was  taken 
out,  there  ajipeared  to  be  no  large  deposits  of  the  precious  metal. 
Pockets,  while  rich,  soon  petered  out  and  the  glory  of  the  village 
lasted  but  a  few  years.  A  score  or  more  miners  remained  to  work 
claims  at  a  small  profit,  a  liusiness  whidi  continues  to  this  day. 

At  one  time  lumbering  developed  into  quite  an  industry  from 
the  saw  mills  operated  in  the  adjacent  pineries. 

Of  recent  years  stockraising  has  been  the  principal  source  of 
revenue  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  district,  althougli  the  citrus  belt 
is  extending  to  the  neighborhood  and  the  possibilities  of  ai)ple 
culture  afiford  })rospective  reasons  for  future  development. 

THE   GI.4NT   FOREST 

This,  the  largest  grove  of  giant  sequoias  in  the  ]nuk.  and  in  the 
world,  is  situated  at  an  altitude  of  from  six  to  seven  thousand  five 
hundred   feet,   on   a   plateau   lying  between   the   middle   and   ^larble 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  65 

forks  of  the  Kaweah  river,  at  a  distance  (by  road)  of  about  sixty 
miles  from  Visalia.  Tliere  are  within  it  over  iive  thousand  trees 
of  a  diameter  of  ten  feet  or  more,  together  witli  many  monsters 
whose  diameter  ranges  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet.  The  General 
Sherman  tree,  whose  circumference  six  feet  above  the  ground  is  one 
hundred  nine  feet,  is  considered  to  be  the  largest  in  the  world.  Its 
age  is  estimated  at  six  thousand  years.  Other  large  groves  are 
the  Dorst,  situated  in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  park,  and  Gar- 
field, lying  a  short  distance  southeast  of  the  Giant  Forest,  and  the 
Muir,  which  stands  on  the  south  side  of  the  south  fork  of  the 
Kaweah,  about  twenty  miles  above  Three  Rivers. 

The  Giant  Forest  was  discovered  by  Hale  Tharpe  in  the  early 
'60s,  and  named  by  John  Muir  in  1890. 

Camp  Sierra,  as  the  site  chosen  for  hotel  and  camp  grounds 
is  called,  is  delightfully  situated  alongside  a  little  meadow,  amidst 
groves  of  sequoias  and  firs. 

Among  the  nearby  points  of  interest  may  be  mentioned  the 
Marble  Falls,  nine  hundred  sixty  feet  in  height;  Admiration  Point, 
whence  precipices  of  two  thousand  feet  on  three  sides  confront ;  Sunset 
Rock,  affording  a  beautiful  open  view  of  the  valley,  and  Morro  Rock, 
a  monolith  eighteen  hundred  feet  in  vertical  heiglit,  which  overlooks 
the  canyon  of  the  middle  fork  of  the  Kaweah.  From  its  summit 
is  obtained  a  near  view  of  many  snow-covered  peaks,  ranging  from 
ten  to  fourteen  thousand  feet  in  height,  a  clear  view  of  the  Kaweah, 
almost  a  mile  below,  of  the  San  Joaquin  valley  beyond,  and  of  the 
coast  range  of  mountains,  visible  for  jierhaps  two  hundred  miles  of 
their  length. 

Then  there  are  the  beautiful  Twin  Lakes,  situated  at  an  altitude 
of  nearly  ten  thousand  feet,  distant  eleven  miles.  Flanked  at  oue 
side  1)>-  banks  of  almost  ]3erpetual  snow,  overlooked  by  precipitous 
bluffs  of  granite,  the  crystal  clear  waters  mirroring  i)erfectly  the 
bordering  rocks  and  tamarack  groves,  they  form  a  picture  that  lives 
long  in  memory. 

Kasy  to  visit  are  Log,  Crescent  and  Alta  meadows,  each  having 
its  peculiar  charms;  there  is  the  "house  tree,"  so  called  because 
in  it  Everton  lived  for  five  winters  while  engaged  in  trapping; 
Tharpe 's  log  cabin,  a  hollow  tree  fitted  with  doors  and  windows  and 
furnishings,  formerly  the  summer  home  of  Hale  Tliar]ie;  "chimney 
trees,"  hollow  from  grtnind  to  crown,  etc.,  etc. 

There  are  four  caves  in  the  ]>ark,  as  follows: 

Cloughs  cave,  situated  about  thirteen  miles  a1)o\e  Three  Rivers, 
on  the  south  fork  of  the  Kaweah  river,  was  discovered  by  William 
O.  Clough  in  1885.  Owing  to  its  ease  of  access  and  its  location  on  a 
main   route  of  tourist  travel,  it  is  visited  by  greater  numbers  than 


66  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

any  of  the  otliers. 

Palmers  cave,  discovered  by  Joe  Palmer,  is  situated  uear  Put- 
nam canyon  on  the  south  fork  of  the  Kaweah.  Owing  to  the  almost 
inaccessible  position  of  entrance,  it  has  never  been  explored. 

Paradise  cave  is  located  on  the  south  side  of  the  ridge  which 
separates  the  middle  and  the  east  forks  of  the  Kaweah  and  was 
discovered  in  1901  l)y  H.  R.  Harmon.  In  1906  it  was  ex]:)lored  by 
"Walter  Fry  and  C  W.  Blossom,  park  rangers,  and  officially  named. 

OROSI 

Due  west  from  Dinuba  six  miles  and  almost  directly  north  of 
Msalia  sixteen  miles  is  situated  the  flourishing  town  and  colony 
of  Orosi.  The  foothills  curve  around  the  section  immediately  north 
of  the  townsite,  a  great  deal  of  the  colony  lying  in  the  cove  thus 
formed. 

Prior  to  1890  grain  farming  was  ])ractically  the  only  industry. 
There  were  few  inhabitants.  By  reason  of  insufficient  rainfall 
crops  were  not  sure  and  there  was  no  material  iirogress.  The 
extension  of  the  Alta  Irrigation  district  to  this  section  and  the 
subdivision  of  the  lands  into  ten,  twenty  and  forty  acre  tracts 
rapidly  worked  a  marvelous  change,  and  the  district  now  is  thickly 
settled  and  solidly  planted  to  orchards  and  vineyards  in  small 
lioldings.  The  avenues  which  criss-cross  the  tracts  are  well-kept, 
many  of  these  are  bordered  by  fig,  almond,  or  other  fruit  trees  of 
a  different  kind  from  that  to  which  the  orchard  is  set,  and  as  fences 
have  generally  been  removed  ])oth  from  the  roadside  and  boundary 
lines,  a  very  unique  and  pleasing  effect  is  produced. 

In  1890  or  1891,  at  the  same  time  as  the  heavy  initial  planting 
of  grapes  and  ]>eaches,  several  small  orange  orchards  were  set.  These 
duly  came  into  bearing  and  demonstrated  the  adaptability  of  the 
Orosi  country  for  oranges.  (j)uite  recently  large  acreages  in  the 
vicinity  have  been  planted  to  this  fruit  and  there  have  been  heavy 
purchases  of  land  lying  in  adjoining  coves  for  this  pur^iose. 

The  town  of  Orosi  maintains  three  general  mei'chaudise  stores, 
many  shops,  two  banks,  handsome  school  buildings  for  both  grammar 
and  high  school  grades,  a  hotel  and  branch  library. 

It  was  quite  a  disappointment  to  the  citizens  of  Orosi  when 
the  Santa  Fe  passed  the  town  by  leaving  it  a  mile  and  a  half  from 
Cutler,  the  nearest  station.  The  town  and  colony  continued  to  grow, 
however,  and  it  is  now  confidently  believed  by  the  residents  that  the 
"Tide  Water  and  Southern"  will  be  extended  to  pass  through 
Orosi. 

NARAN.TO 

The  name  Xaranjo  (Spanish  for  orange  tree)  is  given  to  the 
citrus  district   lying  along  the  foothills   north   of  Lemon   Cove   and 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  67 

across  tlie  Kaweali  rive'r.  It  was  tlie  first  section  north  of  the  river 
to  be  set  to  fruit  and  is  now  a  lieavy  producer  of  oranges  and 
grape  fruit.  The  orcliardists  liave  their  own  packing  house  and  are 
served  by  tlie  Visalia  electric  railroad.  There  is  a  store  and  ])Ost- 
office.    "Westward,  Naranjo  merges  into  the  newer  Woodlake  district. 

MONSON 

Situated  on  the  Soutliern  Pacific's  east  side  line  and  lying  north 
of  \'isalia  and  southward  from  Diiiul)a  is  a  sniall  village  with  one 
general  merchandise  store,  a  few  shops,  etc. 

It  is  quite  an  important  watermelon  shipping  point.  Farming 
and  dairying  are  the  principal  occupations  of  the  neighborhood  on 
the  south,  and  raisin  growing  and  deciduous  fruit  culture  on  the 
north. 

ORIOLE    LODGE 

Some  fourteen  miles  above  Three  Rivers  on  tlie  northern  flank 
of  the  east  fork  of  the  Kaweah,  nestles  beaneath  the  ])ines  a  lovely 
mountain  tarn  called  Oriole  lake.  Its  outlet  forms  a  picturesque 
little  stream  which  abounds  in  trout. 

Near  the  lake  is  quite  a  bit  of  comparatively  level  land  origin- 
ally the  homestead  location  of  "Uncle  Dan"  Highton.  The  location 
possessed  such  natural  advantages  for  a  delightful  summer  resort 
that  a  number  of  local  residents,  under  the  leadership  of  A.  G. 
Ogilvie,  formed,  in  1910,  a  stock  com|:)any,  purchased  a  site  and  are 
at  present  engaged  in  the  erection  thereon  of  artistic  bungalows  and 
other  eipiipment.  They  have  installed  a  sawmill  and  are  cutting 
the  material  on  the  ground.  The  new  road  to  Mineral  King,  soon 
to  be  comijleted,  will  render  the  place  easy  of  access. 

VENICE 

The  town  of  Woodville  had,  in  1S57,  dwindled  to  almost  nothing, 
when  its  revival  was  attenqjted  by  1).  B.  James  under  the  name  of 
Venice.  The  new  town  was  not  to  be  on  the  site  of  the  old,  but 
further  north  near  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  Venice  hills,  and 
on  the  north  side  of  the  St.  John  river.  At  that  time  the  St.  Jolm 
river  extended  but  a  short  distance  further  west,  there  sinking  into 
a  swamp. 

By  reason  of  the  fact  that  in  hauling  freight  from  Stockton 
to  Visalia,  in  order  to  avoid  bogs  and  swamps,  it  was  preferable 
to  travel  by  this  route  to  Visalia,  the  new  town  grew  and  prospered. 
In  addition  to  James'  store  and  postoffice  there  came  to  be  a 
saloon,  boarding  liouse,  blacksmith  shoji,  chair  factory,  distillery, 
Imtcher  shop  and  billiard  hall. 

In  the  flood  of  IHG'2,  however,  almost  the  whole  of  the  town  was 
destroyed,  and  a  continuous  channel  was  opened  from  the  sink  of 
the  St.  John  to  Canoe  creek  and  thence  to  Cross  creek,  thus  forming 


68  TULAEP]  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

the  St.  ,I<)lm  river  of  today.  Just  below  tlio  site  of  the  town,  wliere 
the  cement  rock  formation  in  the  bed  of  the  river  Ijeeame  thinner,  a 
fall  eight  feet  in  height  was  formed.  During-  the  flood  of  '68  this 
fall  was  entirely  channeled  out,  and  the  stream  was  so  broadened 
as  to  occujiy  much  of  the  former  townsite. 

No  attempt  was  made  to  rebuild  the  town  and  the  settlement 
in  the  neighborhood  decreased  until  once  again  the  region  became 
almost  abandoned,  and  remained  so  until  very  recent  years,  when 
the  discovery  of  the  thermal  belt  lying  round  these  hills  has  placed 
growth  on  a  substantial  and  ]iermanent  basis,  and  Venice  Cove, 
still   further  north,  became  the  center  of  the  district's  population. 

KLINK 

Northwesterly  from  "^'enice  Cove,  on  the  Southern  Pacific  branch 
line,  is  the  station  of  Klink,  lying  between  Taurusa  on  the  north 
and  Kaweali  on  the  south.  For  many  years  it  was  only  a  spur  from 
which  occasional  shipments  of  wood  and  fruit  were  made.  The  suc- 
cess of  the  orange  groves  at  Venice  Cove  has  stimulated  planting 
in  the  similar  soil  abutting  the  railroad  near  Klink,  so  that  now 
quite  a  district  is  embraced  by  the  new  planting  of  the  neighborhood. 
A  general  store  has  been  established  and  it  is  exjiected  that  the 
railroad  company  will  soon  erect  a  suitable  depot  and  install  a 
regular  agent. 

WAUKENA 

About  ten  miles  southwestward  from  Tulare  City  was  a  noted 
stock  grazing  country  known  as  the  Crossmore  ranch.  Several 
years  ago  a  syndicate  of  Los  Angeles  capitalists  purchased  this 
ranch  of  twelve  thousand  acres  and  arranged  a  great  colony  scheme. 
The  lands  lie  in  the  artesian  belt,  and  there  are  a  number  of  flowing- 
wells.  Besides  dividing  the  lauds  up  so  as  to  be  sold  in  small  hold- 
ings, a  town  was  laid  out  with  broad  boulevards  and  parks.  The 
place — this  on-coming-  city — the  jiroprietors  named  Waukena,  the 
beautiful.  The  tracts  did  not  sell  as  readily  as  anticipated.  On 
the  comj^letion  of  the  Santa  Fe  railroad  from  Tulare  to  (^orcoran, 
passing-  through  the  tract,  a  depot  was  established,  and  a  small 
village  has  grown  u])  there.  The  soil  in  the  vicinity  is  well  adapted 
to  alfalfa  and  the  rapidly  develo])ing  dairy  industry  is-  making-  for 
the  increased  iirosperity  of  the  neighboi-hood. 

WOODLAKE 

Woodlake,  situated  some  fifteen  miles  northeasterly  from  ^^isalia, 
between  Naraujo  and  Kedbanks  and  near  the  north  shore  of  Bravo 
lake,  is  a  to-wn  whose  growth  during  the  three  or  four  years  of  its 
existence  has  been  so  phenomenal  as  to  merit  especial  mention. 

The  town  is  now  solidly  and  substantially  built,  having-  a  hand- 
some two-story  hotel  with  pressed  brick  front;   several  shops,  a  large 


Tl^.ARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  (59 

concrete  sai'ii."^''  «'  ii'eiifi'Ml  store,  a  new.spa])er,  a  l)aiik  aud  oilier 
features.  During'  the  present  year  an  auction  sale  of  town  lots  was 
held  and  (piite  lii.yli  prices  were  realized.  Cement  sidewalks  and 
graded  avenues  are  in  evidence  here  as  in  the  sulturlis  of  a  large 
city. 

Development  of  this  district  began  in  1907,  when  Jason  Barton, 
J.  W.  Fewell  aud  xVdolph  Sweet  ]>urchased  a  large  tract  on  the  east 
side  of  Cottonwood  creek,  in  Elder  and  Townsend  school  districts, 
and  situated  about  three  miles  north  of  Bravo  lake.  These  men 
commenced  extensive  development  work  with  the  view  to  selling  off 
tracts  for  colonists.  Abundant  water  was  foimd  and  cement  pipe 
built  and  laid  to  carry  it  to  the  sul)divisions.  A  consideral)le  acreage 
was  planted.  This  colony  was  called  Elderwood  and  a  store  and 
postoffice  of  that  name  was  established. 

Now  appeared  on  the  scene  Gilbert  Stevenson  of  Los  Angeles, 
a  man  of  means  and  of  great  enterprise  who,  greatly'  impressed  with 
the  showing  the  young  trees  had  made  in  growth  and  the  fact  that 
they  had  remained  untouched  by  frost,  purchased  a  large  tract  to 
the  southward,  started  a  colony  and  founded  a  town,  calling  it 
Woodlake.  The  two  districts,  which  merge  into  one  are  now  called 
by  this  name,  although  South  Woodlake  and  North  AVoodlake  are 
sometimes  heard. 

The  entire  section  has  developed  with  magical  rapidity  and  the 
brown  hills  that  a  few  years  ago  were  held  worthless  except  for 
a  scant  spring  ]iasturage  are  now  set  to  groves  and  handsome 
residences   are  l)uilding  in   great   number. 

CALIFORNI.'V   HOT   SPRINGS 

The  California  Hot  Springs,  formerly  known  as  the  Deer 
Creek  Hot  Springs,  were  long  used  by  the  Indians,  and  have  for 
many  years  been  a  favorite  cam]iing  sjiot  for  people  in  quest  of  game 
or  health. 

These  springs  are  located  about  thirty  miles  southeast  of  Porter- 
ville,  and  twenty-two  miles  from  Ducor.  The  springs  are  large 
streams  of  water,  clear  and  sparkling  and  hot,  gushing  out  of  the 
rocks.  Thousands  of  barrels  run  off  daily  into  Deer  creek.  The 
daily  flow  is  estimated  at  190,()(){)  gallons.  The  springs  are  in  the 
edge  of  the  ])ine  forest,  and  are  surrounded  by  groves  of  live  oak 
and  ])ine.     The  waters  are  highly  charged  with  minerals. 

Tlu'  lands  surrounding  the  springs  were  originally  taken  up 
by  the  Witt  fainilx-,  early  settlers  in  that  section  of  the  county.  In 
1898,  it  was  owned  l)y  T^  J.  and  N.  B.  Witt.  In  that  year  the  pro]i- 
erty  was  sold  to  L.  S.  Wingrove,  G.  K.  Pike  and  .1.  V.  Eirebaugh. 
These  men  were  fi'om  Lindsay  and  Exeter.  In  Ajn-il,  1!)()1,  Dr.  C.  E. 
Bernard  of  "N^isalia,  bought  out  the  I'irebaugh-Pike  interests,  and 
until   1904  condu<'1('(l   the   |)i-o])erty   under  the  name  of  Bernard   anil 


70  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

^Viugrove.  i)r.  Bernard  liaviiig  died,  liis  interest  was  in  I'JOo  pur- 
chased by  S.  Mitchell  of  Visalia,  and  J.  11.  Williams  of  Poi'terville. 
In  the  following'  June  tlie  owners  incorporated  under  the  name 
California  Hot  Springs,  Inc.  The  present  owners  are  Mrs.  p]dith  H. 
Williams,  of  San  Diego;  S.  Mitchell,  of  Visalia;  L.  S.  Wingrove  and 
Joseph  Mitchell  of  Hot  S^Drings. 

The  springs  are  far  and  widely  known  for  their  curative  prop- 
erties, especially  for  relief  from  rheumatic  troul)les,  and  a  host  of 
other  complaints.  Some  of  the  springs  have  a  temperature  of  one 
Imndred  and  thirty  degrees,  while  others  are  cold.  Tlie  waters  are 
used  for  drinking  and  bathing. 

The  springs  are  reached  by  stages  from  Porter\ille  or  Ducor, 
or  by  automobile  or  any  other  vehicle.  The  roads  are  kept  in  good 
condition.  Many  from  ^"isalia  make  the  trip  there  by  auto.  Lying 
back  in  the  mountains  are  tine  streams  for  trout  and  ranges  for  deer. 
Not  being  in  the  National  park,  hunting  is  a  luxury  in  which  one  may 
here  indulge. 

TEERA    BELLA 

Years  ago,  before  the  establishment  of  warehouses  in  various 
towns  on  the  east  side  of  Tulare  county,  Terra  Bella  was  the  largest 
wheat  shipping  point  in  the  state  of  California.  The  country  was 
farmed  in  immense  tracts,  whole  sections  being  included  in  a  single 
piece  of  grain.  The  homesteaders  had  found  this  virgin  stretch  of 
country,  but,  later,  many  had  deserted  it,  having  experienced  a  suc- 
cession of  "dry"  years,  several  in  number,  much  to  their  disap])oiut- 
ment.  Wheat  raising  continued  ])rofitable  in  good  years,  but  the 
possibilities  of  the  fertile  soil,  extending  for  nuiny  miles  in  every 
direction  from  the  station  at  Terra  Bella  (beautiful  earth),  appealed 
to  the  keen  insight  of  the  ])romoter,  who,  fortified  with  results  ob- 
tained in  a  small  way  Ity  citrus  ])lanters,  apjireciated  the  fact  that 
with  the  development  of  water  at  reasonable  cost,  the  entire  area 
could  be  transformed  into  profitable  orange  and  lemon  oi-chards. 

Accordingly,  the  subdivision  of  several  sections  of  land  in  and 
about  Terra  Bella  was  taken  up  three  years  ago  by  the  Terra  Bella 
Development  Company,  which  corporation  later  passed  from  the 
hands  of  P.  J.  S.  Montgomery  and  associates  to  a  coterie  of  wealthy 
Los  Angeles  men,  including  Marco  H.  llellman,  G.  A.  Hart,  W,  H. 
Holliday,  F.  C.  Ensign,  W.  A.  Francis,  and  others.  Since  that  time 
ra[)id  strides  have  been  made,  both  in  the  planting  and  imiirovement 
of  orange  groves  and  in  the  building  of  a  town,  modern  in  every 
respect, — the  pride  of  its  builders  and  the  envy  of  many  ambitious 
contemporaries. 

Several  thousand  acres  of  oranges  have  been  jdanted  in  the 
Terra  Bella  district  with  very  good  results,  and  the  jjlanting  is 
being   continued    every   year,    willi    many    new    residents    coming    in. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  71 

Terra  Bella  as  a  town  is,  for  its  age,  in  a  class  l)y  itself,  having 
graded  and  oiled  streets,  cement  walks  and  cnrbing,  circulating  water 
system,  septic  sewerage  system,  electric  power  and  Hglits,  telephone, 
a  fine  new  $15,000  grammar  school  building,  a  $30,000  two-story  brick 
hotel,  a  two-story  brick  business  block  erected  at  a  cost  of  $45,000, 
a  two-story  brick  structure  housing  the  First  National  Bank  of  Terra 
Bella,  a  growing  financial  institution  managed  by  T.  M.  (Ironen, 
cashier;  a  mission  style  passenger  station  on  the  Southern  Pacific, 
perhaps  the  handsomest  station  on  that  line  in  the  county;  a  weekly 
newspaper;  Wells  Fargo  express,  etc.  The  population  is  growing, 
and  indications  are  favorable  for  a  splendid  town.  Terra  Bella  is 
situated  about  eight  miles  southwest  of  Porterville  and  five  miles 
north  of  Ducor,  another  growing  town  in  the  new  citrus  belt  which 
is  also  being  transformed  from  wheat  fields  to  a  prosperous  little 
city. 

DUCOR    AND    RICHGEOVE 

The  town  of  Ducor  is  on  the  line  of  the  Southern  Pacific,  soi;th 
from  Terra  Bella  about  four  miles.  It  is  the  jioint  of  departure 
for  stages  to  the  California  Hot  Springs.  The  principal  improve- 
ment at  Ducor  at  this  time  is  the  construction  of  a  large  two-story 
brick  building,  in  whic-h  will  l^e  housed  the  First  National  Bank  of 
Ducor,  financed  by  leading  citizens  of  that  community.  A  fine  two- 
story  hotel  and  a  two-story  school  house  have  been  l)nilt,  street 
improvements  made,  two  churches  erected,  a  fine  ])ark  laid  out  and 
]ilanted  in  trees  and  shrubbery.  Numerous  fine  orange  groves  have 
lieen  set  out  in  the  A'icinity  of  Ducor,  with  more  planting  this  year, 
while  several  large  tracts  are  now  being  subdivided  for  sale  to  citrus 
l)lanters. 

Both  Terra  Bella  and  Ducor  are  wideawake  towns,  with  com- 
mercial organizations,  and  the  planted  area  will  demand  shortly 
the  construction  of  citrus  packing  houses  in  both  i)laces. 

South  of  Ducor,  in  Tulare  county,  is  another  rich  citrus  section, 
Richgrove,  where  extensive  improvements  are  being  made  by  the 
same  people  who  are  promoting  Terra  Bella.  Numerous  tracts  are 
being  set  in  orange  groves  this  spring. 

All  of  this  territory  has  the  benefit  of  reasonable  water  conditions 
for  irrigation,  thermal  climate  for  the  growing  of  citrus  fruits,  and 
olives,  good  transportation  and  power  facilities. 

There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  country  from  Terra 
Bella  south  to  Richgrove  will  be  one  of  the  most  productive  and 
most  prosperous  sections  in  the  early  orange  belt  of  Tulare  county. 

FARMERSVILLE 

Farmer.sville,  seven  miles  easterly  from  A'isalia,  is  next  to 
Visalia  the  oldest  settlement  in  the  county. 


72  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

The  early  settlers  naturally  made  their  homes  in  clearings 
along  the  creek  bottoms,  and  near  Outside  creek  and  Deep  creek 
farming  operations  commenced  in  the  early  '50s,  and  a  larger 
number  of  farmers  settled  in  this  vicinity  than  in  any  other. 

The  townsite  was  located  in  18()0  by  John  W.  Crowley,  and  a 
relative  named  Jasper  established  a  general  merchandise  store.  The 
overland  stage  passed  through  the  liurg  and  a  postoffice  was  located 
in  the  store.  T.  J.  Brundage  succeeded  as  manager  of  the  store  and 
as  postmaster  and  has  made  this  his  home  ever  since,  aiding  by 
every  means  in  his  power  all  enter]irises  tending  to  increase  the 
welfare  of  the  comnuinity.  One  of  his  sons  still  conducts  the  store 
and  is  lieavily  interested  in  farm  lands  and  active  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  surrounding  territory. 

The  first  great  factor  in  Parmersville's  prosperity  was  the 
construction  of  the  People's  ditch.  The  Consolidated  People's  Ditch 
Company  had  olitained  water  rights  dating  from  the  '(iOs,  and  early 
in  the  '70s  their  canal  throligh  this  section  was  completed.  At  the 
time  the  town  was  established,  thousands  of  acres  of  land  were  under 
irrigation,  and  the  vicinity  soon  became  known  as  one  of  the  choicest 
garden  spots  of  the  county. 

The  name  Farmersville  somehow  fits  the  place,  not  that  here 
are  more  farmers  than  elsewhere,  but  that  the  tyiiical  old-time  ])rod- 
ucts  of  the  farm,  such  as  corn  and  jiumpkins  and  i)otatoes  grow  to  a 
degree  of  size  and  ])erfection  seldom  obtained.  Chinese  gai'deners 
quickly  selected  the  locality  as  best  adapted  to  their  ])urpose  and  as 
soon  as  the  growth  of  the  other  communities  warranted,  established 
fine  vegetable  gardens  here,  distributing  the  product  over  a  wide 
territory. 

The  Briggs  orchard,  some  three  miles  west  of  Farmersville, 
was  the  first  extensive  one  in  the  county  to  come  into  bearing,  and 
its  first  crops  of  1888  and  1889  brought  such  a  phenomenal  return 
tliat  a  veritable  boom  in  deciduous  tree  planting  resulted. 

Pinkham  &  McKevitt,  large  fruit  packers  of  Vacaville,  with 
some  associates,  bought  and  set  out  the  Giant  Oak  and  California 
Prune  Company  orchards  of  several  hundred  acres  each;  scores  of 
individuals  planted  smaller  tracts  and  in  '91  A.  C.  Kuhn,  a  San  Jose 
dried  fruit  packer,  purchased  the  Arcadia  Eanch  of  about  one 
thousand  acres  and  set  the  same  to  fruit.  This  orchard  has  since 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  California  Fruit  Canners  Association, 
and  has  become  one  of  the  largest,  best  and  most  profitable  in  the 
state. 

Farmersville  has  lieconie  a  fruit  center  of  no  mean  proportion, 
hundreds  of  carloads  of  fruit  going  forward  annually  as  the  product 
of  its  groves.     The  Farmersville  prunes  have  come  to  be  recognized 


TULARE  AND  KTX(3S  C'()UNTIF]S  73 

by  dealers  as  of  superior  grade,  second  in  size  and  quality  to  none 
produced  in  the  San  Joaquin  valley. 

The  Visalia  electric  road,  which  i)asses  tlirough  this  section 
and  makes  stops  at  nearly  every  cross  roads,  as  well  as  at  Farmers- 
ville  proper,  is  a  great  convenience  to  the  residents.  One  section  of 
the  town  clusters  at  the  old  site  on  tlie  county  road,  where  are  the 
stores  and  sehoolhouse,  but  near  the  railroad  station,  altout  a  mile 
north,  another  village  nucleus  is  forming  which  soon,  no  doubt, 
will  recjuire  trading  facilities  of  its  own. 

CAMP    NELSON 

AI)ove  Springville  about  seventeen  miles,  between  the  south 
and  middle  forks  of  the  Tule  river,  at  an  elevation  of  aliout  4500 
feet  is  the  delightful  summer  resort  known  as  Nelsons.  At  present 
the  place  is  reached  by  a  ti-ail  about  eight  miles  in  length  connect- 
ing with  the  wagon  road  at  the  forks  of  the  river. 

While  the  retreat  is  surrounded  by  pines,  there  is  nmch  tillable 
land  and  berries,  vegetables  and  fruits  are  raised  to  perfection.  The 
meadow  land  grows  timothy  hay  and  there  is  quite  a  large  apple 
orchai'd.     At  this  elevation  the  summer  climate  is  cool  and  pleasant 

Not  alone  for  the  outing  pleasures  in  the  immediate  vicinity, 
however,  has  Nelsons  become  noteworthy.  By  reason  of  its  location 
on  the  route  to  the  Little  Kern,  Big  Kern,  Kern  Lakes,  Mt.  Whitney 
and  other  points  of  interest  in  the  higher  Sierras  it  has  grown  to 
be  an  equipping  station  for  tourists.  A  hundred  pack  and  saddle 
animals  are  maintained  for  this  service. 

CAMP    BADGER 

Away  uj)  in  the  Sierras,  east  of  the  Dinuba  country  and  near 
the  Fresno  county  line,  is  Camp  Badger.  This  is  a  stage  station 
and  a  small  village  surrounded  by  a  fine  grazing  country.  It  is  on 
the  road  into  the  high  Sierras  and  to  some  of  the  big  lumber  camps. 
It  is  an  important  place  for  summer  campers  to  spend  a  time  in  the 
cool  mountain  air  away  from  the  heat  of  the  valley.  Some  of  the 
wildest  and  grandest  scenery  in  the  world  lies  in  the  high  Sierras 
beyond,  ])oints  which  are  readily  accessilile  from  Camp  Badger. 

It  lies  ill  the  edge  of  the  jiine  belt  and  in  tlic  early  days  was  a 
very  imjiortant  cam])  for  teamsters  and  lumliermen.  The  lirst  saw- 
mills in  the  county  were  set  u)i  in  the  pineries  near  Badger.  At 
one  time  there  were  as  many  as  two  hundred  and  fifty  teams  hauling 
hmiber  from  the  mills  thiongli  Ciiiiip  Badger  and  down  the  Cotton- 
wood creek  to  Visalia. 

There  is  little  of  the  former  glory  left  to  Badger,  a  store,  ]iost- 
office  and  school  lieing  the  only  industries  of  today.  The  surround- 
ing countrv   is   laruclv  dc\'ot('d   to   stockraising. 


74  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 


AI^CKLAND 

Ou  tlie  old  Millwood  road,  going  up  Cottouwood  creek,  the  first 
station  was  Auckland.  As  early  as  1866  Mr.  Harmon  preempted 
the  lands  where  the  postoffice  and  store  are.  Soon  afterward  James 
Barton  preempted  the  adjoining  place.  Stockraising  was  the  princi- 
pal business  of  the  early  settlers  and  is  likewise  that  of  most  of  the 
l>resent  settlers.  General  farming  is  carried  on  to  a  limited  extent.  A 
postoffice,  general  store  and  school  make  up  the  town. 

Several  thrifty  apple  orchards  producing  fruit  of  an  excellent 
quality  are  in  the  vicinity  and  this  culture  is  engaging  the  attention 
of  a  number  of  new  settlers. 

K.iWEAH    STATION 

Kaweah  is  nt)f  yet  a  town,  merely  a  railroad  station  without  an 
agent,  but  so  rapidly  is  a  thickly  settled  community  clustering  to 
the  north  of  this  station  that  a  store  has  already  been  established 
and  a  little  town  will  probably  result.  If  so,  it  will  be  very  close — 
within  a  stone's  throw  almost — of  the  site  of  Woodville,  the  historic 
village  first  foimded  in  the  county. 

The  school  and  voting  jirecinct  are  called  ^"enice  and  the  district 
is  well  adai)ted  to  general  farming,  fruit  and  dairying.  The  reten- 
tion of  several  large  tracts  liy  wealthy  non-resident  owners  has  here- 
tofore retarded  development   somewhat. 

The  Jacob  Bros,  farm,  orchard  and  nursery  is  located  about  a 
half-mile  east  of  the  station.  This  farm,  comprising  several  hundred 
acres,  has  such  a  diverse  number  of  products  that  a  constant  income 
throughout    the    vear    is    secured. 


TULARE  AND  KINCJS  COUNTIES  75 


CHAPTER  VIII 
PORTERVILLE   AND   OTHER   TOWNS 

In  tlie  southeastern  part  of  Tulare  county,  situated  on  a  branch 
of  the  Tule  river  and  connected  with  the  cities  of  Los  Angeles  and 
San  Francisco  by  a  branch  line,  which  joins  the  main  Southern  Pa- 
cific at  Fresno  and  Famosa,  lies  the  city  of  Porterville;  conceded  by 
those  who  have  visited  it  to  he  one  of  the  most  progressive  towns 
of  its  population  in  the  state.  AVhile  Porterville  is  in  close  proximity 
to  the  mountains,  the  foothills  do  not  tend  to  retard  development, 
hut  add  to  the  pictnres<|ueness  and  iirosperity  of  this  .tlniving  com- 
munity of  thirty-two  hundred  people. 

Porterville  was,  of  necessity,  on  the  olden  immigrant  road,  and 
on  the  overland  stage  line,  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  in  those  days 
it  was  necessary  to  kee]t  to  the  high  ground  to  avoid  the  marshes  of 
the  lowland.  Along  the  l)ase  of  the  spur  of  hills  wliicli  here  projects 
into  the  valley  lay  the  only  natural  route.  Then,  as  now,  passersby 
found  the  place  attractive  and  many  immigrant  trains  found  along  the 
banks  of  the  Tule  river  pleasant  cam])ing  and  resting  places,  the  first 
encountered  for  da.\s. 

J.  i>.  Ilockett  and  jiarty  camjjed  here  in  1849.  Mr.  Clapp  settled 
here  in  1856  or  '57.  In  the  late  '50s  a  number  of  settlers  had  made 
locations  and  when  the  Overland  Mail  from  San  Francisco  to  St. 
Louis  was  established,  in  1859,  a  stage  station  was  located  here.  Royal 
Porter  Putnam  was  placed  in  charge  of  this  station  at  the  princely 
salary  of  $30  ]ier  month  and  board.  Mr.  Putnam  easily  took  a  ]irom- 
inent  place,  became  familiarly  known  by  his  middle  name  and  the 
stopping  place  was  soon  called  Porter's  station.  When  the  stage 
route  was  abandoned,  in  1861,  Mr.  Putnam  established  a  hotel  and 
store  and  then,  as  befitting  the  newly-acquired  dignity  of  the  jilace,  it 
came  to  be  entitled  Porterville. 

Cattle  raising  constituted  the  chief  occupation  of  the  people  in 
this  district,  in  the  days  before  the  Civil  war.  The  era  of  the  cereal 
commenced  in  1874,  but  floods,  followed  by  drought,  disheartened 
some  of  the  settlers.  Not  until  the  coming  of  the  railroad  in  1888 
did  Porterville  lift  her  head  and  allow  prosperity  to  enter,  the  latter 
then  coming  to  remain  for  all  time.  The  orange  now  began  to  i)er- 
I'orm  a  very  imiiortant  function.  The  first  grove,  of  sixty  trees,  was 
planted  in  1871)  by  Demiiig  (Jibbons  on  his  ])roi)erty,  where  now  stands 
Piano.  These  trees  were  seedlings  and  for  twelve  years  oranges  of 
(|uality  or  (juantity  failed  to  mature.  Added  impetus,  however,  was 
given  citi-us  culture  by  A.  R.  Henry  of  Pasadena,  who  has  long  since 
passed  to  his  reward,  and  in  the  year  ]80"_'  three  hundred  scattering 
acres  had  liccn  brought  uiidci'  the  reign  of  the  citrus  fi-uit.     During 


76  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

this  year  a  bill  proposiug'  the  segregation  of  the  Porterville  district 
from  the  rest  of  Tulare  county  was  introduced  in  tlie  state  legislature, 
but  was  defeated  in  1898.  To  demonstrate  the  j)Ossibilities  of  Porter- 
ville, orcliardists  installed  an  exhibit  of  citrus  fruit  and  a))ples  at 
Sacramento.  Orange  experts  and  many  men  prominent  in  the  fruit 
world  pronounced  tlie  fruit  ecjual  to  any  grown  south  of  tlie  Teliach- 
api,  and  Porterville  retains  this  distinction  to  this  day. 

Porterville  became  a  town  of  the  sixth  class  in  1902.  when  a 
number  of  enterprising  citizens  appeared  before  the  solons  at  Sacra- 
mento. After  due  legal  red  tape  the  charter  was  granted  and  Porter- 
ville entered  upon  a  period  of  united  development.  Porterville  now 
marched  rapidly  forward  until  1908,  when  l)y  a  heavy  majority.  Por- 
terville citizens  voted  for  the  abolition  of  saloons  within  the  incor- 
porated  city  of  Porterville.  Two  years  later  voters  again  declared 
the  saloon  an  outlaw.  On  April  15,  1912,  a  drastic  ordinance  against 
the  selling  of  intoxicants  received  the  unanimous  sanction  of  the  city 
council. 

Porterville  ranks  second  to  none  of  Tulare  county  cities  in  fine 
business  blocks  and  residences.  Itemized  building  figures  would  be 
useless,  for  in  Porterville  the  i)rogress  of  today  is  history  tomorrow. 
Within  the  past  four  years  two  three-story  blocks,  several  two-story 
and  numerous  single  business  blocks  have  been  constructed,  all  of 
fire-i)roof  material  and  representing  a  total  valuation  of  .$1.7r)i),000. 
The  business  district  covers  an  area  of  six  blocks,  the  business 
houses  being  of  brick  and  reinforced  concrete.  More  beautiful  and 
substantial  residences  are  seldom  seen,  $500,000  being  represented  in 
residences  erected  within  the  past  three  years. 

P^ew,  if  any,  towns  of  the  county  can  present  a  more  imposing 
and  practical  school  structure  than  has  just  been  completed  at  a  cost 
of  $45,000,  situated  at  the  west  end  of  Olive  street,  in  the  center  of 
a  district  destined  to  become  the  residential  section  of  Porterville. 
It  is  an  eight-room  school  building  of  mission  design,  with  the  latest 
and  most  approved  methods  of  heating,  ventilating  and  fire-escapes. 
The  structure  is  the  most  modern  of  four  grammar  school  buildings, 
in  which  more  than  six  hundred  children  receive  instruction.  Aside 
from  adequate  primary  and  elementary  departments.  Porterville  is 
provided  with  a  massive  high  school  building  of  granite,  with  a  total 
enrollment  of  over  two  hundred  students  and  every  probaliility  of 
twice  that  number  witliin  the  next  two  years.  Practical  courses  are 
the  si)ecialties  of  instruction.  The  cost  of  Poi'terville's  schools  aggre- 
gate a  total  of  $120,000. 

Porterville 's  municiiial  water  system  is  one  of  the  best,  $90,000 
liaving  been  expended  in  obtaining  the  most  im])roved  service.  In 
1908.  the  plant  was  ]iurchased  from  the  Pioneer  "Water  Comjjany  for 
$50,000.  incidentally  reducing  the  water  rate  twenty-five  per  cent. 
Since  the  purchase  of  the  system,  $45,000  wortli  of  iiii))rovements  have 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  77 

been  addetl.  Located  upon  Scenic  Heights,  one  hundred  sixty-tln-ee 
feet  above  Main  street,  is  a  300,000  gallon  water  tower,  into  which 
is  innnped  ]iure  water  from  two  modern  plants,  the  maxinnim  capa- 
city of  the  i)lants  being  1,1250,000  gallons  every  twenty-four  hours. 
Two  auxilary  tanks,  one  containing  75,000  gallons  and  a  100,000- 
gallon  reservoir,  add.  amjile  jtressure  for  fire  protection.  The  domes- 
tic supply  is  furnished  by  four,  six  and  eight-inch  laterals,  fed  from 
a  ten-inch  main,  the  total  length  of  which  is  eighteen  miles.  Tlie  foot- 
hill lands  near  Porterville  are  abundantly  supplied  by  the  Pioneer 
Water  Company,  whose  system  is  cai)able  of  irrigating  seven  thou- 
sand acres,  the  main  canal  being  sixteen  miles  in  length.  Deep  well 
]mmps  are  fast  disidacing  the  old  irrigation  methods,  the  ])ast  year 
witnessing  the  installation  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  plants. 

Within  the  past  year  a  $75,000  sewer  system  has  been  com- 
l^leted.  Nineteen  miles  of  sewer  pipe,  together  with  a  thirty-acre 
sewer  farm,  are  adecpiate  accessories  for  years  to  come. 

Pacts  and  figures  show  two  miles  of  asphalt  streets  and  ten  miles 
of  sidewalks,  the  former  having  been  constructed  during  the  ])ast 
year  at  a  cost  of  $90,000.  Five  of  the  principal  thoroughfares,  Main, 
Olive,  Mill,  Putnam  and  Roche,  are  the  paved  streets. 

AVitli  tiie  completion  of  street  paving,  the  necessity  for  ellicient 
fire  apparatus  was  i)re-eminent.  A  chemical  engine  and  a  hose  cart, 
proiielled  by  gasoline,  were  purchased  for  $10,000.  Porterville  was 
the  first  city  in  Tulare  county  to  adojit  the  modern  fire-fighting 
device  and  therefore  has  a  minimum  insurance  rate. 

In  res]>onse  to  the  demand  for  adequate  shipping  and  packing 
facilities  for  the  citrus  industry,  eight  packing-houses  in  and  near 
Porterville  have  been  established.  These  employ  a  small  army  of 
])eople  during  the  fruit  season.  Aside  from  one  thousand  cars  of 
oranges  shij^ped  annually,  Porterville  ships  many  peaches  and  i)runes. 
Apples  rivaling  those  of  the  eastern  states  are  grown  in  the  moun- 
tain districts. 

The  thriving  condition  of  two  creameries,  one  in  Porterville  and 
the  other  nearby,  attests  the  statement  that  the  dairy  industry  has 
})ossibilities  as  great  as  those  of  the  orange. 

A  Carnegie  library,  valued  at  $10,000,  is  another  of  Porterville 's 
acquisitions.  The  building  is  filled  with  the  latest  productions  in 
science,  art,  general  information  and  fiction. 

Eight  religious  denominations.  Congregational,  Methodist,  Chris- 
tian, l:>a])tist.  Christian  Science,  C*atholic,  Episcojjal  and  (Jeriiian,  are 
represented  in  Porterville,  all  these  institutions  being  in  a  flourishing 
condition.  Seven  of  the  denominations  possess  buildings  of  more  than 
))assing  attention.  The  Congregational  church,  erected  at  a  cost 
of  $25,000,  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  edifices  of  its  kind  in  the 
valley.    A  total  of  $()0,00()  is  re])resented  in  these  sanctuaries. 

The  First  National  IWuik  of  I'orterville,  one  of  the  strongest  bank- 


78  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

ing  institutions  in  Tulare  county,  was  organized  June  !<,  litOo,  with  a 
subscribed  capital  of  $l25,000.  At  present  the  capitalization  is  $100,000, 
and  it  has  the  largest  deposit  of  any  bank  in  the  county.  The  older 
institution,  the  Pioneer  Bank,  was  organized  A\n'il  10,  1889,  with  a 
subscribed  cajntal  of  $70,000.  At  the  present  time  this  bank  is  ca])- 
italized  for  $105,000. 

Among  the  factors  which  tend  to  advance  Porterville,  of  most 
importance  is  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  Tliis  is  the  largest  organ- 
ization of  its  kind  in  the  San  Joaiiuin  valley,  its  membership  totaling 
two  hundred  and  fifty.  Aside  from  a  continuous  and  jirogressive 
advertising  campaign,  a  club  room  for  the  members  is  maintained, 
and  also  a  large  reading  room,  banquet  hall  and  billiard  ]iarlors.  In 
co-ojieration  with  the  Chamber  of  (^ommerce  is  the  Ladies  Imjirove- 
ment  Club,  a  by  no  means  small  factor  in  the  development,  imjirove- 
ment  and  maintenance  of  a  clean  city. 

A  public  park  of  thirty  acres  is  situated  at  the  eastern  limits 
of  the  city.  The  land  for  this  park  was  donated  by  public-spirited 
citizens  and  $10,000  has  been  expended  in  its  maintenance  and 
improvement.  A  public  lunch  jiavilion,  ]mblic  play  grounds  for  chil- 
dren and  other  attractive  features  have  been  installed. 

An  im]iortant  factor  in  Porterville's  advancement  is  the  char- 
acter of  its  newspapers.  Two  of  the  most  consistent  boosting  journals 
in  the  county  are  represented  in  the  Porterville  Daily  Eeeorder  and 
the  Porterville  Daily  Messenger.  Both  have  weekly  editions  as  suji- 
plementary  ])ublications  and  their  financial  future  is  assured. 

Lodges  of  Porterville  include  all  the  leading  orders,  both  bene- 
ficiary and  insurance.  Ancient  Order  United  Workmen,  Porterville 
Lodge  No.  1999;  Foresters  of  America,  Court  Porterville  No.  ISl  ; 
Fraternal  Order  of  Eagles,  Porterville  Aerie  No.  1351;  Indejiendent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Porterville  Encampment  No.  89,  Porterville 
Lodge  No.  359,  Canton  Porterville  No.  6,  Golden  Rod  Rebekah  Lodge 
No.  200;  Knights  and  Ladies  of  Security,  Porterville  Council  No. 
1917;  Knights  of  Pythias,  Porterville  Lodge  No.  93;  Pythian  Sisters, 
Callanmra  Temple  No.  66;  Ladies  of  Maccabees;  Masonic,  F.  &  A.M., 
Porterville  Lodge  No.  303;  Royal  Arch  Masons,  Porterville  Chapter 
No.  85;  Order  of  Eastern  Star,  Palm  Leaf  Chapter  No.  114;  Modern 
Woodmen  of  America,  Porterville  Camp  No.  906-t;  Royal  Neighbors, 
White  Rose  Cam])  No.  5333;  Woodmen  of  the  World,  Orange  Camp 
No.  333;  Women  of  AVoodcraft,  Pomelo  Circle  No.  292. 

Porterville  never  has  been  or  never  will  be  a  boom  town.  It  has 
grown  consistently,  and  it  will  continue  its  advancement,  as  the  neces- 
sary resources,  now  in  their  infancy,  will  always  be  behind  it.  To 
the  east  lie  many  hundred  acres  of  foothill  land  yet  to  feel  the  orch- 
ardist's  band.  Farther  east  and  up  into  the  mountains  are  the  famous 
redwood  forests,  unhindered  by  monopolists.  These  forests,  together 
with  the  rich  minei'al   resources  yet  to  be  de\'el()i)ei:l,  foi'iu  a  field  of 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  71) 

inestimal)le  wealth.  Excellent  niountain  resorts,  such  as  the  Califor- 
nia Hot  Springs,  whose  mineral  waters  equal  those  of  tlie  famous 
Arkansas  Hot  Springs,  beckon  the  tourists  from  the  hot  summers 
of  the  valley.  The  feeding  and  fattening  of  beef  cattle  also  forms 
an  imi)ortant  occupation  of  the  hill  districts.  To  the  south  are  thou- 
sands of  l)are  acres  unequaled  in  orange  culture.  Agricultural  and 
dairy  industries  are  assured  in  the  broad  plains  to  the  west  and  to 
the  north  are  produced  the  linest  of  navel  oranges. — Claude  il/. 
CJidpliii. 

DINUBA 

Dinnba  is  the  largest  city  in  northern  Tulare  county,  situated 
along  the  foothills  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  great  San  Joaquin  val- 
le>-.  It  was  nearly  thirty  years  ago  that  the  first  settlers  made  their 
home  here,  at  a  time  when  Traver  was  a  flourishing  community  and 
Dinuba  was  but  a  cross-roads  corner.  The  country  was  one  vast 
wheat  field,  and  it  was  not  thought  then  that  in  a  generation  the  entire 
district  would  be  revolutionized  and  made  to  Inid  and  lilossom  with 
fruit  and  flower  as  it  does  today. 

The  site  wliere  Dinuba  now  stands  was  originally  owned  by 
James  Sil)ley  and  E.  E.  Giddings,  and  at  the  time  the  surveyors 
of  the  Pacific  Improvement  Company  laid  ofT  the  townsite  was  but 
a  vast  stubblelield.  Later  W.  D.  Tuxlniry  bought  out  Mr.  Sibley's 
interest  and  Mr.  Giddings  also  sold  his  interests  to  Mr.  Sibley.  The 
first  lot  in  the  new  town  was  sold  liy  the  Improvement  Com])any  to 
Dr.  Gebliardt,  and  this  was  later  occupied  by  the  doctor's  office, 
(ipl»osite  the  depot  and  at  the  rear  of  what  is  now  the  Alta  Garage. 
Homer  Hall  and  H.  C.  Austin  bought  four  lots  on  the  cornei-  where 
the  Central  Block  is  now  located  and  on  the  corner  where  McCrack- 
en's  drug  store  is  situated,  Mr.  Hall  built  a  $1500  frame  Iniilding — 
the  finest  in  the  district  at  that  time.  The  lots  cost  him  $L'50  each 
and  cannot  be  bouglit  today  for  much  more  than  that  amount  per 
front  foot.  Here  Mr.  Hall  engaged  in  the  real  estate  business  in 
the  fall  of  1888.  The  building  was  so  arranged  that  there  was  a 
room  adjoining  the  realty  office  and  this  was  occupied  by  I)a\-e  and 
Charles  Cohn  with  their  general  merchandise  store.  Later  the  (^'ohn 
Brotliers  bought  the  corner  where  the  United  States  National  Bank 
now  stands,  and  a  year  later  the  old  "adobe"  on  the  corner  where 
the  First  National  bank  is  now  housed  in  its  splendid  $20,000  home. 
This  adobe  was  a  land  mark  in  the  community  for  years,  and  was 
occupied  with  general  stores,  saloons  and  other  lines,  until  a  little 
over  a  year  ago,  when  it  was  taken  down  for  the  modern  structure 
which  lias  re])laced  it. 

As  stated,  the  next  building  to  be  erected  after  the  Hall  i)uild- 
ing  was  the  office  of  Dr.  (rel)hardt.  Then  Frank  Elam  built  a  iilack- 
smith  shojt  on  the  corner  whci'c  the  Akcrs   sho])  and   machiue  works 


80  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

ai'e  now,  hnt  this  Inter  Imiiii'd  down.  As  was  usual  witli  a  pioneer 
town,  the  saloon  found  a  place  in  the  irrowtli  of  the  oommnnity,  and 
remained  here  until  five  years  ago. 

A  building  was  moved  from  south  of  town  by  Mrs.  Smith,  who 
later  became  Mrs.  Toler,  and  was  located  on  the  rear  of  the  Hall 
and  Austin  lots,  and  this  became  the  postoffice.  Homer  Hall  was 
the  postmaster,  and  Mrs.  Toler  was  his  deputy,  later  succeeding  to 
the  oSce  of  the  growing  little  town. 

About  this  time  the  Dinuba  Hotel  was  erected  by  Sibley  and 
Tnxl)ury  and  ]\fr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  Kirkpatrick  were  the  first  lessees. 
They  are  still  living  south  of  town.  Mine  Host  Kirkjjatrick  was 
succeeded  by  Matthews  and  Wheeler  as  landlords.  This  same  year 
the  Southern  Pacific  depot  was  built  and  the  ]niblic  auction  of  town 
lots  by  the  railroad  took  place  in  the  latter  part  of  January,  1889, 
the  auction  being  "cried"  by  Mr.  Shannon,  the  railroad  auctioneer 
from  Fresno.  The  railroad  people  gave  the  people  gathered  a  big- 
dinner  that  day.  and  the  new  town  of  Dinuba  was  given  its  start. 

The  "Seventy-Six"  Land  Company  had  already  commenced  the 
development  of  water  for  irrigation  here,  and  later  the  Alta  Irriga- 
tion District  was  formed,  with  loO,000  acres  and  absorbing  the  "76" 
system.  From  that  time  the  district  began  to  develo]i.  until  five 
years  ago  the  city  was  incorporated  and  has  grown  until  today 
there  are  1800  peojile  here  and  Dinuba  is  the  largest  city  lietween 
Visalia  and  Fresno  along  the  foothills.  The  city  lias  fine  schools, 
both  grammar  and  high,  and  seven  churches:  Baptist,  Methodist 
E]iis('o|)al.  Christian,  IMethodist  E)nsco])al  South,  Presbyterian,  Ad- 
vent! st  and  Church  of  Christ,  Scientist.  There  are  eighteen  teachers 
in  the  inililic  schools  and  nearly  six  hundred  pupils.  The  city  has 
miles  of  cement  sidewalks  and  paved  streets  and  is  reputed  as  one 
of  the  cleanest  and  most  attractive  cities  in  the  entire  west. 

TULAEE 

Tulare,  the  second  city  in  size  in  the  county,  is  situated  on  tlie 
main  lines  of  both,  the  Southern  Pacific  and  Santa  Fe,  at  their  inter- 
section, some  ten  miles  south  from  Visalia.  With  a  population  of 
about  4000,  rai)idly  growing;  with  the  modern  facilities  and  conven- 
iences common  to  up-to-date  cities  of  its  size;  surromided  by  a  thickly- 
settled,  fertile,  well-watered  and  productive  farming  section.  Tulare 
does  not  present  in  aspect  sti^ikiug  peculiarities. 

Historically,  howevei-.  Tulare  possesses  distinctive  prominence. 
A  checkered  career,  marked  by  a  series  of  staggering  misfortunes, 
has  been  her  lot.  The  adage,  "It  never  rains  but  it  pours,"  seemed 
peculiarly  apjilicable  at  one  time.  That  "  'Tis  always  darkest  just 
before  dawn"  ])roved  true  at  last.  The  record  of  these  events  reads 
more  like  a  story  than  tlie  sober  chronicle  of  history. 

The  earliest  settlers  of  the  county  ]iassed  1iy  the  section  in  the 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  81 

vicinity  of  Tulare,  because  it  did  nut  lie  iu  the  i)atli  of  water-courses. 
A  few  real  pioneers  there  were,  notably  W.  F.  Cartniill,  J.  A.  More- 
head,  J.  W.  Hooper,  1.  N.  Wright,  the  Powell,  McCoy,  Hough  and 
Wallace  families,  whose  homesteads  were  triliutary  to  what  is  now 
Tulare,  but  no  settlement  existed  in  this  neigjiborhood  prior  to  the 
coming,  in  1872,  of  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad. 

Unlike  the  other  railroad  towns  of  the  county,  however,  an  im- 
mediate growth  followed  the  sale  of  lots.  In  fact,  Tulare  commenced 
with  a  l)oom.  There  was  occasion  for  this,  because,  according  to 
the  railroad's  plans,  which  were  duly  heralded,  it  was  to  be  the  end 
of  a  division,  the  site  of  great  railway  repair  shops,  and  not  least, 
the  county  seat  of  Tulare  county.  In  the  plats  submitted  to  pros- 
pective investors,  the  many  jjrojected  enterprises,  as  factories,  rail- 
road yards,  and  shops  and  the  courthouse,  were  outlined.  And  there 
were  many  purchasers  anxious  to  get  in  on  the  ground  floor;  the 
town  started  amidst  a  general  whooji  and  hurrah.  It  came  to  ])ass 
that  the  railroad  slioi)s  were  erected,  i)erliai)s  not  on  quite  as  exten- 
sive a  scale  as  anticipated,  but  still  there  they  were,  and  so,  too,  were 
several  hundred  em])loyees,  all  of  whom  had  to  be  housed  and  clothed 
and  fed.  Consequently  there  was  need  for  merchants  of  all  kinds, 
and  these  came.  To  l)e  sure,  the  courthouse  did  not  materialize. 
This  for  the  reason  that  Visalia  influence  secured  the  ])assage  by  the 
legislature  of  a  bill  permitting  Tulai-e  county  to  issue  l)onds  for  the 
purpose  of  erecting  a  new  courthouse  at  Visalia.  Flourishing  enough, 
however,  were  conditions  to  cause  the  town  to  grow  a])ace.  Among 
the  i)ioneers  of  industry  at  this  time  may  be  mentioned  J.  O.  Lovejoy. 
who  built  the  first  residence  in  the  town,  also  a  mill  and  a  hotel,  and 
I.  H.  Ham,  who  erected  blocks  of  buildings,  both  in  the  business 
and  residence  sections. 

Many  of  the  railroad  employees  were  men  of  family  and  these 
in  numbers  purchased  lots  and  erected  dwellings  thereon,  to  be  paid 
for  on  the  installment  ])lan.  Now  were  jjlanted  gardens  and  lawns 
and  on  the  sides  of  many  of  the  principal  streets  shade  trees,  and 
all  thrived.  An  ever-growing  beauty  and  an  ever-greater  prosjiei-ity 
characterized  the  town.  Monthly  came  the  pay  car  with  $.30,UUU  to 
$40,000. 

In  July,  188o,  a  disastrous  fire  swept  tiie  business  section,  entail- 
ing a  loss  of  about  $150,000  and  destroying  about  twenty-five  places 
of  business.  From  the  effects  of  this  fire  Tulare  rapidly  recovered. 
Better  buildings  almost  immediately  took  the  ])lace  of  those  burned, 
and  bustling  progress  was  promptly  resumed. 

Prosperity  was  uninterrupted  for  three  years  only.  In  1880,  on 
the  night  of  August  Kith,  the  business  portion  of  the  city  was  entirely 
destroyed  by  fire.  The  magnitude  of  this  second  disaster  can  scjircely 
now  be  realized.  Nothing  was  left  except,  to  quote  from  the  Tulare 
Register   of  the  time,   "a   fringe   of  residences   around   a    lire-swept 


82  TULAKE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

gap."     In  the  published  list   of  tlie  business  houses  destroyed   are 
enumerated  seventy-seven — practically  all. 

The  loss  occasioned  by  this  fire  was  so  great,  so  nearly  did  it 
take  the  accumulated  savings  of  all  the  business  men,  and  so  closely 
did  it  follow  the  former  conflagration,  that  it  might  seem  that 
endeavor  would  be  paralyzed. 

Knowledge  of  the  town's  resources,  supposed  to  be  permanent, 
inspired  hope  and  courage,  howev^-r.  and  the  town  was  rebuilt  in 
better  and  more  substantial  form  than  before. 

And  now,  indeed,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  '80s,  secure  once  more, 
enjoying  renewed  prosperity,  the  inhabitants  may  be  pardoned  for 
believing  that  their  troul)les  were  over;  that,  having  weathered  safely 
the  storms,  they  were  to  have  for  the  remainder  of  the  voyage  fair 
weather  and  tine  sailing. 

However,  the  Fates  held  the  most  crushing  bolt  yet  in  their  hands. 
In  1891  it  fell.  In  that  year  the  railroad  company  removed  its  shops 
to  Bakersfield,  taking  tenants  and  trade.  Most  dismal  and  discourag- 
ing was  the  situation  for  the  villagers  who  remained.  A  score  of 
merchants  found  their  i)atronage  insufficient  to  make  them  a  living. 
Artisans  and  other  craftsmen  were  without  employment.  Rents 
dropped  to  almost  nothing;  business  houses  suspended  and  closed; 
gardens  were  neglected  and  rioted  in  weeds;  dwelling  houses  dis- 
played first  the  sign  "For  Rent,"  then  "For  Sale." 

A  dreary  stagnation  ensued  for  several  years,  a  retreat,  as  it 
were,  before  the  overwhelming  forces  of  adversity.  Houses  by  the 
score  were  sold  very  cheaply  and  moved  to  different  portions  of  the 
county.    Tulare  was  looked  upon  as  dead  beyond  hope  of  recovering. 

And  yet  to  the  sturdy  resident  who  refused  to  be  a  quitter  came 
the  insistent  query,  Why  ?  He  looked  around  at  the  vast  expanse  of 
fertile  land  surrounding  the  town  and  again  asked.  Why!  The 
answer  that  farming  tried  on  a  big  scale,  wheat  farming,  had  failed, 
because  of  insufficient  rainfall  or  insufficient  sul)-irrigation  did  not 
satisfy  him.  He  said  "If  it  is  water  that  is  lacking,  why.  we  will 
get  water.  AVe  will  make  this  land  produce  the  abundant  crops 
Nature  intended  and  we  shall  become  a  rich  and  prosperous  com- 
munity, self-supporting,  independent  of  railroad  patronage." 

And  from  this  resolve  a  great  irrigation  system  was  jilanned 
with  wide  canals  and  far-reaching  laterals.  To  carry  out  this  project 
the  people  in  the  territory  to  be  embraced  formed  the  Tulare  Irriga- 
tion District  and  voted  bonds  in  the  sum  of  $500,000. 

AVith  the  bonds  selling  readily,  the  vast  irrigation  enterprise 
giving  emploATuent  to  an  army  of  men  well  imder  way,  the  vast 
benefits  that  would  accrue  on  its  completion  readily  foreseen  every- 
one again  felt  encouraged  and  hopeful.  All  trouble  was  now  thought 
to  be  over. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIP]S  83 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  had  just  begun.  Litigatiuii  oxer  water 
rights  involved  the  new  district  from  the  start.  Finally,  largely  from 
this  cause  the  money  was  all  spent  and  there  was  no  water,  or  at 
least,  not  sufficient  water. 

Remember,  all  this  occurred  just  as  the  general  hard  times  and 
financial  depression  of  '93  were  being  most  severely  felt.  The  result 
was  that  default  was  made  on  the  interest  on  the  bonds.  Conditions 
became  almost  intoleralile.  Lack  of  funds  prevented  proper  u])keep 
of  the  canals.  There  was  no  water  to  speak  of  and  yet  there  was 
an  ever-increasing  indebtedness  that  with  the  dragging  weight  of 
an  incubus  prevented  any  onward  ]»rogress. 

Land  depreciated  in  xalue  until  it  practically  became  unsalable. 
Discouragement  gave  place  to  despondenc.v  and  despair. 

Joe  Goldman  and  other  progressive  citizens  of  Tulare  finally 
evolved  a  plan  to  try  to  coni])romise  with  the  bondholders.  They  suc- 
ceeded in  securing  a  concession  whereby  the  bonds  and  accrued  inter- 
est, aggregating  $750,000,  could  be  willed  out  for  about  $273,000. 

An  assessment  was  levied  in  the  fall  of  19i)'2  upon  the  real  estate 
of  the  bonded  district  sufficient  to  cover  the  amount,  the  bonds  were 
placed  in  escrow  and  strenuous  efforts,  ultimately  successful,  were 
made  to  collect  the  money. 

October  17,  1903,  was  the  day  appointed  for  the  exchange.  A 
monster  celeliration  was  held  in  honor  of  the  event  and  the  cancelled 
bonds  were  burnt  in  the  presence  of  the  assemblage  amidst  the  great- 
est rejoicings.  That  day  marked  the  turning  point  in  Tulare's  career. 
Progress  since  has  been  rapid  and  increasing.  The  irrigation  system 
is  now  the  property  of  tlie  district  and  the  only  expense  for  water 
is  the  cost  of  maintenance.  Pumping  jilants,  irrigating  lands  not 
reached  by  the  ditches,  have  also  been  installed  in  great  numbers, 
bringing  into  production  thousands  of  additional  acres. 

Having  become  the  center  of  the  dairy  district  of  the  county, 
possessing  three  of  the  largest  creameries,  Tulare  city  now  enjoys 
a  ]iermanently  assured  large  and  increasing  income.  Vineyards,  de- 
ciduous fruits  of  all  kinds  and  many  other  products  contril)ute  also, 
but  the  sum  received  from  the  sale  of  cream,  now  over  $100,000  i)er 
month,  is  of  first  im])ortance,  not  only  because  of  tlie  amount.  Init 
because  it  is  paid  in  cash  each  month. 

Tulare  merchants  enjoy  the  benefits  of  a  cash  trade  and  their 
customers  partake  of  the  benefits  by  reason  of  lower  iirevailing  prices 
than  in  towns  where  a  credit  system  is  in  greater  vogue. 

The  present  ra[)id  growth  of  Tulare  is  well  indicated  liy  the  build- 
ing ojjerations,  which  for  the  past  two  years  have  run  about  $250,000 
per  year. 

Tulare  possesses  a  first-class  sewer  system,  an  abundant  supply 
of  absolutely  pure  water  piped  ever>-where,  electric  power  and  lights, 


84  TULARK  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

o-as  for  fuel  and  li.Klitiiiii'.  Thei'e  is  a  largo  cannery,  three  creameries, 
a  flour  mill  and  a  planing  mill  and  furniture  factory.  A  handsome 
free  lil)rary  liuilding-  houses  a  six  thousand  volume  collection  of  books. 
New  school  Iniildings  witli  the  best  modern  equij^ment  and  with  ex- 
tensive surrounding  playgrounds  and  experimental  plats  are  a  feature. 

There  are  two  banks,  two  daily  newspapers  and  corresponding- 
business  facilities  of  all  kinds.  Ten  churches  of  as  many  denomina- 
tions minister  to  the  reUgious  needs  of  the  people. 

Of  the  early  improvements  made  in  the  days  of  the  railroad  shop 
and  "before  the  fire"  one  only  remains,  and  that  is  the  shade  trees 
planted  along  the  streets.  These,  now  about  thirty  years  old,  have 
grown  to  be  of  great  girth  and.  wide-spreading,  their  tops  almost 
meet  above  the  broad  streets. 

LEMON    COVE 

Eighteen  miles  east  of  Visalia  the  foothill  slopes  to  the  north 
and  south  of  the  Kaweah  river  approach  at  an  angle  to  form  a 
sheltered  vale,  which  with  the  village  and  postoffice  there  located, 
is  called  Lemon  Cove. 

Originally  the  settlement  and  postoffice  went  by  the  name  of 
Lime  Kiln,  from  the  early  discovery  of  lime  in  the  vicinity  by  Wil- 
liam Cozzens. 

J.  W.  C.  Pogue,  one  of  the  earliest  settlers,  was  the  founder  of 
the  town  and  the  father  of  the  great  development  in  citrus  culture 
that  has  taken  jjlace  in  recent  years.  The  first  orange  orchard  in 
Tulare  county  was  planted  by  him.  The  successful  growth  of  these 
first  few  orange  and  lemon  trees  and  the  entire  freedom  from  frost 
noted  during  the  years  u])  to  their  coming  into  bearing,  led  him  to 
]ilant  a  second  orchard  and  to  become  a  whole-souled,  energetic  ]iro- 
moter  for  the  section. 

In  the  early  '9()s  a  considerable  acreage  was  ])lanted  to  citrus 
fruits,  mostly  lemons.  In  addition  to  many  small  tracts,  the  large 
gi-oves  of  the  Kaweah  Lemon  Company  and  the  Ohio  Lemon  Com- 
pany   were    set. 

A  little  story  must  be  told  here,  for  at  this  time  the  learned  Mc- 
Adie,  our  well-known  weather  jirophet,  in  company  with  a  numlier 
of  friends,  ]:)aid  a  visit  to  the  high  Sierras,  reached  by  way  of 
Lemon  Cove.  On  the  return  the  large  i)lantings  of  young  lemon 
groves  attracted  attention  and  Mr.  McAdie  iiroceeded  to  comment 
thereon  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Pogue  and  other  residents. 

McAdie  explained  that  citrus  fruits  would  not  mature  in  the 
locality  and  that  it  was  a  foolish  waste  of  time  and  money  to  jilant 
them.  Reasons  scientific,  technical  and  meteorological  were  given 
to  prove  it.  Old  Jim  Pogue,  boiling  inwardly  and  scarcely  able  to 
contain  himself,  finally  interru]ited  and  said,  "Come  here  a  minute; 
got  something  to  show  yon."    Taking  McAdie  by  the  arm  he  led  him 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  85 

to  tlie  rear  of  liis  residence,  wiiere  sti'etelied  a  i'ull-heariiin'  orang-e 
and  lemon  grove,  the  brandies  loaded  with  the  yellowing  frnit  and 
said,  "There,  you  dad  l)lanie  fool,  there  they  he." 

About  a  thousand  bearing  aeres  now  add  their  testimony  to  that 
of  Mr.  Pogue.  The  lemon  has  a  more  delicate  nature  and  more  sus- 
ceptible to  frost  than  the  oran,s>e.  Lemon  Cove  is  one  of  the  few 
])laces  in  the  state  where  sufficient  frost  ])rotection  is  obtained. 

Lemon  Cove  is  the  outer  gateway  to  the  Sierras  of  tlie  Kaweah 
watershed  and   in  consequence  enjoys  a  consideral)ie  tourist   trade. 

Tlie  town,  tiioui^h  sinall,  is  thrivin,"-  and  lirowini;-.  Citrus  fi-uit 
packing  and  shi])i)in.i;-  causes  much  activity  durin,^'  tlie  season.  Tliree 
packing  houses  handle  the  cro]),  which  now  amounts  to  al)()ut  four 
hundred   carloads   annually. 

A  two-story  hotel,  lar.ne  .i^eueral  store,  livery  stable,  l)lacksmith 
shops,  bakery  and  butcher  shop  make  up  the  town. 

SULTANA 

Sultana,  one  of  the  new  towns  created  by  the  construction  of 
the  Santa  Fe  Railroad  in  ISiXi,  lies  three  miles  due  east  from  Dinuba 
and  is  just  half-way  between  that  city  and  Orosi. 

Sultana,  situated  as  it  is  in  the  very  midst  of  a  solidly  planted 
area  of  orchards  and  vineyards,  has  become  an  important  shipi:)ing 
point,  both  for  fresh  and  dried  fruits  and  raisins  and  for  water- 
melons. 

Being  so  near  the  larger  city,  which  has  the  advantage  of  lying 
on  lioth  lines  of  railroad.  Sultana  will  ])robably  never  grow  to  be  a 
large  city.  On  the  other  hand,  its  existence  is  amply  justified  by 
the  large  and  rajiidly  increasing  rural  ])0]iulation  surrounding  it. 

LINDSAV 

Lindsay  is  situated  in  tlie  very  center  of  the  most  extensively 
develo))ed  section  of  Tulare  county's  orange  belt,  lying  about  twelve 
miles  north  of  Porterville  and  eighteen  miles  southeast  from  Visalia, 
on  the  east  side  branch  of  the  Southern  Pacific. 

Orange  groves  in  solid  formation  and  stretchin.o-  miles  in  all 
directions,  approach  to  and  extend  into  the  city. 

Unlike  any  of  the  other  towns  of  the  county,  diviersified  products 
do  not  contribute  to  the  enrichment  of  city  and  country  here.  Orano-es 
exclusively  are  now  grown  and  this  fact,  in  connection  with  the 
large  area  of  land  in  the  vicinity  suited  to  this  culture,  has  made 
Ijindsay  the  .greatest  orange  shipjiins'  ])oint  in  the  county  and  many 
believe  that  within  a  few  yoai's  it  will  be  the  most  important  in  the 
state. 

'i'hirteen  large  packing  houses,  equipped  with  the  best  modern 
facilities  and  machinery,  and  having  a  combined  capacity  of  eighty 
carloads  ])cr  day,  are  required  to  handle  the  output,  which  now 
amounts   to   alK)ut   two   thousand   carloads. 

6 


86  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Eiisiuess  during  the  harvest  season,  -n-lieu  the  handling  of  the 
immense  crop  requires  the  labor  of  an  army  of  pickers,  packers, 
box-makers,  etc.,  is,  of  course,  especially  brisk. 

The  city  now  contains  a  population  of  about  twenty-five  hundi-ed 
and  is  growing  rapidly.  There  are  two  daily  newspapers,  two  banks, 
three  machine  shops,  a  foundry,  a  planing  mill,  two  cement  works 
and  a  talcum  powder  mill.  Two  electric  companies  give  power  foi 
lighting,  heating  and  pumping.  Gas  mains  will  be  laid  in  the  near 
future. 

Lindsay  was  incorporated  as  a  city  of  the  sixth  class  February 
28,  1910,  the  corporate  limits  containing  an  area  of  nine  hundred 
and  sixty  acres.  The  government  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  city 
council,  composed  of  W.  B.  Kiggens,  president;  Allen  McGregor,  P. 
T.  Ostrander,  Basil  Pryor  and  Charles  0.  Cowles,  and  Marshal 
William  Gann;  city  clerk,  AV.  H.  Mack;  treasurer,  G.  V.  Keed. 

In  1911,  bonds  in  the  sum  of  $130,000  were  voted  for  the  pur- 
pose of  acquiring  a  municipal  water  plant  and  for  the  construction 
of    a    sewer    system. 

Fifty-five  thousand  dollars  was  devoted  to  the  purchase  of  the 
plant  of  the  Lindsay  Water  and  Gas  Company  and  the  better- 
ment and  enlargement  of  the  system.  An  additional  pumping  plant 
was  installed,  mains  extended  to  cover  the  entire  city,  and  other 
improvements  effected. 

The  sewer  system,  to  which  $75,000  was  devoted,  is  of  modern 
type  and  substantial  construction,  built  by  Haviland  &  Tibbetts  of 
San  Francisco.  Provision  for  the  disiDosal  of  sewage  was  made 
by  the  purchase  by  the  city  of  a  ninety-acre  tract,  situated  some 
two  and  a  half  miles  from  the  city.  Preparations  for  farming  this 
tract  directly  by  the  city  is  now  being  undertaken. 

Lindsay  possesses  school  facilities  considered  superior  to  those 
of  any  city  of  similar  size  in  the  state.  These  consist  of  three 
grammar  school  and  one  high  school  Imildings,  with  extensive 
grounds,    representing   an   investment    of   $70,000. 

The  appearance  of  Lindsay  is  made  attractive  by  the  nearly 
uniform  excellence  of  both  business  structures  and  residences.  There 
are  six  miles  of  concrete  sidewalks  and  the  streets  are  generally 
well   graded,   firm   and   smooth. 

The  growth  of  Lindsay,  while  never  of  a  mushroom  character, 
has  been  exceedingly  rapid,  about  fifteen  years  only  having  been 
required  for  it  to  reach  its  present  status  as  one  of  the  most 
important  cities  of  the  county. 

Nowhere  else  in  the  county  has  a  more  complete,  radical  and 
rapid  transformation  in  characteristics  been  effected  than  in  the 
section   around   Lindsay. 

When  the  overland  stage  line  to   St.  Louis  was  established  in 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  87 

'59,  a  station  called  the  Eighteen-Mile  House  was  erected  a  little 
south  and  west  of  the  present  town  on  the  old  Porterville  road. 
Between  Outside  creek  near  Farmersville  and  Porterville  this  was 
the  only  house,  and  it  remained  so  for  many  years.  The  country 
between  was  a  dreary  hog-wallow  waste  considered  worthless  except 
for  spring  feed. 

As  stock  raising  became  a  more  important  industry  ranches 
were  located  in  the  foothills  where  water  from  springs  or  creeks 
was  to  be  found  and  in  the  spring-time  the  flocks  were  removed  to 
the  adjoining  plains  and  temporary  camps  established  there. 

This  constituted  all  of  the  development  until  the  early  '80s, 
when  the  coming  of  the  railroad  through  the  valley  gave  an  impetus 
to  wheat  growing. 

After  a  few  good  crops  had  demonstrated  the  profits  to  be  made 
in  this  culture  some  enterprising  men  of  the  period  jumped  in  and 
proceeded  to  raise  wheat  on  a  large  scale. 

In  the  Lindsay  district  J.  J.  Cairns,  G.  S.  and  W.  S.  Berry,  and 
others,  as  the  Keeley's  and  William  Mehrten  (known  as  Dutch  Bill) 
farmed  ]iractically  the  entire  territory  from  north  of  Exeter  to 
Porterville,  including  a  large  area  to  the  west  of  Lindsay. 

J.  J.  Cairns  alone  put  in  in  one  year  25,000  acres  and  was 
rejjuted  to  have  cleared  up  $50,000  on  the  crop.  The  lands  upon 
which  these  wheat  kings  operated  were  not  owned  liy  them,  but 
were  leased,  usually  upon  shares,  and  lay  in  separated  tracts.  Al- 
though most  of  the  country  thus  came  under  cultivation,  no  material 
progress  resulted.  Plowing  and  seeding  outfits  with  temporary 
camps  moved  from  place  to  place  during  the  winter  season  and 
temporary  movable  quarters  also  sufficed  for  the  harvest  time. 
Neither  did  any  permanent  profit  inure  to  the  few  men  engaged  in 
this  lordly  farming,  as  seasons  of  drought  wiped  out  the  profits 
from  years  of  plenty. 

In  1888  the  east  side  branch  of  the  Southern  Pacific  railroad  was 
completed  and  Lindsay  was  made  a  station  and  given  a  siding. 
Capt.  A.  J.  Hutchinson  donated  fifty-one  per  cent,  of  the  townsite 
for  this  concession,  but  this  was  not  considered  sufficient  inducement 
for  the  erection  of  a  depot  and  it  was  not  until  two  years  later,  when 
Mr.  Hutchinson  donated  more  land,  that  one  was  built. 

In  1889,  however,  the  McNear  comjiany  ei'ecfed  a  large  grain 
warehouse  on  the  track  and  a  few  business  liouses  sprang  up  to 
care  for  the  wants  of  the  sparse  and  largely  floating  population. 
Charles  Eankin  opened  a  general  store  and  Ed  and  George  lianna- 
ford  started  a  Jiotel  and  a  few  other  shops  followed. 

The  new  era  began  in  1891  when  Captain  Hutchinson  began  the 
active  iiromotion  of  the  section  for  orange  culture,  placing  twenty- 
five  hundred  acres  of  land  on  the  market  for  this  purpose. 

Previously  John  Tuohy,  on  his  Lewis  creek  ranch,  had  planted 


88  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

a  number  of  orange  trees,  the  g-rowth  of  which  had  shown  the 
a(hi])tahility  of  soil  and  climate.  J.  J.  Cairns  had  set  out  a  small 
orchard,  and  Captain  Hutchinson  himself  had  the  previous  year 
set  out  an  experimental  grove  of  five  acres.  Mr.  Cairns  also  had  put 
down  a  well,  the  first  in  the  district  for  irrigating  purposes,  and 
had  proven  the  existence  of  a  great  a\ailable  water  supply. 

To  Mr.  Hutchinson,  however,  projjerjy  Itelongs  the  credit  for 
being  the  founder  of  the  community,  as  througli  his  enterprise  de- 
velopment on  a  larger  scale  was  undertaken  and  the  district's  merits 
exploited  in  a  way  to  attract  attention  from  many  men  of  prominence 
who  became  identified  with   the   section's   development. 

Thomas  E.  Johnson  of  San  Jose  and  C.  J.  Carle  were  among 
the  first  outsiders  to  whom  the  locality  made  a  strong  appeal  and 
these,  both  by  their  own  efforts  and  through  their  influence,  became 
important  factors  in  furthering  the  growth  of  the  community. 

About  four  hundred  acres  were  set  out  in  1891,  more  tlian 
double  that  in  1892,  and  considera]>ly  more  in  the  years  following. 
Not  until  189(i  and  1897,  however,  when  returns  came  in  from  the 
first  orchards  planted,  did  the  boom,  as  it  may  be  called,  set  in  that 
has  lasted  until  the  iiresont  day  and  gives  no  signs  of  al)ating. 

Southern  California  growers  in  general  had  not  thought  it 
possible  that  oranges  could  be  grown  commercially  north  of  Tehachapi. 
When  the  Lindsay  groves  first  began  to  produce  oranges  and  get 
them  east  in  time  for  the  Thanksgiving  market,  the  fact  attracted 
wide  attention  in  the  south.  Many  growers  visited  this  section,  fore- 
saw its  possibilities   and  invested. 

Lindsay  has  proven  an  exceptionally  fine  locality  for  hustlers 
of  limited  means.  By  reason  of  the  rapid  rise  in  land  values  and 
on  account  of  the  prevailing  activity  in  all  lines  of  business  due 
to  the  rush  in  leveling,  planting  and  installation  of  pumping  jilants 
unusual  opportunities  have  offered  themselves.  Lindsay  boasts  a 
large  number  of  citizens  who.  entering  the  field  without  a  dollar, 
now  measure  their  wealth  in  five  figures. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
ANECDOTES 

ADVENTURES    WITH    INDIANS 

In  the  adventures  of  the  early  settlers  with  the  Indians,  there 
was  frequently  an  element  of  humor,  sometimes  of  tragedy.  There 
are  no  other  instances,  however,  that  quite  equal  for  the  mixture  of 
these  two  elements  the  two  misadventures  that  befell  Fred  or  "old 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  89 

iiiau"  Steiuiiuiu.  lu  1854  or  '55  Steinmaa,  who  lived  southwesterly 
from  Visalia  a  few  miles,  went  on  a  huuting  trip  iieai-  what  is  now 
Corcoran  on  the  Maluiran  sh)u,nh.  He  was  looking  for  deer,  and 
the  timhered  country  near  this  slough  looking  good  to  him,  he  tied 
his  teani  and  proceeded  cautiously  afoot.  He  had  not  traveled  far 
when  he  espied  five  or  six  deer,  whereupon  he  dodged  into  the 
slough,  and  stealthily  made  his  way  to  a  point  which  he  judged  to 
be  directly  ojiposite  them.  Raising  cautiously  up,  he  discovered  one 
big  buck  within  range,  the  rest  being  some  distance  beyond.  He 
tired,  and  at  the  crack  of  his  rifle  what  was  his  horror  and  dismay 
to  hear  an  Indian  scream  with  agony.  It  was  a  dying  shriek.  The 
Indian  was  himself  stalking  deer,  clothed  in  deer  skin  and  carrying 
antlers.  There  was  no  more  hunting  for  Steinman  that  trip.  Fearful 
of  revenge,  he  hurried  iiome  and  kept  exceedingly  close  for  some 
time.  Either,  however,  the  Indians  failed  to  learn  the  slayer's 
identity  or  were  satisfied  that  the  shooting  was  jnirely  accidental, 
for  no  reprisal  was  ever  attempted. 

Eciually,  or  rather  more,  serious  and  at  the  same  time  more 
amusing,  was  his  next  trouble.  Steinman  was  an  old  bachelor  and 
had  peculiar  habits.  His  house,  which  was  within  half  a  mile  of  the 
Indian  raucheria,  was  of  clapboards  split  and  smoothed.  Above  his 
li\ing-room  was  a  loft  reached  by  a  ladder.  It  was  Steinman 's 
custom  on  warm  afternoons  to  rejiair  to  this  loft,  divest  himself 
of  all  clothing,  and  spend  a  few  tranquil  hours  in  smoking,  meditation 
or  repose. 

For  some  time  he  had  been  missing  articles  from  his  cabin  with- 
out a  clew  to  the  pilferer  or  his  method.  On  one  afternoon,  however, 
while  taking  his  ease  in  the  loft  in  a  state  of  nature  he  heard  noises, 
and  looking  down  through  the  hole  in  the  floor  saw  two  Indians 
enter.  They  had  discovered  some  loose  weather  l)oards,  and  by 
removing  the  nails  had  made  an  opening  which  later  could  be 
closed  and  leave  no  sign. 

The  table,  on  which  was  a  variety  of  eatables,  was  directly  below 
the  hole  in  the  ceiling,  and  Steinman 's  anger  rose  as  he  watched 
tlie  Indians  make  free  with  his  gi-ub  and  then  examine  the  cabin  for 
things  of  use.  He  determined  to  scare  them  into  fits,  and  jumped 
to  the  table,  giving  as  he  did  so  a  wild  yell.  Instead  of  fleeing  in 
constci-nation  at  this  frightful  apparition,  as  he  had  anticipated,  the 
Indians  grabbed  knives  from  the  table  and  attacked  him  fiercely. 
Steinman,  though  severely  wounded,  managed  to  reach  the  fireplace, 
where  he  got  hold  of  a  long-handled  shovel,  with  which  he  kiUed  one 
of  his  antagonists  and  drove  off  the  other. 

This  time  Steinman  knew  that  only  by  immediate  flight  could 
he  secure  his  safety.  To  his  neighbor  Willis  he  therefore  went.  A 
nuiiiber  of  men  were  here  employed  making  rails  and  these  promised 


90  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

him  protection.  After  consultation  it  was  deoided  that  the  best 
method  to  pursue  would  be  to  endeavor  to  square  the  matter  with 
the  chief. 

All  came  to  town  and  secured  the  s'ood  offices  of  Horace  Thomas, 
"Uncle  Dan,"  to  act  as  mediator.  The  result  of  the  powwow  was 
that  in  consideration  of  a  beef,  a  horse  and  a  number  of  trinkets 
it  was  agreed  that  there  should  be  no  harassment  of  Steinman. 

THE  POIXDEXTER  NUPTIALS 

John  jjarker  tells  this  story  of  W.  L.  Poindexter.  sheriff  of  Tulare 
county  in  the  late  '50s. 

Poindexter  was  a  1)ig-,  ,iolly,  good-natured  fellow,  exceedingly 
popular,  having  hosts  of  friends  not  only  in  the  county,  but  throughout 
the  valley  from  Stockton  to  Bakersfield.  A  decided  weakness  for  the 
fair  sex  was  one  of  his  characteristics  and  when  a  young  lady  school- 
teacher from  San  Jose,  Miss  Helen  S ,  who  was  a  most 

bewitching  blonde,  made  her  appearance  in  Visalia,  Poindexter  became 
deeply  enamoured.  U]ion  her  he  lavished  al)undant  affection  and  pres- 
ents of  a  substantial  nature. 

"When  after  a  long  but  ardent  courtship  he  finally  secured  her  eon- 
sent  and  the  day  for  the  wedding  was  set,  preparations  on  a  grand  scale 
went  forward  and  from  Stockton  to  Bakersfield  friends  were  invited  to 
attend.    Barker  says : 

"There  was  a  jolly  crowd  and  one  of  which  any  man  might  fee! 
justly  proud  to  number  as  his  friends  on  that  occasion.  The  wedding 
was  to  take  place  Saturday  and  the  bride  and  groom  were  to  take 
passage  for  San  Jose  on  the  overland  stage  immediately  thereafter. 
In  the  meantime,  Poindexter  had  to  make  a  tri]!  to  the  Kern  river 
mines. ' ' 

On  his  return  Friday  Barker  brought  his  mail  to  him  at  his 
room.  Of  this  he  says:  "I  noticed  a  letter  in  a  feminine  hand  that 
had  been  mailed  him  at  Visalia.  "When  I  handed  hini  his  mail  I  felt 
a  sort  of  premonition  that  all  was  not  right.  As  lie  read  the  letter 
I  saw  a  change  come  over  his  features;  he  turned  ]iale  as  death. 
I  saw  his  hand  quiver  and  thought  he  would  faint.  In  a  few 
moments,  by  a  great  effort,  he  called  me  and  said,  'Jack,  read  this, 
liut  never  on  your  life  breathe  a  word  Of  it  to  anyone  else.'  He 
added,  'That  is  from  a  woman  that  has  ruined  me  financially  and 
now  she  has  completed  the  job.'  " 

The  letter  was  couched  in  cold  blooded,  deliberate  language. 
It  stated  that  she  had  made  up  her  mind  not  to  marry  him,  did  not 
love  him,  never  had  and  never  could,  advised  him  to  get  some  one 
nearer  his  own  age,  etc.,  and  suggested  that  bo  make  iio  attempt  to 
see  her. 

"Poindexter   told    me    that    he    had    squandered    $8,000    on    her. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  91 

We  tried  to  keep  tliiugs  secret  that  night,  but  by  the  next  morning 
everyone  in  town  knew  it.  Of  course,  there  was  a  general  feeling  of 
indignation  among  Poindexter's  friends,  and  liV  noon  a  Saturnalia 
had  commenced.  Nearly  all  of  the  guests  had  bought  new  suits  of 
clothes,  good  ones,  to  honor  the  occasion,  and  they  organized  what 
they  called  a  'Lodge  of  Sorrow.'  After  installing  officers,  com- 
mittees went  around  among  the  guests  and  invited  them  to  meet  at 
the  lodge.  As  fast  as  they  arrived  they  were  put  into  an  ante-room 
and  as  their  names  were  called,  they  were  blindfolded  and  led  by 
the  aim  ))y  a  man  on  each  side.  The  victim  was  marched  around  the 
room  and  then  led  to  the  center  facing  the  presiding  officer.  His 
attention  was  directed  to  the  awful  example  of  our  friend  Poindexter, 
and  he  was  then  cautioned  never  to  allow  liimself  to  succumb  to  the 
wiles  of  a  siren.  He  was  tlien  requested  to  repeat  after  one  of  his 
guides  the  following  formula: 

' '  '  Then  shall  we  stand  such  treatment  ?  No !  As  soon  seek  roses  in 
December,  .ice  in  June,  seek  constancy  in  wind,  or  corn  in  chaff. 

"  'Believe  a  liar  or  an  epitaph  or  any  other  thing  that's  false 
before 

"  'We  let  a  woman  play  us  such  a  score.' 

"At  the  command  'Restore  him  to  the  light'  the  bandage  was 
removed  from  liis  eyes,  the  skirts  of  his  Prince  Albert  coat  were 
seized  on  each  side  by  his  guides  and  the  coat  split  up  the  back  to 
the  collar  and  the  victim  turned  loose.  Of  course,  his  first  impres- 
sion was  that  he  wanted  to  punch  the  heads  of  the  fellows  who  tore 
his  coat,  Imt  when  lie  saw  that  everyone  else  in  the  room  had  been 
served  the  same  way,  his  only  alternative  was  to  laugh  with  tliem 
and  wait  for  the  next  victim.  This  Saturnalia  was  kept  up  until 
Sunday  morning,  when  they  all  struck  out  for  their  homes." 

FIDDLING    FROM    DONKEY 's    BACK. 

Many  tales  are  told  of  the  "devil  may  care"  s]urit  thai  animated 
Visalia  during  the  mining  boom  days.  Gambling,  boozing,  fighting 
and  frolicking  were  the  occupations  of  the  miners,  especially,  as  hap- 
pened in  the  fall  of  '56  and  '57,  when  their  pockets  were  full  of  dust 
and  tliey  were  off  on  their  way  to  San  Francisco  to  sjjcnd  th(>  winter. 

^'isalia  offered  such  attractions  that  they  got  no  further.  At 
one  lime  a))Out  twenty-tive  of  these  took  i)ractical  ])ossession  of  the 
town.  Wide  ojjen  and  in  full  Itlast  the  attractions  were  kejit  going, 
night  and  day.  This  crowd  had  among  them  a  tall  and  lanky 
Missourian  named -Ben  Biggs,  who  could  play  the  fiddle,  and  that  liis 
talents  might  be  exercised  in  a  manner  calculated  to  attract  the  most 
attention  they  ]mrchased  a  jackass  for  him  to  ride  and  were  accus- 
tomed to  march  around  the  town,  halting  in  front  of  the  different 
saloons,  treating  all  bystanders  while  the  liddlcr  ])layed  lustily.  The 
sum  of  $60  pel-  uKintli  was  ]iaid  the  musician  by  the  ]iarty. 


92  TUT.ARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Needless  to  say,  (liu-  celat  was  secured.  .Judge  Sayles,  later  of 
Fresno,  who  was  tlie  leader  of  this  crowd,  concluded  that  this  sport 
had  become  somewliat  stale  and  arran,s;ed  t'oi-  a  glorious  finale. 

At  tlie  crossing  at  Mill  creek  at  Garden  street  was  a  ford,  below 
which  was  a  very  deep  pool.  A  halt  was  called  here  one  day  and 
Biggs,  at  the  request  of  the  audience,  was  sawing  out  a  selection 
when  a  preconcerteil  rush  of  the  s))ectators  duini)ed  both  him  and  his 
steed  into  the  water. 

THE     m'cEORY    EI'ISODE 

Visalia  in  the  '70s  numbered  among  its  inhabitants  a  genuine 
''bad  man."  This  was  one  James  McCrory,  who  at  the  time  of  his 
death  had  the  rcpntatiou  of  having  killed  oi-  wounded  thirteen  men. 

McCrory,  when  solter,  was  pleasant  and  companionable  and 
gained  many  friends.  When  drunk,  he  was  cross-grained  and  surly 
and  inclined  to  shoot  on  little  or  no  provocation.  His  first  serious  trou- 
ble occurred  here  in  October,  1870,  when  without  apparent  cause  he  shot 
and  killed  Manuel  Barcla,  a  Mexican  liarkeeper  in  the  Fashion 
saloon.  For  this  nmrder  he  was  at  his  first  trial,  sentenced  to  fifteen 
years  imprisonment.  On  the  second  trial  he  was  acquitted  on 
technicalities.  As  the  murder  was  peculiarly  cold-blooded  and  brutal 
this   caused   nmch   unfavoralile   comment. 

The  culminating  incident  of  his  career,  however,  and  the  means 
by  wliicli  he  gained  a  large  amount  of  such  fame  as  lay  within  his 
reach,  occurred  on  the  night  of  December  24,  1872.  MeCrory  had 
just  returned  from  a  ])rospecting  trip  to  Arizona.  He  had  met  with 
no  success  and  arrived  broke,  actually  in  rags,  in  fact.  Charles 
Allen,  a  barkeejier  in  the  Eldorado  saloon,  had  been  his  good  friend 
for  years  and  to  him  McCrory  appealed  for  assistance.  Allen  re- 
plenished his  wardrolie,  inirchasing  at  Sweet's  store  a  $10  pair  of 
trousers  and  other  articles  of  good  quality.  After  nuiking  the  neces- 
sary imrchases,  the  two  chums  proceeded  to  carouse  around  together 
all  day.  Allen  went  to  bed  in  the  saloon,  ))ut  McCrory  continued  to 
celebrate.  He  became  so  boisterous  that  the  Mexican  barkeeper 
became  frightened  and  woke  Allen.  AVhen  Allen  suggested  that  he 
make  less  noise,  McCrory  pulled  his  pistol  and,  without  a  word,  shot 
Allen  just  below  the  eye.  There  were  numerous  witnesses  to  the 
dastardl\'  act  and  feeling  against  McCrory  was  intense.  Allen  died 
in   about  an   hour. 

McCrory  made  his  escape  througli  the  rear  of  the  saloon  and 
had  hid  himself  in  an  outhouse,  whence  he  was  coaxed  to  come  out 
by  "Picayune"  Johnson,  a  citizen,  who  placed  him  under  arrest. 
When  being  taken  to  the  jail  by  deiiuty  sheriff  Jesse  Reynolds,  there 
were  hnid   and   frequent  cries  from   the   crowd   of  "hang  him!   hang 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  93 

Jiiin!"   MeCrory   yelled   baek,   "Yes,   yoii   ,   you    dasseiit 

han.a,'  me." 

It  was  Christmas  eve.  The  church  bells  were  rinftiuj>-  their  call 
to  attend  the  Christmas  trees  festivities  at  the  Methodist  church  on 
Court  street,  but  there  were  few  meu  who  answered  this  summons. 
They  attended  a  graver  and  sterner  meeting  on  Main  street  at  0  p. 
m.,  and  as  a  result  marched  en  masse  to  the  jail  where  sheriff  A.  U. 
Glasscock  with  armed  deputies  were  found  guarding  the  pinsoner. 
The  sheriff  asked  the  crowd  not  to  act  hastily  and  do  things  of  which 
later  they  would  be  ashamed,  and  requested  them  to  at  least  wait 
an  hour  before  taking  any  action.  This  was  agreed  to  and  at  the 
end  of  that  time  tlie>-  returned  with  an  eighteen  foot  piece  of  timber 
with  which  they  broke  o|)en  the  outside  iron  door  of  the  jail.  After 
reaching  the  hall  they  had  to  pass  the  sheriff's  office  where  eight  or 
ten  armeil  men  were  on  guard.  These  were  forced  to  give  way  and 
were  sho\-ed  into  the  office  and  held  there.  The  keys  were  taken 
from  Reynolds  and  the  cell  door  opened. 

McCrory  had  heard  them  coming  and,  determined  not  to  "die 
with  his  boots  on,"  had  removed  them.  When  the  leaders  entered 
the  cell  they  found  him  lying  on  his  face.  They  caught  him  by  the 
hair,  raised  his  head  up,  placed  a  noose  around  his  neck  and  half 
dragged,  half  carried  him  to  the  liall.  A  railing  blocked  the  way 
here  and  in  order  to  ])revent  ])remature  strangulation,  he  was  lifted 
over  this.  Outside,  he  was  taken  to  the  Mill  creek  bridge  on  Court 
street,  the  rope  tied  to  a  post  of  the  railing,  and  he  was  thrown  over. 

A  man  made  a  motion  that  he  l>e  left  there  for  one  hour,  which 
was  duly  seconded  and  carried.  During  the  interim,  a  collection  to 
defray  funeral  expenses  was  taken  up,  and  arrangements  made  with 
the  undertaker.  At  the  end  of  the  hour  "Fatty  Johnson,"  the  under- 
taker, ap]ieared  with  a  s])ring  wagon.  Six  men  pulled  McCrory  u]) 
and  got  him  ])artially  into  the  wagon.  The  incident  was  closed. 
Certainly  there  had  been  no  delay  or  miscarriage  of  justice  and  not 
a  cent  of  expense  to  the  county. 

THE    MOIUUS-SHANNON   AFFEAY 

On  November  15,  18G0,  William  Governeur  Morris  shot  and  killed 
.John  Shannon,  editor  of  the  Delta.  This  affray  grew  out  of  the 
bitterness  engendered  in  the  political  campaign  which  had  just  been 
bi-ouglit  to  a  close,  and  for  a  correct  understanding  of  the  motives 
actuating  the  men,  it  is  necessary  to  relate  some  of  the  verbal  pass- 
ages between  them.    • 

The  A'isalia  Sun  had  been  started  during  this  campaign  as  an 
organ  of  the  Ke|)ublican  party,  the  Delta  supporting  ]*>reckenri(lge. 
Morris,  it  was  stated,  controlled  the  policy  of  the  Sim  and  contributed 
to   it   editoi'iallv. 


94  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

lu  the  first  issue  of  the  Delta  after  the  election  there  appeared 
a  statement  fi'om  Shannon  as  follows:  "To  the  Public:  In  the  last 
issue  of  the  Suu  I  find  a  card  signed  by  William  Governeur  Morris, 
in  wliich  is  the  folIowiuK  lauftnage:  'I  have  endeavored  to  obtain 
satisfaction  from  Mr.  Shannon  for  liis  personal  abuse  of  me  in  his 
paper,  but  have  been  unable  to  do  so.'  "  After  this  follow  copies 
of  a  portion  of  the  correspondence.  "On  the  15th  of  September 
last  I  received  a  note  from  Mr.  Morris  by  the  hands  of  two  men, 
who  immediately  left  without  stating  the  object  of  their  visit  or  the 
purjiort  of  the  note  of  which  they  were  the  bearers,  thus  aifording 
me  no  opportunity  to  give  them  a  written  answer  or  to  refer  them 
to  my  friend.  Eegarding  this  conduct  on  the  part  of  these  messengers 
as  a  deliberate  insult,  and  finding  one  of  them  on  the  streets,  1  com- 
menced, without  any  ceremony,  to  chastise  liim  for  his  impertinence. 
(This  was  A.  J.  Atwell.)  In  so  doing  I  injured  my  right  hand,  an 
injury  which  has  since  proved  to  be  more  serious  than  was  at  the 
time  supposed.  Mr.  Morris  was  informed  of  the  fact  through  Mr. 
Beckham,  and  requested  to  wait  until  such  time  as  I  could  have  the 
full  use  of  my  hand."  Shannon  goes  on  to  state  that  Morris  agreed 
to  this  and  was  to  await  an  answer  from  Mr.  Beckham,  which  had 
not  been  given  because  Shannon's  hand  was  not  yet  well,  and  also 
that  both  Morris  and  Tate  knew  that  he  had  also  met  with  an  accident 
to  his  other  hand.  He  accuses  them  of  violating  the  rules  of  the  code 
and  concludes  by  saying,  "Inasmuch  as  Mr.  Morris  has  chosen  to 
retire  from  his  position,  I  have  only  to  say  that  hereafter,  should 
he  or  any  of  his  kind  feel  aggrieved  by  any  act  or  word  of  mine,  they 
have  only  to  call  upon  me,  with  the  assurance  that  I  will  be  prepared 
to  arrange  matters  with  them  very  summarily,  and  without  the  inter- 
positions of  friends  or  a  resort  to  the  code." 

November  15,  1860,  a  card  appeared  from  Morris  denouncing 
Shannon  as  a  liar,  coward  and  blackguard  and  stating  that  he  would 
pay  him  no  further  attention.  The  affair  occurred  the  same  day. 
The  version  given  by  both  the  .S'»/;  and  the  Delta  was: 

"On  Thursday  evening  Shannon  entered  the  office  of  AV.  P. 
Gill,  Esq.,  where  Morris  was  sitting.  Shannon  held  in  his  hand  a 
cocked  ]nstol,  and  on  entering  raised  the  pistol,  at  the  same  time 
saying.  'Morris,  are  you  armed?'  Morris  sprang  to  his  feet  and 
gTa])pled  with  his  opponent.  Shannon  being  the  taller  of  the  two 
Mori-is  was  unable  to  disarm  him  and  Shannon  beat  him  severely 
upon  the  head  with  the  pistol,  inflicting  nine  severe  scalp  wounds.  At 
the  first  or  second  blow  Shannon's  pistol  was  discharged  accidentally. 
After  receiving  these  blows,  Morris  fell  to  the  floor,  covered  with 
blood,  whereupon  Shannon  gazed  upon  him  several  seconds  and 
turned  and  left  the  room.     Morris,  thereupon,  sjirang  to  his  feet  and. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  ^5 

drawing  his  revolver,  rnslied  out  of  the  south  door  of  the  building 
so  as  to  intercept  Shannon  before  reaching  his  office.  T!ie  ])arties 
here  exchanged  shots  ineffectually.  Morris  then  left  his  position 
and  proceeding  to  the  north  side  of  the  building,  climbed  on  the 
fence  (Shannon  retaining  his  position)  and  took  deliberate  aim 
and  fired,  the  Itall  striking  Mr.  Shannon  in  the  abdomen.  At  this 
instant  Shannon  had  raised  his  pistol,  but  lowered  it  without  firing 
and  put  his  hand  to  the  wound  and  walked  to  his  office,  where  he 
died  in  about  an  hour  and  eighteen  minutes. 

Shannon  was  a  man  highly  respected  b}'  a  large  circle  of  friends 
and  sincerely  mourned.  He  was  one  of  the  pioneer  journalists  of  the 
state,  having  previously  edited  the  Placer  Democrat  and  the  Calaveras 
CJuuiiicle. 

Morris  later  became  United  States  marshal   of  California. 

STAPLEFOKD-DEPUTY    AFFAIR 

One  of  the  most  bizarre  and  at  the  same  time  most  outrageoiis 
crimes  known  in  the  annals  of  any  county  was  committed  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1858.  The  heavy  villains  were  one  J.  D.  Stapleford  and 
William  Governeur  Morris,  known  as  "bloody"  Morris,  the  same 
gentleman  who  afterwards  killed  Shannon,  the  editor  of  the  Delta, 
and  later  became  United  States  marshal. 

It  appears  that  Stai)leford,  who  hailed  from  Stockton,  had  there, 
in  order  to  defraud  his  creditors,  deeded  his  property,  said  to  amount 
to  $30,000  or  $40,000,  to  his  uncle,  A\'illiam  C.  Deinity.  Deputy  had 
handled  this  property  for  some  time,  selling  and  reinvesting,  and,  as 
he  claimed,  repaying  to  Stapleford  such  sums  from  time  to  time 
as  to  cancel  the  indebtedness.  Deputy,  however,  remained  |)ossessed 
of  nnich  proi)erty  and  Stapleford  demanded  of  his  uncle  that  he  deed 
all  his  i)roi)erty  to  him,  claiming  that  the  old  score  remained  unsettled. 
Deputy  refused  and  then  Stapleford  offered  a  reward  of  $1,000  to 
anyone  who  would  compel  him  to  sign  an  instrument  to  that  effect. 

There  being  no  takers  for  this  offer,  Stapleford  caused  De])uty's 
arrest  on  a  charge  of  swindling,  and  he  was  confined  in  the  old  wooden 
jail  and  court  house  and  chained  to  a  ring-bolt,  fastened  in  the  floor. 
Apparently  fearing  that  some  attempt  at  the  use  of  violence  might 
be  committed  on  the  prisoner.  Sheriff  Poindexter  ])laced  two  men, 
Ed  Re\nolds  and  Frank  "Warren,  on  guard  to  protect  the  old  man. 

On  the  28th  of  July,  a  mob  headed  by  Morris,  who  was  a  lawyer 
and  nofnry,  broke  into  jail,  took  Deputy  to  the  outskirts  of  towu, 
swung  him  u})  to  a  tree  by  a  noose  around  his  neck  until  he  was 
nearly  strangled,  let  him  down,  and  then  requested  him  to  sign  a 
deed  that  had  been  prepared.  ITpon  his  refusal  he  was  again  swung 
U))  ;rii<l  lashed  by  Morris  with  a  blacksuake  until  almost  miconscious. 
He  then  consented  to  sign,  but  after  being  taken  back  to  jail,  showed 


96  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

signs  of  renewed  stubbornness.  However,  after  being  chained  again 
to  tlie  riug-lK)lt  and  tlneateiied  again  witli  tlie  lash,  lie  did  sign  a 
deed  by  which  lie  transferred  to  Stapleford  any  and  all  real  estate 
of  which  lie  niiglit  be  i)ossessed  in  the  state  of  California. 

This  property  included  that  on  which  the  Visalia  tiouriug  mills 
are  now  situated,  a  tract  east  of  town  and  a  hotel  and  ranch  propertj^ 
in  San  Bernardino.  The  pro])erty  was  immediately  retransferred  to  a 
supposedlj'  innocent  third  party  and  when  De})uty  brought  suit  to  re- 
cover, the  supreme  court  held  that  there  was  no  law  empowering  it  to 
reinstate  Deputy  in  possession. 

Stapleford,  Morris  and  four  others  of  the  princi]3al  men  com- 
posing the  mob  that  had  committed  the  outrage  were  later  arrested 
on  a  com]ilaint  signerl  by  many  prominent  citizens.  Morris  was 
convicted  and  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  $500  and  sei've  six  months 
in  jail.  Owing  to  secret  influences  of  some  kind,  he  successfully 
evaded  doing  either  one,  and  escaped  scot  free. 

JAMES   m'kIXXEv's    HIGH    LIFE 

On  Simday  morning,  July  27,  1902,  James  McKinuey,  an  ex-con- 
vict, murderer  and  all  round  bad  man,  ran  amuck  in  Porterville. 
shot  five  men,  one  fatally,  held  up  a  livery  stable  for  a  team  and 
made  his  escape. 

McKinney  at  the  time  was  employed  at  the  Mint  saloon  as  night 
manager.  About  midnight  he  and  Rali)li  Calderwood,  known  as 
"Scotty. "  proprietor  of  a  saloon  and  chop  house,  got  together  in 
the  Mint  saloon.  Roth  had  been  drinking  and  McKinney  was  bois- 
terous. He  fired  a  shot  from  his  revolver  at  random  from  the  door 
of  the  Mint  and  then  adjourned  to  Scotty's  place  where  more 
promiscuous    shooting   was    indulged    in. 

City  Marshal  John  Howell,  his  deinity.  John  "Willis,  Dejtuty  Con- 
stable AV.  L.  T()m])kiiis  and  a  railroad  emiiloye  named  Lyons  ap- 
proached for  the  ]nirpose  of  arresting  McKinney,  who  began  shooting 
when  the  officers  were  within  fifteen  feet  of  him.  They  returned  the 
fire  and  "Willis  called,  "Jim,  stop  your  shooting."  A  shot  was  fired 
in  reply.  Attempting  to  fire  again,  the  gun  snapped  and  "Willis 
remarked,  "Come  on,  boys,  he  has  no  more  ammunition,  we  will  get 
him  now."  McKinney  fled,  pursued  by  the  officers.  Willis,  who  was 
in  the  lead,  fired  two  shots,  one  of  which  hit  McKinney  in  the  leg. 
"Willis,  out  of  ammunition,  continued  the  chase  and  got  close  enough 
to  strike  McKinney  with  his  cane.  McKinney  had  reloaded  while 
running  and  upon  being  struck,  turned  and  shot  "Willis,  the  ball 
taking  effect  in  the  upper  lip,  knocking  him  down. 

The  chase  then  ceased,  but  McKinney  continued  the  flight  to  the 
house  of  his  mistress,  where  he  procured  a  sliotgun  and  rifle.  Start- 
ing to  return  to  town,  he  encountered  "William  Linn,   a  gambler,   at 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  !)7 

whom  witliout  jirovopation  lie  diseliarsed  a  load  of  hiieksliot,  fatally 
woiuidiug  liim.  Linii  had  ]iii'viously  heen  aceideiitally  shot  and 
slightly  wounded  in  the  exchange  of  shots  with  the  officei's.  McKiu- 
uey  then  went  to  the  Arlington  stahles,  roused  the  hostlers,  and, 
covering  them  with  his  rifle,  demanded  a  team,  threatening  to  kill 
them  if  they  did  not  Imi-ry.  While  the  team  was  iieing  harnessed 
McKinney  fired  eight  or  ten  shots  towards  the  main  part  of  town. 
He  then  got  into  the  huggy  and  drove  up  through  town,  shooting  at 
every  person  he  saw. 

George  Barrow,  a  compositor  in  the  Enterprise  office,  received 
a  charge  in  the  right  arm  and  in  the  small  of  the  hack,  and  W.  B. 
West  was  shot  in  the  right  arm  and  hij).  West  was  slightly  and 
Barrow  very  severely  wounded.  After  shooting  Barrow  and  West 
McKinney  drove  through  the  main  part  of  town  to  the  residence  of 
D.  B.  Hosier,  whom  he  roused.  He  said,  "I  have  killed  four  or  five 
men  down  town  and  must  leave  here.  I  want  you  to  give  me  all  the 
money  you  have.  Take  these  keys  and  you  will  find  in  the  locker  at 
the  safe  at  the  Mint  saloon,  $100.  Tell  the  Indian,  referring  to  Ed 
Isham,  to  give  you  that  money.  Tell  Ed  that  I  have  gone,  that  they 
will  never  take  me.  Tracy  won't  he  in  it  with  me,  I  will  kill  anyone 
that  looks  at  me." 

Mosier  gave  McKinney  all  the  money  he  had,  about  $60.  Mc- 
Kinney drove  again  to  Main  street  and  took  a  parting  shot  at  "Kid" 
Tatman,  hut  without  effect.  He  drove  north  then  from  Porterville, 
passing  through  Lindsay,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Lemon  Cove  secreted 
himself  near  D.  McKee's  home. 

Sheriff  Parker  was  soon  on  the  trail  hut  failed  to  locate  him, 
as  McKinney  had  numerous  friends  who  assisted  him  in  keeping  his 
whereabouts  a  secret.  In  August,  and  until  October,  he  was  seen 
in  the  Randsburg  district,  whence  he  disappeared  to  parts  unknown, 
not  being  heard  of  until  June  of  190;>,  when  he  was  reported  in 
Mexico.  Sheritf  Collins  secured  extradition  papers  and  went  after 
him.  McKinney,  however,  escaped  and  went  to  Kingman.  Arizona, 
in  which  vicinity  he  murdered  two  men.  Fleeing  from  the  scene 
of  these  crimes  he  again  appeared  in  the  Randsburg  region,  l)eing 
hotly  pursued  by  Sheriff  Lovin  of  Mojave  county,  Arizona,  as  well 
as  by  Sheriff  Collins  and  ex-Sheritf  Overall  of  this  county  and 
sheriff's  possees  from  Kern  county.  McKinney,  evading  these,  made 
his  way  successfully  through  the  Sierras  to  Kernville  and  there 
narrowly  esca])ed  being  killed  by  Rankin  and  McCraeken,  who  recog- 
nized him  and  in  a  I'Uiming  iiglil,  wounded  him. 

On  A])ril  1!),  IDO,"},  McKinney  was  located  in  a  Chinese  joss 
house  in  Rakei'sfield.  The  house  was  surrounded  by  a  cordon  of 
officers,  and  Jeff  Packard,  city  marshal,  and  Will  E.  Tibbett,  si)ecial 
deputy  sheriff,  were  killed  in  an  attempt  to  enter  it.     McKinney  ap- 


1)8  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

peared  at  the  doorway  and  was  shot  and  instantly  killed  by  deputy 
sheriff  Bert  M.  Tibhetts. 

THE    MAGANA    BUTCHEEY 

The  last  of  the  long  list  of  bloody  crimes  that  has  cursed  the 
county  that  will  be  noted  was  that  committed  in  Porterville,  February 
17,  1911.  On  that  day,  just  before  dark  and  as  the  stores  were  closing 
for  the  night,  Juan  Magana,  a  Mexican  laborer  who  had  been  at  work 
in  the  county,  entered  the  Lambkin-Graham  clothing  store.  It  hap- 
]Dened  that  J.  B.  Lambkin  was  still  in  the  store  and  Magana  asked  to 
look  at  some  shoes.  While  Lambkin  was  looking  for  the  shoes  the 
Mexican  demanded  money  and  on  being  refused,  drew  a  butcher  knife 
and  stabbed  the  merchant  to  death. 

Soine  one  entered  the  store  just  then  and  gave  the  alarm.  Ma- 
gana broke  through  a  rear  window  and  escaped  in  the  darkness.  In 
the  tussle  in  the  store  he  had  cut  his  own  hand  and  he  left  a  trail  of 
blood.  He  escaped  to  a  small  settlement  of  Mexicans  near  the  out- 
skirts of  town,  and  there  gave  away  the  knife,  but  escaped.  Early 
the  following  morning  the  officers  followed  the  trail  to  the  Mexican 
camp,  but  there  lost  it  and  diiring  the  forenoon  were  beating  the 
surrounding  country  for  the  criminal.  He  was  soon  found  by  Orral 
Kilroy  of  Porterville  and  turned  over  to  the  town  marshal,  E.  B. 
Isham. 

Sheritf  Collins  had  gone  over  in  an  automobile  and  innnediately 
took  the  marshal  and  the  prisoner  into  the  machine  and  started  for 
Visalia.  The  people  were  greatly  incensed  over  the  crime,  and  a 
move  was  started  to  wrest  the  fellow  from  the  officers  and  execute 
him  on  the  spot.  The  driver  of  the  machine  speeded  through  the 
streets  of  Porterville  at  a  sixty-mile  clip,  and  distanced  all  pursuers. 
When  a  few  miles  from  town  there  was  a  long  bridge  to  be  crossed. 
The  driver  kept  uji  speed,  and  striking  some  obstruction,  one  of  the 
axles  broke  and  the  machine  careened  to  one  side  and  toppled  off 
the  bridge  to  the  dry  bed  of  the  creek  below.  The  parties  in  the 
machine  jumped  out  before  it  landed  and  thus  escaped  any  injury 
more  than  a  severe  jolting.  The  gasoline  exploded  and  the  machine 
was  burned.  The  officers,  with  their  prisoner,  walked  to  a  nearby 
house,  telephoned  for  a  new  machine  and  tinally  arrived,  late  in  the 
afternoon,  at  the  jail  at  Visalia. 

Magana  made  a  full  confession,  was  found  guilty,  and  on  June 
IG.  expiated  his  crime  in  San  Quentin.  His  is  the  only  case  in  the 
history  of  the  county  when  an  execution  was  effected  on  the  day 
first  set  by  a  judge. 

MISCELLANEOUS    ITEMS 

The  Delta  January  6,  1861,  speaks  of  a  sale  of  Visalia  building 
lots  held  on  the  day  previous  by  J.  E.  Wainwright  &  Co.     The  sale 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  99 

was  largely  atteuded  aud  tlu;  bidding  spirited.  One  luuulreil  aud 
fifteen  lots  were  sold  at  prices  ranging  from  $5  to  $30.  The  lots  were 
in  Aughinbaugb's  Addition  to  Visalia. 

As  late  as  1891,  lands  near  Visalia  were  by  no  means  held  at  high 
prices.  J.  H.  Thomas  advertised  forty  acres  three-qnarters  of  a 
mile  sonth  of  town  for  $60  per  acre.  The  same  year,  Sontag  & 
Evans,  who  afterwards  became  famous  criminals,  advertised  thirteen 
lots,  aud  half  a  block  in  Aughinbaugh's  Addition  to  Visalia,  orchard 
and  vineyard  on  the  land,  for  $1,600. 

As  a  showing  of  the  importance  of  sheep-raising  in  Tulare  in 
early  days  it  is  noted  that  the  fall  clip  of  wool  of  1872  was  1,474,500 
pounds.  The  winter  following  was  the  most  severe  one  ever  ex- 
perienced by  sheepmen  and  yet  the  s^Dring  clip  of  1873  was  947,375 
pounds. 

J.  P.  Majors  of  Visalia  was  the  first  postmaster  in  Tulare 
county,  being  appointed  in  1855  and  serving  three  years.  He  was 
succeeded  by  Zane  Steuben. 

In  1891  the  lumber  business  was  very  active.  Atwell's  mills  on 
the  Mineral  King  road  was  operated  by  the  Kaweah  colonists;  four 
saw  mills  were  located  on  the  Upper  Yolo,  two  of  which  were  run- 
ning; the  Comstock  mills,  above  Camp  Badger;  the  Sequoia  mills, 
jiist  across  the  line  in  Fresno  county.  The  total  cut  of  these  mills 
that  year  was  over  three  million  feet  of  lumber. 

CROSSING    STREAMS    IN    THE    FIFTIES 

The  business  of  maintaining  ferries  across  different  streams  in 
the  county  appears  to  have  been  a  profitable  one  in  early  days,  judg- 
ing from   the   number   engaged   in   it. 

At  one  of  the  first  meetings  of  the  board  of  supervisors  in  1853, 
A.  B.  Gordon  was  granted  the  privilege  of  maintaining  a  ferry  across 
Kern  river,  free  of  taxation  for  a  period  of  eight  months.  The  fol- 
lowing rates  were  authorized :  six-horse  team  or  four  yoke  of  oxen, 
$6;  four-horse  wagon,  $4;  two-horse  wagon,  $2;  horse  and  man,  $1; 
pack  mules,  fifty  cents;  loose  horses  and  foot  men,  twenty-five  cents 
each. 

In  1855  the  court  of  sessions  granted  licenses  to  L.  A.  Whitman 
to  conduct  a  ferry  on  Kings  river,  at  a  point  two  and  one-half  miles 
west  of  Crumley's  ranch,  and  to  I.  S.  George  to  run  a  ferry  boat  at 
the  Poindexter  crossing;  granted  to  John  Pool  the  right  to  continue 
his  ferry  and  gave  to  Crumley  and  Smith  the  privilege  of  conducting 
another. 

COUNTY    SCRIP    AND    GOLD    DUST 

In  August,  1855,  at  a  meeting  of  the  board  of  supervisors,  it 
was  "ordered  that  the  treasurer  pay  to  S.  C.  Brown  the  balance  still 


100  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

(hie   on    oriler   tliirteen   county    sfi'lp,   valuinir   gold   dust    at    $14   per 
ounce. ' ' 

AX    IXniAX     RUNNEK 

"Captain  George,  an  Indian  and  a  'big  Injun  liea])'  at  tliat,  lias 
commenced  running  as  an  expressman  between  this  ]ilace  and  Coso. 
For  his  services  he  gets  very  well  paid  and  would  be  better  paid 
had  he  a  tench  of  Yankee  in  his  system,  lie  makes  the  tri])  now  in 
about  four  days  and  packages  of  light  weight  of  any  description  may 
be  safely  entrusted  to  iiis  care." — Delta,  1861. 

In  September,  1862,  Mr.  '\"an  Water  is  credited  with  having  a 
factory  in  operation  in  Visalia.  making  a  tine  article  of  sorghum 
syrup. 

In  1863  Nathan  Baker  put  in  a  tield  of  about  twelve  acres,  near 
Visalia,  to  tobacco. 

*'Si)lendid  deer  skins,  dressed,  were  offered  for  sale  in  this  ]ilace 
yesterday  morning  at  $19  a  dozen." — Delta,  Oct.  20,  1861. 

"Boating — People  who  have  not  been  here  for  a  year  or  two 
will  be  surprised  to  hear  that  navigation  is  now  open  just  north  of 
town.  The  tirst  boat  arrived  near  S.  Davenport's,  on  Saturday  last, 
with  four  tons  of  freight  on  board.  Since  that  some  thirty  tons  have 
arrived  by  the  same  means,  and  regular  trips  will  be  made  until  the 
water  subsides.  "^Z>c//rt,  May  15,  1867. 

"Two  hunters,  living  in  the  foothills  on  the  waters  of  the  Tule 
river,  have  killed  over  one  hundred  and  twenty  deer  during  the 
present  winter."— Dc//rt,  1866. 

VISALIA 's  FIRST  BUSINESS  DIRECTORY 

The  business  directory  of  Visalia  in  1861  was  as  follows:  Saloons: 
Cosmopolitan,  Gem,  Fashion,  St.  Charles.  Wholesale  and  retail  dealers : 
II.  Cohn,  H.  Green.-  Hotels:  Exchange,  corner  Court  and  Main  streets; 
\'isalia  House,  corner  Main  and  Church  streets.  General  merchandise, 
etc.,  Sam  Ellis,  D.  E.  Douglass,  Reinstein  &  Hockett,  Sweet  &  Jacobs, 
"Weinshauk  &  Sinclair,  M.  Reinstein.  Stage  lines:  Hice  &  Wilson.  Mis- 
cellaneous: Bossier  &  Townsend,  saddlers  and  harness  makers;  Knoble 
&  Kraft,  bakers  and  confectioners;  G.  AY.  Rogers,  jeweler;  B.  M.  Bron- 
son,  gunsmith;  John  H.  Richardson,  painter;  Douglass  &  Magary, 
contractors  and  builders;  Samuel  Dinely,  barber  shop  and  bathhouse; 
Jose]ih  H.  Thomas,  lumber  yard;  George  AV.  Sutherland,  tailor  slioj); 
Justices  of  the  Peace:  S.  AY.  Beckham,  Robert  C.  Redd.  Attornevs:  AA". 
M.  Stafford,  A.  J.  Atwell,  Morris  &  Brown.  S.  A.  Sheppard.  Phvsi- 
cians:  Dr.  M.  Baker,  Dr.  J.  D.  P.  Thomason.  Dr.  AV.  A.  Russell.  Dr. 
James  A.  Roberts,  Dr.  T.  O.  Ehis,  Sr. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  101 

SECOND   COUKTHOUSE 

Tulare  county's  second  courthouse,  built  in  1859,  was  a  brick  struc- 
ture -10x60  feet  in  size,  of  two  stories  and  a  basement.  In  the  base- 
ment was  a  jail,  one  half  l)ein.o'  divided  into  six  cells,  lined  with  lioilei' 
iron.    In  ISJ'A  an  additional  jail  as  a  separate  building  was  consti'ucted. 

As  to  the  building  of  the  ])resent  court  house  without  the  wings 
(which  were  added  in  190()),  there  hangs  a  tale.  The  Southern  Pacific 
had  completed  its  line  through  the  county  in  187:2,  leaving  Visalia  side- 
tracked and  therefore  destined  to  become  a  "deserted  village."  At  the 
site  of  Tulare,  the  railroad  luxd  ])latted  a  town  in  which  plat  provision 
was  made  for  a  court  liouse.  and  the  general  expectation,  both  among 
bu.vers  of  town  lots  in  Tulare  and  citizens  generally  was  that  Tulare 
would  become  the  county  seat.  But  the  legislature  of  1875-1876  passed 
an  act  authorizing  the  county  of  Tulai'e  to  issue  bonds  in  the  sum  of 
$75,000  for  the  pur))0se  of  building  a  court  house  in  \'isalia.  This 
naturally  aroused  intense  opposition,  not  only  from  Tulare  and  the 
southern  end  of  the  county,  Init  even  from  Visalia.  The  Delta  de- 
nounced it  as  a  job,  stating  tliat  the  then  existing  court  house  was  good 
enough  and  that  the  building  of  another  would  be  burdensome  on  the 
taxpayers. 

A  "People's  Convention"  was  called  to  meet  in  Visalia,  July  15, 
1876,  to  take  action  in  the  matter.  Resolutions  were  passed  denouncing 
the  methods  used  in  the  passage  of  the  bill  through  the  legislature,  etc., 
and  agreeing  to  use  every  legal  means  to  prevent  its  o])eration.  How- 
ever, the  citizens  of  Visalia  regarded  it  as  vital  to  their  welfare,  if  not 
to  the  very  salvation  of  the  town;  the  majority  of  the  board  of  super- 
visors were  favorable  to  Visalia  and  pushed  the  matter  forward  as 
rapidly  as  i)Ossil)le,  issuing  ))ouds,  advertising  for  bids  for  the  sale  of 
the  old  structure  and  the  construction  of  the  new,  etc. 

A.  D.  Glasscock  ])ouglit  the  old  courthouse  for  .$686,  and  R.  E.  Hyde 
the  jail  for  $J05.  Stephens  and  Childers  of  Santa  Rosa  were  awarded 
the  contract  for  construction  for  $59,700,  and  on  October  28,  1871, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Free  and  Accepted  Masons 
of  California,  the  cornerstone  was  laid. 

CEMETERIES 

Tulare  county's  first  cemetery  was  started  in  Visalia  in  1857,  near 
where  the  Tipton  Lindsey  schoolhouse  is  now  situated.  The  first  occu- 
l)ant  was  a  Dutchman  who  was  drowned  in  Mill  creek  and  whose  only 
known  name  was  Pete.  On  the  rough  i)ine  box  containing  the  remains 
was  therefore  duly  inscribed  "Pete  in  the  box,"  the  same  inscription 
being  placed  on  the  headboard. 

Ajuong  others  whose  l)odies  were  laid  to  rest  here  and  later  i-e- 
moved  to  the  new  cemetery  were  Jack  Lorenz,  Mrs.  Thomas  P>akei', 
Mrs.  Nathan  Raker,  and  a  man  called  Salty. 

7 


102  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 


VISALIA  S   TITLE 

There  was  for  many  years  a  elond  upon  the  title  to  lots  in  Yisalia 
and  at  one  time  there  was  serious  trouble  feared.  It  appears  that  after 
Nat.  "\'ise  gave  u]^  his  preemption  in  favor  of  tlie  on-coming  city,  noth- 
ing was  done  to  comply  with  legal  forms  necessary  to  perfect  a  title. 

On  August  9,  1857,  the  board  of  supervisors  passed  an  order  asking 
congress  to  grant  the  board  the  right  to  preem):)t  the  town  site  of 
Yisalia.  and  the  clerk  was  ordered  to  file  in  the  land  office,  then  located 
in  Sau  Francisco,  the  necessary  application.  The  application  was  not 
received,  the  land  office  claiming  that  there  was  no  evidence  that  the 
supervisors  were  the  agents  of  Tulare  county.  The  matter  was  drop- 
ped till  about  1867.  The  Alsalia  Land  District  had  been  formed  and 
one  George  Garish  appointed  receiver.  Discovering  the  lack  of  title 
to  the  townsite,  he  made  application  for  the  lands.  This  aroused  the 
people  and  steps  were  taken  to  iierfeet  the  title  to  the  county  for  the 
lands.  The  matter  had  to  be  taken  before  the  land  commissioner  at 
Washington,  but  it  was  finally  settled  to  the  benefit  of  the  people. 

BEFORE  VISALIA  BEAUTIFUL  CAME 

In  the  spring  of  1860  a  correspondent  to  the  local  pajser  speaks 
thus  of  Visalia:  "This  region,  including  the  town,  is  little  more  than 
a  labyrinth  of  crooked  creeks,  ditches,  fences,  brush,  weeds,  etc.  A 
quarter  of  a  mile  out  of  town  one  is  in  the  wilderness  to  all  intents  and 
pur])Oses.  Streets  are  straight  and  square  as  far  as  they  go.  but  they 
don't  go,  and  it  takes  a  very  uncommon  owl  to  get  to  his  regular  roost 
in  the  burg  after  dark.  Wonder  what  the  'Beau  Brummel'  of  the 
Mariposa  Gazette,  who  was  here  about  two  weeks  ago,  thinks  about  it, 
inquiring  the  way  to  Visalia  at  a  house  about  a  hundred  yards  from 
the  Court  street  bridge." 

IN   THE   FIFTIES 

Jime  25,  1859 — "We  hope  to  be  able  soon  to  give  the  latest  tele- 
graphic news  received  at  St.  Louis,  by  the  stages  as  thev  pass  through 
iov^n."~Delta. 

"A  protest  against  the  contemplated  reduction  of  the  overland 
mail  service  is  now  in  circulation.  *  *  *  xhis  is  the  only  direct 
and  speedy  (sic)  connection  we  have  with  the  east  and  its  promptness 
and  regularity  have  made  it  an  enterprise  of  the  utmost  importance  to 
the  people  of  California." — Delta,  1859. 

SOME  AD^^CE   COUPLED  WITH  A  PREDICTION 

"I  would  advise  the  merchants  and  citizens  of  Visalia  and  Tulare 
county  to  encourage  as  much  as  possible  men  to  go  into  the  mountains 
east  of  this  valley  and  prospect  there  thoroughly,  as  nothing  Init  the 
discovery  of  mines  close  to  us  that  we  can  supply  without  fear  of  com- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  103 

petition  will  save  ns  from  inevitable  Bahylonic  rnin  that  will  change 
most  of  our  fine  buildings  into  nothing  Imt  a  shelter  for  a  lot  of  lousy 
Indians  in  a  few  years." — (Newspaper  correspondent  in  1859.) 

POLITICS 

The  following  apjieared  in  the  Delta  in  1859. 

"We  can  safely  pledge  the  county  of  Tulare  to  give  seventy- tive 
Democratic  votes  to  one  Rejiublican  or  mixed.  *  *  *  In  Fresno 
county  there  was  never  but  one  al)olitionist  and  he  has  now  left  for  a 
more  congenial  clime.  His  portrait  is  to  be  seen  at  the  Millerton 
hotel.  Mr.  McCray  has  had  the  portrait  framed  at  a  heavy  expense 
that  the  passerby  may  look  upon  the  Lone  Republican  of  B"'resno. 
Whence  he  came  or  whitlier  he  went  no  one  knoweth." 

THE   BUSY    BEE 

June  21,  1859. — "J.  B.  Stevens  arrived  in  Visalia  with  ten  hives 
of  bees,  the  first  ever  brought  to  the  county. 

J.  H.  and  C.  G.  Hart  had  an  apiary  east  of  Visalia  in  1860,  and 
inserted  the  following  advertisement  in  the  Delta:  'Bee  Advertisement 
— For  sale  on  and  after  the  tirst  of  September  next  a  choice  lot  of 
honey  bees  in  as  good  condition  as  any  the  county  affords.  Price  $50 
a  swarm.  A  farm  or  grain  will  be  taken  as  pay  where  it  suits  pur- 
chasers better  than  to  pay  money.'  " 

ARRIVAL  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH 

On  June  18,  1860,  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  telegraph  line  entered 
Visalia  and  the  occasion  was  celebrated  in  a  fitting  manner.  Abe  Rape- 
ly,  agent  of  the  Overland  mail  company,  took  the  matter  in  charge. 
A  procession  consisting  of  e\'ery  horse  and  vehicle  in  town,  with  all 
spare  stage  coaches,  decorated  with  flags  and  bunting,  set  out  to  meet 
the  linemen.  A  large  banner  on  which  was  painted  a  representation  of 
the  earth  surrounded  by  a  chain  of  telegraph  wires  with  the  motto  "I'll 
]iut  a  girdle  round  al)0ut  the  earth  in  forty  minutes,"  was  carried  by 
T.  y.  Crane  who  made  the  address  of  welcome  and  escorted  back  into 
town  the  superintendent,  James  Street. 

ELECTIONS    HELD   IN    SALOONS 

"Pursuant  to  notice  a  primary  election  was  held  in  the  Visalia 
]irecinct  at  the  new  saloon  of  A.  O.  Thoms,  on  Saturday  last,  and  the 
following  gentlemen  chosen  as  delegates  to  attend  the  Union  county 
convention  of  Saturday,  August  2nd :  Stephen  Davenport,  Henry 
Hartley,  W.  M.  Johnson,  G.  A.  Botsford,  John  Cutler,  Hi  Morrell, 
T.  H.  Thomas,  S.  Cady,  T.  Lindsey,  William  linker,  S.  G.  George, 
Lytle  Owen,  John  GiW— Delta,  Julv,  1862. 


104  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 


A  VIGOROUS  PROTEST 

Dr.  Wt4ib,  tlie  ocrentrie  iiidividnal  wlio  ol)tainecl  a  deed  to  the 
np])er  story  of  a  building  erected  in  Visalia,  as  related  elsewhere,  later 
became  county  jihysician  and  manager  of  the  county  hospital  at  a  sal- 
ary of  $500  }ier  year.  In  1871  the  supervisors  ousted  Webb  from  liis 
l^osition  and  gave  to  his  successor  a  salary  of-  $2000  per  year.  The 
following  card  appeared  in  the  Times  of  November  11,  1871,  which 
seems  to  indicate  that  the  reverend  doctor  was  somewhat  peeved: 

"Rev.  James  A.  Webb  to  the  perjured  sui)ervisors  of  Tulare 
county,  California. 

"Perjured  villains,  rebel  devils  and  fools; 

"Wliile  unscruinilous  and  perjured  rebel  devils  hold  political  sway 
in  our  demented  rebel  county  no  honest  man  or  christian  can  expect 
any  favors  from  their  nefarious  hands. 

"I  would  be  glad  to  keep  the  county  hospital  for  $500  a  year, 
but  because  I  am  a  Union  man.  and  not  a  perjured  rebel  devil,  you 
will  rob  me  of  my  only  means  of  support  and  give  my  hospital  to 
rebel  traitors  of  your  own  kind  for  four  times  the  price  for  which  I 
offer  to  keep  it. 

"Therefore,  I,  the  only  true  physician  in  Tulare  county,  Cali- 
fornia, and  the  only  true  Gospel  minister  in  Tulare  county,  and  the 
only  Bible  jioet  in  Tulare  county,  and  the  only  Advent  pro]ihet  in 
Tulare  county  and  tlie  only  Christian  ])atriarch  in  Tulare;  Therefore, 
in  the  name  and  service  of  the  Great  Jehovah,  I  offer  my  services  to 
God  and  him  only  to  continue  my  fifty  years  Bible  task. 

"Where  is  your  oath  of  office,  Oh!  ye  perjured  Democratic 
demons?  Where  is  your  conscience,  you  ungodly  devils!  Have  you 
any  reason  why  I  should  not  damn  you  all  together?"  And  follows 
more,  signed  "Alonzo,  the  Advent  Prophet,  Bible  Poet  and  Christian 
Patriarch." 

A    NOVEL    ENGINE 

A  correspondent,  writing  alwut  Visalia  in  the  '90s,  thus  s]ieaks 
of  the  engine  that  hauled  the  passengers  from  Visalia  to  Goshen: 
"The  engine  doing  service  on  the  Visalia  railroad  is  one  of  the  most 
novel  arrangements  we  recollect  to  have  seen  in  railroading.  It  has 
engine,  tender  and  car  all  aggregated  together,  will  carry  ten  or  fif- 
teen passengers  and  baggage,  and  can  doubtless  be  run  at  half  the 
cost  of  an  ordinary  stage  coach.  We  place  no  high  estimate  on  its 
speed,  but  the  engineer  tells  us  that  it  has  the  power  to  move  any 
train  likely  to  be  loaded  at  any  point  in  the  valley." 

THE   FLOOD   TIMES 

There  are  a  great  many  people  who  never  li\ed  in  Tulare  county 
that  have  a  fixed  idea   that   this  is   a   waterless  county,  where   the 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  105 

unfortunate  denizens  are  ever  parched  with  thirst.  But  there  have 
been  many  years  when  there  was  more  water  than  was  necessary  for 
drinking  purposes. 

That  abused  individual,  tlie  "oldest  inhabitant,"  tells  of  wonder- 
ful times  back  in  the  early  '50s.  But  the  flood  of  1867  is  one  in  the 
memories  of  a  great  many  people,  and  was  surely  bad  enough.  In  the 
winter  of  that  year  all  the  streams  in  the  county  were  on  a  rampage. 
Tnle  river  si)read  all  over  the  Poplar  and  Woodville  sections.  Deer 
creek  and  the  White  ri\er  merged  their  waters  in  their  lower  course, 
and  the  Kaweah  and  St.  Johns  made  a  vast  expanse  of  waters.  Boats 
bearing  su]iplies  iiassed  freel.N'  from  Visalia  to  places  in  Kings  and 
Fresno  counties.  The  herds  of  cattle  and  sheep  looked  sad.  Many 
hair  breadth  adventures  are  recorded  and  there  was  great  loss  of 
property. 

An  account  of  the  experiences  at  two  farm  houses  will  serve  to 
indicate  ]irevailing  conditions  during  this  flood.  Eastward  from  Vi- 
salia. near  where  Packwood  creek  crosses  the  Mineral  King  road, 
there  resided  but  three  families,  tho.se  of  A.  H.  Broder,  Ira  Van 
Gordon  and  W.  H.  Mills.  Broder  suggested  that  all  get  together  at 
his  i)lace,  that  being  situated  on  higher  ground.  This  was  done  and 
the  men  in-oceeded  to  build  an  emliankment  about  three  feet  high, 
enclosing  about  half  an  acre  of  ground.  The  siding  from  the  barn 
was  ren'ioved  and  a  raft  built,  their  labors  extending  into  the  night. 
The  women,  likewise,  were  busily  employed  preparing  supplies,  cook- 
ing beans,  etc.  The  i)lan  was  to  move  to  a  still  higher  sand  knoll 
which  lay  to  the  south  and  west.  By  nine  o'clock  the  following  morn- 
ing, Broder,  who  had  been  keeping  tal)  on  the  water  level  by  means 
of  sticks,  reported  that  it  had  receded  half  an  inch  and  that  it  would 
not  be  necessary  to  move. 

About  two  hundred  Indians  took  refuge  on  the  same  high  mound, 
and  made  a  gala  festival  of  the  predicament.  Sfjuirrels  and  rabbits 
in  great  numbers  were  caught  and  hung  on  lines  to  dry,  the  flood 
affording  both  amusement  and  provender. 

At  the  residence  of  the  Evans  family,  near  Visalia,  which  was 
also  located  on  high  ground,  there  were  exciting  times  this  night. 
The  water,  after  a  previous  raise,  came  suddenly,  surrounding  their 
house  and  almost  enguiting  some  of  their  neighbors'  homes.  The 
Prothero  family  lived  on  the  Bentley  place  and  there  the  water  ran 
through  the  windows.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Prothero  with  three  chihlrcn 
were  assisted  to  move  to  the  Evans  house  and  then  came  a  call  for 
help  from  the  home  of  Mrs.  Williams,  who  lived  adjoining.  This  was 
about  one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  |)itch  dark  and  the  swirling  waters 
icy  cold.  Mrs.  Williams  had  a  baby  but  four  or  five  days  old  and 
was  unable  to  walk.  Samuel  and  James  Evans  waded  over,  and  plac- 
ing her  in   a   rocking  chair,   carried   her   to   safety.      Tom   Robinson, 


106  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

with  his  wife  aud  family,  also  took  refuge  witli  the  Evanses,  making  a 
total  of  twenty-five  gathered  there.  The  barn,  several  hundred  yards 
away,  half  full  of  hay,  provided  the  only  place  for  sleeping  quarters 
for  so  many  people.  Between  it  and  the  house  the  water  ran  two  or 
three  feet  deep.  Luckily,  a  boat  had  previously  been  constructed  in 
which  to  go  to  Visalia,  aud  so  the  half-dried  refugees  cuddled  around 
the  stove  in  the  I] vans 's  kitchen  were  enabled  to  get  to  bed  without 
again  getting  wet.  Jim  Evans,  acting  as  gondolier,  conducted  his 
guests  to  their  hay  mow  lodgings. 

HARVESTING  WHEAT 

In  the  days  of  the  early  '50s  harvesting  grain  was  anytliing  but 
a  rapid  process.  No  reapers  or  combined  harvester  then.  The  labor 
of  cutting  was  done  mostly  by  Indians,  with  old-fashioned  reap  hooks. 
The  grain  was  drawn  to  the  threshing  yard  by  rawhides,  and  the 
threshing  done  l)y  tramping  the  straw  with  horses  in  the  same  old 
style  that  was  in  vogue  in  the  days  of  Noah. 

THE    LOST    MINE 

Tulare  county,  like  many  other  sections  of  the  state,  has  had  its 
Lost  Mine  legend.  This  particular  one  has  had  many  variations  in 
the  narrative,  and  many  were  the  people  who  gave  time  and  means 
in  searching  for  the  lost  mine.  One  of  the  legends  was  that  a  party 
of  Spaniards  had  a  mine  somewhere  in  the  mountains  in  the  head- 
waters of  the  Kaweah  river,  that  the  mine  was  immensely  rich,  and 
that  going  out  to  Souora  with  a  pack  train  all  the  miners  were  killed 
and  the  packs  were  all  of  gold.  The  Indians  claimed  to  know  of  the 
location  of  the  mine,  and  several  expeditions  were  made  to  find  it 
but  with  the  usual  success.  Floods  had  washed  away  landmarks,  or 
something  was  wrong,  so  the  Indians  never  quite  found  the  right 
sjaot. 

Andrew  llarrell,  familiarly  known  as  "Barley"  Harrell,  did  not 
owe  his  nickname  to  the  great  acreages  of  the  cereal  that  he  was 
accustomed  to  plant,  but  to  the  fact  that  in  his  courting  days  when 
visiting  his  sweetheart  he  told  his  parents  that  he  had  been  to  see 
Mr.  Bacon  about  that  barley.  The  excuse  served  well  for  one  visit, 
but  the  use  of  it  a  second  time  caused  much  laughter  aud  he  was 
ever  after  designated  "Barley." 

SOME    STATISTICS    OF    1870 

W.  J.  Ellis,  county  assessor  of  Tulare  county  in  1870,  submitted, 
as  was  the  custom  in  those  days,  a  statistical  report  to  the  state 
surveyor-general  showing  the  number  of  live  stock  of  different  kinds, 
areas  devoted  to  different  cultures,  quantity  of  different  productions, 
etc.  On  account  of  the  small  cultivated  area  in  those  days,  and  on  ac- 
count of  the  conscientious  care  Mr.  Ellis  brought  to  the  task,  a  degree 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  107 

of  iK-euracy  was  obtained  greatly  in  excess  of  present  day  statistics. 

For  example,  there  were  one  hundred  and  eight  orange  trees  in 
the  county,  one  liundred  of  which  were  in  a  nursery.  Today  there 
are  in  the  neighl)orhood  of  2,700,000.  The  area  devoted  to  wheat 
was  2500  acres.  In  the  '80s,  when  the  production  of  this  cereal 
reached  its  height,  scores  of  ranches  each  contained  a  greater  acreage 
than  this. 

The  butter  i)roduction  was  8,150  pounds;  today  over  four  mil- 
lion. 

While  cattle  raising  was  one  of  the  great  industries  of  that  time, 
we  find  Ijut  28,604  head  of  stock  cattle,  a  number  almost  equaled  now 
by  dairy  cows. 

Of  sheep,  now  almost  extinct  within  this  county,  there  were  158,- 
631,  and  the  annual  production  of  wool  was  given  as  872,670  j^ounds. 
This,  l)y  the  way,  was  more  than  doubled  in  the  next  four  succeeding 
years. 

In  all,  there  were  but  30,000  acres  of  enclosed  land.  20.000  of 
which  was  cultivated. 

In  a  letter  to  the  surveyor-general  accompanying  this  report,  Mr. 
Ellis  qualified  as  a  ])rophet  by  using  the  following  language:  "Stock 
raising  has  ever  lieen  and  is  yet  the  leading  interest  in  Tulare  county, 
but  a  change  is  taking  place.  We  have  to  look  but  a  short  distance 
ahead  to  see  the  plains  of  Tulare  county  covered  with  beautiful 
farms,  nice  farm  houses,  waving  fields  of  grain.  The  locomotive's 
whistle  will  then  be  heard." 

MANKINS'    PARTY    ARRIVAL 

The  following  is  quoted  from  the  description  of  the  entry  of  a 
party  of  pioneers  into  Visalia  in  1854,  written  by  one  of  them — J.  H. 
Mankins : 

"Late  in  April,  185-t,  had  one  been  standing  on  Main  street,  Vi- 
salia, he  would  have  witnessed  the  entry  of  a  unique  cavalcade.  There 
were  ten  riders  tra\-eling  in  single  file — your  humble  servant  one  of 
them. 

"That  broad-shouldered  man,  weighing  above  two  hundred  and 
twenty  pounds  is  'dad.'  lie  is  always  in  the  lead  and  is  dressed 
tliioughout  in  smoked  buckskin  with  fringes  up  the  legs,  and  a  hunt- 
ing shirt,  also  fringed  roundabout.  Add  to  the  costimie  a  very  high 
plug  hat,  imagine  him  tlien  with  a  mop  of  raven  black  hair  falling 
ovci-  his  shoulders,  with  coal  black,  piercing  eyes,  seated  on  a  large 
(l;i|)i)le  gray  horse.  A  hunting  knife  is  at  his  girdle,  a  six-shooter  on 
either  side  of  the  saddlehorn  and  he  carries  a  'sharp-shooter'  rifle  in 
front.    Such  was  J.  B.  Mankins,  forty-niner  and  pioneer  of  pioneers. 

"After  Dad  came  next  two  boys,  nearing  numhood,  one  girl 
of  eleven,  a  young  Indian  .boy,  two  Jews  and  then   three  boys  aged 


108  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

fourteen,  eight  ami  six.  We  were  all,  exeept  the  Jews,  dressed 
wholly  ill  buckskin,  well  fringed.     For  hats  we  wore  bearskin  caps. 

"We  pitched  ouj-  camp  just  across  Mill  creek,  north  of  Visalia. 
The  tules  then  came  very  close  to  town  and  the  mosquitoes  were 
very  numerous.  The  town  consisted  of  one  store,  kei)t  liy  John 
Peraberton,  a  blacksmith  shop  and  a  tavern.  O.  K.  Sinitii  was 
sheriff  and  ,Jud.i>e  Tjouis  Van  Tassell,   under  sheriff. 

"I  reineiuber  quite  well  Mrs.  John  Keener,  Sr.  She  had  gotten 
sight  of  us  and  perceived  that  we  were  sadly  in  need  of  repairs, 
for  you  see,  we  were  half-orphans.  So  she  had  Dad  get  some 
cloth,  and  she  made  us  up  some  clothes,  for  it  liecame  necessary  for 
us  to  conform  to  the  usages  of  civilization." 

In  IS.-j!),  llic  following  time  schedule  was  ])ublished:  Overland 
stage  from  San  Francisco  to  St.  Louis  arrives  Sunday  and  Wednes- 
day mornings,  de]3arts  on  arrival.  From  Stockton  to  Visalia.  arri\es 
Tuesday  and  Friday  nights,  departs  Monday  and  Thursday  mornings. 
From  Visalia  to  Los  Angeles,  via  Kingsbury,  Petersburg  and  Keyes- 
ville,  arrives  eiglitli  and  twenty-fifth  of  month  and  departs  first  and 
fifteenth.  Tri-weekly  to  Honitos— 120  miles,  made  one  day,  return 
next.     Tri-weekly  to  Linns  valley. 

In  July,  1867,  Messrs.  Thorne  and  Davenport  established  a 
saddle  and  i)ack  train  over  the  Hockett  trail  to  Lone  Pine  and  Inde- 
pendence. 

In  July,  1864,  Messrs.  Bellows,  Lown  and  Badger,  of  Owens 
river,  started  a  regular  cargo  train  over  the  new  trail  from  Visalia 
to  Owens  river. 

We  are  informed  that  the  services  at  the  camj)  ground  near 
town  were  disturbed  on  Sunday  by  some  unregenerate  heathen  who 
persisted  in  singing  John  Brown,  The  Star  Spangled  Banner,  Hail 
Columbia,  and  other  airs,  which  were  decidedly  offensive  to  the 
majority  of  those  present.  This  is  very  wrong." — Delta,  Sept.  3, 
1862. 

"Wild  mustangs  seem  to  be  quite  ])lenty  in  our  vicinity.  A 
com])any  of  young  men  went  out  on  the  plains  near  the  head  of  Cross 
creek  on  Saturday  last  and  succeeded  in  securing  sixteen  of  the 
quadrupeds." — Delta,  June   12,   1862. 

NO    FENCE    LAW 

It  is  ]irobal)l('  that  no  measure  ever  jiassed  by  the  legislature 
of  California  had  more  beneficial  effect  on  the  agricultural  interests 
of  the  state  than  the  "no  fence"  law  enacted  in  1874. 

This  law  required  cattle  owners  to  ])revent  their  stock  from 
trespassing  on  the  land  of  others  when  same  was  in  use.  In  Tulare 
county  the  agitation  in  favor  of  the  passage  of  such  a  law  was  in- 
augurated   by    Stephen    Barton,    editor    of    the    Delta,    in    1870.      As 


TULARE  AND  KIx\GS  COUNTIES  109 

stock  raisin,i>'  was  the  ])rin('ii)al  iiidiistry  Iiere  at  tliat  time,  and  there 
were  many  men  lieavily  interested  in  it  whose  revennes  wonld  be 
injnriously  atTected,  tlie  proposed  measure  was  bitterly  opposed. 
The  election  of  1878  for  senator  from  the  district  comin-ised  of 
Fresno,  Kern  and  Tulare  counties  turned  u])on  the  (piestion  of 
"fence"  or  "no  fence,"  Thomas  Fowler,  on  the  Democratic  ticket, 
ojiposing  the  law,  and  Ti])ton  Lindsey,  running'  as  Independent, 
favorii}<>-  it. 

The  Times  o])posed  the  law  on  the  ground  that  no  time  was 
allowed  the  stockmen  in  which  to  make  such  changes  in  their  methods 
as  to  permit  them  to  sustain  a  mininuuii  of  loss. 

The  Delta  pointed  out  the  rapid  development  of  farming  which 
would  ensue  and  the  eminent  justice  of  the  measure. 

The  issue  was  presented  in  stirring  S]ieeches  to  the  voters  of 
almost  every  precinct  by  the  opposing  candidates,  the  result  in  this 
county  l)eing  a  majority  of  votes  for  Fowler.  Lindsey  was,  how- 
ever, elected,  as  was  a  "no  fence"  assemblyman,  and  the  enactment 
into  law  followed  at  the  ne.xt  session  of  the  legislature. 

AS    SKEN    BY    FREMONT 

Fremont,  when  homeward  bound,  in  1844,  passed  through  the 
San  Joa(|uin  valley  and  Tulare  county.  He  speaks  frequently  of  the 
numerous  bands  of  wild  horses  encountered  enroute.  Elk  were 
frequently  started  near  the  San  Joaquin  river,  and  wolves  were  seen 
chasing  the  young  antelope. 

On  April  8th,  the  River  of  the  Lake,  elsewhere  denominated  the 
Rio  de  los  Reyes,  or  Kings  river,  was  reached.  Here  the  Indians 
brought  in  otter  skins  to  trade.  His  ford  is  located  at  latitude  36- 
24-50,  longitude  119-41-40.  Of  the  trip  from  Kings  river  to  the 
southern  end  of  what  is  now  Tulare  county,  Fremont  says : 

"Ajnil  Otli. — For  several  miles  we  had  very  bad  traveling  over 
what  is  called  I'otten  ground,  in  which  the  horses  were  frequently 
up  to  their  knees.  ^Making  towai'd  a  line  of  timber,  we  found  a 
small,  fordable  stream  (Cottonwood  creek),  beyond  which  the  coun- 
try inqiroved  and  the  grass  became  e.xcellent.  *  *  *  "We  traveled 
until  late  through  o))en  oak  groves,  and  encam))ed  among  a  collection 
of  streams."  Was  this  near  the  Kaweali  and  Canoe  creek  and  Deep 
creek  ? 

."Api'il  loth. — Today  we  made  another  long  journey  of  about 
forty  miles,  thi-ougli  a  country  uninteresting  and  fiat,  with  very  little 
grass  and  a  sandy  soil,  in  which  sex'ei'al  branches  we  crossed  had  lost 
their  wate)'.  In  the  evening  the  face  of  the  country  became  hilly, 
and,  turning  a  few  jniles  up  towards  the  mountains,  we  found  a 
good  encanq)nient  on  a  pretty  si  ream  bidden  among  the  hills,  and 
handsomely    timbei'ed,    principally    with    large    cottonwoods." 

"April    lltli. — A    broad   trail   along  the   liver   here  takes   us   out 


110  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

among:  the  hills.  Bueu  camino  (good  road)  said  one  of  the  Indians, 
of  whom  we  had  inquired  about  tlie  pass,  and  following  it  accord- 
ingly, it  conducted  us  beautifully  through  a  very  broken  country. 
*  *  *  The  country  had  now  assumed  a  character  of  aridity,  and 
the  luxuriant  green  of  the  little  streams  wooded  with  willow, 
oak,  or  sycamore,  looked  very  refreshing  among  the  sandy  hills." 


CHAPTER  X 
THE   MUSSEL   SLOUGH   WAR 

J.  J.  Doyle,  one  of  the  oldest  settlers  of  the  Mussel  Slough 
country,  in  whose  charge  the  settlers  later  placed  all  actions  under- 
taken to  protect  their  rights,  gives  this  version  of  the  controversy 
in  which  he  took  a  prominent  part. 

"In  1870  I  was  living  on  the  west  side  of  the  San  Joaquin  river. 
In  the  Rural  Press  1  saw  a  letter  written  by  W.  S.  Chatman,  a 
land  lawyer  of  San  Francisco  who  claimed  a  section  of  land  near  me 
which  was  also  claimed  by  the  railroad  company  as  being  included 
in  their  ten  mile  float. 

"In  this  letter  Chatman  stated  that  as  a  lawyer  he  had  inves- 
tigated the  matter  and  found  that  the  railroad  had  no  right  to  an 
acre  of  this  land  for  he  reason  that  it  was  a  state  corporation  and 
was  to  receive  similar  lands  granted  to  the  Atlantic  &  Pacific  rail- 
road company.  Their  charter  provided  that  they  should  build  a  road 
from  the  bay  of  San  Francisco  running  through  the  counties  of  Santa 
Clara,  Monterey,  San  Luis  Obispo,  Tulare,  Los  Angeles  and  San 
Diego,  to  the  town  of  San  Diego  and  thence  east  to  the  state  line. 

"Chatman  showed  in  his  letter  that  according  to  the  Grant 
act  they  were  to  file  a  map  of  the  proposed  route,  which  they  had 
not  done. 

"L'pon  investigation  I  found  that  there  were  three  hundred  and 
fifty-four  Spanish  land  grants  between  San  Francisco  and  San  Diego. 
Of  course  they  would  get  none  of  this  land.  I  also  found  that  the 
west  ten  miles  of  lieu  lands  was  nearly  all  in  the  Pacific  ocean.  Tliey 
knew,  however,  of  the  great  San  Joaquin  valley,  in  which  the  Laguna 
de  Tache  was  the  only  land  grant,  and  therefore  had  changed  their 
route  near  Tres  Pinos  so  as  to  enter  the  center  of  the  San  Joaquin 
vallev  and  go  over  the  Tehachapi  pass,  as  the  road  now  runs. 

"I  came  into  the  Mussel  Slough  countrv  in  1871  and  myself  and 
brother  located   on  lands  bordering  the   Mussel   Slough.     As   I  be- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  111 

lieved  from  Cliatmau's  letter  aud  from  my  own  iuvestisations  that 
the  railroad  had  no  ri,a,lit  to  a  title  to  these  lands,  I  petitioned  Con- 
gress in  the  fall  of  1874,  but  gettin.a;  no  immediate  relief,  I  offered  a 
filing  in  the  Visalia  land  office.  This  was  rejected  and  I  appealed 
my  case  with  thirty  others  to  the  Department  of  the  Interior.  All 
told,  I  appealed  nearly  all  of  three  hundred  cases  from  the  Visalia 
land  office.  "We  were  l)eaten  in  these  and  I  then  took  a  case  through 
the  state  courts,  the  United  States  courts  and  to  the  supreme  court. 
Twelve  separate  decisions  were  rendered,  no  two  of  whicli  ;\greed. 

"After  this,  for  the  purjiose  of  acting  nnitedly  in  our  fight  with 
the  railroad,  we  settlers  organized  the  Land  League,  which  at  one 
time  attained  a  membership  of  six  hundred.  In  1875  I  was  sent  to 
Washington,  where  I  remained  six  months.  I  got  a  bill  on  the 
calendar,  but  through  manipulation  it  was  defeated.  In  1879  I  went 
to  Washington  again,  but  accomplished  nothing.  A  decision  against 
ns  had  been  handed  down  by  the  Federal  courts  and  the  railroad  was 
eager  to  dispossess  us,  but  as  we  were  so  strong  and  well  organized, 
they  hesitated  to  do  so. 

"I  sent  a  resolution  to  Sacramento  to  Governor  Stanford,  who 
was  then  president  of  the  road,  and  at  his  request  we  appointed  a 
committee  composed  of  Major  McQuiddy,  J.  M.  Patterson,  and 
myself.  We  called  on  the  governor  and  persuaded  him  to  visit  our 
country,  which  lie  did  in  Ajiril,  1880.  We  started  then  a  negotiation 
for  a  settlement  of  the  matter  with  Governor  Stanford,  and  had  been 
engaged  for  about  a  month  in  a  discussion  of  an  equitable  arrange- 
ment when  suddenly,  without  a  warning  and  without  our  knowledge, 
the  United  States  marshal  apjieared,  coming  for  the  avowed  jmrpose 
of  dispossessing  some  of  our  men.  We  were  that  day  to  have  a  big 
meeting  at  Hanford  to  listen  to  Judge  Terry  give  an  exposition  of 
our  rights  in  the  premises. 

"The  marshal  was  accom]:)anied  by  men  named  Hart,  Clark  and 
Crow,  who  were  all  loaded  down  with  arms.  The  marshal,  i)rior 
to  serving  any  papers,  desired  to  confer  with  ns,  which  was  granted. 
In  the  meantime,  a  number  of  our  men,  more  through  curiosity 
than  anything  else,  went  over  to  the  wagon  where  Crow  and  Hart 
were.     Of  these  only  two,  viz.,  Harris  and  Henderson,  were  armed. 

"All  at  once  during  the  conference  shooting  commenced  witliout 
any  sj^ecial  ])rovocation  and  Harris  was  killed.  According  to  the 
evidence  it  a])peared  that  he  and  Hart  had  fired  almost  at  the  same 
time.  Harris  hit  Hart  in  the  groin  and  he  died  within  four  days. 
Then  Crow  shot  Harris  with  a  numl)er  ten  shotgun  loaded  with  twelve 
bullets.  He  hit  him  right  in  the  breast.  Then  he  shot  Knutson,  who 
was  on  horseback,  shot  him  with  twelve  bullets  and  tlien  turned  his 
gim  on  Dan  Kelly,  whose  horse,  just  as  Crow  lir-ed,  had  become 
unrnlv  and  whirled  around  so  tliat  the  charge  entered  Kellv's  side 


Ill'  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

and  practically  blew  it  ofif.  Crow  was  out  of  the  wa.aon  at  this  time, 
the  team  having  ])revioiisly  run  away  as  Hart  was  attempting  to  get 
out.  Crow  and  Hart  and  Clark  each  had  a  couple  of  British  bull- 
dog pistols,  a  number  ten  shotgun  and  a  Winchester  rifle  of  the 
largest  size. 

"After  Crow  left  the  wagon  he  walked  al)out  forty  steps  for 
the  purpose  of  killing  McGregor,  who  was  holding  the  marshal's 
horse.  McGregor  got  behind  the  horse  and  Crow  reached  around  in 
front  of  the  horse  and  shot  him  with  his  pistol  twice,  the  Inillets 
entering  the  breast  and  coming  out  at  the  back. 

"This  put  Henderson  into  it,  who,  seeing  McGregor  murdered 
in  that  way,  rushed  for  Crow.  They  exchanged  four  shots  and 
Plenderson  fell  dead.  Then  Crow  left  the  grant  and  attempted  to 
get  to  his  home,  which  was  distant  about  a  mile  and  a  half,  but  was 
shot  dead  on  the  way. 

"On  account  of  this,  seventeen  of  us,  myself  included,  were 
indicted  by  the  United  States  grand  jury  for  resisting  the  United 
States  marshal,  and  tried  and  convicted.  I  was  not  within  three 
miles  of  it  when  it  happened  and  yet  we  were  convicted  and  served 
eight  months  in  the  San  Jose  jail  for  resisting  the  marshal,  who  as  a 
matter  of  fact  was  resisted  by  no  one.  The  marshal,  indeed,  had 
not  attempted  the  exercise  of  any  authority  or  the  enforcement  of 
any  order. 

"^\.  remarkable  thing  about  the  tight  was  that  every  man  but 
one  who  fired  a  shot  or  was  struck  l)y  a  bullet  was  killed. 

"This  troul)le  was  sim])Iy  a  legal  fight  on  our  jiart  for  our 
homes.  I  think  and  always  shall  think  that  the  railroad  had  no 
legal  right  to  the  land,  but  that  they  acquired  their  title  while  we 
were  fighting. 

"While  we  were  serving  our  time,  a  petition  of  forty-seven  thou- 
sand names  was  sent  to  the  President ;  the  states  of  California  and 
Nevada  passed  resolutions  in  our  favor  and  there  were  numerous 
other  petitions,  etc.  No  one  of  them  was  listened  to  any  more  than 
if  it  had  been  a  piece  of  blank  In-own  pai)er. 

"After  we  had  served  our  time,  the  matter  dragged  on  for  about 
two  years  before  it  was  finally  settled.  In  my  case,  after  being  in 
the  contest  over  nine  years,  I  had  to  pay  the  railroad  company  $30.60 
an  acre  for  mv  land." 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  113 


CHAPTER  XI 
THE  KAWEAH  COLONY 

Oue  of  tlie  greatest  eomiiiuuity  enterjirises  ever  inaugurated  in 
the  United  States  had  its  inception  in  Tulare  county  in  1886. 

This  was  the  Kaweah  Co-operative  Commonwealth,  whicli  in 
spite  of  certain  failures  in  forethought  and  some  incompetence  and 
perhaps  some  dishonesty  in  management,  flourished  until  1891,  when 
it  met  the  same  heart-breaking  dissolution  that  had  been  tlie  fate  of 
all  its  predecessors. 

There  is  little  doubt  but  that  disrui)tion  would  have  occurred 
sooner  or  later,  on  account  of  the  impossibility  of  harmonizing  the 
discordant  elements  of  which  it  was  composed.  There  is  also  a 
grave  question  as  to  whether  even  if  successful  for  a  time  in  the 
acquisition  of  lands  and  timber,  mills  and  other  property,  the  ])rod- 
ucts  of  the  united  labor  of  the  colonists  would  not  have  been  in  large 
part  alienated  by  some  of  its  first  olilicers.  There  seems,  however, 
to  be  no  doubt  but  that  these  colonists  were  treated  by  the  United 
States  government  in  a  manner  so  outrageously  unjust  as  to  merit  the 
severest  condemnation. 

J.  J.  Martin  and  B.  F.  Haskell  of  Sau  Francisco,  and  C.  F. 
Keller  of  Traver,  Tulare  county,  were  the  chief  early  promoters. 
Martin  and  Haskell  were  in  1885  prominent  members  and  office 
holders  in  different  unions  or  workingmen's  societies.  Haskell  was 
attorney  for  several  of  these,  and  coupled  with  a  pleasing  address, 
possessed  unusual  gifts  of  language  and  persuasion.  He  was  the 
advocate  of  many  more  or  less  impractical  schemes  for  the  better- 
ment of  the  workingman's  condition  and  had  assisted  in  organizing 
the  California  Land  Purchase  and  Colonization  association,  and  the 
Fish  Rock  Terra  Cotta  Co-operative  company.  Keller  was  a  mem- 
ber of  several  socialistic  societies  in  San  Francisco  and  conducted  a 
small  store  in  Traver. 

In  October  of  1885,  Martin  informed  members  of  the  two  asso- 
ciations referred  to  and  also  others  that  their  agent  had  found  a 
large  body  of  splendid  timber  land  in  Tulare  county,  and  that  an 
association  would  l)e  formed  to  accjuire  it.  The  first  plans  were  vague 
but  seemed  to  be  in  the  nature  of  a  mutual  company  to  get  ])ossession 
of  this  tract  and  hold  it  for  s])eculative  i)uri)oses.  Between  forty 
and  fifty  applications  were  at  once  filed  on  lands  lying  along  the 
north  fork  of  the  Kaweah  river,  eastward  across  the  Marble  Fork 
and  including  what  is  now  known  as  the  Giant  Forest.  The  govern- 
ment price  for  these  lands  was  $2.50  an  acre,  and  as  but  few  of  the 
applicants    were    possessed    of    the    reijuisite    $400    to    comjjlete    the 


114  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

pnrrliase  of  a  quarter  section,  a  plan  was  in  view  to  raise  part 
of  the  money  by  liypothecating  lands  to  which  title  had  been 
secured.  This,  of  course,  would  be  a  violation  or  evasion  of  the  law, 
but  was  considered  justifiable. 

It  was  agreed  by  the  applicants  that  one-half  the  proceeds  of 
the  first  sales  of  timber  be  devoted  to  a  fund  for  publicity  and  pro- 
paganda. 

The  Tulare  "\'alley  and  Giant  Forest  railroad  company  was 
also  organized  and  its  stockholders  assessed  $60  each  for  the  cost 
of  a  preliminary  survey.  Many  were  unable  to  jiay  this  small  sura, 
but  the  difficulty  was  met  by  some  contributing  more  liberally.  It 
will  be  seen  that  the  undertaking,  however  profitable  poteutially, 
bade  fair  to  be  wrecked  at  the  launching  by  reason  of  lack  of  capital. 

Then  another  snag  was  struck.  Land  Commissioner  Sparks 
became  suspicious  at  the  large  number  of  entries  made  within  three 
days  for  lands  lying  in  one  body,  especially  as  seven  of  the  appli- 
cants gave  as  their  residence  one  San  Francisco  lodging  house.  He 
therefore  suspended  the  lauds  from  entry  pending  an  investigation. 
Upon  this  action  each  of  the  applicants  tendered  to  the  receiver  of 
the  Visalia  land  office  the  sum  of  $2.50  per  acre,  which  was  of  course 
rejected.  This  money  was  secured  by  using  the  same  sum  over  and 
over  again. 

Undeterred  by  these  difficulties,  the  enthusiastic  colonists  pro- 
ceeded. As  to  the  action  of  the  government,  they  believed  that  the 
report  of  the  special  agent  sent  to  investigate  would  be  favorable  to 
them,  that  he  would  approve  their  claims  and  bear  witness  to  their 
good  faith  so  that  they  could  soon  claim  title.  As  to  finances,  a  co- 
operative plan  was  thought  out  by  which  sonje  capital  for  immediate 
use  could  be  obtained  through  membership  fees  of  non-residents, 
and  by  the  labor  of  those  on  the  ground  rapid  results  be  secured  in 
the  way  of  getting  salable  goods  to  market. 

The  Kaweah  Co-operative  Commonwealth  Colony  was  organized. 
Plans  in  great  detail  were  elaborated.  There  were  to  be  three  di- 
visions under  the  control  of  managers;  these  subdivided  into  thirteen 
departments  under  superintendents  and  these  again  into  fifty-eight 
bureaus  under  chiefs  and  the  last  into  sections  under  foremen. 

The  grand  divisions  were  those  of  production,  distribution  and 
commonweal,  and  in  their  ramifications  these  included  almost  every 
activity,  whether  mental  or  bodily,  known  to  man.  The  purposes  of 
the  association,  it  was  set  forth,  were  to  insure  its  members  against 
want,  to  provide  comfortable  liomes,  to  educate  and  to  maintain  har- 
mony, iipon  the  i^rinciples  of  justice,  fraternity  and  co-operation. 
It  was  the  intention  to  place  witliin  the  reach  of  all  members  "a 
cultured,  a  scientific,  an  artistic  life."  An  idea  of  the  high  aspira- 
tions of  the  embryo  colony  can  be  obtained  by  the  following  extracts 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  115 

from  an  article  by  Haskell,  wliieli  appeared  iu  tlie  ol'iicial  organ, 
"The  Commonwealth." 

"We  shall  have  schools  there — not  for  the  children  alone,  but 
for  youths  and  maidens,  for  tlie  babes  and  for  the  men  and  women. 
We  sliall  have  songs  and  a  band  and  the  nuisic  of  tinkling  guitars 
under  summer  stars  bv  tlie  rushing  waters  of  the  white  North 
Fork."     *     *     * 

"It  may  well  be  that  among  us  alone  of  all  the  people  of  the 
earth  shall  be  taught  courage  as  a  creed,  iidelity  as  a  dogma,  truth 
as  a  commandment,  love  as  a  law,  and  ]mrity  as  a  truth."     *     *     * 

"We  sliall  tell  our  children  of  the  heroes  of  the  world,  not  the 
butchers;  of  the  moralists,  not  the  priests."  *  *  "The  measured 
dances  of  Athenian  days  to  teach  them  grace,  the  quaint  ceremonials 
of  the  middle  ages  to  teach  them  beauty,  modern  wonders  of  light 
and  electricity  to  show  them  truth,  the  songs  of  old  Sparta  to  move 
their  hearts  to  valiant  deeds ;  the  cruelly  pitiable  histories  of  the 
modern  wage  slave  to  stir  their  hearts  to  heroic  ire  and  bind  their 
wills  to  freedom's  cause  and  creed  alone." 

"We  shall  have  painters  and  sculptors,  I  hope,  in  time,  though 
it  will  be  enough  now  for  us  all  to  be  humble  students."     *     *     * 

"Upon  one  of  the  fiats  by  the  river  we  shall  build,  out  of  the 
colored  marble  of  Marble  canyon,  a  temple  and  a  theater  for  our- 
selves alone,  and  here  also  will  we  pursue  the  Beautiful,  the  True 
and  the  Good." 

The  membership  fee  in  the  colony  was  $500,  $100  payable  in 
cash  and  the  remainder,  if  desired,  in  labor  or  material.  C.  F. 
Keller  was  made  general  manager,  J.  J.  Martin,  secretary,  J.  Wright, 
purchasing  agent,  and  B.  F.  Haskell,  legal  adviser..  Besides  these, 
J.  H.  Redstone,  P.  N.  Kuss  and  II.  T.  Taylor  were  among  the  first 
on  the  ground. 

About  the  last  of  1886,  work  was  commenced  on  a  wagon  road 
to  the  forest,  and  on  March  1,  1887,  articles  of  incorporation  of  the 
"Giant  Forest  Wagon  and  Toll  Road"  were  filed.  The  plan  was  to 
pay  the  men  in  time  checks  at  the  rate  of  thirty  cents  per  hour,  or 
$2.40  i5er  day,  redeemable  in  such  supplies  or  material  as  the  asso- 
ciation had  or  in  labor  at  the  same  rate.  It  was  pointed  out  that 
while  nominally  working  for  a  low  wage,  the  workers,  on  account  of 
sharing  in  the  wealth  created  by  the  labor  of  all,  would,  in  reality, 
be  laying  u)^  fortunes.  For  example,  the  material  for  a  house, 
valued  in  the  outside  world  at  $1,000,  could  be  secured  for  time 
checks  equal  to  the  hours  that  had  been  consumed  in  felling  the 
trees  and  sawing  and  hauling  the  lumber,  which  would  not  amount 
at  the  thirty-cent  rate  to  over  $200. 

Plans  of  the  ])ro])aganda  were  distributed  throughout  the  country 
and  many  persons  joined  the  colony.  Some  of  these  were  workingmen 
socialists,  others  had  wealth,  culture,  refinement.     The  beautiful  pen 


116  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

pictures  of  Haskell  served  to  throw  such  a  glamour  over  the  i)ropo- 
sition,  that  statements  as  to  lands  owned  were  not  investigated  before 
the  entrance  fee  was  paid  in.  On  the  north  fork  of  the  Kaweah,  about 
three  and  one-half  miles  above  Three  Rivers,  a  town  was  started 
which  grew  until  it  contained  upwards  of  one  hundred  dwellings. 
There  was  the  company  store,  a  blacksmith  shop,  }3laning  mill,  box 
factory.  ]iostoffice.  newspaper,  etc.  "Work  on  the  road  was  actively 
prosecuted,  and  a  survey  made  foi-  the  projected  railroad. 

There  were  brains  and  lirawn  and  energy  a  plenty  and  excellent 
work  resulted.  Homes,  too,  were  made  on  the  level  land,  by  the  river, 
crops  were  sown,  pastures  fenced,  orchards  planted  and  barns  built. 
Troubles,  however,  soon  commenced.  The  laborers  were  insufficiently 
supplied  with  food,  their  diet  at  times  being  confined  to  flour,  beans 
and  coffee.  There  was  a  deficiency  of  clothes  and  supplies  of  all 
kinds  at  the  company's  store.  Dissensions  arose,  and  there  was  gen- 
eral dissatisfaction  with  the  management.  The  commonest  necessities 
of  life  were  secured  from  outsiders  in  return  for  time  checks  ridicu- 
lously discounted. 

A  number  of  disaffected  members  demanded  to  see  the  books 
and  especially  the  membership  rolls,  but  were  refused  by  the  officials 
in  charge.  The  disgruntled  ones  considered  that  this  was  because 
they  feared  exposure  to  the  non-resident  members  of  the  arbitrary, 
incompetent  and  perhajis  dishonest  way  in  which  the  affairs  of  the 
colony  were  being  conducted.  Martin  was  an  executive  of  ability, 
energetic  to  a  degree  and  his  sincerity  and  honesty  of  purpose  were 
questioned  by  but  few.  Haskell,  however,  was  generally  regarded 
as  a  slick  rascal  whose  aim  was  to  sell  all  the  bites  possible  from 
the  rosy  apple  before  a  sign  of  its  rottenness  reached  the  surface. 

In  spite  of  these  troubles,  the  road  had  by  1890  been  completed 
to  a  point  about  twenty  miles  from  the  townsite  of  Kaweah  and  at 
an  elevation  of  5,400  feet  had  entered  the  ])ine  belt.  Here  a  little 
saw  mill  was  erected,  and  a  small  quantity  of  lumber  cut.  This  road, 
passing  through  a  difficult  mountain  region,  had  been  solidly  con- 
structed at  a  good  grade  and  had  cost  approximately  $100,000. 
Modern  tools  were  not  employed  and  powder  was  used  sparingly.  In 
places  the  grade  traversed  precipitous  mountain  sides,  making  long, 
high  rock  restraining  walls  necessary.  No  better  evidence  of  the 
equal  and  good  faith  of  the  colonists  is  needed  than  the  fact  that  most 
of  these  walls  have  stood  without  repair  to  this  day. 

In  the  meantime,  land  patents  were  still  withheld,  although  B.  F. 
Allen,  the  special  agent  sent  here,  had  reported  favorably.  As  late 
as  1891  Land  Commissioner  Groff  recommended  that  the  colonists 
should  not  be  deprived  of  their  lands,  stating  that  they  had  com- 
plied faithfully  with  the  law  under  which  they  had  made  filings; 
that  they  had  exiiended  over  $100,000  in  roads  and  imi)rovemeuts 
and  had  for  five  vears  guarded  the  giant  trees,  saving  them  from 


TULAKK  AXI)  KlXfiS  COUNTIES  117 

damage  or  destructiou  hy  fire,  quoting  details  from  Allen's  report. 
However,  the  congress  of  1890  had  created  the  Sequoia  National 
Park,  which  included  these  lands,  and  Secretary  of  the  Interior  Nohle 
denied  all  claims  of  the  colony,  but  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
settlers  should  be  reimbursed  for  the  improvements  they  had  made. 

In  addition  to  the  internal  dissensions  mentioned,  the  officers 
quarreled  among  themselves  and  factious  took  sides  in  a  row  Ijetween 
Haskell  and  Martin.  The  former  was  accused  of  the  misappropria- 
tion of  colony  funds  and  was  in  '!)1  arrested  on  a  charge  of  em- 
bezzlement preferred  by  Thomas  Kennedy,  but  the  case  was  dis- 
missed. The  greater  portion  of  the  colonists  perceived  that  the  end 
was  at  hand  and  disbandment  began. 

Bitter  hard  it  must  have  been,  this  giving  up  of  home  and  friends 
and  bright  dreams  of  happy  future  after  the  sacrifice  of  former  ties 
and  after  the  giving  of  years  of  toil  and  devotion  to  a  cause.  How 
sickening  the  thoughts  of  what  might  have  been!  How  bitter  the 
thoughts  of  the  false  men  who  had  betrayed  their  confidence  and 
of  the  government  that  had  unsci'upulously  confiscated  to  its  own 
purposes  the  magnificent  road  they  had  builded ! 

Early  in  1891  a  troop  of  cavalry  under  Captain  Dorst  was  des- 
patched to  guard  the  park  and  these  ejected  the  colonists  from  gov- 
ernment laud.  In  April,  Henry  S.  Hubbard,  Henry  T.  Taylor,  James 
J.  Martin,  B.  F.  Haskell  and  William  Christie  were  tried  in  the 
United  States  district  court  at  Los  Angeles  on  a  charge  of  cutting 
timber  on  government  land,  and  found  guilty.  On  appeal  the  case 
was   dismissed. 

A  few  of  the  remaining  colonists  leased  as  a  private  enterprise 
a  quarter  section  of  land  on  the  Mineral  King  road,  from  Isham 
Mullenix  and  started  another  sawmill.  Work  here  was  stopped  by 
the  soldiers,  but  when  the  Interior  Department  learned  that  it  was 
on  deeded  land  they  were  allowed  to  proceed. 

Quite  a  uumber  of  the  colonists  remained  in  the  vicinity  of 
Kaweah,  many  having  secured  other  land  locations  or  perfected 
entries  made  on  lands  outside  the  park.  These  have  all  proven 
worthy,  industrious  citizens  and  now  possess  comfortable  homes 
and  a  fair  share  of  worldlv  goods. 


118  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 


CHAPTER  XII 
THE  ABORIGINES 

At  the  time  of  the  entry  of  whites  into  the  San  Joaquin  valley 
tlie  territory  comprising  what  later  became  Tulare  county  had  a 
dense  Indian  population.  These  consisted  of  two  distinct  races,  one 
called  the  Yokuts,  more  than  twenty  sub-tribes  of  which  ranged  the 
country  between  the  Fresno  river  and  the  Tejon  pass;  the  other  a 
Piute  branch  of  several  sub-tribes  living  on  Mill  creek  and  in  Eshom 
valley. 

Among  the  former  were  the  Ta-chi  (whence  Laguna  de  Tache) 
in  the  Tulare  lake  district,  the  Ta-lum-ne,  of  Visalia,  the  Wik-tsum- 
ne,  near  Lemon  Cove;  other  settlements  were  on  Poso  creek,  Tule 
river.  Deer  creek,  one  near  Porterville.  one  near  the  forks  of  the 
Tule  river  and  one  on  the  present  Indian  reservation,  others  at  Three 
rivers,  Dry  creek,  Woodlake,  the  Yokohl  valley.  Outside  creek,  etc. 

The  Piute  tribes  were  the  Wuk-sa-chi,  of  Eshom  valley,  the 
Wo-po-noich  and  the  En-dim-bits.  An  idea  of  their  numbers  may  be 
gained  from  the  fact  that  the  Wik-tsum-ne  chief  alone  could  muster 
a  thousand  armed  warriors  from  his  own  and  other  Yokut  tribes 
of  which  he  was  the  ruler.  While  the  above  roughly  indicates  the 
home  locations  of  the  larger  Indian  settlements,  it  must  be  under- 
stood that  their  residences  were  far  from  permanent.  The  hot  sum- 
mer found  them  high  in  the  Sierras  stalking  deer,  eating  straw- 
berries and  enjoying  the  climate;  in  the  fall,  the  harvest  season  for 
acorns,  he  was  either  in  the  foothills  or  in  the  oak  belt  of  the  plains, 
according  to  the  crop;  in  the  winter,  duck  hunting  by  the  lake 
furnished    good    sport. 

The  limits  of  this  history  prevent  anything  approaching  a  com- 
plete outline  of  their  manners,  customs,  habits,  etc.,  but  the  follow- 
ing bits  were  chosen  as  interesting  sidelights  on  a  mode  of  life  that 
has  passed  away  forever. 

TRADITIONS 

Among  these  Indians  no  traditions  of  migrations  existed.  Thev 
believed  themselves  aborigines— the  tradition  "as  to  their  oridn  was 
that  man  was  created  by  the  joint  effort  of  the  wolf  and  the  eagle, 
and  brought  forth  from  the  mountain  peaks— different  tribes  from 
different  peaks.  The  Wutchumnas  point  to  Homer's  Nose,  on  the 
south  fork  of  the  Kaweah,  as  the  place  of  their  oris>-in,  while  the 
Kaweahs  point  to  the  foothill  i^eak  near  Redbauks,  called  Colvin's 
Point,  as  the  cradle  of  their  tribe.  These  Indians  believed  that  the 
eagle  makes  it  his  especial  care  to  guard  the  welfare  of  the  human 
race,   and   the   eagle   on   our   coin   is   accepted   as   evidence   that   the 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  119 

whites  reooguize  the  sacred  character  of  the  bird.  The  wolf  is  held 
to  have  repented  the  part  he  took  in  the  production  of  man,  and  to  be 
constantly  seeking  the  destruction  of  the  race. 

ANOTHER  CREATION    MYTH   OF   THE   YOKUTS 

The  following  tradition  was  obtained  by  George  W.  Stewart  in 
1903,  from  Jim  Herrington,  an  Indian  then  ill  and  now  dead,  of  the 
Wukchamni  or  Wiktsumne  tribe  of  the  Yokuts.  This  tribe  lived  on 
the  Kaweah  river,  in  the  vicinitv  of  the  present  town  of  Lemon 
Cove : 

"Long  ago  the  whole  world  was  rock  and  there  was  neither  fire 
nor  light.  The  coyote  (kaiyu)  sent  his  brother,  the  wolf  (ewayet, 
iweyit),  into  the  mountains,  telling  him:  'Go  upward  until  you  come 
to  a  large  lake,  where  you  will  see  fire.  Then  take  some  of  it.'  The 
wolf  did  as  ordered  by  the  coyote,  and  after  some  fighting,  obtained 
a  part  of  the  fire.  From  this  he  made  the  moon  and  then  the  sun, 
and  put  them  in  the  sky.  Then  it  was  light,  and  lias  been  so  ever 
since. 

"The  eagle  (tsohit,  djokhid)  kept  the  coyote  at  work,  and  the 
latter  made  the  panther  (wuhuset,  wohoshit)  and  the  wolf  help  him. 
The  coyote  made  the  springs  and  streams.  He  worked  very  hard 
to  do  this.  Then  he  and  the  eagle  made  people.  They  also  made  deer 
and  elk  and  antelope  and  all  game  animals,  and  put  fish  into  the 
water.  They  gave  these  animals  to  the  people  who  went  everywhere 
and  killed  the  game  for  food. 

"The  coyote,  the  wolf  and  the  panther  said:  'In  time  there 
will  be  too  many  people  and  they  will  kill  us.'  Now  the  coyote  was 
sorry  that  be  had  helped  the  eagle  make  the  people.  The  panther 
said:  'They  will  kill  us  if  we  do  not  go  away.'  'Then  go  up,'  the 
eagle  told  him.  The  panther  answered:  *I  have  no  feathers,  I  cannot 
fly,  I  cannot  go  up.'  'Then  go  to  the  mountains,'  said  the  eagle.  To 
the  wolf  he  said:  'Go  to  the  bills,'  and  the  coyote:  'Go  to  the  plains.' 
The  three  went  where  they  were  told  and  have  lived  there  ever  since. ' ' 

DIET 

Acorns,  of  course,  were  the  staple,  but  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that  the  Indians'  diet  lacked  variety.  In  addition  to  game  of  all 
kinds  and  fish,  there  were  various  kinds  of  seeds,  nuts,  berries,  roots, 
and  young  shoots  of  the  tule  and  clover. 

Acorns  were  stored  in  harvest  time  in  cribs  made  of  woven 
withes,  usually  placed  on  the  top  of  a  large  stone  and  securely 
roofed  over  with  a  rain]>roof  mat  to  protect  them  from  the  elements. 
In  making  bread,  these,  after  being  shelled,  were  ground  in  a  mortar 
and  placed  in  water  in  a  shallow  bed  of  sand  near  a  stream.  The 
action  of  water  running  in  and  out  of  this  depression  removed  the 
bitterness.     Placed  then  in  their  water-tight  baskets  this  gruel  was 


120  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

cooked  by  means  of  hot  rocks  and  Tormed  a  dish  esteemed  by  whites 
as  well  as  natives. 

One  of  the  rarer  delicacies  of  the  Indian's  tal)le  was  roast 
caterpillar.  When  the  variety  used — a  kind  of  measuring  worm — 
was  not  found  near  camp,  long  trips  were  made  for  the  purpose 
of  collecting  them  in  quantities.  A  fire  of  fagots  in  a  hole  in  the 
ground  was  allowed  to  burn  down  to  coals.  These  removed  and  the 
hole  nicely  dusted  of  ashes,  a  few  quarts  of  the  juicy  larvae  were 
poured  in,  which,  quickly  crisping,  were  soon  ready  to  serve. 

INDIAX    WEA.POXS 

The  bow  and  arrow  was  the  only  weapon.  The  how  was  made 
of  ash  or  mahogany,  strengthened  by  the  la^'ing  over  it  of  the  sinew 
taken  from  the  backbone  of  the  deer.  Arrows  were  constructed  in 
three  dit¥ereut  ways,  according  to  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  to 
be  used.  For  warfare  and  for  large  game  they  were  flint-tipped. 
An  intermediate  weapon  was  made  of  button  willow  to  which  a  hard- 
wood ]ioint  was  spliced.  For  birds  and  other  small  game,  a  peculiar 
construction  was  in  use.  These  were  about  three  feet  long  with  a 
blunt  point.  About  half  an  inch  from  the  end  four  crossbars,  each 
about  an  inch  long,  were  fastened.  Two  of  these  were  at  right  angles 
to  the  other  two  and  four  projecting  points  were  thus  formed,  ren- 
dering accurate  shooting  less  essential. 

THE   MEDICIiS'E    MAX 

As  with  other  tribes,  the  medicine  man  was  a  person  of  great 
importance,  I)ut  woe  unto  him  if  he  failed  to  effect  a  cure.  A  few 
instances  of  death  following  his  treatment  was  cause  for  his  summary 
execution. 

A  sojourn  in  the  sweathouse  was  usually  prescribed,  but  bleeding 
was  also  common.  An  incision  was  made,  either  at  the  temples  or 
the  forehead,  and  he  sucked  the  blood  and  spat  it  out. 

His  dress  was  gorgeous.  The  foundation  for  the  rohe  was  a 
kind  of  netting  made  from  the  inner  bark  of  trees.  Through  the 
meshes  of  this  was  interwoven  the  brightest  colored  feathers  of 
many  species  of  birds,  together  with  topknots,  fox  and  coyote  tails, 
rabbit  ears,  etc. 

At  a  death  there  were  chants  from  dusk  till  dawn.  The  corpse 
was  buried  usually  in  a  high,  dry  place  in  a  round  hole  in  a  sitting 
posture,  the  ankles  tied  to  the  thighs.  All  personal  belongings  were 
placed  with  it.  Members  of  the  family  of  the  dead  smeared  their 
faces  black,  in  mourning. 

G.\THEKING    SALT 

In  order  to  gather  salt,  a  unique  method  was  followed.  In  the 
mornings,  when  the  salt  grass  was  wet  with  dew,  a  squaw  would 
go  forth  armed  with  a  long  smooth  stick.     This  she  would  ply  back 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  121 

and  forth  through  the  wet  grass  and  wave  in  the  air.  The  result 
was  a  deposit  of  salt  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick  on  the  stick,  which 
was  then  scraped  off. 

CAPTURING  WILD  PIGEONS 

Wild  pigeons  helped  fill  the  Indian's  larder  and  the  methods 
which  were  employed  in  their  ca])ture  are  of  great  interest.  It 
seems  that  the  jjigeons  preferred  mineral  water,  whether  it  be 
effervescent  from  soda,  or  salty,  sulphurous  or  combining  the  tonic 
proj^erties  of  iron  and  arsenic,  to  the  ordinary  si)ring  water  of  the 
mountains.  At  all  mineral  springs  pigeons  came  in  flocks.  The  crafty 
buck  wlio  held  first  place  among  those  who  lay  snares,  taking  ad- 
vantage of  this  trait,  made  his  preparations  accordingly. 

In  front  of  the  spring  a  large  smooth  low  mound  was  heaped. 
Next  the  mound,  directl.v  facing  it,  was  dug  a  trench  of  the  size  and 
de})tli  to  accommodate  a  man  lying  down.  The  front  end  of  this 
trench  towards  the  mound  was  open,  but  screened  with  grasses;  the 
top  was  covered.  In  this  he  lay  in  wait.  An  innocent  brown  willow 
stick,  at  its  end  a  little  noose  of  sinew,  lay  on  the  mound.  When 
the  pigeons  congregated  an  unobserved  motion  of  the  wrist,  a  little 
raise  of  the  stick  sufficed  to  place  this  loop  over  the  head  of  an 
unlucky  bird.  Silently  the  game  was  drawn  to  the  trench,  the  head 
jerked  off  and  shortly  another  and  yet  another  fell  victim  until 
sufficient  fresh  pigeon  meat  for  the  band  was  secured.  It  is  stated 
that,  snared  in  this  waj^  the  pigeon  does  not  flutter  or  raise  a  dis- 
turbance— he  merely,  like  a  stubborn  mule,  pulls  back.  To  insure 
another  flight  and  alighting  at  the  same  place  for  the  following  day, 
should  occasion  require,  a  few  of  the  itirds  are  kept  alive  and  picketed 
out  as  decoys. 

NOVEL    FISHING 

In  the  capture  of  fish,  the  use  of  the  hook  and  line  was  unknown 
to  the  Indians.  Three  effective  methods  were  in  use.  In  the  narrow 
streams,  which  were  numerous  in  the  valley,  weirs  were  made  by 
driving  a  row  of  willow  sticks  diagonally  across  the  stream  and  in- 
terlacing the  fence  thus  formed  with  tules.  On  the  upper  side  of 
this  structure,  near  one  bank  a  semi-circular  trap  of  like  construction 
was  built.  The  fish  going  down  sti'eam,  finding  their  way  Itlocked 
by  this  l)arrier,  worked  along  it  until  they  found  their  way  into  the 
trap  through  a  small  opening.  A  larger  door  which  included  this 
opening  allowed  the  entrance  of  Mr.  Indian  to  secure  the  spoil. 

In  the  pools  or  sloughs  or  other  places  where  water  was  con- 
fined to  holes  without  an  outlet,  balls  of  certain  kind  of  weed  were 
thrown,  which  exerted  a  stuiiefying  effect  on  the  fish.  They  sickened 
and  would  rise  to  the  surface,  gas))ing,  when  they  were  easily  cap- 
tured. 


122  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

lu  the  fall  of  the  year  when  the  water  in  the  main  Kaweali  river 
was  low,  and  long  still  pools  were  formed  having  shallow  outlets, 
still  another  method  was  employed.  After  damming  the  outlet,  muUen 
weed  was  thrown  in  until  the  water  was  so  roiled  tjiat  the  fish,  unable 
to  see,  could  be  caught  by  hand.  Scores  of  Indians,  both  bucks  and 
squaws,  would  wade  into  these  holes  and  grope  for  fish,  attesting 
their  success  by  loud  shouts  of  laughter. 

HUNTING    DEER 

The  weapons  of  the  Indian  being  to  our  modern  eyes  ])uerilely 
inefficient,  needs  be  that  he  must  make  up  in  personal  skill  their 
shortcomings.  One  of  our  modern  sportsmen,  for  example,  could 
never  get  close  enough  to  a  deer  to  hit  it  with  an  arrow,  and  if  liy 
chance  he  should  do  so  the  wound  would  be  too  slight  to  be  effective. 
The  Indian  knew  how.  The  method,  as  told  by  Jason  Barton,  who 
as  a  boy  found  his  playmates  and  companions  among  the  Indians, 
was  this:  Waiting  ready,  we  will  say  at  the  edge  of  a  mountain 
meadow,  watched  the  huntsman,  bow  in  hand.  When  the  wary  buck 
came  for  his  morning  browse,  his  keen-flashing  vision  included  naught 
of  danger,  for  nothing  moved.  A  peculiarity  of  a  grazing  deer  is  that 
while  at  short  intervals  he  throws  up  his  head  to  see  or  smell  any- 
thing that  may  warn  of  danger,  he  precedes  this  by  a  flick  of  his 
tail.  As  he  grazes  the  Indian  advances  a  step,  perhaps  two  steps, 
without  a  sound ;  the  tail  twitches  and  he  is  frozen  into  immobility. 
There  is  not  a  flicker  of  an  eyelash.  Assured  of  safety,  the  deer  once 
more  grazes  and  once  more  his  enemy  takes  a  step.  An  hour,  per- 
haps two  hours,  go  by  and  the  hunter  is  within  bow-shot.  The  arrow 
is  loosed,  and  the  aim  is  true,  but  the  deer  does  not  fall  dead  in  its 
tracks.  This  is  beyond  the  capacity  of  the  weapon.  Tlie  shot  is  for 
the  groin,  where  eventually,  sickening  trouble  for  the  deer  must  ensiie 
and  he  be  forced  to  lie  down.  That  is  enough  for  the  Indian.  At 
closer  range  next  time,  after  an  arduous  pursuit  lasting  perhaps  a 
day,  the  quarry  is  finally  despatched. 

CHARMING    A    SQUIRREL 

In  approaching  to  within  bow-shot  of  a  squirrel  a  similar  caution 
was  exercised.  With  bow  bent,  arrow  set  and  aimed,  the  Indian  would 
take  his  stand  and  without  the  slightest  movement  except  that  of  a 
gradual  advance,  would  a])parently  so  hold  the  squirrel's  attention  in 
a  sort  of  trance  that  a  distance  near  enough  to  speed  the  missile  with 
surety  was  gained. 

CATCHING    DUCKS 

Without  a  doulit,  white  men  would  find  it  quite  impossible  with- 
out a  weaijon  to  secure  a  mess  of  wild  ducks.  Not  so  our  Indian. 
Around  the  borders  of  Tulare  lake  existed  labyrinths  of  water  lanes 
bordered  with  tules.  Covered  entanglements  of  these  tules  were 
formed  and  the  ducks  herded  into  them  bv  Indians  on  tule  rafts. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  127 

rals  for  the  proper  liandlin.ii'  of  stock.  Each  district  ranger  has  liis 
house,  barn  and  otlier  buildings  at  liis  winter  headquarters  in  the 
low  country,  as  well  as  a  cabin  at  his  summer  headquarters  in  the 
high  mountains. 

Unlike  the  National  Parks  the  National  Forest  imposes  no 
unusual  restrictions  upon  fishing  and  hunting  within  its  borders. 
Only  the  just  laws  established  by  the  state  of  California  for  the  regu- 
lation of  these  sports  obtain  here.  As  every  statutory  ranger  is  a 
state  deputy  game  and  fish  commissioner,  it  is  his  duty  to  enforce 
these  laws,  and  he  usually  does  his  duty. — G.  W.  Purdy. 

MOUNTAIN     TR.\ILS 

The  first  trail  across  the  Sierra  Nevada  mountains  within  th^e 
limits  of  what  now  constitutes  Tulare  county  was  partially  constructed 
in  1861  by  John  Jordan.  It  took  its  origin  in  the  Yokohl  valley, 
crossed  the  Blue  ridge,  wound  arouud  by  Peck's  canyon  through 
Quinn's  Horse  Camp  and  following  dowu  Little  Kern  to  Trout  mead- 
ows, thence  up  Big  Kern  to  a  point  below  where  Kern  lakes  now  are, 
crossed  the  river  and,  i)roceeding  eastward  via  Monache  meadows,  was 
to  strike  Owens  river  below  the  lake. 

The  pressing  need  of  a  shorter  and  quicker  route  for  the  host 
of  prospectors  eager  to  reach  the  new  mines  warranted  the  project. 
Mr.  Jordan  secured  a  charter  to  maintain  it  as  a  toll  road  and  com- 
pleted nearly  all  the  work  on  this  side  of  Kern  river  in  1861.  In  1862, 
while  attempting  the  passage  of  Kern  river  on  a  raft,  he  was  drowned. 
There  were  four  in  the  party,  the  others  being  his  two  sons,  Allen 
and  Tolbert,  and  a  man  named  Gashweiler.  Allen  remained  on  shore ; 
Gashweiler,  as  the  raft  became  unmanageable  in  the  swift  current, 
jumped  onto  a  rock.  Tolbert  grabbed  a  limb  of  a  tree  which  lay  on 
the  water  and  swung  himself  to  safety  on  its  trunk.  Mr.  Jordan  was 
tipped  off,  and  although  a  powerful  swimmer,  was  sucked  under  by 
the  strong  current  and  drowned,  the  body  never  being  recovered. 

In  the  following  year  the  sum  of  $1,()00  was  raised  by  subscrip- 
tion in  Visalia  to  comjilete  the  trail.  G.  W.  Warner  undertook  the 
work  and  finished  it,  liuilding  a  bridge  across  Kern  river.  The  magni- 
tude of  this  latter  undertaking  will  be  better  realized  when  it  is 
understood  that  all  chains,  harness,  stretchers  and  im])lements  had 
to  be  ])acked  from  Visalia. 

In  1863  J.  B.  Ilockett  built  the  trail  which  bears  his  name.  This, 
commencing  at  Three  Rivers,  proceeded  up  the  south  fork  of  the 
Kaweah,  jiassing  the  Ilockett  lakes  and  meadows  and  joined  the 
Jordan  trail,  continuing  on  its  route  to  Big  Kern.  Instead  of  cross- 
ing the  river  at  the  saTue  point,  however,  it  continued  up  the  stream  to 
a  point  near  the  lower  Fuiiston  meadows,  whence  crossing  and  ascend- 
ing the  wall  of  the  Kern  canyon,  it  made  its  way  via  the  Whitney 
meadows  to  the  crossing  of  Cottonwood  creek,  near  the  lakes,  and 


128  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

thence  clown  to  Independeuoe.  This  trail,  though  altered  to  eliminate 
steep  pitches  and  other  dillicult  sections,  is  followed  today,  practically 
as  laid  out  fifty  years  ago. 

The  trail  from  Eshom  valley  through  to  Owens  river  by  way  of 
Kings  river  canyon,  was  an  old  Indian  trail,  as  in  part  the  others 
were. 

COUNTY   ROADS   DURING   THE   LATE   FIFTIES 

At  this  period  roads  were  few  in  number,  the  principal  being 
these:  The  stage  road  to  Stockton,  which  proceeded  westerly  as  far 
as  the  old  white  house,  on  the  Goshen  road  and  then  turned  in  a 
northwesterly  direction  to  Cross  creek;  the  two  immigrant  roads  to 
Los  Angeles;  the  road  to  Woodville  which  passed  what  is  now  the 
]\fiueral  King  orchard,  crossed  the  Ship  bridge  and  continued  on  to 
the  Thomas  mill  in  the  mountains;  a  road  through  the  Packwood 
district  which  proceeded  in  a  westerly  direction  from  near  the  south 
city  limits  of  Visalia ;  a  road  ]iroceeding  west  from  the  Ship,  or 
Cutler  bridge  to  the  old  Warren  Matthews  place  on  Elbow  creek,  and 
thence  by  the  Bass  Parker  (now  Rush)  place  to  Smith's  on  Kings 
river  and  known  as  the  upper  Stockton  road. 

Due  north  of  town  lay  a  swamp,  the  St.  John's  river  not  yet 
having  been  formed.  The  first  road  made  to  cross  this  proceeded  by 
the  Joe  Roger's  (now  Pratt)  place  and  connected  with  the  Stockton 
road.  The  Pacheco  Pass,  or  Gilroy  road,  proceeded  west  through 
"tin  can  alley,"  now  "West  Oak  street,  crossed  Kings  river  at  Mat 
Isely's  point,  then  turned  west  four  miles  to  Kingston,  thence  in  a 
northwesterly  direction  by  the  head  of  Fresno  slough,  passing  Fire- 
haugh,  where  the  ferry  was  located,  and  on  to  the  St.  Louis  ranch, 
at  the  mouth  of  Pacheco  Pass. 

One  of  the  roads  to  Los  Angeles  left  town  at  the  old  Wiley 
Watson  jilace,  ran  due  south  to  Dry  creek,  thence  east  about  what  is 
now  Tulare  avenue  to  the  Evans'  place  (now  Evansdale  orchard). 
After  passing  this  it  ran  due  east  to  the  Pike  Lawless  place  on  Pack- 
wood  creek,  thence  easterly  to  near  the  site  of  the  former  Deep 
Creek  schoolhouse,  thence  southeasterly  to  Outside  creek  and  on  in 
the  same  direction  to  Porterville. 

The  other  road  to  Los  Angeles  crossed  the  old  Kelly  place  just 
south  of  town,  followed  in  a  general  way  the  route  of  the  Tulare  road 
and  passed  through  the  Buzzard's  roost. 

The  road  from  the  western  portion  of  Tulare  county  to  the 
coast,  crossing  the  coast  range  through  the  Lawless  Gap,  follows 
essentially  the  route  taken  by  John  Hawpe,  Bert  Lawless  and  W.  H. 
Mills,  who  in  1856  traveled  to  the  coast  and  thence  to  Los  Angeles, 
with  many  yoke  of  oxen,  which  they  there  exchanged  for  stock 
cattle,  securing  eight  head  for  each  yoke. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  129 

A  road  from  Warren  Matthews  ]:)lace  on  Elbow  creek  through 
Visalia  to  Kern  river  was  surveyed  and  ordered  built  in  1857.  Five 
district  overseers  were  ajipointed  by  the  supervisors  in  charge  of 
sections  as  follows:  First  district — north  of  Kaweah  and  Mill  creek, 
"W.  Matthews;  Second  district — Kaweah  river  to  Elk  bayou,  Wiley 
Watson;  Third  district — Elk  bayou  to  White  river,  I.  S.  Clapp; 
Fourth  district — White  river  to  North  Fork  of  Posey  creek;  Fifth 
district — Posey  creek  to  Calwell's  ferry. 

In  1863  a  franchise  was  granted  by  the  legislature  to  John 
McFarlane,  Peter  Goodhue,  William  P.  Poer,  H.  A.  Bostwick,  E.  E. 
Calhoun  and  others,  under  the  name  of  McFarlane  &  Co.,  to  build 
a  toll  road  to  Owens  valley.  This  road,  via  Keyesville  and  Walker's 
pass,  was  completed  in  1864  and  proved  of  great  benefit  to  the  pub- 
lic. About  one  million  pounds  of  freight  passed  over  it  the  tirst 
year,  and  it  carried  a  heavy  traffic  for  some  time,  but  financially  the 
venture  was  a  failure. 


130  TULARE  AXD  KINGS  COUNTIES 


CHAPTER  XIV 
DEVELOPMENT  OF  INDUSTRIES 

ELECTRIC    POWER 

One  of  the  most  jiotent  factors  in  the  development  of  Tulare 
county  has  been  the  electrical  energy  developed  on  the  Kaweah  and 
Tule  rivers.  Electricity  has  materially  aided  the  orange  and  lemon 
industry  and  made  more  productive  thousands  of  acres  of  valley  land 
that  was  worth  hut  little  prior  to  the  introduction  of  pumping  plants. 
About  twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  valley  and  foothill  land  in  Tulare 
county  may  be  irrigated  by  ditches  leading  out  of  the  streams  that 
flow  from  the  Sierra  Nevada  mountains.  As  the  water  from  these 
rivers  is  all  appropriated  the  only  way  to  make  the  rest  of  the  land 
of  any  value  is  to  pump  the  water  from  wells.  The  practicability  of 
this  method  was  first  demonstrated  at  Lindsay  in  1890,  the  motive 
power  employed  being  steam  or  gasoline,  which  were  found  incon- 
venient and  expensive. 

In  1891  the  Tulare  County  Times  began  advocating  the  building 
of  a  power  plant  on  the  Kaweah  river  and  persisted  in  setting  forth 
the  value  to  the  county  resulting  from  the  completion  of  such  a 
project.  William  H.  Hannnond  became  interested  in  the  matter  and 
he,  together  with  Ben  M.  Maddox,  editor  of  the  Times,  sought  to 
interest  local  capital  in  the  enterprise,  but  got  no  encouragement. 

In  1897  A.  6.  Wishon  became  associated  with  Mr.  Hammond  in  the 
management  of  the  Visalia  Water  company,  and  these  two  again  took 
up  the  jiroposition.  Filings  were  made  on  the  water  of  the  east  fork 
of  the  Kaweah  and  surveys  showing  the  head  obtainable  were  made. 
Renewed  efforts  to  enlist  the  support  of  capitalists  were  made,  but 
without  success.  Mr.  Hammond  then  went  to  London  and  explained 
the  proposition  to  his  brother,  John  Hays  Hammond,  the  famous 
mining  engineer.  He  at  once  agreed  to  put  up  one-half  the  money 
needed  and  on  the  strength  of  this,  Leopold  Hirsch  agreed  to  supply 
the  remainder.  Mr.  Hammond  at  once  cabled  the  good  news  to 
Visalia  and  it  was  received  here  with  mucli  rejoicing. 

In  the- fall  of  1898  the  work  of  building  a  flume  for  the  No.  1 
power  house  was  begim  and  the  ])lant  was  completed  in  June,  1899. 
The  water  was  diverted  from  the  east  fork  of  the  Kaweah  river  at  a 
point  1)elow  Cain's  Flat,  on  the  Mineral  King  road,  carried  by  flume 
seven  miles,  whence  a  drop  of  nine  hundred  feet  to  the  power  house 
was  secured,  developing  about  two  thousand  horse  power. 

In  1902  John  Hays  Hammond  bought  out  the  interest  of  Mr. 
Hirsch,  the  latter  gentleman  being  dissatisfied  on  account  of  failure 
to  pay  dividends.     Ben  M.  Maddox,  in  1902,  succeeded  A.  G.  Wishon 


TULARE  AND   KlN(iS   COUNTIES  131 

as  business  manager,  a  ])Osition  he  holds  at  the  present  time.  William 
H.  Hammond  remained  jiresident  of  the  company  until  he  died,  in 
1908,  when  he  was  succeetk'd  liv  John  CofTee  Hays,  the  present  chief 
executive.  The  company  Jiow  has  suli-stations  at  Visalia,  Tulare, 
Tipton,  Delano,  Ducor,  PortcrNille,  Lindsay,  Exeter,  Lemon  Cove  and 
Venice. 

The  No.  2  power  house  on  the  Kaweah  was  completed  in  1905, 
as  was  the  auxiliary  steam  plant  in  A'isalia.  The  Tule  river  plant 
was  finished  in  1909,  which  made  a  combined  installation  of  six 
thousand  kilowatts.  Nine  hundred  pumping  plants  are  operated.  An 
addition  of  one-thousand  horse  power  is  now  being  added  to  the  steam 
})lant  in  Visalia  and  two  more  plants  on  the  Kaweah  river  are  in 
course  of  construction,  whicli  will  add  ten  thousand  horse  power  to 
the  system.  The  conservation  of  water  for  the  operation  of  these 
plants  has  necessitated  extensive  engineering  works  in  the  high 
Sierras.  Eagle  lake  has  been  tapped  and  its  stored  supply  is  ready 
for  use  at  seasons  of  low  water.  Wolverton  creek  has  been  dammed, 
creating  an  immense  reservoir  at  Long  Meadows. 

In  addition  to  the  pumping  load,  the  com})any  supi^lies  light 
and  power  for  all  jnirposes  in  the  cities  of  Visalia,  Tulare,  Porter- 
ville,  Lindsay  and  Exeter,  and  in  the  towns  of  Tipton,  Delano,  Rich- 
grove,  Ducor,  Terra  Bella,  Strathmore,  Lemon  Cove,  Woodlake  and 
Klink.  It  also  supplies  the  power  to  operate  the  Visalia  electric 
road.  The  comjiany  lias  recently  comyjleted  a  large,  substantial  and 
finely  equipped  ollice  building  on  West  Main  street,  in  Visalia. 

The  San  Joaquin  Power  Company,  a  Fresno  institution,  sujiplies 
power  at  Dinuba  and  Orosi,  in  the  northern  end  of  the  county,  and 
also  southeast  of  Tulare  along  the  Santa  Fe  railroad.  This  company 
is  building  a  water-power  i)lant  on  the  Tule  river. 

The  Pacific  Light  and  Power  company  is  building  a  tower  liiie 
across  the  county  to  take  current  from  Big  creek  in  Fresno  county 
to  Los  Angeles. 

The  Tulare  County  Power  Company  is  building  a  steam  j^lant 
at. Tulare,  the  current  to  be  used  in  the  cities  of  Tulare,  Exeter  and 
Lindsay,  and  the  surrounding  neighborhoods.  This  company  has 
a  filing  on  the  Tule  river  and  work  is  being  done  on  the  conduit  that 
is  to  take  the  water  from  the  river  to  the  power-house,  which  is 
to  be  located  near  Globe.  This  is  a  joint-stock  company  with  co- 
operative features,  financed  locally.  Messrs.  Holley  &  HoUey,  of 
Visalia,  promoted  the  enterprise  and  its  success  seems  assured. 
Stockholders  were  secured  in  large  part  among  the  users  of  power 
for  pumping  and  to  these  is  gi'anted  a  lower  rate  than  that  ac- 
corded to  non-stockholders. 

MUUGATIOS 

Irrigation  in   Tulare  county  dates  almost  fiom   the  county's   or- 


i;}2  TULARP]  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

ganization.  Tlie  wjitcrs  from  a  ramified  network  of  ditches,  from 
several  Imiidied  artesian  wells,  from  thousands  of  electrically  oper- 
ated pumping  plants,  is  now  distiilmted  to  almost  every  portion  of 
the  foothill  and  valley  section. 

No  estimates  may  be  made  of  the  increased  productivity,  in- 
creased value  due  to  more  profital)le  kinds  of  crops,  increased  capa- 
city for  supporting  population  and  the  other  incalculable  benefits 
accruing  from  the  distribution  of  water  and  its  intelligent  use.  Yet 
the  hisory  of  irrigation  development  here  and  the  causes  thereof 
differ  so  materially  from  tliat  of  the  reclaimed  districts  that  a  few 
words  of  explanation  and  comparison  are  necessary. 

In  the  first  place,  water  did  not  here  cause  "the  desert  to  blos- 
som as  the  rose,"  for  the  reason  that  no  desert  ever  existed.  True, 
there  were  originally  vast  semi-arid  ]ilains.  These  in  later  years, 
without  a  drop  of  water  artificially  applied,  produced  banner  wheat 
crops.  In  1886  this  yield  amounted  to  fourteen  thousand  carloads, 
and  for  many  seasons  Tulare  held  first  rank  in  wheat  ]3roduction 
among  California  counties. 

But  in  the  sections  favored  by  the  early  settlers — the  delta  lauds 
of  the  P'our  Creeks  country,  there  was  not  even  semi-aridity.  Here 
was  a  vast,  eye-delighting  oasis.  Here,  beneath  groves  of  oak  ex- 
tending miles  and  miles  in  either  direction,  lush,  rank  meadow  grass 
thrived.  Here,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  follow  was  a  tract  where 
verdure  was  perennial,  where  riotous  growth  almost  unceasingly 
persisted.  Both  in  the  winter  by  reason  of  the  rains,  and  in  May 
and  June  by  reason  of  the  melting  snow  of  the  mountains,  much 
land  was  subject  to  overflow.  Swamps  and  sloughs  were  numerous, 
and  a  system  of  drainage  would  have  been  beneficial. 

The  activity  of  the  pioneers  in  taking  out  water  was  usually  for 
the  purpose  of  securing  stock  water  on  lands  not  bordering  streams, 
and  to  irrigate  lands  for  a  second  or  fall  crop  of  corn  and  pumpkins 
after  hay  had  been  cut.  It  was  not  until  a  much  later  day,  when 
a  general  influx  of  new  settlers  desirous  of  farming  and  planting 
to  vineyards  and  orchards,  lands  hitherto  held  suitable  only  for 
grain  farming,  that  the  value  of  the  water  rights  secured  by  these 
early  diversions  was  realized. 

The  first  effort  to  irrigate  lands  about  Visalia  was  made  in 
185-I-,  when  Dr.  Reuben  Matthews,  assisted  by  his  neighbors,  cut  a 
ditch  from  Mill  creek  to  his' mill  near  town.  The  ditch  was  intended 
to  bring  water  not  only  to  run  the  mill,  but  also  to  irrigate  lands 
for  gardens.  In  later  years  the  Jennings'  and  one  or  two  other 
ditches  obtained  their  water  from  this  sluiceway.  The  Persian  ditch 
dates  also  from  1854,  the  Evans  and  Fleming  from  '58,  the  Watson 
from  1855  or  1856,  and  the  Birch  from  the  early  '60s.  In  the  period 
from  1865  to  1872,  a  number  of  irrigation  projects  were  inaugurated. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  133 

cliief  ;iiii()ii,i>'  wliifli  were  the  Pioneer,  tlie  Peoi)le's  Consolidated  ;nul 
the  Wutcliumma  ditch  companies.  The  pioneer,  organized  in  1866, 
took  its  water  from  the  Tule  river,  well  w]}  into  the  hills,  and  cov- 
ered the  territory  adjacent  to  Porterville.  The  Peojjle's  Consoli- 
dated Ditch  Company  built  its  big  canal  of  about  twenty  feet  in 
width  in  1871,  the  head  being  taken  from  the  Kaweah,  a  few  miles 
west  of  Lemon  Cove.  While  the  first  work  of  this  system  did  not 
begin  until  this  date,  many  of  the  water  rights  secured  dated  as  far 
back  as  the  '50s,  and  were  obtained  by  a  consolidation  of  the  interests 
of  the  owners  with  the  new  oi-ganization. 

In  1872  the  Wutclmmma  company  organized  and  commenced  the 
construction  of  a  system  which  now  consists  of  about  forty  miles  of 
main  and  branch  ditches.  The  water  is  taken  from  the  Kaweah  near 
its  intersection  with  the  St.  John  about  eighteen  miles  east  of 
Visalia,  and  is  carried  to  ])oints  ten  miles  west  of  Visalia.  Bravo 
Lake,  situated  near  the  intake  of  this  canal,  is  used  as  a  stor- 
age reservoir  for  flood  waters  so  that  a  supply  is  maintained 
throughout  the  year. 

Numerous  other  diversions,  including  the  Tulare  District  Com- 
))any,  under  the  Wright  Act,  have  been  made  from  tlie  Kaweah  an(l 
St.  John  rivers  so  that  today  twenty-nine  corporations  divide  their 
waters.  All  Init  two  of  these  secure  their  flow  below  the  point  of 
divergence. 

The  amount  of  water  in  the  river  at  this  point  probably  aver- 
ages during  the  three  months  of  April,  May  and  June  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  twelve  hundred  cubic  feet  per  second,  rapidly  dropping 
then  until  mid-summer,  when  it  is  negligible.  Necessarily,  the  ap- 
portionment to  each  company  of  its  jDroper  share  has  been  fraught 
with  difficulties,  and  considerable  expensive  litigation  has  resulted. 
In  order  to  best  secure  their  rights  by  being  able  to  act  unitedly  and 
harmoniously,  the  ditch  companies  taking  water  from  these  two 
streams  have  formed  the  Kaweah  River  Water  Association  and  the 
St.  John  River  Water  Association.  A  spirit  of  com])romise  has 
been  fostered  and  in  1907  a  threatened  law  suit  of  enormous  pro- 
portions was  settled  in  this  way;  one  of  the  features  of  the  agree- 
ment being  that  the  water  in  the  two  streams  is  divided  equally 
until  such  time  as  a  low  stage  of  eighty  cubic  feet  is  reached.  The 
entire  flow  is  then  diverted  into  the  Kaweah  and  runs  there  until 
the  first  day  of  October.  Then,  if  the  flow  exceeds  eighty  cubic  feet, 
or  as  soon  thereafter  as  it  does,  the  stream  is  again  equally  divided. 
Diversion  dams  at  the  confluence  of  these  streams  and  some 
kind  of  a  division  of  water  there,  date  from  1H9'2.  In  1011  a  struc- 
ture of  cement  dams  and  confining  walls  was  completed  so  that  now 
perfect  control  and  equitable  division  is  made  possible. 

The  next  great  irrigating  enterprises  were  the  Alta  and  Tulare 


134  TULAKE  AXD  IvIXGS  COUXTIES 

irrigation  districts,  organized  under  the  Wright  law,  which  pro- 
vides for  the  issuance  by  a  community  of  bonds  which  become  a 
lien  on  the  property  in  the  district. 

ALTA    DISTRICT 

In  the  early  '80s,  along  Kings  river  and  near  Traver  there  lay 
some  large  tracts  of  land  owned  by  Darwin  &  Ferguson,  who  were 
engaged  in  stockraising.  Their  brand  was  "76,'"  and  the  country 
was  called  the  76  country.  Considerable  attention  was  also  given 
to  grain  raising,  and  good  crops  could  generally  be  had  with  the 
usual  rainfall. 

In  1881  P.  Y.  Baker  and  D.  K.  Zumwalt  conceived  the  idea  of 
bringing  water  onto  the  land  and  organized  the  76  Land  and  "Water 
company.  A  main  canal  one  hundred  feet  wide  on  the  bottom  and 
deep  enough  to  carry  a  stream  of  water  five  feet  deep,  together  with 
several  large  laterals,  was  constructed,  the  point  of  diversion  being 
on  Kings  river,  about  fourteen  miles  northeast  of  Eeedley. 

Now,  in  1888,  an  irrigation  district  under  the  Wright  law  was 
projected  in  the  northern  part  of  the  county  and  at  an  election  bonds 
were  voted  in  the  sum  of  $675,000.  Bonds  were  only  issued  to  the 
amount  of  $410,000,  that  sum  proving  sufficient.  This  district  was 
named  Alta,  and  embraces  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  acres, 
four-fifths  of  which  is  now  under  irrigation.  The  property  and 
water  rights  of  the  76  company  were  purchased  and  various  exten- 
sions have  from  time  to  time  been  made,  so  that  now,  including 
laterals  of  a  width  of  ten  feet  or  more,  there  are  over  three  hundred 
miles  of  ditch  system.  A  territory  is  covered  lying  within  the  fol- 
lowing described  extremities:  southeasterly  to  a  point  six  miles  east 
and  four  miles  south  of  Monson;  southwesterly  to  points  three  miles 
west  and  three  miles  south  of  Traver;  easterly  to  a  point  one  mile 
north  of  Orosi.  Portions  of  Kings  and  Fresno,  as  well  as  Tulare, 
counties  are  included  in  this  area. 

This  district  has  been  a  success  from  the  very  beginning.  In 
twenty  years  after  its  formation  the  number  of  land  owners  within 
its  boundaries  had  increased  about  three  hundred  per  cent. 

From  early  spring  until  the  middle  of  summer  there  is  water  in 
the  greatest  abundance  for  the  needs  of  its  dense  population  of 
orchardists,  vineyardists  and  alfalfa  growers,  which  is  secured  at  a 
cost  of  fifty  cents  per  acre. 

TULAKE    IRRIGATION    DISTRICT 

This  district  was  organized  in  1889,  and  in  1890  bonds  in  the 
sum  of  $500,000  were  voted  and  placed  on  sale.  Work  on  the  main 
canal,  which  had  a  width  of  sixty-four  feet  and  a  dejith  of  six  feet, 
was  commenced  in  1891.  This  canal  had  a  capacity  of  five  hundred 
feet  per  second  and  took  its  water  from  the  north  side  of  the  St. 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  135 

Jolm  river.  It  was  to  be  about  twelve  miles  long  with  seven  laterals 
varying  in  width  from  ten  to  forty  feet,  carrying  the  water  to  all 
portions  of  the  district. 

In  one  sense  of  the  word,  this  district  was  a  disheartening  failure 
and  for  many  years  proved  a  heavy  incubus  to  every  landowner  in 
the  district  embraced.  The  causes  leading  to  this  condition  were 
many,  chief  among  them  being  the  depressed  condition  of  business 
in  Tulare  resulting  from  the  removal  of  the  railroad  shops,  the  panic 
of  1893,  and  the  failure  to  get  water.  This  latter  difficulty  was  oc- 
casioned by  litigation  involving  the  water  rights  of  the  district;  by 
the  series  of  dry  years  immediately  following  the  construction  of  the 
canal  and  perhaps  also  by  reason  of  the  lack  of  sufficient  funds  to 
complete  fully  the  plant  as  originally  projected.  At  any  rate,  the 
pa^Tuent  of  a  heavy  tax  to  meet  the  interest  on  and  provide  a  sink- 
ing fund  for  the  bonds,  without  receiving  any  benefits  was  universally 
resented.  The  validity  of  the  bond  issue  was  attacked  and,  acting 
under  the  advice  of  attorneys,  farmers  refused  to  pay  the  tax,  a 
condition  lasting  about  six  years.  An  injunction  preventing  execu- 
tion on  lands  to  satisfy  judgment  for  default  of  taxes  was  obtained. 
Accrued  interest  by  this  time  amounted  to  $150,000,  making  a  total 
indebtedness  of  $650,000. 

In  the  meantime  laud  greatly  depreciated  in  value  became,  in 
fact,  unsalable  by  reason  of  this  cloud  on  the  title.  It  became  ap- 
parent that  some  agreement  between  bondholders  and  landowners 
must  be  reached  if  general  bankruptcy  was  to  be  avoided.  Joe  Gold- 
man, a  large  landowner  in  the  district  and  also  a  heavy  bondholder, 
took  the  initiative.  He  agitated  the  submission  by  the  bondholders 
of  an  offer  to  surrender  the  bonds  on  payment  of  fifty  per  cent, 
of  their  face  value,  all  interest  to  be  remitted.  It  took  months  of 
hard  work  to  secure  the  consent  of  each  individual  bondholder,  but 
it  was  finally  accomplished  and  the  bonds  placed  in  escrow  in  a 
Tulare  bank.  The  plan  then  was  to  raise  the  $250,000  by  one  direct 
tax.  Assessors  were  appointed  and  another  long  tug  of  war  ensued, 
many  property  owners  at  first  refusing  to  consent  to  the  assessment 
or  to  pay  the  tax. 

Eventually  all  were,  however,  brought  into  the  fold,  the  levy 
was  made  and  the  money  collected.  October  17,  1903,  was  set  as 
the  day  for  the  transfer  and  a  monster  celebration  was  planned 
and  carried  out,  to  signifj'  the  universal  rejoicing  at  the  lifting  of 
the  load. 

Some  six  thousand  people,  including  Governor  Pardee,  Mayor 
Snyder  of  Los  Angeles,  numerous  bankers  from  San  Francisco  and 
Los  Angeles  and  other  notables  were  in  attendance.  Dramatically, 
the  bonds  were  consigned  to  the  flames  of  a  big  bonfire.  Land  values 
immediately   doubled,    trebled,    quadrupled.        A    delayed    prosperity 


136  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

proved  swift  in  action  after  its  arrival.  The  ditch  system  of  the 
company  became  the  unencumbered  property  of  the  district.  No  tax 
is  levied  for  its  maintenance,  running  expenses  being  secured  by 
water  tolls. 

It  will  doubtless  be  a  matter  of  great  surjirise  to  manj'  to  learn 
that  in  all  the  foregoing  in  which  is  indicated  the  development  of  a 
very  extensive  system,  no  mention  has  been  made  of  other  sources 
of  supply  equal  to  or  in  excess  of  that  obtained  from  the  Kings, 
Kaweah,  St.  John  and  Tule  rivers  combined.  This  is  the  under- 
ground flow,  belief  in  which  seems  to  have  existed  in  very  early 
days.  Not  until  1890,  however,  when  at  Lindsay,  in  wells  but  seventy 
feet  deep,  water  rose  to  within  twenty  feet  of  the  surface  and  main- 
tained that  level  under  constant  pumjiing,  did  the  people  begin  to 
realize  the  fortune  that  lay  below  ground. 

ARTESIAN    AND    OTHER    WELLS 

The  efforts  to  get  water  from  artesian  wells  for  general  use  in 
Tulare  county  were  first  made  in  1859.  At  that  date  some  of  the 
citizens  of  Visalia  and  vicinity  sank  a  well,  al)0ut  the  ]iresent  cross- 
ing of  Main  and  Court  streets  in  Visalia.  But  nothing  came  of  it, 
for  after  boring  two  hundred  and  twelve  feet  and  finding  no  stratum 
that  would  rise  to  the  surface,  the  work  was  abandoned;  but  the 
well  was  long  used  by  the  fire  department. 

The  Southern  Pacific,  in  1875,  bored  a  well  near  the  track  south 
of  Tipton.  At  a  depth  of  two  hundred  and  ten  feet  a  stratimi  of 
water  was  found  that  flowed  to  the  surface  in  a  strong  stream.  Many 
other  flowing  wells  have  since  been  bored.  But  the  water  is  tepid, 
with  a  slight  smell  of  sulphur  and  rather  insipid.  In  1881  another 
well  was  bored  on  the  Paige  and  Morton  ranch,  and  at  a  depth  of 
three  hundred  and  thirty  feet  a  grand  flow  of  water  was  obtained. 
The  comi^letion  of  this  well  was  made  the  occasion  of  a  great  cele- 
bration. It  established  the  theorj^  that  there  is  an  artesian  belt  in 
the  county.  There  are  at  the  present  time  about  four  hundred  flow- 
ing wells  used  for  watering  stock  and  for  irrigation.  This  belt  of 
flowing  wells  seems  to  be  mostly  west  of  the  main  line  of  the  rail- 
road, and  to  extend  to  the  westerly  line  of  Tulare  lake. 

But  the  wells  along  the  great  plain  sloping  westerly  from  the 
eastern  foothills,  though  none  of  them  are  flowing,  might  justly  be 
termed  artesian.  The  water  is  inexhaustible,  of  fine  quality  for 
domestic  use  and  for  irrigation,  and  has  wrought  that  wonderful 
miracle  of  transforming  those  dry  plains  to  gardens  teeming  with 
fruits  and  flowers. 

DAIRYING    INDUSTRY 

Coincident  with  the  arrival  of  the  first  family  cow,  tied  behind 
a  prairie  schooner,  the  dairy  industry  started  in  Tulare  county,  but 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  137 

it  was  not  until  the  introduction  of  alfalfa  and  the  realization  of  its 
adaptation  to  the  eiimate  and  soil  that  there  was  any  idea  that  dairy- 
in.e;  could  be  conducted  as  a  separate  and  ])rofitable  business. 

Tlie  Delta,  in  its  issue  of  February  4,  1860,  under  the  head  of 
Alfalfa,  thus  speaks:  "Those  desirous  of  trying  the  adaptation  of  this 
clover  to  the  soil  of  this  valley  can  now  have  an  opportunity  of  so 
doing  by  calling  at  McLane's  drug  store  for  the  seed.  There  is  no 
doubt  in  the  minds  of  those  who  have  seen  this  clover  growing  that 
it  will  be  one  of  the  most  productive  crops  in  the  valley.  When  it 
becomes  once  rooted,  the  drought  will  never  affect  it  in  the  least. 
In  this  light  soil  it  will  i-oot  lifteen  or  twenty  feet,  at  which  depth 
water  can  always  be  found  in  a])undance  in  every  i)lace  in  the  valley 
in  the  dryest  season.    Farmers,  try  it." 

The  farmers  did  tr.\-  it  and  wonders  have  been  accomplished. 
It  early  became  ajjparent  that  dairying  should  pay  and  so  a  numlier 
of  farmers  about  Visalia  formed  a  joint  stock  company  and  built  a 
creamery.  This  was  a  two-story  wooden  building,  situated  on  the 
Visalia-Goshen  railroad  about  a  mile  west  of  the  city  limits  of  Vi- 
salia, and  was  completed  in  1890.  W.  H.  Blain  was  ]iresident,  and 
S.  M.  Gilliam  secretary. 

Shortly  afterwards  D.  K.  Zumwalt  erected  a  cheese  factory  and 
creamei'v  on  the  Tulare-Goshen  railroad  about  midway  between  the 
two  towns.  Strange  as  it  seems  now,  both  of  these  early  enterprises 
were  destined  to  failure.  Several  causes  contributed  to  this  result, 
chief  among  them  being  the  ajiathy  of  farmers  toward  engaging  in 
the  business,  owing  to  the  publicity  of  the  extraordinary  prolits  made 
by  the  early  orchards,  at  this  time  just  coming  into  bearing.  Dairy- 
ing appeared  much  too  slow.  The  one  business  ajipeared  as  a 
tedious,  arduous  method  of  extracting  nickels;  the  other  a  leisurely, 
gentlemanly  waiting  for  a  shower  of  golden  eagles.  Then  came  the 
panic  of  1893,  and  the  great  railroad  strike.  The  latter,  especially, 
proved  disastrous.  Mr.  Zumwalt  at  this  time  had  twenty  thousand 
pounds  of  cheese  on  hand  which  he  was  unable  to  move.  Much  of 
this  spoiled.  The  delay  in  getting  the  ])roduct  converted  into  cash 
necessitated  a  stojjpage  of  payments  to  the  farmers  and  caused  them 
to  become  suspicious  and  uneasy  and  disinclined  to  continue  deliver- 
ies. Then,  markets  were  not  good.  Los  Angeles  produced  nearly 
all  it  consumed.  The  result  was  that  both  enter] )rises  were  aban- 
doned. 

In  1898  W.  B.  Cart  mill  leased  the  Zumwalt  and  Visalia  plants 
and  ojjcrated  them  as  skiimuing  stations,  and  in  1901  Thompson  and 
Futtrell  connnenced  in  Tulare  the  o))eration  of  a  creamery  of  small 
cajiacity.  The  skinuning  stations  were  abandoned,  but  in  li)0()  Mr. 
Cartinill    was    instrumental    in    launching     the     Tulare     Co-Operative 


138  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Creamery,  the  cai^acity  of  this  in  its  first  years  of  existence  being 
about  one  thousand  pounds  per  day. 

The  entire  growth  of  the  industry  dates  from  that  time,  only 
five  or  six  years  ago.  Today  tlie  industry  ranks  as  one  of  the  most 
important  in  the  county.  The  county  ranks,  according  to  the  state 
dairy  board,  as  tliird  in  the  state.  According  to  figures  given  out 
by  the  creameries,  it  ranks  second.  At  any  rate,  there  is  an  annual 
production  of  four  million  pounds  of  butter  fat.  A  conservative 
estimate  of  the  value  of  dairy  products,  including  skimmed  milk,  is 
two  million  dollars  per  year. 

An  idea  of  existing  conditions  is  ol)taiued  by  quoting  the  Tulare 
Register  of  May,  1912 :  ' '  The  creamery  disbursements  here  today  were 
$97,191.26.  The  fifteenth  of  the  month  in  this  city  is  much  like  the 
regular  monthly  pay  days  in  factory  districts.  *  *  *  Business 
jammed  at  the  local  banks  all  through  the  day  and  it  was  simply  a 
question  of  waiting  one's  turn  at  the  windows  of  paying  and  receiving- 
tellers. 

"Nearly  every  horse-drawn  vehicle  wliich  comes  to  this  city 
will  have  the  cream  cans  somewhere  about  it.  Even  autos  are  used 
to  convey  the  cream  and  milk." 

Dairying  has  centered  particularly  about  Tulare,  which  includes 
Tag-US,  Paige  and  Swall's  station;  about  Porterville,  Woodville,  Tip- 
ton and  Poplar,  all  of  which  may  be  coml>ined  as  constituting  one 
immense  connected  district;  about  Yisalia,  including  Farmersville 
and  Goshen;  about  Dinuba,  westerly  and  southerly  to  Traver. 

There  are  now  within  the  county  one  thousand  dair>nnen  "vvith 
herds  aggregating  l)etween  twenty  and  twenty-five  thousand  animals. 
The  Holstein  is  the  favorite  breed,  and  the  grade  is  constantly  im- 
proving by  reason  of  the  importation  of  numbers  of  registered  bulls. 

A  factor  of  importance  bearing  on  the  relation  of  this  industry 
to  general  prosperity  is  the  fact  that  there  are  few  large  herds.  In 
fact,  there  are  only  two  in  the  county  numbering  as  many  as  three 
hundred.     The  remainder  range  from  five  to  two  hundred. 

The  moutlily  creamery  pay  check  has  become  a  factor  in  busi- 
ness circles.  It  pays  bills  of  all  kinds  promptly;  it  contributes  to 
savings  bank  balances ;  it  steadies  and  enhances  land  values. 

The  one  thing  that  has  rendered  this  extraordinary  development 
possible  and  one  of  the  causes  for  the  belief  that  the  industry  is 
at  present  only  in  its  infancy,  is  the  phenomenal  growth  of  the  city 
of  Los  Angeles.  And  as  this  metropolis  bids  fair  to  maintain  a 
healthy  growth  and  as  the  towns  of  the-  citrus  district  and  of  the 
oil  fields  are  also  rapidly  growing,  it  appears  that  a  widening  and 
increasing  demand  assures  to  the  industry  a  stable  future. 

There  are  now  eight  creameries  in  the  county,  each  provided 
with  the  best  modern  facilities,  machinery  and  equipment.     These, 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  139 

with  their  managers  are:  Tuhire  Co-Operative,  W.  B.  Cartmill; 
Dairj-men's  Co-Operative,  J.  P.  Murphy;  Good  Luck  Creamery,  J. 
W.  brew,  all  of  Tulare;  the  Visalia  Creamery,  W.  B.  Cartmill; 
Visalia  Co-Operative  Creamery,  N.  J.  Beck;  Sun  Flower  Dairy  at 
Poplar,  Eidgeway  Bros.;  Porterville  Co-Operative  Creamery,  C.  T. 
Brown;  Tipton  Co-Operative  Creamery,  J.  H.  Drew. 

DECIDUOUS    FRUIT 

From  its  vineyards  and  orcliards  of  deciduous  fruits  Tulare 
county  now  annually  receives  about  three  million  dollars.  The  de- 
veloiunent  of  this  industry  within  the  county  presents  peculiarities. 
Thus,  at  a  time  w^hen  the  vineyards  of  Sonoma  and  Napa  counties, 
the  orchards  of  Santa  Clara,  Vacaville,  Suisuu  and  Ventura  were 
in  full  bearing  and  producing  profitable  returns,  here,  one  of  the 
richest  fields  remained  until  comparatively  recent  years  imknown 
and  undeveloped. 

This  neglect  did  not  proceed  so  much  from  doubt  as  to  the 
adajitability  of  the  section  for  fruit  growing  as  from  the  ignorance 
of  the  earlier  inhabitants  of  the  large  profits  in  the  business.  Life- 
long farmers  and  stockmen  did  not  readilv  undertake  a  change. 
Then  there  was  doubt  of  finding  a  market,  in  view  of  the  exorbitant 
freight  rates  charged  in  early  days. 

A]3]3areutly,  the  very  first  settlers,  however,  planted  some  fruit 
trees  and  vines.  In  1859,  the  Delta  speaks  of  having  received  some 
fine  apricots  from  Mr.  Goodale,  also  some  apples  of  the  Summer 
Queen  variety  that  measured  thirteen  and  one-half  inches  in  cir- 
cumference. In  another  issue  mention  is  made  of  a  vineyard  near 
town  belonging  to  Dr.  Matthews  that  was  producing  grapes  "equal 
to  those  grown  in  Los  Angeles."  The  doctor  brought  in  a  bunch 
weighing  nine  pounds.  Horace  Thomas  also  was  bearer  to  the  editor 
of  a  large  cluster  of  grapes.  Again,  in  the  issue  of  August  7,  1867, 
the  editor  acknowledged  the  receipt  from  Rev.  Mr.  Edwards  of  some 
peaches  of  fine  flavor  that  measured  three  inches  in  diameter  and 
some  lemon  clings  eleven  and  three-fourths  inches  in  circumfei-ence. 
Mention,  in  the  '60s,  is  also  made  of  samples  of  wine  made  near 
Visalia,  and  on  the  assessment  roll  of  1860  there  appeared  one  thou- 
sand gallons  of  wine  on  hand. 

Humble  beginnings,  truly,  and  containing  no  suggestion  of  the 
wonderful   expansion  that  was   to   come. 

The  first  impetus  to  the  growing  of  fruit  commercially  in  Tuhire 
county  was  given  by  I.  li.  Thomas,  since  called  the  father  of  the 
industry.  This  gentleman,  about  1880,  i^lanted  near  Visalia  a  ten- 
acre  orchard  of  peaches,  pears,  })lums,  prunes,  apricots  and  nectar- 
ines. Mr.  Thomas  was  a  "fruit  man,"  a  careful,  intelligent  observer, 
a  member  of  the  state  board  of  horticulture,  and  very  enthusiastic 


UO  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

about  the  adaptahilily  of  soil  aud  climate  here  for  the  growing 
of  fruit. 

Mr.  Tlionias  exhibited  specimens  of  his  ])rodiicts  at  the  meetings 
of  tiie  state  Iward  in  San  Francisco  and  they  were  regarded  as 
phenomenal.  The  district  was  recognized  as  i)ossessing  most  favor- 
able qualifications.  Mr.  Thomas,  however,  met  with  difficulties  in 
the  disposition  of  his  product.  The  fruit  was  sent  to  Los  Angeles 
by  express,  the  greatest  care  being  exercised  in  ]iacking.  Exorbitant 
charges  absorbed  the  profits.  However,  Frank  Briggs  and  Thomas 
Jacob,  the  latter  an  experienced  fruit  grower  and  nurseryman  from 
San  Jose,  planted  acreage  orcliards  which  came  into  bearing  in  1888. 

George  A.  and  Charles  F.  Fleming,  known  as  Fleming  Bros., 
dried  fruit  packers  and  sjieculators  of  San  Jose,  noted  the  event 
of  a  new  district's  production,  entered  the  field  and  in  1889  and 
1890,  purchased  the  output  for  di'ving.  The  phenomenal  yield  of 
the  new  orcliards  in  the  latter  year,  coupled  with  the  high  prices 
prevailing,  started  a  boom  for  the  industry  which  resulted  in  an 
almost  universal  desire  to  enter  the  game.  The  year  1890  wit- 
nessed a  general  planting  of  fruit  trees  all  over  the  county.  The 
Orosi  colony  of  forty  or  fifty  ten  aud  twenty-acre  tracts  was  launched; 
near  Tulare  the  Oakland  colony,  the  Bishop  colony,  the  Chicago 
ranch,  the  Oakdale  colony,  the  Emma  orchard  and  numerous  others 
were  set  out;  near  Porterville,  Dr.  W.  A.  Witlock,  Jim  Bursell  and 
others  made  plantings. 

In  the  district  tributary  to  Visalia  and  Farmersville  the  most 
remarkable  showing  was  made.  The  Fleming  Brothers  and  J.  K. 
Armsby  inirchased  four  hundred  acres,  planting  about  one-half  the 
first  year;  Pinkham  &  McKevitt,  ^"acaville  fresh  fruit  packers,  with 
associates  from  that  section,  set  out  the  Giant  Oak  and  California 
Prune  Company  orchards,  each  of  several  hundred  acres,  ^'isalians 
organized  the  Evansdale,  the  Encina  and  the  Visalia  Fruit  and  Land 
Co.  San  Joseans  formed  the  Mineral  King  Fruit  Co. ;  J.  P.  Morton 
and  William  Swall  began  planting  on  what  is  now  known  as  Swall's. 
This  furore  extended  to  1891,  when  A.  C.  Kuhn,  fruit  packer  of  San 
Jose,  purchased  about  eleven  hundred  acres  near  Farmersville.  all 
to  be  set  in  fruit.  Exclusive  of  these  orchards,  each  of  which  con- 
sisted of  hundreds  of  acres,  scores  of  smaller  plautings  were  made 
in  these-  two  years,  so  that  in  the  Visalia  district  alone  the  acreage 
now  amounted  to   some  seven  thousand   acres. 

The  main  cause  of  this  extraordinary  planting  rush,  resembling 
a  "stampede"  to  a  mining  camp,  was  the  yield  and  return  from  the 
Jacobs'  aud  Briggs'  orchards  in  1889.  Mr.  Jacobs,  from  one  hun- 
dred aud  thirty-five  four-year-old  prune  trees,  received  about  $800 
net.  the  trees  averaging  four  hundred  pounds  each  and  the  fruit 
being  sold  for  $35  per  ton.     At   the  Briggs   orchard  the  old   trees 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  141 

averaged  ei.^lit  hundred  pounds  and  one  tree,  wliiHi  was  ])ieked  in 
the  presence  of  witnesses,  who  made  affidavit  to  the  fact,  jjrotluced 
eleven  hundred  and  two  pounds. 

Precedin,i>-  this  excitement  a  few  years  there  had  been  a  general 
though  quiet  movement  of  vineyard  planting,  jiarticularly  about 
Tulare  and  in  the  Diiuiba-Orosi  district. 

The  limits  of  this  article  forbid  a  detailed  history  of  the  ex- 
periences of  these  thousands  of  fruit  and  vine  growers.  Suffice  to 
.  say  that  before  tlie  present  stable  basis  was  attained,  many  lessons 
were  learned  by  hard  experience.  It  was  found  that  orchards  gen- 
erally did  not  ])roduce  such  i)henomenal  early  yields  as  the  Briggs' 
and  Jacobs'  places;  that  some  soils  were  not  at  all  adapted  to  the 
culture;  that  periods  of  depression  in  the  market,  if  occurring  co- 
incident with  a  season  of  heavy  yield  and  of  small  grade,  eliminated 
profit  entirely.  In  the  district  tributary  to  Yisalia,  came,  in  1906, 
the  misfortune  of  a  flood  which  practically  destroyed  thousands  of 
acres  of  trees,  especially  those  on  peach  root.  Other  lessons,  too, 
the  years  have  brought. 

It  has  been  learned  that  Malaga  and  other  table  grapes  in  the 
Alta  or  Dinuba-Sultana-Orosi  district  ripen  very  early,  reach  an  un- 
usual degree  of  perfection  and  connnand  higher  prices  in  the  eastern 
market  than  those  grown  elsewhere.  It  has  been  found  that  cling 
peaches  of  all.  varieties  do  exceptionally  well  and  are  in  great  de- 
mand at  advanced  prices  by  canners  throughout  the  state.  This  was 
forecasted  in  1895,  when  peaches  from  "\lsalia  orchards  took  the 
gold  medal  at  the  Atlanta  World's  Exposition.  Of  this  exhibit  it 
may  be  stated  that  one  orchard  contributed  three  hundred  peaches, 
no  one  weighing  less  than  a  pound.  Jars  were  tilled  with  peaches 
weighing  twenty-two  and  one-half  ounces  each. 

It  has  been  found  that  the  earliest  and  therefore  the  most  profit- 
able district  in  the  state  for  the  production  of  fresh  fruits  destined 
for  the  eastern  market  lies  in  our  elevated  foothill  section.  The 
Redbanks  orchard  of  five  hundred  acres,  situated  fifteen  miles  north- 
east of  Yisalia  on  the  Yisalia  electric  railway,  produces  peaches, 
plums,  Thompson's  seedless  and  Tokay  grapes  coincident  with  or 
earlier  than  any  other. 

It  has  l)een  found  that  in  tlie  Yisalia  and  in  the  Farmersville 
districts,  French  and  R<)i)e  de  Sergeant  prunes  are  of  a  grade  and 
quality  sujierior  to  any  others  in  the  San  Joatpiin  valley  and  on 
account  of  the  early  maturily  and  heavy  yield  are  to  be  depended 
U])on   for  large  average  annual  returns. 

A  word  now  as  to  the  growth  of  facilities  and  the  jiresent  status 
of  the  industiy.  The  first  need  felt  by  the  new  fruit  i)roducing  dis- 
trict was  for  a  cannery.  Enterprising  Yisalians,  under  the  leader- 
shi))  of  Martin   Rouse,  succeeded   in  inducing  the   Sacramento   Can- 


142  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

ning-  and  Drying  Company  to  establish  a  plant  here  in  1895.  This 
has  since  been  taken  over  by  the  California  Canners'  Association, 
and  made  into  one  of  the  largest  and  best  equipped  jDlants  in  the 
state.  A  few  years  later,  the  Central  California  Canners'  Company 
located  in  Visalia ;  in  1910  local  fruit  growers  built  a  cannery  in 
Tulare,  and  in  1912  Hunt  Brothers  of  HajTvards  opened  a  factory 
in  Exeter.  Northern  Tulare  county  growers  found  a  ready  market 
for  canning  fruits  in  Fresno. 

Similarly,  in  the  handling  of  fresh  and  dried  fruits  and  raisins. 
Located  at  Dinuba  aud  Visalia  are  now  packing-houses  for  raisins 
and  dried  fruits  second  in  facilities  to  uone;  the  leading  greeu  fruit 
shippers  have  receiving  and  forwarding  accommodations  at  nearly 
every  station  on  the  railroad. 

For  the  Los  Angeles  market,  which  consumes  about  one  hundred 
aud  fifty  carloads  of  Tulare  county  fruit,  the  Klein-Simpson  com- 
pany have  been  especially  active  and  make  carload  shipments  from 
Dinuba,  Sultana,  Visalia,  Exeter,  Porterville  and  Tulare. 

The  shipment  of  fresh  fruit  and  grapes  to  the  eastern  markets 
may  be  roughly  estimated  at  about  eight  hundred  carloads,  of  which 
Visalia,  Eedbanks  aud  Swall's  contribute  a  little  less  than  one-half 
and  the  northern  or  Alta  district,  including  Dinuba,  Sultana  and 
Cutler,  a  little  more  than  one-half.  This  large  shipment  from  the 
Alta  district  has  been  entirely  developed  within  the  past  eight  years, 
as  it  was  not  until  1904  that  carload  lots  were  shipped  from  Dinuba. 
For  several  years  prior  to  that  time,  N.  W.  Miller  of  Orosi.  the 
pioneer  in  the  industry,  had  been  shipping  small  lots  by  local  freight 
to  Visalia,  at  which  point  cars  were  made  up. 

In  1908  Frank  Wilson  and  G.  W.  Wyllie,  who  were  the  only 
growers  of  table  grapes  near  Dinuba,  packed  their  Emperor  grape.s 
at  their  ranches  and  forwarded  the  same  to  Fresno  in  quarter  car 
lots.  Until  1906  no  grapes  were  shipped  other  than  those  produced 
on  these  two  vineyards,  although  in  1905  a  few  Malagas  were  set 
out. 

In  1907  the  Earl  Fruit  Company  rented  a  house  to  be  used  for 
packiug  purposes.  Grapes  were  still  the  only  fruit  shipped,  aud  of 
these  there  were  only  a  few  cars  of  the  early  variety.  The  pack- 
iughouse  was  open  for  a  period  of  four  weeks  only.  It  was  not 
until  1908  that  shipments  of  any  voliune  were  made.  Many  new 
vineyards  had  then  arrived  at  the  bearing  age.  Prices  for  early 
Malagas  were  alluring,  and  many  growers  disposed  of  their  frtxit 
in  this  way.  Plums,  peaches  and  Tokay  grapes  were  added  to 
the    list. 

This,  in  outline,  is  the  rapidly  made  early  history  of  the 
deciduous    fruit    shipping    industry    in    what    is    now    its    center    in 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  143 

Tulare  county.  From  tliis  district  shipments  as  follows  were  made 
in  1910 :  From  Diuuba  and  Monson,  two  hundred  and  eleven  car- 
loads ;  Cutler,  sixty-one  carloads ;  Sultana,  one  hundred  and  forty 
carloads ;  North  Dinuba,  seventeen  carloads ;  making  a  total  of 
four  hundred  and  twenty-nine  carloads,  having  a  value  to  the 
grower  of  over  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars. 

In  dried  fruits,  raisins  easily  lead  in  volume  and  value  of 
shipments.  A  conservative  estimate  of  the  annual  value  of .  the 
product  is  $750,000.  There  are  two  separate  portions  of  the  county 
in  which  the  production  of  raisins  heavily  increases  bank  balances. 
These  are  the  district  from  Dinuba  to  Yettem,  and  the  section  lying 
around  Tulare  and  Paige.  Connecting  somewhat  these  two  are 
numerous   vineyards    located   near '  Traver,    Goshen    and    Tagus. 

The  prune  belt  of  the  county  lies  almost  exclusively  in  the 
Visalia-Farmersville  district,  although  Tulare  and  Porterville  each 
furnish  a  considerable  quota.  The  annual  ]5rodnction  is  about 
five  thousand  tons,  carrying  a  growers'  return  of  about  $450,000. 
The  actual  value  for  shipment,  which  would  include  cost  of  boxes, 
labor   and   packers'   profits,   would   be   much   more. 

The  production  of  apples  is  confined  to  the  foothill  region 
centering  about  Three  Rivers  and  Springville.  As  transportation 
facilities  improve  the  profitable  enlargement  of  the  area  devoted 
to  this  culture  may  be  made. 

Wine  grapes  may  be  said  to  be  grown  commercially  only  in  the 
Alta  district,  where  are  located  two  large  wineries.  Small  plants 
near  Tulare  and  Visalia  assist  in  sujiplying  the  public  demand  for 
liquid    refreshment. 

THE    WATERMELON 

Though  apparently  of  minor  importance,  the  industry  of  rais- 
ing watermelons  in  Tulare  county  has  exerted  such  an  effect  on 
the  development  of  lands  into  thriving  vineyards  and  orchards 
that  it  is  deserving  of  especial  mention.  This  by  reason  of  the 
fact  that,  affording  as  it  does,  quick,  jirofitable  returns,  the  fruit 
grower  is  easily  enabled  to  make  a  living  while  awaiting  the  coming 
into  bearing  of  his  orchard  or  vineyard. 

The  industry  has  been  confined,  on  a  commercial  scale  exclu- 
sively, to  northern  Tulare  county.  The  Alta  district  has  now  be- 
come the  largest  watermelon  shipping  center  in  the  state.  The 
earliest  melons  are  grown  there  and  the  highest  prices  realized. 
It  all  started  ten  years  ago.  In  1901  Mrs.  J.  E.  Driver,  a  very 
bright,  energetic  business  woman,  set  out  forty  acres.  The  venture 
was  successful,  and  by  1905  interest  in  the  growing  of  melons  be- 
came general   and   large  ]ilantings   were  made   from   then   on. 

In  1908  the  Dinul)a  Melon  Growers'  Association  was  formed 
for    the    purpose    of    securing    higher    pi-ices    through    co-operative 


14-t  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

action    iu    marketing'.      Tlie    association    was    immediately    successful 
and    has    remained    so. 

The  estimated  acreage  devoted  to  melons  is  twelve  hundred,  of 
which  the  association  controls  three-fifths.  Shipments  from  the 
district  commence  the  last  week  in  Jime  and  continue  well  into 
August. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE   RAILROAD    DREA:\I 

In  1861  a  mass  meeting  was  held  iu  front  of  the  courthouse  for 
the  purpose  of  considering  the  j^roject  of  building  a  road  to  San 
Simeon.  The  ])roposition  was  endorsed  and  William  G.  Morris, 
A.  H.  Mitchell,  S.  W.  Beckham,  Thomas  Baker  and  E.  Jacob  were 
appointed  a  committee  to  view  the  route  and   solicit   subscriptions. 

The  board  of  supervisors  also  took  up  the  matter  aud  appointed 
A.  O.  Thoms,  H.  Bostwick  and  A.  J.  Atwell  to  view  the  routes 
and  estimate  the  probable  cost.  Altogether,  eleven  meu,  including 
ex-Governor  McDougal,  went  on  this  expedition.  The  Delta  of 
the  time  saj's:  "They  will  probably  be  gone  from  two  to  three 
weeks  and  have  taken  all  the  necessary  provisions  and  refresh- 
ments  for  a  trip  of  that  sort." 

BitoiNG    FOR    THE    RAILROAD 

A  railroad  meeting  was  held  in  Visalia  on  the  10th  of  Decem- 
ber for  the  )niri)ose  of  hearing  the  demands  of  the  Central  Pacific 
railroad.  The  meeting  was  addressed  by  J.  Ross  Brown  and  Wil- 
liam M.  Stewart,  senator  from  Nevada.  Tulare  county  was  asked 
to  issue  seven  per  cent  twenty-year  bonds  as  -a  gift  to  the  railroad 
company,  at  the  ratio  of  $6,000  per  mile,  an  aggregate  of  $.378,000. 
The  road  was  to  cross  the  county  via  Visalia,  a  distance  of  sixty- 
three  miles,  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  railroad  should  be  taxed  at 
the  rate  of  $5,000  ])er  mile.  The  average  time  in  the  receipt  of 
merchandise  from  San  Francisco  was  fifteen  days  and  the  rate  $60 
per  ton.  The  railroad  was  to  do  it  in  eight  hours  and  at  the  rate 
of  $10  per  ton.  Tliere  were  about  three  thousand  tons  of  fi-eight 
leaving  ^"isalia  for  the  north  and  about  five  hundred  coming  in 
annually.  On  account  of  the  increase  in  taxation  and  the  reduc- 
tion iu  freight  it  was  figured  that  the  bonds  would  pay  for  them- 
selves  in   seven   years. 

Resolutions  were  adopted  approving  the  project  and  iiledging 
assistance    in    the    construction    of    the    road.      The    committee    was 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  145 

composed  of  Dr.  W.  A.  Russell,  A.  J.  Atwell,  B.  G.  Parker,  Hugh 
Hamilton,  T.  J.  Sliackleford,  F.  W.  Blake,  Y.  B.  Stokes,  A.  H. 
Murray,  Tipton  Lindsey  and  J.  B.  Hockett. 

Popular  sentiment  was  in  favor  of  the  issuance  of  houds,  and 
the  legislature  passed  a  bill  authorizing  Tulare  and  other  counties 
to  issue  bonds,  but  it  was  vetoed  by  Governor  Haight.  The  people 
of  Visalia  were  still  confident  that  tlie  road  would  pass  through 
the  town  and  speculation  and  prediction  of  the  exceeding  prosperity 
that  would  ensue  were  rife.  Prices  of  property  soared,  and  it 
was  therefore  a  most  crushing  disappointment  when  the  survey  of 
1870  was  made,  which  passed  through  Tulare  county  at  a  ]ioint 
about  eight  miles  west  of  Visalia. 

Sliortly  after  the  road  reached  Merced,  in  February,  1872,  an- 
other effort  was  made  to  induce  the  railroad  to  pass  through 
Visalia.  A  meeting  was  held  and  a  connnittee  consisting  of  Tip- 
ton Lindsey,  R.  E.  Hyde,  P]lias  Jacob  and  T.  L.  B.  Goodman  were 
appointed  to  obtain  the  right  of  way  to  the  route  through  Visalia. 
The  rights  of  way  were  quickly  olitained  and  the  committee  visited 
Sacramento,  where  they  were  told  to  await  the  action  of  Engineer 
Montague.  On  a  subsequent  visit  to  Sacramento  in  April,  at  which 
conference  they  were  prepared  to  offer  a  large  bonus,  the  committee 
were  informed  by  Governor  Stanford  that  he  could  conceive  of  no 
inducement  that  lay  in  their  power  to  grant  sufficient  to  influence 
a  change  in  the  route.  This  was  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  the 
railroad  was  entitled  by  act  of  Congress  to  the  alternate  sections 
of  unoccupied  land  lying  on  each  side  of  the  right  of  way.  Should 
the  route  be  changed  to  pass  through  A^isalia,  in  which  neighbor- 
hood nearly  all  the  lands  were  deeded  possession,  the  railroad  would 
be  forced  to  relinquish  this  immense  domain. 

Hyde  and  Jacob,  the  members  of  the  committee  attending  the 
latter  conference,  telegraphed  to  Visalia:  "Ephesians,  chapter  two, 
verse  twelve."  Reference  to  this  disclosed:  "Cut  off  from  the 
Commonwealth   of  Israel." 

It  now  being  an  established  fact  that  they  were  to  be  cut  off 
from  the  main  line,  the  people  of  ^'^isalia  called  a  mass  meeting 
on  May  It,  1872,  to  take  measures  of  last  resort.  At  this  meeting, 
Tii)ton  Lindsey  presiding,  S.  C.  Brown  introduced  the  following 
resolution,  which  was  adopted:  "Resolved,  That  it  is  for  the  best 
intei-ests  of  the  peo])le  of  Visalia  to  take  steps  looking  to  the  con- 
struction of  a  branch  railroad  leading  from  the  town  to  the  main 
trunk  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  railroad  at  its  nearest  ])oint  to 
this  town." 

This  was  the  inception  of  the  Visalia  and  Goshen  railroad,  arti- 
cles of  incor]>oration  for  which  were  filed  May  ID,  1874.  The  direc- 
tors were  R.  E.  Hyde,  S.  A.  Sheppard,  E.  Jacob,  S.  C.  Brown,  Tip- 


146  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

tou  Liudsey,  John  Cutler  aud  Solomon  Sweet.  It  was  completed 
and  put  in  operation  in  the  following  August,  amidst  great  rejoic- 
ing. The  first  depot  of  this  road  was  in  the  western  part  of  the 
town,  but  subsequently  moved  to  the  present  Southern  Pacific  depot. 
This  road  continued  to  operate,  but  upon  the  completion  of  the 
San  Joaquin  Valley  railroad,  now  the  Santa  Fe,  the  company  sold 
out  to  the  Southern  Pacific.  The  latter  company  then  extended 
the  road  from  Visalia  to  Exeter,  making  through  traffic  in  1898. 

THE     VIS.\LIA    AJfD     TULAKE     KAILEOAD 

The  Yisalia  and  Tulare  railroad  was  built  by  local  capital  in 
1888.  at  a  cost  of  $130,000,  and  proved  a  gTeat  convenience  to  the 
inhabitants  of  the  two  cities.  It  never  proved  profitable,  however, 
and  after  the  coming  of  the  Santa  Fe  in  1897  its  usefulness  was 
over.  In  1898  the  rolling  stock  and  rails  were  sold  and  the  enter- 
prise abandoned. 

EAST     SIDE    KAILEOAD 

On  December  5,  1887,  the  Southern  Pacific,  the  successor  to  the 
Central  Pacific  in  the  San  Joaquin  valley,  commenced  what  is 
locally  known  as  the  East  Side  Line.  This  road  runs  east  from 
Fresno  to  Sanger,  then  southeasterly  through  Dinuba,  Lindsay, 
Porterville  and  connects  with  the  main  line  at  Famosa.  Work  on 
the  road  was  pushed  forward  rapidly  and  completed  in  November, 
1888.  The  road  is  about  one  hundred  and  four  miles  in  length,  of 
which  sixty-eight  are  in  Tulare  county.  It  passes  about  eight  miles 
eastwardly  from  Visalia  and  is  the  only  road  through  the  rich 
citrus  country. 

THE    COMIJTG    OF    THE    SANTA    FE 

In  1895,  when  the  San  Francisco  and  San  Joaquin  Valley 
railroad  was  organized  and  the  project  of  building  a  road  from  the 
northern  metropolis  to  Bakersfield  was  set  forth,  Visalia  residents 
determined  at  once  to  put  forth  every  effort  to  get  upon  the  route. 

A  mass  meeting  was  held  in  the  old  engine  house  and  S.  Mitchell, 
Harry  Levinson  and  William  H.  Hammond  were  appointed  a  com- 
mittee on  finances  and  depot  sites  and  Ben  M.  Maddox  a  committee 
of  one  to  secure  rights  of  way.  Tulare  city  also  eagerly  undertook 
to  help  and  agreed  to  secure  rights  of  way  from  a  point  midway 
between  A^isalia  and  Tulare  south  to  the  county  line. 

About  $12,000  was  raised  in  Visalia,  and  with  this  sum,  after 
a  strenuous  labor  of  over  a  year,  all  rights  of  way  of  a  present 
probable  value  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars  were  secured. 

Construction  work  was  commenced  in  1896  and  on  Admission 
Day,  September  9,  1897,  the  road  was  completed  to  Visalia  and  a 
monster    celebration    in   honor    of    the    event    was    held.      Excursion 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  147 

trains  from  Fresno,  Hanford  and  other  points,  carrying  upwards 
of  two  thousand  people,  came;  residents  from  the  most  remote  sec- 
tions of  the  county,  as  well  as  those  from  the  near-by  towns,  crowded 
to  see  the  first  real  railroad  train  enter  Visalia. 

A  significant  coincidence  of  the  occasion  was  that  on  that  day 
the  first  Southern  Pacific  agent  to  set  foot  in  Visalia  also  arrived. 
A  short  time  previous  the  Visalia-Goshen  railroad  had  been  pur- 
chased by  the  Southern  Pacific,  and  at  once,  upon  the  completion 
of  the  competing  road,  active  efforts  were  made,  through  better- 
ments of  service  and  equipment,  to  retain  a  share  of  the  public's 
patronage,  and  in  a  very  short  time  the  Southern  Pacific  expressed 
itself  as  desirous  of  extending  its  road  to  Exeter  to  connect  with 
its  branch  line.  George  W.  Stewart  and  John  F.  Jordan  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  Visalia  Board  of  Trade  to  assist  in  this  matter. 
These  gentlemen  worked  heartily,  soon  secured  all  rights  of  way 
and  the  road  was  built  the  following  year. 

Soon  after  the  Valley  railroad  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Santa  Fe.  A  singular  fact  in  connection  with  the  sale  of  the  little 
railroad  from  Goshen  to  Visalia  was  that  E.  E.  Hyde,  its  ]irincipal 
owner,  believed  that  the  coming  of  the  Valley  railroad  would  render 
his  property  practically  valueless,  and  considered  seriously  otfering 
it  for  sale  for  $30,000,  about  one-fifth  the  sum  he  received  from  the 
Southern  Pacific.  There  is  no  record,  however,  of  the  latter  com- 
pany regretting  the  bargain. 

THE     VISALIA      ELECTRIC 

In  1906  the  Visalia  Electric  railroad  was  commenced.  A  cor- 
poration with  Mr.  Crossett  at  the  head  was  formed  to  build  and 
operate  an  electric  road  from  Visalia  to  Lemon  Cove,  by  way  of 
Exeter.  The  tracks  of  the  Southern  Pacific  between  Visalia  and 
Exeter  were  used.  From  Exeter  the  line  was  extended  along  the 
foothills  through  some  of  the  fine  orange  orchards,  and  in  1907 
reached  Lemon  Cove.  The  road  has  since  been  extended  np  the 
river  to  the  property  of  the  Ohio  Lemon  Company,  and  it  is  expected 
that  it  will  soon  be  extended  up  the  river  to  Three  Rivers.  Leaving 
the  main  line  a  short  distance  northeast  of  Lemon  Cove,  a  branch 
was  constructed,  crossing  the  Kaweah  river  near  McKay  Point,  and 
thence  extending  westerly  to  Redbanks,  with  a  spur  running  north  to 
AVoodlake. 

THE    PORTERVILLE    NORTH    EASTERN 

In  1909  a  company  was  formed  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  con- 
structing a  railroad  from  Tulare  City  to  the  town  of  Spring-\'ille,  by 
way  of  Woodville  and  Porterville.  F.  U.  Nofziger  was  president  of 
the  company  and  ITolley  &  liolley  of  Visalia  the  engineers. 


148  TUr.AKE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

The  peo]>l('  all  along  the  way  were  anxious  for  such  a  road,  and 
very  little  trouble  was  offered  to  the  securing  of  the  rights  of  way. 
Work  was  immediately  connnenced  on  that  jiortion  of  the  project  be- 
tween Porterville  and  S))ringville,  called  the  Porterville  North  Eastern 
road,  and  it  was  puslied  vigorously.  On  the  9th  of  September,  1911, 
the  people  of  Springville  celebrated  the  completion  of  the  road.  It 
was  a  great  day  for  the  little  town.  There  were  crowds  of  people 
from  the  otlier  towns  in  the  county,  from  Fresno  and  from  Bakerstield. 
The  road  has  been  absorbed  l)y  the  Southern  Pacific,  and  is  now  run 
as  a  part  of  that  system. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
GREAT    TRAIN   ROBBERIES 

The  first  of  a  series  of  five  train  robberies  occurred  near  Pixley, 
on  the  morning  of  February  22,  1889.  As  train  No.  17  was  leaving 
that  place,  two  masked  men  climbed  over  the  tender  to  the  cab  and 
ordered  the  engineer  to  stop  the  train  at  a  point  two  miles  distant 
from  the  station.  There  the  engineer  and  fireman  were  compelled 
to  dismount  and  were  ]ilaced  as  shields,  one  in  front  of  each  robber, 
and  marched  to  the  express  car.  J.  R.  Kelly,  the  express  messenger, 
was  ordered  to  open  the  door,  which  he  did,  and  one  robber  entered, 
the  other  keeping  guard. 

Ed  Bently,  a  deinity  constable  of  Modesto,  who  was  a  passenger 
on  the  train,  got  off  and  proceeded  forward  out  of  curiosity  and  was 
shot  and  seriously  wounded,  the  robbers  firing  between  the  fireman's 
legs.  Another  curious  jiasseuger,  Charles  (iubert,  was  shot  and 
killed. 

After  securing  their  booty,  the  amount  of  which  was  never  made 
public,  the  robbers  returned  the  engineer  and  fireman  to  their  jjosts 
and  disapjieared. 

The  railroad  and  express  companies  inunediatel.v  offered  rewards 
of  $2000  each  for  the  arrest  and  conviction  of  the  robbers,  and 
special  trains  with  officers,  men  and  horses,  left  Tulare  and  Bakers- 
field  for  the  scene  of  the  robbery.  Trails  were  disclosed  leading  to 
the  coast,  but  the  robbers  were  not  found. 

January  24,  1890,  as  the  train  was  leaving  Goshen  about  four 
a.  m.,  the  role  of  the  Pixlev  robbery  was  re-enacted.  Five  masked 
men  again  climbed  to  the  engine  from  the  tender,  stopj^ed  the  train, 
marched  engineer  and  fireman  to  the  door  of  the  exjiress  car.     The 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  149 

messenger  was  told  not  to  shoot,  as  tlie  engineer  iind  fireman  were 
being  lield  as  shields.  As  these  train  officers  also  urged  eomplianee 
the  messenger  opened  the  door  and  one  of  the  robbers  entered  and 
filled  a  sack  with  valuables.  Then  disinoiinting,  they  eomiielled  Love- 
jo}',  the  fireman,  to  extinguish  the  headlight  and  carry  the  sack  before 
them  a  few  hundred  yards  down  the  track.  In  the  meantime,  a  Dane 
named  Christenseu,  who  was  riding  under  the  ])aggage  ear,  thinking 
that  the  train  had  been  stopped  on  his  account,  got  off,  and  was 
fatally  shot.  The  robbers  were  supposed  to  iiave  secured  in  the 
neighborhood  of  $20,000  this  time. 

As  before,  they  were  followed  by  officers  toward  tlie  west,  l)ut 
not  captured. 

THE  D.\LTON  GANG 

In  the  third  instance,  which  occurred  at  Alila,  as  train  No.  17 
was  imlling  out  of  that  station  at  7:50  a.  m.,  on  February  6,  1891, 
exactly  similar  tactics  were  pursued. 

The  express  messenger,  a  man  named  Jlaswell,  was  not  so  tract- 
able as  the  others  had  been.  The  engineer,  J.  P.  Thoin,  and  the 
fireman,  Q.  S.  Radcliffe,  were  marched  to  the  express  car  door;  the 
order  to  open  was  given,  but  not  obeyed.  Instead,  Haswell 
extinguished  his  light  and  with  a  repeating  rifle  fired  several  shots 
through  the  door,  one  of  which  fatally  wounded  Radcliffe.  The 
shots  were  returned  by  the  robbers  and  a  fusilade  ensued.  The 
contest  frightened  the  bandits  and  they  fled.  Under-sheriff  Bennett 
of  Los  Angeles,  a  passenger  on  the  train,  went  forward  to  assist 
after  the  robliers  had  fled  and  was  fired  on  by  a  thii'd  man  wlio  was 
holding  the  horses. 

Sheriff  Kay  immediately  i)roceeded  from  '\"isalia  to  the  scene, 
and  at  daylight  next  morning  found  the  trail  of  three  horsemen, 
leading  to  the  northwest,  which,  with  a  ])osse,  he  followed.  No 
capture  was  then  made,  but  in  May  following  William  and  Grattan 
Dalton  of  San  Luis  Obispo  county,  were  arrested  and  charged  with 
the  crime.  In  August,  the  trial  of  Grattan  Dalton  was  held  and  he 
was  found  guilty,  but  in  September,  before  receiving  sentence,  he, 
with  two  other  prisoners.  Beck  and  Smith,  broke  jail  and  escaped. 
William  Dalton  was  tried  in   October  and  acquitted. 

In  the  meantime  a  fourth  attempt  at  train  robbery  in  the  San 
Joaquin  valley  had  been  nuule.  The  Los  Angeles  express,  on 
September  .1,  1891,  was  stojiped  by  highwaymen  wdien  seven  miles 
south  of  Modesto.  Two  masked  men  boarded  the  train  at  Ceres, 
compelled  the  engineer  to  ])ull  out  a  mile  and  a  half  and  stoj). 
Engineer  Neff  was  forced  to  i)Ut  out  the  headlight,  get  a  jtick  and 
attempt  to  open  the  express  car  door,  which  the  messenger  refused 
to  do. 

10 


150  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Two  bombs  were  then  exploded  uuder  the  car,  the  first  one 
making  a  hole  in  the  door  through  which  the  fireman  was  compelled 
to  crawl  and  light  a  lamp. 

Leu  Harris,  a  detective  who  was  on  the  train,  sneaked  up  to  the 
robbers  and  fired  four  shots  without  eflfeot.  lie  was  shot  in  the  neck 
and  dangerously  wounded.  More  shooting  ensued  and  the  robbers, 
becoming  frightened,  left  in  the  direction  of  the  coast  range.  After 
this  robbery,  it  was  re]iorted  in  Visalia  that  it  was  done  with  a  view 
to  diverting  the  attention  of  officers  so  that  the  escape  of  Grattan 
Dalton  could  be  effected,  and  at  Sheriff  Kay's  request.  Captain 
Byrnes,  N.  G.  C,  placed  details  of  men  from  Company  E  to  guard 
the  jail  from  3  p.  m.  until  the  following  morning. 

William  Dalton  and  Riley  Dean  were  arrested  for  this  crime  on 
the  Sunday  following,  being  found  in  a  ranch  house  near  Traver,  but 
the  case  was  dismissed  for  lack  of  evidence. 

Before  relating  the  particulars  of  the  fifth  and  last  robbery, 
which  occurred  at  Collis  in  August  of  the  following  year,  it  will  be 
well  to  finish  the  history  of  the  Dalton  brothers,  who  at  this  time 
were  supposed  to  be  the  only  participants  in  the  whole  series  of 
robberies. 

The  prisoner  Beck,  a  month  or  so  after  his  escape  in  company 
with  Grattan  Dalton,  was  trailed  by  Sheriff  Kay  to  the  state  of 
Washington,  and  there  captured.  On  his  promising  information 
leading  to  the  capture  of  Dalton  he  was  granted  immunity,  providing 
such  information  proved  to  be  reliable.  It  was  ascertained  that 
Dalton  had  never  left  the  vicinity;  that  he  ranged  on  Kings  river 
and  that  a  number  of  people  were  protecting  him  and  supplying 
him  with  food. 

On  the  24th  of  December,  Kay,  with  Deputy  Sheriffs  Wilty  and 
Hockett,  Fred  Hall,  Cal  Burland,"  Ed  McCardie,  Sheriff  Hensley  of 
Fresno  and  his  men,  discovered  the  camp  of  Dalton  and  Dean  on  the 
upper  reaches  of  Kings  river.  Dean  was  captured  and  shots  were 
exchanged  with  Dalton,  who  escaped  on  a  horse  which  he  forced  a 
farmer  to  furnish  him.     Grattan  Dalton  was  never  captured. 

THE   COLLIS   KOBBEEY 

The  Southern  Pacific  train,  due  to  arrive  in  Fresno  at  12 :10 
a.  m.,  was  held  up  by  four  robbers  near  Collis  shortly  before  mid- 
night of  August  3,  1892. 

The  robbers  mounted  the  tender  of  the  engine  and,  covering  the 
engineer  and  fireman  with  arms,  compelled  a  stop.  A  stick  of 
d\Tiamite  was  placed  on  the  piston  rod  and  exploded.  The  engineer 
jumped  and  ran,  making  his  escape,  but  the  fireman  was  held  by 
the  robbers,  who  marched  back  by  the  side  of  the  train,  firing  to 
intimidate  passengers.     When  the  express  car  was  reached,  a  stick 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  151 

of  giant  powder  was  placed  on  the  sill  of  the  door,  and  in  ex]ilodino:, 
wrecked  the  car,  breaking  three  doors,  blowing  a  hole  in  the  roof, 
and  scattering  the  contents  in  every  direction. 

The  messenger,  George  D.  Roberts,  was  lying  on  the  floor,  rifle 
in  hand.  The  shock  of  the  explosion  threw  him  across  the  car,  dis- 
located his  shoulder  and  rendered  him  senseless  for  a  few  moments. 
As  soon  as  Roberts  recovered  his  faculties  he  stuck  his  hands  through 
the  open  door  to  announce  that  he  gave  up.  The  robbers  went  into 
the  car  and  compelled  him  to  open  the  safe.  Three  bags  of  coin  con 
taining  between  $10,000  and  $15,000  were  taken. 

THE   EVANS   .\XD   SONTAG   TRAGEDIES 

On  August  4th  Chris  Evans  appeared  in  Visalia  after  a  consider- 
able absence,  stating  that  he  had  just  returned  from  the  mountains. 
George  Sontag  also  reajspeared,  stating  that  he  had  just  returned  from 
the  east. 

These  were  suspected  by  the  railroad  detectives  and  George 
Sontag  was  placed  under  arrest,  and  Deputy  Sheriff  George  Witty 
and  Detective  Will  Smith  went  to  the  Evans  house  for  Evans  and 
John  Sontag.  Smith  entered  the  door  and  faced  a  double  barreled 
shotgun  in  the  hands  of  Evans,  another  gun  being  handy  for  the  use 
of  Sontag.  Unable  to  draw  his  revolver  on  account  of  his  coat  being- 
buttoned.  Smith  fled,  as  did  Witty,  Sontag  giving  chase  to  the  one  and 
Evans  to  the  other.  In  their  flight  they  were  forced  to  leave  the 
sheritf 's  team  and  rig.  Smith  was  slightly  wounded  in  the  back  and 
hands,  but  managed  to  get  to  town  unaided.  Witty  was  more  unfor- 
tunate, receiving  some  forty  shot  wounds  and  a  pistol  bullet  which 
passed  through  his  body,  and  almost  proved  fatal.  Similar  material 
to  that  of  which  the  masks  were  made  was  found  at  the  Evans  home. 

Sontag  and  Evans  drove  off  in  the  sheriff's  vehicle,  but  returned 
early  the  next  morning.  The  house  was  surrounded  by  a  party  con- 
sisting of  former  Sheriff  D.  G.  Overall,  Oscar  Beaver,  W.  H.  Fox, 
constable  Charley  Hall  of  Lucerne,  detective  Thatcher  and  sheriif 
Cunningham  of  San  Joaquin  county.  About  one  o'clock,  Evans  and 
Sontag  were  seen  in  the  barn  harnessing  the  horses  and  were  ordered 
to  stop  by  Beaver,  who  fired  two  shots,  one  of  which  disabled  a  horse. 
The  bandits  returned  the  fire  and  Beaver  fell,  mortally  wounded.  In 
the  excitement  which  ensued  the  robbers  effected  their  escape  on 
foot,  walking  twelve  miles  to  the  Hai'vey  Ward  place,  where  they 
procured  a  cart  and  team,  and  made  their  way  to  the  mountains  by 
way  of  Badger. 

The  result  of  the  posse's  efforts  were  criticised  and  ridiculed  by 
the  press  generally.  Posses  followed  the  trail  and  on  September 
14,  1892,  the  bandits  were  located  at  Sampson's  flat  in  a  log  house. 
As  the  posse  approached  the  house  a  volley  was  fired  from  the  inside 


I'r2  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

which  killed  A'ictor  C.  Wilson  of   El   Paso,  aud  Audy  McGinuis  of 
Modesto,  and  .slightly  wounded  A I   Witty. 

Not  until  the  following  spring  were  the  robbers  and  murderers 
again  seen  by  oIKeers,  although  many  attempts  were  made  to  track 
them  down.  On  j\i)ril  19,  1893,  Sheriff  Kay  received  information 
that  Evans  and  Sontag  would  pay  a  visit  to  Visalia  that  evening. 
A  posse  consisting  of  the  sherifT,  E.  A.  Gilliam,  John  Broder,  Ed 
McVeagh,  Morgan  Haird,  J.  P.  Carroll  and  E.  J.  trudge,  sun-ounded 
the  house  early  in  the  evening,  and  about  eleven  o'clock  they  heard 
the  barn  doors  o])en  and  discerned  the  meu  attempting  to  escape. 
Kay,  Gilliam  and  l^roder  fired,  Imt  without  effect.  The  cordon  around 
the  house  proved  ineffectual  and  for  some  time  the  bandits  were  not 
again  seen. 

On  May  26,  1893,  deputy  United  States  Marshal  Black,  standing 
at  the  door  of  his  cabin  near  Badger,  was  shot  in  the  leg  and  hand, 
and  identified  his  assailant  as  Evans. 

Not  until  June  11,  1893,  were  tlie  outlaws  again  located.  A  posse 
composed  of  United  States  Marshal  (reorge  E.  Gard,  P.  E.  Jackson, 
Hi  Eapelje  and  Tom  Burns  had.  while  hot  on  the  trail,  taken  up  quar- 
ters in  a  deserted  cabin  at  Stone  Corral.  The  robbers  were  seen 
approaching  and  the  posse  stationed  themselves  outside.  In  the  battle 
that  ensued  both  Sontag  and  Evans  were  shot,  the  former  fatally. 
Evans  again  escaped,  luit  was  soon  after  found  at  the  home  of  E.  H. 
Perkins,  and  placed  under  arrest.  Sontag  died  within  about  three 
weeks  after  the  Stone  Corral  fight,  Evans'  trial  was  held  in  Fresno 
in  November  and  December.  He  was  found  guilty  of  murder  in  the 
first  degree  and  sentenced  to  life  imprisonment.  Within  two  weeks, 
however,  he  escaped  from  the  Fresno  jail,  being  assisted  by  a  man 
named  Ed  Morrell.  After  getting  out  of  jail,  the  pair  held  up  a  boy 
with  a  horse  and  cart,  took  it,  aud  successfully  eluding  the  guards, 
which  were  immediately  stationed  on  the  roads  leading  out  of  town, 
succeeded  in  again  getting  into  the  moimtain  country.  This  esca])e 
was  hailed  with  great  glee  in  Visalia  because  the  Visalia  officers  had 
been  severely  rated  for  inefficiency  in  the  Fresno  papers. 

A  period  of  several  months  ensued,  most  of  which  was  consumed 
by  the  officers  in  following  false  clues.  Evans  terrorized  the  flunie 
men  in  the  hills,  aud  the  sheej)  herders,  threatening  them  with  death 
if  they  revealed  his  whereabouts. 

On  Fe])ruary  13,  1894,  Sheriff  Scott  of  Fresno  county,  and  ])osse, 
came  upon  Evans'  and  Morrell 's  camp  in  Eshom  valley.  Three  shots 
were  tired  ineffectually,  the  bandits  escaping  hurriedly,  leaving  much 
ammunition  and  camp  equipment, 

Evans  wrote  several  letters  to  friends  in  Visalia,  and  on  March 
7th,  visited  John  March,  who  resided  near  Orosi,  fourteen  miles  from 
Visalia.    As  far  as  the  officers  of  the  law  were  concerned,  however,  all 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  153 

trace  of  the  baudits  was  lost  after  the  exchange  of  shots  witli  Sheriff 
Scott's  posse,  until  the  following  year.  The  mountain  settlers  all 
denied  seeing  or  hearing  anything  of  the  outlaws. 

After  these  exploits,  wliicii  constituted  one  of  the  most  s))e('tacu- 
lar  criminal  careers  in  the  history  of  the  county,  it  seems  strange  that 
Evans  should  have  submitted  tamely  at  the  last,  but  he  did. 

On  Saturday,  May  IS,  1894,  the  ])andits  came  to  Visalia,  and  on 
Monday  the  olhcers  learned  of  their  presence,  and  a  posse,  including 
Sheriff  Kay,  United  States  Marshal  Gard,  deputy  sheriffs  Witty  and 
Robert  Broder,  night  watclunan  Byrd  and  constable  English,  sur- 
rounded the  house.  The  news  brought  crowds  to  the  vicinity  who 
watched  behind  houses  and  barns  at  as  near  range  as  they  dared  to 
get. 

A  young  man  named  Beeson  offered  to  take  a  note  to  Evans  for 
twenty-five  cents.  He  was  given  $1  and  sent  in,  but  did  not  return. 
At  10  a.  m.,  an  eight-year-old  son  of  Evans  came  out  of  the  house 
with  a  note  to  Sheriff  Kay,  which  read : 

"Sheriff  Kay — Come  to  the  house  without  guns  and  you  will  not 
be  harmed.    I  want  to  talk  with  you.    Chris  Evans." 

Kay,  replying,  recpiested  Evans  to  come  out  and  give  himself  up,  in 
answer  to  which  he  received  the  following: 

"Sheriff  Kay — Send  the  crowd  away  and  bring  Will  Hall  with  you 
to  the  gate  and  then  we  will  talk.  I  will  not  harm  you.  You  are  the 
sheriff  of  the  county,  and  I  am  willing  to  make  terms  with  you,  but 
with  no  one  else.  I  will  stej)  out  on  the  porch  when  you  come  to  the 
gate.    Chris  Evans." 

The  crowd  had  not  shown  any  inclination  towards  violeiu-e,  but 
apparently  the  bandits  were  more  afraid  of  it  than  of  the  officers. 
Accordingly,  the  crowd  was  persuaded  to  move  away  and  Kay  and 
Hall  met  Evans  and  Morrell  on  the  ]iorch  and  shook  hands  with  them 
and  then  placed  Iioth  under  arrest. 

Young  Beeson  related  that  when  he  knocked  at  the  door  he  was 
covered  with  guns  and  told  to  come  inside,  where  he  was  searched. 
No  wea])()ns  were  found  on  him,  luit  he  was  regarded  as  a  spy  and 
told  to  sit  down  and  keep  his  mouth  shut. 

By  the  next  evening,  when  Sheriff  Scott  took  Evans  back  to 
Fresno,  so  many  threats  of  lynching  had  been  exjn'essed  that  it  was 
decided  not  to  take  the  risk  of  waiting  until  midnight  for  the  train, 
but  to  ]iroceed  l)v  team.  When  news  of  the  departure  of  the  officers 
with  the  prisoner  became  known  a  crowd  of  determined  men,  con- 
tained in  twelve  or  fifteen  livery  rigs,  started  in  pursuit  with  the  in- 
tention of  lynching  Evans.  At  (joshen  they  learned  that  the  officers 
had  taken  another  road  and  were  jiractically  beyond  ]>ui'suit,  so  the 
chase  was  abandoned. 

Evans  was  sentenct'd  to  life  imprisonment  at  Eolsom  and  served 


154  TULARE  AXD  KIXGS  COUNTIES 

seventeen  years  and  two  mouths,  being  released  on  parole,  Mav  1, 
1911. 

Morrell  also  received  a  life  sentence  Init  was  pardoned  after  serv- 
ing fifteen  years. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
CHURCHES.   SCHOOLS,   POPULATIOX 

The  early  settlers  in  Tnlare  county  ever  made  the  establish- 
ment of  schools  aud  the  organization  of  churches  keep  even  pace 
with  the  forming  of  settlements.  If  a  full  history  of  the  churches 
in  Visalia  could  be  written  it  would  show  a  long  line  of  suffering 
heroes;  little  comedy  but  much  tragedy.  There  is  a  pathos  about 
the  lives  of  the  pioneer  preachers  that  is  wanting  in  later  times. 
The  pastor  of  the  city  church,  who  devotes  his  week  days  to  study 
in  his  library,  with  recreation  in  the  garden,  and  social  intercourse 
with  his  parishioners,  can  little  appreciate  the  exalted  self  denial 
and  often  severe  suffering  that  generally  accompanied  the  circuit 
riders.  Surely  a  person,  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  a  pioneer 
IJreacher,  with  conditions  as  they  were  in  Tulare  county  in  the 
'50s  or  even  '60s,  must  be  ablaze  with  a  Pauline  passion  for  souls. 

It  is  with  a  feeling  akin  to  reverence  that  one  calls  up  the 
visions  of  pioneer  days,  and  the  keenest  interest  is  aroused  by  the 
pioneer  and  his  weal.  This  is  especially  true  wlien  considered 
along  with  the  struggles  and  victories  of  the  early  churches.  The 
days  of  the  circuit  rider,  picturesque  in  his  missionary  zeal,  have 
passed  away,  but  they  have  left  an  afterglow  that  fills  the  heart 
with  thankfulness  and  devotion. 

THE     SOUTH     METHODIST 

Tlie  first  church  in  the  county  was  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
South.  In  1852,  when  Visalia  consisted  of  undignified  shacks  and 
magnificent  distances,  before  it  was  even  selected  as  a  county  seat. 
a  congregation  of  this  faith  was  organized  here. 

Rev.  O.  P.  Fisher,  the  presiding  elder  of  the  Pacific  Congress, 
and  the  Rev.  M.  Christianson  took  charge  of  the  congregation  and 
held  services  as  opportunity  presented  itself.  The  first  house  of 
worship,  however,  was  not  constructed  until  1857.  James  Persian, 
a  leading  member  and  himself  one  of  the  largest  donors,  undertook 
the  task  and  a  snuill  brick  church  was  erected  on  Church  street, 
near  Acequia,  about  where  the  telephone  exchange  is  now  situated. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  155 

At  that  time  the  Rev.  E.  B.  Lockley  was  pastor  in  diarge  and  the 
membership  was  tifteen  souls. 

Tlie  present  church  building,  on  the  corner  of  Court  and 
School  streets,  was  erected  in  1872,  and  enlarged  and  improved 
in  1905- '06,  and  a  new  parsonage  built  in  1911. 

There  have  been  twenty-four  pastors  in  charge  of  the  flock 
here  since  the  organization.  The  present  membershi]i  is  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty.  Rev.  W.  J.  Fenton  took  charge  in  1911,  and 
under  his  care  all  l)i;ni('lies  of  the  work  are  progressing. 

THE    BAPTIST    CHUECH 

The  Baptist  church  has  had  a  varied  experience  in  Visalia. 
There  was  a  small  congregation  in  the  '50s  that  held  services  in 
the  oak-grove  west  of  the  schoolhouse,  and  later,  .iointly  with  the 
South  Methodists,  occupied  the  first  church  building  erected  in 
Visalia. 

The  Rev.  James  A.  Webb,  the  "Bible  Poet"  as  he  called  him- 
self, occupied  the  pulpit  at  the  times  when  services  were  held. 
This  eccentric  individual  was  engaged  in,  and  it  is  said,  finished, 
the   translation   into   verse   of   the   entire   Scriptures. 

Not  until  the  early  '70s  was  a  building  erected.  This,  located 
on  Main  street  between  Court  and  Locust,  was  later  destroyed  by 
fire  and  the  congregation  disbanded. 

In  1907  the  Rev.  E.  M.  Bliss  came  to  Visalia  as  a  missionary 
and  in  March  of  that  year  succeeded  in  organizing  a  congregation 
with  twenty-one  charter  members.  The  congregation  rented  Good 
Templars  Hall  and  there  held  services  until  the  completion  of  the 
present  commodious  and  attractive  building.  This  is  an  impos- 
ing structure  of  concrete  blocks,  on  the  corner  of  Garden  street 
and  Mineral  King  avenue.  The  north  transept  has  two  stories. 
The  cornerstone  of  this  building  was  laid  April  18,  1910,  and  the 
dedicatory  services  held  February  1,  1911.  Rev.  J.  M.  Couley 
preached  the  sermon  at  the  laying  of  the  cornerstone  and  at  the 
dedication.  The  Rev.  Robert  J.  Burdette  of  the  Temple  Baptist 
church  at  Los  Angeles  assisted  at  the  dedication.  The  membershiji 
has  increased   ra])idly  and  now  numbers  about  ninety. 

SUNDAY    SCHOOLS 

About  the  time  of  the  founding  of  the  first  church  in  Visalia 
came  the  organization  of  a  Sunday  school.  All  the  church  people 
united  in  maintaining  a  Union  Sunday  school.  In  its  issue  of 
December  11,  18(5.3,  the  Delta  said  this  school  was  in  a  flourishing 
condition  with  about  one  hundred  children  in  attendance.  There 
were  at  the  time  only  eighty  children  in  the  day  schools.  A  little 
later   a   school   was   maiutniiicd    by   each   denomination    s(>i)aiately. 


156  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

THE    PKESBYTERIAX    CHURCH 

On  Deceiuber  9,  18f)6,  a  liaml  of  fourteen  men  and  women 
organized  a  Pres1)yterian  olrarcli  in  Visalia.  This  was  of  tlie  Old 
School  order.  Rev.  William  Edwards  was  in  charge,  and  the  con- 
gregation met  in  the  small  building  on  the  corner  of  Church  and 
Willow  streets.  Later  this  building  was  destroyed  by  fire  and,  tlie 
membership   being   small,   the   congregation  disbanded. 

The  Cumberland  Presljyterian  people  had  become  so  strong 
that,  under  the  pastorate  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  they  organized 
a  church  in  1878.  with  a  following  of  about  sixty.  They  ])urchased 
the  property  of  the  Baptists,  consisting  of  the  lot  on  the  corner 
of  Main  and  Locust  streets  and  the  building  thereon.  An  oppor- 
tunity presented  and  the  property  was  sold  and  two  lots  on  the 
corner  of  Oak  and  Locust  streets  purchased.  The  building  was 
moved  and  is  still  used.  This  proi)erty  was  purchased  by  the  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian  Church,  incorporated.  But  the  decision  of 
the  churches  at  Decatur,  111.,  in  May,  1906,  announcing  the  union 
of  the  two  branches  of  the  Presbyterians,  has  caused  trouble  in 
the  congregation.  Some  hold  that  the  title  should  be  in  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  and  others  that  it  still  remains  in  the  Cumberland. 
The  former  have  possession,  and  a  few  of  the  Cumberland  brethren 
are  meeting  in  a  rented  hall.  The  others  have  arranged  to  erect 
a  tine  new  building  of  concrete  blocks,  and  the  congregation,  under 
the  leadership  of  Rev.  C.  H.  Reyburn,  is  growing. 

THE    LUTHER.^NS 

The  Lutheran  Cluuch  organized  a  congregation  in  Visalia  in 
1907,  under  the  care  of  "William  Grunow,  pastor.  A  commodious 
church  building  was  erected  on  South  Court  street.  About  a  year 
later  a  parochial  school  was  opened  with  about  forty  pupils. 

THE    EPISC()P.\L    CHURCH 

The  Episcopal  church  is  one  of  recent  date  in  Visalia.  Previous 
to  1880  occasional  services  were  held  as  circumstances  ])ermitted. 
Revs.  W.  H.  Hill,  Powell,  and  D.  O.  Kelley,  were  the  principal  mis- 
sionaries that  conducted  these  infrequent  services.  In  May.  18S0, 
the  Mission  St.  John  was  organized  for  the  entire  county,  and 
comprised  the  towns  of  Visalia,  Tulare  City,  Hanford  and  Lemoore. 
The  Mission  was  imder  the  charge  of  Rev.  D.  0.  Kelley,  with 
headquarters  in  Hanford.  On  Feliruary  9,  1887,  the  Mission  of  St. 
Pan!  was  organized  in  Visalia.  During  the  same  year,  under  the 
care  of  Rev.  C.  S.  Lindsley,  a  building  was  erected  on  a  lot  donated 
by  Mr.  Jacobs,  on  North"  Church  street.  In  1898  the  Rev.  C.  M. 
Westlake,  the  jiastor  in  charge,  secured  tlie  advantageous  corner  of 
Encina   avenue   and   Center    streets.      The    old    buildimj-   was    nu)ved 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  157 

to  tlie  new  location.  In  ]!i()4,  under  tlie  care  of  Rev.  II.  I'.  Carroll, 
the  rectory  wa.s  huilt  and  in  IDOll  and  1!)10  the  church  was  enlarged 
and  improved  and  tlie  parish  house  built.  The  St.  Paul's  Mission, 
Visalia,  and  the  St.  John's  Mission,  Tulare,  have  been  associated  as 
one  charge.  To  these  was  recently  added  St.  John's  Mission,  Porter- 
ville.  The  church  has  a  membership  of  about  ninety.  Nine  priests 
have  served  the  local  church. 

THE    CATHOIJC    CHURCH 

The  Catholic  cliurcii  existed  for  several  years  in  Visalia  before 
a  building  was  erected.  Rev.  Father  D.  F.  Dade  was  the  priest  who 
for  many  years  cared  for  the  flock.  As  early  as  1860  he  is  rejiorted 
to  have  celebrated  mass  in  the  old  courthouse.  In  the  late  summer  of 
1861  he  obtained  the  use  of  an  old  barn  and  opened  a  parochial  school. 
In  memory  of  the  birthplace  of  the  Savior,  he  named  his  school  the 
Academy  of  the  Nativity.  On  October  18,  1868,  at  the  corner  of 
Church  and  Race  streets,  he  laid  the  cornerstone  of  the  brick  church 
now  standing  there,  and  dedicated  it.  Church  of  the  Nativity.  March 
28,  1909,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Thomas  J.  Conaty,  of  the  diocese  of  Los 
Angeles,  laid  the  foundation  of  the  present  imposing  church  building 
on  the  lot  south  of  the  old  building.  The  erection  of  this  fine 
structure  of  concrete  blocks  was  due  largely  to  the  de\otion  of  the 
Rev.  feather  Foin.  The  church  in  Visalia  has  been  ministered  to  by 
eleven  priests. 

METHODIST     EPISCOPAL 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  church  was  among  the  tirst  Protestant 
bodies  to  e.stablish  themselves  on  the  Pacific  slope.  August  15, 
1851,  eleven  i)reachers  met  in  San  Francisco  and  held  the  first 
Methodist  Conference  on  this  coast.  Their  field  of  labor  was  froTO 
Canada  to  Mexico.  But  it  was  not  until  1858  that  an  organization 
was  made  in  Visalia.  The  class  was  organized  by  John  McKelvey, 
in  charge  of  this  circuit.  W.  N.  Steuben  and  wife  and  Mrs. 
Lucinda  Kenne.v  were  the  first  members.  The  congregation  had  no 
settled  jJace  of  worship  until  1H67,  wlien,  under  the  pastorate  of  'J\ 
P.  Williams,  there  was  a  building  erected  on  the  corner  of  Court 
and  Willow  streets.  A  Sunday  school  was  organized  in  1869  by 
D.  K.  Zumwalt.  In  1902  C.  A.  Bunker  was  pastor  and  work  was 
commenced  on  a  new  church  Imilding.  The  building  was  not  finished 
until  the  pastorate  of  Mr.  Livingston,  Mr.  Bunker's  successoi-.  In 
November.  1908,  the  church,  with  A.  L.  Baker  as  pastor,  celebrated 
its  fiftieth  anniversary,  called  the  Golden  Jubilee,  in  a  week  of  special 
and  approj)riate  services,  at  which  many  of  the  previous  pastors  were 
present  and  assisted. 


158  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

CHRISTIAN    CHURCH 

The  Disciples  of  Christ  were  represented  at  an  early  date  in 
Visalia.  Some  previous  efforts  had  been  made  by  them  to  form  an 
organization,  but  nothing  was  accomplished  until  in  August,  1857, 
when  fourteen  men  of  this  faith  under  tlie  leadership  of  William 
Higgens,  met  and  organized  the  First  Christian  Church  in  Yisalia. 
They  met  under  a  shelter  of  willow  boughs  in  the  lot  between  Court 
and  Locust  and  Center  and  Oak  streets,  west  of  the  present  residence 
of  Mrs.  S.  C.  Brown.  For  lack  of  chairs,  trunks  of  trees  were  vised 
for  seats.  Of  the  fourteen  charter  members,  C.  P.  Majors  of  near 
Visalia,  is  the  only  one  on  this  side  of  the  Great  Divide. 

At  the  organization,  "William  Higgins  was  chosen  minister  and 
elder,  and  John  K.  Morris,  elder,  and  "W.  B.  Owen  and  C.  P.  Majors 
deacons.  The  congregation  made  the  shelter  of  willows  the  place 
of  meeting  till  late  in  the  fall  of  that  year,  and  then  used  the  school- 
house.  For  lack  of  a  church  bell.  Elder  Higgins  improvised  a  cow's 
horn  and  by  the  sonorous  blasts  from  this  unique  instrument,  called 
the  humble  worshipers   together. 

The  congregation  later  met  in  various  places,  among  which  were 
the  courthouse.  Centennial  hall.  Good  Templars'  hall,  the  South 
Methodist  church,  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  the  City  Hall.  An 
unfortunate  controversy  arose  among  the  members  over  the  use 
of  the  organ  in  the  services,  and  for  some  time  the  ill  feeling 
engendered  by  this  controversy  greatly  retarded  the  growth  of  the 
congregation.  After  several  years  of  rather  acrimonious  feelings, 
by  the  efforts  of  E.  B.  Ware,  then  state  evangelist,  the  members 
"forgot  it,"  got  together,  bought  the  lot  on  the  northwest  corner 
of  Court  and  School  streets  and  in  1890,  dedicated  the  present  tine 
building. 

Among  the  early  ministers  were :  T.  N.  T\  incaid,  Alex.  Johnson. 
A.  W.  DeWitt,  H.  Tandy,  J.  E.  Denton.  Since  the  building  was 
erected  some  of  the  ablest  ministers  in  the  state  have  been  stationed 
here.  Among  these  ministers  were  W.  H.  Martin,  now  of  Southern 
California,  Peter  Colvin,  of  Santa  Rosa,  T.  A.  Boyer  of  Oakland, 
and  J.  A.  Brown,  in  the  evangelistic  field.  Fredei'ic  Grimes  took  charge 
of  the  church  in  1911,  and  has  been  a  strong  man  in  the  Bible  school 
and  all  departments  of  church  work.  Tlie  Bible  school,  numl)ering 
nearly  three  hundred,  is  an  enthusiastic  one. 

THE    TRAINING    OF    THE    YOUNG 

In  tracing  the  history  of  Tulare  county,  it  is  found  that  the 
people  have  ever  been  prompt  in  the  matter  of  providing  educational 
facilities  for  the  children.  The  school  and  the  church  have  attended 
the  early  pioneers. 

We  of  today  provide  our  children  with  the  best  modern  educa- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  159 

tional  facilities  by  the  simple  exjiedient  of  readily  votiii,s>'  "yes" 
ou  all  projiositions  for  school  l)onds.  There  was  a  time  in  Tulare 
county  when,  other  problems  of  life  far  less  involved  than  now,  the 
solution  of  this  question  was  one  of  "Teat  difficulty.  Within  the 
hearts  of  the  early  iiioneers,  howe\er,  the  determination  was  stroui^- 
to  give  to  their  offspring  a  greater  measure  of  learning  than  they 
themselves  had  enjoyed,  and  it  came  al)out  that  in  1853  a  school 
was  established  in  Visalia.  Remember  that  this  was  at  the  very  time 
in  which  each  settler,  surging  with  ambition,  was  l)usy  inaugurating 
his  individual  enterprise.  One  was  building  a  sawmill,  another  a 
store,  another  a  gristmill,  others  were  sending  afar  to  procure  the 
seed  for  farming;  some  were  guarding  their  stock;  the  first  farrows 
were  being  turned. 

Remember,  too,  that  in  a  county  extending  from  Mariposa  on  the 
north  to  Los  Angeles  on  the  south  and  from  Nevada  on  the  east  to 
the  summit  of  the  coast  range  in  the  west,  there  were  but  eigliteen 
children,  between  the  ages  of  tive  and  seventeen.  You  can  readily 
imagine  how  much  these  children  were  needed  to  help  at  home. 
But  they  started  a  school.  There  was  no  building  yet,  just  a  school, 
and  thirteen  pupils  attended. 

In  185-1:  the  tirst  school  district,  embracing  the  entire  county,  was 
organized,  and  the  first  sehoolhouse,  made  of  rough  boards  set  on 
end,  was  erected  near  the  site  of  the  present  Tipton  Lindsey  grammar 
school  in  Visalia. 

The  population  of  Tulare  county  increased  by  leaps  in  the  next 
succeeding  years,  but  it  was  largely  transient,  composed  of  the  horde 
of  miners  flocking  to  the  new  gold  fields  of  the  Kern.  The  school 
census  of  1860  exhibited  a  healthy,  but  of  course,  not  a  corresponding 
growth.  By  that  year  there  had  come  to  be  five  schools  in  the 
county,  which  cared  for  four  hundred  and  sixty-five  children,  dis- 
tributed as  follows:  Visalia,  two  hundred  and  eighty;  Klbow,  one 
hundred  and  twenty-four;  "WoodviJle,  one  hundred  and  fifty-two; 
Persian,  eighty-five. 

The  public  school  system  was  developing  normally,  keeping 
pace  with  the  needs  of  the  people,  Imt  it  was  deemed  insufficient. 
The  following  notice  about  a  projiosed  seminary  for  Visalia  a])i:)eared 
in  the  Delta  of  December  .'>1,  1859,  and  shows  that  ])eoi)le  then  were 
thinking  of  higher  education: 

"Seminary.  A  subscription  is  in  circulation  for  the  purpose 
of  building  a  seminary  near  town  on  a  lot  donated  for  the  purjiose 
by  J.  R.  Keener.  The  subscrii)tion  list  we  saw  was  liberally  signed. 
Attached  to  about  half  a  dozen  names  was  the  sum  of  $3,700.  The 
proposition  is  to  make  it  a  joint  stock  company.  Rev.  R.  W.  Taylor, 
and  a  lady  are  to  take  chai'ge  of  the  institution." 

In  1859  Rev.  B.  W.  Taylor,  of  Los  Angeles,  arrived  and  broached 


160  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

a  project  for  opeiiiii.s>'  a  private  scliool,  in  wliich  the  higher  brandies 
of  learning  should  be  taught.  His  pUm  met  with  immediate  favor 
and  a  joint  stock  e()ni])auy  was  formed  to  finance  it.  Henry  Keener 
donated  a  lot,  and  subscriptions  in  an  amount  sufficient  to  erect  and 
equip  a  large  two-story  building  were  soon  secured.  The  building 
was  erected  in  tlie  southwestern  part  of  town  at  the  corner  of  Watson 
avenue  and  the  Tulare  road  and  the  institution  named  The  Visalia 
Select  Seminary.  For  a  time  the  Reverend  Taylor  and  his  wife 
were  the  only  instructors,  but  later  M.  S.  Merrill,  of  Los  Angeles, 
was  added  to  take  charge  of  the  newly  created  primary  de]iartment. 

In  1S()1  Rev.  Father  Dade  opened  a  private  school  called  Tlie 
Academy  of  the  Nativity.  The  title  was  suggested  by  the  fact  that 
the  building  which  it  occupied,  located  about  where  Visalia 's  Catholic 
church  now  stands,  was  originally  designed  as  a  stable.  Father 
Dade's  scholarly  attainments  were  such  as  to  well  (jualifv  him  for 
his  ])osition.  Modern  hmguages  and  Latin  were  among  the  l>ranches 
taught,  and  the  elements  of  a  classical  education,  so  highly  esteemed 
in  those  days,  was  imparted.  This  school,  though  taught  by  a  ])riest, 
was  strictly  non-sectarian,  and  its  i^atrons,  sending  their  children 
there  solely  on  account  of  the  educational  facilities  afforded,  became 
numerous.  The  boys  and  girls  were  instructed  separately,  the 
reverend  father  tutoring  the  former  and  Miss  Hattie  Deming  the 
latter. 

The  establishment  of  these  two  schools  at  so  early  a  day  amidst 
a  ijopulation  so  sparse,  clearly  indicates  the  progressive  spirit  of 
the  early  pioneers  and  exhibits  anew  the  cro})ping  forth  of  the 
cherished  longing  to  i)lace  their  children  on  a  higher  intellectual 
plane  than  it  had  been  the  lot  of  the  fathers  and  mothers  to  ascend. 
And  Visalia  became  the  educational  center  of  the  valley.  From 
as  far  south  as  Tejou  and  as  far  north  as  the  Merced  river,  students 
came,  for  ever>'where  the  idea  was  strong  to  secure  for  their  children 
the  best. 

Tlie  seminary  and  the  academy  flourished  for  a  number  of  years 
— in  fact,  until  their  usefulness  was  over,  which  came  to  pass  from 
the  betterment  of  the  ]iublic  schools  and  the  establishment  near  the 
big  centers  of  ])o|mhition  of  colleges,  universities  and  normal  schools 
of  high  order. 

Tulare's  schools  are  now  among  the  best  in  the  state.  There 
were  at  the  close  of  I'Jll  one  hundreil  and  fourteen  primary  and 
grammar  schools  in  the  county,  emi)loying  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  teachers.  There  are  also  seven  high  schools  in  the  county  and 
three  joint  high  schools,  employing  sixty-one  teachers.  There  were 
in  1910-1!)!  L  (v'^45  pupils  in  the  grammar  and  primary  grades  and 
892  in  high  schools.  There  were  523  graduates  from  the  grammar 
grades  and  ninety-six  fi'om  the  high  schools. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  161 

POPULATION 

For  a  imml)er  of  years  tlie  population  of  Tulare  couHty  did  uot 
increase  very  rapi<lly.  When  the  county  was  ori>anized,  in  185"J,  the 
total  white  population  was  estimated  at  one  hundred.  r>y  the  census 
of  1860  it  was  s'iven  as  three  thousand ;  in  1870,  4,533 ;  1880,  11,281 ; 
18!)0,  24,574;  Kings  county  was  cut  off  in  1893,  and  still,  the  census 
for  J910  gave  old  Tulare  35,543.  The  present  population  has  lieen 
closely  estimated  at  47,500.  The  census  figures  for  1910  of  some 
of  the  difPcreut  cities  and  villages  are  given  below.  To  arrive  at 
their  present  population  add  from  thirty  to  forty  per  cent:  Angiola 
44,  Auckland  22,  Badger  13,  Dinulia  970,  Exeter  660.  I^razier  29. 
Hot  Springs  22,  Kaweah  28,  Lindsay  1814,  Urosi  590,  Pixley  64,  Por- 
terville  2696,  Tulare  2758,  Visalia  4550,  White  River  94,  Woodville, 
76,  Farmersville  550. 

One  thing  was  very  noteworthy  hy  the  last  census,  and  tliat 
was  the  rapid  increase  of  po))ulation  of  rural  districts  as  compared 
with  the  incorporated  towns.  All  showed  a  marked  rate  of  increase, 
but  the  country's  rate  was  much  larger.  It  would  seem  that  the' 
ci-y  "back  to  the  farm"  is  being  heard.  The  whole  county  showed 
a  rate  of  ninety-three  ]ier  cent,  increase  in  ten  years. 

PEOPEKTY     VALUES 

The  best  index  to  the  prosperity  of  a  ])eople  is  the  assessment 
roll.     As  that  ebbs  or  flows,  so  will  the  prosperity  of  the  citizens. 

The  first  assessment  roll  of  Tulare  county,  in  1853,  consisted 
of  a  single  sheet  of  foolscap  pai)er  and  there  was  not  a  single  piece 
of  real  estate  assessed.  The  property  in  the  county  consisted  entirely 
of  horses  and  cattle.  That  year,  when  the  county  treasurer  went  to 
Benicia  to  settle  with  the  state,  the  state  comptroller  and  the  state 
treasurer  had  no  knowledge  that  there  was  such  a  county  as  Tulare 
in  exisence.  However,  the  state  officials  accepted  the  small  sum 
(al)()ut  $75)  that  Tulare  county  tendered  toward  the  support  of  the 
state  government. 

The  assessment  roll  of  1855  is  a  curious  document.  It  contains 
three  hundred  and  forty-two  names,  tliis  including  tliose  to  whom  a 
])oll  tax  only  was  assessed.  It  totals  $437,225.  Three  parcels  only 
of  real  estate  were  included.  These  were  Jones  &  Robedee,  320 
acres — .$640;  San  .\melia  ranch,  eleven  leagues,  $50,000;  Iguacio  Del 
Vallo,  acreage  not  given,  $100,000. 

S.  C.  Brown  was  rated  at  $550;  .lolm  Cutler  at  $960,  and  Ricliard 
Cliatten  at  $410.  In  the  roll  of  1858,  Andrew  G.  Harrell's  name 
appears;  he  possessed  forty  head  of  Spanish  cattle  and  one  horse,  of 
a  valuation  of  $1,040. 

The  wealthiest  residents  of  1855,  according  to  the  assessment, 
outside  of  Mr.  Del  Vallo  and  the  San  Amelia  ranch  owners  were: 


162  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Elisha  Packwood.  $23,735;  Pemberton  Bros.,  $14,075;  S.  A.  Bishop, 
$21,875;  Eeuben  Matthews  &  Co.,  $10,070;  Patterson  &  Hazeltou  were 
given  as  worth  $1,210. 

The  assessment  roll  of  1860  showed  the  following:  Acres  of 
improved  land,  20,313;  nnmber  of  horses  and  mules,  -4,24:5;  number 
of  cattle,  42,373;  number  of  sheep,  16,521;  number  of  swine,  32,546; 
bushels  of  wheat,  40,268;  bushels  of  corn,  6,355;  bushels  of  Irish 
potatoes,  4,067;  bushels  of  sweet  potatoes,  1,656;  pounds  of  wool, 
16,900;  pounds  butter,  30,380;  pounds  cheese,  14,970;  gallons  of  wine, 
1000;  tons  hay,  980;  schools,  five.  Real  estate  valued  at  $372,8.35; 
machinery,  $32,763;  livestock,  $1,212,381.  Total  debt  of  the  county, 
$33,262.46. 

In  1880  the  values  had  increased  somewhat  and  the  total  assess- 
ment roll  showed  property  values  to  be  $6,411,378.  In  the  next  ten 
years  property  had  taken  a  double  somersault.  The  assessment  roll 
showed  for  1890,  $21,740,817.  In  1893,  Kings  county,  with  the  rich 
towns  of  Hanford  and  Lemoore,  was  cut  off  from  Tulare,  yet  the 
assessment  roll  for  1910  showed  the  people  of  Tulare  still  possessed 
$37,475,140  worth  of  projjerty  listed  by  the  assessor.  Surely  the 
people  are  to  be  felicitated.  Each  year  sees  an  advance  in  the  rate 
of  increase. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  163 

CHAPTER  XVIII 
TULARE'S  OFFICERS 

For  the  nnniber  of  years  since  organization,  Tulare  lias  had 
a  long  list  of  official  servants.  Yet  there  are  few  counties  in  any 
state  that  can  point  to  a  list  with  fewer  unworthies  and  a  larger 
number  of  honorable  and  devoted  men. 

SUPERVISORS 

Under  different  statutes  the  board  has  consisted  of  five  and 
again  of  three  members,  and  sometimes  the  fully  authorized  number 
was  not  elected.  The  following  have  served,  being  either  elected  or 
appointed    in    the    year    set    before    their   names. 

1853 — Loomis  St.  John,  A.  J.  Lawrence,  John  Poole,  Henry 
Burroughs,  AVarren  S.  Matthews. 

1854— J.  T.  Pemberton,  C.  G.  Sayles,  Anson  Hadley,  W.  S. 
Matthews,  A.  H.  Murray. 

1855 — Anson  Hadley,  J.  C.  Reid,  D.  L.  De  Spain. 

1856 — James  Persian,  William  Packard. 

1857— P.  Goodhue,  R.  W.  Coughran,  J.  C.  Reid. 

1858— G.  E.  Long,  A.  A.  Wingfield. 

1859— E.  Van  Valkenberg,  J.  C.  McPherson. 

I860— William  Camiibell,  R.  K.  Nichols,  H.  W.  Niles. 

1861— Pleasant  Byrd. 

1863— A.  M.  Donelson,  R.  K.  Nichols,  Tipton  Lindsey. 

1865— W.  R.  Jordan. 

1869— C.  R.  W^ingfield,  D.  Stong,  James  Barton. 

1871— W.  E.  Owen,  C.  R.  Wingfield,  James  Barton. 

1873 — E.  N.  Baker,  James  Barton,  Samuel  Huntling,  Edwin 
Giddings. 

1877 — J.  H.  Grimsley  (succeeding  Baker). 

1879 — J.  H.  Shore  (succeeding  Barton). 

1882— S..M.  Gilliam,  W.  H.  Hammond,  J|  W.  C.  Pogue,  C.  Tal- 
bot, S.  E.  Biddle. 

1884— T.  E.  Henderson,  M.  Premo,  J.  W.  C.  Po,gue,  D.  V.  Robin- 
son, G.  E.  Shore. 

1886 — James  Barton,  J.  W.  Newport. 

1888— J.  H.  Woody. 

1890— James    Barton,    S.    L.    N.    Ellis,    J.    H.    Pox. 

1892— T.  E.  Henderson,  T.  B.  Twaddle,  S.  M.  Gilliam. 

1896— Robert    Baker,    T.    B.    Twaddle,    J.    W.    Thomas. 

1898— D.  V.  Robinson,  R.  N.  Clack. 

1900— R.  W.  McFarland,  T.  B.  Twaddle,  W.  H.  Moffett. 

1902- W.  E.  Hawkins,  J.  M.  Martin. 


164  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

1904— R.  ^y.  IMfFailaiid,  T.  B.  Twaddle.  George  Birkenliauer. 
1906— E.  Tout,  J.  M.  Maitiu. 
1908— A.  C.  Williams. 
1910— Robert  Ilorliacli. 
1912— Fay  Singletou. 

THE    .JCUICIARY 

Under  the  old  constitution  the  judicial  system  provided  for  dis- 
trict courts,  the  districts  composed  of  a  number  of  counties,  and 
county  courts. 

District  Judges:  In  the  organization  of  Tulare  count}'  it  was 
attached  to  the  fifth  judicial  district,  which  included  all  the  San 
Joaquin  and  Tulare  valleys  and  the  Sierra  Nevada  south  of  Cala- 
veras county.  Charles  M.  Cramer  was  district  judge,  holding  court  at 
Mariposa. 

In  1858  the  thirteenth  judicial  district  was  created,  which  included 
Tulare,  Fresno,  Mariposa,  Merced  and  Stanislaus  counties.  For  this 
district  the  following  were  elected:  Ethelbert  Burke  in  1859;  A.  M. 
Bondurant  in  1863;  Alexander  During,  appointed  in  1865;  A.  C. 
Bradford  in  1867,  and  re-elected;  A.  C.  Campbell  in  1875;  AV.  AV. 
Cross  in  1877. 

County  Judges :  1852,  Walter  H.  Harvey ;  1853,  John  Cutler, 
1858,  Robert  C.  Redd;  1859,  William  Boring."  E.  E.  Calhoun  was 
appointed  May  9,  1860.  In  1860  C.  G.  Sayle  was  elected ;  1863,  Nathan 
Baker;  1867,  S.  J.  Garrison,  who  resigned,  and  S.  A.  Shepjiard  was 
appointed;  1873,  John  Clark,  wlio  served  until  the  adoption  of  the 
new  constitution  when  the  office  was  mei'ged  in  the  superior  court. 

Superior  Judges :  W.  W.  Cross,  1879.  and  re-elected.  The 
legislature  of  1891  authorized  a  second  superior  judge,  and  Wheaton 
A.  Grav  was  appointed.  This  act  was  repealed  by  the  next  legislature. 
W.  A.  Gray,  1892;  W.  B.  Wallace,  1898,  1904.  1910.  The  legislature 
of  1910- '11  created  a  second  department  and  J.  A.  Allen  was  a])iiointed 
by  the  governor  in  1911. 

THE    LAWMAKERS 

State  Senators :  At  first  Tulare  county  joined  with  Fresno  in 
electing  senators,  but  later  the  senatorial  district  was  confined  to 
Tulare,  Kings  and  Kern  counties.  The  following  have  served  the 
countv,  the  date  following  the  name  being  the  date  of  election :  James 
H.  Wade,  1852;  J.  A.  McNeil,  1854;  Samnel  A.  Merritt,  1856;  Thomas 
Baker,  1861;  J.  W.  Freeman,  1863;  Thomas  Fowler,  1869;  Tipton 
Lindsev,  1873;  Chester  Rowell,  1879;  Patrick  Reddy,  1882;  John  Roth, 
1886;  George  S.  Berry,  1890;  W.  A.  Sims.  1894;  II.  L.  Pace,  1898; 
E.  0.  Miller,  1906;  E.  O.  Larkins,  1910. 

Assemblymen:  In  the  assembly  district  Tulare  and  Inyo  counties 
have  for  a  long  time  l)een  united.  The  following  is  a  list  of  those 
elected  to  the  assembly,  the  date  being  that  of  the  election :     John  T. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  165 

Tivy,  185.5 ;  Thomas  Baker,  1854;  Kol)ert  R.  Swan,  1855;  ().  K.  Smith, 
1856;  A.  II.  Mitchell,  1857;  James  M.  Roane,  1858;  Thomas  M.  Heston, 
1859;  0.  K.  Smith,  1860;  Jas.  C.  Pemberton,  1861;  J.  W.  Freeman, 
1862;  Joseph  C.  Brown,  1863;  E.  W.  Doss,  1869;  John  Bnrkhalter, 
1871;  W.  Caiifield,  1873;  J.  A.  Patterson,  1875;  W.  S.  Adams,  1877; 
A.  B.  Du  Brutz,  1879;  Rufus  E.  Arrick,  1880;  Allen  J.  Atwell,  1882; 
E.  L.  De  Witt,  1884;  A.  B.  Butler,  1886;  George  S.  Berrv,  1888;  W.  S. 
Cunningham,  1890;  W.  H.  Alford,  1892;  D.  V.  Robinson,  189-4;  W.  P. 
Boone,  1896-98;  H.  Levinson,  1900;  A.  M.  Lumlev,  1902-04;  P.  W. 
Forbes,  1906;  (I.  W.  Wylie,  1908-1910. 

SHIiRIFF 

William  Dill,  1852;  0.  K.  Smith,  1853;  W.  G.  Poiudexter,  1855; 
J.  C.  Reid,  1859;  J.  C.  Pemberton,  1860;  W.  C.  Owen,  1861;  John 
Meadows,  elected  but  did  not  serve;  John  Gill,  1864;  Tilden  Reid, 
1865;  W.  F.  Thomas,  1867;  A.  H.  Glasscock,  1869;  Charles  R.  Wing- 
field,  1873;  J.  1 1.  Campbell,  1877;  M.  G.  Wells,  1879;  W.  F.  Martin, 
1882;  Alfred  Baalam,  1884;  George  A.  Parker,  1886;  D.  G.  Overall. 
1888;  E.  W.  Kav,  1890;  A.  P.  Merritt,  1894;  B.  B.  Parker,  1898; 
W.  W.  Collins,  1902-06-10. 

DISTRICT   ATTORNEY 

J.  B.  Hatch,  1852;  D.  W.  C.  French,  1853;  S.  C.  Brown,  1856; 
Samuel  W.  Beckman,  1865;  S.  A.  Sheppard,  1863;  S.  C.  Brown,  1865; 
A.  J.  Atwell,  1867;  R.  C.  Redd,  1869;  A.  J.  Atwell,  1871;  George 
S.  Palmer.  1873;  W.  W.  Cross,  1874;  E.  J.  Edwards,  1877;  Oregon 
Sanders,  1882;  W.  B.  Wallace,  1884;  C.  G.  Laml)erson,  1886;  W.  R. 
Jacobs,  1888;  M.  E.  Power,  1890-92;  F.  B.  Howard,  1894;  J.  A.  Allen, 
1898;  Dan.  McFadjean,  1902-06;  Frank  Lamberson,  1910. 

.ASSESSOR 

Dr.  Everett,  1852;  J.  B.  Hatch,  18.53;  C.  G.  Sayle,  1855;  T.  C. 
Haj's,  1859;  R.  B.  Sayles,  1861;  E.  H.  Dumble,  1863;  A.  H.  Glass- 
cock, 1865;  T.  H.  Hawkins,  1867;  F.  G.  Jefferds,  1871;  Seth  Smith, 
1882;  D.  F.  Coffee,  1890;  J.  F.  Gibson,  1894;  Arthur  Crowlev,  1902; 
T.  H.  Blair,  1910. 

SURVEYOR 

J.  T.  Tivy,  1852;  Early  Lvons,  1853;  George  Dver,  1854;  J.  E. 
Scott,  1857. 

The  election  of  surveyor  was  neglected  at  times,  and  the  office 
temporarily  filled  by  appointment  by  the  supervisors,  0.  K.  Smith 
being  appointed  on  several  occasions. 

J.  F.  Lewis,  1865;  J.  M.  Johnson,  1867;  G.  W.  Smith,  1871;  T.  J. 
Vivian,  1875 ;  J.  M.  Johnson,  1876 ;  Seth  Smith,  1877 ;  Thomas  Creigh- 
ton,  1882;  John  S.  TTiion,  1886;  A.  T.  Fowler,  1888;  A.  G.  Patton, 
1892;  D.  L.  Wishon,  1894;  Seth  Smith,  1898;  Byron  Lovelace,  1910. 

T.\X   COLLECTOR 

This   oflHce,    until    18!)2,   was   held   ex-officio   bv    the    sheriff    witli 


166  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

the  exception  of  the  term  from  1877,  wheu  li.  A.  Keener  was  elected. 
Since  then  the  following:  J.  S.  Johnson,  1892;  G.  V.  Eeed,  1898;  J. 
W.  Fewell.   1902. 

TEEASUEEK 

J.  C.  Frankenberger,  1852;  Charles  R.  Wingfield,  1853;  AV.  G. 
Eiissell,  1854;  Erwin  Johnson,  I860;  John  C.  Eeid,  1861;  T.  T.  Hath- 
away, 186.3;  Paschal  Bequette,  1865;  J.  E.  Scott,  1867;  Wiley  Watson, 
1869;  Pleasant  Bvrd,  1871;  John  W.  Crowlev.  1873;  Philip  Wagy. 
1877;  H.  A.  Keener,  1879;  W.  W.  Coughran,  1882;  C.  E.  Wiugfield, 
1886;  D.  S.  Lipscomb,  1888;  J.  W.  Crowley.  1894;  J.  E.  Denny.  1898; 
H.  Newman,  1902. 

EECOEDEE 

A.  B.  Gordon,  1852;  County  Clerk  ex-officio,  1853;  Louis  L.  Be- 
quette, 1861;  T.  J.  Shackleford,  1863;  W.  F.  Thomas,  1871;  J.  E. 
Dennv,  1875;  C.  S.  O'Bannon,  1877;  J.  E.  Denny,  1882;  W.  F.  Thomas, 
1884;"  J.  M.  Johnson,  1888;  C.  E.  Evans,  1890;  J.  E.  Denny,  1892;  Ira 
Chrisman.  1894;  J.  O.  Thomas,  1898;  Ira  Chrisman,  1902. 

PUBLIC    ADMINISTEATOE 

This  office  has  usually  been  combined  with  that  of  coroner.  In 
1854  L.  Meadows  held  the  office  independently,  as  did  W.  G.  Daven- 
port in  1861  and  H.  A.  Bostwick  in  1862. 

AUDITOR 

The  clerk  and  recorder  held  this  office  ex-officio  until  1877,  when 
the  following  served  as  noted:  W.  L.  Kirkland,  1877;  J.  F.  Jordan, 
1879;  Ben  Parker,  1882;  D.  G.  Overall,  1884;  C.  T.  Buckman,  1886;  W. 
W.  Eea,  1892;  E.  M.  Jetferds,  1894;  T.  H.  Blair,  1898;  Austin 
Foucht,  1910. 

SUPEEINTEXDENT    OF    SCHOOLS 

During  several  years  the  county  clerk  has  been  ex-officio  super- 
intendent of  schools.  In  1855  W.  G.  Eussell  was  elected,  after  which 
the  clerk  tilled  the  office  until  1861,  when  the  following  served:  B. 
W.  Tavlor,  1861;  J.  W.  Williams,  1863;  T.  O.  Ellis,  1865;  M.  S.  Merril, 
1871;  S.  G.  Creio-hton,  1873;  E.  P.  Merril,  1875;  W.  J.  Ellis,  1879;  C. 
H.  Murphv,  1882;  S.  A.  Crookshank.  1890;  J.  S.  McPhaill,  1894;  S.  A. 
Crookshaiik.  1898;  C.  J.  Walker,  1902;  J.  E.Buckmau,  1910. 

CORONEE 

W.  H.  McMillen,  1852;  I.  N.  Bell,  1853;  S.  T.  Corley,  1856;  H.  C. 
Townsend.  1859;  M.  Baker,  I860;  J.  D.  P.  Thompson.  I860;  AV.  A. 
Eussell,  1863;  J.  E.  Hamilton,  1865;  Joseph  Lively,  186*;  D.  L. 
Pickett,  1871;  E.  P.  Martin,  1873;  W.  A.  Eussell,  1875;  L.  D.  Murphy, 
1877;  L.  M.  Lovelace,  1879;  T.  W.  Pendergrass,  1888;  0.  S.  Higgins, 
1890;  T.  A.  Sheppard,  1892;  J.  C.  McCabe,  1894;  T.  C.  Carruthers. 
1898;  E.  E.  Du  Brutz,  1902,  died  in  office;  T.  M.  Dungan,  1904;  filled 
vacancy;  L.  Locey,  1910. 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  167 

CHAPTEE    XIX 
TULARE  COUNTY  TODAY 

Just  a  trifle  over  fifty  years  ai;o  tlie  srhoolhoy  who  knew  iiit; 
lesson  said,  "Tulare  county  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Mariposa 
county,  on  the  east  liy  the  state  of  Nevada,  on  tlie  south  l)y  Santa 
Barbara  county  and  on  the  west  by  the  summit  of  the  coast  range  of 
mountains."  The  schoolboy's  father,  well  informed  for  his  day, 
would  have  replied  in  answer  to  a  query  as  to  the  county's  resources 
and  productions:  "It's  a  derned  good  cattle  country  and  mebbe,  if 
what  I  hear  about  the  feed  in  them  mountains  is  so,  it  might  be  a 
blame  good  sheep  country;  and  they've  found  gold  up  there  and  the's 
lots  of  good  farming  country  along  the  creek  bottoms  down  here." 

True  and  simple  answers,  these — how  much  more  difficult  today 
to  render  such!  Tor  now,  although  a  vastly  smaller  area  is  embraced 
within  the  county,  the  continued  discovery  of  marvels  of  nature,  the 
finding  of  unexpected  stores  of  wealth,  the  effects  of  man's  assaults 
upon  the  fastnesses  of  the  Sierra  and  of  his  energy  and  toil  applied 
to  the  fertile  diversified  plain  have  made  of  it  a  task  difficult  and 
com[)licated  in  the  extreme. 

When  the  boy  and  his  father,  fifty  years  ago,  described  the  county 
and  told  us  to  what  it  was  adapted  they  did  not  mention  that  down 
from  those  mountains  came  streams  of  such  volume  that  the  waters, 
spread  over  hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres  of  plain,  would  increase 
fertility  enormously  and  render  ]iossil)Ie  a  diversified  culture  of  fruits 
and  grains  and  forage.  This  they  could  know  but  vaguely.  They 
did  not  tell  us  that  beneath  the  parched  plains  and  worthless  hog- 
wallow  land  below  the  foothill  slopes  ran  subterranean  streams  of 
ceaseless  exhaustless  flow,  which  tapjied  and  their  waters  spread  on 
the  surface  would  succor  and  bring  to  glorious  maturity  groves  of 
orange  and  leinon  and  lime.     This  they  did  not  know  at  all. 

Now  could  they  foresee  that  season  and  soil  and  water  distribu- 
tion would  combine  to  cause  certain  portions  of  the  county  to  become 
famous  for  the  production  of  the  earliest  fruits  and  grapes  of  the 
season,  that  here  the  French  prune  and  the  cling  peach,  reaching 
early  nraturity  and  producing  extraordinary  cro])s,  would  become 
wealth  producing  factors.  Nor  could  they  imagine  the  thousands 
upon  thousands  of  acres  that  were  to  become  perennially  green  with 
alfalfa,  today  supporting  great  herds  of  sleek  dairy  cattle  and  causing 
the  county  to  rank  almost  first  in  butter  production. 

And  oh,  how  little  of  the  splendors  and  the  beauties  and  the 
awe-compelling  wonders  that  were  hidden  in  that  lofty  eastern  moun- 
tain range!     They  said  no  word  of  Mt.  Whitney,  towering  above  all 


168  TULARE. AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

other  peaks  witliiu  the  nation's  boundaries;  they  did  not  tell  of  the 
immense  groves,  or  rather  forests,  of  giant  sequoias,  larger,  older, 
than  any  other  trees  on  earth. 

No  tale  was  there  of  gem-like  clusters  of  glacial  lakes,  of  vast 
caverns  from  whose  ceilings  depended  giisteuiug  stalactites;  naught 
was  said  of  gorges  and  chasms,  of  tumbling  cascades  or  of  bright 
flower-strew  meadows. 

Overlooked,  too,  as  a  factor  of  future  wealth  were  the  miles 
upon  miles  of  unbroken  forest  of  yellow  pine,  sugar  pine  and  fir. 
And  little  thought  was  there  of  a  day  when  the  dashing,  leaping, 
whirling  waters  of  the  Kaweah  and  the  Tule  would  be  led  quietly 
through  cemented  conduits  to  points  of  vantage,  whence  they  could 
be  released  in  almost  uncontrollable  force  to  move  the  wheels  of 
industry  throughout  the  county.    Yet  these  things  have  come  to  pass. 

And  there  was  a  day,  that  also  just  a  little  more  than  fifty  years 
ago,  when  Indian  George,  or  Captain  George,  "big  Injun  heap,"  ran 
as  expressman,  carrying  letters  and  small  packages  from  ^"isalia 
to  Owens  river,  the  trip  occupying  four  days.  It  is  a  far  cry  from 
then  to  the  daily  visit  of  the  mail  carrier,  a  distant  retrospect  from 
then  to  the  luxuriously  appointed  through  trains  that  now  whisk 
you  to  Los  Angeles  or  San  Francisco  during  a  night. 

Some  fifty  years  ago  a  freight  team  from  Stockton  came  bringing 
twenty  thousand  pounds  of  goods.  This  enormous  load  aroused  great 
interest.  Today  without  comment  train  load  lots  of  oranges  leave 
the  county  daily  throughout  the  season.  And  so  we  find  that  in  every 
branch  of  endeavor  giant  strides  have  been  made,  and  a  partial  record 
of  the  steps  is  found  within  these  pages. 

A  few  of  the  events  that  have  transpired  within  the  county's 
boundaries  within  the  past  six  decades  are  recorded  here.  It  is  well 
to  take  a  rapid  trip  over  the  territory,  view  it  as  it  exists  today,  and 
form  a  mental  picture  of  its  present  condition. 

Tulare  county,  situated  about  midway  between  San  Francisco 
and  Los  Angeles,  at  the  head  of  the  San  Joaquin  valley,  is  one  of 
the  largest  in  the  state,  having  an  area  of  4935  square  miles,  or 
3,158,400  acres.  It  has  for  neighbors  Fresno  on  the  north,  Kings  on 
the  west,  Inyo  on  the  east,  and  Kern  on  the  south. 

Its  topography,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  outline  map,  is  about 
one-half  mountainous,  the  eastern  boundary  being  the  summit  of  the 
Sierras.  Two  large  streams,  the  Kaweah  and  the  Tule,  each  gathering 
its  waters  from  an  extensive  watershed,  debouch  into  the  valley 
portion  of  the  county  and  permit  of  a  vast  irrigating  ditch  system. 
As  the  sources  of  these  streams  lie  at  great  elevations,  the  flow  is 
high  during  the  first  of  summer  on  account  of  the  melting  of  the 
snow.  The  detritus  from  these  streams  has  formed  throughout  the 
valley  section  a  deep  bed  of  alluvial  soil  varying  somewhat  in  the 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  169 

admixture  of  sand  lint  always  friable  and  productive.  A  lar.ne  i)ortiou 
of  this  delta  land  is  snhin-i.iiated  to  the  extent  that  for  the  growth  of 
alfalfa,  gra^^e  vines  or  fruit  trees  no  surface  irrigation  is  necessary. 

Back  nearer  the  hills  from  this  lowland  belt  the  land  is  found 
less  sandy;  there  is  an  admixture  of  clay,  decomposed  granite,  in 
some  places  gravel.  These  soils  range  from  a  light  red  and  very 
friable  to  a  black  dry  bog,  through  red,  black  and  yellowish  clay 
formations.  Lying  in  a  strip  near  but  not  adjacent  to  the  hills,  a 
peculiar  formation  known  as  "hog  wallow"  hind  exists.  Hummocks, 
little  hills  of  two  or  three  feet  in  height,  here  cover  the  land.  This 
latter  soil,  formerly  held  to  be  worthless,  has  been  found  highly 
fertile  and  is  now  being  leveled  and  cultivated  so  that  in  a  short  time 
the  sight  of  a  "hog-wallow"  Held  will  be  a  curiosity. 

Naturally,  each  type  of  soil  has  proven  itself  particularly  adapted 
to  certain  cultures  and  the  great  variation  in  soils  and  elevations  has 
produced  a  very  great  diversity  of  production. 

Before  speaking  further  of  these  we  will  take  a  survey  of  towns, 
cities  and  railroads  that  have  been  built  in  consefjuence  of  them. 
Again  referring  to  tlie  map  we  find  two  almost  parallel  lines  of 
railroad  extending  from  north  to  south  across  the  county.  These 
are  the  main  line  of  the  Southern  Pacific  and  the  branch  or  loop  line 
of  the  same  company  which  extends  from  Fresno  to  Famosa.  These 
two  lines  are  connected  by  a  cross  line  between  Exeter  and  Goshen, 
which  passes  through  Visalia  and  over  which  a  number  of  the  through 
trains  run.  The  Santa  Fe  line  enters  the  county  near  Dinuba  and 
after  paralleling  the  Southern  Pacific  a  short  distance  cuts  south 
across  the  county  to  Corcoran  and  thence  southeasterly  across  the 
southwest  corner  of  the  county. 

Between  Visalia  and  AVoodlake,  passing  through  Lemon  Cove, 
an  electric  line  is  in  operation  and  between  .Porterville  and  Spring- 
ville  is  a  short  Southern  Pacific  branch.  The  Big  Four,  an  electric 
road  to  connect  the  towns  of  Visalia.  Tulare,  Woodville  and  Porter- 
ville, is  in  course  of  construction. 

Tlie  present  population  is  estimated  to  be  about  47,500,  this 
figure  being  based  on  the  census  of  1910,  showing  .■)5,440,  taken  in 
connection  with  the  increase  of  election  registrations  since  that  time. 
A  fact  worthy  of  note  in  this  connection  is  that  in  the  decade  1900- 
1910,  the  increase  in  ))oi)ulation  of  Tulare  county  was  93.4  per  cent. 

Visalia,  the  county  seat,  with  a  population  of  about  (iOOO,  is 
situated  at  the  intersection  of  the  Southern  Pacific  and  Santa  Fe  lines. 

Tulare,  southward  about  ten  miles  on  the  main  line  of  the  South- 
ern Pacific,  and  Porterville  thirty  miles  southeast  cm  the  l)ranch  line 
of  the  Southern  Pacilic,  each  having  a  population  of  about  3500. 

Dinuba,   Exeter   and   Lindsay,   with   populations   respectivelv    of. 


170  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

1500,  1200  and  2500,  are  also  situated  on  the  east  side  brancli  line. 
These  are  the  six  incorporated  cities  of  the  county. 

Dinuba,  the  most  northerly,  is  the  center  of  tlie  raisin  belt, 
which  extends  easterly  throug-Ji  Sultana  and  Orosi  and  southerly 
to  Cutler  and  Yettem.  This  district  also  has  demonstrated  its  peculiar 
adaptability  to  the  growing  of  early  and  late  grapes  for  the  eastern 
markets,  and  for  the  ]iroduction  of  a  general  variety  of  deciduous 
fruits.  Oranges  also  are  jiroduced  extensively,  particularly  near 
Orosi,  and  south  and  west  of  Dinuba  one  enters  a  section  devoted  to 
dairying.  But  as  a  whole,  this  entire  district  is  a  checkerboard  of 
orchards  and  vineyards.  These,  all  in  small  tracts,  well-kept  and 
generally  well-provided  with  comfortable  country  homes,  present  a 
picture  both  beautiful  and  impressive  of  assured  ])rosperity.  This 
district  is  well  and  cheaply  irrigated  by  the  waters  of  Kings  river, 
distributed  through  the  canals  of  tbe  Alta  Irrigation  District,  which 
covers  130,000  acres. 

Proceeding  southward  one  enters  a  belt  of  undeveloped  land, 
contiguous  to  ]\rouson  on  the  Southern  Pacific  branch  line.  A  little 
dairying  is  practiced  here,  but  in  general  this  section  has  been  neg- 
lected. Some  leveling  of  "hog-wallow"  land  and  deep  cultivation 
and  drainage  would  doubtless  transform  it. 

Passing  on  southward  one  comes  into  the  rich  diversified  farming, 
fruit  and  dairying  section  tributary  to  Visalia.  This,  too,  is  the  prune 
belt  of  the  county.  Ditches  taken  from  the  Kaweah  and  the  St.  Jolms 
rivers  cover  the  entire  district,  which  may  be  said  in  a  general  way 
to  extend  from  Goshen  on  the  west  to  a  point  some  twelve  or  fifteen 
miles  up  the  Kaweah  river  on  the  east  and  to  include  the  territory 
within  a  radius  of  five  to  ten  miles  from  the  city.  No  oranges  are 
grown  in  tliis  district,  no  table  grapes  and  very  few  raisins.  All 
general  farm  products,  such  as  hay,  grain,  corn,  pumjikins,  Egyjjtian 
corn  and  sugar  beets,  as  well  as  peaches,  pears  and  in-unes,  thrive 
exceedingly  and  are  grown  in  large  cjuantities.  This  part  of  the 
former  wooded  belt  of  the  county  still  retains  numliers  of  fine  sjieci- 
mens  of  natural  oak  trees  and  many  groves,  either  in  their  original 
condition  or  merely  thinned  by  the  woodman's  axe.  In  every  direction 
the  vista  is  bounded  at  a  short  distance  by  what  appears  to  be  an 
unbroken  line  of  timber.  On  approach  this  merges  into  groups  of 
oaks  or  single  trees,  perhaps  far  apart,  or  consists  of  the  growth  of 
Cottonwood  and  willows  growing  on  the  margin  of  stream  or  canal. 
Soft  greens  of  many  shades  relieve  the  landscape  no  matter  what  be 
the  season.  Not  only  alfalfa,  but  natural  grasses  continuously  ]5resent 
the  colors  of  springtime.  And  in  midsummer  gayer  hues,  for  every- 
where, by  roadside,  by  fence  line  or  ditch  bank  or  in  unplowed  fields 
sunflowers  flaunt  their  yellow  blossoms.  And  the  summer's  heat 
■  striking  this  fallow  moisture-soaked  loam  causes  sucli  a  riotous  growth 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  171 

of  all  kinds  that  a  general  uukenipt  appearance  is  presented.  Orchard 
alternates  with  wood  lot  and  salt  grass  pasture  with  coi'n  field  and 
dairy  farm.     Many  tracts  of  fertile  land  remain  undeveloped. 

Yet  this  section  contributes  heavily  in  yearly  revenue.  Two 
creameries  in  ^"isalia  handle  about  one-fourth  of  the  cream  output  of 
the  county;  nearly  all  the  jirunes,  having  an  annual  value  of  about 
half  a  million  dollars,  are  produced ;  there  are  canning  peaches  for 
two  large  factories,  large  (juantities  of  fresh  and  dried  fruits  are 
shipped;  the  beet  sugar  factory  is  located  here  and  ex])orts  of  hay 
and  live  stock  are  constantly  made. 

Pursuing  our  way  still  further  south  we  enter  the  territory 
tributary  to  Tulare  without  perceiving  any  change  in  general  charac- 
teristics of  scene,  soil  and  productions.  The  oak  groves,  the  alter- 
nate farm  and  orchard  continue.  A  change,  however,  has  taken 
l^laee  as  we  soon  discover.  We  encounter  fewer  orchai-ds,  alfalfa 
fields  adjoin,  making  vast  meadows.  We  find  that  we  are  in  the 
center  of  one  of  the  great  dairy  sections.  Fruit  growing,  frequently 
in  colony  tracts,  remains  a  feature,  however,  and  vineyards  of  con- 
siderable acreage  are  noted.  The  dairy  region  here,  besides  taking 
in  the  territory  contiguoiis  to  Tulare,  Tagus  and  Swall's,  joins  with 
the  Dinuba  country  by  a  narrow  strip,  passing  through  Goshen  and 
widening  at  Traver.  This  on  the  north.  Southerly  and  westerly  it 
merges  also  with  the  Woodville  and  Poplar  sections. 

These  latter  districts  possess  some  of  the  richest  alluvial  soil 
•as  yet  undeveloped  in  the  county,  but  so  far,  dairying,  general  farming 
and  grain  raising  have  been  the  only  industries.  Fruit  growing,  with 
every  facility  of  the  most  favored  sections  available,  has  not  lieen 
engaged  in  because  of  the  lack  of  railroad  accommodations.  The 
advent  of  the  Big  Four  will  doubtless  change  this. 

From  Tipton,  on  passing  through  Pixley  and  Earlimart  to  the 
county  line,  we  find  vast  grain  and  hay  fields,  little  alfalfa,  few  fruit 
trees,  much  land  api)arently  fertile,  unplowed.  Also  we  find  lai'ge 
tracts  being  sul>divided,  settlers  in  numbers  building  homes,  water 
being  pumped  and  alfalfa  and  orchards  being  planted.  Only  in 
recent  years  has  it  been  discovered  that  very  cheaply  could  the  fertile 
lands  in  these  vicinities  be  made  to  produce  abundantly  liy  ])umi) 
irrigation.     A  very  rapid  increase  in  population  seems  assured. 

Westward  now,  towards  the  lake  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cor- 
coran, Angiola  and  Alpaugh,  entirely  new  characteristics  confront 
us.  We  enter  again  a  great  alfalfa  belt,  not  only  supjilying  its 
dairies  with  feed,  but  furnishing  enormous  quantities  of  hay  for 
shipment.  Great  grain  fields  there  are,  producing  extraordinary 
yields.  Some  natural  swamjiy  meadow  land  lies  here.  In  ])laces, 
instead  of  irrigation,  leveling  and  diainage  are  practiced.  Artesian 
wells  in  many  localities  supplx    water  for  irrigation  and  for  stock. 


172  TULARE  AND  KINGS  C(  )1\\T1ES 

But  we  must  tuni  now  and  look  at  the  country  lying  along  tlic 
east  side  brancli  railroad.  Surprises  most  extraordinary  here  await 
us.  So  great  a  difference  exists  that  we  can  scarcely  believe  that 
we  are  in  the  same  county.  Merged  indeed  the  two  separate  regions 
are  at  Orosi,  but  as  one  proceeds  southward  through  Exeter,  or  if 
he  choose,  first  through  Woodlake,  Naranjo  or  Lemon  Cove  and 
then  on  and  stojjs  off  at  either  Exeter,  Lindsay,  Strathmore  or 
Porterville,  a  scene  wholly  strange  greets  the  eye. 

Orange  groves  and  yet  again  orange  groves,  one  practically 
continuous  stretch.  Not  even  a  fence  divides  them.  The  chain  of 
foothills  is  their  background,  but  it  is  a  ramjjart  u])  which  they  climb 
and  into  whose  recesses  all  along  the  way  they  cluster.  No  canals  or 
ditches  here,  no  alfalfa,  no  green  mats  of  salt  grass  pasture,  no  oaks 
nor  cottonwoods.  Parched  and  dry,  hard  and  barren  looking  is  the 
soil  in  the  places  unset  to  orchards.  And  yet,  within  them  everywhere 
trickling  in  little  furrows  between  the  rows  run  streamlets  of  water, 
the  moisture  from  them  soaking  and  permeating  the  soil. 

The  system  of  irrigation  here  is  almost  wholly  that  of  pumps 
operated  by  electric  motors,  and  while  this  belt  lacks  the  natural 
beauty  of  the  wooded  lowland,  it  is  fast  coming  to  be  the  most  pleas- 
ing and  attractive  to  the  eye.  Avenues  lined  with  palm  or  other 
ornamental  trees  lead  to  country  homes  surrounded  by  handsome 
lawns  and  exciuisite  flower  ])lots. 

From  Porterville  the  district  extends  south  through  Terra  Bella, 
Ducor  and  Richgrove  to  the  county  line.  This  portion,  however, 
is  of  newer  develo])ment  and  the  i^rocess  of  converting  grain  ranches 
into  orange  groves  is  but  now  beginning.  Thousands  of  acres  of 
young  orchards  are  set  and  thousands  more  have  been  imrchased 
for  the  purpose  of  planting  to  citrus  fruits,  but  here  and  almost 
only  here  within  the  county  remains  enough  land  sown  to  grain  to 
keep  harvesters  busy  and  fill  warehouses  with  wheat. 

Eastward  back  of  the  orange  belt  extend  thousands  of  acres  of 
foothill  grazing  range,  supporting  vast  herds.  This  region  is  wooded 
and  springs  furnishing  stock  water  are  numerous.  Two  gateways 
there  are  to  the  higher  Sierras,  viz:  Three  Rivers  for  the  l\aweah 
watershed  and  Springville  for  the  Tule  river. 

In  both  of  these  communities  apples  of  line  quality  are  grown 
and  orange  groves  reach  to  their  gates.  Beyond  and  between  them 
the  grazing  belt  extends  for  many  miles,  and  still  beyond,  throughout 
the  range  of  mountains  are  found  extensive  meadows  and  other 
feeding  grounds  which  furnish  pasture  for  many  cattle  during  the 
summer  months. 

At  an  elevation  of  about  .3000  feet  one  enters  a  belt  of  pine 
timber.  This,  mixed  with  the  Sequoia  gigantea,  and,  as  one  reaches 
the  higher  altitudes,  with  fir  and   tamai-ack.  extends   throughout   the 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  173 

county  almost  unbrokenly.  Several  sawmills  are  in  operation  with 
an  annual  cut  of  about  tlu-ee  million  feet,  but  on  acooiint  of  the  lack 
of  roads,  most  of  this  timber  is  inaccessible  and  will  ])robabIy  remain 
so  for  many  years. 

On  the  way  to  the  higher  mountain  regions  one  passes  on  both 
the  rivers  extensive  works  of  electrical  power  companies.  Dams, 
reservoirs,  long  high-j)erched  flumes,  lines  of  steel  pipe  down  the 
mountain  side,  and  the  whir  of  immense  dynamos  are  evidences  of 
the  enterprises  l\v  which  the  mountain  torrent  is  harnessed  and  the 
river  converted  into  a   la1)oi('r  of  the  tield. 

For  these  utilitarian  ])urposes  of  ])roducing  milling  timber  and 
electric  energy,  for  furnishing  feed  for  droves  of  cattle  and  for 
storing  the  snowfall  of  winter  and  returning  it  to  the  valley  in 
time  for  need,  the  Sierra  Nevada  nu)untains  are  an  incalculably 
valuable  asset  of  Tulare  county. 

The  mountains  also  constitute  a  cool  summer  retreat  and  are 
frecjuented  by  throngs  of  health  and  pleasure  seekers  each  year. 
Trout  tishing  in  the  mountain  streams  generally  is  excellent,  the 
Kern  lakes  and  the  ui)per  Kern  rivers  and  their  tributaries  being 
especially  famous  in  this  respect.  Hunting  for  deer  and  bear  is 
good  and  the   s|)ort  has  many  devotees. 

The  mountain  scenery  is  of  so  marvelous  a  character  as  to  give 
it  a  wide-spreading  and  rapidly  increasing  fame.  For  beauty  and 
grandeur  the  canyon  or  gorge  of  the  Kern  river  is  comjiaraljle  only 
to  the  Yosemite  or  to  Kings  river  canyon.  Throughout  the  higher 
Sierras  the  effects  of  volcanic  and  glacial  action,  of  erosion,  disin- 
tegration and  other  forces  have  caused  formations  strangely  beautiful, 
impressively  awesome,  wierdly  fantastic.  Combining  to  charm  and 
please  are  ferns  and  flowers,  silent  forests,  lawn-like  meadows,  ]ilaeid 
lakes.  Streams  dro})  in  roaring  cascades  or  fall  in.  sheets  of  misty 
vapor.  Th('y  tinkle,  or  murnuir.  or  rhythmically  roar.  Snowy  ]ieaks 
of  .lagged  outline  mark  the  skyline. 

Many  groves  of  the  giant  secpioia  are  foruid  throughout  the 
range  at  an  elevation  of  between  5500  and  7500  feet,  the  largest 
being  known  as  the  (liant  Foi'est.  About  5000  of  the  trees  are  here 
located,  among  them  being  what  so  far  as  known  is  the  largest  tree 
in  the  world.  Hot  si)rings,  caves,  mineral  springs,  are  other  features 
of  attraction.  Wholly  within  the  county  lies  the  Sequoia  National 
Park,  containing  seven  townshii)s.  The  Tule  river  Indian  reservation 
is  located  in  the  southerly  mountain  section.  There  are  many  peaks 
of  thirteen  thousand  feet  and  over,  several  exceeding  fourteen  thou- 
sand feet,  and  crowning  all,  Mt.  "Whitney,  14,502  feet  above  sea  level. 


174  TULAEE  AXD  KINGS  COUNTIES 

CHAPTER  XX 

THE  ORCxANIZATION  OF  KINGS  (OrXTY 

Bij  F.  A.  Dodge 

The  creation  and  organization  of  KinQ,s  county  as  a  political 
division  of  the  state  was  the  accomplishment  of  the  spirit  of  develop- 
ment and  iiro.inrcss  which  lias  evei-  concjnered  the  wilderness  and 
caused  the  deserts  to  vanish. 

Until  the  s]iring-  of  1893  the  territory  which  we  are  to  consider 
was  a  i^art  of  Tulare  county,  and  therefore  the  early  history  of 
settlement  and  development  is  a  part  of  the  history  of  that  county 
and  the  reader  will  find  in  this  volume  an  inleresting-  and  instructive 
accounting  of  those  early  days  when  men  and  women  of  small  means 
but  determined  will,  laid  the  foundation  of  what  today  is  one  of  the 
most  prosperous  and  enlightened  agricultural  divisions  of  beloved 
California. 

People  who  build  an  imiDerishable  state  have  always  com- 
menced at  the  foundation,  and  all  enduring  foundations  ever  yet 
constructed  have  been  begun  by  a  community  bound  together  by  that 
greatest  common  tie — Necessity.  Those  who  today  behold  with 
admiring  eye  the  broad  vineyards,  prolific  orchards  and  expanding 
meadows  of  this  central  valley  of  California  should  have  preserved 
in  some  historical  form  the  story  of  the  past  that  they  and  their 
children  may  appreciate  the  hardy,  brave  and  self-sacrificing  ones 
who  grappled  with  the  problems  which  confronted  them  in  an  isolated 
desert  at  a  time  when  even  Tulare  county  was  no  longer  a  child 
among  the  counties  of  the  state;  and  along  with  that  history  it  is 
right  and  proper  that  mention  of  those  people,  with  some  of  their 
personal  history,  should  be  written,  and  this  volume  is  intended  to 
accomplish  that  end.  In  the  department  <levoted  to  Tulare  county 
the  author  has  dealt  with  what  now  is  the  county  of  Kings  up  to  the 
date  of  its  organization  and  what  is  to  l)e  chronicled  here  will  there- 
fore relate  to  events  of  comi)aratively  recent  occurrence,  for  this 
county  is  among  the  youngest  in  the  state.  The  efforts  of  its  people, 
however,  to  secure  their  independence  date  back  into  the  year  1886. 
At  that  time  the  center  of  population  of  the  western  portion  of 
Tulare  county  was  the  country  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  then 
small  towns  of  Hanford,  Lemoore  and  Grangeville.  This  community 
had  been  made  possible  through  the  application  of  water  to  the  soil 
for  pur)ioses  of  irrigation.  Long  before  the  stirring  times  of 
the  Mussel  Slough  tragedy  recounted  at  lenglh  in  this  work,  the 
life-giving  waters  of  Kings  river  had  been  taken  out  upon  the  dry 
plain,  and  the  earliest  demonstration  of  irrigation   as   practiced  in 


TULARE  AND  KIXGS  COUNTIES  175 

central  California  was  made  in  the  vicinity  of  Grangeville.  From 
that  time  development  was  as  vii\nd  as  was  possible,  considering  the 
lack  of  finances  possessed  by  those  who  bad  located  on  the  barren 
soil.  The  story  of  hardship,  deprivation  and  suffering  experienced 
by  tlie  early  settlers,  their  struggle  with  land  barons  who  sought  to 
monopolize  the  great  plains  for  cattle  ranges  during  the  short  season 
when  wild  feed  was  abundant ;  the  fight  with  the  railroad  corporation, 
and  finally  the  struggle  for  and  the  triumphant  \ictory  realized  for 
indejiendent  county  government  are  all  worthy  of  record;  but  the 
progress  of  the  people  during  the  past  nineteen  years  is  to  foi-m  the 
basis  of  this  contribution. 

ORGANIZING    FOR    A    COUNTY 

Successful  agriculture,  wherever  irrigation  had  been  practiced 
in  the  "Mussel  Slough"  country,  was  proclaimed  by  the  early  irriga- 
tionists  to  their  friends  beyond  the  Sierras.  The  letters  written 
"))ack  home"  to  be  read  and  reread  around  the  old  firesides  brought 
from  the  states  of  the  Mississippi  valley  and  from  the  Atlantic 
states  many  settlers.  Californians  by  adoption  who  had  settled  in 
Yolo,  Sacramento,  San  Joaquin  and  other  counties  to  the  north  also 
were  attracted  hither  by  the  stories  told  of  the  prolific  soil  and  the 
opportunities  offered  in  the  rich  country  south  of  Kings  river,  drain 
farming  was  soon  made  companion  to  alfalfa,  and  stockraising  was 
undertaken  in  a  more  domestic  numner  than  that  which  pre\-ailed 
when  the  herdsman  held  sway  and  laid  claim  to  all  the  ])lains  his 
vaqneros  could  survey.  Then  the  planting  of  the  grajie  and  the 
deciduous  fruits  followed,  each  step  demonstrating  the  adaiDtability 
of  the  soil  and  climate  to  diversified  husbandry.  All  of  this  resulted 
in  the  western  portion  of  Tulare  county  acquiring  a  more  rapid 
settlement  than  those  other  districts  where  irrigation  had  not  been 
introduced.  This  condition  was  the  inspiration  to  the  movement 
to  organize  a  new  county  government,  and  in  the  fall  of  1886,  Dr. 
A.  B.  Butler,  who  was  at  that  time  a  practicing  physician  located 
at  the  town  of  Grangeville,  and  a  very  pojiular  gentleman,  as  well 
as  one  of  the  leading  ]ihysicians  of  the  district,  was  put  forth  as  a 
candidate  for  member  of  the  assembly  from  the  district  conqirising 
Tulare  county.  Butler  was  a  Repul>lican,  and  the  county  was  a 
Democratic  stronghold.  Bui  Dr.  Butler  was  also  an  astute  politician 
and  that  portion  of  the  county  in  which  he  lived  was  the  Repulilican 
stronghold  of  the  county.  That  his  successful  election  to  the 
Assembly  of  California  at  Sacramento  meant  the  lieginning  of  a 
plan  to  form  a  new  county  either  did  not  ai)pear  on  the  surface, 
or  if  it  did  it  was  viewed  with  complacency  by  those  who  considered 
such  a  possibility  unworthy  of  the  least  attention.  Butler  was  elected, 
and  there  began  the  story  of  how  Kings  county  came  to  be  on  the 
map  of  California. 


1 76  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Diniiiii-  the  session  of  the  California  lesiislatnre  in  February.  1887, 
Asseniblynian  Butler  introduced  a  bill  to  cut  off  a  portion  of  western 
Tiilare  county  and  add  to  it  a  portion  of  Fresno  county  south 
of  the  fourth  standard  parallel  line.  The  movement  immediately 
met  with  opposition  and  a  strong  lobby  was  set  to  work  by  Visalia 
and  Tulare  interests,  and  the  county  division  measure  failed.  It 
was,  however,  the  beginning-  of  a  long  campaign,  and  the  editorial 
prophecy  made  by  the  Hanford  Sentinel  of  February  17,  1887,  that 
"The  seed  of  county  division  has  been  planted  which  will  in  the 
course  of  events  sprout  a  new  county,"  came  true. 

In  the  legislative  campaign  of  1888,  W.  S.  Cunningham,  a  well- 
known  citizen  of  Lemoore,  and  a  Democrat,  was  elected  assemblyman. 
On  the  strength  of  a  desire  for  a  new  county  the  candidate  received 
much  hearty  sii]>port  from  Republicans  during  his  campaign.  ^Nlr. 
Cunningham  introduced  a  county  division  bill  at  the  twenty-ninth 
session,  but,  it  too,  met  with  strong  opposition  from  the  mother 
county,  and  failed.  The  next  legislative  campaign  saw  the  question 
of  creating  a  new  county  thrust  to  the  fore.  Population  had  greatly 
increased,  and  the  demand  for  facilities  for  the  transaction  of  public 
Imsiness  nearer  the  center  of  that  population  had  received  new 
impetus,  and  a  Hanford  citizen  was  agreed  upon  for  assembhmian. 
Frank  A.  Blakeley,  a  Republican,  and  a  man  well  known  and  po])ular, 
was  the  chosen  candidate.  He  won  the  election,  and  immediately 
preparation  was  begun  for  the  final  fight.  A  strong  committee 
composed  of  business  men  of  all  political  faiths  was  formed  in 
Hanford,  and  included  citizens  from  Lemoore  and  Grangeville,  and 
farmers.  A  bill  was  drafted  by  Dixon  L.  Phillips,  an  attorney  of 
Hanford,  and  a  conmiittee  headed  by  such  men  as  George  X. 
Wendling,  E.  E.  Bush,  Richard  Mills,  Justin  Jacobs,  Frank  L.  Dodge, 
R.  AV.  Musgrave  and  others  established  tlie  committee  headquarters 
in  Sacramento,  and  assisted  Assembh^uan  Blakeley  in  his  fight. 

In  the  early  struggles  the  name  proiiosed  for  the  new  county 
was  Lorrain,  but  that  name  was  abandoned  and  Kings  was  ado])ted 
in  its  stead,  as  being  more  significant.  The  name  Kings  was  well 
received  and  the  county  was  thus  christened  after  Kings  river,  the 
princijial  source  of  the  irrigation  for  the  district,  which  stream  was 
discovered  in  1805  liy  an  exploring  ex])edition  and  named  Rio  de  TiOS 
Santos  Reyes  (The  River  of  the  Holy  Kings). 

The  Kings  county  division  fight  was  regarded  as  the  great 
struggle  of  the  session  of  1892-93.  William  H.  Alford,  a  brilliant 
young  attorney  from  Tulare  county,  and  a  Democrat,  was  assembly- 
man from  the  eastern  part  of  Tulare  county,  while  Stockton  Berry,  an 
influential  landowner,  was  senator  from  the  district,  and  both  stood 
solidly  opposed  to  division.  At  this  session  Fresno  county  had  a 
similar  contest  on,  and  the  effort  to  create  the  county  of  Madera 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  177 

from  Fresno  was  made  simultaueously,  and  succeeded.  Riverside 
county  was  another  of  the  new  county  movements  at  tliis  identical 
session.  Of  course,  the  leaders  who  were  interested  in  all  of  these 
fights  sought  to  combine  their  forces,  and  succeeded  in  doing  so. 
The  contest  was  long-drawn,  and  mucli  bitterness  was  engendered, 
but  all  the  wounds  have  been  long  since  healed  with  the  salve  of  time 
and  the  admitted  wisdom  of  jiermitting  comnuinities  possessing  suf- 
ficient wealth  and  population  to  enjoy  those  measures  of  home  rule 
wliich  by  right  belongs  to  them. 

The  Blakeley  bill,  after  a  turbulent,  and  at  times  almost  lio])eless 
history,  finally  passed  both  houses.  The  vote  in  the  assembly  was 
forty-five  ayes  to  twenty-seven  noes,  and  in  the  senate  it  received 
twenty-four  ayes  to  fifteen  noes.  The  senate's  action  was  taken  on 
March  11,  1893. 

As  originally  created  the  county  had  an  area  of  1257  square  miles 
and  when  organized  in  1893  had  an  estimated  population  of  7325. 
The  assessable  acreage  at  that  time  was  427,281  acres.  Ten  years 
after  organization  the  county  had  a  bonded  debt  of  only  $32,000, 
and  ten  years  later,  or  now,  it  has  no  bonded  debt.  The  United 
States  census  of  1900  gave  the  population  as  9871,  and  the  thir- 
teenth census,  1910,  gave  it  16,230,  and  an  assessed  valuation  of 
$14,283,622.  By  the  addition  of  a  strip  of  territory  from  Fresno 
county  through  the  operation  of  the  Webber  bill  passed  by  the 
legislature  in  1908-9,  the  county  today  has  a  total  area  of  1375 
square  miles  or  118  square  miles  more  than  it  originally  possessed. 


178  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 


CHAPTER  XXI 
LUCERNE  VALLEY 

In  the  year  1886  Frank  L.  Dodge,  a  newspaper  man  from 
Iowa,  arrived  with  his  family  in  Hanford,  ostensibly  on  a  visit 
to  brothers  and  sisters  who  had  located  near  that  town  in  the 
pioneer  days.  Mr.  Dodge  became  enamoured  of  the  country  and 
there  being  at  that  time  no  newspaper  published  in  Hanford,  with 
his  oldest  brother,  the  late  David  Dodge,  he  founded  the  Hanford 
Weekly  Se)ifiiiel.  Like  many  other  people  from  the  East  he  had 
a  distaste  for  the  term  "slough"  as  applied  to  a  country,  the 
name  suggesting  mire  and  miasma  to  one  unacquainted  with  the 
term  as  applied  to  Mussel  Slough  which,  it  is  known,  is  the  name 
given  to  the  natural  channels  which  in  early  days  were  open  and 
in  flood  times  were  flowing  streams.  Mr.  Dodge  sought  for  a  more 
attractive  name  for  this  district  and  in  his  paper  of  April  21,  1887, 
gave  Mussel  Slough  a  new  christening  and  called  it  Lucerne  Valley, 
a  name  which  stuck  to  it  until  the  formation  of  Kings  county.  We 
quote  from  the  article  naming  the  district  the  following:  "Nestled 
among  the  heights  of  the  storied  Alps,  fanned  by  the  breezes  of 
Switzerland,  is  a  favored  spot,  the  name  of  which  adorns  the  page 
of  story  and  gladdens  the  minstrel's  song.  'The  Sweet  Vale  of 
Lucerne'  is  a  canton  containing  474  square  miles,  a  beautiful  country 
noted  for  its  great  production  of  fruit,  stock,  grain,  and  lucerne,  or 
alfalfa  clover.  It  has  the  Eiver  Reuss,  the  placid  Lucerne  Lake 
and  the  never-fading  Alps  for  prominent  geographical  features. 
In  1870,  'The  Sweet  Vale  of  Lucerne,'  Switzerland,  contained  132,338 
people. 

"This  beautiful  country  of  ours  about  Hanford  witli  its  Kings 
river,  its  Sierra  Nevada  and  Coast  Range  mountains,  and  its  glit- 
tering Tulare  Lake,  with  its  superior  fruits,  stock,  grain,  alfalfa 
and  climatic  advantages  is  eminently  worthy  to  be  a  namesake  of 
that  old,  rich  and  venerable  Lucerne  of  Europe.  This  has  about 
the  same  area  and  the  elements  of  greater  possibilities.  Had  this, 
our  district,  the  population  of  the  Lucerne  of  Europe  the  spindles 
of  manvifacture  and  the  wheels  of  commerce  would  thrill  the  land 
with  active  life;  the  thorough  cultivation  which  would  be  put  upon 
the  land  would  make  it  a  lovely  garden  of  vegetable  luxury;  homes 
would  bloom  amid  floral  bowers  and  fruited  branches. 

"The  Lucerne  of  California  has  all  the  possibilities  that  fancy 
may  picture  for  an  earthly  dwelling  place.  Let  our  people  awaken 
and  hasten  on  the  march  of  improvements — work  to  reach  that 
grand  development  which  should  enrich,  endear  and  exalt  a  country 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  179 

which    kind    Nature    has    so    richly    endowed    with    the    elements    of 
greatness. ' ' 

The  suggestion  made  by  the  editor  fell  on  fruitful  soil  and 
took  root  and  grew  into  a  sentiment  which  finally  changed  the 
name  of  the  judicial  township  from  Mussel  Slough  to  Lucerne;  and 
under  a  euphoneous  and  attractive  name  the  glories  of  this  produc- 
tive western  country  were  heralded  abroad,  doing  a  share  of  the 
good  work  of  development. 


CHAPTER  XXII 
EARLY  COUNTY  POLITICS 

As  a  political  organization  Kings  county  dates  from  May  23, 
1893.  The  bill  creating  the  county  was  signed  by  Governor  H.  H. 
Markham  March  23,  1893,  and  the  governor  appointed  a  commis- 
sion for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  act.  TMs  commission  was 
composed  of  the  following  named  citizens  of  the  now  county: 
Samuel  E.  Biddle,  E.  E.  Bush,  William  J.  Newport,  William  Ogdeu 
and  John  H.  Malone.  Both  Mr.  Biddle  and  Mr.  Newport  had  been 
members  of  the  board  of  supervisors  of  Tulare  county. 

This  commission  appeared  before  Dixon  L.  Phillips,  a  notary 
l)ublic.  on  April  3,  1893,  and  were  sworn  into  office.  They  inmie- 
diately  organized  by  electing  S.  E.  Biddle  chairman  and  by  select- 
ing George  X.  Wendling  secretary,  then  adjourned  till  the  following 
day,  Tuesday,  Ajiril  4,  when  the  commission  met  and  accepted  an 
offer  from  the  Farmers  and  Merchants  Bank  for  an  office  room  free 
of  rental  in  which  to  hold  the  meetings  of  the  board.  On  April  5 
another  meeting  was  held  and  the  county  was  formed  into  five 
supervisoral  districts,  as  follows:  District  No.  1,  embracing  the 
southwestern  portion  of  the  county  with  three  voting  precincts,  viz: 
West  End,  Kings  River  and  Lemoore;  District  No.  2,  embracing 
the  southern  portion  of  the  county  with  three  voting  precincts,  viz.: 
Paddock,  Lakeside  and  Dallas;  District  No.  3,  embracing  the  north- 
eastern and  eastern  portion  of  the  county,  with  three  precincts, 
viz:  Lucerne,  Excelsior  and  Cross  Creek;  District  No.  4,  omliracing 
the  northern  and  northwestern  portion  of  the  county  with  three 
precincts,  viz:  Armona,  Grangeville  and  Lucerne;  and  District  No. 
5,  embracing  the  city  of  Hanford. 

THE    FIEST    ELECTION    CALLED 

On  the  18th  day  of  April  the  county  commission  issued  the  first 
call  for  an  election.     This  call  embraced,  besides  the  election  of  a 


180  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

full  set  of  county  officers,  the  vote  upon  the  question  of  ratifying" 
the  act  of  the  legislature  in  creating  the  county,  said  measure  re- 
quiring that  the  vote  necessary  to  ratification  must  be  two-thirds  of 
the  electors  of  the  county  voting  in  the  affirmative.  The  call  fixed 
the  date  of  the  election  on  May  23,  1893. 

PARTIES    GOT     INTO     ACTION 

As  there  had  been  unity  of  action  between  the  members  of  all 
political  parties  within  the  boundaries  of  the  new  proposed  county 
in  the  effort  to  secure  the  county  there  was  much  harmonious  spirit 
prevailing  among  the  parties  when  it  came  to  placing  tickets  before 
the  people.  The  one  great  eft'ort  to  l)e  made  was  to  secure  the 
county  and  toward  that  end  the  politicians  worked  in  harmony 
yet  with  much  zeal  for  their  respective  candidates. 

The  first  political  conventions  were  held  in  Hanford  on  Wednes- 
day, April  19,  1893,  the  Republicans  holding  their  gathering  at 
Pythian  llall,  a  framed  structure  on  East  Fifth  street,  which  was 
subsequently  burned  and  never  rebuilt,  and  the  Democrats  convened 
in  Baker's  Hall,  at  that  time  the  most  popular  lodge  and  society 
hall  in  the  county,  but  long  since  abandoned  for  public  meetings. 
The  People's  Party  also  held  a  convention  and  placed  in  nomination 
a  few  candidates.  So  enthusiastic  were  all  jaarties  in  their  desire  to 
ratify  the  legislative  act  and  secure  the  county,  that  committees 
were  appointed  by  each  convention  for  the  purpose  of  conferring 
and  securing  the  nomination  of  candidates  that  would  lend  the  most 
strength  to  the  cause  of  county  formation.  The  results  of  the 
convention  day  were  that  the  following  nominations  were  made  to 
be  placed  on  the  Australian  form  of  ballot :  For  Sujierior  Judge — 
Justin  Jacobs,  Republican;  Dixon  L.  Phillips,  Democrat.  For  Dis- 
trict Attorney — Cosmer  B.  Clark,  People's  Party;  C.  W.  Talbot, 
Republican.  For  County  Clerk — Francis  Cunningham,  Democrat ; 
Fl-ed  R.  McFee,  Republican.  For  Sheriff— W.  V.Buckner,  Repub- 
lican; E.  E.  McKeuna,  Democrat.  For  Tax  Collector — Jesse  Brown, 
Democrat;  Frank  J.  Peacock,  Republican.  For  Treasurer — Stiles 
McLaughlin,  Republican;  W.  H.  Slavin,  Democrat.  For  Recorder — 
Louis  Decker,  Re])nblican.  For  Auditor — C.  C.  Farns^\*orth.  Demo- 
crat. For  Assessor — John  Rourke,  Democrat ;  John  Worswick,  Re- 
publican. For  Superintendent  of  Schools^ — A.  P.  Keran,  Republican; 
C.  A.  McCourt,  Democrat.  For  Surveyor — E.  P.  Irwin,  Republican; 
Joseph  Williams,  Democrat.  For  Coroner — B.  R.  Clow,  Democrat ; 
Charles   W.    Sullivan,   Republican. 

These  were  the  convention  nominations,  but  the  ticket  was  not 
entirely  filled,  leaving  the  way  open  for  independent  candidates 
and  these  were  supplied  as  follows:  For  district  attorney,  M.  L. 
Short  and  B.  C.  Miekle  went  on  the  ballot  as  independents,  as  did 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  181 

V.  M.  Frazer  for  recorder,  C.  "W.  Clark  for  auditor,  George  W. 
Murray  for  auditor  and  A.  S.  Bryan  for  coroner. 

Supervisors  were  nominated  from  four  districts.  J.  II.  Fox, 
who  was  a  member  of  the  Tulare  county  board  of  supervisors  at 
the  time  held  over,  and  his  residence  being  at  Lemoore,  which  was 
in  District  No.  1,  no  nominations  for  supervisor  were  made  in 
that    district. 

The  party  nominations  in  the  four  remaining  districts  were: 
District  No.  2 — For  supervisor,  Robert  Doherty,  Democrat;  R.  G. 
White,  Republican,  and  Frank  McClellan,  People's  Party.  District 
No.  3 — For  supervisor,  George  A.  Dodge,  Republican;  J.  G.  Mackey, 
Democrat.  District  No.  4 — For  supervisor,  Horace  Johnson,  People's 
Party;  W.  A.  Long,  Republican.  District  No.  5— S.  E.  Biddle, 
Democrat;  Frank  J.  Walker,  Republican. 

The  election  resulted  in  the  choice  of  a  mixed  set  of  county 
officers,  politically,  and  the  carrying  of  the  cause  of  county  creation 
by  an  overwhelming  nuijority,  the  vote  on  the  formation  of  the 
countv  being  1824,  of  which  1412  were  recorded  as  "Yes"  and 
412  as  "No." 

The  first  set  of  county  officials  elected  in  the  county  was  as 
follows :  Superior  judge,  Justin  Jacobs ;  county  clerk,  Francis  Cun- 
ningham; sheriff,  W.  Y.  Buckuer;  tax  collector,  Frank  J.  Peacock; 
W.  H.  Slavin,  treasurer;  recorder,  Frank  M.  Frazer;  auditor,  C.  C. 
Farnsworth ;  district  attorney,  M.  L.  Short ;  assessor,  John  Rourke ; 
superintendent  of  schools,  C.  H.  McCourt;  coroner,  B.  R.  Clow;  public 
administrator,  Mace  Allen;  surveyor,  E.  P.  Irwin;  supervisor,  1st  dis- 
trict, J.  H.  Fox;  supervisor,  2nd  district,  Fi'ank  McClellan;  supervisor, 
3rd  district,  J.  G.  Mackey;  supervisor,  4tli  district,  W.  x\.  Long;  super- 
visor, 5th  district,  S.  E.  Biddle. 

SETTING    UP    HOUSEKEEPING 

On  Monday  morning,  May  9,  1893,  tlie  commissioners  met  and 
canvassed  the  returns  of  the  election  and  declared  the  results.  The 
official  count  gave  the  total  number  of  votes  as  1919,  thus  showing 
that  there  were  55  who  failed  to  vote  either  for  or  against  countj' 
division. 

Superior  Judge  Jacobs  received  liis  conunission  from  the  gov- 
ernor on  May  31,  and  filed  the  same  with  the  clerk  of  the  county 
commission,  Mr.  Wendling.  The  supervisors-elect  were  given  cer- 
tificates of  election  and  were  sworn  into  office,  each  member  giving  a 
bond  of  $5000.  On  June  1  the  board  of  supervisors  organized  by 
electing  J.  IT.  Fox,  of  Lemoore,  chairman.  The  several  county 
officers-elect  appeared  before  the  board  and  were  sworn  in  on 
that  day,  and  the  machinery  of  government  for  the  new  county 
was  in  working  order. 


182  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

XO     COUNTY     BUILDINGS 

Having-  finally  formed  a  new  county  and  installed  the  officers, 
the  next  step  was  to  secure  office  rooms  for  the  transaction  of 
business,  until  sucli  time  as  county  grounds  could  be  purchased 
and  buildings  erected.  The  supervisors  immediately  set  to  work 
and  in  a  short  time  had  the  several  officials  housed,  although  the 
limited  number  of  vacant  office  Imildings  in  the  county  seat  necessi- 
tated the  scattering  of  the  offices  all  al)0ut  the  city.  The  Hanford 
opera  house  block  which  had  recently  been  completed  at  the  corner 
of  Irwin  and  Seventh  streets,  afforded  room  for  several  officials 
and  their  records,  and  on  the  second  floor  of  that  building  the  re- 
corder, auditor,  surveyor,  district  attorney,  county  clerk,  sujierior 
judge  and  supervisors  were  temporarily  located.  The  Farmers 
and  Merchants  Bank  gave  accommodations  for  the  tax  collector  and 
the  treasurer;  the  assessor  and  superintendent  of  schools  were 
located  in  a  one-story  brick  structure  on  "West  Seventh  street. 
Later  the  sheriff's  office  and  county  jail  were  located  on  "West  Sixth 
street  to  the  west  of  the  corner  of  Irwin,  and  the  superior  court 
and  county  clerk  were  given  quarters  on  the  second  floor  over  the 
jail. 

"While  the  arrangements  were  far  from  convenient,  the  county 
business  was  carried  on  economically  and  well.  A  steel  cage  was 
purchased  which  answered  for  a  jail  for  a  number  of  years,  and 
while  some  des])erate  criminals  were  at  times  confined  there,  there 
was  never  a  jail  delivery  even  from  that  temporary  structure. 

COUNTY    WITHOUT    FUNDS 

At  the  final  meeting  of  the  board  of  county  commissioners  just 
prior  to  turning  over  the  affairs  to  the  board  of  supervisors.  Com- 
missioner J.  H.  Malone  offered  a  resolution  which  was  adopted 
and  made  of  record,  that  the  new  county  possessed  a  population  of 
5900  souls,  and  that  Kings  county  be  declared  a  county  of  the 
Forty-third  class,  and  when  the  su])ervisors  took  up  their  work 
they  found  themselves  with  that  much  of  a  county  to  legislate  for, 
but  there  was  not  a  cent  in  the  treasury.  The  first  matter,  there- 
fore, to  attend  to  was  to  provide  the  means  for  carrying  on  the 
county  business,  and  the  first  act  of  the  board  of  supervisors  was 
to  apply  to  Tulare  county  for  that  portion  of  the  road  and  school 
funds  belonging  to  the  territory  within  the  boundary  of  the  new 
county,  and  it  was  resolved  to  demand  from  the  old  mother  county 
such  funds  due  Kings  county  on  the  1st  day  of  June,  1893,  the 
amount  being  $14,655.58,  and  accejit  that  amount  from  Tulare, 
provided  that  the  latter  would  stipulate  an  agreement  that  no  suit 
to  contest  the  legality  of  the  Kings  county  election  would  be  brought. 
This  demand  was  met  by  Tulare  county  to  the  extent  of  $13,289.26, 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  183 

of  whioh  $l(),!»l!).l(i  was  from  tlie  road  fund,  and  $2,370.10  from 
the  school  fund.  With  this  small  amoimt  of  ready  money,  Kings 
county  began  its  own  official  career,  and  faced  the  ])romise  made 
during  the  division  cam]iaign  to  so  conduct  the  affairs  of  the 
county  that  tlie  tax  rate  under  the  new  order  of  things  would  not 
exceed  the  tax  rate  which  ha<l  ])revailed  when  the  new  county  was 
a  part  of  Tulare. 

RATIFICATION 

On  the  6th  day  of  the  following  July  the  citizens  of  the  county 
held  a  celel)ration  in  the  city  of  Hanford  at  which  the  creation  of 
the  county  was  joyously  ratified  in  conjunction  with  the  celebration 
of  the  one  hundred  and  seventeenth  anniversary  of  the  Independence 
of  the  United  States.  The  pleasing  feature  of  the  celebration  was 
the  api)ea ranee  as  orator  for  the  occasion  of  James  11.  Wliite,  a 
prominent  citizen  of  Tulare  county  who  refused  to  remonstrate 
against  the  formation  of  the  new  county.  He  was  introduced  by 
the  Hon.  F.  A.  Blakeley,  the  assemblyman  who  introduced  and  car- 
ried through  the  Kings  County  l)ill.  Sheriff  Buekner  was  the  grand 
marshal,  and  conducted  a  memorable  parade,  there  being  many 
s])lendid  floats  displayed  in  commemoration  of  the  independence  of 
Nation  and  C^ounty. 

DISPUTING     VALIDITY     OF     THE     COUNTY 

As  an  outgrowth  of  the  heated  contest  waged  between  the 
mother  county  and  the  people  of  the  new  county,  the  (juestion  as  to 
the  validity  of  the  act  and  the  proceedings  followed  out  in  the 
creation  and  organization  of  Kings  county  arose.  This  question 
was  settled  by  an  opinion  issued  by  Deputy  Attorney  General 
Oregon  Sanders,  ajjproved  liy  the  Attorney  General  W.  IT.  H.  Hart, 
on  the  l!)th  day  of  June,  1893.  In  the  opinion  the  State  Department 
set  forth  at  length  that  the  three  counties  created  during  the  legis- 
lative session  of  1892-93,  viz:  Riverside,  Madera  and  Kings,  were 
legally  formed,  and  the  acts  under  which  said  counties  were  formed 
are  constitutional.  This  set  at  rest  for  all  time  any  question  of  the 
legal  standing  of  those  three  counties. 

FIRST    TAX    RATE    FIXED 

At  the  regular  meeting  of  the  supervisors  held  September 
25,  1893,  the  fixing  of  tlie  tax  rate  for  the  fiscal  year  1893-94  was 
ordered.  This  was  the  first  action  of  the  kind  in  the  new  county, 
and  the  rate  was  made  as  follows:  State,  fifty-nine  cents  and  six 
mills,  road  eighteen  cents,  hospital  five  cents  and  county  general 
forty-six  cents  and  four  mills,  making  a  total  rate  of  $1.45  on  the 
$100  valuation. 


184  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 


COrXTY    POLITICS    IX    SUBSEQUEXT    YEARS 

lu  the  month  of  June,  1894,  the  several  political  parties  con- 
fronted the  first  regular  nominating  campaign  to  place  candidates 
in  the  field  at  the  general  election,  which  was  held  in  November 
of  that  year.  The  Republicans  of  the  county  nominated  the  follow- 
ing ticket:  Superior  judge,  Justin  Jacobs;  sheriff,  W.  V.  Buckner; 
county  clerk,  F.  L.  Howard;  recorder  and  auditor,  F.  J.  Peacock; 
treasurer  and  tax  collector,  J.  N.  Hoyt;  assessor,  G.  W.  Follett; 
superintendent  of  schools,  J.  W.  Graham;  district  attorney,  A.  G. 
Park;  coroner  and  public  administrator,  J.  A.  Moore;  surveyor, 
E.  P.  Irwin;  supervisors:  B.  L.  Barney,  W.  A.  Long,  J.  M.  Hamilton, 
George  B.  McCord  and  Styles  McLaughlin;  constables,  H.  M.  Bern- 
stein, 0.  G.  Bryan,  J.  H.  Thompson;  justices  of  the  peace,  J.  B. 
Lewis,   G.  W.  Randall,  G.   Harrington. 

The  Democrats  placed  in  nomination  the  following  ticket: 
Superior  judge,  Archibald  Yell;  sheriff,  L.  E.  Hall;  county  clerk, 
Francis  Cunningham;  recorder  and  auditor,  C.  C.  Farnsworth; 
treasurer  and  tax  collector,  W.  H.  Slavin;  assessor,  John  Rourke; 
superintendent  of  schools,  C.  A.  McCourt ;  district  attorney,  M.  L. 
Short;  coroner  and  public  administrator,  B.  R.  Clow;  supervisors: 
D.  Gamble,  Jesse  Brown;  John  Dawson,  C.  D.  Coates,  H.  Clawson; 
constables :  A.  E.  Blakeley,  George  E.  Goodrich ;  justices  of  the 
peace :  Rufus  Abbott,  Joseph  Williams,  Frank  BuUard,  G.  N.  Furnish. 

The  People's  Party  also  placed  nominees  in  the  field,  as  follows: 
For  sheriff,  J.  C.  Goar;  county  clerk,  John  Gerow;  recorder  and 
auditor,  F.  M.  Frazer;  treasurer  and  tax  collector,  John  "Wyruck; 
assessor,  F.  E.  Howe;  superintendent  of  schools,  N.  Z.  Woodward; 
district  attorney,  Cosmer  B.  Clark;  coroner  and  public  adminis- 
trator, T.  J.  McQuiddv;  surveyor,  David  Ross;  supervisors:  S.  H. 
Von  Schmidt,  E.  J.  Gibson,  T.  F.  Dillon,  Frank  MeClellan,  T.  W. 
Stanclart;  constables,  J.  K.  Davis,  C.  L.  Pritchard,  G.  L.  Meadows, 
Bascom  Runyon;  justices  of  the  peace:  J.  P.  Ford,  James  Shay. 

The  election  was  held  November  6,  and  there  was  a  total  of 
1843  votes  cast.  That  year  Kings  county  cast  its  plurality  vote  for 
M.  M.  Estee,  Republican  candidate  for  governor,  giving  him  696. 
James  H.  Budd,  the  Democratic  candidate,  received  598;  J.  V.  Web- 
ster, People's  Party  candidate,  received  400,  and  Henry  French, 
Prohibition  candidate,  received  93  votes. 

The  county  contest  was  strenuously  fought.  That  was  the  year 
when  Populism  was  strong  in  this  and  Tulare  county,  and  James 
MeClellan,  Populist  nominee  for  assemblyman,  was  elected,  the  dis- 
trict then  being  composed  of  Kings  county  and  a  portion  of  Tulare. 

The  final  count  of  the  votes  cast  elected  the  following  county 
officials:  Superior  judge,  Justin  Jacobs  (R.)  ;  sheriff,  W.  V.  Buck- 
ner   (R.) ;   clerk,   Francis   Cunningham    (D.) ;   recorder   and    auditor. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  185 

F.  J.  Peacock  (R.)  ;  treasurer  and  tax  collector,  W.  H.  Slavin  (D.) ; 
assessor,  G.  H.  Follett  (R.) ;  siiperintendent  of  schools,  J.  W.  Graham 
(R.)  ;  district  attorney,  M.  L.  Short  (D.) ;  coroner  and  public  admin- 
istrator, J.  A.  Moore  (R.) ;  surveyor,  E.  P.  Irwin  (R.)  ;  supervisors: 
B.  L.  Barney  (R.),  W.  A.  Long  (R.),  T.  F.  Dillon  (P.P.),  Frank 
McClellan  (P.P.),  Styles  McLaughlin  (R.) ;  constables:  H.  M.  Bern- 
stein (R.),  George  E.  Goodrich  (D.),  G.  N.  Furnish  (D.)  ;  justices 
of  the  peace:  George  "W.  Randall  (R.),  J.  B.  Lewis  (R.),  G.  L. 
Meadows    (P.P.). 

These  officials  took  office  on  the  following  January  1st. 

ELECTION    OF    1896 

The  election  of  1896  concerned  only  National  and  district  matters, 
with  the  exception  that  in  the  second  supervisoral  district  of  the 
county  there  was  a  vacancy  to  be  filled.  Supervisor  Frank  McClellan 
resigned  his  office,  and  the  contest  for  the  vacancy  was  between 
George  W.  Clute,  Republican,  and  F.  M.  Frazer,  People's  Party. 
The  latter  won  the  election.  Kings  county  at  this  election  went 
with  the  Fusionists,  the  McKinley  electoral  ticket  receiving  Imt  673 
votes  to  863  for  the  Bryan  electoral  ticket.  The  county  also  voted 
a  plurality  of  118  for  C.  IT.  Castle,  Fusion  candidate  for  congress, 
defeating  W.  W.  Bowers,  the  Republican  candidate.  The  county 
cast  forty-seven  independent  votes  for  W.  H.  Carlson,  and  twenty- 
two  for  J.  W.  Webb,  Prohibition  candidate.  James  McClellan, 
Fusionist,  carried  the  county  for  assemblyman  against  George  B. 
McCord,  Republican,  by  a  majority  of  203.  The  total  registration 
of  the  county  at  this  time  was  1883,  and  the  total  vote  cast  was  1613. 

ELKCTTON    OF     1898 

On  account  of  the  death  of  Superior  Judge  Justin  Jacobs,  which 
occurred  on  September  18,  1898,  some  new  interest  was  injected  into 
county  politics.  Upon  the  vacancy  on  the  bench  being  created.  Gov- 
ernor James  H.  Budd  appointed  Dixon  L.  Phillips,  of  Hanford,  to 
fill  out  the  unexpired  term.  Mr.  Phillips  had  been  prominent  in  the 
work  of  organizing  the  county,  and  being  strong  with  the  governor 
politically,  his  ajijilication  met  with  executive  approval.  He  took 
his  seat  on  the  bench  Se]itember  29. 

M.  L.  Short,  who  was  then  district  attorney,  filed  his  petition  to 
become  an  inde]:)endent  candidate  for  judge  at  the  coming  election. 
Horace  L.  Smith,  an  attorney,  who  shortly  prior  to  this  time  had 
located  in  Hanford,  also  came  out  for  judge  as  an  independent,  and 
Dixon  L.  Phillips  a])poarod  in  the  race  as  a  Fusionist  su))ported 
by  the  Democrats,  Populists  and  Silver  Republicans.  The  cam]iaign 
was  a  lively  one,  but  tlie  Republicans  had  no  candidate  for  the 
judgeslii)i.  Tliere  was  no  regular  Democratic  ticket  for  the  county 
this   year,   but   all   opposition   to   the   Republican   party  went   by   the 


186  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

title  of  Fusionists.  Tlie  race  for  the  judgeship  resulted  in  a  victory 
for  M.  L.  Short,  he  receiving  a  clear  majority  of  219  votes  over 
his    competitors. 

The  Republicans  nominated  W.  V.  Buckner  for  sheriff,  while 
George  E.  Shore  was  tlie  Fusion  candidate.  Buckner  was  elected; 
F.  Cunningham  (F.)  defeated  B.  A.  Fassett  (R.)  for  clerk;  F.  J. 
Peacock  (R.)  and  J.  M.  Bowman  (F.)  ran  a  neck-and-neck  race  for 
recorder,  each  receiving  900  votes.  The  result  of  this  tie  caused 
the  board  of  supervisors  to  call  a  special  election  to  decide  the  tie. 
The  date  of  said  election  was  December  6,  and  the  total  vote  which 
was  cast  at  that  election  was  1537,  of  which  Mr.  Bowman  received 
827  and  Mr.  Peacock  711).  and  Bowman  was  declared  elected. 

Rowen  Irwin  (F.)  defeated  A.  G.  Park  (R.)  for  district  attorney, 
and  S.  M.  Rosenberger  (R.)  won  the  auditorship  against  S.  Sensa- 
baugli  (F.).  For  treasurer  W.  H.  Slavin  (F.)  was  successful,  his 
opponent  being  A.  M.  Stone  (R.).  Peter  Van  Valer  (R.)  tried  con- 
clusions with  John  AVyruck  (F.)  for  tax  collector,  the  former  win- 
ning. G.  W.  Follett  (R.)  defeated  Frank  McClellan  (F.)  for  asses- 
sor, and  ^Y.  M.  Thomas  (R.)  won  the  race  for  coroner  and  public 
administrator  over  Dr.  Foley  (F.).  J.  W.  Graham  (R.)  was  chosen 
su2)erintendent  of  schools,  his  apponent  being  J.  J.  Duvall  (F.). 
E.  P.  Irwin  (R.)  defeated  C.  W.  Talbot  (F.)  for  surveyor. 

The  su])ervisors  elected  were  J.  T.  McJuukin,  Styles  McLaugh- 
lin and  George  Tomer,  Re]Hiblicaus,  and  L.  S.  Chittenden  and  W.  S. 
Burr,  Fusionists.  The  unsuccessful  candidates  were  S.  B.  Hicks, 
C.  H.  Brooks,  James  McDonald,  all  Fusionists,  and  George  Curry, 
Inde])endent. 

Township  officers  were  elected  as  follows :  Justice  of  the  jieace 
— George  W.  Randall,  C.  M.  Smith  and  Bert  Goldsmith,  Repul)- 
licans,  and  H.  J.  Light,  Fusionist.  Constables  chosen  were  H.  M. 
Bernstein  (R.)  and  George  Goodrich  and  Granville  Furnish,  Fu- 
sionist. 

The  county  gave  a  slight  majority  for  J.  C.  Needham,  Repub- 
lican, for  Congress.  Also  a  plurality  of  twenty  votes  for  Henry  T. 
Gage,  Republican,  for  governor.  The  total  vote  of  the  countv  was 
1921. 

ELECTION    OF    1900 

In  Noveml)er,  1900,  the  total  vote  of  the  county  as  counted  was 
2082.  The  county  contest  was  over  the  election  of  superior  judge, 
member  of  the  assembly  and  surveyor.  The  Presidential  election 
of  this  year  also  called  upon  the  county  to  vote  for  a  member  of 
congress.  In  the  county  election  the  principal  figlit  was  lietween 
E.  T.  Cosper,  an  ex-assemblyman,  and  M.  L.  Short,  the  incumbent 
on  the  bench.  Mr.  Short  was  the  Democratic  nominee,  and  won 
the  election  over  Mr.  Cosper,  Republican,  by  a  vote  of  1048  to  950 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  187 

R.  H.  Myers  (R.)  for  the  assembly,  received  997  votes;  R.  Mills 
(D.),  887!  and  W.  R.  MoQniddy  (Pro.),  99  votes.  The  county  gave 
J.  C.  Needham  (R.),  for  congress,  a  plurality  of  144.  The  presidential 
electors  on  the  Republican  ticket  carried  the  county,  the  vote  being 
MV.VI.  to  877  for  tlie  Democi-atic  electors,  42  for  the  Social  Demo- 
crats and  48  for   the  Proliibitionists. 

COUNTY     ELECTION     OF     1902 

This  campaign  was  between  the  Republicans  and  Democrats, 
the  former  Populistic  organization  having  passed  out  of  the  run- 
ning. The  Rei)ublicans  nominated  the  following  ticket:  Sheriff,  W.  V. 
Buckner;  clerk,  Samuel  Mullin;  recorder,  Clark  Apjilegarth;  tax  col- 
lector, Peter  Van  \'aler;  auditoi-,  S.  M.  Rosenberger;  district  attorney. 
H.  Scott  Jacobs;  assessor,  George  W.  Murray;  treasurer,  J.  M. 
Camp;  superintendent  of  schools,  J.  W.  Graham;  surveyor,  John 
Benedict ;  coroner  and  public  administrator,  W.  M.  Thomas. 

For  supervisors  the  following  were  nominated:    S.  McLaughlin, 

F.  P.  Watson,  H.  D.  Barton,  John  Worswick  and  James  Manasse. 

The  township  officers  nominated  were:  For  justice  of  the  peace, 
C.  M.  Smith  and  George  W.  Randall.  For  constable,  11.  M.  Bern- 
stein  and  C.   E.   Kendall. 

R.  H.  Meyers,  who  had  been  elected  two  years  jirevious  to  the 
assembly,  succeeded  during  his  term  to  get  through  a  bill  making 
Kings  county  an  assembly  district  by  itself  and  he  was,  therefore, 
given  the  Republican  nomination  for  that  office  for  a  second  term, 
not,  however,  without  much  ojiposition  in  the  county  convention. 

The  Democrats  placed  before  the  people  the  following  ticket: 
For  sheriff,  L.  S.  Chittenden;  clerk,  F.  Cunningham;  district  attor- 
ney, Rowen  Irwin;  recorder,  J.  M.  Bowman;  assessor,  M.  B.  Wash- 
Imrn;  treasurer,  William  Slavin;  su]ierintendent  of  schools,  Mrs. 
N.  P].  Davidson ;  coroner  and  inil)lic  administrator,  T.  Card.  For 
sni)ervisors — J.  Haves,  W.  S.  Burr,  J.  R.  High,  A.  R.  Davis,  R. 
Mills. 

The  nominees  for  townshij)  officers  on  this  ticket  were :  For 
justice  of  the  peace — G.  L.  Meadows,  W.  II.  Vaughn,  P.  Carrasco. 
For  constables — George  Goodridi,  J.  Alcorn,  C.  W.  Keller  and  G. 
Furnish. 

The    candidates    who    ran    iude]iendent    of    party    tickets    were: 

G.  "VV.  Follett  for  assessor,  and  J.  W.  Ferguson  for  justice  of  the 
])eace. 

The  result  of  llic  election  held  on  November  2  was  favorable 
to  the  following  set  of  officers:  Assemblyman,  John  G.  Covert 
(I).);  sheriff.  W.  V.  P.uckner  (R.)  ;  clerk,"  F.  Cunningham  (D.); 
district  attorney,  II.  Scott  .lacobs  (R.)  ;  recorder,  J.  M.  Bowman 
(D.)  ;  auditoi-,  S.  Jiosenberger  (R.);  tax  collector,  Peter  Van  Valer 
(R.)    as.sessor,    George    W.    Muiray    (R.);    treasurer,    W.    H.    Slavin 


188  TULAKE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

(D.) ;  snperinteudeut  of  schools,  Mrs.  N.  E.  Davidson  (D.) ;  coroner 
and  public  administrator,  W.  M.  Thomas  (R.)  ;  surveyor,  John  Bene- 
dict (R.). 

Supervisors  elected  were:  S.  McLaughlin.  H.  D.  Barton,  both 
Republicans,  and  R.  Mills,  A.  R.  Davis  and  W.  S.  Burr,  Democrats. 

The  township  officers  chosen  were:  Justices  of  the  peace — ■ 
George  W.  Randall,  Republican,  and  G.  L.  Meadows  and  P.  Car- 
rasco.  Democrats.  Constables — H.  M.  Bei-nstein,  Republican,  and 
G.  E.  Goodrich  and  C.  W.  Keller,  Democrats. 

At  this  election  Kings  county  gave  999  votes  to  Franklin  K. 
Lane,  Democrat,  for  governor  and  956  votes  to  George  C.  Pardee, 
Republican.    There  were  51  Socialist  and  28  Prohibition  votes  cast. 

ELECTION     OF     1904 

Locally  this  election  was  a  contest  between  the  parties  over 
the  election  of  a  member  of  the  assembly.  J.  H.  Fox,  of  Lemoore, 
was  the  nominee  of  the  Republicans,  while  the  Democrats  put 
forward  John  F.  Pryor  of  Ilanford.  Mr.  Pryor  was  successful, 
receiving  926  votes,  to  884  cast  for  Mr.  Fox. 

James  C.  Needham,  Republican  candidate  for  congress  carried 
the  county,  receiving  1110  A-otes,  while  the  Democrats  cast  620 
votes  for  W.  M.  Conley.  The  Socialist  vote  for  congressman  was 
95,  and  the  Prohibitionists  cast  50  votes.  The  Roosevelt  electoral 
ticket  received  1112,  and  the  Parker  electoral  ticket  593. 

ELECTION    OF    1906 

This  was  a  general  state  and  county  campaign,  and  the  interest 
so  far  as  the  county  fight  was  concerned  was  centered  in  the  contest 
for  the  office  of  the  superior  judge.  The  nominees  were  Robert  W. 
Miller,  Re])ul)lican,  and  John  G.  Covert,  Democrat,  and  the  official 
returns  showed  how  close  the  race  was,  as  Mr.  Miller  received  1081 
votes  and  Mr.  Covert  1087. 

W.  V.  Buckner  (R),  who  had  been  sheriff  of  the  county  since 
its  first  organization,  was  re-elected  to  the  office,  and  F.  Cunning- 
ham (D),  who  was  the  first  clerk  of  the  county  still  maintained  his 
hold  upon  the  politics  of  the  countv  and  was  re-elected  over 
Clarence  Ruggles  (R),  and  T.  W.  Baker  (S),  J.  L.  C.  Irwin  (D), 
for  district  attorney  was  elected,  his  comjietitor  being  H.  Scott 
Jacobs  (R).  J.  M.  Bowman  (D)  won  the  recordership,  defeating 
J.  T.  Baker  (R) ;  S.  M.  Rosenberger  (R),  was  elected  auditor,  de- 
feating C.  T.  Walker  (D)  and  J.  H.  Rathbun  (S)  ;  Peter  Van 
Valer  (R)  was  again  successful  in  his  race  for  tax-collector,  de- 
feating F.  M.  Fra^zer  (D)  and  J.  Pfeifer  (S).  L.  C.  Dunham  (R) 
was  chosen  treasurer,  defeating  M.  B.  Washburn  (D.),  and  B. 
Freese  (S.).  George  W.  Murray  (R.)  was  re-elected  assessor,  receiv- 
ing the   largest   vote   of  any   candidate   on   either   ticket,    1509,    his 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  189 

opponent  being  J.  W.  Barbour  (D).  The  office  of  coroner  and 
public  administrator  was  won  by  W.  M.  Thomas  (R),  his  com- 
petitors being  J.  M.  Bond  (D),  and  A.  L.  Weddle  (S).  Mrs. 
N.  E.  Davidson  (D)  was  successful  in  her  candidacj^  for  super- 
intendent of  schools  for  the  second  term,  defeating  Miss  Inez  Covert 
(R),  and  E.  E.  Douglass  (S).  For  surveyor  John  Benedict  (R) 
defeated  C.  W.  Talbot  (D). 

The  contest  for  supervisors  was  a  victory  for  the  Democrats, 
as  that  i)arty  elected  G.  E.  Sliore,  W.  S.  Burr,  L.  Y.  Montgomery 
and  J.  E.  Hall,  representing  the  country  district.  Their  Repiiblican 
opponents  were:  H.  L.  Jennings,  J.  M.  Denham,  H.  D.  Barton  and 
Charles  Latham,  respectively.  Frank  Smith  (R),  of  the  Hanford 
district  won  over  R.  Mills  (D)  for  re-election. 

in  the  township  offices  for  justices  of  the  peace  J.  M.  Camp  (R), 
J.  AY.  Ferguson  (D),  C.  M.  Smith  (R)  and  E.  Erlanger  (R),  were 
successful,  the  other  candidates  being  B.  "W.  Moore,  G.  L.  Meadows, 
James  Shay  and  P.  Carrasco,  Democrats.  For  constables,  IT.  M. 
Bernstein  (D),  G.  E.  Goodrich  (D),  H.  Ammerman  (R),  and  E. 
Brothers  (R)  were  elected,  the  other  candidates  being  L.  Adkins  (D), 
and  W.  P.  Hayes  (D). 

The  contest  for  the  office  of  assembhinan  at  this  election  was  a 
lively  fight,  as  the  question  of  the  division  of  Fresno  county  was  then 
a  burning  issue,  and  Kings  county  people  had  united  with  the  people 
of  the  Coalinga  district  of  Fresno  county  for  the  purpose  of  slicing 
the  latter  county  in  two  from  the  north  boundary  of  Kings  county 
westerly  along  the  fourth  standard  parallel  line  and  adding  the 
territory  thus  cut  off  to  Kings  county. 

William  L.  McGuire,  a  young  attorney  of  Hanford,  was  nomin- 
ated for  the  assembly,  he  having  the  county  expansion  issue  as 
peculiarly  his  own,  and  he  was  backed  by  a  powerful  force  of  people 
interested  in  the  oil  bearing  territory  on  the  west  side  of  Fresno 
county,  and  other  interests.  The  Democrats  nominated  Patrick  Tal- 
ent, of  Hanford.  The  Socialists  put  up  F.  M.  Senteney.  William 
R.  McQuiddy  was  an  Inde]Dendent  candidate  for  the  office.  After 
a  spirited  contest  between  McGuire  and  Talent,  the  former  won  the 
election  by  a  vote  of  1133.  Mr.  Talent  received  898;  Mr.  Senteney 
70  and  Mr.  McQuiddy  95. 

Congressman  J.  C.  Needham  (R)  still  maintained  his  bold 
upon  the  voters  of  the  county,  receiving  1202  votes,  to  8.'>2  cast  for 
H.  A.  Greene  (D),  89  cast  for  R.  Kirk  (S),  and  41  cast  for  H.  E. 
Burbank  (P). 

The  countv  cast  1056  for  James  N.  Gillett  (R)  for  governor;  967 
for  T.  A.  Beli  (D),  and  49  for  J.  H.  Blanchard  (Pro.)  and  94  for 
W.   IT.  Langdon,   Tndcjx-ndent   and   Tiabor  Union. 


190  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

ELECTION     OF     1908 

This  connty  strnggie  had  one  feature  which  was  similar  to  the 
campaign  of  1906,  in  that  count}'  expansion  was  again  to  the  front. 
The  McGuire  plan  to  annex  the  southwestern  portion  of  Fresno 
county  to  Kings  two  years  ago  failed  after  a  severe  struggle,  and  in 
1907-8  plans  were  laid  for  another  attempt  to  annex  some  of  Fresno 
territory,  but  not  to  such  an  extent  as  in  190<).  This  annexation 
struggle  did  not  develop,  however,  until  after  the  election  in  Novem- 
ber. 1908,  after  which,  W.  J.  Webber,  Democratic  member  of  the 
assembly  who  was  elected  over  Harry  P.  Brown,  Eepul)lican,  took  his 
seat  in  the  legislature  and  introduced  a  bill  known  as  the  Webber 
bill,  which  was  finally  enacted,  and  added  :208  square  miles  of  Fresno 
territory  to  the  northwestern  portion  of  the  original  county  of  Kings. 
This  was  not  accomplished,  however,  without  much  litigation  between 
the  counties  of  Fresno  and  Kings,  but  the  courts  finally  settled  by 
decision  the  validity  of  the  procedures,  and  Kings  county  went  upon 
the  map  in  new  form  with  a  vast  area  of  very  fertile  land  watered  by 
Kings  river  added  to  it. 

The  county  contest  this  year  was  confined  to  the  election  of 
an  assemblyman,  Mr.  Brown  receiving  1042  votes,  while  Mr.  Webber 
received  1072.     J.  M.  Foster,  Socialist,  received  95. 

In  the  vote  for  congressman,  J.  C.  Needham  (R),  received  1180 
votes;  F.  P.  Fellz  (D)  883;  W.  M.  Pattison  (S),  103,  and  J.  W. 
Webb(  Pro.)  55. 

The  Republican  electoral  ticket  received  1198  votes ;  the  Democrat 
ticket  859;  Independent  League  12;  Socialist  112,  and  Prohibi- 
tion 71. 

ELECTION    OF    1910 

The  increased  vote  cast  at  this  election  illustrated  tlie  growth 
of  the  county  in  poi)ulation  and  annexation,  for  the  total  vote  cast 
for  the  candidates  for  governor  was  2997.  Hiram  Johnson  as  the 
Republican  nominee,  carried  the  county  by  351  iilurality  over  Theo- 
dore A.  Bell,  whose  vote  was  1149.  Stit  Wilson,  Socialist,  received 
305,  and  Meade,  Prohibitionist,  43. 

The  contest  over  the  assemblvman  was  between  W.  J.  Webber 
(D),  Frank  J.  Walker  (R),  and  W.  R.  McQuiddy  (Pro.).  Mr. 
Walker  won  on  a  narrow  plurality  of  six  votes. 

For  the  first  time  since  the  county  was  organized  the  Repub- 
licans put  forth  a  new  candidate  for  sheriff  in  the  person  of  L>"man 

D.  Farmer,  a  young  man  who  was  the  deputy  of  Sheriff  Buckner  at 
the  time  of  the  convention.     Mr.  Farmer  was  pitted  against  George 

E.  Goodi'ich  (D).     Fanner  won  the  election  with  a  majority  of  247. 

F.  Cunningham   (D)   for  clerk  was  re-elected  to  the  office,  defeating 
A.  F.  Florey  (R);  J.  L.  C.  Irwin  (D)  defeated  Frank  E.  Kilpatrick 


TULARP]  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  191 

(R),  for  district  attorney;  D.  Buun  Rea  (R)  was  elected  auditor  over 
James  Manning  (D);  L-  C.  Dunham  (R)  was  elected  treasurer,  de- 
feating H.  L.  C'onklin  (D)  ;  George  W.  Murray  (R)  had  no  opposi- 
tion for  the  office  of  assessor;  M.  B.  Washburn  (D)  was  elected  tax- 
collector,  defeating  J.  "Worswick  (R);  J.  M.  Bowman  (D)  defeated 
Perry  Griswold  (R)  for  recorder;  Mrs.  N.  E.  Davidson  (D)  was 
elected  superintendent  of  schools,  defeating  W.  J.  M.  Cox  (R) ;  J. 
Clarence  Rice  (R)  defeated  .1.  D.  Hefton  (D)  for  coroner  and  ]mblie 
administrator;  A.  J.  Neilsen  (R)  was  elected  county  survevor,  de- 
feating J.  M.  Thomas  (D). 

The  supervisors  elected  were:  T.  E.  Cochrane  and  A.  F.  Smith, 
Republicans,  and  J.  L.  Hall,  Frank  Blakeley  and  William  Vaughan, 
Democrats.  The  defeated  candidates  were:  W.  S.  Burr  and  James 
Butts,  Democrats;  J.  M.  Dean,  Socialist,  and  Styles  McLaughlin  and 
11.  D.  Barton,  Republicans. 

Justices  of  the  peace  elected  were:  J.  W.  Ferguson,  G.  L. 
Meadows  and  H.  J.  Light,  Democrats,  and  C.  M.  Smith  and  Jesse 
Harris,  Republicans.  Constaliles  chosen  were:  H.  M.  Bernstein,  John 
Bartlet  and  C.  C.  A.  Henden,  Republicans,  and  Perry  Gard  and  S. 
Blank,  Democrats. 


192  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

CHAPTER  XXIII 
IRRIGATION 

The  history  of  irrigatiou  iu  Kings  couuty  dates  hack  to  1872, 
when  its  present  territory  constituted  a  part  of  Tulare  county.  The 
lesser  benefits  of  irrigation  had  been  demonstrated  by  private  parties 
in  dit¥erent  iiarts  of  Tulare  county,  who  made  efforts  to  get  water 
from  the  rivers  out  to  their  orchards  and  gardens  on  a  very  limited 
scale.  But  these  primary  efforts  were  all  sufficient  to  prove  the 
magic  effect  of  irrigation  on  the  rich  desert  soil  which  had  lain  dorm- 
ant through  the  embalming  summer  sunshine  of  past  centuries.  Eager 
settlers  were  rushing  into  the  country  and  when  they  saw  what  water 
put  to  the  soil  would  do ;  when  they  saw  the  prolific  streams  of  Kings 
river,  Kaweah  river  and  Cross  creek  sweeping  down  to  the  basin  of 
Tulare  lake;  and  when  they  east  their  eyes  eastward  and  upward 
to  the  illimitable  fields  of  snow  and  ice  cradled  among  the  stupend- 
ous heights  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  mountain  range,  the  object  lesson 
was  easy.  Nature's  mighty  resources  lay  plainly  before  them,  offer- 
ing the  first  grand  inspiration  for  organized  effort  to  harness  these 
resources  for  the  reclamation  of  the  desert. 

The  first  successful  attempt  to  irrigate  on  practical  and  extended 
lines  was  made  in  1872,  by  M.  D.  Bush,  V.  F.  Geiseler,  R.  B.  Huey 
and  a  number  of  other  citizens,  who  projected  the  Lower  Kings  River 
ditch,  covering  territory  north  and  east  of  the  town  of  Lemoore.  This 
ditch  company  was  incorporated  in  1873  by  the  enterprising  pioneers 
of  Lemoore  and  vicinity  and  its  success  was  an  object  lesson  that 
inspired  the  settlers  of  adjoining  districts.  When  the  people  saw 
what  water  applied  to  the  soil  would  do,  there  was  a  firm  resolve  to 
get  it  at  all  hazards.  The  first  crops  raised  on  lands  irrigated  by 
tliis  ditch  furnished  labor  for  many  hard-up  settlers  and  the  straw 
from  the  grain  fields  was  largely  used  as  fodder  for  the  stock  of  the 
country  which  proved  a  God-send  to  many  a  "Sandlapper." 

Soon  after  the  above  company  had  demonstrated  probable  suc- 
cess an  enterprising  citizen  named  Daniel  Spangler  planned  to  build 
an  irrigating  canal  from  Kings  river  to  what  was  known  as  the  Lone 
Oak  district,  which  was  designated  by  a  single  oak  tree  standing  out 
on  the  plains  aljout  four  miles  southwest  of  the  present  city  of  Han- 
ford.  From  this  "Lone  Oak"  to  the  point  where  Mr.  Spangler  in- 
tended to  tap  Kings  river  to  supply  liis  canal  with  water  was  a  dis- 
tance of  about  twenty  miles.  Later  the  People's  Ditch  Company  of 
Kings  river  was  formed  by  an  association  of  farmer  settlers  which 
took  over  by  mutual  transfer  the  Spangler  projects.  The  People's 
Ditch  Company  was  incorporated  in  February,  1873,  by  Jesse  Brown, 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  193 

W.  W.  Boyd,  George  W.  Camp,  C.  Hyatt,  Peter  Kanawyer,  aud  a 
score  or  more  of  other  settlers  all  eager  to  be  identified  with  the 
great  work  of  transforming  their  desert  acres  into  homes  of  future 
productiveness  and  wealth.  The  actual  work  of  making  the  ditch  was 
commenced  that  year  aud  proceeded  as  rapidly  as  possible  consider- 
ing the  limited  means  of  its  incorporators.  P.  J.  Sibley  was  the 
engineer  who  located  and  surveyed  the  course  of  the  ditch  nearly  on 
its  present  permanent  line.  It  was  first  intended  to  build  one  branch 
of  the  ditch  into  Township  21  south  range  20  east,  but  said  branch 
was  never  comijleted  beyond  the  south  boundary  line  of  township  18 
South,  range  21  east,  a  short  distance  from  Armona.  The  season  of 
1874  found  between  three  and  four  miles  of  the  ditch  constructed 
and  this  was  from  the  point  of  intake  on  the  river  to  a  point 
below  the  structure  known  as  the  "Burris  check."  Very  little 
irrigating  was  done  that  season.  During  the  months  of  May  and 
June  of  that  year  the  water  from  Kings  river  ran  through  the  old 
channel  known  as  the  Burris  slough,  southeasterly  into  Cross  creek. 
During  the  fall  and  winter  of  1874-5  work  was  prosecuted  quite 
rapidly,  so  that  in  the  spring  of  1875  the  company  was  able  to  con- 
trol and  distribute  systematically  considerable  water  to  its  stock- 
liolders  for  the  irrigation  of  crops.  When  the  water  was  turned  into 
the  lower  ]iortion  of  the  ditch,  considerable  difficulty  was  experi- 
enced in  getting  it  through  on  account  of  the  porous  nature  of  the 
soil.  It  frequently  happened  that  forty  to  fifty  cubic  feet  ]ier  second 
would  flow  for  days  into  subterranean  cavities.  This  would  so  soften 
the  ground,  sometimes  for  a  half  mile,  that  it  was  dangerous  to 
drive  a  team  over  the  field  near  the  ditch.  At  the  end  of  the  irri- 
gating season  of  1875  it  was  found  that  the  ditch  was  far  from  lieing 
completed  according  to  the  plans  and  specifications  of  the  engineer. 
In  places  it  was  not  down  to  grade  and  in  other  places  not  u]i  to 
grade  and  in  very  few  places  of  the  width  originally  ]:)roposed.  The 
company  was  first  incorporated  for  $10,000,  but  this  amount  was 
soon  found  to  be  inadequate  to  complete  the  great  undertaking. 
Under  existing  laws  assessments  on  the  stockholders  could  not  be 
collected  in  sums  large  enough  to  complete  the  work  in  a  reasonable 
time.  So  the  capital  stock  was  increased  to  $30,000  in  1875 ;  this  latter 
sum  not  being  equal  to  the  demands,  the  same  was  increased  to 
$100,000.  After  the  struggles,  privations  and  great  self-denials  of 
these  sturdy  pioneers  the  ditch  was  finally  completed  as  it  now  exists, 
about  the  year  1878  or  1879.  During  the  early  years  of  the  work 
assessments  were  called  for  so  frequently  that  many  of  the  stock- 
holders were  unable  to  meet  them  and  their  stock  had  to  be  sold  for 
the  assessments.  The  whole  number  of  shares  of  capital  stock  issued 
was  subscribed  for  and  the  assessments  kept  up  for  a  while,  but  prior 
to  1881  more  than  one-third  of  the  stock  issued  was  sold  for  assess- 


V.U  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

meiits  and  bought  in  for  the  company,  because  no  one  living-  in  the 
country  on  land  covered  liy  the  ditch  at  that  time  had  money  to 
buy  the  stock.  In  1912  the  total  number  of  shares  outstanding  and 
which  have  not  varied  for  twenty-five  years,  is  sixty-three  and  thir- 
teeu-sixteenths  shares.  These  shares  are  now  held  by  more  than 
two  hundred  persons.  The  largest  number  of  shares  now  owned  by 
one  person  is  not  over  five,  except  that  the  Settlers  Ditch  C'ompany 
now  owns  sixteen  and  one-half  shares.  About  1890,  shortly  after  the 
passage  through  the  state  legislature  of  what  was  known  as  the 
Wright  Irrigation  Bill  providing  for  the  creation  of  irrigation  dis- 
tricts throughout  the  state,  the  Tulare  Irrigation  District  was  formed 
and  its  i)romotors  bought  from  the  Settlers  Ditch  Company  its  right 
to  take  water  from  the  Cross  creek  and  floated  its  point  of  diversion 
to  a  point  on  Kaweali  river  about  ten  miles  northeast  of  Visalia. 
Thus  having  sold  its  water  right,  the  Settlers  Ditch  Company  pur- 
chased from  the  Peoples  Ditch  Company  the  sixteen  and  one-tweTfth 
shares  of  stock  to  resupply  its  ditch.  The  advantage  resulting  from 
the  change  was  that  the  stockholders  of  the  Settlers  Ditch  Company 
were  able  to  have  water  for  irrigation  for  a  longer  season  each 
year. 

In  the  early  '90s  the  Riverside  Ditch  Company  was  incorporated 
for  the  purpose  of  ajJiiropriating  water  from  Kings  river  and  for 
taking  it  from  a  point  just  above  the  lower  headgate  in  the  Peoples 
ditch.  This  ditch  extends  westerly  along  the  south  bank  of  Kings 
river  for  a  distance  of  about  ten  miles  and  supplies  water  for  irri- 
gation to  several  thousand  acres  of  rich  land  lying  south  of  Kings 
river.  It  operates  as  an  auxiliary  factor  to  the  Peoples  ditch,  many 
of  the  latter 's  stockholders  owning  stock  in  the  Riverside  ditch  and 
many  land  owners  along  the  Riverside  ditch  renting  water  from 
stockholders  of  Peoples  ditch. 

SETTLERS    DITCH 

In  June,  1874,  an  association  of  farmers  organized  the  Settlers 
Ditch  Company,  with  the  intention  of  supjjlying  mostly  a  tract  of 
land  in  township  18  south,  range  22  east,  being  east  and  northeast 
of  Hanford.  Major  Thomas  J.  McQuiddy,  George  W.  Cotton,  C.  0. 
Butler,  George  Slight,  J.  M.  Cary,  Jeremiah  Lambert,  Orrin  Jef- 
fords, J.  W.  Brown,  Alex  Taylor,  John  Urton,  Joe  Perrin,  Ely  Bock, 
C.  H.  Robinson,  Jack  Wickham,  were  the  leading  men  in  })romoting  the 
interests  of  this  enterprise  and  incorporating  it  under  the  state  laws 
of  California.  William  R.  McQuiddy  was  the  first  secretary.  Attorney 
W.  W.  Cross  wrote  the  articles  of  incorporation.  The  new  company 
bought  instruments  for  surveying  and  William  R.  McQuiddy  acted  as 
surveyor  for  the  i)reliminary  work  of  locating  the  ditch  head  at  the 
mouth  of  Cross  creek,  after  which  John  S.  Urton  took  charge  of  the 
engineering  and  made  definite  location  of  the  ditch  lines  and  staked 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  195 

them  out  ready  for  the  coustruetion  gangs,  composed  ol'  the  stock- 
holders who  worked  on  different  sections  of  the  ditcli  as  ai)portioned 
by  tlie  nianagemeut.  Actual  woik  in  excavating  was  begun  in  the 
fall  of  187-i  and  proceeded  under  dil'liculties  through  the  winter  and 
spring  of  1875.  Hard  pan  was  found  at  the  upper  end  of  the  works, 
which  uecessitated  a  raise  in  the  grade,  this  calling  for  a  dam  or  weir 
in  Cross  creek  to  elevate  the  water  supply  to  the  new  grade  of  the 
ditch.  It  was  also  found  necessary  to  make  a  cut  two  miles  above 
from  this  channel  across  to  Main  stream  so  as  to  insure  water  at 
all  times  wlien  there  was  water  therein.  This  cut  was  16UU  feet 
long  and  in  places  had  to  be  cut  down  through  havdpan.  On  De- 
cember 1,  1875,  the  ditch  was  practically  completed  as  far  south  as 
the  county  road  running  east  from  the  nortli  line  of  the  city  of 
JIanford.  The  water  was  turned  into  the  ditch  about  December  1, 
and  the  stockholders  began  to  use  it  on  their  lands  with  great  rejoicing- 
over  their  deliverance  from  the  arid  conditions  of  the  past.  To 
celeljrate  this  iminntant  event  a  meeting  was  called  at  the  Eureka 
schoolbouse.  Nearly  every  person  in  the  community  was  present, 
and  the  good  cheer  and  enthusiasm  of  all  told  the  story  of  their 
triumph  over  the  adverse  conditions  through  which  they  had  passed. 
One  of  the  principal  actors  in  this  celebration  was  Lyman  B.  Ruggies, 
who  had  bought  out  George  W.  Cotten  a  few  months  i)revious.  The 
speechmaking,  the  songs  composed  for  the  occasion,  and  the  banquet 
of  the  best  eatables  that  the  country  then  afforded,  made  this  cele- 
bration a  very  enjoyable  one  for  all.  Memory  turns  back  from  these 
days  of  plenty  to  those  days  of  salt  grass,  bacon  and  beans,  with 
so  little  money,  and  such  a  scarcity  of  credit,  and  wonders  how  in 
the  world  they  ever  accomplished  such  herculean  tasks.  It  was  surely 
a  journey  through  the  wilderness,  without  grain  or  hay  for  horse- 
feed,  simply  salt  grass,  and  very  meager  food  for  men.  AVhat  was 
true  of  the  brave  men  who  builded  the  Settlers'  ditch  was  true  of  all 
the  other  pioneers  who  from  1872  and  later  built  the  other  ditches 
which  now  carry  the  living  water  to  their  luxuriant  homesteads.  The 
Lower  Kings  river,  the  Peoples'  Ditch,  the  Last  Chance,  and  the 
Lakeside  Companies  were  all  manned  by  men  of  sjilendid  courage, 
great  endurance  and  a  sublime  faith  that  sustained  them  and  led 
them  on  in  the  face  of  all  kinds  of  hardsliips  and  privations  to  ulti- 
mate success.  This  history  may  not  give  every  name  entitled  to 
credit  for  the  early  development  of  Kings  county  soil,  because  they 
may  not  all  be  recalled  to  memory,  but  those  not  named  are  no  less 
deserving  a  place  in  the  record  of  a  righteous  service  to  mankind. 

THE    LAST    CH.A.NCE 

In  1873  the  Last  Chance  Ditch  Company  was  formed  to  take  water 
from  Kings  river  to  supply  the  rich  lands  in  the  vicinity  of  Grange- 
ville.     The  system  was  about  completed  in   one  season  and  proved 


196  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

very  successful  to  tlie  territory  for  which  it  was  intended.  The  tirst 
board  of  directors  of  the  Last  Chance  consisted  of  William  L.  Morton 
(chairman),  William  Ingram,  C.  W.  Hackett,  0.  H.  Bliss,  J.  R.  Hein- 
len,  Justin  Esrey,  L.  Gilroy  (secretary),  J.  G.  Moore.  George  Smith, 
(surveyor),  G.  H.  Hackett,  L.  Waggner,  G.  S.  Foster,  G.  T.  Thornton, 
M.  S.  Babcock,  W.  A.  Caruthers,  0.  L.  Wilson,  W.  R.  SuUenger, 
John  Kurts,  E.  Erlanger,  L.  Lowery,  John  Martin,  W.  H.  Whitesides, 
William  Sutherland,  Lewis  Haas,  Jonathan  Esrey,  James  Sibley, 
Perry  Phillips,  George  W.  Cody,  E.  Giddings,  J.  H.  Shore,  A.  S. 
Avers,  C.  Eailsback,  E.  M.  Cleveland,  Jesse  Brown,  W.  W.  Parlin, 
C.  M.  Blowers,  John  Chambers  were  among  the  sturdy  pioneers  and 
stockholders  of  the  Last  Chance  enterprise  who  plowed  and  scraped 
on  beans  and  bacon  that  the  desert  might  bloom  as  a  blessed  heritage 
for  future  generations. 

In  the  year  1874  the  Lakeside  Ditch  Company  was  organized, 
but  did  not  get  to  doing  much  until  1875,  when  it  built  a  canal  thirty 
feet  wide  and  three  feet  deep  to  cover  the  unirrigated  lands  southeast 
and  south  of  Hauford.  The  company  appropriated  three  hundred 
and  one  cubic  feet  per  second  from  Cross  creek,  a  branch  of  Kaweah 
river.  The  first  board  of  directors  consisted  of  Robert  Doherty 
Samuel  F.  Deardorff,  C.  W.  Clark.  George  A.  Dodge,  Perry  C. 
Phillips.  J.  Wliiting,  Jacob  Marsh.  Other  members  and  stockholders 
of  the  company  who  were  identified  in  the  promotion  and  actual 
construction  of  the  Lakeside  were :  Claude  Giddings,  George  W.  Clute, 
William  Kerr,  William  Covert,  John  Rourke,  Thomas  McCarty,  Pat- 
rick McCarty,  John  McCarty,  E.  J.  Dibble,  E.  McNamee,  S.  D.  Brewer, 
Joseph  Peacock,  Andrew  Blend,  W.  H.  Winnie,  A.  M.  Stone,  Simon 
Stone,  John  Sigler,  R.  S.  Wait,  Oscar  Clapp,  J.  C.  Rice,  E.  P.  Irwin,  J. 
G.  Herriford.  David  Dodge,  Caryl  Church,  Henry  Hildebrand.  George 
McCann.  M.  A.  Hill,  George  Doherty,  William  Doherty,  John  Smith, 
James  McClellan,  Frank  McClellan,  J.  T.  Gurnsey,  E.  Twinning,  C.  B. 
Dodge,  L.  C.  Hawley,  William  H.  Dodds,  J.  V.  Dodds.  The  Lakeside 
ditch  serves  a  large  district,  which  is  largely  devoted  to  dairy  and 
stock  interests. 

Some  years  later  Carr  and  Chamberlain  built  a  canal  to  cover  a 
fine  tract  of  land  formerly  lake  bottom  on  the  north  side  of  Tulare 
lake.  This  canal  is  served  by  water  from  the  Peoples'  ditch  and 
hence  is  not  a  primary  factor,  but  simply  an  extension  of  the  irriga- 
tion system. 

LAKELAJTD    CATC^AL,    AND    lEETGATION    COMPAXY 

In  the  year  1903  the  above  named  company  was  formed  with  the 
intention  of  appropriating  water  from  Kings  river  a  few  hundred 
yards  above  the  Peoples'  Ditch  Comi^any's  point  of  intake.  The 
leading  men  in  its  organization  were  Dr.  N.  P.  Duncan.  J.   Frank 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  197 

Pryor,  Dr.  R.  E.  Dixon,  J.  D.  MeCord.  The  project  fontemjilated 
the  irrigation  of  hinds  al)ovit  the  present  city  of  Corcoran  and  those 
hike  bottom  lauds  then  and  thereafter  to  be  reclaimed.  Tlie  opera- 
tions of  the  company  have  been  held  in  abeyance  on  acconnt  of 
litigation  so  that  its  prospective  good  results  have  not  yet  been 
realized.  R.  D.  Hunter,  E.  E.  Bush,  F.  C.  Paulin,  Stoddard  Jess, 
C.  W.  Gates,  A.  H.  Brawley  are  the  more  recent  promoters  and 
custodians  of  the  comjiany's  interests.  The  final  success  of  the 
undertaking  means  much  to  a  large  area  of  very  fertile  land  south 
and  east  of  Tulare  lake. 

BL.\KELEY    DITCH 

In  the  spring  of  1899  F.  Blakeley,  Hi  Clausen,  Max  Lovelace, 
R.  E.  McKenna,  Jack  Rhodes  and  Stiles  McLaughlin  associated 
themselves  together  for  the  promotion  of  what  is  commonly  called 
the  Blakeley  ditch,  contemjilating  the  irrigation  of  a  ti'act  of  fine 
land  west  and  northwest  of  Tulare  lake.  The  company  approjiriated 
100,000  inches  of  water  from  Kings  river  at  a  point  about  one-half 
mile  below  the  lower  bridge.  After  three  miles  of  canal  had  been 
constructed,  Mr.  Blakeley  on  his  own  account  extended  the  system 
so  that  its  ditches  measured  thirty-eight  miles. 

The  Empire  Water  Com]iany  was  created  to  distribute  watei- 
over  the  lands  of  the  rich  district  known  as  the  Empire  ranch.  Also 
the  Mercedes  Pum])iug  Company  was  formed  prospectively  to  water 
land  west  of  Kings  river. 

THE   KIXGS  CANAL  AXD  IRRIGATION   COMPANY 

This  <'om])any  was  promoted  by  Henry  Cousins,  Hi  Clauson, 
Frank  Blakeley,  Max  Lovelace,  Stiles  McLaughlin,  a  Mr.  Ogle  and 
others  about  the  year  1900  and  contemplated  the  irrigation  of  lands 
east  of  Kings  river  and  north  of  Tulare  lake  as  well  as  future  lands 
reclaimed  by  the  receding  of  the  lake.  It  is  supplied  by  the  same 
appropriation  of  the  waters  from  Kings  river  and  served  by  the 
same  dam  as  the  Blakeley  ditch  and  in  fact  is  twin  to  the  latter 
named  ditch.  It  is  about  one  hundred  feet  wide  in  places  and  the 
system  embraces  about  twenty-eight  miles  of  ditch. 

RAINFALL    FOR    TWENTY-ONE    YEARS 

The  history  of  a  locality  would  not  1)e  com])lete  without  containing 
a  record  of  those  "heavenly  blessings"  furnished  by  the  weather 
god.  Herewith  is  presented  an  authentic  rain  table  kept  since  189L 
showing  the  measurement  of  rain  by  the  month,  as  gauged  at 
Hanford : 

Year  1891-92— June,  0.00;  July,  0.00;  August,  0.00;  September,  .52; 


198  TULAEE  AXD  KINGS  COUNTIES 

October,  0.00;  Noveml)er,  .40;  December,  1.92;  January,  .41;  Febru- 
ary, .99;  March,  2.27;  April,  .19;  May,  1.26;  total  annual,  7.96. 

Year  1892-93— June,  0.00;  July.  0.00;  August,  0.00;  September, 
0.00;  October,  .26;  November,  .;>8;  December,  1.46;  January,  2.8.3;  Feb- 
ruary, 1.22 ;  March,  2.53 ;  April,  .13 ;  May,  0.00 ;  total  annual,  8.81. 

Year  1893-94— June,  0.00;  July,  0.00;  August,  0.00;  September, 
0.00;  October,  .02;  November,  .20;  December,  1.34;  January,  .87;  Feb- 
ruary, .40;  March,  .33;  April,  .09;  May,  .20;  total  annual,  3.45. 

Year  1894.95— June,  .72;  July,  0.00;  August,  0.00;  September, 
.53;  October,  .25;  November,  0.00;  December,  3.00;  January,  2.79;  Felv 
ruary,  .97;  March,  .96;  April,  .50;  May,  .38;  total  annual,  10.10. 

Year  1895-96— Jime,  0.00;  July,  6.00;  August,  0.00;  September, 
0.00;  October,  1.05;  November,  0.00;  December,  .35;  January,  1.70; 
February,  0.00;  March,  .55;  April,  .76;  May,  .15;  total  annual,  4.56. 

Year— 1896-97— June,  .0.00;  July,  .11;  August,  .02;  September, 
0.00;  October,  .61;  November,  .72;  December,  .68;  January,  1.56; 
February,  1.86;  March,  .11;  April,  .95;  May,  0.00;  total  annual,  6.62. 

Year— 1897-98— June,  0.00;  July,  0.00;  xVugust,  0.00;  September, 
0.00;  October,  1.80;  November,  .21;  December,  .48;  January,  .38;  Feb- 
ruary, .89 ;  March,  .03 ;  April,  .91 ;  May,  .41 ;  total  annual,  5.11. 

Year— 1898-99— June,  0.00 ;  July,  0.00;  August,  0.00;  September, 
1.44;  October,  .11;  November,  .08;  December,  .75;  January,  1.04;  Feb- 
ruary, .17 ;  March,  .30 ;  April,  2.66 ;  May,  .26  ;  total  annual,  6.81. 

Year— 1899-00— June,  .26;  July,  0.00;  August,  0.00;  September, 
0.00;  October,  .96;  November,  1.18;  December,  1.23;  January,  1.61; 
Februarv,  0.00;  March,  1.26;  April,  1.33;  May,  2.27;  total  annual,  10.10. 

Year— 1900-01— June,  0.00;  July,  0.00;  August,  0.00;  September, 
0.00;  October,  .25;  November,  2.21;  December,  .22;  January,  3.30;  Feb- 
ruarv, 2.82 ;  March,  .67 ;  April,  .27 ;  May,  1.39 ;  total  annual,  11.13. 

Year— 1901-02— June,  0.00;  July,  0.00;  August.  0.00;  September. 
.57  ;  October,  .51 ;  November,  .80 ;  December,  .24 ;  January,  .40 ;  February, 
2.17;  March,  1.43;  April,  .50;  May,  .08;  total  annual,  6.70. 

Year— 1902-03— June,  0.00;  July,  0.00;  August,  0.00;  September. 
0.00;  October,  .32;  November,  1.52;  December,  .63;  January,  1.28;  Feb- 
ruarv,  .57;   March,   1.76;  April,   .80;   May,   0.00;   total   annual,   6.88. 

Year— 1903-04— June,  0.00;  July,  0.00;  August,  0.00;  September, 
0.00;  October,  .05;  November,  .32;  December,  .13;  January,  .56;  Feb- 
ruarv, 2.15 ;  March,  3.07 ;  April,  .36 ;  May,  0.00 ;  total  annual,  6.64. 

Year— 1904-05— June,  0.00;  July,  0.00;  August,  0.00;  September, 
2.00;  October,  .74;  November,  0.00;  December,  1.24;  January,  1.45; 
Februarv,  1.16;  March,  2.20;  April,  .48;  May,  1.05;  total  annual,  10.32. 

Year— 1905-06— June.  0.00;  July,  0.00;  August,  0.00;  September. 
0.00 ;  October,  0.00 ;  November,  1.37 ;  December,  .41 ;  January,  1.81 ; 
Februarv,  1.54;  March,  4.77;  April,  .76;  May,  1.76;  total  annual,  12.42. 

Year— 1906-07— June,  0.00;  July.  0.00;  August,  0.00;  September, 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  199 

0.00;  October,  0.00;  November,  ..39;  December,  3.49;  Jamiary,  3.51; 
February,  .67 ;  March,  2.39 ;  April,  .32 ;  May,  0.00 ;  total  ammal,  10.77. 

Year— 1907-08— June,  0.00;  July,  0.00;  August,  0.00;  Septem- 
ber. 0.00;  October,  .68;  November,  0.00;  December,  1.74;  Jan- 
uary, 1.92;  February,  3.03;  March,  0.00;  April,  0.00;  May,  .56;  total 
annual,  7.93. 

Year— lf)08-09— June.  0.00;  July,  0.00;  August,  0.00;  Sej^tember, 
.91 ;  October,  0.00 ;  November,  .66 ;  December,  .31 ;  January,  4.35 ;  Feb- 
ruary, 3.21;  March,  1.66;  April,  0.00;  May,  .15;  total  annual,  11.25 

Year— 1909-10— Jime,  0.00;  July,  0.00;  August,  0.00;  September, 
0.00;  October,  .19;  November,  1.57;  December,  2.56;  January,  1.87;  Feb- 
ruary, .08;  March,  1.47;  April,  .05;  May,  .24;  total  annual,  8.03. 

Year— 1910-11— Jime,  0.00;  July," 0.00;  August,  0.00;  September, 
1.51 ;  October,  .30 ;  November,  .23 ;  December,  .72 ;  January,  3.37 ;  Feb- 
ruary, 1.46;  March,  2.94;  April,  0.00;  Mav,  .50;  total  annual,  11.03. 

Year— 1911-12— Jiiue,  0.00;  July,  0.00;  August,  0.00;  September, 
.04;  October,  .09;  November,  .23;  December,  .55;  January,  .51;  Feb- 
ruary, .02;  March,  3.15;  April,  .27;  May,  1.52;  total  annual,  6.38. 


20(1  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

EXIT  AND  RETURN  OF  TULARE  LAKE 

The  most  iuleresting  natural  plienomeuon  that  has  transpired  in 
Kings  county  since  its  organization  is  the  vanishing  and  reappearance 
of  Tulare  lake,  a  body  of  fresh  water,  for  years  the  largest  in  area 
of  any  lake  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  This  lake  at  one  time  within 
the  memory  of  some  pioneers  yet  li\dng  covered  one  thousand  square 
miles  of  territory,  extending  from  Kern  county  northwesterly  to  near 
Lemoore.  From  1854  to  1872,  a  period  of  sixteen  years,  the  area  of 
this  lake  changed  but  little.  But  along  in  the  '70s,  irrigation  from  the 
streams  that  |)oured  into  this  basin  which  forms  the  depression  in 
the  great  Tulare  valley,  the  borders  of  the  lake  gradually  receded.  It 
is  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Gustav  Eisen,  who  knew  the  lake  in  1875  and  who 
made  a  study  of  it  again  in  1898,  that  the  use  of  the  waters  from  the 
streams  by  the  farmers  caused  the  gradual  recession.  In  a  well-written 
article  on  the  subject  Dr.  Eisen  relates  that  recession  was  rajud  at 
the  end  of  the  first  three  years  of  irrigation  farming.  The  tapping  of 
Kings  and  Tule  rivers,  and  Cross  creek  which  is  fed  by  the  Kaweah 
river,  and  the  siireading  of  the  water  out  upon  the  plains  through 
great  systems  of  canals  and  laterals  caused  the  southern  end  of 
the  lake  to  shrink  materially.  The  shore  line  in  1854  represented  the 
diagram  of  an  oyster,  but  by  1875  the  southern  end  had  shrunk  until 
it  was  about  a  mile  in  width.  At  that  time  the  lake  was  a  great  hunt- 
ing and  fishing  ground.  Sail  boats  and  a  steamboat  plied  its  waters. 
At  certain  points  a  man  could  wade  out  for  miles  and  not  reach 
beyond  his  depth.  From  1875  to  1880  the  lake  grew  smaller  and 
smaller  and  in  1882  the  border  had  left  Kern  county  entirely.  In  1888 
it  had  become  almost  circular  in  shape.  From  a  body  of  water 
almost  eighty  miles  in  lengih  in  1858,  by  the  time  Kings  county  was 
formed  it  had  shrunken  to  about  two  hundred  and  twenty  square 
miles.  The  process  of  evaporation  assisted  in  aiding  the  irrigatiouists 
to  uncover  the  bottom  and  as  that  appeared  it  baked  and  cracked 
under  the  influence  of  the  summer  sun  until,  checked  and  fissured, 
it  invited  the  attention  of  the  land  seeker,  for  by  i)lacing  solid  wooden 
shoes  sawed  out  of  plank  on  the  feet  of  horses,  teams  could  be  gotten 
upon  the  land  and  levees  could  be  built  and  crops  put  in.  "Wherever 
planting  was  done  in  this  uncovered  lake  bottom  it  was  discovered 
that  the  soil  was  rich,  especially  at  the  deltas  of  Kings  and  Tule 
rivers  and  Deer  and  Cross  creeks.  The  uncovered  lands  belonged  to 
the  state  under  what  was  known  as  the  Arkansas  act  jiassed  by 
Congress  in  Septeml)er,  1850.  This  act  provided  that  swamp  and 
overflow  lands  such  as  were  of  no  value  in  extending  waterwavs  and 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  201 

oonlfl  not  be  settled  upon  under  conditions  governing'  the  Xntioual 
Homestead  Act,  should  revert  to  the  states  in  which  such  lands  lay. 
The  California  legislature  in  1872  passed  a  swamp  and  overflow  land 
act  which  was  subsequently  amended,  enabling  settlers  to  locate  on 
these  lands  belonging  to  the  state,  the  uniform  price  to  be  $1  per 
acre.  The  law  also  provided  for  a  reclamation  system,  which  when 
the  requirements  were  met,  the  state  would  pay  back  to  the  settler 
the  $1  )ier  acre  advanced.  Under  this  act  nuich  swamp  and  overflowed 
land  was  acquired  l)y  large  corporations  through  their  allied  interests. 
In  1880  the  state  adopted  a  new  constitution  and  an  important  change 
was  made  in  the  matter  of  handling  the  swamp  land,  and  Article  XVII 
provided  that  lands  lielonging  to  the  state  which  are  suitable  for 
cultivation  shall  lie  granted  only  to  actual  settlers  and  in  quantities 
not  to  exceed  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  to  each  settler. 

As  the  waters  of  Tulare  lake  continued  to  vanish  and  the  im- 
mense area  was  laid  bare  settlers  and  speculators  believing  that 
the  lake  had  disappeared  for  all  time,  stampeded  to  Kings  county 
and  "Lakelanders"  were  as  numerous  and  as  enthusiastic  as  pros- 
pectors attracted  to  a  great  mining  field  where  a  lode  has  been 
struck.  Eeclamation  districts  of  large  and  small  area  were  organized 
and  levees  were  erected  out  of  the  silt  marking  the  boundaries  of  such 
districts.  As  fast  as  the  water  could  be  fenced  in  to  smaller  area  by 
the  excited  land-seekers  the  work  went  on  and  the  claimants  plowed 
and  ]ilanted  and  harvested.  Some  enormous  yields  of  wheat  and 
barley  were  recorded. 

Finally,  in  1895,  there  was  no  lake.  Standing  in  the  center  of  the 
vast  expanse  one  May  day  the  writer  of  this  gazed  out  upon  a  vast 
sea  of  about  50,000  acres  of  waving  grain.  The  millions  of  ducks  and 
geese,  pelicans,  swan  and  other  wild  birds  that  once  made  the  old 
lake  their  abiding  place  had  vanished.  A  stray  band  of  pelicans  came 
in,  looked  down  for  the  water,  but  finding  none,  vanished  in  the 
distance.  Farmers  banked  upon  a  bounteous  harvest.  But  during  the 
winter  months  that  had  just  passed  the  canyons  of  the  mighty  Sierras 
had  been  filled  with  snow  and  with  the  spring  rains  and  warm  con- 
ditions in  the  hills  the  torrents  which  had  in  other  years  formed  and 
kept  replenished  the  old  lake  came  down  the  rivers.  Some  of  the 
reclaimers  who  had  particularly  good  levees  managed  through  great 
exertion  to  get  their  grain  out,  while  others  less  fortunate  saw  their 
thousand  of  acres  go  under  water;  saw  their  levees  melt  away  like 
sugar,  their  houses,  barns  and  haystacks  float  away,  and  in  a  few 
weeks  the  theory  that  irrigation  and  the  nudtii^lied  population  of  the 
country  using  the  waters  of  the  Sierras  in  growing  \-ineyards  and 
orchards  had  roblied  the  county  of  its  lake,  had  vanished,  and  Tulare 
lake  was  again  on  the  map  covering  about  the  same  relative  area  as  it 
did  in  189:5. 


202  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

At  present  a  great  levee  lias  been  built  on  the  east  side  of  the 
lake  and  many  thousands  of  rich  acres  have  thus  been  reclaimed  and 
the  further  extension  of  the  levee  will  expand  the  reclaimed  territory 
to  a  large  extent. 


CHAPTER  XXV 
RAILROADS 

The  T)uilding  of  railroads  in  Kings  county  since  its  birth.  May  23, 
1893.  is  a  matter  of  much  historical  im])ort  because  of  the  fact  that 
the  first  competing  line  for  the  great  San  Joaquin  Valley  originated 
and  took  root  through  the  action  of  Kings  county  citizens  on  July  5, 
1894:.  On  that  date  a  group  of  men  while  gathered  at  the  Hanford 
Sentinel  office  lamenting  the  lack  of  railroad  facilities  and  the  burdens 
from  excessive  transportation  rates  from  the  plug  road  already  in 
operation,  raised  a  somewhat  plaintive  cry,  "Let's  have  an  inde- 
pendent line,"  and  on  Thursday,  July  12.  1894,  "An  Independent 
Line"  constituted  the  headline  under  which  the  first  rejiort  of  an 
organized  effort  was  published  and  from  which  incipient  effort 
resulted  what  was  first  called  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  Railroad  Com- 
pany. From  the  Hanford  Sentinel  of  the  above  date  we  quote:  "W.  H. 
Worswick  is  the  man  who  first  sounded  the  key. ' '  The  first  committee  on 
promotion  was  appointed  at  a  meeting  held  in  the  office  of  D.  R.  Cam- 
eron, July  •(,  1891,  and  consisted  of  the  following  representative  men :  "\V. 
W.  Parlin,  W.  H.  Worswick,  D.  R.  Cameron,  W.  S.  Porter,  W.  A.  Long, 
A.  V.  Taylor,  Archibald  Yell.  On  the  following  day  this  committee  met 
at  the  office  of  Archibald  Yell  "to  consider  the  preliminaries  of  getting 
a  start."  By  invitation  E.  Jacobs  of  Visalia  was  present  and  gave 
valuable  suggestions.  The  discussions  resulted  in  adding  to  the  above 
committee  the  names  of  B.  L.  Barney,  E.  Jacobs,  S.  E.  Biddle,  W.  P. 
McCord,  Frank  L.  Dodge,  W.  J.  Newport,  the  whole  to  constitute*  a 
hoard  of  directors  for  a  temporary  organization;  Archibald  Yell  being 
made  president  and  D.  R.  Cameron,  secretary.  A  committee  named  to 
map  out  a  route  through  Kings  county  included  the  following  gentlemen : 
E.  P.  Irwin,  F.  J.  Walker.  TT.  il.  Worswick,  George  A.  Dodge,  Joshua 
Worswick,  W.  P.  McCord,  W.  W.  Parlin.  Numerous  offers  were  made  by 
farmers  to  give  right  of  way  and  grade  the  road  through  their  premises 
and  general  discussion  and  liberal  offers  of  assistance  were  indulged  in 
by  the  community  at  large.  When  the  above  reports  had  been  circulated 
other  counties  took  up  the  cry  for  "An  Independent  Line"  and  the 
next  issue  of  the  Sentinel  carried  the  cheering  headlines,  "Now  is  the 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  203 

time  to  strike,  for  the  iron  is  hot  and  the  people  know  their  needs. 
The  action  of  Kings  county  meets  with  a  hearty  response  from  Contra 
Costa  county."  The  Hauford  organization  was  highly  encouraged  by 
letters  from  Antioch  and  San  Francisco.  Assurances  of  help  by 
uniting  with  the  Kings  county  people  gave  added  impetus  to  the 
cause  and  the  counties  of  Fresno,  Tulare  and  Kern  soon  fell  into  line 
by  holding  public  meetings  and  apitoiuting  committees  to  confer  with 
the  Kings  county  organization.  J.  S.  Leeds,  manager  of  the  San  Fran- 
cisco Traffic  Association,  in  an  interview  said:  "It  is  a  good  time  for 
San  Francisco  to  go  tn  work.  If  one  county  can  do  what  these  people 
of  Kings  county  are  doing  the  other  counties  can  be  relied  upon  to  do 
something  of  the  same  kind.  Let  us  join  hands  with  them."  At 
Antioch  a  mass  meeting  was  held  and  C.  M.  Belshaw  introduced  a 
strong  resolution  stating  that  the  people  of  Antioch  "are  in  hearty 
accord  and  sympathy  with  the  scheme  promulgated  by  the  citizens  of 
Kings  county."  C.  G.  Lamberson  of  Visalia  who  had  interests  in 
Kings  county  enlisted  as  a  helper.  Supervisors  Letcher  and  Foster  of 
Fresno  county  came  out  emphatically  in  favor  of  the  Kings  county 
movement  and  advocated  a  plan  to  bond  Fresno  county  in  the  simi 
of  $fi()O,000  to  aid  the  project.  Tulare  county  people  began  to  awaken 
and  Kern  county  also  felt  an  impulse  to  join  in  a  scheme  to  reduce 
a  transportation  rate,  the  excess  of  which  over  a  fair  and  just  rate 
would  soon  pay  for  a  competing  road.  At  this  juncture  the  political 
camiiaign  of  1894  came  on  and  also  a  question  of  the  government 
ownership  of  the  Southern  Pacific  lines  which  had  a  tendency  to 
damjjen  the  ardor  of  the  jieople  toward  the  newly  proposed  railroad 
in  the  various  interior  counties  of  the  San  Joafpiin  Valley;  Init  the 
Ti'aftic  Association  of  San  Francisco  about  the  middle  of  October, 
1894,  began  an  effort  to  raise  $350,000  to  start  "The  Valley  Railroad" 
as  it  was  then  called.  Then  a  comi)any  known  as  the  "United  Rail- 
road Com])any, "  managed  liy  a  man  named  ITartzell  at  Stockton. 
launched  a  scheme  to  build  a  road  from  Stockton  to  Bakersfield. 
This  was  in  November,  1894.  It  sought  to  unite  with  the  San  Fran- 
cisco Traffic  Association  and  was  encouraged  by  P.  McRae  of  Ilanford. 
The  original  movement  by  Kings  county  people  seemed  for  a  while 
held  U))  by  the  efforts  of  the  above  combines  and  the  seeming  reluct- 
ance of  capitalists  in  the  northern  metropolis  to  justly  aid  the  interests 
of  the  San  Joaquin  A'alley  people.  Late  in  November,  1894,  D.  R. 
Cameron,  secretary  of  the  Kings  county  railroad  jiromotion  committee, 
threw  a  bombshell  into  the  camp  of  the  San  Francisco  business  men 
l)y  writing  a  letter  to  the  Los  Angeles  Chamber  of  Conmierce, 
setting  forth  a  proposition  wlu'rel)y  Los  Angeles  might  unite  in 
building  a  competing  railroad  into  the  San  Joacpiin  Valley,  thus 
securing  a  substantial  interchange  of  trade  which  their  ])resent  trans- 
portation rates  prohibited.   This  valley  had  ])reviously  looked  north  to 


204  TULAK1-:  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

San  Franoisco  for  aid.  'I'lie  lethargy  of  that  city  was  ])henonipnal. 
The  proposition  was  well  received  by  Los  Angeles  people  and  again 
enthusiasm  went  to  an  upper  mark.  A  meeting  was  called  by  the 
Los  Angeles  Chamlier  of  Commerce  for  January  12,  1895.  Delegations 
were  sent  to  this  meeting  appointed  by  the  Boards  of  Svipervisors  of 
the  res})ective  counties  as  follows:  Kings  county,  S.  E.  Biddle,  F.  L. 
Dodge,  D.  R.  Cameron;  Fresno  county,  T.  C.  White,  Fulton  G.  Berry, 
J.  II.  Kelley.  O.  J.  Woodward;  Kern  county,  W.  H.  Holaliird;  Tulare 
county,  E.  Barris.  The  delegates  were  well  received  by  the  Los 
Angeles  Chaml)er  of  Commerce  and  two  enthusiastic  sessions  were 
held  at  which  resolutions  endorsing  the  Matthews  bill  which  was  then 
pending  before  the  State  Legislature,  empowering  counties  to  issue 
bonds  for  constructing  railroads  within  their  boundaries.  A  commit- 
tee on  Ways  and  Means  was  appointed.  Said  committee  elected  W. 
H.  Holabird  chairman,  Charles  Forman  secretary,  and  J.  M.  Elliott 
of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Los  Angeles,  treasurer.  The  sense  of 
the  meeting  was  strong  that  a  line  of  railway  be  built  from  Los  An- 
geles into  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  and  recommended  the  means  pro- 
vided by  the  Matthews  Bill  as  an  incentive  for  the  various  counties  to 
act. 

The  result  of  the  Los  Angeles  meeting  was  the  bomb  that  awak- 
ened San  Francisco  capitalists,  for  no  sooner  than  reports  reached 
them  that  Los  Angeles  was  interested  in  getting  the  trade  of  this  great 
valley  did  the  Bay  City  see  its  danger  and  her  prominent  business 
men  began  to  bestir  themselves  to  enlist  ca]ntal  to  come  to  the  rescue. 
Word  was  quickly  sent  to  the  Kings  county  organization  that  a  com- 
mittee of  twelve  had  been  selected  in  San  Francisco  with  Claus 
Spreckels  at  the  head,  with  a  subscription  of  $700,000;  that  a  company 
was  forming  to  be  capitalized  in  the  sum  of  $2,000,000  which  would 
all  be  subscribed  in  that  city  in  a  few  days  to  guarantee  the  building 
of  the  new  road  from  San  Francisco  to  Bakersfield.  The  San  Fran- 
cisco committee  consisted  of  Claus  Spreckels,  Alexander  Bovd,  James 
D.  Phelan,  James  F.  Flood,  O.  D.  Baldwin,  David  Meyer,  w".  F.  Whit- 
tier,  Albert  Miller.  Charles  Holbrook,  Thomas  Magee,  John  T.  Doyle, 
and  E.  F.  Preston.  This  action  electrified  the  whole  city  and  set  every- 
body talking  about  the  new  railroad,  while  the  San  Joaquin  Valley 
rang  with  the  hallelujahs  of  promised  deliverance.  Even  Los  Angeles 
took  u))  the  strain  and  advocated  a  continued  line  of  road  to  that  city. 
On  January  2nd,  1895,  a  mass  meeting  was  held  in  the  Hanford  Opera 
House.  After  discussion  of  the  outlook  by  prominent  citizens  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  confer  with  the  San  Francisco  committee, 
consisting  of  E.  p].  Manheim,  D.  R.  Cameron,  S.  E.  Biddle,  P.  McRae, 
F.  L.  Dodge.  Louis  F.  Montagle.  F.  W.  Van  Sicklin,  S.  C.  Lillis,  A. 
Kutner,  J.  E.  Rawlins.  The  San  Francisco  Chronicle  encouraged  the 
enterprise  by  giving  a  whole  page  write-up  of  the  great  resources  of 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  205 

the  various  counties  throu<>"li  whieh  the  new  road  would  pass.  In  its 
write-uji  it  said  of  Kings  County : 

"Kini;s  County  is  known  as  tlie  l)aby  county  of  the  state,  from  tlie 
fact  tliat  it  was  tlie  last  one  to  be  created.  It  was  taken  from  Tulare 
County,  and  includes  all  of  Tulare  Lake,  a  shallow  basin  of  about  100 
square  miles  in  area.  This  new  county  of  Kings  is  in  the  direct  line 
of  all  railroad  enterprises  that  expect  to  traverse  the  San  Joaquin 
Valley.  It  has  an  assessed  acreage  of  427,281  acres  and  an  assessed 
wealth  of,  in  1892,  about  $7,000,000.  The  territory  of  this  county  is 
irrigated  by  ditches  having  their  sujiply  from  Kings  and  Kaweah 
rivers  and  Cross  Creek,  furnishing  what  is  claimed  to  be  the  best, 
cheapest  and  most  thorough  irrigation  system." 

At  this  time  $2,100,000  had  been  subscribed  and  articles  of  incor- 
poration filed  in  which  San  Francisco  and  Bakersfield  were  named  as 
terminal  points.  The  ca|)ital  stock  of  the  company  was  placed  at 
$6,000,000,  the  length  of  the  road  to  be  350  miles. 

But  all  great  enterjirises  meet  with  difficulties  and  now  came  the 
one  great  question,  how  to  get  into  San  Francisco?  Clans  Spreckels 
found  the  way  l)locked  against  right  of  way  for  terminal  facilities  and 
had  to  go  to  the  State  Legislature  to  get  a  Bill  enacted  so  as  to  be  able 
to  lease  mud  flats  for  terminal  grounds. 

Trouble  also  came  to  the  people  of  Hanford  and  Kings  county 
in  the  way  of  different  routing  of  the  line  through  the  valley.  Down 
the  west  side  or  the  east  side,  which?  While  Kings  county  as  the 
pioneers  in  the  work  had  brought  it  to  a  probable  success,  her  people 
were  called  u]iou  to  "put  up"  or  lose  the  goose.  As  it  was  proclaimed 
by  C.  F.  Preston,  one  of  the  San  Francisco  boosters,  to  be  "a  people's 
road,  built  with  the  jieople's  money  and  owned  by  the  people,"  the 
TIanford  committee  reported,  after  a  canvass  of  the  county,  that  1068 
days'  work  by  men  and  teams,  making  over  three  years'  work,  had 
been  offered,  several  hundred  tons  of  hay,  an  amount  of  liarley  and 
some  money;  besides  this  three  different  men  had  promised  to  grade 
enough  to  make  one-half  the  distance  across  the  county.  The  city  of 
Hanford  would  fui'nish  depot  grounds  and  i-ight  of  way. 

At  this  time  390  names  were  on  the  San  Francisco  subscrijition 
list,  aggregating  $2,388,300.  Claus  Spreckels  said  he  wanted  it  called 
the  "people's  road"  and  not  Spreckels'  road.  The  San  Fi-ancisco  Ex- 
aminer said  in  its  |)raise:  "The  valley  road  will  save  the  trade  and 
industry  of  the  city  from  the  strangling  grip  of  the  Southern  Pacific's 
policy  that  is  now  directed  to  give  the  trade  of  the  interior  to  Chicago 
and  New  York." 

April  29,  1895,  Clans  Spreckels,  Robert  Watt  and  Cajit.  H.  11. 
Payson,  directors  of  the  new  valley  road,  visited  Hanford  on  a  tour 
of  inspection  as  to  jjrobable  routes  and  to  view  the  resources  from 
which  the  new  road  might  expect  pati'onage.  The  TIanf(U-d  conunittee 
gave  them  a   ride  througli   the   surrounding  couiiti\v  and   a   ban(|uet. 


I'OG  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

The  "Sau  Fraucisco  and  San  Joaquin  Valley  Railroad"  had  now  be- 
come a  certainty;  rails  had  lieeu  purchased  for  a  beginning  and  con- 
tracts for  construction  were  being  negotiated.  Committees  in  the  va- 
rious counties  were  working  for  rights  of  way,  it  being  about  settled 
that  the  road  from  Fresno  would  branch  to  both  sides  of  the  valley. 
May  7th  a  Hanford  committee,  consisting  of  E.  E.  Bush,  D.  R.  Cameron, 
L.  S.  Chittenden  and  Frank  L.  Dodge,  were  sent  on  a  trip  to  look  out 
the  most  direct  route  down  the  west  side  to  Bakerstield. 

A  committee  of  the  directors  of  the  road  again  visited  Hanford 
on  a  final  tour  of  inspection  on  May  7th,  and  it  was  then  admitted 
that  Hanford  would  be  on  the  main  line.  On  Friday,  the  22nd  day  of 
January,  1897,  was  transacted  the  very  important  business  of  signing 
contracts  with  the  San  Francisco  and  San  Joaquin  Valley  Railroad 
Company  by  which  Kings  County  was  to  get  the  main  line,  and  on 
Monday  night,  January  25th,  the  Hanford  City  Council  granted  a  fran- 
chise through  the  city  for  the  building  and  operating  of  the  new  road. 
On  Tuesday,  January  26th,  duly  authorized  committee,  consisting  of 
E.  E.  Bush,  D.  R.  Cameron  and  P.  McRea,  as  custodians  of  the  money 
raised  and  deeds  collected  for  rights  of  way,  signed  the  contract  with 
the  railroad  company  which  secured  the  prize  for  which  Kings  county 
had  been  struggling  for  during  the  past  three  years. 

There  was  little  left  to  be  done  by  the  people  but  to  await  the 
building  of  the  road  south  from  Fresno  to  Bakerstield,  via  Hanford. 
While  Hanford  people  took  the  initiative  and  with  commendable  zeal 
pushed  the  enterprise  from  the  start,  the  financial  requirements  were 
so  far  beyond  them  that  the  actual  construction  and  equipment  must 
necessarily  pass  to  the  hands  of  a  comi^any  of  capitalists,  which  it  did 
and  thus  the  matter  of  control  by  the  people  was  wholly  lost  and  the 
question  of  its  being  and  remaining  a  competing  railroad  when  finished 
was  a  mere  guess.  However,  it  was  an  improvement  much  needed  and 
desired  by  the  people  and  all  were  pleased,  and  encouraged  to  greater 
activity  in  all  lines  of  industry  that  belong  to  this,  the  greatest  inland 
empire  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  The  actual  coming  of  the  iron  horse  over 
the  new  road  was  celebrated  in  Hanford  on  May  23rd,  1897,  just  two 
years,  eleven  months  and  eighteen  days  from  the  date  of  the  first  meet- 
ing in  Hanford  to  start  it. 

The  celebration  of  its  coming  was  combined  with  the  fifth  anni- 
versary celebration  of  Kings  county.  On  that  date  the  first  passenger 
train  over  the  new  road  sounded  its  whistle  to  the  largest  crowd  that 
had  ever  gathered  at  Hanford.  There  were  parades  with  bands  of 
nmsic;  floats  representing  horticultural  and  agricultui-al  interests,  as 
well  as  the  city  business  houses,  the  educational  and  civic  institutions 
of  Kings  county  and  many  delegations  of  visitors  from  surrounding 
counties  and  towns.  One  thousand  people  came  in  on  the  first  passenger 
train,  including  the  directors  and  other  officers  of  the  new  road. 

After  the  grand  parade  had  been  reviewed  by  the  visitors  and  the 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  207 

happy  thousands  of  home  people,  exercises  were  held  at  a  grand  stand 
where  eloquent  speeches  were  made  by  E.  E.  Manheim,  president  Han- 
ford  Chamber  of  Commerce;  Judge  Justin  Jacobs  of  Kings  county, 
Vice-President  Robert  Watt  of  the  road.  Col.  E.  E.  Preston,  counsel 
for  the  road.  It  was  a  gala  day  for  Kings  county,  then  the  baby 
county  of  tlie  state,  because  the  new  road  had  reduced  freights  and 
farjes  to  San  Francisco  about  one-third  and  had  brought  such  im- 
proved accommodations  as  to  merit  the  praise  of  all. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 
DAIRY  INDUSTRY 

No  history  of  Kings  county  would  be  complete  without  mention 
of  the  dairy  industry,  and  it  was  only  four  years  prior  to  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  county  that  the  dairy  industry  was  foimded,  in  the  year 
1889,  by  a  few  progressive  ranchers.  It  was  due  to  their  foresight 
and  persistent  efforts  that  a  co-operative  company  for  the  manufacture 
of  cheese  was  formed  and  incorporated.  At  that  time  it  was  generally 
believed  that  climatic  conditions  in  this  part  of  the  valley  were  such 
as  to  preclude  the  successful  manufacture  of  dairy  products  commer- 
cially, but  the  new  company  erected  a  factory  at  Hanford  and  sub- 
sequently another  factory  was  built  in  the  Lakeside  district,  eight 
miles  south.  The  Lakeside  institution  operated  for  several  years,  but 
was  finally  acquired  by  the  Hanford  company.  The  establishment  of 
these  factories  inspired  the  ranchers  to  improve  their  stock,  and  the 
mongrel  cows  of  the  old  home  dairy  days  gave  way  to  imported  short- 
horn Durham,  Plolstein,  Jersey,  Ayrshire  and  other  breeds,  so  we  can 
mark  the  beginning  of  the  i^resent  extensive  dairy  business  here  to 
the  advent  of  factory  cheese-making.  As  it  was  soon  learned  that 
alfalfa  was  the  great  forage  for  the  dairy,  cheese  making  prospered, 
and  in  1889  the  two  cheese  factories  passed  into  the  ownership  of 
A.  B.  Crowell,  one  of  the  coimty's  first  interested  dair^^nen.  In  that 
year  he  made  up  into  cheese  1700  pounds  of  milk  per  day.  During 
the  six  years  which  followed,  the  patronage  of  the  factories  grew  to 
10,000  pounds  of  milk  ]ier  day,  and  in  the  year  1902  the  Hanford  fac- 
tory, which  had  then  swallowed  up  the  Lakeside  plant,  turned  out 
150,000  pounds  of  cheese.  But  in  1897,  F.  J.  Peacock  established  a 
butter  factory  in  the  Dallas  district,  near  where  the  town  of  Corcoran 
now  stands.     He  subsequently  established  other  butter-making  plants, 


208  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

and  so  rapidly  did  the  butter  indiistry  grow  that  in  1902  there  were 
4500  cows  in  the  county,  supplying  cream  to  the  factories,  the  Kings 
County  Creamery  alone  paying  out  that  year  to  the  dairymen  $120,000 
for  milk  and  cream.  Finally  the  Hanford  cheese  factory  was  destroyed 
by  tire,  and  the  butter  industry  having  grown  more  popular,  absorbed 
the  attention  of  the  dairymen,  and  cheese  making  in  the  county  has 
been  since  confined  to  small  private  plants,  but  an  article  of  excellent 
grade  is  made  for  local  consumption. 

In  1903  a  company  was  organized  in  Hanford  for  the  condensation 
of  milk.  A'  factory  was  erected  and  equipped,  hut  through  some  fault 
in  the  management  the  project  was  a  failure. 

The  creamery  business,  however,  has  flourished  until  in  1911  the 
output  of  dairy  products  from  the  dairies  of  the  county  amounted  to 
$1,574,250.  There  are  five  incorporated  creameries  in  the  county  now, 
and  others  in  prospect. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  209 


CHAPTER  XXVII 
THE  CITY  OF  HANPORD 

Hanford,  the  chief  city  and  county  seat  of  Kings  county,  is  situated 
midway  between  San  Francisco  and  Los  Angeles,  and  the  townsite  was 
laid  out  by  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  Company  in  March,  1877. 
The  town  was  named  after  James  Hanford,  who  was  auditor  of  the 
railroad  company  at  the  time  the  railroad  was  built  to  this  point. 
As  an  unincorporated  town  it  soon  became  an  important  trading  point, 
and  in  July,  1891,  after  a  series  of  annual  conflagrations,  the  peoj^le 
determined  to  incorjjorate  the  town  and  make  it  a  city  of  the  sixth 
class.  Accordingly  a  petition  was  presented  to  the  board  of  super- 
visors of  Tulare  county  on  July  10,  1891,  praying  for  an  election  to 
be  called  for  the  purpose  of  deciding  upon  the  subject  of  incorporating. 

The  petition  contained  the  description  of  the  boundaries  of  the 
proposed  city,  and  they  were  as  follows,  to  wit :  Beginning  at  a  point 
thirty  feet  north  and  thirty  feet  west  of  the  southeast  corner  of  section 
36,  township  18  south,  range  21  east,  M.  D.  B.  and  M.,  thence  run- 
ning due  north  to  a  point  thirty  feet  south  and  thirty  feet  west  of  the 
northeast  corner  of  section  25,  township  18  south,  range  21  east, 
M.  D.  B.  and  M.,  thence  due  west  to  a  point  thirty  feet  south  and 
thii'ty  feet  east  of  the  northwest  corner  of  said  section  2.5,  thence 
due  south  to  a  point  thirty  feet  north  and  thirty  feet  east  of  the  south- 
west corner  of  aforesaid  section  36,  thence  due  east  to  point  of 
beginning. 

Those  who  petitioned  for  this  movement  were :  Frank  J.  Walker, 
T.  Gebhardt.  J.  H.  Malone,  J.  Manasse,  F.  A.  Blakeley,  0.  B.  Phelps, 
Dixon  L.  Phillips,  R.  G.  White,  S.  E.  Biddle,  S.  Rehoefer,'  R.  Mills, 
E.  E.  Manheim,  F.  L.  Dodge,  J.  D.  Biddle,  C.  R.  Brown,  J.  J.  Harlow, 
George  Slight,  J.  T.  Baker,  E.  E.  Rusli,  R.  W.  Musgrave,  Z.  D. 
Johns,  X.  P.  Duncan,  D.  Gamble,  J.  H.  Sharp.  A.  J.  Huff,  A.  E. 
Chittenden,  F.  A.  Dodge,  J.  D.  Spencer,  B.  C.  Bestman,  W.  R.  Mc- 
Quiddv,  B.  C.  Mickle,  A.  P.  Gomes,  D.  L.  Healy,  E.  Axtell,  T.  J. 
McQuiddv,  E.  P.  Irwin,  P.  A.  Hov,  N.  Weisbaum,  K.  Simon,  C.  B. 
Rourke,  J.  P.  Ames.  J.  G.  Mickle.  J.  G.  Clanton,  J.  Hanley,  Wm. 
Roughton,  J.  Weisbaum,  J.  R.  Beekwith,  P].  J.  Benedict,  C.  R.  Hawley, 
Wra.  Corey,  E.  Weisbaum,  John  S.  Thompson,  H.  G.  Lacey,  S.  M. 
Rosenberger,  R.  L.  Roughton,  H.  C.  Fallin,  W.  H.  Nyswonger,  W.  A. 
Ai-nold,  S.  M.  Joiner,  Charles  F.  Cunning,  George  W.  King,  C.  J. 
Hall,  C.  W.  Cooper,  Charles  King,  R.  Starkweather,  A.  H.  Martin, 
R.  Irwin.  F.  V.  Dewey,  H.  Buck,  Charles  Vosburg,  A.  E.  Gribi.  M. 
C.  LaFortune,  J.  C.  Davis,  E.  M.  Friant,  Wm.  McVey.  Sanmel  J. 
Bee,  A.  G.  Dollenmayer,  J.  F.  Garwood,  E.  Lord,  H.  C.  Tandy. 


210  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

The  election  was  held  on  Anaust  8,  1891.  and  resulted  in  the  fol- 
lowing vote:  For  incorporation,  127;  against  incorporation,  47. 

ELECTIVE   OFFICEKS   OF   THE    CITY   OF   HANFORD   FROM    1891  TO    1913 

From  1891  to  1892— Trustees :  E.  Axtell,  B.  A.  Fassett,  James 
0.  Hickman,  James  Manasse  and  George  Slight.  President  of  the 
Board.  B.  A.  Fassett;  City  Clerk.  W.  R.  McQuiddy;  Treasurer,  N. 
Weisliaum ;  Marshal,  Wm.  A.  Bush. 

From  1892  to  1894 — Trustees :  E.  Axtell,  B.  A.  Fassett,  E.  Lord, 
Richard  Mills  and  George  Slight.  President  of  the  Board,  B.  A. 
Fassett ;  City  Clerk,  Edward  Weisbaum ;  Treasurer,  Jas.  0.  Hickman ; 
Marshal,  Wm.  A.  Bush. 

From  1894  to  1896— Trustees:  S.  B.  Hicks,  J.  H.  Malone,  R.  E. 
Starkweather,  E.  Lord  and  George  Slight.  President  of  the  Board, 
George  Slight ;  City  Clerk,  Frank  Pryor ;  Treasurer,  J.  0.  Hickman ; 
Marshal,  H.  McGinnis. 

From  1896  to  1898— Trustees :  D.  R.  Cameron,  John  Ross,  S. 
B.  Hicks,  J.  H.  Malone  and  R.  E.  Starkweather.  President  of  the 
Board.   S.   B.   Hicks;  City   Clerk,   Frank   Pryor;    Treasurer.    Arthur 

D.  King;  Marshal,  H.  McGinnis. 

From  1898  to  1900— Trustees :  S.  E.  Biddle,  J.  G.  Burgess,  J.  H. 
Farley,  D.  R.  Cameron  and  John  Ross.  President  of  the  Board,  D. 
R.  Cameron;  City  Clerk,  Frank  Pryor;  Treasurer,  A.  D.  King; 
Marshal,  H.  McGinnis. 

From  1900  to  1902— Trustees :  Wm.  Abbott,  W.  H.  Camp,  S.  E. 
Biddle.  J.  G.  Burgess  and  J.  H.  Farley.  President  of  the  Board, 
J.  H.  Burgess;  City  Clerk,  B.  W.  Moore;  Treasurer,  A.  D.  King; 
Marshal,  Ed.  Reuck. 

From  1902  to  1904— Trustees :  Wm.  Abbott,  Wm.  Camp,  J.  W. 
Rhoads,  Harrv  Widmer  and  J.  E.  Viney.  President  of  the  Board, 
Harry  Widmer;  City  Clerk,  Jas.  A.  Hill;  Treasurer,  F.  R.  Hight; 
Marshal,  A.  M.  Frederick. 

From  1904  to  1906— Trustees :     W.  H.  Camp,  E.  H.  Walker,  J. 

E.  Vinev,  J.  W.  Rhoads  and  H.  Widmer.  President  of  the  Board, 
Harry  Widmer;  City  Clerk,  Jas.  A.  Hill;  Treasurer,  F.  R.  Hight; 
Marshal,  A.  M.  Frederick. 

From  1906  to  1908— Trustees :  H.  A.  Beekhuis,  W.  H.  Cam]i, 
E.  H.  AValker,  Grant  Starkweather  and  J.  M.  Dean.  President  of 
the  Board,  H.  A.  Beekhuis ;  City  Clerk,  Jas.  A.  Hill ;  Treasurer,  F.  R. 
Hight;  Marshal,  A.  M.  Frederick. 

From  1908  to  1910— Trustees :  H.  A.  Beekhuis,  B.  L.  Barney, 
David  Gamble,  J.  M.  Dean,  Grant  Starkweather.  President  of  the 
Board.  H.  A.  Beekhuis,  who  resigned  and  B.  L.  Barney  was  chosen 
president ;  City  Clerk,  James  A.  Hill ;  Treasurer,  F.  E.  Hight ;  Marshal, 
A.  M.  Frederick. 

From  1910  to  1912— Trustees :    B.  L.  Barney,  F.  M.  Parish,  Grant 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  211 

Starkweatlier,  David  Gamble,  A.  W.  Bass.  President  of  the  Board, 
B.  L.  Baruey;  City  Clerk,  D.  C.  Williams;  Treasurer,  F.  R.  Higbt; 
Marshal,  A.  M.  Frederick. 

From  1912  to  19 IJ— Trustees:  Charles  H.  Coe,  J.  H.  Dawson, 
A.  W.  Bass,  F.  M.  Parish,  Grant  Starkweather.  President  of  the 
Board,  Charles  H.  Coe;  City  Clerk,  D.  C.  Williams;  Treasurer,  F.  R. 
Hight;  Marshal  (now  appointive),  Samuel  Humphreys.  The  latter 
resigned  in  January,  1913,  and  Clarence  Seaman  was  appointed  to 
succeed  him. 

The  City  of  Hanford  at  this  time,  twenty-two  years  after  it  was 
incorporated,  enjoys  fifteen  blocks  of  business  streets  paved  with 
asphaltum  concrete  and  curbed  with  granite.  The  city  owns  its  own 
Holly  water  system  for  protection  against  fire,  having  one  of  the  best 
duplicated  systems  of  steam  pumping  through  a  system  of  under- 
ground water  mains  extending  throughout  the  city  that  can  be  found 
in  any  city  of  its  size.  A  volunteer  fire  department  of  thirty-five 
men  is  etjuijiped  with  auto  chemical  and  hose  truck,  hand  chemicals, 
etc.,  which  were  purchased  in  1912  and  succeeded  horse-drawn  ap- 
paratus.  In  October,  1912,  the  city  voted  bonds  in  the  sum  of  $35,000 
to  extend  the  then  existing  fire  system,  which  was  built  in  the  early 
'90s  and  subsequently  extended.  At  this  election  bonds  of  $80,000 
were  also  voted  to  rehabilitate  a  city  sewer  system  constructed  orig- 
inally in  1900  by  a  bond  issue.  In  the  latter  year  a  bond  election 
was  held,  November  20,  and  bonds  in  the  sum  of  $50,000  were  voted, 
the  vote  being  324  for  and  109  against  the  bonds.  A  sewer  farm  of 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  was  purchased,  the  same  being  the  north- 
west quarter  of  section  12,  19-21.  A  septic  tank  was  there  built,  and 
a  system  of  sewers,  the  largest  size  of  pipe  used  being  twelve  inch 
for  the  outfall,  was  constructed.  At  that  time,  with  the  population 
of  the  city  being  about  2,900,  the  system  was  fairly  adequate,  but 
the  rapid  increase  of  population  and  the  fact  that  the  first  sewer 
constructed  was  in  many  resi)ects  improperly  done,  permitting  of 
deterioration,  in  the  summer  of  1908  the  city  reconstructed  the  outfall 
and  extended  the  service  within  the  city.  This  proved  also  only  a  tem- 
porary relief,  and  the  growth  of  population  having  reached  the  6,000 
mark  in  1912,  the  sewer  question  became  a  pressing  one,  hence  the 
bonds  called  for  and  votecl  in  November  last,  as  above  stated.  The 
contract  for  this  sewer  extension,  the  building  of  the  Imhoff  disposal 
plant,  etc.,  was  awarded  January  28,  1913.  Through  a  technicality 
the  courts  declared  the  bond  issue  invalid. 

Hanford  is  supplied  with  a  city  hall  which  is  the  headquarters  of 
the  fire  department,  as  well  as  the  seat  of  municipal  government,  where 
the  city  recorder  and  the  city  clerk  have  their  offices  in  connection 
with  the  chamber  of  the  board  of  trustees. 


212  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 


VAXISHING   OF   THE   SALOONS 

From  the  time  -wheu  the  Southern  Pacitio  railroad  had  reached 
this  poiut  aud  Hauford  was  staked  out,  the  tratfio  in  intoxicating 
liquors  flourished  as  in  all  western  towns  until  1912.  While  the  license 
policy  that  i^revailed  in  the  town  was  perhaps  as  well  managed 
as  in  any  average  city,  there  gradually  grew  up  a  sentiment  that 
the  liquor  business  was  detrimental  to  the  social  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity, although  the  revenue  derived  from  the  licensing  of  the 
traffic  was  considerable  and  helped  in  a  large  degree  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  the  municipal  government.  The  religious  element,  as- 
sisted by  others  not  within  the  churches,  gradually  encroached  against 
the  legal  barriers  thrown  about  the  liquor  traffic  by  ordinances  for 
police  protection,  although  the  prime  object  was  revenue,  and  in  the 
winter  of  1909  under  the  leadership  of  tlie  ministerial  association 
of  the  city  a  campaign  was  started  and  was  fought  out  at  the  municipal 
election  in  April  of  1910.  One  set  of  candidates  pledged  to  oppose  the 
saloons  was  nominated  aud  contested  for  the  offices  of  trustee  against 
a  "business  men's"  ticket,  not  pledged,  but  generally  supposed  to  be 
pro-saloon.  The  campaign  was  bitterly  fought,  and  the  election  on 
April  11  resulted  in  the  election  of  F.  M.  Parish,  A.  W.  Bass  and  J.  H. 
Dawson,  "Good  Government"  or  "Citizens'  "  candidates,  over  G. 
Starkweather,  J.  Hedgeland  and  C.  F.  F lemming,  of  the  opposition. 

The  vote  was  close,  the  average  majority  of  the  winning  candi- 
dates being  but  thirty-five  votes.  The  election  of  these  men  gave  the 
temperance  forces  a  majority  of  the  board,  the  holdover  members 
being  B.  L.  Barney  and  David  Gamble.  Between  the  total  vote  for 
Dawson  aud  the  total  vote  for  Starkweather  there  was,  however,  a 
ditf erence  of  only  seven  votes  in  favor  of  Dawson.  This  led  to  a  con- 
test, which  resulted  in  favor  of  Starkweather  in  a  recount  before  the 
superior  court.  Judge  Mahon,  of  Kern  county,  presiding.  The  case 
was  appealed  to  the  supreme  court  aud  the  judgment  of  Mahon  seat- 
ing Starkweather  was  affirmed,  and  he  replaced  Mr.  Dawson  on  the 
board,  thus  insuring  another  term  of  the  license  system  in  the  city. 

The  anti-saloon  forces,  however,  would  not  quit.  The  campaign 
was  taken  up  again  by  the  Anti-Saloon  League  of  California,  and  the 
state  legislature  of  1910-11  enacted  the  Wyllie  local  option  law,  which 
gave  the  anti-saloon  people  a  chance  for  another  round  with  the 
saloons  in  Hauford.  Petitious  were  circulated  for  an  election  under 
that  act,  aud  to  decide  the  "wet"  and  "dry"  question  in  conjunction 
with  the  municijial  election  to  be  held  on  Ajiril  7,  1912.  John  Dawson, 
who  liad  been  ousted  by  the  Starkweather  contest  of  two  years  previ- 
ous, and  Charles  II.  Coe  were  candidates  for  the  anti-saloon  ticket, 
and  S.  B.  Hicks  and  "W.  R.  Newport  were  the  candidates  of  the  oppo- 
sition ticket  for  trustees,  although  both  sides  were  pledged  to  enforce 
the  law  on  the  liquor  question  in  accordance  with  the  expression  of  the 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  213 

voters.  A  lively  and  at  times  bitter  campaign  was  fought  out.  At 
the  election  the  total  vote  cast  on  the  liquor  question  was  1,740  (the 
women  voting  under  the  new  franchise  act),  and  there  were  753  votes 
cast  for  license  and  987  votes  cast  against  it.  The  large  majority  for 
the  "dry"  element  successfully  elected  Messrs.  Ooe  and  Dawson,  and 
when  they  took  their  seats  on  the  board  of  trustees  the  board  inunedi- 
ately  proceeded  to  eliminate  the  saloon  traffic  from  the  city.  The  ques- 
tion of  gi'anting  salaries  to  the  members  of  the  board  of  trustees  was 
also  endorsed  liy  the  electors,  and  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
the  city  the  trustees  became  salaried  officials. 

The  new  board  met  and  organized  on  April  15.  Under  the  new 
law  the  city  marshal  became  an  appointed  officer,  and  Samuel  Humph- 
reys was  chosen.  F.  E.  Kilpatrick  was  chosen  city  attorney.  D.  C. 
Williams  was  elected  clerk  by  the  people,  and  the  board  appointed 
A.  M.  Ashley  city  recorder.  Thus  organized  the  first  city  government 
under  the  "dry"  regime  began  operation.  Under  the  provisions  of 
the  state  law  the  saloons  automatically  went  out  of  business  ninety 
days  after  the  people  had  by  a  majority  vote  so  decreed,  and  in  Han- 
ford,  on  the  night  of  July  6,  1912,  after  existing  for  thirty-five  years 
with  a  legalized  saloon  system,  the  bars  were  closed  and  the  traffic  was 
abandoned  by  the  edict  of  the  people. 

CHURCHES   OF  HAN  FORD 

As  early  as  1874  a  Christian  Church  organization  was  formed  by 
Major  T.  J.  McQuiddy,  W.  E.  McQuiddy,  Elder  Craigie  Sharp,  Court- 
ney Talbot,  J.  M.  Patterson,  Sally  Cotton,  Welcome  Fowler  and  others. 
This  organization  held  meetings  in  Eureka  schoolhouse.  Later  the 
place  of  meeting  was  in  the  Grangeville  schoolhouse.  In  1878  Hanford 
was  chosen  l)y  the  society  as  a  permanent  location  and  a  church  was 
built  at  the  corner  of  Eighth  and  Brown  streets.  Later  this  church 
was  rebuilt  in  its  present  convenient  and  commodious  proportions. 

In  November,  1880,  the  Presbyterian  Church  society,  which  had 
been  organized,  was  given  a  new  imjietus  by  Rev.  N.  W.  Motheral, 
who  was  given  its  leadershij).  He  put  his  native  al)ility  and  force 
into  immediate  action  by  Imilding  a  new  church  building.  In  this 
enterprise  he  was  obliged  to  haul  lumber  fifty  miles  from  the  mills, 
then  in  operation  about  Tollhouse  in  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains. 
Accordingly  he  engaged  Julius  Coe,  Wesley  Underwood,  Ben  Scrivner 
and  a  man  named  Barker,  wlio  formed  a  wagon  train  of  five  big  teams 
to  make  the  trij)  to  the  mills  for  juiiiber.  In  Mai'cli,  188],  the  rliurch 
was  completed  and  the  first  service  held  in  it  by  the  Presbyterian  so- 
ciety was  the  funeral  of  Joseph  Motheral,  the  sixteen-year-old  son 
of  N.  W.  Mothei-al,  the  founder  of  the  church.  Mr.  Motlieral  hold  the 
pastorate  of  the  church  for  many  years,  when  he  resigned  to  serve  an 
appointment  on  the  State  Horticultural  Commission.  Rev.  E.  Lisle 
then  served  a  term  as  pastor,  at  the  end  of  which  Mr.  Motheral  ayain 


l'14  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIPJS 

took  up  tlie  pastorate  and  sei-ved  uutil  liis  licaltli  failed.  The  Presby- 
terian church  has  grown  and  prospered  witli  tliecity  and  count}'  under 
the  pastorate  of  the  Eev.  Sanders,  I.  B.  Self,  George  B.  Gregg,  J.  AV. 
Mount  and  John  Steel.  In  1912  the  lot  at  the  corner  of  Eighth  and 
Douty  streets  on  which  the  church  was  located  was  sold  to  the  county 
for  the  sum  of  $1G,000.  The  church  society  moved  the  old  building 
to  a  new  location  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Irwin  and  Dewey  streets. 

In  the  year  1880  the  Methodist  Church  society  organized,  and 
1)ought  an  old  schoolhouse,  which  they  moved  on  to  a  lot  at  the  south- 
east corner  of  Douty  and  Eighth  streets.  Here  the  congregation 
worshi])ed  through  the  struggling  vicissitudes  of  its  pioneer  days, 
which,  as  is  common  to  all  church  societies,  seemed  at  times  to  baffle  all 
efforts  to  sustain  it.  In  1886  a  new  pastor  came  from  Tennessee  in  the 
person  of  Andrew  G.  Parks.  He  was  a  young,  energetic  man,  who 
took  conunaud  with  ability  and  vigor.  It  was  not  without  great  self- 
denial  and  a  persevei-ance  at  times  sublime  that  he  kept  the  lights 
Inuning  until  the  dawn  of  lietter  times  and  a  growth  in  the  whole 
counuunity  that  brought  a  prosperous  era.  About  the  year  1891  the 
Methodist  society  sold  their  property  and  relocated  on  the  corner  of 
Irwin  and  Park  avenue,  where  a  new  and  commodious  church  building 
was  erected  under  the  pastorshi])  of  Rev.  G.  E.  Morrison.  He  was 
considered  a  specially  qualified  man  to  plan,  build  and  collect  funds 
foi-  clmi'ch  building,  and  as  such  did  a  good  job  for  the  church  here, 
but  later  he  became  a  resident  of  Texas,  where  he  was  convicted  of 
poisoning  his  wife  and  was  himg.  The  church  has  since  prospered 
and  is  supported  by  a  substantial  congregation. 

In  1880  an  Ei)iscopal  church  was  organized,  the  first  service  being 
held  under  Rector  D.  O.  Kelley  in  the  uncompleted  Presbyterian 
church  building.  Rev.  Nixon  followed  in  the  work  until  in  1884  Rev. 
C.  S.  Linsley  took  charge  and  built  a  comfortable  church  on  South 
Douty  street,  where  the  society  flourished  under  various  rectors  until 
the  year  1911,  when  under  Rector  G.  R.  E.  MacDonald  a  new  brick 
church  was  built  on  the  corner  of  North  Douty  and  Eleventh  streets. 
Mr.  MacDonald  was  a  justly  popular  leader  and  under  him  the  church 
grew  to  be  a  leading  factor  among  religious  interests  of  the  city  of 
Hanford.  His  predecessor,  J.  S.  Mayuard,  was  also  a  popular  rector, 
whose  work  left  a  favorable  impress  on  the  community. 

In  the  year  1882  the  Catholics  built  a  mission  church  here  on  the 
corner  of  Seventh  and  Reddington  streets.  Services  were  held  once  a 
month  for  a  while  by  Father  Guerrio,  a  Spanish  priest,  located  at 
Visalia.  Following  him  were  Fathers  Caraspo,  Smith,  Murphy,  Brady 
and  Scher.  Father  Smith  was  the  first  resident  priest.  In  1912  Father 
Scher  made  plans  to  move  the  churcli  ]iroperty  and  enlarge  its  accom- 
modations. Ground  was  secured  at  the  corner  of  Douty  and  Florinda 
streets.  The  new  jjrojierty  will  include  five  large  buildings,  a  school,  a 
convent,  a  rectory,  a  church  and  an  assembly  hall.     The  property  as 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  215 

a  whole  will  occupy  sixteen  lots.  The  Catholic  church  has  a  large 
and  increasin.g  following  among  the  Portuguese  and  other  foreign 
blood  citizenship. 

The  Seventh  Day  Advent  church  was  first  established  at  Lemoore 
about  1887.  The  second  church  of  that  denomination  was  formed  at 
Grangeville  a  few  years  later,  but  about  1900,  to  make  it  more  cen- 
tral for  the  increasing  membership,  it  was  moved  to  Armona.  In  the 
early  '90s  the  Adventists  built  another  church  at  Hanford  on  the  cor- 
ner of  Ninth  and  Harris  streets,  and  in  1906  also  built  a  church  on 
the  island  northwest  of  Lemoore.  The  sect  has  about  400  members 
in  the  county  and  maintains  schools  in  connection  with  their  churches 
at  Hanford,  Armona  and  on  the  island.  Elder  J.  W.  Bagby  has  had 
leading  charge  of  the  work  for  about  twelve  years. 

The  Church  of  God,  at  No.  315  East  Eleventh  street,  was  estab- 
lished locally  about  1904  and  later  acquired  the  church  property  be- 
longing to  the  United  Brethren.  The  society  maintains  services,  but 
has  no  regular  pastor. 

The  First  Baptist  church,  at  No.  521  North  Irwin  street,  was  es- 
tablished on  July  17,  1892.  Its  first  pastor  was  I.  T.  Wood,  and 
Thomas  A.  Dodge  its  first  clerk;  Moses  P.  Troxler,  deacon. 

First  Church  of  Christ,  Scientist,  was  established  as  a  society  in 
1898  and  as  a  church  in  1902,  with  thirty-two  members.  W.  E.  Mc- 
Quiddy  and  Mrs.  Isabella  Lloyd  were  the  first  and  second  readers,  re- 
spectively, for  the  first  term. 

First  Church  of  Christ  was  established  in  a  new  building  built  for 
that  purpose  at  the  corner  of  Irwin  and  Myrtle  streets  in  1908  with 
Major  T.  J.  McQuiddy,  S.  J.  AVhite  and  David  Utterback  its  princi])al 
promoters,  J.  A.  Craig  being  its  first  pastor. 

The  Free  Methodist  church  at  No.  621  North  Plarris  street  was 
established  in  the  year  1891.  Its  first  pastor  was  B.  L.  Knoll.  It  has 
a  membership  of  forty-three  and  maintains  regular  services,  class 
meetings  and  a  Sunday  school. 

The  Grace  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  at  the  corner  of 
Brown  and  Ninth  streets,  was  established  about  1895,  first  holding 
its  meetings  in  a  cottage  in  the  westei'n  part  of  Hanford.  Later  the 
society  built  and  moved  into  the  property  where  they  now  worship. 
Their  first  pastor  was  Rev.  W.  E.  Phillii)S. 

The  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  church,  now  located  at 
South  Douty  and  Second  streets,  was  established  about  1890  by  Rev. 
Sydney  Knox.  The  society  had  several  years  of  uphill  work,  but 
conditions  im])roved  and  the  society  maintains  its  work  in  the  com- 
iHunity. 

The  Second  Baptist  (colored)  church,  at  South  Irwin  and  Second 
streets,  was  stai'ted  in  1898,  its  first  officers  being  Henry  Wyatt,  Jolni 
Wclcher,  StcpJien  Sliaw.  The  first  pastor  was  Rev.  E.  E.  Bickers. 


216  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 


SCHOOLS    OF    KINGS    COUNTY 

The  educational  affairs  of  Kings  county  are  among  its  proudest 
assets.  When  the  county  was  organized  in  1893  there  was  but  one 
high  school,  and  the  formation  of  the  county  was  in  itself  an  inspira- 
tion for  better  educational  advantages.  At  the  birth  of  the  county 
there  were  twenty-nine  school  districts  employing  forty-three  teachers. 
There  were  only  two  thousand  census  children,  and  there  were  only 
five  schools  emplopng  more  than  one  teacher.  Of  the  sixteen  him- 
dred  pupils  then  enrolled  in  schools  of  the  county,  the  one  high  school, 
that  located  at  Hanford,  enrolled  fifty-four  pupils.  The  school  prop- 
erty of  the  county  was  estimated  at  less  than  $90,000. 

The  growth  of  territory  by  annexation,  and  the  extending  of  the 
cultivated  area,  together  with  the  rapid  settlement  of  the  farming 
districts  and  the  towns,  has  brought  the  school  attendance  up  to  three 
thousand  two  hundred  in  1912. 

There  are  now  three  high  schools,  one  at  Hanford,  employing  ten 
teachers;  one  at  Lemoore,  emplo>-ing  five  teachers,  and  one  at  Cor- 
coran, employing  two.  The  enrollment  in  all  high  schools,  including 
two  joint  high  school  districts,  was  two  hundred  and  twenty-four.  The 
Hanford  Union  High  School  was  established  in  1892,  the  Lemoore 
High  School  in  1900,  and  the  Corcoran  High  School  in  1912.  There 
were  at  the  beginning  of  1913  forty  grammar  school  districts  in  the 
county,  employing  eighty-five  teachers.  The  enrollment  in  the  gram- 
mar schools  was  two  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifteen,  with  an  aver- 
age daily  attendance  of  two  thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty-two. 

There  were  graduated  from  the  grammar  schools  in  1912  one 
hundred  and  forty  jnipils,  and  from  the  high  schools  thirty-seven. 
The  school  property  of  the  county  is  now  valued  at  $299,050.  As  the 
educational  affairs  of  the  state  at  large  advance  the  general  effect  is 
noted  in  the  building  of  modern  school  buildings,  and  the  coimty  has 
today  very  excellent  country  school  buildings  and  the  city  schools 
are  also  modern  in  design  and  facilities  for  carrying  on  the  work. 
Since  the  county  was  formed  there  have  been  three  different  county 
superintendents  in  office,  viz. :  James  A.  Graham,  Cliarles  McCourt  and 
Mrs.  N.  E.  Davidson,  the  latter  being  the  i)resent  iucumbeiit. 

HANFOED  FREE  PUBLIC  LIBBAEY 

The  city  of  Hanford  possesses  a  free  ])ublic  library  which  today 
is  the  central  library  of  a  county  library  system,  the  latter  being 
established  in  1912.  Tlie  history  of  the  movement  which  finally 
developed  a  free  city  library  and  afterwards  extending  its  benefits 
and  influences  county-wide,  began  back  in  1890,  when  a  meeting  of 
citizens  of  the  then  unincorporated  town  was  held  December  27 
and  a  reading  room  association  was  formed.  This  association 
opened  a  reading  room  on  May  26,  1891,  in  a  wooden  building  on 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  217 

Seventli  street  between  Douty  and  Irwin  streets.  Mrs.  M.  A.  Harlow 
was  chosen  president  of  tlie  association  and  presided  at  the  meeting. 
Mrs.  Nellie  Henderson  (now  Mrs.  Malone)  was  the  first  librarian. 
At  the  meeting  refreshments  were  served,  and  interested  citizens 
broniiht  books  and  formed  the  nuclens  of  a  library.  After  that 
throngh  the  means  of  donations,  socials  and  concerts  sufficient  funds 
were  raised  to  maintain  the  reading  room,  pay  rentals  and  a  little 
something  to  the  librarian. 

In  May,  1892,  after  Ilanford  had  been  incorporated,  the  reading 
room  control  was  transferred  to  the  city  authorities  and  a  library 
board  was  selected  by  the  city  trustees,  the  selection  being  as  follows : 
Mesdames  D.  L.  Phillips,  R.  G.  White,  N.  Abrams,  J.  W.  Barbour, 
and  W.  V.  Buckner.  Miss  Laura  Lemon  was  employed  as  librarian. 
In  a  rented  building  the  library  was  conducted  by  this  board,  and  in 
Septeml)er,  1902,  aiiiilication  was  made  to  Andrew  Carnegie  for  a  gift 
of  money  with  which  to  establish  a  liltrary.  The  application  was 
for  $15,000.  and  Carnegie  ottered  $10,000.  This  was  not  considered 
sufficient  by  the  ladies.  A  second  request  was  forwarded  to  Mr. 
Carnegie,  and  he  raised  his  donation  to  $12,500.  This  was  accepted 
by  the  library  trustees,  and  they  set  about  securing  a  site.  After 
considerable  discussion,  which  brought  out  no  little  contention,  the 
Kutner-Goldstein  Company  offered  to  the  city  a  site  on  East  Eighth 
street  where  the  present  library  is  situated,  and  the  same  was  pur- 
chased. In  connection  with  the  disposal  of  the  lots  the  Kutner- 
Goldstein  Company  pledged  the  city  $500  worth  of  books  as  a  gift  as 
soon  as  the  new  Carnegie  building  was  finished. 

Following  the  decision  of  the  city  authorities  to  purchase  the 
site  referred  to,  members  of  the  library  board  dissatisfied  with  the 
selection  of  the  site,  and  backed  by  other  citizens,  sued  out  an  injunc- 
tion in  the  courts  to  jirevent  the  acceptance  of  the  site  by  the  city. 
The  case  was  heard  in  the  sujierior  court.  Judge  Austin,  of  Fresno, 
presiding,  and  the  injimction  was  denied.  An  appeal  was  taken  and 
on  January  31,  1905,  the  ai)pellate  court  affirmed  the  decision  of  the 
lower  court,  sustaining  the  action  of  the  city  board.  This  led  to  the 
resignation  of  the  ladies,  who  comprised  the  library  board.  They  ha<l, 
however,  secured  plans  foi-  the  new  library  building,  which  they  had 
on  file. 

The  city  trustees  then  appointed  a  new  board  composed  of  men 
to  carry  forward  the  library  work.  The  new  board  selected  consisted 
of  Fred  A.  Dodge,  chairman;  P.  M.  Norboe,  secretary;  Dr.  J.  A. 
Moore,  Z.  D.  Johns  and  U.  S.  Bock. 

This  board  immediately  went  to  work,  slightly  altered  the  plans 
on  hand  for  the  building,  and  let  the  contract  to  David  Gamble  for 
the  erection  of  tiic  building  which  was  to  be  of  artificial  stone  or 
concrete   block,     'i'iic    building   work   proceeded    and    on   August    12. 


218  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

1905,  the  cornerstone  was  laid  with  sini]>le  ceremony,  consisting  of  a 
brief  address  In-  City  Clerk  James  A.  Hill.  AVithin  the  cornerstone 
were  placed  copies  of  the  Hanford  Daily  Sentinel,  copies  of  the 
Hanford  Senii-Wcrkli/  Journal,  a  complete  set  of  the  then  existing-  pity 
ordinances,  a  card  l)earing  the  names  of  tlie  first  board  of  city  trnstees, 
viz.:  B.  A.  Fassett,  E.  Axtell,  J.  0.  Hickman,  George  Slight  and  J. 
Manasse,  and  the  first  city  clerk,  AV.  R.  McQniddy,  and  many  otlier 
relics  of  the  early  history  of  the  town.  The  construction  of  the  new 
building  progressed,  and  on  February  6,  1906,  the  library  board  met 
and  set  February  22  as  tlie  date  for  the  dedication  of  the  new  building. 

The  arrangements  were  carried  out,  and  at  the  connnodious  and 
well-furnished  Carnegie  library  building  with  a  number  of  fairly 
well-filled  book  stacks,  on  the  night  of  February  22,  the  peojjle 
assembled  for  a  brief  program.  Fred  A.  Dodge,  chairman  of  the 
library  board,  called  the  assemblage  to  order  and  introduced  Prof. 
E.  H.  Walker,  principal  of  the  Hanford  TTnion  High  School,  who 
made  an  address  on  "The  Function  of  a  Public  Library."  Miss 
Margaret  E.  Dold,  the  librarian,  also  gave  an  address  on  "The 
Library  and  its  Wants."  Chairman  Dodge  then  on  behalf  of  the 
board  of  library  trustees  presented  the  completed  building  to  the 
city  of  Hanford.  Secretary  P.  M.  Norboe  made  an  address  in  which 
he  presented  the  financial  statement  of  the  construction  showing  tliat 
the  building  had  been  erected  and  made  ready  for  pulilic  use  for 
the  sum  of  $12,-t72.99,  leaving  a  balance  from  the  Carnegie  gift  in 
the  treasury  amounting  to  $27.01.  In  his  remarks  Secretary  Norboe 
gave  credit  to  library  trustee,  Z.  D.  Johns,  who  had  freely  given  his 
time  in  supei'intending  the  construction,  for  assisting  in  enabling  the 
board  to  complete  the  building  within  the  amount  appropriated. 

The  new  building  was  accepted  on  behalf  of  the  city  by  Han-y 
Widmer,  chairman  of  the  board  of  city  trustees,  in  which  he  compli- 
mented the  library   lioard  on  tlie  excellent  work  done. 

Since  th.e  dedication  of  the  library  it  has  grown  and  become  a 
most  serviceable  and  prized  institution  in  the  city.  Miss  Dold  served 
a  number  of  years  as  librarian.  She  was  succeeded  by  Miss  Norma 
Burrell,  who  served  until  in  the  fall  of  1911,  when  she  was  succeeded 
by  Miss  Bessie  Hermann. 

In  1912  Miss  Hermann  successfully  undertook  to  extend  the 
sco]3e  of  the  Hanford  library  and  make  it  the  center  of  a  county 
library  system.  She  brought  the  matter  before  the  city  trustees  and 
the  library  board,  and  those  bodies  acting  with  the  county  board  of 
supervisors,  carried  out  the  plan  under  the  existing  state  laws,  and 
now  the  institution  is  county-wide,  having  branch  libraries  at  Cor- 
coran, Armona,  Guernsey,  Grangeville,  Lemoore  and  Hardwick.  Tlie 
library  is  suppoi-lcd  from  the  ]iublic  treasury. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  219 

CHAPTER  XXVIII 
LEMOORE 

Lemoore,  located  on  tlie  Soutlicni  Pacific  Railroad,  nine  miles 
west  of  Hanford,  tlie  county  seat,  is  the  second  city  in  size  in  tlie 
connty,  liavin,<>'  an  estimated  i)Oitnlation  of  2500.  It  was  founded  by 
Dr.  Lavern  Lee  Moore,  who  located  with  his  family  on  land  where 
the  city  now  stands  in  April,  1871.  The  following  August  Dr.  Moore 
surveyed  a  few  acres,  and  ten  of  them  were  staked  out  as  town  lots, 
where  business  soon  was  set  up  by  the  pioneers  of  the  town.  Dr. 
Moore  christened  the  young  town  Latache.  The  settlers  then  had 
neither  railroad  or  mail  facilities  and  the  postoffice  at  Grangeville 
was  the  nearest  point  from  which  postal  accommodations  were 
enjoyed.  Soon  Dr.  Moore  petitioned  the  department  at  Washington 
for  the  establishment  of  a  postoffice,  and  a  new  name  was  selected 
for  the  place  by  abbreviating  the  middle  name  and  combining  it 
with  the  last  name  of  the  founder  and  calling  the  new  ]iostoffice 
Lemoore.  Mr.  Moore  died  Se])tember  11,  1898,  at  the  town  he 
founded. 

The  early  l)usiness  men  of  Lemoore  were:  J.  II.  Fox,  B.  K. 
Sweetland,  Max  Lovelace,  A.  Mooney,  D.  Brownstone,  John  Heinlen, 
R.  Scally,  Justin  Jacobs,  G.  W.  FoUett,  John  Hayes,  Benjamin 
Hamlin,  C.  W.  Barrett,  Amos  M.  Ayers,  Dr.  L.  M.  Lovelace,  A.  8. 
Mapes,  E.  Erlanger,  George  W.  Randall,  Dr.  N.  P.  Duncan,  H. 
Larish,  R.  E.  McKenna,  the  latter  serving  as  postmaster,  receiving 
his  appointment  in  1886.  F.  M.  Powell,  now  postmaster,  is  another 
one  of  the  early  men  identified  with  the  city. 

The  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  entered  the  town  in  1S77  and  the 
growth  of  the  town  has  been  steady,  the  greatest  strides  lia\ing 
been  made,  however,  since  the  creation  of  Kings  county. 

Lemoore  was  incorporated  as  n  city  of  the  sixth  class  in  June, 
1900.  and  has  a  nmnicipal  water  and  sewer  system.  The  lirst  grammar 
school  was  organized  in  Latache  (now  Ijemoore)  in  187;!,  and  a  chea]) 
school  building  was  erected  on  two  acres  of  land  donated  to  the 
district  (then  called  Lake)  by  a  Mr.  Armstrong.  The  building  was 
eighteen  by  thirty  feet  and  was  dedicated  with  a  "couutiy  dance" 
on  one  December  night  in  187.'!.  Tlu^  iii'st  teacher  was  a  Mr.  Siiiipson, 
and  the  forty  to  fifty  iiu|)ils  who  attended  this  first  school  came 
from  the  surrounding  country,  some  l)eing  residents  of  the  Kingston 
country  on  Kings  river  to  the  northeast.  The  citizens  of  Lemoore 
evidenced  a  commendable  pride  in  their  ])ublic  schools  when  in  1887 
a  new  $10,000  school  building  was  erected.  In  1885  the  name  of 
the  district  was  changed  from   Ijake  to  Lemoore,  which  name  it  now 


220  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

bears.  In  the  year  1912  there  was  erected  a  magnificent  new  grammar 
school  building  at  a  cost  of  $40,000.  A  very  substantial  high  scliool 
building  was  erected  in  1910. 

The  city  is  well  supplied  with  churches,  i)ulilic  halls,  etc.  There 
are  two  banking  institutions,  and  two  weekly  newspapers,  Tlie  Repub- 
lican and  The  Leader. 

The  rich  soil  and  the  diversified  farming  interests  with  amjile 
irrigating  facilities  surrounding  Lemoore  insure  continued  substan- 
tial growth.  The  leading  industries  uj^on  which  the  city  relies  are 
dairying,  fruit  raising,  raisins,  wine  and  general  agriculture. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

EVOLUTION  OF  THE  SAN  JOAQUIN  VALLEY 

(An  address  by  John  G.  Covert,  Su]ierior  Judge  of  Kings  County, 

Before   Members   of  the   Supervisors'    Convention.) 

In  speaking  today  of  the  evolution  of  the  San  Joacjuin  Valley 
I  shall  mean  the  industrial  and  social  development,  and  I  shall  not 
ilse  the  word  evolution  in  a  technical  sense,  nor  as  a  geologist  would 
use  it.  I  shall  direct  my  remarks  towards  the  unfolding  of  the 
potentialities  of  the  valley  and  its  development  during  the  last  half 
century.  I  shall  further  ]i]'emise  my  remarks  by  briefly  defining 
and  outlining  the  territory  which  in  my  o])inion  it  comprises : 

Beginning  at  a  ])oint  a  few  miles  south  of  the  city  of  Bakersfield, 
where  the  Tehachajn  Mountains,  a  spur  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  join 
the  Tejon  Mountains,  a  s])ur  of  the  Coast  Range,  and  thence  extending 
in  a  northwesterly  direction  a  distance  of  about  three  hundred  miles 
to  a  point  just  north  of  the  city  of  Stockton,  varying  in  width  from 
forty  to  sixty-five  miles,  and  containing  approximately  7,500,000 
acres,  lies  one  of  the  most  fertile  and  pros])erous  valleys  in  the  world, 
and  it  constitutes  and  is  known  as  the  San  Joaquin  Valley. 

So  far  as  I  am  familiar  with  history,  the  San  Joaquin  Valley 
was  first  seen  by  the  eyes  of  white  men  about  March  30,  1772.  A  few 
days  before  that  date  an  expeditiou  had  set  out  from  the  Mission 
Monterey  headed  by  Pedro  Fages  and  Father  Crespi  on  a  tour  of 
exploration.  Padre  Juuipero,  the  famous  Franciscan  missionary, 
was  at  that  time  in  charge  of  the  Mission  Monterey,  and  it  was  at  his 
instigation  the  ex]iedition  was  undertaken.  The  small  i^arty  headed 
by  Pedro  Fages  and  leather  Cresjii  found  their  way  without  adventure 
to  the  waters  of  Suisun  Bay,  and  then  eastward  along  its  southern 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  221 

border,  until  they  reached  a  point  near  Mount  Diablo,  where  tlie 
niagnihcent  river  and  valley  that  was  afterwards  known  as  the  San 
Joaquin  was  presented  to  their  admiring  view.  At  that  time,  doubtless 
in  honor  of  the  patron  saint  of  the  Franciscans,  the  river  was  called 
San  Francisco,  and  it  was  not  until  several  years  later,  probably 
sometime  between  1796  and  1813,  that  the  name  of  San  Joaquin 
was  given  to  this  magnificent  stream.  The  honor  of  bestowing  this 
name  upon  the  river,  from  which  the  valley  subsequently  took  its 
name,  is  credited  to  Gabriel  Moraga,  a  doughty  Spanish  soldier,  who 
lead  some  troops  into  the  northern  end  of  this  valley  about  that  time 
in  i)ursuit  of  hostile  Indians.  Just  when  the  name  San  Joaquin 
was  bestowed  upon  this  river  and  valley  and  by  whom  is  involved 
in  uncertainty,  Init  it  is  a  fact  that  for  over  a  hundred  vears  this 
great  valley  and  river  have  l)een  known  by  that  name. 

Mount  Diablo,  by  some  supposed  to  be  an  extinct  volcano,  a  peak 
in  the  Coast  Range  Mountains,  stands  sentinel  like  just  off  the 
southwestern  extremity  of  the  valley,  and  from  its  top,  a  height  of 
about  four  thousand  feet,  may  be  obtained  a  most  excellent  view  of 
the  valley  and  river.  This  mountain  has  been  adopted  by  the  United 
States  as  a  datum  point  for  the  purpose  of  sectionalization  of  the 
lands  of  the  central  part  of  the  state,  and  there  is  hardly  a  deed  or 
other  written  instrument  affecting  land  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley 
which  does  not  bear  the  familiar  legend  "Mount  Diablo  Base  and 
Meridian."  The  expedition  sent  out  by  Padre  Junipero  in  1772 
seems  to  have  been  the  last  effort  ujion  the  part  of  the  Franciscans 
to  explore  this  territory,  and  so  far  as  I  know,  no  attempt  was  ever 
made  to  foi;nd  a  mission,  although  there  were  some  Indians  in  the 
valley  and  in  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains  on  the  east. 

The  San  Joaquin  Valley  first  began  to  attract  the  attention  of 
the  American  peoj^le  in  the  days  of  '49.  The  discovery  of  gold  by 
.John  Marshall  was  a  signal  for  a  rush  to  the  Pacific  Coast  by  a  class 
of  energetic  and  daring  men,  whose  efficiency  as  pioneers  has  never 
been  excelled,  if  ever  equalled.  The  lure  of  gold,  stories  of  wonderful 
opportunities,  and  the  appeal  of  a  new  country  brought  men  to 
California  by  the  thousands.  Whatever  may  have  been  their  intention 
aliout  permanently  residing  here,  when  they  set  out  ujion  their 
journey  westwaj-d,  once  here,  the  charm  of  climate  and  scenery 
claimed  them  forever  after.  The  men  who  came  here  in  those  days 
came  to  dig  gold.  They  turned  their  faces  towards  the  mines.  A 
plodding  agricultural  jmrsuit  would  not  satisfy  them.  Many  of  them 
had  abandoned  good  farms  and  the  occupations  of  their  fathers  for 
the  fascination  of  gold  digging,  and  nothing  could  divert  them  from 
this  occupation.  On  their  way  to  the  mines  many  passed  over  the 
fertile  lands  of  the  valley,  and  its  possibilities  attracted  their  attention 
and  ai)pealed  to  them,  even  in  their  feverish  rush  to  the  gold  diggings. 


222  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Years  later  wlieu  disappointment  came,  as  it  comes  to  so  many  who 
hunt  fortune  in  mines,  their  thoughts  turned  back  to  the  valley 
with  its  opportunities,  and  hundreds  of  the  miners  became  farmers; 
some  of  their  youth  and  strength  was  expended  to  be  sure,  but  still  full 
of  energy  and  hope  they  determined  to  wrest  from  the  bosom  of 
the  valley  with  the  plow  the  fortune  they  could  not  dig  from  the 
bowels  of  the  mountains  with  the  spade.  There  was  some  farming 
done  about  Stockton  in  the  early  '50s.  Farm  produce  commanded 
a  big  price  and  found  a  ready  market  among  the  miners. 

The  first  great  business  or  industry  of  the  valley,  however,  was 
the  cattle  business,  interspersed  to  some  extent  by  sheep  raising. 
The  mild  short  winters,  the  abundance  of  grass  that  grew  upon 
the  plains,  and  the  many  streams  of  water  made  the  San  Joaquin 
Valley  an  ideal  grazing  country,  and  the  plains  at  one  time  were 
covered  from  Stockton  to  Bakerstield  with  cattle.  These  were  the 
days  of  cattle  kings.  Their  herds  roamed  and  grazed  at  will,  save 
the  occasional  round-u}t  or  rodeo,  when  the  calves  were  marked 
and  bra-nded  and  the  cattle  tit  for  beef  were  cut  out  and  driven  to 
the  nearest  sliipping  point  or  market.  During  the  period  when  the 
cattle  business  was  supreme  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  Major  Domo 
and  his  crew  of  vaqueros  played  a  i>rominent  part  of  the  drama 
of  life.  Here  in  this  valley  were  developed  the  most  skillful  and 
daring  riders  in  the  world;  also  the  most  expert  men  with  the  lasso 
or  riata.  Tliese  were  still  days  of  picturesque  and  romantic  life  in 
California.  The  vaquero  with  his  beautifully  decorated  Mexican 
saddle,  with  its  famous  Visalia  tree,  that  is  now  known  in  every 
cow  country  west  of  the  Mississippi,  his  'silver-mounted  bridle  and 
spurs,  riding  easily  and  gracefully,  was  an  object  of  admiration 
and  emulation.  There  were  few  boys  in  those  days  who  did  not 
intend  to  become  vaqueros  when  they  grew  u]i.  The  horse  and  saddle 
called  to  them  like  the  ship  calls  to  the  boy  bred  beside  the  sea. 
Before  passing  the  vaquero  I  will  say  a  word  or  two  for  his  noble 
mount — the  California  mustang.  There  have  been  horses  that  could 
run  faster  but  never  a  horse  that  could  run  further;  never  a  horse 
that  could  live  on  less  forage  and  pick  it  himself,  often  from  ]iasture 
already  closely  cropped;  never  a  horse  with  a  nobler  heart,  nor  that 
would  respond  more  quickly  to  rein  and  s]iur  than  the  tough,  nervv 
little  mustang  that  did  the  work  on  the  cattle  ranges  and  now  has 
passed  away  in  the  process  of  evolution  like  his  companion,  the 
vaquero.  Sheep  grazing  was  an  industry  at  about  the  same  time, 
or  a  little  later  than  when  the  cattle  business  was  at  its  height. 
The  same  climatic  conditions  and  fertile  plains  that  attracted  cattle 
men  were  equally  inviting  to  sheep  men.  This  was  prosiac  and 
far  less  attractive  business  than  the  cattle  industry. 

Shee|)  licnling  was  done  on  foot  and  attending  conditions  were 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  223 

such  that  it  generally  was  the  last  resort  of  the  wage  earner. 
However,  as  a  business  it  probably  paid  as  well  or  even  better 
than  the  more  attractive  business  of  cattle  raising.  There  was  always 
some  antipathy  between  cattle  men  and  sheep  men,  which  seems  to 
be  found  in  every  place  where  those  two  industries  come  in  contact 
upon  the  range,  for  it  is  a  well-recoguized  fact  among  stock  men  that 
cattle  will  not  graze  upon  a  range  over  which  sheep  have  been  driven 
if  they  can  avoid  it.  It  appears  that  some  odor  from  the  wool  or 
body  of  the  sheep  attaches  to  the  grass  which  causes  it  to  be  offensive 
to  the  nostrils  and  palates  of  the  bovine. 

Wheat  farming  was  the  next  great  industry  that  appeared  in 
the  San  Joaquin  Valley.  This  business  was  the  thin  edge  of  the 
entering  wedge  that  displaced  the  stock  men  and  drove  them  back 
step  by  step  until  the  only  refuge  left  them  was  the  remote  and  less 
desirable  land  for  cultivation,  also  the  Spanish  grants,  vast  tracts  of 
land  which  had  during  the  time  of  Spanish  sovereignty  in  this  state 
been  granted  to  certain  Spanish  settlers,  and  had  been  in  turn 
recognized  by  Mexico  and  by  the  United  States  when  California  was 
finally  ceded  to  our  government.  The  humble  yet  ])owerful  fence 
began  to  appear.  It  was  no  longer  possible  to  travel  in  the  direction 
which  fancy  or  business  suggested.  Roads  and  trails  began  to  turn 
at  right  angles,  and  fences  marked  a  line  over  which  one  may  no 
longer  freely  pass.  Stock  grazing,  the  first  great  industry  of  the 
valley,  now  had  in  a  measure  passed  and  in  its  place  came  wheat 
farming.  In  the  earlier  days  in  California  it  seemed  everytiiing 
took  its  size  and  character  from  the  lofty  mountains,  great  trees 
and  valleys.  The  wheat  farms  were  no  exceptions.  They  were  of 
great  size  and  were  operated  upon  a  gigantic  scale.  Farms  consisting 
of  several  thousand  acres  of  land  were  not  infrequent,  and  as  might 
be  supposed  it  required  hundreds  of  horses  and  mules  and  scores  of 
men  to  ])erform  the  necessary  work  in  carrying  on  the  business  of 
those  ranches.  The  plains  with  an  average  annual  rainfall  would 
])roduce  great  crojis  of  grain  yielding  from  fifteen  to  as  high  as 
seventy  bushels  per  acre,  the  crojts  varying  from  year  to  year  in 
accordance  with  the  rainfall  and  climatic  conditions.  Some  localities 
too  were  more  productive  of  certain  crops  than  others.  Wheat  raised 
in  the  San  Joarpiin  Valley  was  generally  of  an  excellent  (piality, 
and  was  considered  to  be  among  the  best  milling  wheat  in  the  world. 
The  extensive  fields,  llic  level  lands,  the  character  of  the  soil  and 
dry  climate  made  possible  cultivation  and  harvesting  by  methoils 
more  rapid  and  economical  than  thus  far  had  evei"  been  used  in  any 
(iflici-  jilace.  The  cradle  and  the  reaper  and  the  single  i)low  were 
too  slow  for  farming  in  the  San  J(ia(|uin  Valley.  Imjilements  and 
machinery  adapted  to  the  necessity  of  the  time  were  rapidly  invented 
or  introduced  from  other  places  and  these  were  improved  upon  and 


■224  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

perfected  until  a  hisyh  degree  of  efficiency  -was  reached;  as  evidenced 
by  the  great  gang  pk)ws  and  combined  harvesters  and  other  machines 
of  like  nature  now  familiar  to  all  farmers  of  this  great  valley. 

For  about  thirty  years  wheat  or  grain  farming  held  sway.  Then 
the  unceasing  repetition  of  crops,  together  with  indifferent  cultivation, 
began  to  tell  and  grain  raising  no  longer  paid  as  it  did  in  the  earlier 
days.  Summer  fallowing  and  irrigation  were  resorted  to.  This 
was  found  to  be  of  great  aid  in  the  production  of  crops;  but  even 
then  the  land  would  not  yield  as  it  had  in  former  years,  and  the 
profits  from  wheat  raising,  as  a  general  thing,  steadily  grew  less. 
During  all  this  time  immigration  had  continued  and  the  population 
of  California,  and  incidentally  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  was  rapidly 
growing.  New  men  with  new  ideas  api^eared  upon  the  scene.  The 
depreciation  of  ])rofits  in  grain  raising  caused  farmers  to  consider 
other  crops.  Fruit  and  wine  began  to  attract  more  attention.  Bees 
and  poultry  were  found  to  yield  large  profits  on  small  investments 
and  with  little  care.  Alfalfa  was  introduced  and  that  forage  was 
found  well  adapted  to  the  valley.  The  large  farm  no  longer  paid. 
The  owners,  with  a  few  notable  exceptions,  began  to  divide  and  sub- 
divide their  holdings.  The  ]irofits  from  trees  and  vines  were  found 
to  be  immense.  Fruit  orchards,  vineyards  and  alfalfa  pastures  began 
rapidly  to  surplant  grain  fields.  There  followed  a  rapid  development 
in  the  wine,  raisin  and  cui-ed  fruit  industry.  The  alfalfa  pasture 
stimulated  dairying  and  the  live  stock  business.  Experience,  the  best 
of  all  teachers,  soon  taught  the  farmers  the  variety  of  crops  and  fruit 
that  was  best  adapted  to  his  soil;  the  breed  of  cows  best  suited 
for  the  dairy;  the  kind  of  horses,  hogs  and  poultry  that  made  the 
best  returns ;  and  having  learned,  as  rapidly  as  circumstances  would 
permit,  they  began  to  weed  out  the  less  desirable  and  le'ss  profitable, 
and  to  replace  them  with  the  kind  best  suited  to  the  valley.  Now 
we  had  reached  what  we  might  call  the  third  epoch  or  lap  in  the 
development  of  the  industries  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley. 

Blossoming  trees  and  budding  vines  in  the  spring,  followed  by 
a  bounteous  crop  in  the  summer,  appeared  where  once  wheat  and 
barley  had  grown.  The  green  fields  of  spring  and  the  brown  stubble 
fields  of  fall  had  given  way  to  fragrant  and  gorgeous  blooms,  golden 
fruit  and  pleasing  autumn  tints.  Along  the  foothills  of  the  Sierras 
was  found  a  warm  jirotected  region,  generally  referred  to  as  the 
thermal  belt,  upon  which  oranges,  lemons  and  kindred  fruit  grew 
luxuriantly  and  ripened  early.  The  population  was  still  increasing 
rapidly.  Thousands  of  pretty  and  comfortable  cottages  and  bunga- 
lows, with  now  and  then  large  and  commodious  houses  that  might 
properly  in  many  instances  be  called  mansions,  began  to  apjiear 
everjTvhere,  affording  happy  and  comfortal)le  homes  to  the  people 
of   the   vallev.      The   cattle   men   and    the   wheat    farmers,    in   manv 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  225 

instances,  had  looked  upon  the  San  Joaquin  ^'alley  as  a  place  for 
extensive  business  operations  in  their  particular  lines;  but  gave  little 
attention  to  it  as  a  home  for  their  families.  The  farmer  now  began 
to  build  with  the  intention  of  spending  and  ending  his  days  upon 
the  farm,  and  with  a  i^roud  hope  that  when  he  jiassed  away  that  his 
property  would  atford  a  home  for  his  posterity.  Accordingly  he 
built  with  the  design  of  procuring  to  his  family  all  the  advantages 
and  comforts  that  his  prosperous  condition  afforded. 

As  I  stated  before,  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  comprises  approx- 
imately 7,500,000  acres.  Of  this  about  500,000  acres  are  planted  to 
fruit  trees,  vines  and  alfalfa.  This  leaves  over  7,000,000  acres  of 
the  valley  yet  devoted  to  wheat  raising  and  grazing;  and  among 
this  latter  portion  are  found  thousands  of  acres  of  the  very  best 
land  of  the  valley.  Lack  of  irrigation  water  from  natural  streams 
is  the  chief  cause  of  the  lack  of  development.  This  condition  is  now 
being  rapidly  overcome  by  means  of  pumping  plants,  of  which  I 
shall  say  a  word  later.  Horses  and  mules,  beef,  pork,  mutton,  wool, 
honey  and  poultry  are  also  industries  that  pay  exceedingly  well. 
Wine  of  recent  years  has  grown  to  be  one  of  the  principal  industries 
of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  the  annual  yield  or  produce  of  this 
commodity  ))eing  about  225,000  tons,  and  is  worth  ap])roximately 
$2,250,000'. 

These  respective  industries  not  only  \deld  magnificent  incomes 
upon  the  investments  and  repays  well  the  efforts  and  labor  of  the 
farmer,  but  they  atford  remunerative  and  congenial  em])loyment  to 
thousands  of  men,  women  and  children.  The  children  of  the  valley 
are  afforded  unusual  opportunities  for  finding  light  and  paying 
occupation  by  reason  of  tlie  fruit  harvest  coming  in  the  summer 
during  the  school  vacations.  In  order  to  take  care  of  the  annual 
fruit  crojis  it  has  been  necessary  to  establish  in  the  different  cities 
and  towns  and  convenient  shii^ping  points  great  packing  houses  and 
canneries,  which,  when  installed  with  machinery  and  facilities  for 
properly  curing  and  packing  the  fruit,  afford  one  of  the  principal 
industries  of  the  urbane  life  of  the  valley.  All  tliese  years  on  the 
very  edge  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  had  been  hidden  away  a  treasure 
we  little  dreamed  we  had — petroleum  oil.  Though  some  hint  of  its 
presence  had  been  given  by  seepage  that  appeared  on  the  surface 
as  tar  springs  or  like  manifestations,  we  never  expected  to  find  this 
ideal  fuel  in  the  great  and  paying  quantities  that  we  now  have  it. 
We  were  mostly  farmers  and  we  did  not  look  deeper  than  the  fertile 
surface  for  our  opportunities.  Again  new  men  and  new  ideas  made 
themselves  known.  Prospect  wells  were  drilled  and  oil  was  struck. 
Almost  like  magic  a  forest  of  towers  sprang  upon  the  several  disti-icts 
where  oil  had  been  discovered.  A  fever  of  excitement  almost  as 
great  as  that  caused   by   the  discovery   of  gold   now   took   hold    of 


226  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

the  peojile,  and  the  development  of  the  oil  industry  of  this  valley 
was  so  rapid  that  those  who  took  an  active  part  conld  scarcely 
realize  the  rapidity  with  which  this  business  grew.  The  discovery 
of  oil  came  at  an  opportune  time.  The  po])ulation  was  growing, 
capital  was  accumulating,  and  there  was  need  of  some  outlet  for 
surplus  energy.  The  fuel  of  the  valley  was  growing  scarce.  Industries 
were  gi'owing  rapidly.  The  steam  and  gas  engine  was  coming  more 
and  more  into  use,  and  a  chea])  and  plentiful  fuel  was  the  most 
necessary  factor  in  the  industrial  situation,  and  its  discovery  solved 
what  might   liave  been   a   serious   ]>roblem. 

If  the  oil  fields  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  should  in  the  course 
of  time  become  exhausted  the  jieople  have  learned  a  great  lesson, 
and  the  lack  of  fuel  will  be  provided  against  by  planting  forests 
of  trees  adapted  to  this  purpose.  Tliis  precaution,  together  with 
the  great  source  of  electric  power  in  the  Sierras  will  forever  settle 
the  question  of  fuel  and  power  so  far  as  we  are  concerned.  The 
oil  wells  yield  so  abundantly  that  if  the  consumption  was  restricted  to 
this  valley  we  could  not  consume  it  in  ages.  But  great  pipe  lines 
reaching  from  the  oil  fields  of  the  valley  across  the  Coast  Range 
Mountains  leading  to  Point  Richmond,  Monterey  and  Port  Harford 
carry  the  oil  night  and  day  from  the  fields  to  those  deep  water  i")orts, 
and  huge  steamers  docked  beside  the  wliarf  will  load  as  conveniently 
and  readily  as  the  locomotive  tender  takes  on  water  at  a  siding.  In 
addition  to  the  pipe  lines  great  trains  of  cars  carry  oil  daily  to  the 
many  points  that  are  eager  to  i^rocure  this  most  excellent  fuel.  Tlie 
oil  industry  has  added  vastly  to  the  wealth  of  the  valley  and  ])rovided 
employment  for  thousands,  and  has  made  many  an  enterjjrising  man 
wealthy  beyond  the  most  amliitious  dreams  of  his  youth. 

From  that  day  in  1772  when  the  little  expedition  headed  by  Pedro 
Fages  and  Father  Crespi  set  out  from  the  Mission  Monterey  u]i  to 
the  present  time,  transportation  has  been  an  important  factor  in 
the  develoi^ment  of  the  valley.  All  our  progress  and  evolution 
especially  in  the  lieginning  was  not  accomplished  without  hardships 
and  exertion.  All  the  cattle  men  and  most  of  the  miners  found  their 
way  across  the  valley  on  horse-back  and  their  camp  equiimients  were- 
carried  u])on  the  backs  of  horses  or  nuiles.  This  means  of  trans- 
portation ser\'ed  for  awhile,  but  increased  ])opulation  and  developmeni 
called  for  gi-eater  facilities.  This  was  supplied  by  the  stage  and 
freight  teams;  augmented  greatly  by  the  navigation  of  the  San 
Joaquin  river  and  its  tributaries.  The  stage  lines  at  one  time  fairly 
well  covered  the  \-ailey,  and  one  could  reach  by  their  means  all  the 
principal  towns  and  mining  districts  south  of  Stockton.  Along  the 
same  roads  upon  which  the  stages  plied  their  traffic  also  traveled 
the  great  freight  teams,  that  carried  supplies  and  provisions  to  the 
mines  and  interior  towns.     These  teams  sometimes  consisted  of  as 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  .227 

many  as  tweuty-fonr  horses  or  mules,  and  as  high  as  four  or  five 
w;iii,-ons  coupled  in  train.  The  staj^es  and  freighters  found  all  tliey 
could  do  to  handle  the  business  of  the  day.  The  fiat-bottomed  stern- 
wheel  river  boats  with  huge  liarges  in  tow  plied  up  and  down  the 
San  Joaquin,  Stanislaus  and  Tuolumne  rivers  as  far  as  they 
were  navigable,  and  these  crafts,  too,  found  occupation  for  all  their 
tonnage  and  passenger  accommodations.  Railroad  companies  were 
not  slow  in  appreciating  ,the  opportunities  of  the  Pacific  coast,  and 
they  built  and  extended  their  lines  into  this  state.  With  the  appear- 
ance of  railroads  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  trans])ortation  under- 
went a  rapid  evolution.  The  stage  witli  its  galloping  horses  and 
marvelously  skilled  drivers,  together  with  the  freight  teams,  were 
relegated  to  the  raountaift  districts  and  less  accessible  regions.  River 
navigation  was  gradually  aliandoned.  The  railroads  covered  their 
territory  and  competition  i;nder  the  attending  conditions  rendered 
the  steamboat  lousiness  unprofitable,  consequently  steamboat  com- 
panies practically  withdrew  from  all  points  of  operation  south  of 
Stockton.  The  first  railroad  in  the  valley  was  down  its  center  on 
the  eastern  side  of  the  San  Joaquin  river.  This  line  was  built  by 
the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  Company  ,but  was  afterward  taken  up  by 
the  Southern  Pacific  Company,  which  has  owned  and  ojjerated  it 
ever  since,  and  after  it  entered  into  the  valley  it  was  rapidly  pushed 
on  over  the  Tehachapi  Mountains,  with  inany  tunnels  and  its  cele- 
brated loop,  until  it  readied  Los  Angeles,  and  thence  turned  east- 
ward, connecting  the  San  Joaquin  with  the  northern  and  southern 
part  of  the  state  and  with  the  eastern  states. 

From  this  pioneer  line  down  the  valley  several  short  lines  of 
feeders  were  constructed,  which  have  proved  highly  valuable  in  the 
progress  and  development  of  the  territory  which  they  covered.  Later 
a  line  was  laid  down  the  valley  on  the  western  side  of  the  San  Joaquin 
river,  beginning  at  Tracy  and  connecting  with  the  original  line  at 
Goshen  Junction,  and  later  on  again  at  Fresno. 

About  1893  there  was  constructed  from  San  Francisco  to  Bakers- 
field  what  was  known  as  the  San  Francisco  and  San  Joaquin  Valley 
railroad.  This  was  later  on  taken  by  the  Santa  Fe  and  has  become 
a  part  of  its  great  system.  Of  recent  years  the  oil  industr\'  and 
the  rapid  development  among  the  foothill  regions  have  demanded 
greatly  increased  railroad  and  transportation  facilities,  and  this  in 
a  measure  has  been  met  by  spurs  from  the  Southern  Pacific  and 
certain  inde])endent  companies  that  have  organized  and  built  short 
accommodation  railroads  in  different  ])laces  in  the  valley,  it  is 
evident  that  the  rapid  growth  and  i)0])ulation  and  development  of 
the  San  Joaquin  Valley  will  not  only  afTord,  but  will  demand,  greativ 
increased  transportation  facilities.  Probably  there  is  no  jilace  in 
the  world   wlicic   railioads  can   l)e   built   and   operated   as   cheaply  as 


228  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

here.  Tracks  may  be  laid  iu  any  district  and  to  any  point  within 
this  valley  by  practically  following  the  contour  of  the  earth.  The 
general  level  of  the  plains  is  such  as  to  require  but  very  little  grading, 
and  few  cuts  and  the  constructing  of  the  roadbed  may  be  done  by 
plows  and  scrapers  operated  by  horses,  and  at  a  cost  per  mile  that 
is  as  cheap  and  probably  less  than  the  same  work  can  be  done  for 
at  any  other  place  in  the  United  States,  or  the  world  for  that  matter. 
I  venture  to  say  that  iu  building  a  railroad  from  Bakerstield  to 
Stockton  along  any  line  within  the  confines  of  the  Sau  Joaquin  Valley 
it  will  not  be  necessary  to  resort  to  drilling  or  blasting  and  it  is  a 
certainty  that  no  tunneling  would  be  required. 

The  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains  on  the  east  contain  potentially 
millions  of  horsepower  that  may  be  converted  into  electricity,  and 
by  means  of  a  slender  wire  suspended  from  poles  or  towers  placed 
at  intervals  of  eighty  to  two  hundred  yards  apart  conducted  to  all 
points  where  it  may  be  desired  to  apply  the  power.  I  believe  that 
for  the  purpose  of  operating  railroad  trains,  electric  power,  if  not  too 
costly  in  the  generation  thereof,  is  considerably  cheaper  than  steam 
or  other  motors.  Beyond  a  question  it  is  the  most  economical  and 
best  adapted  power  to  railroading.  Thus  we  have  united  two  very 
important  factors  in  railroad  transportation  that  will  be  an  estimable 
advantage;  cheap  fuel  and  cheap  construction.  As  a  result,  in  time 
the  valley  will  be  laced  by  electric  lines,  upon  which  will  be  operated 
highly  efficient  and  rapidly  moving  trains.  People  living  in  the 
most  remote  parts  will  be  put  in  easy  reach  of  business  centers  and 
the  coast,  and  San  Francisco  will  be  only  about  one-half  day's  journey 
away.  Perishable  produce,  such  as  sweet  cream  and  table  fruits  of 
a  delicate  nature,  can  readily  be  shipped  to  the  markets  of  the 
cities  and  points  on  the  coast. 

Transportation  by  rail  again  can  be  augmented  by  transporta- 
tion upon  the  rivers,  if  the  state  or  the  federal  government  should 
see  fit  to  dredge  the  natural  streams  of  the  valley  and  remove  the 
snags  and  other  obstructions  therefrom.  More  than  that  it  would  be 
an  easy  engineering  feat  to  build  a  canal  from  Bakersfield,  connecting 
with  the  navigable  waters  of  the  San  Joaquin,  and  by  a  system  of 
locks  and  reservoirs  navigation  could  be  had  from  the  southern  end  of 
the  valley  to  the  waters  of  San  Francisco  bay.  There  would  be  some 
question  as  to  the  advisability  of  establishing  navigation  to  this 
extent  for  this  reason:  The  electric  power  that  may  be  so  readily 
developed  and  the  facility  with  which  railroads  may  be  constructed 
in  the  valley  will  proliably  cause  railroads  to  be  so  numerous  and 
competition  so  sharp  that  the  public  would  never  resort  to  the 
necessarily  slow  and  tedious  transpoi-tation  by  water  that  would 
attend  canal  and  river  navigation. 

A  very  cursory  mention  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  requires  some 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  229 

consideration   of  the   mountains   on   either   side   and   in   the   course 

of  my  remarks  I  have  referred  to  them.     But  I  desire  to  say  a  word 

or  two  more  concerniu«'  the  mountains,  which  are  so  closely  related 

to  this  valley.     Our  warm,  dry  climate  is  a  most  important  factor 

in  this  valley.     Doubtless  this  condition  is  brought  about  largely  by 

the  Coast  Range  Mountains  that  stand  on  our  west  as  a  wind  break 

and  a  barrier  to  the  fogs  and  cold  atmosphere  of  the  coast.     If  it 

were   not   for   this    range   probably   our    rainfall   would   be    heavier, 

but  the  cold  fogs  and  chilling  winds  of  the  Pacific  would  reach  us 

and  if  they  did  several  of  our  principal  industries  would  be  seriously 

affected    if    not    entirely    destroyed.      The    raisin    and    cured    fruit 

industry  could  not  successfully  be  carried  on  if  it  were  not  for  the 

warm   dry   climate   peculiar   to    the    San   Joaquin   Valley    and    it    is 

highly  probable   that   alfalfa   would  not   grow  as   luxuriantly   as   it 

does  now.     Again  the  climate  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  stock-raising. 

These  Coast  Range  Mountains  bej'ond  question  were  a  wise  provision 

of  Providence,   and  have   added   special   advantages   in   the   way   of 

climatic  conditions,   notwithstanding  they  increase   the   summer   heat 

and  lessen  the  winter  rainfall.     On  the  east  lies  what  probably  are 

the  grandest  mountains  in  the  world,  at  least  a  Californian  may  lie 

pardoned  for  so  designating  them.    There  we  find  the  wonderland  of 

California.     Mount  Whitney,  the  highest  peak  in  the  United  States, 

surrounded    with    neighboring    peaks,    scarcely    less    in    height,    the 

Yosemite  Valley  with  its  unrivaled  falls,  the  mag-nificent  Kings  River 

canyon,  the  great  forests  of  pines  and  the  celebrated  giant  redwoods 

or  sequoias  find  their  abode  in  the   Sierras  that   skirt   the  eastern 

border  of  the  valley,  and  are  so  closely  related   to  it  that  without 

indulging  in  iwetic  license  we  may  consider  them,  if  not  a  part,  an 

inseparable    complement    of    the    San    Joaquin.      These    mountains 

constitute  a  gigantic  and  beautiful  reservoir  erected  by  a  beneficent 

Providence  for  the  purjiose  of  moistening  and  fertilizing  the  plains 

of  the  valley.     Great  towering  peaks  and  abysmal  canyons  covered 

with  gigantic  trees  and  thickly-matted  brush  and  undergrowth  gather 

and  conserve  the  snows  of  winter.     In  the  sjiring  and  summer  comes 

the  sun  and  beats  alike  upon   the  valley  and   the  mountains   and   as 

the    plains   become    parched    and    dried    and    as    the    growing    trees 

and  grass  suck  up  the  moisture  from  the  soil  and  from  the  air  the 

frozen    snows    of   winter    are    released    upon    the    mountainside    and 

begin  their  journey  through  scenery  the  grandest  and  most  lieautiful 

imaginable,  through  forests  of  pines   and   redwoods,  by  flowers   and 

delicate  ferns,  over  rocks  and  through  rills,  uniting  and  ever  uniting 

in   rivulets   and  creeks,   and   in   each  union   growing   stronger   until 

finally  they  rush  in  a  mighty  river  upon  the  arid  plains,  carrying  life 

and  drink  to  thousands  of  thirsty  acres. 

These  streams,  deep  and  with  precipitous  banks,  at  first  gradually 
1.1 


230  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTlP:s 

approaoli  tlie  surface  of  the  land  so  that  it  is  freciuently  possible  to 
divert  water  from  them  and  spread  it  upon  the  laud  within  two  or 
three  miles  from  the  point  of  diversion.  The  loose  loamy  nature 
of  the  soil  and  comi)aratively  level  surface  render  ditch-buildiu,!>-  in 
this  valley  an  easy  task,  and  particularly  well  adapted  to  irrigation. 
Many  of  the  pioneer  irrigation  ditches  were  built  without  the 
assistance  of  an  engineer  or  even  the  use  of  a  transit.  Many  of  the 
farmers  had  had  experience  in  hydraulic  mining,  which  rendered 
them  peculiarly  qualified  in  the  art  of  constructing  dams  and  ditches, 
and  often  the  only  capital  used  was  the  daily  labor  of  the  farmers 
and  their  livestock,  generously  assisted  by  the  business  men  of  the 
valley  towns  who  extended  them  credit  for  the  necessities  of  life 
while  engaged  in  this  development.  When  the  settlers  of  the  valley 
began  to  go  back  from  the  streams  to  find  homes,  water  was  the 
first  problem  for  them  to  solve,  and  like  Jacob  they  dug  wells.  The 
first  wells  were  almost  entirely  dug  with  the  pick  and  shovel.  They 
ranged  in  depth  from  twelve  to  as  much  as  two  hundred  feet, 
depending  on  the  location,  and  were  surface  wells,  that  it  to  say, 
the  wells  were  only  deepened  to  the  first  water.  Near  the  streams 
and  particularly  on  the  east  side  of  the  San  Joaquin  river  and 
the  southern  part  of  the  valley  siirface  water  can  generally  be 
reached  at  a  depth  of  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet,  while  on  the  west 
side  and  especially  near  the  foothills  the  depth  of  water  was  greatly 
increased,  sometimes  requiring  a  well  of  over  a  hundred  feet  in 
depth.  There  wells  were  dug  with  a  shovel,  and  the  earth  excavated 
was  hoisted  to  the  surface  by  means  of  a  barrel  sawed  in  the  middle, 
to  which  a  bale  was  affixed.  To  this  was  tied  a  rope  of  sufficient 
length,  and  the  power  used  was  either  a  windlass  turned  by  a  man 
on  the  surface  or  sometimes  by  hitching  a  horse  to  the  end  of  the 
rope.  When  the  water  was  reached  it  was  hoisted  by  the  same  crude 
methods.  The  half  barrel  that  served  the  purpose  of  hoisting  the 
earth   and   rocks   was   converted   into   a   bucket    for   drawing   water. 

Since  those  days  when  wells  were  dug  with  spades  there  have 
been  great  im])rovements  made.  They  are  no  longer  dug,  but  are 
bored  or  drilled  with  efficient  machinery  operated  by  steam  or 
gasoline  ))ower,  and  are  driven  to  a  depth  averaging  from  fifty  to 
eighty  feet,  which  results  in  a  jilentiful  flow  of  pure  water. 

Artesian  wells  in  most  parts  of  the  valley  are  readily  develo]ied 
and  the  natural  flow  from  them  furnishes  an  abundance  of  water  for 
livestock  and  domestic  ]nir|)oses,  and  frequently  will  irrigate  as  many 
as  from  eiglity  to  three  hundred  acres  of  land  yearly.  Electric  power 
and  gasoline  engines  have  made  irrigation  liy  ])umping  feasible, 
and  it  has  been  discovered  that  subterranean  streams  are  found  in 
nearly  all  parts  of  the  valley  carrying  water  sufficient  for  the  purpose 
of  irrigating  the  surface  of  the  lands  under  which  they  lie,  and  now 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  231 

hundreds  of  wells  are  being  develoi:)ed  and  pumping  plants  installed, 
which  are  an  immense  aid  to  the  present  system  of  irrigation  and 
will  cover  tliousands  of  acres  that  cannot  be  reached  by  water  from 
the  natural  streams. 

Stej)  by  step  and  hand  in  hand  with  cooperation  and  harmony, 
the  urbane  and  rural  evolution  of  tliis  valley  has  progressed.  The 
valley  is  dotted  with  many  prosperous  cities  and  towns,  not  so  exten- 
sive in  population,  but  energetic  and  in-ogressive  in  the  extreme. 
Paved  streets,  electric  lights,  gas  jilants,  excellent  water  systems, 
magnificent  i)ublic  Iniildings  and  sanitary  drainage  are  to  be  found 
in  all  of  them.  The  amount  of  business  transacted  is  startling  as 
compared  witli  cities  of  the  same  ]io])ulation  of  other  places.  A  town 
of  five  thousand  inliabitants  will  transact  more  business  and  the 
banks  will  represent  more  capital  than  in  other  places  having  a 
population  of  twenty-five  thousand.  While  speaking  upon  tlie  subject 
of  towns  and  public  improvements  I  desire  to  congratulate  the  entire 
people  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  upon  the  magnificent  courthouse 
that  has  just  been  conijileted  in  the  county  of  Kern.  Its  beautiful 
architectural  lines,  extensive  proportions,  light  and  airy  rooms  and 
great  corridors  are  certainly  a  source  of  pride  and  pleasure  to  the 
people  of  this  valley.  I  particularly  congratulate  the  peoi)le  of  this 
county  upon  their  magnificent  building,  which  is  a  noble  tribute  to 
their  energy  and  progressiveness  and  faith  in  their  county,  and 
a  monument  to  the  efiliciency  and  ability  of  the  board  of  supervisors, 
who  served  the  jieople  so  well  in  its  construction. 

I  have  said  something  of  the  evolution  of  the  valley,  made  brief 
mention  of  the  progress  and  development  of  the  different  industries, 
and  in  a  poor  way  directed  your  attention  to  the  wonderful  op]ior- 
tunities  and  advantages  that  may  be  found  here;  and  now  I  want 
to  say  a  word  for  the  actors,  for  the  men  and  women  who  so  well 
and  faithfully  ])layed  their  ])art  in  this  drama  of  evolution,  and 
whose  efforts  brought  about  this  great  development  and  progress. 
Back  in  the  days  of  "Forty-nine"  and  for  a  number  of  years  there- 
after there  were  two  ways  of  reaching  California,  one  was  by  water 
around  Cape  Horn,  or  by  a  shorter  but  equally  as  perilous  way 
across  the  Isthmus  and  then  u])  the  coast  to  San  Francisco,  or  the 
other  was  across  the  i)lains  by  means  of  the  slow  moving  emigrant 
trains.  Either  of  those  routes  was  fraught  with  grave  danger  and 
many  hardships  and  deprivations.  The  perils  of  a  voyage  in  the 
old-time  sailing  vessels  in  their  tedious  ways  around  Caiie  Horn 
and  then  u\>  the  Pacific  Coast  to  San  Francisco  were  such  as  to 
cause  the  stoutest  heart  to  pause.  The  shorter  route  by  the  Isthmus, 
while  re(|uiring  less  time,  was  ahnost  ecjually  as  dangerous.  What 
was  missed  in  the  perils  and  hardships  of  the  sea  by  taking  the 
Isthmian  way  was  counterbalanced  Ijy  the  dangers  entailed  in  crossing 


232  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

this  tropical  neck  of  land  laden  witli  the  germs  of  many  diseases  to 
which  the  emigrant  so  readily  fell  a  prey.  The  fever  and  dissentery 
of  the  Isthmus  and  the  unwholesome  quarters  of  the  emigrant  ships 
claimed  many  an  ambitious  and  deserving  man  who  had  set  out  to 
find  his  fortune  in  the  Golden  West. 

The  overland  route,  crossing  the  Rocky  Mountains,  over  the 
vast  plains  inhabited  bj'  hostile  Indians,  across  the  Platte  with  its 
treacherous  sands,  requiring  from  three  to  six  months  with  the  slow 
moving  ox  teams  of  the  emigrant  trains,  that  finally  crossed  the 
Sierras  through  Truckee  Pass  makes  a  story  familiar  to  everyone. 
Like  the  tragedy  that  ended  the  glorious  career  of  Julius  Caesar, 
it  is  acted  and  re-enacted  upon  the  stage  and  told  and  retold  in 
stories  even  to  this  day.  Therefore  it  is  no  wonder  that  only  the 
young  and  active  thought  of  venturing  upon  this  perilous  western 
journey.  Of  the  young  and  active  only  those  of  ambitious  and  daring 
spirits  would  risk  life  and  all  that  was  most  dear  to  them  in  order 
to  reach  the  alluring  shores  of  California. 

We  of  today  who  sail  in  floating  palaces  with  every  luxury  and 
convenience  of  the  hour  at  hand,  or  who  cross  the  vast  plains  and 
lofty  mountains  in  comfortable,  rapidly  inoving  cars  can  hardly 
realize  the  dangers  and  hardships  endured  by  the  men  and  women 
who  first  came  to  California.  These  pioneers  were  a  race  of  ambitious 
and  courageous  men  and  women  that  assembled  in  California  on 
new  grounds,  far  removed  from  the  hampering  conventionalities  of 
society.  Not  many  from  anj^  place — a  few  from  every  place — they 
rapidly  adjusted  themselves  to  conditions  and  necessities  of  the 
time.  All  classes,  states  and  nationalities  were  represented,  and  from 
this  cosmopolitan  people  was  developed  that  noble,  brave  and  hos- 
pitable race,  the  Pioneers  of  California,  whose  praises  have  been  so 
often  sung  by  the  poet  and  told  by  the  historian.  They  were  all 
young  and  strong.  When  a  boy  my  father  came  to  the  west  with 
an  emigrant  train,  driving  an  ox-team  all  of  the  way,  and  I  have 
heard  him  say  that  a  gray  head  was  so  rare  that  it  excited  attention 
and  comment  when  found  among  the  men  of  ])ioneer  days. 

Emigration  after  the  gold  rush  was  comparatively  slow.  The 
cost  and  inconvenience  of  transportation  deterred  travel  westward. 

Those  who  foud  their  way  here  were  rapidly  absorbed.  They 
were  eager  to  become  Californians  and  quickly  fell  into  our  ways  and 
customs.  Later  the  railway  service  was  greatly  improved,  cost  of 
passage  came  more  within  the  reach  of  the  average  person.  The 
newspapers,  magazines  and  histories  constantly  told  of  the  glories 
and  opportunities  of  this  coast,  and  in  consequence  emigration  grew 
by  leaps  and  bounds.  The  population  increased  so  rapidly  now  that 
we  began  to  undergo  a  change  of  character.  Entire  colonies  were 
often  made  up  from  the  people  of  some  particular  state,  and  they 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  233 

looked  towards  their  former  homes  for  customs  and  precedent.  In 
the  near  future  witliont  a  doubt  our  emigration  will  increase  far  more 
rapidly  than  ever  before.  The  great  opj^ortunities  offered  by  increased 
irrigation  facilities,  more  careful  and  diversified  farming,  the  stimulus 
given  to  the  manufacturing  by  the  development  of  electric  power  and 
discovery  of  oil,  the  immense  benefits  that  will  follow  the  completion 
of  the  Panama  Canal,  and  the  attraction  of  the  World's  Fair  will 
bring  thousands  here.  The  melting  pot  of  which  Zangwill  speaks 
will  be  brought  into  play  and  on  this  coast  from  a  cosmopolitan  people 
will  be  recast  a  race  as  peculiar  to  California  as  the  flowers  and 
trees  that  adorn  her  valleys  and  mountains.  Short  winters,  generous 
sunshine  and  fertile  soil  will  develop  a  race  of  splendid  men  and 
women,  hospitable  and  fun-loving,  the  happiest  people  in  the  world, 
and  this  will  be  the  greatest  achievement  in  the  evolution  of  the  San 
Joaquin  Valley. 


KINGS 
COUNTY 


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BIOGRAPHICAL 


COLUMBUS  P.  MAJORS 

A  California  pioneer  who  recalls  with  interest  early  days  in 
Tulare  county  when  he  took  a  prominent  part  in  local  ai¥airs,  is 
Columbus  P.  Majors,  of  Visalia.  Mr.  Majors  was  born  in  Morgan 
county,  111.,  March  22,  1830,  and  in  1853  crossed  the  plains  to  Cali- 
fornia with  an  ox-team,  starting  April  14  and  arriving  at  Sacramento 
September  13  following.  The  party,  which  came  with  a  train  of 
nineteen  ox-wagons,  was  made  up  of  Iowa  and  Illinois  people  and 
was  under  command  of  Captain  L.  M.  Owen,  who  had  made  one  trip 
to  the  Pacific  coast  in  1849.  The  overland  emigrants  were  several 
times  compelled  to  corral  their  wagons,  fearing  attacks  by  Indians, 
but  made  the  journey  without  any  very  lamentable  mishaps.  For  two 
years  after  his  arrival  in  California,  Mr.  Majors  worked  in  the 
Sherlock  Flat  mine  on  the  Merced  river,  but  it  was  not  as  a  miner 
that  he  wae  destined  to  make  his  success  in  this  state.  He  came  to 
Visalia  in  1855  and  found  the  people  all  living  in  the  old  fort  as  a 
ineans  of  protection  against  the  redskins,  who  were  at  that  time  menac- 
ing the  settlers  in  this  vicinity.  He  took  up  eighty  acres  of  government 
land  on  the  Cutler  road  and  for  many  years  raised  cattle  and  sheep, 
and  it  was  not  until  1884  that  he  bought  his  present  home  ranch  on 
Mineral  King  avenue.  Here  he  has  twenty  acres  of  tine  orchard, 
having  planted  all  the  trees  with  his  own  hands,  and  his  peaches 
include  Phillips  cling-stones,  Tuscan  cling-stones,  Fosters  and 
Albertas.  He  has  developed  a  fine  farm  on  which  he  has  met  with 
well  deserved  success. 

In  1861,  after  the  Civil  war  had  begun  and  while  rioting  was  in 
progress  at  Visalia,  Mr.  Majors  was  captain  of  the  Home  Guard 
Cavalry,  which  was  organized  to  keep  order.  His  brother,  John  P. 
Majors,  also  came  to  California  and  was  the  first  postmaster  at 
Visalia,  which  was  the  first  postoffice  established  in  Tulare  county. 

In  April,  1852,  Columbus  P.  Majors  married  Miss  Mary  C.  Owen, 
a  native  of  Lee  county,  Iowa,  who  bore  him  a  son  and  four  daugh- 
ters: Amador  PL;  Mrs.  Anna  L.  Arkle,  who  has  passed  away; 
Celestia  J.,  who  is  Mrs.  L.  E.  McCabe ;  Mrs.  Caroline  Arkle,  and  Mrs. 
Eva  Sadler,  deceased.  During  his  active  years  Mr.  Majors  was 
identified  largely  with  the  public  interests  of  the  connnunity  and 
there  was  no  call  upon  him  in  behalf  of  the  general  good  to  which 
he  did  not  respond  promptly  and  liberally. 


242  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

GEORGE  E.  WADDELL 

Numbered  among  the  well-known  and  respected  citizens  of  Exeter 
who  have  distinguished  themselves  in  the  advancement  of  that  jilace 
is  George  E.  Waddell,  who  has  been  identified  with  the  civil  affairs 
of  Exeter  from  its  earliest  history,  having  tilled  the  office  of  its 
mayor  as  its  first  incumbent,  and  so  fulfilling  the  duties  of  that  office 
as  to  win  the  confidence  of  all  his  fellow  citizens,  and  he  has  since 
been  sought  to  fill  many  other  public  positions  to  which  the  people 
have  called  him.  In  industrial  circles  he  has  also  figured  })rom- 
inently,  having  been  merchant  there  and  he  is  now  giving  most  of 
his  attention  to  his  real  estate  interests  which  are  large  and  varied. 

Mr.  Waddell  is  a  native  son  of  California,  having  been  born 
in  Lancha  Plana,  Amador  county,  September  9,  1862,  the  son  of  Isaac 
and  Mercy  B.  Waddell,  the  former  a  native  of  Baltimore,  Md.,  who 
crossed  the  plains  to  California  in  1852  and  began  his  career  in  the 
mines  of  Amador  county.  The  mother  came  of  a  pioneer  family  wlio 
made  the  overland  journey  with  ox-teams.  The  family  made  their 
home  at  Lancha  Plana  until  187l2,  when  they  moved  to  lone,  where 
the  father  died  in  189.3,  and  the  widowed  mother  after  a  while  removed 
to  San  Francisco,  where  after  a  residence  of  several  years  she 
re-established  their  home  at  lone,  and  three  years  later,  in  190o, 
occurred  her  death. 

Reared  to  industrial  habits  and  inheriting  a  taste  for  mercantile 
pursuits,  at  tlie  age  of  nineteen  George  K.  Waddell  went  to  work 
for  John  Marchant,  who  was  in  the  meat  business  at  lone  and  for 
twelve  years  he  remained  steadily  in  his  employ.  He  then  leased 
the  premises  from  the  latter  and  conducted  the  Jmsiness  for  about 
ten  years,  when  he  sold  out  and  came  to  Visalia,  buying  a  half 
interest  in  the  Pioneer  market  business,  wJiich'  after  conducting  for 
about  ten  months,  he  sold.  It  was  at  this  time  that  he  came  to  Exeter 
and  bought  out  the  Exeter  and  Lindsay  markets,  which  at  the  time 
were  very  rudimentary  business  places.  With  his  son,  George  H.,  Mr. 
Waddell  set  to  work  with  a  will  to  build  up  these  establishments  into 
modern  markets,  remodeling  and  rebuilding  them  and  introducing 
new  and  up-to-date  equipments  and  installing  a  refrigerating  system 
which  made  them  among  the  best  markets  in  the  county.  Since  then 
the  Exeter  market  has  been  sold,  but  they  retain  the  Lindsay  place 
of  business  which  the  son,  George  H.,  is  7nanaging  with  marked 
ability,  while  Mr.  Waddell  gives  his  attention  to  the  jmrchase  of  stock. 
They  first  had  built  a  structure  at  Lindsay  25x75  feet  in  dimension  for 
their  business,  Init  this  soon  became  too  small  and  they  Iniilt  a  new  two- 
story  brick  block,  4-0xL')0  feet,  in  1910  with  new  refrigerating  and  cold 
storage  equijimcnt,  and  its  appointments  are  all  modern  and  first-class. 
The  marble  countcis  and  excellent  tool  e(|uii)mcnt  give  the  place  an  air  of 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  243 

cleanliness  and  wholesomeness  which  bespeaks  the  good  taste  of  the 
owner,  and  their  product  and  the  handling  of  their  goods  l)ear  the  most 
gratifying  repntation  in  the  community,  it  having  been  credited  by 
the  press  at  one  time  as  being  one  of  the  tinest  places  of  its  kind 
in  the  state. 

In  connection  with  this  business  Mr.  Waddell  gives  attention 
to  real  estate,  in  which  he  has  l)een  most  successful.  lie  has  ))lanted 
and  owns  a  very  fine  thirty-acre  orange  grove  within  eighty  rods  of 
the  city  limits,  and  also  owns  tracts  in  different  parts  of  Tulare 
county  aggregating  tlirec  hundred  and  fifty  acres  in  all,  and  l)eside 
this  he  owns  a  well-improved  farm  of  four  hundred  and  eighty  acres 
about  seven  miles  east  of  Stockton.  With  all  of  these  interests,  Mr. 
"Waddell  finds  time  to  be  most  active  in  the  affairs  of  his  city  and 
is  a  constant  worker  for  its  best  interest,  being  president  of  the  city 
board  as  well  as  treasurer  of  the  same.  In  August,  1911,  the  city 
voted  bonds  in  the  amount  of  $42,000  for  the  purjiose  of  providing 
an  adequate  water  system,  which  was  fully  completed  in  the  summer 
of  1912,  consisting  of  two  twelve-inch  bored  wells,  one  hundred  feet 
deep,  with  mains  six,  eight  and  ten  inches  respectively,  while  the 
laterals  are  four  and  two  inches  in  size.  At  the  present  time  six 
blocks  of  street  in  the  business  part  of  Exeter  are  being  paved,  and 
these  large  movements  toward  improving  the  town  have  had  the 
active  interest  and  co-operation  of  Mr.  Waddell  in  his  official  ca])acity 
on  the  city  board.  In  fraternal  relations  he  affiliates  with  tlip  Exeter 
lodge,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  the  Exeter  division  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias. 

In  1885  George  E.  Waddell  married  Susan  Vogan,  a  native  of 
California  and  a  daughter  of  John  Vogan,  who  died  while  he  was 
filling  the  ofSce  of  sheriff  of  Amador  county,  where  he  had  come  as  a 
pioneer.  The  widow  of  Mr.  Vogan  now  makes  her  home  in  lone.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Waddell  are  the  parents  of  two  children,  Edwin  II.,  born 
November  23,  1886,  who  after  finishing  his  education  at  the  Affiliated 
College  at  San  Francisco,  took  up  the  study  of  dentistry  and  is  well 
established  in  his  profession  at  Visalia;  and  George  Harold,  born 
March  28,  1888,  who  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  Visalia,  and  is 
now  his  father's  ])artner  in  the  meat  business.  Both  sons  were  born 
at  lone,  Amador  county,  and  reflect  credit  on  their  training  ami  the 
honored  name  they  bear. 


SANFOKD  P.OOKER 

A  native  of  Gardiner,. Me.,  Sanford  Booker  was  born  October  12, 
1833.  and  there  reared  to  manhood,  educated  and  given  a  knowledge 
of  the  ship  carpenter's  trade,  and  later  learned  house  building. 
When  he  was  twenty  years  old  he  moved  to  Medford,  Mass.,  where 


244  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

he  worked  as  a  carpenter  about  fifteen  years.  At  the  outbreak  of  the 
Civil  war  he  enlisted  in  the  Lawrence  Light  Guards  of  Medford,  a 
militia  company,  which,  as  Company  E,  Fifth  Eegiment  Massachusetts 
Volunteer  Infantry,  was  mustered  into  the  government  service  after 
President  Lincoln  issued  his  first  call  for  volunteers,  April  15,  1861. 
Next  day  the  company  was  ordered  to  be  in  readiness,  and  on  the 
eighteenth  an  order  to  march  was  issued  by  Col.  Samuel  C.  Lawrence, 
this  order  being  taken  to  the  members  of  the  organization  by  the 
Colonel's  brother,  Daniel  W.  Lawrence,  who  on  the  night  of  the 
eighteenth  rode  from  town  to  town  for  that  purpose.  Among  those 
soldiers  of  18(11  there  was  a  strong  conviction  that  Lawrence  rode 
over  the  same  route  that  Paul  Revere  had  followed  on  a  similar  errand 
eighty-six  years  before.  The  regiment  was  quartered  at  Faneuil 
Hall,  Boston,  until  the  morning  of  April  21,  when  it  left  for  New 
York.  When  Lawrence  brought  the  order  to  Mr.  Booker  the  latter 
was  running  a  mill.  Going  home  immediately,  he  rejDorted  that  he 
was  ordered  out  and  would  have  to  go  to  Washington,  and  he  went 
to  Boston  and  slept  that  night  in  Faneuil  Hall  with  his  comrades; 
on  that  same  night  the  Sixth  Massachusetts  Regiment  was  mobbed 
in  the  streets  of  Baltimore.  At  Washington  the  Fifth  was  mustered 
into  service  for  three  months  from  May  1,  and  it  participated  in  the 
fight  at  Bull  Run,  where  Colonel  Lawrence  was  wounded  and  the 
regimental  color-bearer  was  shot  down.  Ten  days  later  the  Fifth 
Massachusetts  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  and  soon  afterwards 
Corporal  Booker's  company  was  mustered  out  at  Medford.  His 
corporal's  commission  is  dated  February  12,  1861. 

About  1868  Mr.  Booker  moved  to  De  Kalb  county.  Mo.,  and 
engaged  in  building  until  1874,  when  he  came  to  California.  He 
stopped  at  Los  Angeles,  but  soon  settled  at  San  Bernardino,  where 
he  lived  seven  years  operating  extensively  as  a  contractor  and  builder 
and  he  erected  there  the  county  court  house,  the  Congregational  and 
Baptist  churches,  some  school  houses  and  several  fine  residences. 
He  was  the  builder  of  the  first  house  at  Redlands,  the  latter  the 
property  of  Frank  Brown,  civil  engineer,  wlio  constructed  the  reser- 
voir through  which  Redlands  is  supplied  with  water.  Mr.  Booker 
had  to  grub  out  sage  brush  before  he  could  lay  the  foundation  of  the 
building,  and  he  and  his  men  boarded  themselves,  for  there  was  no 
one  li-^-ing  in  the  vicinity.  In  1887  he  sold  his  property  at  San 
Bernardino  and  removed  to  Hanford,  buying  a  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
acre  ranch  northeast  of  the  town,  where  he  farmed  imtil  1892,  and 
then  sold  his  land  and  built  himself  a  residence  in  town.  He  was  very 
active  in  securing  county  division  of  Tulare  county  and  the  partition 
of  Kings  county  in  that  year,  and  assisted  with  his  own  means  to 
finance  the  movement.  Indeed  there  was  no  other  man  at  Hanford 
who  was  more  influential  to  these  ends  than  was  he.     He  personally 


^'^^^    c^i-C^yt^  ^Tlpf^ 


^'^'/^^ 


TULAEE  AXD  KINGS  COUNTIES  249 

canvassed  every  home  in  the  county  to  ascertain  if  a  two-thirds  vote 
for  the  new  county  would  be  possible  if  a  favorable  bill  should  be 
passed  by  the  legislature.  After  this  matter  was  settled  he  visited 
the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago.  Since  then  he  has  lived  in  Hanford. 
which  when  he  first  saw  it  in  1887  was  a  mere  hamlet  containing  but 
one  store  and  in  the  prosperity  of  which  he  has  been  a  potent  factor. 
In  1893  he  bought  twelve  acres  of  fruit  land  and.  having  suffered 
a  stroke  of  paralysis  which  incapacitated  him  for  work,  retired  from 
active  business.  When  the  -'Old  Bank"  at  Hanford  was  estabUshed 
he  was  its  fii-st  depositor,  having  until  then  done  his  banking  at 
VisaUa.  ° 

On  November  27,  1854,  Mr.  Booker  married  IMiss  Sarah  E.  Carr, 
at  Medford,  Mass.  Mrs.  Booker,  who  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts' 
bore  her  husband  two  children,  Everett  S.,  of  Hanford,  and  Sarah 
Elizabeth,  who  has  passed  away.  Everett  S.  Booker  married  Edith 
O'Brien  and  they  have  a  daughter,  Marv  Florence.  Mr  Booker  is 
identified  with  McPhersou  Post,  G.  A.  R..  of  Hanford.  and  is  a  Blue 
Lodge  and  Eoyal  Arch  Mason,  and  he  and  Mrs.  Booker  were  charter 
members  of  the  Eastern  Star,  Mrs.  Booker  being  past  worthv  matron 


EMANUEL  T.  RAGLE 

A  true  t>-pe  of  the  self-made  man  is  ex-idenced  in  tlie  career  of 
Emanuel  T.  Eagle,  who  now  lives  one  mile  east  of  Naranio  in 
Tulare  county.  Cal.  He  was  born  May  8.  18.33,  back  in  Tennessee 
in  Hawkins  county,  and  there  attended  public  schools  after  he  was 
old  enough  until  he  was  eighteen  years  old.  when  he  went  to  In- 
diana. After  remaining  there  but  a  short  time,  he  went  to  Iowa 
where  his  residence  was  likewise  brief.  He  returned  to  Indiana  and 
from  there  started  for  California  in  18.54  and  drove  an  ox-team 
across  the  plains  for  $10  a  month  and  his  board.  He  located  near 
Redding.  Shasta  county.  Cal..  but  soon  went  into  the  mines  in  Men- 
docino county.  Meeting  with  but  indifferent  success  there,  he  made 
his  way  to  Sonoma  county,  where  he  farmed  until  1863.  Returning 
to  Mendocino  county,  he  remained  there  a  year  and  in  1865  came  to 
Tulare  county,  and  after  a  couple  of  years  spent  on  Outside  creek 
near  the  dam,  he  came  to  his  present  location,  where  he  bought 
eighty  acres  of  land.  Soon  afterward  he  homesteaded  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres,  and  by  subsequent  purchases  he  has  increased  his 
holdings  to  seven  hundred  and  seventy-five  acres,  notwithstandin?  he 
has  in  the  meantime  sold  two  hundred  and  thirty-five  acres.  "^  He 
has  devoted  his  land  to  gi-ain.  and  raises  cattle,  "horses  and  boss, 
and  in  each  one  of  these  several  fields  of  endeavor  he  has  done  well' 


250  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Wlien  lie  came  to  tlie  eounty,  nearly  all  the  farming  was  in  grain, 
settlement  had  not  far  advanced  and  improvements  were  few  and 
widely  scattered.  He  had  his  initial  experience  with  grain  and  has 
followed  the  development  of  agriculture,  sometimes  keeping  in  ad- 
vance of  it,  thus  ])rofiting  by  every  new  development  and  liaving 
advantage  of  every  innovation. 

Beginning  life  with  $1.50  capital,  Mr.  Ragle  has  worked  and 
persevered,  trinm))]iing  over  difficulties  as  he  has  met  them  until  he 
is  now  one  of  the  prosperous  men  in  his  community.  It  is  probable  that 
two  causes  above  all  others  have  contributed  to  this  achievement. 
He  has  at  all  times  been  what  we  are  pleased  to  call  a  hustler,  aggres- 
sive, active  and  u]vto-date,  and  he  has  at  the  same  time  been  always 
a  Christian  gentleman,  devoted  to  the  honorable  dealings  and  the 
uplift  of  his  community.  He  is  widely  known  throughout  the  sur- 
rounding country  for  the  high  grade  of  his  stock  and  he  keeps  usually 
aliout  one  hundred  head  of  cattle  and  forty  to  fifty  head  of  horses. 
The  schools  of  his  community  liave  lieen  his  constant  care,  and  lie 
has  done  much  to  advance  them. 

Mr.  Ragle  uuuried,  Seiitember  2.S,  1858,  Miss  Eliza  Ann  Moft'ett, 
a  native  of  Tennessee,  who  was  brought  early  in  life  to  Califor- 
nia, and  she  has  borne  him  thirteen  children,  nine  daughters  and 
four  sons,  all  of  whom  are  living,  and  all  of  whom  are  native  sons 
and  daughters  of  California.  Mrs.  Ragle's  father  was  Hamilton 
Motfett,  of  Scotch-Irish  blood,  who  died  in  Missouri  when  Mrs.  Ragle 
was  four  years  old.  Her  mother  was  Charlotte  Bunn,  born  in  \'ir- 
ginia,  who  died  in  Tulare  coimty.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ragle  are  the  proud 
grandparents  of  half  a  hundred  urandchildren,  and  twelve  great- 
grandchildren. 

The  father  of  Emanuel  T.  was  George  H.  Ragle,  born  in  \'irginia 
and  died  in  Tennessee.  His  grandfather  was  born  in  Germany  ami 
settled  in  Virginia,  where  he  was  accidentally  drowned. 


JOHN  DAVIS  TYLER 

J.  D.  Tyler  was  the  oldest  living  representative  of  the  original 
settlers  on  fule  river,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  and  had  been  engaged  in 
agricultural  pursuits  and  the  stock  business  here  since  1859  and  as 
a  pioneer  is  entitled  to  a  more  than  passing  mention  in  the  history 
of  the  county.  Mr.  Tyler  was  born  in  Marcellus,  Onondaga  county, 
N.  Y.,  in  1827,  the  son  of  Job  Tyler,  a  farmer  and  a  minister  of 
the  Seventh  Day  Baptist  denomination.  His  early  life  was  rather 
migratory,  his  father  going  to  Ohio  in  1834  and  to  St.  Joseph  county, 
Mich.,  in  1836.     Educational  advantages  in  those  days  were  limited 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  251 

and  yonnfj;  Tyler's  schooling  was  confined  to  the  three  months 
winter  term,  not  iufreciuently  being  detained  at  home  to  accomplish 
some  work  on  the  farm  and  not  attending  school  at  all  after  his 
fourteenth  year. 

In  1851,  with  his  father  and  brother  James,  Mr.  Tyler  started 
for  California  via  New  York  and  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  Their 
steamer  was  the  first  to  land  emigrants  at  Aspinwall.  At  Panama 
they  embarked  on  the  English  brig  Tryphenia,  with  one  hundred 
and  thirty  passengers,  the  vessel  being  much  overloaded  and  having 
only  a  meager  supply  of  water  and  stores.  The  sufferings  on  that 
terrible  journey  of  sixty-five  days  from  Panama  to  San  Diego  were 
intense.  The  last  thirty  days  they  had  no  bread  and  only  one-half 
pint  of  water  per  day  to  the  man.  Their  small  allowance  of  jieas 
or  l)eans  nuist  be  soaked  in  salt  water  or  the  greasy  slush  that 
came  from  the  cook  room.  For  twenty  days  they  nearly  starved 
and  Mr.  Tyler's  father  contracted  disease  to  which  he  succumbed 
while  in  port  at  San  Diego  and  was  there  laid  to  rest.  J.  D.  Tyler 
and  his  brother  then  reshipped  for  San  P'rancisco,  arriving  there 
February  29,  1852,  just  four  months  after  leaving  New  York.  They 
went  to  the  mines  at  Nevada  City  and  followed  life  in  the  mining 
camps  either  in  boarding  house  work  or  in  actual  mine  workings 
of  their  own  until  1859,  when,  hearing  that  cattle  were  selling  in 
Tulare  county,  they  started  for  Tule  river  with  a  view  to  purchas- 
ing and  driving  to  the  mines.  Upon  their  arrival  they  found  the 
statement  to  be  without  foundation,  and,  in  partnershi})  with  Len 
Redfield,  they  settled  on  Tule  river  and  engaged  in  the  stock  busi- 
ness. This  association  continued  until  1865,  when  Mr.  Redfield 
withdrew  and  tiie  Tyler  brothers  continued  in  partnership  until 
1871,  when  they  separated,  J.  D.  Tyler  remaining  on  the  river.  His 
home  place  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  was  homesteaded  under 
the  first  homestead  act  or  law  in  1864.  He  later  added  to  his  orig- 
inal holdings,  and  owned  two  hundred  acres,  much  of  which  he 
farmed  to  grain  and  fruit.  He  was  also  largely  interested  in 
horses  and  cattle  and  rented  two  sections  of  land  for  stock  range. 

Mr.  Tyler  was  married  at  Visalia  in  1864  to  Miss  Mary  J.  Mc- 
Kelvey,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  daughter  of  George  Mc- 
Kelvey,  who  came  to  California  in  1852  by  wav  of  Cape  Horn. 
They  "had  five  children,  Clyde  D.,  Carl  R.",  Chris  W.,  Corda  F. 
(daughter)  and  Clair  H.  Mr.  Tyler  was  a  charter  member  of  the 
Farmers'  Alliance,  belonging  to  the  Porterville  branch,  of  which 
he  was  the  first  president.  He  never  sought  the  emoluments  of 
office  and  always  avoided  every  suggested  nomination.  He  was  the 
first  Republican  on  Tule  river,  and  in  1859  his  was  the  only  Re- 
publican vote  cast  out  of  the  thirty-one  cast  at  that  time.  When 
the  county  was  filled  with  Southern  sympathizers  in  1861   he  stood 


252  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

firm  in  his  convictions  and  was  only  the  more  respected  for  loyalty 
to  his  country. 

At  his  home,  two  miles  east  of  Porterville,  Tulare  county, 
J.  D.  Tyler  passed  away  November  18,  1895,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
seven  years  and  eleven  months.  Eeligiously  he  was  not  bound  by 
any  creed,  but  he  believed  and  followed  implicitly  the  Golden  Rule': 
"Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  Politically  he  was  a  stanch  Repub- 
lican, ever  ready  to  battle  for  the  cause.  Too  much  a  lover  of  home 
to  care  for  the  emoluments  of  office,  yet  he  was  ever  read}'  to  work 
and  aid  the  ones  whom  he  believed  were  the  best  fitted  to  hold  the 
reins  of  government,  and  if  they  were  defeated  he  always  bowed 
to  the  iue\-itable  and  gave  the  victors  all  honor  and  support.  Moral- 
ly, he  was  an  earnest,  conscientious  citizen.  As  every  nation  must 
have  soldiers  to  defend  its  honor  and  maintain  its  rights,  so  every 
town  or  precinct  must  have  its  citizens  to  uphold  its  integrity.  Citi- 
zens who  realize  that  the  moral  atmosphere  of  the  country  permeates 
the  homes  and  adds  or  detracts  from  their  hajopiness  and  glory 
recognized  such  a  citizen  was  Mr.  Tyler.  His  influence  and  work  were 
ever  in  the  cause  of  temperance,  and  he  always  by  his  own  acts  strove  to 
influence  the  young  to  walk  morally  upright,  and  gave  his  aid  and 
countenance  to  the  uplift  of  humanity.  His  sickness  was  of  long 
standing,  dating  really  from  the  hardships  endured  in  coming  to 
California.  His  system  never  rallied  from  the  strain  then  received. 
In  1893  he  began  to  fail  perceptibly  and  in  1894  he  gave  up  work  en- 
tirely and  after  going  to  the  polls  on  November  6  he  did  not  again 
leave  his  home.  In  his  death  his  country  has  lost  a  loyal,  zealous 
citizen,  his  town  an  earnest  worker  for  its  good,  his  neighbors  a 
faithful,  trvie-hearted  friend,  his  children  a  noble-hearted  father, 
his  wife  a  faithful,  loving,  trusting  companion,  and  each  and  all 
mourn  his  earthh'  loss.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  20th  of  November 
services  were  held  at  the  homestead  by  Rev.  J.  G.  Eckels,  pastor 
of  the  CongTegational  church,  and,  surrounded  by  his  most  intimate 
friends  and  loving  relatives,  he  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  beautiful 
cemetery  in  which  he  took  so  much  interest  and  of  which  he  was 
president   and   superintendent   for  many  years. 

SLEEP,  OLD  PIONEER! 

When  the  hill  of  life  u-as  steepest, 
When  the  forest  froivn  ivas  deepest, 
Poor  hut  young,  you  hastened  here, 
Came  ivhen  solid  hope  was  cheapest; 
Came  a  pioneer. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  255 

Toil  had  never  cause  to  doubt  you, 
Progress'  path  you  helped  to  clear, 
And  your  ivonder  works  outlast  you, 
Sleep,  old  pioneer! 


JOHN  HOLMES  HUNTLEY 

A  pioneer  of  1852,  a  busy  and  patriotically  active  citizen  since 
1865,  John  Holmes  Hnntley,  of  Visalia,  Tulare  county,  was  ever 
a  factor  in  the  upbuilding-  of  his  community  whose  influence  has  been 
potent  all  along.  Born  in  Canajoharie,  N.  Y.,  September  7,  1829,  a 
son  of  Oliver  D.  and  Mary  (Stark)  Huntley,  he  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  his  native  county  and  at  Ames  academy,  and  to  a 
considerable  extent  in  a  bookstore  in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  where  he  was 
employed  two  years.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Stonington,  R.  I., 
and  his  mother  was  born  in  Connecticut,  a  daughter  of  Joshua  Stark, 
a  farmer,  who  passed  away  in  New  York.  John  Holmes  Huntley  was 
but  six  years  old  when  his  mother  died.  His  father  was  brought  up 
to  the  mercantile  business  and  sold  goods  many  years;  his  second 
wife  was  a  sister  of  his  first.  By  each  marriage  he  had  six  children. 
He  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-five  years. 

John  H.  Huntley  was  the  third  child  of  his  father  by  the  first 
marriage  and  inherited  industry  and  thrift  from  ancestors  who  had 
behind  them  unnumbered  ancestors  of  Scotch  blood.  In  1852,  when 
he  was  about  twenty-three  years  old,  he  started  for  California  by  way 
of  the  Nicaragua  route  and  arrived  in  November  that  year.  In  the 
Sonora  mining  district  he  kejit  busy  and  made  some  money  buying 
and  selling  stock  till  October,  1861,  when  he  enlisted  for  Federal 
service  in  the  Civil  war  in  Company  E,  Second  California  Cavalry. 
He  was  mustered  in  at  San  Francisco,  was  on  duty  for  a  time  against 
Indians  on  the  northern  border,  was  transferred  to  Tulare  county, 
served  at  the  time  of  the  Owens  River  outbreak,  acting  as  sergeant- 
major  of  a  detail  of  his  regiment,  and  was  mustered  out  in  1864  after 
a  continuous  service  of  three  years  and  four  days.  In  the  mines  of 
Nevada  he  speculated  a  year  after  the  war,  then  returned  to  Tulare 
county  and  engaged  in  loaning  money  in  Tulare,  Kern  and  Fresno 
counties.  From  time  to  time  lie  bought  land  till  he  owned  eight 
hundred  and  forty  acres  in  the  San  Joaquin  valley,  mostly  devoted 
to  stock-raising,  and  acquired  a  fine  residence  on  the  Mineral  King- 
road,  two  miles  east  of  Visalia. 

In  politics  a  Republican,  Mr.  Huntley  served  his  party  in  various 
offices  of  trust,   having  been   internal   revenue  collector   for   Tulare, 

16 


256  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Kern,  Inyo  and  Fresno  counties  for  five  years,  until  the  office  was 
abolished,  and  was  also  gauger  of  liquors  and  surveyor  of  stills  until 
he  resigned.  He  was  a  member  of  Gen.  Wright  Post,  G.  A.  E.,  of 
Visalia. 

On  August  3,  1879,  Mr.  Huntley  married,  at  San  Rafael,  Nina  R. 
AMilfard,  l)orn  at  Southam]iton,  Eng.,  and  they  were  the  parents  of 
two  sons:  Willfard  H.  and  Chester  S.  In  1900  he  moved  his  family 
temporarily  to  Berkeley,  in  order  to  afford  his  children  good  educa- 
tional advantages.  In  all  matters  that  have  advanced  the  social, 
political  and  educational  welfare  of  Tulare  county  Mr.  Himtley  was 
always  eagerly  helpful,  evidencing  a  public  spii'it  commensurate  with 
his  conspicuous  integrity.  He  passed  away  at  the  home  ranch  near 
Visalia,  February  24,  1912. 

When  the  old  high  school  in  Visalia  was  built,  Mr.  Huntley 
bought  the  entire  issue  of  the  bonds,  amoimting  to  $40,000,  and  as 
they  ran  from  one  to  forty  years,  some  of  them  have  twenty-five 
years  yet  in  which  to  mature.  He  invested  largely  in  ranch  property 
in  Tulare  county,  his  first  purchase  of  this  kind  being  the  Lewis  Creek 
ranch  of  one  lumdred  and  sixty  acres,  which  he  later  sold.  One  of  his 
holdings  was  the  Cross  ranch  at  Bakersfield,  a  hundred  and  sixty 
acres;  another,  a  second  ranch  in  the  Bakersfield  neighborhood,  a 
hundred  and  sixty  acres,  and  both  of  these  he  rented.  He  bought  the 
Cameron  Creek  ranch  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  stock  and  timber 
land,  and  gave  it  to  his  son  Chester  S.  Three  hundred  acres  of  the 
old  Dr.  Halsted  ranch  he  bought  and  transferred  to  his  wife  and  son. 
Mrs.  Huntley  and  her  son  have  also  large  ranch  holdings  in  Tulare 
and  Kern  counties  and  are  extensively  engaged  in  stock-raising. 

There  is  one  feature  of  Mr.  Huntley's  biography  of  which  he 
seldom  talked  in  later  days,  yet  which  should  be  made  a  matter  of 
record.  Before  the  railroad  came,  he  rode  pony  express  three  trijis 
a  month  between  Visalia  and  Fort  Tejon. 


GEORGE  W.  KNOX 

The  well-known  and  ]Hi])ular  proprietor  of  the  general  merchan- 
dise business  in  Orosi,  Cal.,  which  enjoys  such  a  flourishing  and  grat- 
ifying trade  there,  is  George  W.  Knox,  whose  influence  in  tlie  commer- 
cial, industrial  and  political  fields  in  this  state  as  well  as  in  the  middle 
states  has  been  most  effectively  exerted.  Unusual  executive  ability, 
a  most  sagacious  reasoning  power,  a  clear  mind  and  the  forceful 
spirit  to  bring  to  a  successful  issue  all  that  he  set  out  to  accomplish 
have  been  the  means  of  Mr.  Knox's  brilliant  achievements  in  the  po- 
litical fiehl,  and  the  state  of  Minnesota  especially  has  reason  to  hold 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  257 

him  in  higli  esteem  and  to  ever  silently  thank  him  for  his  activities 
toward  the  welfare  of  that  vicinity. 

A  native  of  Columbia  county,  Wis.,  the  son  of  George  and  Julia 
A.  (Jackson)  Knox,  George  W.  was  born  November  20,  1852.  His 
parents  were  both  natives  of  Essex  county,  N.  Y.,  coming  to  Wisconsin 
at  an  early  day  and  settling  down  to  farming  for  a  long  period  of 
years.  Persevering,  hard-working  people,  they  here  reared  their 
family  and  became  well-to-do  farmers  of  their  day,  giving  to  their 
children  the  benefits  of  a  good  education  and  imparting  to  them  that 
rare  good  training  which  has  made  of  so  many  of  our  citizens  the 
well-balanced  men  they  are  today.  The  latter  years  of  their  life  was 
s))ent  in  California  whence  they  had  come  in  1904,  and  in  Grangeville 
the  father  passed  away,  at  the  age  of  ninety-three  years,  his  widow 
dj^ng  a  short  time  later  at  Orosi  at  the  same  age. 

At  the  common  and  high  schools  of  Kilbourn,  Wis.,  George  W. 
Knox  received  his  educational  training,  working  during  the  summers 
with  his  father  on  the  home  farm.  Mercantile  life  early  attracted  him 
and  upon  graduation  from  school  he  became  clerk  in  a  drug  store  for 
a  few  years,  later  embarking  in  that  business  for  himself  at  Elroy, 
Wis.,  which  engaged  his  entire  time  for  several  years.  In  1874  with 
his  brother  he  drove  across  the  plains  to  Boise  City,  Idaho,  but 
remained  here  but  a  short  time,  returning  east  to  locate  in  Aitkin. 
Minn.,  where  his  Ijrother  D.  J.  Knox  was  then  living.  His  career 
here  covered  the  period  between  1876  and  1908,  during  which  time 
he  became  a  central  figure  in  industrial  and  political  circles,  and  be- 
came most  prominent  through  his  efforts  in  the  legislature  to  bring 
about  the  improvement  of  many  conditions  there.  With  his  brother 
D.  J.  Knox  he  engaged  in  the  wholesale  and  retail  mercantile  busi- 
ness, lumbering  and  logging,  which  they  carried  on  until  the  former's 
death;  he  then  continued  alone  until  his  removal  to  California,  at  that 
time  selling  out  the  business.  A  stanch  Reiiublican  in  political  senti- 
ment, he  soon  became  prominent  in  local  affairs  in  Minnesota,  and 
held  the  office  of  county  auditor,  being  later  superintendent  of  schools 
in  Aitkin  county.  THs  exceptional  ability  soon  attracted  the  attention 
of  politicians,  and  he  was  elected  to  serve  for  two  years  on  the  State 
Board  of  Equalization,  which  office  he  tilled  with  such  satisfaction  to 
his  constituents  that  he  received  the  election  to  the  State  Legislature 
for  the  term  of  1907-08,  and  served  two  years  as  member  of  the  staff 
of  Governor  VanSant,  with  rank  of  colonel.  He  was  chairman  of 
Aitkin  County  Central  Committee  for  years  and  during  his  incum- 
bency many  long-felt  wants  of  the  county  were  fulfilled,  the  county 
being  benefited  in  many  directions  by  his  presence  on  this  committee. 
With  all  movements  tending  to  the  growtli  and  development  of  Min- 
nesota and  the  surrounding  country  Mr.  Knox  had  a  great  interest, 
and  was  usually  instrumental  in  aiding  in  their  fuitherance.     He  had 


258  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

man}"  opportunities  in  liis  business  to  find  these  deficiencies  and  his 
experience  in  the  himbering  business  had  taught  him  the  value  of  cer- 
tain conditions  which  he  sought  to  bring  about. 

For  many  years  the  business  of  Mr.  Knox  in  Aitkin  was  the  lum- 
bermen's headquarters  in  this  country,  they  being  the  most  extensive 
outfitters  in  that  section  in  their  day.  After  relinquishing  his  interests 
here  in  1908  he  decided  to  come  to  California,  whence  his  parents  had 
preceded  him,  and  accordingly  came  to  Orosi,  which  has  since  been  his 
place  of  residence.  In  Minnesota,  Mr.  Knox  had  married  Ella  H. 
Smith,  a  native  of  Illinois,  who  passed  away  in  Minnesota,  and  one 
son  was  born  to  this  union,  Walter  DeF.  Upon  arriving  in  Orosi, 
Cal.,  he  investigated  conditions  there,  finally  deciding  to  establish 
himself  in  his  own  line  of  business,  and  on  January  1,  1909,  the  busi- 
ness of  Bump  &:  Knox  was  begun,  dealing  in  lumber  and  builders'  sup- 
]ilies,  and  this  has  grown  and  increased  to  such  an  extent  that  a  whole- 
sale and  retail  business  is  carried  on,  Mr.  Knox  now  being  sole  pro- 
prietor. He  has  a  general  merchandise  business  in  connection  and 
enjoys  a  wide  and  profitable  trade,  gaining  his  patronage  chiefly  by  his 
sagacious  handling  of  his  wares  and  his  courteous  yet  business-like 
manner. 

In  1909  Mr.  Knox  married  in  Los  Angeles,  Christina  (Thompson) 
Smith,  and  they  make  their  home  in  Orosi,  being  well-known  mem- 
bers of  society  there.  Mr.  Knox  has  been  a  prominent  Mason  in 
Minnesota  as  well  as  in  California;  he  is  a  32d  degree  Scottish  Rite 
Mason  and  Knight  Templar  of  York  Rite,  member  of  Osmau  Temple 
of  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  and  past  master  of  Blue  lodge  at  Aitkin,  Minn.; 
member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  of  Orosi ;  and  is  also  a  member  of 
the  Blue  lodge  of  Masons  of  Orosi.  He  has  one  sister,  Mrs.  S.  J. 
Knowlton.  widow  of  E.  G.  Knowlton,  who  is  residing  in  Orosi. 

It  is  of  interest  to  add  that  Mr.  Knox  lias  become  very  interested 
in  drainage  systems  in  Minnesota,  and  his  entrance  into  the  legislature 
was  for  the  furtherance  of  the  project  to  secure  appropriations  for 
that  purpose.  During  his  term  of  ser\ice  $400,000  was  secured  under 
his  bill,  and  the  appropriation  has  been  continued  ever  since  under  the 
same  ratio,  thus  perpetuating  the  influence  and  accomplishments  of 
its  loval  instigator  and  friend.  Mr.  Knox's  career  has  spelled  power 
and  success  from  its  inception,  and  he  has  earned  the  deepest  grati- 
tude and  admiration  of  all  who  have  come  to  know  him. 


WILLIAM  E.  GOBLE 

In  Coles  county,  111.,  November  18,  1872,  William  E.  Goble, 
now  a  resident  of  Tulare  county,  two  and  one-half  miles  east  of  Orosi, 
was  born.     He  is  widely  known  as  a  pioneer  in  this  section  and  as 


BENJAMIN  HICKS 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  261 

a  successful  uurseryman.  When  he  was  nineteen  years  old  he  went 
to  Labette  county,  Kans.,  where  he  lived  six  years.  From  that  state 
W.  E.  Goble  came  to  Tulare  county,  where  he  bought  sixty  acres  of 
an  old  place  on  whicli  an  orchard  had  been  established  about  1871. 
He  now  has  four  thousand  small  orange  trees  and  ten  thousand  grape 
vines  in  tln-ee  varieties,  six  thousand  Malagas,  three  thousand 
Thompsons  and  one  thousand  Emperors,  all  of  which  he  intends  using 
on  his  own  place.  He  has  nine  acres  of  Emperor  grapes,  six  acres 
of  Malagas  and  four  acres  of  Muscats.  He  is  gradually  working  out 
of  the  nursery  business  and  caring  for  his  own  laud.  Water  is  made 
available  from  wells  from  wJiicJi  it  is  drawn  by  means  of  rotary 
pumps,  and  a  continual  flow  of  thirty  inches  assures  him  a  sufficient 
quantity  for  the  entire  place. 

While  he  was  living  in  Kansas,  Mr.  Goble  married  Miss  Ida 
Stoddard,  a  native  of  Indiana,  and  they  have  two  children,  Gladys 
and  Reva  Goble.  His  parents  were  John  and  Catherine  (Reynolds) 
Goble,  the  foriner  now  living  in  Kansas  and  the  latter  died  in  Illinois 
in  1890.  Politically  he  is  an  industrial  organizer  and  socially  he 
affiliates  with  the  Fraternal  Brotherhood  of  America.  He  holds 
membership  in  tlie  Baptist  church.  As  a  citizen  he  is  progressive 
and  public- spirited,  willing  at  all  times  to  contribute  liberally  to  the 
support  of  any  measure  which  in  his  opinion  pi-omises  to  benefit 
the  community  at  large. 


BENJAMIN  HICKS 

A  descendant  from  old  Canadian  families,  Benjamin  Hicks  was 
born  in  Toronto,  Canada,  December  30,  1847,  and  grew  to  maturity 
and  acquired  his  education  in  the  city  of  his  nativity.  It  was  in 
1869  that  he  set  out  to  seek  his  fortune.  Crossing  the  line  into  the 
United  States  he  made  his  way  through  the  heart  of  the  West  and 
located  in  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  and  settled  on  a  ranch  a  mile  and  a 
half  north  of  Visalia.  From  there  he  moved  in  1884  to  an  eight 
hundred-acre  stock  and  grain  ranch  on  the  Smith  road  and  on  rural 
free  delivery  route  No.  "2  of  the  Visalia  postal  district.  There  he 
farmed  nine  years,  saving  considerable  money,  a  portion  of  which  he 
invested  in  an  eighty-acre  grain  tract,  and  in  another  tract  of  one 
hundred  acres  two  miles  Northeast  of  Visalia.  From  the  time  of  his 
settlement  in  Tulare  county  until  his  death,  June  9,  1900,  a  period  of 
about  a  quarter  of  a  century,  he  was  identified  with  the  agricultural 


262  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

development  of  central  California.  When  he  began  here  nothing  had 
been  done  to  irrigate  the  soil  and  the  degree  of  its  productiveness  was 
unknown,  but  he  and  other  pioneers  proved  that  profitable  grain 
cultivation  and  cattle-raising  were  not  only  possible  but  easy  of 
attainment.  He  gained  a  position  of  influence  in  the  county  and  was 
respected  for  his  keen  judgment,  high  honor  and  energy.  In  his 
dealings  with  his  fellow  men  he  exemplified  the  teachings  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  of  which  he  was  a  devout  and  helpful  member.  Polit- 
ically he  was  Republican,  and  as  a  citizen  he  gave  his  support  to  all 
measures  tending  to  the  benefit  of  the  connnunity.  The  free  school 
system  always  had  his  generous  |n-on'iotion  and  he  long  held  the  office 
of  trustee  of  the  Elbow  Creek  district,  greatly  to  the  benefit  of  the 
local  school.  Fraternally  he  affiliated  with  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows  and  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen. 

In  1871  Mr.  Hicks  was  married  near  Visalia  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
A.  March,  who  was  born  in  Merced,  Cal.,  a  daughter  of  Robert  and 
Mary  Jane  (Holloway)  March,  who  were  of  Kentucky  birth.  Her 
parents  settled  early  in  Missouri  and  from  there  came  overland  to 
California  in  18-19.  They  lived  first  in  Mariposa  county,  next  in 
Merced  county,  and  then  in  Tulare  county,  where  she  died  in  1881.  in 
her  fifty-seventh  year,  he  passing  away  in  1903,  in  his  seventy-ninth 
year.  Until  his  removal  to  Tulare  county  Mr.  March  had  devoted 
himself  entirely  to  farming;  here  he  gave  some  attention  to  mining 
interests.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hicks  had  seven  children,  four  of  whom 
survive:    Albert  E.,  Mary  Pearl,  Jewell  and  Ruby  Louise. 

Albert  E.  Hicks  has  charge  of  the  old  Hicks  homestead,  which 
he  has  managed  since  1876.  After  his  father's  death  he  planted 
eighty  acres  to  orchard,  and  now  he  has  one  of  the  best  producing 
orchards  in  the  county.  Thirty  acres  of  his  land  is  devoted  to 
peaches  and  of  that  fruit  he  sold  one  hundred  and  fifteen  tons  in  1911, 
chiefly  Phillips  clingstones,  Lovells  and  Muirs.  The  relative  value 
of  these  peaches  per  acre  was,  in  the  order  in  which  they  have  been 
named,  $.300.  $150  and  $50  an  acre.  The  entire  average  value  of  his 
peach  crop  is  somewhat  in  excess  of  $4,000.  His  eight  hundred  and 
sixty  prune  trees  produce  one  hundred  and  ninety  tons  of  prunes 
valued  at  more  than  $6,000.  Mr.  Hicks  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Alles, 
and  they  have  children  named  Gladys,  Elwood  and  Allison.  Mr. 
Hicks  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  His  sisters  Mary 
Pearl  and  Jewell  live  with  their  mother  at  No.  503  North  Church 
street,  Visalia,  and  his  sister  Ruby  Louise  became  the  wife  of  A.  E. 
Blair  and  their  home  is  near  Visalia.  By  the  will  of  Benjamin  Hicks 
his  wife  was  made  administrator  of  Ms  estate  and  her  management 
of  it  has  given  her  a  re)nitation  for  uncommon  business  ability.  The 
Hicks  family  is  strong  in  its  support  of  the  Christian  Church. 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  263 

ISAAC  H.  THOMAS 

The  name  of  Isaac  ii.  Thomas  atands  as  a  synonym  for  all 
that  is  highest  and  best  in  horticultural  accomplishments  in  Tulare 
county,  as  is  attested  in  the  fact  that  he  is  proudly  referred  to  by 
the  citizens  as  the  Luther  Burbank  of  Tulare  county.  The  earliest 
recollections  of  Mr.  Thomas  are  of  a  home  on  a  southern  planta- 
tion, his  birth  having  occurred  in  Grayson  county,  Ky.,  in  1838. 
He  was  a  lad  of  twenty  years  when  he  turned  his  back  on  the  scenes 
of  his  boyhood  and  came  to  California  by  way  of  Panama  and 
Aspinwall,  a  voyage  tilled  with  interest  to  the  young  traveler.  It 
had  been  the  intention  of  the  party  to  visit  Panama  City,  but  on 
account  of  the  riots  then  prevailing  they  were  marched  between 
lines  of  soldiers  to  lighters  and  taken  aboard  the  steamer.  This  was 
overcrowded  to  the  point  of  discomfort,  the  late  arrivals  having  to 
content  themselves  with  standing  room.  When  the  ship  hove  in  sight 
of  the  Golden  Gate  the  i)assengers  became  unruly  in  their  eagerness 
to  land  and  thus  relieve  the  tension  and  discomfort  which  they  had 
endured  during  the  long  voyage  on  the  Pacific.  The  crowding  of 
the  passengers  to  one  side  of  the  ship  nearly  capsized  it,  and  in  order 
to  right  the  ship  and  preserve  order  the  captain  was  compelled  to 
turn  the  hot  water  hose  on  the  uninily  crowd.  At  San  Francisco 
Mr.  Thomas  boarded  the  overland  stage  for  \'isalia,  ari'iving  No- 
vember 5,  1858.  He  had  been  attracted  to  Visalia  from  the  fact  that 
his  brother,  Joseph  H.  Thomas,  was  located  here,  having  come  to 
California  in  1852  and  to  \'isalia  in  1856.  Here  the  latter  was  en- 
gaged in  the  himlier  business  on  Mill  creek,  cutting  and  sawing  ])ine 
lumber.  The  brothers  formed  an  association  in  the  himlter  busi- 
ness that  lasted  eleven  years,  during  which  time  they  lost  three 
mills  by  fire  and  flood.  Tlie  mill  was  located  forty-five  miles  from 
Visalia  and  they  paid  $40  to  $50  i)er  thousand  feet  for  hauling  the 
lumlier  to  town,  where  it  sold  for  $90  a  thousand.  The  logs  were 
blasted  in  order  to  get  tliem   intd  tlic  mill. 

After  giving  nji  the  lumber  business  Isaac  H.  Thomas  turned 
his  attention  to  the  nui'sery  and  orchai'd  industry  and  his  interest 
in  the  same  has  continued  to  the  jiresent  time.  To  him  is  given  the 
credit  for  taking  orders  for  and  selling  the  first  fruit  trees  in  Tulare 
county,  obtaining-  his  initial  stock  from  San  Jose.  Into  his  nursery, 
located  one  and  a  half  miles  east  of  Visalia,  he  introduced  manv 
new  varieties  of  fruit  trees.  A  .subsequent  undertaking  was  the 
planting  and  development  of  a  ninetv  acre  orchard  adjacent  to  town. 
Since  1904  he  has  ])een  associated  with  the  Red  P>ank  Orchard 
Company  in  the  capacity  of  horticultui-ist.  This  oi-chaid  was  started 
willi   the   intention   of  fatei'inii-   t<>   tlic   eastern    ti-ade   exclusivelv   and 


2(34  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

grows  the  earliest  fruit  in  the  state  north  of  the  Imperial  valley. 
Some  idea  of  the  duties  involved  as  manager  of  the  Red  Bank  or- 
chard may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  the  ranch  comprises 
twenty-two  hundred  acres,  of  which  nine  hundred  and  forty  acres 
are  in  fruit,  as  follows:  oranges,  table  grapes  (fourteen  varieties), 
seedless  limes,  tangarines,  plums  (fifteen  varieties),  as  well  as  an 
early  variety  of  peaches,  in  fact  the  very  earliest  produced  in  the 
United  States.  The  orchard  has  an  exceptional  location  ou  the  face 
of  Colvin  mountain.  Electric  power  is  used  for  irrigatiou,  water 
being  supplied  from  a  system  of  wells  seventy-seven  feet  deep  and 
pumped  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet  up  hill  into  cement  flumes. 
Mr.  Thomas  has  exhibited  Yisalia  grown  fruits  all  over  America, 
and  abroad  also,  and  has  never  taken  any  but  first  premiums.  Be- 
sides sending  exhibits  from  his  own  ranch,  which  he  owned  before 
he  became  associated  with  the  Eed  Bank  Orchard  Company,  he 
also  packed  and  shipped  fruit  that  came  from  the  George  A.  Flem- 
ing ranch,  consisting  of  three  hundred  pounds  of  large  peaches,  to 
the  fairs  at  Atlanta,  Buffalo,  and  Paris,  the  peaches  running  from 
sixteen  to  twenty-one  and  a  half  ounces  each. 

The  marriage  of  Mr.  Thomas  in  1864  united  him  with  Miss 
Caroline  Owsley,  a  native  of  Missouri.  The  eldest  of  their  three 
children,  John  O.,  now  deceased,  was  elected  recorder  of  Tulare 
county  and  served  one  term.  Horace  M.  is  a  resident  of  Oakland. 
Annie,  the  only  daughter,  is  the  wife  of  P.  M.  Baier,  of  Yisalia. 
Mr.  Thomaa  is  a  member  of  Four  Creek  Lodge  No.  94,  I.  O.  0.  F., 
and  a  charter  member  of  the  old  volunteer  fire  department.  He 
served  nine  years  on  the  state  board  of  horticultiire  and  has  taken 
an  active  part  in  combating  the  fruit  pests,  he  having  invented  the 
composition  of  lime,  sulphur  and  salt  for  killino-  insects  and  the 
San  Jose  scale. 

In  retrospect  Mr.  Thomas  calls  to  mind  his  first  impression  of 
Visalia,  which  at  the  time  he  arrived  here  contained  three  stores, 
a  hotel  and  a  blacksmith  shop.  In  the  course  of  half  a  century  he 
has  seen  wonderful  changes  in  the  country  round  about  and  no  one 
more  than  he  can  be  given  credit  for  what  has  been  accomplished. 
Few  indeed  are  those  now  living  who  were  residents  here  when'  he 
settled  here.  He  cast  his  first  vote  in  Visalia  in  1859,  supportine; 
Bell  and  Everett.  Mr.  Thomas  is  the  proud  possessor  of  two  old 
relics  which  he  prizes  very  highly.  One  of  these  is  an  old  drurn. 
which  first  saw  service  in  the  Revolutionary  war  and  later  fi2:ured 
in  the  battle  of  New  Orleans.  This  relic  is  now  on  exhibition  at 
Stanford  ITniversitv.  The  other  memento  is  an  old  hickory  cane, 
cut  in  IR.'i.T  at  General  Jackson's  old  home  in  Tennessee,  The  Herm- 
itage. 


MRS.    A.    J.    SCOGGINS 


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TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  269 

ANDREW  J.  SCOGGINS 

Among  the  well-kuowu  pioneers  of  Tulare  county  is  numbered 
Andrew  J.  Scoggins,  sou  of  David  Green  and  Martha  (Breedlove) 
Scoggins,  who  was  born  May  28,  1828,  in  Alabama.  His  parents  were 
natives  of  North  Carolina.  The  family  moved  at  a  comparatively 
early  date  to  Tennessee  and  were  among  pioneers  in  Roane  county 
ami  later  in  another  county  in  that  state  and  the  father  prospered 
fairly  as  a  farmer  and  as  a  tanner.  When  Andrew  was  twenty-two 
years  old  he  settled  in  Arkansas,  but  finding  the  country  unhealthy 
removed  to  southwest  Missouri.  In  1848,  before  leaving  his  old  home 
in  Tennessee,  he  married  Miss  Julia  Buttram,  a  native  of  that  state, 
who  bore  him  a  daughter,  Martha  Ann,  who  eventually  married  the 
Rev.  L.  C.  Renfroe  of  the  Methodist  church  and  bore  him  children, 
Maud  and  Louis.  Mrs.  Scoggins  died  October  3,  1853.  On  October 
3,  1856,  he  married  Miss  Rebecca  Cleek,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  whom 
he  brought  across  the  plains  to  the  Far  West.  The  journey  was  made 
in  the  warm  part  of  the  year  1857  and  he  started  with  two  hundred 
head  of  cattle  and  lost  a  few  by  the  way.  The  start  was  made  from 
Fort  Scott  and  the  Platte  river  was  reached  at  Fort  Kearney.  The 
latter  part  of  the  journey  was  made  by  the  southern  route  and  Mr. 
Scoggins  settled  in  Yolo  county,  then  a  wild  country  in  which  he  found 
wil<l  oats  higher  than  his  head.  By  his  second  marriage  Mr.  Scoggins 
had  nine  children :  Margaret  M.,  Byron,  Josephine,  Nettie,  John  L., 
Frank,  Pearl  W.,  A.  J.  and  an  infant  unnamed.  The  three  last-men- 
tioned have  passed  away.  Margaret  M.  married  C.  Fremont  Giddons 
and  has  three  sons  and  a  daughter.  Byron  has  not  married.  Jose- 
phine married  Travers  Welch  and  bore  him  one  child  who  has  won 
success  as  a  teacher  at  Fresno,  where  the  family  live.  Nettie  married 
C.  L.  Knestric  of  Diuuba  and  has  a  daughter.  Frank  married  Belle 
Ellis,  daughter  of  J.  W.  Ellis  of  Visalia,  and  has  two  sons  and  a 
daughter.  Mr.  Scoggins  has  nine  grandchildren  and  three  great-grand- 
children. 

Mr.  Scoggins  crossed  the  plains  the  second  time,  the  journey 
being  made  in  comparative  safety,  there  liaA-ing  been  no  trouble 
with  the  Indians.  He  came  to  Hanford  in  1866  and  lived  south  of  that 
town  for  ten  years.  He  bought  land  of  the  railroad  company  at  $12.50 
an  acre  and  passed  through  the  experiences  which  culminated  in  the 
Mussel  Slough  tragedy  and  the  subsequent  settlement  of  questions  at 
issue  between  settlers  and  the  railroad  company.  One  of  his  recollec- 
tions is  of  having  seen  Mr.  Crow  after  llie  latter  had  been  shot  down. 
He  went  for  a  time  to  Texas  to  raise  sheep  and  fed  many  shee])  in 
Colusa  county,  (^al.  He  had  now  entered  upon  what  may  be  termed 
his  second  period  of  prosperity.  In  1870  he  had  i)aid  taxes  on  prop- 
erty valued  at  $350,000  and  the  oi^ening  of  the  year  1876  had  found 


270  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

him  poor.  He  began  to  raise  grain,  operating  extensively  in  Colusa 
county,  where  he  grew  ten  thousand  sacks  of  wheat  in  one  memorahle 
season  and  was  known  as  a  leading  wheat  producer  in  that  part  of  the 
state.  In  the  spring  of  1888  he  owned  eleven  thousand  sheep  and 
sheared  four  hundred.  His  house  in  Colusa  county,  a  brick  structure 
which  cost  $15,000,  was  the  finest  house  in  the  countj^  at  the  time  of 
his  residence  there.  On  coming  to  Dinuba  he  bought  fifty  acres  of  land 
a  mile  and  a  half  southwest  of  the  town  and  has  given  ten  acres  to  his 
heirs.    He  has  thirty  acres  in  grapes  and  a  fine  family  orchard. 

The  country  in  this  region  was  new  when  Mr.  Scoggins  first  he- 
held  it.  Sheep  and  cattle  were  fed  everywhere,  wild  game  was  plenty 
and  he  often  saw  large  herds  of  antelope  which  at  a  distance  looked 
like  bands  of  sheep.  Not  only  has  he  participated  in  the  development 
of  the  country,  but  as  a  public-spirited  citizen  he  has  aided  it  in  every 
way  possible.  In  politics  he  calls  himself  a  Bryan  Democrat.  He  has 
long  been  a  Mason  and  is  also  an  Odd  Fellow.  He  and  members  of 
his  family  are  communicants  of  the  Methodist  E]iiscopal  Church  South. 


HON.  TIPTON  LINDSEY 

The  honor  which  belongs  to  the  pioneer  and  to  tlie  leader  in 
affairs  of  importance  to  the  community  attaches  to  the  name  of  the 
late  Hon.  Tipton  Lindsey,  of  Visalia,  Tulare  county,  Cal.  Mr. 
Lindsey  was  born  in  St.  Joseph  count.y,  Ind.,  May  21,  1829,  and  was 
reared  on  a  farm  there.  Elducated  in  public  schools  near  his  boy- 
hood home,  he  was  well  advanced  in  the  study  of  law  by  the  time 
he  was  twenty  years  old.  In  1849,  as  a  member  of  a  party  of  thirty, 
he  made  the  journey  with  ox-teams  across  the  plains  to  California 
and  mined  for  a  time  at  Placerville.  He  then  settled  in  Santa  Clara 
county,  whence  he  came  to  Tulare  county,  in  November,  1860,  driv- 
ing a  bund  of  cattle.  He  pre-empted  a  piece  of  government  land 
near  Goshen  and  turned  his  cattle  out  to  range,  but  they  died  in  a 
dry  season  four  years  later.  He  then  went  to  Visalia,  completed 
his  study  of  the  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  entering  upon  a 
successful  professional  practice.  From  the  first  he  took  an  active 
interest  in  jiublic  affairs  and  from  time  to  time  was  called  to  fill 
responsible  officials  positions.  He  was  for  twelve  years  receiver  of 
the  United  States  Land  Office  at  Visalia,  was  long  a  school  trustee, 
served  one  term  as  supervisor  and  represented  his  district  four 
years  in  the  senate  of  the  state  of  California.  During  all  his  active 
life  he  took  a  deep  and  heljiful  interest  in  jiublic  education  and  the 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  271 

Tipton  Lindsey  graiuinar  school  of  Visalia,  named  in  his  honor,  is 
a  monument  to  his  activities  as  a  promoter  of  educational  advance- 
ment of  the  city.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  of  him  that  there  was  no 
local  interest  tending  to  the  improvement  of  the  people  at  large 
that  did  not  receive  his  public-spirited  support.  (Comparatively 
earh"  in  the  historj'  of  Visalia  he  bought  sixteen  home  lots  in  the 
town  for  $800,  and  the  lot  on  which  his  widow  now  has  her  home 
has  been  owned  in  the  family  forty-six  years.  Her  fine  ranch  of 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  three  miles  west  of  town,  he  purchased 
forty-six  years  ago.  The  property  formerly  bore  prunes  and 
peaches  on  trees  which  he  set  out,  but  eventually  he  had  them 
taken  out  and  devoted  the  land  to  alfalfa,  and  for  several  years 
it  has  been  operated  by  tenants.  Fraternally  he  affiliated  with  the 
Masons,  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  with  the  An- 
cient Order  of  United  Workmen.  He  was  identified  with  the  Cali- 
fornia Society  of  Pioneers,  the  headquarters  of  which  are  at  San 
Francisco,  and  helped  to  organize  the  Tulare  County  Society  of 
Pioneers.  His  recollections  of  1849  were  very  comprehensive  and 
very  interesting.  In  these  days,  when  the  high  price  of  foodstuffs 
is  so  much  discussed,  readers  should  be  interested  in  his  narratives 
of  a  time  wheu  water  sold  for  $1  a  gallon  and  eggs  for  $1  each  in 
San  Francisco.  This  honored  pioneer  jiassed  away  on  his  ranch 
west  of  Visalia  in  1894. 

In  1859  Mr.  Lindsey  married  Miss  Eliza  Fine,  niece  of  John 
Fine,  who  crossed  the  plains  with  her  uncle  in  1853.  Wheu  she 
came  to  Visalia  it  was  only  a  village;  she  saw  the  trees  set  out  and 
the  homes  built  in  her  vicinity,  and  has  watched  the  development  of 
the  city  to  its  present  projiortions  and  importance.  She  recalls  many 
entertaining  experiences  of  her  journey  across  the  plains.  In  every 
direction  she  saw  long  emigrant  trains  until  they  looked  small  and 
dim  on  the  horizon.  She  remembers  a  stamjjede  of  buffaloes  in 
which  a  herd  of  thousands  bore  down  on  her  train,  threatening  death 
to  humans  and  cattle  alike,  a  tragedy  which  was  ])ic\ented  l)y  a 
diversion  in  the  \)iith  of  the  maddened  bison  which  took  them  past 
the  camp  without  inflicting  injury  to  anything  in  it.  She  recalls  the 
flood  of  1868  at  Visalia,  when  for  more  than  twenty- four  hours 
water  stood  a  foot  deep  on  the  ]:)roperty  which  is  now  her  home,  and 
tells  how  after  the  water  subsided  tons  of  fish  were  left  on  the 
plains  west  of  Visalia.  The  flood  interfered  with  travel  in  the  coun- 
try round  about  to  such  an  extent  that  for  two  months  not  a  letter 
or  newspajjer  was  receivcnl  in  the  town.  Mrs.  Lindsey  lias  two 
children,  Charles  F.,  of  San  Francisco,  and  Mrs.  M.  P.  Frasier,  of 
Los  Angeles,   who   has   a    son   named    Harold. 


272  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

HON.  JOSEPH  C.  BROWN 

In  1849,  (luring-  the  days  of  the  gold  excitement,  which  was  the 
booming  of  California  and  the  misfortune  of  many  of  its  pioneers 
who  liad  not  learned  that  grain  is  more  golden  than  gold,  Joseph 
C.  Brown,  a  native  of  Kentucky  and  a  man  of  nnusual  ability,  came 
across  tlie  plains  in  the  historic  wearisome  way  and  mined  for  a 
time  at  Placerville.  Then  he  bettered  his  fortunes  by  turning  school 
teacher,  holding  forth  to  a  few  i)upils  in  the  Deep  Creek  school-house 
in  Tulare  county,  a  structure  which  can  be  dignified  only  by  de- 
scribing it  as  a  log  cabin.  But  there  was  a  career  before  him.  He 
had  a  taste  for  politics  and  was  a  forcible  and  convincing  public 
speaker,  and  in  those  times  and  in  this  then  remote  region  the  pub- 
lic speaker  had  a  distinct  advantage  over  his  less  voluble  neighbor. 
He  represented  Tulare  county  in  the  California  legislature  in  1866, 
1867  and  1868,  and  the  records  show  that  he  served  on  important 
committees  and  did  good  work  for  his  constituency. 

Later  Mr.  Brown  ranched  in  the  White  River  mountains,  near 
Exeter,  Tulare  county,  where  he  operated  two  hundred  and  forty 
acres  of  land  in  the  raising  of  hogs,  the  bacon  from  wMch  he  enter- 
prisingly sold  in  the  mines.  He  homesteaded  a  one  hundred  and 
sixty-acre  ranch  of  government  land,  two  and  one-lialf  miles  south- 
east of  Exeter,  which  he  developed  into  a  productive  farm  on  which 
he  lived  out  his  life  and  died  April  25,  1896. 

Of  the  California  constitutional  convention  of  1876  Mr.  Brown 
was  an  active  and  influential  member,  rei^resenting  Tulare  county, 
and  in  |)olitical  circles  he  was  widely  and  favorably  known  through- 
out the  state.  At  the  time  of  the  flood  of  1868.  when  he  was  living 
in  the  White  River  mountains,  his  food  supply  was  cut  off  tem- 
])orarily  and  for  a  while  he  had  nothing  to  eat  but  boiled  barley. 
He  married  Mollie  M.  Lovelace,  who  bore  him  children  as  follows: 
Stanly  B.,  Volney  A.  and  Lucretia  E.,  now  Mrs.  L.  Martin. 

On  his  father's  ranch  near  Farmersville,  Volney  A.  Brown  grew 
to  manhood,  and  in  tlie  public  schools  near  the  home  of  his  boy- 
hood days  he  acquired  his  education.  When  his  father's  estate  was 
divided,  eighty  acres  fell  to  his  share  and  it  is  now  his  home,  and 
he  has  improved  it  and  made  of  it  such  an  up-to-date  ranch  as  would 
be  the  pride  of  any  farmer  in  his  district.  He  has  set  out  a  new 
prune  orchard,  which  produced  eleven  tons  in  1911,  and  raises  bar- 
ley, hogs  and  stock  cattle.  In  connection  with  his  homestead  he 
farms  a  ranch  in  the  hills  under  lease.  He  has  also  invested  in 
valuable  town  lots  in  Exeter,  and  has  just  completed  a  fine  residence 
on  his  premises,  where  he  and  his  wife  and  one  son,  Joseph  C.  Brown, 
enjoy  all  the  comforts  of  a  happy  home. 

Some  of  his  father's  public  spirit  and  concern  in  public  affairs 


JOSEPH  C.  BROWN 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  275 

was  inherited  by  Mr.  Brown,  who  has  an  emdable  reputation  as  a 
liberal-minded  and  very  helpful  citizen  who  has  at  heart  the  best 
interests  of  the  community. 


GEORGE  A.  NOBLE 

A  prominent  citizen  and  successful  builder  of  Tulare  county, 
and  a  native  son  of  the  Golden  State,  George  A.  Noble  was  born  in 
Soquel,  Santa  Cruz  county,  in  1856,  a  son  of  Augustus  and  Johanna 
M.  (Short)  Noble.  His  parents  were  both  born  in  Massachusetts, 
and  his  father  is  living  at  Soquel  at  the  age  of  ninety  years. 

The  elder  Noble  came  to  California  on  board  a  sailing  vessel  by 
way  of  Cape  Horn  in  the  year  1849,  a  member  of  a  party  of  thirty- 
nine  men  who  were  three  mouths  in  reaching  their  destination,  and 
he  is  one  of  the  few  '49ers  surviving  in  this  state.  On  the  voyage 
the  supply  of  meat  was  exhausted  and  some  of  the  people  on  the 
shijs  died  of  scurvy,  for  a  time  there  being  no  fresh  food  but  fish. 
Soon  after  his  arrival  Mr.  Noble  began  mining  on  the  Feather 
river,  and  in  niue  months  took  out  gold  to  the  value  of  $20,000, 
sending  some  of  his  nuggets  back  East.  Later  he  returned  to  his 
old  home,  married  and  brought  his  bride  to  California.  Locating 
in  the  mining  district  of  Marysville,  he  set  himself  uj)  in  Imsi- 
ness  as  a  cooper,  working  over  the  material  of  old  whisky  barrels 
into  kegs,  which  he  sold  profitably  to  miners,  but  he  was  burned  out 
at  Marysville,  losing  his  all.  After  a  time  he  went  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, bought  a  cooper  shop  near  Black  Point,  operated  it  success- 
fully two  years  and  then  sold  it  in  order  to  remove  to  Soquel,  Santa 
Cruz  county,  where  he  has  since  made  his  home.  He  bought  an  undi- 
vided one-ninth  interest  in  the  Soquel  ranch  of  two  thousand  acres 
and  in  the  Argumentation  ranch  of  nine  hundred  acres,  which  he 
still  owns.  He  was  one  of  the  early  justices  of  the  peace  on  the 
Pacific  slope  and  is  a  member  of  the  Pioneer  Society  of  California. 
His  wife,  who  died  in  1907,  bore  him  children  as  follows :  Mrs.  Char- 
lotte M.  Lawson,  of  San  Francisco;  George  A.,  of  this  review;  Ed- 
ward T. ;  Frederick  Dent ;  Prof.  Charles  A.,  of  the  University  of 
California  at  Berkeley;  and  Walter. 

In  Soquel,  Santa  Cruz  county,  Cal.,  George  A.  Noble  grew  to 
manhood,  acquired  his  education  and  gained  practical  familiarity  with 
fruit  growing.  He  began  his  independent  business  life  in  1878  as  a 
fruitman  near  Fresno,  on  a  tract  of  eighty  acres,  twenty  of  which 
was  in  vineyard,  forty  in  fruit  and  the  remaining  twenty  in  alfalfa. 
In  1888  he  moved  to  Seattle,  Wash.,  where  he  was  for  a  time  a  sue- 


276  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

cessfnl  contractor  and  builder.  Returning  to  California,  he  bought 
eighty  acres  at  Savilla,  near  Atwell's  Island,  Tulare  county,  but 
owing  to  failure  on  the  i^art  of  the  vendors  to  furnish  water  accord- 
ing to  their  agreement  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  his  holdings 
after  two  years'  work  and  many  improvements  made  on  it.  He 
then  removed  to  Fresno,  where  he  devoted  his  time  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  Indian  corn.  In  1900  he  settled  at  Visalia,  renting  twenty 
acres,  which  he  afterward  bought  and  still  owns.  He  developed  it 
into  an  orchard  and  is  now  doing  well  as  a  grower  of  peaches.  His 
property,  lying  within  the  city  limits  of  Visalia,  is  exceedingly 
valuable.  In  connection  with  his  fruit  growing  he  has  done  much 
contracting  and  building  at  Visalia  since  1905,  having  erected, 
among  other  buildings,  the  Episcopal  church,  five  houses  for  J.  S. 
Johnson,  the  W.  R.  Pigg  home,  the  M.  J.  Wells  home,  the  Willow 
district  schoolhouse  and  Mrs.  Dyer's  home.  In  the  year  1912  he 
built  the  Bliss,  Cutler  and  East  L^Tine  schoolhouses  in  Tulare  county 
and  is  at  present  engaged  on  the  new  Presbyterian  church  at 
Visalia.  The  residence  of  Mrs.  Oaks,  opposite  the  new  Baptist 
church  in  Visalia  was  also  completed  by  him.  Besides  buildings  of 
the  classes  mentioned  he  has  built  numerous  cottages  in  different 
parts  of  the  town,  and  his  work  has  been  such  as  to  give  him  high 
standing  among  the  builders  and  contractors  of  the  county.  He  is 
a  charter  member  of  the  local  organization  of  Modern  AVoodmen, 
and  as  a  citizen  is  progressive,  public  spirited  and  hel]ifu]  to  all 
good   interests   of   the   community. 

In  1877  Mr.  Noble  married  Miss  Ot-to,  a  native  of  Germany, 
whose  father,  long  in  the  employ  of  Claus  Spreckels,  built  in  Wis- 
consin the  first  beet  sugar  factory  in  the  United  States  and  later 
erected  the  Eldorado  sugar  factory,  near  San  Francisco.  Mrs. 
Noble  has  borne  her  husband  six  children,  Augustus,  Edgar,  Rosa, 
Ewald,  Gertrude  and  George.  Rosa  is  the  wife  of  Clarence  Brown 
of  Visalia.  Mr.  Noble  has  recently  organized  the  California  Build- 
ing Co.,  which  has  platted  the  Nobles  Subdivision  to  Visalia  and 
is  now  engaged  in  building  houses  and  selling  off  lots  to  prosjiective 
homemakers,  this  being  the  finest  available  residence  district  in 
Visalia.  The  family  home  is  at  No.  820  West  Mineral  King  ave- 
nue,   Visalia. 


ANDREW  G.  BELZ 

As  far  back  as  the  ancestral  records  can  be  traced  the  home  of 
the  Belz  family  has  been  in  Germany.  Christoff  Belz,  a  Saxon  by 
birth  and  a  machinist  by  trade,  came  to  the  United  States  and  set- 


TULAKE  AND  KINGS   COUNTIES  277 

tied  in  Rome,  N.  Y.,  in  1854,  and  in  that  city  he  followed  his  trade 
throughout  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  married  Margaret  Sclmuer, 
also  a  native  of  Saxony,  who  died  at  the  home  of  her  son,  Andrew 
G.,  when  she  had  reached  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-nine  years. 
She  bore  her  husband  four  children,  of  whom  Andrew  G.,  the  eldest, 
was  the  only  one  to  make  his  home  in  California.  In  their  religious 
belief  Christoff  Belz  and  his  wife  were  Lutherans,  devoted  to  their 
church  and  contributing  to  the  limit  of  their  ability  to  all  its  various 
interests. 

In  Saxe-Meiningen,  Germany,  Andrew  G.  Belz  was  born  Janu- 
ary .31,  18,32.     In  his  youth  he  learned  the  machinist's  trade,  attend- 
ing a  .mechanical  school,  in  which  he  specialized  as  an  ironworker 
and  a  locksmith.     Subsequently  he  served  for  two  years  in  the  army 
of  his  native  country,  as  required  by  law,  but  the  service  was  so  dis- 
tasteful to  him  that  he  fled  to  the  United  States  to  escape  the  third 
and  last  year.    In  1854  he  accompanied  his  father  to  the  United  States, 
settling  in  Rome,  N.  Y.,  where  his  first  occupation  was  burning  char- 
coal.    From  New  York  state  he  went  to  Pennsylvania,  subsequently 
to  Jefferson  county.  Wis.,  and  finally,  in  1862,  he  came  to  California. 
In   1864   he  became   a  pioneer   settler   in  Visalia,   where   he   set   up 
the  first  blacksmith  shop,  and  here  it  was  that  he  welded  the  first 
four-inch  wagon  tire  that  was  made  in  the  county.     He  continued  to 
follow  the  blacksmith  business  here  with  good  success  until  the  '80s, 
when  the  failure  of  his  eyesight  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  give 
it  up.    P^ollowing  this  he  became  interested  in  the  hotel  business,  and 
on  the  site  of  his  blacksmith  shop  he  erected  the  Pacific  lodging  house. 
As  this  was  near  the  Southern  Pacific  depot  it  had  a  good  patronage 
from  the  first  and  is  still  dispensing  hospitality  to  the  weary  wayfarer. 
At  Watertown,  Wis.,  August  17,   1874,  Mr.   Belz  was  married  to 
Miss    Caroline    Wegman,    a    daughter    of    George    J.    and    Caroline 
(Wennerholdt)  Wegman.    A  sketch  of  the  former  will  be  found  else- 
where in  this  volume.     Three  children  have  blessed  the  marriage  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Belz,  as  follows:     George  A.,  Frank  A.  and  Eliza  M., 
the  latter  the  wife  of  E.  Blair.     George  A.  is  a  graduate  of  the  San 
Jose  state  normal  school,  class  of  1902.    Frank  attended  the  grammar 
school,  passed  three  years  in  high  school,  and  then  attended  Santa 
Clara  college.    Finally  both  sons  entered  the  University  of  Wisconsin 
and  graduated  from  the  college  of  agriculture  connected  with  that 
well-known  institution.     They  are  now  engaged  in  carrying  on  scien- 
tific farming  and  dairying  on  the  old  Wegman  estate,  and  associated 
with  them  are  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Blair.     The  sons  are  young  men  of  much 
aliility  and  of  the  highest  integrity,  who  carry  into  their  business  the 
high   ideals  that  made  the  names   of  their  father   and   grandfather 
honored   wherever   they  were   known.     Mr.   and   Mrs.   Wegman    fol- 
lowed their  daughter  to  California  in   1875  and   settled  on  what   is 


278  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

now  known  as  the  Wegman  ranch,  three  and  one-lialf  miles  north- 
east of  Visalia. 

Just  fifty  years  have  passed  since  Mr.  Belz  came  to  California 
by  way  of  Panama  in  1862.  From  San  Francisco,  where  he  landed, 
he  first  went  to  Sacramento  and  then  to  Stockton,  where  he  stacked 
about  one  thousand  acres  with  wheat  for  Mr.  Newton.  All  was 
destroyed  in  a  flood,  a  circumstance  which  discouraged  Mr.  Belz  with 
any  future  attempts  at  farming.  After  coming  to  Visalia  in  1864  he 
worked  for  several  men  in  the  capacity  of  blacksmith  before  setting 
up  a  shop  of  his  own.  The  passing  of  years  has  obliterated  the 
memory  of  early  discouragements  and  disappointments,  and  in  the 
enjojinent  of  his  present  prosperity  he  rejoices  that  he  persevered, 
adjusting  himself  to  circumstances  and  conditions. 


HON.  JUSTIN  JACOBS 

The  life  story  of  Judge  Justin  Jacobs  is  interesting  and  should 
be  instructive  to  the  ambitious  young  man  who  desires  to  get  on  in 
the  world  in  a  high-minded  way  and  to  win  substantial  and  creditable 
success.  Justin  Jacobs  was  born  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  in  1844.  His  father, 
who  had  been  an  officer  in  the  Seminole  war,  was  connected  with 
the  United  States  arsenal  at  Troy  until  he  was  crippled  for  life  by  the 
explosion  of  ordnance  in  that  military  establishment.  Then  he  went 
to  Wisconsin  and  in  1847,  when  his  son  was  three  years  old,  the 
family  settled  near  Waupun,  where  the  future  jurist  was  educated  in 
the  common  school'.'  When  the  Civil  war  broke  out  he  was  sixteen 
years  old  and,  responding  to  President  Lincoln's  call  for  volunteers, 
he  became  one  of  the  very  young  soldiers  in  the  Federal  army.  On 
the  same  day  he  enlisted  in  the  Sixteenth  Regiment  Wisconsin  Vol- 
unteer Infantry,  which  was  imder  command  of  Colonel  Fairchild;  his 
brother  Curtis  enlisted  in  the  Third  Regiment  Wisconsin  Volunteer 
Infantry.  The  Sixteenth  Wisconsin  was  assigned  to  the  Department 
of  the  Tennessee  and  followed  Grant  and  Sherman  in  all  their  long 
and  brilliant  campaigTis  in  the  west.  Private  Jacobs  took  jjart  in  many 
hotly  contested  engagements,  including  that  of  Shiloh,  where  he  was 
one  of  those  who  stood  in  the  historic  "Hornet's  Nest."  Exposure 
and  bad  surgical  treatment  resulted  in  the  loss  of  one  of  his  eyes  and 
he  was  discharged  from  the  service  in  March,  1865,  so  nearly  blind 
that  he  was  unable  to  resume  his  studies  for  a  year  and  a  half.  How- 
ever the  sight  of  his  remaining  eye  was  restored,  and  he  soon  became 
a  student  at  the  University  of  Wisconsin  at  Madison.  After  the 
junior  year  he  entered  the  law  department  of  that  institution,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  in  1871,  and  after  two  years  spent  as  prin- 


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TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  281 

eipal  of  the  Waiipnn  public  schools,  he  began  the  practice  of  his 
profession.  He  came  to  California  in  1874  and  until  1876  was  con- 
nected with  Tipton  Lindsey  of  Visalia  in  professional  work.  In  the 
year  last  mentioned  he  moved  to  Lemoore  and  built  the  first  dwelling' 
house  in  the  town  on  land  which  he  bought  from  the  railroad  com- 
pany which  was  promoting  development  there.  During  the  legal 
struggle  between  the  settlers  in  what  was  once  known  as  "the  Mussel 
Slough  Country"  he  was  their  attorney  and  ably  defended  them  in  the 
courts.  In  1883  he  sold  his  property  at  Lemoore  and  until  1885  was 
the  law  partner  of  L.  H.  Van  Schaick,  of  San  Francisco.  Returning 
to  Lemoore  he  was  until  1891  the  leading  law^'er  in  Western  Tulare 
eoimty,  and  in  that  year  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Hanford,  where 
for  a  year  he  had  as  his  law  partners  M.  L.  Short  and  B.  T.  Mickle. 
When  the  western  part  of  the  county  became  settled  and  develojjed 
and  a  movement  for  the  creation  of  a  new  county  took  form  he 
was  one  of  the  advisors  who  supplied  the  legal  knowledge  upon  which 
the  work  of  separation  and  re-establishment  was  carried  to  success. 
This  fact  gives  him  standing  in  history  as  having  been  one  of  the 
founders  of  Kings  county  in  1893.  He  was  elected  superior  judge 
of  the  new  county  and  re-elected  to  succeed  himself,  and  he  won  the 
reputation  of  being  one  of  the  ablest  judges  of  the  Superior  Court 
of  California.  He  was  foremost  in  all  the  work  of  general  develop- 
ment so  long  as  he  lived,  instrumental  in  bringing  about  the  bonding 
of  the  county  for  public  school  purposes  and  in  establishing  the 
Union  high  school  and  in  securing  good  roads  throughout  the  county. 
In  the  founding  and  building  up  of  the  First  Unitarian  church  of 
Hanford  he  was  a  factor  and  of  its  congregation  he  was  a  member 
until  he  passed  away. 

At  Janesville,  Wis.,  in  1872,  Judge  Jacobs  married  Miss  Annie 
M.  Lowber,  a  native  of  New  York,  and  they  had  three  children,  Clara 
Belle,  H.  Scott  and  Louisa  M.  Fraternally  he  was  an  Odd  Fellow, 
a  Knight  of  Pythias,  a  member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen  and  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Rejmhlic,  and  passed  all 
the  chairs  in  each  of  these  orders.    He  died  September  23,  1898. 


JOHN  W.  STOKES 

Not  only  by  reason  of  identilication  with  California  during  its 
early  formative  period,  but  also  by  virtue  of  his  long  association 
with  the  stock  and  farm  interests  of  Tulare  county  Mr.  Stokes  holds 
a  leading  position  among  the  citizens  of  the  community.  When  in 
the  winter  of  1855  he  came  to  the  vicinity  of  his  present  location  in 
Visalia  few  attempts  had  as  yet  been  made  to  place  the  surrounding 


282  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

countrj'  under  cultivation,  ^'isalia  was  a  very  small  village,  sur- 
rounded by  a  wilderness,  and  Mr.  Stokes  drove  his  cattle  along  the 
foothills  east  of  Visalia,  where  now  stand  the  thriving  towns  of 
Exeter  and  Lindsay.  Game  of  all  kinds  abounded  and  it  was  not 
uncommon  to  see  three  hundred  elks  in  one  band. 

A  native  of  Missouri,  John  W.  Stokes  was  liorn  in  Daviess 
county,  July  2,  1837,  the  son  of  Yancy  B.  Stokes,  a  native  of  Kentucky. 
Removing  from  Kentucky  to  Missouri  iu  an  early  day  the  latter 
engaged  in  farming  and  stock-raising,  and  became  well  known 
throughout  the  middle  west  through  his  large  stock  transactions. 
From  1840  until  1850  he  made  his  home  in  Iowa,  and  on  April  10 
of  the  last  mentioned  year  he  took  up  the  march  across  the  plains 
for  California.  He  was  accompanied  on  the  trip  bj-  his  son  John  W,. 
then  a  lad  of  about  thirteen  years,  and  the  incidents  of  the  ox-team 
journey  covering  seven  months  proved  a  source  of  imfailing  interest 
to  the  youth.  The  party  arrived  at  Hangtown  on  October  12  and 
the  first  winter  was  passed  in  Stockton,  the  father  suffering  ill- 
health  the  greater  part  of  that  season.  It  thus  devolved  upon  the 
son  to  take  care  of  the  stock  that  winter,  and  with  the  opening  of 
the  spring  father  and  son  went  to  the  Curtis  Creek  mines.  They 
were  especially  fortunate  in  their  mining  experiences  during  the 
three  months  they  were  there,  but  all  to  no  purpose,  as  the  entire 
accumulation  was  stolen  from  Mr.  Stokes'  trunk.  From  there  he 
went  to  Mokelumne  river,  Calaveras  county,  remaining  there  until 
the  spring  of  1852,  when  he  located  in  Marysville  on  the  Yuba  river. 
The  following  spring  and  summer  were  spent  in  prospecting  in  the 
mines,  after  which  he  returned  to  Stockton.  In  the  fall  of  that 
year  he  returned  to  Iowa  and  in  1853  he  brought  his  family  to  Cali- 
fornia across  the  plains.  The  journey  was  broken  by  a  stoj)  in 
Carson  Valley,  where  the  family  spent  the  winter,  and  the  following 
spring  they  located  in  Contra  Costa  county,  near  Martinez.  One 
year  later,  December  25,  1855,  they  came  to  Tulare  county,  locating 
on  government  land  which  Mi-.  Stokes  took  up  six  miles  west  of 
Visalia.  Here  he  engaged  in  general  farming  and  stock-raising 
until  selling  the  property  to  his  son,  after  which  he  bought  another 
tract  in  the  same  section,  his  holdings  at  the  time  of  his  death 
amounting  to  .sixteen  hundred  acres.  He  ])assed  away  March  4, 
1886.  His  wife,  in  maidenhood  Elizabeth  Moore  and  a  native  of 
Missouri,  also  died  in  California. 

A  family  of  six  sons  and  five  daughters  was  born  to  this  pioneer 
couple.  Only  three  of  the  children,  S.  C,  B.  F.  and  J.  "W.,  are 
living  in  Tulare  county.  Two  daughters,  Martha  J.  Sanders  and 
Hattie  Webb,  are  residents  of  the  state,  and  Mrs.  Rachel  Brewer, 
the  eldest  of  the  children  living,  makes  her  home  in  Iowa.  The 
school  advantages  that  fell  to  the  lot  of  John  "W.  Stokes  were  limited. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS   COUNTIES  283 

for  his  entire  boyhood  was  passed  on  the  frontier,  first  in  Iowa 
and  later  in  California.  In  1853,  while  his  father  returned  to  Iowa 
for  the  remainder  of  the  family,  he  went  to  the  mines  at  Hangtown 
with  a  brother,  buying  flour  and  other  stuff  which  they  sold  to  the 
emigrants,  flour  ))ringing  $1  per  pound.  They  raised  water  melons 
in  Carson  valley  and  sold  them  for  $1  each.  Coming  to  Tulare 
county  with  the  family,  J.  W.  Stokes  was  for  some  time  associated 
in  general  farming  and  stock-raising  on  property  which  was  later 
sold  to  the  son,  as  previously  stated.  The  latter  afterward  branched 
out  along  the  same  lines  on  a  large  scale  and  at  one  time  owned 
as  high  as  sixteen  thousand  acres  of  land.  Considerable  of  this  has 
since  been  disposed  of,  although  he  still  owns  valuable  farm  lands  in 
the  county.  He  can  truly  be  numbered  among  the  extensive  and 
successful    stockmen    of    Tulare    county. 

It  was  in  Tulare  county  that  Mr.  Stokes'  first  marriage  occurred, 
uniting  him  with  Rachel  M.  Gibson,  a  native  of  Missouri.  She  died 
in  San  Luis  Obispo  county,  Cal.,  leaving  the  following  children : 
Christina,  the  wife  of  S.  N.  Chase;  John  Thomas;  Elta;  Miles 
Andrew  and  Claud.  Subsequently,  in  Visalia,  Mr.  Stokes  was 
married  to  Nancy  Liggett,  a  native  of  Tennessee.  The  two  children 
born  of  this  marriage  are  Henry  J.,  a  rancher  near  Goshen,  and 
Roxanna,  the  wife  of  C'.  B.  Dorrity.  Mr.  Stokes  espouses  the  prin- 
ci])les   of  the  Republican   ])arty,   as  did   his   father  before   him. 


JAMES  HENRY  CLAY  McFARLAND 

As  rancher,  stockman  and  horticulturist  James  H.  C.  McFarland 
has  become  one  of  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  his  connnunity. 
His  activities  date  from  1891,  when  he  bought  his  pro]ierty  south 
of  Tulare.  He  was  born  in  Si)ringfield,  Greene  county.  Mo.,  August 
19,  1849,  son  of  William  and  Martha  (Roberts)  McFarland,  the 
youngest  of  their  family  of  three  sons  and  five  daughters,  all  of 
whom  grew  to  maturity  and  five  of  whom  are  living.  William  Mc- 
Farland was  taken  to  Coo]ier  county,  Mo.,  by  Jacob  McFarland,  his 
father,  who  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and  there  he  grew  uji, 
was  educated  and  learned  the  work  of  the  farmer  and  stockman.  It 
was  as  such  that  he  was  engaged  during  the  active  years  of  his  life 
five  miles  from  Si)ringfield,  where  he  ])assed  away  in  18fi.3.  A  Whig 
and  a  Union  man,  he  organized  the  first  Home  Guards  in  Greene 
county.  Each  of  his  three  sons  was  a  volunteer  in  the  Union  ser- 
vice: George,  now  of  Springfield,  having  borne  arms  in  a  Missouri 
regiment;  John,  also  of  Springfield,  in  the  Eighth  Missouri  Cavalry; 
and  James  Henry  Clay  in  Company  F,  Fourteenth  Missouri  Cavalrv, 


284  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COTJNTIES 

into  which  he  was  inustered  at  Springfield  in  March,  1865,  when  he 
was  in  his  sixteenth  year.  "William  McFarland  married  Martha 
Eoberts,  a  native  of  east  Tennessee,  whose  father,  John  Roberts, 
took  his  family  to  Cooper  county.  Mo.,  and  later  to  Greene  county, 
where  he  died.     Mrs.  McFarland 's  death  occurred  in  1880. 

On  his  father's  farm  in  Missouri  James  H.  C.  McFarland  was 
reared  to  manhood.  lie  attended  the  district  school  near  his  home 
until  he  was  obliged  to  leave  it  in  order  to  go  to  work.  After  his 
enlistment  as  a  soldier  his  regiment  was  detailed  for  frontier  duty 
against  Indians  in  western  Kansas,  Colorado  and  New  Mexico.  A 
battle  with  the  Cheyennes  and  Comanches  was  fought  at  Salt  River 
and  the  Indians  were  defeated,  but  the  cavalry  remained  on  the 
ground  until  the  government  effected  a  treaty  with  the  Indians,  where 
Wichita,  Kans.,  now  stands.  Mr.  McFarland  was  mustered  out  of 
service  at  Fort  Leavenworth  in  November,  1865,  and  was  later  dis- 
charged at  St.  Louis.  He  was  at  that  time  a  few  months  past  his 
sixteenth  birthday,  and  he  went  back  to  school,  but  left  it  soon  after- 
ward to  become  a  farmer  and  stockraiser  on  his  own  account.  He 
successfully  conducted  an  eighty-acre  farm  five  miles  from  Spring- 
field until  1887,  when  he  came  to  California  and  located  in  Tulare 
county.  He  rented  three  hundred  acres  of  the  Bishop  Colony  land, 
east  of  Tulare,  for  two  years.  Then  he  rented  two  hundred  and  forty 
acres  of  the  Zumwalt  ranch  for  a  year  and  forty  acres  belonging 
to  Mrs.  Traverse.  In  the  spring  of  1891  he  bought  twenty  acres 
of  the  Oakland  Colony  tract,  which  he  put  in  alfalfa.  He  also 
rented  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  the  Gould  ranch  in  the 
Waukena  section,  which  he  farmed  to  grain  for  three  years.  In  the 
fall  of  1894  he  and  his  brother-in-law  rented  four  thousand  acres, 
east  of  Lindsay,  which  was  a  part  of  the  Tuohy  ranch,  and  farmed 
it  one  year.  The  following  year  they  farmed  the  Gould  ranch  and 
in  1896  operated  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  the  Woods  place 
in  the  Poplar  section.  He  also  bought  three  hundred  and  twenty 
acres  on  the  bayou,  three  miles  south  of  Tulare,  where  he  raised 
stock.  That  place  he  sold  in  1904  and  bou^iit  sixty  acres  adjoining 
his  twenty  acres  in  the  Oakland  Colony  tract,  which  he  put  under 
alfalfa.  There  he  lived  until  1910,  when  he  sold  the  property  and 
boiight  eighty  acres  of  the  John  Shufflebean  ranch,  two  miles  west 
of  town,  all  of  which  he  operates  himself  and  on  which  his  residence 
is  located.     He  has  installed  an  electric  power  plant  for  pumping. 

In  1869  Mr.  McFarland  married,  near  Springfield,  Mo.,  Miss 
Martha  J.  Wharton,  a  native  of  Greene  county,  that  state,  and  a 
daughter  of  Emsley  Wharton,  born  in  North  Carolina,  who  settled 
early  in  Missouri  and  died  there  some  time  after  the  Civil  war,  in 
which  he  saw'  service  in  the  Eighth  Missouri  Cavalry,  U.  S.  A.  To 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  McFarland  have  been  born  two  children.     Their  daugh- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  287 

ter  Clara  married  W.  J.  Abercrombie  of  Tulare.  Their  son  Charles 
G.  is  a  rancher  near  that  city.  Mrs.  McFarland  is  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church.  In  i^olitics  Mr.  McFarland  is  Repub- 
lican. 


LITCHFIELD  YOUNG  MONTGOMERY 

Of  those  who  are  encased  in  ranchino'  and  stock-raisiuf?  in  the 
vicinity  of  Hanford,  Kinj^s  county,  none  stand  higher  in  public  favor 
than  L.  Y.  Montgomery,  who  came  to  this  county  in  January,  1881, 
and  during  the  long  time  that  has  elapsed  since  has  demonstrated 
the  value  of  industry  and  fair  dealing  in  the  making  of  a  career 
of  usefulness  and  honor.  Mr.  Montgomery  was  born  in  East  Ten- 
nessee on  May  17,  1857,  the  son  of  William  Glaspy  and  Mary  Jane 
(Burton)  Montgomery,  natives  respectively  of  Tennessee  and  Vir- 
ginia. Both  passed  away  on  the  old  homestead,  the  father  when 
about  seventy  years  old,  and  the  mother  also  lived  to  pass  her  sev- 
entieth year.  L.  Y.  Montgomery  was  educated  in  public  schools  near 
the  family  plantation  and  at  Maryville  College.  He  was  early 
instructed  in  all  of  the  details  of  successful  farming  as  conducted 
in  that  part  of  the  country  at  the  time,  and  may  be  said  to  have 
been  in  the  fields  since  he  was  a  lad  of  ten  years.  After  he  left 
college  he  assumed  charge  of  his  father's  business,  managing  it  for 
a  short  time,  and  in  January,  1879,  he  went  to  Louisiana,  where  he 
was  much  enthused  over  the  fine  opportunities  which  the  farming- 
interests  of  that  state  offered  to  a  young  man,  and  in  leaving  there 
he  felt  that  he  was  turning  his  back  on  fortune,  besides  leaving 
behind  many  appreciated  friends  whom  he  had  made  among  the 
planters.  However,  falling  a  victim  to  malaria,  he  decided  to  seek 
a  change  of  climate  and  came  to  California. 

Mr.  Montgomery's  first  employment  in  the  Golden  State  was 
in  the  redwood  lumber  camps  controlled  by  San  Francisco  parties, 
and  in  June,  1881,  he  found  work  in  the  harvest  fields  for  a  time. 
In  the  latter  part  of  that  year  he  came  to  Grangeville,  then  Tulare 
county,  and  for  the  following  two  years  was  paid  well-earned  wages 
by  G.  H.  Hackett  for  ranch  work.  After  he  had  saved  some  money 
he  leased  land  and  for  some  time  was  successful  as  a  farmer  on  his 
own  account;  still  later  on,  as  success  smiled  on  his  efforts,  he 
became  a  land-owner  and  engaged  in  general  farming  and  stock- 
raising.  At  this  time  he  owns  his  home  place  of  eighty  aci'es.  five 
miles  north  of  Hanford,  besides  two  hundred  acres  in  Fresno  county, 
all  of  which  is  well  improved.     lie  has  forty  acres  in  fruit,  to  the 


288  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

cultivation  of  which  he  gives  considerable  attention.  He  is  interested 
in  irrigation  i^rojects  and  is  a  director  of  the  People's  Ditch  com- 
pany and  also  of  the  Riverside  Ditch  company.  For  four  years, 
from  1906  to  1910,  he  served  as  supervisor  from  the  third  district 
of  Kings  county  and  while  a  member  of  that  body  the  new  county 
hospital  was  erected  and  the  courthouse  park  was  enlarged. 

On  November  30,  1891,  occurred  the  marriage  of  L.  Y.  Mont- 
gomery and  Miss  Jennie  G.  Latham,  who  was  a  native  of  Sutter 
county,  born  on  August  7,  1870.  They  have  three  sons,  Cloyd  Bur- 
ton, a  student  in  Heald's  Business  College  at  Fresno;  Russell 
Latham  and  Creed  Litchfield.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Montgomery  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Kings  River  Methodist  Episcopal  church  and  both  be- 
long to  the  order  of  Rebekahs,  and  he  is  a  member  of  the  Odd  Fel- 
lows. In  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  well-being  of  the  county  or 
the  people,  Mr.  Montgomery  has  always  shown  his  public  spirit  and 
has  advocated  and  supported  measures  to  the  best  of  his  ability  along 
those  lines.  To  such  men  as  he  the  county  owes  its  development  and 
standing  among  its  sister  counties  of  the  state. 


EZRA  LATHROP 

The  wise  counsel,  good  judgment  and  progressive  spirit  of  Ezra 
Lathrop  have  been  factors  in  the  upbuilding  and  prosperity  of  Tulare, 
Cal.  Mr.  Lathrop  came  from  his  old  Iowa  home  to  Nevada,  but  soon 
afterward,  in  1866,  came  to  California,  and  since  1873  he  has  lived  in 
Tulare.  His  family  is  of  English  descent  and  was  early  established  in 
the  state  of  New  York.  William  and  Perrin  Lathrop,  his  grandfather 
and  father  respectively,  were  born  there,  but  settled  in  Susquehanna 
county.  Pa.,  where  the  former  died.  The  latter  became  a  ])ioneer  at 
Cascade,  Dubuque  county,  Iowa,  but  soon  went  to  Center  Point,  near 
Cedar  Falls,  in  Blackhawk  county,  where  he  improved  a  farm.  Later 
he  farmed  in  Louisa  county,  that  state,  but  passed  his  declining  years 
in  Blackhawk  county.  Clementine  Dowdney,  who  liecame  his  wife, 
was  of  Eastern  birth,  but  passed  away  near  Center  Point,  Iowa.  She 
bore  her  husband  two  sons  and  a  daughter:  Ezra  of  Tulare;  Gilead 
P.,  who  died  in  the  Civil  war,  a  member  of  the  Eighth  Regiment,  Iowa 
Volunteer  Infantry;  and  Mrs.  Mary  Ellen  Brown,  who  lives  in  Tulare 
county,  north  of  Visalia. 

At  Rush,  near  Montrose,  Susquehanna,  Pa.,  Ezra  Lathro]i  was 
born  in  1839  and  there  he  began  attending  district  schools.  He  was 
ten  years  old  when  his  family  went  to  Iowa  and  sixteen  when  his 
mother  died,  and  then  he  set  out  to  make  his  own  way  in  the  world. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  289 

Foi"  a  time  he  was  employed  on  farms,  but  in  18(i4  sought  fortune  in 
the  West  as  a  member  of  an  emii^rant  party  that  crossed  the  plains. 
The  Indians  were  unusually  troublesome  at  that  time,  but  the  train 
went  unmolested  up  the  Platte  and  by  way  of  Salt  Lake  City  to  Ne- 
vada, where  Mr.  Lathrop  began  farming  on  the  East  Walker  river. 
In  1865  he  was  teaming  at  Dayton  and  in  1866  he  was  farming  near 
Suisun,  Cal.,  whence  he  removed  three  years  later  to  Montezuma  Hill. 
In  1873  he  came  to  Tulare  and  built  the  residence  which  has  since  been 
his  home  and  found  employment  as  a  driver  of  six-horse  teams  in 
mountain  freighting.  In  1874  he  homesteaded  eighty  acres  of  gov- 
ernment land  north  of  Tulare,  which,  with  other  lands,  he  began  to 
cultivate  six  years  later,  and  b\'  adjoining  purchases  he  came  to  own 
four  hundred  and  tliirty  acres.  He  formerly  owned  the  Round  Valley 
ranch  of  thirty-eight  hundi-ed  acres.  At  this  time  his  holdings  com- 
prise four  hundred  and  forty  acres  in  one  body,  all  under  ditch;  five 
hundred  and  sixty  acres,  south  of  Tulare;  and  eighty  acres  southeast 
of  that  city.  He  was  for  a  time  a  director  in  the  Rockyford  Irrigation 
Ditch  Company. 

In  1882  Mr.  Lathrop  embarked  in  the  lumber  business  and  soon 
built  up  a  valuable  trade,  but  after  eighteen  months  a  concern  that 
had  been  his  most  bitter  comjietitor  and  which  he  had  worsted  sold  out 
to  Moore  &  Smith,  a  company  financially  very  strong.  Unable  to  hold 
his  own  against  such  opposition,  he  sold  out  in  1884  to  the  Puget 
Sound  Lumber  Company,  which  ap])ointed  him  its  local  agent.  In 
1886  the  two  concerns  were  merged  as  the  San  Joaquin  Lumlier  Com- 
pany and  his  agency  was  continued.  When  the  new  comi)any  was 
incorporated  he  became  its  manager  and  had  its  atfairs  in  charge 
until  Xoveml)er,  1898,  when  it  retired  from  business.  He  was  one  of 
the  ]iromoters  of  the  Gas  Company  of  Tulare,  was  financially  inter- 
ested in  it  when  it  was  incorporated,  January,  1884,  and  has  been  its 
president  since  May,  1885.  Its  electric  light  plant  dates  from  1890 
and  since  1894  it  has  manufactured  no  gas.  His  patriotic  work  in 
bringing  about  the  comiiromise  with  the  bondholders  of  the  Tulare 
Irrigation  district  resulted  in  a  gi'aud  jollification  and  bond  burning 
which  is  a  part  of  the  history  of  Tulare.  He  has  performed  efficient 
service  as  fire  commissioner  and  school  trustee  and  has  helped  the 
people  of  the  town  by  his  wise  and  conservative  judgment  in  financial 
affairs.  In  1885  he  assisted  in  the  organization  of  the  bank  of  Tulare, 
the  oldest  in  the  town,  of  which  he  was  president  from  that  day  to  the 
time  of  his  death,  November  17,  1908,  and  which  has  been  an  important 
aid  to  the  welfare  of  the  people.  It  is  apparent  that  a  record  of  the 
life  of  Mr.  Lathrop  is  in  a  sense  a  record  of  the  jirogress  and  develop- 
ment of  Tulare,  for  he  was  inseparably  identified  with  many  of  its 
leading  interests.  Politically  he  was  a  Democrat  until  1896.  Then, 
unable  to  su|)iioit  tlie  financial  tlicories  of  Mr.  Bryan,  lie  liccnme  a  Re- 


290  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

publican.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen,  which  has  a  flourishing  lodge  at  Tulare. 

In  Iowa,  Mr.  Lathrop  married  Miss  Virginia  Blake,  a  native  of 
Oakland,  that  state,  who  bore  him  twin  daughters  and  died  in  1898. 
One  of  the  daughters.  Martha  Adeline,  married  G.  W.  Bauman,  a  l)io- 
graphical  sketch  of  whom  will  be  found  in  this  volume,  and  the  other, 
Matilda  Eveline,  married  W.  J.  Sturgeon. 

On  January  20,  1908,  Mr.  Lathrop  married  Mrs.  Lena  Ayer,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Lena  De  Vine,  born  in  Nova  Scotia.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Ayer  came  to  California  from  Boston.  Mass.,  December.  1890. 


CHAELES  TILDEN  ROSSON,  M.  D. 

The  profession  of  medicine  and  surgery  is  becoming  more  and 
more  sijecialized  as  time  passes,  and  its  two  principal  branches  are 
today  more  distinct  and  individual  than  they  have  ever  been  before. 
One  of  the  medical  profession  in  Kings  county,  Cal,  who  is  becom- 
ing well  known  in  central  California  through  his  successful  devotion 
to  surgery  is  Charles  Tilden  Rossou.  M.  D..  of  Hanford,  who  was 
born  in  Vergennes,  Jackson  county.  111.,  in  1876,  and  was  there  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools.  In  1894,  when  he  was  about  eighteen 
years  old,  he  came  to  Tulare  county,  Cal.  It  was  in  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  San  Francisco  that  he  finished  his  pro- 
fessional education  and  was  graduated  with  the  M.  D.  degree  in, 
1903,  and  in  that  and  the  following  year  he  was  house  surgeon  in  the 
City  and  County  Hospital  at  San  Francisco.  In  1904  he  came  to 
Hanford  and  for  a  time  made  the  office  of  Dr.  Holmes  his  head- 
quarters, but  it  was  not  long  before  he  established  an  independent 
office,  which  is  now  located  in  the  Em]3orium  biiilding. 

It  is  to  surgery  that  Dr.  Rosson  has  given  special  attention  and 
it  is  as  a  surgeon  that  he  has  developed  an  ability  and  won  a  suc- 
cess that  have  made  him  known  throughout  a  wide  territory  sur- 
rounding Hanford.  An  idea  of  his  progressiveness  and  of  his  ini- 
tiative in  his  chosen  field  may  be  conveyed  by  the  statement  that  he 
was  one  of  the  first  to  perform  laparotomy  in  Kings  county.  Lentil 
1911  he  was  for  some  years  surgeon  in  Central  California  for  the 
Santa  Fe  Railway  system  and  he  is  now  Southern  Pacific  Railroad 
surgeon  and  physician.  He  is  a  member  of  the  San  Joaquin  Medi- 
cal Society,  the  Fresno  County  Medical  Society,  the  California  State 
Medical  Society  and  the  American  Medical  Association,  and  is  presi- 
dent of  the  Hanford  Sauitorium,  Inc.  Though  he  is  in  constant  de- 
mand as  a  family  physician,  he  is  in   still  wider  demand   as  a   sur- 


a    ^  Jii^iJ 


<f  ^       ^^^^^LJb 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  295 

geou  aud  does  a  large  share  of  the  capital  surgery  in  the  county; 
his  work  in  this  line  is  gradually  extending  to  neighboring  counties. 
In  1901  Dr.  Rossou  married  Miss  Burnett  of  Tulare,  who  has 
borne  him  three  sous,  John,  Charles  and  Robert.  Socially  he  affili- 
ates with  the  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men  and  with  Hanford  Lodge 
No.  1259,  B.  P.  0.  E.  Politically  he  is  patriotically  interested,  and 
as  a  citizen  he  gives  his  aid  to  the  development  of  Hanford  and  its 
interests  and  to  the  uplift  of  its  people  of  all  classes. 


S.  C.  STOKES 

It  was  iu  Decatur  county,  Iowa,  that  S.  C.  Stokes  was  born, 
November  15,  1845,  and  one  of  his  early  recollections  is  of  fishing  in 
the  Platte  when  he  got  on  his  hook  a  large  catfish  which  might  have 
pulled  him  into  the  river  if  his  mother  had  not  come  to  his  rescue 
and  helloed  him  land  it.  He  was  then  nearly  five  years  old.  His 
parents  were  Yancy  B.  and  Elizabeth  (Moore)  Stokes,  the  father 
and  mother  both  born  in  Kentucky  in  1814.  In  1850  they  started 
overland  to  California,  bringing  their  children;  their  youngest,  a 
daughter,  was  born  later  in  Carson  valley,  Nev.  They  were  six 
months  in  making  the  journey  and  their  adventures  were  many.  In 
parties  before  and  behind  them  numerous  men  and  women  died  of 
cholera;  Mrs.  Stokes  was  attacked  by  that  dread  disease,  but  was 
saved  by  the  prompt  administration  of  burned  brandy.  At  Rocky 
Ford  there  was  an  Indian  attack  and  a  Frenchman  was  chased  into 
camp,  barely  escaping  with  his  life.  After  mining  for  a  time  at 
Hangtown,  Mr.  Stokes  returned  to  Iowa  with  $6,000  in  gold  slugs 
of  the  value  of  $50  each,  arriving  in  1852.  Returning  to  California 
by  way  of  the  isthmus  of  Panama  he  secured  fifty  head  of  Spanish 
heifers  in  Mexico,  which  he  drove  to  his  destination.  His  activities 
were  then  centered  in  Cottonwood  and  Grapevine,  and  he  bought 
three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  railroad  land  at  $5  an  acre, 
improving  it  with  a  house  and  other  buildings  and  appurtenances 
and  he  entered  upon  a  career  of  measurable  success. 

In  1866  S.  ('.  Stokes  married  Sarah  J.  Lj^tle,  a  native  of  Mis- 
souri, who  was  brought  across  the  plains  by  her  parents  in  the  early 
'50s,  and  she  bore  him  these  children :  Mary,  Charles,  William,  John, 
Robert,  Prentice  and  Corinthia  (twins),  and  Harry.  Mary  became  the 
wife  of  Nathan  Bristol,  a  Civil  war  veteran,  and  has  borne  him  a 
son  and  a  daughter.  Charles  married  Mary  Johnson  and  has  chil- 
dren named  Erma,  Ella,  Iva  and  Florence;  his  home  is  near  Visalia. 
William  married  Charlotte  Vasques  and  they  live  in  Cottonwood 
valley;   their   chiidixm    are    Stokley,    Rub.y,    George,    Gladys,    Odetta, 


296  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Shirley,  Lottie,  Neavie  and  Rachel.  John  married  Clara  Enorgan 
and  lives  at  Portland,  Ore.  Robert  married  Rebecca  Mankins  and 
lives  in  Fresno  county,  where  he  deals  in  horses.  They  have  a  son 
named  Rucen.  Prentice,  who  lives  in  Goshen,  married  Hazel  Stearns. 
Corinthia  married  Wallace  Evans  and  has  a  son  named  Marshall, 
their  home  being  at  Cottonwood;  they  have  two  children.  Harry 
married  Nellie  Adams. 

Pioneers  and  men  of  prominence  in  earlier  days,  of  every  char- 
acter, were  well-known  to  Mr.  Stokes.  He  relates  that  Sontag  and 
Evans,  who  won  historic  distinction  as  stage  robbers,  lived  in  the 
mountains  near  him  for  four  years.  He  has  from  young  manhood 
been  prominent  in  public  affairs,  has  been  active  as  a  Republican  and 
has  for  a  number  of  years  held  the  office  of  school  trustee.  He  tells 
that  in  1856-57  antelope  were  as  numerous  in  Stokes  valley  as  rab- 
bits and  grizzly  bear  were  plentiful  in  the  woods  all  round  about. 
Once,  when  he  was  fishing,  he  came  upon  a  female  bear  with  cubs. 
She  chased  him  for  some  distance.  He  threw  his  hat  in  her  face 
and  she  tore  it  to  pieces  while  he  made  good  his  escape.  In  his 
younger  days  he  killed  many  elk,  which  he  took  home  in  his  big 
wagon.  There  is  a  tree  standing  on  Stokes  mountain  in  the  shade 
of  which  he  rested  when  he  was  only  thirteen  years  old.  He  and 
others  went  to  Mexico  and  bought  a  lot  of  Spanish  cows,  which  they 
bred  to  American  cattle  until  they  had  a  herd  of  three  thousand. 
In  1857  a  bear  killed  several  hogs  in  the  neighborhood  and  John  Mc- 
Huam.  Y.  B.  Stokes,  three  of  the  Halsteads  and  John  Stokes  went 
after  him  and  found  him,  much  to  their  own  discomf orture ;  for  he 
killed  several  dogs,  treed  the  men  and  gave  them  a  fight  which 
lasted  nearly  all  day.  then  escaped  from  them  and  killed  nine  sows 
that  cost  $50  per  head.  Mr.  Stokes's  mother  killed  many  antelope 
with  her  grandfather's  gun,  the  barrel  of  which  is  a  valuable  family 
possession  at  this  time.  He  remembers  that  in  1862,  just  after  the 
big  flood,  a  party  of  hunters  chased  a  band  of  antelope  twenty  miles 
without  getting  an  animal.  Mr.  Stokes  remembers  when  a  neighbor, 
Cook  Everton,  set  a  spring  gun  in  his  apple  orchard  for  bear  and 
was  himself  accidentally  shot  by  it.  Y.  B.  Stokes  served  in  the  Indian 
war  of  1856,  and  he  was  one  of  the  original  locators  of  the  Mineral 
King  mine. 


WOOSTER  B.  CARTMILL 

The  Tulare  County  Co-operative  Creamery  Association,  the  larg- 
est institution  of  the  kind  in  the  country,  was  organized  in  190.3  and 
lias  branches  at  Visalia  and  at  Corcoran.    Its  officers  are:     S.  B.  An- 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  297 

derson,  president;  P.  E.  Reinhart,  vice-president;  M.  G.  Cottle,  secre- 
tary; the  above  mentioned  and  William  Small  and  Charles  Meador, 
directors;  Wooster  B.  Cartmill,  manager.  The  main  station,  at  Tu- 
lare, occupies  a  modern  brick  building,  which  is  equipi)ed  with  up-to- 
date  machiuery  and  appliances  of  all  kinds  necessary  to  its  successful 
operation.  Its  output  of  two  tons  of  butter  daily  is  sold  in  bulk  to  the 
Los  Angeles  Creamery.  The  milk  consumed,  that  of  four  thousand 
cows,  is  supplied  by  dairymen  in  the  vicinity  of  Tulare. 

As  stated  above,  the  active  and  practical  management  of  this  great 
industry  is  in  the  hands  of  Wooster  B.  Cartmill.  This  gentleman, 
well  known  personally  or  by  reputation  in  dairy  circles  throughout  the 
San  Joaquin  Valley,  is  a  native  son  of  California.  He  was  born  in 
Amador  county,  Cal.,  in  1857,  a  son  of  Dr.  W.  F.  and  Sophia  (Barnes) 
Cartmill.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Ohio;  his  mother  was  born  in 
Missouri.  In  1861,  when  the  immediate  subject  of  this  notice  was  four 
years  old,  his  family  moved  to  Tulare  county.  There  he  was  reared 
and  educated  and  there  he  obtained  a  practical  knowledge  of  Cali- 
fornia farming,  under  his  father's  thorough  instruction.  For  years  he 
assisted  the  elder  Cartmill  on  the  family's  big  ranch  of  twelve  hun- 
dred acres,  and  later  he  took  charge  of  it  and  managed  it  successfully 
until  about  1898.  It  included  eighty  acres  of  prunes,  peaches  and 
grapes,  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  alfalfa  and  a  fine  dairy.  His 
father  upon  coming  to  Tulare  count}'  made  his  beginning  as  a  dairy- 
man, by  running  a  farm  dairy  from  1862  to  1870.  He  made  butter 
which  he  sold  at  the  mines  in  Tulare  and  Inyo  counties  in  the  early 
and  interesting  days,  and  became  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  industry. 
Naturally,  the  younger  Cartmill  early  in  life  acquired  a  ])ractical 
knowledge  of  dairying.  He  operated  the  old  D.  K.  Zumwalt  creamery 
from  1889  to  1900,  and  in  the  latter  year  established  a  skimming  sta- 
tion of  his  own  at  Tulare,  which  was  really  the  beginning  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  Tulare  Co-operative  Creamery  Association,  as  the  company 
took  over  that  enterprise  and  its  visible  property  in  October,  1903. 
Mr.  Cartmill  was  one  of  the  original  directors  of  the  Tulare  Irrigation 
Ditch  District.  He  was  one  of  its  most  enthusiastic  and  efficient  i^ro- 
moters  and  was  personally  active  four  years  in  its  establishment  and 
maintenance.  He  is  the  owner  of  a  two  hunderd  and  forty-acre  tract 
near  Tulare,  which  he  rents  out.  In  all  the  interests  of  the  city  and 
county  he  takes  a  public-spirited  interest.  He  is  a  Mason  and  as  such 
is  identified  with  local  organizations  of  the  order,  and  be  also  affiliates 
with  the  order  of  Woodmen  of  the  World. 

Twice  has  Mr.  Cartmill  married,  the  first  time,  in  1883,  to  Miss 
Hatch,  and  she  bore  him  a  daughter,  who  is  Mrs.  W.  C.  Eldridge.  His 
present  wife,  whom  he  married  in  1894,  was  Mrs.  Jane  Henry.  They 
have  three  children — May,  Eva,  and  William  G.  Cartmill. 

Mrs.  Cartmill 's  maiden  name  was  Jane  Gilmer.   She  is  the  daugh- 


298  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

ter  of  Rufus  Gilmer,  of  Visalia.  By  her  first  busbaud,  Albert  Henry, 
who  died  in  1891,  she  had  two  children.  Rufus  and  Albert  are  farm- 
ers, operating  the  old  Henry  farm  near  Porterville. 


CASSIUS  M.  BLOWERS 

This  pioneer  farmer  and  business  man,  wliose  ranch  is  three  miles 
northwest  of  Hanford,  Kings  county,  Cal.,  has  come  to  his  present 
prominence  only  after  a  struggle  in  which  he  wrung  success  out  of 
situations  that  to  many  another  man  would  have  spelled  ruin.  When 
he  first  saw  Kings  county,  in  1874,  it  was  a  desert,  sandy  and  prac- 
tically worthless,  but  irrigation,  which  he  long  advocated,  has  resulted 
in  its  reclamation.  The  laud,  then  worth  next  to  nothing,  is  now 
valued  at  $250  an  acre  and  upward. 

To  the  student  of  history  genealogy  is  a  fascinating  pursuit  and 
it  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  lack  of  printing  in  the  earlier  ages 
rendered  an  interesting  work  so  difficult.  Cassius  M.  Blowers  is  de- 
scended from  an  Englishman,  John  O.  Blowers,  his  grandfather,  who 
early  settled  in  Crawford  county,  Ohio,  where  he  pre-empted  govern- 
ment land  on  which  he  died  in  his  eighty-fifth  year.  Not  only  was 
he  a  pioneer  farmer,  but  he  was  a  pioneer  preacher  of  the  Methodist 
faith,  who  often  discoursed  to  the  people  of  Bucyrus.  His  son, 
Lemuel  Lane  Blowers,  born  on  the  pioneer's  Ohio  farm,  came  to 
California  in  1850,  making  the  trip  overland.  For  a  time  he  mined 
on  the  American  river,  but  in  1854  he  took  up  land  in  Yolo  county, 
where  he  died  in  1855.  He  had  married  Caroline  Foster,  of  Ohio 
birth,  and  she  had  died  in  1849,  leaving  five  children,  of  whom  Cassius 
M.,  born  December  20,  1845,  was  the  fourth.  The  boy  was  about 
four  years  old  when  his  mother  died  and  between  nine  and  ten  years 
old  when  his  father  passed  away,  aged  thirty-eight  years. 

When  Mr.  Blowers  was  ten  years  old  he  was  brought  to  Califor- 
nia by  his  uncle,  R.  B.  Blowers,  who  became  a  pioneer  fruit  grower 
in  this  state  and  grew  the  first  California  raisins.  The  boy  lived  on 
his  uncle's  ranch  near  Woodland,  Yolo  county,  then  began  business 
for  himself,  teaming  to  Nevada  and  the  mountain  district  when  he 
was  but  fifteen  years  old. 

His  next  venture  was  as  a  farmer  in  Yolo  county,  but  in  1874 
he  transferred  his  interests  to  Kings  county,  where  he  has  since 
lived.  He  bought  a  railroad  laud  claim  for  $600,  but  the  land  was 
a  waste  of  desert  sand,  unfit  for  cultivation.  In  so  doing  he  was 
planning  for  the  future  and  he  soon  became  one  of  the  promoters 
of  the  Lower  Kings  river.  Last  Chance  and  People's  irrigation  ditches, 
which  were  completed  in  1877.     Then  Mr.  Blowers  sowed  his  land  to 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  301 

wheat  and  the  next  year  he  set  out  a  few  vines.  In  1883  he  shipped 
the  first  raisins  which  were  boxed  in  Tulare  county,  which  then  in- 
cliided  the  present  Kings  county,  and  he  originated  tlie  system  of 
employing  fruit  cutters  at  piece  prices  instead  of  on  salary.  At 
that  time  there  were  but  three  canneries  in  the  state,  San  Jose,  San 
Francisco  and  Sacramento.  All  had  been  paying  day  wages  for  em- 
ployees, and  Chinese  and  white  workers  were  intermingled  in  one 
large  room.  In  1886  Mr.  Blowers  went  to  Sacramento  and  induced 
the  management  of  the  cannery  there  to  try  piece  work,  which  was 
done.  The  orientals  were  separated  from  the  whites  and  so  suc- 
cessful was  this  method  that  it  has  been  generally  adopted  by  all 
fruit  growers  throughout  the  state. 

In  his  home  ranch  Mr.  Blowers  has  two  hundred  and  forty  acres, 
forty  acres  devoted  to  vines,  seventy  to  peaches,  apricots  and  other 
fruit,  the  remainder  to  grain  and  alfalfa.  He  owns  also  a  stock 
and  alfalfa  ranch  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres  in  Kings  county, 
formerly  in  Fresno  county  prior  to  the  annexation,  and  a  fruit,  vine 
and  alfalfa  farm  of  eighty  acres  near  Lemoore. 

The  marriage  of  Mr.  Blowers,  January  19,  1875,  united  him 
with  Miss  Susie  McLaughlin,  and  their  eight  children  were  born  on 
the  home  ranch  in  Kings  county.  Hubert  Lane  is  operating  a  ranch 
of  thirty  acres  not  far  from  his  father's.  Russell  M.  is  farming  and 
growing  fruit  on  thirty  acres  of  land  given  him  by  Mr.  Blowers. 
Olive  G.  married  George  Blowers,  who  is  the  proprietor  of  a  machine 
shop  in  San  Francisco.  Francis  is  ranching  on  fifty  acres  of  land 
given  him  by  his  father.  Bessie,  who  died  in  1905,  was  the  wife  of 
Fred  Arthur,  who  is  farming  in  Kings  county.  Mary,  Rali)h  and 
Viola  Susan  are  members  of  their  parents'  household.  Mr.  Blowers 
has  long  taken  an  active  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  Raisin  Growers' 
association  and  has  been  for  about  a  quarter  of  a  century  president 
of  the  Last  Chance  Ditch  corporation.  Politically  he  is  a  Republican. 
His  interest  in  school  affairs  impelled  him  to  fill  the  duties  of 
school  trustee  about  twenty  years,  and  his  ])ul)lic  s]iirit,  many  times 
tried,  has  not  been  found  wanting. 


CAFT.  HARRISON  WHITE 

The  name  of  White  has  long  been  associated  with  affairs  in 
the  United  States,  dating  in  fact  from  the  historic  Mayflower,  when 
Peregrine  White  came  to  these  shores  and  endured  the  liardshi])S 
and  trials  which  are  woven  in  the  history-making  of  the  Atlantic  coast. 
From  this  intrepid  jiioneer  liave  descended  men  of  valor  in  war  and 
painstaking  industry   in  times   of  peace.     During   the   Revolutionary 


302  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

war  Silas  White,  a  native  of  New  York  state,  enlisted  in  a  company 
from  that  state,  and  as  captain  of  the  company,  led  his  men  into  the 
thickest  of  many  a  struggle  with  the  opposing  Tory  forces.  No 
less  valiant  was  a  son  and  namesake  of  this  Revolutionary  captain, 
who  left  his  native  state.  New  York,  and  in  1842  settled  on  the  Fox 
river  in  Illinois,  becoming  a  pioneer  farmer  of  La  Salle  county. 
He  did  not  long  survive  his  immigration  to  the  then  frontier,  for  .he 
passed  away  six  years  after  locating  upon  his  farm.  He  was  a  man 
whose  life  had  been  uniformly  upright,  with  character  unstained,  and 
it  was  this  heritage  that  he  left  to  his  widow,  who  long  survived  him. 
In  maidenhood  she  was  Maria  MacClave.  The  MacClave  family  came 
from  Scotland  to  America  in  an  early  day  and  settled  in  New  York, 
and  it  was  in  Albany,  that  state,  that  ^laria  MacClave  was  born. 
She  lived  to  attain  the  venerable  age  of  ninety-eight  years,  dying  in 
Illinois.  Of  the  ten  children  who  attained  mature  years  three  are 
now  living,  one  of  whom,  Selem,  is  a  resident  of  Coal  City,  (irundy 
county.  111.  He  served  throughout  the  entire  period  of  the  Civil 
war,  holding  the  rank  of  captain  of  a  company  in  the  Fifty-third 
Illinois  Infantry.  Mrs.  Cyrus  W.  Cook,  a  daughter,  is  residing  at 
Sandwich,  Illinois. 

Harrison  White  was  born  in  S^Tacuse,  N.  Y.,  June  28,  1836. 
At  the  a.ge  of  six  years  he  accompanied  his  parents  to  Illinois,  there 
obtaining  a  primary  education  in  the  public  schools,  after  which  he 
alternated  teachin,g  school  with  attendance  at  Wheaton  College.  The 
breaking  out  of  the  Civil  war  at  this  time  was  destined  to  add  an 
important  chapter  to  his  interesting  life.  He  responded  to  the  call 
of  President  Lincoln  for  three-months  men  and  in  April,  1861,  he 
became  a  member  of  Company  F,  Eleventh  Illinois  Infantry.  When 
his  three-months  term  had  expired  and  he  was  honorably  discharged 
from  the  service,  he  determined  to  enlist  in  the  cavalry  branch  of  the 
armv,  and  aecordin.gly  he  assisted  in  the  organization  of  Company 
B,  Fourth  Illinois  Cavalry,  which  was  mustered  into  service  at  Ottawa 
in  August  of  1861,  and  from  there  made  its  way  to  Cairo.  Among 
the  engagements  in  which  he  participated  were  those  at  Forts  Henry 
and  Donelson,  Shiloh,  Corinth  and  Vicksburg.  It  was  in  the  siege 
of  the  last  mentioned  city  that  his  company  was  detailed  as  an  escort 
to  General  Grant,  continuing  as  such  until  the  latter  was  oi'dered 
east  as  commander-in-chief.  Soon  afterward  Captain  White  was 
placed  on  detached  service  and  for  a  short  time  was  assistant  quar- 
termaster at  '^'icksbur.g.  after  which  he  joined  his  regiment  and  aided 
General  Custer  in  Louisiana  during  the  reconstruction  period.  In 
Memphis,  Teuu.,  January  26,  1866,  he  was  honorably  discharged  witli 
the  rank  of  Captain,  having  been  promoted  to  that  office  as  a  reward 
for  meritorious  service  at  Vicksburg.  Previous  to  this  he  had  served 
as  an  orderly  sergeant.     Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  he  was  often 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  303 

in  the  midst  of  fierce  struggles,  and  witnessed  tlie  wounding  and  death 
of  comrades  on  every  hand,  he  esca]ied  without  injury  until  the  battle 
of  Shiloh,  where  a  piece  of  shell  killed  his  horse  and  knocked  him 
senseless.     Soon  recovering,  however,  he  joined  his  comrades. 

Following  his  retirement  from  the  army  Captain  White  made 
his  home  on  a  rented  plantation  at  Yazoo  Pass,  Miss.,  but  l)otli  climate 
and  occupation  proved  uusuited  to  his  health  and  it  was  on  this 
account  that  he  returned  to  Illinois.  For  several  months  he  con- 
ducted a  mercantile  establishment  at  Sandwich,  111.,  but  in  the  fall 
of  1868  he  sold  the  business  and  left  Illinois.  Traveling  up  the 
Missouri  he  reached  Fort  Benton,  and  from  there  went  to  Helena, 
Mont.,  where  he  engaged  in  merchandising,  and  subsequently  he 
carried  on  a  store  in  a  mining  camp.  The  fall  of  1869  found  him 
in  Illinois  on  a  visit  to  friends  and  relatives,  and  in  the  spring  of 
the  following  year  he  came  to  California,  settlement  being  made  in 
Porterville,  Tulare  county.  For  the  first  two  years  of  his  residence 
there  he  was  interested  in  the  sheep  business,  having  also  ]nirchased 
a  ranch,  Imt  five  years  later  he  again  became  interested  in  the 
mercantile  business,  conducting  a  general  store  in  connection  with 
Porter  Putnam.  His  identification  with  Visalia  dates  from  the  year 
1877.  Three  years  after  making  this  city  his  home  he  was  apjiointed 
deputy  to  the  internal  revenue  collector,  William  Iligby,  whose  dis- 
trict embraced  Kern,  Tulare,  Fresno,  Merced  and  Stanislaus  counties, 
with  headquarters  in  Visalia.  Captain  White  retained  the  office  of 
deputy  until  1889,  during  which  time  he  also  continued  his  ranch  and 
sheep  interests  and  still  owns  a  ranch  of  two  hundred  and  forty 
acres  on  the  Tule  river,  the  property  now  being  leased  to  a  tenant. 
The  land  is  partially  under  irrigation,  water  being  provided  by  means 
of  a  pumping  plant  connected  with  wells.  His  holdings  also  include 
grazing  lands.  It  was  during  1891  that  Captain  White  was  appointed 
under-sheriff  to  Sherit¥  Overall,  an  office  which  he  held  for  eighteen 
months.  Subsequently,  from  189.3  to  1895,  he  served  by  appointment 
as  United  States  ganger.  It  was  in  1898  that  he  was  appointed  to 
the  position  which  he  held  until  retiring  in  1911, — that  of  supervisor 
of  the  southern  district  of  the  Sierra  Forest  reserve,  comi)rising 
more  than  two  million  acres  in  Kern,  Fresno,  Tulare  and  Inyo 
counties,  with  headquarters  in  Visalia.  It  goes  without  saving  that 
the  position  entailed  many  responsibilities,  but  he  has  proved  amply 
qualified  to  discharge  every  duty  with  a  master  hand,  his  long 
ex])erience  in  many  avenues  of  activity  having  equipped  him  with 
a  breadth  of  knowledge  and  extent  of  information  j^otli  rare  and 
valuable.  rV 

It  was  after  coming  to  Visalia  that  Cai)tain  White  foi'uied 
domestic  ties  by  his  marriage  with  Miss  Ilattie  Pauline  Anthony,  a 
native  of  Watertown,  N.  Y.    By  right  of  his  service  in  the  Civil  war 


304  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Oaptain  White  is  associated  with  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic, 
twice  serving-  as  commander  of  Gen.  George  Wright  Post  No.  111. 
Under  appointment  l)y  Governor  Waterman  he  held  the  position  of 
major  and  quartermaster  on  the  staff  of  General  Budd,  of  the 
California  National  Guard.  A  leader  in  the  ranks  of  the  Republican 
party,  for  twelve  years  or  more  he  was  secretary  of  the  Republican 
conntj^  central  committee  and  for  two  terms  officiated  as  its  chairman. 
He  took  an  active  part  in  the  councils  of  that  liody,  as  he  did  subse- 
quently as  a  member  of  the  congressional  committee.  It  is  unneces- 
sary to  state  that  a  man  of  his  breadth  of  character  should  he  loved 
and  respected  by  all,  irrespective  of  party  affiliation,  for  the  position 
which  he  holds  represents  the  possession  of  ability  of  high  order, 
sterling  qualities  and  a  breadth  of  patriotism  that  knows  no  party 
distincti'^n. 


WILLIAM  J.  HIGDON 

A  native  son  of  California,  William  J.  Higdon  was  liorn  in 
Nevada  county,  in  1876.  When  he  was  seven  years  old  his  parents 
moved  to  the  Capay  valley,  in  Yolo  comity,  where  he  was  educated 
in  the  public  schools  and  acquired  some  knowledge  of  farming.  In 
1898,  when  he  was  about  twenty-two  years  old,  he  followed  the  lure 
of  the  gold-seeker  to  Alaska,  where  he  remained  a  year  and  a  half 
and  in  1901  he  came  to  Tulare  county  and  for  three  years  was  in  the 
livery  business,  first  as  proprietor  of  the  Dexter  stables  then  of  the 
Grand  stables,  and  finally  of  the  City  stables.  After  a  year  and  a 
half  spent  in  Tulare  following  his  retirement  from  this  business,  he 
moved  on  to  the  I.  N.  Wright  ranch  of  two  hundred  and  fifiy-four 
acres,  one  hundred  and  seventy-four  acres  of  which  was  within  the 
city  limits,  and  there  engaged  in  farming,  stock-raising  and  dairying, 
milking  fifty  to  eighty  cows.  He  owns  two  hundred  and  forty  acres 
of  other  land,  eighty  acres  of  which  is  half  a  mile  southeast  and 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  three  miles  southwest  of  bis  homestead. 
The  larger  tract  is  used  for  farming  and  grazing  and  the  smaller 
one  is  rented  and  devoted  to  the  production  of  corn  and  other  grain. 
One  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  the  home  ranch  is  in  alfalfa.  Mr. 
Higdon  keeps  an  average  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  hogs  and 
one  hundred  head  of  stock  besides  his  milch  cows.  He  is  a  stockholder 
in  and  a  director  of  the  Dairymen's  Co-operative  Creamery  Co.,  and 
the  Rochdale  Store  Co.  of  Tulare,  and  is  a  stockholder  in  the  New 
Power  Co.  He  has  also  been  secretary  of  the  Tulare  County  Dairy- 
men's association  since  its  organization. 

Fraternally   Mr.   Higdon   affiliates   with   the   Independent    Order 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  307 

of  Odd  Fellows.  His  puhlio  spirit  has  led  him  to  identify  himself 
with  mam'  movements  for  the  general  benefit.  On  November  23, 
1904,  he  married  Miss  Hattie  M.  Wright,  a  native  of  Tulare  and  a 
daughter  of  Isaac  N.  AVright,  who  was  instrumental  in  securing  the 
location  of  the  city  of  Tulare  where  it  has  been  built,  and  who  is 
mentioned  fully  elsewhere  in  this  publication.  Its  boundaries  include 
the  old  home  place  where  his  daughter  was  born.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Higdon  have  a  sou  and  a  daughter,  Alice  Charlotte  and  Newton 
Elliott,  who  are  now  (1913)  aged  resiieetively  seven  and  four  years. 
Mrs.  Higdon,  a  graduate  of  the  State  Normal  school  at  San  Jose, 
was  for  ten  years  a  teacher  in  the  public  school  at  Tulare. 


FRED  A.  DODGE 

A  native  of  Illinois,  Mr.  Dodge  was  born  December  2,  1858,  on 
the  farm  where  his  parents  settled  in  18.39,  in  Dunham  township, 
McHeury  county.  His  parents,  Elisha  and  Susan  Dodge,  were  pio- 
neers of  that  part  of  the  west,  coming  from  New  York  state  to 
Illinois.  They  were  of  New  England  stock,  Elisha  being  a  native  of 
Vermont,  and  his  wife,  who  was  Susan  Smith,  a  native  of  New  York 
state. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the  eighth  living  child  of  their 
union,  and  was  reared  on  the  farm.  His  mother  died  in  1863  and  his 
father  subsequently  married  Mrs.  Abigail  Harkness.  After  the  farm 
was  sold  they  established  a  residence  at  Harvard,  111.,  where  Fred 
entered  the  public  school,  and  remained  in  that  city  until  he  completed 
the  branches  taught  there  at  that  time.  His  father  died  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1878,  and  in  the  following  summer  he  drove  by  team  west  to 
Parkersburg,  Iowa,  where  his  older  brother,  Frank  L.  Dodge,  was 
engaged  in  the  i)ublication  of  a  weekly  newsi)a])er  called  the  Eclipse. 
There  he  entered  the  printing  office  and  learned  tlie  ])rinter's  trade. 
In  1880  he  purchased  an  interest  in  the  Eclipse,  and  subsequently, 
with  his  brother,  established  the  Allison  Trihimc,  a  weekly  news- 
paper at  Allison,  tlie  county  seat  of  Butler  county,  Iowa.  The  two 
brothers  conducted  these  pai)ers  for  a  number  of  years,  Init  linally 
dissolved  partnership,  Fred  becoming  sole  proprietor  of  tlie  Par- 
kersburg paper,  which  he  edited  and  ])ublished  until  August,  1887. 
when  he  sold  it. 

On  February  28,  1882,  Mr.  Dodge  was  united  in  marriage,  at 
Parkersburg,  Iowa,  to  Miss  May  F.  Davis,  a  native  of  Maine.  A 
daughter  was  born  to  them  in  Pai-kersbui'g,  and  in  1887  they  moved 
to  TIanford,  Cal.,  where  they  ))iirchased  five  acres  of  land  on  the 
edge  of  what  was  then  the  town  limits.     Here  they  erected  a  cottage, 


308  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

and  Mr.  Dodge  entered  the  office  of  the  Ilanford  Sentinel,  wliich  was 
established  by  David  and  Frank  L.  Dodge  in  February.  1886.  Sub- 
sequently he  purchased  the  half  interest  of  David  Dodge,  and  the 
firm  of  Dodge  Brothers  continued  to  i)u])lish  tlie  Sentinel  until  1897, 
when  Frank  L.  sold  out  his  interest  to  J.  E.  Richmond.  The  firm 
name  was  then  changed  to  Dodge  &  Richmond,  since  which  time 
Fred  A.  Dodge  has  been  the  editor  and  Mr.  Richmond  tlie  business 
manager  of  the  paper. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dodge  are  the  parents  of  two  children,  born  in 
Ilanford,  George  Ra^^nond,  born  February  3,  1891,  and  Florence 
Mildred,  born  November  16,  1895.  , 

Mr.  Dodge  has  for  more  than  thirt>'  years  been  in  the  harness 
of  a  newspaper  man,  most  of  the  time  engaged  at  editorial  woi-k. 
"While  he  has  served  many  terms  on  boards  of  education,  boards 
of  library  work,  and  on  business  and  commercial  committees,  he  has 
never  sought  political  office. 


FIRST  NATIONAL  BANK  OF  LEMOORE 

That  strong  financial  institution,  the  First  National  Bank  of 
Lemoore,  the  policy  of  which  from  the  first  has  been  to  extend  to 
the  business  community  all  accommodations  consistent  with  sound 
banking  and  which  has  been  a  potent  factor  in  the  upbuilding  and 
develojjnient  of  Lemoore  and  its  tributary  territory,  was  organized 
June  9,  1905,  and  began  business  in  July  following.  Its  original 
capital  stock  was  $25,000.  all  paid  up.  The  first  officers  and  direc- 
tors were :  B.  K.  Sweetland,  president ;  Stiles  McLaughlin,  vice- 
president;  F.  J.  P.  Cockran,  cashier;  E.  G.  Sellers,  C.  H.  Bailey, 
John  Trimble  and  E.  P.  May.  In  February,  1912,  its  capital  stock 
was  increased  to  $50,000.  The  bjink  has  erected  a  fine  two-story 
building,  covering  a  ground  space  of  seventy-five  by  one  hundred 
feet,  at  Fox  and  D  streets.  It  is  a  modern  brick  structure,  contain- 
ing fine  banking  offices  and  the  best  facilities  for  the  keeping  of 
cash  and  valuable  securities.  It  is  the  belief  of  the  bank  officials 
and  of  the  general  public  that  this  banking  establishment  is  as  nearly 
fireproof  and  burglar-proof  as  it  is  possible  to  make  it. 

The  First  National  Bank  of  Lemoore  has  from  the  day  of  its 
opening  steadily  grown  in  the  confidence  of  the  business  community 
of  the  city  and  surrounding  country,  and  numbers  among  its  de- 
positors many  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  important  business  men 
and  citizens  of  that  part  of  the  county.  The  following  are  the  names 
of  its  present  officers  and  directors:  C.  H.  Bailey,  president;  E.  G. 
Sellers,  vice-president;  W.  E.  Dingley,  cashier;  G.  B.  Chinn,  Stiles 
McLaughlin,  L.  S.  Step,  and  J.  K.  Trimble. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  309 

VISALIA  PLUMBING  AND  SHEET  METAL  COMPANY 

To  be  successful  in  the  field  of  mechanics  a  man  must  neces- 
sarily possess  thorough  training  in  the  science  which  he  attempts 
to  represent.  The  world  of  today  demands  skill  in  every  line  of 
labor,  and  the  man  who  is  not  prepared  to  compete  with  his  expert 
neighbor  is  beaten  ere  the  fight  begins.  Apropos  of  the  above 
sulijeet,  Visalia  is  godmother  to  a  plumbing  and  heating  company 
of  which  she  is  justly  proud,  and,  having  helped  to  maintain  its 
popularity,  feels  that  she  has  a  share  in  its  success  and  growth.  The 
most  difficult  points  in  the  work  of  installing  heating  and  plumbing- 
apparatus,  the  erection  of  windmills,  tanks  and  troughs,  etc.,  are 
accomplished  by  the  Visalia  Plumbing  and  Sbeet  Metal  Company 
with  the  greatest  skill  and  ease,  as  may  be  attested  by  the  many 
citizens  who  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  secure  their  services. 

Visitors  to  the  showrooms  of  the  Visalia  Plumbing  and  Heating 
Company  feel  well  repaid  for  their  trip,  for  there  are  displayed  many 
models  of  the  most  up-to-date  appliances  for  toilets,  bathrooms, 
furnaces,  etc.,  and  they  are  conceded  to  have  the  finest  and  most 
up-to-date  showroom  of  that  character  in  any  town  between  Fresno 
and  Bakersfield.  This  business  was  started  about  five  years  ago 
in  the  Odd  Fellows  and  Masons  Imilding  on  Church  street  opposite 
the  court  house.  Their  fine  sheet  metal  work  is  not  the  least  of 
their  accomplishments,  as  countless  illustrations  may  testify.  The 
mechanics  whom  they  employ  are  the  best  that  can  be  secured,  and 
as  they  guarantee  every  detail  of  their  work  they  have  given  general 
satisfaction.  The  business  has  grown  rapidly  and  now  its  annual 
output  amounts  to  $50,000  worth  of  business  and  the  plant  is  indicated 
as  one  of  the  successful  enter]jrises  of  the  growing  and  prosperous 
city  of  Visalia.  Against  the  moderate  charges  for  services,  no 
com]ilaint  has  ever  been  received;  on  the  contrary,  the  people  of 
Visalia  and  locality  are  unanimous  in  their  opinion  that  the  terms 
are  low  in  comparison  with  the  standard  of  ]ierfection  maintained  in 
their  work.  The  firm  is  owned  and  controlled  l)y  Isaac  Clark  and 
Frank  A.  Newman,  long  established  citizens  of  the  community. 

Isaac  Clark  was  born  in  P'rankfort,  Maine,  January  V2,  1870, 
and  u)ion  comj^letion  of  his  education  learned  the  stone-cutter's  trade, 
which  he  conducted  nine  years  in  his  home  town,  removing  thence 
to  Augusta,  where  he  worked  two  years  at  his  trade.  He  then  served 
three  years  as  an  apjn-entice  to  Malcolm  &  Dyer,  ])himbers,  after 
which  for  five  years  he  filled  the  position  of  custodian  of  the  Augusta 
city  hall.  In  1905  he  innnigrated  to  California,  and  choosing  Visalia 
as  his  permanent  location,  accepted  a  position  as  sheet  metal  worker 
for  the  Cross  Hardware  Co.  Upon  the  erection  of  the  factory 
of  the  Pacific  Sugar  Co.,  Mr.  Clark  was  engaged  by  said  company 


310  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

to  do  the  sheet  metal  work,  accomplishing  the  work  most  satisfac- 
torily. In  1907  he  joined  Frank  A.  Newman  and  C.  B.  Porter  in 
establishing-  a  general  plumbing  business.  Two  years  later  Mr. 
Porter  withdrew  from  the  firm,  leaving  Mr.  Clark  and  Mr.  Newman 
sole  proprietors. 

In  1897  Mr.  Clark  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Mary  A. 
Beck,  also  a  native  of  Maine.  They  have  two  charming  children, 
Marjorie  F.  and  Addison  W.  Mr.  Clark  is  a  valued  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias,  Calantha  Lodge,  No.  52,  and  the  Bethlehem  Lodge, 
A.  F.  &  A.  M.,  No.  135,  both  of  which  he  joined  in  Augusta,  Maine. 

Frank  A.  Newman  was  born  in  Cooper  county.  Mo.,  January 
31,  1869.  His  father,  Jesse  Newman,  died  before  his  son  reached 
manhood,  and  in  the  fall  of  1884  the  mother,  formerly  Elizabeth 
Hill,  brought  her  little  family  to  California.  Frank  A.  Newman 
ranched  several  years  and  also  served  as  foreman  of  the  Harrell 
stock  and  grain  ranch.  Later  he  conducted  on  his  own  account  a 
three  hundred  and  twenty-acre  wheat  farm  in  the  Stone  Corral 
district,  Tulare  county,  and  he  then  became  an  apprentice  to  the 
Cross  Hardware  Co.,  and  iipon  completion  of  this  service  engaged 
in  the  plumbing  business  with  Isaac  Clark.  The  partners  started 
their  venture  in  a  small  way,  but  their  trade  grew  steadily  and  they 
now  employ  twelve  able  assistants. 

Following  is  a  list  of  the  buildings  which  this  company  have 
equipped  with  plumbing  and  heating  fixtures :  The  Exeter  high  school 
building,  the  Lemoore  high  school  building,  the  new  hotel  at  Lemoore 
and  the  new  high  school  building  at  Delano.  They  have  also  recently 
installed  the  heating  apparatus  in  the  Kingsbury  grammar  school; 
the  sheet  metal  and  heating  work  in  the  Reedley  grammar  school ; 
all  the  sheet  metal  woi'k  on  the  First  National  Bank  building  at 
Porterville;  also  on  the  three-story  Blue  building  on  Main  street, 
Visalia.  They  have  replaced  the  old  plumbing  for  new  throughout 
the  county  jail,  the  three-story  Harrell  building,  and  put  in  all  the 
new  plumbing  in  the  Merriman  building  and  the  Tipton  and  Lindsay 
grammar  school.  For  years  Mr.  Clark  has  made  a  thorough  study 
of  the  matter  of  proper  heating  for  public  as  well  as  private  build- 
ings and  uses  the  gravity  and  mechanical  systems  in  order  to  produce 
complete  circulation,  replenishing  the  air  in  a  room  from  six  to  ten 
times  during  one  hour.  He  has  obtained  the  most  satisfactory  results 
both  regarding  even  temperature  and  sanitation.  Among  the  resi- 
dences thus  equipped  by  him  may  be  mentioned  those  of  A.  Lewis, 
H.  F.  Miller,  R.  E.  Hyde  and  the  M.  E.  Church  of  Visalia.  The 
company  has  also  installed  plumbing  and  heating  systems  in  the 
residences  of  R.  F.  Cross,  Capt.  H.  White,  Ralph  Goldstein,  Meyer 
E.   Eiseman,   two   houses   for   J.   F.    Carter,    Mrs.    Oaks'   home   and 


^^^^^-^'-'^--<^yrt-J^t-^^^^ 


i7. 


OL^C^  ^^/A    <:='C.-n^   , 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  313 

uiimeroiis  other  private  resideuces  in  Visalia  aud  throughout  Tulare 
county. 

Both  Mr.  CMark  and  Mr.  Newman  by  their  rigidly  fair  and 
honest  dealings  have  won  the  trust  aud  favor  of  their  many  patrons. 
In  every  movement  pertaining  to  the  development  of  the  locality 
they  are  always  prompt  to  tender  their  practical  assistance. 


WILLIAM  T.  VAUGHAN 

Among  the  prominent  men  of  Tulare  and  Kings  counties  men- 
tion is  made  of  the  efficient  supervisor  of  the  third  district,  W.  T. 
Yaughan,  who  was  born  at  Visalia,  Tulare  county,  June  21,  1865. 
In  September  of  the  same  year  he  was  taken  by  his  parents  to  San 
Luis  Obispo  county,  where  he  attended  school  and  lived  until  1877, 
when  the  family  moved  to  Pima  county,  Ariz.,  and  that  territory  re- 
mained his  home  until  1900.  After  his  arrival  in  Arizona  the  young- 
lad  begun  work  on  cattle  ranches.  He  had  but  little  opportunity 
to  attend  school  and  until  he  was  nineteen  years  of  age  his  educa- 
tion was  obtained  by  contact  with  the  primitive  conditions  to  be 
found  on  the  frontier.  He  grew  up  on  a  cattle  range  and  was  con- 
nected with  the  stock  interests  of  that  part  of  the  country  until  his 
removal  back  to  California  in  1900.  At  the  age  when  most  boys 
are  in  school  he  was  superintending  a  large  ranch  and  becoming 
an  expert  in  the  handling  of  stock,  enduring  privations,  but  dcvelov)- 
ing  a  strong  and  sturdy  constitution  and  laying  the  foundation  for 
his  future  success.  When  he  was  about  fourteen  he  was  conducting 
a  meat  market  in  Ramsey's  canyon  and  going  to  the  school  at  that 
place.  He  would  sit  so  he  could  watch  the  door  of  his  shop  and 
when  a  customer  would  come  he  would  have  to  leave  the  school- 
room and  attend  to  his  wants  and  then  return  to  his  books.  He 
was  also  a  member  of  the  Territorial  militia  aud  was  compelled 
to  keep  his  gun  within  reach  at  all  times  should  a  call  come  to 
defend  the  settlers  against  the  Indians.  After  he  was  eighteen  he 
attended  the  University  of  Southern  California  at  Los  Angeles  for 
a  time  and  says  he  got  more  education  during  that  short  time  than 
in  all  his  former  years. 

His  days  for  book-learning  over,  he  returned  to  Arizona  and  as 
he  succeeded  he  built  up  a  cattle  business  of  his  own  and  carried  it 
on  very  successfully  until  1900,  when,  having  sold  his  six  thousand 
cattle  and  closed  out  his  other  interests  in  the  territory,  he  returned 
to  California  and,  with  his  father  and  brother,  bought  three  hundred 
acres  of  land  one  mile  north  of  Hanford,  upon  which  were  erected 
I)uildings  suitable  for  their  needs  and  began  the  development  of  the 


314  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

land.  He  now  has  one  liimdred  and  fifty-five  acres  in  fruit  and  the 
remainder  in  alfalfa.  In  1911  he  sold  eighty  acres  at  a  good  profit. 
He  is  the  owner  of  eighty  acres  a  mile  south  of  Hanford.  which  he 
put  into  alfalfa  and  leases  to  others,  also  has  ten  acres  west  of  the 
city,  which  is  in  fruit  and  which  he  bought  in  1901.  . 

The  father  of  W.  T.  Vaughan,  James  Upton'  Vaughan,  was  born 
September  9,  184-1,  in  Mississip]ii,  went  to  Texas  and  in  1852  crossed 
the  plains  to  California.  He  passed  away  in  Kings  county  Novem- 
ber 7,  1911.  His  widow  makes  her  home  with  her  children.  A 
lirother,  Andrew  Henry  "^'aughau,  came  to  Kings  county  with  "Wil- 
liam T.,  and  they  had  interests  together  for  several  years.  On 
September  25,  1892,  Mr.  Vaughan  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Elenora  Sori'ells,  a  native  of  Phoenix,  Ariz.,  born  July  1.3,  1874, 
daughter  of  A.  B.  and  Melvina  (Parker)  Sorrells,  who  were  natives 
of  Arkansas  and  California  respectively.  Mrs.  Vaughan  received  her 
schooling  in  Arizona  and  was  there  married  to  Mr.  Vaughan.  They 
have  four  children.  Merle  E.,  Pearl  E.,  William  J.,  and  Bertha  L., 
all  members  of  their  parents'  household;  the  two  eldest  are  attend- 
ing the  Hanford  high  school. 

Mr.  Vaughan  has  invested  in  residence  property  in  San  Diego, 
Cal.,  is  a  stockholder  in  the  First  National  Bank  of  Hanford.  owns 
shares  in  the  Lacy  Oil  company,  operating  in  the  Devil's  Den 
country,  and  in  the  Castle  Oil  company  of  the  Coalinga  field ;  is  a 
member  of  the  Hanford  lodge  of  Elks,  has  passed  all  the  chairs  in 
the  local  lodge  of  the  I.  O.  0.  P.,  and  for  one  year  served  as  District 
Deputy  Grand  Master;  he  also  belongs  to  the  K.  of  P.  and  with 
Mrs.  Vaughan  belongs  to  the  Daughters  of  the  Eebekahs.  Always 
interested  in  politics  he  has  taken  an  active  part  in  local  and  state 
affairs.  In  the  fall  of  1910  he  was  elected  to  the  board  of  super- 
visors, representing  the  third  district  of  Kings  county,  and  is  serv- 
ing with  fidelity  those  interests  that  placed  him  in  office.  He  has 
had  charge  of  the  road  building  of  his  district  in  every  detail  and 
devotes  his  energies  towards  the  faithful  discharge  of  his  duties. 
He  represents  Kings  county  in  the  matter  of  the  erection  of  a  counties 
building  at  the  Panama-Pacific  Exposition  in  1915  at  San  Francisco. 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  man  has  become  so  closely  allied  with  the 
people  in  all  things  tending  towards  public  betterment  than  has  AV. 
T.  Vaughan. 


JOHN  N.  HAYS 

The  president  of  the  Hays  Cattle  Co.,  John  N.  Hays,  a  prominent 
business  man  of  Kings  county,  Cal.,  has  had  a  career  the  history  of 
which  thus  far  is  both  interesting  and  instructive,  and  it  should  be 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  815 

an  encouragement  to  yoiuig  men  who  would  sueoeed  in  spite  of  lack 
of  capital  and  in  the  face  of  many  obstacles.  Mr.  Hays  was  lioru  in 
Missouri,  Fe})ruary  3,  1854,  and  came  to  California  in  Sejitember, 
1872,  when  lie  was  in  his  nineteenth  year.  The  first  eigliteen  months 
of  his  life  here  were  spent  in  Mariposa  county,  where  he  was  emiiloyed 
by  some  relatives  who  had  come  on  before  him.  Late  in  1873  or 
early  in  1874  he  came  to  Lake  Tulare  (then  in  Tulare  but  now  in 
Kings  county),  where  his  people  took  uj)  land  on  the  border  of  the 
lake.  For  two  years  they  farmed  on  rented  land  in  the  Dingley 
Addition,  now  the  site  of  Lemoore,  Mr.  Overstreet,  his  stepfather, 
having  been  in  charge,  and  there  Mr.  Hays  remained  until  1886, 
when  he  disposed  of  his  interests  at  the  lake  and  moved  to  Cholame 
valley,  Monterey  county,  where  he  lived  and  labored  ten  years.  At 
the  expiration  of  that  time  he  came  back  to  Lemoore  and  went  into 
the  stock  business  and  in  1894  he  bought  three  hundred  and  twenty 
acres  of  land,  a  mile  and  a  half  west  of  Guernsey,  which  he  devoted 
to  grazing.  He  operated  independently  until  1911,  increasing  his 
business  from  year  to  year  till  he  took  rank  with  the  big  cattle  men 
of  central  California.  He  then  organized  and  incorporated  the  Hays 
Cattle  Comi)any,  of  which  he  is  president;  Eoy  D.  Hays,  vice-presi- 
dent; and  R.  W.  Forbes,  secretary.  The  company  expects  to  dispose 
of  about  six  hundred  to  eight  hundred  cattle  annually,  its  last  year's 
business  having  amounted  to  six  hundred,  and  is  renting  forty 
thousand  acres  of  pasture  for  its  stock. 

Oil  develoinnent  in  the  Devil's  Den  country  has  interested  Mr. 
Hays,  who  has  investments  there,  and  he  owns  also  an  interest  in 
oil  lands  in  the  Cholame  valley  district.  He  has  from  time  to  time 
had  to  do  with  business  of  other  kinds  and  his  interest  in  the  com- 
munity makes  him  a  citizen  of  much  public  spirit.  Fraternally,  he 
affiliates  with  the  Circle  and  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  He 
married  Miss  Lillie  Mills  in  1882  and  she  passed  away  in  1891,  leaving 
three  daughters  and  a  son.  Floy  is  the  wife  of  R.  W.  Forbes,  of 
Lemoore.  Roy  D.  is  vice-president  of  the  Hays  Cattle  Com]3any. 
Pauline  married  Clarence  Esrey  of  Lemoore.  Alice  is  Mrs.  William 
McAdam  and  her  husl)and  is  operating  in  the  oil  field.  In  1907  Mr. 
Hays  united  his  life  with  that  of  Mrs.  Jeanette  Bryan,  who  has 
borne  him  children  whom  they  have  named  Richard  Ujiton,  Doi-otln- 
and  Ann. 


JOSEPH  D.  BIDDLE 

The  forceful  character  of  the  citizenshij)  of  J.  D.  Biddlc  during 
the  past  (|uarter  of  a  century  has  given  him  for  all  time  a  place 
in  the  annals  of  the  state  as  well  as  of  Hanford,  which  li;is  Ikmmi  his 


316  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

permanent  home  during  this  time  and  the  scene  of  his  activities  to 
a  large  extent.  A  native  of  Tennessee,  born  in  Bedford  county, 
.April  30,  1852,  he  passed  his  boyhood,  youth  and  young  manhood 
in  the  vicinity  of  his  birth  and  the  home  of  liis  parents,  and  at  the 
age  of  twenty-seven,  in  1879,  made  his  first  trip  to  tlie  west.  After 
a  stay  of  two  months  he  returned  to  the  south,  but  in  1882  retraced 
his  steps  and  this  time  remained  six  months.  It  was  in  1887  that  he 
made  his  third  and  last  journey  to  California,  his  two  prior  trips 
of  inspection  thoroughly  satisfying  him  that  here  as  nowhere  else 
were  opportunities  awaiting  the  young  man  of  push  and  determination. 
Having  disposed  of  his  merchandise  and  milling  business  in  Shelliy- 
ville,  Teun.,  in  1887  he  came  that  same  year  to  California  and  located 
in  Hanford,  his  first  work  here  being  as  auctioneer  of  livestock.  As 
an  adjunct  to  this  business  he  bought  livestock  and  shee}),  as  well 
as  wool,  the  latter  being  gathered  from  a  large  territory,  extending 
from  Mexico  to  the  Oregon  line.  His  shipments  of  this  commodity 
are  large,  being  made  to  all  ]:iarts  of  this  country,  as  well  as  to 
Canada.  His  first  experience  in  the  wool  business  was  in  his  early 
days  in  the  west,  when  he  was  a  representative  for  the  Thomas 
Dunnigan  &  Son  Co.,  a  well-known  wool  house  of  San  Francisco. 
The  live  stock  which  Mr.  Biddle  handles  he  secures  from  all  parts  of 
the  state,  and  he  has  had  as  high  as  twenty-five  thousand  shee]:)  in 
his  possession  at  one  time. 

In  financial  circles  throughout  the  San  Joaquin  valley  few 
names  are  better  known  than  that  of  Joseph  D.  Biddle,  and  to  his 
splendid  judgment  and  conservatism  may  be  given  much  credit  for 
the  substantial  character  of  the  monetary  institutions  with  which  he 
has  had  to  do.  Among  the  latter  may  be  mentioned  the  Sacramento 
Bank,  German  Savings  &  Loan  Society  of  San  Francisco,  Savings 
Union  Bank  of  San  Francisco,  Union  Trust  of  San  Francisco,  and 
he  has  also  made  large  loans  of  money  through  independent  capitalists. 
He  also  represents  several  of  the  largest  and  best  insurance  com- 
panies of  San  Francisco,  and  is  largely  interested  in  the  oil  industry. 
His  first  venture  in  this  field  was  the  ])urchase  of  some  of  the  best 
oil  lands  in  the  Coalinga  district,  and  following  this  he  organized 
several  oil  com])anies  which  are  now  organizations  controlling  great 
wealth,  these  and  the  banks  through  which  the  business  is  carried 
on  representing  a  combined  capital  of  over  $150,000,000.  Mr.  Biddle 
made  large  expenditures  in  drilling  on  his  oil  fields,  but  owing  to  the 
low  prices  of  oil  at  the  time  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  suspend 
operations  until  it  demanded  a  better  price.  The  property  is  still 
owned  by  the  various  comjianies,  in  all  of  which  Mr.  Biddle  is  a 
director,  as  follows:  Investment  Oil  Company  and  the  Phoenix  Oil 
Company.  Other  companies  were  also  organized  in  the  Bakersfield 
district,  but  these  have  since  been  disposed  of. 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  317 

Not  only  was  Mr.  Biddle  a  pioneer  and  moving  spirit  in  the 
industries  above  mentioned,  l)ut  he  has  been  equally  forceful  along- 
agricultural  aud  horticultural  lines.  During  his  early  years  here 
he  bought  and  platted  the  Bonanza  vineyard,  embracing  a  tract  of 
three  hundred  acres.  Later  acquisitions  were  the  Silvia  ranch  of  one 
hundred  acres,  the  Griswold  apricot  orchard  of  eighty  acres  (at  that 
time  the  largest  orchard  of  the  kind  in  that  section,  but  which  has 
since  been  sub-divided  into  small  holdings),  the  Haywood  vineyard 
of  eighty  acres,  the  Redwood  vineyard  and  orchard  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty  acres,  the  Savings  Bank  vineyard  and  orchard,  consisting 
of  eighty  acres  south  of  llanford,  which  has  since  been  sold,  the 
Happy  Home  vineyard  of  twenty  acres  and  the  A.  P.  Dickenson 
ranch  of  eighty  acres.  For  five  years  he  also  leased  and  operated 
the  Banner  vineyard  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  and  for 
a  number  of  years  also  leased  Mrs.  M.  S.  Templeton's  vineyard  of 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  northeast  of  Hanford.  In  connection 
with  his  large  fruit  interests  Mr.  Biddle  erected  a  grading  plant 
on  the  Bonanza  ranch,  where  he  was  prepared  to  dry,  cure  and 
bleach  the  fruits  from  his  various  ranches,  all  of  which  found  a  ready 
sale  in  eastern  markets.  Besides  handling  and  shipping  all  of  his 
own  fruit,  he  also  bought  raisins  and  peaches  all  over  this  section, 
paying  the  local  packers  in  the  countrj-  to  pack  his  raisins  and  peaches 
under  his  own  brand  and  ship  them  direct  to  the  eastern  markets. 
In  order  that  none  of  the  fruit  should  be  wasted,  he  bought  peaches 
and  sacked  them  at  the  depots  when  the  packing  house  was  filled  to 
its  capacity. 

Mr.  Biddle 's  interests  in  another  direction  are  apparent  in  a 
number  of  substantial  structures  in  Hanford.  One  of  his  first 
ventures  along  this  line  was  the  rebuilding  of  the  block  formerly 
occupied  by  the  city  stables,  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  Old  Bank. 
He  also  owns  the  building  occupied  by  the  Hanford  Mercantile 
Corporation.  This  organization  is  capitalized  for  $100,000  and  Mr. 
Biddle  is  one  of  its  largest  stockholders  and  secretary,  and  a  director 
also.  He  was  also  one  of  the  prime  movers  in  the  organization  of 
the  Hotel  Artesia,  which  was  built  by  the  corporation  of  which  he 
was  a  member  and  subsequently  sold  to  B.  J.  Turner.  Through  an 
exchange  of  property  Mr.  Biddle  became  the  owner  of  the  Axtell 
block  at  the  corner  of  Seventh  and  Irwin  streets,  the  name  of  which 
has  since  been  changed  to  the  Sharpless  block.  He  also  moved  the 
postoffice  from  its  old  site  and  placed  it  on  Irwin  street;  aud  he 
moved  both  telegraph  offices  into  the  Hotel  Artesia,  their  present 
locations.  He  at  one  time  owned  what  is  now  the  Vendome  hotel, 
and  he  also  bought  and  moved  the  first  hotel  erected  in  Hanford  to 
the  corner  of  Fifth  and  Douty  streets,  remodeling  it  and  ultimately 
selling  it  to  B.  J.  Turner. 


318  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Reference  has  elsewhere  been  made  to  Mr.  Biddle's  interest 
and  activities  in  the  stock  business.  It  was  no  uncommon  thing 
for  him  to  have  on  hand  from  ten  to  twenty  tliousand  hogs  on  the 
McJunkin  ranch,  one  and  a  half  miles  north  of  Hanford.  It  was 
during  his  earliest  experiences  in  the  business  that  he  attemjited  to 
fatten  his  hogs  on  grain  that  had  been  saved  as  salvage  from  a  large 
fire  in  Stockton.  He  ]nirchased  the  damaged  grain  to  the  extent  of 
one  hundred  thousand  sacks,  or  one  hundred  cars,  and  shipi)ed  it  to 
Hanford.  It  required  all  of  the  vehicles  available  to  haul  the  grain 
to  the  Bonanza  vineyard,  where  it  was  spread  over  eight  acres  of 
ground  to  dry  in  the  sun.  It  was  then  resacked  and  stacked  in  the 
dry  yard,  the  whole  presenting  the  appearance  of  hay  stacks  in  a 
field.  He  then  bought  steam  engines  and  large  tanks  in  whicli  to  steam 
the  wheat,  after  which  he  fed  the  grain  thus  treated  to  the  seven  or 
eight  thousand  hogs  which  he  had  on  the  ranch  at  the  time.  The 
experiment  proved  a  failure,  it  being  demonstrated  that  charred  grain 
was  injurious  to  hogs,  as  they  sickened  and  died  under  the  diet.  The 
ex]ierience  was  a  costly  one.  but  it  did  not  deter  Mr.  Biddle  from 
making  further  investigations  as  to  the  most  desirable  methods  of 
feeding. 

Owing  to  his  wide  experience  and  versatile  knowledge  it  is  not 
surprising  that  Mr.  Biddle  has  been  called  upon  from  time  to  time 
to  act  in  the  capacity  of  administrator  and  transact  other  business 
of  a  similar  nature.  On  numerous  occasions  when  a  difference  of 
opinion  arose  as  to  the  proper  settlement  of  legal  matters  he  has 
been  called  into  consultation  with  attorneys,  not  only  in  Hanford, 
but  also  in  Fresno,  Visalia,  Sacramento  and  even  to  San  Francisco. 
At  one  time  he  was  called  to  Portland,  Ore.,  to  settle  a  law  suit 
involving  $30,000,  and  he  was  also  called  to  Nevada  in  the  adjustment 
of  a  suit  with  Carmen  &  Richey  involving  $1,000,000,  and  this  also 
was  equably  adjusted.  At  the  present  time  Mr.  Biddle  is  interested 
in  the  live  stock,  wool,  oil,  insurance,  real  estate  and  merchandise 
business,  being  in  close  touch  with  all  of  the  details  of  eacli,  and 
he  is  also  actively  interested  in  all  of  the  organizations  of  his  home 
city  which  have  for  their  objects  the  uplifting  of  the  citizens  and  the 
general  welfare  of  town  and  county.  He  is  a  valued  member  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and  he  was  also  a  member  of  the  committee 
appointed  to  attend  the  convention  held  in  Los  Angeles  for  the 
purpose  of  discussing  matters  relative  to  the  Panama  canal.  He 
has  also  been  an  active  member  of  a  connnittee  appointed  by  the 
supervisors  of  Kings  county  for  the  purpose  of  preparing  a  ]ietition 
for  bringing  the  main  highway  through  Hanford,  the  county  seat, 
through  Visalia  to  Bakersfield.  He  has  also  been  appointed  a  memljer 
of  the  highwav  commission  to  meet  in  Sacramento  in  January.  1913, 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  319 

wheu  the  above  matter  will  oome  before  the  commission  for  discus- 
sion and  settlement. 

In  the  early  days  when  Hanford  did  not  boast  a  railroad  Mr. 
Biddle  started  a  donation  to  get  the  Santa  Fe  to  run  its  road  through 
Hanford  and  the  valley.  The  completion  of  the  road  was  celebrated 
in  royal  style,  and  in  this  too  Mr.  Biddle  took  the  lead.  In  the 
disi)la>'  was  one  wagon  to  which  were  attached  twenty-four  large 
white  horses,  followed  1)\'  three  large  wagons  loaded  with  one 
hundred  bales  of  wool,  another  wagon  showing  the  quality  of  sheep 
and  hogs,  and  still  another  containing  a  large  prune  tree  which 
Mr.  Biddle  dug  from  his  orchard,  full  of  growing  prunes.  Mr. 
Biddle  had  the  honor  of  sliii)ping  the  tirst  three  carloads  of  wool 
from  Hanford  over  the  road,  the  cars  bearing  large  banners  on  which 
was  printed  in  large  letters,  "Hanford  the  first  city  to  patronize  the 
Santa  Fe  railroad  out  of  the  Valley." 

On  May  1,  1878,  Mr.  Biddle  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Sallie  M.  Landis,  a  native  of  Tennessee.  The  success  that  has 
rewarded  Mr.  Biddle 's  efforts  is  commensurate  with  his  industry 
and  persevei'ance.  It  is  rare  indeed  that  one  is  privileged  to  meet 
a  man  of  such  versatility,  resolute  character  and  determined  will  as 
Mr.  Biddle  possesses,  and  Hanford  is  proud  to  claim  his  citizenship. 


McADAM  RANCHES 

In  1908  Robert  McAdam,  who  is  now  a  resident  of  Pasadena,  Cal., 
bought  sixteen  hundred  acres  of  land,  formerly  known  as  the  Paige 
and  Monteagle  orchards,  live  miles  west  of  Tulare.  Of  this  tract 
he  sold  all  but  about  nine  hundred  acres,  and  this  he  divided  among 
members  of  his  family,  Annie  McAdam  receiving  eighty-five  acres, 
Robert,  Jr.,  and  Fred  McAdam  two  hundred  and  five  acres,  William 
J.  two  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  Mrs.  Isabelle  McAlpine  eighty 
acres,  Frank  S.  McAdam  one  hundred  and  eighty  acres,  and  Robert 
McAdam,  Sr.,  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres. 

These  ranches,  all  in  one  body,  are  irrigated  with  water  developed 
on  them,  there  being  six  wells  with  an  aggregate  flow  of  five  hundred 
inches,  besides  numerous  other  wells  for  watering  stock.  The  water 
developed  by  the  nine  large  wells,  which  is  used  solel.v  for  irrigation, 
is  pumped  by  five  motors  and  three  gasoline  engines;  two  of  the 
wells  are  artesian.  The  entire  combination  of  ranches  is  supplied 
with  cement  irrigation  jiipe  and  galvanized  iron  surface  pipe.  There 
is  six  miles  of  the  cement  ])ipe  and  the  iron  pipe  is  used  instead  of 
ditches.  This  notable  irrigation  system  will  be  connected  and  com- 
pleted before  the  end  of  191,'!. 


320  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

The  McAdams  have  put  on  the  place  all  the  improvements  that 
now  add  to  its  utility  and  attractiveness,  including  a  new  $3500  con- 
crete residence  on  the  Frank  S.  McAdam  ranch,  a  new  barn,  occupying 
ground  space  of  40x45  feet,  and  a  new  tank  and  dairy  house  com- 
bined, with  a  power  separator  in  the  dairy  house.  On  the  William 
J.  McAdam  place  there  are  two  new  56x60  foot  barns.  Another 
improvement  is  eight  miles  of  wire  hog-tight  fence  between  the 
different  ranches.  The  farms  of  Mrs.  McAlpine,  Robert  McAdam, 
Jr.,  and  Fred  McAdam  are  rented  on  a  cash  basis  and  that  of  Robert 
McAdam,  Sr.,  is  operated  by  a  tenant  on  shares,  and  the  combined 
annual  cash  rentals  of  the  above  ranches  aggregate  $11,800,  and  all 
has  been  developed  in  the  last  five  years. 


H.  J.  LIGHT 

The  prominent  citizen  of  Lemoore  whose  name  is  above  is  widely 
known  as  a  promoter  of  the  oil  industry.  Judge  Light,  as  he  is 
familiarly  called  by  his  many  friends,  was  born  in  Virginia,  March 
19,  1851,  was  reared  in  the  western  part  of  Floyd  coimty  and  fin- 
ished his  education  at  the  Salem  Academy  in  Roanoke  county.  Then 
he  took  up  school  teaching  as  a  profession  and  was  so  employed 
many  years.  In  1866  he  went  to  Kansas,  and  after  teaching  there 
a  short  time  took  up  his  residence  in  Springfield,  Mo.,  where  he 
taught  until  1874.  Then  he  came  to  California,  and  locating  at 
Visalia  pursued  his  vocation  there  and  northeast  of  the  city  for 
five  years.  During  the  succeeding  four  years  he  was  teaching  again 
in  Missouri,  but  he  came  back  to  California  and  settled  at  Lemoore, 
renting  land  on  the  lake  of  Elias  Jacobs  and  establishing  himself 
as  a  farmer.  In  1886  he  homesteaded  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
of  land,  pre-empted  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres  and  took  up  a  timber 
claim  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  in  the  same  section.  Later  he 
bought  the  remainder  of  the  section  under  the  isolated  land  act.  He 
ran  a  stock  ranch  until  in  1909,  when  he  leased  his  land  to  tenants 
and  moved  to  Lemoore,  where  he  has  since  lived.  He  has  bought 
property  here  and  expects  to  pass  his  declining  years  in  the  town. 

In  the  spring  of  1910  Mr.  Light  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
city  council  of  Lemoore  and  in  November  of  that  year  to  the  office 
of  justice  of  the  peace.  For  nine  years  he  served  as  justice  of  the 
peace  of  West  End  judicial  township  and  resignaed  the  office  the 
better  to  attend  to  his  private  interests.  He  has  been  a  trustee  of 
the  Union  high  school  since  the  organization  of  the  district. 

In  1907  Mr.  Light  married  Ella  (Hunt)  Logan.  He  has  six 
children  by  a  former  marriage :     Tespan,  of  Kings  county ;  Swinton ; 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  323 

Robert  Denii}-,  of  Santa  Barbara  county;  Theodore,  of  C'oaliuga; 
William  Kings,  of  San  Luis  Obispo,  and  Mrs.  W.  P.  Smith,  of 
Lemoore.  William  Kings  Light  has  the  distinction  of  being  one 
of  the  first  four  children  born  in  Kings  county,  he  having  been 
born  on  the  morning  after  the  election  for  the  petition  of  Tulare 
county  and  the  formation  of  Kings  county.  Mr.  Light  has  been 
an  active  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  since 
he  was  twenty-two  years  old.  In  his  ]iolitical  afiiliations  he  is  Repub- 
lican and  as  such  he  has  been  influential  in  local  affairs.  A  man  of 
much  public  spirit  he  has  done  much  toward  the  development  and 
improvement  of  the  city  and  of  the  country  round  about.  His  in- 
vestments in  real  estate  at  Lemoore  include  ten  acres  and  several  city 
lots  and  on  one  of  the  latter  he  erected  his  office  building.  While  he 
lived  on  his  ranch  he  gave  ]:)articular  attention  to  the  breeding  of 
cattle  and  horses.  In  1890  he  and  Orlando  Barton,  of  Visalia,  located 
land  in  Lost  Hills.  They  were  the  first  there  and  he  was  one  of  the 
original  incorporators  of  the  Lost  Hills  Mining  company,  which  was 
sold  in  1911.  Its  property  is  located  in  what  is  now  a  great  oil  field. 
Mr.  Light  was  and  is  interested  in  oil  lands  in  Devil's  Den  and 
Kettleman's  Hills  and  in  the  West  End  Oil  company,  the  property  of 
which  he  located  in  August,  1908.  He  was  one  of  the  incorporators 
of  the  Lake  Oil  company,  which  with  the  West  End  Oil  company  is 
leased  to  the  Medallion  company.  With  the  Devil's  Den  Consolidated 
he  was  interested  also,  and  he  heljied  to  organize  and  owns  stock  in 
the  Lauretta  Oil  company  and  is  identified  with  the  Dudley  Oil  com- 
pany, a  San  Francisco  concern  operating  in  the  Devil's  Den  field. 


WILLIAM  WASHINGTON  BLOYD 

The  life  of  the  late  William  Washington  Bloyd  extended  from 
July  18,  18.35,  when  he  was  born  in  Illinois,  until  in  November,  1908, 
when  he  died  at  his  home  in  Ilanford,  Kings  county,  Cal.  He  grew 
to  manhood  on  the  farm  in  Hancock  county.  111.,  and  was  married 
April  14,  18.55,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Cowan,  who  was  liorn  in  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  April  18,  18.35,  and  had  come  to  Illinois.  After  his 
marriage  he  lived  four  years  in  his  native  state,  then  sold  out  his 
interests  there  and  moved  to  Appanoose  county,  Iowa,  where  he 
made  his  home  until  1861,  when  he  came  with  a  train  of  eight  wagons 
drawn  by  oxen  over  the  southern  overland  route  to  California.  For 
two  years  he  lived  at  Red  Bluff,  Tehama  county,  and  afterwards 
until  1874  in  San  Joaquin  county,  where  he  bought  a  ranch.  Then 
because  he  could  not  do  well  in  so  dry  a  country  he  sold  out  and  came 
to  what  is  now  Kings  county,  settling  on  railroad  land  in  the  GrnTige- 


;124  TULAKE  AND  KING8  COUNTIES 

ville  seetion  four  miles  west  of  Ilanford,  homesteading  at  the  same 
time  one  hiuidred  and  sixty  acres  nearby.  It  was  not  until  after  the 
rioting  at  Mussel  Slough  that  he  finally  paid  out  on  his  railroad  land. 
He  naturally  sided  with  tlie  settlers,  and  was  at  Hanford  at  the 
time  of  the  historic  tight.  Mrs.  Bloyd,  hearing  of  it,  hurried  to  the 
scene  of  action,  but  did  not  arrive  until  the  conflict  was  over  and  one 
man  lay  dead  and  two  wounded  on  the  ground ;  Mr.  Blo>d  arrived 
a  few  minutes  afterward.  It  was  not  very  cheerfully  that  the  settlers 
later  gave  up  so  much  good  money  for  their  land,  but  the  courts 
compelled  them  to  do  it  and  they  made  the  best  of  the  situation. 
After  a  time  Mr.  Bloyd  sold  out  here  and  lived  for  a  year  in  Oregon. 
Eeturning  then,  he  bought  back  his  old  ranch  and  lived  on  it  until 
1907,  when  he  sold  it  to  move  to  Hanford,  where  he  had  bought  a 
residence  at  115  West  Elm  street.  As  an  investment  he  owned 
several  other  houses  in  the  city. 

Eight  children  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bloyd,  viz:  Rosalie 
Adeline,  deceased;  Winfield  Scott,  mentioned  elsewhere  in  this  work; 
Charles  S.,  who  lives  at  Hanford ;  Clara  Ellen,  who  is  the  wife  of 
K.  L.  Wilcox,  of  Los  Angeles ;  Ida  Belle,  who  married  Ed  Parsons,  of 
Hanford;  Elizabeth  Jane,  deceased;  Levi,  who  is  also  mentioned  fully 
in  this  pultlieatiou;  and  Willie  Wilford,  who  lives  in  Kings  county. 
Of  these  children  Adeline  and  Winfield  were  born  in  Illinois,  the 
others  being  natives  of  California. 

The  fraternal  affiliations  of  Mr.  Bloyd  were  with  the  Masons  and 
the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen  and  his  religious  convictions 
drew  him  to  the  Christian  church.  His  early  experiences  in  California 
included  some  in  the  mines  in  Placer  county.  He  superintended  the 
construction  of  the  People's  Ditch  in  Kings  county.  When  he  came 
to  that  county  it  was  an  open  i>lain  on  which  wild  horses  and  cattle 
roamed  at  will  and  in  all  of  the  tlevelopment  down  to  a  comparatively 
recent  time  he  manfully  did  his  part,  for  he  was  public  spirited  to 
a  degree  that  made  him  a  most  useful  citizen. 


ROBERT  W.  MILLER 

In  Jasper  county.  111.,  Robert  W.  Miller  was  born  September  5, 
1847.  Orphaned  when  very  young,  he  grew  up  in  Crawford  county, 
that  state,  under  the  care  of  a  guardian  who  allowed  him  ]iractically 
no  educational  advantages.  When  he  was  nineteen  years  old  he 
became  a  student  in  a  public  school  in  Sangamon  county,  111.,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  when  twenty-one  and  given  a  teacher's  cer- 
tificate. While  teaching  school  during  the  next  two  years,  he 
prepared  himself  by  special  courses  of  study  to  enter  the  University 


TULARE  AND   KINGS   COUNTIES  325 

of  Illinois,  and  in   1871   he  took   the  law  course  of  that   institution; 
in  1874  he  was  admitted  to  the  hnv  to  practice  as  a  lawyer  in  the 
Su])renie  Court  of  Illinois.     He  soon  afterward   went  to   Minnesota, 
where    he    taught    school    two    years,    also    procuring    admission    to 
practice  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  that  state,  and  he  was  in  profes- 
sional woi-k  there  until  the  fall  of  1879,  when  he  located  in  Humboldt 
county,  Cal.     For  two  years  thereafter  he  practiced  at   Eureka  and 
then  gave  up  the  law  temporarily  in  favor  of  mining,  but   in  two 
years  he  was  glad  to  return  to  his  law  office,  and  on  June  17,   1885. 
he  became  a  member  of  the  l)ar,  admitted  to  practice  in  the  Supreme 
Court  of  California.     After  laboring  professionally  for  a  short  time 
at  Eureka  and  Del  Norte,  he  located  at  Santa  Rosa,  Sonoma  county, 
and  was  in  legal  practice  there  until  1904,  when  he  came  to  Hanford, 
where  he  at  once  opened  offices  and   has   since   been  professionally 
successful.    Shortly  after  his  arrival  in  Kings  county  he  was  appointed 
Court  Commissioner,  and  in  1906  he  was  a  candidate  on  the  Repub- 
lican ticket  for  the  office  of  judge  of  the   Superior  Court  but  was 
defeated  by  a  very  small  majority.    After  the  Santa  Cruz  Republican 
State    convention    in    1906,    he    became    most    active    in    furthering 
progressive  government  principles  to  which  he  had  been  a  convert 
for  many  years.    In  1907  he  was  appointed  state  organizer  for  Kings 
county  and  he  gave  his  best  eiTorts  to  the  organization  of  the  Lincoln- 
Roosevelt  League  of  California  which  culminated  in  the  election  of 
Hiram  Johnson  for  Governor  and  later  in  the  birth  of  the  Progressive 
party    in    1912.      Fraternally    he    affiliates    with    the    Masonic    order. 
His  social  pojmlarit.v  is  wide,  and  his  fellow  citizens  admire  him  as  a 
man  of  ability  and  of  honesty  who  has  the  interests  of  the  community 
at  heart  and  does  in  a  public-spirited  way  all  that  he  is  able  to  do 
for  their  promotion. 

In  1880  Mr.  Miller  married  Miss  Mattie  Morrison,  a  native  of 
Wisconsin,  who  has  borne  him  a  daughter  and  four  sons.  Maud  PI 
is  the  wife  of  Dr.  Edward  Dunbar  of  Fallon,  Nev.  R.  Justin  is  a 
student  in  the  University  of  Montana,  a  graduate  of  Stanford  Uni- 
versity of  the  class  of  1911,  and  was  recently  admitted  to  practice 
law  in  the  Montana  Supreme  Court.  J.  Arthur  is  studying  engineer- 
ing at  Stanford  University.  He  is  a  graduate  of  the  Palo  Alto  high 
school,  where  his  brothers,  W.  Leslie  and  Lowell  Miller,  are  now 
students. 


FRANK  S.  McADAM 

The  farm  of  Frank  S.  McAdam,  one  of  the  McAdan)  ranches, 
consists  of  one  hundred  and  eiglity  acres,  ninety  acres  of  which  is 
rented   for  dairy  purposes  and   seventy-five  acres   of   the   ninety  is 


326  TULARE  AND  KINGS   COUNTIES 

under  alfalfa.  The  dairyman  renter  milks  forty  cows  and  raises  some 
hogs.  Thirty  acres  of  the  remainder  of  the  place  is  devoted  to 
alfalfa,  and  the  last  acre  of  it  will  be  given  to  that  crop  as  soon  as 
possible.  At  this  time  Mr.  McAdam  milks  eight  cows  and  farms 
forty  acres  to  grain. 

Mr.  McAdani  was  born  June  3,  1885,  in  Pembina  county,  Dakota 
Territory.  In  1907  he  married  Miss  Schukenecht,  of  Hobart,  Ind., 
and  their  son  Lawrence  McAdam  was  born  October  25,  1908. 

Mr.  McAdam 's  management  of  his  portion  of  the  big  McAdani 
ranch  has  been  evidence  of  his  capability  for  the  liandliug  of  big 
business.  A  man  of  enterprise  and  of  public  spirit  who  has  the 
welfare  of  the  community  at  heart,  he  is  one  of  the  most  helpful 
citizens  of  his  ])art  of  the  county.  He  is  at  present  interested  with 
his  brother  William  J.  in  the  Castle  Dome  silver  and  lead  mines  of 
their  father,  Robert  McAdam.  The  mines  are  located  in  Yuma  county, 
Arizona. 


SAMUEL  EDWARD  BIDDLE 

The  death  of  Hanford's  most  prominent  banker,  who  had  l)een 
identified  with  its  financial,  commercial  and  political  circles  for  many 
years,  proved  a  great  shock  to  the  people  here  and  was  deeply  felt 
throughout  the  entire  county,  whose  welfare  had  been  of  so  much 
importance  to  him.  Samuel  Edward  Biddle  had  more  to  do  with 
things  pertaining  to  the  business  life  here  and  in  this  county  than 
any  other  citizen  of  the  city.  His  death,  which  occurred  May  7,  1908, 
at  the  St.  Helena  Sanitarium  at  Hanford,  removed  from  their  midst 
one  of  the  people's  best  friends. 

Mr.  Biddle  was  a  native  of  Normandie,  Bedford  county,  Tenn., 
born  there  September  15,  1845,  the  son  of  J.  V.  and  Eliza  Biddle.  He 
received  his  educational  training  in  the  schools  there  and  in  1874  came 
to  California  to  ever  afterward  make  it  his  home.  When  but  fifteen 
years  of  age  he  had  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army,  seeing  active 
service,  but  he  was  finally  incapacitated  by  a  wound  and  received  his 
discharge,  returning  to  Tennessee.  Here  in  his  native  town  he  was 
married  on  January  6,  1870,  to  Miss  Achsah  A.  McQuiddy,  daughter 
of  Major  T.  J.  McQuiddy,  who  is  a  well  known  pioneer  of  Tulare 
county,  and  is  still  living  in  Hanford.  Major  McQuiddy  made  his 
first  trip  to  California  in  the  early  '70s  and  selected  lands  for  himself 
and  other  members  of  the  party  of  emigrants  who  came  overland  with 
him  in  1874  and  settled  at  Tulare  county.  Tliis  said  party  consisted 
of  eighteen  people,  including  Samuel  E.  Biddle  and  his  family,  M.  P. 
Troxler  and  family  and  Major  Cartner  and  wife.  Major  McQuiddy 
also  bringing  his  family. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  329 

After  his  marriage  and  before  coming  to  California,  Mr.  Biddle 
took  his  bride  to  live  in  Gibson  county,  Tenn.,  where  they  stayed  for 
some  time,  later  liein,i>'  at  Bi'azil,  Trenton  and  Huml)oldt.  lie  had  learned 
the  milling  business  and  ran  a  flouring  mill  at  Trenton,  later  at  Hum- 
boldt, and  this  experience  i)roved  most  helpful  to  him  upon  coming  to 
the  new  country.  When  he  came  to  California  his  family  consisted  of 
his  wife  and  two  children,  a  son  and  daughter,  and  they  settled  upon 
a  railroad  quarter-section  of  land  a  mile  and  a  half  north  and  three 
miles  east  of  the  present  site  of  Hanford,  which  Mrs.  Biddle 's  father. 
Major  McQuiddy,  had  selected  for  them.  They  here  built  a  board  and 
batten  house,  Mr.  Biddle  immediately  seeing  the  necessity  for  many 
improvements  which  he  started  to  make.  Irrigation  ditches  were 
erected  and  the  land  was  prepared  for  cultivation,  and  in  the  year 
1876  he  harvested  his  first  crop,  which  was  of  wheat. 

In  the  meantime  Mr.  Biddle  found  that  all  this  had  taken  nuich  of 
his  resources,  and  he  accordingly  went  to  work  for  I.  H.  Ham,  the 
pioneer  miller  of  Tulare  county,  taking  charge  of  the  mill  at  Tulare, 
and  as  the  agriculturists  in  the  surrounding  country  were  meeting 
with  good  success  in  the  cultivation  of  grain,  he  found  much  work  and 
demand  for  his  milling.  At  this  time  his  means  were  practically  ex- 
hausted, he  having  only  $3.75  in  Ms  pocket.  Accepting  the  first  job 
that  offered,  he  began  as  a  roustabout  at  the  Tulare  mill.  Leaving  his 
family  at  home,  he  walked  six  miles  and  worked  all  day  on  Cross 
Creek  bridge,  and  then  proceeded  to  Tulare,  where  he  took  his  position 
as  roustabout.  Mr.  Ham  soon  recognized  his  ability,  for  in  less  than 
a  week  he  was  made  miller,  and  from  this  time  a  very  close  intimacy 
grew  up  between  Mr.  Ham  and  himself.  It  was  in  1877  that  he,  in 
partnership  with  Mr.  Ham,  built  the  Lemoore  mill,  of  which  he  took 
charge  and  built  up  a  prosperous  business,  in  1880  selling  it  at  a  hand- 
some [irofit.  He  then  came  to  Hanford  and  built  a  grain  warehouse 
which  he  operated,  himself.  This  warehouse  was  so  much  in  demand 
that  it  became  filled  to  its  capacity,  and  finally,  under  the  stress  of  too 
heavy  a  weight  of  grain,  it  collajDsed  and  Mr.  Biddle  was  greatly  in- 
convenienced financially  by  the  disaster.  He  turned  to  R.  E.  Hyde, 
the  lianker  of  Visalia,  for  assistance,  and  the  latter  proved  his  true 
friendship  for  Mr.  Biddle  when  he  came  forward  and  supplied  the 
means  to  rebuild  the  warehouse,  which  was  immediately  done.  From 
this  time  on  is  chronicled  for  Mr.  Biddle  one  success  after  another. 
In  1883  he  built  a  large  brick  building  on  the  corner  of  Sixth  and 
Irwin  streets  in  Hanford,  where  in  association  with  his  brother  he 
conducted  a  profitable  farm  implement  business  until  1887,  at  which 
time  his  banking  interests  became  his  most  vital  business. 

On  Ai)ril  11,  1887,  was  launched  the  Bank  of  Hanford,  iu  whose 
incorporation  Mr.  Biddle  was  most  actively  interested.  It  was  the  first 
bank  established  in  Hanford  and  he  was  installed  as  its  cashier  and 


330  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

manager,  serving  in  this  capacity  for  a  long  period,  and  wlieu  this 
was  succeeded  by  the  First  National  Bank  of  Hanford,  Mr.  Biddle 
severed  his  connection  therewith  and  organized  in  November,  1901, 
what  is  now  the  Old  Bank,  and  of  this  establishment  he  was  president 
and  manager  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  being  also  a  heavy  stock- 
holder. His  wide  reputation  for  strict  integrity  of  character  and  hon- 
esty in  all  his  dealings  made  him  sought  out  by  many  for  advice  and 
the  handling  of  their  capital,  and  he  had  always  proved  himself  to  be 
a  clever  and  shrewd  business  man  in  making  investments  and  in  tlie 
execution  of  his  duties  in  general. 

Along  with  these  heavy  business  cares,  Mr.  Biddle  had  found  time 
to  give  himself  to  public  ser\dce,  having  served  as  supervisor  for  this 
part  of  Tulare  county  for  one  term,  and  at  the  time  the  fight  was  made 
for  the  independence  of  Kings  county  he  was  one  of  the  earnest 
workers,  was  one  of  the  commissioners,  and  afterward  served  as  a 
member  of  the  first  board  of  supervisors  of  Kings  county.  Asso- 
ciated with  him  in  the  organization  of  the  new  county  government 
were  J.  H.  Malone,  W.  H.  Newport,  William  Ogden,  E.  E.  Bush  and 
G.  X.  AYendling.  Later  he  was  president  of  the  Hanford  Chamber  of 
Commerce  and  Board  of  Trade,  and  in  all  these  offices  he  had  ever 
held  the  advance  and  development  of  his  town  and  county  foremost  in 
mind.  His  exceptional  activity  as  a  public-spirited  citizen  and  a 
charitable  and  well-wishing  friend  to  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact 
caused  his  death  to  cast  a  shadow  over  the  entire  public  of  this  city 
and  county. 

Samuel  E.  Biddle  and  his  wife  were  the  parents  of  three  sous  and 
four  daughter,  viz. :  Tolbert  Vance,  who  resides  in  Coalinga,  Cal. ; 
Eliza  Jane,  wife  of  I.  C.  Taylor,  of  Berkeley;  Samuel  Edward,  Jr., 
cashier  and  manager  of  the  Citizens'  Bank  of  Alameda;  Beta  H.,  wife 
of  Robert  Crawford,  of  Hanford;  Wallace  J.,  a  plasterer,  with  resi- 
dence at  Oakland ;  Kate  J.,  wife  of  Dallas  H.  Gray,  of  Armona,  Kings 
county;  and  Annie  Dale,  Mrs.  "William  S.  Andrews,  of  Berkeley. 


HAELAND  E.  WRIGHT 

One  of  the  organizers  and  present  casliier  and  manager  of  the 
Hanford  National  Bank,  conspicuous  in  various  pul)lic  enterprises, 
Harland  E.  Wright,  of  Hanford,  Cal.,  is  a  leader  among  the  younger 
business  men  of  Kings  county.  Now  an  out-and-out  Westerner,  he 
is  by  birth  a  Yankee,  having  first  seen  the  light  of  day  in  Wiscasset, 
Lincoln  county.  Me.,  May  22,  1863.  a  sou  of  Sullivan  Wright  and 
Maria  L.  (Bailey)  Wright,  both  of  whom  were  natives  of  the  Pine 
Tree  state  and  members  of  old  New  England  families.     The  father 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  331 

was  a  jeweler  and  was  working  at  liis  trade  when  the  Civil  war 
began.  Inspired  by  the  patriotic  blood  of  Revolutionary  ancestors, 
he  tried  to  enlist  as  a  soldier  in  the  federal  army,  but  was  disquali- 
fied by  physical  disability.  He  passed  away  at  the  comparatively 
early  age  of  fifty-five  years,  his  widow  now  living  in  Maine. 

When  his  father  died  Harland  E.  Wright  was  nine  years  old. 
He  was  brought  up  in  the  parental  home  and  educated  so  far  as 
was  possible  in  the  local  public  schools.  He  stepped  out  into  the 
world  and  began  to  take  care  of  himself  when  he  was  thirteen  years 
old,  becoming  a  telegrapher,  in  which  capacity  he  was  employed  by 
the  W^esteru  Union  Telegraph  Company  in  Boston  and  in  different 
cities  of  Maine  until  the  fall  of  1882,  a  year  known  in  telegraphic 
historj"  as  "the  year  of  the  great  strike."  Then  he  came  to  Cali- 
fornia, and  vmtil  the  fall  of  1892  was  bookkeeper  for  George  P. 
McNear,  banker  and  grain  dealer  at  Petaluma.  Taking  up  his  resi- 
dence in  Hanford  at  that  time,  he  became  assistant  cashier  of  the 
Farmers  and  Merchants  bank,  and  eighteen  months  later  he  was 
made  cashier,  which  position  he  retained  until  March,  1903.  He 
had  become  the  largest  stockholder  in  the  bank,  but  he  now  sold 
his  interest  in  it  and  in  May  organized  the  Hanford  National  Bank, 
an  historical  sketch  of  which  is  given  in  these  pages. 

Besides  his  interest  in  the  bank  Mr.  Wright  owns,  with  S.~E. 
Railsback,  one  thousand  acres  of  land  thirteen  miles  south  of  Han- 
ford, which  is  rented  for  dairy  purposes.  He  is  interested  in  or- 
chards witli  Mr.  Eailsback  and  Charles  King,  and  they  own  a  fine 
fruit  farm  north  of  Grangeville,  where  they  have  ninety  acres  de- 
voted to  prunes,  lie  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Lake  Land 
Canal  Company  and  one  of  the  builders  of  its  improvements. 

November  15,  1888,  Mr.  Wright  married  Etta  Ranard,  who  was 
l)()rn  in  Sonoma  county,  Cal.,  and  they  have  a  daughter,  Fae,  who  is 
a  student  in  the  high  school.  Politically  he  is  a  Republican,  influen- 
tial in  the  work  of  his  party,  but  has  no  personal  amlntion  for  an 
official  career.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Indejiendent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  He  has  won  his 
success  l)y  liis  own  unaided  efforts,  through  the  forcefulness  of  a 
character  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  which  are  integrity, 
earnestness,  independence  and   self-reliance. 


JOHN   F.   JORDAN 


The  proniiiu'ut  citizen  of  Tuhire  county  whose  name  is  al)ove 
and  whose  residence  is  at  No.  108  West  Center  street,  Visalia,  is  a 
son  of  Frank  and  Alabama  (McMicken)  Jordan,  natives  respectively 


332  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

of  Illinois  and  Alabama,  and  he  was  born  in  eastern  Texas  December 
10,  1850.  His  father  had  settled  there  early  and  had  been  for  a 
time  manager  of  a  plantation  near  Shreveport,  La.  In  1854  he 
came  to  California  as  a  captain  of  a  train  which  included  seventy- 
four  families,  whom  he  brought  through  safely,  overcoming  many 
difficulties  by  the  way.  Locating  within  the  present  borders  of  San 
Benito  county,  he  became  a  stock-dealer  and  hotel  keeper,  and  in 
1858  he  made  his  headquarters  in  Tulare  county,  where  he  brought 
his  family  in  1860.  He  prospered  as  a  stockman,  traveling  extensively 
in  the  prosecution  of  his  business,  and  died  at  Visalia  in  1878,'  in  his 
sixtieth  year,  his  wife  having  passed  away  while  the  family  was  in 
San  Benito  county.  He  won  the  credit  to  which  every  self-made 
man  is  entitled  of  having  begun  with  almost  nothing  and  achieved 
good  financial  success.  He  was  a  citizen  of  much  public  spirit, 
influential  in  the  councils  of  the  Democratic  party. 

Of  tlie  four  sous  and  three  daughters  of  Frank  and  Alabama 
(McMicken)  Jordan,  John  F.  Jordan  was  the  fifth  in  order  of  birth 
and  he  was  four  years  old  when  he  accompanied  his  parents  on  their 
memorable  overland  journey  to  California.  After  having  completed 
his  studies  in  the  Visalia  public  schools,  he  became  a  student  at 
Heald's  Business  College,  San  Francisco,  from  which  institution  he 
was  duly  graduated  in  February,  1875.  Soon  after  his  return  to  Visalia, 
in  that  year,  lie  was  appointed  deputy  postmaster  of  that  city,  and 
in  1876  was  appointed  deputy  sheriff.  He  was  elected  in  1879  county 
auditor  of  Tulare  county,  in  which  office  he  served  with  great  credit 
for  five  years.  Later,  in  1884,  he  engaged  in  the  abstract  business, 
in  1892  incorporating  the  Visalia  Abstract  Company,  in  which  he 
is  now  a  director,  being  formerly  its  secretary  and  general  manager. 
The  knowledge  he  has  acquired  of  land  titles  in  Tulare  county  is  the 
result  of  years  of  study  and  experience  and  it  makes  his  advice  along 
these  lines  of  the  greatest  practical  value.  At  the  same  time  it 
should  be  noticed  that  his  work  as  secretary  and  manager  of  this 
enterprise  is  no  indication  of  the  extent  of  his  activities.  In  June, 
1912,  he  became  president  of  the  Citizens'  Bank  of  Visalia,  at  which 
time  he  retired  from  the  management  of  the  abstract  business.  He 
assisted  in  organizing  the  Kaweah  Lemon  Company  (Inc)  of  which 
he  is  secretary  and  which  owns  three  hundred  and  seventy  acres 
in  the  foothills  east  of  Visalia.  He  is  a  director  in  the  Encina  Fruit 
Company  and  has  had  much  to  do  with  the  development  of  its  lands, 
which  include  four  hundred  and  forty  acres,  two  miles  north  of 
Visalia.  In  the  organization  of  the  Visalia  Fruit  &  Land  Company 
he  was  prominently  active  and  he  is  secretary  of  the  Lemon  Cove 
Ditch  Company. 

The  lady  who  became  the  wife  of  Mr.  Jordan  was  Alice  L.  Neill, 
a  native  daughter  of  California,  and  they  have  three  children :     Ethel 


j»  /^,  ^>4^.^^^X^ 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  335 

v.,  wife  of  William  B.  Rowland;  Ray  F.,  and  Neill  J.  Mr.  Jordan 
affiliates  fraternally  with  Lodge  No.  128,  F.  &  A.  M.,  of  Visalia; 
Chapter  No.  44,  R.  A.  M. ;  Conniiandery  No.  26.  K.  T.,  of  which  he 
is  recorder;  Scottish  Rite  No.  9,  of  which  he  is  treasurer;  and  Islam 
Temple,  Nobles  of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  of  San  Francisco.  He  has 
been  a  local  leader  of  the  Democracy,  was  a  delegate  to  the  state 
convention  of  his  jiarty  in  1!H)4  and  at  one  time  served  on  the 
county  central  committee.  He  also  served  on  the  city  council  of 
Visalia  for  eight  years.  It  goes  without  saying  that  in  every 
emergencj'  his  fellow  citizens  have  found  his  public  spirit  equal  to 
any  demand  upon  it. 


DR.  BENJAMIN  HAMLIN 

A  factor  and  a  landmark  in  the  history  of  Kings  county  is  Dr. 
Benjamin  Hamlin,  of  Lemoore,  who  was  born  Janiuiry  20,  1824,  and 
came  to  the  present  site  of  Lemoore  in  1874,  when  he  was  about 
fifty  years  old.  But  at  that  time  there  was  no  town  there ;  on 
the  ground  Lemoore  now  occupies  were  a  few  scattered  houses  of 
primitive  construction  and  a  few  settlers  had  come  to  the  country 
round  about.  The  doctor  has  witnessed  the  transformation  of  the 
county  from  wild  land  to  a  vast  wheat-field  and  has  watched  the 
gradual  supplanting  of  grain  by  fruit  and  vine.  There  are  few  peo- 
ple who  have  ever  lived  at  Lemoore  with  whom  he  was  not  at  one 
time  or  another  personally  acquainted,  and  many  who  have  known 
him  have  had  just  reason  to  recognize  in  him  the  proverbial  friend 
in  need  who  is  a  friend  indeed. 

When  he  was  seven  years  old  the  future  physician,  dentist  and 
druggist  was  taken  by  his  parents  to  Lorain  county,  Ohio,  where  he 
grew  to  manhood.  After  leaving  the  public  schools,  he  entered  upon 
his  professional  studies  under  the  preceptorship  of  Dr.  Hubbard, 
teaching  school  in  the  meantime  to  pro\'ide  for  cui-rent  expenses.  In 
1847  he  received  his  degree  of  M.D.  at  Angola,  the  county  seat  of 
Steuben  county,  Ind.,  where  he  practiced  medicine  during  the  decade 
that  immediately  followed.  The  next  ten  years  he  spent  in  ])ractice 
in  St.  Joseph  county,  Mich.,  and  while  practicing  here  he  volunteered 
his  services  in  the  Civil  wai-,  and  engaged  as  a  hospital  surgeon  at 
Chattanooga  during  the  time  of  Hood's  raid,  being  in  that  service  for 
seven  months.  From  St.  Joseph  county  he  went  to  Florida,  where  he 
practiced  dentistry  five  years.  In  1872  he  came  to  Santa  Cruz,  Cal., 
where  he  practiced  medicine  and  dentistry  until  1874,  when  he  came 
to  a  little  settlement  on  the  site  of  Lemoore  and  opened  a  small  drug 
store  on  the  front  of  which  he  hung  his  professional  sign.    In  1875  he 


336  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

was  appointed  postmaster  there  and  for  ten  years  he  combined  the 
practice  of  medicine  with  tlie  sale  of  drugs,  then  abandoned  the  former 
the  better  to  give  attention  to  the  latter.  For  many  years  his  drug  store 
was  the  only  establishment  of  its  kind  in  the  vicinity.  He  retired  from 
the  drug  trade  in  1899,  since  when  he  has  done  little  business  beyond 
giving  attention  to  his  fruit  and  vine  ranch,  north  of  Lemoore,  which 
is  now  operated  by  a  tenant. 

In  1847  Dr.  Hamlin  married  Miss  Margaret  Fowls,  who  bore  him 
three  daughters  and  a  son.  Of  these  children  only  one  of  the  daugh- 
ters is  living,  her  home  being  in  Santa  Cruz.  Mrs.  Hamlin  died  in 
1886  and  on  the  16th  of  September,  1889,  he  married  Maria  L.  Wells, 
a  native  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  but  at  that  time  living  in  San  Francisco. 
Together  they  are  spending  their  declining  years  in  the  companionship 
of  many  old  friends,  and  in  all  the  country  roundal:)put  Lemoore  the 
doctor  is  held  in  loving  regard  as  a  pioneer. 

Mrs.  Maria  L.  (Wells)  Hamlin  is  a  member  of  a  patriotic  family 
of  soldiers,  her  brother,  the  late  Brig.-Gen.  A.  B.  Wells,  having  had 
a  military  record  of  over  forty  years'  actual  military  service.  Her 
father.  Captain  William  U.  Wells,  was  one  of  the  pioneer  miners  at 
Virginia  city,  Nev.,  and  he  had  four  sons  and  one  daughter  in  his 
family.  All  four  of  her  brothers  were  enlisted  soldiers  in  the  war  of 
the  Rebellion,  and  the  three  surviving  have  given  their  entire  lives 
to  their  country's  military  service.  Of  these,  Capt.  Charles  H.  now 
resides  at  St.  Louis,  Mo. ;  he  served  through  the  entire  Civil  war, 
was  at  Libby  and  Andersonville  prisons  and  was  one  of  the  brave 
men  who  dug  his  way  out  of  Libby  by  means  of  an  oyster-shell  as 
their  sole  tool,  and  he  has  recently  puV)lished  a  book  which  fully 
describes  this  incident.  The  second  brother  was  the  late  Brig.-Gen. 
A.  B.  Wells.  Another  is  Capt.  William  Wells,  of  Chicago,  and  the 
fourth  brother,  Aimer  H.  Wells,  of  Chicago,  enlisted  as  a  drummer 
boy  when  he  was  thirteen  years  old. 

Mrs.  Hamlin  has  had  the  misfortune  of  losing  her  eyesight,  but 
notwithstanding  her  life  has  been  one  of  i)hilanthropy  and  kindness, 
and  hundreds  of  needy  and  unfortunate  people  at  San  Francisco  as 
well  as  Lemoore  will  ever  bless  her  for  her  gentle  and  generous  aid. 


P.  A.  McLEAN 

Of  Scotch  highland  stock  and  born  in  Canada,  P.  A.  McLean,  of 
Tulare  has  demonstrated  the  potency  of  the  influences  that  were 
back  of  him  in  the  production  of  good  American  citizenship.  He  has 
also  shown  what  a  man  of  the  right  kind  may  hope  to  accomplish 
in  California,   if  he  makes  it   his   business   to   succeed.     It   was    at 


TULARP]  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  337 

Milton,  across  our  nortliern  liorder,  that  he  tirst  saw  the  light  of 
day,  November  22,  1842.  His  parents  were  natives  of  Scotland,  and 
his  mother  was  of  the  clan  of  the  Camerons.  She  was  a  descendant 
of  Lord  John  Cameron,  and  her  brother,  ('apt.  John  Cameron,  came  to 
California  as  early  as  1832,  later  saw  service  in  the  West  under 
Fremont,  and  eventually  was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Monterey,  in 
our  war  with  Mexico.  So  passed  an  old  Indian  tighter  whose  history 
is  a  ]>art  of  the  history  of  California. 

P.  A.  McLean  has  had  many  interesting  and  not  a  few  thrilling- 
experiences.  Seven  years  he  sailed  on  the  oceans,  visiting  about 
every  important  port  in  the  world.  Off  the  coast  of  Africa  he  was 
shipwrecked  and  for  four  days  and  nights  was  afloat  on  a  spar. 
He  was  a  comrade  of  "Buffalo  Bill"  Cody,  shooting  buffaloes  with 
him  on  the  plains  and  fighting  Indians  shoulder  to  shoulder  with 
that  picturesque  American  hero.  It  all  happened  in  the  period  in 
which  the  LTnion  Pacific  railroad  was  being  constructed  across  the 
continent.  Several  times  he  was  wounded,  and  to  his  grave  he  will 
carry  a  bullet  in  Jiis  body.  Through  his  participation  in  Indian 
wars,  and  otherwise,  he  became  acquainted  with  most  of  the  famous 
chiefs  of  his  time.  Many  years  in  the  saddle,  he  participated  in 
some  of  the  famous  rides  that  add  spice  to  western  history.  It  is 
of  record  that  he  made  the  trip  from  Dayton  to  Lewiston,  sixty 
miles,  in  six  hours,  and  rode  from  Spokane  to  Walla  Walla,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles,  in  eighteen  hours.  He  helped  to  locate 
government  posts  in  Washington,  and  was  the  first  white  man  to 
pilot  a  raft  down  Lake  Chelan.  He  tells  how  plentiful  deer  and 
bear  were  along  the  lake.  At  Cheney,  Wash.,  he  built  the  first 
bank  and  the  first  gristmill,  and  later  had  a  blacksmith  slio]i,  and 
the  earliest  gristmill  at  Spokane  was  erected  by  him. 

In  his  native  town,  Mr.  McLean  learned  the  trades  of  blacksmith 
and  carriage  maker,  though  his  apprenticeship  was  finished  at  St. 
Johnsbury,  Vt.  After  a  time  he  found  employmemnt  on  the  Vermont 
Central  railroad,  and  in  18(i6  he  went  to  Chicago,  where,  a  few  years 
later,  he  built  the  first  cabin  after  the  Great  Fire  on  the  site  of  the 
old  ])ostoffice  on  Dearborn  street.  But  meantime  he  was  busy  else- 
where, for  in  1869  he  rode  into  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  and  saw  an  old 
and  not  very  promising  cluster  of  adobe  houses,  relics  of  a  former 
civilization,  and  that  was  about  all.  His  tri])  on  horseback  from 
there  took  him  to  Idaho  and  Washingtcni.  It  was  on  the  7th  of 
November,  1876,  that  he  made  his  first  apjiearance  in  Tulare  county, 
riding  astride  a  nnistang.  lie  has  lived  there  most  of  the  time  since, 
always  identified  with  the  county's  growth  and  develoi)meiit.  For 
a  long  time  he  made  his  honu>  in  \'isalia,  where  he  had  a  blacksmith 
shop,  but  did  a  good  deal  of  carpentering.  He  it  was  who  framed 
the  first  joist  that  went  into  the  construction   of  Ihc  old   coui'thouse. 


338  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

and  iuto  that  same  historic  strneture  he  put  the  doors  and  huilt 
the  bench  for  the  judge.  For  six  years  he  blacksmithed  in  Exeter, 
and  from  there  he  moved  back  to  Visalia.  He  later  rented  a  shop 
in  Cochrane.  He  drifted  to  Visalia  and  was  in  the  liquor  business 
there  four  years,  and  in  1907  he  ran  a  hotel  in  Cochrane,  and  came 
back  to  Tulare,  August,  1909,  where  he  now  runs  a  shop.  It  was 
in  the  year  1888  that  he  bought  the  old  Lyle  ranch,  two  miles  east 
of  Visalia.  He  is  now  the  owner  of  a  house  in  Visalia  and  of  the 
Eosenthal  ranch,  north  of  the  town,  which  is  stocked  and  rented. 
He  has  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  in  Fresno  county  and  town 
property  in  Fresno,  and  property  in  Kings  and  Riverside  and  Sonoma 
counties,  besides  his  old  blacksmith  shop  at  Cochrane.  At  present 
he  busies  himself  with  his  blacksmith  and  carriage  sho]j  at  Tulare 
and  with  the  supervision  of  his  jn'operty.  Public  office  has  been 
thrust  upon  him  from  time  to  time.  He  was  a  dei:)uty  sheriff  in 
Vermont,  a  justice  of  the  peace  at  Cheney,  Wash.,  and  a  school 
trustee  at  Cochrane,  Cal.  He  heljjed  to  organize  the  Odd  Fellows 
lodge  at  Cochrane  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias  lodge  at  Visalia, 
also  helped  organize  the  K.  of  P.  and  I.  0.  0.'  F.  in  Exeter,  and 
holds  membership  in  both  with  due  honor.  He  was  a  charter  mem- 
ber also  of  the  Odd  Fellows  lodge  at  Exeter.  August  22,  1878, 
he  married  Miss  Sarah  M.  Thomas,  and  thev  have  a  daughter, 
Sarah  F. 


CHARLES  W.   TOZER 

A  California  pioneer  of  1851,  a  miner,  a  fruit  grower,  a  man  of 
many  interesting  exi)eriences  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  thus, 
briefly,  might  be  summed  up  the  biograi)hy  of  Charles  AV.  Tozer ; 
but  there  is  very  much  more  to  tell,  and  no  old  Californian  would 
regard  this  book  as  complete  if  in  some  measure  it  did  not  tell  it. 
Mr.  Tozer  was  l)orn  in  New  York,  February  10,  1830,  and  died  in 
California  in  1905.  He  came  to  the  state  by  way  of  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama  and  in  tlie  early  days  thereafter  mined  in  Amador,  Cala- 
veras and  Trinity  counties.  He  was,  in  fact,  interested  in  raining 
during  most  of  the  years  of  his  busy  and  adventurous  life.  At  dif- 
ferent times  he  dug  for  precious  metal  in  California,  Nevada,  Ari- 
zona, Alaska,  Siberia,  China  and  Japan.  After  his  experience  in 
Nome,  where  he  was  associated  with  Charles  D.  Lane,  he  went  to 
the  state  of  AVasliingtou,  where  he  installed  a  large  stamp  mill. 
To  the  mining  fraternity  of  the  entire  covmtry  he  was  known  as 
an  expert  mining  engineer.  In  tlie  prosecution  of  his  work  in  new 
and  wild  districts  he  frequently   i^articipated  in   scenes   peculiar   to 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  339 

gold  diggings  at  the  times  under  consideration.  During  his  stay 
in  Arizona  Indian  wars  were  in  progress  and  at  one  time  he  was 
a  member  of  a  party  sent  against  the  savages  in  defense  of  some 
people  whose  lives  were  in  danger  because  of  a  threatend  attack. 
He  was  sheriff  of  Siskiyou  county,  Cal.,  and  represented  his  district 
in  Nevada  in  the  territorial  Legislature. 

In  1891)  Mr.  Tozer  came  to  Tulare  county  and  bought  part  of 
the  old  Page  &  Morton  ranch,  west  of  Tulare.  There  he  grew  fruit 
for  a  decade,  meeting  with  good  success,  and  sold  out  in  1900,  his 
ranch  now  being  a  dairy  plant.  He  married  Miss  Mary  Seaton,  a 
native  of  Youngstown,  Ohio,  whose  father,  Daniel  Seaton,  was  a 
pioneer  lawyer  in  Amador  county,  where  he  practiced  his'  profes- 
sion many  years.  There  were  born  to  him  children  as  follows : 
Roy  S.,  of  Tulare;  Charles  M.,  of  old  Mexico;  Mrs.  R.  Q.  Cople,  of 
San  Francisco.  Roy  S.  Tozer,  a  native  of  California,  was  educated 
in  the  public  schools  of  Tulare  and  San  Francisco  and  at  the 
University  of  California,  at  Berkeley.  He  began  his  business  career 
in  connection  with  the  dried  fruit  trade  in  San  Francisco,  and  after 
a  five  years'  residence  there  came  to  Tulare  and  took  over  the  man- 
agement of  the  Fair  Oaks  Creamery.  He  is  now  manager  of  the 
E.  M.  Cox  Lumber  Company,  which  in  1910  succeeded  the  Tulare 
Lumber  Company,  which  had  had  an  existence  of  many  years  and 
was  one  of  the  old  and  substantial  business  enterprises  of  the 
town.  Mr.  Tozer  is  one  of  the  most  progressive  of  Tulare's  younger 
set  of  business  men,  interested  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  city's 
growth  and  development  and  ready  at  any  time  to  assist  to  the 
extent  of  his  ability  any  measure  inaugurated  for  the  public  welfare. 


FRANCIS   C.    SCOTT 

As  a,  soldier  no  less  than  as  a  citizen  Francis  C.  Scott  is  deserving 
of  attention  by  writer  and  reader.  He  was  born  in  Martin  county, 
Ind.,  May  19,  1841.  When  he  was  nineteen  years  old  he  enlisted 
in  Company  E,  Twenty-fifth  Regiment,  Indiana  Volunteer  Infantry. 
His  first  fighting  was  at  Fort  Donelson.  He  saw  plenty  more  at 
Shiloh,  Corinth,  Hatchers  Run,  Grand  Junction,  Holly  Springs,  .Mud 
Creek,  Pearl  River,  Marion  Station,  Memphis,  Lookout  Mountain, 
Mission  Ridge,  Kenesaw  Mountain,  Buzzard's  Roost,  Atlanta,  Chat- 
tanooga, Kingston,  Goldsboro  and  at  other  points  in  the  South. 
He  has  vivid  recollections  of  the  men  of  his  command  drinking 
the  polluted  water  of  Mud  creek.  After  that  fight  his  comj^any 
was  so  small  because  so  many  of  its  members  had  been  killed  that 


340  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

it  was  assigTied  to  provost  duty  in  Tennessee.  From  there  it  went 
to  Vicksburg  and  later  it  went  with  Sherman  to  Mississippi.  A 
sixty  days'  furlough  came  soon  afterward,  and  Mr.  Scott  rejoined 
his  conmiand  at  Chattanooga.  The  march  from  Atlanta  to  the 
sea  under  Sherman  he  will  never  forget.  A  provisional  division,  of 
which  his  regiment  was  a  part,  was  sent  back  to  Chattanooga.  From 
that  point  a  march  was  made  to  Paducah,  Ky.,  thence  to  Cincinnati 
and  thence  to  Baltimore,  where  the  regiment  joined  its  old  command. 
A  coast  voj-age  followed  and  Mr.  Scott  was  shipwrecked  in  Cuban 
waters,  but  was  finally  lauded  in  North  Carolina  and  marched  to 
Newberne,  where  fighting  was  resumed.  After  the  fight  at  Golds- 
boro,  the  regiment  was  marched  to  Kaleigh,  N.  C.  Several  skirm- 
ishes followed,  then  came  the  Confederate  surrender,  the  Grand 
Review  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  the  discharge  and  the  muster  out. 

Returning  to  Indiana,  Mr.  Scott  located  in  Perry  county,  set- 
tled down  to  farming  and  married  Louisa  Goble,  a  native  of  that 
state,  who  bore  him  children  as  follows :  Harrison  Y.,  John  AV.. 
Hiram  Curtis,  Thaddeus  M.,  Sidney  F.,  Lee  Esting,  Flora  C.  All 
have  died  except  Thaddeus  M.  and  Sidney  F.  John  AV.  married  Nancy 
Harmon,  by  whom  lie  had  a  son  named  Edmund  L.  By  a  second  mar- 
riage two  daughters  were  born.  Sidney  F.  married  Nellie  Wilson 
and  has  had  four  children:  Ray,  Leslie,  Maynard  and  Flora.  Leslie 
has  passed  away. 

From  Indiana  Mr.  Scott  moved  in  1866  to  Montgomery  county, 
Iowa,  where  he  lived  three  years  and  then  returned  to  Indiana. 
From  there  he  went  to  Shelby  county,  111.,  and  after  a  year's  resi- 
dence there  moved  to  Sedgwick  county,  Kas.,  where  he  remained 
until  he  was  forced  to  leave  on  account  of  his  crops  being  destroyed 
by  pests.  From  there  he  returned  to  Illinois,  whence  he  went  to 
Nebraska.  There  he  remained  four  years,  meantime  preempting 
and  improving  land,  after  which  he  returned  to  Union  Star,  DeKalb 
county,  and  two  years  later  took  up  his  residence  in  Shannon  county. 
Mo.,  where  he  conducted  a  hotel  for  four  years.  He  again  took  up 
farming  in  Texas  county  for  eight  years.  He  came  to  Fresno 
county  in  1904  and  bought  ten  acres  near  Laton.  Six  months  later 
he  sold  out  and  came  to  Tulare  city,  bought  ten  acres,  then  sold  and 
purchased  residence  property  and  remained  there  until  he  came 
to  Orosi.  He  bought  ten  acres  half  in  vines  and  trees  and  the  bal- 
ance in  pasture.  His  profits  from  this  investment  are  quite  satis- 
factory. 

As  a  farmer  Mr.  Scott  is  successful  along  his  chosen  lines  and 
as  a  citizen  he  is  public  spirited  and  helpful.  In  politics  he  is 
Republican.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic 
and  is  a  Mason. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  341 

GEORGE   TOMER 

The  story  of  the  life  of  a  self-made  man  is  always  interesting 
and  always  carries  its  lesson  of  industry,  integrity,  perseverance  and 
thrift.  Of  this  class  is  George  Tomer,  a  native  of  Iowa,  born  August 
16,  1847,  whose  early  life  was  one  of  work  and  study  in  an  environ- 
ment that  was  not  conducive  to  rapid  progress  either  in  earning 
money  or  acquiring  knowledge.  But  he  got  a  start  in  life,  largely 
l)y  reason  of  his  coming  to  California.  He  made  his  appearance  in 
this  state  in  1862,  quite  young  to  undertake  much  responsibility,  but 
of  a  self-reliant  nature  and  determined  to  make  something  of  and 
for  himself.  For  several  years  he  lived  in  Yolo  county,  variously 
employed,  as  occasion  offered,  and  in  1873  came  to  Hanford,  Kings 
county,  where  he  acquired  one  hundred  and  eighty  acres  of  good 
farm  land,  on  which  he  has  lived  continuously  to  the  present  time. 
"When  he  first  came  here  he  helped  himself  financially  by  working 
on  the  Peoples  ditch  until  that  work  was  finished.  He  is  included 
among  the  pioneers  in  this  vicinity,  and  is  on  the  membership  list 
of  the  Settlers'  League.  From  the  first  he  has  taken  an  interest  in 
public  affairs,  and  as  a  Republican  has  been  elected  to  several  impor- 
tant local  offices,  which  he  has  filled  with  ability  and  credit  to  him- 
self and  to  the  community.  He  was  trustee  of  the  Eureka  school 
fourteen  years,  trustee  and  chairman  of  the  Hanford  high  school 
board  seven  years,  and  was  elected  constable  in  1878  for  two  years. 
In  1898  he  was  elected  supervisor  from  the  third  district,  serving- 
four  years. 

As  a  farmer  Mr.  Tomer  has  been  successful  even  beyond  his 
expectations.  He  has  three  acres  in  vineyards  and  twenty-five  in 
alfalfa.  While  giving  attention  to  general  farming  he  breeds  hogs 
and  cattle  and  makes  a  specialty  of  dairying,  having  at  this  time 
about  twenty  fine  cows.  For  twenty-nine  seasons  he  has  operated 
a  header  very  successfully.  He  is  thoroughly  up-to-date  in  all  his 
methods  and  his  farm  is  fitted  with  good  buildings  and  modern 
machinery  and  appliances.  He  has  shown  a  faculty  for  planning  and 
working  out  his  plans,  such  as  many  farmers  do  not  possess,  and 
which  doubtless  has  been  a  factor  in  his  steady  progress. 

In  Woodland,  Yolo  county,  on  September  21,  1872,  Mr.  Tomer 
was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Carrie  Kohler,  who  was  born  in 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  in  1855,  and  who  was  brought  to  California  by  her 
mother  in  1860.  All  of  her  life  since  that  date  has  been  passed  in 
this  state  and  she  has  been  a  resident  of  Kings  county  since  1873. 
The  following  children  have  been  born  to  this  worthy  coui)le:  William 
li. ;  Leonard  L. ;  Nettie  M.,  who  married  George  Tilton ;  Clarence 
E. ;  Clara  E.,  widow  of  Walter  Kelly;  Annie  C,  widow  of  George 
Ehle;  George,  deceased;  Read  A.;  Rose  lone;  King  F. ;  Forest  W. ; 


342  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

and  Isaac.  All  of  the  children  were  born,  reared  and  educated  in 
Tulare  and  Kings  counties  and  are  located  in  the  vicinity  of  Hanford, 
with  the  exception  of  Clara  E.  and  Annie  C,  who  reside  in  Oakland. 


ALVIN  H.  SLOCUM 

It  was  in  the  beautiful  Genesee  valley,  in  the  Empire  state,  that 
Alvin  H.  Slocum  was  born  in  1837.  His  family  went  to  Wisconsin 
when  he  was  a  year  and  a  half  old  and  remained  there  thirteen  years, 
during  whicli  time  he  learned  a  good  deal  about  farming,  more  about 
hunting,  and  in  pulilic  and  private  schools  got  a  good  start  toward 
an  ediication.  From  Wisconsin  the  family  moved  to  Iowa,  where 
Alvin  remained  until  after  he  became  of  age.  In  1859  he  came  across 
the  plains  to  California  and  until  the  fall  of  1861  he  lived  near  the 
Feather  river,  in  Butte  county.  At  the  first  call  of  President  Lincoln 
for  volunteer  soldiers  for  service  in  the  Civil  war  he  enlisted  and 
was  on  dutj''  constantly  until  his  discharge,  taking  part  in  many  his- 
toric engagements  and  enduring  many  hardships  and  privations.  A 
remarkable  feature  of  his  war  record  for  which  he  is  particularly 
thankful  is  that  when  the  war  came  to  an  end  he  had  never  been 
captured  by  the  enemy.  He  was  mustered  out  at  Las  Cruces,  N.  Mex., 
and  bought  a  team  of  horses  and  drove  tlirough  to  Sacramento,  Cal., 
near  which  place  he  worked  in  the  mines  two  years.  In  1866  he  came 
to  Tulare  county  witli  no  more  definite  imrpose  than  to  hiuit  awhile, 
but  the  country  pleased  him  so  well  that  he  determined  to  remain. 
Improvements  were  few  and  there  was  game  everywhere,  liear  and 
deer  especially  being  ])lentiful.  He  had  Bruce  Wilcox  as  a  companion 
until  in  1869,  when  Wilcox  stumbled  onto  a  set  gun  and  was  shot  to 
death.  Mr.  Slocum  was  only  two  feet  behind  him  when  the  explosion 
came.  In  speaking  of  those  earlier  days,  he  tells  of  the  killing  of 
fourteen  or  fifteen  bears  in  the  autumn  of  one  year  and  relates  how 
in  one  hunt  he  shot  twenty-one  bucks;  his  largest  bear  he  killed  in 
1867.  Jacob  Cramer,  Marvin  AVilcox  and  Frank  Knowles  were  with 
him,  and  they  have  often  testified  that  it  weighed,  dressed  and  with- 
out liide  or  head,  fifteen  hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  Mr.  Slocum  went 
on  his  first  liear  lumt  when  he  was  about  tw6nty-one  years  old  and 
killed  three  bears,  the  first  wild  bear  he  had  ever  seen. 

As  soon  as  was  practicable  after  he  came  to  the  county  Mr. 
Slocum  began  to  acquire  land.  He  took  up  one  himdred  and  sixty 
acres  and  a  little  later  another  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  and 
began  to  raise  hogs  and  fruit,  in  which  business  he  has  continued 
with  success  to  the  present  time.  He  has  for  many  years  been  a 
member  of  the  local  school  board  and  has  in  other  ways  been  gener- 


(x->  yh,^/^^ 


C^''t-'»->-*^ 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  345 

oiisly  active  on  behalf  of  the  community.  In  1880  he  married  Nancie 
Alma  Hudson,  a  native  of  California,  who  has  borne  him  six  children, 
all  of  whom  are  living  and  all  but  two  are  married.  His  father, 
who  was  born  in  1811,  in  New  York  state,  died  in  1904  in  California, 
at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-three  years.  Mr.  Slocum  has  mechanical 
genius  of  a  high  order,  and  has  made  a  number  of  violins  and  guitars 
of  an  excellent  quality. 


WILLIAM  P.  McCORD 

This  higlily  respected  citizen  of  Hanford,  Kings  county,  Cal., 
has  duriug  his  long  and  busy  career  won  distinction  in  many  ways. 
He  was  born  in  Ohio  February  6,  1831,  and  there  received  a  limited 
education  and  practical  instruction  in  different  kinds  of  useful  work. 
In  1852,  when  he  was  twenty-one  years  old,  he  came  to  California 
by  way  of  New  York  and  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  going  from  New 
Y'ork  to  Panama  on  the  steamer  Brother  Jonathan,  crossing  the  isth- 
mus on  foot  and  coming  to  San  Francisco  on  the  steamer  Winfield 
Scott.  He  stopped  on  the  Island  of  Toboga  six  weeks  waiting  for 
a  steamer  and  retains  a  fond  remembrance  of  the  place  and  "people. 
From  San  Francisco  he  went  to  Sacramento  and  thence  to  Ringgold. 
After  mining  three  months  he  located  at  Suisun,  Solano  county,  with 
his  brother,  with  the  intention  of  going  into  the  mercantile  business. 
Going,  down  to  put  up  some  hay  on  the  island,  he  learned  that  John 
Owens  had  already  erected  a  store  there,  and  he  and  his  brother-in- 
law  engaged  in  the  butcher  business,  opening  the  first  meat  shop  in 
Suisun,  and  traded  there  until  1856,  when  he  went  back  east  and 
brought  his  family  out  to  California.  Upon  his  return  he  engaged 
in  teaming  with  his  own  teams,  carrying  supplies  to  Virginia  Cit.v, 
Hangtown  (now  Placerville),  and  other  mining  centers  and  selling 
goods  at  the  stores  in  all  .the  camps  round  about.  Tims  he  was  em- 
ployed three  years,  then  for  four  years  he  ran  a  meat  market  in 
Vacaville.  Disposing  of  that  he  returned  east  and  farmed  in  Ohio 
and  after  four  years  went  to  Denver,  Colo.  From  there  he  came 
on  to  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  and  soon  engaged  in  buying  cattle,  whicla  he 
drove  to  Bakersfield.  He  located  in  Bakersfield  in  1872  and  was  a 
charter  member  of  the  first  lodge  of  Masons  organized  there  and  is 
now  the  only  survivor  of  the  ori.ginal  fourteen  members.  He  estab- 
lished the  McCord  ranch,  on  the  north  side,  a  mile  and  a  half  from 
Bakersfield,  constructed  an  irrigation  ditch  and  for  seven  years  fur- 
nished water  free  to  everyone  in  the  vicinity.  Then,  selling  most  of 
his  stock,  he  located  on  government  land,  ])ut  in  alfalfa,  built  levees, 
extended  the  ditch,  sold  it  and  afterward  managed  it  two  years,  under 


346  TULAKE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

the  (lirtH'tioii  of  W.  B.  Carr,  making  during  tliat  time  $15  a  day  over 
and  above  the  support  of  bis  family.  From  there  he  came  to  Tulare 
county  and  in  1886-87  l)OUght  land  at  the  mouth  of  Cross  creek,  twelve 
miles  south  of  Hanford.  One  section,  which  be  bought  of  0.  E.  Mil- 
ler, at  $2.75  an  acre,  is  still  owned  in  bis  family  and  is  now  worth 
over  $150  an  acre.  Another  section,  which  he  bought  of  Bird  & 
Smith  and  which  is  now  valuable,  cost  him  $7.50  an  acre.  He  bought 
in  all  about  two  thousand  acres.  He  and  his  sons  engaged  in  stock- 
raising  and  he  and  his  brother  built  a  levee  and  reclaimed  thousands 
of  acres  of  land  from  the  Cross  creek  overflow  for  settlers  in  that 
vicinity.  Mr.  McCord  farmed  there  and  raised  horses  and  stock 
on  a  large  scale,  juitting  in  more  than  one  thousand  acres  of  alfalfa 
on  bis  own  land,  and  maintained  his  home  in  Hanford  while  o])erating 
there.    The  family  now  owns  eight  hundred  acres  of  that  property. 

In  1874  Mr.  McCord  and  his  son  Dallas  opened  a  butcher  shop 
at  Bakerstield.  The  latter  conducted  it  many  years  and  at  the  age 
of  twenty-nine  was  elected  sheriff  of  Kern  county,  and  was  the  young- 
est sheriff  in  the  state  at  that  time,  1887.  After  filling  the  office  one 
term  he  joined  his  father  on  the  ranch.  The  latter  retired  from 
farming  in  1908  and  sold  all  his  remaining  land.  He  made  a  specialty 
of  selling  Arizona  horses  in  San  Francisco  and  attained  prominence 
as  an  auctioneer  at  Bakerstield  and  San  Francisco.  In  bis  younger 
years  be  was  an  athlete  and  won  honors  at  Vacaville  and  Suisun  and 
later  at  Bakerstield  and  was  first  president  of  the  Bakerstield  Ath- 
letic club.  For  a  long  period  be  was  renowned  as  a  boxer,  and  when 
he  was  sixty-five  years  old  be  won  in  a  wrestling  match  with  an 
o])ponent  of  twenty-eight.  He  drove  bis  own  teams  through  Tulare 
county  from  Tipton  to  Bakerstield  before  the  advent  of  the  railroad 
and  lie  and  George  McCord  and  Bill  "Woswick  interested  Claus 
Spreckels  to  construct  the  Santa  Fe  railroad  through  this  section. 
Spreckels  was  later  president  of  the  Valley  road,  wliich  was  even- 
tually absorbed  by  the  Santa  Fe  system.  Mr.  McCord  early  liecame 
expert  in  the  handling  of  horses  and  was  champion  of  all  horse 
trainers  round  San  Francisco  and  Bakerstield  for  some  years. 

In  February,  1850,  Mr.  McCord  married  Lois  Sophia  Crii)i)en, 
a  native  of  Ohio,  and  they  had  five  children,  two  of  whom  are  living. 
Alice,  deceased,  was  the  wife  of  James  McCaffery,  of  Hanford ;  Dallas, 
who  was  successful  in  business  with  bis  father,  died  in  1891 ;  Douglas 
lives  in  San  Francisco;  Burnside  is  a  citizen  of  San  Jose;  Margery 
died  at  the  age  of  three  years.  The  mother  of  these  children  iiassed 
away  at  Hanford  in  April,  1911,  and  was  buried  by  the  order  of 
Eastern  Star.    Mr.  McCord  has  long  been  widely  known  as  a  Mason. 

When  county  division  was  talked  of  he  was  a  strong  advocate 
and  supporter  of  the  movement,  and  for  every  other  ujibuilding 
agency  of  the  state  and  county.     He  has  never  asjiired  to  any  office, 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  347 

though  solicited  to  become  a  candidate  many  times,  and  once  was 
forced  to  accept  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  at  Bakersfield,  win- 
ning over  Ills  (tpi)onent  five  to  one  in  a  Democratic  stronghold. 


ALFRED  PETERSON 

A  native  of  Sweden,  Alfred  Peterson  is  descended  from  old  fami- 
lies of  that  country.  He  was  born  August  2.3,  1869,  near  Oskar- 
shamn,  Smoland,  a  son  of  Peter  and  Christine  (Johnson)  Carlson. 
His  father  was  a  sexton,  in  charge  of  the  local  church  and  cemetery, 
and  his  grandfather,  a  Swedish  cavalry  soldier,  did  gallant  service 
in  the  Napoleonic  wars  1812-15.  Alfred  and  his  sister,  Mrs.  Selma 
Pospeshek,  of  Tulare  county,  are  the  only  living  children  of  the 
father's  family.  In  1884,  when  he  was  between  fourteen  and  fifteen 
years  old,  Alfred  Peterson  came  to  America  with  his  brother  Oskar 
and  foimd  employment  on  a  farm  near  Long  Point,  Livingston  county, 
111.  From  there  he  went  to  Marshall  county  in  the  same  state,  and 
in  1889  came  to  Los  Angeles,  near  which  city  he  worked  two  years 
in  an  orange  grove  for  Abbott  Kinney.  Then  he  went  to  Antelope 
Valley,  intending  to  locate  land  there,  but  did  not  like  the  prospect 
in  that  vicinity  and  proceeded  to  Formosa,  where  he  and  his  team 
were  emjiloyed  for  two  months  in  construction  work,  and  after  that 
he  teamed  four  months  at  Fresno.  In  1891  he  came  to  Tulare,  where 
he  was  variously  employed  until  the  spring  of  1893,  when,  with  Wil- 
liam Kerr  as  a  partner,  he  went  into  the  threshing  business,  l)uying 
an  engine  of  twenty-four  horse  power.  At  the  exi)iration  of  two 
years  he  took  over  the  business,  which  he  continued  until  in  the  fall 
of  1901,  when  he  retired  in  order  to  devote  himself  ahuost  exclusively 
to  stockraising.  In  1893  he  liad  farmed  at  the  Oaks,  north  of  town, 
on  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  leased  for  one  season.  In 
the  si)ring  of  1894  he  rented  twenty  acres,  three  and  one-fourth 
miles  east  of  Tulare  on  the  Lindsay  road,  where  he  now  lives.  In  the 
following  fall  he  bought  that  property  and  in  the  spring  of  1895 
he  bought  twenty  acres  more.  In  the  fall  of  1897  he  bought  forty 
acres  adjoining  on  the  east  and  in  the  spring  of  1900  two  hundred 
and  sixty-five  acres  adjoining  on  the  north.  In  the  winter  of  1905  he 
bought  one  hundred  acres  known  as  Bliss  field,  across  tlie  road,  south 
of  the  other  property.  Pie  has  introduced  many  im])rovements  and  his 
land  is  all  fenced  in.  He  has  about  one  hundred  acres  of  alfalfa, 
twenty-five  acres  under  orchard  trees,  farms  two  hundred  acres  to 
grain  and  devotes  the  remainder  of  his  land  to  pasturage. 

The  marriage  of  Mr.  Peterson,  in  Chicago,  in  the  spring  of  the 
year  1904,  united  him  with  Miss  Hilda  Anderson,  who  was  born  near 


348  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Westervik,  Smoland,  Sweden,  and  they  have  children  named  Cai'l, 
George  and  Helen,  the  first  of  whom  is  in  school.  While  maintaining 
a  deep  affection  for  the  land  of  his  birth,  Mr.  Peterson  is  loyal  to 
America,  especially  to  California.  He  has  long  been  an  advocate  of 
irrigation,  realizing  that  the  lack  of  water  here  is  the  only  drawback 
to  the  achievement  of  satisfactory  results  in  agriculture.  He  was  for 
a  time  a  director  in  the  Farmers'  Ditch  Company,  from  the  im- 
provements of  which  his  own  land  was  irrigated,  and  he  has  in 
other  ways  promoted  the  irrigation  facilities  of  his  part  of  the 
county  and  has  not  been  less  helpful  in  a  public  spirited  way  to 
other  movements  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  among  whom  he  has 
cast  his  lot.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Bank  of  Tulare  and  in  the 
Rochdale  store.  During  the  entire  period  of  his  residence  in  Tulare 
county  he  has  affiliated  fraternally  with  the  lodge,  encampment  and 
Rebekah  organization  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 
During  recent  years  he  has  devoted  much  of  his  time  to  travel  and 
in  1902  he  journeyed  thirty  thousand  miles  by  railroad  and  steamer. 
Nine  times  he  has  crossed  our  own  continent  and  twice  has  he  re- 
turned to  his  old  home  to  renew  the  associations  of  his  youth,  the 
first  time  in  1902,  when  he  enjoyed  a  \4sit  with  his  father  in  Oskar- 
shamn  and  with  other  relatives  and  friends  from  whom  he  had  long 
been  separated.  In  the  spring  of  1908  he  went  back  again  for  five 
months,  accompanied  by  his  family.  Since  the  establishment  of  the 
reformation  by  Martin  Luther,  the  successive  generations  of  the  fam- 
ily have  been  of  the  Lutheran  faith  and  Alfred  was  reared  in  its  doc- 
trine, but  since  he  came  to  America  he  has  affiliated  with  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  church,  of  which  his  wife  is  also  a  member. 


ALFRED  C.  FULMER 

The  grandson  of  a  gallant  soldier,  Alfred  C.  Fulmer,  of  Orosi, 
Tulare  county,  Cal.,  was  born  in  Crete,  Nebr.,  on  Independence  Day, 
1890,  son  of  William  and  Amelia  (Wilkie)  Fulmer.  The  former  is 
deceased  and  the  latter  is  now  the  wife  of  W.  F.  McCormick.  He 
attended  public  schools  and  graduated  from  the  grammar  school 
when  he  was  fourteen  years  old.  In  1909  he  came  to  Tulare  county, 
where  for  a  time  he  worked  for  wages  during  the  summer  months, 
attending  winter  terms  of  school.  Following  a  post-graduate  course 
at  Orosi  he  began  working  at  ranching  and  planned  and  strove 
for  such  successes  as  he  might  win  by  industrious  application  of  the 
business  ability  which  he  certainly  possessed.  In  the  course  of 
events  he  paid  $3,500  for  fifteen  acres  of  land.  He  has  three  and  a 
half  acres  of  Thompson  grapes,  which  brought  him  $1,100  in  1911, 
ten  acres  bearing  vines  of  Muscat  and  Malaga  grapes  and  two  acres 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  351 

of  pasture  land.  Tlioui>Ii  yoimft-  in  years  he  is  succeeding  along 
lines  that  mark  him  as  a  scientific  cultivator  in  his  chosen  field,  and 
there  are  those  who  predict  for  him  great  achievements  in  the  years 
that  are  to  come.  As  a  citizen  he  is  public  spiritedly  helpful  to  all 
wortliv  local  interests. 


ISAAC  N.  WRIGHT 

One  of  the  oldest  residents  of  Tulare  county,  reckoning  from  the 
days  of  his  pioneering,  was  the  venerable  and  respected  Isaac  N. 
Wright,  a  man  of  industry,  thrift  and  sound  judgment,  who  succeeded 
for  himself  and  was  active  in  every  movement  for  the  advancement 
of  the  industrial  and  agricultural  advancement  of  the  county,  his 
death  occurring  at  his  home  at  Tulare,  Cal.,  February  17,  1910.  Of 
English  stock,  he  was  born  near  Mount  Vernon,  Knox  county,  Ohio, 
October  13,  1823,  son  of  AVilliam  Wright,  who  was  born,  reared  and 
educated  in  England ;  he  was  a  ])ioneer  in  Knox  county,  and  began 
his  life  there  in  a  log  cabin  which  he  erected  in  a  small  opening  in 
the  forest,  improving  a  farm  and  prospering  there  until  he  removed 
to  Iowa,  where  he  passed  away.  His  mother,  Elizabeth  Newton,  also 
a  native  of  England,  died  in  Omaha,  Nebr.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wright  had 
eleven  children,  four  of  whom  survive.  One  of  the  children,  George, 
who  came  to  California  in  ISfjO,  died  in  Tuolumne  county;  James 
came  with  Isaac  N.  in  1851  and  died  in  San  Diego;  a  daughter,  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Smith,  resides  at  Long  Beach,  Cal.;  and  another  daughter, 
Mary,  resides  in  Montana. 

Under  the  tutelage  of  his  mother,  a  woman  of  refinement  and 
education,  Isaac  N.  Wright  gained  his  elementary  knowledge  of  the 
contents  of  school  books.  Brought  up  on  a  woodland  farm  he  became 
an  expert  chopper,  and  when  he  was  sixteen  years  old  helped  to  build 
a  log  schoolhouse  near  his  home  and  was  chosen  to  cut  the  saddles 
and  notches  for  one  corner  of  the  building,  atid  in  that  crude  struc- 
ture he  attended  school  five  years.  Soon  after  he  was  twenty-one 
years  old  he  entered  upon  an  apprenticeship  to  the  miller's  trade 
and  later  he  was  the  lessee  and  operator  of  a  grist  and  sawmill  on 
Owl  creek,  at  Mount  Vernon,  for  two  years.  In  November,  1851,  he 
sailed  from  New  York  on  the  steamer  Georgia  for  Aspinwall,  and 
from  there  he  went  by  rail  to  Gorgona,  whence  he  was  taken  by 
steamer  to  the  head  of  navigation.  The  remainder  of  the  trip  across 
the  isthmus  of  Panama,  about  twenty-five  miles,  he  made  on  'foot. 
From  Panama  he  came  to  San  Francisco  on  the  steamer  Northerner, 
arriving  in  December,  1851,  and  for  two  years  he  and  his  brothers 
did  placer  mining  at  Jamestown,   Tuolumne  county,   and   met   with 


.S52  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

some  success.  In  1854  he  and  his  brother  George  leased  a  sawmill 
which  was  operated  four  years.  Then  he  went  back  to  Ohio  for  his 
family,  arriving-  at  his  old  home  February,  1856,  and  in  April  that  year 
he  left  for  California  with  his  wife  and  child,  by  the  Isthmus  route, 
and  was  in  Panama  April  15,  the  date  of  the  historic  riots  there.  His 
wife  and  child  were  safe  in  the  American  hotel,  near  the  Plaza,  but  he 
armed  himself  with  an  old  American  flint-lock  musket  and  participated 
in  the  affair.  They  made  a  good  passage  to  San  Francisco  on  the 
steamer  John  L.  Stevens  and  he  located  at  Sonora  and  was  successful 
several  years  as  a  quartz  miner  and  as  a  miller.  In  1869  he  moved 
his  family  to  San  Jose  and  prospected  through  the  coast  counties  into 
the  San  Joaquin  valley  and  might  have  embarked  in  stock-raising  if 
the  season  had  not  been  too  dry.  In  1870  he  pre-empted  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres  of  land  now  within  the  municipal  limits  of  Tulare 
which  in  1872  he  traded  to  the  railroad  comjiauy  for  his  present  home- 
stead on  which  he  located  that  year.  He  set  about  improving  his  prop- 
erty and  placing  it  under  irrigation,  and  almost  immediately  he  was 
achieving  success  as  a  farmer  and  stockman ;  much  of  his  land  was  in 
alfalfa.  He  has  raised  many  high-grade  cattle  and  hogs  and  has  a 
large  dairy.  His  public  spirit  prompted  him  in  actively  promoting 
the  growth  and  development  of  the  city  of  Tulare;  he  was  one  of  the 
promoters  of  the  Kaweah  Canal  &  Irrigating  Co.,  was  one  of  its  direc- 
tors from  the  first  and  later  was  elected  its  president.  During  his  ten 
years'  service  as  school  trustee,  he  had  charge  of  the  erection  of  the 
brick  sclioolhouse  in  Tulare.  A  Repulilican  in  national  politics,  in  local 
affairs  he  always  advocated  the  election  of  the  best  man  for  the  place 
without  regard  to  party  affiliations. 

At  Mount  Vernon,  Ohio,  January  14,  1851,  Mr.  Wright  married 
Charlotte  A.  Phillips  and  they  had  four  children,  as  follows :  Victoria 
is  Mrs.  A.  D.  Nefif  of  Oakland,  Cal. ;  George  W.,  born  in  Tuolumne 
county  and  now  living  at  Tuolumne,  is  a  locomotive  engineer,  and  in 
that  capacity  ran  the  first  passenger  train  into  Sonora ;  Alice  L. ; 
Hattie  M.  is  Mrs.  W.  J.  Higdon  of  Tulare.  The  mother  was  born 
November  28,  1830,  fourth  of  the  six  children  of  Charles  and  Addie 
(Foster)  Phillips,  her  mother  having  been  a  native  of  England.  She 
is  the  only  survivor  of  the  family  and  is  still  living  on  the  Wright 
home  at  Tulare,  California. 


SAMUEL  EDWARD  COURTNEY 

This  well-known  nurseryman,  who  is  agent  for  the  Capital  Cit> 
Nursery  and  whose  residence  is  in  Emma  Lee  Colony,  northwest  of 
the  limits  of  Hanford,  is  a  native  of  County  Antrim,  Ireland,  and 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  853 

was  born  in  1862.  The  Courtney  progenitors  came  from  Holland 
with  Prince  William  and  fought  in  the  religious  wars.  On  the 
maternal  line  Mr.  Courtney  is  of  Scotch  and  Danish  extraction.  He 
was  about  eighteen  years  old  when  he  came  across  the  ocean  to 
Ontario,  Canada,  and  he  lived  at  Oshawa  for  some  time  thereafter. 
In  1885  he  volunteered  for  service  in  the  suppression  of  the  insur- 
rection known  as  the  Northwest  rebellion.  After  his  discharge  he 
lived  for  two  years  at  Fort  William,  with  his  brother,  and  they  were 
employed  in  the  construction  of  a  large  elevator,  quartering  opposite 
the  historic  battleground  at  Quaminisque;  and  they  endured  many 
hardships  in  that  new  country,  the  temperature  often  registering  as 
low  as  sixty  degrees  below  zero.  They  bought  property  in  that 
vicinity,  but  eventually  went  to  Halifax,  N.  S.,  where  Mr.  Courtney 
married  and  was  engaged  in  farming  and  as  a  builder  until  1892. 
Then  he  sold  out  and  went  to  Boston,  where  he  worked  six  months 
as  a  carpenter.  During  his  stay  in  Boston  he  heard  nmch  of  Cali- 
fornia and  the  wonderful  opportunities  it  held  out  to  the  horticulturist, 
and  coming  out  in  1893  and  locating  at  Hanford,  he  found  employ- 
ment at  his  trade,  and  later  as  a  contractor,  built  many  residences 
there  and  throughout  the  country  round  about.  In  1902  he  became 
a  salesman  for  the  Capital  City  Nursery  Co.,  of  Salem,  Ore.,  and 
during  his  second  year  of  work  in  that  capacity  sold  $16,000  worth 
of  peach  and  apricot  trees  (most  of  the  peach  trees  being  Albertas), 
all  of  which  were  planted  in  Kings  county.  He  has  handled  the  line 
ever  since,  adding  to  it  local  and  home  grown  stock,  and  his  yearly 
sales  during  the  last  few  years  have  averaged  $6,000.  In  1903  he 
bought  five  acres  of  land  for  a  home  at  the  northwest  corner  of  the 
city,  pacing  $100  an  acre  for  it;  it  is  now  worth  $1,000  an  acre.  He 
has  built  on  it  a  fine  house  and  other  necessary  buildings  and  has 
set  it  out  to  fruit  trees.  He  is  also  the  owner  of  twenty-two  and  a 
half  acres  in  the  Crowell  addition,  a  good  portion  of  which  he  has 
set  out  to  fruit.  Another  tract  which  he  owns  is  one  of  sixty  acres, 
three  and  a  half  miles  east  of  Hanford,  which  he  intends  to  ]iut  in 
vines  and  trees,  and  he  intends  to  improve  this  property  still  further. 
Having  a  liking  for  horses  and  cattle,  he  has  devoted  some  attention 
to  raising  both  and  intends  to  go  into  the  business  more  extensively. 
In  1911-12  he  bought  out  four  small  nurseries  and  has  disposed  of 
their  stock,  his  nursery  business  being  one  of  the  most  comprehensive 
in  this  part  of  the  state.  Its  numerous  offerings  include  twelve 
varieties  of  peaches,  seven  of  plums,  ten  of  such  apples  as  do  well 
in  the  San  Joaquin  valley  country,  three  of  prunes,  three  of  apiicots, 
seven  of  tal)le  grapes,  Francjuette  walnuts,  olives,  plums,  eucalyptus 
trees,  shade  trees,  palms  and  roses. 

The  place  on  which  Mr.  Courtney  lives  was  formerly  owned  by 
one  Knudson,  who  was  shot  at  tlie  time  of  the  Mussel  Slough  trouble; 


354  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

brought  home,  he  died  under  an  old  walnut  tree  which  is  still  standing 
in  the  nursery  yard.  In  1887  Mr.  Courtney  married  at  Halifax, 
N.  S.,  Miss  Annie  Eoper,  a  native  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  they  have 
had  children  as  follows :  James ;  Hugh,  deceased ;  Millicent  M. ; 
Blanche  M. ;  and  Samuel  Ernest.  Three  of  these  are  living.  Millicent 
M.  is  the  wife  of  Charles  Fellows  of  Modesto,  who  is  also  in  the 
nursery  business. 

Mr.  Courtney  was  converted  in  the  Presbyterian  church  in  the 
north  of  Ireland,  when  a  boy.  His  father,  James  Courtney,  of  French 
Huguenot  stock,  was  an  evangelist  in  his  home  locality.  He  was 
connected  with  the  Salvation  Army  of  Hanford  from  the  start  and 
has  always  been  in  the  fight  for  the  right  and  advocates  and  supports 
all  worthy  movements.  He  is  a  National  Prohibitionist,  secretary  and 
treasurer  of  the  Kings  county  delegation,  and  took  a  leading  part 
in  the  fight  to  eliminate  the  liquor  traffic  from  his  home  city. 


E.  G.  MELIDONIAN 

It  was  on  the  second  day  of  July,  1867,  that  the  well-known  citi- 
zen of  California  whose  name  is  above  was  born  at  Zetoon,  Armenia. 
He  was  duly  graduated  from  a  missionary  school  in  1886,  with  a 
competent  knowledge  of  the  English  language  and  many  who  knew 
him  and  appreciated  his  fine  abilities  urged  him  to  become  a  minister 
of  the  gos]iel.  He  was  twenty  years  old  in  1887  when  he  came  to  the 
United  States,  and  for  two  years  he  lived  in  Paterson,  N.  J.,  and  for 
twenty-one  years  he  was  actively  employed  as  a  weaver  of  silk  ribbon. 
It  was  in  New  Jersey  that  he  married  Miss  Mary  Kahacharian,  also 
a  native  of  Armenia  and  a  graduate  of  a  missionary  school  at  Marash, 
where  she  received  a  diploma  in  1885.  She  taught  school  for  two 
years  and  her  husband  was  likewise  employed  for  one  year.  She  has 
borne  him  six  children,  whom  they  named  as  follows  in  the  order  of 
their  nativity:  Mary,  Anna,  Victoria,  Elizabeth,  Dove  and  Martha. 
Mary  married  James  Erganian,  who  was  graduated  from  the  same 
missionary  school  in  Armenia  in  which  his  father-in-law  was  edu- 
cated. After  coming  to  the  United  States  he  took  up  work  as  a  but- 
ler in  Boston  and  Charlestown,  Mass.  Four  years  later  he  came  to 
California  and  bought  twenty  acres  of  land,  which  he  has  improved 
with  vineyards  and  orchards.  Anna  married  Peter  Besoyan  and  they 
have  a  son  named  Sergius  and  live  at  Yettem.  Victoria  graduated 
from  the  grammar  school  and  is  the  wife  of  Fred  Sahroian.  Elizabeth 
has  finished  the  grammar  school  and  Dove  and  Martha  are  in  school. 

On  coming  to  California  in  1908  the  subject  of  this  notice  bought 
fifty  acres  of  land  at  $50  an  acre  at  Yettem.     He  has  thirty  acres  of 


J>(u^cli  ^/oAjuL^ 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  357 

viues,  a  small  orchard,  and  ten  acres  of  pasture,  aud  intends  to  take 
up  tlie  cultivation  of  oranges  and  peaclies  on  the  other  ten  acres. 
Although  he  purchased  tlie  land  Itnt  four  years  ago,  it  is  now  worth 
about  $300  an  acre.  He  has  built  a  good  house  on  the  proijerty  and 
keeps  enough  stock  and  horses  for  his  own  use.  Mr.  Melidouian  is 
a  Rei)ublican,  a  Presbytei-iau,  a  member  of  the  Royal  Arcanum  and 
a  ]n-ogressive  citizen  of  much  public  spirit. 


SANDS  BAKER 

It  was  in  the  lovely  country  along  the  Hudson  river,  in  the  state 
of  New  York,  that  Sands  Baker,  of  Dunlap,  Fresno  county,  Cal., 
was  born  December  19,  1837.  His  parents  were  George  and  Martha 
N.  (Bentley)  Baker,  of  English  ancestry,  who  had  emigrated  to  New 
York  state  from  Massachusetts.  His  father  died  when  the  boy  was 
yet  very  young,  and  at  fifteen  years  old  Sands  Baker  was  taken  to 
Oconto  county,  Wis.,  by  an  uncle  who  was  in  the  lumber  business 
there.  He  early  olitained  a  good  knowledge  of  that  industry,  for 
which,  however,  he  had  no  liking,  his  inclinations  being  for  the 
acquisition  of  an  education.  He  managed  to  attend  a  public  school 
and  then  entered  a  seminary  near  Albany,  N.  Y.,  where  one  thousand 
students  were  being  ])rei)ared  for  professional  careers.  From  there 
he  went  to  Madison,  Wis.,  where  he  entered  the  high  school,  giving 
particular  attention  to  the  English  course  until,  because  of  failing  eye- 
sight, he  was  obliged  for  a  time  to  give  up  study.  liowever,  he  soon 
found  a  field  of  usefulness  at  Green  Bay,  Wis.,  where  he  taught 
three  years  in  the  jiublic  school,  and  he  was  the  author  of  several 
innovations  the  wisdom  of  which  was  soon  evident  to  the  school  offi- 
cials and  the  public  generally.  One  of  these  was  the  closing  of  the 
doors  of  the  school  house  at  nine  a.m.,  thus  enforcing  punctuality 
or  absence.  Then  came  a  period  of  travel  for  health  and  recreation. 
He  wandered  through  Minnesota  and  Iowa  and  down  to  St.  Joseph, 
Mo.,  where  he  met  men  who  so  vividly  pictured  the  beauties  and 
opportunities  of  California  that  he  quickly  decided  to  seek  fortune 
here,  and  accordingly  he  left  St.  Joseph  in  the  sjn-ing  of  1860  with 
a  party  which  made  the  journey  with  American  horses  and  Califor- 
nia mustangs,  by  way  of  Salt  Lake.  Finding  feed  scarce  they  aban- 
doned their  original  course  and  came  through  Salt  Lake  valley. 
Indians  were  menacing  but  wrought  them  no  barm  and  tliey  arrived 
in  Los  Angeles  in  Seplcmltci-.  From  Los  Angeles  Mr.  Baker  came 
on  to  Visalia.  At  Rockyfoi-d,  while  he  was  heljjing  to  bale  one 
hundred  tons  of  hay,  he  met  a  county  superintendent  of  schools  who 
wanted  to  employ  a  teacher.     There  were  at  that  time  only  two  iiub- 


358  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

lie  schools  in  the  county  and  Mr.  Baker  established  a  private  school 
which  he  tau^^:ht  two  years.  After  this  he  went  north  to  investigate 
the  mines  of  eastern  California  and  was  soon  employed  as  principal 
of  the  pviblic  school  at  Downieville,  Sierra  county.  He  closed  the 
schools  daily  at  one  p.m.,  and  spent  the  afternoons  in  the  mines, 
but  careful  study  of  conditions  and  results  convinced  him  that  there 
was  nothing-  in  mining  for  gold  without  the  investment  of  considerable 
capital.  So  successful  was  he  there  as  a  teacher  tliat  he  was  given 
an  increase  of  salary  of  $40  a  month  to  continue  his  work.  Return- 
ing to  Visalia,  he  taught  a  private  school  for  about  six  months.  For 
some  time  he  filled  the  offices  of  revenue  assessor,  ganger  of  liquors 
and  inspector  of  tobacco  with  increasing  responsibility  and  emolu- 
ment, meanwhile  serving  four  years  on  the  board  of  education  of 
Visalia.  lie  acted  one  year  as  deputy  county  assessor  and  soon  be- 
came known  as  an  expert  mathematician  and  was  often  called  on  to 
figure  interest  on  notes  and  accounts  and  to  straighten  out  tangled 
bookkeeping,  for  which  services  he  was  well  i^aid.  This  work  he  con- 
tinued until  his  health  began  to  fail. 

In  October,  1872,  Mr.  Baker  married  Sarah  Josephine  Drake,  a 
native  of  Ohio,  whose  j^arents  came  to  California  in  1870,  settling 
near  Tulare  lake  and  later  at  Squaw  valley.  On  her  mother's  side 
she  was  descended  from  Virginian  ancestry.  Seven  children  were 
born  to  them:  Martha  A.,  Royal  R.,  Chauncey  M.,  Lulu  M.,  Blanche 
C,  Pearl  A.,  and  Elsie  F. ;  and  Mrs.  Baker  and  her  husband  adopted 
a  boy,  who  became  known  as  William  M.  Baker.  Martha  A.  married 
L.  B.  King  and  bore  him  four  children.  Royal  R.  married  Nellie  J. 
Hodges  and  they  live  at  Farmersville,  and  have  a  son  and  a  daughter. 
Chauncey  M.  married  Olive  E.  Hargraves  of  Mendocino  county,  who 
taught  school  at  Dunlap.  Lulu  M.  married  J.  A.  Mitchell,  postmaster 
at  Dunlap,  and  they  have  a  son  and  a  daughter.  Blanche  C.  mar- 
ried Charles  F.  Hubbard,  of  Stockton.  Elsie  F.  married  James  R. 
Hinds.  Pearl  A.  is  teaching  in  the  Merriman  school  at  Exeter.  Wil- 
liam M.  is  ranching  near  Exeter.  Most  of  Mr.  Baker's  children  have 
attended  the  high  school  at  Visalia.  Blanche  C.  was  graduated  from 
a  lousiness  college  at  Stockton  in  1902  and  is  a  competent  stenographer 
and  bookkeeper. 

From  A'isalia  Mr.  Baker  removed  to  Shipes  valley,  now  j^o))- 
ularly  known  as  the  Foot  of  Baker  mountain.  He  took  up  a  squat- 
ter's claim  and  pre-emiited  and  homesteaded  land  and  has  added  to 
his  holdings  from  time  to  time  imtil  he  has  a  fine  stock  ranch  of  two 
thousand  acres,  much  of  it  well  improved,  some  of  it  under  valuable 
timber.  He  has  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  valley  land  de- 
voted to  fruit  and  alfalfa.  He  could  very  easily  farm  five  hundred 
acres,  but  he  gives  attention  principally  to  stock.  He  has  on  his  proj)- 
ertv  fullv  five  thousand  cords  of  wood  and  indiA'idual  oak  trees  which 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  359 

would  cut  fifty  cords  eacli.  He  keeps  about  two  liuudi'cd  liead  of 
stock  and  twenty  horses.  He  has  sold  many  cattle  at  Hume  Mills, 
about  twenty  miles  away.  His  ho,s>s  have  brought  him  ten  to  twelve 
and  a  half  cents  a  pound  on  the  hoof  at  times.  He  has  a  stallion, 
thoroughbred  and  Percheron,  and  has  raised  fine  stock  for  market, 
always  finding  ready  sale,  and  Mr.  Baker  has  maintained  a  high 
reputation  for  grade  and  quality. 

In  ])olitics,  Mr.  Baker  is  a  Repulilican  wlio  is  i)roud  of  tlie  fact 
that  he  cast  his  first  Presidential  vote  for  Aln-aham  Lincoln,  and  he 
has  for  many  years  filled  the  oflices  of  school  trustee  and  clerk  of  the 
local  school  board.  Formerly  he  was  an  active  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic order. 


FRANK  OSBORN 

In  Fountain  county  on  the  Wabash  river  in  Indiana  I' rank  Usboru, 
a  musician  and  singer  of  note  and  now  superintendent  of  the  Tulare 
County  Hospital  at  Visalia,  was  born  May  2,  1851,  a  son  of  Oliver 
and  Margaret  (Dyer)  Osborn,  natives  respectively  of  Ohio  and  of 
New  Jersey.  Oliver  OsI)orn  brought  his  family  to  California  in 
1875  and  settled  in  Tulare  county  on  the  Upper  Tule  river  near 
Globe,  where  he  bought  land  and  achieved  success  as  a  stockraiser. 
His  wife,  who  was  a  singer  of  exceptional  ability  even  when  she  was 
more  than  seventy  years  old,  died  there  in  1898  and  he  in  August, 
1909.  Mr.  Osborn  was  a  man  of  influence  in  the  connnunity  and 
during  all  his  active  life  gave  much  attention  to  educational  mat- 
ters. He  and  his  wife  were  devout  members  of  the  Christian  church. 
Of  their  thirteen  children  four  survive:  Oliver  P.,  a  rancher  near 
Porterville;  Frank,  of  this  review;  Mrs.  Sarah  A.  Evans,  of  Indiana, 
and  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Clark,  of  Missouri. 

From  liis  boyhood  Frank  Osborn  has  been  familiar  with  all  the 
details  of  stockraising  and  until  1897  was  identified  with  his  father 
in  that  industry.  As  long  as  he  can  remember  he  has  been  a  singer, 
he  having  inherited  mai'ked  musical  ability  from  his  talented  mothei-. 
As  such  he  liecame  known  throughout  all  the  country  round  about 
Visalia,  and  he  was  long  in  great  demand  as  a  teacher  of  \'ocal 
classes  during  the  wintei'  tiiDiiths,  for  many  years  leading  the  choir 
of  the  Chi'istian  chui-ch  at  N'isalia.  In  1897  he  was  appointed  super- 
intendent of  the  Tulai'e  County  Hospital  at  Visalia,  which  position 
he  has  since  filled  with  a  degree  of  ability  and  integrity  which  lias 
commended  him  to  all  the  jjcople  of  the  county.  He  has  in  all  his 
relations  with  his  fellowmen  i>i-oven  himself  ]mblie  spirited  in  an 
eminent  degree.    Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Knights  of  Pythias. 


360  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

In  1870  Mr.  Osboru  married  Miss  Ellen  Marksbury,  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  who  was  so  situated  during  the  Civil  war  that  she  was  an 
eye-witness  of  many  engagements  between  the  Federal  and  Confeder- 
ate troops.  A  detailed  account  of  her  experiences  and  the  conditions 
which  made  them  possible  could  not  but  make  a  most  interesting 
volume. 

To  Frank  and  Ellen  (Marksbury)  Osboru  have  been  born  chil- 
dren as  follows:  Mrs.  Edna  Hannaford,  who  has  children  named 
Lura,  Duke  and  Laura ;  Charles  H..  who  married  Miss  Minta  Berry, 
daughter  of  Senator  G.  S.  Berry  of  Lindsay,  and  has  children  named 
Audra  and  Irma;  Earl,  who  married  Maud  Carter,  who  has  borne 
him  a  child  whom  they  have  named  Rolla ;  and  Gladys,  wife  of  E.  L. 
Cary,  of  Stockton,  who  has  a  daughter,  Ellen  L.  Cary. 


WILLIAM  R.  MILLER 

It  was  in  England  that  "William  R.  Miller,  who  now  lives  eight 
miles  southwest  of  Hanford,  was  born  October  26,  1843.  When  he 
was  about  eighteen  months  old  his  parents  brought  him  to  Troy, 
N.  Y.,  and  he  lived  there  and  at  Saratoga,  in  the  same  state,  until  he 
was  nineteen  years  old.  Then  he  enlisted  in  the  One  Hundred  and 
Twenty-fifth  Regiment,  New  York  "\"olunteer  Infantry,  with  which 
he  served  until  June,  1865,  when  he  was  honoralily  discharged  at 
Alexandria,  Va.  As  a  member  of  Company  C  of  that  organization 
he  was  included  in  the  second  army  corps  of  the  army  of  the  Potomac, 
participating  in  many  engagements,  including  the  fight  in  the  Wilder- 
ness, the  battle  of  Spottsylvania  Court  House,  where  he  was  wounded ; 
the  fighting  in  front  of  Petersburg,  where  he  cast  his  first  Presiden- 
tial vote  for  Lincoln,  and  other  encounters  no  less  important.  His 
wound  caused  him  to  be  in  the  hospital  three  months.  After  the  war 
he  farmed  in  New  York  state  until  April,  1870,  when  he  located 
sixteen  miles  north  of  Webster  City,  Iowa,  and  there  farmed  and 
raised  stock  until  1887,  when  he  came  to  California.  After  stoi)i)ing 
a  short  time  at  Tulare  he  went  to  the  west  side,  near  Dudley,  accom- 
panied by  his  immediate  family,  his  father  and  his  wife's  mother. 
He  and  his  father  and  his  brother  took  up  land  there  which  soon 
proved  so  uni)romising  for  farming  purposes  that  his  father  and 
brother  abandoned  their  claims,  but  he  retained  his,  which  after  he 
had  sold  part  of  it  proved  to  be  valuable  oil  land,  but  this  holding 
is  not  the  least  of  his  possessions.  Returning  to  Tulare  county,  he 
soon  went  to  Delano,  where  he  jnit  in  two  crops,  and  in  June,  1899, 
came  to  Kings  county  and  worked  a  year  near  Armona.  In  his 
second  year  there  he  liought  twenty-two  and  a  half  acres,  eight  miles 
south  of  Armona,  on  which  he  built   a   house  and  put  all   other  im- 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  361 

provenients,  setting  six  acres  to  a  vineyard  and  a  family  orchard  and 
giving  the  remainder  over  to  alfalfa,  and  this  is  his  present  home 
jihiee.  He  began  here  as  a  stockraiser  and  was  snccessful  for  some 
3'ears.  His  son,  Fred  C.  Miller,  now  also  operates  a  dairy  on  the 
place.  In  1911  Mr.  Miller  bought  forty  acres  of  the  Jacobs  tract, 
south  of  his  ranch,  on  which  there  are  improvements. 

In  1867  Mr.  Miller  took  for  his  wife  Caroline  A.  Chesterman,  of 
English  birth,  who  was  brovight  to  the  United  States  when  three 
months  old  and  grew  to  womanhood  in  New  York  state.  They  have 
five  living  children:  The  Eev.  Charles  N.  Miller,  who  is  blind,  is  an 
ordained  minister  of  the  gospel  and  resides  at  Bakersfield;  Carrie  M. 
married  John  C.  Goodale,  of  Denair,  Cal. ;  Jessie  L.  is  the  wife  of 
Clarence  E.  McMillen,  of  Bakersfield,  Cal;  May  M.  married  E.  W. 
Houston,  of  Visalia;  Fred  C,  the  youngest  son  of  the  family,  mar- 
ried Anna  J.  Erni  and  is  ranching  and  dairying  on  his  father's  land. 
William  E.,  Jr.,  was  accidentally  killed  by  a  boiler  explosion,  aged 
twenty-five  years,  and  Mina  M.  was  married  to  E.  E.  Houston  and 
died  aged  about  twenty. 

Mr.  Miller  keeps  alive  memories  of  the  days  of  the  Civil  war 
by  association  with  his  comrades  of  McPherson  Post,  G.  A.  E.  He 
is  a  genial  man,  given  to  pleasant  reminiscence,  and  is  welcomed  as  a 
friend  wherever  he  may  go.  His  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity makes  him  a  citizen  of  much  public  spirit. 


OLIVEE  P.  MAEDIS 

One  of  the  Kentuckians  who  is  making  a  record  for  himself  in 
Tulare  county,  Cal.,  is  Oliver  P.  Mardis,  who  is  farming  on  the  Exe- 
ter road,  out  of  Visalia.  He  was  born  in  Laurel  county,  Ky.,  Sep- 
tember 5,  1855,  and  when  lie  was  nine  years  old  was  taken  by  his 
parents  from  Kentucky  to  Johnson  county,  Kans.,  where  he  finished 
his  education  in  the  public  school  and  gained  a  practical  knowledge 
of  farming.  In  1875,  when  he  was  twenty  years  old,  he  came  to 
Colusa  county,  Cal.,  and  worked  there  a  year  for  wages.  In  1876  he 
"hired  out"  to  a  farmer  in  the  Deer  Creek  district,  in  Tulare  county, 
where  he  later  bought  eighty  acres  of  land,  mostly  under  alfalfa. 
When  wheat  began  to  be  gathered  on  the  farms  round  about  to  the 
extent  of  ten  sacks  to  the  acre  he  sold  his  eighty  acres  of  alfalfa  land 
and  bought  a  half  section  near  by,  which  he  farmed  until  Deceml)er  1, 
1908,  when  he  came  to  his  present  ranch  of  fifty-two  and  one-half 
acres  near  Visalia.  He  keeps  an  average  of  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  hogs,  which  yield  him  a  good  annual  profit.  Twenty-three  acres 
of  Egyptian  corn  has  given  Iiim  fifty  tons,  and  his  land  has  returned 


362  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

him  seventy  bushels  of  ludiau  corn  to  the  acre.  He  has  ten  acres  of 
alfalfa  yielding  him  several  crops  each  year.  Many  melons  are 
grown  on  his  place,  he  has  raised  wheat  seven  feet  tall  and  has  five 
thousand  eucal\-]")tus  trees. 

In  1883  Mr.  Mardis  married  Miss  Josephine  Collins,  a  nati\e  of 
California,  whose  father  was  a  pioneer  in  the  Deer  Creek  section. 
She  ])assed  away,  leaving  two  children,  Oliver  and  Alice.  By  his 
marriage  with  Miss  Lucy  Bunton,  a  native  of  Missouri,  Mr.  Mardis 
has  two  daughters,  Anna  and  Claudine.  As  a  farmer  he  is  thor- 
oughly up  to  date  in  every  dejiartment  of  his  work,  and  his  pair  of 
finely  matched  black  colts  for  which  he  has  been  offered  $600  is  in- 
dicative of  the  quality  of  his  stock.  As  a  citizen  he  is  helpful  in  a 
public-spirited  way  to  all  worthy  local  interests. 


BEN  M.  MADDOX 

The  descendant  of  southern  ancestors  and  himself  a  native  of  the 
south,  Ben  M.  Maddox  was  born  in  Summerville,  Chattanooga  county, 
Ga.,  October  18,  1859.  the  son  of  George  B.  T.  and  Sarah  (Dickson) 
Maddox,  they  too  being  natives  of  that  state.  In  1877,  when  he  was 
seventeen  years  old,  Ben  M.  Maddox  started  out  in  the  world  on 
his  own  res]ionsibility.  at  that  time  going  to  Texas,  where  he  hunted 
buffalo  on  the  plains.  From  there  he  went  to  Arizona  and  followed 
mining  from  the  sjiring  of  1878  until  P^ebruary  of  the  following  year. 
In  the  meantime  he  and  some  friends  had  determined  to  come  to 
California,  and  in  February,  1879,  the  party  of  three  left  Prescott. 
Ariz.,  having  one  pack  horse  and  one  saddle  horse  between  them 
for  the  overland  trail.  The  journey  being  safely  accomplished,  Mr. 
Maddox  went  to  the  mining  camp  of  Bodie,  Mono  county,  where  he 
secured  work  on  a  newspaper,  and  subsequently  he  found  work  of 
a  similar  character  in  Mammoth  City,  same  county.  Xews])a])er  work 
then  gave  place  to  mining,  following  this  for  a  time  in  Mammoth  City, 
and  later,  in  1880,  in  Fresno  Flats.  Madera  county,  where  he  was 
employed  in  the  Enterprise  mine,  and  in  the  latter  place  he  also 
clerked  in  a  hotel  for  a  time. 

In  September,  1881,  Mr.  Maddox  went  to  Mariposa,  where  he 
found  work  at  the  printer's  trade  on  the  Gazette,  and  the  following 
year,  in  San  Francisco,  he  worked  on  the  Chronicle.  Giving  \\\i  work 
on  the  latter  paper  in  October,  1882,  he  returned  to  Mariposa  and 
was  employed  on  the  Herald  until  he  purchased  the  paper  later  in 
the  same  year.  After  continuing  the  publication  of  the  Herald  for 
four  years  he  sold  it  in  1886  and  the  same  year  came  to  Tulare 
county,  with  the  intention  of  purchasing  the  Tulare  Register.     Being 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  363 

unable  to  carry  out  this  plan  at  that  time  he  returned  to  San  Francisco 
and  resumed  work  at  the  printer's  trade.  This  was  for  a  short 
time  only,  however,  for  on  October  18,  1886,  he  was  appointed  deputy 
clerk  (if  the  superior  court  and  thereafter  gave  his  whole  time  and 
attention  to  the  duties  and  obligations  which  thus  devolved  upon  him. 

A  hope  which  Mr.  Maddox  had  long  cherished  was  realized  when, 
on  Thanksgiving  Day,  1890,  he  became  the  ownei-  and  proi)rietor 
of  the  Visalia  Times.  For  two  years  he  ran  the  paper  as  a  weekly, 
but  on  February  ,22,  1892,  the  paper  became  a  daily,  and  as  the  Visalia 
Daily  Times  it  has  ever  since  been  published  under  his  al)le  management. 
The  management  of  his  newspaper  has  not  absorbed  all  of  his  thought 
and  attention,  as  the  following  will  show:  When  the  Mount  Whitney 
Power  Company  was  organized  in  1899  he  was  elected  a  director,  in 
1901  was  made  secretary  of  the  corporation,  and  on  September  9, 
1902,  he  became  business  manager  of  the  company,  and  he  still  holds 
this  responsible  office,  having  in  the  meantime  relinquished  to  some 
extent  the  active  management  of  his  newspaper  in  order  to  devote  his 
time  to  the  interests  of  the  power  company.  In  1894  he  was  nominated 
for  secretarj'  of  state  on  the  Democratic  ticket,  but  was  defeated  in 
the  election.  As  secretary  of  the  Democratic  state  central  committee 
he  served  two  terms,  and  several  times  was  chairman  of  the  Demo- 
cratic county  central  committee.  He  also  served  as  president  of  the 
Visalia  board  of  trade  for  four  years  and  for  some  time  was  a  director 
of  that  body.  At  the  present  time  he  is  chairman  of  the  county 
state  highway  commission,  a  director  of  the  Visalia  electric  railroad, 
president  of  the  Encina  Fruit  Co.,  president  of  the  Evansdale  Fruit 
Co.,  and  a  director  of  the  Producers'  Savings  Bank.  Some  years  ago 
Mr.  Maddox  in  company  with  William  H.  Hammond  opened  up 
and  put  on  the  market  the  Lindsay  Heights  and  Nob  Hill  Orange 
colonies,  orange  land  which  is  now  fully  developed. 

At  Mariposa,  Cal.,  March  15,  1883,  Mr.  Maddox  was  married 
to  Miss  Evalina  J.  Farnsworth,  a  native  of  California.  They  have 
five  children,  Morley  M.,  Hazel  C,  Euth  E.,  Dickson  F.  and  Ben 
M.,  Jr.  Fraternally  Mr.  Maddox  is  a  Knight  Templar  and  a  thirty- 
second  degree  Mason;  also  Itelonging  to  the  Shrine,  the  Knights  of 
Pvthias  and  the  Woodmen  of  the  World. 


WILLIAM  J.  McADAM 

The  ranch  of  this  enterprising  Tulare  county  farmer  is  one  of  the 
well-known  McAdani  ranches.  It  is  located  five  miles  west  of  Tulare 
and  consists  of  three  liundix'd  and  twenty  acres.  Mr.  McAdam  has 
one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  rent('(l  out  for  dniiy  imiposes.     The 


364  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

remainder  of  the  ranch  is  oradnally  being  devoted  to  alfalfa  and  all  of 
it  but  five  acres  will  be  under  that  grass  in  a  short  time. 

The  principal  business  of  Mr.  McAdam  has  been  stock-raising, 
though  he  is  planning  a  dairy  for  the  fraction  of  the  ranch  which  will 
not  be  under  alfalfa  when  his  scheme  is  worked  out.  He  now  owns 
forty-five  head  of  dairy  cows  and  twenty-five  head  of  young  stock. 
Formerly  he  conducted  the  dairy  which  he  now  leases  out,  and  in 
the  days  of  his  management  of  it  he  milked  forty  cows.  He  kept 
six  hundred  hogs,  and  rented  on  the  outside  three  hundred  acres 
which  he  gave  over  to  grain  raising  and  which  produced  in  1909  and 
1910  an  average  of  eighteen  sacks  to  the  acre,  and  in  1911  an  average 
of  sixteen  sacks  to  the  acre.  He  is  one  of  the  progressive  up-to-date 
farmers,  stockraisers  and  dair^inen  of  Tulare  county,  and  those  who 
know  him  and  the  quality  of  his  land  look  for  developments  in  the 
future  which  will  be  well  worth  studying. 

William  J.  McAdam  was  born  August  27,  1887,  in  Pembina 
county  (then  in  Dakota  Territory).  Along  with  his  agricultural  inter- 
ests he  is  now  actively  interested  in  the  Castle  Dome  Silver  and  Lead 
mines  of  his  father,  Eobert  McAdam,  they  being  located  in  Yuma 
countv,  Arizona. 


JAMES  M.  AKIN 

The  Akin  family  is  an  old  English  one  and  the  American  branch 
of  it  was  established  before  1700.  Still  other  Akins  have  come  over 
from  England  since,  and  it  was  from  pilgrims  and  pioneers  that 
James  M.  Akin,  who  lives  near  Springville,  Cal.,  was  brought  down 
through  successive  generations  to  his  own.  He  was  born  in  the  state 
of  New  York  in  1850,  his  mother  dying  at  his  birth,  and  in  1852 
his  father  came  overland  to  California.  The  boy  was  reared  as  a 
member  of  the  family  of  an  uncle  in  his  native  state,  attended  school 
there  and  did  chores  on  the  farm  until  he  was  eighteen  years  old. 
Then  he  came  to  California,  where  his  father  had  preceded  him 
l)y  al)out  sixteen  years.  Locating  in  Sacramento,  he  remained  there 
about  one  year,  then  came  to  Tulare  county.  His  life  here  began 
in  1870  and  for  two  years  thereafter  his  home  was  in  the  vicinity 
of  A'isalia.  In  1880  he  settled  on  his  ranch  of  three  hundred  and 
twenty  acres  three  miles  from  Siiringville.  Early  in  his  career  here 
he  engaged  in  stock-raising,  in  which  he  made  so  much  success  that 
he  is  considered  one  of  the  substantial  men  of  his  neighborhood. 
The  confidence  reposed  by  his  fellow  townsmen  in  his  ability  and 
intelligence  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  they  have  conferred  upon  him 
for  twenty  years  the  honor  of  the  office  of  school  trustee. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  367 

Farming  and  stock-raising  have  not  commanded  all  of  Mr.  Akin's 
attention.  He  and  his  son  Claude  have  twelve  mining  claims,  which 
will  be  developed  soon,  and  the  latter  has  copper  and  zinc  mines 
near  Spriugville.  In  1911  Mr.  Akin  started  a  nurserj-  known  as 
Akin's  nurserj',  which  is  devoted  to  the  raising  of  oranges.  He 
makes  a  specialty  of  Wasliington  navels,  of  which  he  has  twenty 
thousand  two-year-old  budded  trees.  In  1913  thirty  thousand  more 
will  be  planted,  the  new  industry  promising  to  become  very  im- 
portant in  this  section.  It  was  in  1880  that  Mr.  Akin  married  Sarah 
Hudson,  who  was  born  in  California  and  who  bore  him  five  children, 
all  of  whom,  except  the  youngest,  are  married.  Their  names  are 
Claude,  Lola,  Lerta,  Leeta  and  Melva.  They  are  native  children  of 
California.  All  of  them  were  born  in  Tulare  county,  and  four  of 
them  were  educated  at  Springville,  and  the  fifth  is  being  educated 
there.  Their  mother  died  February  2,  1911,  and  was  buried  near 
Springville.  It  will  be  interesting  to  note  that  Mr.  Akin  was  in- 
duced to  come  to  California  in  quest  of  health.  In  order  to  be  in 
the  open  air  as  much  as  possible  he  spent  his  first  six  j^ears  in  the 
state  hunting  in  the  woods  and  on  the  plains.  He  relates  that 
within  a  comparatively  short  time  he  and  his  l)rother-in-law  killed 
seven  bears.  He  has  literally  grown  up  with  the  country,  and  being 
a  man  of  public  spirit,  has  done  much  for  the  general  welfare.  Fra- 
ternallv  he  is  a  member  of  the  Court  of  Honor. 


W.  C.  GALLAHER 

One  of  the  successful  and  highly  esteemed  of  the  younger 
business  men  of  Hanford,  Kings  county,  Cal.,  is  W.  C.  Gallaher, 
wholesale  and  retail  dealer  in  meats.  Born  in  Missouri,  February 
11,  1874,  Mr.  Gallaher  came  to  the  vicinity  of  Hanford  when  lie  was 
about  eleven  years  old  and  grew  to  manhood  in  Kings  county.  !iis 
first  business  engagement  was  as  an  assistant  in  the  meat  market 
of  E.  Selbah,  at  Lemoore,  where  he  rejnained  for  two  ;ind  a  lialf 
years,  during  which  time  Mr.  Selbah  passed  away.  Mr.  Gallaher  in 
partnershiji  with  I.  Burlington  then  leased  the  market  from  Mrs. 
Selbah  and  for  a  year  and  a  half  ran  the  business,  but  at  the  end  of 
that  time  Mr.  Gallaher  sold  out  his  interest  in  the  market.  During 
the  succeeding  three  years  he  owned  and  operated  the  old  Hanford 
Stables,  one  of  the  oldest  livery  and  feed  stables  in  the  town,  which 
was  destroyed  by  fire  shortly  after  he  sold  it.  On  September  10, 
1900,  Mr.  Gallaher  opened  a  nu'at  market  on  the  site  of  the  ^^ogel 
store  on  Seventh  street,  but  this  establislmient  was  destroyed  by  fire 
January  3,  li)03,  and  ho  later  occupied  a  little  shack  which  ])roved 


368  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

most  inadequate  to  his  needs.  On  tlie  tirst  of  February,  19U5,  be 
moved  into  his  present  building  on  North  Irwin  street,  and  here 
he  has  since  done  a  general  business  in  meat  and  kindred  merchandise, 
both  retail  and  wholesale.  Mr.  Gallaher  took  into  partnership  on 
January  1,  1912,  G.  T.  Lundh,  who  assumed  the  duties  of  inside 
manager  of  the  retail  department,  and  in  connection  with  this 
business  Mr.  Gallaher  owns  and  leases  on  shares  a  three  hundred 
and  twenty-acre  stock  ranch  five  miles  south  of  Hanford.  He  buys 
and  feeds  stock,  and  thus  supplies  his  own  market  with  the  best  of 
beef,  also  being  a  heavy  shipper  to  the  San  Francisco  market. 

All  in  all,  his  business  is  one  of  the  largest  of  its  kind  in  the 
countj%  and  he  is  entitled  to  much  credit  for  the  fact  that  he  started 
it  on  a  very  small  scale  and  has  gradually  but  steadily  built  it  up  to 
its  present  fine  and  promising  proportions. 

In  1897  Mr.  Gallaher  married  Miss  Laura  Hess  of  Tulare. 
Socially  he  affiliates  with  Hanford  organizations  of  the  Benevolent 
Protective  Order  of  Elks,  Woodmen  of  the  World,  and  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  belonging  to  all  local  bodies  of  the  last  men- 
tioned order,  and  he  is  also  a  member  of  the  Portuguese  Orders  of 
I.  D.  E.  S.  and  U.  P.  E.  C.  The  same  enterprise  which  he  has 
exhibited  in  his  private  business  he  manifests  in  all  that  he  does  for 
the  general  welfare,  for  he  has  an  abiding  faith  in  the  future  of  Han- 
ford and  is  ready  at  all  times  to  do  anything  within  his  ability  to 
further  its  development  and  prosperity. 


U.  G.  KNIGHT 

The  editor  of  the  Exeter  Swi,  published  at  Exeter,  Tulare  county, 
Cal.,  was  born  in  Constantine,  Mich.,  in  the  late  '60s,  a  son  of  Captain 
G.  W.  Knight,  of  Company  E,  Third  Regiment,  Minnesota  Infantry, 
who  served  nearly  five  years  including  all  of  the  period  of  the  Civil 
war,  and  won  praise  for  his  bravery,  especially  at  the  time  of  the 
Indian  uprising  in  Minnesota  and  Dakota  in  1863,  in  the  supjiression 
of  which  he  took  part  with  his  regiment.  Captain  Knight  i)assed 
away  in  Nebraska  in  1898.  His  ■nddow  is  living  in  Los  xVngeles 
county,  Cal. 

The  future  editor  of  the  Snn  accompanied  his  parents  to  Webster 
county,  Neb.,  when  he  was  but  a  few  years  old,  and  there  grew  to 
manhood  and  acquired  an  education,  be.ginning  his  active  career  as 
a  school  teacher.  In  1886  he  journeyed  to  California  and  spent  a 
year  in  looking  over  the  state,  but  went  back  to  the  Grasshopper 
State,  where  he  was  married  in  1895  to  Miss  Daisy  M.  Garner,  of 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  3fi9 

Invale,  Neb.,  who  has  borne  him  a  son  now  a  student  in  the  Exeter 
high  school. 

In  his  early  days,  Mr.  Knight  turned  his  attention  to  newspaper 
work,  almost  entirely  editorial  and  reportorial,  and  was  from  time  to 
time  employed  on  the  Omaha  Bee,  the  Omaha  World-Herald,  the 
Lincoln  Journal,  the  Kansas  City  Star  and  several  papers  in  Nebraska. 
Eventually  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that,  to  be  a  competent  all-round 
newspaper  man  in  business  for  himself,  he  should  understand  the 
types  and  presses.  So,  dro])ping  work  at  far  better  pay,  he  took 
emploTOient  in  the  press  rooms  of  the  Hebron  (Neb.)  Journal,  and 
later  he  held  cases  on  the  Denver  Daily  News  and  other  large  papers, 
also  working  in  and  out  of  editorial  offices  as  occasion  offered. 

Soon  after  his  marriage,  Mr.  Knight  turned  to  the  soil  as  a 
farmer  in  Nebraska.  A  certain  amount  of  success  rewarded  him 
for  several  years,  but  two  or  three  "lean"  years  drove  liim  out  of 
the  business.  In  1900  he  passed  a  civil  service  examination  and  was 
given  a  responsible  position  in  the  semi-secret  service  of  tlie  United 
States,  in  which  his  duties  consisted  in  part  in  obtaining  data  and 
official  figures  recjuired  by  the  Government.  In  this  work  ho  traveled 
over  most  of  the  Middle  and  Mountain  states,  encountering  many 
dangers,  but  turning  in  such  satisfactory  information  that  he  was 
urged  to  retain  the  place.  He  resigned,  however,  and  went  to  Alberta, 
Canada,  stayed  a  year,  then  came  back  to  California. 

Here  he  again  engaged  in  newspaper  work,  at  first  as  editor  and 
part  owner  of  the  Oxnard  Siin.  Later  that  paper  was  merged  with 
the  O.rnard  Courier  and  he  continued  as  editor,  but  in  1905  he  sold 
out  his  interests  at  Oxnard  and  became  editor  and  part  owner  of 
the  San  Pedro  News,  a  daily.  After  six  months  he  sold  out  and  was 
given  editorial  employment  on  the  Los  Angeles  Herald,  which  he  gave 
up  a  few  months  later  to  go  on  the  Los  Angeles  Examiner.  In  Jan- 
uary, 1908,  he  resigned  and  moved  to  Exeter  to  take  an  interest  in 
the  Sun,  of  which  he  later  became  sole  proprietor  and  editor. 

The  Sun  is  a  sprightly  paper,  more  newsy  than  most  pa]iers  pul}- 
lished  in  small  towns,  well  liked  and  well  patronized.  It  lias  prac- 
tically grown  up  with  the  town,  is  now  twelve  years  old,  and  as  a 
booster  of  Exeter  and  vicinity  it  has  been  a  factor  in  tlie  uplift  of 
the  city.  To  considerable  extent  Mr.  Knight  is  interested  in  real 
estate,  having  sold  many  of  the  choicest  tracts  in  the  vicinity.  He 
is  considered  one  of  the  best  authorities  and  judges  of  land  in  the 
county.  He  is  also  interested  in  banking,  having  a  large  number  of 
shares  in  the  new  Citrus  Bank,  which  was  established  in  Exeter 
in  May,  1912,  and  was  offered  a  directorship  in  this  institution  but 
did  not  care  to  accept.  Fraternally,  he  affiliates  with  the  Masons, 
Red  Men,  Modern  Woodmen  and  other  secret  and  beneficial  organiza- 
tions,  including  the   Masonic   auxiliary   oi'der   of  the   Eastern   Star. 


370  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

He  has  one  of  the  finest  homes  in  Exeter,  a  large  house  and  an  orange 
grove  inside  the  city  Kmits.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Exeter  Board  of 
Trade  and  in  many  ways  has  demonstrated  a  pnlilic  spirit  that  makes 
him  a  most  helpful  citizen  with  his  pen  and  otherwise. 


DR.  GEORGE  GORDON 

The  profession  of  veterinary  jnedieine  and  surgery  has  within 
the  last  half-century  taken  a  recognized  place  among  the  learned  pro- 
fessions and  in  its  membership  are  included  many  practitioners  who 
have  given  to  its  study  and  research  as  much  time  and  thought  as 
the  average  physician.  The  veterinary  colleges  are  well  equipped 
and  their  courses  of  study  are  very  thorough,  enabling  their  students 
to  become  most  efficient  in  their  branch  of  treatment.  One  of  the  most 
proficient  and  popular  veterinarians  in  central  California  is  Dr.  George 
Gordon,  whose  establishment  at  the  end  of  South  Douty  street,  Han- 
ford,  is  one  of  the  places  of  interest  of  that  town. 

Dr.  Gordon  was  born  in  Scotland,  January  4,  1870,  and  was  there 
reared  to  manhood.  His  earlier  education  was  obtained  in  public 
schools  in  Banffshire  and  in  Dundee,  and  later  he  took  a  course  at 
the  London  Polytechnic,  wliere  he  gave  two  years  to  the  pre])aration 
for  his  professional  education,  which  was  finished  in  the  Veterinary 
College  of  San  Francisco,  except  for  six  months  of  experience  at 
the  Chicago  stockyards,  where  he  did  post  mortem  work.  His  diploma, 
given  him  in  San  Francisco,  bears  date  1904.  The  first  fifteen  months 
of  his  professional  experience  were  spent  at  Lemoore,  whence  he  came 
to  Hanford  to  establish  his  veterinary  hospital,  which  has  stalls 
for  the  accommodation  of  twenty  horses.  The  hospital  and  grounds 
are  located  at  the  south  end  of  South  Douty  street  and  occupy  five 
acres.  It  is  fully  equipjjed  with  chemical  and  microscopical  labora- 
tories. There  is  also  a  dental  department  in  connection,  with  a  com- 
plement of  dental  and  surgical  instruments,  and  he  is  thus  enabled 
to  give  every  branch  of  the  veterinary  profession  the  best  possible 
service.  In  San  Francisco,  before  he  entered  the  veterinary  college, 
he  conducted  a  dog  hospital  and  became  well  known  as  a  canine  ex- 
pert, and  he  also  makes  the  treatment  of  diseases  of  the  dog  a  feature 
of  his  practice  here.  In  February,  1910,  he  was  appointed  livestock 
inspector  for  Kings  county  and  in  April  following  was  made  a  state 
dairy  inspector.  He  finds  time  from  his  professional  duties  to  affiliate 
with  various  fraternal  bodies,  including  the  Royal  Order  of  Scottish 
Clans,  Lemoore  lodge  and  Hanford  chapter,  No.  74,  R.A.M.,  the  In- 
dependent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Woodmen  of  the  World. 
The  able  assistant  of  Dr.  George  Gordon  is  W.  D.  Gordon,  who 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  373 

has  been  identified  with  his  enterprise  since  1906  and  is  now  taking 
the  course  at  the  San  Francisco  Veterinary  College.  Pie  will  grad- 
uate with  the  class  of  1!)1.'),  after  which  he  will  enter  actively  upon 
the  practice  of  \'eterinary  medicine  and  surger>'. 

Dr.  George  Gordon  left  Scotland  in  1888,  when  he  was  eighteen 
years  old,  and  has  since  returned  to  his  native  land  four  times.  His 
travels  in  South  America  haxe  been  extensive  and  he  passed  two 
years  in  the  West  Indies  as  a  representative  of  the  International 
Phosphate  company,  and  was  for  a  time  located  on  Connitable  island, 
off  the  northeast  coast  of  Fi'ench  Guiana,  near  the  city  of  Cayenne. 
While  in  South  America  he  became  assistant  superintendent  of  the 
aforesaid  International  Phosphate  company,  and  thus  had  a  most 
valuable  and  interesting  experience  in  a  line  only  indirectly  connected 
with  his  profession,  but  one  of  great  importance  in  furthering  pro- 
duction and  commerce. 


J.  W.  B.  RICE 

As  farmer,  cattleman  and  orange  grower,  J.  W.  B.  Rice,  whose 
activities  center  in  the  vicinity  of  Lemon  Cove,  has  become  well 
known  tliroughout  Tulare  county.  He  is  a  native  of  Iowa,  born 
December  30,  18(J0,  who  lived  in  his  native  state  until  he  was  eigiiteen 
years  of  age.  At  that  time  he  set  out  to  make  his  own  way  in  the 
world,  and  Nebraska  was  the  scene  of  his  earlier  independent  labors. 
He  had  already  had  some  experience  as  game  collector  for  Central 
Park  in  New  York  Citj'.  After  reaching  Nebraska  he  found  employ- 
ment until  in  the  fall  of  1882,  when  he  went  to  Minnesota  and  thence 
back  to  Iowa.  There  he  was  employed  three  years  collecting  game  for 
said  Central  Park,  among  them  the  Whooping  Crane  or  American 
Ostrich  which  were  worth  al)out  $30  apiece.  In  capturing  tliese 
birds  he  had  many  enjoyable  and  interesting  experiences  and  some 
that  were  more  unpleasant  at  the  time  than  they  are  as  reminiscences 
of  the  ]iast.  In  April,  1886,  he  came  to  California,  and  in  1889  he 
married  Miss  Cora  Marks,  a  native  of  Iowa,  who  bore  him  several 
children:  Charles  James  and  Mary  Clementine  (twins);  Pearl,  aged 
nineteen;  Roy  M.,  aged  seventeen;  Villa  Praukie,  Elmo  D.,  Inez, 
Emma,  Alice,  Fern  and  Robert.  Villa  passed  away,  having  been 
drowned  when  eighteen  months  old.  Those  of  the  younger  cliildi'en 
who  are  of  the  school  age  are  acquiring  education.  Mr.  Rice's  father, 
James  Nicholas  Rice,  a  native  of  Indiana,  and  his  good  wife  are  still 
living  in  Cherokee  county,  Iowa.  Mrs.  Rice's  parents  descended  from 
German  ancestors;  her  father  is  dead,  Taut  her  mother  survives. 

A  year  after  he  came  to  California,  Mr.  Rice,  who  had  alreadv 


374  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

begun  in  the  cattle  business,  bought  forty  acres  of  land.  He  soon 
hoiuesteaded  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  and  acquired  another  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  by  purchase.  Securing  other  tracts  subse- 
quently, he  came  in  time  to  own  six  hundred  acres.  He  has  about 
twenty  acres  of  oranges  but  devotes  much  of  his  attention  to  cattle. 
When  he  came  to  the  county,  a  little  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago,  there  was  no  business  but  cattle  raising  and  the  inhabitants  were 
all  cattle  men  or  cattlemen's  wives  and  children.  In  the  development 
that  has  intervened  he  has  had  his  full  part,  for  lie-is  public-spiritedly 
devoted  to  all  affairs  of  the  community.    Politically  he  is  a  Socialist. 

Mr.  Rice  is  the  pioneer  orange  grower  of  Tulare  county.  He 
took  the  first  prize  at  the  Citrus  Fair  at  Fresno  before  the  orange 
business  of  Tulare  county  had  started,  and  in  1894  exhibited  some 
beautiful  oranges  at  the  Palace  Hotel  at  Visalia,  which  were  the  first 
oranges  grown  from  budded  trees  to  secure  a  premium  in  Tulare 
county.  Mr.  Rice  is  the  manager  of  the  Marx  and  Rice  Co.,  growers 
and  shi]ipers  of  oranges,  pomelos,  limes  and  lemons;  also  nursery 
stock. 


T\^AX  C.  BURKE,  D.  D.  S. 

The  profession  of  dentistry  approaches  nearer  and  nearer  to 
the  realm  of  exact  science  with  each  passing  decade  and  only  those 
of  its  devotees  who  keep  informed  of  the  details  of  its  progress  win 
permanent  success.  One  of  the  up-to-date  doctors  of  dental  surgery 
of  central  California  is  Ivan  C.  Burke,  of  Hanford,  Kings  county. 
Dr.  Burke  is  a  progressive  son  of  a  progressive  state,  having  been 
born  in  Crawford  county,  Kans.,  September  21,  1885.  When  he 
was  about  five  years  old  he  was  taken  to  "Walla  Walla,  Wash.,  in  the 
public  schools  of  which  city  he  received  his  ]iractical  English  educa- 
tion. Desiring  to  follow  a  professional  career,  in  1904,  when  about 
nineteen  years  old,  he  entered  the  dental  department  of  the  College 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  San  Francisco,  from  which  he  was 
duly  graduated  with  the  D.  D.  S.  degree  in  June,  1907.  immediately 
after  which  Dr.  Burke  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Seattle. 
Wash.  In  1908  he  came  to  Hanford  and  opened  an  office  in  tlie  First 
National  Bank  building  where  he  has  since  devoted  himself  with 
much  success  to  the  general  practice  of  his  profession,  keeping  abreast 
of  the  times,  employing  the  best  facilities  in  the  way  of  instruments 
and  appliances,  and  his  work  is  of  a  class  well  calculated  to  give 
permanent  satisfaction. 

As  he  has  prospered  in  his  profession  Dr.  Burke  has  from  time 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  375 

to  time  made  judicious  investments  in  real  estate.  Besides  some 
good  town  property,  his  holdings  include  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
near  Walla  Walla,  Wash.,  which  under  the  superintendency  of  a  hired 
farmer  is  producing  good  alfalfa  in  paying  quantities.  At  Hanford 
Dr.  Burke  is  popular  in  all  circles,  political,  professional,  social  and 
fraternal,  and  his  puhlie  spirit  has  brought  him  high  esteem  as  a 
citizen.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Red  Men  and 
is  devoted  heart  and  soul  to  all  of  the  interests  of  that  beneficent 
order.  His  marriage  in  1909  united  him  with  Miss  Vera  A.  Donald- 
son, of  Kansas,  a  charming  woman  of  many  accomplislnnents,  who 
is  bravely  aiding  him  in  his  struggle  for  professional  and  social 
advancement. 


G.  X.  WENDLING 

A  native  of  New  York,  G.  X.  AVendling  came  to  California  in 
January,  1888,  and  was  in  the  employ  of  the  Valley  Lumber  Company 
of  Fresno  until  November  3,  1889,  when  he  located  at  Hanford. 
Probably  no  man  did  more  than  he  to  promote  the  establishment  of 
Kings  county  in  1893.  To  that  end  he  labored  indefatigably  and  with 
great  efficiency  for  months,  appearing  so  often  at  Sacramento  as 
sponsor  for  the  proposed  organization  that  he  came  to  be  known  as 
the  "Father  of  Kings  County."  When  he  came  to  the  town  he 
engaged  in  the  lumber  business  on  his  own  account  and  he  was  one 
of  Hanford 's  foremost  citizens  until  February  21,  1897,  when  he 
removed  to  San  Francisco,  where  he  has  large  and  varied  interests. 
He  organized  in  that  city  the  California  Pine  Box  and  Lumber  Co., 
which  turns  out  one  hundred  and  sixty  million  feet  of  box  material 
annually.  He  organized  also  the  Weed  Lumber  Company,  of  Weed, 
Cal.,  the  productiveness  of  which  he  has  seen  increased  from  eight 
million  feet  of  lumber  in  its  first  year  to  seventy-five  million  feet 
at  the  present  time.  An  idea  of  the  extent  of  his  activities  may  be 
gleaned  from  the  following  list,  showing  his  connection  with  various 
enterprises.  He  is  a  director  in  the  Anglo  &  London-Paris  National 
Bank  of  San  Francisco  and  president  of  the  Napa  Lumber  Company, 
the  Stanislaus  Lumber  Company,  the  Big  Basin  Lumber  Company, 
\'ice-president  of  the  Klamath  Development  Company  of  Klamatli 
Falls,  Ore.,  and  president  of  the  Weudling-Johnson  Lumber  Com- 
pany, the  California  Pine  liox  Lumber  Company,  tlie  Weiidling 
Lumber  Company,  the  Wendling-Nathan  Lumber  Company,  tlie  Weed 
Lumber  Company  and  the  First  National  Bank  of  Weed. 


376         TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

TULARE  HOME  TELEPHONE  AND  TELEGRAPH  COMPANY 

Those  admirable  jinblie  utilities  of  Tulare,  its  telephone  and 
telegraph  service,  are  controlled  in  part  by  the  corporation  named 
above,  which  is  officered  as  follows:  G.  C.  Harris,  president;  Dr.  T.  D. 
Blodgett,  vice-president;  Sol  A.  Rosenthal,  secretary  and  treasurer; 
G.  C.  Harris,  S.  B.  Anderson,  N.  G.  Cottle,  Dr.  T."d.  Blodgett  and 
Sol  A.  Rosenthal,  directors.  This  company  took  over  the  plant  of  the 
Pacific  States  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company,  and  transformed 
its  Tulare  business  into  that  of  a  local  corporation.  Nearly  all  the 
stockholders  are  men  of  Tulare  and  vicinity,  and  the  people  of  the 
town  take  much  interest  in  the  company's  success  and  advancement. 
The  Home  company  has  put  in  two  miles  of  cable  and  practically 
rebuilt  the  line,  discarding  everything  antiquated  in  the  operating 
system  for  something  up  to  date  and  thoroughly  efficient.  This  has 
been  done  regardless  of  cost  and  with  a  view  single  to  the  very  best 
service,  a  fact  which  the  business  community  fully  appreciates.  The 
present  system,  known  as  the  common  battery  system,  is  so  satisfac- 
tory that  the  number  of  the  company's  patrons  has  been  increased 
three  hundred  in  the  last  three  years.  The  president  of  the  new  com- 
pany was  its  founder  and  the  chief  promoter  of  the  project  along 
local  lines.  A  second  company  known  as  the  Ijindsay  Home  Tele- 
phone and  Telegraph  company,  was  subsequently  organized,  which 
company  was  incorporated  with  aims  and  conditions  similar  to 
those  of  the  Tulare  City  company,  and  the  ])lant  was  bought  from 
])rivate  parties  in  Lindsay.  Plans  are  now  being  perfected  to  im- 
prove it  and  jnit  the  system  on  a  plane  with  that  of  the  Tulare  City 
company.  Both  comi)anies  make  connections  with  the  long  distance 
lines  of  the  Pacific  States  Telephone  and  Telegrajih  company. 

The  president  of  this  company,  Gurdon  C.  Harris,  a  man  of  long 
and  informing  ex])erience  in  the  telejihone  business,  was  long  con- 
nected with  the  business  of  the  Bell  Telephone  company  in  Minnesota, 
where  he  was  born  and  passed  the  earlier  years  of  his  life.  He  came 
to  California  in  March,  1905,  still  in  the  service  of  the  Bell  company, 
for  a  time  as  division  wire  chief,  the  duties  of  which  position  took 
him  to  practically  every  part  of  the  state,  and  for  two  years  his 
head(iuarters  were  at  Sacramento.  There  he  became  a  member  of 
the  Sacramento  lodge  of  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of 
Elks,  and  since  he  came  to  Tulare  he  has  been  made  a  Mason  in  Tu- 
lare City  Lodge  No.  326,  F.  &  A.  M.  In  a  iiosition  in  which  he  is  in  con- 
stant touch  with  the  people  of  his  community,  in  a  social  as  well  as  in 
a  business  way,  he  is  commending  himself  to  all  with  whom  he  has 
communication  as  a  courteous  and  obliging  senii-jiublic  official  who 
has  the  interest  of  the  patrons  of  his  company  and  of  the  people  at 
large  close  to  his  heart  and  desires  to  render  to  everyone  every  due 
consideration  or  concession. 


^ 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  379 

ORLANDO  MOORE 

Visalia  has  uo  more  prominent  citizen  along  industrial  and  agri- 
cultural lines  than  Orlando  Moore.  The  son  of  Henry  C.  and  Amelia 
(Renalds)  Moore,  he  was  born  at  Venice  Hill,  Tulare  county,  Cal., 
March  80,  1869.  His  father  and  mother  were  natives  respectively 
of  Missouri  and  Iowa. 

Henry  C.  Moore  came  to  California  in  the  early  '60s,  taught 
school  in  Tulare  county  and  raised  sheep,  and  later  he  operated  one 
of  the  pioneer  sawmills  in  the  mountains  which  was  one  of  the 
first  in  this  vicinity,  hut  at  length  he  returned  to  Missouri.  Eight 
years  later  he  came  hack  to  California  with  a  carload  of  cattle  and 
went  into  the  cattle  business  on  a  section  in  the  swamp  lands  of 
Tulare  county  with  R.  E.  Hyde  as  a  partner.  Eventually,  however, 
he  sold  out  his  interest  to  Mr.  Hyde  and  went  to  Puget  Sound, 
where  he  farmed  and  operated  a  saw  and  shingle  mill  seven  years. 
He  came  again  to  Tulare  county  in  1900  and  has  since  lived  there. 

In  some  of  the  ventures  mentioned  above,  Orlando  Moore  was 
his  father's  helper  and  after  a  time  he  engaged  extensively  in  the 
cultivation  of  watermelons,  in  one  season  he  receiving  $2700  from 
the  sale  of  melons;  at  the  Fourth  of  July  celebration  at  Visalia  in 
190.3  he  had  seventeen  horses  and  five  wagons  selling  melons  through 
the  town,  he  and  his  brother  Edward  making  a  fine  disjilay  of  his 
product  with  five  four-horse  teams.  Mr.  Moore  was  the  pioneer 
orange  grower  at  Venice  Cove.  Buying  twenty  acres  there,  he  raised 
the  trees  from  seeds,  brought  fourteen  acres  of  the  fruit  to  bearing 
and  sold  out  for  $14,500.  The  nursery  business  also  commanded  the 
attention  of  Mr.  Moore  and  his  brother  for  a  while.  In  1910  he 
sold  out  his  ^'enice  Cove  property  and  bought  twenty  acres  near 
the  west  city  limits  of  Visalia,  which  he  has  improved  and  put  on 
the  market  in  half-acre  and  quarter-acre  lots.  He  owns  also  a 
mountain  ranch  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  and  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  near  Spa  on  the  Santa  Fe,  five  miles  northeast  of  Alpaugh. 
One  of  his  possessions  is  a  fine  auto-truck  with  a  capacity  of  fifty 
people,  and  with  which  he  made  an  experimental  run  to  San  Fran- 
cisco with  fruit  that  he  took  through  without  bruising  or  otherwise 
injuring  it.  He  contemplates  a  like  trip  with  his  auto-truck  to  Port- 
land, Ore.,  with  fi'uit  from  Tulare  county,  and  it  will  doubtless  at- 
tract much  attention  to  this  part  of  the  state.  The  raising  of  toma- 
toes has  been  another  experiment  of  Mr.  Moore's  which  has  proved 
noteworthy.  He  set  half  an  acre  to  fifteen  hundred  vines,  and  sold 
his  product  as  high  as  ten  cents  a  pound ;  for  tomatoes  grown  on  five 
acres  in  a  single  season  he  received  $1750. 

Mr.  Moore's  latest  venture  has  been  in  the  field  of  invention. 
In  the  year  1912  he  took  out  a  ])atent  upon  a  detachable  tread   for 


380  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

any  sized  (loul)le-tired  autotruck.  This  invention  enables  the  truck 
to  be  changed  into  a  tractor  for  field  and  farm  purposes,  and  it  bids 
fair  to  become  an  extremely  useful  and  ]iopular  devise.  Its  advan- 
tages may  be  listed  as  follows:  Protection  to  the  rubber  tire;  in- 
crease of  tractile  power  so  that  it  can  be  used  in  a  field  for  the 
purposes  of  plowing  or  discing  and  seeding  summer  fallowed  or  loose 
sandy  land;  ]irevention  of  slipping  upon  a  muddy  or  sandy  road; 
great  strength  and  duralnlity;  inexpensive  and  capable  of  lasting 
a  lifetime;  and  easily  and  quickly  adjusted. 

Socially  Mr.  Moore  is  identified  with  the  Fraternal  Brotherhood. 
He  and  Mrs.  Moore  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church 
at  Visalia.  He  married,  in  1903,  Muriel  Witherell,  a  native  of  Knox- 
ville.  111.,  and  they  have  three  children,  Ramon,  Ralph  Spencer 
and  Kathrvn  Moore. 


GEORGE  W.  BAUMANN 

In  Iowa  George  W.  Baumann  lived  until  he  was  five  years  old, 
and  after  that  he  lived  in  Kansas  until  1878,  when  he  came  to  Visalia, 
Cal.  He  was  born  in  the  Hawkeye  State  March  10,  1859.  February 
9,  1890,  he  married  Miss  Martha  A.  Lathrop,  daughter  of  Ezra 
Lathro]x  a  California  ]iioneer,  and  she  bore  him  two  sons,  Grover 
Cleveland  and  Ezra  Gottfried  Baumann.  A  separate  biograpliieal 
sketch  of  Ezra  Lathrop  appears  elsewhere  in  these  pages. 

Soon  after  Mr.  Baumann  located  at  Visalia  he  began  farming, 
but  three  years  later  returned  to  the  East,  to  come  back  a  few  months 
later  bringing  his  i)arents.  The  family  located  near  Farmersville, 
where  he  operated  rented  land.  Soon  after  his  marriage  he  home- 
steaded  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  near  Lindsay,  where  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Baumann  settled,  and  at  the  same  time  engaged  in  the  stock- 
raising  Imsiness  in  the  mountains.  Later  on  he  bought  three  hun- 
dred and  twenty  acres  at  Poplar,  where  they  engaged  in  running  a 
good-sized  dairy  in  connection  with  the  farming  and  stock  business. 
In  1906  he  rented  his  farm  and  moved  to  Lindsay,  whence  in  the 
following  year  he  moved  to  Tulare,  which  was  his  home  as  long  as 
he  lived.  His  death  occurred  January  16,  1909.  A  man  of  much 
public  spirit,  he  was  a  helpful  friend  to  every  good  movement  for 
the  benefit  of  the  community.  Fraternally  he  affiliated  with  the  Mod- 
ern Woodmen  of  America  and  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen 
through  their  local  organizations  in  Tulare. 

Mrs.  Baumann  is  identified  with  the  order  of  Royal  Neighbors, 
is  a  stockholder  in  the  Tulare  National  Bank  and  is  extensively  en- 
gaged in  stockraising  on  twenty-two  hundred  acres  of  land,  carrying 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  381 

an  average  of  three  Imudred  to  four  hundred  head  of  stock.  She  was 
one  of  the  pioneers  of  Tuhu'e  City,  coming  here  with  her  parents 
before  eitlier  a  schoolhouse  or  a  church  had  been  erected  here,  and 
later  for  eleven  years  she  taught  iu  the  public  schools  of  Tulare 
county  and  city.  She  has  a  distinct  recollection  of  the  digging  of 
the  first  grave,  so  far  as  the  white  i)opulation  is  concerned,  at  Tulare, 
when  her  schoolteacher's  wife,  Mrs.  Haslip,  was  buried,  she  being 
the  first  white  person  who  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  city  of  Tulare. 
She  remembers  when  religious  meetings  were  held  in  the  waiting 
room  of  the  depot  and  has  a  vivid  recollection  of  a  Christmas  tree, 
gifts  from  which  were  distributed  in  that  same  room.  A  woman 
of  forceful  character  and  of  winning  personality,  she  does  much 
good   and   has  many   friends. 


ROBERT   C.   CLARKE 

A  native  Canadian,  Robert  C.  Clarke,  of  Tulare,  Tulare  county, 
Cal.,  was  born  in  New  Brunswick,  in  quaint  old  St.  John,  December 
29,  1829,  and  when  this  is  written  is  in  his  eighty-fourth  year.  He 
was  educated  in  his  native  town  and  there  learned  the  carpenter's 
trade.  In  1852  he  boarded  the  shi])  Java,  an  old  whaler,  bound  for 
San  Francisco  by  way  of  Cape  Horn,  imder  an  arrangement  permit- 
ting him  to  earn  his  passage.  Richly  he  earned  the  money  he  might 
have  saved  in  that  way — if  he  had  had  it.  At  Valparaiso  he  went 
ashore  when  the  cargo,  consisting  of  building  materials,  was  sold, 
to  be  delivered  at  Caldera.  Finding  employment  at  his  trade  in 
this  latter  Chilian  port,  he  earned  enough  money  to  pay  his  fare 
from  there  to  his  objective  point,  but  it  took  him  about  half  a  year 
to  do  it  under  labor  conditions  prevailing  there  at  the  time;  he  ar- 
rived at  San  Francisco  in  the  fall  of  that  year  and  went  almost  im- 
mediately to  the  mines. 

In  the  diggings  at  Sonora,  Tuolumne  county,  he  labored  a  short 
time  with  such  indifferent  success  that  when  he  was  offered  eight 
dollars  a  day  to  work  at  his  trade  at  Stockton  he  fairly  jum]ied  at  a 
chance  to  better  his  condition.  Two  years  he  was  employed  at  Stock- 
ton, then  went  to  Knight's  Ferry,  Stanislaus  county,  and  resumed 
mining  and,  not  altogether  expectedly,  met  with  some  little  success. 
He  constructed  an  irrigation  conduit  for  running  water  into  his 
claim,  and  his  crude  and  primitive  ditch  was  the  beginning  of  the  ex- 
tensive irrigation  system  now  being  completed  in  that  section,  down 
through  the  San  Joaquin  country.  That  his  |)art  in  this  great  work 
may  have  a  historical  record  it  should  be  said  that  his  work  on  his 
ditch  was  begun  in  the  earlv  'oOs.     Mining  some  of  the  time  in  .\nui- 


382  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

dor  county,  as  well  as  at  Kuight's  Ferry,  he  made  the  latter  j)lace 
his  headquarters  for  ten  years.  For  a  time  he  was  in  the  mercantile 
business,  with  James  Allen  as  a  partner.  Sheep  raising  on  the 
ranges  along  the'  Tuolumne  river  also  commanded  his  attention  tem- 
porarily. It  was  in  1875  that  he  came  to  Tulare  county  and  bought 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  three  miles  north  of  Tipton,  where  he 
ranched  successfully  till  1909,  when  he  retired  from  active  life  and 
came  to  Tulare  City  to  pass  the  years  of  rest  that  were  before  him. 
In  the  earlier  period  of  his  farming  he  grew  grain  and  alfalfa.  Later 
he  ran  a  dairy  and  had  an  annual  average  of  tifty  acres  of  alfalfa. 
Alfalfa  seed  also  he  made  a  source  of  revenue.  He  bred  some  tine 
horses,  ranging  in  weight  from  fourteen  hundred  to  eighteen  hun- 
dred pounds. 

Tulare  City  Lodge  No.  32fi  includes  Mr.  Clarke  in  its  memlier- 
ship.  He  married,  in  1887,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Johnson,  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  they  liave  children  named  Nettie  A.  and  Eoberta 
C.  Samuel  Sampson,  Mrs.  Clarke's  father,  was  born  in  Ireland  and 
eventually  made  the  United  States  his  adopted  country.  Twice  he 
came  to  California  by  way  of  the  Istlimus  of  Panama,  first  in  1851. 
He  mined  for  gold  in  Tuolumne  county  and  went  back  to  Pennsyl- 
vania, whence  he  had  come,  in  the  late  '50s.  There  he  spent  the 
declining  years  of  his  life  and  passed  to  his  reward.  His  wife  was, 
before  her  marriage,  Miss  McKewon.  In  1859  she  and  Mrs.  Clarke, 
her  only  child,  came  to  California  by  way  of  the  isthmus  and  estab- 
lished a  home  in  Stanislaus  county,  where  Mrs.  Clarke  grew  to  wom- 
anhood and  was  married. 


WINFIELD  SCOTT  BLOYD 

In  Colchester,  McDonough  county.  111.,  Winfield  Scott  Bloyd.  now 
a  prominent  business  man  of  Hanford,  Kings  county,  Cal.,  was  born 
November  18,  1858,  son  of  W.  Washington  Bloyd,  of  whom  a  sketch 
appears  elsewhere  in  this  publication.  In  1861  his  parents  bi'ought 
him  across  the  plains  to  California  and  settled  in  Tehama  county, 
removing  from  there  to  the  San  Joacpiin  valley,  and  in  1871  located  in 
Kings  county.  Here  they  made  their  home  until  after  the  Mussel 
Slough  fight,  when  they  turned  their  faces  toward  the  Northwest  and 
for  a  year  and  a  half  resided  in  Oregon.  Then  they  returned  to  Cali- 
fornia and  bought  a  ranch  at  Summit  Lake,  in  Fresno  county,  which 
they  operated  two  years  and  sold  out,  in  1892  coming  to  Grangeville, 
Kings  county,  where  they  began  raising  fruit. 

In  1905  Mr.  Bloyd  came  from  the  ranch  to  Hanford,  and  he  has 
since  made  his  home  in  tliat  citv.    For  three  vears  he  bought  and  sold 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  383 

hay  and  lie  and  liis  brother  Levi  are  now  contractors  of  cement  work, 
doing  an  increasing  volume  of  business,  which  requires  the  investment 
of  considerable  capital  and  the  enij)loyment  from  time  to  time  of  a 
number  of  skilled  workmen.  In  different  parts  of  the  city  are  to  be 
seen  evidences  of  their  handicraft  and  enterprise. 

Mr.  Bloyd  affiliates  with  the  Fraternal  Aid  and  the  Woodmen  of 
the  World.  As  a  citizen  he  is  public-spirited  and  helpful  to  all  the 
interests  of  the  community  and  in  political  principle  is  Eepublican.  In 
1881  he  married  Miss  Louisa  Samuels,  a  native  of  California,  wlio  died 
in  1900.  In  1902  he  married  Mrs.  E.  P]dd.y.  He  has  two  daughters, 
Mrs.  John  Bassett  and  Miss  Ruby  Bloyd. 


WILLIAM  HENRY  THAYER 

That  old  and  reliable  dairyman,  William  Henry  Thayer,  of  Cor- 
coran, Kings  county,  Cal.,  is  a  native  of  Dunkirk,  Chautauqua  county, 
N.  Y.,  and  was  born  November  15,  1834.  He  was  brought  up  to  farm- 
ing and  to  country  work  of  various  kinds  and  educated  in  such  public 
schools  as  were  available  to  him  in  his  childhood  and  boyhood.  He 
came  to  California  in  1863,  and  engaged  in  farming  and  the  breeding 
of  horses,  cattle  and  hogs,  a  business  which  he  has  since  made  his  life 
work.  From  time  to  time  as  his  means  has  permitted  he  has  bought 
tracts  of  land,  his  first  venture  in  the  acquirement  of  land  in  Kings 
conuty  I)eing  in  1881,  when  he  took  up  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres 
in  the  Dallas  district,  as  swamp  and  overflow  lands,  and  this  he  has 
successfully  reclaimed.  In  the  dyking  of  this  land  Mr.  Thayer  found 
the  skeletons  of  several  human  beings,  evidently  the  i-emains  of  de- 
ceased warriors  who  had  engaged  the  Mexicans.  On  Mill  creek,  in  Tu- 
lare county,  he  also  acquired  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  which  he  has 
deeded  to  his  children,  and  later  in  1900  he  bought  the  hundred  and 
sixty  acre  tract  on  which  he  now  lives,  situated  one  mile  east  of  Cor- 
coran. He  operates  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  which  is  included 
in  his  dairy  plant.  His  homestead  is  a  fine  large  property,  with  good 
buildings  of  all  kinds,  including  a  residence  which  has  many  modern 
inqn-ovements.  His  cattle  are  of  good  breeds,  as  tine  specimens  as 
can  l)e  produced,  and  he  has  become  known  in  his  market  for  the 
excellence  and  purity  of  his  products,  which  find  ready  sale  wherever 
they  have  been  introduced. 

By  his  marriage,  which  was  celebrated  April  18,  1877,  Mr.  Thayer 
identified  his  fortunes  with  those  of  Miss  Sarah  M.  Austin,  who  was 
born  at  Sacramento.  Cal.,  March  27,  1863.  Mrs.  Thayer  has  Iiorne 
her  husband  the  following  children,  who  will  be  found  mentioned  here 
in  the  order  of  their  nativity:  Arthur  Y.,  Enos  E.,  Lillie,  Henry, 
Jennie,  Cora,  Clarence,  Mabel  and  Lester. 


384  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Of  progressive  ideas  and  i^atriotic  impulses,  Mr.  Thayer  is  a 
model  citizen,  who  performs  his  whole  duty  as  such  in  society  and  at 
the  polls.  While  he  is  not  an  active  ))olitician  in  the  ordinary  sense 
of  the  phrase,  he  takes  a  lively  and  helpful  interest  in  all  questions  of 
public  policy  and  has  never  been  known  to  withhold  his  encouragement 
from  any  measure  which  in  his  opinion  has  promised  to  bring  better 
things  to  the  lives  of  any  considerable  number  of  his  fellow  citizens. 


CHARLES  W.  TOMPKINS 

As  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Tulare  County  Beekeepers' 
Association,  Charles  W.  Tompkins  is  most  prominent  in  that  industry. 
He  is  the  son  of  Caleb  and  Lavonia  (Saxby)  Tompkins.  His  father 
was  born  in  Canada,  his  mother  in  Wisconsin;  the  former  died  Sep- 
tember 11,  1908,  the  latter  August  19,  1879.  Caleb  Tomi^kins  came 
to  California  and  settled  at  Tulare  in  1882  and  found  work  at  his 
trade,  which  was  that  of  the  carpenter,  and  was  elected  constable 
and  served  for  some  eight  years  as  a  night  watchman.  He  was  a 
man  of  great  decision  of  character,  brave  to  a  fault,  and  was  very 
efficient  as  a  peace  officer.  Following  are  the  names  of  his  children 
who  survive  at  this  time:  Charles  W.,  who  is  mentioned  below; 
Benjamin  W.,  who  married  Gussie  Woodard  and  has  four  children 
living  at  Corte  Madera,  Marin  county,  Cal. ;  Ida,  who  married  Jesse 
Halla  and  has  two  children;  and  Fred,  who  married  Margaret  Frary 
and  has  two  children. 

Charles  W.  Tompkins  was  born  at  Iowa  Falls,  Hardin  county,  la., 
February  14,  1868.  A  quarter  part  of  his  boyhood  was  S]ient  at 
Atchison,  Kan.,  and  he  acquired  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  car- 
penter's trade  in  Tulare  and  was  for  seven  years  a  railroad  carpenter 
in  the  employ  of  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  in  charge  of 
a  crew  of  men  who  worked  wherever  their  services  were  required 
along  the  road  from  Mendota  to  Los  Angeles,  also  on  the  Santa  Bar- 
bara branch  from  Saugus  to  Santa  Barbara.  He  assisted  in  the  con- 
struction of  many  residences  at  and  near  Tulare,  among  them  those 
of  B.  A.  Fanner,  A.  E.  Miot,  ^h:  Wheeler,  William  Muller,  Mrs. 
Thomas  Thompson,  James  Halanau  and  C.  S.  Nicewonger.  He  helped 
also  to  build  the  Crow  block  and  other  business  buildings.  His  spe- 
cialty in  all  this  work  was  in  putting  in  fine  interior  finish,  in  which 
he  is  recognized  as  an  expert. 

In  1894  Mr.  Tompkins  engaged  in  the  bee  business  and  soon  be- 
came an  expert  apiarist.  Pie  took  swarms  of  bees  from  trees  and  in 
one  instance  cut  down  thirty  trees  to  obtain  one  swarm.  All  his  spare 
time  he  devoted  to  the  study  of  books  and  journals  giving  instruction 
in  different  phases  of  bee  culture.     In  time  he  had  acquired  three 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  385 

hundred  and  fifty  swarms  of  bees  and  he  is  the  owner  of  many  at 
the  present  time.  His  apiaries,  each  consisting  of  sixty  hives,  are 
distributed  in  different  favorable  sections  of  the  county  and  are 
moved  from  place  to  place,  according  to  season.  He  is  at  present 
secretary  and  treasurer  of  tlie  Tulare  County  Beekeepers'  Association. 
In  the  spring  of  the  year  he  places  his  bees  over  near  the  mountains,  in 
the  orange  section,  in  order  tliat  they  may  gather  honey  from  the 
orange  blossoms,  the  honey  thus  produced  being  sweet,  clear  and  pure 
and  of  an  extra  quality.  In  this  section  of  Tulare  county  the  bee  busi- 
ness is  rapidly  growing;  eleven  carloads  of  honey  were  shijiped  from 
Tulare  in  1911  and  six  carloads  in  1912,  which  was  a  rather  unfavor- 
able season  on  account  of  the  prevailing  drought.  In  this  industry 
Mr.  Tompkins  is  one  of  the  leaders.  He  possesses  jtublic  spirit  to 
such  a  degree  that  he  is  a  most  useful  citizen,  always  to  be  depended 
upon  in  emergencies  calling  for  activity  in  behalf  of  the  general  good. 
He  is  identified  with  Tulare  City  lodge.  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  and  with  the  local  organization  of  the  Independent  Order  of 
Foresters. 

In  1899  Mr.  Tompkins  married  Nina  L.  Reams,  a  native  of 
Tennessee,  and  she  has  borne  him  sons  named  Charles  A.  and  Win- 
fred  W. 


FRANK  POWELL 

The  people  of  Lemoore  have  many  times  been  congratulated  on 
having  such  a  genial  and  efficient  postmaster  as  Frank  Powell,  who  has 
held  the  office  continuously  since  his  first  appointment  by  President 
Harrison.  Mr.  Powell  is  a  native  of  Sacramento,  Cal.,  born  March  22, 
1867,  a  son  of  P.  M.  Powell.  He  was  brought  u]i  at  P>righton,  near 
Sacramento,  and  came  to  the  vicinity  of  Lemoore  with  his  parents  in 
1873,  when  he  was  about  six  years  old.  The  elder  Powell  turned  his 
attention  to  farming  and  the  boy  became  a  student  in  the  Tjcmoore 
public  school  and  later  was  graduated  from  the  liigh  school  at  Tulare. 

The  first  postal  work  done  by  Mr.  Powell  was  in  the  Tulare 
jiostoffice,  where  he  was  for  two  years  a  dejnity  under  Postmaster 
M.  D.  Witt.  Usually  postmasters  are  appointed  chiefly  for  political 
reasons,  but  Mr.  Powell  was  called  to  the  postmastership  of  Lemoore 
because  he  was  experienced  in  the  work  that  the  postoffice  demanded 
and  could  adapt  himself  to  the  situation  more  easily  and  become  an 
efficient  postmaster  with  gi-eater  facility  than  any  other  man  in 
town.  He  was  first  apiiointed  under  the  Harrison  administrntion 
and  he  has  since  been  five  times  reappointed.  His  management  of 
the  office  has  put  it  on  a  l)usiness  plane  considerably  higher  than 
that  usually  occupied  by  postoffices  of  towns  of  about  the  jxipulation 


386  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

of  Lemoore.  So  far  as  he  has  l)een  able  he  has  brought  the  estab- 
lishment to  a  systein  resembliug  in  some  ways  tliat  which  obtains 
ill  cities  of  eimsiderable  importance. 

Eight  miles  from  Lemoore,  in  the  midst  of  the  Empire  district, 
is  a  fine  rancli  owned  by  Mr.  Powell,  which  he  devote.s  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  alfalfa  and  the  raising  of  tine  hogs.  Politically  he  is  a  Re-. 
publican  and  socially  he  is  a  Woodman  of  the  World.  As  a  citizen 
his  public  spirit  is  equal  to  all  demands  which  tend  toward  municipal 
welfare.  lie  married,  in  1898,  Miss  Belle  Adams  of  Kings  county, 
and  thev  have  a  daughter  whom  thev  have  named  Ella. 


ARTHUR  SWALL 

A  prominent  citizen  of  Tulare  coimty,  genial  and  whole-souled, 
who  has  since  1910  been  manager  of  the  Newman  ranch,  which  is 
located  eleven  miles  south  of  the  city  mentioned,  is  Arthur  Swall. 
This  property,  which  consists  of  thirty-four  hundred  acres,  was  bought 
in  1909  by  J.  B.  Newman  of  Santa  Monica,  Cal.  The  principal  busi- 
ness of  the  ranch  is  dairying  and  stock-raising;  one  hundred  and 
twenty  cows  are  milked,  and  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  hogs  are 
fed.  One  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  the  ranch  are  devoted  to  alfalfa 
and  before  the  expiration  of  two  years  seven  hundred  acres  will  be 
given  over  to  that  crop.  Three  hundred  acres  are  farmed  to  grain 
and  five  hundred  head  of  cattle  are  kept.  There  are  on  the  ranch 
two  thirty-horse  power  motors  to  provide  water,  one  two-horse 
power  and  one  one-horse  power  motor  to  o]>erate  cream  separators, 
and  other  small  motors  for  |)umi)ing  water  for  domestic  use  and  for 
the  cold  storage  plant,  ice  being  manufactured  on  the  place.  The  ranch 
is  irrigated  from  Tule  river  by  an  eight-mile  ditch,  a  motor  being 
used  to  raise  water  thirty-five  feet  from  wells.  The  buildings  on 
the  property  are  modern,  including  two  barns  for  sixtj'-two  cows 
and  one  large  horse  stable.  The  bunk-house  for  the  men  cost  $3000 
and  the  concrete  cream  house  $1800,  and  the  buildings  to  house 
machinery  and  the  sheds  to  protect  vehicles  are  ample  and  up-to- 
date.  One  of  the  most  notable  of  the  buildings  is  the  manager's 
residence,  which  is  outfitted  with  all  modern  improvements.  The 
entire  place  is  lighted  by  electricity.  Twelve  to  fifteen  men  and 
thirty-two  horses  are  kept  busy  on  the  ranch  the  year  round.  The 
cream  from  the  dairy  is  sent  to  a  creamery. 

The  nucleus  of  this  ranch  was  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of 
land  homesteaded  by  William  Swall,  father  of  Arthur.  The  latter 
was  born  on  the  place  and  grew  to  manhood  on  his  father's  liome- 
stead   north   of   Tulare.      From    his   liovhood    he    had    been    familiar 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIP^S  .m» 

with  all  the  details  of  ranch  life  and  enterprise,  his  first  venture 
being  in  partnership  with  his  father  in  the  rental  for  a  year  of 
orchard  land  near  Visalia.  Then  he  bought  forty  acres  four  miles 
southwest  of  that  city,  on  which  he  began  farming  and  set  out  twenty 
acres  of  peach  trees  and  devoted  ten  acres  to  alfalfa,  giving  the  rest 
of  the  place  over  to  pasturage.  He  made  many  improvements  on 
the  ranch  and  in  1!)K)  leased  it  to  his  brother-in-law  on  shares,  in 
order  to  accept  his  present  position  with  Mr.  Newman.  He  is  a 
stockholder  in  the  Rochdale  store  at  Tulare  and  Mr.  Newman  is  a 
stockholder  in  the  Dairyiimn's  Co-operative  creamery,  the  headquar- 
ters of  which  is  in  that  city. 

Tn  1809  Mr.  Swall  married  Miss  Maud  Gum,  of  Ilanford,  Cal., 
and  they  have  three  cliildren:  Victor,  at  this  time  (1913),  eleven 
years  old;  Harold,  five  years  old;  and  Richard,  an  infant.  Frater- 
nally Mr.  Swall  affiliates  with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows 
of  Tulare,  being  identified  with  lodge,  encampment  and  the  auxiliary 
organization  of  Rebekahs,  and  he  also  holds  membership  in  a  local 
division  of  the  Fraternal  Brotherhood.  As  a  citizen  he  is  public- 
spirited  to  a  degree  that  makes  him  helpful  to  all  local  interests. 


HUGH  L.  HAMILTON 

One  of  the  sturdy  characters  in  the  business  life  of  Exeter  is 
Hugh  L.  Hamilton,  a  blacksmith  there.  Born  in  1861,  in  Mississippi 
county.  Ark.,  he  was  a  son  of  Andrew  Hamilton,  a  native  of  Ireland. 
His  mother  died  when  he  was  three  years  old  and  he  was  only  in  his 
eighth  year  when  his  father  passed  away.  About  a  year  after  his 
second  bereavement,  he  went  with  his  grandfather  and  the  latter 's 
family  to  Missouri,  where  he  remained  three  years.  In  1872  he  was 
brought  to  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  and  his  education,  begun  in  Missouri, 
was  continued  in  the  ])ublic  schools  here.  He  was  taken  into  the  family 
of  his  uncle,  Hugh  Hamilton,  for  whom  he  was  named.  In  his  early 
life  he  worked  at  stock-i-aisi)ig  and  later  for  a  considerable  time  gave 
his  attention  to  both  that  and  grain  farming,  meanwhile  learning  the 
blacksmith's  trade  and  devoting  himself  to  it  as  occasion  offered. 
Eventually  he  turned  his  attention  entirely  to  blacksmithing,  and  his 
shop  in  p]xeter  is  one  of  the  leading  concerns  of  its  kind  in  that  part 
of  the  county. 

When  Mr.  Hamilton  came  to  Tulare  county  there  were  few  settlers 
in  the  vicinity  of  Exeter  and  the  whole  country  round  about  was  new 
and  undeveloi)ed.  Stock-raising  and  grain-growing  were  the  princi))al 
interests  for  many  years.  His  uncle  had  one  of  the  big  stock  ranches 
of  the  time  and  locality,  and  he  gave  his  nephew  a  fail-  start  in  life. 


390  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

At  one  time  Mr.  Hamilton  owned  five  hundred  and  ninety  acres  of 
land  and  did  well  as  a  farmer,  but  his  inclination  made  him  a  follower 
of  his  chosen  trade. 

In  1884  Mr.  Hamilton  united  his  fortunes  with  those  of  Miss 
Mildred  Ferril,  a  native  of  Missouri,  who  bore  him  six  children,  five 
of  whom  are  living.  She  died  in  1895,  and  in  1897  he  married  Ida 
May  Butts,  a  native  of  California.  By  his  second  marriage  he  has 
had  two  children,  one  of  whom  is  deceased.  The  other,  Harvey  W. 
Hamilton,  is  a  student  in  the  Exeter  high  school.  In  his  political 
affiliations  Mr.  Hamilton  is  a  Democrat.  He  is  identified  with  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  Woodmen  of  the  World  and  is  a  loyal 
citizen,  for  no  worthy  interest  of  the  conmiunity  is  without  his  en- 
couragement. 


LIONEL  W.  MARSHALL 

Another  lowan  who  is  succeeding  in  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  is 
Lionel  W.  Marshall,  of  Tulare.  Mr.  Marshall  was  born  in  Marshall 
county,  in  the  central  part  of  Iowa,  January  10,  1857.  When  he  was 
fifteen  years  old  he  was  taken  to  Yankton,  S.  Dak.,  by  his  parents, 
who  maintained  the  family  home  there  two  years,  then,  in  1874,  came 
to  California,  locating  in  Los  Angeles.  The  elder  Marshall  was  a 
builder,  and  the  son  gained  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  carpenter's 
trade  under  his  instruction.  He,  in  an  earlier  day,  had  acquired 
similar  experience  in  England,  where  he  first  saw  the  light  of  day. 
From  Los  Angeles  father  and  son  went  to  Pomona,  where  they 
erected  the  first  Iniilding  in  the  town,  which,  as  it  happened,  was  a 
hotel.  They  were  kept  busy  there,  contracting  and  building,  three 
years,  then  went  back  to  Los  Angeles.  Soon  Lionel  W.  Marshall 
ijuilt  homes  in  Tulare  for  Thomas  H.  Thompson  and  Banker  Lathro]). 
He  remained  in  the  town  during  the  period  1907-08  and  moved  to 
Lindsay,  where  he  built  himself  a  fine  home  and  fine  residences  for 
James  Reynolds,  Edward  Halleck,  John  Walker  and  Messrs.  Metcalf 
and  Evans.  He  also  remodeled  the  building  of  the  National  Bank 
of  Lindsay,  and  while  he  was  operating  there  went  over  to  Visalia 
and  built  residences  for  A.  W.  Wing  and  James  Richardson.  He 
took  up  his  residence  in  Tulare  in  September,  1911,  and  soon  after- 
ward erected  the  H.  A.  Charters  home  in  that  city.  Even  the  most 
fleeting  inspection  of  the  structures  he  has  erected  conveys  an  idea 
of  their  artistic  design,  workmanlike  construction  and  solid  per- 
manency. They  are  ornaments  to  the  towns  in  which  they  stand  and 
the  best  possible  advertisement  of  liis  skill  and  ability.  Some  of  his 
recent  architectural  achievements  are  in  evidence  and  he  has  in  band 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  CbUNTIES  391 

contracts  for  execution  in  the  near  future  which  cannot  but  add  to 
his  laurels. 

In  1906  Mr.  Marshall  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Parker,  a  daughter 
of  Andrew  Parker,  a  pioneer  at  Monrovia.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Visalia  body  of  the  ordei-  of  Moose.  In  the  affairs  of  the  community 
he  is  interested  and  helpful. 


GIDEON  LORENDO 

In  the  province  of  Quebec,  Canada,  forty-nine  miles  west  of  the 
city  of  the  same  name,  Gideon  Lorendo  was  born,  September  17,  1846, 
a  son  of  Cyril  and  Locadie  (Deleours)  Lorendo,  natives  of  Canada. 
His  father,  who  was  a  farmer,  held  the  office  of  sheriff  more  than 
forty  years.  When  Gideon  left  his  native  province  he  went  to  Lowell, 
Mass.,  and  found  employment  in  a  cotton  mill.  Later  he  worked  in  .i 
sawmill,  then  for  five  years  he  traveled  throughout  New  England,  then 
went  west  by  way  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  in  1869  stopped  at  Duhith, 
Minn.  There  were  at  that  time  only  five  cabins  in  the  place  and  they 
were  occupied  by  half-breed  Indians.  He  found  there  employment  con- 
nected with  lumbering,  but  soon  went  back  to  the  province  of  Quebec 
where  he  married  Jane  L.  Bounty,  a  native  of  Vermont,  who  became 
the  mother  of  his  eight  childi'en:  Minnie,  Napoleon,  Ellen,  Philip, 
Louisa,  Alfred,  Albert  and  Josephine.  His  second  marriage  was  to 
Elizabeth  Euch,  a  native  of  Oregon.  Their  children  are  named  Wil- 
liam, Peter  and  Agnes.  Agnes  is  attending  school  at  Orosi.  Napoleon 
married  Jessie  Woods,  and  resides  in  Oakland,  Cal.,  and  has  two 
children.  Ellen  married  John  Fisher  of  Mariposa  county,  Cal.,  and 
has  five  daughters.  Philip  married  Lulu  Beggs ;  their  home  is  in  Mono 
covmty  and  they  have  two  children.  Alfred  married  Ethel  Griggs  and 
they  live  at  San  Francisco.  Albert,  who  is  an  engineer  on  the  rail- 
road belonging  to  the  mill  company  at  Sugarpine,  Cal.,  married  Pearl 
Uslis  and  they  have  a  son  and  a  daughter.  Josephine  married  Ira 
Thomas;  they  live  at  llanford  and  have  two  children.  Mr.  Lorendo 
has  thirteen  grandchildren. 

From  Windsor,  Canada,  across  the  river  from  Detroit,  Mr. 
Lorendo  came  to  Califoi'nia  in  1877.  In  1881,  liecause  of  the  dry  sea- 
son, he  sold  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  for  $500.  Soon  after, 
he  bought  another  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  at  Sand  Creek  Gaj)  for 
$L'..")0  an  acre  and  in  1888  sold  it  for  $24  an  acre  and  went  to  Oregon 
and  lived  in  Josephine  county,  tliat  state,  for  six  years,  farming  for  a 
time,  then  mining  for  gold.  As  he  was  spending  more  money  than  lie 
was  netting  out  of  the  grcnind,  he  disposed  of  his  holdings  in  Oregon 
and  sold  a  place  near  Chamberlain,  S.  Dak.,  which  he  had  owned  for 


392  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

some  time,  for  $25,  and  went  to  British  Columbia  and  kept  a  tavern  on 
the  Caribou  road  until  he  had  taken  in  from  lodgers  enough  to  give 
him  another  start.  Then  he  came  back  to  Orosi  and  sent  for  his  wife. 
He  then  had  but  $2.50  to  his  name  and  faced  the  certainty  of  having 
to  ])ay  out  the  first  $200  that  he  could  earn  over  and  above  a  bare 
living.  But  he  struggled  manfully  for  a  foothold,  and  in  1901  bought 
twenty  acres  of  land  at  $25  an  acre.  This  lie  has  improved  with  a 
house,  a  barn  and  other  buildings.  He  has  nine  and  a  half  acres  in 
Malaga  grapes,  eight  acres  in  jieaches  and  two  acres  in  alfalfa.  He 
has  paid  for  his  land  and  improvements,  has  ]jleuty  of  stock  for  home 
use,  and  is  prospering  in  the  regular  California  way.  Politically  he  is 
a  Socialist  and  he  and  the  other  members  of  his  family  are  members 
of  the  Catholic  church,  in  which  they  were  all  born  and  brought  up. 

Before  settling  down  in  Tulare  county  Mr.  Lorendo  travelled 
through  twenty-seven  states,  trying  to  find  the  best  location  possible, 
and  is  very  much  pleased  with  California.  He  was  twenty-six  mile> 
from  their  postoffice  at  Visalia  when  he  first  settled  here. 


T.  W.  KYLE 


To  California,  Indiana  has  given  many  citizens  who  have  be- 
come prominent  in  one  relation  or  another.  The  ranks  of  the  builders 
of  different  classes  include  many  of  them.  Of  the  builders  of  Tulare 
county  few  are  more  deservedly  po]iular  than  the  sou  of  the  Hoosier 
State  whose  name  is  above.  It  was  in  Jennings  county  that  Mr.  Kyle 
was  born,  1853.  He  came  to  California  first  in  1879,  remained  a  year 
and  went  to  Texas,  where  he  worked  as  a  brick  mason.  In  1889  he 
came  back,  and  settling  in  Tulare,  began  there  a  successful  career  as 
a  brick  contractor  and  builder.  In  nearly  all  parts  of  the  county  may 
be  seen  fine  brick  structures  which  are  monuments  to  his  skill  and  en- 
terprise, and  among  them  the  following  are  conspicuous:  At 
Tulare — the  I.  H.  Ham  block,  the  W.  Clough  block,  the  new  high  school 
building,  the  Carnegie  Library  building,  the  city  hall ;  at  Visalia — the 
George  Ballon  block,  the  county  jail,  the  HerroU  block,  the  Delta  build- 
ing, the  Lncier  block,  the  Baptist  church;  at  Porterville — the  Sartou 
block,  the  flour  mill,  the  Henry  Traga  building,  the  remodeled  First 
National  Bank  building;  at  lianford — the  Biddle  Bank  building;  at 
Tipton — a  hotel;  at  Traver — a  hotel;  at  Dinuba — the  Hayden  &  Boone 
block;  and  many  other  lesser  buildings  for  different  purposes.  He 
has  built  also  some  fine  blocks  in  Bakersfield,  Kern  county. 

As  he  becomes  better  and  more  widely  known  his  business  in- 
creases rapidly.  It  is  already  one  of  the  most  considerable  of  its 
class  in  this  part  of  the  state  and  bids  fair  within  the  next  few  years 


:^^  ^ . /^  c=.^..<j^ 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  395 

to  outrauk  all  coiiiiictitors.  His  busiuess  methods  are  such  as  to  com- 
meud  him  to  all  requiring  such  service  as  he  is  so  well  able  to  render; 
he  has  amjile  capital  and  backing  and  may  be  dei)ended  on  faithfully 
to  carry  out  any  contract  he  may  make,  however  large  or  difficult. 

In  1891  Mr.  Kyle  married  Miss  Florence  Owens,  a  native  of  Ala- 
l)ama,  and  she  has  Jiorne  him  children  whom  they  have  named  Alvin 
J.,  Forrest  and  Kuth. 


LUTHER  C.  HAWLEY 

In  Trumbull  county,  Ohio,  within  the  Western  Reserve,  Luther 
C.  Hawley  was  born  May  4,  1829,  and  when  he  was  six  years  old  his 
father,  who  was  a  farmer,  removed  to  Bond  county,  Illinois,  where 
the  boy  gained  some  schooling  and  a  knowledge  of  farming.  In 
1851,  when  he  was  twenty-two  years  old,  he  with  two  partners 
traveled  with  a  four  horse  team  to  Oregon  City,  Ore.,  being  five 
months  on  the  road.  He  went  to  Salem,  Ore.,  and  from  there  to 
Eugene,  Lane  county,  where  he  was  among  the  first  settlers,  and 
shortly  after  became  first  clerk  of  that  county.  In  1855  he  helped 
to  organize  and  enlisted  in  the  Mounted  Volunteers  and  was  made 
first  lieutenant,  serving  as  such  in  the  Indian  service  from  October 
to  January.  His  term  having  expired  he  with  others  organized 
another  company  and  he  was  appointed  chief  of  the  staff,  with  rank 
of  major,  under  General  Lamerick.  He  served  as  such  until  the  war 
was  over  and  later  was  a  clerk  in  the  Governor's  office  at  Salem 
and  helped  in  the  settlement  of  local  war  and  Indian  affairs  until 
1857.  Desiiing  to  again  see  his  mother  he  returned  east  by  way  of 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  the  Panama  railroad  was  the  first  rail- 
road he  had  ever  seen.  Remaining  in  Illinois  until  in  the  spring  of 
1859,  he  then  started  across  the  plains  to  Colorado,  with  a  determina- 
tion to  reach  Pike's  Peak.  He  was  captain  of  a  train  of  fifty-three 
wagons,  and  his  party  located  on  the  present  site  of  Denver,  where 
there  was  then  but  one  house,  this  being  a  double  log  cabin.  He  did 
placer  mining  in  Russell's  Gulch,  then  returned  East  with  a  mule 
team  to  Illinois.  He  practiced  law  at  Greeu\'ille,  Bond  county,  111., 
until  in  1862,  when  he  enlisted  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth 
Regiment  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  with  which  he  served  as 
sergeant  nuijor  unlil  the  end  of  the'  war,  participating  in  the  siege 
of  Vicksburg  forty-seven  days,  also  in  the  fighting  at  Champion  Hill 
and  Fort  Gibson.  Tie  remained  at  Vickslnirg,  in  McPherson's  com- 
mand, until  February,  1864,  and  fought  under  that  general  at  Tom- 
bigbee  river  and  at  Jackson,  Miss.  In  June  he  marched  toward 
Lookout    Mountain,    Mission     Ridge    and     Chickamauga,    and     after 


396  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

participating'  in  the  fightiug  at  those  points  went  to  Atlanta,  where 
General  MoPherson  was  killed.  Mr.  Hawley  was  then  acting  as 
assistant  adjiitaut-general ;  after  the  death  of  General  MePherson 
he  was  transferred  to  General  C'anby's  headquarters  at  New  Orleans, 
ranking  as  captain.  He  was  present  at  the  capture  of  Mobile,  whence 
he  returned  to  New  Orleans,  and  remained  there  until  the  close  of 
the  war,  being  mustered  out  November,  1865. 

After  tlie  war  Mr.  UawIey  went  back  to  Illinois  and  resumed  the 
practice  of  law  at  ^^andalia,  where  he  married  and  lived  until  1870, 
when  he  came  to  California,  bringing  his  family  with  him.  He  lived 
in  the  Sacramento  valley,  raising  wheat  imtil  187-1,  then  came  to 
Tulare  county.  The  country  round  about  was  a  naked  plain  and  one 
could  scarcely  see  a  house  in  half  a  day  of  fast  riding.  Mr.  Hawley 
bought  a  quarter-section  of  railroad  land  near  the  present  site  of 
Hanford  on  the  south,  and  for  a  time  he  prospered  with  wjieat  and 
stock,  later  putting  his  land  into  fruit  trees.  He  lived  on  his  jilacc 
until  1905,  when  he  rented  it  and  liought  a  residence  in  Hanford,  and 
since  his  removal  to  the  city  he  has  sold  the  ranch.  He  was  a 
participant  in  the  Mussel  Slough  tragedy  and  was  a  member  of  a 
conuuittee  sent  to  San  Francisco  to  deal  with  the  railroad  company. 
He  and  his  associates  were  put  in  prison  there  but  were  released  the 
next  day.  In  the  later  development  of  this  section  he  has  been  active  in 
the  promotion  of  irrigation,  and  in  all  relations  with  his  fellow 
citizens  has  been  helpfully  public  spirited.  He  keeps  alive  memories 
of  1861-65  by  membership  with  MePherson  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  of  Hanford. 

In  1865  Mr.  Hawley  married  Alice  M.  Stevenson,  a  native  of 
Kentucky.  Two  of  their  eight  children  were  born  in  Illinois,  the 
others  being  natives  of  California.  .  Their  son  Charles  Eichard 
became  a  lawyer,  but  has  passed  away.  Samuel  Vincent  is  a  farmer 
located  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Hanford.  Clarence  E.  is  a  rig-builder 
in  the  oil  fields  at  Maricopa,  Cal.  Lulu  J.  is  the  wife  of  John  H. 
Van  Vlear,  of  Hanford.  Ralph  S..  of  Berkeley,  is  a  civil  engineer. 
Edgar  L.  is  deceased.  A'ictor  C.  and  Claude  were  twins.  Victor  is 
a  plumber  at  Hanford;  Claude  is  deceased.  Mrs.  Hawley  passed 
awav  in  1902,  aged  sixty-two  years. 


BYRON  O.  LOVELACE 

The  ])ul)lic  ollicials  of  a  county  furnish  to  the  outside  world  the 
best  expression  of  the  character  of  its  people  and  indicate  not  only 
its  present  state  of  development,  but  also  its  trend  and  its  aspira- 
tions. Tried  by  this  standard,  Tulare  county  commands  the  respect 
and  confidence  of  all  inquirers  l)y  reason  of  the  representative  char- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  397 

acter  of  tlie  men  wlio  are  filling  its  official  positions,  and  among  them 
none  is  worthy  of  higher  respect  for  capacity  and  devotion  to  the 
interests  confided  to  his  charge  than  Byron  O.  Lovelace,  who  lias 
ably  and  houoral)!y  filled  the  office  of  county  surveyor  since  Jan- 
uary 1,  1911. 

A  son  of  Josejjh  W.  and  Helen  (Sehlichting)  Lovelace,  Byron 
0.  Lovelace  was  born  in  Texas  in  1883.  He  was  educated  in  the 
public  school  at  Visalia  and  was  graduated  after  a  special  course 
of  scientific  study  from  the  Van  der  Naillen  School  of  Engineering 
and  Mines  of  San  Francisco.  During  the  ensuing  six  years  lie  was 
in  the  employ  of  the  United  States  government,  doing  surveying 
for  the  agricultural  department,  most  of  the  time  in  National  Forest 
Reserve  work  in  California  and  Nevada.  Returning  to  Visalia  in 
1910,  he  was  a  candidate  as  a  Republican  at  the  August  primary  elec- 
tion for  the  office  of  county  surveyor  of  Tulare  county,  to  which  he 
was  duly  elected  by  a  large  ma,]ority  in  the  fall  of  that  year. 

As  a  man  of  piiblic  spirit  Mr.  Lovelace  takes  high  place  in  the 
citizenship  of  Tulare  county,  to  the  important  general  interests  of 
which  he  has  been  cons]ncuoush^  devoted.  Fraternally  he  affiliates 
with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  He  married,  July,  1910,  Miss 
Eula  Simmons,  a  native  of  Riverside  county,  C-al.,  and  a  daughter 
of  a  pioneer  stockman  in  that  part  of  the  state. 


PERRY  DORMAN  FOWLER 

As  horticultural  commissioner  for  Tulare  county,  Perry  Dor- 
man  Fowler  is  proving  excellent  ability.  His  splendid  life  dates 
from  March  1,  1851,  when  he  was  born  in  the  state  of  Missouri,  a 
son  of  Benjamin  and  Mary  Ajin  (Thompson)  Fowler,  natives  re- 
siieetively  of  Indiana  and  of  Missouri.  In  1854,  when  he  was  about 
three  years  old,  his  jiarents  accompanied  an  ox-team  immigratinn 
party  to  California,  bringing  their  family,  and  the  father  mined  for 
a  time  near  Oroville,  but  moved  from  there  to  the  San  Ramon 
valley  and  farmed  there  until  in  the  fall  of  1858.  From  tliat  time 
until  in  1868  he  farmed  near  Woodland,  Yolo  county,  and  there 
Perry  D.  attended  the  public  schools  and  was  a  student  in  the  Hes- 
perian College.  The  next  home  of  the  family  was  near  the  present 
site  of  Newman  in  Stanislaus  coimty,  where  the  elder  Fowler  bought 
three  thousand  acres  of  land,  raised  stock  and  grew  grain  until  in 
1874.  After  that  he  herded  sheep  and  farmed  in  the  Deer  Creek 
region  of  Tulare  county  unlil  February  20,  187(5,  when  he  passed 
away.  The  son  settled  the  family  estate  and  in  the  fall  of  that  year 
Mrs.  Fowler  moved  to  Tulare,  which  was  her  home  as  long  as  she 


398  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

lived,  her  death,  however,  occurring  iu  Los  Angeles  in  September, 
1895. 

Until  1881  Perry  Dorman  Fowler  farmed  and  raised  sheep. 
Then  he  began  buying  grain  for  G.  W.  McNear  and  selling  farm 
machinery  for  Baker  &  Hamilton  of  San  Francisco.  In  the  period 
1887-1900  he  operated  the  Fowler  farm.  In  1900  he  was  appointed 
horticultural  couuiiissiouer  for  Tulare  county  and  to  the  work  of 
that  office  he  has  since  devoted  liimself.  He  has  a  farm  of  seventy- 
one  acres,  five  miles  from  Tulare,  which  is  leased  by  his  son-in-law. 
Thirty  acres  of  it  is  in  orchard  and  thirty  acres  in  alfalfa. 

On  September  9,  1879,  Mr.  Fowler  married  Jeanette  Josephine 
Hawkins,  who  was  born  at  Suisun,  Solano  county,  Cal.,  February 
1,  1857,  and  died  May  12,  1910.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Vardiman 
Hawkins,  of  Elmira,  Solano  county,  a  pioneer  in  that  part  of  the 
state.  She  bore  her  husband  two  children,  Jeanette  May,  December 
10,  1880,  and  J.  Benjamin,  July  19,  1882.  The  daughter  is  the  wife 
of  J.  B.  Southwell  of  Tulare  county.  The  son,  who  is  farming  on 
the  Lindsay  road,  seven  miles  east  of  Tulare,  married  Mrs.  Annie 
Smith,  and  they  have  two  sons,  Eoy  Benjamin  and  Perry  Daniel 
Fowler. 

By  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Tulare  irrigation  district.  Mr. 
Fowler  was  appointed  to  assess  property  to  raise  revenue  with  which 
to  pay  off  the  bonded  indebtedness  of  the  district  to  settlers,  -is 
provided  in  the  compromise  with  the  bondholders  in  1883.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Mutual  Farmers'  Insurance  Company,  and  being  a 
man  of  much  public  spirit  has  been  identified  from  time  to  time 
with  other  interests  of  importance  to  the  community.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  First  Christian  church  of  Tulare. 


EDWARD  H.  CHANCE 

One  of  the  extensive  agriculturists  of  his  coimty,  who  has  been 
closely  identified  with  its  development  for  many  years  is  Edward 
H.  Chance,  who  now  lives  near  Sultana  in  Tulare  county.  He  was  born 
near  Versailles,  lud.,  March  24,  1860,  .a  son  of  Henry  and  Louisa 
(Nuckles)  Chance,  and  has  not  seen  bis  mother  since  he  was  four 
years  old.  His  father  was  a  pioneer  in  Oregon,  living  for  a  time 
in  Cottage  Grove.  There  Edward  H.  went  in  1887,  having  spent 
his  life  in  Indiana  and  Kentucky  until  that  time.  He  was  employed 
at  logging  and  lumbering  nine  years  in  that  part  of  Oregon,  then 
came  to  Fresno  county,  Cal.,  where  he  remained  one  year  before  settling 
in  Tulare  county. 

Soon  after  his  arrival   iu  this  countv  Mr.   Chance  bought  fortv 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  401 

acres  of  the  Bump  tract,  i>ayins-  $800  for  twenty  acres  and  $:^5  an 
acre  for  the  other  twenty.  He  has  tive  acres  planted  to  a  peach 
orchard,  fourteen  acres  under  alfalfa  and  a  good  acreage  of  corn.  He 
keeps  seven  head  of  stock  and  a  few  hogs,  and  has  gradually  imj^roved 
his  ranch  from  a  wheat  field  until  it  is  one  of  the  best  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. By  bringing  it  to  a  high  state  of  cultivation  he  is  securing 
crops  which  do  not  suffer  by  comparison  with  any  others  of  their 
respective  kinds  raised  in  the  vicinity  of  Sultana.  As  a  progressive 
farmer  and  citizen  he  enjoys  a  higii  reimtation.  His  public  spirit 
impels  him  to  lielp  all  movements  for  the  benefit  of  his  community  to 
the  extent  of  his  ability.  In  politics  he  is  a  Republican  but  has 
never  sought  office.  While  living  in  Oregon  he  was  road  supervisor 
for  two  years  in  Crawfordsville,  and  deputy  constable  in  the  Sultana 
district.  Fraternally  he  atliliates  with  the  Modern  Woodmen  of 
America,  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Beavers. 

In  Indiana,  March  24,  1883,  Mr.  Chance  married  Miss  Martha 
Carson,  who  was  born  sixty  miles  north  of  Indianapolis,  and  they 
have  four  children  living,  Percy  E.,  Lester  Carl,  Eddie  Frank,  and 
Bruce  Allen.  Pearl,  the  only  daughter,  is  deceased.  Percy  married 
Mollie  Ramsey;  later  he  married  Sadie  Carter  and  they  have  a  child 
and  are  living  in  Benton  county,  Oregon. 


DANIEL  KINDLE  ZUMWALT 

A  descendant  of  an  old  Mrginia  family,  Daniel  Kindle  Zumwalt 
was  born  near  Joliet,  111.,  January  24,  1845,  of  German  extraction, 
his  first  American  ancestor,  George  (or  Adam)  Zumwalt,  having  emi- 
grated from  the  Fatherland  in  the  eighteenth  century,  to  become  a 
settler  in  Virginia  and  later  a  pioneer  in  Ohio,  which  was  then  on  the 
fringe  of  ciA'ilization.  Jacob  Zumwalt,  son  of  the  emigrant,  went,  in 
January,  1880,  from  Adams  county,  0.,  to  Hancock  county,  Ind.,  where 
he  died  December,  1883,  Jacob,  his  son,  was  1)orn  in  Ohio,  September 
15,  1807.  He  married,  June  24,  1830,  Susanna  Kindle  Smith,  born  in 
Ohio,  June  12,  1811.  With  his  father,  his  three  brothers  and  his  five 
sisters,  he  went  to  Hancock  county,  Ind.,  in  1830,  and  four  years  later 
he  went  to  Will  county.  III.,  aliout  ten  miles  from  Joliet.  There  he 
remained  twenty  years,  until  March,  1854,  when  he  started  with  ox- 
teams  overland  for  California.  He  farmed  in  the  Sacramento  valley 
until  1872,  when  he  came  to  his  farm  near  Visalia,  Tulare  county,  where 
he  died  May  31,  1878.  His  wife  died  in  Sacramento  November  20, 
1896,  and  they  are  both  buried  there.  He  was  a  Methodist  and  in  many 
ways  evinced  great  jniblic  spirit.  His  wife  bore  him  children  as  fol- 
lows:   Nancy  (Mrs.  Rockwell  Hunt),  who  died  in  Sacramento  in  1!)04; 


402  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIP]S 

Sarah  M.  (Mrs.  James  Shoemaker),  of  Santa  Clara;  Joseph,  l)oru 
April  30,  1836,  who  died  in  Kern  county,  August  1,  1878;  John  H.,  of 
San  Jose,  Cal.;  Elizabeth  (Mrs.  Hawk),  of  Sacramento;  Daniel  Kindle, 
of  this  review. 

When  his  father  came  to  California,  Daniel  Kindle  Zumwalt  and 
other  members  of  their  family  came  along,  and  Daniel  rode  horseback 
and  helped  to  drive  the  oxen.  He  was  only  nine  and  his  youth  ex- 
empted him  from  guard  duty,  but  every  other  duty  that  fell  to  the  lot 
of  his  elders  was  performed  by  him  at  one  time  or  another.  He 
attended  the  jiublic  and  high  schools  of  Sacramento,  and  was  graduated 
in  1865,  later  taking  the  degrees  of  A.M.  and  A.B.  at  the  University 
of  the  Pacific.  Having  been  awarded  a  first-grade  teacher's  certificate, 
he  taught  school  a  year  at  Yolo,  then  came,  in  18(59,  to  Tulare  county, 
where  he  lived  out  his  allotted  days.  For  twenty-three  years  he  was 
land  agent  and  attorney  for  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  company, 
his  territory  including  Tulare.  Kern  and  Fresno  and  what  is  now 
Kings  county.  He  was  one  of  the  originators  and  organizers  of  the 
76  Land  and  Water  company,  most  of  the  capital  for  which  he  per- 
sonally secured.  Preparatory  to  the  formation  of  the  company  Mr. 
Zumwalt  bought  the  water  rights  of  Risley  &  Cameron  and  others 
and  secured  options  on  large  tracts  of  land.  As  secretary  of  the 
company  he  promoted  its  interests  until  its  principal  office  was  moved 
from  Visalia  to  Traver.  He  was  a  prime  factor  and  a  stockholder  of 
the  Kaweah  Canal  and  Irrigation  Co.  and  was  influential  in  the  pre- 
vention of'the  diversion  of  the  water  from  the  settlers.  In  the  course 
of  his  busy  life  he  improved  and  developed  lands  of  his  own,  and  his 
estate  owns  a  fine  farm  Ijetween  Visalia  and  Tulare,  which  is  devoted 
to  dairying  and  the  raising  of  Shorthorn  cattle;  in  the  improvement 
and  equipment  of  this  property  he  established  a  creamery.  He  was 
instrumental,  also,  in  tlie  setting  up  of  another  at  Visalia. 

In  the  construction  of  other  canals  than  those  mentioned  above 
Mr.  Zumwalt  was  active.  With  others,  he  was  indefatigable  in  pre- 
senting proofs  to  tlie  Interior  Department,  at  Washington.  D.  C,  of 
the  necessity  for  the  preservation  of  the  redwood  forests  for  future 
generations.  It  was  lie  who  enlisted  the  co-operation  of  Congressman 
Vandever  of  California,  who  secured  the  passage  of  an  authorization 
of  the  setting  aside  of  General  Grant  Park,  which  insures  the  preser- 
vation of  the  giant  redwoods,  there  more  numerous  than  in  any  other 
part  of  the  Sierras. 

At  Tulare,  May  20,  1890,  Mr.  Zumwalt  married  Emma  F.  Black- 
wedel,  a  native  of  Taycheedah,  Wis.  J.  Henry  Blackwedel,  her  father, 
born  in  Hemsliiig,  Hanover,  Germany,  was  a  son  of  -John  Blackwedel. 
who  brought  his  family  to  the  United  States  in  1847  and  settled  on  a 
farm  in  Wisconsin,  whence  they  moved  later  to  Jo  Daviess  county.  TU. 
John  Henrv  Blackwedel  was  a  farmer  in  Wisconsin  and  later  a  mer- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  40;5 

chant  in  Sauk  City,  Wis.,  and  Galena,  III.,  and  later  l)ecanie  a  resident 
of  Dubuque,  Iowa,  in  which  city  he  passed  away  November  29,  1863. 
Of  literary  tastes  and  education,  he  entertained  writers  and  lecturers 
who  visited  him  wherever  he  lived.  He  deserves  a  place  in  history  as 
one  of  the  sponsors  of  the  Republican  party.  His  wife,  formerly  Anna 
Meta  Holterman,  was  born  in  Germany,  a  daughter  of  H.  C.  Holter- 
man,  who  jived  out  his  days  there.  She  died  in  Dubuque,  Iowa,  in 
1872.  Two  of  their  children  lived  to  maturity,  Mrs.  Zumwalt  and  Mrs. 
Minnie  Pillsbury.  Of  a  former  marriage  two  sons,  Henry  Herman  and 
John  Frederick,  died  in  service,  while  members  of  Company  I,  Seven- 
teenth Missouri  Volunteer  Infantry.  Mrs.  Zumwalt,  next  to  the  young- 
est, was  reared  and  educated  in  Dubuque,  came  to  Riverside  in  1886 
with  her  sister,  Mrs.  Pillsbury,  and  in  1887  came  to  Tulare  county. 
She  is  a  helpful  member  of  the  Methodist  church  and  does  nun-h  for 
Visalia  Lodge  No.  48,  Independent  Order  of  Good  Templars,  with 
which  she  has  lieeu  identified  since  its  organization  by  her  late  hus- 
band November  18,  1870.  He  was  foremost  in  incorporating  the  Good 
Templars'  Hall  Association  and  in  l)uilding  the  Good  Templars  Hall  at 
Visalia  and  in  so  safeguarding  it  that  it  cannot  be  diverted  from  its 
intended  use  or  pass  from  the  control  of  the  society.  He  was  Grand 
Councilor  of  the  order  and  for  many  years  one  of  its  most  devoted  and 
liberal  supjiorters.  He  was  a  member  and  a  trustee  of  the  Methodist 
church  of  Visalia  and  in  1869-70  organized  its  Sunday  school,  of  which 
he  was  long  superintendent.  Politically,  he  was  in  early  life  a  Repub- 
lican, in  later  years  a  Prohibitionist.  His  opinions  on  the  liquor  ques- 
tion are  shared  by  Mrs.  Zumwalt,  who,  as  an  ardent  woman  suffragist, 
has  seen  nuich  in  which  to  rejoice  in  these  later  days  of  awakening 
and  of  regeneration  in  matters  political.  She  was  a  valued  assistant  to 
Mr.  Zumwalt,  standing  l)eside  him  in  all  trials  and  enc'ouraging  him 
with  her  devoted  wifely  love.  Their  union  was  a  very  happy  one,  and 
at  home,  in  church  work  or  in  lodge  work  their  interests  were  mutual 
Mr.  Zumwalt 's  death  occurred  November  2,  1904. 

The  town  of  Traver,  Tulare  county,  was  laid  out  through  Mr. 
Zumwalt 's  instrumentality.  So  versatile  was  he  that  he  carried  on  an 
a])stract  and  land  business,  gave  attention  to  stock-raising  and  dairy- 
ing, patented  a  process  for  ])hotographing  and  preserving  record?, 
and  did  many  other  odd  and  interesting  things  not  directly  connected 
with  his  chief  pursuits.  "With  tiie  instincts  of  a  true  business  woman, 
Mrs.  Zumwalt  personally  attends  to  business  connected  with  her  sev- 
eral ranches.  She  has  a  dairy  ranch  of  twelve  hundi'cd  acres  near 
Tulare  City.  On  her  Deer  Creek  ranch  of  thirty-three  iiundred  acies 
she  raises  many  fine  beef  cattle.  She  has  a  quarter-section  of  ];\\u\  on 
the  Tule  river,  of  which  eight  acres  are  planted  to  oranges  just  com- 
ing into  bearing,  and  she  has  other  ranches  which  she  rents  out 


404  TULAKE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

DK.  E.  H.  BYEON 

The  birth  of  Dr.  E.  H.  Byron  occurred  at  Lemoore,  September 
17,  1877,  the  son  of  H.  AV.  Byron,  lie  was  educated  iu  the  common 
school  and  in  the  Union  high  school  at  Santa  Paula,  Ventura  county, 
graduating  in  1896,  when  he  entered  the  California  Medical  College 
at  San  Francisco,  where  he  was  graduated  in  medicine  in  lyUU. 
Then  he  took  the  pharmaceutical  course  at  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  of  the  same  city,  and  was  graduated  as  a  pharmacist 
from  that  institution  iu  1907. 

After  leaving  college  Dr.  Byron  was  in  charge  of  McLean  hos- 
pital, San  Francisco,  for  a  year,  and  during  the  ensuing  two  years 
lie  was  iu  the  practice  of  his  profession,  with  offices  in  that  citj'. 
Then,  going  to  Guerneville,  he  opened  an  office  and  was  in  practice 
there  two  years  and  during  the  next  two  years  he  was  in  profes- 
sional work  at  Wheatland,  Yuba  county.  He  then  opened  a  drug 
store  in  Oakland  which  he  conducted  iu  connection  with  professional 
practice  until  in  1909.  In  Novemlier  of  that  year,  he  entered  into 
professional  partnership  with  his  brother  at  Lemoore,  and  in  the 
month  of  November,  1912,  opened  up  his  jjresent  office  in  the  Bolt- 
man  block  in  the  city,  of  Lemoore.  He  is  a  member  of  the  San 
Joaquin  Valley  Health  Association,  the  California  State  Medical 
Society  and  the  American  Society  of  Medicine  and  is  the  health 
officer  and  a  member  of  the  city  board  of  health.  He  affiliates  so- 
cially with  most  of  the  fraternal  orders  represented  at  Lemoore.  To  a 
general  practice  Dr.  E.  H.  Byron  has  consistently  devoted  himself 
with  sucli  success  that  his  services  are  in  demand  not  only  in  the 
town  but  also  in  its  tributary  country  and  as  a  citizen  lie  lias 
demonstrated  much  ])ubUc  spirit.  Tu  1902  he  married  Miss  Har- 
riet Freeman  of  San  Jose.  Tlieir  son,  Herbert  Freeman  Byron, 
celebrated    his    seventh   liirthday   May,    1912. 


THOMAS  B.  TWADDLE 

The  present  cluiirman  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  of  Tulare 
county  is  Thomas  B.  Twaddle,  who  has  long  been  prominent  in  the 
aifairs  of  this  part  of  the  state.  Born  in  Utah,  in  1857.  he  was 
taken  as  a  cliild  liy  his  familv  on  their  removal  to  Nevada,  and  it 
was  in  the  last  named  state  that  ho  grew  to  manhood  and  obtained 
an  education  and  a  practical  knowledge  of  elemental  business.  He 
came  to  California  in  1879,  when  he  was  about  twentv-two  years 
of  age,  and  settling  three  miles  east  of  Tulare,  he  rented  land,  raised 


TULAKE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  405 

grain  aud  did  general  farming  in  the  vicinity  of  Tulare  until  19U4, 
since  when  he  has  given  his  attention  to  other  interests. 

In  1892  Mr.  Twaddle  was  first  elected  to  the  office  of  supervisor, 
aud  he  has  served  iu  that  capacity  by  repeated  re-election  continu- 
ously to  the  present  time.  It  is  said  that  he  holds  the  record  in 
California  for  unbroken  service  as  supervisor  for  nineteen  years, 
ami  during  the  long  period  of  fourteen  years  he  has  been  chairman 
of  the  board.  In  every  measure  for  the  advancement  and  improve- 
ment of  Tulare  county  that  has  been  put  forth  during  the  last  two 
decades  he  has  taken  a  helpful  interest  and  some  of  the  more  im- 
portant ones  he  has  been  instrumental  in  putting  through  by  sheer 
force  of  will,  determined  that  Tulare  county  should  have  the  very 
best  in  any  line  that  was  available  to  it  regardless  of  reactionary 
opposition.  He  has  proven  himself  a  model  official  and  has  come 
to  be  known  as  one  of  the  men  of  California  who  accomplish  things. 

In  1883  Mr.  Twaddle  married  Miss  Emma  Garisou,  daughter  of 
a  pioneer  in  Stanislaus  county,  Cal.,  where  she  was  born,  aud  thej' 
have  children  as  follows:  Alice  M.,  who  is  the  wife  of  W.  J.  Fisher 
of  Tulare;  Forrest  J.;  Frank  C. ;  William,  and  Thomas  B.,  Jr. 
Socially  he  is  a  member  of  the  order  of  Woodmen  of  the  World 
and  has  for  several  years  been  council  commander  of  his  local  di- 
vision and  is  a  supporter  of  the  auxiliary  order  of  Women  of  Wood- 
craft. He  is  a  Red  Man,  also,  and  affiliates  with  the  order  of  Fra- 
ternal Aid. 


H.  SCOTT  JACOBS 

The  talented  aud  successful  lawyer  of  Hanford,  who  has  at- 
tained a  high  position  at  the  hnv  of  Kings  county,  Cal.,  and  by 
n:any  public-spirited  acts  has  won  reputation  as  one  of  the  leading- 
citizens  of  Hanford,  is  H.  Scott  Jacobs  who  was  born  at  Visalia 
November  2,  1875.  He  obtained  his  English  education  in  i)ul)lic 
schools  at  Lemoore  and  in  the  San  Jose  high  school  from  wliicli  lie 
was  graduated  in  1894.  His  professional  studies  were  begun  in 
1895  under  comjjetent  direction,  and  after  mastering  the  law  course 
at  tlie  University  of  California  he  was  graduated  in  1899  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  of  California  May  19th  that  year. 

Tt  was  at  Hanford  that  Mr.  Jacobs  entered  upon  the  jiractice 
of  his  profession,  opening  an  office  in  the  First  National  Bank  liuild- 
ing.  From  the  outset  he  succeeded  even  beyond  his  expectations. 
Not    much    time    was    required    for    his    ability    and    attainments    to 


406  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

become  known  to  the  business  public  and  his  general  attitude  as  a 
lawyer  and  as  a  citizen  commended  him  to  the  people.  It  became 
evident  that  his  public  spirit  was  equal  to  any  reasonable  demand 
upon  it  and  that  he  was  willing  at  all  times  to  encourage  to  the 
extent  of  Ms  ability  any  proposition  put  forth  for  the  benefit  and 
development  of  the  town  and  county.  In  November,  1902,  he  was 
elected  district  attorney  for  Kings  count}",  in  which  office  he  served 
faithfully  and  efficiently  four  years.  In  1906  he  was  appointed 
by  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  city  of  Hanford  to  the  office  of  city 
attorney,  and  in  that  relation  to  the  general  public  he  has  still  more 
markedly  won  the  good  opinion  of  all.  In  his  political  affiliations  he  is  a 
Republican,  and  fraternally  he  is  identified  with  Hanford  Parlor 
No.  37  Native  Sons  of  the  Golden  West,  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows  and  the  Woodmen  of  the  World. 

Mr.  Jacobs  married,  April  30,  1901,  Mary  Elizabeth  Manning, 
a  daughter  of  T.  A.  Manning,  of  Lemoore,  and  they  have  three  chil- 
dren, Elizabeth  Belle,  Justin  Manning  and  John  H. 


LEE    GILL 

A  son  of  L.  L.  Gill,  a  pioneer  of  Tulare  county,  by  many 
tlioiight  to  have  Ijeen  the  owner  of  the  first  orange  trees  in  Tulare 
county,  Lee  Gill  was  liorn  in  Yokohl  valley,  Cal..  August  16,  1884. 
When  he  was  a  child,  his  father  moved  to  Frazier  valley,  to  the 
property  on  which  Lee  now  lives.  The  old  place  was  purchased 
from  H.  M.  White  and  was  the  scene  of  the  primitive  venture  in 
orange-growing  referred  to  above. 

In  the  public  schools  near  his  home,  Mr.  Gill  was  educated  and 
on  his  father's  rancli  he  obtained  the  intimate  knowledge  of  stock- 
raising  which  has  made  him  an  adept  in  tliat  line.  His  oi^erations  in 
association  with  his  brothers  mark  him  as  one  of  the  leading 
stockmen  of  California.  They  own  about  forty-eight  thousand  acres 
of  range  land  and  keep  on  Lee's  ranch  about  six  hundred  cattle, 
two  hundred  hogs  and  many  fine  horses,  bu^-ing  and  selling  for  the 
city  market,  in  which  Mr.  Gill  is  as  well  known  and  as  highly  es- 
teemed as  any  stockman  in  the  state. 

In  1908  Mr.  Gill  married  Miss  Maud  Porter,  a  native  of  Cali- 
fornia, a  lady  of  many  accomplishments  who  shares  with  him  much 
social  popularity.  They  have  one  son,  Austin.  Mr.  Gill  is  a 
youns"  man  of  nmch  public  spirit,  who  is  found  always  readv  to  assist 
to  the  extent  of  his  ability  any  movement  for  the  benefit  of  the 
oommunitv. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  407 

HON.  WILLIAM  M.  DE  WITT 

This  old  established,  reliable  and  suecessfnl  lawyer  of  Tiilarc 
Cal.,  was  boru  in  Monroe  comity  and  grew  to  manhood  in  Warren 
county,  Ky.  The  time  of  his  birth  was  May  17,  1839,  and  his  parents 
were  the  Rev.  Allan  W.  and  Hannah  (Tooley)  De  Witt,  his  father 
•  having  been  a  native  of  Kentucky  and  his  mother  having  been  l)orn 
in  Virginia.  Eventually  the  family  moved  to  Illinois.  From  there, 
in  1859,  they  crossed  the  plains  with  ox-teams  to  California,  starting 
in  April  and  arriving  September  18.  Allan  W.  De  Witt,  who  was 
a  minister  of  the  Christian  church,  died  at  Tulare  May  iil,  LS97, 
Ms  wife  having  passed  away  in  1896.  Their  son  Samuel  lives  in 
Los  Angeles;  Eleazar,  their  second  son,  is  a  rancher  living  west  of 
Tulare;  their  daughter,  Lydia  A.,  is  Mrs.  Zumwalt  of  Tulare;  William 
M.  is  the  immediate  subject  of  this  sketch. 

It  was  as  a  school  teacher  that  William  M.  De  Witt  began  his 
life  in  California  in  1861,  in  charge  of  a  country  school  at  Red  Bluff, 
Tehama  county.  With  Job  F.  Dye  he  drove  a  band  of  cattle  and  horses 
from  Red  Bluff  to  eastern  Oregon  in  1862.  They  intended  to  drive 
their,  cattle  np  to  the  mining  camps  of  British  Columbia,  where 
there  was  a  great  number  of  miners  at  work  and  where  they  intended 
to  butcher  their  cattle,  freeze  the  meat  by  burying  it  in  the  snow, 
and  sell  it  out  during  the  winter  as  it  would  lie  needed.  While  cam])- 
ing  on  John  Day's  river  near  Canon  City,  De  Witt  suggested  that 
they  try  a  pan  of  the  gravel  at  that  place.  Mr.  Dye  improvised 
a  pan.  with  whicli  they  succeeded  in  finding  considerable  gold  in  the 
very  first  pan.  The  news  of  their  find  spread  and  in  an  inconceivably 
short  time  some  six  hundred  miners  had  located  claims  and  were  busily 
and  profitably  engaged  at  placer-mining.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  it 
became  imneeessary  for  them  to  take  their  cattle  to  the  J3ritish 
Columbia  market.  Thus  was  gold  first  discovered  at  Canon  City  on 
the  John  Day's  river  by  William  M.  De  Witt  and  Job  F.  Dye.  Returning 
to  California,  Mr.  De  Witt  read  law,  in  1866  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
and  began  the  practice  of  his  ]5rofession  at  Woodland,  Yolo  county. 
There  he  succeeded  very  satisfactorily  and  attained  so  much  person.il 
popularity  that  he  was  elected  to  represent  Yolo  county  in  the  State 
Legislature  at  the  session  of  1877-78  and  was  appointed  a  memlier  of  the 
judiciary  committee  and  of  other  important  committees.  Meanwhile  he 
conducted  a  successful  practice  at  Santa  Cruz  for  about  six  years.  He 
came  to  Tulare  from  Woodland  in  the  spring  of  1878  and  has  been 
in  active  practice  there  ever  since.  For  ten  years  he  has  held  the 
office  of  .justice  of  the  peace  in  Tulare  and  during  that  long  period 
no  decision  of  his  has  been  reversed.  He  has  traveled  extensively 
throughout  the  state,  having  visited  nearly  every  county  within  its 
borders. 


408  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

A  lover  of  country  life,  Mr.  De  Witt  lias  given  some  attention 
to  ranching  near  Tulare.  He  was  married  in  Santa  Cruz,  January, 
1872,  to  Miss  Agnes  McDonald,  a  native  of  Vermont,  who  has  borne 
him  nine  children:  Florence  C.  (Mrs.  Brown),  has  children  named 
Earl  and  Maud.  Alice  W.  is  Mrs.  Barnaby  of  Spokane,  Wash. 
William  H.  married  Miss  Shedler  and  they  have  children  named 
Camille  and  Earl.  The  others  are  W^alter,  John  (of  Coalinga),- 
Edward  and  Edna  (twins),  Iram  and  Earl.  In  every  relation  of  life 
Mr.  De  Witt  has  shown  himself  a  man  to  be  depended  upon.  Where- 
ever  he  has  lived  he  has  taken  an  interest  in  all  matters  affecting  the 
public  good.  Since  coming  to  Tulare  he  has  in  many  ways  demon- 
strated his  solicitude  for  the  advancement  and  prosperity  of  the  city 
and  its  people. 


SAMUEL  W.  KELLY 

From  Arkansas,  which  has  long  been  a  distributing  ground  for 
settlement  througliout  the  south  and  west,  Samuel  W.  Kelly  emi- 
grated to  California  in  1857,  coming  liy  way  of  the  overland  trail 
with  ox-teams  and  consuming  seven  months  in  making  the  journey. 
He  was  then  twenty-nine  years  old,  having  been  born  February  11, 
1828,  in  Alabama,  and  had  been  taken  as  a  small  boy  by  his  parents 
on  their  removal  from  his  native  state.  It  was  in  Arkansas  that  he 
was  educated,  grew  to  manhood  and  acquired  a  working  knowledge 
of  agriculture. 

On  his  arrival  in  California,  Mr.  Kelly  settled  in  Tulare  county 
and  engaged  in  teaming  between  Stockton  and  Visalia.  Settling  on 
Elbow  creek,  he  put  up  a  rail  pen  with  but  a  dirt  floor  and  this  was 
the  home  of  the  family  for  three  years.  In  1867  he  went  back  east, 
but  soon  made  a  second  overland  journey  to  the  Pacific  coast,  this 
time  using  mule  teams,  whidi  brouglit  him  through  in  three  mouths. 
From  the  time  of  his  return  until  the  completion  of  the  railroad, 
which  put  him  out  of  business,  he  teamed  between  Fresno  slougji  and 
Visalia.  Then  he  bought  ten  acres  within  the  city  limits,  on  which 
he  farmed  for  a  time  and  which  has  been  cut  ti]i  into  lots  and  dotted 
with  dwellings.  For  about  twelve  years  he  oi>erated  siiccessfully  as 
a  cattleman  in  the  Three  Rivers  section.  Politically  he  affiliated  with 
the  Democratic  ]iarty,  and  as  a  citizen  he  showed  his  public  spirit 
in  many  practical  ways. 

In  1853  Mr.  Kelly  married  Miss  Celetha  Hudson,  who  was  born 
and  reared  in  Arkansas  and  accompanied  him  to  California.  She 
bore  him  tliree  children,  Samuel  A.,  Mrs.  Lulu  E.  Reeves  and  Mrs. 


■^^ 


^ 


p 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  411 

Mary  J.  Sparks,  who  with  the  widow  survive  him.  'J'iie  lioine  of  Mrs. 
Kelly  is  No.  500  Gosheu  avenue,  Visalia.  Mr.  Kelly  passed  away 
April  15,  1911,  deeply  regretted  l)y  all  who  had  kuown  him. 


HON.  J.  W.  GUIBEESON 

Conspicuous  among  California's  self-made  men,  is  the  prom- 
inent financier  and  member  of  the  state  Legislature,  whose  name 
heads  this  article.  He  is  a  native  of  the  state,  having  been  born 
in  Lake  county,  November  26,  1865.  When  four  years  of  age  he 
was  taken  to  Ventura  county,  where  he  grew  up,  attending  the  pub- 
lic schools,  and  later  became  a  student  at  the  University  of  Southern 
California,  supplementing  this  with  a  commercial  course  at  Wood- 
bury Business  College. 

Full  of  ambition  and  eager  to  succeed,  J.  W.  Guiberson  started 
his  active  business  career  without  a  dollar  to  aid  him.  At  the  age 
of  nineteen  he  rented  a  six  hundred  and  forty  acre  stock  ranch  in 
^^eutura  county,  his  good  reputation  and  credit  enabling  him  to 
obtain  a  five-year  lease  of  this  ranch.  He  devoted  himself  most 
assiduously  to  the  operating  of  this  place,  reaping  such  a  measure 
of  success,  that  when  he  was  dispossessed  of  it  at  the  end  of  fifteen 
months,  because  of  the  sale  of  said  ranch,  he  was  reimbursed  for 
his  labors  there  to  the  amount  of  $1,500.  He  then  rented  mountain 
land  for  a  cattle  range  and  increased  his  herd.  Meanwhile  he  had 
bought  out  a  drug  store  and  made  some  good  investments  in  real 
estate  at  Santa  Paula,  the  results  of  which  at  the  end  of  that  year 
netted  him  a  capital  of  $;)250  cash.  His  career,  however,  had  not 
been  an  easy  one.  His  health  broke  because  of  his  close  confinement 
in  the  drug  store,  and  he  was  compelled  to  seek  an  outdoor  life 
For  a  short  time  he  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business,  but  met 
with  heavy  financial  losses,  and  with  such  discouragements  at  hand 
he  again  was  obliged  to  l)egin  at  the  bottom  to  retrieve  his  losses. 
He  obtained  a  lease  for  one-half  share  in  the  renting  of  the  same 
ranch  on  which  he  had  started  out  when  nineteen  years  old,  at  the 
end  of  the  first  year  lieing  able  to  make  a  payment  on  (Mghty  acres 
in  Ventura  county  which  he  immediately  began  to  improve  and 
farm.  Some  years  later  he  purchased  a  second  ranch  of  forty  acres 
in  the  same  county,  improving  aud  farming  it  for  some  time,  and 
finally  having  a  fine  farm,  good  buildings  and  most  productive  or- 
chards on  both  places.  His  orchards  were  planted  to  apricots,  lemons 
and  prunes,  and  he  soon  had  them  in  condition  to  be  good  income 
])roperty. 


412  TULARE  AND  KINGvS  COUNTIES 

Continuiug  to  operate  the  two  ranches,  Mr.  Guiberson  bought 
out  a  livery  business  at  Piru  with  the  proceeds,  and  engaged  in  the 
livery  and  team  contracting  business,  sending  his  teams  into  the  oil 
fields  near  Piru,  and  he  soon  was  the  proprietor  of  an  extensive 
teaming  business.  He  prospered  well  and  by  1905  found  himself 
the  owner  of  considerable  money  for  which  he  sought  good*  invest- 
ment. In  company  with  about  twenty-five  others,  many  of  whom 
were  from  Los  Angeles,  as  members  of  the  Security  Land  and  Loan 
Company,  he  bought  thirty  thousand  acres  of  land  in  Kings  county, 
and  in  that  year  came  to  Corcoran  as  the  superintendent  of  said 
comi)any,  whose  affairs  he  managed  very  successfully.  During  this 
time  he  made  large  individual  purchases  of  land  in  that  vicinity,  his 
ideas  of  purchase  proving  most  ingenious,  as  for  instance  Ms  pur- 
chase of  a  thousand  acres  at  $13  per  acre,  which  he  sold  a  few 
months  later  at  $30.  He  has  explicit  faith  in  the  fertility  of  the 
lands  of  this  locality  and  it  has  never  been  shaken,  and  it  is  due  to 
him  more  than  to  any  other  person  that  the  value  of  the  lands  about 
Corcoran  has  been  demonstrated. 

Mr.  Guiberson 's  principal  aim  has  been  to  develop  and  improve 
these  lands  and  place  them  on  an  income-paying  basis.  He  has  no 
hesitancy  in  saying  that  for  the  growing  of  alfalfa  these  lands  have 
few  equals  and  no  superiors  in  the  entire  state  of  California.  Among 
his  first  purchases  were  eighty  acres  of  land  adjacent  to  the  town- 
site  of  Corcoran,  forty  acres  of  which  he  retains  as  his  home  place. 
and  this  he  has  beautified  and  imjiroved  until  it  is  a  model  suburban 
home.  To  him  belongs  the  distinction  of  having  erected  the  first 
building  on  the  townsite  of  Corcoran. 

At  a  later  date  Mr.  Guiberson  organized  the  J.  W.  Guiberson 
Company,  a  dairy  and  stockraising  concern  with  a  capital  of  $500,000 
based  on  bona  fide  land  values.  In  this  he  is  associated  with  J.  C. 
Sperry,  of  Berkeley;  Nathan  W.  Blanchard,  of  Santa  Paula,  and 
the  company's  holdings  aggregate  twenty-six  hundred  acres  in  all, 
two  thousand  acres  of  which  is  planted  to  alfalfa  and  irrigated  by 
means  of  artesian  wells.  On  one  section  of  this  property  are  two 
dairies  which  produce  cream  to  the  amount  of  $2075  per  month. 
There  are  six  hundred  head  of  cattle  on  this  property,  and  about 
nine  hundred  hogs,  all   of  which  are  very  well  kept. 

Besides  these  great  landed  interests  Mr.  Guiberson  has  otln>rs. 
different  in  character  but  almost  as  important.  He  is  vice  president 
of  the  Bank  of  Corcoran,  vice  president  of  the  company  operating 
the  Corcoran  Department  Store,  president  of  the  Kings  County 
Dairyman's  Association,  vice  president  of  the  Board  of  Trade  of 
Corcoran,  vice  president  of  the  Kings  County  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce and  president  of  the  California   State  Dairy  Association. 


TULAKE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  413 

The  lady  who  became  the  wife  of  Mr.  Guiberson  was  before  lier 
marriage  Miss  Nellie  F.  Throckmorton,  who  was  born  in  Illinois, 
October  8,  1866.  They  have  four  daughters,  viz. :  Hazel,  Claire, 
Helen  and  Edythe.  Mr.  Guiberson  is  a  Mason,  a  member  of  the  In- 
dependent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Fraternal  Order  of  Elks. 
Of  v;nusual  public  spirit,  he  is  ready  whenever  occasion  demands  to 
aid  any  measure  which  in  his  judgment  involves  the  public  good, 
and  he  is  confidently  relied  upon  to  be  the  friend  and  helper  of  all 
public  enterprises.  With  the  privilege  of  the  pioneer  to  take  pride 
in  the  town,  he  is  zealous  for  the  promotion  of  every  interest,  and 
in  church  and  educational  circles  he  is  particularly  active.  He  is 
president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  church  at 
Corcoran,  and  the  commodious  edifice  recently  erected  by  the  con- 
gregation at  once  testifies  to  his  munificence  in  gift  of  money  as 
well  as  able  and  untiring  effort  as  a  member  of  the  building  commit- 
tee. He  is  president  of  the  high  school  board  and  Corcoran  will 
before  the  commencement  of  another  school  year  have  a  fifty  thou- 
sand dollar  high  school  building. 

Relying  upon  his  ability  and  good  judgment  Mr.  Guiberson  was, 
by  the  Board,  of  County  Supervisors  of  Kings  county,  made  vice 
president  of  the  Kings  County  Panama  Pacific  Exhibit  Commission, 
a  position  for  which  he  is  peculiarly  qualified.  No  better  testimo- 
nial of  his  real  worth  can  be  adduced  than  to  mention  the  fact  that 
in  the  campaign  of  1912  he  was  elected  as  a  Deiiiocrat  by  the  people 
of  his  county,  which  is  normally  Republican,  by  more  than  thirteen 
hundred  majority.  For  years  he  has  been  interested  in  the  subject 
of  good  roads,  and  takes  an  active  part  in  everything  else  pertain- 
ing to  the  public  welfare  and  human  upliftment.  As  a  natural  con- 
sequence he  at  the  last  election  received  a  very  flattering  vote  in  his 
home  and  all  other  precincts  in  that  county,  where  he  was  best 
known,  and  in  his  election  to  the  assemlily  his  fellow-citizens  have 
made  no  mistake.  This  fact  is  recognized  by  the  oi)position  as  well 
as  his  Democratic  friends,  and  became  vei-y  evident  from  such 
expressions  as  the  following  editorial  from  the  ])en  of  L.  P.  Mitchell, 
editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Corcoran  Journal  of  November  14,  1912: 

AssembhTnan-elect  J.  W.  (fuiberson  is  well  (lualilied  for  th.e 
l)osition  to  which  he  lias  been  elected.  He  is  a  sell-made  man  who 
has  achieved  success  in  his  own  affairs,  and  Corcoran  people  feel 
sure  he  will  represent  his  district  in  a  most  satisfactory  manner. 
Mr.  Guiberson  is  an  enthusiast  on  good  roads  and  advocates  the 
abolition  of  the  present  unsatisfactory  system  of  handling  county 
road  matters,  favoring  the  employment  of  an  expert  road  man  and 
placing  the  entire  county  road  system  in  his  charge.  We  consider 
this  a  very  logical  solution  of  the  vexatious  road  problem. 


414  TULARE  AXD  KINGS  COUXTIES 

IRVING  L.  JAMESON 

Born  near  Dixon,  Solano  eoiinty,  Cal,  in  1862,  Mr.  Jameson  is 
a  true  son  of  California,  proud  of  its  history  and  traditions,  and 
devoted  heart  and  soul  to  its  Ix'st  interests.  His  parents  were  John 
B.  and  Catherine  (Watts)  Jameson,  natives  of  Illinois.  His  father 
crossed  the  plains  with  mule  teams  in  1854,  and  at  the  end  of  hi-s 
long  and  tiresome,  but  never  to  be  forgotten,  overland  journey  settled 
in  Napa  county.  Later  he  moved  to  a  ])lace  near  Dixon,  Solano 
county,  where  he  acquired  government  land  and  engaged  in  farming 
and  stock-raising,  his  chief  product  being  grain,  with  which  he  was 
quite  successful.  Mrs.  Jameson  bore  her  husband  children  as  follows : 
Henry,  of  Glenn  county;  Edwin,  of  the  state  of  Washington;  Mrs. 
John  Bond;  Mrs.  Robert  Board;  and  Irving  L.  The  father  died  in 
1902,  the  mother  in  1874.  Mr.  Jameson  was  enterprising  and  pro- 
gressive, honest,  industrious  and  public  spirited,  in  every  sense  of 
the  term  a  good  and  useful  citizen. 

It  was  in  the  ]iublic  school  near  his  childhood  home  in  Solano 
county  that  Irving  L.  Jameson  laid  the  foundation  for  the  practical 
education  which  has  helped  him  to  make  a  success  of  his  life.  His 
primitive  venture  into  business  was  made  as  a  rancher  on  the  Jame- 
son homestead,  near  Dixon.  Afterward  he  became  owner  of  the  place 
by  purchase  from  his  father.  In  1888  he  moved  from  Solauo  county 
to  Tulare  county  and  bought  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  on 
Deer  creek,  where  he  raised  grain.  From  there  he  eventually  moved  to 
Porterville.  He  came  to  his  present  ranch  of  about  eighty  acres,  four 
miles  north  of  Tulare,  in  1898,  and  has  greatly  improved  the  yilace, 
making  of  it  a  high  grade  dairy  ranch  of  thirty-five  cows,  sixty-five 
acres  being  devoted  to  alfalfa.  His  new  dairy  barn,  recently  built  after 
bis  own  plans,  is  one  of  the  most  practical  for  its  purposes  in  the 
county.  The  cow  stalls  have  cement  floors,  and  there  are  individual 
stalls,  which  were  designed  by  Mr.  Jameson  with  a  view  to  giving  each 
animal  comfort.  The  feed  alley  also  is  cemented,  and  the  jn-ovisions 
for  convenient  grain  storage  are  excellent,  while  tlie  plant  for  pump- 
ing water  is  up-to-date  and  thoroughly  efficient.  Mr.  Jameson's  finely 
bred  Holsteins  attract  the  attention  of  all  visitors  to  the  vicinity  of 
Ms  dairy.  He  is  practically  and  enthusiastically  interested  in  horses, 
and  owns  the  well-known  imported  French  Percheron  stallion,  Mar- 
dochet,  registered;  five  brood  mares  and  colts  and  an  imported  jack 
for  breeding  mules. 

Absolutely  as  his  home  interests  command  his  attention,  Mr. 
Jameson  has  others.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Tulare  Rochdale  store, 
a  member  of  the  Dairymen's  Co-operative  Association  of  Tulare,  and 
is  identified  with  local  bodies  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World  and  tht» 
Fraternal  Brotherhood.     He  married,  in  1898,  Miss  Ida  Roberts,  a 


^ 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  417 

native  of  Solauo  county,  and  they  have  children:  Mada,  Lawrence, 
Doris  and  Lowell.  The  interest  in  jiublic  affairs  so  characteristic 
of  the  elder  Jameson  has  been  passed  down  to  the  son,  and  there  is 
no  other  man  in  this  part  of  the  county  more  willing  to  assist, 
according  to  means  and  ojiportunity,  any  measure  that  may  be  pro- 
posed for  the  general  good. 


ALMER  B.  COMFORT 

Conspicuous  among  the  prominent  citizens  and  officials  of 
Guernsey,  Kings  county,  Cal.,  who  has  evidenced  the  jiower  of  staunch 
loyalty  to  his  early  training,  which  has  materially  acquired  for  him 
the  success  he  has  reached  today,  is  Aimer  B.  Comfort,  the  well- 
known  proprietor  of  tlie  flourishing  and  active  general  store  business 
of  Guernsey,  which  he  also  serves  as  postmaster.  Inheriting  the 
splendid  traits  of  his  father,  Byron  G.  Comfort,  a  pioneer  of  Kings 
county,  who  is  a  prosperous  fai'uier  near  Hanford,  he  early  evidenced 
the  ability  and  perseverance  which  led  him  to  mercantile  interests, 
and  his  entire  career  has  been  indicative  of  thrift,  energy  and  integrity. 

Born  in  Kings  county,  Cal.,  the  son  of  Byron  G.  and  Carrie  H. 
(Drullard)  Comfort,  Mr.  Comfort  was  there  reared  to  manhood, 
acquiring  his  elementary  education  in  the  common  schools,  and  becom- 
ing thorouiihly  familiar  with  farm  work  and  steady,  honorable  and 
clean  habits.  Upon  reaching  manhood's  estate  he  rented  a  large 
dairy  farm  in  the  vicinity  of  Corcoran,  which  he  operated  with 
signal  success,  following  tliat  line  of  business  for  a  long  period  until 
in  1912  he  found  himself  able  to  purchase  a  business  of  his  own. 
Being  attracted  l)y  a  chance  to  purchase  a  general  merchandise 
business  at  Guernsey  lie  went  there  to  make  investigation  witli  the 
result  that  he  bouglit  and  has  since  conducted  it  with  tlie  most 
gratifying  results.  Being  naturally  of  a  genial,  optimistic  dis])o- 
sition,  he  attracts  many  friends  to  him,  and  in  his  position  as  ])ost- 
iiuister  of  Guernsey,  whicli  aiipoinlment  he  received  in  Deceml)er 
of  1912,  he  finds  himself  the  recipient  of  many  good  wislies  and  the 
good  will  of  file  entire  coiinnunity.  In  addition  to  these  duties  lie 
has  taken  over  the  managoiuent  of  the  lumber  yard  at  Guernsey,  which 
bids  fair  to  become  an  important  business  in  the  near  future. 

Mr.  Comfort  belongs  to  that  circle  of  young  men  of  California 
who  have  the  future  of  the  country  in  their  hands,  and  wiio  give 
every  prophecy  of  taking  the  burden  of  business  and  jjolitical  life 
on  their  shoulders  with  capa)>ility  and  splendid  executive  ability. 
Ever  alert  for  the  welfare  of  their  interests  and  those  of  their  town 


418  TULAKE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

and  county,  tliey  are  public-spirited  and  quick  to  move  in  the  direction 
they  deem  best  for  all  concerned. 

Mr.  Comfort  is  not  a  holder  of  any  public  office.  In  politics  he 
votes  the  Republican  ticket,  and  his  interest  in  the  affairs  and  issues 
of  his  party  is  ever  active,  he  being  well-informed  on  all  cuncut 
topics  pertaining  to  the  advancement  of  his  country. 


THOMAS  H.  BLAIR 

The  character  of  any  peoiile  is  usually  well  indicated  by  that  of 
its  public  uflicials.  Throughout  its  history  Tulare  county  has  quite 
generally  commanded  the  confidence  of  the  y>ublie  through  the  repre- 
sentative men  who  have  been  called  to  fill  its  offices.  Judged  by 
capacity  and  by  zealous  devotion  to  the  interests  in  his  charge,  none 
has  gained  higher  place  in  popular  regard  than  Thomas  H.  Blair, 
eountv  assessor.  In  qualifications  essential  to  the  proper  discharge 
of  his  difficult  duties  he  is  adequate  to  all  demands  upon  hiiu,  and  by 
keeping  in  close  touch  with  increase  of  property  values  and  familiar- 
izing himself  with  all  current  improxements  he  is  able  to  judge 
accurately  as  to  the  proper  assesstnent  to  place  upon  a  given  piece 
of  property.  Looking  solely  to  the  interests  of  the  county,  he  eom])lies 
with  the  law  in  the  perfor7nance  of  his  duties,  manifesting  always 
a  conscientious  regard  for  the  rights  of  the  taxpayer. 

In  Randolph  county.  Mo..  Thomas  H.  Blair  was  born  in  1864, 
a  sou  of  Calvin  H.  and  Mary  E.  (Moflfett)  Blair,  natives  respectively 
of  Arkansas  and  of  Tennessee,  and  was  brought  to  California  by 
his  parents,  who  settled  in  Sonoma  county  iu  1865  and  in  Tulare  county 
about  a  year  later.  Calvin  H.  Blair  crossed  the  plains  first  in  1850 
and  after  mining  two  years  in  California  went  back  to  Missouri  in 
1852.  There  he  married  in  1856  and  about  ten  years  later  he  moved 
to  Iowa,  where  he  remained  about  three  months,  losing  all  his 
worldly  possessions  except  an  ox-team  and  a  saddle  horse,  which 
he  sold  for  just  enough  money  to  take  liim  to  California  liy  way 
of  New  York  and  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  He  moved  from 
Sonoma  county  to  Tulare  county,  bringing  his  family  and  be- 
longings in  wagons,  and  settled  on  Dry  Creek.  From  there  he 
moved  to  near  Exeter,  in  the  Yokohl  valley,  where  he  farmed  for 
some  years.  In  1875  he  went  to  Orosi,  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  county,  and  bought  land  there  which  he  farmed  until  1896, 
when  his  death  occurred.  Following  are  the  names  of  the  children  of  this 
pioneer  and  his  wife,  IMary  E.  (Moffett)  Blair,  who  died  January  14, 
1912:    William  M.,  Thomas  H.,  Mattie,  wife  of  H.  Mevers  of  Fresno 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  419 

county,  Cal.,  Laura,  Caledonia,  Sarah,  wife  of  George  Hedgepeth, 
Frank  L. ,  James  I.,  Finis  E.,  and  Clarence  Holmes. 

On  his  father's  stock  ranch,  Thomas  H.  Blair  was  reared,  actiuir 
ing  a  good  knowledge  of  cattle  raising,  meanwhile  attending  public 
schools  as  opportunity  afforded.  After  the  death  of  his  father  he 
associated  himself  with  his  lirothers  in  the  management  of  the  home 
ranch.  F}-om  his  early  manhood  he  has  been  active  as  a  Democrat  in 
local  political  affairs,  and  in  1902  was  elected  county  auditor  of  Tulare 
county.  He  was  re-elected  to  that  office  in  1906,  and  in  1910  was 
elected  county  assessor.  The  work  of  the  county  assessor  is  of  such 
a  character  that  his  duties  are  not  to  be  compared  with  those  of  any 
other  officer.  His  success  depends  largely  upon  the  accuracy  of  his 
judgment ;  he  comes  in  direct  contact  with  all  classes  of  i)eople  and 
in  designating  jaroperty  valuations  he  must  treat  all  with  impartial 
fairness.  That  such  is  the  spirit  of  Mr.  Blair's  official  conduct  is 
well  known  to  all,  and  he  is  personally  acquainted  with  nearly  every 
old  citizen  of  the  county  and  no  man  or  official  is  held  in  higher 
esteem.  Socially  he  affiliates  with  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  the  Ancient 
Order  of  United  Workmen  and  the  Fraternal  Order  of  Eagles. 


CHARLES  C.  BEQUETTE 

The  name  Bequette  has  long  been  honored  not  only  in  Tulare 
county,  but  in  the  state  at  large.  In  these  pages  appears  a  biograph- 
ical sketch  of  Paschal  Bequette,  Jr.,  in  which  is  given  some  of  the 
history  of  Col.  Paschal  Bequette,  Sr.,  a  native  of  Missouri  who  rose 
to  eminence  on  the  Pacific  coast.  Charles  C.  Bequette  was  born 
at  Saint  Genevieve,  Mo.,  in  1834.  His  parents  dying  while  he  was 
yet  but  an  infant,  when  he  was  five  years  old  he  was  taken  to  Wis- 
consin, where  he  liecame  a  member  of  the  family  of  his  uncle.  In 
1850,  when  he  was  about  sixteen  years  old,  he  and  his  brother  crossed 
the  ]ilains  to  California  and  located  at  Hangtown.  Later,  in  1852, 
they  went  to  Sierra  county,  where  they  mined  until  1S.")7.  In  1859 
Mr.  Bequette  drove  a  l)and  of  cattle  from  Yolo  county  to  Tulare 
county  and  settled  on  land  at  Outside  Creek,  where  he  ])rosj)ere(l  as 
a  stockman  until  1S()7.  Then  selling  out  his  interests  there,  he  home- 
steaded  a  tract  of  land  near  Lemon  Cove,  where  he  was  successful 
in  the  breeding  of  cattle  and  horses  for  fifteen  years,  until  he  took 
up  his  residence  at  Visalia,  where  he  has  since  lived,  continuing  an 
active  interest  in  the  jiolitical  affairs  of  the  county.  His  public 
spirit  and  his  caiiacity  for  public  business  have  been  recognized  by 
his  appointment  to  various  responsible  offices,  he  having  served  two 


420  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

terms  as  deputy  recorder  aud  auditor  of  Tulare  county,  of  which  he 
has  also  served  as  deputy  county  treasurer  and  deputy  county 
assessor. 


JOHN  CUTLER,  M.  D. 

AND 

A.  R.  CUTLER 

A  native  of  Indiana,  Judge  Cutler  was  born  in  1819,  in  the  town 
of  Newport,  Vermilion  county.  A  predilection  for  the  medical  pro- 
fession led  him  to  take  up  studies  with  that  object  in  view  at  an  early 
age,  and  he  completed  his  studies  and  received  his  diploma  in  Iowa. 
In  the  last  mentioned  state  he  followed  his  profession  until  the  mem- 
orable year  of  18-t9,  when  he  crossed  the  plains  to  California  and 
made  settlement  in  Eldorado  county.  While  a  resident  of  that 
county  he  served  as  a  representative  to  the  state  legislature. 

Judge  Cutler's  residence  in  Tulare  county  began  with  the  year 
1852,  at  which  time  he  engaged  in  agriculture  on  a  large  scale,  farm- 
ing one  thousand  acres  five  miles  northeast  of  Visalia,  on  the  St. 
John's  river.  Here,  as  in  his  former  place  of  residence,  his  fellow- 
citizens  recognized  his  unusual  ability  and  fitness  for  public  office 
aud  for  two  terms  he  served  them  efficiently  as  judge  of  Tulare 
county.  The  marriage  of  Judge  Cutler  united  him  with  Mrs.  Nancy 
(Rice)  Reynolds,  a  widow  with  two  daughters,  Amelia  and  Celeste. 
Seven  children  were  born  of  her  marriage  with  Judge  Cutler,  three 
sons  and  four  daughters,  as  follows :  Mrs.  V.  D.  Knupp  of  Porter- 
ville;  A.  R. ;  Jolm;  Mary;  Loyal  0.;  Ida,  and  Mrs.  Edna  Hartley. 
Judge  Cutler  passed  away  on  the  family  homestead  near  Visalia 
July  12,  1902,  and  his  wife  died  in  Santa  Cruz  several  years  prior 
to  his  demise. 

The  second  child  born  to  Judge  and  Nancy  (Rice)  Cutler  was 
A.  R.  Cutler,  a  native  of  Tulare  county,  born  in  1860.  When  his 
school  days  were  over  he  assisted  his  father  in  the  care  and  manage- 
ment of  the  home  ranch,  and  later  undertook  ranching  on  his  own 
account.  At  the  present  time  he  is  ranching  on  a  large  scale  in 
Tulare  county,  having  under  his  immediate  supervision  the  Venice 
Cove,  Monson  and  Hills  Valley  ranches.  His  stock  now  numbers 
four  hundred  head.  Fruit  is  raised  on  one  hundred  acres — raisin 
grapes,  peaches,  apricots  and  oranges  predominating — besides  which 
he  has  twenty  acres  in  prunes,  and  the  remainder  of  the  land  is  in 
alfalfa. 

Following  a  service  of  four  years  as  deputy  county  clerk,  Mr. 


(3^^^^!^  /-   SJ^^   yP^^  Q^a^  ^  ^j^^ 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  423 

Cutler  received  still  greater  honors  in  April,  1911,  when  he  was  elected 
mayor  of  Visalia,  an  office  which  lie  is  well  qualified  to  fill.  His  mar- 
riage in  1888  united  him  with  Miss  Nimmie  Pringle,  and  they  have 
two  sons,  John  F.  and  Albert  R. 


CHARLES  JOHN  EKLOF. 

Numliered  conspicuously  among  the  thrifty  and  prosperous  or- 
chardists  of  Tulare  county  is  CUiarles  John  Eklof,  born  October  10, 
3869,  in  Sweden.  In  April,  1889,  when  he  was  about  twenty  years 
old,  he  landed  in  New  York,  equipjied  with  a  good  education  obtained 
in  the  public  schools  of  his  native  land.  His  early  training  had  laid 
a  splendid  foundation  on  which  to  enter  the  struggle  for  success  in 
America,  to  which  he  dedicated  himself,  his  ambitions  and  his  energies. 
Mr.  Eklof  had  been  born  and  brought  up  on  a  farm,  and  it  was  as 
a  farm  hand  in  Nebraska  that  he  passed  the  first  year  of  his  life  in 
America.  In  1890  he  went  to  the  Northwest,  into  Washington,  where 
he  remained  three  years  and  four  months,  and  in  1894  he  embarked 
for  San  Francisco,  whence  he  soon  made  his  way  to  Fresno,  being 
here  employed  in  a  vineyard  till  1897.  In  the  year  last  mentioned 
he  located  near  Lindsay  and  engaged  in  the  nursery  business,  which 
commanded  his  efforts  for  twelve  years  and  brought  him  fairly  good 
financial  recompense.  Then  he  began  to  buy  land,  securing  forty 
acres  and  then  twenty,  forty  of  which  were  put  into  an  orange 
orchard.  The  estimated  value  of  his  cro^a  in  1912  is  $10,000  and  he 
is  one  of  the  most  successful  men  in  his  line  in  his  vicinity,  with 
promising  plans  for  the  future. 

In  1911  Mr.  Eklof  married  Ml's.  Mary  B.  Fran?;,  a  native  of 
Ohio.  As  a  citizen  he  is  loyal  and  patriotic,  taking  an  active  interest 
in  the  welfare  of  his  community.  His  success  has  been  great,  for 
he  started  with  nothing  and  could  now  turn  his  interests  into  $50,000 
cash,  but  it  has  been  the  success  of  a  self-made  man,  well  deserved. 


WILLIAM  J.  ADAMS 

The  life  of  the  late  William  J.  Adams  of  Visalia,  Tulare  county, 
spanned  the  period  from  April  4,  1837,  to  June  8,  1909.  He  was  liorn  in 
Graves  county,  Ky.,  and  died  at  his  California  home.  Reared  and 
educated  in  his  native  state  he  left  there  with  a  herd  of  cattle  which 
he  drove  to  Texas  and  from  there  across  the  plains  to  California, 
arriving  in   18.')9.     Settling  near   Tuhire  I^ake   in   Tulare   count v,   he 


424  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

ranged  cattle  lor  many  years  aud  later  removed  them  to  tiie  mouu- 
tains  on  Adams  Flat,  where  he  expanded  his  enterprise  l)y  raising 
both  cattle  and  horses. 

In  1871  Mr.  Adams  disposed  of  his  cattle  and  horse  interests  and 
gave  his  attention  to  sheep  herding.  For  two  years  he  operated  in 
Oregon,  then  came  back  to  California  and  settled  near  Madera  on 
the  Fresno  river,  in  Madera  county,  but  after  two  years  spent  there, 
he  returned  to  Tulare  county  and  for  twelve  years  farmed  the  old 
Murray  ranch,  near  Visalia. 

In  January,  1865,  Mr.  Adams  married  Miss  Mary  Fannie  Murray, 
a  native  of  Missouri,  a  daughter  of  Abram  H.  Murray,  who  crossed 
the  plains  in  1852  and  settled  his  family  in  the  Visalia  neighborhood. 
There  their  children  have  since  become  known  and  respected.  They 
are  Sarah,  Mrs.  E.  Hilton,  of  Porterville;  Abram  P.;  Frank  C,  a 
biographical  sketch  of  whom  is  elsewhere  in  these  pages,  and  Russell, 
who  has  passed  away. 

A  man  of  strong  character,  upright  in  his  dealing  with  all,  read\' 
at  all  times  to  do  all  in  his  power  for  the  uplift  or  development  of 
the  community,  Mr.  Adams  was  a  helpful  citizen  and  the  county  and 
its  people  are  benefited  by  his  influence  among  them. 


FRANK  C.  ADAMS 

The  well-known  and  successful  Imilder  whose  name  is  above  is 
a  native  of  Msalia,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  born  February  28,  1873, 
son  of  William  J.  Adams.  He  gained  his  education  in  the  excellent 
schools  of  that  town  and  began  his  business  career  as  an  employee 
of  the  Seeded  Raisin  Packing  Company  of  Fresno,  Cal.  From  Fresno 
he  went  to  Stockton,  where  he  learned  the  carpenter's  trade,  at  which 
he  worked  for  three  years.  Later  he  was  for  a  time  located  in  Angels' 
Camp,  Calaveras  county,  whence  he  returned  to  Visalia,  and  in  the 
fall  of  1908  entered  the  contracting  and  building  business  on  his  own 
account. 

Among  the  structures  which  serve  to  call  attention  to  the  skill  and 
enterprise  of  Mr.  Adams  are  the  Charles  Berry  residence,  the  A.  D. 
Wilson  home,  the  addition  to  the  E.  0.  Miller  residence,  the  Simon 
Levy  l)rick  l)lock,  the  Dr.  W.  W.  Squires  residence,  the  Meyer  Iseman 
residence,  the  Howard  Parish  residence,  and  numerous  others  of  differ- 
ent classes  and  of  equal  importance  at  and  near  Visalia.  On  January  17, 
1911,  Mr.  Adams  foi-med  a  partnership  with  J.  H.  Johnson  in  oi'der  to 
give  attention  particularly  to  the  architectural  department  of  his  enter- 
prises, but  the  firm  was  dissolved  October  2G  following,  and  since 
that  time  Mr.  Adams  has  been  in  sole  control  of  the  busill(^■^s  wliicli 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  425 

he  has  built  up.  Of  the  huihlings  erected  bj-  Adams  «&  Johnson,  the 
following  mentioned,  jierhaps  as  conspicuous  as  any  others,  are  the 
residences  of  Tug  Wilson.  .John  C.  Hayes,  Harry  Hayes,  D.  E.  Perkins 
and  Ealph  Goldstein. 

May  1,  1912,  marks  a  very  important  epoch  in  Mr.  Adams' 
career.  He  then  became  the  Imilder  for  the  Mt.  Whitney  Power  & 
Electric  Co.,  of  Visalia.  Ills  lirst  work  was  the  building  of  a  large 
brick  and  iron  addition  to  the  steam  ])lant  at  Visalia,  and  on  June 
25,  li)12,  he  began  the  constrnction  of  the  Mt.  Whitney  lN)wer  Plant 
and  cottages  at  No.  o  on  the  Kaweah  river. 

In  the  National  Association  of  American  Engineers  Mr.  Adams 
hohls  membership  and  he  aftiliates  fraternally  with  Four  Creek  lodge. 
No.  1)4,  I.  O.  O.  F.  He  married  October  7,  18!')4,  Miss  Mary  A.  Nichols, 
a  native  of  Missouri,  who  has  borne  him  three  children,  Willard, 
Merle  and  Russell.  As  a  citizen  Mr.  Adams  has  commended  himself 
to  all  who  know  him  as  a  man  of  public  spirit  who  has  the  welfare 
of  the  community  at  heart  and  is  ready  at  all  times  to  resjiond 
promptly  and  liberally  to  any  call  on  behalf  of  the  general  good. 


WILLIAM  W.  COLLINS 

The  present  sheriff  of  Tulare  county  is  William  W.  Collins, 
now  serving  his  third  term  in  that  important  office.  Mr.  Collins  is 
a  son  of  Albert  0.  and  Sarah  J.  (Cochran)  Collins,  natives  of  Ohio. 
In  1862,  Albert  0.  Collins  enlisted  in  Company  C,  Eighty-lifth  Regi- 
ment Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  in  which  he  served  continuously 
from  April  that  year  until  the  end  of  the  Civil  war,  rising  to  the 
rank  of  cai)taiu.  Returning  to  Ohio  he  taught  school  there  until  the 
spring  of  1866,  when  he  moved  to  Putnam  county.  Mo.,  where  he 
lived  until  May,  1873,  at  which  time  he  came  to  California  and 
located  in  Bakersfield,  Kern  county.  There  he  was  for  a  time  in 
the  meat  trade  and  later  conducted  a  large  ranch  until  1887,  when 
he  took  up  his  residence  in  Inyo  county  and  engaged  in  stock-raising- 
near  Bishop.  Mrs.  Collins  ]>assed  away  in  San  Francisco  in  1910, 
aged  sixty-eight  years. 

To  Albert  O.  and  Sarah  J.  (Cochran)  Collins  were  born  three 
sons  and  two  daughters:  Chai-les  A.,  sheriff  of  Inyo  county;  Wil- 
liam W.  Collins;  John  L. ;  Minnie,  widow  of  W.  L.  Blythe  of  Palo 
Alto,  Cal.;  and  Leoi-a,  who  is  the  wife  of  Bertrand  Rhine  of  P>isho|). 
Cal. 

William  W.  Collins  was  born  on  the  old  Collins  homestead,  neai- 
Coshocton,  Ohio,  June  23,  1865,  and  was  eight  years  old  when  his 
father  removed  to  California.     He  was  educated  in  the  ))ul>lic  schools 


426  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

of  Kern  coimty,  at  the  Visalia  Normal  sohool  and  at  the  California 
State  Normal  school  at  Los  Angeles.  After  his  graduation  he 
assisted  his  father  for  a  time  in  the  latter 's  cattle  business.  In  1889 
he  entered  business  life  for  himself  as  a  wheat  grower  and  as  the 
proprietor  of  a  livery  stable  at  Tulare,  and  in  1895  began  buying 
wheat  in  Tulare  and  Kern  counties  for  the  Farmers'  Union  Milling 
Co.  of  Stockton.  The  next  year  he  accepted  a  position  with  J.  Gold- 
man  &  Co.  of  Tulare  as  foreman,  in  charge  of  their  lands,  orchards 
and  stock.  He  has  recently  set  out,  at  Lemon  Cove,  a  forty-acre 
orange  grove. 

In  Republican  politics  Mr.  Collins  has  long  been  locally  jiromi- 
nent,  and  in  1902  he  was  elected  sheriff  of  Tulare  county.  He  has 
been  twice  re-elected,  and  now,  in  his  third  term,  is  one  of  the  most 
popular  sheriffs  the  people  of  the  county  have  ever  known.  A 
man  of  much  public  spirit,  he  has  been  helpfully  identitied  with  many 
im]iortant  home  interests,  and  has  in  all  things  devoted  himself,  heart 
and  soul,  to  the  welfare  of  the  community.  Fraternally  he  affiliates 
witli  the  Woodmen  of  the  World,  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Work- 
men and  the  local  lodge  and  encampment  of  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows,  and  in  the  last  mentioned  order  he  has  been  elected 
to  ditferent  offices  of  importance.  Sharing  with  him  in  the  esteem 
of  the  people  of  Visalia  is  Mrs.  Collins,  a  native  daughter  of  Inyo 
county,  who  was  formerly  Miss  Louise  Clarke.  She  has  borne  him 
three  daughters — Hazel,  Vera  and  Blanche. 


DR.  WILLIAM  P.   BYRON 

That  able  and  jiojmlar  medical  man  of  Kings  county,  Cal.,  Dr. 
William  P.  Byron  of  Lemoore,  was  born  in  that  town,  October  22, 
1878,  and  was  there  reared  and  educated  in  the  public  schools.  He 
is  the  son  of  H.  W.  Byron,  one  of  the  first  pioneers  of  this  part  of 
the  state.  In  1900  Dr.  Byron  liecame  a  student  at  the  California 
Medical  College,  San  Francisco,  and  in  1904  was  graduated  from 
that  institution  with  the  degree  of  M.  D.  He  began  the  practice  of 
his  profession  at  Ridgefield,  Wash.,  and  continued  it  there  with  con- 
siderable success  until  1906,  when  he  returned  to  Lemoore  and  opened 
an  office  there.  He  was  successful  from  the  outset  and  soon  became 
one  of  the  most  popular  physicians  in  that  part  of  the  county.  In 
November,  1909,  Dr.  E.  H.  Byron,  his  brother,  became  his  profes- 
sional partner,  and  this  partnership  continued  until  November,  1912. 
He  has  always  devoted  himself  to  general  practice  and  is  in  much 
favor  as  a  family  physician.  He  was  made  district  surgeon  for  the 
Southern  Pacific  Railroad  Co.  in  1907.  and  is  still  holding  that  respon- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  •  427 

sible  position.  He  is  the  city  health  officer  of  Lemoore;  county 
physician  for  Western  Kings  county,  and  a  member  of  the  San 
Joaquin  Valley  Health  Association,  the  California  State  Medical 
Society  and  the  American  Society  of  Medicine.  Socially  he  affili- 
ates with  the  Masons,  Odd  Eellows,  Red  Men,  Knights  of  Pythias, 
Foresters,  Woodmen  and  the  Fraternal  Brotherhood;  also  the  orders  of 
I.  D.  E.  S.  and  U.  P.  E.  C.,  ComiJanions,  Rebekahs  and  the  Oi'der  of  the 
Eastern  Star,  and  with  all  women's  auxiliary  lodges  in  the  city  of 
which  specific  mention  lias  not  been  made. 

In  1910  Dr.  Byron  married  Miss  Ruby  E.  Fassett  of  Iowa  and 
they  live  on  Heinlin  street,  opposite  the  park.  Exacting  as  are  tlie 
demands  that  are  made  upon  him  professionally  he  gives  much 
time  to  the  promotion  of  the  general  interests  of  Lemoore,  and  has 
proven  himself  a  public-spirited  citizen,  to  be  confidently  depended 
upon  in  any  emergency. 


F.  D.  CAMPBELL 

It  was  in  that  old  southern  town,  Yazoo  City,  Miss.,  that  F.  D. 
Campbell  was  born  in  1861.  But  a  child  when  his  parents  moved  to 
Texas,  it  was  in  that  state  that  he  was  reared  and  went  to  school, 
and  there  he  became  a  cowboy,  and  he  lived  the  wild  life  of  the  plains 
and  ranges  in  Texas,  New  Mexico,  Missouri  and  Montana.  He  was 
for  tliree  years  a  Texas  ranger,  a  sworn  member  of  the  long-famous 
organization  so  potent  in  the  preservation  of  order  in  the  country 
along  the  border.  Then  it  comprised  six  companies,  of  twenty-one 
men  each,  all  under  command  of  General  King,  each  company  having 
a  captain,  a  lieutenant  and  a  sergeant.  The  members  were  men  of 
proven  In-avery,  picked  from  among  the  boldest  and  truest  spirits 
on  the  frontier.  Much  of  their  work  was  against  smugglers  along 
the  Mexican  border,  and  some  interesting  experiences  were  had  in 
jmrsuit  of  cattle  rustlers.  One  band  of  smugglers  was  pursued 
relentlessly  by  the  rangers  five  years,  and  was  captured  at  length 
by  Mr.  Campbell's  company  at  Persimmons  Gap,  Tex.  The  head- 
quarters of  the  rangers  was  at  Austin,  Tex.,  and  companies  were 
stationed  at  Sunset  Water,  Aberdeen,  Colorado  City  and  Port  Davis, 
all  points  of  strategic  importance  on  the  frontier.  Mr.  Campbell, 
who  was  twice  wounded  in  tliis  arduous  and  exciting  service,  received 
his  lionorable  discharge  November,  1883. 

(roing  to  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  after  leaving  the  frontier  service 
in  Texas,  Mi-.  Cam])bell  shijiijcd  all  kinds  of  livestock  from  that  point, 
till  in  1910,  when  he  came  to  Tulare,  to  engage  in  the  buying  and 
selling  of  livestock.     His   business   at   once   assumed   important   pro- 


428  •  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

portions  and  he  was  shipping  $30,000  worth  of  cattle  and  hogs  each 
month,  as  the  months  averaged.  In  no  department  has  there  been 
a  falling  off,  and  in  some  departments  a  wondei'ful  growth  has  been 
recorded.  He  is  also  part  owner  of  and  a  director  in  the  Kern 
Street  Market  of  Tulare,  one  of  the  conspicuous  concerns  of  its  kind 
in  this  part  of  the  state. 

In  1896  Mr.  Campbell  married  Miss  Alice  Landers,  a  native  of 
Mississippi,  and  they  have  the  following  children,  mentioned 
in  the  order  of  their  birth :  Ethel,  Gladys,  Argyle,  Blanche  and  Theo- 
dora. Since  taking  up  his  residence  in  Tulare  he  has  in  many  ways 
demonstrated  that  he  is  a  helpful  and  dependable  citizen,  patriotically 
devoted  to  the  general  interests  of  the  community  and  ready  and 
able  at  all  times  to  respond  to  demands  in  behalf  of  measures  under 
promotion,  with  a  view  to  the  advancement  of  the  public  welfare. 


DANIEL  G.  OVERALL 

The  Texan  is  as  cosmopolitan  as  any  citizen  of  the  Ignited 
States.  Wherever  his  lot  may  be  cast,  he  immediately  becomes  one 
of  the  people  and  is  ready  with  heart  and  hand  and  money  to  do 
his  part  toward  the  advancement  of  the  public  weal.  Texas,  too,  has 
been  a  station  in  the  travels  of  families  bound  for  California,  but 
who  have  been  leisurely  in  their  travels;  the  stop  in  Texas  has  some- 
times been  premeditated,  sometimes  it  has  been  incidental  and  some- 
times accidental.  These  stops  in  Texas  have  been  signalized  by  the 
addition,  by  marriage  or  by  birth  of  members  to  families  from  further 
east  or  north.  It  was  in  Texas,  in  1857,  that  Daniel  G.  Overall  first 
saw  the  light  of  day.  His  father,  Daniel  G.,  Sr.,  was  a  native  of 
Missouri;  his  mother.  Charity  (Mason),  was  a  native  of  Illinois. 
The  father  sailed  around  Cape  Horn  to  California  in  1849.  Later 
he  went  back  to  Missouri,  and  from  there  went  to  Texas.  While 
tarrying  in  the  Lone  Star  State,  he  busied  himself  by  getting  to- 
gether a  large  band  of  cattle,  which  he  drove  through  from  there 
to  Tulare  county  in  1859.  Selling  his  cattle,  he  was  enabled  to  buy 
ranch  property  here.  He  prospered  as  a  farmer,  and  here  he  and 
his  wife  botli  died.  They  had  two  children — Mrs.  Mary  K.  Farrow 
of  Visalia  and  Daniel  G.  Overall,  Jr.  The  latter  was  reared  and 
educated  in  Tulare  county  and  went  into  the  real  estate  business 
at  Visalia,  in  association  with  John  F.  Jordan  and  W.  H.  Ham- 
mond. A  man  of  public  spirit,  and  influential  politically,  he  was 
elected  auditor  and  sheriff  of  Tulare  coi;uty  and  served  in  the  former 
capacity  during  1887-1888  and  in  the  latter  during  1889-1890. 

Ranching  and  stock-raising  have  commanded  Mr.  Overall's  atten- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  429 

tion  during  most  of  his  business  career,  but  in  late  years  be  has  been 
much  interested  in  orange-growing  in  the  citrus  fruit  belt  of  Tulare 
county,  and  is  now  president  of  the  Central  California  Citrus  Fruit 
Exchange.  He  is  manager  and  principal  owner  of  the  Kaweah 
Lemon  Companj',  director  in  the  First  National  Bank  of  Visalia 
and  the  president  of  the  ^'isalia  Abstract  Company.  For  thirteen 
years  he  was  proprietor  of  the  Palace  Hotel,  Visalia,  and  he  has 
extensive  oil  interests  in  Kern  county  and  mining  interests  in  Cala- 
veras county.  He  is  a  Scottish  Eite  Mason,  Knight  Templar  and  a 
Shriner,  active  and  widely  known  in  the  order,  and  affiliates  with 
the  Fresno  lodge  of  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks. 
He  has  married  twice.  His  first  wife  was  Miss  Hawpe,  who  bore 
him  a  son,  Orvie  Overall,  who  has  attained  much  fame  as  a  base- 
ball pitcher  in  some  of  the  great  games  of  the  past  decade.  His 
present  wife  was  Miss  Van  Loan. 


ROBERT  ANDERSON  MOORE 

As  president  of  the  Lemoore  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  chair- 
man of  the  Kings  county  Republican  central  committee  Robert  Ander- 
son Moore  has  become  well  known  throughout  central  California,  and 
he  has  other  claims  to  distinction  than  these.  Born  in  Grant  county. 
Wis.,  in  1861,  he  lived  there  until  he  was  fifteen  years  old,  when  his 
family  moved  to  Minnesota  and  later  to  Oregon.  He  came,  event- 
ually, to  California,  and  after  stopping  for  a  time  in  Los  Angeles 
came  to  Kings  county  and  ))ecame  a  salesman  in  the  McKenna  Broth- 
ers' hardware  store.  He  mastered  the  business  and  acquired  great 
popularity  with  its  ]iatrons  and  in  1890  bought  the  establishment, 
which  he  conducted  with  success  until  1911,  when  he  sold  it  to  the 
Lemoore  Hardware  Company. 

Since  disposing  of  his  hardware  interests  Mr.  Moore  has  inter- 
ested himself  in  real  estate  operations.  He  owns  two  ranches,  one  of 
forty  acres,  three  miles  nortli  of  town,  and  one  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres,  ten  miles  south  and  near  the  lake;  the  former  is  in  vine- 
yard, the  latter  in  barley  and  alfalfa.  He  has  invested  to  some  extent 
in  oil  property  and  is  a  director  in  the  Mount  Vernon  Oil  Company, 
which  is  operating  in  the  Devil's  Don  field.  He  was  one  of  tlie  organ- 
izers and  is  in  his  second  year  as  president  of  the  Lemoore  Chaml)er 
of  Commerce.  As  chairman  of  the  Kings  county  Republican  central 
committee  and  in  other  capacities  he  has  long  been  active  in  political 
work,  and  he  was  three  times  elected  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 


430  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

tees  of  the  city  of  Lemoore,  serving  two  terms  as  chairman  of  tliat 
body.    Socially  he  affiliates  with  the  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Foresters. 

In  1886  Mr.  Moore  married  Miss  Clara  H.  Peck,  a  native  of  Hol- 
lister,  Cal.  Their  son,  B.  C.  Moore,  is  the  successful  manager  of  an 
automobile  garage.  During  all  of  the  years  of  his  residence  at  Le- 
moore,  Mr.  Moore  has  manifested  a  lively  interest  in  the  development 
and  prosperity  of  the  town,  and  as  a  man  of  public  spirit  he  has 
cheerfully  and  generously  done  nuieh  for  the  betterment  of  local  condi 
tions  as  occasion  has  presented  itself. 


JOHN  WESLEY  GAER 

When  John  Wesley  Garr,  who  lives  half  a  mile  north  of  Monson, 
came  to  Tulare  county  there  were  but  three  houses  between  his  resi- 
dence and  Hanford,  roads  were  few  and  unimproved,  the  towns  Dinuba 
and  Sawyer  liad  not  come  into  existence,  and  irrigation  ditches  had 
not  been  constructed.  Mr.  Garr  was  born  in  Indiana,  September  10, 
1837,  and  his  father  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812.  He  was  reared 
and  educated  there  and  passed  his  active  years  there  until  he  was 
forty  years  old,  and  then  went  to  Texas,  where  he  lived  three  years. 
His  next  place  of  residence  was  in  southern  Iowa,  in  which  state 
his  brother  died  aged  ninety-six  years,  their  father  living  to  be 
eighty-six  years  old. 

In  Indiana  Mr.  Garr  married  Mary  J.  English,  a  native  of  that 
state,  whose  parents  came  there  from  Pennsylvania.  She  was  the 
mother  of  children  as  follows :  Alice  J.,  Charles  N.,  William  F., 
James  F.,  Martha  and  George.  Alice  J.  married  Light  Frazier  and 
lives  near  Dinuba;  they  have  had  two  children  (one  has  passed  away), 
and  Dora  is  married,  her  husband  being  employed  in  the  oil  fields  of 
California.  William  F.,  whose  wife  died  thirty  years  ago  while  he 
was  a  citizen  of  Texas,  is  living  with  his  father.  John  W.  Garr  has 
lived  in  Tulare  county  since  1881.  Pre-empting  an  eighty-acre 
homestead,  he  paid  for  it  ]iartially  by  chopping  wood  and  has  im- 
proved it  and  prospered  on  it  as  a  farmer.  He  has  given  some 
attention  to  figs  and  has  on  his  place  the  largest  fig  tree  in  Tulare 
county,  which  he  planted  twenty  years  ago,  and  which  in  1911  pro- 
duced $75  worth  of  fruit.  From  twelve  trees  his  crop  altogether 
made  more  than  a  ton. 

In  his  political  affiliation  Mr.  Garr  is  a  Democrat.  He  takes  a 
deep  and  alnding  interest  in  every  question  pertaining  to  the  welfare 
of  the  community  and  co-operates  i)ublic-spiritedly  in  every  move- 
ment for  the  general  good. 


^ 


a 


^^^rUL---^ 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  433 

.    THE  OLD  BANK 

The  history  of  "The  Old  Bank,"  at  Hanford,  Kings  county, 
Cal.,  would  be  interesting,  even  were  it  not  inseparably  interwoven 
with  that  of  the  development  of  the  city  and  its  tributary  territory. 
It  is  a  state  bank,  established  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Cali- 
fornia, December  1,  1901.  It  was  founded  by  S.  E.  Biddle,  the  pio- 
neer banker  of  Hanford,  who  founded  the  Bank  of  Hanford,  the 
latter  being  the  first  bank  in  the  town.  The  original  officers  of  The 
Old  Bank  were  S.  E.  Biddle,  Sr.,  president;  P.  McRae,  vice-pi-esi- 
dent;  S.  E.  Biddle,  Jr.,  cashier;  Frank  E.  Hight,  assistant  cashier. 
In  1903  S.  E.  Biddle,  Jr.,  resigned  and  Frank  R.  Hight  was  made 
cashier  and  J.  J.  Hight,  assistant  cashier.  In  1908  S.  E.  Biddle,  Sr., 
died,  and  Daniel  Finn  was  elected  president,  Frank  R.  Hight  becom- 
ing cashier  and  manager.  The  present  officers  of  the  institution  are: 
Prank  R.  Hight,  president  and  manager;  P.  McRae,  vice-president; 
J.  J.  Hight,  cashier.  Its  directors  are:  Mrs.  A.  A.  Biddle,  P. 
McRae,  Frank  R.  Hight,  Charles  Kreyenhagen,  Joseph  Schnereger, 
N.  Weisbaum  and  J.  J.  Hight.  The  bank's  growth  has  been 
steady  and  strong  and  it  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  staunch  and  most 
dependable  financial  institutions  of  central  California.  Its  depos- 
itors are  among  the  leading  business  men  of  Hanford  and  vicinity. 
It  pays  interest  on  term  deposits,  and  its  present  capital  is  $50,000 ; 
its  deposits  aggregate  $600,000. 


H.  M.  SHREVE 

A  prominent  financier  and  business  man  of  central  California, 
H.  M.  Shreve  is  filling  the  responsible  positions  of  vice-president  and 
manager  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Tulare.  A  native  of  Borden- 
town,  N.  J.,  born  February  17,  18(54,  he  acquired  his  education  in  ))ublic 
schools  and  in  higher  institutions  of  learning  in  New  Jersey  and  in  Phil- 
adelphia. In  1880  he  came  to  (California,  and  for  six  years  thereafter 
was  employed  in  connection  with  mining  interests  in  Mariposa  county. 
Later  he  came  to  Tulare  and  was  employed  for  several  years  as  a 
bookkeeper  in  the  office  of  the  Reardon  &  Piper  Planing  Mill,  until 
he  opened  an  office  to  handle  insurance  and  conveyancing,  and  this 
he  operated  until  the  beginning  of  his  connection  with  the  First 
National  Bank.  (A  historical  sketch  of  that  institution  will  be  found 
in  this  work.) 

In  1887  Mr.  Shreve  married  Alida  E.  Beals  of  San  Francisco. 
He  affiliates  with  Olive  Branch  lodge  No.  2(59,  F.  &  A.  M.,  of 
Tulare  and  with  the  Visalia  Masonic  chapter  and  commandery.     He 


434  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

was  for  several  years  clerk  of  the  city  of  Tulare,  his  interest  in  the 
city  and  county  making  Mm  a  citizen  of  much  public  helpfulness, 
and  there  are  few  demands  for  assistance  toward  the  uplift  and  devel- 
opment of  the  community  to  which  he  does  not  respond  promptly 
and  liberally.  Socially  he  is  president  of  the  Tulare  Club,  and  as 
such  has  had  much  to  do  with  projects  for  the  general  benefit.  Among 
his  interests  outside  the  city  should  be  mentioned  the  National  Bank 
of  Visalia,  of  the  board  of  directors  of  which  he  is  an  active  member. 


JOSEPH  LA  MAECHE 

The  American  family  of  LaMarche  was  estalilished  in  Canada 
early  in  the  last  century  and  John  LaMarche,  son  of  the  original  emi- 
grant, was  born  in  Ontario  and  in  1837  enlisted  under  the  banner  of 
MacKenzie  in  the  so-called  Canadian  rebellion.  His  son  Josepli,  born 
near  Montreal  in  1823,  was  graduated  from  a  Canadian  college,  farmed 
early  in  life  at  LaClinte  Mills  and  was  later  a  merchant  and  a  magis- 
trate. He  married  Julia  LaMare,  whose  grandfather  in  the  jiaternal 
line  founded  the  Canadian  family  of  LaMare.  Joseph  LaMarche  died 
in  1900,  aged  seventy-seven  years ;  his  wife  died  when  she  was  seventy. 
They  had  thirteen  cliildren,  ten  of  whom  lived  to  maturity  and  still 
survive,  the  second  of  these  being  Joseph  LaMarche,  Jr..  of  Tulare 
county,  who  is  the  sole  representative  of  the  family  in  California. 

Mr.  LaMarche  was  born  on  a  farm  forty  miles  from  Montreal 
March  1,  1853,  and  when  he  had  time  to  do  so  in  the  years  of  his  boy- 
hood walked  five  miles  to  a  French  school  if  the  weather  was  not  too 
inclement.  When  he  was  thirteen  years  old  he  went  to  Upper  Canada 
to  log  and  lumber  on  the  Ottawa  river  for  $36  a  year,  and  at  the  end 
of  a  year  he  came  down  to  Quebec  on  a  raft  and  signed  a  contract  to 
work  a  year  in  a  logging  camp  not  far  away.  "Wlien  he  was  fifteen 
years  old  he  went  to  the  Lake  Su]ierior  region  and  teamed  two  years 
among  the  charcoal  furnaces  around  Mari|nette,  Mich.;  from  there  he 
came  west  to  Nevada  and  teamed  at  Carson  and  Virginia  City  and 
assisted  in  the  construction  of  a  flume.  In  1875  he  came  to  California 
and  for  three  years  thereafter  was  employed  on  a  rancli  near  Prince- 
ton, Colusa  county.  His  first  venture  as  an  independent  farmer  was 
as  a  grain  grower  on  rented  land,  whicli  he  operated  four  years. 
Coming  to  Tulare  coimty  in  1883,  he  began  farming  as  a  renter,  but 
soon  bought  two  hundred  and  eighty  acres  of  bayou  and  railroad  land, 
four  miles  south  of  Tulare,  whicli  he  farmed  to  grain  a  year  and  sold 
in  1885.  In  1886  he  married  and  located  on  a  ranch  of  fourteen  hun- 
dred and  twenty  acres,  eight  miles  southwest  of  Tulare  which  was  the 
property  of  his  wife;  a  part  of  it  was  farmed  to  grain,  the  remainder 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  435 

was  in  pasture.  Later  he  owned  four  thousand  acres  on  the  Tule  and 
Elk  Bayou  rivers,  where  he  raised  hay  and  bred  cattle,  but  this  he 
sold  in  1908.  He  now  has  twenty-one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  of  which 
six  hundred  acres  are  devoted  to  alfalfa,  the  remainder  to  grain  and 
pasturage.  Since  his  retirement  from  active  farming  he  lias  rented 
most  of  his  acreage  and  now  has  four  tenants. 

The  activities  of  Mr.  LaMarche  are  by  no  means  coulined  to  the 
management  of  his  land.  He  was  prominent  in  organizing  the  Dairy- 
men's Co-operative  Creamery  Co.,  was  elected  one  of  its  directors 
three  months  after  it  began  business,  and  has  acted  in  that  capacity 
to  the  present  time.  In  1906  he  was  a  director  in  the  Co-operative 
Creamery  Co.  of  Tulare.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers  also  of  the 
Rochdale  Co.,  and  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Tulare  Canning  Co.  and  the 
Tulare  Milling  Co.  He  was  also  a  director  in  the  Fair  Association  of 
Tulare  county,  which  constructed  a  race  track  and  held  fairs  for  two 
years,  and  he  is  now  owner  of  the  track.  Through  his  membership  of 
the  Tulare  Board  of  Trade  he  has  had  to  do  with  numerous  enter- 
prises which  have  tended  to  the  commercial  growth  of  the  city;  in 
1908  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Bank  of  Tulare,  of  which  he  had 
for  many  years  been  a  director.  In  politics  he  is  a  Democrat  and  he 
was  at  one  time  a  member  of  the  county  central  committee  of  his 
party.  He  was  made  an  Odd  Fellow  in  Colusa  county  and  since  he 
came  to  Tulare  has  been  active  in  the  work  of  the  local  lodge  and  en- 
campment, his  afliliation  witli  this  order  covering  the  long  period  of 
thirty  years. 

At  Tipton,  Tulare  county,  Mr.  IjaMarche  married  August  7,  1886, 
Mrs.  Mary  (LeClert)  Creighton,  widow  of  John  M.  Creighton.  Mrs. 
LaMarche  was  born  at  Portsmouth,  England,  a  daughter  of  Theodore 
and  Mary  (Sims)  LeClert,  natives  respectively  of  France  and  of  Eng- 
land, and  member  of  families  long  established.  When  Mr.  LeClert 
settled  in  England  he  found  employment  for  a  time  as  a  brick  mason 
at  Portsmouth.  Coming  later  to  the  United  States,  he  worked  at  his 
trade  a  while  at  .Vlliion,  N.  Y.,  and  from  there  he  came  to  California 
in  1856  liy  way  of  Cape  Horn.  After  mining  at  Kniglit's  Ferry  and 
at  Copperopolis  he  turned  his  attention  to  farming  and  eventually 
passed  away  at  Oakdale,  Stanislaus  county,  where  his  wife  also  died. 
Of  their  three  daughters  and  two  sons,  all  of  whom  are  living,  Mrs. 
LaMarche  was  the  second  born.  In  1861  she,  with  other  members  of 
the  family,  joined  her  father  at  Knights'  Ferry,  where  she  married 
Melvin  Howard,  a  native  of  New  York  state,  who  became  an  orchard- 
ist  at  Sonora,  Cal.,  and  died  there.  Later  she  married  John  N. 
Creighton  and  in  1876  they  settled  on  the  Creighton  ranch  in  Tulare 
county,  and  a  few  years  later  Mr.  Creighton  died  at  Byron  Hot 
Springs,  Contra  Costa  county.  She  is  a  woman  of  fine  aliilities  and 
has  been  prominent  in  the  work  of  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 


436  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Union  and  in  movements  for  the  emancipation  of  women  and  for  the 
uplift  of  the  human  race.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  LaMarche  are  noted  for 
their  public  spirit  and  for  their  ready  and  unostentatious  charity. 
They  have  two  children,  Joseph  F.,  who  is  in  the  United  States  navy, 
and  Miss  Bernie  LaMarche,  who  was  a  student  at  the  University  of 
Southern  California  at  Los  Angeles  and  in  1911'  married  Charles 
Phillip  of  Los  Angeles. 


FRANK  E.  FITZSIMONS 

The  son  of  George  and  Agnes  (Ward)  Fitzsimons,  Frank  E.  Fitz- 
simons  was  born  March  30,  1886,  in  Thomas  county,  Kans.,  where  he 
lived  until  he  was  eight  years  old.  His  parents  built  the  tirst  sod 
house  and  the  first  frame  house  in  that  part  of  the  county.  Wlien 
they  located  there  they  were  eighteen  miles  from  the  nearest  neighboi', 
twenty-sis  miles  from  the  nearest  considerable  settlement  and  fifty 
miles  from  Winslow,  which  was  their  market  place,  and  they  were 
often  menaced  but  never  really  injured  by  Indians.  In  1894  they 
sought  a  more  congenial  clime  in  California ;  and  after  living  a  year 
at  San  Jose  they  came  on  to  Visalia  and  for  three  years  the  elder  Fitz- 
simons was  foreman  of  the  Geo.  A.  Fleming  Fruit  Company's  ranch. 
In  1897  they  settled  near  Orosi,  where  Mr.  Fitzsimons  has  been  suc- 
cessful with  fruit.  Following  are  the  names  of  the  children  of  George 
and  Agnes  (Ward)  Fitzsimons:  Frank  E..  Orriu,  Ray,  Walter,  Lulu 
and  Vera.  Lulu  married  F.  A.  Listmau  and  lives  near  Orosi.  Orrin 
married  May  Vance. 

Frank  E.  Fitzsimons  was  educated  in  the  common  school  and  at 
Occidental  College,  Los  Angeles,  1906-07.  He  married  Edna  Furtney 
and  has  a  son  named  Richard,  who  is  attending  high  school.  They 
formerly  lived  near  Orosi  and  had  thirty  acres  in  peaches,  which  he 
sold  for  $400  an  acre.  The  remainder  of  his  ranch  broiaght  a  satis- 
factory ]irice.  He  had  owned  the  place  t-liree  years  and  had  imjiroved 
it  in  many  ways.  He  next  bought  one  hundred  and  forty  acres,  eighty 
of  which  he  has  sold.  He  now  lives  in  Orosi.  The  balance  of  his  ranch 
he  is  going  to  set  to  Thoni]ison  and  Malaga  grapes  and  figs.  He  is  a 
close  student  of  everything  that  pertains  to  his  business  and  is  advanc- 
ing along  scientific  lines,  and  his  methods  are  certain  to  bring  him 
even  greater  success  than  that  which  he  has  already  attained.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Fitzsimons  are  Republicans  and  members  of  the  Methodist 
church.  He  affiliates  socially  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World  and  is 
public-spiritedly  devoted  to  the  community's  highest  and  best  interests. 


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TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  439 

FRANK  GRIFFITH,  V.  S. 

This  well-known  veterinarian  of  Ilanford,  Kings  oounty,  Cal.,  was 
born  October  i,  1850,  twelve  miles  northeast  of  the  site  of  Merced  and 
nine  miles  from  Snelling,  Cal.,  a  son  of  Dr.  Joshua  Griffith,  at  which 
time  the  place  described  was  in  Mariposa  county.  Dr.  Joshua  Griffith 
was  liorn  June  28,  1800,  seven  miles  below  the  site  of  Brownsville, 
Washing-ton  county,  Pa.,  which  was  then  known  as  Red  Stone  Fort. 
In  1810  he  was  taken  by  his  family  to  Ohio,  to  a  sparsely  settled 
section  in  which  the  nearest  schoolhouse  was  twenty-tive  miles  distant. 
In  1820  he  went  to  Missouri,  and  there  he  met  John  Hawkins,  and  in 
1822  he  was  a  member  of  the  Ashley  expedition,  consisting  of  sixty 
men,  to  explore  the  Missouri  river  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yellowstone. 
The  party  made  the  trip  in  a  large  keel-boat,  returning  in  1823.  In 
1824  he  opened  a  gunshop  at  Santa  Fe,  N.  M.,  where  he  made  con- 
siderable money,  and  in  1830  he  went  to  Sonora,  Mexico,  and  had  many 
interesting  adventures.  In  1831  he  established  a  variety  store  at 
Hermosillo,  Mexico,  and  from  that  time  until  1848  he  prospered 
variously.  In  the  last  named  year  he  came  to  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  and 
soon  after  he  was  mining  at  Amador  with  old  man  Amador.  Later 
he  mined  at  Volcano  and  Mokelumne  Hill  and  on  the  fifth  of  Novem- 
ber, 1848,  he  discovered  Jackson  creek  in  Amador  county. 

July  25,  1844,  Dr.  Griffith  married  Miss  Fanna  Arreas,  a  native 
of  Sonora,  Mexico.  He  brought  his  wife  with  him  to  California  in 
1848  and  theirs  was  a  slow  journey  across  the  lilains  and  througli 
mountain  passes.  Some  of  his  recollections  of  mining  at  that  time 
included  experiences  at  Aqua  Frea.  From  Amador  county  he  went 
back  to  Los  Angeles  and  from  there  he  moved  to  near  Snelling  in 
July,  1849.  Thus  began  his  exi)eriences  in  Merced  county.  He  was  the 
first  to  sow  wheat  on  the  bottom  lands  and  plains  there  and  he  garnered 
his  first  crop  in  1851.  Going  to  Santa  Cruz  he  brought  back  with  him 
a  }5ack-train,  some  seed  corn,  some  chickens,  three  dogs  and  several  cats. 
When  he  settled  on  the  Merced  river  the  only  other  settlers  along  the 
stream  were  Samuel  Scott,  James  Waters  and  J.  M.  Montgomery. 
Before  he  ))nilt  his  house  and  while  it  was  under  construction  he 
camped  undei'  a  big  oak  tree  in  the  open  and  there  his  wife  gave  bii-tl: 
to  tiieir  son  Frank.  It  was  necessary  for  the  doctor  to  go  to  Santa 
Cruz  and  Stockton  for  the  necessaries  of  life.  He  packed  in  house- 
hold goods  and  trees  and  once  brought  from  Santa  Cruz  a  sack  of 
wheat  for  which  he  ]iai(l  $150,  and  from  which  he  raised  his  first  crop. 
In  1853  he  built  a  small  Hour  mill  i)rincipally  for  his  own  use,  which 
was  operated  by  water  which  he  brought  from  the  Merced  river  through 
a  ditch  two  miles  long,  and  was  the  first  water-power  grist  mill  in  the 
San  Joaquin  valley  south  of  Sutter's  Fort.  It  stood  until  1861-62, 
wlicn  it  was  washed  away  by  flood. 

2i 


440  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

111  liis  yoimg  iiiauliood  Dr.  Griffith  studied  medicine,  and  he  prac- 
ticed almost  continuously  as  occasion  offered  from  the  time  he  was 
twenty-four  years  old  until  1874,  during  a  period  of  fifty  years.  As  a 
pioneer  and  in  his  later  business  enterprises  he  was  a  potent  factor 
in  the  development  of  the  country,  and  as  a  citizen  he  was  widely 
known  and  respected.  He  died  June  11,  1896,  his  wife  in  June,  1897. 
They  had  four  children  of  whom  two,  Frank  and  Frederick,  are  living-. 
The  old  Griffith  homestead  was  later  sold  to  Henry  Cowell  of  Santa 
Cruz. 

Frank  Griffith  was  reared  on  his  father's  home  farm,  educated  in 
the  public  schools  and  assisted  his  father  until  1875,  when  he  came 
to  the  site  of  Grangeville  in  what  is  now  Kings  county,  Cal.,  which 
was  nearer  to  Kingston  than  to  any  other  town.  Having  gained  a 
good  knowledge  of  medicine  under  his  father's  tuition  he  took  up 
veterinary  practice  in  connection  with  farming.  He  had  been  to  this 
locality  in  1870  on  a  trip  of  exploration  and  at  that  time  had  rowed  a 
boat  over  Tulare  lake,  which  then  covered  much  land  which  was  bare 
in  1875.  He  had  rowed  to  within  ninety  yards  of  the  school  house  at 
Lemoore,  in  company  with  Judge  and  Mrs.  R.  B.  Huey,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  George  W.  Skaggs  and  Mrs.  Grillith,  and  their  boat  had  floated 
over  the  land  later  included  in  the  Cochran,  Strattou  and  Jacobs  tracts. 
He  remained  at  Grangeville  practicing  veterinary  surgery  until  1877. 
As  a  citizen  he  attained  to  considerable  {n-ominence  and  eventually 
became  a  constable,  a  deputy  sheriff  and  a  deputy  United  States  mar- 
shal, and  in  1884  he  was  made  under  sheriff  of  Tulare  county  and 
took  up  his  residence  at  Visalia.  In  188(5  he  removed  to  Santa  Cruz 
for  the  benefit  of  his  wife's  health,  and  there  opened  a  veterinary 
office  and  built  a  home.  In  1890  he  came  to  Hanford,  and  in  1891  his 
wife,  who  had  greatly  improved,  joined  him.  He  had  in  the  mean- 
time bought  seven  acres  of  land  on  Seventh  street,  where  he  has  since 
lived.  He  established  his  office  on  the  site  of  the  present  Emporium 
building,  but  several  years  later  moved  it  out  to  his  ranch,  where  he 
constructed  and  fitted  up  a  hospital,  and  until  1907  he  maintained  bis 
office  and  infirmary  on  Green  street  not  far  from  his  present  location. 
In  1907  he  built  his  present  quarters,  consisting  of  an  office,  a  hospital 
and  an  infivmary  for  the  accommodation  of  twenty-four  animals  in 
the  main  building  with  fifteen  outside  stalls  under  a  separate  roof. 
While  carrying  on  a  general  veterinary  practice,  he  makes  a  specialty 
of  the  treatment  of  dogs  and  is  the  owner  of  a  fine  kennel.  His  ac- 
quaintanceship and  his  professional  reputation  have  been  extended 
through  his  incumbency  of  the  office  of  county  livestock  inspector  and 
county  veterinarian  of  Tulare  county  for  fourteen  years,  he  being  aji- 
jiointed  to  these  positions  by  the  supervisors  of  the  county  after  the 
division.  He  has  for  many  years  raised  thoroughbred  Berkshire  hogs. 
Dark  Brahinah  chickens  and  Muscovy  ducks. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  .  441 

September  19,  186S),  Dr.  Griffith  married  Harriett  A.  Moore,  a 
daughter  of  Joseph  Moore,  who  brought  his  family  to  Kings  county 
from  Oregon  in  1864.  Fraternally  the  doctor  affiliates  with  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  being  a  member  of  lodge,  encampment 
and  canton,  and  with  the  Native  Sons  of  the  Golden  West,  a  charter 
member  of  Visalia  pai'loi'  No.  1!),  in  which  he  has  passed  all  chairs. 


JOHN  C.  DANNER 

The  man  who  practically  owns  and  operates  the  commercial  inter- 
ests and  general  industries  of  White  River,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  is 
John  C.  Danner,  a  native  of  Missouri  born  in  1857.  Nathan  Danner, 
his  father,  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and  it  was  in  Tennessee 
that  his  mother  was  born,  but  they  are  now  both  deceased,  the  latter 
having  passed  away  in  1911.  His  parents  came  to  California  in  1858, 
when  John  C.  Danner  was  scarcely  more  than  six  months  old,  and 
landed  at  San  Francisco,  and  from  there  they  went  to  Tuolumne 
county.  In  1864,  when  he  was  about  seven  years  old,  they  moved  to 
Merced  county,  where  the  boy  was  educated  in  the  public  schools. 
Later  the  family  lived  in  Kern  county  till  1887,  and  there  John  C.  was 
superintendent  of  the  Kern  County  Land  Co.  In  the  year  last  men- 
tioned he  bought  a  farm  nine  miles  east  of  White  River,  where  he 
lived  until  1907,  and  in  the  meantime  bought  ten  hundred  and  forty 
acres  of  range  land  and  went  into  the  cattle  business.  He  continued 
at  this  until  he  moved  to  AVhite  River,  where  he  bought  the  land  in- 
cluding the  townsite,  most  of  which  he  owns  at  this  time.  He  event- 
ually sold  his  cattle  and  range  land,  but  is  still  the  owner  of  four  hun- 
dred and  eighty  acres  of  valuable  California  soil.  He  is  the  pro- 
prietor of  a  hotel,  a  livery  and  feed  establishment,  a  general  store  and 
other  business  interests  at  White  River  and  he  and  his  son  own  a  tele- 
phone system  of  about  one  hundred  miles  of  wire  which  centers  there. 
He  has  been  a  school  trustee  since  he  was  old  enough  to  hold  office, 
was  a  deputy  county  clerk,  and  in  Kern  county  served  as  dej^uty 
county  assessor  during  two  years  of  the  administration  of  Tom  Hard- 
ing. 

The  development  of  Tulare  county  has  had  in  Mr.  Danner  not 
only  a  witness  but  a  factor,  his  public  spirit  having  im]ielled  him  to 
assist  all  local  interests  to  the  extent  of  his  alnlity.  In  1884  he  mar- 
ried Alice  Barbeau,  a  native  of  Illinois,  and  they  have  six  children: 
Lea  S.  was  born  in  Kern  county,  is  married  and  is  associated  witJi  his 
father  in  business;  Luciau  Carl,  who  also  was  born  in  Kern  county, 
assists  his  father  in  the  management  of  his  mercantile  interests ;  Fred- 
erick Earl  and  Violet  ]\I.  are  members  of  their  jiarents'  household,  and 


442  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Violet  is  an  accomplished  musician ;  Edgar  and  Royal  complete  the 
family. 

One  of  the  prominent  business  men  of  the  county,  recognized  by  all 
who  know  him  as  a  man  of  great  ability  and  of  the  best  judgment,  Mr. 
Danner  generously  and  patriotically  ascribes  a  fair  share  of  Ms  suc- 
cess to  the  splendid  opportunities  which  Tulare  county  has  afforded 
him,  and  while  laboring  to  build  up  his  own  fortunes  he  has  paused 
from  time  to  time  to  render  good  olKces  for  the  benefit  of  the  com- 
munity. 


GEORGE  JOHN  WEGMAN 

Of  German  birth  and  ancestry,  George  John  Weginan  opened  his 
eyes  to  the  world  iu  Hesse-Darmstadt,  where  Michael  Wegman,  his 
father,  owned  a  vineyard  and  winery.  He  was  educated  in  the  good 
schools  kept  near  his  home,  and  after  he  became  old  enough  helped 
his  father,  hj  whom  he  was  trained  to  be  industrious,  self-reliant  and 
persevering.  He  was  yet  a  comparatively  young  man  when  he  mar- 
ried Caroline  Wennerholdt.  born  in  Kur-Hessen,  daughter  of  Jacob 
Wennerholdt,  an  officer  in  the  German  army,  who,  during  his  nineteen 
years'  service  participated  in  the  wars  forced  on  Europe  by  Napoleon, 
fighting  at  Waterloo,  running  inany  risks  and  receiving  numerous 
wounds,  and  wlio  when  his  service  was  ended  was  a  hotel-keeper  until 
his  death. 

In  1849  Mr.  Wegman  and  his  good  wife  sailed  for  the  United 
States,  their  cash  capital  small,  but  they  had  youth,  health  and  hope. 
For  a  time  after  their  arrival,  Mr.  Wegman  worked  as  a  cooper  at 
Lancaster,  Pa.,  but  about  1855  he  went  west  to  Warsaw,  Hancock 
county.  111.,  and  established  himself  as  a  cooper,  then  as  a  farmer. 
Some  ten  years  later  he  moved  to  Wisconsin  and  took  up  a  farm  in 
Jefferson  county,  where  he  remained  ten  years,  till  in  1875,  when  he 
came  out  to  the  Pacific  coast  and  settled  in  Tulare  county,  on  Elbow 
creek,  three  miles  northeast  of  Visalia,  where  he  liought  land  and  en- 
gaged in  farming  and  stock-raising.  His  success  was  very  satisfactory 
and  he  prospered  until  his  death,  whicli  occurred  December  29,  1896, 
when  he  was  about  seventy-five  years  old.  His  wife  died  June  24, 
1903,  aged  eighty-two  years,  five  montlis  and  twenty-three  days.  She 
was  a  devout  member  of  the  German  Reformed  Church,  all  through 
her  long  life  exemplifying  in  character  the  doctrines  she  professed. 
Mr.  and  Mrs,  Weg-man  had  four  children:  Caroline,  wife  of  Andrew 
Belz;  Theodore,  who  died  in  Wisconsin,  aged  fourteen  years;  Eliza 
Otelia,  who  cared  for  her  parents  until  they  ]3assed  away  and  has 
since  lived  on  the  old  Wegman  homestead,  with  her  sister  and  her 


THOMAS   LEWIS 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  445 

brother-in-law;  and  Matliilda,  who  died  in  California  when  she  was 
eighteen  years  old.     From  the  time  of  liis  arrival  in  California  until 
his  death,  more  than  two  decades  afterward,  Mr.  "Wegman  was  a  citi 
zen  of  Tnlare  county,  and  lield  an  honorable  position  among  its  good 
and  thriftv  farmers. 


THOMAS  UEAYIS 

The  late  Thomas  Lewis,  whose  widow  lives  in  Tulare,  two  blocks 
west  of  A  street  and  Kern  avenue,  was  born  in  Michigan,  A])ril  3, 
1838,  and  was  reared  to  matTirity  at  Toledo,  Ohio.  In  1859,  when  he 
was  about  twenty-one  years  old,  he  came  to  California  by  way  of  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama  and  took  up  laud  on  the  Mokelumne  river,  about 
twenty  miles  from  Stockton.  There  he  lived  until  1865,  when  he 
sold  out  and  went  to  Sacramento,  and  here  he  bought  farm  land  and 
operated  a  dairy  until  1870,  when  he  located  at  Tulare  on  a  home- 
stead of  eighty  acres  and  pre-empted  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
more  and  a  timber  culture  tract  of  the  same  area.  Later  he  bought 
four  hundred  and  thirty  acres  on  the  Tule  river,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Woodville  and  about  twenty  miles  from  Tulare,  and  for  a  time  raised 
cattle  and  horses  and  kept  a  dairy,  but  later  he  gave  some  attention 
to  farming  and  devoted  two  hundred  acres  of  land  to  alfalfa,  and  in 
following  out  his  plans  herein  indicated  he  spent  the  remainder  of 
his  life.  He  died  November  28,  1887,  and  his  widow  conducted  the 
ranch  until  April,  1891  ,when  she  sold  part  of  the  land  and  removed  to 
AVoodville.  There  she  made  her  home  until  in  1907,  when  she  dis- 
posed of  her  property  in  that  town  and  took  up  her  residence  in 
Tulare,  renting  her  farm  property  to  tenants. 

Before  her  marriage  Mrs.  Lewis  was  Miss  Martha  A.  Johnson 
and  was  l)orn  in  Missouri,  a  daughter  of  James  T.  and  Elizabeth 
(Bond)  Johnson.  She  came  to  California  in  1864  and  lived  in  Wood- 
bi-idge,  San  Joaquin  county,  until  in  1866,  and  she  was  married  May 
15  of  that  year.  Of  the  live  children  she  bore  her  husl)and,  four 
survive,  namely:  Chloe  E.  married  Edwin  Hamlin;  Rosa  is  the  wife 
of  A.  Wann;  George  S.,  of  Fairbanks,  Alaska,  is  an  engineer;  and 
Ruby  is  Mrs.  William  Beare  of  Tulare.  Charles  is  dead.  Mrs.  Lewis 
is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church  and  with  her  husband  she  was 
formerly  connected  with  the  Grange. 


WILLARD   ERNEST   DINGLEY 

No  work  devoted  even  in  part  to  the  prominent  men  and  lead- 
ing interests  of  Kings  county,  Cal.,  would  be  complete  without  some 


446  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

detailed  reference  to  tlie  well-known  farmer,   financier  and  man  of 
affairs  whose  name  is  above. 

It  was  at  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  that  Willard  Ernest  Dingley  was 
born,  December  4,  1874.  He  was  reared  in  that  city  and  in  Oakland, 
and  it  was  in  the  public  schools  of  Oakland  that  he  gained  his  edu- 
cational training.  In  1898,  when  he  was  about  twenty-four  years 
old,  he  came  to  Kings  county  and  engaged  in  farming  just  outside 
of  Lemoore.  From  the  outset  of  his  career  here  he  liked  the  town 
and  its  people  and  had  faith  in  its  future.  He  achieved  success  as 
a  farmer  and  gave  very  close  attention  to  his  ranch  interests  until 
he  became  cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Lemoore,  which  posi- 
tion of  trust  and  responsibility  he  accepted  in  April,  1907,  and  since 
that  time  he  has  devoted  all  his  ability  and  energy  to  the  upbuilding 
of  all  the  interests  of  the  staunch  financial  institution  which  is  the 
pride  of  the  business  community  of  Lemoore.  Meanwhile  he  has 
superintended  the  farming  of  four  hundred  acres,  one  hundred  and 
thirty  of  which  is  in  vineyard,  the  remainder  being  under  alfalfa. 
To  stockraising  he  has  given  considerable  attention,  with  very  satis- 
factory results.  Taking  an  interest  in  all  the  affairs  of  Lemoore  and 
of  Kings  county,  he  has  been  helpful  in  the  promotion  of  many  move- 
ments for  the  general  good,  and  has  won  an  enviable  reputation  as  a 
citizen  of  enterprise,  initiative  and  public  spirit. 


W.  F.  CARTMILL,  M.  D. 

In  1861,  when  Dr.  W.  F.  Cartmill  bought  property  in  Tulare 
county,  the  city  of  Tulare  had  not  been  founded  and  the  county  was  for 
the  most  part  unimproved.  He  saw  here  promising  conditions  which 
had  escaped  the  attention  of  many  others,  and  soon  bought  a  quarter 
section  of  land  ten  miles  southwest  of  Visalia,  to  which  he  added  from 
time  to  time  till  he  owned  twelve  hundred  acres,  all  under  irrigation. 
He  raised  cattle  as  long  as  cattle  raising  was  profitable,  then  turned 
his  attention  to  sheep.  His  flock  at  one  time  numbered  six  thousand, 
but  he  sold  it  aliout  1894  and  for  the  succeeding  ten  years  conducted 
an  apiary.  In  1904  he  sold  his  bees  and  retired  from  active  life.  He 
had  lived  at  Tulare  since  1872,  about  the  time  of  the  coming  of  the 
rail  road  to  the  town.  The  residence  that  he  had  built  at  the  time  was 
one  of  the  first  imposing  ones  in  the  place,  and  it  soon  l)ecame  a  land- 
mark on  West  Tulare  street. 

It  was  in  Franklin  county,  Ohio,  that  Dr.  Cartmill  was  born.  Jan- 
uarv  5,  1822,  the  sixth  in  order  of  nativity  of  the  seven  children  of 


TULARK  AND  KINUS  COUNTIES  447 

William  and  Isabelle  (Ferguson)  Cartmill,  natives,  respectively,  of 
Virginia  and  of  Old  Virginia.  To  Kentucky  Mr.  Cartmill  emigrated 
and  there  he  met  and  married  Miss  Ferguson.  Soon  after  their  mar- 
riage they  moved  to  Franklin  county,  Ohio,  and  later  they  went  to 
Madison  county,  in  the  same  state,  and  on  Darby  creek  in  tliat  county 
Mr.  Cartmill  cleared  and  impioved  a  farm.  There  the  couple  lived 
out  their  days,  Mr.  Cartmill  living  to  be  ninety-seven  years  old.  As  a 
boy,  Dr.  Cartmill  attended  a  subscription  school  in  a  little  log  building 
that  was  little  better  than  a  hut.  He  read  medicine  under  the  precep- 
torship  of  Dr.  Thomas,  of  London,  Ohio,  and  practiced  his  profession 
there  1846-48.  In  the  latter  year  he  set  out  for  California,  but  was 
persuaded  to  stop  in  Columbia,  Mo.,  where  he  practiced  alxiut  two 
years.  In  1850  he  crossed  the  plains  with  horses,  following  the  over- 
land trail  up  the  Platte,  on  to  Salt  Lake  (where  he  staid  a  fortnight), 
thence  down  the  Humboldt  and  by  the  Carson  route.  One  hundred 
days  passed  after  he  crossed  the  Missouri  state  line  before  he  arrived 
in  California.  Locating  at  Rancheria,  near  Volcano,  Amador  county, 
he  divided  his  time  between  mining  and  practicing  medicine  and  surg- 
ery. In  1854  he  returned  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  to  Ohio, 
and  from  there  went  to  Missouri.  Near  Columbia,  March  27,  1855,  he 
married  Miss  Sophia  P>arnes,  who  was  born  in  that  neighborhood,  a 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  James  and  Elizaljeth  (Burkhart)  Barnes,  na- 
tives, respectively,  of  Kentuck\'  and  Missouri.  Mr.  Barnes,  after  set- 
tling in  Randolph  county.  Mo.,  became  a  pioneer  farmer  and  P>a]itist 
preacher.  He  was  a  hero  of  early  Indian  wars.  He  and  his  wife, 
parents  of  fifteen  children,  both  died  in  Missouri.  All  but  two  of  their 
sons  and  daughters  grew  to  maturity  and  four  of  them  lived  to  old  age. 
Mrs.  Cartmill  was  the  only  one  of  them  who  came  to  the  Pacific  coast. 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Cartmill  came  to  California  by  the  Nicaragua  route  and 
he  resumed  his  work  in  Amador  county,  where  they  settled.  From 
there  they  came  to  Tulare  county  in  1861.  Some  account  of  his  activi- 
ties has  been  given  above.  He  belie\-ed  in  Reiniblican  j^rinciples  and 
voted  for  the  nominees  of  his  party,  but  was  never  a  practical  poli- 
tician. He  long  maintained  a  warm  interest  in  the  San  Joaquin  Val- 
ley Pioneers'  Society.  Duiing  his  long  residence  in  the  county  he 
supported  movements  for  the  benelit  of  the  people  and  in  e\ery  jiossi- 
ble  way  lat)ored  for  the  good  of  the  conununity.  He  passed  away 
March  26,  1906;  his  wife,  July  5,  1007.  The  deeiiest  liereavement  lliaf 
came  to  them  was  the  dcatli,  liy  diplitlieria,  within  ten  days,  of  tlieir 
three  daughters,  Floi-a,  F>va  and  Mary.  Their  youngest  son.  Walter 
Selmon,  died,  aged  two  years.  There  appears  in  this  work  a  l)iograi)ii- 
ical  sketch  of  their  son,  Wooster  B.  Cartmill.  They  reai'ed  to  woman- 
hood a  girl  named  Amelia  Jessie,  who  married  R.  F.  (iueriu,  a  dairy- 
man, living  near  Tulare. 


448  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

FRANK   R.   HIGHT 

The  president  and  manager  of  tlie  Old  Bank  of  llanford.  Kings 
coimty,  Cal.,  is  Frank  R.  Higlit,  one  of  the  most  trustworthy  finan 
ciers  in  central  California.  Mr.  Hight  was  born  in  Wyoming  county. 
Pa.,  January  15,  1862,  and  after  having  l)een  graduated  from  the 
State  Normal  school  at  Bloomsburg,  Columbia  county.  Pa.,  taught 
school  in  his  native  state.  In  1889  he  came  to  California  and  resumed 
teaching  in  Merced  county.  He  located  in  Hanford  in  189.3  and  after 
teaching  two  years  in  the  public  school  bought  an  interest  in  the  Han- 
ford Abstract  Com])any,  which  he  retained  until  in  1901,  when  upon 
the  organization  of  the  Old  Bank  he  liecame  its  assistant  cashier,  a 
position  from  which  he  has  advanced  to  that  of  president  and  mana- 
ger. He  has  been  city  treasurer  of  Hanford  since  1902,  in  which  posi- 
tion he  has  handled  big  responsibilities  with  nmch  conservatism  and 
discretion. 

In  1894  Mr.  Hight  married  Miss  Mary  Williams,  a  native  of  Colo- 
rado, and  they  have  four  children,  Harriet  I.,  Roliert  R.,  F.  Raymond, 
and  Helen  I.  Hight. 


ABRAM  HUNTER  MURRAY,  Se. 

Of  Scotch-German  blood  Abram  Hunter  Murray,  Sr.,  was  in 
everything  that  the  term  can  imjily  a  typical  patriotic  American. 
From  liis  father  he  inherited  the  rugged  constitution  and  intellectual 
characteristics  of  a  long  line  of  ancestors  who  lived  their  lives  and 
died  in  Scotland,  and  through  his  mother  many  qualities  which  have 
made  for  good  citizenship  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  since  Germans 
first  set  foot  on  American  soil.  His  ancestor,  Thomas  Murray,  born 
in  Tennessee,  removed  to  Missouri  with  his  family,  one  member  of 
which  was  Thomas,  who  was  born  in  Campbell  county,  Tenn.,  Jan- 
uary 28,  1797,  and  who  in  his  early' manhood  had  plenty  of  experience 
of  war.  He  went  to  the  front  in  1812.  took  part  in  the  Black  Hawk 
war  and  was  in  command  of  troops  in  the  Mormon  war.  From  his  old 
home  at  Boones  Lick,  Cooper  county.  Mo.,  he  moved  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Moniteau  river,  in  that  state,  where  he  was  a  farmer  and  a  fei-ry- 
man  until  184o,  and  then  settled  near  AVest  Point,  Cass  county.  Mo., 
and  resumed  farming.  Responding  to  the  call  of  gold  in  California, 
his  sons  came  to  the  Pacific  coast  as  ])ioneers,  and  in  185.3  he  and  his 
wife  and  their  three  daughters  joined  them  at  Petaluma,  where  he 
died  in  his  eighty-fifth  year.  In  Missouri  he  was  county  judge  four- 
teen years  and  there  and  in  California  he  long  held  the  office  of  jus- 
tice of  the  peace. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  449 

The  womau  who  became  Mrs.  Thomas  Mnrray,  Jr.,  was  Miss  Bar- 
bara Hunter,  who  was  liorn  in  Powell's  Valley,  Tenn.,  July  7,  1797, 
and  died  at  C'loverdale,  Cal.,  in  her  eighty-fifth  year.  Her  family 
came  over  from  Germany  to  A'irginia  and  moved  from  there  to  Ten- 
nessee, where  her  father  was  a  farmer.  She  bore  her  husband  twelve 
children.  Mary  M.  (Polly)  became  Mrs.  Walker  and  died  at  Santa 
Rosa.  Margaret  (Mrs.  Hensley)  died  in  Madera  county.  Jane  C. 
married  Enoch  Enloe  and  died  in  Cole  coimty.  Emily  M.,  of  Inyo 
county  is  Mrs.  Hugh  Enloe.  Abram  H.,  Sr.,  is  the  immediate  subject 
of  this  notice.  Urith  (Mrs.  Orr)  died  in  California.  Barbara  Ann.  of 
San  Diego  county,  is  Mrs.  Williams.  Joshua  H.  came  to  California  in 
1850,  was  a  farmer  and  died  at  Yisalia.  Josephine  died  when  slie  was 
ten  years  old.  Rachael,  of  Santa  Rosa,  is  Mrs.  Clark.  Sarah  E.,  of 
Humboldt  county,  is  Mrs.  Stanley.  Hannah  Retta,  of  Cloverdale, 
Cal.,  is  Mrs.  Cooper. 

Abram  Hunter  Murray,  Sr.,  was  born  January  17,  1827,  ten  miles 
west  of  Jefferson  C-ity,  Mo.  At  sixteen  lie  moved  to  Cass  county, 
where  lie  lived  until  April  19,  1852,  when,  accompanied  bj^  his  wife 
and  three  children,  he  started  over  the  plains  toward  California  with 
ox-teams,  driving  a  herd  of  cattle.  The  journey  was  made  by  way  of 
the  Missouri,  the  Platte  and  the  Humboldt  river  trails  into  California 
by  way  of  the  Carson  river  route.  They  stopped  a  few  weeks  in 
Stockton,  then  came  into  what  is  now  Tulare  county.  The  country 
was  then  a  wilderness,  and  with  the  exception  of  S.  C.  Brown,  who 
had  arrived  a  few  days  earlier,  Mr.  Murray  was  the  first  settler  here. 
The  ill-fated  attempt  of  a  Mr.  Woods  to  establish  a  settlement  near 
the  present  town  of  AVoodville  in  1850  is  a  matter  of  history,  which 
relates  how  he  and  seventeen  of  his  men  were  killed  by  Indians,  only 
one  man  escai)ing  to  tell  the  story  of  the  slaughter. 

In  what  is  now  the  western  part  of  Visalia,  Mr.  Murray  began 
to  farm  on  an  extensive  scale.  From  California  and  the  general  gov- 
ernment he  bought  eighteen  thousand  acres  of  land  which  he  after- 
wards lost  through  the  vicissitudes  of  business,  and  in  dry  years  he 
lost  many  sheep.  In  1879  he  engaged  in  steam-boating  and  in  the 
wood  trade,  with  lieadquarters  at  The  Dalles,  Oregon,  but  the  climate 
there  drove  him  back  to  California  and  he  acquired  a  tract  of  two 
hundred  acres  in  the  ricli  San  Joaquin  valley.  Much  of  this  projierty 
was  sold,  hut  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  owned  forty  acres  in  vineyard 
and  alfalfa. 

On  April  25,  1844,  Mr.  Murray  married  Miss  Sarah  T.  Hensley, 
who  was  born  in  (Vile  county.  Mo.,  July  4,  1824.  It  was  traditional 
in  her  family  that  her  father,  the  Hon.  John  Hensley,  a  native  of  Ten- 
nessee and  a  pioneer  in  Missouri,  passed  through  St.  Louis  when  that 
old  city  was  yet  under  the  flag  of  Spain.  For  a  time  he  lived  in  Gas- 
conade county,  that  state,  but  later  was  a  pioneer  in  Cole  county,  and 


450  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

was  three  times  elected  to  represent  his  district  in  tlie  senate  of  Mis- 
souri, where  lie  made  a  record  as  a  man  of  honor  and  of  pro,2:ressive 
ideas.  Mrs.  Murray  died  July  8,  1902.  and  her  place  at  the  old  home- 
stead has  been  tilled  by  her  eldest  child,  Mary  Fannie,  wife  of  William 
J.  Adams,  who  came  to  California  in  1859,  and  is  mentioned  elsewhere 
in  this  publication.  The  other  children  are:  Thomas  H.,  a  ranchman 
near  the  Toll  Gate,  in  Fresno  county;  Commodore  P.,  a  retired 
rancher,  of  Humboldt  county;  Jackson  C,  who  is  farming-  in  Fresno 
county;  and  A.  H.,  Jr.,  court  reporter  of  Visalia.  Barbara  E.,  who 
become  Mrs.  Taylor,  died  at  her  home  on  the  White  River,  in  Tulare 
county.  Fraternally  Mr.  Murray  affiliated  with  Visalia  lodge  No.  128, 
F.  &  A.  M.,  of  which  he  was  twice  elected  master,  and  he  was  a  de- 
mitted  Chapter  Mason.  Politically  he  allied  himself  with  Democrats. 
In  his  religious  ideas  he  was  liberal,  but  he  was  generous  to  all  local 
denominations,  especially  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South, 
of  which  Mrs.  Murray  was  a  member.  .  He  passed  away  at  his  home  in 
Tulare  county,  January  18,  1911. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  WILLIAMS 

In  Polk  county,  Mo.,  George  Washington  Williams,  who  lives 
near  the  Santa  Fe  depot  at  Tulare,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  was  born 
January  17,  1868.  There  he  was  reared  and  educated  and  there  he 
lived,  farming  after  he  was  old  enough,  until  he  was  twenty  years  old. 
Then  he  turned  his  back  on  the  parental  homestead  and  set  out  alone 
in  quest  of  the  fortune  which  he  was  destined  to  find  in  far  away  Cali- 
fornia. Arriving  in  Tulare  county  in  1898  he  worked  there  for  a 
time  on  wages  and  then  went  to  Butte  county,  where  he  was  likewise 
employed  a  year  and  a  half.  Later  he  returned  to  Tulare  county, 
within  which  he  has  since  made  his  home.  He  continued  working  and 
saving  his  money  four  years  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  began  farm- 
ing for  himself  on  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land  on  White 
river,  where  he  made  a  cro^i  of  grain,  and  in  the  following- 
year  with  a  partner  he  seeded  fourteen  hundred  acres,  but  the  yeai" 
was  a  dry  one  and  the  crop  did  not  materialize.  The  next  season  he 
garnered  a  very  good  crop  from  ti\e  hundred  acres  south  of  Tulare, 
where  he  remained  five  years  altogether,  and  then  for  one  year  farmed 
on  rented  land  northwest  of  Tulare.  In  190-J-  he  Ijbught  eighty  acres 
adjoining  the  city  limits,  on  which  he  farmed  and  conducted  a  dairy 
four  years,  but  which  he  now  rents  for  dairying  purposes.  In  1907  Iw 
bought  four  hundred  and  eighty  acres  nine  miles  southwest- of  Tulare, 
which  lie  sold  in  1909,  soon  afterward  buying  four  hundred  acres  six 
miles  northwest  of  the  city,  and  here  he  has  farmed  with  niucli  success 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  451 

and  has  at  this  time  one  hundred  acres  in  alfalfa,  the  remaindei-  of  hi.s 
land  being  devoted  to  the  production  of  barley,  wheat  and  corn. 

As  a  stockholder  in  the  First  National  Banlv  of  Tulare  and  other- 
wise, Mr.  AVilliaiiis  has  had  from  time  to  time  to  do  with  business 
interests  not  directly  connected  with  the  land,  and  in  different  ways 
he  has,  as  occasion  has  offered,  manifested  a  public  spirit  which  has 
given  him  liigh  place  as  a  citizen.  In  1898  he  married  Miss  Emma 
Moody  of  Tulare. 


FIRST  NATIONAL  BANK  OF  TULARE 

A  financial  institution  wliich  was  in  its  time  |)owerfully  influential 
in  promotion  of  the  advancement  and  prosperity  of  Tulare,  Cal.,  was 
the  Farmers'  and  Merchants'  Bank,  organized  under  the  laws  of 
California,  with  a  capital  of  $25,000,  in  which  Turner  Nelson,  John 
Goble,  A.  L.  Wilson  and  H.  M.  Shreve  were  the  principal  stockliolders 
and  active  factors.  In  1907  the  Farmers'  and  Merchants'  Bank  was 
converted  into  a  national  bank,  under  the  title  of  the  First  National 
Bank,  Tulare,  Cal.  Its  original  capital  of  $25,000  was  in  1910  in- 
creased to  $100,000,  all  paid  in.  An  idea  of  its  progress  is  afforded  in 
these  figures,  showing  comparative  deposits :  October  6,  1908,  $277,- 
545.17;  October  6,  1909,  $358,237.89;  October  6,  1910,  $4.39,357.88;  Octo- 
ber 6,  1911,  $506,796.43;  January  1,  1913,  $530,900.59.  At  the  date  last 
given  the  resources  of  the  liank  were  as  follows :  cash,  and  due  from 
banks.  $172,097.35;  loans  and  discounts,  $458,552.03;  U.  S.  l)onds  at 
par,  $80,000.00;  banking  house  and  safe  deposit  vaults,  $31,000.00; 
total  resources,  $743,283.37.  Liabilities:  deposits,  $530,900.59;  na- 
tional bank  notes,  $75,000.00;  cai)ital  stock,  $100,000.00;  surplus  and 
profits,  $32,385.28;  total  liabilities,  $743,283.37.  The  bank  is  under 
government  supervision  and  is  a  United  States  postal  savings  deposi- 
tory. 

Statement  showing  increase  of  accounts  for  the  year  l!n2: 

Loans — 

Total  at  December  :!!,  1912 .$458,552.03 

Total  at  December  31,  1911    406,949.40 

Increase  for  the  year $  51,602.63 

Deposits — 

Total  Deceml)er  31,  1912 ,..$530,900.59 

Total  December  31,  1911 462,516.09 

Increase $  68,384.50 


452  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Assets : 

December  31,  1912 $743,283.37 

December  31,  1911 662,365.01 

Increase $  80,918.36 

Open  Checking  Accounts — 

Commercial  accounts  December  31,  1912 1453 

Savings  accounts  December  31,  1912 175 


Total  accounts  for  1912 1628 

Total  accounts  December  31,  1911 - 1379 


Increase  in  number  of  accounts  for  year  1912 249 

Its  officers  and  directors  are  T.  Nelson,  president;  H.  M.  Shreve, 
vice-president  and  manager;  "W.  E.  Dunlap.  cashier;  J.  J.  Mitchell, 
first  assistant  cashier;  A.  T.  Warden,  second  assistant  cashier.  The 
directors  are:  Turner  Nelson,  H.  M.  Shreve,  Clarence  M.  Smith,  M.  (i. 
Cottle  and  C.  R.  Scott.  Mr.  Sniitl:  is  ])rpsident  of  the  National  Rank 
of  Visalia. 


JAMES  ADDISON  MOOREHEAD 

It  was  within  the  borders  of  West  Virginia  of  today,  then  a  part 
of  the  Old  Dominion,  that  James  Addison  Moorehead  was  born  in 
1830,  and  there  he  remained  until  he  was  seventeen  years  old,  attend- 
ing school  and  learning  something  about  farm  labor  and  other  work. 
In  1850  he  went  to  Louisa  county,  Iowa,  where  he  farmed  until  1862, 
and  in  that  year,  in  company  with  De  AVitt  Maxwell  and  the  latter 's 
family,  he  came  overland  to  California,  the  slow  and  wearisome 
journey  consuming  six  months'  time.  They  stopped  at  Salt  Lake, 
Utah,  three  weeks,  then  came  to  Placerville  by  way  of  Carson,  and 
from  Placerville  they  pushed  forward  to  Stockton,  where  the  train 
was  divided  according  to  the  respective  destinations  of  the  different 
members  of  the  party.  Mr.  Moorehead  worked  a  few  days  in  a 
lumber  yard  in  Stockton,  and  then  found  emplo^anent  on  the  i-anch 
of  William  Bailey,  with  whom  he  remained  two  years,  when,  with 
two  men  of  the  name  of  Neuel,  he  went  to  the  mines  in  Eldorado 
county,  remaining  there  until  in  1869,  when  he  came  to  A'isalia.  Hav- 
ing decided  to  take  up  land,  he  was  advised  to  file  a  pre-emption  claim 
on  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  public  land  six  miles  northwest  of 
Tulare.  Upon  following  this  advice  he  lived  there  until  he  legally 
perfected  his  title  to  it  and  then  he  took  up  eighty  acres  adjoining 
his  original  claim.     This  land  he  im])roved  and  developed  and  farmed 


^. 


■? 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  455 

with  success  until  1906,  when  he  began  to  rent  it  out,  its  tenant  at 
this  time  being  Fred  Billings.  Mr.  Moorehead  was  the  first  in  this 
section  to  fence  in  a  ranch  and  lirst  to  file  on  land  liei'e  under  the 
advertising  law,  his  claim  having  been  entered  in  the  fall  of  1869.  On 
his  place  is  one  of  the  largest  oak  trees  in  the  world.  The  original 
Grange  at  Tulare  numbered  Mr.  Moorehead  among  its  members,  but 
when  its  charter  lapsed,  he  did  not  join  the  new  grange  which  suc- 
ceeded it.  For  many  years  a  feature  of  his  business  was  threshing 
and  one  of  his  interesting  reminiscences  is  of  farming  five  hundred 
acres  in  Stokes  valley  in  the  period  1870-73,  which  were  truly  pioneer 
davs  in  that  section. 


KENNEDY  &  ROBINSON 

Among  the  prominent  business  men  of  Hauford.  Kings  coimty, 
Cal.,  the  members  of  the  firm  mentioned  above  are  in  high  repute. 
Their  establishment  is  one  of  the  leading  business  institutions  of  the 
city  and  in  its  own  field  is  ])erhaiis  a  leader  in  the  county.  It  was 
opened  July  1,  1910,  though  its  proi)rietors  had  previously  associated 
in  business  at  Lemoore,  where  Mr.  Robinson  bought  a  half  interest 
in  the  undertaking  enterjirise  of  Bryans  &  Kennedy,  Mr.  Bryans 
retiring  from  the  firm.  J.  L.  Robinson  was  born  in  Delaware  county, 
Iowa,  April  19,  1872,  and  when  he  was  seven  years  old  was  brought 
to  Sutter  county,  Cal.,  by  his  parents,  who  lived  there  but  a  year. 
Going  back  to  Iowa,  they  came  again  to  California  at  the  end  of 
another  twelve  months.  Once  more  they  lived  in  California  a  year, 
and  this  time  they  removed  to  Nebraska,  where  they  remained  until 
1888,  when  they  came  to  Redding,  Shasta  county,  Cal.  Not  long  there- 
after they  made  their  way  back  to  Nebraska,  whence  they  came  to 
Hanford,  arriving  November  13,  1898.  In  the  meantime  Mr.  Roliinson 
had  gathered  a  good  knowledge  of  ranching  by  actual  ex]ierience 
in  the  west  and  of  the  grain  and  elevator  business  by  conne(>tion 
with  that  interest  in  Cedar  Rapids,  Neb.  During  the  first  five  years 
which  elapsed  after  his  coming,  he  raised  wheat  along  the  lake,  about 
twenty  miles  south  of  Hanford;  then  he  bought  a  ranch  half  a  mile 
north  of  that  city  wliicli  he  traded  after  two  years  for  another  li\-e 
and  one-half  miles  to  the  northwest,  which  he  ojierated  tlu'cc  years 
and  then  sold  out.  Before  this,  however,  he  had  bought  into  his 
present  business,  and  in  July,  1910,  it  was  installed  in  a  building  built 
especially  for  it  in  Hanford.  Since  then  the  firm  has  conducted  a 
branch  establishment  in  Lemoore  and  its  business  in  both  towns  has 
been  very  successful.  Their  equipment  is  as  complete  and  as  exjien- 
sive  as  that  of  anv  of  its  kind  in  Central  California  and  thcv  opciatc 


456  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

the  only  ainbulanoe  in  Kings  county.  Mr.  Robinson  has  the  Hanford 
end  of  the  enterprise  in  charge,  wliile  Mr.  Kennedy  superintends 
the  branch  at  Lemoore. 

Since  he  became  a  member  of  the  business  circle  of  Hanford, 
Mr.  Robinson  has  in  many  ways  demonstrated  his  public  spirit.  He  is 
solicitously  and  helpfully  interested  in  everything  that  tends  to 
promote  the  city's  growth  and  prosperity.  Socially  he  affiliates  with 
the  Hanford  organizations  of  the  Order  of  Fraternal  Aid  and  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  having  membership  in  the  lodge,  the 
encampment  and  the  Rebekah  auxiliary  of  the  latter. 


PASCHAL  BEQUETTE,  Jr. 

In  Iowa  county.  AA'is.,  Paschal  Bequette  was  born  in  December, 
1845,  a  son  of  Col.  Paschal  Bequette,  Sr.  In  1852  Col.  Bequette 
brought  his  family  across  the  plains  with  ox-teams  to  California 
and  was  for  a  short  time  in  general  merchandise  trade  in  Sacra- 
mento, but  being  a  man  of  unusual  ability  he  was  soon  called  to  a 
more  imi)ortant  field  of  action.  In  1853  he  went  to  San  Francisco 
to  enter  iipon  his  duties  as  receiver  of  public  money  and  pension 
agent  under  appointment  by  President  Franklin  Pierce,  and  these 
offices  he  filled  through  the  administration  of  President  Buchanan. 
In  1859  moving  with  his  family  to  Visalia,  Tulare  county,  he  there 
became  the  owner  of  land  and  established  himself  as  a  breeder  of 
cattle  and  horses.  He  served  the  county  as  its  treasurer  and  as 
deputy  recorder  and  passed  away  in  December,  1879.  His  wife 
was  Elizabeth  P.  Dodge,  a  native  of  Wisconsin,  and  a  daughter  of 
ex-Governor  Dodge  of  "Wisconsin,  afterward  the  first  United  States 
senator  from  that  state  and  a  sister  of  Hon.  A.  C.  Dodge,  United 
States  senator  from  Iowa,  the  father  and  son  serving  in  the  United 
States  senate  at  the  same  time.  Col.  Bequette  was  a  native  of 
Missouri. 

Following  are  the  names  of  the  children  of  Paschal  and  Pllizabeth 
P.  (Dodge)  Bequette:  Lewis  L.,  Mary  L.,  Christiana  A.,  Philip, 
Mrs.  N.  ().  Bradley,  Mrs.  S.  G.  Patrick,  Frank  R.,  and  Paschal,  Jr. 
The  latter  passed  his  childhood  days  in  AVisconsin  and  was  in  lus 
seventh  year  when  his  family  moved  to  California.  His  education 
was  begun  in  San  Francisco  and  continued  at  A^isalia,  and  it  was  in 
the  office  of  the  Visalia  Delta  that  he  served  a  five  years'  apprentice- 
ship at  the  printer's  trade.  AVhen  he  had  perfected  himself  in  his 
knowledge  of  "the  art  preservative  of  all  arts"  he  went  to  Ilavilah. 
Kern  county,  and  became  half  owner  of  the  Courier,  a  newspaper 
published   in    that   town.     In    1869    he   disposed   of   his   interests    at 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  457 

HaviLah  aud  becaine  a  student  at  a  business  college  at  San  Francisco, 
and  in  1871  and  1872  lie  was  connected  with  the  Los  Angeles  Netvs 
for  a  year.  Returning  to  "\'isalia  in  the  year  last  mentioned,  he 
bought  a  hall'  interest  in  the  Visalia  Times,  which  he  disposed  of 
eventually  in  order  to  engage  in  sheep  raising  in  Kern  county.  On 
his  retui'n  to  Tulare  county  he  took  u])  general  farming  and  interested 
himself  more  actively  in  local  politics  than  he  had  ever  done  before. 
He  has  served  eight  years  as  deputy  county  assessor,  four  years  in 
the  United  States  land  office,  four  years  as  under-sheriff,  in  the 
administration  of  B.  B.  Parker,  and  he  is  now  deputy  county  recorder 
and  deputy  county  treasurer.  All  of  these  various  olhces  he  has  filled 
with  ability  and  integrity  which  have  commended  liiiu  tu  the  guod  opin- 
ion of  his  fellow  citizens  of  all  classes. 

In  1875  Mr.  Bequette  married  Martha  L.  Clarke,  who  has  borne 
him  children  as  follows:  Augustus  D.,  Paschal,  Mary  C,  Elizabeth 
T.,  and  James  C.  Mrs.  Bequette  is  a  daughter  of  James  T.  Clarke, 
a  Mexican  war  veteran,  aud  a  California  pioneer  of  1849,  who  was 
a  prominent  early  stock-raiser  in  this  state.  Her  mother,  who  was 
Mary  A.  Graves,  was  a  member  of  the  famous  Donner  party,  the 
awful  experiences  of  which  are  a  part  of  the  histoiy  of  pioneer 
immigration  to  California.  Led  by  a  man  named  Donner,  these 
pioneers  were  snow-bound  at  the  ])oint  now  known  as  Donner  Lake 
in  Nevada  county,  Cal.,  and  a  great  number  of  them  starved  to  death. 


E.  C.  FOSTER,  M.  D. 

A  native  of  California  and  a  graduate  of  its  leading  medical 
college,  Dr.  E.  C.  Foster,  whose  office  is  in  the  Emporium  building, 
Hanford,  Kings  county,  Cal.,  has  amply  proven  his  ability  and  success 
as  a  |)liysician  and  surgeon  in  general  practice. 

Born  in  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  in  1877,  Dr.  Foster  was  educated 
in  the  jjublic  schools  there  and  in  Oakland.  He  was  graduated  from 
the  Oakland  high  school  in  1898  and  in  that  same  year  entered  the 
medical  <lepartment  of  the  University  of  California,  which  in  1902 
conferred  upon  him  a  diploma  which  declared  him  to  be  a  duly 
educated  and  fully  competent  Medical  Doctor.  For  nine  months 
after  his  giaduation  he  served  with  great  profit  to  himself  as  an 
interne  of  the  French  Hospital  at  San  Francisco.  He  began  the 
regular  practice  of  his  profession  in  Colusa  county,  but  soon  went  to 
Mexico,  where  he  was  in  successful  practice  about  a  year  and  a  half. 
In  May,  ^909,  he  came  to  Hanford,  where  he  has  since  been  in  general 
practice,  meeting  with  good  success  and  winning  a  high  place  in  the 
esteem  of  the  people  of  that  city  and  the  surrounding  countrv.     He 


458  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

is  a  member  of  the  Sau  Joaquin  Medical  Society  and  of  the  Fresno 
Medical  Society.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Masons,  the  Wood- 
men of  the  World  and  the  Fraternal  Brotherhood. 

By  his  marriage  in  1908,  Dr.  Foster  was  united  with  Miss  J.  E. 
Rathbun,  who  was  born  in  Colusa  county,  a  daughter  of  J.  P. 
Rathbun. 

The  father  of  Dr.  Foster,  C.  A.  Foster,  of  San  Francisco,  is  a 
native  of  Maine,  who  came  to  the  Golden  State  in  1868  and  was  in 
1893  appointed  a  customs  inspector,  with  headquarters  at  the  I'ay 
City  Custom  House. 


CHARLES  W.  HART 

A  native  Californian,  Charles  W.  Hart,  farmer,  stock-raiser 
and  dairyman,  three  miles  southeast  of  Farmersville,  Tulare  county, 
was  born  at  Gilroy,  Santa  Clara  county,  June  30,  1860.  His  father, 
Charles  C.  Hart,  born  in  Litchfield  county.  Conn.,  in  1826,  repre- 
sented old  New  England  families.  He  married  in  his  native  state  and 
came  to  California  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  about  1857. 
His  brother  John  had  come  by  way  of  Cape  Horn  in  1849  and  had 
settled  at  Gilroy  as  a  dairyman,  and  later  he  moved  to  Tulare 
county  aiid  thence  to  Kings  county,  dying  at  Hanford.  Charles  C. 
joined  his  brother  in  Gilroy  and  was  a  dairyman  there  until  1861, 
when  he  bought  a  farm  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  three 
miles  south  of  Visalia  and  went  into  ranching  and  stock-raising.  In 
1865  he  pre-empted  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  now  the  homestead 
of  his  widow,  which  he  improved  and  put  under  cultivation.  Later, 
with  Charles  W.  Hart,  his  son,  he  bought  six  hundred  and  forty 
acres  half  a  mile  from  his  home  and  eighty  acr'es  of  land  under 
timber.  They  farmed  together  until  he  died,  July  18,  1891.  He 
married  Miss  Helen  Pa^^le,  a  native  of  New  York,  who  survives 
him,  and  they  had  live  children:  Fred  Miles,  of  Kings  county,  Cal. ; 
Charles  Weston;  John  H.,  a  farmer  near  the  Hart  homestead;  Car- 
rie Ellen,  wife  of  IT.  T.  Anderson,  and  Kittie  A.,  who  married  J.  L. 
Tuohy,  and  died  in  1904.  The  mother  of  these  children  is  a  con- 
sistent member  of  the  Baptist  church.  The  father  was  a  man  of 
strong  principles,  an  advocate  of  })rogress  and  reform  and  a  stanch 
Rejiublican  who  took  an  active  interest  in  all  movements  for  the 
benefit  of  Ms  community  or  his  country. 

Only  six  months  of  his  life  had  been  passed  when  Charles 
Weston  Hart  was  brought  from  Santa  Clara  count}*  to  Tulare  county. 
He  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  in  the  district  and  received 
valuable   early   training  from   his   father.     At   fourteen    he   was    an 


^ci^.^Zg^' 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  461 

active  fanner  on  his  I'atlier's  ranch,  operating-  with  reniurkal)Ie 
ability  and  jnda:ment.  At  twenty-one  he  was  made  his  father's 
jiartner  in  the  l)iisiuess  of  grain  production  and  lios>-  raisino;.  After 
his  father's  deatli,  Mr.  Hart  bought  the  farm  outfit  and  stock  and 
continued  the  enterprise,  renting  from  time  to  time  one  thousand 
to  twenty-five  hundred  acres  of  land  for  the  purposes  of  his  busi- 
ness, and  he  now  owns  six  thousand  acres.  He  has  a  herd  of  six 
Imndred  cattle  of  the  Durham  and  the  Aberdeen  Polled  Angus  lireeds, 
five  hundred  Poland-China  hogs,  one  hundred  and  fifty  horses  and 
mules  and  a  dairy  of  ninety  cows. 

The  woman  who  became  the  wife  of  Mr.  Hart  was  Miss  Lila 
Conlee,  who  was  boiii  in  Morro,  San  Luis  Obispo  county,  Cal.,  a 
daughter  of  Frank  Conlee,  who  was  a  native  of  Illinois  and  a  set- 
tler in  California  in  1870.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hart  became  parents  of 
children  as  follows :  Weston  C,  Helen,  Hazel  Irene,  Ethel  C,  Forest 
F.  and  Verna.  Her  father  ])ecame  a  lumlier  manufacturer  at  Creston 
and  in  Tulare  county,  and  he  is  now  farming  and  growing  fruit  at 
Springville.  Ella  Robinson,  who  became  his  wife  and  the  mother  of 
Mrs.  Hart,  was  born  in  Canada.  Mrs.  Hart  is  the  third  in  their 
family  of  nine  children,  all  of  wliom  were  early  instructed  in  the 
faith  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  of  which  both  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Hart  are  also  members.  In  his  political  convictions  Mr.  Hart  is 
both  liberal  and  conservative,  preferring  to  reserve  the  right  always 
to  east  his  ballot  for  the  man  whom  he  regards  the  best  fitted  for 
a  specific  office. 


GEORGE  JASPER 

The  well-known  stockbuyer,  George  Jasper,  of  Hanford,  Kings 
county,  Cal.,  is  a  native  son  of  the  state,  having  first  opened  liis 
eyes  on  the  world  in  San  Francisco,  which  city  was  his  home  until 
after  he  liad  entered  active  life  on  his  own  account.  He  was  but 
thirteen  years  old  when  he  began  riding  the  ranges  for  the  firm  of 
Miller  &  Lux.  Later  he  was  in  charge  of  their  livestock  in  different 
parts  of  the  San  Joaquin  valley  until  he  became  a  buyer,  in  which 
capacity  he  traveled  throughout  the  coast  country  in  quest  of  cattle 
for  that  firm.  For  twenty-three  years  he  continued  in  their  em]>loy, 
and  in  1907  severed  his  connections  with  them  and  located  at  Han- 
ford as  an  independent  luiyer.  He  buys  stock  in  practically  all- 
counties  in  the  valley,  and  ships  aI)out  two  carloads  of  hogs  each 
week  througli  the  year,  and  about  sixteen  hundi'ed  to  two  thousand 
cattle  annually.  He  is  the  owner  of  three  hundi-ed  and  eighty  acres 
of  pasture  land  located  within  six  miles  of  Hanford. 

35 


462  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

In  18!(S  Mr.  Jas[)er  married  Freda  \'ou  Helms,  who  has  borne 
him  two  children,  Myrtle  and  Tillie.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with 
the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  Fraternal  Order  of 
Eagles,  Woodmen  of  the  World  and  I.  D.  E.  S.  As  a  business  man 
he  is  in  high  repute  and  is  privileged  to  take  pride  in  his  success 
because  it  has  been  won  with  principles  of  honor  and  square  dealing. 
He  takes  a  helpful  interest  in  everything  that  pertains  to  the  growth 
and  development  of  Hanford,  his  public  spirit  impelling  him  to  aid 
to  the  extent  of  his  ability  all  movements  for  the  general  good.  His 
standing  in  the  community  is  all  the  more  noteworthy  because  he  is 
one  of  the  finest  and  most  satisfactory  examples  of  the  self-made  man 
to  be  found  in  Central  California. 


ST.  BRIDGET'S  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

St.  Bridget's  Catholic  Church,  of  Hanford,  Cal.,  was  originally 
a  mission  attached  to  the  parish  of  Visalia.  In  1881  a  plain  little 
frame  chapel  was  built  by  the  Rev.  Aguilera,  pastor  of  Visalia,  on 
two  lots  donated  by  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  Company.  This 
chapel  was  named  after  St.  Bridget  of  Ireland,  as  the  early  Catholic 
settlers  of  Flanford  were  mostly  Irish.  The  lots  adjoining  the 
church  ])roperty  were  then  a  shepherd's  camp. 

From  the  church  records  it  appears  that  in  the  fall  of  1886 
the  Rev.  P.  J.  Smith  was  appointed  first  resident  pastor  of  St. 
Bridget's  church.  In  July,  1891,  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  P.  Murphy, 
who  held  the  rectorship  till  1894,  when  the  Rev.  J.  Brady  was 
appointed.  Meanwhile  the  growth  of  the  parish  made  it  necessary 
to  enlarge  tlie  modest  little  chapel  and  to  give  it  a  more  imposing 
appearance.  This  work  was  ably  planned  and  carried  out  by  Father 
Brady,  so  that  tlie  present  church  has  a  seating  capacity  of  three 
hundred. 

In  1907  Father  Brady  being  called  to  other  fields,  the  Rev.  G. 
Ashe  was  temi)orarily  appointed  pastor  of  St.  Bridget's.  During  the 
six  months  of  his  labors  in  the  parish  a  debt  of  several  thousand 
dollars  was  liquidated.  He  was  followed  by  the  Rev.  P.  F.  McLaughlin 
in  1908,  who  further  embellished  the  interior  of  the  church. 

The  present  pastor.  Rev.  P.  G.  Scher,  was  appointed  in  August 
1911.  In  February,  1912,  an  assistant  was  given  him  in  the  person 
of  Rev.  M.  Salvador  from  Portugal.  Immediately  additional  Sunday 
services  were  arranged  for  in  order  to  accommodate  the  ever 
increasing  attendance  and  new  fields  were  opened  as  missions  of  St. 
Bridget's. 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  4():; 

The  Reverend  Fathers  now  iu  charge  master  the  English,  Ger- 
man, Italian,  Spanish,  Portuguese  and  French  languages.  All  of 
Kings  coimt}'  and  a  good  i)ortion  of  Fresno  county  is  the  extensive 
field  of  their  labors. 

Owing  to  the  growth  of  the  city  the  church  in  recent  years  found 
itself  in  the  best  business  section,  hence  the  parish,  after  having 
successfully  purchased  a  splendid  site  of  nineteen  lots  in  the  heart 
of  the  residential  district  of  the  city,  in  Jime,  1912,  moved  the  old 
church  to  the  new  site,  disposed  of  the  old  parish  rectory  and  erected 
in  its  stead  another  more  spacious  and  better  adapted  to  the  needs 
of  the  parish. 

It  is  confidently  hoped  by  the  present  pastor  that  ground  will 
be  broken  in  the  fall,  1913,  for  a  large  public  hall  and  parochial  school, 
large  enough  to  accommodate  from  three  hundred  to  four  hundred 
children.  A  Sunday-school  of  two  hundred  children,  a  marriage 
record  of  o^•er  sixty  and  a  l)aptismal  record  of  nearly  two  hundred 
and  seventy  in  the  year  1912  give  sufficient  guarantee  for  a  good 
school.  A  convent  for  a  teaching  order  of  nuns  is  also  being  con- 
templated at  a  later  date. 

Among  the  three  missions  of  St.  Bridget's  that  of  Lemoore  is 
the  most  important.  On  January  6,  1911,  the  cornerstone  was  laid 
by  Rt.  Rev.  Mgr.  J.  McCarthy,  V.  F.,  of  Fresno  for  the  new  St.  Peter's 
church,  which  was  erected  at  the  cost  of  $5,000.  Instead  of  one 
monthly  mass  with  an  attendance  of  tifty,  there  are  now  three  monthh' 
masses  with  an  attendance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred. 
The  church  was  dedicated  with  great  solemnity  by  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop 
Thomas  Conaty,  D.  D.,  of  Los  Angeles,  November  24,  1912. 

Twelve  miles  from  Hanford  is  the  Indian  Mission  of  Santa  Rosa 
of  Lima.  The  entire  tribe  of  Taches,  about  sixty  in  number,  is  Cath- 
olic. Their  ])resent  chapel,  now  in  a  deplorable  condition,  was  built 
by  them  about  forty  years  ago,  under  the  direction  of  Father  William, 
a  zealous  Indian  missionary  of  the  Dominican  Order.  A  new  chapel 
will  probably  be  built  in  the  near  future. 

Riverdale,  nineteen  miles  northwest  of  Hanford.  is  the  latest 
mission  of  St.  l>ridget's.  Mass  is  said  there  once  a  month  iu  a  public 
hall.  Catholics  in  that  district  have  increased  so  rapidly  during  the 
past  few  months  that  the  erection  of  a  chapel  iu  Riverdale  or  the 
near  town  of  Lanare  is  at  present  receiving  considerable  thought. 

Catholics  in  Stratford,  about  twenty-one  miles  southwest  of 
Hanford,  are  also  endeavoring  to  secure  several  lots,  on  which  to 
build  a  chai)el.  Thus  St.  Bridget's  parish  can  boast  of  a  rapid  and 
wonderful  growth,  which  no  doubt  in  the  near  future  will  become  e\-en 
more  phenonaenal,  as  Providence  has  placed  it  in  the  midst  of  vast 
stretches  of  fertile  lands  rarelv  found. 


464  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

GEORGE  A.  BALLOU 

It  is  said  "the  prophet  is  not  without  honor  except  in  his  own 
country."  The  pioneer  is  a  prophet  who  is  honored  in  his  own 
country  as  nowhere  else;  that  is,  after  his  prophecies  have  come 
true.  His  faith  in  the  country  where  he  elects  to  establish  his  home 
is  a  prophecy,  and  the  development  of  the  community'  to  numbers 
and  to  wealth  is  the  fulfillment  of  his  prophecy.  Everj^where  the 
pioneer  is  respected,  and  thoughtful  men  and  women  grieve  be- 
cause, like  the  veterans  of  the  Civil  war,  our  pioneers  are  passing 
away.  Soon  they  will  be  seen  no  more.  But  the  good  they  have 
done  will  live  after  them.  The  making  of  the  Tulare  county  of  to- 
day came  largely  through  the  long-distance  foresight  and  the  humble 
trust  and  work  of  its  pioneers.  All  such  who  could  be  reached  have 
been  given  place  in  these  pages.  Indirectly  many  readers  of  this  owe 
much  to  George  A.  Ballou,  who  has  earned  the  rest  from  activity 
and  from  material  cares  which  follows  honest  and  patriotic  endeavor. 

The  Ballous  of  America  are  of  French  extraction.  Bravely  have 
they  borne  their  part  in  the  successive  wars  through  which  we  have 
come  to  our  national  greatness.  Many  of  the  early  Ballous  were 
weavers,  and  it  was  but  natural  that  in  the  infancy  of  our  cotton  in- 
dustry they  became  connected  with  it  in  one  way  or  another.  Ballou 's 
cottons,  manufactured  at  Woonsocket,  R.  I.,  by  Oliver  Ballou,  be- 
came known  round  the  world.  Harvey  Ballou,  Oliver's  son,  of 
Rhode  Island  birth  and  rearing,  was  a  farmer  and  a  bricklayer  and 
jilasterer.  He  married  Ruth  Gould,  born  at  Cape  Cod,  Mass.,  and 
they  both  died  in  Rhode  Island,  he  in  1854.  Of  their  three  sons  and 
three  daugliters,  George  A.  was  next  to  the  last  born.  September 
26,  1832,  was  the  time  of  his  birth,  and  Cumberland,  R.  I.,  was  the 
place.  He  gained  a  common  school  and  academic  education  and 
received  full  instruction  from  his  father  in  the  secrets  ol  the  plas- 
terer and  bricklayer. 

In  1850  Mr.  Ballou  came  to  California,  with  other  gold  seekers, 
by  way  of  Panama,  and  stopped  eighteen  months  at  San  Diego, 
whence  he  went  to  Los  Angeles.  His  mining  was  more  remunerative 
than  was  that  of  others  whom  he  remembers,  and  after  a  stay  of 
eight  months  in  Los  Angeles,  a  shorter  one  at  San  Francisco  and  a 
period  of  working  at  his  trade  in  Stockton,  he  resumed  it  for  a 
time  in  Mari])()sa  county.  From  there  he  went,  eventually,  back  to 
Los  Angeles,  and  in  1860  he  became  a  jiioneer  at  Visalia.  Here, 
after  working  as  a  plasterer  and  bricklayer  several  years,  he  began 
contracting  in  his  line,  and  many  of  the  early  buildings  of  the  town 
were  erected  under  his  superintendency.  He  continued  his  business 
actively  till  1899,  when  he  retired,  the  better  to  give  attention  to  his 
property  in  town  and  his  large  lioldings,  of  more  than  a  thousand 
acres,   in   Tulare   and   two   other   counties.     His   lands   were   bought 


C^  1^,<:€^:^^ 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  4(;7 

wlieu  lie  could  Ituy  tlieiii  clieaply,  and  lie  has  wisely  held  them  till 
they  have  participated  in  the  rise  in  values  which  marks  the  differ- 
ence hetween  the  California  of  the  last  half  of  the  last  century  and 
the  California  of  today.  When  he  invested  in  them  he  very  practi- 
cally i)rophesied  that  they  would  be  worth  much  more  in  his  time 
than  they  were  worth  tlien,  and  he  has  been  spared  to  know  that  his 
prophecy  was  not  idly  made.  His  sjTnpathies  with  humanity,  of 
his'h  and  low  and  intermediate  degrees,  made  him  a  Republican  in 
the  days  when  men  of  his  intellectual  type  cast  their  influence  for 
the  elimination  of  slavery  from  the  United  States,  and  through  all 
its  history,  through  all  its  changing  issues,  he  has  acted  with  that 
])arty  ever  since.  All  about  him  are  evidences  of  his  public  spirit. 
Everywhere  he  goes  he  is  greeted  as  a  father  and  as  a  friend.  He 
has  been  useful  and  in  his  declining  years  he  is  honored  and  happy 
and  unfaltering  in   his   faith   in   things   to   come. 


JOHN   H.   SMITPI 

A  wide  and  diversified  career  has  been  that  of  John  H.  Smith, 
who  was  known  as  one  of  the  oldest  pioneers  in  the  county.  He  was 
commonly  called  "Uncle  John,"  his  bright,  cheerful  and  sunny  dis- 
position making  him  a  favorite  of  all  who  were  fortunate  enough  to 
know  him.  Born  at  Grimstad,  Norway,  November  28,  1813,  he  was 
there  reared,  but  lieing  early  imbued  with  a  desire  to  follow  the  sea 
he  followed  this  inclination  and  was  but  a  boy  when  he  shipped  as  a 
sailor,  and  for  thirty-five  years  thereafter  be  endured  the  hards]ii]is 
as  well  as  the  joy  of  living  on  the  water  and  visiting  every  port  of 
interest  in  the  world.  His  sea  life  took  him  often  to  the  East  In- 
dies, and  he  sailed  around  Cape  Horn  three  times.  It  was  in  1848 
that  he  decided  to  give  up  seafaring  life  and  at  that  time  he  landed 
in  New  York,  where  reports  of  gold  found  in  the  west  immediately 
fired  him  with  ambition  to  go  there.  He  set  sail  for  California,  going 
around  Cape  Horn,  and  in  1850  reached  San  Francisco.  He  became 
a  gold  miner  and  followed  this  vocation  for  some  years  with  varying 
success  until  1866,  his  operations  being  chiefly  in  Tuolumne  county. 
Turning  his  attention  to  more  positive  means  of  livelihood,  Mr.  Smith 
removed  from  that  county  to  Summerville,  Contra  Costa  county,  and 
there  engaged  in  coal  mining  in  the  employ  of  the  Pittsburg  Coal 
Mining  company,  remaining  with  them  until  1875.  During  this  ser- 
vice a  fire  broke  out  in  the  mines  and  Mr.  Smith  evinced  the  most 
courageous  spiiit  in  bravely  entering  info  a  Imrning  shaft  and  rescu- 
ing se\"en  men.  For  his  heroism  he  received  from  his  employers  as 
a  memento  a   handsome  gold  watch  costing  $2UU.     This  watch,   pre- 


468  TULARE  AXD  KIXGS  COUNTIES 

sented  hhn  by  the  ])resideiit  of  the  mining  company,  is  solid  gold  and 
engraved  as  i'oIk)ws:  John  II.  Smitli,  Pittsburg  C.  M.  Co.  For 
Noble  Conduct  iluring  a  fire  at  the  Mine,  Dec.  10th,  1871. 

Leaving  the  coal  mines  Mr.  Smith  came  to  the  present  homestead 
near  Guernsey  in  1875.  Subseciuently  he  again  engaged  in  coal  min- 
ing at  Coalinga,  serving  as  superintendent  of  a  coal  mine  for  Messrs. 
Robinson  &  Rawlings,  and  it  was  while  employed  here  that  he  lost 
his  faithful  wife  and  helpmate  in  1889.  The  remainder  of  his  life  he 
spent  engaged  in  farming  and  stockraising  in  company  with  his  sons, 
Henry  and  AVilliam,  at  his  home  near  Guernsey.  Mr.  Smith  was  well 
known  for  his  honesty  and  kindly  attitude  toward  everyone.  Ener- 
getic and  hardworking,  when  past  eighty  he  performed  his  regular 
duties  on  the  faiiii  and  he  lived  to  attain  a  great  age,  his  death 
occurring  May  li),  1;h)7,  at  which  time  he  was  probably  tlie  oldest 
man  living  in  Kings  county. 

On  July  26,  1855,  Mr.  Smith  was  married  at  Sonora,  Cal.,  to  Anna 
Nilson,  a  native  of  Sweden.  They  became  the  parents  of  six  sons 
and  two  daughters,  as  follows:  George,  born  in  1856,  died  in  in- 
fancy; William  was  born  in  1858,  and  is  a  partner  of  Henry  C,  his 
brother;  Albert,  born  in  1860,  died  in  1887;  Emma,  born  in  1862, 
married  Charles  Freisch,  of  Traver,  and  died  without  issue  in  1902; 
George  (2),  born  in  1864,  died  in  1888;  Henry  C.  is  mentioned  else- 
where in  this  publication;  Matilda  is  the  wife  of  Joseph  Dalton,  of 
Coalinga;  she  was  born  in  1867  and  is  the  mother  of  seven  children; 
Lewis,  born  in  1870'  still  owns  an  interest  in  the  home  ranch.  Mr. 
Smith  was  i)articularly  well  known  by  all  the  people  in  the  Lakeside 
country  and  was  highly  respected.  His  noble  and  loving  character  has 
ever  been  a  l)eautiful  exami)le  of  true  living,  and  his  influence  for 
good  was  wide  and  strong,  his  memory  being  held  dear  by  many  who 
have  just  reason  to  honor  his  name  and  revere  his  memory. 


ALBERT  a  COLLINS 

One  of  the  up-to-date  and  prosperous  farmers  of  Tulare  county, 
whose  career  has  been  one  of  progressive  success,  is  Albert  H.  Collins, 
whose  home  is  on  the  Tulare  road,  rural  free  delivery  route  No.  1,  near 
Tulare  city.  Mr.  Collins  was  born  in  Scotland  county,  Mo.,  March  2, 
1861,  grew  to  manhood  on  his  father's  farm  and  was  educated  chiefly 
in  the  public  school  in  his  home  district.  In  1882,  when  he  was 
twenty-one  years  old,  he  went  to  western  Montana,  where  for  a 
time  he  was  a  stock-raiser  and  afterward  until  1892  a  general  mer- 
chant. Then  he  returned  to  his  old  home  in  Missouri,  whence  he 
came  in  1894  to  California.     Renting  land  two  miles  west  of  Tulare, 


TULAKE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  4()!i 

lie  devoted  himself  to  the  production  of  wheat,  alfalfa,  vineyard  and 
some  miseellaneoiis  crops  nntil  lie  l)OU,itht  his  i)rescnt  jilace,  Wxc 
miles  north  of  Tulare,  where  he  has  lived  since  1I)()'_'.  It  is  a 
fifty-acre  ranch,  which  lie  has  ,i;i-eatly  improved  hy  the  planting 
of  shade  trees  and  otherwise.  He  has  forty-live  acres  in  alfalfa, 
maintains  a  dairy  of  twenty  cows  and  keeps  thirty-six  head  of 
beef  cattle,  the  same  number  of  hogs,  five  horses  and  four  hundred 
white   Leghorn    hens. 

In  1889  Mr.  Collins  married  Miss  Emma  Riley,  a  native  of 
Missouri,  and  they  iiave  a  son,  Floyd  W.  Collins,  who  is  now 
about  ten  years  old.  Mr.  Collins  was  a  charter  member  of  the 
local  lodge  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World  and  of  the  local  lodge 
of  Women  of  Woodcraft,  a  sister  order  to  the  Woodmen  of  the 
World,  and  with  which  Mrs.  Collins  is  also  identified.  He  affiliates 
also  in  a  fraternal  way  with  Kaweah  Tribe,  Improved  Order  of 
Red  Men,  of  Tulare.  lie  was  one  of  the  promoters  of  the  Dairy- 
men's Co-operative  Creamery  and  has  been  a  stockholder  in  the 
company  controlling  it  during  its  entii'e  history.  He  is  a  director 
also  in  the  Tulare  Irrigation  Ditch  Company  and  has  from  time  to 
time  been  identified  with  other  iniportant  interests.  As  a  citizen 
he  has  met  all  demands  on  his  patriotism  with  a  ready  liberality 
that  has  added  not  a  little  to  .his  popularity. 


JAMES  MILTON  SETLIFF 

On  North  F]  street  in  Tulare  lives  James  Milton  Setliff,  who  is 
well  and  favorably  known  throughout  Tulare  county  as  a  progres- 
sive and  successful  farmer  and  stockraiser.  Mr.  Setliff  was  born  in 
Tennessee  March  8,  18()4,  and  was  reared  on  a  farm  and  educated 
in  the  public  schools  there.  When  he  was  twenty-one  years  old  he 
came  to  California,  locating  in  Tulare,  where  he  was  employed  for 
three  years  at  carjaentering  and  doing  farm  work.  He  then  began 
farming  on  rented  land,  taking  a  tract  of  two  hundred  acres  a  mile 
out  of  town  and  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  six  miles  southwest. 
On  both  of  these  propei-ties  he  raised  grain.  In  the  following  spring. 
in  partnership  with  two  others,  he  rented  four  hundred  acres  four 
miles  west  of  Pixley  and  raised  grain  with  good  success.  Next  year 
he  farmed  that  land  and  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  a  mile  south 
of  it,  which  proved  a  splendid  undertaking.  The  following  season 
was  dry  and  he  lost  everything,  and  the  next  s]iring  found  him  work- 
ing for  wages  in  an  effort  to  recover.  The  year  after,  with  a  pai't- 
ner,  he  farmed  seven  hundred  acres  west  of  Waukena,  near  the 
Ai'tesia  school  house,  and  was  a])le  to  market  nothing  but  ten  tons 
of  hav.     Durinsi'  the  succeeding  vear  he  devoted  himself  to  teaming. 


470  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

The  following  spring  be  seeded  and  planted  forty  acres  near  Paige, 
and  in  the  fall  he  harvested  fifteen  tons  of  hay  and  four  hundred  and 
sixty-four  sacks  of  grain.  The  subsequent  year,  with  O.  W.  Grif- 
fith as  a  partner,  he  farmed  seven  hundred  acres  five  miles  south 
of  Tulare  and  eighty  acres  of  the  Huff  place  near  Paige.  His  next 
experience  as  a  renter  was  on  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  the 
Huff  place  and  seven  hundred  and  sixty  acres  in  the  section  adjoin- 
ing it  on  the  west,  but  he  did  not  receive  a  great  gain  from  this,  and 
since  1906  he  has  farmed  one  hundred  and  ninety-five  Huff  acres 
and  conducted  a  dairy  on  eighty  acres  of  bis  own  land,  milking  thirty 
cows.  Seventy  acres  of  this  tract,  which  he  bought  in  1896,  are 
under  alfalfa.  In  1903  he  bought  sixty-four  acres  adjoining  the  Huff 
ranch,  on  which  he  keeps  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  hogs  and 
breeds  draft  and  driving  horses.  He  has  put  eighty  acres  of  the 
Huff  land  under  alfalfa  with  a  view  to  the  establishment  of  a  dairy- 
ing enterprise.  He  owns  an  interest  in  a  thoroughbred  Percherou 
stallion  that  cost  $2,800  and  has  a  good  residence  projierty  in  Tulare, 
to  wliich  city  he  moved  in  order  to  better  educate  his  children. 

In  1891  Mr.  Setliff  married  Miss  Nannie  Gully,  a  daughter  of 
Bryant  Gully,  who  lives  eight  miles  south  of  Tulare,  and  she  died 
in  1898,  having  borne  him  three  children,  Russel,  Guy  and  Nannie. 
Russel  has  passed  away.  In  1901  he  married  Miss  Lydia  Garrett, 
a  native  of  Mississippi,  and  to  this  union  was  born  a  son,  Roland. 
Mr.  Setliff  was  married  a  third  time.  On  August  2,  1910,  Mrs. 
Azaela  Nicholson,  of  Tulare,  liecame  his  wife.  She  is  a  daughter 
of  Silas  R.  Gully,  of  Tulare.  As  a  citizen  Mr.  Setliff  takes  a  public- 
spirited  interest  in  the  community  and  in  a  fraternal  way  he  affiliates 
with  the  Odd  Fellows,  the  Elks  and  the  Woodmen  of  the  World. 


CHARLES    EDWARD    SMITH 

A  native  of  the  Prairie  State  who  has  made  good  in  California  is 
Charles  Edward  Smith,  of  Porterville,  Tulare  county.  It  was  in 
Madison  county.  III.,  that  he  was  born  December  20,  1854.  There 
he  was  educated  and  in  the  intervals  of  study  acquired  a  i^ractical 
knowledge  of  farming.  In  young  manhood,  with  his  parents  he  went 
to  Missouri,  where  he  lived  on  a  farm  for  about  five  years.  After 
that  he  came  to  California,  in  the  fall  of  1886,  locating  in  Tulare 
county  and  stojjped  for  a  short  time  at  Lemoore.  Later  he  made 
his  home  in  Tulare  City  and  from  there  went  to  Kern  county  and 
pre-empted  land  on  which  he  lived  until  he  located  his  home  at  Porter- 
ville in  1891.  There  he  acquired  land  which  he  eventually  sold  in 
order   to   engage   in   the   grocery   business.      Thus   he   was   employed 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  471 

for  ten  years,  then  he  sold  his  interests  at  Porterville  and  moved 
to  San  Jose,  the  better  to  educate  his  children,  and  remained  there 
tiiree  years.  When  he  first  came  to  Porterville  it  was  a  mere  hamlet 
of  a  few  houses,  with  only  some  small  business  beginnin.sj,s  of 
different  kinds.  P)y  tlie  time  he  removed  to  San  Jose  it  had  acquired 
considerable  importance,  and  when  he  moved  back  in  lOOG  it  was 
to  a  town  something  like  the  Inistling  and  ])r()si)erous  Porterville 
of  today. 

In  April,  1S8:>,  in  (iirard,  Kan.,  Mr.  Smith  married  Miss  Livonia 
Leach,  a  native  of  Clinton  county,  111.,  born  April  18,  1862,  who  has 
borne  him  four  cliildien,  three  of  whom  are  living.  May  jnarried 
James  Large  and  is  living  in  Ventura  county.  Bessie  is  a  student 
at  the  Normal  school  at  Fresno,  and  Eda  is  in  tlie  grammar  school 
at  Porterville.  Henry  Allen  died  when  he  was  twenty  months  old. 
Mrs.  Smith's  parents,  William  A.  and  Letty  (Smith)  Leach,  immi- 
grated to  C'alifornia  in  1892.  Her  father  died  here  in  1!)07;  her 
mother  survives,  aged  eighty-six  years.  Mr.  Smith's  father,  Edwin 
Smith,  is  living  at  the  age  of  eighty-six,  but  his  mother,  Elizabeth 
(Robinson)  Smith,  has  passed  away. 

Fraternally  Mr.  Smith  affiliates  with  the  Odd  Fellows'  lodge  and 
encampment.  As  a  citizen  he  is  liberally  ])ublic-spirited,  never  failing 
to  respond  to  any  appeal  in  the  interest  of  the  public  good. 


DAVID  ANTHONY  VAUGHN 

Few  men  in  the  vicinity  of  Porterville  are  in  higher  repute  than 
David  Anthony  Vaughn,  a  brief  account  of  whose  career  to  this 
time  is  here  given.  He  was  born  at  East  Greenwich,  Kent  county, 
R.  I.,  October  7,  1846,  a  son  of  Caleb  and  Lydia  (Hathaway)  Vaughn, 
natives  of  the  same  town.  Caleb  Vaughn,  who  was  born  in  1816, 
and  now  ninety-seven  years  old,  is  still  living  there;  his  wife  died 
in  1881.  They  had  two  sons  and  four  daughters:  David  A.,  William, 
Pheby,  Susan,  Lydia  and  Addie.  Pheby,  Addie  and  William  are 
living  at  East  Greenwich. 

In  May,  1868,  Mr.  Vaughn  started  for  California  by  way  of 
Panama,  and  arrived  at  San  Francisco  June  13,  following.  That 
same  year  in  San  Joaquin  county,  he  leased  a  five  hundred  and  ten- 
acre  ranch  and  for  three  years  engaged  in  stock-raising  and  wheat 
growing.  In  1871  he  moved  to  Porterville,  Tulare  county,  where 
for  twenty  years  he  giivc  his  attention  almost  exclusively  to  sheep 
raising.  During  that  period  lie  jiurchased  about  six  thousand  acres 
of  land  from  individuals  and  from  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad 
Company.     He  has  sold  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  orange 


472  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

land,  which  is  now  being  improved,  and  now  owns  fifty-three  hundred 
and  sixty  acres,  sixteen  hundred  acres  of  which  is  number  one  orange 
land.  For  the  last  thirty  years  he  has  grown  wheat  and  raised  cattle. 
In  1904,  njion  tlie  organization  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Porter- 
ville,  he  was  one  of  its  original  stockholders  and  he  has  since  owned  a 
considerable  interest  in  the  institution.  In  1!)()7  he  moved  his  family 
from  his  ranch  to  tlie  city  of  Porterville,  where  he  had  bought  a 
family  residence  at  the  intersection  of  Morton  and  D  streets.  He 
was  elected  mayor  of  Porterville  in  1910  for  a  two-year  term,  after 
which  he  refused  to  again  become  a  candidate.  During  his  term  of 
office  he  made  a  record  as  an  able,  honest  and  up-to-date  executive. 
During  all  the  years  of  his  manhood  he  has  been  a  Republican  and 
he  is  still  proiid  to  support  the  policies  of  that  party. 

In  1880,  at  East  Greenwich,  R.  I.,  Mr.  Vaughn  married  Amanda 
M.  Shippee,  a  daughter  of  Manser  and  Harriet  Shippee.  natives  of 
that  town.  Mrs.  Vaughn  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  East 
Greenwich,  and  came  to  California  immediately  after  her  marriage. 
L.  U.  Shippee,  her  uncle,  had  come  to  Stockton  in  1853.  Mrs.  Vaughn's 
parents  are  both  dead.  She  has  two  brothers  and  two  sisters  living 
in  East  Greenwich,  R.  I.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Vaughn  have  two  daughters, 
Minnie  and  Bessie.  Minnie  married  J.  S.  Mc(iraliey,  of  Porterville. 
in  1903,  and  thev  have  a  son  named  Earl. 


ROBERT  M.  SHOEMAKER 

New  Jersey  has  been  tlie  mother  state  of  many  men  who  have 
achieved  success  in  the  West  and  on  the  Pacific  coast.  One  such 
who  has  attained  to  high  rank  among  the  farmers  of  Tulare  county  is 
Robert  M.  Shoemaker,  who  is  located  four  miles  south  of  Lindsay. 
His  parents  were  natives  of  New  Jersey,  descendants  of  old  families 
in  the  East.  Born  in  1847,  Mr.  Shoemaker  remained  in  his  native 
state  until  1905.  There  he  was  educated,  farmed  successfully  and 
took  a  leading  part  in  local  political  affairs,  filling  the  offices  of 
township  conmiitteeman  and  supervisor  for  many  years,  until  he 
came  to  California.  There  too,  he  married,  in  1S75,  Miss  Sue 
Llewellyn,  a  native  of  that  state,  who  bore  him  four  children,  three 
of  whom  are  living.  Two  are  married  and  settled  for  life  in  New 
Jersey,  the  other,  E.  O.  Shoemaker,  is  a  member  of  his  parents' 
household. 

On  coming  to  California,  Mr.  Shoemaker  bought  forty  acres  of 
raw  land  without  any  improvements.  He  has  imjiroNed  the  place 
in  many  ways,  adding  to  its  productiveness  and  to  its  attractiveness 
as  well.     When  Mr.  Shoemaker  came  here  in  1906  there  was  nothing 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  473 

to  be  seen  but  wild  oats  and  hog  wallows,  and  not  a  nelglihor  within 
.a  mile,  except  Mrs.  Allen  Ilunsicker,  fi'om  whom  he  liought.     lie  has 
now  a  l)eautifnl  cottage  40x24,  a  liani,  .■')()x40,  pumping  ])lant,  pipe  lines 
for  irrigation  ])urposes. 

His  land  is  now  planted  as  follows:  Thirteen  acres  in  Valencia 
oranges ;  eight  acres  in  navel  oranges ;  five  acres  in  pomelos ;  three 
acres  in  pomegranates;  one  aci'e  in  building  spot,  alfalfa,  garden, 
etc.  Mr.  Shoemaker  has  sold  off  ten  acres.  He  has,  from  the 
beginning  of  his  residence  here,  taken  a  deep  interest  in  the  affairs 
of  the  county  and  state  and  was  one  of  the  promoters  and  organizers 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Strathmore,  Cal.  Politically  he  has 
always  been  allied  with  the  Democracy,  believing  that  through  the 
policies  of  the  Democratic  party  greater  good  can  be  brought  to 
greater  numbers  of  the  people  than  in  any  other  way.  Fraternally 
he  affiliates  with  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Eagle,  being  a  member 
of  the  Pitman  Grove,  N.  J.,  organization  of  that  order,  and  is  a  charter 
member  of  the  Junior  Order  of  American  Mechanics  at  Pitman  Grove, 
New  Jersey. 


SCHIMMEL  BROTHERS 

There  are  not  in  the  vicinity  of  Tulare  two  men  better  or  more 
favorably  known  than  the  brothers  F.  C.  and  A.  R.  Sehimmel,  who 
live  eight  miles  west  of  the  city  on  the  Paige  Switch  road.  F.  C. 
Sehimmel  is  a  native  of  Yamhill  county,  Ore.,  while  A.  R.  Sehimmel 
was  born  in  Portland  in  the  same  state.  Their  parents  farmed  for 
a  time  near  Portland,  then  engaged  in  milling  and  the  lumber  busi- 
ness in  southern  Oregon  until  1901,  when  they  disposed  of  their  in- 
terests there  and  came  to  Kings  county  and  farmed  four  years  with 
W.  H.  Wilbur,  of  Alpaugh.  In  1905  the  brothers  bought  a  tract  of 
nine  hundred  and  sixty  aci-es  of  land  six  miles  west  and  two  miles 
south  of  Tulare,  on  which  they  have  made  all  the  improvements, 
including  a  residence,  barns,  ordinary  fencing  and  hog-tight  fence 
and  two  artesian  wells.  Their  irrigation  is  largely  su] (plied  from 
the  Packwood  ditch,  in  wliicli  they  own  four  hundred  and  fifty-two 
shares.  Four  hundred  acres  of  their  land  is  in  alfalfa  and  one  hnu- 
dred  is  under  irrigation.  The  feature  of  their  business  is  the  breed- 
ing of  mules,  for  which  they  kee])  two  jacks  and  one  hundred  mares 
for  breeding  purposes  only,  and  lliey  give  special  attention  to  the 
raising  of  hogs.  T'esides  the  operation  of  the  property  just  de- 
scribed they  fai'iii  six  thousand  acies  near  Angiola.  devoting  the  en- 
tire tract  to  grain.  They  use  a  Holt  machine  and  mules  and  also  a 
harvester;  at  times  they  have  harvested  for  others  near  by,  but  they 
have  decided  to  confine  their  work  of  this  kind  to   their   own   lands 


474  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

in  the  future.     They  employ  ten  men  in  season  and  keep  about  forty 
head  of  work   stock. 

In  October,  1906,  F.  C.  Schimmel  married  Fannie  Garrison  of 
Oregon.  Both  of  the  Schimmel  brothers  are  members  of  Tulare 
lodge  No.  1484,  F.  0.  E.,  and  F.  C.  Schimmel  affiliates  with  the  Tulare 
organization  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  They  are  popular  so- 
cially and  are  welcomed  in  business  circles  as  men  of  enterprise  and 
of  tried  and  dependable  pulilic  spirit. 


W.  J.   SMITH 

In  Montgomery  county,  Mo.,  W.  J.  Smith  was  born  July  31, 
1844,  the  son  of  M.  II.  and  Rebecca  (Eperson)  Smith,  natives  respec- 
tively of  Virginia  and  of  Kentucky.  His  father  passed  away  nearly 
thirty  years  ago  and  his  mother,  who  married  very  young,  died  when 
she  was  but  tliirty-three  years  old.  W.  J.  Smith  was  early  taken  to 
Audrain  county,  Mo.,  where  he  lived  until  he  was  eighteen  years 
old,  obtaining  an  education  in  common  schools  and  accustoming  him- 
self to  ijroductive  labor.  At  the  age  above  mentioned  he  came  over- 
land to  California  with  a  wagon  train  of  emigrants  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Captain  Allen,  taking  his  turn  at  standing  guard  whenever 
the  party  camped.  His  father  and  mother  were  of  the  party.  The 
family  halted  at  Marysville,  then  located  at  Knights  Landing,  where 
they  lived  from  1863  to  1872.  In  Modoc  county  Mr.  Smith  filed  on 
public  land  on  which  he  lived  about  fourteen  years,  and  early  in 
his  residence  there  he  and  his  wife  were  called  upon  to  brave  the 
terrors  of  the  historic  Modoc  war.  From  Modoc  county  he  came  to 
Tulare  county  and  bought  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  near 
Red  Banks.  He  is  now  the  owner  of  forty  acres,  five  acres  of  this 
being  under  orange  trees,  the  balance  devoted  to  peaches,  apricots, 
miscellaneous  fruits  and  grapes.  His  ranch  is  well  supplied  with 
buildings  and  all  essentials  to  successful  cultivation  and  he  keeps  six 
to  eight  horses.  As  a  citizen  he  is  influentially  helpful,  and  in  politics 
he  is  independent.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows  while  a  resident  of  Modoc  county,  and  it  was  there 
too  that  he  married.  The  lady  who  became  his  wife  was  Miss 
Florence  Warren,  a  native  of  Oregon,  and  she  has  borne  him  ten 
children,  Emma,  James,  Frank,  Viola,  Steward,  Wilbert,  Earl,  Essie, 
Charles  and  Delma.  Steward  and  Essie  have  passed  away;  James 
married  Bertha  Swan,  and  they  and  their  son  make  their  home  at 
Red  Banks;  Emma  became  the  wife  of  Elmer  Brotherton  of  Visaiia 
and  has  borne  him  six  children;  Frank,  of  Wood  Lake  Valley,  married 
Lena  Ganes;  Viola  married  August  Woodward  of  Tulare. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  477 

GEORGE  WOOD 

Men  of  English  birth  who  have  won  success  in  California  are 
numerous,  and  among  them  one  wliose  career  is  properly  within  the 
scope  of  this  work  is  George  Wood,  farmer  and  president  of  the 
Tulare  Eucalj'ptus  Company.  Mr.  Wood  was  born  on  the  British 
isle,  November  2,  1861.  In  1884,  when  he  was  twenty-three  years 
old,  he  came  to  Saskatchewan,  Canada,  and  homesteaded  land,  which 
he  improved  until  1888.  Then  he  disposed  of  liis  interests  there 
and  during  the  succeeding  seven  years  farmed  and  raised  stock  in 
Ward  county,  N.  Dak.  Subsequently  until  1909  he  lived  in  McKenzie 
county,  N.  Dak.,  where  he  took  up  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of 
land  and  started  in  to  raise  sheep  and  cattle.  In  1906,  however,  he 
sold  off  his  stock,  and  after  that  he  devoted  himself  to  farming  until 
he  settled  in  California.  In  1907  he  visited  Tulare  county,  Cal., 
and  with  a  partner  bouglit  one  bundled  and  thirty-two  acres  of  land, 
of  which  he  eventually  retained  sixty-nine  acres.  Since  he  located 
here  he  has  made  improvements  on  the  property  and  has  put  forty 
acres  under  alfalfa  and  intends  to  handle  the  balance  of  the  tract 
in  the  same  way.  His  principal  business  is  in  growing  hay,  and  he 
keeps  little  stock  beyond  what  is  necessary  to  ojierate  his  farm. 

In  1889  Mr.  AYood  married  Miss  Caroline  E.  Jones,  an  English 
woman,  and  they  have  four  children,  Arthur,  Maggie,  Frank  and 
George.  Maggie  is  the  wife  of  Roy  N.  Johnson,  of  North  Dakota. 
Mr.  Wood  knows  farming  as  well  as  any  man  in  his  vicinity  and  his 
farm  is  sufficient  evidence  of  that  fact.  He  has  achieved  his  success 
in  life  by  wise  planning  and  hard  work.  His  interest  in  the  com- 
munity with  which  he  has  cast  his  lot  impels  him  to  a  course  which 
marks  him  as  a  citizen  of  much  public  spirit. 


CHARLES  F.  BLASWICK 

A  Californian  born  and  bred,  Charles  F.  Blaswick  was  born 
October  4,  1857,  in  Plumas  countj',  and  he  was  taken  l)y  his  parents 
to  Colusa,  then  to  Yuba  county.  From  Yuba  county  he  came  to  Tu- 
lare in  1886,  and  for  the  succeeding  fourteen  years  he  was  em]>loyed 
continuously  on  the  ranch  of  Joseph  LaMarche.  During  tliat  time 
he  lived  on  the  place,  worked  steadily  and  saved  his  money,  and  in 
1900  lie  bought  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  on  which  was  a  small 
house  and  barn,  and  soon  thereafter  had  built  an  addition  to  tlie 
residence,  fenced  the  land  and  put  in  a  dairy  of  thirty  or  forty  cows 
and  was  breeding  horses  and  hogs  and  making  a  specialty  of  ])ouItry. 
In  these  lines  he  has  continued  till  the  ])resent  time.  Much  of  his 
land  is  used  for  pasture.    At  the  present  time  he  is  putting  in  eiglity 


478  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

acres  of  alfalfa,  and  has  installed  electric  lighting  for  his  house  and 
premises.  He  obtains  water  for  domestic  purposes  by  means  of  an 
artesian  well  with  a  six-inch  pipe  and  for  irrigation  from  two  large 
wells,  one  a  fifty-eight-footer,  the  other  an  eighty-footer,  the  jDumps 
in  which  are  operated  by  one  gasoline  motor,  one  hundred  inches  of 
water  being  produced.  Mr.  Blaswick  also  raises  stock  on  a  small 
scale.  His  sons,  William  and  Frederick,  rent  three  hundred  and 
twenty  acres  of  the  Gibson  ranch,  operate  a  dairy  on  the  property 
and  have  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  in  alfalfa  and  two  hundred 
in  grain.  They  rent  also  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  the  Birch 
Williams  ranch,  all  of  which  is  devoted  to  grain  raising. 

The  Dairpnen's  Co-operative  Creamery  Company  of  Tulare 
numbers  Mr.  Blaswick  among  its  stockholders.  He  affiliates  with  the 
Tulare  lodge  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  is  a 
regular  and  social  member  of  the  Tulare  organization  of  the  Wood- 
men  of  the  World.  His  sons  are  identified  with  the  Woodmen  of 
the  World  and  the  Fraternal  Brotherhood,  his  daiighter  Wilhelmina 
with  the  last  mentioned  order  and  Mrs.  Blaswick  with  the  order  of 
Fraternal  Aid. 

Mr.  Blaswick  married,  Novemlier  27,  1884,  Miss  Anna  Malile.  a 
native  of  Yuba  county,  Cal.,  and  they  have  four  daughters  and  two 
sons.  William  and  Frederick  are  ranchers,  and  the  latter  married 
Winifred  Kessell.  Wilhelmina  married  Elmer  Berkerhoff  and  re- 
sides in  Tulare  county.  Mary  Ann,  Allie  and  Leona  are  members  of 
their   parents'    household. 


ROBERT  0.  NEWMAN 

In  North  Carolina  was  liorn  Jacob  Newman,  son  of  a  ]iatriot  of 
the  war  of  1812.  He  settled  at  Booneville,  Mo.,  in  1821,  and  was  a 
farmer  and  distiller,  his  distillery  having  stood  a  mile  from  the 
Missouri  river.  He  went  to  Texas  in  1854,  and  lived  out  his  days  at 
Port  Sullivan.  His  son  Jesse  G.  Newman  was  born  at  Booneville, 
Mo.,  grew  up  there,  married  and  went  to  work  as  a  farmer.  In 
1849  he  turned  his  back  on  Booneville  and,  crossing  the  plaius  with 
ox-team,  mined  on  Feather  river,  Cal.  In  1852  he  went  back  to  Boone- 
ville, where  he  died,  aged  fifty-two  years.  A  man  of  ability,  he  was 
judge  of  Cooper  county.  Mo.,  eight  years  and  was  for  a  time  cajitaiu 
of  a  company  of  Missouri  Home  Guards  in  the  Federal  service  in 
the  Ci^■il  war.  He  was  well  known  as  an  Odd  Fellow.  He  married 
Elizabeth  Plill,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  daughter  of  James  Hill,  a 
Mississippian  by  birth,  and  an  early  settler  and  pioneer  farmer  at 
Booneville.     Mr.  Hill  was  sheriff  of  Cooper  county  and  died  there. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  479 

after  a  life  of  activity  aud  usefulness.  Mrs.  Newmau  survived  her 
husband  and  eventually  passed  away  in  Tulare  county.  Of  their 
twelve  children,  six  are  living:  Robert  Oscar,  whose  name  is  above; 
Jesse  H. ;  Harry  Hill;  Prank;  Fannie,  wife  of  George  P.  Robinson 
of  Nevada;  aud  Maggie,  widow  of  the  late  Marion  Grove,  of  Visalia. 

The  birtli  of  Robert  Oscar  Newman  occurred  July  4,  1848,  in 
Booneville,  Mo.  There  he  was  brought  up  to  the  life  of  a  farmer's 
boy  and  educated  in  a  district  school,  the  Booneville  school  and  Alli- 
son's Academy  for  Boys  in  that  town.  In  the  Civil  War  he  served 
as  a  member  of  his  father's  company,  which  was  called  out  during 
Shelby's  raid  in  1863  and  Price's  raid  in  1864.  Price  came  to 
Booneville  with  thirty  thousand  men,  and  as  there  were  only  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men  in  the  Home  Guards,  the  latter  was  forced  to  sur- 
render, but  its  men  were  paroled  three  days  later.  After  the  war 
Mr.  Newman  farmed  on  the  Newman  place,  near  Booneville,  till  he 
was  twenty-three  years  old.  Then,  in  1871,  he  went  to  Elko,  Nev., 
where  for  two  years  he  teamed  in  the  mountains.  After  the  death 
of  his  fathci'  he  retuiued  to  Missouri  and  conducted  the  home  farm 
for  his  mother  till  in  1882,  when  he  purchased  an  adjoining  farm, 
which  he  sold  two  years  later  in  order  to  come  to  Tulare  county,  Cal. 
Soon  after  his  arrival  he  rented  laud  on  the  Cottonwood  and  went 
into  wheat  growing,  having  in  charge  four  thousand  acres  of  the 
Fielding  Bacon  holdings,  running  a  big  farming  outfit  which  included 
seven  eight-mule  teams.  By  1892  he  had  accumulated  $25,000,  but  the 
financial  stringency  of  1893  and  the  reverses  of  several  dry  seasons 
made  him  as  poor  as  he  had  been  at  the  beginning  of  these  extensive 
operations. 

In  1898  Mr.  Newman  settled  on  his  pi-esent  home  property,  then 
known  as  the  old  Morgan  Beard  ranch.  His  property  now  includes 
three  hundred  acres  devoted  to  grain  and  alfalfa  and  six  hundred 
and  forty  acres  of  the  Fielding  Bacon  land.  His  specialty  is  the 
raising  of  fine  trotting  stock,  and  he  is  conspicuous  as  the  dealer  in 
Tulare  county  who  invariably  offers  regular  Standard  bred  horses. 
He  has  produced  more  record  horses  than  any  other  man  in  the  San 
Joaquin  valley,  among  which  have  been  the  following:  Robert  Basler, 
2.20,  by  Antebolo,  2.19,  son  of  Electioneer,  his  dam  being  Elizabeth 
Basler;  De  Bernardi  Basler,  2.I614,  by  Robert  Basler;  Ida  Maj^  by 
Grosvenor,  the  dam  of  Homeward,  2.131^,,  by  Strathway,  sired  George 
G.,  2.0514;  Dr.  W.,  2.181/4,  by  Robert  Basler;  Jonesa "Basler,  2.05-%, 
by  Robert  Basler;  Stoneway,  2.22,  by  Strathway,  2.19,  whose  dam 
was  Elizabeth  Basler;  sired  Myway,  2.151/4;  Stoneletta,  2.151/4  at 
two  years  old.  He  owns  at  present  Robert  Direct,  ten  years  old,  by 
Direct,  2.05V:;,  dam  Daisy  Basler,  by  Robert  Basler,  one  of  the  finest 
bred  horses  in  the  United  States;  Dew  Drop  Basler,  by  Robert 
Basler;  Ida  May,  by  Grosvenor;   Daisy  Basler,   by   Robert   Basler; 


480  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Wedding  Bells,  by  Robert  Easier ;  all  fine  Standard  bred  luares.  Mr. 
Newman  is  reputed  to  be  one  of  the  best  judges  of  horses  in  America. 
For  a  time  he  dealt  also  in  cattle  and  was  the  owner  of  a  splendid 
herd  of  Jersey  cows. 

At  Booneville,  Mo.,  Mr.  Newman  married  Frances  Ziegel,  daugh- 
ter of  Andrew  Ziegel,  an  early  settler,  farmer  and  tanner  in  Missouri, 
and  they  have  seven  children :  Grace,  wife  of  Henry  J.  L^Tiuan,  Hilo, 
Hawaii ;  Walter,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  California ;  Tracy,  a 
merchant  at  Portland,  Oregon;  Elizabeth,  a  trained  nurse,  at  Hono- 
lulu; Nellie,  a  graduate  of  the  Visalia  high  school;  Robert  0.,  Jr.. 
who  was  educated  at  the  University  of  CaUfornia;  Lola,  a  graduate 
of  the  Visalia  high  school.  Mr.  Newman  is  a  Democrat  and  has  been 
useful  to  his  party  in  Tulare  county  by  his  long  service  as  a  member 
of  the  county  central  committee.  He  advocates  all  measures  which, 
iu  his  opinion,  promise  to  benefit  any  considerable  number  of  his 
worthy  fellow  citizens,  and,  taken  all  in  all,  is  one  of  the  most  i)rom- 
inent,  substantial  and  useful  citizens  of  his  part  of  the  state. 


LOWERY  B.  KING 

Among  the  progressive  and  prosperous  Missourians  who  are 
making  a  record  of  success  in  Central  California  is  L.  B.  King  of 
Tulare  county,  whose  ranch  is  on  rural  free  delivery  route  No.  1, 
out  of  Visalia.  Mr.  King  was  born  iu  Buchanan  county,  in  the 
state  mentioned,  March  5,  1865,  a  son  of  James  W.  and  Elizabeth  J. 
(Jones)  King.  He  was  reared  and  educated  and  taught  farming  in 
his  native  state  as  it  was  practiced  there,  and  in  1886,  when  he  was 
twenty-one  years  old,  he  came  to  California  and  settled  near  Visalia 
and  for  five  years  leased  and  operated  a  ranch  belonging  to  Sands 
Baker. 

Later  Mr.  King  farmed  land  iu  the  Kaweah  Swamp  district  for 
several  years,  raising  potatoes  and  other  crops  which  yielded  good 
returns.  Then,  responding  to  the  call  of  the  east,  he  went  to  Okla- 
homa and  Missouri  and  tried  to  farm  there,  but  was  driven  liack 
to  California  by  destructive  droughts;  and  here  he  has  been  content 
to  remain  ever  since;  here  he  firmly  believes  he  will  live  out  his 
allotted  days  on  earth.  For  a  time  after  his  return  he  was  foreman 
on  the  Kane  ranch  in  Tulare  county.  Since  January,  1007.  he  has 
farmed  a  one  hundred  and  twenty  acre  ranch  owned  by  Sands  Baker, 
his  father-in-law,  which  includes  a  profitable  dairy  of  thirty-five 
cows.  He  gives  attention  to  the  breeding  of  horses  and  has  several 
good  brood  mares  which  invariably  raise  fine  colts.  Hogs  and  chickens 
are  a  source  of  revenue  to  him;  he  has  forty  acres  of  alfalfa  and  a 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  481 

S'ardeu.  All  in  all,  lie  is  one  of  the  really  successful  farmers  of  his 
part  of  the  county.  As  a  citizen  he  is  public-spiritedly  heli^ful. 
Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World  and  the 
Modern  Woodmen  of  America.  While  lie  has  never  been  particularly 
active  in  political  work,  he  is  alert  and  patriotic  in  the  performance 
of  his  duties  as  a  voter  and  has  ably  tilled  the  office  of  clerk  of  the 
school  board  of  the  Union  district  and  the  office  of  school  trustee. 

In  1892  Mr.  King  married  Miss  Mattie  Baker,  a  native  of  Fresno 
county,  and  they  have  four  children,  Ethel  F.,  Lauris  M.,  Sands  E. 
and  Helen  B.  Lauris  M.  was  graduated  at  fourteen  from  the  ITnion 
High  School,  took  a  course  at  a  boarding  school  in  Los  Angeles,  and 
is  now  attending  the  Visalia  high  school. 


SAMUEL  A.  BREWER 

The  prosperous  rancher  whose  name  is  sufficient  to  direct  the 
attention  of  the  reader  to  this  notice  had  lived  in  Kings  county  since 
1873  and  is  one  of  the  best  known  tillers  of  the  soil  and  breeders  of 
fine  stock  and  poultry  in  all  the  country  round  about  Hanford.  Born 
at  Coyote,  Santa  Clara  county,  Cal.,  March  8,  1867,  he  attended  pub- 
lic schools  until  he  was  nineteen  years  old,  then  working  on  the  ranch 
for  his  father  until  he  was  twenty-three,  at  which  age  he  entered 
u]3on  an  independent  career.  It  will  be  noted  that  he  was  only  six 
years  old  when  his  family  settled  in  Tulare  county,  in  that  ])art  now 
known  as  Kings,  and  that  he  has  lived  here  practically  all  his  life. 
His  first  land  purchase  was  one  of  twenty-one  and  one-quarter 
acres,  but  he  rented  and  ran  in  connection  with  it  the  old  Dillon 
place.  This  arrangement  lasted  but  a  year,  however,  for  at  the 
beginning  of  his  second  season  he  settled  on  his  liome  place  and 
))ranched  out  in  the  raising  of  cattle,  hogs  and  chickens.  Six  years 
later  he  added  to  his  holding  by  the  purchase  of  another  twenty-one 
acres,  and  b.y  subsequent  purchases  has  brought  the  area  of  his  ranch 
up  to  eighty-five  acres,  well  stocked,  well  provided  with  Imildings, 
machinery  and  apjjliances,  and  exceptionally  well  tilled.  In  recent 
years  Mr.  Brewer  has  devoted  himself  particularly  to  dairying  and 
to  hog-raising. 

In  1!K)8,  as  an  experiment,  Mr.  Brewer  i)ut  in  four  acres  of 
sugar  beets  and  from  that  ])lanting  secured  sixty-two  tons,  which 
netted  him  $164,  showing  that,  all  things  being  equal,  this  is  a 
profitable  crop.  He  brought  the  first  beet-drill  to  his  ranch,  the 
first  cultivator,  plowed  the  first  beets  and  put  the  first  beets  in  the 
car  at  Odessa.  He  was  successful,  following  directions  given  to  see 
what  the  ])ossibilities  were. 


4SL'  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Jamiiiiy  18,  ISiUl,  Mr.  Brewer  married  Miss  Elitie  Webber,  who 
was  born  in  Newport,  Pa.,  June  22,  1871,  and  they  have  three  chil- 
dren living,  whom  they  have  named  Harry  A.,  Ethel  M.  and  Clara  L. 
One  child  died  in  infancy.  While  he  is  not  very  active  politically, 
Mr.  Brewer  takes  a  broad  view  of  all  econouiic  questions  and  loyally 
performs  his  duties  as  a  citizen.  He  has  never  sought  office,  nor  has 
he  ever  acce])ted  it  exce])t  in  one  instance,  when  he  consented  to 
become  a  school  trustee,  in  which  capacity  lie  labored  etfectively  for 
local  education  during  a  period  of  six  -years.  His  public  spirit  has 
been  many  times  tried  and  never  found  wanting  and  his  influence 
is  always  exerted  for  the  amelioration  of  the  conditions  under  which 
he  and  his  neighbors  must  work  ami  li\e.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  of  the  Fraternal  Brother- 
hood. 


HENRY  BERTCH 

An  up-to-date  and  prominent  dairyman  of  Tulare  is  Henry 
Bertch,  who  was  born  November  11,  1857,  in  Erie  county,  N.  Y., 
twelve  miles  from  Buffalo.  There  he  followed  the  life  of  a  farmer's 
general  boy,  gaining  an  education  in  the  public  schools,  and  he  re- 
mained there  until  1884,  when  he  was  twenty-seven  years  old.  Com- 
ing then  to  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  he  readily  found  farm  work. 
He  homesteaded  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  and  in  1885  bought  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  more  near  Delano,  in  Kern  county.  These 
tracts  he  farmed  six  years  without  any  adequate  returns,  suffering 
losses  because  of  dry  seasons.  Later  until  1895  he  worked  a  rented 
farm  in  Tulare  county,  and  then  leased  an  adjoining  farm  and  con- 
trolled an  aggregate  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  which  he 
operated  until  1898.  In  that  year  he  bought  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  eight  miles  west  of  Tulare,  on  which  he  made  improvements, 
enclosing  five  fields  with  hog-tight  fences.  He  planted  three  acres 
to  orchard  and  gave  fifty  acres  to  alfalfa.  He  now  has  a  dairy  of 
twelve  cows  and  devotes  sixty-five  acres  of  his  land  to  grain  and  the 
balance  to  pasture.  He  has  put  down  a  well  one  hundred  and  seven 
feet  deep  for  irrigation,  which  is  fitted  with  a  six-inch  pump,  the 
motor  power  of  which  is  a  fifteen  horse-]K)wer  gasoline  engine,  and 
a  seventy-foot  well  for  domestic  uses.  Dairying  is  perhaps  his  chief 
business  aside  from  farming,  and  he  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Dairy- 
men's Co-operative  Creamery  at  Tulare. 

In  1903  Mr.  Bertch  married  Harriet  Hoffman.  Socially  he  affili- 
ates with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  being  a  member 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  48?, 

bf  the  Tulare  lodge.  As  a  farmer  he  is  well  informed  on  all  sub- 
jects pertaining  to  that  vocation,  being  considered  an  authority. 
His  public  spirit  is  of  a  quality  that  makes  him  a  most  useful  citizen. 


ORLANDO   D.   BARTON 

A  great-grandson  of  a  soldier  of  the  Revolutionary  war  and  a 
grandson  of  a  soldier  of  the  war  of  1812,  his  progenitors  in  the  pa- 
ternal line,  Orlando  D.  Barton  was  born  in  La  Salle  county.  111.,  in 
1847,  a  son  of  James  and  Susan  (Davenport)  Barton,  natives  of  Mor- 
ris county,  N.  J.,  the  former  born  November  2,  1819,  and  the  latter 
on  October  30,  1823.  James  Barton  crossed  the  plains  with  his  fam- 
ily in  1865,  following  the  North  Platte  river  route  to  Salt  Lake  and 
the  Austin  &  Walker's  lake  route  from  there  on.  The  Sioux  Indians 
were  then  at  war  and  caused  the  train  of  which  the  Bartons  were 
members  considerable  trouble.  However,  the  family  arrived  safely  at 
Visalia  October  6,  that  year,  and  camped  near  the  present  site  of  the 
Santa  Fe  depot.  The  father  took  up  land  at  the  site  of  Auckland 
and  raised  cattle  there  on  four  hundred  and  forty  acres  for  fourteen 
years.  In  1879  he  moved  to  Three  Rivers,  where  he  lived  until  his 
death,  September  2,  1912,  except  during  the  periods  of  his  incum- 
bency of  the  office  of  supervisor  of  Tulare  county,  when  his  home 
was  in .  Visalia. 

The  elder  Mr.  Barton  was  honored  by  election  to  the  office  in 
the  county  for  fi\-e  terms  and  was  prominent  in  the  management  of 
county  affairs.  The  court  house  was  built  under  his  supervision 
and  he  had  charge  of  the  erection  of  the  old  and  the  new  county 
jails.  He  reached  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-two  years '  and  ten 
months,  his  wife  dying  tTanuary  19,  1912,  aged  eighty-eight  years 
and  two  months,  and  died  on  the  sixty-ninth  anniversary  of  their 
marriage.  Both  were  honored  as  pioneers  who  braved  the  hardships 
of  the  overland  trail  to  pave  the  way  for  the  present  civilization  of 
California.  Of  their  children  we  mention  the  following:  Hudson  D. 
married  Sarah  Harmon  and  they  have  six  children — James,  who 
married  Nellie  St.  Clair  and  has  two  daughters;  Frank,  who  mar- 
ried Miss  Foucht,  who  has  boi'ne  him  two  children;  Albertus,  who 
married  Miss  Downing  and  has  three  children;  and  Royal  V.,  Hugh 
and  Orlena.  Orlando  D.  is  the  immediate  subject  of  this  sketch. 
Enos  D.  was  the  next  in  order  of  ])irth.  Jane  married  J.  B.  Weath- 
ers, of  A^isalia,  and  they  Jiave  two  children,  Grover  and  Mrs.  Carrie 
Sweet.  Adelaide  is  the  wife  of  J.  H.  Butts,  of  Hanford,  and  they 
have  two  children,  Dell  and  Mrs.  Ida  Hamilton.  Melissa  married 
R.  C.  Hardin  of  Visalia  and  they  have  three  children,  Norman,  Mrs. 


484  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Blanche  Young  aud  Beujamiu.  James  and  Susan  (Davenport)  Bar- 
ton had,  all  counted,  about  fifty  descendants. 

It  is  as  a  writer  that  Orlando  D.  Barton  is  perhaps  ))est  known, 
his  articles  about  the  Indians  and  other  western  subjects  having  been 
widely  read.  In  the  days  of  his  youth  he  ranched  with  his  father 
and  brothers,  helped  to  build  sawmills  and  to  get  out  lumber  in  the 
mountains,  and  taught  three  terms  of  school  in  the  Cottonwood  dis- 
trict. Later  he  settled  on  a  ranch  at  Three  Rivers,  which  is  now 
the  site  of  the  River  Iijn,  and  raised  cattle  and  hogs  there  eight 
years.  In  the  period  since  he  has  been  interested  in  mining  and  oil, 
being  a  practical  mineralogist  of  many  years'  study  and  experience. 
He  is  the  owner  of  quite  extensive  oil  interests  in  the  Lost  Hills  and 
in  the  Devil's  Den  mining  district  of  Kern  and  Kings  counties. 

In  1880  Mr.  Barton  married  Miss  Maggie  Allen,  a  native  of 
California,  who  died  in  1888,  leaving  two  children.  Their  daughter 
Phoebe,  wife  of  Alexander  McLennan,  of  Visalia.  has  a  son.  Their 
son  Cornelius  is  employed  by  the  San  Joaquin  Light  and  Power 
Company. 


ASA  T.   GRIFFIN 

As  soldier,  farmer  and  citizen  Asa  T.  Griffin  has  won  the  re- 
spect of  all  with  whom  he  has  from  time  to  time  been  associated. 
He  was  born  in  Cooper  county.  Mo.,  August  8,  1842.  and  from  there 
his  family  soon  afterward  moved  to  Benton  county,  where  he  grew 
up.  In  1861,  when  lie  was  only  nineteen  years  old,  he  enlisted  in 
the  Sixty-foTirth  Regiment,  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  served 
until  the  close  of  the  Civil  war,  when  he  was  nmstered  out  at  Louis- 
^'i^e,  Ky.,  in  July,  1865.  He  took  part  in  much  historic  fighting, 
including  that  at  New  Madrid,  the  siege  and  battle  of  Corinth,  and 
later  served  under  General  Sherman  in  the  South.  Going  back  to 
his  old  home,  he  soon  afterward  located  in  St.  Clair  county.  III., 
where  he  farmed  successfully. 

In  1873  Mr.  Griffin  came  to  California  and  settled  in  Tulare 
county,  and  since  that  time  he  has  lieen  ranching  near  Visalia. 
Formerly  he  gave  attention  especially  to  cattle  and  to  dairying,  but 
now  he  owns  twenty  acres  four  miles  southwest  of  AHsalia.  ten  acres 
of  which  is  in  Muir  and  Lovell  peaches,  another  ten  in  alfalfa.  Since 
1906  he  has  been  a  rural  mail  carrier,  delivering  mail  from  Visalia 
over  part  of  route  No.  1.  His  service  as  a  soldier  makes  him  eligilile 
to  membershi])  in  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Rejiublic,  and  in  his  post 
he  is  active  and  helpful.  March  9,  1869,  Mr.  Griffin  married  Miss 
Ann   Esther  Preston,  born   Februarv   2,   1849,   in   St.    Clair   county. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  489 

Mo.  They  have  had  six  children :  Mrs.  Margaret  Elizabeth  Collins, 
deceased ;  James  M. ;  George  P.,  also  deceased ;  and  Benjamin, 
Thomas  and  Bernard. 

It  will  be  seen  tiiat  the  Griffins  have  been  pioneers,  generation 
after  generation.  Mr.  Griffin's  grandfather  Griffin  settled  in  How- 
ard county.  Mo.,  in  1817,  and  his  forefathers  were  pioneers  further 
east.  Mr.  Griffin  is  a  citizen  of  helpful  impulses,  who,  in  dit¥erent 
ways,  has  done  much  for  the  gonei'al  good.  The  patriotic  spirit  that 
impelled  him  as  a  mere  boy  to  risk  his  life  for  the  preservation 
of  the  union  of  the  states  has  directed  him  along  the  ways  of  public 
usefulness  ever  .since,  wherever  he  has  cast  his  lot. 


LINCOLN  HENRY  BYRON 

One  of  the  progressive  and  up-to-date  business  men  of  Lemoore 
is  Lincoln  Henry  Byron,  who  was  born  in  1866,  in  Contra  Costa 
county,  Cal.  In  1868  he  was  brought  by  his  ]iarents  to  Lemoore, 
Kings  county,  where  he  has  since  lived  and  which  is  now  his  head- 
quarters for  the  automobile  agency,  the  success  of  which  has  made 
him  well  known  throughout  this  ]>art  of  the  state.  He  was  educated 
in  the  public  schools  of  Lemoore  and  in  the  University  of  the  Pacific 
at  San  Jose,  and  then  engaged  in  farming  on  the  lake  bottoms  near 
the  lake,  where,  in  association  with  his  father  for  seven  years,  he 
operated  twenty-seven  hundred  acres.  For  two  years  thereafter  he 
was  in  the  livery  business  at  Los  Angeles,  and  the  next  two  years 
he  spent  as  proprietor  and  manager  of  the  Germania  hotel  at  .Ox- 
nard.  Returning  to  Kings  county  he  was  for  two  years  engaged  in 
boring  wells  for  water,  and  during  the  next  four  years  he  was  a 
traveling  agent  for  the  Watkins  Medicine  compa7iy,  with  headquarters 
at  Vancouver,  Clark  county.  Wash.  Then  coming  again  to  Lemoore, 
he  bought,  in  1906,  the  Joseiih  Marriott  homestead  of  eighty  acres 
which  he  developed  into  a  tine  vineyard,  meantime  devoting  part  of 
his  time  to  dealing  in  horses  and  selling  tents  and  awnings.  In  1911 
he  bought  a  half  interest  in  the  Lemoore  garage.  He  is  the  agent 
for  the  Ford  auto  for  the  western  half  of  Kings  county,  including 
Lemoore  and  Coalinga  and  their  tributary  territory,  and  so  suc- 
cessful has  he  been  in  handling  this  car,  which  ranks  among  the 
best,  that  he  sold  twenty-oiu'  machines  lietween  October  ."Jl  and  Feb- 
luary  10  following,  i^'icim  time  to  time  other  interests  have  com- 
manded his  attention  and  he  has  invested  in  oil  land  in  the  Devil's 
Den  country  and  is  ])romoting  the  oil  development  in  that  field. 

In  1887  Mr.  Byron  married  Julia  Bozeman  and  they  have  three 
children.      Their    daughter    Bertha    is    the    wife    of    Louis    Buike    of 


486  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Coalinga,  and  their  sons,  Carl  and  Lawrence,  are  students  in  the 
liigh  school  at  Lemoore.  As  a  family  the  Byrons  are  popular 
wherever  they  are  known.  Their  circle  of  acquaintance  is  wide  and 
constantly  extending  and  their  influence  in  all  their  relations  is 
exerted  for  the  uplift  of  the  commixnity.  Mr.  Byron  is  a  member  of 
the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 


ARTHUR  G.  DALY 

This  native  son  of  the  Golden  State  was  born  in  Lake  county 
May  20,  1858,  a  son  of  Patrick  M.  and  Mary  E.  (O'Hara)  Daly, 
natives,  respectively,  of  Ireland  and  of  New  York.  The  elder  Daly 
came  to  California,  by  way  of  Cape  Horn,  in  1848,  and  was  the  first 
bottler  of  porter  in  San  Francisco.  He  was  long  in  tlie  cattle  trade 
and  in  the  pork  packing  business  in  the  employ  of  Ruth,  Brum  & 
Company,  and  later  bred  cattle  in  Lake  county  until  1906,  when  he 
died.  His  wife  had  passed  away  December  20,  1881.  Of  their  chil- 
dren the  following  survive :  James  P.,  of  Exeter ;  Dennis  B.,  of  Yokolil 
valley,  Tulare  county;  Mrs.  Maggie  Clancy,  of  San  Francisco;  and 
Arthur  G.,  of  Visalia,  who  is  the  immediate  subject  of  this  notice. 
The  father  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
"Workmen  in  Lake  county,  and  was  otherwise  active  and  influential. 

It  was  in  Lake  county,  Cal.,  that  Arthur  G.  Daly  was  reared  and 
educated,  his  book  studies  having  been  prosecuted  in  public  scliools 
near  his  boyhood  home.  In  1882  he  went  to  Ashland,  Ore.,  and 
engaged  in  the  sheep-raising  industry.  He  came  to  the  Yokohl  val- 
ley in  1888,  and  for  a  number  of  years  raised  cattle  on  a  ranch  of 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  acres.  In  1904  he  bought  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  near  Farmersville  at  $25  an  acre  and  im]iroved  it  and 
subsequently  sold  it  at  $90  an  acre,  a  price  that  afforded  him  a  fine 
profit.  His  present  home  farm  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres, 
three  miles  north  of  ^'isalia,  he  purchased  December  1,  1907.  Eighty 
acres  of  it  is  in  alfalfa,  and  he  raises  many  hogs,  cattle  and  fine 
horses  and  has  a  dairy  of  thirty  cows. 

Mr.  Daly  married  Mrs.  (Lee)  Smith,  a  native  of  California. 
March  27,  1890.  William  Lee,  her  father,  was  an  overland  iiioneer 
in  California  in  1849,  making  the  journey  with  ox-teams.  He  was 
born  in  Virginia  and  reared  in  Missouri,  and  had  been  a  brave  sol- 
dier in  the  Mexican  war.  For  some  years  after  he  came  to  California 
he  teamed  in  San  Francisco,  Fresno,  Stockton  and  Sacramento.  Then 
he  came  to  Tulare  county  and  got  into  the  cattle  business,  in  which 
he  was  active  and  successful  around  Visalia  for  many  years.  His 
death,  April  24,  1892,  was  sincerely  mourned  by  family,  by  friends, 
b>-  all  who  had  come  within  the  influence  of  his   personality.     His 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  487 

recollections  of  the  west  went  back  to  the  real  pioneer  days,  the 
days  of  the  miners,  the  outlaws  and  the  vigilantes,  of  Indians  and 
of  the  stern  white  men  who  risked  their  lives  to  defend  their  women 
and  children  against  savage  raids.  He  had  done  his  part  in  Indian 
fighting-  and  had  known  many  of  those  bold  spirits  who  had  made  a 
profession  of  fighting  the  redskins.  Of  his  children,  the  following 
named  were  living  in  1912 :  Joseph,  Charles,  Mrs.  Mary  Dnmout  and 
Mrs.  Arthur  6.  Daly. 

With  Exeter  lodge  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  Mr. 
Daly  is  identified.  He  takes  a  helpful  interest  in  all  that  pertains 
to  the  advancement  of  the  people  among  whom  he  lives,  is  intelli- 
gently concerned  in  all  i)ublic  affairs  and  may  be  counted  upon  to 
be  on  the  sane  and  patriotic  side  of  any  question  of  economic  im- 
port. 


JOHN  H.  HAUSCHILDT 

New  York  has  sent  to  California  many  men  who  have  been  an 
acquisition  to  its  citizenship,  efficient  in  the  promotion  of  its  impor- 
tant business  interests  and  helpful  in  numerous  directions.  Among 
men  of  this  class  who  are  well  known  in  the  vicinity  of  Tulare,  Tu- 
lare county,  is  John  H.  Hauschildt,  a  native  of  New  York  City,  born 
August  20,  1869.  As  a  youth  he  was  taken  to  Kansas,  where  he  lived 
until  1894,  acquiring  an  education  and  farming  and  working  in  gen- 
eral merchandise  stores.  The  Cherokee  Strip  in  Oklahoma  was 
opened  September  16,  1893.  He  went  down  there  from  Kansas  in 
1894  and  secured  eighty  acres,  to  the  development  of  which  he  gave 
the  ensuing  three  years  and  a  half.  Then  he  was  in  the  Indian  ser- 
vice six  years  and  a  half,  until  in  1904,  when  the  state  of  his  health 
impelled  him  to  seek  the  climate  of  California.  He  came  on  here, 
and  Ainil  18,  1906,  inade  his  first  land  jiurchase  in  the  state.  It 
consisted  of  eighty  acres  of  orchard,  located  six  miles  northwest  of 
Tulare.  In  October,  1907,  he  bought  twenty  acres  two  miles  west  of 
Tulare,  on  the  Hanfoi'd  road,  and  here  he  has  eighteen  acres  in 
alfalfa,  a  dairy  of  ten  cows,  many  cattle  and  hogs  and  five  hundred 
hens.  As  to  his  eighty  acres,  he  disposed  of  the  peach  orchard  and 
devoted  twenty-five  acres  to  prunes  and  fifteen  acres  to  Muscat 
grapes  and  ])ut  the  remaining  forty  acres  under  alfalfa.  This  prop- 
erty he  lets  out  for  a  cash  rental. 

In  1896  Mr.  Hauschildt  married  Miss  Nora  Hanson,  of  Kansas, 
and  tliey  have  a  son,  Carl  Hauscliiidt,  who  is  a  '  meinbei-  of  tlieir 
household.  Tlie  family  are  of  the  congregation  of  the  Methodist 
Episcdjial   cbiircli   at   Tiilaic  and  IVfr.    Hauschildt   is  iJi-omiiient   in   the 


488  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

affairs  of  the  organization,  filling  the  office  of  steward  and  acting 
as  choirmaster.  Believing  in  the  idea  that  the  human  race  should 
advance  and  that  the  place  in  which  to  begin  all  good  work  is  at 
home,  he  gives  generous  aid  to  all  efforts  for  the  uplift  of  the  com- 
munity. 


F.  A.  THOMAS 

A  native  son  of  Tulare  county,  one  of  the  comparatively  few 
elder  ones  who  are  leaders  there  now,  F.  A.  Thomas  was  born  Octo- 
ber 6,  1858,  a  son  of  William  and  Mary  A.  ( Jordan-Courtner)  Thom- 
as. His  father  came  across  the  ])lains  from  the  east  in  1852  and 
settled  in  San  Bernardino  county,  whence  he  moved  to  Tulare  county. 
His  first  marriage  was  to  Eda  Hall,  who  bore  him  a  daughter  named 
Adilla.  Mary  A.  Jordan  married  William  C'ourtner,  and  they  came 
across  the  plains  from  Texas  with  ox-teams  in  1847,  John  Jordan, 
father  of  Mary  A.  and  grandfather  of  F.  A.  Thomas,  having  been 
captain  of  the  train.  After  an  eventful  and  wearisome  journey  of 
six  months,  they  arrived  in  San  Joaquin  county,  and  there  Mr.  Jor- 
dan and  Mr.  Courtner  passed  away.  The  following  are  the  names 
of  the  children  of  William  and  Mary  A.  (Jordan)  Courtner:  Eli, 
Jennie  E.,  Lee  C,  James,  Mary.  Alice  E.,  Ellis  T.,  Preston  B.  and 
Melissa   (who  died  in  infancy).     James  is  also  deceased. 

All  his  life  Mr.  Thomas  has  farmed  and  raised  stock.  That  he 
has  prospered  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  he  owns  one  hun- 
dred and  ten  city  lots  in  Tulare,  eighty  acres  of  timber  land,  twenty- 
eight  acres  of  orange  grove,  an  interest  in  the  Courtner  sawmills  in 
the  mountains,  and  he  has  recently  sold  twenty-two  hundred  acres 
of  land  in  Drum  valley.  He  freights  lumber  from  his  mill  to  Tulare, 
fifty-eight  miles.  His  experiences  in  this  part  of  the  state  compass 
the  entire  period  of  its  modern  development.  He  remembers  well  the 
killing  by  Digger  Indians  of  Pioneer  Woods  and  was  well  acquainted 
with  Evans  and  Sontag  and  other  celebrated  characters  whose  names 
are  identified  with  the  earlier  history  of  central  California  and  has 
been  on  the  spot  where  the  two  desperadoes  mentioned  were  cap- 
tured, and  had  often  hunted  on  the  plains  and  in  the  woods  and  was 
one  time  treed  l)y  wild  hogs.  Among  others  whom  he  knew  in  earlier 
davs  was  Mr.  Breckenridge,  who  was  killed  by  Indians  in  Eshom 
valley,  and  it  was  since  he  came  that  the  Dalton  brothers  had  their 
short  but  eventful  career  in  this  part  of  the  country.  Politically  he 
early  affiliated  with  the  Democratic  party.  He  was  a  charter  mem- 
ber of  a  local  organization  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World  of  Visalia. 
He  has  been  very  ])rominent  in  many  movements  for  the  benefit  of  the 
communitv,  in  which  he  is  well  known. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  489 

RICHARD  CHATTEN 

The  Chatteii  family,  whieli  for  years  was  worthily  represented 
in  Visalia  by  the  late  Richard  Chatten  and  now  by  his  son  Thomas 
A.  Chatten,  is  prominent  in  Ontario,  Canada,  where  Richard  Chatten 
was  born,  December  11,  18l'().  Of  English  origin  they  have  lived  in 
Canada  since  the  Colonial  times,  and  here  Mr.  Chatten  was  reared 
to  manhood,  working  in  the  lumber  woods  there  and  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  United  States.  His  educational  training  was  ]5rocured 
in  the  common  schools  of  Canada  and  New  York,  and  in  1849  he 
returned  to  Canada  for  a  short  time.  Anxious  to  see  other  parts 
of  the  world  and  find  a  more  encouraging  field  for  his  labors  he 
decided  to  seek  the  western  country,  and  accordingly  made  his  way 
to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  working  as  a  river  raftsman,  rafting  logs  from 
the  Wisconsin  jiine  woods,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven  years  he 
was  residing  in  that  city.  In  the  spring  of  1850,  in  company  with 
others,  he  outfitted  seven  ox-wagons  and  started  overland  for  Cali- 
fornia, eager  to  try  their  fortunes  with  the  rest  of  the  gold-seekers. 
Taking  a  southern  route  they  traveled  through  the  state  of  Texas, 
and  while  there  Mr.  C-hatten  met  his  future  wife,  who  was  Margaret 
Glenn,  daughter  of  Alexander  and  Eleanor  Glenn,  who  were  also  on 
their  way  to  the  coast,  and  tliey  accordingly  joined  their  trains  and 
traveled  the  remaining  distance  together.  On  the  way  the  Indians 
stole  several  head  of  tlieii'  cattle,  but  the  animals  were  so  tired  from 
their  long  trii>  that  they  could  not  be  driven  fast  enough  and  the 
party  recovered  them.  They  stopped  at  Salt  Lake  city  for  three 
weeks  to  rest  and  two  weeks  of  this  time  Mr.  Chatten  was  employed 
by  Brigham  Young,  for  which  he  was  amply  paid.  The  i)arty  finally 
arrived  in  Los  Angeles  in  the  fall  of  the  year,  and  Mr.  Chatten  and 
the  four  Glenn  boys  pushed  on  to  what  was  then  Sonora  county, 
where  they  engaged  in  placer-mining  near  Mariposa,  where  he  met 
with  some  success  and  after  working  there  for  a  year  and  a  half 
returned  to  Los  Angeles,  where  he  purchased  about  two  hundred 
head  of  cattle,  and  this  was  the  start  of  his  extensive  stock  busi- 
ness. 

Driving  his  cattle  about  nine  miles  west  of  Visalia  he  settled 
there  for  a  time,  and  was  married  there  in  the  home  of  John  C.  Reed 
(in  January  12,  1854,  to  Margaret  Glenn,  above  mentioned.  They 
siiffereil  many  hardshijis  thi-ough  the  troublesome  Indians  and  as  busi- 
ness often  took  Mr.  Chatten  to  Stockton  and  Los  Angeles  he  was 
comi)elled  to  bring  his  wife  to  Visalia  foi-  protection  during  liis  ab- 
sence. He  came  to  ^^isalia  in  1886  and  that  city  had  in  him  a  wide- 
awake, industrious  citizen  until  his  death,  which  occurred  there  Aug- 
ust 12,  1896.  He  pros]>ered  in  his  stock  business  by  his  clevei- 
management  and  untiring  perseverance,  and  added  to  his   projterty 


490  TUJ.ARE  AND  KINGS  COUXTIES 

from  time  to  time  imtil  he  became  one  of  the  largest  hindholders 
in  the  vicinity.  He  owned  the  Mineral  King  fruit  ranch  of  six 
hmidred  and  sixty  acres,  which  lies  east  of  Visalia  and  disposed  of 
it  at  a  gratifying  profit.  He  also  owned  one  of  the  first  apple  or 
chards  in  the  county  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  his  property  hold- 
ings covered  an  area  of  about  four  thousand  acres.  Mr.  Chatten 
laid  out  the  Chatten  ditch,  now  called  the  Fleming  ditch  and  a  part 
of  the  Mineral  King  Fruit  company's  holdings. 

Mrs.  Chatten  passed  away  in  1890,  leaving  one  son  and  three 
daughters,  namely:  Thomas  A.,  a  prominent  stockman  and  dairy- 
man of  Visalia;  Frances,  of  San  Francisco;  Celesta;  and  Eliza,  wife 
of  Louis  Whitendale,  near  Visalia.  For  a  second  wife  Mr.  Chatten 
married,  in  1S!)2,  Mrs.  Leah  (Miller)  Davis,  widow  of  the  late  Thomas 
H.  Davis,  a  pioneer  of  Antelope  valley.  Mrs.  Chatten  was  born  in 
Arkansas  and  crossed  the  plains  to  California  in  1856,  and  since 
1857  has  been  a  resident  of  Tulare  county.  Mr.  Chatten  was  a  well- 
known  Mason,  and  was  always  a  prominent  factor  in  movements  that 
had  for  their  object  the  benefit  of  his  community,  and  his  memory 
will  ever  be  held  sacred  by  his  many  friends  and  associates  in  Visalia 
and  the'  surrounding  country,  where  he  was  best  known. 


FRED  C.  HOWE 

It  was  in  Santa  Clara  county  that  this  native  son  of  California 
was  born  in  1858.  Henry  X.  and  Rebecca  J.  Howe,  his  parents, 
came  out  here  in  1852  from  Maine,  his  father  coming  around  Cape 
Horn,  his  mother  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  For  some  time 
his  father  mined  in  Mariposa  county  and  ran  a  sawmill  near  Felton 
in  Santa  Cruz  county.  Then  the  family  went  to  British  Columbia 
and  lived  there  several  years,  while  the  father  mined  with  little  suc- 
cess near  Caribou.  Returning  to  California,  they  located  at  San 
Jose,  Santa  Clara  county.  When  Fred  C.  Howe  was  sixteen  years 
old  he  went  to  Solano,  whence  in  1875  he  and  his  brother  Frank 
came  to  what  is  now  Kings  county  and  located  near  the  site  of  Han- 
ford.  They  acquired  I'ailroad  laud  and  remained  in  that  vicinity 
until  1905,  devoting  themselves  principally  to  the  raising  of  grain. 
Then  Fred  C.  Howe  settled  in  Tulare  county  on  eighty  acres,  eight 
and  a  half  miles  southwest  from  Tulare,  which  he  bought  of  J.  W. 
Stiff.  There  was  on  the  place  an  artesian  well,  a  house  and  some 
fencing,  and  eighty  acres  of  it  was  given  over  to  orchard.  Mr.  Howe 
has  built  a  barn  on  the  property,  eliminated  the  orchard  and  en- 
closed the  entire  eighty  acres  in  hog-tight  fence.  Irrigation  is  ob- 
tained from  an  artesian  well  and  from  the  Tulare  irrigating  canal. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  491 

With  fifteen  acres  iu  alfalfa,  Mr.  Plowe  is  doing  general  farming 
and  raising  blooded  horses,  cattle  and  hogs.  Besides  the  operation 
of  his  home  farm,  he  rents  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  adjoining, 
on  which  he  raises  grain.  For  the  past  thirty  j-ears  or  longer  he 
has  run  a  thresher  in  season  in  Tulare  and  Kings  counties.  He  is  a 
stockholder  in  the  Dairymen's   Co-operative  Creamery   Company. 

In  1890  Mr.  Howe  entered  into  a  marriage  ])y  which  he  had 
two  children,  one  of  whom,  Edith,  is  living  at  Oakland.  In  1909 
he  married    (second)    Miss   Elizabeth  Stitt. 


HENRY  GODFREY  TRAEGER 

As  proprietor  of  one  of  the  leading  furniture  stores  of  Porter- 
ville,  Tulare  county,  and  as  a  high-class  business  man  and  man  of 
affairs,  the  subject  of  this  brief  notice  is  well  known  in  the  central 
part  of  the  state.  He  was  born  in  Kenton,  Hardin  county,  Ohio, 
April  10,  1859,  a  son  of  Augaistus  and  Margareta  (Schope)  Traeger. 
His  parents  were  born  in  Germany,  his  father  at  Halle-ou-der-Saale 
January  23,  1824,  his  mother  at  Reichenburg,  Bairon,  November  6. 
1831.  Their  marriage  was  celebrated  April  15,  1852,  at  Kenton, 
Ohio.  The  son  attended  the  public  schools  of  Kenton  until  he  was 
twelve  years  old,  then  took  up  the  active  duties  of  life  as  a  clerk  in 
a  dry  goods   store  in  that   town. 

Mr.  Traeger  came  to  Porterville  in  1884,  arriving  November  26, 
and,  failing  to  secure  work  in  a  store,  began  chopping  wood  by  the 
cord.  Soon,  however,  he  fell  a  \ictim  to  fever  and  went  to  the  moun- 
tains and  found  work  as  a  herder  of  hogs.  Forty-eight  days  later 
he  returned  to  the  valley  iu  good  health.  He  worked  ten  acres  of 
vineyard  on  shares,  making  from  five  thousand  to  six  thousand  gal- 
lons of  wine  each  year  for  three  years.  He  then  went  to  work  for 
Wilko  Mentz  in  his  store,  as  he  supposed  for  only  a  week,  luit  re- 
mained for  fourteen  years,  and  gave  it  up  only  because  of  ill  health 
in  order  to  go  to  the  mountains.  For  a  time  he  took  care  of  a  lum- 
lier  yard  for  A.  M.  Coburn;  then  he  mined  iu  the  White  River  dis- 
trict. Next  we  find  him  in  Alaska,  increased  in  weiglit  from  one 
hundred  and  thirty-five  ]iounds  to  two  hundred  and  eight  jtounds 
and  greatly  improved  in  health.  There  he  remained  one  season,  and 
after  his  return  he  liecame  a  grain  buyer  for  Eppenger  &  Comi)any. 
Later  he  was  in  the  furniture  business  for  five  years,  then  traded  his 
store  for  a  grocery  business,  sold  that  and  became  interested  in  the 
electrical  business,  and  then  traded  that  for  orange  land,  but  soon 
discovered  that  he  was  not  likely  to  succeed  as  a  farmer  and  took 
advantage  of  a  good  opportunity  to  dis]3ose  of  his  holding. 

For  three  years  Mr.  Traeger  was  deputy  assessor  undci-  J.   F. 


492  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Gibsou  ami  assessed  the  taxpayers  of  the  city  of  Poi'terville  in  the 
first  and  second  years  of  its  corporate  existence.  As  a  Republican 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  board  of  trnstees  of  Porterville,  in 
which  capacity  he  served  faithfully  and  efficiently  three  years,  when 
he  resigned.  Socially  he  is  a  member  of  the  Tule  River  Fishing 
and  Shooting  Association.  Fraternally  he  associates  with  the  Ma- 
sons, being  a  member  of  Porterville  Lodge,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  the 
Royal  Arch  Chapter. 

At  Porterville,  September  5,  1891,  Mr.  Traeger  married  Mary 
Schmidt,  a  daughter  of  Joseph  Schmidt,  who  was  the  leader  of  the 
Second  Regiment  Band  at  Black  Point  and  the  Presidio.  They  have 
children  named  Henry  A.,  a  trap-drummer,  and  Wilko  J.,  the  latter 
attending  high  school  at  Porterville.  As  a  citizen  Mr.  Traeger  has 
always  been  helpful  to  every  movement  for  the  advancement  of 
Porterville  and  the  country  round  about. 


CARYL  CHURCH 

In  1878  Caryl  Church  moved  to  Tulare  county  and  became  a 
settler  in  the  San  Joaquin  valley.  He  was  born  in  Erie  county, 
Ohio,  June  6,  1846,  and  was  eleven  years  old  when  his  family  innui- 
grated  to  Iowa  and  twenty-three  when  he  came  to  California.  His 
early  life  was  spent  in  school  and  at  work  on  his  father's  farm.  For 
a  time  after  he  came  to  this  state  he  worked  for  wages,  mostly  on 
ranches,  and  the  knowledge  of  farming  that  he  acquired  in  that  way 
was  a  fitting  complement  to  that  which  he  had  acquired  under  his 
father's  instruction.  Now  he  was  a  California  farmer,  fully  com- 
petent to  go  into  business  for  himself.  Coming  to  Kings  county,  he 
located  on  what  is  now  his  home  place,  a  fine  ranch  not  far  from 
Hanford.  By  successive  purchases  he  has  become  the  owner  of  four 
hundred  acres  of  as  productive  land  as  is  to  be  found  in  his  vicinity. 
He  began  as  a  wheat  raiser,  and  as  such  he  was  successful  until 
stock  raising  promised  him  better  returns.  He  raises  hogs,  horses 
and  cattle,  and  his  stock  of  whatever  kind  is  as  good  as  is  oflFered 
in  the  market,  always  sells  well  and  sometimes  brings  top-notch 
prices. 

In  1871  Mr.  Church  married  Miss  Annie  E.  Rowland,  who  was 
born  in  the  state  of  New  York.  They  became  the  parents  of  six 
children,  Charles,  Elery,  Beecher,  Birch.  Carrie  (the  wife  of  Frank 
Sanborn),  and  one  daughter  who  died  in  early  childhood.  The  sons 
are  living  on  adjoining  ranches,  all  prospering  by  their  devotion  to 
the  interests  that  have  brought  their  father  so  much  success.  A 
recent  specialty  of  Mr.  Church  is  grapes,  to  which  he  has  given  five 


TULARE  AND  KING8  COUNTIES  -i:i3 

acres  of  suitable  land.  In  the  atifairs  of  his  township,  county,  state 
and  nation  he  takes  a  sincere  and  most  intelligent  interest,  and  he 
has    many    times    manifested    a    commendable    public    spirit. 


THE  FENWICK  SANITARIUM 

In  this  era  of  ad\'anced  surgery  and  scientific  treatment  of  dis- 
ease, the  sanitarium  proiierly  equipped  and  conducted  is  an  absolute 
necessity  in  any  cit.v.  Visalia  possesses  in  the  Penwick  Sanitarium, 
conducted  and  owned  by  Miss  D.  V.  Fenwick,  an  institution  afford- 
ing every  facility  in  emergency  and  surgical  cases  and  a  <|uiet  re- 
treat for  persons  desiring  a  restful  environment  in  which  to  regain 
health.  Miss  Fenwick,  who  was  graduated  from  the  Los  Angeles 
county  and  city  hospitals  in  1902,  and  from  the  ('hildren's  hospital 
in  San  Francisco,  is  experienced  in  her  chosen  line.  Patients  in 
her  care  are  allowed  choice  of  physicians,  and  leading  ]ihysicians 
and  surgeons  practice  in  and  recommend  the  institution.  This  sani- 
tarium is  ideally  located  on  Mineral  King  avenue,  far  enough  from 
the  city  to  insure  quiet  and  pure  atmosphere.  Fresh  fruit  from  or- 
chards surrounding  the  building,  vegetables  from  the  sanitarium  gar- 
den, butter  and  milk  and  cream  from  Miss  P'enwick's  own  dairy 
and  eggs  from  her  ])oultry  yard  add  much  to  the  efficiency  of  the 
institution.  The  place  has  ]-ecently  been  remodeled  and  improved, 
and  the  building  is  one  of  the  best  appointed  of  its  kind  in  central 
California.  A  new  operating  room,  completely  equipped,  has  been 
added  and  every  modern  aid  to  surgery  is  suiiplied;  two  ti'ained 
nurses  are  regularly  employed  and  others  as  they  are  required, 
and  the  sanitarium  is  equal  to  the  accommodation  of  fourteen  patients. 
The  various  railroads  of  this  section  patronize  it,  which  is  in  itself 
a  sjilendid  recommendation. 

The  history  of  this  institution  dates  from  1902,  when  it  was 
establislied,  in  a  small  way,  on  South  Court  street,  by  its  present 
owner  and  manager,  who  deserves  great  credit  for  the  enterprise 
and  perseverance  which  she  has  enq^loyed  in  maintaining  and  build- 
ing it  u]).  Miss  Fenwick  is  a  native  daughter  of  Tulare  county. 
ITer  i)arents,  P.  L.  and  Sarah  (Jones)  Fenwick,  wlio  were  born  in 
Illinois,  came  overland  to  California  in  the  earl}'  '50s.  For  a  time 
they  stopped  in  Fresno  county,  then  came  to  Tulare  county,  wJiere 
her  father  became  a  farmei-  and  cattle-raiser  and  o])ei-ated  exten- 
sively near  Orosi  and  in  Antelope  valley  until  Jaimai'y  15,  1911, 
when  he  died,  aged  eighty-one  years.  Following  are  the  names  of 
his  children:  Jasper,  who  died  February  15,  1911;  Alonzo  L.,  Edward 
and  Miss  D.  V.     Thi'  latter  left   home  at  the  age  of  si.xteen  to  be- 


494  TULABE  AND  KTXOS  COUNTIES 

come  a  gTaduated  trained  nurse.  How  successful  she  lias  been  is 
known  to  all  who  are  conversant  with  the  splendid  work  done  by  the 
institution  of  which  she  is  the  head. 

Miss  Fenwick  is  constantly  improving  her  institution;  within  the 
past  year  she  has  remodeled  the  basement,  installed  electricity  for 
heating  and  cooking,  and  has  added  restrooms,  thus  increasing  the 
comfort  of  her  patients,  and  is  always  looking  out  for  the  sanitation  of 
the  place  and  the  health  of  its  patrons. 


EAEL  BAGBY 

In  Clay  county,  Kans.,  January  8,  1887,  Earl  Bagby  was  born, 
and  when  he  was  a  year  old  his  family  moved  to  California,  locating 
at  Visalia,  where  his  parents,  E.  J.  and  Elizabeth  (Hughes)  Bagby, 
are  still  living.  After  his  graduation  from  the  grammar  and  high 
schools  of  that  city,  he  entered  the  University  of  Michigan  at  Ann 
Arbor,  from  which  institution  he  was  duly  graduated  with  the  LL.  D. 
degree  with  the  class  of  1908,  and  soon  afterwards  was  admitted  to 
practice  in  the  courts  of  Michigan.  In  November,  1908,  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  practice  in  all  the  courts  in  the  state  of  California  and 
opened  a  law  office  in  Visalia.  In  November,  1910,  he  was  elected  to 
the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace,  upon  the  duties  of  which  he  entered 
in  January,  1911,  and  in  the  latter  year  he  was  elected  judge  of  the 
recorders'  court  of  Visalia.  Before  his  election  to  these  offices  he 
had  been  for  some  time  attorney  for  and  assistant  secretary  of  the 
California  Humane  Society. 

Fraternally  Mr.  Bagby  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  "World, 
in  which  he  holds  the  office  of  Coimcil  Commander ;  with  the  F.  0.  E., 
in  which  he  is  president;  with  the  Loyal  Order  of  Moose,  of  which 
he  is  treasurer,  and  the  Independent  Order  of  Foresters.  He  is 
^^ee  iiresideut  of  the  Tennis  club,  a  member  of  the  Kaweah  club, 
secretary  of  the  board  of  trade  of  Visalia  and  secretary  of  the  Demo- 
cratic County  Central  Committee.  In  1911  he  married  Miss  Celissa 
B.  Wing,  a  native  of  Maine,  being  a  daughter  of  F.  H.  and  Sadie 
Wing. 

Mr.  Bagby  practices  in  all  the  federal  courts  of  the  state,  ex- 
ce]it  the  court  over  which  he  presides.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
United  States  District  Court  in  the  month  of  May,  1909,  and  to  the 
United  States  Circuit  Court  in  the  same  month.  He  has  gained  the 
respect  of  the  entire  community  and  has  built  up  a  large  and  lucra- 
tive practice  in  the  superior  courts.  As  an  office  attorney  his  coun- 
sel is  sought  by  a  large  clientage.  A  great  part  of  his  work  consists 
of  conveyancing,  in  which  line  he  has  had  a  very  extensive  experi- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  495 

ence.    A  large  part  of  his  legal  work  deals  with  the  law  of  real  prop- 
erty and  contracts. 

In  1912  Mr.  Bagliy  bel]»ed  to  organize  the  Teal  Gnn  Club.  This 
club  has  built  two  club  houses  aud  made  large  duck  ponds  from  the 
waters  of  an  artesian  well  in  section  28,  township  24,  range  25,  upon 
six  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  land  held  under  lease  by  said  club. 
He  is  one  of  three  directors;  it  is  limited  to  twenty,  and  its  member- 
ship extends  to  Kings  as  well  as  Tulare  county. 


THOMAS  E.  HOWES 

The  Middle  West,  constantly  drawing  on  the  East  to  fill  up  its 
quota  of  citizens,  is  as  constantly  sending  some  of  its  best  blood  to 
the  Pacific  coast,  and  its  men  arrive  in  California  imbued  with  the 
spirit  not  only  of  the  land  immediately  beyond  the  Rockies  but  of 
the  whole  broad  country  to  the  Atlantic.  It  is  probalile  that  Illinois 
has  sent  as  many  good  citizens  to  California  as  any  otlier  state  in 
the  favored  region  under  consideration.  One  of  them  who  is  located 
near  Hanford,  Kings  county,  and  is  making  for  himself  an  enviable 
record  is  Thomas  E.  Howes,  who  was  born  in  Dekalb  countj^,  in  the 
Prairie  State,  February  11,  1863,  the  same  year  in  which  his  father, 
Philip  Howes,  was  killed  in  the  Civil  war.  A  few  years  later  the  boy 
came  with  his  mother  to  California  and  was  a  student  in  the  public 
school  at  Eucalyptus,  Tulare  (now  Kings)  county.  At  an  early  age 
be  began  to  work  on  ranches  round  aliout  and  in  a  few  years  he 
gained  a  practical  knowledge  of  farming  as  it  was  then  conducted  in 
this  part  of  California. 

In  1882  Mr.  Howes  began  farming  on  his  own  account  on  rented 
hind,  and  so  successful  was  he  that  by  1886  he  was  able  to  buy  eighty 
acres  of  good  land,  which  is  now  included  in  his  homestead.  As  he 
has  accumulated  money  he  has  invested  it  in  land  from  time  to  time 
until  he  is  now  the  owner  of  over  five  hundred  acres  devoted  to  gen- 
eral farming  and  to  dairying.  He  has  improved  his  ranch  in  many 
\vays,  and  it  now  presents  a  view  in  which  a  good  home  aud  aju]i]e 
barns  and  outbuildings  are  jileasing  features.  His  methods  of  culti- 
vation are  up  to  date,  and  he  works  only  with  machines  and  appli- 
ances of  modern  construction  and  efficiency.  Since  1873  Mr.  Howes 
lias  been  a  resident  of  the  vicinity  where  he  is  now  living.  At  that 
time  no  trees  were  to  be  seen  between  Cross  creek  and  Mussel  slough 
on  the  plains.  As  a  citizen  he  is  known  for  his  liberality  of  thought 
and  for  liis  generous  co-operation  in  the  promotion  of  measures  for 
the  ])iihli('  weal.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Independent  Order 
of  Foresters   and   with   the   Woodmen   of   the   World.     He   married 


496  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Cora  Yuel  November  15,  1885.  Mrs.  Howes,  who  is  a  native  daughter 
jf  California,  was  born  June  20,  1868,  and  they  have  five  children, 
Ralph,   Everett,  Marion,  Forest  and  Ora. 


CHAUNCEY  M.  BAKER 

It  was  in  Mill  Creek  valley  that  Chauncey  M.  Baker,  one  of  the 
well-to-do  farmers  in  the  vicinity  of  Dunlap,  was  born  July  3,  1877, 
and  there  he  has  spent  his  life  to  the  present  time.  He  attended 
the  Mill  Creek  school  and  was  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  fann- 
ing under  his  father's  instruction. 

At  San  Rafael  in  1905,  Mr.  Baker  married  Olive  Hargrave,  a 
native  of  Mendocino  county,  whose  father,  Charles  M.  Hargrave, 
crossed  the  plains  in  the  pioneer  days  and  was  an  early  settler  on 
Cache  creek,  Yolo  county,  whence  he  moved  to  Mendocino  county.  For 
several  years  prior  to  her  marriage,  Mrs.  Baker  taught  school  in 
Mendocino  and  Fresno  counties. 

Mr.  Baker  homesteaded  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land 
and  January  10,  1908,  received  his  patent  from  the  government. 
That  same  year  he  bought  four  hundred  and  eighty  acres,  known  as 
the  old  Turner  place;  in  1910  he  added  two  hundred  and  forty  acres 
known  as  the  Wilson  place  and  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  rail- 
road land,  and  he  is  now  the  owner  of  one  thousand  and  forty  acres. 
He  cultivates  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  and  on  fifty-five  acres  he 
raised  one  Inmdred  and  eighty  tons  of  hay  in  1910,  and  from  some 
of  his  valley  land  he  cleared  $10  an  acre  in  1909.  He  has  about  three 
thousand  cords  of  marketable  wood  on  his  place.  He  has  given 
some  attention  to  breeding  fine  stock  and  has  on  hand  an  average  of 
forty  to  fifty  head.  He  has  lived  here  long  enough  to  have  witnessed 
the  development  of  the  district  from  a  mountain  country  to  produc- 
tive ranches  and  remembers  when  there  were  but  half  a  dozen 
houses  between  the  hills  and  Visalia,  a  section  now  dotted  with  mod- 
ern California  farms.  As  a  citizen  he  is  generously  ]m])lic  spirited. 
Politically  he  is  a  Republican  and  fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the 
Modern  Woodmen  of  America. 


MRS.  IDA  MARGARET  KAEHLER 

The  highly  esteemed  woman  whose  name  is  above  lives  at  No. 
107  Hockett  street,  Porter\'ille,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  and  is  a  repre- 
sentative of  an  old  German  family.  Ferdinand  Rodler,  her  father, 
a  native  of  the  Fatherland,  was  born  May  24,  1823,  married  in  1857 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  497 

aud  came  to  the  United  States  and  devoted  himself  to  the  blacksmith 
trade.  He  was  a  fine  mechanic,  and,  being  also  a  good  business  man, 
he  prospered.  He  died  at  his  home  in  Davenport,  Iowa,  March  10, 
1904,  and  his  widow,  formerly  Johanna  Louisa  Pasclike,  is  living 
there  at  the  age  of  eighty-five  years,  having  been  born  in  March. 
1828.  Their  daughter,  Ida  Margaret,  was  born  in  Davenport  June 
20,  1860,  and  when  she  became  of  school  age  entered  the  public 
schools  of  that  city,  in  which  she  was  a  pupil  imtil  she  was  thirteen 
years  old,  when  she  was  sent  to  Berlin,  Germany,  to  finish  her  educa- 
tion. Eeturning  to  Iowa  when  she  was  sixteen  years  old,  in  1878 
she  married  N.  M.  Kaehler,  and  they  had  three  children.  Walter,  the 
eldest,  died  young.  Alfred,  the  second  son,  is  living  at  Hobart,  Ind., 
with  his  wife  and  two  children.  Ferdinand  is  a  machinist  at  Porter- 
ville. 

In  1884  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kaehler  came  to  California  aud  settled  on 
White  river,  in  Tulare  county,  where  she  lived  six  years.  In  1890 
she  moved  to  Piano  and  in  1902  from  Piano  to  Porterville,  which  at 
that  time  was  not  a  very  promising  village,  having  no  railway  facili- 
ties and  few  stores,  its  scanty  population  trading  for  the  most  part 
at  Visalia.  She  now  has  a  valuable  and  very  attractive  property, 
having  built  the  hoiise  she  occupies,  and  is  concentrating  her  hold- 
ings in  Porterville  and  vicinity,  having  recently  sold  her  real  estate 
at  Piano.  What  she  owns  she  has  earned  herself,  owning  unimproved 
property  and  an  interest  in  the  gas  plant.  Brought  up  in  the  Chris- 
tian faith  of  her  fathers,  Mrs.  Kaehler  is  devoutly  religious,  with 
faith  in  God  and  in  her  fellow  men.  She  is  firm  in  the  belief  that 
all  people  may  become  much  better  if  they  will  learn  the  right  and 
trv  to  do  it. 


MANUEL  I.   MACHADO 

It  was  on  one  of  the  Azores  that  Manuel  I.  Maehado  was  liorn 
March  19,  1869,  and  he  was  reared  and  educated  there  and  came  to 
the  United  States  in  1884.  After  remaining  fifteen  months  in  the 
East,  most  of  the  time  in  Massachusetts,  he  came  to  California  and 
located  at  Fresno.  Herding  sheep  in  the  vicinity  for  wages  for  a 
short  time,  he  bouglit  sheep  and  was  in  the  business  for  himself  six 
years.  Then  he  bought  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  laud  a  mile 
and  a  half  from  the  Cross  creek  school,  where  he  raised  alfalfa  three 
years  and  lost  his  holdings  because  of  crop  failures.  He  then  came 
to  near  Woodville,  in  Tulare  county,  and  worked  six  hundred  acres  of 
land  one  year  with  good  success.  Using  the  money  he  made  to  pay 
his  debts,  he  then  began  again  at  the  bottom  of  the  ladder,  working 

27 


498  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

for  wages,  and  after  two  years  lie  was  able  to  rent  forty  acres  of 
fruit  and  vinej^ard  land  eight  miles  southwest  of  Tulare.  He  re- 
placed eighteen  acres  of  the  trees  with  alfalfa  and  set  out  sis  hun- 
dred trees  of  new  varieties  in  place  of  others  that  had  ceased  to  be 
profitable.  Renting  forty  acres  adjoining  this  land,  he  set  out  on  it 
six  acres  of  young  orchard  and  devoted  the  remainder  to  vines. 
The  first  of  these  tracts  he  operated  five  years,  the  latter  only  one 
year,  and  then  he  bought  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  three  miles 
north  of  Waukena,  which  he  has  improved  with  good  buildings,  hog- 
tight  fences  and  other  api^liances  essential  to  successful  operation. 
Eighty-five  acres  of  the  land  is  under  alfalfa.  He  has  put  down  four 
wells,  with  depths  of  thirty  feet,  fifty  feet,  ninety-six  feet  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  feet,  respectively,  for  stock  and  domestic 
use.  For  irrigation  he  gets  water  from  the  Packwood  ditch,  in  the 
companj-  controlling  which  he  owns  one  hundred  and  twenty  shares 
of  stock.  A  feature  of  his  ranch  is  a  fruit  orchard  for  home  use.  He 
makes  a  specialty  of  horses,  cattle  and  hogs  and  conducts  a  dairy 
of  seventy  cows.  As  a  means  to  success  in  the  latter  venture  he 
holds  a  membership  in  the  Dairymen's  Association  of  Tulare.  He 
rents  three  hundred  and  ninety  acres  adjoining  his  home  place  and 
devotes  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  it  to  alfalfa,  the  remainder 
to  grain  and  ])astura'ge.  On  this  place  he  has  a  partner  in  stock- 
raising.  In  1910  he  bought  forty- two  acres  at  Paige's  Switch,  on 
which  he  built  a  fine  residence,  fences  and  other  improvements. 
Twenty-five  acres  of  this  property  are  devoted  to  alfalfa.  Here  he 
lives,  conducting  a  dairy  of  seven  cows  and  raising  a  few  horses, 
cattle  and  hogs.  He  has  long  been  one  of  the  foremost  in  all  that 
pertains  to  agricultural  advancement  in  the  county,  and  besides  be- 
longing to  the  Dairymen's  Association  he  is  a  stockholder  in  the 
Co-operative  Creamery  and  in  the  Rochdale  store  at  Tulare. 

In  August,  1893,  Mr.  Machado  married  Rosa  M.  Sauza  and  has 
seven  children.  Joseph  is  a  member  of  their  household.  Mary  is 
the  wife  of  M.  T.  Barrerio  of  Tulare.  The  others,  who  are  com- 
paratively young,  are  named  Vivian,  Louisa,  Ida,  Rosa  and  Sarah. 
Mr.  Machado  is  a  member  of  the  I.  D.  E.  S.  organization  of  Tulare. 
He  is  helpful  to  religious  and  educational  enterprises  and  is  actively 
interested  in  everything  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of  the  community. 


ALVIN  B.  SHIPPEY 

In  and  around  Visalia  stand  many  monuments  to  the  enterprise 
and  good  taste  of  Alvin  B.  Shippey,  architect,  contractor  and  builder. 
Mr.  Shippey  is  a  native  of  the  capital  city  of  Tulare  county  and  was 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  499 

born  March  28,  1874,  a  son  of  Daniel  P.  and  Martha  A.  M.   (Hurt) 
Shippey,  both  of  Missouri  birth,  who  came  to  Visalia  in  1872. 

A  carpenter  by  trade,  Daniel  P.  Shippey  operated  a  planing  mill 
and  worked  at  his  trade  in  Visalia  and  has  long  been  well  known  in 
connection  with  contracting  and  building  interests  in  this  city.  Here 
some  of  his  children  were  born  and  all  of  them  grew  up  and  were 
educated.  The  eldest  is  Mrs.  Eva  Sanders.  The  others  are  Mrs. 
Lela  White,  Walter  of  Porterville,  Wilbur  of  Utah,  Albert  of  Los  An- 
geles, and  Alvin  B.  of  Visalia. 

After  his  graduation  from  the  public  schools  of  Visalia,  Alvin 
B.  Shippey  learned  the  carpenter's  trade  under  his  father's  instruc- 
tion; in  fact,  he  began  to  learn  it  long  before  he  left  school,  for  he 
has  driven  nails  since  he  was  thirteen  years  old.  He  began  his  busi- 
ness career  as  a  partner  with  his  father  and  brother  in  the  Shippey 
planing  mill  at  Visalia,  and  in  1902  branched  out  for  himself  as  a 
contractor  and  builder,  making  a  specialty  of  doing  architectural 
work  and  drawing  plans  for.  his  buildings.  The  following  products 
of  his  artistic  handicraft  should  be  mentioned  here  as  a  part  of  the 
record  of  his  busy  life  to  date:  The  James  Crowley  home,  a  house 
for  John  Frans,  the  Co-operative  Creamery  building,  the  homes  of 
L.  Scott,  J.  B.  Simpson,  John  Daly,  0.  P.  Swanson  and  L.  Lucier, 
the  North  Methodist  church,  the  new  cannery  building,  the  Palace 
stables  and  the  residence  of  J.  T.  Akers;  also  twelve  fine  residences 
in  Lindsay,  the  ranch  house  and  barns  of  E.  O.  Miller,  the  Fred 
Hamilton  residence,  the  Prairie  Center  school  house  and  the  resi- 
dence  of  Louis   Felder. 

In   1902   Mr.    Shippey   married   Miss   Ethel   Hamilton,    a   native 
daughter  of  California,  whose  father,  J.  Hamilton,  was  an  early  set 
tier  in  the  state,  and  they  have  two  children,  Chester  and  Mervvn. 


MARTIN  V.  THOMAS 

In  the  state  of  Mississippi,  one  of  the  proud  old  Southern  com- 
monwealths, Martin  V.  Thomas,  who  lives  on  the  road  two  miles 
nortJi  of  the  Hanford  road,  northwest  of  Tulare,  and  is  one  of  the 
well-known  citizens,  of  Tulare  county,  was  born  May  28,  1846.  He 
was  taken  to  Arkansas  in  childhood,  and  later  went  to  Texas.  He 
was  reared  to  farm  lal)or  and  educated  in  public  schools,  and  in  1869 
became  a  member  of  a  j^arty  that  consumed  a  year  in  making  the 
overland  journey  across  the  plains  to  California.  In  April,  1870,  he 
arrived  at  Visalia,  where  he  had  friends  and  relatives,  and,  liking  the 
place,  decided  to  stay  there.  For  ten  years  he  worked  in  and  around 
Visalia  for  wages,  then  farmed  in  the  Visalia  and  Porterville  neigh- 
borhoods until  1885,  when   he  homesteaded   one   hundred   and   sixty 


500  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

acres  at  White  River,  which  he  improved  and  farmed  seven  years. 
Selling  that  property,  he  bought  four  hundred  and  eighty  acres  east 
of  Porterville,  where  he  raised  cattle  and  other  stock  two  years.  He 
disposed  of  that  holding  in  order  to  buy  sixty-six  and  one-half  acres 
near  Woodville,  where  he  conducted  a  dairy  two  years.  Finding  a 
purchaser  for  the  property,  he  bought  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
at  Tipton,  where  for  two  j'ears  he  raised  stock  and  ran  a  dair^^  Sell- 
ing out  there  in  1911,  he  bought  forty  acres  four  miles  west  and  two 
miles  north  of  Tulare,  on  which  he  is  successfully  operating  a  dairy, 
milking  ten  cows  and  giving  considerable  attention  to  poultry.  He 
has  twenty-iave  acres  in  alfalfa  and  four  hundred  fruit  trees.  His 
land  is  irrigated  by  electric  power. 

In  1866,  while  he  was  a  citizen  of  Arkansas,  Mr.  Thomas  mar- 
ried Miss  Lydia  L.  Dillard,  a  native  of  Alabama.  She  came  across 
the  plains  with  him  from  Texas  and  they  became  the  parents  of 
eleven  children,  ten  of  whom  are  living:  Sam,  of  Tulare;  Mrs.  Ella 
Kirby,  of  Lindsay;  Mrs.  Ozie  Orton,  of  Lindsay;  Mrs.  Frank  Creech, 
of  Tulare ;  Mrs.  Chidester,  of  Tulare ;  Mrs.  John  Klindera,  of  Tipton ; 
Jefferson  Thomas,  of  Tulare;  Elmer,  of  Tulare;  Ivan  and  Roy,  mem- 
bers of  their  parents'  household;  and  Edwin,  who  is  deceased.  Mr. 
Thomas  is  a  genial,  whole-souled  man,  wliose  friends  admire  him  for 
the  active  interest  which  makes  him  helpful  to  all  local  issues. 


JAMES  W.  WRIGHT 

The  birthplace  of  James  W.  Wright  was  Newton  county.  Mo. 
He  was  born  October  29,  1855,  a  son  of  John  Wesley  and  Margaret 
(Lindsey)  Wright,  natives  of  Kentucky.  The  family  moved  to  Texas 
in  1857  and  remained  there  until  1879,  Mr.  Wright  starting  the  first 
blacksmith  shop  in  Decatur,  Wise  county.  The  elder  Wright  came  out 
from  Missouri  to  California  in  1852  and  stopped  in  Hangtown.  His 
party  started  in  the  spring,  with  ox-teams,  and  was  six  mouths  in  mak- 
ing the  journey.  Indians  stampeded  their  stock,  most  of  which  they 
uever  recovered,  and  were  troublesome  otherwise.  A  young  man  of 
the  party  fell  ill  of  fever  and  was  left  in  a  tent  near  pure  running 
water,  of  which  he  drank  copiously,  with  the  result  that  his  fever  was 
subdued  and  he  recovered  and  eventually  made  his  fortune  in  Califor- 
nia gold  mines.  Crude  law  was  established  in  the  mining  camp  and 
swift  justice,  and  sometimes  injustice,  was  inflicted  by  self-constituted 
hangmen.  Mr.  Wright  spent  two  years  at  Hangtown  and  at  George- 
town, then  returned  to  Newton  county.  Mo.  From  there  he  went 
eventually  to  Chico,  Texas,  where  he  engaged  in  the  livery  business. 
He  had  made  some  money  in  California,  with  which  he  got  a  good 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  501 

start  iu  his  new  home,  where  he  prospered  satisfactorily  and  where 
he  spent  his  last  days. 

James  W.  Wright  first  located,  in  1879,  in  Pomona,  Los  Angeles 
county,  remaining  there  until  1891,  when  he  located  in  Inyo  county 
and  farmed,  raised  stock  and  mined  for  eighteen  years.  In  1909  he 
went  to  Dunlap,  Fresno  county.  He  married.  May  29,  1883,  in  Los 
Angeles  county,  Joan  Hickox,  who  was  born  on  November  8,  1860,  in 
Nueces  county,  Texas.  They  have  nine  children:  Alfred  W.,  Gilbert 
W.,  Walter  L.,  Winfield,  Florence  C,  Katie,  Warren,  Felix  and  Lois. 
Alfred  W.  married  Mary  Remkes,  and  they  have  three  children,  Viola, 
Gladys  and  Arthur.  Gilbert  W.  married  Alice  P.  Remkes,  and  they 
have  two  daughters,  lola  and  Grace.  Walter  L.  and  Winfield  served 
in  the  United  States  navy.     The  others  are  at  home. 

Ranching  and  stockraising  were  long  Mr.  Wright's  principal  busi- 
ness. He  is  now  the  proprietor  of  a  hotel  and  feed  barns  in  Dunlap 
and  is  materially  adding  to  the  capacity  of  his  hotel  by  the  construc- 
tion of  additional  rooms.  As  a  business  man  he  is  highly  respected 
in  his  town,  where  he  is  prominent  in  the  local  Democracy  and  affiliates 
with  the  Masonic  order.  He  has  in  his  possession  a  rocking  chair  in 
which  he  was  rocked  when  he  was  an  infant  and  a  gold  nugget  from 
a  Placerville  mine,  taken  out  in  1852  by  his  father-in-law,  and  other 
valuable  relics  of  pioneer  days.  Mrs.  Wright's  father,  Alfred  Hickox, 
a  native  of  Illinois,  went  to  Texas  in  young  manhood  and  from  there 
came  to  California  in  1852.  After  mining  for  a  time  he  returned  to 
Texas  and  engaged  in  stockraising.  He  again  came  overland  to  Cali- 
fornia in  1869,  bringing  with  him  his  wife  and  four  children  and  a 
step-daughter.  Mr.  Hickox  was  captain  of  the  train,  which  suffered 
considerably  at  the  hands  of  the  Indians.  He  told  afterward  of  a 
young  man  of  the  party  who  killed  a  squaw  and  was  given  up  to  the 
Indians,  who  took  him  away  and  he  was  never  seen  again.  Another 
of  his  reminiscences  concerned  an  event  in  Arizona.  Some  emigrants 
dropped  a  wagon  wheel  in  a  spring  to  tighten  its  tire ;  it  dropped  out 
of  sight,  and  the  prairie  schooner  to  which  it  belonged  was  abandoned 
bv  the  trail  side. 


ALEXANDER  CLARKE  ECCLES 

Educated  at  Balmoral  Agiicultural  College,  Belfast,  Ireland,  an 
institution  established  undci'  the  jiatvonage  of  Prince  Albert,  consort 
of  the  late  Queen  Victoria,  Alexander  Clarke  Eccles,  of  Kings  county, 
Cal.,  who  was  for  a  time  horticultural  commissioner  for  that  county, 
was  exceptionally  well-fitted  for  the  duties  of  that  office  and  he  is 
widelv  known  as  one  of  the  scientific  farmers  of  Central  California. 


502  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

It  was  at  Belfast,  Ireland,  that  Mr.  Eccles  was  born  March  21, 
1854.  He  remained  there  until  he  was  thirty  years  old,  for  a  time 
devoting  himself  to  practical  farming.  He  came  to  the  United  States 
in  1884  and  after  tarrying  briefly  in  Kansas  and  Oregon,  came  to 
Redding,  Shasta  county,  Cal.,  where  he  became  a  naturalized  Ameri- 
can citizen.  From  Redding  he  went  to  Chico,  Cal.,  aud  for  three 
years  was  foreman  on  the  fruit  farm  of  General  John  Bidwell.  Then 
he  came  to  Kings  county  and  set  out  thirty  acres  of  vineyard,  north- 
east of  Hanford,  one-third  of  which  he  received  for  his  work.  After 
that  he  was  made  superintendent  of  the  Del  Norte  Vineyard  &  Fruit 
Company  and  was  in  charge  of  its  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of 
fruits  and  vines  for  twelve  consecutive  years.  After  the  termination 
of  that  service  he  bought  forty  acres  of  land  two  miles  aud  a  quarter 
east  of  Lemoore  and  ])ut  liis  brain  and  hands  to  the  work  of  its 
improvement.  He  now  has  thirteen  acres  in  vineyard  and  ten  acres 
in  orchard.  On  this  place  he  built  a  fine  house  and  estaljlished  his 
home.  Later  he  bought  eighty-five  acres  at  Hardwick,  which  is  under 
alfalfa  and  devoted  to  dairy  purposes. 

In  1909  Mr.  Eccles  was  appointed  horticultural  commissioner  of 
Kings  county,  an  office  which  he  filled  with  much  ability  and  for  the 
duties  of  which  he  had  a  distant  liking,  but  which  he  was  compelled 
in  1911  to  resign  because  of  impaired  eyesight.  Personally  he  is 
popular  throughout  the  county,  being  a  stockholder  in  the  Kings 
County  Fruit  and  Raisin  Company,  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Pythias,  Woodmen  of  the  World  and  Foresters  of  America.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Armona  Baptist  church.  His  career  here  has  been 
one  of  success,  as  will  be  readily  understood  when  the  comparatively 
late  date  of  his  coming  is  considered  in  connection  with  the  fact  that 
when  he  arrived  he  had  but  one  dollar  and  is  now  worth  $40,000. 
In  1901  he  married  Miss  Maggie  May  Chamberlain,  who  was  born 
in  the  state  of  Washington  but  was  then  a  resident  of  Kings  county. 
They  have  three  children — Alexander  Clarke,  Ruth  May  and  William 
Sloan. 


JOHN  BROTHERS 

As  favorably  known  through  his  connection  with  the  Italian  Svriss 
Company  as  through  his  identification  with  the  Lemoore  Chamber 
of  Commerce  and  various  fraternal  organizations,  John  Brothers 
has  won  repute  iu  Kings  county,  Cal..  as  a  man  of  ability  and 
efficiency,  who  may  be  depended  u]ion  to  assist  to  the  extent  of  his 
aliility  any  movement  which  in  his  opinion  promises  to  benefit  any 
considerable  number  of  his  fellow  citizens.     He  was  born  in  Illinois, 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  .jO;3 

April  16,  1879,  and  was  brought  to  California  l)y  his  parents  in 
1883,  when  he  was  abont  foni-  years  old.  He  is  a  son  of  (ieorij,e  A. 
Brothers,  a  veteran  school  teacher,  who  won  success  also  as  a  farmer. 
His  mother,  Mary  E.  Brothers,  also  a  teacher,  became  known  as  a 
woman  of  mnch  ability.  The  ehh'r  ]\fr.  Brothers  first  caine  to  tliis 
state  in  1876  and  innnediately  engaged  in  teaching.  He  went  back  to 
Illinois  and  in  1877  retnrued,  bringing  liis  family,  and  I'cinaincd  until 
1880,  though  his  wife  returned  before  that  time  to  their  old  home 
in  the  East.  In  1883  they  came  to  Lemoore  and  were  lioth  employed 
as  teachers  in  the  public  schools  of  that  city.  Mr.  Brothei's  had 
previously  taught  in  (irangeville  and  in  the  Eoades  School  district. 
He  died  January  19,  1911.  The  last  eighteen  yeai's  of  his  life  he 
was  engaged  in  the  Government  service  and  a  large  part  of  tliis  time 
worked  in  the  revenue  service  from  the  San  Francisco  Dei)artment  of 
Internal  Reveni;e. 

It  was  in  Lemoore  that  Mr.  Brothers  grew  up  and  began  his 
education  in  the  public  schools.  Ijater  he  continued  his  studies  at 
Fresno,  where  he  was  duly  graduated  from  the  high  school.  During 
his  youth  he  worked  in  grocery  stores  in  Fresno  and  Lemoore  and 
gave  considerable  time  to  the  aquisition  of  a  practical  knowledge 
of  blacksmithing  and  of  the  butcher  business.  From  time  to  time 
he  worked  on  farms  in  the  vicinity  of  Fresno  and  later  was  associated 
with  his  father  in  some  agricultural  enterprises.  He  obtained  a  com- 
plete knowledge  of  ranching,  fruit-growing  and  stock-raising  and  by 
1902  was  well  fitted  to  enter  the  employ  of  the  Italian  Swiss  Colony 
as  sujierintendent  and  local  nuinager.  In  this  connection  he  has  had 
charge  of  the  colony's  fifteen  hundred  acres  of  land,  six  hundred  and 
fifty  acres  of  which  is  in  vineyard,  the  remainder  being  devoted  to 
the  cultivation  of  barley  and  alfalfa.  Mr.  Brothers  personally  Owns 
forty  acres,  two  miles  and  a  half  northwest  of  Lemoore,  which  he 
has  put  under  alfalfa  and  is  farming  with  good  results. 

His  solicitude  for  the  advancement  of  Lemoore  impelled  Mr. 
Brothers  to  consent  to  become  a  member  of  the  board  of  trustees 
of  that  town,  in  which  office  he  lias  served  eight  years,  four  years  of 
the  time  as  president  of  the  Ixiard.  lie  is  one  of  the  leading  sjtirits 
in  the  local  (liamber  of  Commerce  and  is  secretary  of  that  body.  In 
the  fire  department  of  Lemoore  he  has  always  taken  a  helpful  interest, 
and  he  is  tlie  very  efficient  secretary  of  that  organization  also.  Socially 
he  affiliates  with  the  Independent  Order  of  Red  Men  and  with  the 
Woodmen  of  the  World  and  he  is  secretary  of  the  local  division  of 
the  first  mentioned  society.  In  1903  he  married  Miss  Iffie  T.  Foley, 
daughter  of  Dr.  R.  E.  Foley,  and  they  have  two  children.  Geoi-ge  E. 
and  Carolvn   E.  Brothers. 


504  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

JAMES  H.  MAY 

Natives  of  the  South  have  always  been  warmly  welcomed  to 
Califoruia  and  none  more  so  than  sons  of  Alabama.  James  H.  May 
was  born  in  the  state  just  mentioned  and  went  early  in  life  to  Mont- 
gomery county,  Ark.,  where  he  was  in  office  fourteen  years  either 
as  tax  collector  or  sheriff.  When  the  Civil  war  began  he  issued  a 
call  for  volunteers  and  quickly  recruited  a  company  of  three  hundred 
and  thirteen  men,  only  nine  of  whom  returned  to  Arkansas  alive. 
He  rose  to  be  a  major  and  later  served  as  lieutenant-colonel  of  his 
regiment.  Three  of  his  sons  were  lost  in  the  war,  one  being  instantly 
killed  in  a  charge  within  ten  feet  of  the  Union  breastworks.  In  1865 
he  became  a  cattleman  in  Texas,  accumulated  two  thousand  head  of 
cattle,  and  prospered  well  until  his  business  was  ruined  by  dry 
seasons.  He  came  to  Califoruia  in  1869  as  captain  of  a  train  of  ox- 
teams  and  later  found  in  Tulare  county  some  cattle  that  he  had 
owned  in  Texas  and  marked  with  his  l)raud  "MAY,"  which  had  been 
driven  overland  by  another  man. 

Mr.  May  left  Texas  with  one  hundred  and  ten  families  in  his 
train.  In  Arizona  all  but  seven  of  these  families  were  killed  by 
Indians  or  died  from  sickness.  His  account  of  these  events  was 
very  interesting.  Until  1874  he  teamed  at  and  near  Porterville.  Then 
he  raised  sheep  and  cattle  until  he  was  driven  out  of  business  by  the 
dry  season  of  1877,  when  his  stock  died.  He  was  for  a  number  of 
years  road  master  of  his  district  and  in  1879-80  built  the  road  across 
the  Blue  Ridge  in  the  mountains.  He  served  also  as  constable  in  the 
Tule  River  district. 

Miss  Caroline  Hockett,  a  sister  of  the  famous  John  Hockett, 
who  came  to  California  before  the  discovery  of  gold,  became  the 
wife  of  Mr.  May,  and  their  children  who  survive  are:  James  J.; 
Mrs.  R.  T.  Hogancamp,  of  Bakersfield,  Cal. ;  and  Mrs.  Victoria  M. 
Clarke.  There  were  other  children  who  are  now  dead.  The  father 
passed  away  in  1888,  the  mother  seven  years  earlier. 

The  only  surviving  son  of  James  H.  and  Caroline  (Hockett)  May 
is  James  J.  May,  who  lives  a  half  a  mile  south  of  East  Mineral 
King  avenue,  near  Visalia.  He  was  born  in  Montgomery  county.  Ark., 
and  assisted  his  father  in  the  latter 's  farming  operations  until  the 
elder  May  died  in  1888.  Then  for  a  time  he  teamed  in  Kern  county 
and  afterward  farmed  ten  years  near  Tipton  and  from  there  moved 
to  Exeter,  where  for  six  years  he  operated  the  farming  land  on  the 
Las  Palomas  ranch.  He  came  to  his  present  homestead  in  1899.  Here 
he  owns  forty  acres  which  he  has  developed  from  wild,  rough  land 
to  a  productive  ranch  with  an  adequate  irrigation  system.  He  gives 
his  attention  principally  to  fruit  and  has  planted  six  acres  to  prunes, 
twenty  to   Bartlett  i)ears  and  two  to  peaches. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  505 

Fraternally  Mr.  May  afifiliates  with  the  Masonic  lodge  at  Visalia, 
Tulare  City  lodge  No.  30(),  I.  O.  O.  P.,  and  the  local  organization  of 
the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  As  a  citizen  he  is  popular  and  he  has 
in  a  public-spirited  way  done  much  for  the  benefit  of  the  community. 
In  1885  he  married  Miss  May  E.  Boas,  a  native  of  California,  whose 
father  settled  at  Lemon  Cove  in  the  early  '50s.  She  has  borne  him 
four  children:  Loyal  A.;  Frank  H. ;  Lena,  who  is  the  wife  of  Arthur 
T.  Dowse  of  Oakland,  and  Ruby. 


ALEXANDER  WELLINGTON  BASS 

In  Dallas  county.  Mo.,  Alexander  Wellington  Bass  was  born, 
October  30,  1861.  It  was  in  that  county  that  he  was  reared  and  gained 
much  of  his  education  in  the  jiublic  school.  When  he  was  eighteen 
years  old  he  accompanied  his  father  to  Boise  City,  Idaho,  where  he 
attended  school  two  years  longer.  He  early  gained  a  knowledge  of 
farming  and  at  Boise  City  learned  the  carpenters'  trade.  Eventually 
he  returned  to  Missouri  and  started  back  to  Idaho  by  way  of  the  coast 
in  order  to  see  California.  He  stopped  off  at  Hanford  March  9,  1888, 
and  liking  the  town  and  the  country  round  al^out  obtained  employ- 
ment on  a  farm,  where  he  worked  several  months.  Then,  locating  in 
Hanford.  he  took  up  carpentering  and  after  three  years  became  a 
contractor  and  builder.  Three  years  later  he  added  house-moving 
to  his  business  and  that  part  of  his  work  became  so  important  that  it 
gradually  commanded  all  his  time  and  attention.  As  a  contractor 
he  had  for  a  partner  J.  D.  Ellis,  and  they  confined  their  opera- 
tions mostly  to  building  residences,  of  which  they  built  as  many 
in  their  period  of  activity  as  any  concern  in  this  part  of  the  state. 
As  a  house-mover  his  operations  have  extended  throughout  the  San 
Joaquin  valley  from  Bakersfield  to  Stockton  and  he  was  once  awarded 
a  four-month  contract  as  far  away  as  Santa  Rosa. 

As  a  Democrat  Mr.  Bass  has  been  active  in  local  and  state  politics 
for  ten  years.  In  1909  he  was  elected  to  serve  four  years  as  a  member 
of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Hanford.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with 
Tent  No.  40,  K.  0.  T.  M.,  the  Foresters  of  America,  and  the  Woodmen 
of  the  World.  He  was  long  a  member  of  the  old  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce and  has  for  twenty-one  years  been  identified  with  the  volunteer 
fire  department  of  Hanford.  For  twelve  years  he  has  served  without 
pay  as  a  trustee  of  the  Hanford  Cemetery  Association.  When  he 
was  elected  there  was  no  fund  even  to  pay  the  sexton,  but  because 
of  his  good  management  the  association  now  has  a  surplus  of  $11,000 
to  $12,000  at  interest,  a  fund  for  the  up-keep  of  the  cemetery. 

September  6,  1888,  Mr.  Bass  married  Alice  Howard,  daughter  of 


506  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

John  A.  and  Maiy  Howard  and  a  native  of  Clarke  county,  Mo.  They 
have  had  six  children:  Earnest,  born  May  20,  1891;  Ethel,  July  9. 
1897;  Edna,  August  16,  1900;  Anita,  April  12,  1902;  Clarence,  who 
died  in  1906,  aged  seventeen  years;  Avis,  who  died  at  the  age  of  ten 
months.  Earnest  is  at  home,  and  Ethel,  Edna  and  Anita  are  attending 
school. 


DANIEL  M.  HERRIN 

Incidental  to  our  economic  development  of  the  last  half  century 
has  been  the  evolution  of  the  modern  creamery,  a  corporate  agency 
which  has  come  to  do  the  work  of  a  large  number  of  individuals, 
and  to  do  it  better  and  to  give  results  of  a  more  uniform  quality  than 
was  possible  under  the  old  order  of  things.  Creameries  are  located 
here  and  there  throughout  the  county,  none  of  them  are  very  large  or 
conspicuous,  and  none  of  them  attracts  attention  by  such  loud  and 
discordant  noises  as  emanate  from  industrial  plants  of  various  other 
kinds.  But  the  products  of  creameries  are  used  ever^Tvhere  by  every- 
body, in  such  an  inmiense  volume  that  the  statistics  of  the  industry  are 
almost  staggering.  However,  it  was  not  to  comment  at  length  on  this 
subject  that  this  article  was  begun,  and  what  little  has  been  said  con- 
cerning it  has  been  set  down  by  way  of  showing  how  important  a 
work  has  engaged  the  talents  of  Daniel  M.  Herrin  for  some  time  past. 

Mr.  Ilerrin  was  born  in  Marion  county,  Ind.,  July  2,  1862,  and 
attended  the  public  schools  until  he  was  nineteen  years  old.  In 
1891  he  engaged  in  stock-raising  and  farming  and  gradually  concerned 
himself  in  the  creamery  business.  His  interests  in  that  way,  small 
at  lirst,  increased  until  he  was  called  to  the  management  of  the  Tulare 
Creamery  Company  of  Corcoran.  He  continued  as  the  manager  of 
the  Corcoran  i^lant  of  the  Tulare  Co-operative  Creamery  Company 
until  March,  1912,  when  he  resigned  his  position.  He  then  organized 
the  Lake  View  Creamery  Company  June  1,  1912,  and  began  running 
regularly  November  1  of  that  year. 

This  is  a  stock  company  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the 
State  of  California  with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000.00  of  which  Mr. 
Niss  Hanson  is  president,  F.  A.  Cleveland  of  Corcoran,  secretary 
and  treasurer,  and  Daniel  M.  Herrin  is  manager.  They  have  installed 
a  car  lot  service  and  are  now  shipping  and  selling  direct  to  the 
wholesale  trade  of  Los  Angeles  their  choice  milk  and  cream  products. 
A  three-ton  ;!utomobile  truck  transports  their  products  from  the  plant, 
which  is  substantially  constructed  and  built  of  concrete  and  equipped 
with  the  best  of  machinery  and  located  six  miles  southwest  of  Cor- 
coran, to  the  Santa  Fe  railway  station.     Thus  expeditiously  handled 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  507 

the  said  products  net  their  patrons  about  four  cents  per  pound  of 
butter  fat  more  than  can  be  realized  if  sold  to  the  creameries. 

Mr.  Herrin  has  been  a  citizen  of  Kings  county  since  December, 
1910,  and  since  that  time  has  never  failed  to  respond  liberally  to  any 
demand  upon  his  public  spirit.  He  is  a  Mason  and  socially  he  is  a 
favorite  with  all  who  know  him.  His  business  methods  are  such  as 
to  appeal  strongly  to  the  farming  community,  and  the  institution  of 
which  he  is  the  head  is  one  of  the  most  jDopular  in  this  part  of  the 
state  and  is  patronized  more  and  more  liberally  with  each  passing 
year. 


ENOCH  WORK 

It  was  on  Cache  Creek,  Yolo  county,  that  Enoch  Work  was  born 
November  8,  1851,  a  son  of  Hopkins  and  Martha  (Parker)  Work, 
natives  respectively  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky.  They  came  across 
the  plains  with  ox-teams  from  the  latter  state  in  1849,  stopping  at 
Hangtown  and  later  at  Georgetown  and  eventually  moved  to  Yolo 
county,  whence  they  came  in  1859  to  Tulare  county  and  settled  near 
Kaweah.  The  elder  Work  engaged  in  farming  and  stock-raising  in 
that  neighliorhood  and  ]5rospered  there  until  187.3,  when  he  home- 
steaded  land  on  Mill  Creek,  Fresno  county,  but  soon  relincjuished 
the  title  which  was  taken  and  perfected  by  his  son  Enoch.  He  bought 
an  additional  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  increasing  his  holding  to 
three  hundred  and  twenty  acres.  This  property  they  improved  and 
it  has  l)een  the  family  home  to  this  time.  When  they  came,  only 
the  Baker  and  Turnei-  families  lived  in  the  neighborhood  and  there 
was  no  settlement  at  Dunlap.  Cattle  and  horses  roamed  everywhere 
at  will,  there  was  an  abundance  of  wild  game  and  bear  were  so 
plentiful  that  Mr.  Work  lassoed  one  in  the  road  and  led  him  home,  a 
feat  which  his  cousin  soon  duplicated.  ■  These  animals  were  made 
food  for  hogs.    The  early  settlers  killed  many  deer. 

One  hundred  acres  of  Mr.  Work's  land  is  devoted  to  farming, 
nine  acres  to  orchard,  peaches,  pears  and  apples  being  the  priuci]:)al 
fruit,  the  remainder  being  under  timber  and  pasture  grass.  He 
keeps  thirty  head  of  horses  and  cattle  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  hogs. 

In  politics  Mr.  Work  is  non-partisan.  As  a  citizen  he  is  public- 
spirited  and  helpful  and  he  was  for  some  time  school  trustee  in  the 
Mill  Creek  district.  He  mari'ied,  in  Drum  valley.  Miss  Alma  Fen- 
wick,  a  native  of  Illinois.  They  have  ten  children:  Angeline,  Polly, 
Sarah  Nettie,  Thomas,  Nicholas,  Leora,  Alma,  Daisy,  Orville  and 
June.  Angeline  married  Frank  Hutchinson  and  bore  him  a  son  and 
a  daughter;  J.  W.   Howell   is  her  present   husband.     Polly  married 


508  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

W.  L.  McElroy  and  has  two  ehildren.  Sarah  Nettie  is  the  wife  of 
C.  H.  McElroy  and  has  one  son.  Thomas  married  Alma  B.  Howell 
and  they  have  one  child.  Leora  is  the  wife  of  Frank  McHaley. 
Two  of  the  younger  ehildren  of  Mr.  Work  are  attending  school. 


STEPHEN  E.  HENLEY 

Born  in  Scott  county,  Iowa,  in  1858,  Stephen  E.  Henley  of  Porter- 
ville,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  attended  the  public  schools  near  his  home 
during  the  years  of  his  boyhood  and  wlien  quite  young  engaged  in 
the  stock  business,  raising  and  selling  cattle.  He  continued  in  that 
line  in  his  native  state  until  1901,  when  he  came  to  California. 
Locating  at  Porterville,  he  bought  three  tracts  of  land,  one  of  twenty 
acres  set  to  oranges,  one  of  eighty  and  one  of  forty  acres.  In  1907  he 
sold  this  ]iroperty,  retaining  only  mining  rights  on  eighty  acres. 
His  mining  claim  consists  of  a  twelve-foot  ledge  of  high  grade  china 
clay,  an  outcropping  of  spar,  suitable  for  the  making  of  porcelain 
and  dishes.  When  he  came  to  the  county  and  had  looked  around  a 
little  he  concluded  that  there  was  more  ore  here  than  more  experienced 
miners  would  have  believed,  but  he  prospected  for  six  years  before 
he  found  what  he  was  looking  for,  then  opened  the  ledge  known 
as  the  "Lost  Squaw."  He  has  been  oifered  $12,000  for  the  claim, 
but  says  that  with  $20,000  exposed  to  sight  he  could  not  sell  at  such 
a  iigure.  While  Mr.  Henley  had  the  direction  of  the  matter,  his  son, 
0.  F.  Henley,  and  Budd  Creeks  actually  discovered  the  ledge.  He 
originated  the  Tulare  County  Power  Company  and  was  the  first 
man  of  this  company  to  file  on  the  water  rights  of  the  Tule  river, 
by  which  power  has  been  developed  and  is  being  transmitted  three 
hundred  miles  and  used  for  pumping  plants  and  other  purposes.  He 
sold  out  his  interest  in  the  company  in  1911. 

Mr.  Henley's  wife  was  Laura  M.  Hartley,  a  native  of  Johnson 
county,  Iowa,  and  their  marriage  was  solemnized  in  that  state  in 
1880.  They  have  five  children,  all  of  wliom  live  in  California.  O. 
Floyd  married  Edith  Bursell  and  has  two  children,  Alta  and  Alberta ; 
his  home  is  in  Tulai-e  county.  Ada  married  Charles  Roberts,  and  has 
two  children,  Ray  and  Alice  May.  May  is  Mrs.  Bert  Hoover,  of  Tulare 
county,  and  has  one  daughter,  Aysha.  Minnie  is  the  wife  of  Ash 
Crabtree  and  has  three  children,  Ramona,  Clair  and  Emory.  Maud 
is  Mrs.  Floy  Wyer  of  Modesto,  who  has  one  son,  Cecil.  Mrs.  Henley's 
parents  were  natives  of  Iowa. 

The  story  of  the  event  that  was  instrumental  in  bringing  Mr. 
Henley  to  California  is  not  the  least  interesting  feature  of  his  bio- 
graphy.    In  1889,  while  he  was  living  in  Northwest  Iowa,   he  was 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  509 


o 


caught  bj'  a  terrific  storm  that  carried  damage  to  a  wide  and  long 
stretch  of  country  and  fell  under  a  nearly  fatal  lightning  stroke.  After 
that  he  was  long  in  the  hospital,  and  when,  at  length,  he  was  dis- 
charged he  had  lost  the  use  of  his  limbs,  partly  from  paralysis  caused 
by  his  accident,  and  partly  from  disuse,  and  was  so  impaired  in  health 
and  vitality  that  his  physicians  advised  him  to  seek  the  recuperative 
influence  of  a  milder  climate. 


CHARLES  R.  BLAMQUIST 

This  well-known  contractor,  builder  and  farmer  of  Tulare,  Cal., 
was  born  in  Sweden,  January  8,  ISGG,  and  was  there  educated  and 
fully  instructed  in  the  trade  of  the  wagon  maker.  In  1884,  when 
he  was  about  twenty-two  years  old,  he  came  to  the  United  States 
and  locating  in  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  found  emplo>Tiient  at  his  trade.  In 
the  fall  of  1890  he  went  to  Montana  and  there  began  his  career  as  a 
contractor  and  builder.  From  1891  to  1893  he  devoted  his  energies 
to  that  business  in  Seattle,  Wash.,  then  came  to  Los  Angeles,  Cal., 
and  acquired  a  half  interest  in  the  Los  Angeles  Fertilizer  Company, 
which  he  retained  until  1897.  Then,  disposing  of  his  interests  in 
Los  Angeles,  he  went  up  to  Lincoln  and  Yakima  counties,  Wash., 
where  during  the  ensuing  fourteen  years  he  devoted  himself  to 
grain  and  stock-raising  on  eight  hundred  acres  of  land,  occasionally 
doing  a  little  Iniilding  in  order  that  his  hand  might  not  lose  its 
cunning.  We  find  him  next  at  Klamath  Falls,  Ore.,  where  he  lived 
nine  months  and  thence  came  to  Tulare  in  July,  1909.  Here  he  has 
devoted  his  attention  principally  to  building,  though  in  December, 
1911.  he  bought  forty  acres  of  land  two  miles  southeast  of  Tulare 
which  he  planted  to  alfalfa  and  is  developing  for  dairy  purjioses. 

At  Tulare  Mr.  Blamquist  has  built  twelve  houses  and  he  has 
built  two  others  in  the  country  nearby.  Among  these  are  the  resi- 
dences of  N.  E.  Stanley,  Mrs.  X.  Anderson,  E.  S.  Higdoii,  Mrs. 
West  and  Mr.  Martin,  and  also  two  for  Charles  Henley;  the  house 
which  he  erected  for  Alfred  Crawford  also  deserves  mention.  Bv 
doing  work  in  every  way  satisfactory  he  is  gaining  the  confidence 
of  the  public,  and  his  continued  success  is  by  no  means  in  doubt. 
He  affiliates  with  the  Order  of  Fraternal  Aid  and  in  other  ways 
manifests  an  interest  in  the  social  and  business  affairs  of  his 
community.  At  Pasadena  in  1897  he  married  Miss  Margaret  V. 
Smith  and  they  have  the  following  children:  Georgia,  Miller  and 
Newland.  The  success  which  Mr.  Blamquist  has  achieved  is  purely 
that  of  the  self-made  man  who  is  alert  for  opportunities  and  quick 
to  grasp  them,  honest  and  straightforward  in  his  dealings  with  his 


510  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

fellow  citizens,  and  he  commands  respect  by  showing  respect  for 
the  rights  and  opinions  of  others.  He  has  in  many  ways  shown  an 
admirable  public  spirit. 


GUSTAVUS  A.  RICHARDSON 

In  San  Jose.  Santa  Clara  coimty,  Cal.,  Gustavus  A.  Richardson 
was  born  January  12,  1856,  a  son  of  Roswell  and  Louisa  (Rodgers) 
Richardson.  His  father  was  a  native  of  PhTnouth,  N.  H.,  born  June 
24,  1797,  a  grandson  of  Samuel  Richardson,  who  with  his  brothers, 
Ezekiel  and  Thomas,  founded  the  town  of  Woburn,  Mass.,  in  1641. 
Louisa  Rodgers  became  his  wife  in  1849,  in  Clark  county,  Mo.  In 
1855  they  came  to  California  across  the  plains.  After  living  in  Santa 
Clara  county  three  years,  they  moved  to  Tulare  county,  where  Mr. 
Richardson  died,  July  4,  1877.  His  widow  married  George  W.  Hayden 
and  died  June  4,  1881,  and  was  buried  in  the  North  Tule  cemetery. 
There  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Richardson  four  children:  Martha 
Matilda,  born  September  15,  1850,  died  in  1863;  Georgiana,  born 
August  8,  1862,  died  July  5,  1888;  Benjamin  Franklin,  born  October 
30,  1854,  died  November  2,  1880;  and  Gustavus  A.  is  the  immediate 
subject  of  this  article. 

A  common  school  education  was  all  that  was  afforded  Gustavus 
A.  Richardson  in  the  days  of  his  youth  and  he  was  only  a  small  lad 
when  he  began  to  assist  his  father  in  the  work  of  the  ranch.  When 
he  was  sixteen  years  old  he  took  a  bunch  of  horses  to  Salt  Lake  City 
and  sold  them  and  came  back  to  Tulare  county,  being  the  only  one  to 
make  the  entire  trip  of  the  eight  who  started.  In  1875  he  went  to 
Arizona  and  remained  there  until  1881,  when  he  returned  to  Tulare 
county,  where  he  controlled  ranches  until  1884.  Then  he  homesteaded 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  on  the  North  Tule  river,  where 
he  farmed  about  twenty  years,  during  which  period  he  added  to  his 
acreage  by  various  purchases.  At  this  time  his  ranch  is  one  of  the 
best  and  most  productive  in  its  vicinity.  The  family  home  has  been 
in  Porterville  since  1911. 

October  1.  1888,  Mr.  Richardson  was  appointed  postmaster  at 
Milo,  Cal.,  and  held  the  office  until  January  1,  1908,  when  he  was 
succeeded  by  F.  M.  Ainsworth,  in  whose  interest  he  had  resigned, 
October  1,  1907.  Politically  he  is  Republican.  Fraternally  he  affiliates 
with  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  is  a  charter  member  of  Porterville 
lodge,  No.  93,  of  that  order.  He  married  at  Visalia,  June  2,  1884, 
Mary  Agnes  (Braden)  Ainsworth,  daughter  of  John  Braden,  and 
widow  of  Andrew  E.  Ainsworth.  Mrs.  Ainsworth,  who  was  a  native 
of  Kansas,  had  a  son  (A.  E.  Ainsworth)  by  her  tirst  marriage.     He 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  511 

was  born  January  16,  1877,  was  graduated  at  tlie  Stockton  Business 
College  and  wlien  he  was  only  eighteen  years  old  was  awarded  a 
teachers'  diploma.  He  taught  successfully  in  public  schools  until 
his  death,  which  occurred  December  9,  1899.  Four  children  were  born 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Eicliardson,  all  natives  of  Tulare  county:  Eoswell 
Guy,  born  at  Milo  February  22,  1886,  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  and  at  the  Oakland  Polytechnic.  Gustavus  Alvah,  born  at 
Milo,  February  5,  1888,  was  graduated  from  public  schools  at  fourteen, 
and  from  the  Porterville  high  school  at  nineteen  and  was  a  student 
at  the  Potts  Business  College  in  1909-10,  and  has  since  been  employed 
by  the  Pasadena  Ice  Company.  Eunice  Marguerite,  born  at  Milo, 
June  21,  1890,  was  graduated  from  public  schools  at  thirteen  and  from 
the  Porterville  high  school  in  her  eighteenth  year.  She  married 
Wilko  Cutler  Knupp  at  Porterville,  September  22,  1908.  Her  child, 
Benora  Knupp,  was  born  May  31,  1909 ;  Mrs.  Knupp  later  entered 
the  State  Normal  school  at  Los  Angeles  and  was  graduated  there- 
from June  23,  1911,  and  is  now  teaching  in  Tulare  county.  Eoscoe 
Vinton  Richardson,  born  at  Milo,  April  11,  1896,  had  two  terms  in 
the  high  school  at  Pasadena  and  is  now  attending  the  Porterville 
high  school.  AVhile  the  children  were  attending  schools  in  Southern 
California,  Mr.  Richardson  purchased  and  maintained  a  home  in 
Pasadena,  which  he  still  owns. 


JAMES  B.  MAYER 

From  a  land  of  long,  frigid  winters  to  a  land  of  winters  short 
and  sununery  came  the  subject  of  this  notice  about  the  first  of 
October,  1907.  How  well  he  has  prospered  here  and  how  much  he 
has  done  for  the  i)rosperity  of  his  community  is  well  known  to 
business  circles  throughout  Kings  county,  Cal.  James  B.  Mayer, 
president  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Corcoran,  was  born  in 
Su])erior,  Wis.,  March  21,  1863.  When  he  was  about  ten  years  old 
his  father  moved  onto  a  timbered  farm  in  northern  Minnesota  and 
he  soon  became  well-known  there,  riot  only  as  a  farmer,  but  as 
lumberman,  merchant  and  banker.  Here  young  Mayer  grew  up  to 
young  manhood.  He  had  begun  his  studies  at  the  public  schools  of 
Superior,  continued  them  in  Minnesota  and  took  a  special  course 
at  the  Curtis  Business  College  of  Minneapolis. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-four  he  became  the  deputy  eountj'  recorder 
of  Carlton  county,  Minn.,  in  which  position  his  pleasing  personality 
made  him  a  favorite  of  the  general  public.  His  next  venture  was 
in  the  general  merchandise  business  and  it  was  while  thus  engaged 
he   married   Miss   Nettie   E.    Hayes   of   Thomson,   Minn.,    November 


512  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

4,  1879.  The  felicitj'  of  this  union  was  broken,  liowever,  by  the 
death  of  his  wife,  which  occurred  at  Floodwood,  Minn.,  February 
24,  1905,  leaving  him  a  son  and  daughter,  Mildred,  aged  nineteen, 
and  Jay,  aged  seventeen  years. 

Other  interests  than  banking  engage  Mr.  Mayer's  attention.  He 
is  secretary  of  the  Corcoran  Gas  &  Water  Company,  which  he 
helped  to  organize  in  1908,  when  it  took  over  the  Security  Land  & 
Loan  Company,  and  has  since  provided  an  ample  supply  of  good 
water  for  the  needs  of  the  growing  town  of  Corcoran.  He  is  also 
associated  as  stockholder  in  the  Corcoran  Land  Company,  also  in 
the  Los  Angeles  Suburban  Homes  Company.  Fraternally  he  affiliates 
with  the  Masons  and  Odd  Fellows.  Socially  he  is  in  favor  with  all 
who  know  him  and  politically  he  is  active  in  the  promotion  of  all 
that  he  deems  best  for  the  general  good. 


THOMAS  McCAETHY 

Ireland  has  given  to  the  United  States  an  element  of  fellowship 
that,  by  itself  and  by  admixture  with  others,  has  been  potent  for 
progress  since  immigration  began  to  come  to  these  shores.  Thomas 
McCarthy,  born  in  County  Kerry,  on  the  Emerald  Isle.  April  22. 
1855.  sailed  over  to  New  York  in  1872  and  made  his  way  with  all 
possible  speed  to  California,  which  was  his  real  objective  point.  He 
stopped  in  Stanislaus  county  until  1874,  then  came  to  Kings  county, 
where  he  has  since  lived  and  jDrospered.  He  became  a  laud  owner 
here  in  1875,  when  he  bought  eighty  acres.  In  1877  he  bought  another 
eighty-acre  tract  on  which  he  has  since  established  his  home,  and  in 
1887  bought  forty  acres  southeast  of  Armona.  He  acquired  two 
hundred  and  forty  acres  more  in  1902,  and  is  now  owner  of  four 
hundred  and  forty  acres  of  as  good  land  as  is  to  be  found  in  the 
country  round  Hanford.  He  gives  his  attention  to  general  farming 
and  to  hog-raising.  His  products  always  bring  good  prices  and  he 
has  raised  some  of  the  best  hogs  that  have  been  grown  in  his  part 
of  the  county  in  recent  years.  His  ranch  is  well  equipped  with 
everything  essential  to  its  successful  operation  and  is  provided  with 
a  good  residence  and  plenty  of  up-to-date  outbuildings  of  all  kinds. 

As  a  citizen  Mr.  McCarthy  is  practical  and  progressive,  having 
a  firm  faith  in  the  fundamental  principles  underl^dng  the  government 
of  his  adopted  country  and  having  at  heart  always  a  deep  solicitude 
for  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  his  fellow  citizens  of  all  classes. 
He  was  one  of  the  builders  of  the  Lakeside  ditch  and  is  serving  as 
a  director. 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  513 

JOHN  E.  HALL 

One  of  the  Tennesseans  who  have  found  fortune  in  the  golden 
fields  of  California  is  John  E.  Hall,  prominent  citizen  and  farmer,  who 
lives  a  mile  west  of  Hanford  in  Kings  county.  Mr.  Hall  was  born  in 
Tennessee  June  13,  18G8,  and  was  reared  there  and  educated  in  the 
common  schools  and  worked  at  farming  there  until  he  was  twenty- 
one  years  old,  when  he  went  to  Wichita  county,  Texas.  There  he 
remained  imtil  lie  came,  in  August,  1893,  to  Hanford,  where  he  rented 
three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land  just  northwest  of  the  city  limits 
and  raised  grain,  grapes  and  fruit  for  five  years.  Then  he  bought  the 
nucleus  of  his  ijresent  ranch,  consisting  of  forty  acres.  A  year  after- 
ward he  bought  auotiier  forty  acres  and  later  he  bought  eighty 
acres,  then  another  forty  acres  a  mile  northwest  of  Hanford.  Of 
the  land  in  these  several  ])nrchases  he  has  set  forty  acres  in  vines 
and  sixty  acres  in  orchard.  The  remainder  of  his  land  is  in  alfalfa 
and  pasture.    In  1911  he  erected  a  large  residence  suited  to  his  needs. 

Politically  Mr.  Hall  is  a  Democrat  who  takes  a  really  helpful 
interest  in  the  affairs  of  his  town  and  county.  In  1905  and  again 
in  1909  he  was  elected  to  represent  the  fourth  district  as  a  member 
of  the  Kings  count}'  l^oard  of  supervisors.  During  the  time  he  has 
served  on  the  board  the  county  purchased  the  fifty-six  acres  for 
the  site  of  the  present  county  hospital  and  the  building  was  erected 
thereon;  also  the  courthouse  park  was  enlarged  at  a  cost  of  .$23,000. 
Besides  he  has  built  roads  in  his  district  and  been  identified  with  all 
the  progressive  movements  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  county.  Fra- 
ternally he  affiliates  with  the  Masons,  holding  membership  in  lodge, 
chapter  and  commandery  at  Hanford. 

In  December,  1891,  Mr.  Hall  married  Miss  Addie  Templeton, 
a  native  of  Tennessee.  Their  seven  children  are:  Ethel.  Edna,  Leslie, 
Vesta,  Lois,  Florence  and  George. 


RICHARD  H.  ARNETT 

As  a  farmer,  as  a  friend  to  education  and  as  a  genial  companion, 
Richard  H.  Arnett  was  known  to  many  people  in  the  vicinity  of 
Visalia,  Tulare  countj-,  Cal.  He  was  born  in  West  Virginia  in 
September,  1850,  and  died  at  his  home  near  Visalia,  October  27, 
1902.  He  left  West  Virginia  for  Missouri  when  he  was  eighteen  years 
old,  and  later  came  to  California. 

Arriving  in  Tulare  county  in  1875,  Mr.  Arnett  began  ranching 
north  of  Visalia  before  many  mouths  passed,  and  two  years  later 
he  moved  to  the  citj'.     In  1882  he  became  owner  of  a  ranch  on  East 


ril4  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Mineral  King  avenue  which  he  began  to  improve  in  many  ways  and 
cultivated  with  success,  though  he  had  not  been  able  down  to  the 
time  of  his  death  to  clear  it  of  all  incumbrance. 

In  1877  Mr.  Arnett  luarried  Miss  Mary  E.  Shippey,  a  native  of 
Missouri,  whose  father  was  an  early  settler  in  this  part  of  Cali- 
fornia, and  they  had  ten  children:  Dora,  May,  Frank,  Richard  H., 
Thomas.  Fred,  Blanche,  Earl,  an  infant  not  named,  and  Walter. 
Dora  is  the  wife  of  Clarence  Cxoble.  May  married  Andrew  Groble. 
Frank  married  Etta  Beede.  Richard  H.  married  Stella  Swanson. 
Fred  has  passed  away.  Blanche  is  Mrs.  J.  R.  Thompson.  After 
her  husband's  death,  the  burden  of  managing  the  ranch  fell  on  Mrs. 
Arnett 's  shoulders.  She  had  never  had  much  to  do  with  business,  but 
had  learned  a  good  deal  about  it  by  observation.  Rising  to  her  respon- 
sibilities, she  accepted  the  situation,  and  how  well  she  has  discharged 
all  the  obligations  of  her  position  is  known  to  the  community  with 
which  she  and  her  husband  cast  their  lot.  Not  only  has  she  made 
a  success  of  her  farming  and  stock-raising,  but  she  has  cleared  her 
property  of  all  debt  and  now  owns  sixty  acres  of  land  in  three  sections 
of  twenty  acres  each,  all  close  to  Visalia  and  valuable  from  every 
point  of  view.  She  raises  cattle,  hogs,  chickens  and  turkeys  which 
find  a  ready  sale  at  good  prices.  All  who  know  her  rejoice  in  her 
prosperity,  declaring  that  she  is  one  of  the  best  business  women  in 
Central  California. 


WILLIAM  E.  FURMAN 

In  Portage  county,  Ohio,  September  4,  1841,  William  E.  Furman 
was  born,  a  son  of  Eli  and  Diantha  (Hall)  Furman,  and  when  he  was 
about  four  years  old  was  taken  by  his  parents  to  Marion  county, 
Iowa.  He  attended  school  until  he  was  about  fifteen  years  old,  and 
for  thirty  years  afterward  was  employed  by  his  father  on  the  latter 's 
farm,  sometimes  in  one  state  and  sometimes  in  another,  for  the 
elder  Furman  tilled  the  soil  in  different  places.  The  family  came 
from  Iowa  to  California  in  1859,  when  William  was  about  eighteen 
years  old,  and  settled  in  Santa  Clara  county,  where  they  lived 
thirteen  or  fourteen  years.  In  1873  they  moved  to  Merced  county, 
where  the  mother  passed  away  at  the  age  of  sixty-one.  It  was  not  until 
his  marriage,  which  was  celebrated  in  1882,  that  Mr.  Furman  took  up 
the  battle  of  life  independently.  Coming  to  Kings  county  in  1883  he 
settled  on  an  eighty-acre  ranch  on  which  his  home  is  now  located.  In 
1887  he  bought  a  second  eighty-acre  tract,  forty  acres  of  which  he  sub- 
sequently sold,  and  eight  years  later  he  bought  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres.    He  gives  his  attention  principally  to  stock-raising.    His  ranch 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  515 

has  been  improved  bj'  himself  with  the  exception  of  the  house,  which 
was  built  at  the  time  of  purchase.  Those  who  know  what  Mr.  Furman 
has  accomplished  know  full  well  that  he  is  a  scientific  farmer  of  varied 
attainments. 

September  25,  1882,  Mr.  Furman  married  Miss  Mary  Stothers, 
who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  April  2,  1856,  and  came  to  this  state 
in  1881.  Of  their  seven  children,  Eli  W.  and  Joseph  M.  are  deceased. 
Those  living  are:  Jesse  I.,  Fred  A.,  Florence  A.,  wife  of  Duncan 
Hanker,  Ella  I.,  and  Elmer  L.  As  a  citizen  Mr.  Furman  is  patriotic 
and  public-spirited,  interested  in  everything  that  pertains  to  the 
advancement  of  the  general  welfare.  His  father  came  to  Kings 
county  and  made  his  home  with  his  son,  dying  at  the  age  of  eighty 
years. 


OSCAR  SAMUEL  DEARDORFF 

That  well-known  young  farmer,  Oscar  Samuel  Deardortf,  whose 
success  near  Hanford,  Kings  county,  Cal.,  is  being  commented  on  in 
farming  circles  in  all  the  country  round  about,  is  not  only  a  native  of 
California,  but  the  son  of  a  native  of  California,  a  fact  which  gives  him 
a  double  claim  to  notice  in  a  work  of  this  character.  He  was  born 
February  29,  1880,  not  far  from  his  present  home,  a  son  of  John  H. 
Deardortf,  who  was  born  in  Amador  coimty,  Cal.,  in  1852,  came  to 
Kings  county  in  1873  and  devoted  himself  to  agricultural  pursuits, 
winning  much  success,  until  he  retired  from  active  business. 

In  the  Cross  Creek  school,  Oscar  S.  Deardorff  was  a  student 
until  he  was  seventeen  years  old.  Thereafter  he  assisted  his  father 
until  he  attained  his  majority,  and  then  he  went  into  business  for 
himself  as  a  farmer  and  hog  raiser.  His  success  has  been  more  than 
noteworthy  and  he  is  now  the  owner  of  a  ranch  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty  acres,  highly  iiuj^roved,  which  is  equipped  with  good 
buildings  of  all  kinds  essential  to  its  operation  and  with  machinery 
and  appliances  of  the  most  modern  construction.  Mr.  Deardortf's 
knowledge  of  farming  is  both  accurate  and  diversified  and  he  is 
probably  as  good  a  judge  of  all  that  affects  the  production  of  good 
crops  as  any  rancher  in  his  neighborhood. 

September  9,  1903,  Mr.  Deardorff  married  Irene  M.  Dodge,  a 
native  of  Kings  county,  born  August  11,  1881.  Socially  he  affiliates 
with  the  Fraternal  Brotherhood  and  with  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows.  Beyond  doing  his  full  duty  as  a  citizen,  at  the  polls 
and  elsewhere,  he  is  not  particularly  active  in  politics,  but  his  under- 
standing of  public  questions  is  definite  and  his  knowedge  of  all  affairs 


516  TULARE  AND  KINGS  (.^OUNTIES 

of  state  is  exact  and  comprehensive.  He  has  in  many  ways  demon- 
strated that  he  possesses  public  spirit  adequate  to  all  reasonable 
demands  upon  it. 


A.  LEROY  DIBBLE 

Many  a  native  of  Iowa  has  brought  success  to  or  found  it  in 
California,  to  which  lowans  have  immigrated  in  large  numbers  for 
many  years.  It  is  a  notable  fact  that  not  a  few  of  the  men  at  the 
head*  of  affairs  in  this  state  were  born  there  or  born  of  parents  who 
came  from  there.  A.  L.  Dibble,  whose  successes  will  be  mentioned 
in  this  notice  was  born  in  Allamakee  county,  Iowa,  January  9,  1861. 
He  received  a  good  public  school  education,  and  during  the  year 
before  he  attained  his  majority  was  employed  by  his  father.  The 
family  had  come  to  California  about  1864  and  to  Tulare  county  in 
1873,  and  the  young  man  was  thoroughly  at  home  on  the  soil  and 
practically  acquainted  with  the  most  approved  methods  of  husbandry 
which  farmers  were  applying  to  their  problems  here  on  the  coast. 

In  1882  Mr.  Dibble  began  farming  for  himself  on  rented  land, 
and  in  due  time  he  bought  an  eighty-acre  ranch  and  engaged  in 
stock-raising  and  dairying.  This  place,  which  he  has  greatly  improved, 
has  been  his  home  continuously  from  that  time  till  the  present,  and  as 
a  home  ranch  it  is  one  of  the  cosiest  and  best  equipped  in  his  vicinity. 
On  May  7,  1882,  he  married  Miss  Mary  A.  Lewellyn,  who  was  born 
in  Nevada  county,  Cal.,  August  16,  1864.  Their  five  children  are: 
Grace  Arvilla,  widow  of  M.  J.  Devine;  Effie  E.,  Lawrence  Leroy, 
Leonard  A.,  and  William  Oscar. 

Mr.  Dibble  is  identified  with  the  Fraternal  Brotherhood.  Politic- 
ally he  is  not  active  beyond  the  requirements  of  his  duties  as  a 
citizen,  but  his  positive  convictions  concerning  all  questions  of  public 
policy  make  him  a  party  man  who  yields  staunch  allegiance  to  the 
principles  he  feels  called  upon  to  espouse.  He  has  never  sought  office 
and  has  steadfastly  declined  such  official  preferment  as  has  been 
tendered  him ;  but  he  yielded  to  the  solicitations  of  his  friends  that 
he  become  a  school  trustee  in  the  Eraser  district,  and  that  office  he 
filled  with  singular  fidelity  and  efficiency. 


JAMES  A.  CRABTREE 

Born  in  Jefferson  county.  111.,  November  13,  1829,  James  A.  Crab- 
tree,  now  of  Porterville,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  was  taken  to  Arkansas  by 
his  ]iarents,  John  B.  and  Rebecca  (Wilkerson)  Crabtree,  when  about  a 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  517 

year  old.  The  father  was  with  Gen.  Jackson  at  the  Battle  of  Orleans 
and  was  one  of  the  general 's  body  guards.  He  lived  there  three  years, 
in  Missouri  three  years  and  after  that  in  Texas  until  in  1852.  There 
James  A.  was  educated  in  the  coinnion  seliools  and  learned  to  farm 
and  handle  cattle.  In  the  year  last  mentioned  the  family  started  to 
California  with  ox-teams  but  on  the  way  sold  tlieir  oxen  and  bought 
mules.  They  came  to  the  coast  tlirough  Mexico,  and  then  made  their 
way  from  Mazatlan  to  San  P''rancisco  by  boat.  Enroute  they  were 
four  days  and  nights  without  food,  even  without  a  drop  of  water, 
and  it  was  with  great  ditliculty  that  Mr.  Crabtree's  father  prevented 
some  of  the  other  passengers  from  throwing  the  cai)tain  overboard. 
They  were  rescued  by  another  lioat,  but  did  not  reach  their  destination 
until  more  than  two  montlis  after  their  emliarkation. 

On  August  26,  1852,  they  went  to  Santa  Cruz,  where  they 
remained  three  years.  After  that  they  lived  at  San  Juan  six  years, 
and  then  at  Windsor,  on  Russian  river,  in  Sonoma  coimty,  and  again 
at  San  Juan  for  various  periods  until  1859,  when  they  came  to  Tulare 
county,  arriving  in  March.  The  elder  Crabtree  brought  considerable 
stock  to  the  county.  He  bought  land  of  a  squatter  but  never  proved 
up  on  it.  In  1857  James  A.  came  to  Tulare  county  from  Pacheco 
rancho  to  look  over  the  county,  returning  to  the  rest  of  the  family 
later  on  and  then  coming  with  them  in  1859.  In  1857-58  he  engaged 
in  the  hog  business,  driving  them  to  the  mines,  where  they  found 
ready  sale.  After  that  he  engaged  in  the  sheep  business  and  after 
moving  onto  his  present  ranch  in  1873  has  farmed,  prospected  and 
been  in  the  fruit  business.  James  A.  bought  land  in  1868,  when  he 
bought  the  projierty  on  which  he  now  lives.  He  owns  in  all  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres,  fourteen  acres  of  which  is  in  oranges,  and 
the  balance  devoted  to  general  farming,  and  every  improvement  he 
has  put  here  himself.  When  the  family  came  to  this  county  white 
settlers  were  few,  and  Indians  had  killed  several  who  had  come  before 
them.  Deer,  anteloj^e,  bear  and  other  game  was  i^lentiful.  In  one 
memorable  bear  hunt  Mr.  Crabtree  came  near  losing  liis  life,  Init  the 
bear  was  killed  and  ])r()ved  to  be  the  largest  grizzly  ever  seen  in 
these  parts.  There  being  no  fences  in  the  mountains,  the  settlers 
had  to  watch  their  growing  crops.  Mr.  Crabtree  has  vivid  recollec- 
tions of  strenuous  occurrences  at  the  time  of  certain  big  floods 
which  are  historic. 

In  1860  Mr.  Crabtree  married  Miss  Paulina  Moreland,  a  native 
of  Missouri;  she  passed  away  January  12,  1903.  Two  of  their  five 
children  are  living.  Their  son,  William  Crabtree,  born  in  Tulare 
county  in  1861,  lives  near  his  father.  Their  son  Thomas  was  born 
in  Santa  Clara  county  in  1863,  and  looks  after  his  father's  interests. 
One  daughter,  Rebecca  Maria,  died  aged  about  twenty-three,  the  other 
two  children  in  earlv  childhood. 


518  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

As  a  public-spirited  citizen,  Mr.  Crabtree  has  always  had  the 
high  regard  of  all  who  have  known  Mm.  Deeply  concerned  for  the 
public  welfare,  he  has  never  failed  to  respond  promptly  and  gener- 
ously to  any  demand  on  behalf  of  the  general  good.  He  is  honored 
as  a  pioneer,  as  a  self-made  man  and  as  one  who  has  achieved  success 
honestlv  and  richlv  deserves  it. 


ELBERT  R.  MONTGOMERY 

It  was  in  Blount  county,  Tenn.,  that  Elbert  R.  Montgomery  was 
born,  October  10,  1869.  He  was  educated  in  the  public  and  high 
schools,  and  early  began  working  with  his  father,  being  so  employed 
until  he  reached  the  age  of  twenty-one  years.  He  then  took  up 
farming  and  stock-raising,  which  has  commanded  his  attention  to 
the  present  time. 

In  1892  Mr.  Montgomery  moved  from  his  old  home  in  Tennessee 
to  Texas,  where  he  bought  land  and  farmed  imtil  in  1894,  when 
he  came  to  California.  Settling  in  Fresno  county,  he  engaged  in 
ranching  there,  remaining  four  years.  In  1897  he  removed  to  Kings 
county  and  settled  at  his  present  location  near  Hanford,  where  with 
his  brother  John  he  rented  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  land  for 
three  years,  at  which  time  they  purchased  it.  Later  they  sold  a 
quarter  section  of  this  tract  and  divided  the  remainder.  At  the 
present  time  Mr.  Montgomery  owns  two  hundred  and  fifteen  acres, 
which  he  devotes  very  siiccessfully  to  stock-raising.  His  ranch  is  one 
of  the  best  of  its  class  in  its  vicinity  and  he  gives  attention  to  fine 
stock,  which  he  handles  with  a  success  born  of  long  experience  and 
with  an  intimate  knowledge  of  breeding  conditions  and  of  the  market. 

Fraternally  Mr.  Montgomery  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of 
the  World  and  with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  to  the 
various  interests  of  which  he  is  helpfully  devoted,  and  as  a  citizen 
he  has  shown  himself  to  be  possessed  of  a  public  spirit  equal  to  any 
reasonable  demand  on  behalf  of  the  community.  He  married  Laura 
E.  Barnett,  December  3,  1905.  She  was  born  in  Kings  county,  June 
25,  1880,  a  daughter  of  Z.  T.  Barnett  of  Hanford.  They  have  one 
child,   Elbert  Montgomery,  who  was  born  October   13,   1906. 


WILBUR  COOLIDGE 

A  comparatively  late  comer  to  California  who  achieved  success 
here  was  Wilbur  Coolidge,  who  lives  on  rural  free  delivery  route 
number  three,  Porterville,  Tulare  county.    Mr.  Coolidge  was  a  native 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  519 

of  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  born  December  24,  1849.  He  was 
reared  and  educated  in  the  Keystone  state  and  lived  near  Wellsboro, 
until  the  fall  of  1908,  wlien  he  came  to  California  and  located  in 
Tulare  county.  Most  of  his  years  of  manhood  were  passed  in  the 
work  of  a  skillful  joiner. 

In  1873  Mr.  Coolidge  married  Miss  Lucy  Kimball,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, who  has  borne  him  six  children:  Jennie  married  S.  F. 
Bellinger  and  lives  in  Philadelphia,  Pa.;  Leon  is  married  and  lives 
in  Kent,  Ohio ;  Purley  V.  is  married  and  a  resident  of  Tulare  county, 
Cal. ;  Milton,  who  is  married,  is  associated  with  his  brother  Purley 
in  conducting  the  ranch;  Morton,  next  in  order  of  birth,  is  in  San 
Francisco;  Gordon  is  in  school.  Mrs.  Coolidge's  parents,  Hiram 
and  Katharine  Kimball,  have  passed  away. 

Mr.  Coolidge  bought  twenty-six  acres  of  raw  land  which  he 
set  to  the  best  grade  of  oranges.  He  was  interested  in  everything 
that  pertained  to  the  uplift  of  his  community,  in  schools,  in  churches, 
and  in  politics.  Especiall.y  did  the  economic  questions  which  have 
so  much  to  do  with  the  general  prosjoerity  invite  his  thought,  and 
as  a  voter  he  considered  all  things  involved  very  carefully  before 
casting  his  ballot  for  specific  men  or  measures.  Mr.  Coolidge  passed 
away  September  10,  1912,  aged  sixty-three  years. 


FRANK  E.  HOWE 

Perhaps  a  man  who  was  liorn  at  Silverville,  San  Mateo  county, 
Cal.,  January  31,  1853,  could  not  with  entire  propriety  be  called  a 
pioneer,  but  that  he  was  the  offspring  of  pioneers  cannot  lie  doul)ted. 
The  place  of  his  birth  does  not  now  appear  in  the  Postoffice  Guide, 
but  in  those  days  it  was  a  mining  camp  and  very  much  alive.  When 
Frank  Howe  was  two  years  old  he  was  taken  by  his  parents  to 
Mariposa  county,  when  he  was  seven  years  old  they  took  him  to 
Santa  C'lara  county,  and  when  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age  he  had 
at  least  temporarily  shaken  off  the  shadow  of  the  parental  roof  and 
was  working  for  wages  in  a  sawmill,  a  hopeful  young  citizen  of  a 
great  country,  with  not  so  very  much  behind  him  Init  with  tiie  whole 
world  before  him.  In  October,  1875,  he  came  to  Kings  county  and 
in  the  following  year,  when  he  was  twenty-three,  he  was  settkvl  on 
what  is  now  a  portion  of  his  home  farm  and  had  made  a  good  start 
with  gi-ain-raising  and  dairying.  He  has  added  to  his  original  acreage 
from  time  to  time  until  lie  now  owns  five  hundred  and  sixty  acres, 
most  of  it  given  over  to  pasture  and  to  alfalfa.  He  is  making  a 
success  with  stock,  raising  a  goodly  number  of  horses  and  cattle 
and  many  hogs. 


520  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

In  his  political  affiliations  Mr.  Howe  has  been  for  many  years  a 
Republican,  devoted  heart  and  soul  to  the  work  that  has  been  done 
by  his  party  and  supporting'  its  men  and  measures  in  all  cam]iai,2;ns 
and  elections.  Such  political  work  as  he  has  done  has  been  in  the 
public  interest,  not  to  secure  official  preferment  for  himself.  He 
has  accepted  only  one  office,  that  of  school  trustee,  which  he  filled 
with  much  ability  and  credit,  using  all  his  influence  to  improve  the 
school  in  his  vicinity.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church,  generously  helpful  to  all  its  interests.  May  22,  1877,  he 
married  Annie  Dibble,  who  was  born  in  Iowa  in  1859  and  has  a  vivid 
recollection  of  having  crossed  the  plains  in  a'  wagon  in  1862  with 
a  train  of  fourteen  wagons  drawn  by  oxen  and  mules.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  Edwin  J.  and  Hannah  (Blend)  Dibble,  pioneers  of  Califor- 
nia. They  have  children  named  Pxlwin  H.,  Albert  P.,  and  Chester  M. 
Two  died  in  earlv  childhood.    Ernest  and  Frank  both  died  in  1886. 


ROLAND  L.  KINCAID 

The  father  of  R.  L.  Kincaid  was  James  A.  Kincaid,  who  came 
across  the  plains  to  California  in  1850.  took  up  land  in  Tulare 
county,  about  the  present  site  of  Tulare  City,  moved  to  Springville, 
and  is  now  living  at  Porterville,  Cal..  his  wife,  Mary  Bibbins,  having 
passed  away  in  1904.  Their  son  was  l)orn  in  Mountain  View,  Santa 
Clara  county,  on  October  2,  1871,  and  in  1879  was  taken  by  his  parents 
to  Tulare  county,  to  a  home  on  the  ranch  on  which  he  now  lives.  It 
embraces  four  hundred  and  eighty  acres  and  is  devoted  ])rincipally 
to  grain-growing. 

In  the  public  school  in  Frazier  valley  Mr.  Kincaid  received 
his  primary  education  and  it  was  by  three  years'  study  in  Los  Angeles 
that  he  attained  his  graduation.  On  October  2,  1892,  he  married 
Miss  Alice  Weddle,  a  native  of  AVashington  county,  Ind..  born  in  1873. 
.She  has  borne  him  seven  children:  Gertrude  A..  Ava  L..  Harold  R., 
Mary  B..  Bessie  I.,  and  Erma  A.  Edith  died  in  infancy.  The 
four  eldest  have  finished  their  grammar  school  studies.  Mrs. 
Kincaid 's  father,  Arne  L.  Weddle,  a  native  of  Virginia,  has  passed 
away;  her  mother,  Lucinda  Motsinger  Weddle,  is  living  in  Dinuba. 

As  a  farmer,  Mr.  Kincaid  is  up-to-date  in  his  methods  and  his 
success  is  such  as  is  achieved  only  by  close  attention  to  the  work 
of  the  farm  and  by  the  application  of  an  intimate  knowledge  of  its 
requirements.  He  is  not  active  in  a  political  way  but  has  the  interests 
of  the  commimity  at  heart  and,  officially  and  otherwise,  has  done 
much   for  the   school   in   the  Frazier   valley   district.     It   is   probable 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  521 

that  no  other  important  question  appeals  to  him  so  strongly  as 
does  that  of  public  education,  hut  there  is  no  demand  on  his  public 
spirit  that  does  not  receive  prompt  and  generous  response. 


MICHAEL  M.  LYNCH 

In  the  county  of  Limerick,  Ireland,  Michael  M.  Lynch  was  born 
in  1849.  There  he  was  reared  to  manhood  and  educated  and  when 
he  was  twenty  years  old,  he  and  a  cousin  came  with  his  brother, 
who  had  been  in  New  York  a  year,  to  California  via  Panama.  In 
his  native  land  he  had  worked  on  farms  and  in  order  to  get  a  start 
in  America,  had  made  up  his  mind  to  come  west.  California  had 
been  his  objective  point,  and  in  his  journey  to  the  other  side  of  the 
continent  he  was  destined  to  encovinter  discouraging  vicissitudes.  The 
vessel  on  which  he  started  was  disabled  and  wrecked  and  put  back 
into  New  York  harbor  twice.  Then  he  made  a  successful  departure 
and  came  to  San  Francisco,  arriving  in  June,  1869.  After  a  short 
stay  in  the  Bay  City,  he  went  to  Santa  Cruz  county,  where  he 
remained  from  late  in  1869  until  in  April,  1873.  Then,  locating  in 
Tulare  county,  he  pre-empted  and  homesteaded  land  and  engaged 
in  farming  and  raising  horses,  sheep,  hogs  and  cattle  and  was  so  suc- 
cessful that  he  was  enabled  to  buy  land  from  time  to  time  until  he 
owned  more  than  two  thousand  acres. 

At  this  time,  Mr.  Lynch,  though  he  has  sold  off  a  considerable 
acreage,  retains  a  large  holding.  In  the  days  when  he  farmed  and 
ran  cattle  he  had  many  exciting  encounters  with  cattle  thieves.  He 
sold  the  last  of  his  cattle  about  a  year  ago  and  at  his  ranch,  seven 
miles  and  a  half  northeast  of  Porterville,  is  living  in  retirement 
from  active  enterprise,  or  as  he  expressed  it  is  "taking  life  easy." 
He  has  been  too  busy  to  take  any  active  part  in  political  work,  but 
he  has  always  been  deeply  interested  in  economic  questions  and  has 
been  ready  at  all  times  to  do  his  utmost  for  the  welfare  of  the 
community. 

In  1885  Mr.  Lynch  married  Miss  Fannie  Grant,  a  native  of  Ire- 
land, who  has  been  a  resident  of  California  since  1880. 


W.  H.  McCRACKEN 

In  Hickory  county,  Mo.,  W.  H.  McCracken,  the  successful 
orchardist  of  the  Woodlake  district  of  Tulare  county,  was  bora 
February  8,   186L     There   he  made  his   home   until    he  was  twenty 


522  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

years  old.  Then,  after  spending  some  time  in  West  Texas,  a  year 
and  a  half  on  a  range  in  the  Panhandle  district,  he  returned  to 
railroading,  in  which  he  had  had  some  experience  in  his  native  state. 
In  1887  he  came  to  San  Bernardino,  Cal.,  and  after  twelve  years' 
residence  there  began  planting  orchards.  Some  of  his  early  work  was 
for  F.  E.  Harding  and  the  J.  H.  Pattee  Land  Company,  for  whom 
he  planted  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  the  first  one  hundred  and 
fifty  acres  thirteen  years  ago,  mostly  with  his  own  hands.  Having 
completed  this  work,  he  spent  a  year  and  a  half  at  Lindsay  in 
orange  culture,  then  came  to  Woodlake  valley  for  the  Woodlake 
Orchard  Company,  the  first  purchase  of  whose  large  holdings  was 
a  tract  of  eight  thousand  acres.  It  has  since  made  other  purchases 
and  has  sold  off  fifteen  hundred  acres  to  the  Citrus  Land  Company. 
Now  it  has  about  twenty-five  hundred  acres  in  one  tract,  six  hundred 
acres  of  which  was  planted  before  1913,  when  the  company  planned 
to  plant  quite  extensively  in  the  near  future.  Its  trees  range  in 
age  from  one  year  to  four  or  five  years. 

During  recent  years  Mr.  McCracken  has  ably  filled  the  position 
of  superintendent.  His  prominent  connection  with  the  business  of 
Captain  Thomas  of  Liudsay  is  well  known.  Mrs.  McCracken  died 
some  years  ago,  and  he  and  his  son,  C.  P.  McCracken,  live  on  the 
Woodlake  ranch,  which  has  electric  railway  conuection  with  Visalia. 
They  are  promoting  the  development  of  an  orange  and  lemon  orchard 
of  thirty-three  acres,  twelve  of  which  is  devoted  to  lemons,  the  balance 
to  oranges.  As  a  citizen  Mr.  McCracken  is  helpful  in  a  truly  public- 
spirited  way  and  is  independent  in  politics  and  a  staunch  protectoi- 
of  home  industrv. 


MICHAEL  F.  EOURKE 

A  native  son  of  the  Emerald  Isle,  descended  from  families 
famous  in  history  and  tradition,  Michael  F.  Eourke  was  born 
January  22,  1860.  He  was  brought  to  the  United  States  by  his 
parents  in  186.3  and  lived  in  the  city  of  New  York  until  1876,  when 
he  came  to  California  and  located  in  the  Lakeside  district  in  Kings 
county.  In  1889  he  went  to  Coalinga,  Fresno  county,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  general  farming,  devoting  some  of  his  time  to  teamiui;-. 
It  is  a  matter  of  local  history  that  he  hauled  the  first  oil  rig  set  up 
in  that  district,  and  hauled  the  first  oil  that  was  shipped  from  the 
oil  fields.  He  owned  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land  where 
the  Empire  Oil  Company  and  the  Castle  Oil  Company  are  now 
operating.  There  he  remained  until  1904,  prospering  fairly  and 
winning  honors  as  a  citizen,  then  came  back  to  Kings  county  and 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  523 

resumed  farming  here.  lu  1910  he  settled  on  the  land  which  is  now 
his  home  place.  He  owns  in  all  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  which  he 
devotes  to  general  farming.  The  place  is  improved,  has  adequate 
buildings  and  modern  machinery  and  is  operated  in  a  scientific  way 
that  insures  the  success  of  its  proprietor. 

In  the  Civil  war  Mr.  Rourke's  father,  William  Rourke,  won 
honors  as  a  Federal  soldier  in  the  Eighteenth  New  York  Cavalry, 
Volunteers,  and  as  the  son  of  a  veteran  he  holds  membership  in 
the  local  body  of  the  Sons  of  Veterans.  He  affiliates  also  with  the 
Woodmen  of  the  World  and  with  the  Foresters  of  America.  As  a 
citizen  he  is  progressive  and  public-spirited,  ready  at  all  times  to  do 
his  full  share  in  promotion  of  the  general  welfare.  He  married 
Miss  Ruth  E.  Garner,  November  21,  1885.  She  was  born  near  Reno, 
Nev.,  April  11,  1864.  To  this  worthy  couple  have  been  born  four 
daughters :  Anna  S.,  wife  of  W.  J.  McDade  of  Los  Angeles ;  Irene, 
Ruth  E.,  and  Mildred  Frances.  Irene  died  in  1889.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Rourke  have  an  ever-widening  circle  of  acquaintances  in  which  they 
are  always  welcomed,  by  reason  of  their  friendly  interest  in  all 
forward  movements  and  they  retain  the  friendship  of  all  with  whom 
thev  come  in  contact. 


JOHN  MONTGOMERY 

In  that  picturesque  and  productive  state,  Tennessee,  in  the 
county  of  Blount,  John  Montgomery,  a  resident  of  the  Hanford  district 
of  Kings  county,  Cal.,  and  one  of  the  well-known  stockmen  of  the 
central  part  of  the  state,  was  born  in  February,  1861.  He  attended 
public  school  and  State  Normal  school  until  he  was  eighteen  years 
old  and  applied  himself  with  diligence  to  his  studies.  Then  until  he 
attained  his  majority  he  helped  his  father  on  the  home  farm,  and 
his  independent  career  in  business  was  begun  as  a  farmer  in  his 
native  state,  remaining  there  until  1884,  when  he  came  to  California. 
The  first  two  years  in  this  state  he  passed  in  the  Mussel  Slough 
district,  where  he  and  his  brother  leased  a  section  of  land.  Subse- 
quently he  lived  six  years  in  Fresno  county,  but  returned  to  the 
vicinity  of  Hanford,  where  he  now  owns  two  hundred  and  sixty-five 
acres,  which  he  devotes  to  the  raising  of  cattle,  hogs  and  horses,  and 
in  this  he  has  been  very  successful.  He  has  gradually  improved  his 
homestead  until  it  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  and  attractive  in  the 
district,  outfitted  with  good  buildings  and  all  of  the  accessories 
requisite  to  its  profitable  operation.  As  a  citizen  he  has  proven  himself 
public-spirited  and  helpful  to  the  best  interests  of  the  eommunitv. 


524  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

A.  FRED  DODGE 

A  native  son  of  Kings  county,  Cal.,  who  is  winning  a  commendahle 
success  on  the  home  soil,  is  A.  Fred  Dodge,  who  is  descended  from 
old  American  families  and  whose  family  name  has  been  prominent 
in  all  periods  of  the  history  of  the  United  States.  He  was  born 
July  22.  1877,  and  attended  the  pxiblic  schools  until  he  was  fifteen 
years  old  and  after  that  he  gave  his  services  to  his  father  until 
he  was  twenty-one.  at  which  time  he  was  deeded  a  tract  of  land. 
He  was  liis  father's  partner,  and  they  gave  their  attention  to  dry 
farming,  hog-raising  and  dairying,  in  which  they  were  very  successful. 
In  1907  Mr.  Dodge  moved  on  his  eighty-acre  tract,  which  he  has 
develojjed  into  a  fine  ranch  and  home,  with  a  good  residence  and 
barns  and  ample  outbuildings  of  all  kinds.  His  methods  of  cultiva- 
tion are  thoroughly  scientific  and  he  is  probably  as  successful  as  a 
breeder  of  hogs  as  any  rancher  in  his  vicinity. 

On  October  3,  1901,  Mr.  Dodge  married  Miss  Nellie  E.  Van"\near, 
a  native  of  Michigan,  born  December  14,  1879,  who  was  brought  to 
California  by  her  parents  when  she  was  about  three  years  old.  ]\Irs. 
Dodge  has  had  three  children  who  are  here  mentioned  in  the  order  of 
their  birth:  Richard  V.,  Doris  and  Dortha.  Doris  died  in  1904-. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dodge  take  an  interest  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  public 
welfare  and  are  generously  helpful  to  all  propositions  promulg-ated 
for  the  general  good.  He  has  served  his  fellow  townsmen  as  a  trustee 
of  schools  and  as  such  has  been  influential  in  elevating  the  local  stan- 
dard of  education.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of 
Red  Men,  in  the  work  of  which  he  is  practically  interested. 


JOHN  WHITMORE  DOCKSTADER 

A  splendid  example  of  the  selfmade,  self-reliant  man.  who  from 
early  boyhood  has  earned  his  own  livelihood,  is  John  Whitmore  Dock- 
stader,  now  prominent  as  a  business  man  and  an  official  at  Lemoore, 
Kings  county.  He  was  born  in  Montgomery  county,  N.  Y.,  November 
23,  1870,  but  was  reared  in  Missouri,  where  he  had  been  taken  by  his 
parents  when  a  small  boy.  When  he  was  fourteen  years  old  he  found 
himself  obliged  to  earn  his  way  and  going  to  Nebraska  he  worked 
there  for  about  a  year  and  then  went  to  Barton  county.  Mo.,  remaining 
there  three  years.  At  this  time  he  had  reached  his  nineteenth  year 
and  he. decided  to  come  to  California  and  in  1889  he  stopped  at 
Tulare  where  he  remained  twelve  months  and  later  engaged  at  farming 
near  Porterville  for  two  or  three  years.  For  the  next  five  years  he 
conducted  a  store  and  bakerv  at  Porterville,  but  gave  that  up  and 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  525 

during  the  ensuing  four  years  he  was  in  tlie  barber  business  at  San 
Francisoo,  whence  he  came  to  Lemoore  in  1899  to  open  a  barber 
sho)),  which  he  conthicted  until  he  became  a  partner  in  the  grocery 
business  of  L.  S.  Stepp.  After  four  years  he  disposed  of  his  interest 
in  the  grocerj-  business  to  Stepp  and  bought  back  his  barber  shop, 
which  he  operated  a  year.  In  190.']  he  liought  the  draying  lousiness  of 
Mrs.  Thomas  Winsett  at  Lemoore,  in  which  his  brother,  Hiram  Dock- 
stader,  soon  acquired  a  lialf  interest.  Besides  doing  a  general  draying 
and  moving  business  they  handle  ice  in  large  cpiantities,  distributing  it 
throughout  the  city.  Tlieir  enterprise  requires  the  use  of  four  wagons 
and  teams,  besides  a  big  Packard  motor  truck  which  was  the  first 
brought  to  Kings  county. 

In  1899  Mr.  Dockstader  bought  eighty  acres  of  land  three  miles 
soutli  of  Lemoore  on  which  he  raises  stock  and  alfalfa.  He  has  also 
an  eighty-acre  dairj-  ranch,  mostly  under  alfalfa,  and  milks  fifty 
cows.  This  land  he  rents  on  a  cash  basis,  as  he  does  also  forty  acres, 
nine  miles  south,  foi-  farming  purposes.  He  has  found  time  from  his 
l)usiness  to  devote  to  the  public  welfare,  and  in  1909  accepted  appoint- 
ment as  city  trustee  of  Lemoore,  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the 
resignation  of  that  office  by  his  old  grocery  partner,  L.  S.  Stepp ; 
at  the  expiration  of  the  term  he  was  elected  to  the  same  office  for  the 
ensuing  term.  In  1908  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  school 
board  of  Lemoore.  Fraternally  he  associates  with  the  Circle,  and 
with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  In  1894  he  married  Miss  Lulu  Kelly, 
a  native  of  Tulare,  and  a  daughter  of  H.  C.  Kelly,  who  long  farmed 
at  Porterville  and  who  now  makes  his  home  with  his  sons.  Hiram 
Dockstader,  father  of  John  W.,  is  a  member  of  his  son's  household. 
He  was  born  in  New  York  state,  married  Louada  Whitmore,  and 
came  to  Kings  county  in  1908.  John  W.  and  Lulu  (Kelly)  Dock- 
stader  have  two  children — Lansford  and  John  W.  Dockstader,  Jr. 


CARL  AUGUST  PETERSON 

The  prominent  orange  grower  of  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  whose 
name  is  sufficient  to  direct  attention  to  tliis  brief  narrative  of  his  life, 
was  born  in  Sweden  in  1871  and  when  he  was  nineteen  years  old 
came  to  the  United  States.  He  first  located  in  Iowa,  whence  he 
moved  to  Humboldt  county,  Cal.,  in  1891.  There  he  remained  seven- 
teen years,  conducting  a  dairy  business  and  was  foreman  in  a 
mechanic's  shop  at  Ferndale.  In  the  fall  of  1908  he  came  to  Tulare 
county  and  bought  twenty-five  acres  of  land.  His  first  work  here 
was   the   i)!anting  of  thirty   acres   to   trees   for   others.      The   entire 


526  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

pi'oduct  of  his  place  is  divided  between  Valencia  and  Navel  oranges 
wliich  are  just  coming  into  bearing. 

In  1902  Mr.  Peterson  married  Miss  Theoline  Swanson,  who  has 
borne  him  three  children:  Ivan  L.  and  Edna  H.,  in  school,  and 
Paul  Wesley.  A  progressive  man  of  great  public  spirit  Mr.  Peterson 
is  as  solicitous  for  the  welfare  of  the  community  as  for  the  success 
of  his  own  enterprise  and  never  fails  to  respond  to  any  reasonable 
demand  upon  him  for  the  general  good. 


A.  J.  WOODS 

In  Andrew  county,  Mo.,  A.  J.  Woods,  of  Tulare  county,  Cal., 
was  born.  The  time  of  his  birth  was  Octo])er  5,  1845,  and  he  came  to 
California  in  the  spring  of  1863,  when  he  was  between  sixteen  and 
seventeen  years  old.  The  youth  settled  near  the  site  of  Lodi,  San 
Joaquin  county,  where  he  developed  to  manhood  and  farmed  till 
1888.  Then  he  came  to  Tulare  county  and  located  at  Waukena  and 
went  into  wheat  raising.  He  gradually  increased  the  volume  of  his 
business  until  he  was  farming,  some  years,  as  many  as  two  thousand 
acres.  In  1890  he  bought  his  present  ranch  of  one  hundred  and  ninety 
acres  at  Tulare,  a  productive  dairy  and  alfalfa  farm,  which  he  now 
rents  out.  He  has  always  raised  fine  horses,  and  recently  sold  a  two- 
year-old  colt  for  $250. 

Miss  Eva  Piersou,  a  native  of  Indiana,  whom  Mr.  AVoods  wedded 
in  1872,  bore  him  children  as  follows:  Albert  B.,  of  Stockton,  Minnie 
and  Claude  E.  His  present  wife — their  marriage  was  celebrated  in 
1907 — was  Miss  Lizzie  Moore.  Mr.  aud  Mrs.  AVoods  are  active 
members  of  the  Tulare  Grange,  in  which  tl'ey  have  held  many  offices. 
For  thirty-five  years  (since  1877)  he  has  been  a  Granger,  nearly 
all  the  time  holding  high  positions  in  the  oi-ganization.  In  fact  he 
is  one  of  the  oldest  Grangers  in  the  state.  Tulare  Grange  No.  198 
was  instituted  in  1886  and  now  includes  sixty  members.  It  has  been 
an  instriiment  for  the  pi'omotion  of  man.v  jniblic  interests,  one  of 
its  notable  achievements  having  been  its  agency  in  securing  the 
Sequoia  National  Park,  in  the  mountains.  The  Mooney  Grove  Park, 
north  of  Tulare,  was  promoted  by  Tulare  Grange  and  a  committee 
of  its  members  will  handle  the  money  raised  by  the  board  of  super- 
visors for  the  improvement  of  the  property.  In  a  general  way,  this 
Grange  has,  during  the  last  twelve  years,  done  much  to  better  high- 
ways in  the  county  and  to  bring  about  the  construction  of  good 
roads.  Mrs.  Woods  was  its  worthy  master  in  1911.  Its  officers  were 
in  1912:  Master,  Mrs.  C.  A.  Sayer;  lecturer,  Mrs.  A.  J.  AVoods; 
overseer,  Mrs.  L.  C.  Lawson;  steward,  Frank  Stiles;  assistant  stew- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  527 

ard,  Thomas  Jacobs;  chaplain,  Mrs.  Emma  Loman;  treasurer,  George 
Watts;  secretary,  Mrs.  Bertha  Morris;  gatekeeper,  A.  J.  Woods. 
Mr.  Woods  is  a  Mason.  In  San  Joaqnin  county  he  served  for  some 
years  as  a  member  of  the  board  of  education  of  his  town. 


PHILLIP  AULMAN 

Another  of  those  good  German  citizens  who  have  so  nobly  done 
their  part  in  the  development  of  California  was  Phillip  Aulman,  who 
came  to  the  state  in  1855  and  died  at  Visalia,  Tulare  county,  in 
July,  1910.  Born  in  the  Fatherland  in  1827,  he  came  to  America  when 
he  was  twenty-two  years  old  and  in  1849  he  settled  in  Iowa  and 
engaged  in  farming.  After  six  years  there  he  came  across  the 
plains  to  California,  where  he  put  in  his  first  twelve  months  at 
mining,  meeting  with  indifferent  success  in  the  venture.  Subsequently 
he  turned  his  attention  to  farming  and  dairying  near  Suisun,  Solano 
county,  and  later  he  operated  in  the  vicinity  of  Gilroy,  Santa  Clara 
county.  At  length  he  went  back  to  Iowa,  farming  there  until  1864, 
when  he  went  to  Oregon  and  Washington,  and  there  prospered  as  a 
dairyman.  He  came  again  to  this  state  in  1869  and  lived  for  a  time 
in  the  Packwood  district,  1'ulare  county,  whence  he  subsequently 
moved  to  the  vicinity  of  Visalia,  which  was  his  home  for  many  years, 
and  where  his  widow  now  resides.  There  he  engaged  in  dairying 
and  developed  a  farm  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres. 

In  1850,  five  years  before  he  started  overland  from  Iowa  to 
California,  Mr.  Aulman  married  Miss  Parthenia  E.  Hughes,  a  native 
of  Indiana,  born  in  18.33.  Her  experiences  enable- her  to  relate  many 
interesting  incidents  of  their  trip  across  the  plains.  She  is  one  of 
the  dependable  business  women  of  Tulare  county,  recognizing  all 
responsibilities  and  discharging  all  obligations,  carrying  out  very 
ably  the  plans  made  by  her  late  husband  for  the  conduct  and  improve- 
ment of  the  home  interests. 


LOUIS  F.  PLATT 

This  progressive  and  popular  architect  and  contractor  of  Tulare 
City,  Cal.,  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  in  1874,  and  began  his 
education  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native  city.  After  a  five 
years'  course  of  study  he  was  graduated  from  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  where  he  was  fitted  for  the  professions  of  architect 
and  civil   engineer.     He  devoted   himself  to   a   practice   of   the   two 


528  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

professions  in  the  east  till  1908,  when  he  came  to  California  and, 
locating  in  Tulare,  took  up  contracting  and  building.  It  should  be 
recorded  that  in  New  Yoi"k  City  he  designed  sixty  residences  and 
store  buildings,  in  Wilmington,  Del.,  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven, 
and  in  York,  Pa.,  thirty-two,  all  of  brick  and  stone  construction.  In 
1905  he  designed  a  beautiful  residence  for  A.  M.  Clegg,  of  Brookl\^l, 
N.  Y.,  which  is  one  of  the  show  places  on  the  Ocean  Park  and  Burly 
road  boulevard.  At  the  time  it  surpassed  in  cost  and  magnificence 
any  other  house  in  the  vicinity. 

In  beginning  his  work  in  Tulare  county  Mr.  Piatt  recognized  the 
necessity  of  combining  contracting  and  building  with  his  practice  of 
architecture,  and  he  was  the  first  builder  there  of  the  bungalow  now 
so  ]3opular  throughout  California.  He  has  designed  and  erected 
residences  in  and  around  Tulare  City  for  Dr.  Charles,  George  TI. 
Castle,  F.  N.  Schnable,  W.  E.  Flagg"  (for  whom  he  built  two).  W. 
Sampsons,  A.  Primmes,  F.  E.  Standley,  A.  Frazer,  Jose]ih  Myers, 
Dr.  C.  E.  Harper,  F.  Newcity,  E.  F.  Treadway,  Mrs.  Lathrope,  A. 
Martin  and  others,  and  stores  for  W.  L.  Weidman  and  A.  W. 
Wheeler.  His  work  both  in  design  and  construction  takes  rank  with 
the  best  in  the  state  and  his  services  are  coming  into  greater  demand 
with  each  passing  year.  Perhaps  the  concrete  buildings  on  South 
J  street  constitute  the  most  consi^icuous  monument  to  his  artistry 
as  an  architect  and  his  skill  and  integrity  as  a  Ijuilder.  Personally 
he  has  become  popular  in  a  wide  circle  of  acquaintances  and  socially 
lie  affiliates  witli  the  Eagles  and  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  the  World. 
In  1904  Mr.  Piatt  married  Miss  Sarah  E.  Bowers,  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania. 


FEANK  BLAKELEY 

Among  the  most  active  and  enternrisina:  citizens  of  Kinsrs  countv. 
and  a  progressive  advocate  of  a:ood  roads,  is  Frank  Blakelev  of 
Lemoore.  who  was  horn  in  Towa,  April  22,  18fi9.  In  188"2,  when 
he  was  thirteen  vears  old.  he  came  with  his  father,  James  M.  Blakelev, 
to  Kings  countv.  where  the  elder  Blakelev  farmed  near  Grangeville. 
then  movinsr  on  land  five  and  a  half  miles  southeast  of  Lemoore, 
the  first  aereasre  he  purchased  in  the  county.  Frank  Blakelev  lived 
with  his  father  until  1890,  then  came  to  Lemoore  and  began  farming 
on  rented  land,  but  soon  began  to  buy  land  and  finallv  came  to  own 
ten  thousand  acres  in  the  lake  bottom.  His  policy  was  to  buv  and 
sell  as  occasion  offered  and  in  a  general  wav  to  improve  his  holdings, 
which  he  did  by  constructing  levees  and  ditches.  He  began  operating 
there  in  1898  and  1899.  and  farmed  on  a  large  scale,  having  under 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  529 

cultivation  from  year  to  year  from  one  thousand  to  twenty  thousand 
acres.  He  has  done  more  ditch  and  levee  work  than  any  one  else 
in  that  vicinity  and  he  was  the  first  there  to  use  steam  machinery, 
such  as  traction  engines  and  combined  harvesters,  sometimes  owning 
and  operating  fi\'e  outfits  at  a  time.  In  1905  he  sowed  twelve  thousand 
acres  to  wheat  Init  lost  the  entire  crop  because  of  rust.  In  1906 
he  sowed  twenty-four  thousand  acres  to  wheat,  twenty  thousand  of 
which  was  his  own  proi)erty.  and  all  the  time  from  September  1  to 
February  1  was  consumed  in  iiutting  in  the  seed.  Because  of  flood 
this  crop  with  the  exception  of  five  thousand  acres  was  lost,  and  since 
then  he  has  conservatively  farmed  on  a  small  scale.  Meanwhile  he 
has  bought  and  sold  land  in  the  lake  district  and  has  operated  exten- 
sively as  a  contractor,  constructing  ditches  and  leveling  land. 

For  ten  years  Mr.  Blakeley  has  l)een  a  city  trustee  of  Lemoore; 
he  has  been  trustee  of  Lemoore  grammar  school,  and  in  1910  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  board  of  supervisors  of  Kings  county.  He 
is  manager  of  the  Lemoore  baseball  team  and  during  the  past  four 
j'ears  has  ably  promoted  the  sport  here  and  round  about.  If  he  has 
a  hobby  it  is  good  roads,  and  since  he  has  been  a  supervisor  all  the 
roads  in  his  district  have  been  greatly  improved  under  his  personal 
supervision,  he  having  repaired  twenty  miles  of  road  and  built  ten 
miles  of  new  road.  Fraternally  he  afKliates  with  the  Woodmen  of 
the  World,  the  Modern  Woodmen,  the  Red  Men,  and  the  Foresters. 
On  September  22,  1891,  he  married  Miss  Clara  M.  Cadwell,  and  they 
have  had  seven  children,  one  of  whom  has  died.  The  following  are 
the  names  of  the  surviving  ones :  Ambrose,  Ervine,  Floyd,  Frank,  Jr., 
Melvin  and  Albert. 


HIRAM  MOORE 

The  life  story  of  a  jiioneer,  however  briefly  or  however  crudely 
told,  must  of  necessity  be  of  interest  for  two  reasons — it  inevitably 
possesses  historic  interest  and  human  interest.  Out  of  the  fragments 
of  personal  experience  history  is  largely  constituted,  for  when  it  is 
finished  it  is  a  composite  of  biographical  material.  The  history  of 
man  is  the  history  of  the  country  in  which  he  lives.  Such  life  histories 
as  that  of  Hiram  Moore,  a  native  of  New  York  state  and  a  pioneer 
of  1849  in  ('alifornia,  are  in  the  aggregate  the  material  from  which 
our  local  history  must  be  constructed.  It  was  among  the  49ers 
that  Hiram  Moore  came  across  the  jilains,  on  the  overland  trail,  to 
the  then  ha  If- fabulous  land  of  gold.  He  mined  in  Nevada  City, 
Nevada  county,  Cal.,  with  varying  success  until  1868,  when  he  settled 
at  Porterville,  Tulare  county.    Later  he  was  the  i)roprietor  and  land- 


530  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

lord  of  the  old  railroad  hotel  at  Tiptou.  It  was  in  1873  that  he  came 
to  Tulare.  At  that  time,  according  to  good  authority,  there  were 
only  four  houses  within  the  present  limit  of  the  city;  but  there  was 
travel  through  the  jjlace  and  it  was  beginning  to  attract  attention. 
By  1876  the  settlement  had  advanced  somewhat  and  representatives 
of  one  of  the  political  parties  erected  a  liberty  pole,  the  first  that 
ever  stood  up  against  the  sky  above  the  town.  Mr.  Moore  helped  to 
select  that  pole  and  to  put  it  in  place.  During  the  pioneer  days  of 
Tulare  he  filled  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace.  It  is  significant 
of  his  versatility  that  he  was  given  charge  of  one  of  the  first  stationary 
engines  set  up  in  the  town.  He  affiliated  with  the  Ancient  Order  of 
United  Workmen  of  Tulare  until  his  removal,  late  in  life,  to  Bakers- 
field,  where  he  passed  away  in  1899.  He  married  Jane  Atkins,  a 
native  of  Scotland,  and  they  had  a  son  and  a  daughter,  Hiram  Mooie, 
of  Fresno,  Cal.,  and  Lizzie,  Mrs.  A.  J.  Woods,  of  Tulare.  There  will 
be  found  in  this  work  a  biogra|)hical  sketch  of  Mr.  Woods,  which 
includes  interesting  mention  of  the  activity  of  Mrs.  Woods  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Grange  movement  in  Tulare  county. 

Hiram  Moore,  Jr.,  is  a  railroad  man  in  the  employ  of  the  Santa 
Fe.  He  began  railroading  while  a  very  young  man  at  Tipton  and 
was  a  conductor  on  the  Southern  Pacific,  and  in  that  capacit}^  when 
he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age  he  took  one  of  the  first  two  trains 
that  were  ever  run  over  the  Tehachapi  mountains.  His  mother  still 
survives  and  makes  her  home  with  her  daughter,  Mrs.  A.  J.  Woods, 
being  now  seventy-four  years  old.  Where  the  Rochdale  store  in 
Tulare  now  stands  the  firm  of  Sisson,  Wallace  &  Company  had  a 
general  store  some  years  ago,  and  on  the  fourth  of  July,  ISliy, 
wishing  a  flag  for  their  flagstaff  they  found  it  impossible  to  procure 
one.  Finally  the  material  was  procured  from  them  and  Mrs.  Moore 
and  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Woods,  then  a  young  lady,  assisted  in  the 
making  of  the  first  flag  ever  used  in  a  celebration  at  Tulare. 


JOHN  WILLIAM  HARVEY 

The  successful  vineyardist  of  Waukena,  Tulare  county,  Cal,  John 
W.  Harvey,  is  a  native  of  Cumberland  county,  Ky.,  and  was  born 
October  2,  1863.  lie  attended  public  school  until  he  was  seventeen 
years  old,  then  turned  his  attention  to  farming  for  which  he  had  fitted 
himself  by  practical  experience  during  all  the  days  of  his  youth.  In 
1885  he  went  to  Hill  county,  Tex.,  where  for  two  years  he  grew  corn 
and  made  crops  of  cotton.  Then  he  returned  to  his  old  home,  and 
after  remaining  there  for  a  short  time  came  in  December,  1888,  to 
Tulare  county  and  settled  on  the  place  which  is  now  his  home  farm. 


TULABE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  531 

none  of  which,  however,  did  he  purchase  until  1890,  when  he  became 
the  owner  of  fourteen  acres  of  bare  land.  Meanwhile,  he  devoted 
one  year  to  the  service  of  the  Kings  River  Lumber  Company.  He 
has  made  other  land  purchases  from  time  to  time,  as  he  has  prospered 
and  laid  aside  money  for  the  purpose,  and  he  now  owns  ninety-five 
acres  of  good  land  in  the  Waukena  neighborhood.  For  the  past 
fifteen  years  he  has  been  the  proprietor  of  a  combined  harvester, 
which  he  has  operated  in  season  and  which  he  has  made  a  source 
of  considerable  yearly  profit.  He  is  a  farmer  of  skill  and  resource, 
who  knows  his  ground  and  his  seed  and  every  condition  of  locality 
and  climate  that  can  possibly  affect  crop  production,  and  his  success 
is  achieved  not  only  by  industry,  but  by  carefial  attention  to  every 
detail  of  the  work  in  hand. 

Fraternally  Mr.  Harvey  affiliates  with  the  Fraternal  Aid  Asso 
elation.     In  his  political  alliance  he  is  a  Democrat.     On  October  3, 
1893,  he  married  Miss  Carrie  F.  Torrey,  who  was  born  in  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  November   16,    1862,   and  they  have   three   children,    Elizabeth, 
Catherine  and  John  W. 


WALTER  -S.  BURR 

A  loyal  son  of  the  Golden  State,  who  despite  discouragements 
has  become  one  of  its  successful  ranchers,  is  Walter  S.  Burr,  whose 
birthplace  was  in  Yolo  county,  seven  miles  west  of  Woodland,  and 
the  date  of  his  nativity  was  January  22,  1857.  His  childhood  was 
passed  in  Yolo  and  Tehama  counties  and  in  1869,  when  he  was  about 
twelve  years  old,  he  was  brought  to  Tulare  county.  His  father, 
B.  F.  Burr,  was  a  farmer  who  tried  his  fortimes  with  the  soil  near 
Tulare  a  short  time,  then  went  to  the  eastern  part  of  the  county 
and  operated  a  sawmill  and  handled  lumber  until  the  spring  of  1876, 
when  he  moved  to  the  Mussel  Slough  district,  where  he  soon  became 
known  through  his  activity  in  the  promotion  of  the  construction 
of  the  People's  ditch.  For  several  years  he  lived  on  and  farmed 
lands  which  were  ultimately  appropriated  by  the  railroad  company, 
but  he  had  in  the  meantime  bought  forty  acres  adjoining,  in  the 
next  section,  and  consequently  was  not  left  without  a  home.  There 
he  planted  a  vineyard  and  an  orchard  and  lived  until  1886,  when 
he  joined  a  colony  in  Mexico.  He  I'eturned  to  Tulare  in  1896  and 
died  there  soon  afterward,  aged  seventy-one  years. 

As  a  farmer  Walter  S.  Burr  may  be  said  to  have  begun  at  the 
bottom  of  the  ladder.  He  acquired  a  claim  to  a  quarter-section  of 
land  seven  miles  south  of  Hanford  and  homesteaded  it.  About  the 
same  time  he  pre-empted  forty  acres,  and  later,  when  fortune  liad 


532  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

smiled  on  liiin,  be  bought  two  hundred  acres  adjoining  his  original 
purchases  and  now  has  four  hundred  acres.  He  devotes  himself  to 
farming,  stock-raising  and  dairying,  owning  seventy-five  head  of 
cattle,  many  horses  and  mules  and  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  hogs. 
One  hundred  acres  of  his  land  is  in  alfalfa.  Water  for  irrigation  he 
draws  from  the  Lakeside  ditch,  and  on  bis  i)lace  are  ample  wells  for 
his  stock  as  well  as  for  irrigation,  be  having  two  pumping  plants. 
In  association  with  bis  sons  be  operated  an  alfalfa  thresher  for  two 
years.  He  was  active  in  securing  irrigation  ditches  for  his  part  of 
the  county  and  the  legislative  passage  of  the  no-fence  law. 

For  three  terms  aggregating  twelve  years  be  ably  filled  the  office 
of  supervisor,  representing  the  second  district,  and  during  one  of  the 
terms  be  was  president  of  the  board.  His  activity  in  the  work  of 
the  local  Grange  brought  him  election  as  secretary  of  that  body. 
Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World  and  with 
the  Foresters. 

Mr.  Burr  married,  December  30,  1884,  Mary  L.  Graham,  daughter 
of  John  Graham,  a  pioneer  in  the  vicinity  of  Visalia,  and  they  have 
three  children,  Carl  T.,  Maud  and  Reel  G.  Maud  is  the  wife  of  E.  H. 
Howe.  Mr.  Burr  has  won  bis  success  in  life  by  the  exercise  of  those 
qualities  which  enter  into  the  character  of  all  self-made  men,  and 
those  who  know  him  best  know  that  be  has  prospered  honestly  and 
deservedly. 


EDWIN  H.  HOWE 

One  of  tlie  many  native  Californians  who  has  made  a  success 
of  stock-raising  and  farming  in  the  country  round  about  Hanford, 
Kings  county,  Cal.,  is  the  son  of  Tulare  county  mentioned  above. 
Edwin  H.  Howe  is  the  son  of  Frank  E.  Howe,  and  was  born  April  14, 
1879.  He  was  reared  to  manhood  in  the  Lakeside  district,  now  in 
Kings  county,  and  educated  in  public  schools  near  his  home.  Asso- 
ciated in  a  business  way  with  his  brother,  Albert  P.  Howe,  and  their 
father,  be  farmed  in  the  Lake  bottoms  from  1898  until  1906,  when 
the  filling  up  of  the  old  lake  bed  brought  an  end  to  their  enterprise. 
They  had  been  successful  there,  however,  and  Mr.  Howe  and  his 
brother  bought  from  their  father  the  one  hundred  and  sixty-acre 
ranch,  nine  miles  southwest  of  Hanford,  which  is  now  the  home  of 
the  former.  In  1906  he  bought  his  brother's  interest  in  the  place, 
and  since  then  he  has  bought  from  the  AValker  estate  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres  adjoining  the  homestead  ranch  on  the  north,  in 
the  west  one-half  of  section  thirty-four,  ranges  nineteen  and  twenty- 
one.    He  devotes  bis  energies  and  his  capital  to  the  raising  of  horses. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  533 

mules  and  hogs;  at  least  that  is  his  principal  business,  though  he 
does  general  farming  and  has  seventy-five  acres  in  alfalfa.  Formerly 
he  gave  attention  to  dairying,  but  he  is  converting  his  land  to  an 
alfalfa  ranch  as  rapidly  as  is  expedient.  All  of  the  improvements 
on  his  homestead,  including  house,  barns  and  fences,  he  has  made 
since  he  bought  the  place.  He  o))tains  water  for  irrigation  from  the 
Last  Cliance  ditch  and  the  People's  ditch  and  has  on  his  place  a 
well  for  his  stock  and  domestic  use.  He  is  operating  rented  land 
also,  notably  one  hundi'ed  and  sixty  acres  west  of  him,  which  belongs 
to  his  father,  and  eiglity  acres  still  further  west,  growing  grain  and 
alfalfa  on  both  tracts. 

In  February,  1905,  Mr.  Howe  married  Maud  Burr,  daughter  of 
"Walter  Burr,  and  she  has  borne  him  three  children :  Edwin  Orval, 
Lucile  and  Herbert  L.,  who  died  in  infancy.  Mr.  Howe's  success  in 
life  has  been  won  by  his  own  effort  and,  as  has  been  seen,  not  without 
his  having  to  make  the  best  of  serious  discouragements.  The  optimism 
which  has  borne  him  up  in  his  business  struggles  thus  far  gives 
him  hope  for  the  future,  not  a  little  of  which  is  based  on  his  belief 
in  the  destiny  of  Hanford  and  its  tributary  territory,  for  the  up- 
building of  which  he  is  ready  at  any  time  to  give  public-spirited  aid. 


FRANK  L.  BLAIN 

The  well  known  farmer  and  cattleman  whose  name  heads  this 
sketch  is  a  native  of  California  who  made  his  start  and  has  won  suc- 
cess in  life  within  a  few  miles  of  the  place  of  his  birth.  He  first  saw 
the  light  of  day  in  Visalia,  Tulare  county,  in  1880.  After  finishing  a 
course  at  the  public  schools  of  the  town  he  took  a  six  months'  course 
at  the  Stockton  Business  College  in  1890,  and  in  the  following  year  he 
took  over  all  of  his  father's  large  ranch  interests,  which  he  con- 
ducted successfully  during  the  ensuing  three  years.  In  1904  he  moved 
to  his  present  ranch  of  eighty  acres,  to  which  he  has  added  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres  op])osite,  built  him  a  comfortable  bungalow  and 
in  a  general  way  got  readj^  for  success  as  a  farmer  and  cattle  raiser. 
He  put  twenty  acres  in  peaches  of  the  Tuscan  and  Muir  varieties,  gave 
forty  acres  to  alfalfa,  ]irepared  for  extensive  operations  as  a  stock- 
man, and  cleared  and  cleaned  up  the  ranch,  greatly  improving  the 
property  in  every  way.  In  j^artnership  with  his  sister,  he  has  taken 
possession  of  all  of  the  real  estate  left  by  their  father  and  is  managing 
the  same  with  much  success.  He  devotes  himself  princi]ially  to  the 
raising  of  beef  cattle,  is  acquiring  large  cattle  ranges  and  bids  fair 
soon  to  rank  among  the  heading  cattlemen  of  the  county.  He  and  his 
sister  have  seven  tlioiisand  acres  of  range  land  in  the  mountains,  on 


534  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

which  they  have  from  seven  hundred  to  eight  hundred  head  of  cattle, 
also  thirteen  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  good  cattle  land  north  of 
Visalia.  He  owns  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  near  the  San  Joaquin 
Hill.  Mr.  Blain  controls  a  total  of  five  good  ranch  i^roperties  in 
Tulare  county. 

Busy  as  he  necessarily  is  with  his  cattle-raising  industry,  Mr. 
Blain  finds  some  time  to  devote  to  general  interests,  especially  to  such 
as  affect  men  who  get  their  living  off  the  soil.  As  an  instance,  it 
should  be  noted  that  he  is  a  director  of  the  People's  Co-operative 
Ditch  Company,  a  concern  which  is  doing  good  work  in  the  way  of 
irrigation.  He  is  not  an  active  politician,  but  views  all  public  ques- 
tions with  a  patriotic  intelligence.  In  November,  1906,  he  married 
Miss  Bertha  Givens,  of  Californian  birth,  and  they  have  a  daughter 
whom  thev  have  named  Carroll. 


DANIEL  ABBOTT 

Born  in  Washington  county,  Ark.,  January  3,  1836,  Daniel  Abbott 
has  been  a  resident  of  California  since  1857  and  has  attained  much 
prominence  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley.  He  was  a  son  of  Joshua  Abbott, 
who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1800  and  had  come  to  California  in 
1850  and  engaged  in  mining  for  a  time.  He  returned  to  Arkansas  and 
farmed,  and  here  his  son  Daniel  was  reared  and  trained  to  the  work 
on  the  farm,  having  but  little  chance  to  go  to  school.  In  May,  1857, 
the  family  started  for  California  overland  with  oxen  and  i^rairie 
schooners ;  there  was  a  large  train  and  the  party  arrived  in  Calaveras 
county  in  the  following  October. 

In  Calaveras  county  Daniel  Abbott  farmed  on  a  small  scale  and 
in  the  year  1861  he  went  to  Tulare  county,  settled  near  Porterville 
and  engaged  in  raising  stock.  The  rains  came  that  winter  with  such 
force  that  there  was  a  flood  and  for  a:lmost  forty  days  it  fell,  every- 
thing portable  was  washed  away  and  the  settlers  had  difficulty  in 
saving  themselves.  Mr.  Abbott  Imilt  a  raft  of  some  lumber  he  had 
and  in  this  way  saved  the  family  from  perishing.  He  was  offered  $500 
for  it  after  he  had  finished  it.  In  1862  he  went  to  Mariposa  county 
and  engaged  in  contracting  for  wood  for  the  mines,  but  two  years 
later  went  to  Stanislaus  county,  bought  land,  and  embarked  in  the 
sheep  business.  Upon  the  settling  up  of  that  i)art  of  the  valley  ]\Ir. 
Abbott  came  again  to  Tulare  county  in  1874,  bringing  with  him  his 
band  of  sheep  and  he  finally  became  the  owner  of  thirty-nine  hundred 
and  sixty  acres  of  land,  for  which  he  i)aid  an  average  of  $3  jier  acre. 
He  was,  in  all,  in  the  cattle  and  sheep  business  for  about  forty  years, 
at  the  end  of  which  time  he  sold  his  land  and  stock  and  bought  prop- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  535 

erty  at  Portevville,  where  he  erected  two  business  blocks  and  several 
residences.  About  1902  he  purchased  the  home  in  which  he  now  lives, 
his  object  in  removing  into  the  city  being  to  further  tlie  educational 
advantages  for  his  children,  and  here  they  have  since  made  their  home. 

In  1880  Mr.  Abbott  married  Mrs.  Frances  Elizalieth  (Fine) 
Bursey,  a  native  of  Arkansas,  who  bore  him  nine  children;  five 
daughters  survive,  viz.:  Mrs.  Louisa  Mahatfrey,  Mrs.  Lana  Nancollis, 
Winnifred  and  Minnie  (twins)  and  Emma  Lee.  Those  children  who 
are  deceased  are  Martha,  Arlesa,  Charles  and  Daniel. 

In  1886  occurred  the  death  of  his  father,  who  was  born  in  Ohio 
in  1800.  Mr.  Abbott,  who  has  been  a  cripple  since  August  24,  1857, 
has  been  by  his  infirmity  forbidden  the  activities  of  some  other  men 
and  he  has  been  too  closely  confined  to  his  home  to  take  a  prominent 
part  in  polities,  but  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  school  board  and 
has  found  other  ways  to  serve  his  fellow  townsmen.  He  is  fond  of 
reminiscence  and  sometimes  tells  some  interesting  stories  of  his  over- 
laud  journey  to  California  in  1857.  Once  when  the  party  was  en- 
camped one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  this  side  of  Salt  Lake,  In- 
dians stampeded  the  cattle  and  wounded  some  of  the  men.  Mr.  Abbott 
himself  was  shot  while  coming  in  from  guard  duty,  and  got  to  the 
camping  place  only  to  find  that  his  comrades  had  moved  on.  He  was 
able  soon  to  rejoin  them,  however,  but  one  of  his  companions,  an  inti- 
mate friend,  who  was  shot  at  the  time,  died  soon  after. 


JOSEPH  LEWIS  FICKLIN 

It  was  in  Scott  county,  in  old  Kentucky,  the  cradle  of  "Western 
history,  that  Joseph  Lewis  Ficklin  was  born  November  27,  1831. 
When  he  was  four  years  old  he  was  taken  to  Missouri,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1852,  scarcely  leaving  the  neighborhood  of  his  home. 
Then  he  came  to  California  as  a  gold-seeker,  remaining  four  years, 
lie  returned  to  Missouri,  to  come  out  again  to  the  coast  country  in 
1886,  when  he  settled  on  his  present  homestead.  His  first  journey 
across  the  plains  was  made  with  oxen.  There  were  with  the  ]nirty 
four  hundred  cows  and  fifty  head  of  work  cattle,  and  the  trip  con- 
sumed six  months  time.  His  second  journey  to  California  was  made 
by  rail  in  four  days. 

In  Missouri  Mr.  Ficklin  gained  such  education  as  was  afforded 
by  the  public  school  near  liis  home.  He  married  Miss  Elizabeth 
Turner,  a  native  of  Missouri,  who  bore  him  one  child  and  passed  away 
in  1864.  In  1865  he  married  Miss  Sarah  A.  Davis,  who  was  born  in 
Crawford  county,  Mo.,  and  they  had  five  children,  two  of  whom  died 
in  infancy.     Tlic  survivoi-s  arc  William   Kennett   Ficklin.   in   Yellow- 


536  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

stone  Park,  Anna  Fioklin,  wlio  married  F.  0.  Fridley,  and  Mirtlia, 
who  is  Mrs.  H.  A.  Powell.  Benjamin  Fioklin,  Joseph  L.  Ficklin's 
father,  was  born  in  Kentucky  in  1808  and  his  father,  John  Fioklin, 
participated  in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  ser\ing  as  captain  under  Col. 
Dick  Johnson.  The  father  of  Sarah  A.  (Davis)  Ficklin  was  born  in 
Virginia,  in  1798,  and  her  mother  in  Scott  county,  Ky.,  in  1802. 

When  Mr.  Ficklin  came  to  Tulare  county  he  bought  eighty  acres 
of  land  at  $10  an  acre  which  was  at  that  time  devoted  to  wheat,  and 
he  helped  to  harvest  grain  where  the  city  of  Exeter  now  stands.  Dur- 
ing the  last  four  years  he  has  converted  his  ranch  to  a  fruit  farm  and 
vineyard.  One  of  Mrs.  Ficklin's  brothers  came  to  California  in  1850 
and  four  of  them  died  in  Tulare  county.  Mr.  Fioklin  has  held  ]ml)lic 
office  and  affiliates  with  the  Masonic  order.  Politically  he  is  a  Demo- 
crat.   As  a  citizen  he  has  in  many  ways  demonstrated  his  public  spirit. 


GEORGE  WARNER  CODY 

Near  Pontiac,  Mich.,  George  Warner  Cody  was  born  January  'M, 
18-12.  When  he  was  seven  years  old  he  was  taken  to  Wisconsin,  on 
the  removal  of  his  parents  to  that  state.  From  there  they  went  to 
Nebraska,  where  he  lived  until  1874,  except  during  the  term  of  his 
military  service,  variously  employed  in  milling,  merchandising,  farm- 
ing and  other  useful  work.  In  1861,  at  Fort  Leavenworth,  Kans.,  he 
enlisted  in  Company  H,  Eighth  Regiment,  Kansas  Volunteer  Infantry, 
and  his  recollections  of  the  Civil  war,  in  which  he  was  in  fifteen  gen- 
eral engagements  and  many  skirmishes,  includes  scenes  at  Perryville, 
Stone  River,  Chickamauga  and  a  number  of  Confederate  prisons.  After 
his  capture  at  Chickamauga  lie  was  confined  at  Ringgold,  then  in  the 
bull  pen  at  Atlanta,  then  in  Libby  prison,  then  at  Pemberton,  then 
at  Danville,  then  at  Audersonville,  then  at  Charleston,  then  at 
Florence.  He  escaped  from  ^\.ndersonville  and  was  recajitured  while 
attempting  to  cross  Flint  River.  His  exjieriences  at  Florence  were 
terminated  by  his  exchange.  He  was  one  of  six  out  of  one  hundred 
who  were  liberated,  the  others  being  kept  until  the  end  of  the  war. 
After  his  exchange  he  was  sent  to  Annapolis,  Md.,  where  he  was 
paroled  and  forwarded  to  Fort  Leavenworth. 

After  Mr.  Cody  was  discharged  at  Fort  Leavenworth  he  returned 
to  Nebraska,  where  he  was  wai'mly  welcomed  after  his  fifteen  months' 
incarceration  in  Confederate  i)rison  pens,  and  took  up  farming.  Later 
he  0]3erated  a  grist  mill  and  sold  goods  until  187-1,  when  he  came  to 
Tulare  county  and  located  near  Armona.  He  bought  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  land  south  of  Hanford  and  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
two  miles  south  of  Lemoore  and  farmed  tracts  of  rented  land  aggre- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  537 

gating  seventeen  lumdred  acres.  From  1874  to  1881  he  raised  grain 
and  broom  corn,  tlien  sold  his  property  and  for  the  next  five  years 
lived  at  Los  Angeles.  Next  we  find  him  located  near  Santa  Ana,  where 
he  ])lanted  twentj'-seven  acres  to  walnut  trees  and  fifteen  acres  to 
raisins.  Coming  to  Kings  county,  he  bought  thirty-four  acres  north- 
west of  Hanford,  a  part  of  which  was  unimproved,  and  now  has  seven 
acres  in  vineyard  and  twenty-five  acres  in  peaches  and  apricots.  His 
projierty  is  improved  with  a  good  house  and  adequate  outbuildings 
which  he  erected  after  it  came  into  his  possession.  He  was  one  of  the 
organizers  of  the  Last  Chance  Ditch  Company  and  helped  to  construct 
its  improvements,  and  he  was  identified  also,  in  the  period  187-4-1881, 
with  the  promotion  of  the  People's  Ditch  and  the  Lower  Kings  River 
Ditch. 

In  18(i6  ]\Ir.  Cody  married  Mary  M.  Gray  and  they  have  had  five 
children:  Thorley  G.,  Harvey  P.,  Rinney,  deceased,  Andrew  Milo  and 
Terrill,  deceased.  It  is  probable  that  no  part  of  his  life  will  always 
be  as  fresh  in  Mr.  Cody's  memory  as  that  part  of  it  which  he  passed 
in  Confederate  prisons.  He  considers  himself  fortunate  in  having 
come  out  of  that  experience  alive.  "Clara  Barton  told  me,"  he  says, 
"that  she  put  up  thirteen  thousand  gravestones  at  Andersonville  and 
one  stone  for  the  graves  of  two  thousand  unnamed  soldiers.  There 
were  seven  thousand  deaths  in  Florence  prison  and  there  is  no  record 
of  those  who  died  in  the  other  prisons  that  I  was  in." 


ALEXANDER  CROOK 

A  pioneer  and  a  son  of  a  pioneer,  the  career  of  Alexander  Crook 
has  been  a  most  active  one  in  this  vicinity.  He  was  born  in  Harrison 
county,  Ind.,  in  18.38,  a  son  of  Wiley  Crook,  and  came  to  California 
when  he  was  nineteen  years  old.  He  and  his  brother  made  the  long- 
journey  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  settled  in  Sonoma 
county,  reniaining  in  the  valley  five  years.  Subsequently  they  lived 
for  a  time  in  Nevada,  and  in  the  interval  between  their  departure  from 
that  territory  and  the  year  1874  they  lived  in  various  places  east  and 
west.  In  the  year  just  mentioned  they  located  in  Tulare  county,  where 
the  land  had  just  been  surveyed  by  the  government,  and  took  wp  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres.  Mr.  Crook  is  now  the  owner  of  six  hundred 
and  forty  acres  on  which  he  is  farming  and  raising  cattle  and  some 
fruit  with  a  degree  of  success  that  makes  him  consj^icuous  among 
farmers  of  his  vicinity. 

In  1873  Mr.  Crook  married  Elizabeth  Kipp,  a  native  of  Indiana, 
and  they  had  five  children,  all  of  whom  are  natives  of  California. 
Catlierine  married   Holmes   Batcheler.     Blanch  is   the  wife   of   Tiert 


538  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Smith.  Ethel  is  Mrs.  Frank  Gill.  Arthur  B.  and  Fred  A.  are  mem- 
bers of  their  parents'  household.  The  family  is  well-known  and  popu- 
lar in  the  county  and  Mr.  Crook  has  demonstrated  his  deep  interest  in 
public  affairs  by  assisting  movements  for  the  general  good.  In  asso- 
ciation with  George  Dillon  he  promoted  the  organization  of  the  first 
school  near  his  home,  was  instrumental  in  having  the  first  school  house 
built  there,  and  for  a  time  he  ably  filled  the  office  of  school  director. 

His  father,  Wiley  Crook,  was  born  in  Indiana  and  came  to  Cali- 
fornia in  1849,  eight  years  before  the  settlement  here  of  his  two  sons, 
making  the  journey  on  board  an  old  English  brig  which  was  forty  days 
at  sea  without  a  landing.  He  began  here  with  about  one  hundred  dol- 
lars in  cash,  with  a  part  of  which  he  secured  a  few  cattle,  and  pros- 
pered fairly  well  until  1885,  when  he  died,  leaving  his  possessions  to 
his  two  sons. 


LYMAN  D.  FARMER 

The  youngest  man  who  ever  held  the  office  of  sheriff  in  California 
is  L^-man  D.  Farmer  of  Kings  county.  It  should  be  a  matter  of  pride 
to  Cahforuians  that  he  is  a  native  of  the  state  and  doubly  so  to  the 
people  of  Kings  county  that  he  was  born  within  its  borders,  nine  miles 
northeast  of  Hanford.  He  made  his  advent  in  this  world  Novemljer  7, 
1885,  a  sou  of  George  and  Gertrude  D.  (Ruggles)  Farmer,  natives  res- 
pectively of  Iowa  and  California.  George  Farmer  came  to  California 
in  1875  and  located  on  a  farm  near  Cross  Creek  Switch,  in  Kings 
county,  where  he  still  lives  and  of  whom  a  sketch  will  he  found  on 
another  page  in  this  work.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  L.  B.  Ruggles, 
a  native  of  Michigan,  who  came  around  Cape  Horn  to  California  in 
pioneer  days,  returned  east  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and 
brought  his  wife  back  to  this  state.  After  mining  for  awhile,  he 
farmed  and  worked  at  lumbering  at  Woodland,  Yolo  county,  until  he 
took  up  his  residence  in  Tulare  county.  In  1876  he  pre-empted  land 
seven  miles  southwest  of  Traver,  on  which  he  engaged  in  farming  and 
to  which  he  eventually  acquired  title.  With  the  aid  of  his  sons  he 
constructed  the  Settlers'  Irrigation  ditch  in  that  part  of  the  county. 
After  a  life  of  usefulness  he  passed  away  in  1896,  and  Mrs.  Farmer  is 
his  only  surviving  child.  Of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Farmer's  ten  children, 
eight  are  living:  Leta  D.  is  the  wife  of  Dr.  L.  C.  Cothran;  Milton  T. 
is  a  graduate  of  U.  of  C.  and  now  attorney  for  the  State  Superinten- 
dent of  Banks  with  law  offices  in  Oakland;  the  others  are  Lyman  D., 
Ethel  R.,  Theodore  P.,  Paul  L.,  Clarence  W.  and  Lucile  B. 

Lyman  D.  Farmer  acquired  his  primary  education  in  the  public 
schools  and  was  a  student  one  vear  at  the  Universitv  of  California. 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  539 

He  helped  his  father  on  the  home  i*anch  until  1909,  when  he  was  ap- 
pointed deputy  sheriff  under  Sheriff  W.  V.  Buckner.  He  was  elected 
sheriff  on  the  Republican  ticket  in  1910,  when  he  was  twenty-five  years 
of  age,  and  is  filling  the  office  with  ability  and  fidelity  that  would  do 
credit  to  a  man  twice  his  years. 

Fraternally  Sheriff  Farmer  affiliates  with  the  Sons  of  Veterans; 
the  Native  Sons  of  the  Golden  West ;  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason ;  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Eastern  Star,  Odd  Fellows,  Woodmen  of  the  World  and 
the  Benevolent  Protective  Order  of  Elks  of  Hanford.  Popular  as  he  is 
in  these  orders,  he  is  held  in  no  higher  esteem  than  by  the  citizens 
generally.  In  1911  he  married  Miss  Ethel  Rhoads,  a  native  of  Cali- 
fornia, a  granddaughter  of  Daniel  Rhoads,  a  pioneer  of  California. 
Her  father,  J.  W.  Rhoads,  who  also  was  born  in  this  state,  came  to  San 
Joaquin  Valley  among  the  early  settlers  and  passed  away  in  Tulare 
county  and  is  buried  at  Hanford. 


HENRY  C.  HORSMAN 

Of  Kentuckians  who  have  become  prominent  in  Tulare  county, 
Henry  C.  Horsman  of  Dinuba  is,  perhaps,  as  highly  regarded  as  any. 
He  was  born  in  Daviess  county,  in  that  grand  old  state,  in  1844.  His 
father  was  a  native  of  Virginia  and  his  mother  was  a  Kentuckian  by 
birth  and  ancestry.  When  he  was  five  years  old,  which  was  in  1849, 
his  family  removed  to  Illinois,  and  thereafter  he  did  not  leave  that 
state  until  in  1861,  after  he  had  enlisted  in  Company  H,  Twenty-sixth 
Regiment  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry.  By  re-enlistment  he  served 
four  years  and  was  finally  discharged  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  given 
papers  testifying  to  his  bravery  and  fidelity  as  a  soldier.  It  is  some- 
what remarkable  that  he  participated  in  twenty-seven  hard-fought 
engagements  without  receiving  a  wound,  and  it  is  to  his  credit  that  he 
enlisted  as  a  private  and  rose  to  be  a  corporal. 

It  was  not  until  1884  that  Mr.  Horsman  came  to  California.  He 
homesteaded  land  in  Tulare  county  and  the  woman  who  later  became 
his  wife  also  acquired  government  land.  All  of  this  he  sold  when  he 
removed  to  his  present  homestead  near  Dinuba,  where  he  raised  grain 
a  number  of  years,  but  eventually  turned  his  attention  to  fruit  and 
vines.  For  his  ranch,  which  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  this 
vicinity,  he  \m\(\  $47  an  acre  ten  years  ago,  and  today  it  could  not  be 
bought  for  $500  an  acre. 

The  lady  who  was  the  wife  of  Mr.  Horsman 's  youth  was  Nancy 
E.  Smith,  a  native  of  Illinois,  who  came  with  him  to  California  in 
1884  and  died  in  the  fall  of  that  year.  In  1886  he  married  Lydia  E. 
Hoskins,  a  native  of  Oregon,  who  had  come  to  California.    Mr.  Hors- 


540  TULARE  AND  KIXCxS  COUNTIES 

man  is  a  patriotic  citizen,  who  lias  iu  a  pnblic-spirited  way  done  mueli 
for  the  commnnity  and  lias  been  called  to  some  public  offices,  which 
he  has  filled  with  ability  and  credit.  All  who  know  him  deem  him  a 
Christian  gentleman,  having  at  heart  the  welfare  of  mankind,  and 
there  are  not  a  few  who  have  felt  his  kindly  influence  for  good  and  his 
generous  helpfulness. 

By  his  first  wife  Mr.  Horsman  had  one  child,  Clarence  E.  Hors- 
man,  who  is  identified  with  the  educational  profession  of  Tulare  county 
as  a  public  school  teacher,  having-  followed  this  profession  for  about 
twenty  years.  He  was  principal  of  the  Orosi  grammar  school  six 
years  and  has  been  principal  of  the  Dinuba  grammar  school  four 
years.  He  is  at  present  in  charge  of  the  piiblic  school  at  Venice  in 
Tulare  county.  Mrs.  Horsman  is  a  member  of  the  local  W.  C.  T.  U. 
and  has  given  much  active  attention  to  the  upbiiilding  of  that  society. 
She  was  president  of  the  local  organization  for  four  years,  then  be- 
came president  of  the  Tulare  and  Kings  county  W.  C.  T.  U.,  which 
IDOsition  she  held  with  great  ability.  Mrs.  Horsman  is  a  daughter  of 
the  Golden  West.  She  was  born  in  Douglas  County,  Oregon,  and 
came  with  her  parents,  William  and  Peninah  (Hobson)  Hoskins,  to 
California  in  1867,  when  she  was  thirteen  years  of  age,  and  settled  in 
Tulare  countv  in  1873. 


F.  M.  PARRISH 

This  efficient  city  trustee  of  Hanford,  Kings  county,  Cal.,  was 
born  at  Soquel,  Santa  Cruz  county,  Cal.,  September  10,  1856,  a  son 
of  Joshua  and  Narcissa  (Dell)  Parrish,  natives  of  Ohio.  The  father 
crossed  the  plains  with  mule  teams  in  1849,  mined  and  later  hauled 
freight  to  the  mines  till  1851,  when  he  settled  at  Santa  Cruz,  Cal., 
and  farmed  land  which  is  now  within  the  boundaries  of  that  city. 
After  a  time  he  rented  land  at  Soquel,  then  took  over  a  Spanish  grant 
and  for  many  yeai's  farmed  the  land  involved  in  it.  He  died  at  Soquel 
in  1898,  and  his  wife  survived  him  till  in  May,  1911.  Their  children 
were  all  born  and  raised  in  Santa  Cniz  county.  Mary,  the  wife  of 
Charles  Spreckelsen  of  Soquel,  died  in  December,  1911.  F.  M.  is  the 
immediate  subject  of  this  notice.  Winfield  S.  lives  on  a  ranch  four 
miles  west  of  Hanford.  Benjamin  F.  was  next  in  order  of  birth.  Anna 
is  the  wife  of  A.  J.  Wyman  of  Soquel. 

On  the  second  of  November,  1878,  F.  M.  Parrish  moved  from 
Santa  Cruz  county  to  Hanford.  During  his  first  year  in  Kings  county 
he  worked  for  wages.  Tn  the  second  year  he  put  in  a  crop  of  wheat, 
five  miles  west  of  Hanford,  and  he  has  been  ranching  in  the  county 
ever  since.    For  ten  years  he  farmed  a  (piarter-section  north  of  Han- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  541 

ford,  raising  wheat,  alfalfa  and  grapes.  In  18!)0  lie  sold  his  land  and 
for  a  decade  thereafter  lived  on  a  small  place  which  he  bought  near 
Grangeville.  He  still  owns  the  last  mentioned  homestead  of  eighty 
acres,  which  has  twenty  acres  of  peaches,  thirty  of  grapes  and  thirty 
of  alfalfa.    The  familj^  have  lived  in  Hanford  since  1901. 

At  Hanford  Mr.  Parrish  has  proven  himself  to  be  a  public-spirited 
citizen  with  the  interest  of  the  community  at  heart.  In  the  spring  of 
1910  he  was  elected  a  city  trustee  for  a  four-year  term.  He  had  been 
previously  for  many  years  a  school  trustee  at  Grangeville.  He 
affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World,  and  is  a  director  in  the 
Hanford  Savings  Bank,  the  Last  Chance  Ditch  Company  and  the  Lone 
Oak  Canal  Company.  In  1880  he  married  Miss  Martha  Robinson  and 
the}'  have  four  children:  Maud  is  the  wife  of  Royal  L.  Waltz  of 
Armona ;  May  married  R.  0.  Deacon  of  Lemoore ;  Emma  is  Mrs.  H.  A, 
Thedieck  of  Fresno;  Ada  is  a  member  of  her  parents'  household,  and 
is  a  student  at  the  Southern  California  Universitv. 


ARTHUR  W.  MATHEWSON 

In  Wheelock,  Caledonia  county,  Vt.,  Arthur  W.  Mathewson  was 
born  November  14,  1834,  a  son  of  Cliarles  Mathewson,  a  native  of 
Rhode  Island  and  a  descendant  of  English  ancestors  who  early  settled 
there.  He  married  Sarah  Williams,  also  of  Rhode  Island  birth,  a 
direct  descendant  of  Roger  Williams  and  a  relative  of  Governor 
S]irague  of  that  state,  with  whom  members  of  her  family  were  largely 
interested  in  cotton  manufacture.  Arthur  W.  Mathewson,  the  sixth  in 
a  family  of  ten  children,  was  brought  up  to  farm  work  by  his  father 
and  educated  in  public  schools  and  at  an  academy  at  Linden,  ^''t.  Self- 
supporting  from  the  time  he  became  sixteen  years  old,  he  worked  in 
a  tannery  about  two  years,  then  on  his  father's  fai'm  three  years,  and 
in  1856  came  to  California  by  way  of  Cape  Horn.  For  two  years  after 
his  arrival  here  he  worked  in  the  mines  and  in  1858  he  was  in  Tulare 
county  a  short  time,  then  bought  laud  at  San  Jose,  which  he  oi^erated 
until  1864,  when  it  passed  from  his  jiossession  because  of  a  previous 
Spanish  claim.  Returning  to  Tulare  county  in  the  year  last  mentioned 
he  engaged  in  herding  sheep  and  in  time  acquired  four  thousand  head. 
From  time  to  time  he  bought  and  sold  ranch  property  and,  August  17, 
1896,  when  he  died,  he  owned  a  ranch  near  Farmersville,  Tulare 
county.  He  did  much  to  jiromote  irrigation  and  was  for  many  years 
president  of  the  People's  Consolidated  Ditch  Company.  Fraternally 
he  affiliated  with  the  Farmers  Alliance  and  with  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows.    In  his  politics  he  was  Republican. 

In  1866  Mr.  Mathewson  married  Miss  Lucinda  Tinkham,  a  Jiative 


542  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

of  Iowa  and  a  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Tinkham,  who  was  from  Ver- 
mont. They  had  eight  children  of  whom  five  are  living:  Mrs.  Pearl 
Ogden,  Levi,  Mrs.  Edith  M.  Mosier,  Earl  and  James  A. 

October  1,  1870,  Levi  Mathewson  was  born  near  Visalia,  Tulare 
county,  where  he  was  reared  and  educated.  He  began  his  active  life 
by  helping  his  father  on  the  ranch,  and  in  1891  bought  forty  acres  near 
Visalia,  which  he  devotes  to  tlie  cultivation  of  prunes  and  alfalfa  and 
to  the  breeding  of  hogs,  and  on  which  he  formerly  had  a  dairy  of 
twenty-five  cows.  He  set  out  ten  acres  to  prunes  and  has  otherwise 
improved  the  i)ro]ierty.  In  1911  he  sold  six  tons  of  dried  prunes 
from  two  hundred  and  fifty  trees  and  he  has  no  difficulty  in  gathering 
from  five  to  six  crops  of  alfalfa  each  season.  His  ranch,  one  of  the 
oldest  in  the  valley,  has  been  farmed  for  more  than  half  a  century  and 
was  formerly  known  as  the  old  Judd  place.  Mr.  Mathewson  remem- 
bers the  old  slab  house  that  was  built  on  it  by  Mr.  Judd  some  time 
before  1860. 

In  1897  Mr.  Mathewson  married  Margaret  J.  Bacon,  a  native  of 
California,  whose  father,  John  Bacon,  settled  early  in  Tulare  county. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mathewson  have  two  children,  Guy  and  Madeline. 
Socially  Mr.  Mathewson  affiliates  with  the  Native  Sons  of  the  Golden 
West  and  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  He  is  interested  in  every- 
thing that  pertains  to  the  development  of  the  county  and  responds 
generously  to  all  demands  for  public-spirited  promotion  of  the  com- 
munity. 


A.  FEANK  SMITH 

An  efficient  member  of  the  board  of  super\'isors  of  Kings  county, 
Cal.,  whose  name  heads  this  article,  was  born  in  San  Jose,  Cal., 
December  6,  1866,  a  son  of  Buck  and  Fannie  (Heisley)  Smith,  natives 
respectively  of  Iowa  and  Pennsylvania.  Buck  Smith  came  to  Cali- 
fornia in  1859  and  engaged  in  stock-raising  in  Santa  Clara  county. 
Later  he  operated  at  the  New  Idra  mines  in  San  Behito  county  and 
in  1872  again  went  into  stock-raising.  In  1880  he  transferred  his 
farming  and  stockraising  business  to  a  point  near  Hanford  and  in 
1891  he  bought  land  at  Lindsay,  Tulare  county,  known  as  Lindsay 
Heights,  on  which  he  has  lived  to  the  present  time. 

Wheat-raising  at  Hanford  first  engaged  the  attention  of  A.  Frank 
Smith,  though  later  he  took  up  contracting  and  building  and  erected 
many  cottages  and  residences  in  and  around  that  citj".  In  1906  he 
engaged  in  the  bee  business  and  has  become  one  of  the  extensive 
apiarists  in  his  part  of  the  state,  selliug  about  a  carload  of  honey 
annually.     He  was  elected  supervisor  in  1906  and  re-elected  in  1910, 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  543 

elected  a  third  time  in  1912,  and  is  now  serving  in  that  office.  Since  he 
entered  upon  his  duties  the  following  undertakings  have  been  success- 
fully carried  out:  Annexation  of  a  part  of  Fresno  county  to  Kings 
county;  purchase  of  the  southwest  portion  of  the  plat  to  enlarge  the 
court  house  grounds;  purchase  of  the  fairground  property  of  fifty- 
three  acres  half  a  mile  west  of  Hanford,  for  the  site  of  the  new  county 
hospital;  building  of  the  county  hospital  in  1910  at  a  cost  of  $30,000; 
and  the  selling  of  the  old  cotmty  hospital  site  and  the  purchase  of  an 
addition  to  the  court  house  groxmds  in  1911.  Mr.  Smith  is  secretary 
of  Hanford  Lodge  No.  264,  I.  0.  0.  F.,  and  one  of  the  managers  of 
Hanford  Lodge  No.  163,  W.  0.  W. 

In  1886  Mr.  Smith  married  Miss  Cornelia  Vermason,  a  native  of 
California,  and  they  have  a  daughter  named  Veda. 


BENJAMIN  V.  SHARP 

This  prominent  citizen  of  Kings  county,  Cal.,  whose  office  is  in 
the  court  house  at  Hanford,  is  the  present  efficient  horticultural  com- 
missioner of  that  division  of  the  state.  Benjamin  V.  Sharp,  a  native 
of  Schenectady  county,  N.  Y.,  was  born  April  29,  1839.  There  he  grew 
to  maturity  and  gained  his  primary  education.  In  1858,  when  he  was 
nineteen  years  old,  he  went  to  McLean  county,  111.,  and  located  not  far 
from  Bloomington.  He  began  his  higher  education  in  the  Illinois 
Wesleyan  LTniversity.  It  was  interrupted,  however,  in  1861  by  Presi- 
dent Lincoln's  call  to  arms.  Young  Sharp  enlisted  in  Company  K, 
Second  Illinois  Cavalry,  but  was  discharged  on  account  of  ill  health 
after  a  year's  strenuous  service.  Returning  to  his  home  in  Illinois  he 
•resumed  his  college  course  and  was  duly  graduated. 

After  leaving  college  he  was  for  two  years  superintendent  of  a 
soldiers  orphans'  home  at  Bloomington.  Then  he  was  for  some  time 
in  the  hotel  business  in  that  city.  Later  he  farmed  until  1900,  when  he 
settled  in  Kings  county,  Cal.  He  bought  one  hundred  and  twenty 
acres  of  land  a  mile  and  a  half  south  of  Hanford.  It  was  mostly  in 
fruit,  but  some  of  the  trees  have  since  been  removed.  He  made  his 
home  on  the  jn-operty  until  1905,  when  he  rented  it ;  in  1906  he  sold  it, 
and  since  that  time  he  has  lived  in  Hanford.  In  1896  he  was  appointed 
by  the  Board  of  Supervisors  horticultural  commissioner  for  Kings 
county,  an  office  which  he  filled  with  great  ability  and  wholly  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  public  until  in  1904,  when  he  resigned  it.  He  was 
reappointed  in  1906  and  has  served  continuously  ever  since.  As  a 
citizen  he  is  iniblic-spirited  and  helpful  to  a  remarkable  degree,  and  so 
great  is  his  faith  in  Hanford  that  he  has  invested  heavily  in  its  real 
estate.     Fraternallv  he  affiliates  with  the  Masonic  order. 


544  TULARE  AXD  KINGS  COUNTIES 

In  September,  1864,  Mr.  Sharp  married  .Elizabeth  A.  Hazel,  a 
native  of  Ohio,  but  then  a  resident  of  Illinois.  They  have  two  sous, 
James  A.  Sharp  of  Chicago  and  Burns  B.  Sharp,  a  contractor  well 
known  in  Hanford,  which  is  the  center  of  his  business  operations. 


OSCAR  TROUT  GRISWOLD 

In  the  Buckeye  State  Oscar  Trout  Griswold  was  born  December 
7,  1842,  a  son  of  Edward  and  Helen  M.  (Trout)  Griswold.  He  is  a 
descendant  of  Edward  Griswold,  who  witli  his  brother  Matthew  came 
over  from  England  in  1(539  and  settled  in  Massachusetts,  and  is  tenth 
in  line  of  descent  from  that  pioneer.  Solomon  Griswold,  his  grand- 
father, went  from  New  England  to  western  New  York  and  lived  there 
until  1831,  when  he  went  to  Fort  Dearborn,  now  Chicago,  whence  he  re- 
turned to  Ohio.  Later  he  visited  Wisconsin  and  still  later  settled 
in  Iowa,  where  he  died,  aged  ninety  years,  having  been  all  his  life  a 
farmer.  Edward  Griswold,  father  of  Oscar  T.,  settled  in  Iowa  in  1851. 
He  had  become  acquainted  with  that  country  as  early  as  1837,  when  he 
was  a  member  of  an  exploring  party  which  explored  the  Wisconsin 
river  and  the  vast  forests  to  the  westward.  He  was  long  a  prominent 
figure  in  the  middle  west  and  was  an  early  and  to  his  death  an  ardent 
abolitionist.  Oscar  T.  when  only  twelve  years  old,  remembers  John 
Brown  as  a  visitor  at  his  father's  house  and  he  later  saw  Brown  on 
the  road  to  Harper's  Ferry.  Edward  Griswold  died  when  Oscar  T. 
was  but  fourteen  years  old.  He  had  two  other  sons,  who  have  passed 
away. 

Wlien  his  parents  took  him  from  Ohio  to  Iowa,  in  1851,  Oscar 
Trout  Griswold  was  about  eight  years  old.  He  was  reared  on  a  farm 
and  after  he  was  nineteen  was  a  farmer  and  a  grower  and  shipper  of 
stock  until  1888,  when  he  came  to  Hanford.  He  had  made  a  trip  to 
California  two  years  before,  riding  through  the  Sacramento  and  San 
Joaquin  valleys  on  a  mule-cart,  looking  for  a  location.  When  he 
brought  his  family  west,  leasing  his  eastern  property,  he  l)Ought  one 
hundred  acres  of  land  east  of  Hanford  which  he  sold  in  order  to  buy, 
in  1893,  eighty  acres,  including  water,  three  miles  north  of  Hanford,  at 
$40  an  acre.  This  laud,  which  is  now  worth  $400  an  acre,  his  sons 
have  set  out  to  fruit,  and  two  of  them  reside  on  the  place.  In  1894  Mr. 
Griswold  bought  forty  acres  near  this  property  on  which  he  has  since 
made  his  home,  though  he  has  done  no  active  farming  since  he  came  to 
California.  His  sons  S.  P.,  Oscar  E.  and  A.  E.  Griswold  during  1911 
produced  thirty-four  tons  of  honey  and  fifteen  hundred  pounds  of 
beeswax  from  seven  hundred  and  fiftv  stands  of  bees.    Thev  have  been 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  545 

in  the  bee  business  more  than  twenty  years  and  are  members  of  the 
California  State  Bee  Keepers  Association. 

The  oil  industry  has  long  had  strong  claims  on  Mr.  Griswold's 
attention.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Baby  King  Oil  Com- 
pany, and  is  a  stockholder  in  the  St.  Lawrence  Oil  Company.  Four 
hundred  and  eighty  acres  of  land  in  section  eleven,  township  twenty- 
three,  range  sixteen.  Kings  county,  is  owned  by  the  Baby  King  Oil 
Company  in  which  he  is  the  largest  stockholder.  He  is  serving  his 
fourth  term  as  director  of  the  People's  Ditch  Company  and  has  been 
for  twelve  years  a  director  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Hanford. 

In  1867  Mr.  Griswold  married  Miss  Lucretia  Thompson,  a  native 
of  Ohio,  six  of  whose  nine  children  are  living:  Elmer  B.,  James  C, 
Alpheus  E.,  Oscar  E.,  S.  Perry  and  May.  The  latter  is  the  wife  of 
George  W.  Anderson  of  Fruitville,  Oakland,  Cal.  Elmer  B.  is  living 
at  Modesto  and  the  other  sons  live  in  the  vicinity  of  Hanford. 


0.  E.  GIBBONS 

The  prominent  citizen  of  Piano  whose  name  is  well  known 
throughout  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  as  an  enthusiastic  promoter  of  the 
development  and  prospei'ity  of  Central  California  and  as  a  man  whose 
pulilic  spirit  is  always  equal  to  any  demands  that  may  be  made  upon 
it,  0.  E.  Gibbons  is  a  native  of  Lake  county,  111.,  born  Aiigust  2,  1850. 
He  lived  in  Texas  from  the  time  he  was  about  four  years  old  until  he 
was  nearly  ten.  Then  his  father  started  with  his  family  to  California, 
arriving  at  Piano  Sejitember  2,  1861.  There  the  boy  was  educated  and 
has  lived  continuously  to  the  present  time  except  for  such  brief  ab- 
sences as  the  developments  of  life  often  demand.  His  father.  Deeming 
Gibbons,  took  up  a  homestead  which  was  number  nine  of  its  series,  a 
fact  which  in  itself  would  suggest  how  sparsely  the  country  was  settled 
at  that  time.  He  planted  a  few  trees  on  the  place  and  raised  a  small 
crop  of  grain  in  1863,  and  it  is  said  that  he  was  the  first  man  in  Tulare 
county  to  set  out  orange  trees  and  sell  oranges.  He  had  half  an  acre 
of  seedlings  and  sold  the  first  oranges  from  them  at  twenty-five  cents 
each. 

O.  E.  Gibbons  was  brought  up  on  the  far-m  and  carefully  in- 
structed in  the  details  of  agriculture  and  horticulture  by  his  father. 
The  father  died  January  4,  1884,  his  wife  April  1,  1880.  At  this  time 
Mr.  Gil)bons  is  the  jtropi'ietor  of  the  onl.v  general  merchandise  store  at 
Piano;  he  is  the  local  i)Ostmaster  and  has  been  justice  of  the  |)eace  and 
served  as  a  member  of  the  school  board.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with 
the  Knights  of  Pythias.    He  is  a  man  of  enterprise  and  of  lieliiful  dis- 

30 


546  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

position,  who  while  wiimina,-  success  for  himself  has  not  forgotten  liis 
obligations  to  the  community. 

In  1874  Mr.  Gibbous  married  Miss  Fannie  E.  Thomson,  a  native 
of  Ohio,  and  they  Jiave  tliree  children:  Clara  E.  married  M.  F.  Single- 
ton; Hiram  E.  married  Nellie  Monroe;  and  Pauline  is  living  with  her 
parents  aud  acquiring  an  education  in  the  high  school  at  Porterville. 


AYILLIAM  H.  BLAIN 

More  than  a  half  century  in  the  hi  ml  where  he  came  as  a  pioneer 
brought  to  the  late  William  H.  Blain  well  deserved  rewards.  Cali- 
fornia has  proven  herself  a  generous  mother  to  her  adopted  children, 
and  Mr.  Blain  was  loyal  to  her.  He  was  a  Missourian,  born  in  Pike 
coimty,  twelve  miles  from  Bowling  Green,  January  3,  1839,  son  of  W. 
W.  and  Ann  (Turner)  Blain.  The  father,  a  cooper,  a  mason  and  a 
brickniaker,  built  and  conducted  the  Blain  Hotel,  at  Bowling  Green. 
In  1844  he  built  the  Pike  county  court  house.  There  he  lived  and  kept 
tavern  till  the  end  of  his  days;  his  wife  died  at  Hannibal,  Mo.  Of  their 
nine  children,  six  are  living.  Two  came  to  this  state.  The  oldest  of 
the  girls  emigrated  thitlier  with  her  brother  and  married  Hugh  Jones, 
a  retired  pioneer  of  1849,  and  died  at  Gilroy. 

The  second  born  of  his  father's  family,  William  H.  Blain,  was 
brought  up  at  Bowling  Green,  attending  the  public  scliools  and,  under 
his  father's  instruction,  obtaining  a  knowledge  of  stock-raising. 
His  first  triii  to  the  coast,  in  the  year  1854,  was  made  with  a  bunch 
of  cattle.  He  was  but  fifteen  at  the  time,  a  mere  boy,  but  observant 
and  receptive  for  one  of  his  age,  and  he  stood  guard  at  night  like  the 
most  seasoned  plainsman  in  his  party  and  shrank  from  no  other  duty 
that  came  to  him.  He  left  Missouri  April  20,  reaching  Santa  Cruz  in 
October,  after  having  made  the  trip  by  way  of  Sublett's  Cut-off,  thence 
down  the  Humboldt,  through  the  Tliousand  Sj^rings  valley  to 
Walker's,  thence  to  Tuolumne  county,  a  route  on  which  there  would  be 
no  lack  of  feed  for  the  cattle.  From  October  until  December  Mr. 
Blain  stopped  at  a  point  near  Santa  Clara;  then  he  went  to  Monterey 
county,  now  San  Benito,  where  he  managed  a  stock  ranch  a  year. 
Going  back  to  Santa  Clara,  he  farmer  there  on  shares  till  1857,  then 
engaged  in  hauling  lumber  in  Tuolumne  county,  whence,  eventually, 
he  went  to  Monterey  county,  to  raise  cattle  on  shares  in  Pacheco  Pass. 
He  sold  out  there  early  in  1863,  and  in  June  drove  to  Visalia,  Tulare 
county,  and,  making  headquarters  there,  teamed  to  the  mountains  till 
the  spring  of  1865.  The  first  winter  of  this  period  he  spent  at  Wilcox 
canyon.  From  1865  to  1869  he  was  in  the  sheep  business,  making 
money,  and  tlien  he  opened  a  butcher  shop  at  White  Pine,  Nev.,  whence 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  547 

he  went  later  to  Eureka,  continuing  in  the  same  business.  By  1873  he 
had  mastered  the  butcher  trade  so  that  he  had  no  thought  of  changing 
his  occupation,  and  it  was  as  a  butcher  that  he  then  went  back  to 
Visalia,  where  he  established  a  market,  which  he  conducted  success- 
fully many  years,  in  conjunction  with  a  cattle  biisiness  so  large  that  he 
at  one  time  owned  six  hundred  head.  He  acquired  an  improved  cattle 
ranch  of  thirteen  hundred  and  twentj"  acres  near  Monson,  Tulare 
county;  three  hundred  and  fifty  acres  northeast  of  Visalia;  five  thou- 
sand acres  in  the  foothills  of  Tulare  coimtv;  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
east  of  Visalia ;  and  a  handsome  home  in  that  city.  For  a  time  he  was 
in  the  dairy  business,  but  eventually  he  gave  attention  only  to  stock- 
raising. 

In  Santa  Cruz,  Mr.  Blain  married  Sarah  Collier.  Their  daughter, 
Mrs.  Laura  Zimmerman.  lives  at  Tiburou,  Cal.,  and  their  son,  William, 
is  a  citizen  of  Bakersfield.  His  second  marriage  was  to  Julia  Strube, 
a  native  of  Texas,  whom  he  wedded  at  Visalia.  Mrs.  Blain,  who 
crossed  the  plains  from  her  old  home  in  1861,  has  had  four  children : 
Frank  L.,  who  became  his  father's  partner;  George  William,  who  is 
dead;  Gladys  and  Marguerite.  Mr.  Blain  was  a  stockholder  in  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Visalia,  and  in  various  ways  manifested  his 
solicitude  for  the  town  and  its  people.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Good  Templars,  in  which  he  passed  all  chairs  of 
the  subordinate  lodge,  and  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen. 
In  the  promotion  and  development  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  Cattle 
Growers  Association  he  was  helpfully  active.  His  religious  affiliations, 
as  are  those  of  his  family,  were  with  the  Presbyterian  church.  He 
passed  away  November  1,  1908. 


JOHN  AUGUST  LEEBON 

The  productive  ranch  of  John  August  Leebon  is  located  three 
miles  east  of  Visalia.  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  on  East  Mineral  King  ave- 
nue. Mr.  Leebon,  who  is  one  of  the  most  progressive  and  successful 
ranchmen  of  this  district,  was  born  in  Sweden,  May  16,  1861.  He  grew 
to  manhood  there  and  was  edu<'ated  in  the  common  school  near  the 
home  of  his  childhood  and  youth.  In  1881  he  came  to  the  United  States 
and  made  his  way  west  as  far  as  Minneapolis.  Minn.  In  order  to  ac- 
quire necessary  English  education,  he  went  to  school  there  a  year, 
then  was  employed  as  a  laborer  on  a  Minnesota  farm.  In  1886  he  came 
to  California  and  found  employment  in  an  orchard  at  San  Jose.  Eigh- 
teen months  later  he  went  to  Tacoma,  Wash.,  and  worked  in  a  saw- 
mill, where  he  received  an  accidental  injury  which  kept  him  in  a 
hospital  for  a  long  time.     He  came  back  to  San  Jose  in  1889  and 


548  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

from  then  until  1897  was  profitably  engaged  in  the  teaming  busi- 
ness. Then  he  came  to  Tulare  county  and  leased  one  hundred  and 
eighteen  acres  of  land,  not  far  from  Visalia,  from  the  First  National 
Bank  of  San  Jose.  In  1901  he  was  able  to  buy  this  property,  the  bulk 
of  which  was  then  planted  to  fruit,  eighty  acres  in  peaches,  twenty  in 
prunes,  six  in  nectarines,  the  remainder  devoted  to  gi'ain  and  pasture. 
He  now  has  a  dairj'  of  eight.v  cows  and  keeps  an  average  of  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  hogs,  and  one  hundred  acres  of  his  land  is  under  alfalfa. 
An  enterprising  and  public  spirited  citizen,  Mr.  Leebon  commands 
the  esteem  of  all  who  know  him.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Co-operative 
Creamery  company  of  Visalia  and  is  from  time  to  time  identified, 
directly  or  indirectly,  with  other  important  local  interests.  Politically 
he  is  Republican,  and  though  he  is  without  ambition  for  political  prefer- 
ment he  accepted  the  office  of  school  director  and  was  made  secretary 
of  his  district  board  of  education.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Swedish  Mission  church  of  San  Jose,  of  which  he  was  a  constituent 
member.  He  donated  the  land  for  the  Mineral  King  chapel  and  helped 
build  it,  and  is  a  member  of  the  board  of  trustees.  Mr.  Leebon  was 
married  in  San  Jose  to  Annie  Anderson,  of  Swedish  birth,  who  died 
at  their  home  in  Visalia,  leaving  two  sons,  Oscar  William  and  Carl 
Edward  Leebon. 


STEPHEN  B.  HICKS 

The  best  authority  in  Kings  county  on  irrigation  ditches  is 
Stephen  B.  Hicks  of  Planford.  How  he  came  to  be  such  an  authority 
will  be  of  interest  in  this  connection.  To  liegin  with  some  pertinent 
biographical  data,  it  may  be  said  that  he  was  born  in  Green  county, 
Tenn.,  May  1,  1842,  three  years  later  his  family  moved  to  Schuyler 
county.  Mo.,  and  still  later  they  weut  to  Wayne  county,  Iowa,  where 
he  passed  eight  years  of  his  life.  In  1882  he  came  direct  to  Hanford, 
where  he  has  since  made  his  home.  Soon  after  his  arrival  he  bought 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  four  miles  southwest  of  the  town, 
where  he  raised  wheat  and  alfalfa  four  years.  He  sold  that  and 
bought  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  three  miles  east  of  Hanford. 
Later  he  bought  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  eight  miles  northeast  of 
Hanford.  On  these  places  he  farmed  many  years,  raising  alfalfa  and 
fine  horses  and  cattle  and  other  stock.  In  1891  he  went  into  the  mer- 
cantile business  at  Hanford.  After  seven  years  of  success  he  sold 
his  store  and  goods  and  later  he  sold  his  ranch  northeast  of  the  city; 
but  he  still  owns  his  quarter  section  to  the  east,  which  is  rented  for 
dairy  purjsoses. 

Since  1888  Mr.  Hicks  has  been  interested  in  irrigation  by  ditches 
and,  as  stated  before,  is  conceded  to  be  better  informed  than  any  other 


TULABE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  549 

mail  ill  the  county  oil  water  systems.  The  Settlerts'  ditch  was  started 
in  1874  and  Mr.  Hicks  was  successively  director,  president  and  secre- 
tary of  the  com])auy.  In  the  early  '90s,  under  authority  of  a  vote  by 
the  stockholders,  he  as  secretary  sold  the  franchise  to  the  Tulare 
Irrigation  Company,  of  Tulare  county,  and  from  the  proceeds  of  that 
sale  the  old  company  Ijought  somewhat  more  than  a  fourth  interest  in 
the  People's  Ditch  Company  of  Kings  county,  wliich  takes  its  water 
from  Kings  river;  soon  after  the  latter  transaction  Mr.  Hicks  was 
elected  a  director  of  the  People's  Ditch  Company  and  as  such  served 
several  years.  In  the  sequence  of  events  he  was  elected  president  of 
the  company,  which  place  he  filled  until  January  1,  1909,  when  he  re- 
signed. During  his  service  as  president  the  first  weir  at  the  head 
of  the  ditch  was  built  and  stood  seven  years,  and  he  was  chairman 
of  a  committee  of  three  to  effect  a  compromise  with  the  Fresno  Canal 
Company  in  the  matter  of  water  rights  and  a  member  of  a  committee 
of  three  appointed  to  arrange  for  a  survey  to  locate  reservoir  sites  in 
the  mountains. 

One  of  the  busiest  men  in  the  county,  Mr.  Hicks  has  yet  found  time 
to  yield  to  his  inclination  to  do  public  service  on  behalf  of  his  fellow 
citizens.  He  was  four  years  a  city  trustee  of  Hanford  and  his  two 
years'  service  as  chairman  of  the  board  made  him  the  third  mayor 
of  the  city.  In  the  erection  and  formation  of  Kings  county  in  1893, 
Mr.  Hicks  was  active  and  influential.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with 
Hanford  lodge,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  with  the  Royal  Arch  chapter  of  that 
order.  He  has  been  a  Master  Mason  for  over  twenty  years  and  long 
been  treasurer  of  the  local  lodge  and  is  identitied  also  with  the  Eastern 
Star  chapter.  It  is  a  matter  of  local  and  Masonic  history  that  he  had 
charge  of  the  erection  of  the  Masonic  temple  in  Hanford.  In  1866  he 
married  Margaret  Green,  a  native  of  Indiana,  who  is  also  a  member  of 
the  order  of  the  Eastern  Star.  They  have  three  children :  Alice  is  the 
wife  of  J.  L.  Payton,  a  rancher  living  east  of  Hanford,  and  has  six 
children.  Hannah  E.  married  J.  W.  Payton,  a  merchant  at  Hanford, 
and  they  have  two  children.  Mollie  is  Mrs.  J.  J.  Adams  and  her  hus- 
band is  a  dairv  rancher  near  Dinuba. 


HENRY  COLPIEN 

In  his  career,  which  on  tlie  whole  has  been  A'ery  successful  since 
he  came  to  America  in  189.'1,  Henry  Colpien  of  Enterprise  colony,  Tu- 
lare county,  Cal.,  has  demonstrated  the  advantages  of  following  a  life 
of  integrity,  industry  and  perseverance.  He  was  born  in  Holstein, 
Germany,  March  6,  1874,  and  there  grew  to  manhood  and  was  educated 
in  the  public  schools.  He  learned  farming  there  also,  according  to 
methods  in  vogue.     In  1893  he  determined  to  come  to  America,  and 


550  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

being  without  funds,  he  borrowed  $135  from  a  friend  with  which  to 
pay  his  passage.  He  was  not  very  provident  on  the  voyage,  and  when 
he  arrived  in  California,  which  was  his  objective  part  of  the  country, 
his  entire  cash  capital  was  ten  cents  and  no  more.  His  first  work  in 
the  United  States  was  in  Tulare  county,  herding  sheep,  which  he  says 
he  ran  all  over  the  county  and  into  the  mountains.  He  was  thus  em- 
ployed for  nineteen  mouths,  and  from  1895  to  1899  he  did  hard  ranch 
work  for  wages.  Up  to  this  time  he  had  spent  his  earnings  as  fast  as 
he  received  them,  but  he  now  began  to  see  the  error  of  his  financial 
ways  and  decided  that  if  he  were  to  save  his  money  he  must  have  some 
definite  use  for  it  and  some  ambition  to  gratify.  Accordingly,  in  the 
fall  of  1899,  lie  rented  two  hundred  and  twenty-seven  acres  northwest 
of  Tulare  City,  which  for  two  years  he  operated  on  shares,  devoting 
his  attention  ])riucipa]ly  to  wheat  and  stock.  Accumulating  money  he 
wisely  laid  it  by  for  future  use  and  soon  was  able  to  buy  forty  acres 
of  laud  near  where  he  had  been  farming.  He  cleared  and  improved 
it  and  built  on  it  a  good  house  and  other  necessary  buildings.  The 
land  cost  him  thirty  dollars  an  acre  and  soon  was  yielding  him  a  splen- 
did profit  in  alfalfa.  By  1907  land  values  in  his  vicinity  had  materially 
increased  and  he  bought  another  forty-acre  tract,  paying  sixty  dollars 
an  acre ;  in  1909  he  bought  forty  acres  more,  under  some  improvement, 
and  had  to  pay  for  it  $125  an  acre.  At  this  time  he  owns,  clear  of  all 
debts,  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  improved  land  in  one  piece, 
all  of  wliich  he  acquired  iu  a  comparatively  brief  period  of  eleven 
years.  Twelve  acres  of  his  land  is  in  Egyptian  corn  and  fifty-five 
acres  are  producing  fifteen  sacks  of  wheat  to  the  acre.  He  raises  fine 
horses,  has  a  dairy  of  twelve  cows,  and  usually  keeps  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  head  of  hogs.  In  1912  Mr.  Colpieu  added  to  his  holdings 
by  buying  another  forty  acres,  for  which  he  paid  $7,500. 

In  1901  Mr.  Colpien  married  Ollie  M.  Johnson,  a  native  of  Indiana, 
and  they  have  children  named  Herman  J.,  Raymond  C.  and  Heubert  H. 
Socially  he  affiliates  with  Tulare  City  lodge  No.  306,  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows,  and  he  is  also  a  member  of  an  encampment  of  that 
order. 


JULIUS   BURGAMASTEE 

Among  the  first  land  purchasers  iu  his  part  of  Tulare  county  was 
Julius  Burgamaster,  who  was  a  native  of  Missouri,  and  came  with  his 
family  to  California  in  1901,  buying  a  tract  of  fifteen  acres  of  land 
from  Dudley  Brothers  and  locating  permanently  in  Tulare  county. 
His  wife  was  Margaret  Tiedemann,  also  a  native  of  Missouri,  and 
■they  both  were  descended  from  German  ancestry.  Upon  coming  to 
California   in   1901,  thev  settled  in  Farmersville.  then  came  to   the 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  551 

present  location  of  tlie  homestead,  where  Mr.  Burgamaster  purchased 
fifteen  acres  of  land  and  developed  and  improved  it,  ever  after  making 
it  his  home,  until  his  death,  which  took  place  in  Tulare  county  in  1911. 
Three  children  were  horn  to  this  coui)]e,  of  whom  two  survive,  Otto 
and  Mattie.  In  politics  Julius  Burgamaster  was  a  Democrat  and  was 
devoted  heart  and  soul  to  the  princijiles  of  his  party,  all  of  which  he 
has  handed  down  to  his  son,  who  is  following  closely  in  his  footsteps. 
As  a  man  of  enterprise  and  public  spirit  he  many  times  demonstrated 
his  high  citizenshi)).  Believing  that  his  interests  could  l)e  advanced 
only  with  those  of  the  connnuuity  at  large,  he  was  always  generous  in 
his  help  to  movements  for  the  general  benefit. 

Otto  Burgamaster,  son  of  Julius,  who  since  his  father's  death 
has  conducted  the  si^lendid  ranch,  was  born  in  Missouri,  August  29, 
1885.  Educated  in  the  public  schools  there,  he  was  taught  the  funda- 
mentals of  farming  and  while  yet  young  was  afforded  much  ]iractical 
experience  as  a  tiller  of  the  soil.  Six  acres  of  the  ranch  are  in  vine- 
yard, producing  Muscat  and  Thompson  grapes,  and  during  1911,  which 
was  an  unusually  dry  year,  the  vines  produced  four  tons  of  grapes. 
Two  acres  are  in  orchard  and  the  ranch  is  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation, 
and  ranks  among  the  most  productive  in  the  county. 


HAERY  A.  CLARK 

The  esteemed  citizen  of  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  Harry  A.  Clark,  has 
achieved  good  results  as  farmer,  fruit  culturist,  dairyman  and  stock- 
raiser  and  is  known  through  his  interest  in  the  Tulare  Canning  com- 
pany  and  his  activities  as  a  member  of  the  finance  committee  of  the 
Dairymen's  Co-operative  Creamery  company.  From  time  to  time  he 
has  been  identified  with  other  important  interests  in  Tulare  and  the 
county  at  large,  and  in  many  ways  he  has  demonstrated  that  he  pos- 
sesses a  public  spirit  that  may  be  safely  relied  on  whenever  its  exer- 
cise is  demanded. 

It  was  in  Woodson  county,  Kans.,  that  Mr.  Clark  was  lioru,  July 
30,  1872.  He  came  to  California  in  1892,  and  worked  for  wages  at 
and  near  Tulare  during  the  ensuing  three  years,  and  then  went  into 
wheat  growing,  nine  miles  soutli  of  that  city.  His  operations  soon 
became  so  extensive  that  they  involved  the  cultivation  of  six  hundred 
and  forty  acres  of  laud,  which  he  farmed  till  in  1904,  when  lie  l)ought 
his  present  home  ranch  of  seventy-one  acres,  five  miles  north  of  Tu- 
lare, and  under  his  able  management  and  scientific  cultivation  this 
property  has  been  greatly  improved.  He  has  set  out  twenty-five  acres 
to  peaches  and  fifteen  are  in  alfalfa.  He  has  a  small  dairy,  and  is 
setting  oul  at  the  present  time  fifteen  acres  to  ])runes.  He  has  one 
hundred  head  of  Jerseys,  large  Durocs.    In  1910  he  planted  to  Egyji- 


552  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

tian  corn  eighteen  acres  between  rows  of  peach  trees,  and  the  crop 
yielded  thirty  and  one-half  sacks  to  the  acre,  in  all  amounting  to 
four  hundred  and  thirty-nine  sacks,  truly  a  record  achievement.  He 
planted  also  black-eye  beans  between  the  trees  and  they  produced, 
in  1911,  eighteen  sacks  to  the  acre.  Fine  blooded  brood  mares  are 
among  his  choicest  possessions  and  he  raises  each  year  two  or  three 
colts  bred  to  a  Percheron  stallion.  He  makes  somewhat  of  a  specialty 
also  of  mules.    One  of  his  colts  recently  was  sold  for  $250. 

On  December  9,  1908,  Mr.  Clark  married  Miss  Iris  Hemphill,  a 
native  of  Missouri,  and  they  have  children,  Hazel  G.  and  Jessie  E. 


B.  L.  BAENEY 

At  Gouverneur,  St.  Lawrence  county,  X.  Y.,  B.  L.  Barney  was 
born,  March  24,  1849.  Educated  in  the  public  schools  and  at  the 
Gouverneur  Wesleyan  seminary,  he  was  early  interested  in  merchan- 
dising, farming  and  the  tannery  business  in  St.  Lawrence  and  Jeffer- 
son coimties,  N.  Y.,  until  1891,  when  he  settled  at  Hanford.  For  a 
time  he  engaged  in  ranching  and  later  he  went  into  the  grocery 
trade  at  Hanford,  under  the  firm  name  of  Foster,  Barney  &  Felton. 
He  sold  his  interest  in  the  liusiness  to  Mr.  Foster  and  with  Mr. 
Birklieck  as  a  ])artner  organized  a  new  enterprise  under  the  style 
of  Barney  &  Birkbeck.  Later  he  became  sole  proprietor  and  after 
a  time  the  firm  became  known  as  Barney,  Kelly  &  Widner,  and  under 
the  last  name  a  store  was  conducted  at  Grange^nlle.  Eventually  Mr. 
Kelly  bought  Mr.  Barney's  interest  at  Hanford  and  Mr.  Barney  be- 
came sole  proprietor  of  the  Grangeville  store  and  conducted  it  until 
he  sold  it  to  J.  C.  Stewart,  in  order  to  give  attention  to  his  ranch 
interests. 

While  Mr.  Barney  was  interested  in  the  grocery  trade  he  engaged 
in  the  raisin  and  dry  fruit  packing  biisiness  as  head  of  the  firm  of 
Barney  &  Cameron,  which  was  succeeded  by  the  B.  L.  Barney  com- 
pany, of  which  Mr.  Barney  was  proprietor  until  he  retired  from  that 
branch  of  business.  He  has  purchased  a  ranch  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres,  three  miles  and  a  half  east  of  Hanford,  which  is  given 
to  the  production  of  fruit  and  vines,  cattle,  horses  and  hogs,  and  is 
now  conducted  by  his  son,  Fred  M.  Barney. 

One  of  the  most  active  advocates  of  the  formation  of  Kings 
county  in  1892  was  Mr.  Barney.  He  was  elected  as  a  Republican  to 
the  office  of  supervisor,  in  which  he  served  four  years,  during  which 
time  the  jiresent  courthouse  and  jail  were  built.  He  was  chairman 
of  the  building  committee  and  was  active  in  the  superintendeucy  of 
the  work.     He  lias  lieeu  a  member  of  the  Hanford  Chamlier  of  Com- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  553 

merce  and  of  commercial  bodies  having  for  their  object  the  promo- 
tion of  the  interests  of  the  county.  In  1908  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  City  of  Hanford  and  in  1909  was  made 
chairman  of  that  body,  which  office  he  filled  one  term.  He  is  junior 
warden  in  the  Episcopal  church  of  Hanford  and  a  member  of  the 
local  lodge  of  Knights  of  Pythias. 

In  1873,  Mr.  Barney  married  Mary  E.  Herring,  a  native  of  New 
York  state,  and  they  have  two  children,  Anna  Louise  and  Fred  M. 
Anna  Louise  Barney  was  graduated  with  honors  from  the  gram- 
mar and  high  schools  at  Hanford  and  from  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia, and  during  the  last  four  years  has  been  a  teacher  of  English 
in  the  Hanford  high  school.  Fred  M.  Barney  is  operating  the  ranch 
near  town. 


JOHN  W.  BAXLEY 

One  of  the  most  successful  of  the  citizens  of  Tulare  county  who 
have  come  within  its  borders  in  recent  years  is  John  W.  Baxley,  a 
native  of  Berkeley  county,  W.  Va.,  born  February  8,  1852.  Mr. 
Baxley  was  brought  up  and  educated  and  became  acquainted  with 
the  details  of  practical  farming  in  his  native  state,  where  he  suc- 
cessfully raised  wheat,  corn,  red  clover,  tobacco  and  other  crops 
till  1882,  when  he  removed  to  Allen  county,  Kans.  There  he  farmed 
many  years,  acquiring  eight  hundred  acres  and  giving  his  attention 
principally  to  wheat  and  corn.  It  was  in  1909  that  he  came  to  Tulare 
county,  Cal.,  where  he  rents  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  the 
Giannini  ranch  and  has  charge  of  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  more 
of  it  as  superintendent.  He  raises  chiefly  prunes,  grapes,  olives  and 
almonds  and  has  produced  some  fine  crops  of  beans  between  rows 
of  fruit  trees.  In  the  spring  of  1911  he  planted  a  sack  and  a  half  of 
black-eyed  beans  and  fifteen  pounds  of  brown  beans  and  harvested 
two  hundred  sacks  of  the  former  and  thirty-four  sacks  of  brown 
beans. 

In  Kansas  Mr.  Baxley  served  his  fellow  townsmen  as  township 
trustee  and  road  superintendent.  Since  coming  to  California  he  has 
been  too  busy  with  his  purely  private  affairs  to  give  any  time  to 
political  work,  but  he  has  well  defined  ideas  concerning  all  ques- 
tions of  public  policy  and,  being  an  outspoken  man,  be  is  quite  certain 
to  be  heard  from  whenever  he  shall  consider  it  necessary  to  raise  his 
voice  in  advocacy  of  any  measure  directed  to  the  enhancement  of  the 
public  weal.  He  married,  at  Gettysburg,  Pa.,  February  11,  1875,  Miss 
Amanda  C.  Beecher,  a  native  of  that  state,  and  they  have  had  eleven 
children,  all  of  whom  survive:    William  A.  married  Alice  Griffin,  and 


554  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

they  have  two  sons,  Walter  and  Marvin.  David  D.,  who  married 
Anna  Orth,  has  three  daughters,  Rose,  ^'iolet  and  Lillian.  Charles 
married  Maud  Meyers  and  they  have  a  son  named  Ralph.  Mary  is 
the  wife  of  Edward  West  and  has  borne  him  three  fhildreu,  Russel, 
Irene  and  Everett.  Laura  married  R.  R.  Ross  and  they  have  a  son, 
Elmer.  Grace  became  the  wife  of  M.  J.  Adams  and  their  children  are 
Viola,  Harold  and  Catherine.  Bessie  is  the  wife  of  William  Stevens 
and  they  have  a  daughter  named  Edna.  Ernest  married  Edna  Doru- 
burg  and  has  borne  him  a  daughter,  Hilda.  Mattie  married  Howard 
Clark  and  they  have  one  child,  a  son,  Clive  Howard.  The  remaining 
two  are  Clarence  and  Gladvs. 


I.   B.  HUNSAKER 

This  native  son  of  California  was  born  in  Contra  Costa  county, 
August  24,  1867,  and  was  only  about  a  year  old  when  his  parents 
moved  to  Tulare  county,  locating  near  the  Tule  river,  where  they 
engaged  in  farming,  and  he  eventually  became  a  student  in  the  pub- 
lic school.  His  first  venture  in  the  field  of  independent  endeavor  was 
as  a  grain  farmer  in  the  Waukeua  neighborhood,  on  Tulare  lake. 
After  operating  there  with  success  for  fifteen  years  he  developed  an 
alfalfa  ranch  four  miles  and  a  half  southeast  of  Tulare,  where  he 
established  a  dairy.  This  property  consists  of  four  hundred  and 
seventy-five  acres,  four  hundred  acres  of  which  is  under  alfalfa.  It 
is  occupied  by  two  dairies  and  is  operated  by  tenants. 

In  1906  Mr.  Iluusaker,  whose  residence  is  at  F  street  and  Kern 
avenue,  Tulare,  was  elected  a  trustee  of  that  city  and  he  was  re-elected 
in  1910.  As  a  citizen  he  is  public  spirited  and  helpful  to  all  local 
interests.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  Olive  Branch  lodge  No.  269, 
F.  &  A.  M.,  and  with  local  organizations  of  the  Ancient  Order  of 
United  Workmen  and  the  Woodmen  of  the  World. 

In  1893  Mr.  Ilunsaker  married  Miss  Eva  Galbraith,  a  native  of 
Stockton  and  a  daughter  of  George  Galbraith,  and  she  has  borne 
him  two  children:  Juanita  is  a  student  at  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia  at   Berkeley;   Mary  is   deceased. 


OSCAR  F.  COLLINS 

Of  the  number  of  able  men  who  have  succeeded  as  dairymen  in 
Tulare  county,  Cal.,  none  has  more  richly  deserved  his  success  than 
Oscar  F.  Collins,  of  Tulare.     Mr.  Collins  was  born  in  Memphis,  Mo., 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  555 

May  17,  1858,  and  was  reared  and  educated  in  his  native  state.  There, 
too,  he  learned  farmin.c:  accoi-ding  to  methods  then  in  vogue,  and  it 
was  at  farm  work  that  he  was  eniploj'ed  till  he  came  to  California, 
where  he  saw  hefore  liiTii  the  road  to  success,  straight  and  wide  and 
not  too  long,  and  he  set  himself  cheerfully  to  the  task  of  working  for 
wages  to  acquire  capital  witli  which  to  make  a  promising  beginning. 
He  was  employed  thus,  saving  every  dollar  possible,  from  in  1887 
until  in  IStlO.  and  then  he  was  al)le  to  rent  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
of  laud  a  mile  west  of  Tulare,  where  for  two  years  he  raised  grain, 
hay  and  stock.  Then,  moving  to  a  point  north  of  Tulare,  he  went 
into  dairying  with  his  brother,  A.  H.  Collins,  as  his  partner,  and 
they  continued  their  joint  efforts  till  1902.  From  that  time,  Oscar 
F.  Collins  operated  indeijendently  in  the  same  place  till  1905,  when 
he  came  to  his  present  dairy  ranch  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres, 
where  he  has  twenty-five  acres  in  alfalfa,  a  goodly  field  of  Egyptian 
corn  and  a  dairy  of  sixteen  fine  cows.  He  has  some  good  horses 
also,  and  recently  sold  a  fine  animal  for  $250,  and  has  also  sold 
colts  from  one  mare  to  the  value  of  $1115. 

Of  the  Dairymen's  Co-operative  Creamery  association  Mr.  Col- 
lins is  a  stockholder,  and  he  is  otherwise  active  in  a  general  way 
for  the  advancement  of  the  dairy  interests  of  the  county  and  .state. 
He  is  a  charter  member  of  a  local  body  of  the  Woodmen  of  the 
World  and  has  for  twenty-one  years  been  identified  with  Tulare 
City  lodge  No.  306,  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  There  is  no 
movement  for  the  public  benefit  that  he  does  not  encourage  to  the 
extent  of  his  ability.  In  1892  he  married  Miss  Marietta  E.  Riley, 
who  was  born  in  Missouri,  and  they  have  three  children,  Edith  M., 
Jessie  M.   and   George  B. 


JOHN   W.    DUNLAP 

Hannibal,  Mo.,  was  the  scene  of  the  birth  of  John  W.  Dunlap, 
champion  sack  sewer  of  California,  November  24,  1850.  He  was  a 
son  of  Lemuel  S.  and  Cynthia  A.  (Zumwalt)  Dunlap,  natives  respec- 
tively of  Kentucky  and  Missouri.  The  family  aiTived  in  California 
November  1,  1869,  having  made  the  journey  from  St.  Louis  in 
eleven  days  on  one  of  the  earliest  trans-continental  railway  trains. 
The  trip  was  a  novelty  not  only  to  them,  but  to  nearly  all  who 
))aiticipated  in  it.  They  settled  in  Colusa  county,  where  Lemuel 
Dunlap  established  himself  as  a  farmer. 

Early  in  life  John  W.  Dunlap  began  working  on  threshing  ma- 
chines in  Colusa  county,  and  he  soon  l)ecame  the  best  and  fastest  sack 
sewer   in    the   state,   sewing  as   many   as    two    thousand    sacks    in    a 


556  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

day  and  making  a  record  of  two  hundred  and  fifty-six  sacks  in  one 
honr.  In  1883  he  bought  of  Samuel  DeWitt  his  present  ranch  of 
fifty-one  acres,  three  miles  and  one-half  north  of  Tulare  City.  He 
makes  a  specialty  of  raising  chickens  and  is  probably  one  of  the 
most  scientific  poultry  men  in  California,  a  state  in  which  there  are 
so  many  such  dealers  that  to  excel  is  somewhat  of  an  honor.  In 
1911  he  received  $1500  from  the  sale  of  eggs  from  five  hundred 
chickens,  mostly  leghorns.  His  chicken  ranch  is  well  apjiointed  in 
every  particular  and  is  one  of  the  most  complete  in  the  county. 
Its  incubators  and  other  appliances  are  of  the  most  efficient  kinds 
and  of  the  latest  models.  Mr.  Dunlap  has  given  some  attention  to 
peach  culture  and  in  two  years  received  $1200  from  two  acres  devoted 
to  that  fruit.  He  now  has  six  acres  in  peach  trees  and  two  acres  in 
prunes.  A  feature  of  his  business  is  a  small  dairy,  by  means  of 
which  he  adds  considerably  to  his  yearly  profit. 

Mr.  Dunlap  married,  April  2,  1876,  Lillie  F.  Green,  a  native  of 
Nevada  county,  Cal.  Jeremiah  Green,  her  father,  was  a  pioneer  in 
that  county  and  was  a  storekeeper  there  in  the  old  gold-mining 
days.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dunlap  are  the  parents  of  five  children.  Bertie 
is  the  wife  of  Alexander  Whaley.  William  E.  is  cashier  of  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Tulare.  George  L.  is  employed  by  the  E.  F. 
Gox  Lumber  company  of  Tulare.  Harry  is  connected  with  the 
Stockton  Iron  companv.  Leslie  is  a  member  of  his  parents'  house- 
hold. 


JAMES  M.  ELLIOTT 

The  life  of  James  M.  Elliott,  Waukena,  Tulare  county,  Cal., 
began  in  Cherokee  county,  Texas,  August  23,  1881,  and  he  was 
brought  to  California  in  1888  by  his  parents,  who  settled  at  Pomona, 
Los  Angeles  county.  In  1890  they  removed  to  Orange  county,  and 
there  he  remained  until  1908,  when  he  took  up  his  residence  at 
Waukena  and  became  a  partner  in  a  general  merchandise  business  with 
his  sister.  Miss  Hattie  Elliott,  who  is  postmistress  of  that  town,  an 
office  which  she  fills  with  great  fidelity,  giving  to  its  duties  the  most 
careful  attention  in  all  details.  In  connection  with  merchandising, 
Mr.  Elliott  gives  attention  to  another  enterprise,  that  of  the  installa- 
tion of  pumping  plants,  in  which  he  is  associated  with  his  half 
brother. 

As  a  merchant,  Mr.  Elliott  is  progressive  and  up-to-date,  handling 
salable  articles  of  good  quality  which  he  offers  at  such  prices  as  to 
make  them  available  to  the  trade  of  Waukena  and  its  tributary  ter- 
ritory.    As  a  citizen,  he  takes  an  intelligent  interest  in  everything 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  557 

that  pertains  to  the  general  welfare.  He  is  a  believer  in  the  square 
deal  which  would  give  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  numbers 
and  is  ready  at  all  times  to  respond  in  a  public-spirited  way  to  any 
demand  on  behalf  of  the  enhancement  of  the  good  of  the  community, 
for  he  realizes  that  he  who  reaps  must  first  sow  and  that  the  pros- 
IDeritj'  of  one  is  the  prosperity  of  all. 

The  father  of  James  M.  and  Hattie  Elliott,  the  venerable  Wil- 
liam M.  Elliott,  who  was  born  in  Mississippi  January  6,  1827,  was 
during  ail  his  active  years  a  successful  farmer,  and  is  now  a 
member  of  the  household  of  his  son  at  Waukena. 


WILLIAM  REINHART 

One  of  the  numerous  Pennsylvanians  who  have  become  suc- 
cessful as  farmers  in  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  and  passed  on  to  the 
long  reward  of  the  honest  and  the  industrious  was  William  Rein- 
hart,  who  was  born  in  Greene  county  in  the  Keystone  State  in  1832, 
and  died  in  his  far  western  home  in  August,  1888.  When  he  was  two 
years  old  his  parents  left  Pennsylvania  and  settled  in  Ohio,  where  he 
was  reared  and  educated  and  took  up  the  battle  of  life  on  his  own 
account.  In  1857  the  family  moved  to  Cole  county.  Mo.,  and  located 
near  Jefferson  City.  There  Mr.  Reinhart  farmed  until  1874,  when 
he  came  to  California.  He  put  in  ten  years  at  ranching  near  San 
Jose,  in  the  Santa  Clara  valley,  and  early  in  1885  rented  land  north 
of  Tulare  City,  where  he  resumed  farming  with  much  promise  of 
success,  but  died  three  years  later.  He  was  a  man  of  considerable 
business  ability  and  was  for  some  years  deputy  sheriff  of  Miller 
county,  Mo. 

On  January  1,  1863,  Mr.  Reinhart  married  Margaret  J.  Dripps,  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  they  had  several  children,  of  whom  five 
survive:  Madoi-a,  wife  of  Frank  E.  Dalzelle,  of  Berkeley,  Cal.; 
Imbrie  D.,  who  lives  on  the  Reinhart  home  farm;  Pliny  E.,  who  mar- 
ried Martha  Luck  and  has  a  son  named  Kenneth  E. ;  James  A.,  of 
Hollister,  Cal.,  who  married  Laura  Ashcroft,  and  they  have  four 
children,  James  II.,  Margaret  P.,  Ulla  and  Laura  J. ;  and  William  C, 
who  is  a  mining  engineer.  Mr.  Reinhart  was  a  member  of  the  Grange. 
He  loved  his  liome  and  his  farm  and  had  little  to  do  with  politics 
beyond  doing  his  duty  as  a  citizen.  His  public  spirit  was  such  that 
he  was  ready  at  all  times  to  aid  to  the  extent  of  his  ability  any  meas- 
ure which  in  his  opinion  promised  to  benefit  bis  town,  his  county,  his 
state  or  the  American  people  in  a  broader  sense. 

For  some  years  after  her  husband's  death  Mrs.  Reinhart  man- 
aged the  farm  property  which  he  had  accumulated.     Later  her  son. 


558  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Imbrie  D.  Reinhart,  bought  the  ranch,  which  he  has  operated  with 
much  success.  It  consists  of  forty  acres,  eight  of  which  are  in  vine- 
yard. Considerable  alfalfa  is  grown  and  the  family  derives  a  good 
income  from  a  dairy.  It  should  be  noted  that,  while  in  his  latter 
years  the  elder  Reinhart  was  working  leased  land,  he  was  ambitious 
for  a  home  of  his  own  and  his  widow  and  son  have  carried  out  his 
plans  so  far  as  they  have  been  able. 


JOHN  F.  EVANS 

When  the  Evans  family  went  to  Tipton  the  plains  about  the  site 
of  that  town  were  a  runway  for  wild  cattle.  John  F.  Evans,  of 
Tulare,  was  born  in  Santa  Clara  county,  October  5,  1865,  a  son  of 
Dudley  and  Sarah  A.  (Doty)  Evans.  Edward  Doty,  his  mother's 
great-grandfather,  came  to  America  with  the  Mayflower  Pilgi-ims 
and  is  said  to  have  been  the  tirst  of  the  party  to  set  foot  on  Ply- 
mouth Rock.  Later  he  had  a  memorable  experience  as  a  sailor  in 
Greenland,  being  wrecked  and  cast  away  on  the  shore  of  that  in- 
hospitable land,  and  having  to  subsist  there  through  an  entire  winter 
imder  circumstances  such  as  to  make  his  survival  depend  on  the 
merest  chance.  Dudley  Evans  was  a  native  of  New  York,  while  his 
wife,  Sarah  A.  Doty,  was  born  in  Ohio,  1834  being  the  year  in  which 
they  both  were  born.  Dudley  Evans  crossed  the  plains  to  California 
in  1852,  and  went  into  stockraising  in  Santa  Clara  and  San  Luis 
Obispo  counties.  On  coming  to  Tulare  county,  he  settled  six  miles 
west  of  Tipton,  taking  up  government  land.  To  his  original  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  he  added  a  purchase  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  from  the  railroad  people  and  then  owned  three  hundred  and 
twenty  acres,  all  in  one  body.  When  he  came  to  the  vicinity  there 
were  only  seven  houses  in  Tulare.  It  should  be  noted  that  thei-.e  is 
evidence  in  support  of  the  statement  that  to  him  belongs  the  credit 
of  having  burned  the  first  kiln  of  brick  in  Tulare  City.  He  passed 
away  in  1893.  His  widow,  who  lives  at  Tipton,  is  surrounded  by 
loving  relatives  and  friends,  happy  in  her  declining  years  and  most 
interesting  in  her  reminiscences  of  the  pioneer  days  which  tried  the 
souls  of  men  and  women  among  the  mountain  passes  and  prairie 
stretches  of  beautiful  California,  a  land  of  promise  and  of  fulfill- 
ment, but  a  land  of  vicissitudes  which  sometimes  sank  to  the  plane 
of  fatal  disappointments.  Following  are  the  names,  in  order  of 
birth,  of  the  children  of  Dudley  and  Sarah  A.  (Doty)  Evans:  John 
F. ;  William,  of  Fresno;  Albert  D.,  of  Cochran;  Elmore  H.  and  Harry 
N.,  of  Tipton. 

John  F.  Evans  spent  his  early  life  on  his  father's  ranch,  went 


TULAKE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  559 

to  school  and  jyained  a  good  deal  of  useful  knowledge  of  different 
kinds  in  the  college  of  hard  experience.  His  ranching  life  is  varied 
and  was  spent  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  It  includes  the 
operation  of  threshing  machines,  rough  work  on  the  Creighton  ranch 
near  Tipton  and  the  breaking  of  wild  horses,  and  it  has  other 
interesting  features.  He  started  farming  on  his  own  account  in 
1889,  on  rented  land,  six  miles  east  of  Tulare,  where  he  remained 
only  one  year.  After  that  he  operated  a  thousand  to  fifteen  hun- 
dred acres  in  the  Dinuba  and  Orosi  section  of  Tulare  county.  Ee- 
turning  to  the  vicinity  of  Tipton,  he  first  rented  and  later  bought 
two  hundred  and  forty  acres.  He  is  now  renting  out  two  hundred 
and  forty  acres  near  Tulare.  A  dairy  of  fifty  cows  is  a  feature 
of  his  enterprise,  and  he  has  one  hundred  acres  in  alfalfa.  In  1910 
he  had  twenty  acres  of  Egyptian  corn  which  yielded  eighteen  sacks 
to  the  acre,  and  in  1911  eight  acres,  planted  to  the  same  corn,  gave 
him  twenty-two  sacks  to  the  acre.  He  owns  a  fine  home  on  East 
King  street,  Tiilare,  where  he  and  his  family  have  lived  for  some 
years. 

John  F.  Evans  married,  September  25,  1892,  Mary  Cortner,  a 
native  of  California,  and  they  have  children  as  follows:  Reba  L., 
Harry  D.,  James  and  Helen  A.  Mrs.  Evans's  father  was  William  C. 
Cortner,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  who  came  overland  to  California  in 
1852,  ox-teams  affording  him  a  means  of  transportation.  For  a 
time  he  mined  with  some  success,  but  we  find  he  was  in  Tulare 
county  before  the  end  of  1853,  with  a  stock  ranch  in  the  mountains 
and  a  farm  north  of  Visalia,  but  later  he  farmed  near  Orosi,  and 
died  in  March,  1894.  The  father  of  Mrs.  Cortner  was  John 
Jordan,  who  was  in  command  of  the  party  with  which  he  came 
overland  to  California — the  same  pioneer  Jordan  who  helped  to 
blaze  the  Hockett  and  Jordan  trail  in  the  mountains.  The  following- 
named  of  the  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cortner  were  living  in  1912 : 
Mrs.  S.  L.  N.  Ellis;  Lee,  of  Tipton;  Mrs.  John  F.  Evans";  Talbert, 
of  Orosi;  Preston,  of  Auckland.  Mr.  Evans  is  a  member  of  the 
Independent  Order  of  Foresters  and  a  director  of  the  Tipton 
Co-operative  Creamery,  and  in  other  relations  he  has  demonstrated 
his  public  spirit  so  unmistakably  that  he  is  regarded  by  all  who 
know  him  as  a  citizen  generously  helpful  to  all  public  interests. 


FRANK  GIANNINI 

Of  Italian  ancestry,  Frank  Giannini  was  born  at  Porto  Ferrajo, 
Island  of  Elba,  off  the  Tuscan  coast,  March  3,  1864,  and  is  one 
of   three   brothers   who    came   to    the   United    States.      His    parents, 


560  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Dominieo  and  Magdalena  (Bolano)  Giannini,  had  also  four  daughters. 
The  motlier  died  on  Elba  in  1869,  the  father,  who  was  a  prosperous 
farmer  and  vineyardist,  died  there  in  1911. 

Frank  Giannini  early  learned  the  secrets  of  grajie  culture  and 
at  seventeen  was  given  charge  of  his  father's  vineyard.     Soon  after 
he  was  twenty-one,  he  carried  out  a  well-studied  plan  to  immigrate 
to  California,  of  which  he  had  read  much,  believing  that  here  he 
would   find   a   climate  not   unlike   that    of    Elba,    which   would    oifer 
better  chances  for  advancement  than  he  could  obtain  there.     Bring- 
ing with   him   $1200,    for   the   purchase    of   land,    in    1885,    about    a 
month   after   he  landed   at   San   Francisco   he   began   grain   farming 
on    his    own    land    near    Brentwood.      An    experience    there    running 
through  two  years  convinced  him  that  he  had  not  hit  on  the  true 
jalan   for  industrial   and   commercial   success.     He   first    saw   Tulare 
county  in  1887,  but  did  not  buy  land  there  until  about   two   years 
later.     Meanwhile  he  farmed  and  raised  fruit  and  grapes  in  Madera 
and  Fresno  counties  and  during  the  period   from   1887  to   1902   he 
operated  a  stock  farm  and  was  manager  of  an  orchard,  both  located 
at  Eeedley,  Fresno  county.     In  1889,  with  two  others,  he  bought  a 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  raw  land,  two  miles  and  three-quarters 
northeast  of  Tulare.     The  price  paid  was  $20,000,  a  very  high  price 
for  the  time,  yet  as  events  proved  a  good  investment.     A  hundred 
and  twenty  acres  were  set  out  to  an  orchard  and  the  rest  of  the 
tract  to  vineyard,  and  in  1891,  by  rei^lacing  an  occasional  vine  with 
a  tree,  increased  profits  per  acre  were  made  possible.     In  that  year 
Mr.  Giannini  bought  out  the  interests  of  his  partners.     By  purchase 
he  has  acquired  four  hundred  and  eighty  acres  adjoining,  and  now 
he  has  an  entire  section  in  one  body,  eighty  acres  of  which  is  de- 
voted to  alfalfa.     On  his  place  are  two  wells  with  never-failing  sup- 
ply  of  water  which   are  pumped  by  two   fifteen-horsepower   electric 
motors.    He  has  displaced  his  gas  motors  formerly  used  for  pumping 
by  electric  motors;  he  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Electric  Power  com- 
pany.    He  is  now  putting  down  a  third  well  which  will  be  pumped 
by  means  of  twenty-horsepower  electric  motors.     On  the  place  are 
modern   buildings   of   ample   capacity   for   every  purpose,    and   dry- 
ing  yards    and    packing   houses    for    jireparing    the    fruit    for    ship- 
ment and  forwarding  it  when  ready.     There  are  also  a  new  winery, 
with  a  capacity  of  two   hundred  thousand   gallons   annually,   and   a 
brandy  plant,  with  an  annual  capacity  of  fifty  thousand  gallons.     In 
the  busy   season   Mr.   Giannini   employs   on   the   place   one    hundred 
and  fifty  men.     In   1910  he  incorporated   the   Elba  Land   company, 
which  now  includes  most  of  his  interests,  being  capitalized  at  $500,000, 
and  he  is  the  president  and  general  manager. 

Besides  his  regular  business  Mr.  Giannini   has  interests  of  im- 
portance, being  a  stockholder  in  the  First  National  Bank  of  Tulare, 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  561 

having  given  the  site  for  the  Tulare  Power  comioany's  phiut  and 
promoted  the  Tidare  Milling  company  and  bought  the  first  share  of 
its  stock  that  could  be  purchased.  He  sold  his  Tipton  ranch  in  1908, 
his  dairy  ranch  in  11)11,  and  devotes  his  attention  to  his  land 
business,  to  fruit,  alfalfa  and  wine.  He  has  had  much  to  do 
with  organizations  to  promote  the  advancement  of  these  and  kindred 
interests,  and  is  a  Mason,  of  Blue  lodge  and  Royal  Arch  chapter, 
having  originally  identified  himself  with  the  Madera  lodge  and  been 
transferred  to  the  Reedley  lodge.  His  acquaintance  with  the  Cali- 
fornia fruit  and  wine  fraternity  is  large  and  constantly  increasing 
in  a  measure  commensurate  with  his  advancing  fortunes  and  the 
growth  of  his  home  interests.  His  home  stead  has  been  enlarged  to 
twelve  hundred  and  sixty  acres;  he  has  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres 
in  peaches,  five  hundred  and  sixty  in  vineyard,  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  in  prunes  and  the  largest  individual  orchard  in  Tulare 
county.  His  home  acreage  in  alfalfa  is  ninety  acres.  In  1911  he 
sold  prunes  at  $115  a  ton. 

Miss  Louise  Lombardi,  daughter  of  a  pioneer  in  northern  Cali- 
fornia, became  Mr.  Giaunini's  wife  and  was  most  helpful  to  him 
in  all  his  aspirations,  working  with  him  side  by  side  for  all  that 
has  meant  success  to  both.  She  died  in  1907,  leaving  one  child, 
Aulrina. 


EMERIE  RENAUD 

The  French  Canadian,  wlierever  his  lot  may  be  cast,  generally 
develops  into  a  good  and  itrosperous  citizen  with  much  credit  for  his 
easy  manner  and  thrifty  qualities.  This  fact  is  illustrated  in  the  success- 
ful life  and  high  standing  of  t]merie  Reuand,  a  native  of  the  jirovince 
of  Quebec  and  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  honored 
French  families  of  Canada,  who  owns  and  occupies  one  of  the  most 
attractive  of  the  many  beautiful  home  farms  in  Tulare  county,  a 
stock  farm  four  and  a  half  miles  north  of  Tulare.  Mr.  Renaud  was 
born  July  25,  1857,  near  Montreal,  which  was  the  birthjilace  of 
his  grandsire,  Charles  Renaud,  Sr.,  and  of  bis  father,  Charles  Renaud, 
Jr.  The  former  farmed  all  his  life  near  Montreal  and  his  home- 
stead is  now  the  property  of  one  of  his  grandsons.  Following 
in  the  footsteps  of  his  ancestors,  Charles  Renaud  was  a  farmer  all 
his  life,  and  passed  away  when  be  was  but  fifty-seven.  ITis  wife 
was  Marcellian  Pelon,  born  in  Quebec,  daughter  of  Celesta  Pelon, 
who  was   a   farmer.     She   and   ten   of   her   twelve   children    sur\ive. 


562  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Enierie,  the  third  in  order  of  birth,  is  the  only  one  of  them  living 
in  California. 

In  the  district  school  and  on  the  farm  f]nierie  Eenaud  received 
the  practical  education  that  has  made  possible  the  siiccess  he  has 
achieved.  "When  he  was  sixteen  years  old  lie  came  with  a  In-other 
and  an  uncle  to  Nevaila,  but  soon  located  at  Sacramento.  Cal,  where 
lie  worked  as  a  farm  hand  two  years.  After  that  he  mined  four  or 
five  years  with  indifferent  success  in  the  diggings  at  Bodie,  Cal., 
and  at  others  in  Nevada,  then  returned  to  Sacramento,  where  he 
married  and  whence  he  came  in  ISS-i  to  Tulare  county.  He  bought 
a  farm  on  Elk  Bayou,  which,  however,  proved  unproductive,  and 
when  he  had  operated  it  at  a  loss  for  two  years  he  rented  land 
and  engaged  on  an  extensive  scale  in  grain  raising  and  this  latter 
venture  met  with  great  success.  Leasing  from  J.  Goldman  &  Com- 
pany the  old  Stokes  estate  of  three  thousand  acres,  he  raised  grain 
in  large  quantities  on  that  land  as  well  as  on  a  three-thousand- 
acre  ranch  near  Porterville.  which  he  leased  a  number  of  years. 
Other  inirchases  and  leases  brought  his  holdings  to  the  ten  thou- 
sand acre  mark,  and  the  in-osecution  of  his  enterprise  required  the 
use  of  one  hundred  and  tifty  horses  and  mules  and  two  harvesters. 
In  1903  he  bought  the  old  J.  B.  Zuniwalt  place,  four  hundred  and 
twenty  acres,  in  the  management  of  which  he  has  been  very  pros- 
perous, having  four  hundred  acres  in  alfalfa,  a  dairy  of  one  hundred 
cows  with  niodei-n  equipment,  including  a  sejiarator,  lilenty  of 
good  horses  and  three  hundred  hogs.  Besides  operating  his  home- 
stead, he  operates  under  lease  thirteen  hundred  acres  adjoining, 
which  he  devotes  to  grain  and  stockraising.  Tie  is  constantly  im- 
proving his  home  place  and  now  has  one  of  the  really  fine  residences 
of  that  part  of  the  county,  standing  as  it  does  amid  palms  and 
orange  trees,  on  a  beautiful  lawn.  Mr.  Reuaud  is  a  director  in  the 
Dair^onen's  Co-operative  Dairy  company. 

At  Sacramento,  Mr.  Eenaud  married  Miss  Mary  Gignerre,  born 
in  Yolo  county.  Cal.,  daughter  of  Frank  Giguerre.  a  pioneer  of  1849. 
and  they  have  nine  living  children:  Joseph.  Walter.  Laura,  Flora 
(wife  of  J.  Damron,  Jr.),  Arthur,  Blanche,  Bryan,  Elma  and  Collis. 
Mr.  Renaud  affiliates  with  Tulare  City  lodge  No.  306.  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  with  Tulare  Encampment,  and  with  Olive 
Branch  lodge  No.  269,  F.  &  A.  M.  His  moral  and  theological  creed 
is  "Do  right  and  it  will  be  right."  Politically  he  is  a  steadfast 
Democrat,  and  as  such  he  was  elected  to  the  jiresidency  of  the 
board  of  school  trustees  of  the  Enterprise  district.  In  a  jniblic- 
spirited  way  he  takes  a  deep  and  abiding  interest  in  all  propositions 
looking  to  the  advancement  of  the  community  or  the  amelioration  of 
the  condition  of  the  people  at  large. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  563 

1 
JOSEPH  SILVEIRA 

On  one  of  the  Azores  Islands  of  Portugal,  Joseph  Silveira  was 
born  October  24,  1877.  He  came  to  the  United  States  in  1895,  when 
he  was  about  eighteen  years  old,  and  that  same  year  he  located  in 
California.  For  three  months  he  was  employed  near  Truckee  on  a 
dairy  farm,  then  ^vent  to  Marin  county,  Cal.,  where  he  was  similarly 
employed  for  three  years.  From  there  he  went  to  Nevada  City, 
Nevada  county,  Cal.,  where  he  worked  in  sawmills  in  the  mountains 
and  at  times  prospected  and  mined  for  gold.  Oakland,  Cal.,  was  his 
next  objective  point.  There,  in  partnership  with  his  brother,  he  was 
in  the  creamery  business  about  a  year.  In  190.3  he  came  to  Tulare 
county,  where  for  a  short  time  he  was  a  partner  with  another  in  a 
dairy  ranch,  but  in  the  fall  of  that  year  he  came  to  his  present  loca- 
tion. He  is  the  owner  of  eighty  acres  and  rents  two  hundred  and 
forty  acres,  has  seventy-tive  cattle  and  milks  fifty  Holstein  cows. 
Ninety  acres  he  devotes  to  alfalfa.  As  a  farmer  and  dair\Tnan  he  is 
prosperous  in  Tulare  county  even  beyond  his  expectation  and  is 
recognized  by  a  wide  circle  of  acquaintances  as  a  self-made  man  of 
much  prominence  and  of  even  greater  promise.  He  affiliates  with 
the  U.  P.  E.  C.  and  the  I.  D.  E.  S.,  Portuguese  orders,  and  with 
the  Woodmen  of  the  World. 

In  1897  Mr.  Silveira  married  Violanto  Eserada,  a  native  of  the 
Azores  Islands,  and  they  had  five  children,  here  mentioned  in  the 
order  of  their  nativity:  Manuel,  Mary,  Louisa,  Carrie  and  Hilda. 
On  June  2,  1912,  Mrs.  Silveira  died.  Mr.  Silveira  mai-ried  again. 
August  26,  1912,  Miss  Mary  P>razill,  born  on  the  Azores  Islands, 
becoming  his  wife.  Though  Mr.  Silveira  has  not  been  as  long  in 
Tulare  county  as  some  of  its  American-born  citizens,  he  has  demon- 
strated that  liis  public  spirit  is  adequate  to  any  demand  that  may 
be  reasonably  made  upon  it.  His  aspirations  are  for  the  uplift  of  the 
community  and  there  is  no  movement  for  the  general  good  that  does 
not  receive  his  heartfelt  encouragement  and  support. 


GEORGE    ULYSSES    WRAY 

One  of  the  most  popular  and  well-known  citizens  of  Tulare  county 
who  by  the  exercise  of  untiring  energy  and  inflexible  will  has  forged 
to  the  fore  in  many  industrial  circles  is  George  Ulysses  AVray,  who 
was  a  pioneer  stockraiser  in  this  vicinity,  having  settled  about  five 
miles  east  of  Tulare  City  in  1874.  He  is  a  brilliant  type  of  the 
self-made,  self-reliant  man,  who  in  spite  of  many  hardships  and 
numerous  impediments  in  the  road  for  knowledge  has  so  thoroughly 


564  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

overcome  them  that  he  is  today  numbered  among  the  reliable  and 
noteworthy  sliort-stor_y  wi'iters,  his  chief  theme  being  nature  study. 
Added  to  this  he  is  a  newspaper  correspondent  of  some  note 
and  active  interest  and  wide  knowledge  of  all  current  events  and 
political  subjects  makes  him  a  valued  acquisition  on  the  publishing 
staff. 

George  W.  Wray,  his  father,  was  born  in  Crawfordsville,  Ind., 
and  came  across  the  plains  in  1851.  He  was  a  cabinet-maker  by 
trade  and  upon  coming  to  California  followed  mining  at  Hangtown, 
now  Placerville,  in  Eldorado  county.  He  was  married  at  Suisun 
City  to  Miss  Ethalinda  Vanderburgh,  who  was  born  in  Iowa  and 
came  across  the  plains  in  1861.  After  his  marriage  he  engaged 
in  farming  and  the  nursery  business  at  Placerville  and  continued  to 
live  there  until  they  came  to  Tulare  county  in  1874.  Mr.  Wray  was 
the  first  man  to  make  a  success  of  farming  under  the  no-fence  law 
by  taking  up  trespassing  stock  under  a  law  passed  by  the  state 
legislature  in  1875,  and  was  also  organizer  of  one  of  the  best 
and  oldest  ditch  systems  in  Tulare  county.  This  is  known  as  the 
Farmers'  Ditch  company,  and  he  served  as  its  superintendent  for 
over  twenty  .years,  and  he  was  the  largest  stockholder  during  that 
period.  Mrs.  Wray  is  now  living  near  Los  Angeles  at  sixty-four 
years  of  age,  Mr.  Wray  having  passed  away  November  24,  1910. 
They  were  the  parents  of  a  family  of  ten  children,  seven  daughters 
and  three  sons,  who  are  all  living.  George  W.  Wray  had  home- 
steaded  a  tract  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres  on  the  north  fork  of 
the  North  Tule  river,  which  he  proved  up,  and  which  his  son, 
George  U.,  bought  at  the  time  of  the  former's  death  in  1910. 

The  eldest  of  his  parents'  family  George  U.  Wray  was  born 
at  Placerville,  March  25,  1869,  and  was  about  five  years  of  age 
when  he  was  brought  by  his  parents  to  Tulare  county.  Owing  to 
the  unsettled  conditions  at  that  time  educational  facilities  were 
meager  and  the  boy  was  obliged  to  go  to  work  on  the  stock  farm 
at  an  early  age.  When  he  was  fifteen  he  started  out  for  himself, 
working  at  general  farming  for  wages  for  four  years,  when  he 
engaged  in  farming  and  stockraising  for  himself.  When  he  was 
twenty-one  he  homesteaded  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres  east  of  Milo.  On 
March  25,  1904,  he  was  married  in  Fresno  county  to  Miss  Josephine 
Wood,  who  died  without  issue  at  the  present  home  of  George  U. 
Wray  in  May,  1905.  Mr.  Wray  came  to  his  present  ranch  about 
fourteen  years  ago  and  bought  a  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  also 
homesteading  the  hundred  and  sixty-acre  tract  mentioned  above, 
and  he  now  owns  two  ranches  aggregating  four  hundred  acres  of 
land  on  which  is  done  general  farming  and  stockraising.  He  has 
started  a  young  nursery  and  is  clearing  land,  intending  to  put  in 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  565 

about  twenty-five  acres  to  apples  and  it  is  also  bis  intention  to  raise 
bis  own  nursery  stock. 

Mr.  Wray  lias  steadfastly  refused  political  preferment,  for  he 
is  widely  known  for  bis  unusual  ability  and  broad  intelligence  of 
matters  of  moment.  He  was  tendered  tbe  nomination  for  supervisor 
on  the  Populist  ticket  at  tbe  time  Populism  was  at  its  heigbt  in 
Tulare  county,  but  declined  tbis  bonor.  Nevertheless  be  has  taken 
a  very  active  interest  in  ]iolitics,  being  forcibly  active  wherever  there 
is  a  principle  at  stake  and  he  is  known  as  an  ultra  radical  progressive. 
In  fighting  the  saloons  be  has  been  especially  active  and  he  has 
assisted  in  wiping  out  several  of  these  evils  in  tbe  county  through 
his  writings  and  active  jiolitical  work.  Notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  be  was  handicapped  by  few  advantages  when  a  child,  be  is 
of  an  active,  alert  and  inquiring  mind,  and  through  extensive  read- 
ing, close  observation  and  natural  intelligence  he  has  become  well- 
informed  and  is  acceded  to  be  among  tbe  most  entertaining  as  well 
as  instructive  writers  of  tbe  day.  For  two  years  he  was  a  corres- 
pondent for  the  Visalia  Times,  also  tbe  Farm  View,  which  was  printed 
at  Porterville,  and  for  fourteen  years  served  as  the  regular  local 
correspondent  for  tbe  Porterville  Enterprise,  and  is  now  local  cor- 
respondent for  tbe  Porterville  Recorder.  He  is  strongly  opposed  to 
tbe  liquor  traffic  and  has  written  many  stirring  articles  against  it. 
Having  ever  lived  the  simple  life,  close  to  nature,  he  has  become 
quite  a  hunter  and  has  experienced  many  thrilling  adventures  which 
he  has  told  in  a  number  of  short  stories  with  such  interesting  style 
as  to  endear  him  to  his  many  readers,  not  the  least  of  which  are 
the  yoimg  readers  of  the  Youth's  Companion  and  similar  popular 
publications.  A  few  years  ago  be  started  writing  up  his  own  ex- 
periences in  bunting  bear,  deer,  etc.,  in  the  Sierras,  writing  under 
a  nom  de  plume,  which  are  printed  in  magazine  form  and  attract 
nmcb   favorable   attention. 


AECHIE  F.  LANEY 

A  native  son  of  California  and  of  Tulare  county,  Archie  F. 
Laney  was  born  in  1877,  a  son  of  George  W.  and  Octavia  (Rether- 
ford)  Laney.  His  father  was  born  in  Ohio  and  came  to  California 
in  1873 ;  be  was  married  in  Iowa.  He  bought  land  and  raised  grain 
and  cattle  until  he  retired  from  active  work  about  fifteen  years  ago, 
when  his  sons  assumed  tbe  management,  and  they  have  continued  the 
business  in  which  be  was  tbe  pioneer  and  are  yet  raisinc:  and  buving 
and  selling  stock,  being  as  well  known  in  tbe  market  as  any  other 


566  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

dealers  in  the  central  part  of  the  state.  Their  ranch  comprises  twelve 
hundred  acres  and  they  carry  about  three  hundred  fat  cattle  each 
year,  raising  only  enougli  grain  for  feed  and  growing  alfalfa  for 
their  own  use.     The  father  passed  away  November  13,  1912. 

While  Archie  Laney  has  never  taken  an  active  interest  in  prac- 
tical politics  and  has  never  sought  public  office,  he  has  well  defined 
ideas  concerning  all  questions  of  economic  bearing  and  in  a  very 
public-spirited  way  performs  his  whole  duty  as  a  citizen.  In  fact, 
if  we  may  believe  those  who  know  him  best  and  are  best  able  to 
testify  in  such  a  matter,  he  is  liberally  helpful  to  all  movements 
having  for  tlieir  object  the  advancement  and  prosperity  of  the  com- 
munity and  ill  a  private  way  has  many  times  proven  himself  a  de- 
pendable friend,  doing  what  he  could  by  word  and  deed  to  help 
struggling  neighbors  over  some  of  the  stony  places  in  life's  path- 
wav. 


WILLIAM  GOUGH 

In  Ohio,  Preble  county,  William  Gough,  who  lives  two  miles 
northwest  of  Orosi  in  Tulare  county,  was  born  October  12,  1838. 
There  he  was  reared  and  educated  and  obtained  a  practical  knowl- 
edge of  farming  and  of  different  kinds  of  useful  labor.  He  was 
about  twenty-two  years  old  when,  in  1860,  he  came  to  California,  the 
party  of  which  he  was  a  member  being  under  command  of  Captain 
McFarlaud,  who  had  twice  before  crossed  the  jilains  to  and  fro.  The 
train  consisted  of  sixty-two  wagons  and  the  party  included  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  men  and  thirteen  young  women.  The  route  was 
by  way  of  Omaha,  Lone  Tree,  along  the  Platte,  Salt  Lake  City,  the 
sink  of  the  Humboldt  and  thence  through  beautiful  California  valleys 
to  Sacramento.  The  Indians  were  menacing  and  succeeded  in  run- 
ning oft"  a  good  many  cattle,  but  none  of  their  attacks  were  fatal 
to  any  memlier  of  the  party.  Forty  or  fifty  cattle  died  by  the 
way  and  at  Rabbit  Hole  Springs  one  member  of  the  party  passed 
away.  For  a  number  of  years  Mr.  Gough  lived  in  Sacramento,  most 
of  the  time  engaged  in  teaming  between  that  point  and  Nevada.  He 
drove  a  ten-mule  team  and  the  rates  on  freight  ranged  from  six 
cents  to  fifteen  cents  for  one  hundred  pounds.  From  Sacramento 
he  came  down  into  Kern  county  and  filed  on  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  of  government  land  which  he  later  relinquished  in  order  to 
move  to  Visalia  to  engage  again  in  teaming.  For  seven  years  he 
drove  a  stage  back  and  forth  between  Visalia  and  Havilah.  It  was 
after    he   took    up   his    residence    in    "\'isalia    that    he    married    Miss 


TULAKE  AND  KINGIS  COUNTIES  687 

Maliuda  J.  Pemberton,  a  native  of  Missouri  and  a  daughter  of  the 
lion.  James  E.  Pemberton.  With  his  brother  as  a  partner  Mr. 
Pemberton  eoudueted  the  iirst  general  store  in  V'isalia.  lie  was 
elected  to  the  state  legislature  for  the  session  of  1865-66  and  served 
with  much  ability.  Later  he  was  elected  ti'easurer  of  Kern  county 
on  the  Democratic  ticket  and  re-elected  on  the  same  ticket  with  the 
Republican  indorsement.  He  was  elected  for  a  third  term  and  died 
in  office.  A  man  of  much  business  ability,  he  became  one  of  the 
leading  cattlemen  of  the  county.  Mrs.  Gough  has  borne  her  hus- 
band four  children,  Kuby  A.,  Anna  P.,  Elmo  and  Leroy.  Euby  A. 
married  E.  E.  Montague  and  lives  at  Orosi.  Elmo,  who  is  a  grad- 
uate of  the  public  schools,  married  Beulah  Howard  and  they  live  on 
the  Robert  place;  they  have  three  children,  Howardine,  Eugene  and 
an  infant.  Leroy  took  for  his  wife  Ethel  Tellyer  and  lives  on  Sand 
creek,  Squaw  valley. 

When  Mr.  Gough  came  to  this  spot  little  or  no  farming  had 
been  done  in  the  vicinity  and  cattle  were  fed  on  the  plains,  over 
which  deer  and  antelope  roamed  almost  unmolested.  In  the  swamp 
were  many  elk  and  the  bear  was  a  pest  to  all  who  tried  to  raise  hogs. 
He  has  participated  in  and  aided  to  the  extent  of  his  ability  the 
development  of  the  community  from  that  time  to  the  present,  and 
as  a  Republican  has  been  influential  in  local  affairs. 


GEORGE  ALEXANDER  ROBISON 

An  identification  with  Tulare  county  interests  for  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  during  which  time  he  has  been  almost  a  con- 
tinuous resident  in  t])e  connty,  has  placed  George  Alexander  Robison 
among  the  best  known  citizens  here.  He  is  a  native  of  Linneus, 
Linn  county,  Mo.,  born  April  27.  1851,  son  of  Andrew  and  Eliza  (Mar- 
low)  Robison,  who  took  their  son  when  a  babe  in  arms  to  Perry 
county,  111.  In  tliat  county  he  was  reared  and  educated,  living  there 
imtil  1874,  when  he  went  to  Indiana,  his  father  at  that  time  coming 
to  California.  It  was  in  November,  1875,  that  George  A.  came  to 
California  to  join  his  jiarents,  and  two  years  thereafter  was  located 
in  Tulare  county.  Fi-oni  tliere  he  moved  to  near  Santa  Rosa,  Sonoma 
county.  During  these  travels  he  had  been  working  for  wages  in  tlie 
intervals  of  farming  rented  land.  Returning  to  Tulare  county  he 
farmed  three-quarters  of  a  section,  which  was  part  of  the  present 
site  of  Orosi.  In  Sonoma  county  he  worked  land  north  of  Santa 
Rosa  near  Fulton.  He  remembers  1877  as  a  dry  year  in  Tulare 
county;  wlieat  growing  and  stockraisiug  failed,  liorses  died,  and  young 
sheep  were  killed  in  order  to  save  the  old  ones. 


568  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

In  1880,  in  Sonoma  coimty,  Mr.  Robison  married  Maiy  Russell, 
a  native  of  Sonoma  county,  Cal.,  and  a  daughter  of  Hugh  and  Sarah 
Russell.  She  has  borne  him  five  children:  Minnie,  Lawrence,  Dora 
and  Nora  (twins),  and  Pearlie.  Minnie  married  Lee  Finley,  of 
Tulare  coimty,  and  they  have  two  sons  and  a  daughter.  Lawrence 
married  Martha  Griggs.  The  three  others  are  members  of  their 
parents'  household. 

After  his  marriage  Mr.  Robison  came  back  to  Tulare  county  and 
bought  twenty  acres  of  land  near  Orosi  at  $75  an  acre,  his  present 
home,  which  was  part  of  a  grain  ranch.  He  has  fourteen  and  a  half 
acres  under  vines,  his  leading  grapes  being  Muscats  and  Sultanas. 
An  orchard  of  four  ln;ndred  young  peach  trees  is  a  feature  of  his 
farm.  It  includes  three  and  a  half  acres  and  in  1912  brought  him 
$152.  While  Mr.  Robison  regards  1911  as  having  been  a  poor  crop 
year,  he  states  that  in  that  year  he  sold  eighteen  tons  of  raisins.  A 
comparison  of  these  figures  with  those  of  1893,  his  first  crop,  when 
he  shipped  his  cro]3  to  New  York  and  cleared  $50  on  it,  is  not  at  all 
discouraging,  and  his  many  years'  residence  in  this  vicinity,  while 
it  has  not  been  without  its  disappointments,  has  nevertheless  on  the 
whole  brought  him  substantial  prosperity.  Pre-eminently  a  self- 
made  man,  he  has  succeeded  because  he  is  a  good  farmer  and  a  good 
citizen.    Politically  he  affiliates  with  the  Democratic  party. 


MOSES  S.  JENANYAN 

One  of  the  most  i>rosperous  fruit  growers  in  Tulare  county  is 
Moses  S.  Jenanyan,  who  was  born  April  22,  1864,  in  Armenia  and 
there  made  his  home  until  in  1893,  when  he  came  to  Chicago,  bring- 
ing with  him  an  exhibit  of  goods  from  his  native  land.  In  1894  he 
brought  the  exhibit  to  San  Francisco  and  then  returned  to  the 
east.  He  came  to  Tulare  county  January  4,  1904,  and  bought  ninety 
acres  of  land,  bare  and  uncultivated,  which  he  has  developed  into 
a  fine  fruit  farm,  having  now  ten  acres  of  Emperor  and  sixty  acres 
of  Muscat  grapes,  also  ten  acres  of  oranges  and  ten  acres  of  peaches. 
In  the  season  of  1910  he  sold  forty-five  tons  of  Muscats,  his  Emperors 
not  being  in  full  bearing,  and  his  peach  crop  brought  him  $1000. 
He  is  improving  his  place  with  a  modern  cement  residence  and  has 
built  a  barn  and  made  other  improvements  on  the  place. 

One  hundred  and  thirty-two  acres  of  fruit  land  in  this  vicinity 
is  owned  by  Helena  R.  Jenanyan,  a  native  of  New  York,  who  lives 
in  Philadelphia.  She  has  ten  acres  in  Emperors,  thirty  in  Muscats, 
thirty-five  in  Thompsons  and  ten  in  Malagas,  and  has  an  orange 
grove  of  fifteen  acres.  She  sold  in  1910  fifty-five  tons  of  Emperors, 
thirty-five    of    Muscats,     thirty    of    Thompsons     and     thirty-five     of 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  569 

Malagas.     Her  orange  crop  in  1911  brought  about  $1500. 

The  Eev.  H.  vS.  Jenanyan  bought  about  fifteen  hundred  acres  of 
land  in  association  with  his  brother,  Moses  S.,  and  they  brought 
twenty-five  families  to  a  colony  which  they  have  established  on  this 
land  on  Rural  Free  Delivery  Route  No.  1,  four  miles  southeast  of 
Mr.  Jenanyan 's  homestead.  This  has  increased  to  about  sixty  fam- 
ilies in  191,3.  They  employ  about  thirty  workmen  and  at  bleaching 
time  hire  about  forty  people.  Most  of  their  fruit  they  ship  direct  to 
eastern  markets. 

In  Philadelphia,  in  1899,  Mr.  Jenanyan  was  married  to  Miss 
Maude  P.  Pulsifer,  a  native  of  Canada,  and  they  are  the  parents 
of  four  children,  viz. :  Gladys  and  Clarence,  who  were  born  in  Bos- 
ton, and  Vincent  and  Alden,  natives  of  California. 

The  ranch  of  Mr.  Jenanyan,  of  ninety  acres,  which  had  been 
a  wheat  field  before  he  bought  it,  has  been  improved  by  an  irriga- 
tion system  and  transformed  into  a  fine  orange  and  grajie  farm. 
Mr.  Jenanyan  is  as  enterprising  toward  the  public  welfare  as  he  is 
where  his  own  personal  interests  are  involved.  As  a  Re])ublican 
he  has  been  elected  to  the  office  of  school  trustee  of  the  Churchill 
district.     In  religion  he  affiliates  with  the  Presbyterian  church. 


DANIEL  MURPHY 

A  career  of  usefulness  and  unceasing  labor  has  been  that  of 
Daniel  Murphy,  who  has  figured  prominently  in  the  development  of 
Dinuba  and  Orosi  for  many  years.  He  was  born  February  1,  1828, 
in  Antigonish  (Indian  name  for  River  of  Fish),  Nova  Scotia,  and 
there  his  life  was  spent  until  he  reached  the  age  of  about  sixty- 
five  years.  He  made  a  marked  success  of  his  life  as  a  farmer  and 
manufacturer,  devoting  himself  principally  to  milling  and  to  woolen 
manufacture.  He  built  up  the  business  from  a  small  beginning,  in 
partnership  with  Robert  Trotter,  combining  gristmilling  and  woolen 
manufacturing  of  tweeds  and  yarns  as  well  as  blankets  and  flannels, 
and  so  extensive  did  the  enterprise  become  that  he  long  employed 
a  liiindred  or  more  skilled  workmen.  Later  he  built  a  small  steam 
mill,  and  this  he  sold  for  $7,000,  in  order  to  come  to  California,  and 
in  November,  1892,  he  became  one  of  the  jiioneers  of  this  section 
of  the  county,  buying  forty  acres  of  land,  twenty  of  which  he  later 
sold.  His  land  was  all  wheatfield  and  there  were  no  graded  roads. 
He  acquired  other  property  and  had  two  stores  and  seven  saloons 
in  Dinuba,  and  two  houses  and  one  store  in  Orosi.  Mr.  Murphy 
planted  six  acres  to  grapes,  seven  acres  to  peaches  and  in  1909 
replaced    the    peach   orchard    with    an    eight-acre    tract    of    oranges. 


570  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

So  well  equipped  is  his  ])lace  in  the  matter  of  water  supply  that  he 
could  irrigate  it  more  cheaply  with  his  own  plant  than  from  the 
ditch.  Nevertheless  his  public  spirit  impels  him  to  patronize  the 
latter.  His  well  is  eighty  feet  deep,  with  eleven-inch  casings  and 
a  five-horsepower  engine  for  pumping.  All  his  operations  are  car- 
ried on  by  the  latest  and  most  scientific  methods. 

In  Nova  Scotia,  Mr.  Murphy  married  Miss  Ann  MacDonald,  who 
has  borne  him  children  as  follows:  Bessie  (Mrs.  Sydney  Holland), 
who  has  a  son,  Percy;  AVilliam,  who  married  Rose  Phelps  and  lives 
in  St.  Paul,  Minn. ;  Tina,  who  married  Wesley  Ferguson  and  has  four 
children,  they  residing  in  Minneapolis;  Huntley,  who  married  Abbie 
Wheelock,  and  is  an  employe  of  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  com- 
pany, living  in  Oakland;  Grace,  who  became  the  wife  of  J.  H.  Mc- 
Crackin,  druggist,  at  Dinuba.  Four  children  died  in  Nova  Scotia. 
Mrs.  Murphy  passed  away  June  18,  1902. 

In  jiolitics  Mr.  Murphy  is  a  stanch  Republican  and  in  religion  a 
communicant  of  the  Presbyterian  church.  As  a  citizen  he  is  pultlic- 
spiritedly  helpful  to  all  worthy  interests  of  the  community. 


ELIZABETH  NAVARRE 

It  was  in  Monroe,  Mich.,  that  Elizabeth  Navarre  was  born  in 
1842  and  lived  until  1881,  when  she  accompanied  her  husband,  Sam- 
uel Navarre,  to  California,  where  he  bought  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  of  land  in  Tulare  county,  the  site  of  her  present  home.  They 
were  married  in  Michigan  in  1868  and  had  three  children,  Bert. 
Dot  and  Lillie.  Bert  passed  away  in  1901,  aged  thirty-one  years. 
Dot  and  Lillie  are  married.  Mrs.  Navarre's  parents  were  natives 
of  Ireland,  who  sought  and  found  their  fortunes  in  Aanerica  and 
have  gone  to  their  reward.  Mr.  Navarre  was  born  in  Michigan  and 
was  a  man  of  winning  personality,  who  was  beloved  by  all  who 
knew  him.  He  died  at  his  home  in  Tulare  county  in  1897,  aged 
fifty-six  years.     Their  children  were  all  born  in   Monroe,   Mich. 

Since  the  death  of  her  husband  Mrs.  Navarre  has  sold  a  part  of 
the  old  farm,  but  retains  what  she  has  always  called  her  home  place. 
When  she  came  to  the  county,  settlement  was  so  sparse  that  many 
miles  intervened  between  the  luuisos.  The  country  was  wild,  lonely 
and  unproductive,  and  her  husband  had  no  difficulty  in  buying  good 
land  at  $2.50  an  acre.  Most  of  her  land  is  planted  to  grain,  and 
along  this  line  she  is  farming  very  successfully.  A  woman  of  the 
highest  character  and  genial  and  affable,  she  has  made  and  kept 
.many  friends  in  the  community  in  which  she  has  cast  her  lot,  and 
in  a  iiul)lic-spirited  way  she  has  done  whatever  was  possible  for  the 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  571 

promotion  of  the  general  interest.  Her  late  husband  is  remembered 
as  having  been  a  friend  of  education  and  a  ijromoter  of  progress 
and  prosperity. 


LEWIS  A.  SICKLES 

In  Lewis  county,  northeast  Missouri,  Lewis  A.  Sickles  was  born, 
in  1874,  and  there  made  his  home  until  he  was  about  twenty-five 
years  old,  when  he  went  to  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  where  he  lived  until 
1904.  Then  he  came  to  Porterville,  Tulare  county,  and  after  living 
there  two  years  he  removed  to  Springville,  Cal.  Two  years  later  he 
bought  the  Springville  hotel,  which  he  still  owns,  and  which  has  been 
written  up  in  the  Visalia  Morning  Delta,  published  December  21, 
1912,  as  follows: 

There  is  no  class  of  institutions  throughout  the  whole  category 
of  business  concerns  which  exercise  so  wide  an  influence  or  have  so 
important  a  bearing  upon  the  general  character  of  a  city  as  its  lead- 
ing and  most  representative  hotels.  These  establishments  have  an 
iudi\-iduality  which  becomes  impressed  and  engrafted  upon  the 
character  of  the  communit}^,  and  to  the  vast  majority  of  the  trans- 
ient traveling  fraternity  a  city  is  just  what  its  hotels  make  it;  for 
it  is  here  that  the  visitor  receives  his  first  and  his  last  distinct  im- 
pressions, and  accordingly  as  he  is  favorably  or  unfavorably  inclined 
toward  the  hostelry  of  his  temporary  abiding  place,  in  just  that 
measure  is  he  pleased  or  displeased  with  the  community  in  which  it 
is  located. 

Springville  has  every  reason  to  be  proud  of  the  Springville 
hotel;  it  has  thirty-two  large  airy  rooms,  all  comfortably  furnished, 
and  the  dining  room  has  a  seating  capacity  of  seventy-two. 

Mayor  L.  A.  Sickles  bought  this  hotel  six  years  ago,  and  then 
it  was  not  the  hotel  that  it  is  today,  for  it  was  only  one-third  of 
its  ])resent  size.  Mr.  Sickles  is  comnumly  referred  to  as  the  Mayor  of 
Springville,  for  it  was  to  him  that  the  honor  fell  to  drive  the  last 
spike  in  the  completion  of  the  railroad.  Mayor  Sickles  is  a  genial 
host,  ever  looking  after  the  comforts  of  his  guests,  and  he  leaves  no 
stone  unturned  to  impress  upon  all  of  his  patrons  the  wonderful 
resources   of   this   chosen    spot. 

In  1906  Mr.  Sickles  married  Anna  Akin,  a  native  of  Shelby 
county,  Ohio.  In  1895  his  father  and  mother  came  to  this  state  and 
his  father,  B.  T.  Sickles,  is  living  in  Porterville.  Mr.  Sickles  is  one 
of  llie  directors  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Springville  and 
was  so  imjiortant  a  factor  in   securing  the  construction   of  tlio   rail- 


572  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

road  to  that  city  that  ou  the  completion  of  the  line  he  was  tendered 
the  honor  mentioned. 

This  progressive  man  was  educated  in  his  native  Missouri  and 
has  always  been  connected  with  enterprises  of  importance.  For  four 
years  before  he  came  to  California  he  was  a  foreman  in  the  packing 
house  of  Schwarzsehild  &  Sulzberger  at  Kansas  City.  After  com- 
ing to  California  he  became  proprietor  of  the  hotel  as  stated.  This 
is  the  only  hotel  in  the  town  and  he  manages  it  with  much  ability, 
catering  successfully  to  both  transient  and  commercial  trade. 

It  is  as  a  self-made  man  that  Mr.  Sickles  should  appeal  most 
strongly  to  those  who  come  to  know  him.  Starting  out  in  life  with 
nothing,  he  has  made  a  success  in  every  way  creditable,  and  such  of 
this  world's  goods  as  he  possesses  he  has  won  by  his  own  unaided 
ability  and  industry.  Wherever  he  has  lived  his  public  spirit  has 
never  been  found  wanting.  He  is  deservedly  popular  in  business 
circles  and  in  a  fraternal  way  he  affiliates  with  the  Modern  Wood- 
men. 


WILLIAM  H.  MILLINGHAUSEN 

Of  German-American  lineage,  William  H.  Millinghausen  was 
born  at  Lincoln,  Neb.,  in  1877.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Germany 
and  his  mother  made  her  advent  into  this  world  in  Michigan;  they 
are  now  living  in  retirement  from  the  active  labors  that  commanded 
their  devotion  through  all  their  earlier  years.  They  gave  their  son 
such  advantages  for  education  as  were  possible,  and  under  his 
father's  instruction  he  learned  the  practical  side  of  lumbering  and 
farming.  When  he  was  two  years  old  they  moved,  taking  him  from 
Nebraska  to  Oregon,  and  two  years  later  the  family  came  to  Tulare 
county,  and  it  was  in  the  Mountain  View  school  that  he  fitted  him- 
self for  business  life. 

Practically  all  of  his  life  Mr.  Millinghausen  has  spent  in  Tulare 
county,  and  practically  all  of  it  has  been  given  to  two  interests, 
lumbering  and  farming,  and  in  the  latter  avocation  he  has  given 
particular  attention  to  stockraising.  As  a  lumberman  and  an  owner 
of  stock,  he  naturally  engaged  in  the  hauling  of  lumber,  and  from 
that  work  a  graduation  to  miscellaneous  freighting  was  natural, 
and  as  a  freighter  he  has  also  busied  himself  profitably  from  time 
to  time. 

The  father  of  William  H.  is  August  Millinghausen,  who  is  a 
man  of  strong  character;  his  mother  is  such  a  woman  as  gives  her- 
self heart  and  soul  to  the  moral  instruction  of  her  children;  and 
consequently  Mr.  Millinghausen  in  his  youth  did  not  lack  the  ethical 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  573 

and  patriotic  instruction  wbicli  is  essential  to  good  citizenship.  Those 
who  know  him  recognize  in  him  a  fellow-townsman  of  public  spirit, 
who  does  all  that  can  be  expected  of  him  in  the  encouragement  of 
measures  directed  to  the  general  good.  While  he  is  not  an  active 
politician,  he  is  well  informed  on  all  public  questions  and  votes  for 
the  men  who  will,  in  his  judgment,  do  the  best  for  the  community. 
He  has  always  been  liberal  in  support  of  the  church  and  of  public 
education. 


ULYSSES   GBANT   PARSONS 

A  self-made  man  who  in  spite  of  many  vicissitudes  and  hard- 
ships has  succeeded  and  is  now  prospering  as  a  farmer  in  Tulare 
county  is  Ulysses  Grant  Parsons,  a  native  of  Meigs  county,  Ohio. 
Named  in  honor  of  General  Grant  it  appears  that  he  has  taken  as 
his  motto  Grant's  dogged  declaration,  "We  will  tight  it  out  on  this 
line  if  it  takes  all  summer." 

It  was  in  July,  1866,  that  Mr.  Parsons  was  born.  In  1884,  when 
he  was  eighteen  years  old,  he  turned  his  back  on  his  Ohio  home 
and  went  west  as  far  as  Nebraska,  with  a  few  dollars  iu  his 
pocket  over  and  above  the  sum  absolutely  necessary  for  traveling 
expenses.  He  worked  tliere  on  farms  until  in  1890,  when  he  went 
to  Portland,  Ore.,  and  found  employment  on  a  ranch  at  thirty  dollars 
a  month.  From  Oregon  he  came  to  California,  arriving  in  Tulare 
county,  February  22,  1891,  and  here  for  a  time  he  was  variously 
employed,  sometimes  working  for  wages  and  sometimes  cutting 
wood  and  selling  it  in  town,  just  as  General  Grant  had  done  at  St. 
Louis  many  years  before.  But  all  the  time  he  was  saving  all  the 
money  he  could  possibly  piat  aside  until  at  length  he  was  able 
to  buy  a  team  with  which  he  returned  to  Oregon,  seeking  better 
opportunities.  Nevertheless  he  found  conditions  there  so  bad  that 
he  made  his  way  back  to  Nebraska  and  put  in  one  hundred  acres  of 
corn,  which  failed  because  of  lack  of  rain.  He  then  found  work  in 
the  hay  fields  at  one  dollar  a  day  and  board.  Returning  to  California 
by  way  of  Nevada  he  left  his  wife  and  children  there  and  came 
on  to  Tulare,  arriving  with  twenty-five  cents  in  his  pockets  and  owing 
the  railroad  company  $1.80  baggage  charges.  He  borrowed  the  latter 
amount  from  a  friend,  securing  liis  scant  personal  property,  and  then 
looked  around  for  work.  Bound  to  get  a  start  in  some  way,  he 
worked  at  odd  jobs  in  Tulare  and  Fresno  counties,  being  at  one 
time  obliged  to  work  for  only  sixty  cents  a  day.  By  working  and 
scrimping  and  persevering  he  at  length  managed  to  save  enough 
money  to  enable  him  to  rent  a  farm  of  forty  acres  near  Visalia. 


574  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Later  he  bought  the  place,  paying  fifty  dollars  down,  improved 
it  and  then  sold  it  at  a  profit  of  six  hundred  dollars.  He  next,  in 
1903,  purchased  the  one  hundred  and  forty  acre  farm  northwest  of 
Tulare  which  has  since  been  his  home,  and  at  this  time  he  owes 
not  a  dollar  in  the  world  and  owns  one  of  the  most  productive 
ranches  of  its  size  in  the  county.  He  has  twenty  acres  of  Egj^tian 
corn  and  fifty  acres  of  alfalfa,  raises  grain  and  sells  fifty  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty  tons  of  hay  each  year.  One  of  the  paying  features 
of  his  enterprise  is  a  dairy  of  fifteen  cows. 

In  1889  Mr.  Parsons  married  Miss  Annie  McConnaughay,  who 
has  borne  him  children  as  follows:  Gertrude,  Maud,  Edna,  Inez, 
Frank,  Fred  and  Fay  (twins),  and  George.  Mrs.  Parsons  has 
always  been  a  true  helpmate  to  her  husband  and  during  the  earlier 
years  of  their  married  life  encouraged  and  assisted  him  so  effectively 
that  he  readily  accedes  to  her  the  credit  for  more  than  half  of  his 
success. 


FRANK  P.  ROBERTSON 

At  Willamette  Valley,  Ore.,  Frank  P.  Robertson,  now  one  of  Tulare 
county's  best  known  farmers  and  dairymen,  was  born  February  18, 
1855,  son  of  William  J.  and  Mary  (Matthews)  Robertson,  the  former 
a  native  of  New  Jersey,  the  latter  of  Missouri.  William  J.  Robertson 
was  the  captain  in  command  of  the  troops  which  fought  for  law, 
order  and  civilization  in  the  Rogue  River  war  in  Oregon,  and  years 
afterward  he  ably  filled  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  at  Tulare, 
Cal.,  where  his  son  has  come  to  the  front  as  a  splendid  citizen  and  a 
first-class  man  of  affairs. 

When  he  was  but  sixteen  years  old,  Frank  P.  Robertson  left 
Oregon,  and,  making  his  way  to  California,  settled  in  Tehama  county, 
where  he  farmed  till  he  moved  on  to  Modoc  county  to  take  charge  of 
a  sawmill.  He  came  to  Tulare  county  in  1885  and  found  emploAanent 
on  the  old  J.  B.  Zumwalt  ranch,  where  he  set  out  many  of  the  trees 
which,  developed  to  largeness,  now  adorn  the  place.  For  some  years 
past  he  has  been  the  owner  of  ranch  interests  more  or  less  extensive, 
mostly  within  the  limits  of  Tvilare  county,  and  at  one  time  owned 
a  ranch  three  miles  south  of  Visalia.  He  first  occupied  the  ranch 
which  is  now  his  home  by  lease,  and  in  1906  acquired  it  by  purchase. 
Formerly  he  farmed  it  to  grain,  but  for  ten  years  has  been  operating 
it  as  a  dairy  plant,  having  now  about  twenty-five  cows.  Fifty-five 
acres  of  the  place  he  devotes  to  alfalfa  and  pasture,  and  recently  he 
has  grown  Egyptian  corn  with  much  success. 

The  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  lodge  and  encampment. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  575 

iiK'lndes  Mr.  Robertson  in  its  niembeivship,  and  be  affiliates  also  with 
the  Woodmen  of  the  World  and  with  the  Circle  of  Woodcraft.  He 
has  a  wide  acquaintance  throughout  the  county  and  is  esteemed  as  a 
high-minded,  i)ublic-s])irited  citizen  who  has  the  welfare  of  his  com- 
munity very  much  at  heart.  Tie  married,  in  1888,  Josephine  Siddall, 
who  died  in  1896,  leaving  three  children,  Nellie,  wife  of  James 
Tingley,  of  Visalia ;  Charles,  and  Elmer. 


WILLIAM  C.  RHODES 

The  death  of  AVilliam  C.  Rhodes,  which  occurred  in  1888  on  the 
frontier  between  Texas  and  Mexico,  removed  from  his  vicinity  one  of 
the  oldest  and  most  honored  pioneers  of  California.  He  was  born 
in  March,  1817,  in  Knox  county,  east  Tennessee.  From  his  native 
state  he  went  to  Texas  in  1847,  and  in  1857  made  his  way  overland 
to  California  by  the  southern  route,  starting  with  a  band  of  cattle 
which  were  eventually  run  off  by  Indians.  At  the  Platte  river  it 
was  necessary  to  block  up  the  beds  in  the  wagons  to  keep  them  out 
of  the  water  in  crossing,  and  a  box  floated  off  with  three  children 
and  their  mother  in  it.  About  this  time  Mr.  Rhodes  saw  a  Mexican 
amputate  an  arm  of  a  man  whose  life  was  thought  to  be  in  danger 
from  a  gunshot  wound,  he  having  been  accidentally  shot  while  unload- 
ing bedding  from  his  wagon.  Mr.  Rhodes  made  his  home  in  San 
Bernardino  three  years,  returning  to  Tennessee  at  the  end  of  the 
first  year  via  the  Isthmus  to  bring  back  more  stock.  At  Carson  City 
he  left  his  stock  for  the  winter  in  care  of  the  Plouston  brothers,  but 
the  animals  all  died  before  spring.  For  a  time  after  his  arrival  in 
1860  at  Tulare  county  he  engaged  in  farming  and  later  was  in  the 
sheep  business  on  laud  where  he  had  settled  east  of  Visalia,  and 
which  was  his  home  for  years.  Subsequently  he  moved  south  of  Por- 
terville  and  remained  there  imtil  some  time  before  his  death.*  His 
widow,  who  Iiefore  her  marriage  was  Sarah  Rebecca  Douglas,  sur- 
vives at  the  present  age  of  eighty-four.  They  were  the  ]iarents  of 
twelve  children;  Nancy,  now  deceased;  Thomas;  John;  Harriet,  Mrs. 
J.  L.  Johnson;  Julia,  Mrs.  A.  Scruggs;  Ann  Hazleton,  Mrs.  C.  Har- 
jier;  William  R. ;  Tennessee  11,  Mrs.  S.  Fay;  Martha  E.,  Mrs.  E. 
ilalbert ;  Samuel  S. ;  Hugh,  deceased ;  and  Ora,  Mrs.  G.  Rolibins. 
Tluimas  married  Sarah  Fly  and  they  have  several  children.  John 
married  Mrs.  Mary  Tewksberry  and  they  have  five  children.  Harriet 
married  J.  L.  Johnson  and  has  three  children.  Julia  became  the  wife 
of  Thomas  Turner  and  they  bad  one  child;  by  her  marriage  with 
Alba  Scruggs  she  had  nine  children.  Ann  Hazleton  married  Charles 
Harper  and  bore  him  eight  children.     William  R.  married  Miss  Lou 


576  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Mefford  and  has  six  living  children.  Tennessee  B.  became  Mrs. 
Spencer  Fay  and  has  two  children.  Martha  E.  married  Edward 
Halbert  and  they  have  four  children.  Sanuiel  S.  married  Mary  A. 
Garrison.     Ora  is  Mrs.  George  Bobbins. 

As  a  iiioneer  Mr.  Rhodes  won  great  honor.  Fraternally  he 
affiliated  with  the  Masonic  order.  In  his  politics  he  was  a  Democrat 
and  as  a  citizen  he  was  helpfully  interested. 


WILLIAM  UNGER 

In  Petalmiia,  Sonoma  county,  a  place  made  famous  by  General 
Vallejo,  whose  old  adobe  will  live  long  in  history,  William  Unger, 
who  now  lives  near  Orosi  in  Stokes  valley,  was  born  January  3,  1869. 
a  son  of  Frederick  and  Dora  (Jantzen)  Unger.  His  parents,  natives 
of  Germany,  came  to  New  York  City  and  from  there  sailed  for  Cali- 
fornia by  way  of  Panama  in  1849.  Arrived  within  the  present  terri- 
tory of  the  Golden  State,  they  lived  in  Sonoma,  Santa  Clara  and 
Solano  counties  successively.  In  1880  they  settled  at  Selma,  Fresno 
county,  and  that  remained  the  family  home  thereafter.  For  a  time 
Mr.  Unger  mined  and  later  he  worked  for  the  United  States  govern- 
ment at  $4  a  day.  In  the  old  mining  days  he  one  day  picked  up  a 
gold  nugget  which  was  of  considerable  value.  He  died  in  1902,  his 
wife   in   1904. 

It  is  now  thirty-three  years  since  William  Unger  came  to  Fresno 
county,  where  he  remained  until  1904,  buying  and  improving  three 
fine  homes,  one  after  the  other.  From  there  he  came  to  Stokes  valley, 
where  he  bovaght  one  hundred  acres  of  land.  He  has  sixty-five  thou- 
sand citrus  trees  and  is  building  up  a  nursery  business  and  improv- 
ing his  land.  His  place  is  well  improved  and  is  well  provided  with 
modern  irrigation  facilities,  having  a  pumping  capacity  of  five  inches. 
He  was  the  fii-st  to  put  in  a  well  and  pumping  plant  here,  and  has 
over  thirty  inches  of  water  from  the  plant  installed  in  1912.  His 
twelve  acres  of  nursery  stock  has  attracted  much  attention  and  he 
intends  soon  to  plant  one  hundred  acres  of  oranges  and  limes.  His 
farm  has  been  made  entirely  from  raw  land  and  as  now  advanced  is 
one  of  the  best  in  the  vicinity.  Since  Mr.  Unger  came  to  the  valley 
many  colonists  have  followed  him  and  $600,000  worth  of  land  has 
been  sold  there,  all  of  which  amply  demonstrates  the  wisdom  of  liis 
choice,  as  he  has  shown  the  possibilities  of  this  section  of  the  country 
for  growing  citrus  fruit. 

In  Fresno  county  Mr.  Unger  married  Miss  Ada  E.  De  La  Grange, 
and  they  have  three  children.  Bertha,  Elwood  F.  and  Velora.  Bertha 
has  graduated  from  the  graimnar  school  and  Elwood  F.  is  a  student. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  577 

The  members  of  this  familj^  are  popular  with  all  who  know  them. 
Mr.  Unger  is  a  Republican  in  his  politics,  and  is  actively  interested  in 
all  public  affairs. 


HOMER  DAILEY  WOODARD 

A  successful  and  greatly  lamented  farmer  and  stockman  who 
before  his  death  was  a  prominent  representative  citizen  of  Tulare 
county  was  Homer  Dailey  Woodard,  who  was  born  November  22, 
1850,  and  died  in  1908.  His  native  place  was  Waukesha,  Wis.,  and  he 
was  a  son  of  Myron  Woodard,  who  was  born  near  Rochester,  N.  Y., 
June  9,  1819.  The  family  of  Woodard  had  been  prominent  there 
during  several  generations.  William  Williams,  a  signer  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  was  an  ancestor  of  Myron  Woodard 
in  the  maternal  line  and  Mr.  Woodard 's  father  saw  service  as  a  sol- 
dier in  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  served  under  General  Scott  in  the 
war  of  1812.  Myron  Woodard  was  an  early  settler  in  Waukesha, 
Wis.,  where  he  cleared  a  farm  and  assisted  to  build  up  the  best  in- 
terests of  his  community.  In  1854  he  crossed  the  plains  with  the 
Hawkins  boys,  driving  cattle,  and  became  a  gold  miner  in  California. 
He  went  back  in  1857,  spent  a  year  in  Wisconsin  and  brought  his 
family  to  Knights  Ferry,  San  Joaquin  county,  making  the  trip  by 
way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  Until  1862  he  was  again  a  miner, 
and  then  he  engaged  in  farming  and  wool  growing  in  the  Washoe 
valley,  Nevada.  Returning  to  California  in  1867,  he  spent  three 
months  in  Linden,  San  Joaquin  county,  then  again  took  to  mining, 
this  time  at  Columbia,  Tuolumne  county.  In  1870  he  went  to  Badger, 
on  the  Mill  road,  where  he  organized  a  school  district  and  established 
a  postoffice  of  which  he  was  the  first  postmaster.  There  he  farmed, 
raised  stock  and  conducted  a  hotel  until  he  retired  from  active  life 
and  made  his  home  with  his  son.  Homer  Dailey  Woodard,  with  whom 
he  lived  until  in  1886,  when  he  died,  aged  sixty-seven  years.  His 
political  and  religious  attitude  will  be  understood  when  it  is  stated 
that  he  was  a  Republican  and  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church.  He  married  Miss  Eunisa  Dailey,  a  native  of  Rochester, 
N.  Y.,  born  June  8,  1822.  After  her  husband's  death  she  sold  the 
Badger  ])ro]ierty  and  ]i\'ed  on  the  Woodard  farm  in  the  Townsend 
district  until  her  death,  October  4,  1899,  aged  seventy-seven  years 
She  left  four  children:  Marvin  W.,  in  Tehama  county;  Melvin  C,  a 
farmer  in  Tulare  county;  Homer  Dailey,  and  H.  P.,  a  railroad  man 
of  Arizona. 

In  the  district  schools  in  California  and  Nevada  Homer  Dailey 
Woodard  acquired  such  education  as  was  available  to  him,  and  when 


578  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

be  was  twenty  he  became  a  brakemaii  ou  tlie  Southern  Pacific  railroad 
between  Fresno  and  Sacramento.  After  three  years  of  such  work 
he  turned  to  farming  and  stockraising.  In  the  fall  of  1876  he  home- 
steaded  a  lumdred  and  sixty  acres  in  section  two,  township  seven- 
teen and  range  twenty-six,  a  site  that  later  became  known  as  his  home 
stead.  He  bought  other  land  from  time  to  time  until  he  owned  six- 
teen hundred  acres  here,  fifteen  hundred  acres  in  the  foothills,  a 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  near  Tulare  and  another  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acre  tract  in  Kings  coimty,  all  of  which  he  devoted  to  stock- 
raising  and  general  farming,  with  such  success  that  he  was  recog- 
nized as  one  of  the  leading  farmers  in  this  part  of  the  state.  His 
sons,  Chester  H.  and  Myron  F.  Woodard,  are  partners  with  their 
mother  in  the  old  home  ranch.  They  sold  out  their  cattle  interests 
in  the  mountains  and  now  own  three  hundred  and  ninety  acres  and 
are  renting  two  hundred  acres  more.  They  have  a  dairy  of  twenty- 
five  cows  and  have  two  hundred  Poland  China  hogs.  Fifty  acres  are 
planted  to  alfalfa,  seventy  to  Eg^i:)tian  corn  and  one  hundred  and 
fifty  acres  to  barley. 

Mr.  Woodard's  marriage  in  Tulare  county.  May  24,  1876,  united 
him  to  Susie  F.  Boork,  who  was  born  near  CarroUton,  Ark.  She 
was  a  daughter  of  Thomas  Eoork,  a  Tennesseean  by  birth,  who  came 
by  the  southern  overland  route  to  California  in  1859,  he  and  his 
family  constituting  a  part  of  a  large  immigrant  train.  He  stopped 
near  Visalia  for  a  while  and  later  became  a  pioneer  in  the  Cricket- 
ville  neighborhood,  where  he  farmed  during  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
His  wife,  formerly  Miss  Mary  Daniel,  was  born  in  South  Carolina, 
daughter  of  Abner  Daniel,  who  died  there.  She  died  in  Fresno 
county  in  1889.  Of  her  thirteen  children  eleven  grew  to  maturity 
and  five  were  living  in  1912.  Mrs.  Woodard  was  educated  at  the 
Visalia  Seminary  and  taught  school  five  years  in  Tulare  county.  She 
bore  her  husband  six  children:  Flora,  a  graduate  of  the  San  Jose 
State  Normal  school,  and  formerly  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools 
of  California,  married  H.  Swank  and  leaves  near  Visalia;  Orvis,  who 
was  educated  at  the  Pacific  Biisiness  college,  San  Jose,  and  at  the 
Kings  Conservatory  of  Music,  married  Viola  Smith  in  1911,  and  they 
have  a  daughter,  Mildred;  Myron  F.  married  in  1906  Alice  Fudge 
and  they  have  a  son.  Homer  D. ;  Chester  H.  married  Ethel  Elster  in 
1911,  and  they  have  a  daughter,  Dorris;  Hazel  and  Myrtle  are  mem- 
bers of  their  mother's  household.  Hazel  is  now  teaching  the  Chat- 
ham school  and  Myrtle  is  a  student,  being  a  senior  in  the  State  Nor- 
mal at  Fresno. 

Fraternally  Mr.  Woodard  was  associated  with  the  Ancient  Order 
of  United  Workmen  and  he  was  a  member  of  the  Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian church  at  Antelope,  with  which  his  widow  affiliates.  Politi- 
cally he  was  a  Republican  and  always  took  a  keen  interest  in  local 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  579 

affairs,  serving  from  time  to  time  as  a  member  of  the  county  central 
committee.  He  was  a  member  of  the  first  board  of  directors  for  the 
Townsend  district  and  long  acted  either  as  its  clerk  or  as  its  trustee, 
and  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  school  building  of  the  district  stands 
on  an  acre  of  ground  which  he  donated  as  its  site.  In  many  ways 
he  was  useful  to  the  community,  always  occupying  places  of  trust  and 
responsibility. 


MARTIN  L.  WEIGLE 

Many  a  man  who  has  come  to  California  hoping  to  find  good 
health  has  found  that  and  good  fortune  as  well.  The  experience  of 
Martin  L.  Weigle  is  evidence  in  point.  Born  in  York  county,  Pa., 
in  1846,  he  obtained  some  common  school  education  in  his  native 
state,  after  which  he  acquired  a  practical  knowledge  of  cigar  making. 
When  he  was  about  eighteen  years  old  he  went  to  Ohio,  where  he 
worked  at  his  trade  until  failing  health  made  necessary  a  change  of 
climate.  In  February,  1890,  he  came  to  California  and  soon  after- 
ward bought  forty  acres  of  land  northwest  of  Tulare  City,  and  to  his 
original  holding  he  has  added  by  purchases  from  time  to  time  imtil 
he  is  now  the  owner  of  two  hundred  acres.  His  farming  operations 
have  been  somewhat  extensive  and  at  one  time  he  worked  five  hun- 
dred acres  in  the  county.  At  present  he  has  fifteen  acres  in  vine- 
yards, giving  special  attention  to  raisin  grapes,  and  ninety-five  acres 
in  alfalfa,  with  twenty  acres  devoted  to  a  peach  orchard,  in  which 
he  grows  freestones  and  canning  fruit.  He  has  also  ten  acres  of  four- 
year-old  peach  trees  which  in  1911  produced  fruit  amounting  to  the 
value  of  $1,700,  and  twenty  acres  of  young  peach  orchard  not  yet 
bearing.  Among  his  possessions  is  a  fine  flock  of  Indian  Runner 
ducks.  Tliere  are  on  his  place  several  good  breeding  mares  and  he 
has  raised  some  fine  colts,  having  recently  sold  a  pair  for  $450.  It 
will  be  seen  that  his  career  in  California  has  been  one  of  increasing 
success,  and  it  should  be  noticed  that  this  success  has  been  the  result 
of  careful  planning  and  intelligent  labor.  To  an  extent  it  has  de- 
pended also  on  a  good  knowledge  of  crops,  climate  and  market 
peculiarities.  In  short,  Mr.  Weigle  has  made  a  careful  study  of 
everytliing  that  could  possibly  affect  his  business  and  has  taken 
advantage  of  every  opening  for  improvement  and  })rofit. 

In  1878  Mr.  Weigle  married  Miss  Matilda  B.  Wilson,  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania.  Though  lie  takes  an  intelligent  interest  in  all  impor- 
tant public  affairs,  lie  is  not  in  the  usual  sense  of  the  phrase  a  prac- 
tical politician,  but  he  has  demonstrated  the  possession  of  ]mblic 
interest  of  the  kind  that   makes  him  a  useful  citizen. 


580  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

JOHN  BROWN  BURNHAM 

The  Burnliam  family  to  which  John  Brown  Burnham  belongs 
came  originally  from  England  and  settled  in  Massachusetts  at  a  very 
early  date.  They  were  Pilgrims.  Mr.  Burnham 's  paternal  grand- 
mother was  born  in  England  and  died  at  Essex,  Mass.,  at  the  age  of 
a  hundred  and  ten  years.  An  interesting  record  of  this  family  will 
be  found  in  a  volume,  "Genealogy,  Eight  Generations  of  Burnhams," 
by  Rosana  Angeline  Burnham,  which  was  published  at  Boston,  Mass. 

In  the  old  Bay  State,  in  the  old  town  of  Essex,  John  Brown 
Burnham  was  born  July  7,  1838,  the  third  son  of  a  family  of  seven 
children  born  to  Nathan  and  Sarah  A.  (Brown)  Burnham,  the  latter 
of  whom  was  a  native  of  Ipswich.  Mass.,  and  was  Mr.  Burnham's 
second  wife.  Nathan  Burnham  was  a  merchant  and  stockman.  He 
was  born  at  Essex,  Mass.,  where  he  lived  and  passed  away. 

John  B.  Burnham  was  brought  up  at  Essex  and  at  Lawrence, 
where  he  learned  the  carpenter's  trade,  at  which  he  was  employed 
until  after  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  war.  December  3,  1861,  he  en- 
listed in  Company  H,  Nineteenth  Regiment,  Massachusetts  Volvmteer 
Infantry.  He  received  his  baptism  of  fire  at  Yorktown,  where  he 
for  the  first  time  faced  the  enemy  in  an  engagement.  He  fought 
later  at  West  Point  and  Fair  Oaks,  Malvern  Hill,  and  in  intermediate 
engagements,  and  at  Malvern  Hill  was  taken  prisoner.  At  one  time, 
through  a  blunder,  he  came  near  shooting  General  McClellan,  and 
while  he  was  held  at  Richmond  he  liad  a  memorable  talk  with  Gen. 
T.  J.  ("Stonewall")  Jackson.  He  was  near  the  spot  where  Gen. 
Albert  Sidney  Johnston  fell,  when  that  brave  Confederate  officer 
yielded  up  his  life  for  his  beloved  South.  In  Richmond  he  was  con- 
fined in  Libby  Prison  eighteen  months  and  had  many  gruesome  ex- 
periences. One  of  his  recollections  is  of  having  paid  $2.50  in  gold  for 
a  green  apple  pie  for  a  dAing  comrade.  After  his  release  he  bore  rifle 
and  knapsack  through  many  a  hard-fought  fight  till  1865. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  Mr.  Burnham  went  liack  to  Massachu- 
setts, where  he  remained  two  years,  then  went  to  Wisconsin,  intend- 
ing to  take  up  government  land.  Not  finding  conditions  there  to  his 
liking,  he  went  to  Waterloo,  Blackhawk  county.  Iowa.  In  1887  he 
came  to  Fresno  county,  Cal.,  but  soon  located  at  Visalia.  where  he 
worked  as  a  carpenter  nineteen  years.  Eventually  he  bought  thirty- 
seven  and  a  half  acres  of  land,  on  which  he  has  a  sixteen-acre  vine- 
yard and  a  family  orchard.  He  has  built  a  fine  house  on  the  place 
and  has  biiilt  and  sold  four  city  homes  in  Visalia.  As  a  citizen  he 
is  helpful  in  a  public-spirited  way  to  every  movement  for  the  general 
good.    Politically  he  affiliates  with  the  Socialists. 

In  Iowa  Mr.  Burnham  married  Elizabeth  Van  Derburgh,  a  native 
of  that  state,  a  daughter  of  Isaac  Kelly  and  Charlotte  E.   (Gleason) 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  581 

Van  Derbnrgh.  Her  father  went  to  Iowa  when  a  boy,  and  was  mar- 
ried in  Dubuque,  la.,  where  Mrs.  Burnham  was  born  Julj-  25,  1846. 
Her  mother  died  in  Cedar  county,  la.,  when  Mrs.  Burnham  was  in 
her  tifth  year,  leaving  her  and  a  little  sister,  Laura,  then  in  her 
third  year.  Mr.  Van  Derburgh  married  a  second  time  in  Iowa  and 
by  his  second  marriage  became  tlie  father  of  three  sons  and  three 
daughters.  John  B.  Burnham  and  his  wife  have  six  children:  Sarah 
E.,  Jessie  B.,  Anna  B.,  Pluma  B.,  John  B.  B.,  and  David  C.  Sarah 
E.  has  married  three  times.  David  Carlton  was  her  first  husband, 
Oscar  Nelson  was  her  second  and  Frank  McCain  is  her  present 
husband.  She  has  two  children  by  her  first  marriage,  four  by  her 
second  and  one  by  her  last.  Jessie  B.  is  the  wife  of  Hans  Larson 
of  Forest  City,  Iowa,  and  has  ten  children,  three  of  whom  are  sons. 
Anna  B.  married  Tilden  H.  Botts,  and  has  five  sons;  they  live  in 
Diuuba.  Pluma  B.  is  the  wife  of  O.  H.  Philbrick,  of  Oakland,  Cal., 
and  they  have  a  son  and  a  daughter.  John  B.  B.  became  the  hus- 
band of  Emma  Castilian  and  she  has  borne  him  a  son.  David  C. 
married  Etta  Cline,  of  Dinuba,  and  they  have  one  child. 


ZENIAS  KNIGHT 

A  son  of  James  H.  and  Mary  M.  (AVorley)  Knight  and  a  well- 
known  citizen  of  Tulare  county,  whose  residence  is  half  a  mile  south- 
east of  Monson,  Zenais  Knight  was  born  in  Jones  county,  Iowa,  No- 
vember 16,  1854.  In  1860,  before  he  was  yet  six  years  old,  he  came 
as  an  emigrant  to  California.  A  train  of  one  hundred  wagons  left 
Wyoming.  Iowa,  and  at  Baker,  Idaho,  was  divided  into  two  trains, 
one  of  which,  consisting  of  thirty  to  forty  wagons,  started  for  Oregon, 
while  the  other  came  on  to  California.  Of  the  Oregon  party  an  aunt 
of  Mr.  Knight  was  a  member.  Indians  at  that  time  were  very  trou- 
blesome and  they  attacked  the  train,  killing  most  of  the  emigrants, 
appropriating  the  stock  and  burning  the  wagons.  The  lady  men- 
tioned was  one  of  those  who  esca]3ed  and  it  was  not  until  four  or  five 
years  afterwards  that  she  was  enabled  to  inform  her  California 
friends  of  the  fate  that  had  overtaken  the  train.  The  journey  to 
California  was  made  by  way  of  Omaha  and  Lone  Tree,  Neb.,  up  the 
Platte  River  valley,  by  Salt  Lake  and  down  the  sink  of  the  Humboldt 
to  Hangtown,  where  the  party  rested  for  a  few  days.  The  Oregon 
party  consisted  of  about  seventy-five  individuals,  the  California  party 
of  about  one  Inmdred  and  seventy-five. 

The  Knights  located  in  Green  River  valley,  after  a  short  stop  at 
Sacramento  and  took  up  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  railroad 
grant  land  which  they  had  later  to  abandon.    The  father  lived  out 


582  TULARE  AND  KIXGS  COUNTIES 

his  days  in  California;  the  mother  is  living  in  Merced  county. 
Zenias  Knight's  early  days  were  passed  as  a  pioneer  in  a  new  and 
undeveloped  country.  "Work  was  plentiful  and  educational  advan- 
tages few,  but  by  reading,  study  and  observation  he  became  well 
informed.  He  married,  at  Hanford,  Miss  Sarah  E.  Halford,  who 
was  born  in  California,  and  they  have  had  seven  children:  Warren, 
Walter,  Laura,  Alice,  Wallace,  Harvey  and  Zenias.  Alice  married 
Jacob  Christen  and  had  a  son  named  Christopher.  They  live  at 
Dinuba.  Warren,  a  resident  of  Bakersfield,  married  Elizabeth 
Worthley. 

After  his  marriage  for  a  time  Mr.  Knight  lived  in  Merced 
county.  From  there  he  moved  to  eastern  Oregon,  whence  after 
seven  years  he  came  back  to  California  and  located  in  Tulare  county. 
He  bought  sixty  acres  of  land  in  1904  which  he  has  since  developed 
into  a  fine  fruit  ranch,  giving  attention  at  the  same  time  to  stock.  He 
has  eight  acres  of  peaches  five  years  old  and  from  twelve  acres 
of  his  land  he  secured  three  cuttings  of  alfalfa  in  1911.  His  stock 
consists  of  eight  head  and  he  has  ten  good  hogs. 

When  Mr.  Knight  first  came  to  this  county  there  was  not  a 
house  between  Visalia  and  Fresno,  and  he  saw  herds  of  from  five 
hundred  to  seven  hundred  antelope  and  many  elk,  while  bear  were 
numerous  in  the  swamps.  The  whole  country  was  a  vast  unde- 
veloped plain.  He  was  acquainted  as  boy  and  man  with  many 
pioneers  and  one  man  of  note  among  several  he  knew  was  Evans 
of  doubtful  fame.  In  1867  and  1868,  then  only  a  big  boy,  Mr.  Knight 
freighted  between  Stockton  and  Bakersfield,  often  visiting  Sacra- 
mento, hauling  mill  stutf.  He  recollects  that  on  one  occasion  the 
transportation  charges  on  a  steam  boiler  amounted  to  $.50  more  than 
the  original  cost  of  the  boiler  at  Sacramento.  Those  were  the  days 
of  primitive  things  in  California.  In  the  later  development  of  this 
part  of  the  state  Mr.  Knight  has  manfully  borne  his  part.  Politically 
he  is  a  Republican.  He  formerly  had  membership  with  the  Baptist 
church.  In  every  relation  of  life  he  has  been  public-spiritedly 
helpfiil  to  those  with  whom  he  has  been  brought  in  contact. 


GILBERT  M.   L.   DEAN 

At  Clarksville,  Red  River  county,  Texas,  Gilbert  M.  L.  Dean 
was  born  November  11,  18.39.  In  18.50  he  came  with  his  parents 
overland  to  California  by  the  southern  route,  reaching  Visalia  by 
way  of  Fort  Yuma.  He  was  the  son  of  Lteyi  and  Letitia  (Paten) 
Dean,  natives  of  Tennessee,  who  had  been  pioneers  in  Red  River 
county,  Texas,  in  1836.     The  party  was  in  charge  of  Captain  Bailey 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  583 

and  Levi  Dean  would  appear  to  have  been  second  in  command. 
They  were  often  menaced  by  Ajiache  Indians,  from  whom  they  were 
successful  in  concealin.n-  the  knowledge  of  their  numerical  strength, 
sometimes  camping  for  the  night  in  stockades  well  guarded  on  all 
sides.  Indians  claiming  to  want  to  buy  tobacco  or  oxen  to  be  killed 
for  beef,  sought  entrance  to  their  stronghold  but  were  excluded 
on  one  pretext  or  another.  Nine  months  was  consumed  in  making 
the  trip,  for  the  jiarty  often  withdrew  to  one  side  of  the  trail  to  rest 
their  stock  and  hunt.  They  lirought  one  hundred  cows  and  eighteen 
yoke  of  oxen.  At  this  time  a  span  of  mares  and  a  carriage  would 
be  a  small  ]>rice  to  jiay  for  one  hundred  cows,  but  such  a  purchase 
was  made  on  that  basis  by  these  immigrants  in  1850.  The  i^arty, 
consisting  of  thirty-two  men  in  charge  of  the  same  numl)er  of 
wagons,  arrived  at  Visalia  just  before  Christmas  of  that  year  and 
Mr.  Dean  soon  located  on  the  Jacob  Brus  ranch  up  the  creek.  His 
family  consisted  of  himself,  his  wife  and  their  eight  children,  the 
latter  being  Anna  N.,  Martha  J.,  Helen,  Mary  A.,  Henrietta,  George 
W.,  Gilbert  M.  L.  and  Albert  L.  Anna  N.  married  Robert  Huston, 
whom  she  bore  six  children  and  with  whom  she  went  back  to  Texas. 
Martha  J.  became  the  wife  of  Robert  Hamlington  and  they  had  live 
children.  Mary  A.  married  Claiborne  Dunn  and  bore  him  two 
children.  Henrietta  became  Mrs.  John  Baker  and  had  two  daugh- 
ters.   George  W.  is  married  and  has  two  sons  and  a  daughter. 

Gilbert  M.  L.  married  Laura  E.  Shaw,  and  following  are  the 
names  of  their  eight  children:  Levi,  Letitia  A.,  John  IL,  Laura  B., 
Martha  J.,  James  S.,  Mary  A.  and  Jesse  L.  Levi  married  Adeline 
Filey,  who  bore  him  two  sons.  Letitia  A.  became  the  wife  of  Alfred 
"Wooley  and  had  two  daughters.  John  PI.  married  Martha  Filey 
and  they  were  the  parents  of  three  children.  Laura  B.  became  the 
wife  of  George  Hill  and  the  mother  of  his  three  sons  and  one 
daughter.  Martha  J.  married  John  Findley  and  has  borne  him  three 
daughters  and  a  son.  Mary  A.  married  George  T.  Seamunds.  Jesse 
L.  took  for  his  wife  May  Downing  and  they  have  a  son.  Mr.  Dean 
has  sixteen  grandchildren  and  one  of  his  granddaughters  is  married. 

For  several  years  Mr.  Dean  lived  near  Visalia,  where  he  carried 
on  an  extensive  stock  business  and  raised  corn  and  vegetables.  He 
remembers  when  he  thought  he  was  doing  well  to  sell  one  hundred 
pounds  of  shelled  corn  for  seventy-five  cents.  He  was  for  a  time 
engaged  in  freighting  from  Stockton  and  had  a  government  con- 
tract to  deliver  supplies  for  soldiers  at  Fort  Independence.  He  voted 
at  the  first  election  in  the  county,  casting  his  l)allot  for  Lincoln  with 
his  father,  under  an  oak  tree  in  the  open.  He  rememl)ers  well 
when  the  coimty  seat  was  changed.  He  herded  stock  quite  exten- 
sively and  sold  many  cattle  at  the  mines  in  California  and  Nevada 
and  was  for  a  time  in  business  in  Visalia.     In  1867  he  homesteaded 


584  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

land  in  the  county,  which  later  he  sold  in  order  to  lease  a  ranch 
of  nine  hundred  acres  for  stock  raising  purposes.  He  keeps  an 
average  of  two  hundred  head  of  cattle  and  horses  and  sufficient 
number  of  hogs  for  his  own  use. 

Mr.  Dean's  experiences  in  Tulare  county  cover  the  period  of 
much  of  its  development.  He  has  seen  laud  which  was  formerly 
worth  only  $1.25  an  acre  sold  for  $5  to  $20  an  acre  and  other  lands 
at  much  higher  prices  at  a  corresponding  increase  in  value.  During 
his  early  years  here  he  hunted  a  good  deal,  killing  many  deer  and 
bear.  He  has  seen  as  many  as  two  hundred  and  fifty  deer  in  a 
single  winter  and  more  than  one  hundred  bear,  sometimes  in  groups 
of  eight  or  ten.  At  one  time  he  shot  a  bear  which  had  come  to  the 
mill  at  Visalia  for  water.  He  killed  also  many  antelope  and  saw 
mmierous  elk.  For  a  time  his  association  with  Indians  was  rather 
intimate  and  they  often  called  upon  him  for  advice  in  their  rela- 
tions with  their  white  neighbors.  At  one  time  they  counselled  with 
him  as  to  whether  they  should  give  a  war  dance  or  peace  dance  at 
Isham.  His  knowledge  of  Spanish  and  of  Indian  tongues  made  him 
useful  in  this  capacity.  He  has  been  school  trustee  of  the  Isham 
Valley  school  fourteen  years.  In  politics  he  is  a  Democrat  and  as  a 
citizen  he  is  markedly  public-spirited.  Mrs.  Dean  passed  away  in 
February,  1911,  after  forty-nine  years  of  wedded  happiness. 


FRED  GILL 

For  many  years  Iowa  has  attracted  settlers  from  the  east  and 
distributed  them  through  the  southwest  and  the  Pacific  coast  country, 
and  Tulare  county  has  profited  because  of  this  fact.  Fred  Gill  was 
born  in  Iowa  in  1869  and  when  he  was  five  years  old  was  brought  by 
liis  father  to  California,  and  his  education  was  acquired  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  at  Exeter.  He  grew  up  in  the  stock  business  and  his 
earliest  recollection  is  of  hundreds  of  cattle  and  hogs  ranging  on 
the  plains  in  sight  of  his  father's  house.  In  fact,  he  never  turned 
his  hand  to  work  of  any  other  kind.  In  1897  he  married  Miss  Car- 
rie Hickman,  a  native  daughter  of  California,  who  bore  him  three 
children.  Roy,  now  sixteen  years  old,  is  a  student  in  the  grammar 
school,  and  Emmett  and  Adolph.  aged  thirteen  and  eight  years  re- 
spectively, are  students  in  the  public  school. 

In  Tulare  county  Mr.  Gill  and  his  brother  are  recognized  as 
leaders  among  stockdealers.  They  own  forty  thousand  acres  of  land, 
mostly  devoted  to  grazing,  keep  an  average  of  four  thousand  head 
of  cattle,  and  in  1912  their  sales  reached  three  thousand  head.  Mr. 
Gill's  whole  active  life  has  been  given  to  the  raising  of  horses,  cat- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  585 

tie  and  hogs,  in  which  business  he  has  been  peculiarly  successful, 
having  made  all  that  he  possesses  practicall)-  within  the  last  fourteen 
years.  He  has  never  affiliated  with  any  secret  or  fraternal  order, 
nor  has  he  ever  held  a  political  office,  but  he  performs  his  duties  as 
a  citizen  in  a  public-spirited  way  that  makes  him  valuable  to  the 
community.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Iowa  and  a  man  of  ability 
and  considerable  success,  who  passed  away  in  1910,  aged  seventy- 
three  years.  His  mother  is  living  in  Porterville.  Mrs.  Gill's  mother 
is  dead,  but  her  father  survives,  and  is  an  honored  citizen  of  Tulare 
countv. 


JOEL  W.  WILLIAMS 

An  honored  pioneer  who  has  passed  away  within  a  comparatively 
recent  time  was  Joel  W.  Williams,  a  native  of  Missouri,  born  in  1841, 
who  came  overland  to  California  in  1857,  when  he  was  about  sixteen 
years  old,  making  the  journey  with  ox-teams  and  having  in  his 
possession  at  his  arrival  a  cash  capital  of  fifteen  cents  and  no  more. 
Locating  in  Sacramento,  he  soon  found  employment  stringing  tele- 
graph wires  on  a  line  then  under  construction  between  that  town 
and  Reno,  Nev.  Later  he  was  long  in  the  employment  of  railroad 
comjianies  as  a  foreman,  and  afterward  for  fifteen  years  he  worked 
in  the  wiring  department  of  telegraph  installation  and  repairs,  sav- 
ing money  with  which  he  started  in  the  sheep  business  in  Fresno 
and  Tulare  counties,  with  which  he  busied  himself  profitably  until 
1883.  In  1881  he  bought  the  Joel  W.  Williams  ranch  of  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres,  a  mile  and  a  half  northeast  of  Lemoore,  where  in 
1886  and  1887  he  planted  forty  acres  to  vineyard.  He  devoted  him- 
self principally,  however,  to  the  breeding  of  fine  horses,  making  a 
specialty  of  standard  bred  animals.  Bay  Rose,  a  stallion  of  his 
raising,  was  sold  when  six  years  old  to  the  Queen  of  Guatemala. 
For  many  years  he  was  successful  in  his  chosen  line  and  was  widely 
recognized  as  a  leading  stock-raiser  of  Central  California. 

In  his  religious  i^reference  Mr.  Williams  was  a  Presbyterian. 
He  was  a  charter  member  of  Lemoore  lodge  No.  225,  F.  &  A.  M.  In 
1882  he  married  Miss  Christie  E.  Edmonds,  of  Kirksville,  Mo.,  who 
bore  him  a  daughter,  Iva  W.,  who  is  the  wife  of  William  J.  Bryans, 
of  Lemoore.  He  passed  his  declining  years  on  his  ranch  and  died 
December  14,  1907.  He  is  survived  by  his  widow  and  the  daughter 
mentioned,  and  the  inevitalile  termination  of  his  long  and  useful 
career  was  sincerely  regretted  by  many  admiring  friends,  who  dur- 
ing their  many  years  com]ianionship  with  him  had  had  the  daily 
encouragement  and  consolation  of  his  loyal  and  warm  hearted  friend- 
ship. 


*&^ 


586  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

JESSE  W.  HAERIS 

In  that  grand  old  midway  state,  Missouri,  in  the  historic  old 
county  of  St.  Clair,  Jesse  W.  Harris,  now  a  well-known  contractor 
and  man  of  affairs  at  Corcoran,  Kings  county,  Cal.,  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 24,  1869.  When  he  was  five  years  old  he  was  taken  to  Union 
City,  Ind.  He  was  educated  in  public  schools  in  that  state  and  at 
the  State  Normal  school  at  Winchester,  Ind.  One  of  the  conditions 
under  which  some  students  are  admitted  to  State  Normal  schools 
is  that  they  shall  teach  for  a  certain  time  after  their  graduation. 
Mr.  Harris  devoted  seven  years  to  that  work  and  won  great  suc- 
cess as  an  educator.  In  1907  he  came  to  California  and  stopped  for 
a  short  time  in  Los  Angeles,  then  came  to  Corcoran  to  assist  in 
the  erection  of  a  sugar  factory  which  is  one  of  the  conspicuous 
buildings  of  that  town.  Eventually  he  went  into  contracting  and 
building,  in  connection  with  which  he  later  took  up  real  estate,  in 
both  fields  of  endeavor  being  satisfactorily  successful.  In  all  direc- 
tions may  be  seen  buildings  which  attest  his  mechanical  skill  and  his 
business  ability,  and  he  has  turned  some  of  the  notable  local  land 
deals  of  the  last  few  years. 

On  November  6,  1894.  Mr.  Harris  married  Miss  India  Peacock, 
who  was  born  in  Indiana,  June  14,  1876.  Fraternally  he  affiliates 
with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  with  the  Knights 
of  the  Golden  Eagle.  As  a  citizen  he  is  public-spirited  to  a  degree 
that  makes  him  dependably  helpful  in  any  emergency  demanding 
action  for  the  good  of  the  community.  He  is  filling  the  office  of 
justice  of  the  peace  with  the  highest  honor  and  integrity  and  to  the 
general  satisfaction  of  the  people  of  the  town,  who  have  learned 
to  respect  and  abide  by  his  judgment  and  to  seek  his  friendly  advice 
in  the  private  settlement  of  many  of  their  difficulties. 


GEORGE  T.  FARMER 

Born  at  Hamburg,  Fremont  county,  la.,  January  14,  1859,  George 
T.  Farmer  was  a  son  of  John  M.  and  Martha  J.  (Utterback)  Farmer. 
Attending  school  until  he  was  sixteen  he  then  came  to  (."aliforuia, 
arriving  in  what  is  now  Kings  county,  on  March  11,  1875.  On  April 
17,  following,  he  was  employed  in  the  construction  of  the  Peo- 
ple's ditch,  but  a  little  later  he  was  heading  grain  on  the  present 
site  of  Lemoore,  and  in  the  fall  of  that  year  he  was  hauling  lumber. 
Later,  in  association  with  his  uncle,  William  T.  Farmer,  he  was 
raising  wheat  and  buying  hogs,  and  their  first  harvest  was  the  grain 
produced  on  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land,  situated  one 
and  a  half  miles  south  of  his  present  home.     In  the  fall  of  1879  he 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  587 

married  and  removed  with  his  bride  to  Iowa,  but  came  back  to 
Kings  county  in  1880,  and  in  the  fall  of  1881  moved  to  Yolo  county, 
where  he  worked  on  road  construction.  He  later  came  to  Kings, 
then  Tulare  county,  and  in  1888  went  to  Siskiyou,  where  he  served 
as  justice  of  the  peace ■  of  Lake  township.  It  was  in  1891  that  he 
moved  to  his  present  locality,  and  in  1896  moved  to  his  present 
ranch,  which  he  bought  January  19,  1903.  He  has  been  very  suc- 
cessful here  and  is  now  extensively  engaged  in  stockraising  and 
dairying,  giving  attention  to  thoroughbred  cattle,  including  Guernsej^ 
dairy  cattle,  and  is  considered  one  of  the  leading  breeders  of  his 
class  in  the  county. 

Fraternally  Mr.  Farmer  affiliates  with  the  Sons  of  Veterans 
and  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  Taking  a  public-spirited  interest  in 
affairs  of  the  community,  he  has  filled  several  local  offices.  For  eight 
years  he  was  deputy  assessor  of  Kings  county,  and  for  seventeen 
years  he  has  been  a  school  trustee,  including  seven  years  as  trustee 
of  the  Hanford  high  school,  during  two  years  of  which  he  was  presi- 
dent of  the  school  board.  He  has  served  also  as  his  party  represen- 
tative in  the  county  central  committee  of  Tulare  and  Kings  counties. 

On  November  11,  1879,  Mr.  Farmer  married  Miss  Gertrude  Bug- 
gies, a  native  of  Woodland,  Yolo  county,  born  September  1.3,  1858, 
one  of  the  first  white  girls  born  in  that  county,  and  a  daughter  of 
Lyman  B.  and  Martha  Ann  (Dexter)  Ruggles.  They  have  eight 
children:  Leta,  who  married  Dr.  Cothran,  of  San  Jose;  Milton  T., 
who  is  at  Berkeley;  Lyman  D.,  who  is  now  filling  the  office  of 
sheriff  of  Kings  county ;  Ethel,  a  teacher  in  the  Hanford  grammar 
school;  Theodore,  who  is  on  the  home  farm,  and  Clarence  and  Paul, 
who  are  in  the  high  school,  and  Lucile,   in  the  grammar   school. 


CHARLES  0.  GILL 

No  ranchman  in  the  Porterville  district  of  Tulare  county  is  more 
widely  or  more  favorably  known  than  C.  0.  Gill,  who  lives  seven 
miles  and  a  half  north  of  that  city.  Born  in  Oliio,  August  15,  1863, 
he  was  taken  to  Iowa  and  tliere  remained  till  he  was  ten  years  old, 
then  was  brought  by  his  parents  to  California.  The  family  located 
in  Tulare  county,  aiid  Jiere  the  lioy  was  sent  to  school  at  the  Yokohl 
valley  school  liousc,  where,  under  the  tutelage  of  tlie  teachers  there 
employed,  he  acquired  a  pi'actical  education  which  has  been  of  great 
benefit  to  him  in  his  active  life  as  a  stockman  and  man  of  affairs. 

The  first  work  to  which  Mr.  Gill  gave  atteution  was  among  his 
father's  stock,  and  when  he  was  twenty  he  was  raising  cattle  on  his 
own  account,  and  from  that  day  to  this  his  energies  have  lieen  di- 
rected  to  the   advancement   of  tliis  one  kind   of   business.     He   has 


588  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

found  this  concentration  profitable.  In  1888  he  homesteaded  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  public  land,  and  since  then  has  bought 
tracts,  from  time  to  time,  till  he  now  has  twelve  thousand  acres, 
all  of  which  is  devoted  to  stockraising.  He  keeps  on  hand  about 
six  hundred  head  of  cattle  and  from  fifteen  to  twenty  horses.  His 
homestead  is  fitted  up  with  all  appliances  and  improvements  essential 
to  a   successful  enterprise  in  his  line. 

In  1887  Mr.  Gill  married  Miss  Clemmie  Anderson,  a  native 
daughter,  whose  father,  Garland  Anderson,  came  to  California  in 
1851,  among  the  pioneers.  They  have  two  children,  Maurice,  born  in 
1889,  and  Ada,  born  in  October,  1910.  The  son  was  educated  in  the 
Frazier  school  and  is  assisting  his  father  in  his  business  affairs. 

In  the  city  markets,  in  which  Mr.  Gill  always  sells  his  cattle 
and  hogs,  he  is  popular  and  highly  respected  because  of  his  fair 
and  square  business  methods.  In  all  of  the  relations  of  life  he  is 
friendly  and  helpful  and  as  a  citizen  he  has  many  times  demon- 
strated his  public  spirit. 


JAMES  MUNEOE  BLAKELEY 

Indiana  has  sent  to  California  many  men  and  women  who  liave 
won  honored  place  in  the  citizenship  of  the  Golden  State.  Among 
those  who  have  lived  and  prospered  in  the  vicinity  of  Hanford, 
Kings  county,  mention  should  be  made  of  James  Munroe  Blakeley. 
Mr.  Blakeley  was  born  in  1837  and  was  reared  and  educated  in  his 
native  state.  In  1857,  when  he  was  about  twenty  years  old,  he 
settled  in  Iowa,  where  he  farmed  successfully  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  He  married  there,  in  1861,  Miss  Mary  A.  Thomas,  like 
himself  a  native  of  Indiana,  who  had  gone  to  Iowa  with  her  parents, 
and  they  have  had  eight  children :  Eva  married  Harvey  Burns ;  Olive 
May  was  the  wife  of  H.  Clawson;  A.  W.  lives  at  Riverside;  Frank 
is  a  citizen  of  Lemoore;  Arthur  E.  is  well  known  in  Kings  county; 
Mary  is  the  wife  of  David  Porter  of  Hanford;  Grace,  who  is  Mrs. 
Charles  Moss,  lives  in  Kings  county,  and  Bessie  married  John  Bow- 
den  and  lives  in  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

In  1882  Mr.  Blakeley  came  with  his  family  from  Iowa  to  Grange- 
ville,  Tulare  county,  Cal.  During  the  first  two  years  of  his  residence 
here  he  farmed  leaSed  land,  but  eventually  he  bought  land  on  the 
lake.  He  sold  that  property  soon,  however,  and  bought  a  farm  on 
the  Mussel  slough,  and  there  farmed  for  some  years,  then  selling 
the  place  in  order  to  buy  another  near  Armona.  In  1904  he  secured 
by  a  trade  five  acres  of  land  adjoining  the  northwest  corner  of  the 
city  of  Hanford,  which  he  has  developed  into  a  profitable  orchard 
and  which  has  since  x>rovided  him  an  attractive  home.    As  a  farmer. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  589 

Mr.  Blakeley  has  been  successful  witbiu  the  limits  of  his  operations, 
and  as  a  citizen  he  has  shown  a  public  spirit  which  has  won  him 
the  regard  of  all  who  know  him.  He  is  especially  interested  in 
education,  and  wherever  he  has  lived  he  has  done  his  utmost  for  the 
advancement  of  the  schools  in  his  vicinity. 


HENRY  ALDEN   CRANE 

The  career  of  Henry  Alden  Crane  of  the  Paddock  district, 
southwest  of  Hanford,  Kings  county,  Cal.,  lias  been  that  of  a  self- 
made  man,  who,  by  his  sterling  qualities,  has  profited  by  his  op- 
portunities and  done,  directly  and  indirectly,  a  good  deal  for  the 
benefit  of  his  community.  Formerly  one  of  the  leading  apiarists  of 
Central  California,  he  is  now  making  a  success  in  the  production  of 
fruit  and  stock.  Mr.  Crane  is  a  native  of  Kansas  and  was  born 
September  2,  1872,  son  of  0.  Crane,  who  came  from  the  Sunflower 
State  to  California  in  1874,  when  Henry  A.  was  about  two  years 
old,  and.  lived  in  Yolo  county  until  1877:  Then  the  Crane  family 
moved  to  Tulare  county,  locating  eight  miles  southwest  of  Hanford, 
in  what  is  now  Kings  county,  and  the  elder  Crane  took  up  railroad 
land  which  he  later  lost  through  litigation.  While  he  occupied  the 
property  he  farmed  it  successfully  and  took  an  active  interest  in 
the  development  of  the  district.  He  was  a  factor  in  securing  the 
construction  of  a  ditch  through  his  part  of  the  county  and  in  bring- 
ing about  the  utilization  of  Mussel  slough  as  a  source  of  irrigation. 
He  passed  away  May  7,  1909,  after  a  life  of  industry  and  useful- 
ness. 

In  the  neighborliood  of  his  present  home  Henry  Alden  Crane  was 
reared  and  educated,  and  to  the  pulilic  schools  he  gives  credit  for 
his  literary  start  in  life.  His  business  beginning  was  as  an  apiarist 
in  the  district  between  Hanford  and  Cross  creek,  and  he  soon  ex- 
tended his  operations  until  he  had  at  one  time  four  hundred  colonies 
of  bees.  In  1900  he  bought  eighty  acres  in  the  heart  of  the  Paddock 
district,  eight  miles  southwest  of  Hanford,  on  which  there  was  then 
twelve  acres  of  old  vineyard,  but  no  other  improvements.  He  has 
developed  the  place  into  a  modern  home  ranch,  with  good  and 
ample  buildings  and  up-to-date  appliances  and  appointments.  He 
now  has  twenty-nine  acres  of  his  land  in  vineyard,  six  acres  in  peaches 
and  the  balance  in  alfalfa.  He  gives  considerable  attention  to  the 
breeding  of  horses,  cattle  and  hogs,  which  bring  a  high  price  in  the 
market.  In  1911  he  bought  forty  acres  of  the  Jacobs  tract,  about 
twelve  miles  southwest  of  Hanford,  which  he  is  improving  and  ex- 
pects soon  to  devote  almost  entirely  to  alfalfa. 

In  April,  1902,  Mr.  Crane  married  Winifred  Battenfeld,  of  Kings 


590  TULAKE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

county,  and  they  have  a  son,  William  Dale  Crane.  Mr.  Crane  takes 
a  public-spirited  interest  in  the  economic  and  political  affairs  of  his 
county,  state  and  nation,  and  his  solicitude  for  the  imi3rovement  of 
the  public  schools  in  his  vicinity  caused  him  to  accept  the  office  of 
trustee  of  the  Paddock  school  district,  which  he  is  filling  with  much 
abilitv  and  credit. 


WILLIAM  BURGAN  CLAEK 

One  of  the  many  self-made  men  of  Kings  county,  Cal.,  who  are 
deserving  of  an  especial  place  in  this  work,  by  reason  of  their  perse- 
verance in  the  face  of  difficulty  and  their  ultimate  worthy  achieve- 
ment, is  William  B.  Clark,  whose  farm  property  is  located  six  miles 
south  of  Hanford.  Born  October  21,  1865,  he  made  a  beginning  in 
active  life  in  1883,  when  he  was  about  eighteen  years  old,  by  work- 
ing on  ranches  in  his  neighborhood.  Later  he  rented  land  and 
farmed  on  his  own  account  till  1898,  when  he  went  to  Alaska,  being 
one  of  those  who  made  the  first  great  rush  for  the  Klondike.  Per- 
haps he  had  inherited  some  of  the  venturesome  spirit  of  his  father, 
who  had  been  a  pioneer  miner  in  California.  After  four  years  of 
hard  work  and  indifferent  success,  the  young  man  came  back  to 
Kings  county  and  soon  afterward  bought  his  present  home  ranch 
of  eighty  acres,  on  which  he  has  put  all  improvements.  He  devotes 
himself  to  stockraising,  dairying  and  the  breeding  of  hogs  and  has 
twenty  acres  of  his  homestead  in  alfalfa.  In  1907  he  bought  one 
hundred  and  twenty  acres  near  Guernsey  and  in  1911  thirty-five  acres 
adjoining  that  purchase,  which  laud  he  uses  for  stock. 

The  mother  of  William  B.  Clark  is  Mrs.  Amanda  B.  Clark,  a 
daughter  of  William  Burgan.  She  was  born  in  Ohio,  November  11, 
18.33,  and  when  she  was  fifteen  years  old  was  taken  by  her  father  to 
Wisconsin,  where  she  lived  till  1854,  coming  then  to  California.  She 
was  married  in  January  that  year  to  Charles  W.  Clark,  who  was 
born  September  13,  1822,  and  they  came  overland  to  Tuolumne  county, 
Cal.,  where  Mr.  Clark  mined  several  years,  finding  some  gold,  but 
experiencing  much  disappointment.  In  1866  he  was  made  super- 
intendent of  the  Pittsburg  coal  mine  in  Contra  Costa  county,  and 
there  he  labored  till  in  the  spring  of  1873,  when  he  came  to  Tulare 
county  and  boiight  two  thousand  acres  of  land  on  Lake  Tulare,  nine 
miles  south  of  Hanford,  at  $2.50  an  acre,  and  engaged  in  stock  and 
cattle  raising  and  in  the  growing  of  alfalfa.  It  is  generally  con- 
ceded that  he  had  the  first  alfalfa  in  Kings  county.  He  was  one  of 
the  promoters  and  builders  of  the  Lakeside  ditch  and  was  its  prin- 
cipal manager  for  several  years.    Later,  he  took  up  grain  and  sheej), 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  591 

and  became  one  of  the  most  extensive  sheep  men  in  the  county.  He 
had  bought  a  flock  which  his  brother  in  Fresno  county  looked  after 
for  him  and  which  he  brought  with  him  to  this  county,  and  that 
was  the  necleus  of  .is  later  large  property  of  this  kind.  In  time  he 
took  up  a  homestead  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  adjoining  his 
land  and  bought  three  hundred  acres  of  mountain  land  in  Fresno 
county.  In  1880  the  reverses  of  several  successive  dry  years  cul- 
minated in  his  loss  of  his  property,  and  he  rented  land  at  Lambert's 
Grove,  six  miles  east  of  Hanford,  and  resumed  sheep  raising,  also 
doing  a  little  farming.  In  1885  he  and  his  family  emigrated  to 
Woodville,  Jackson  county.  Ore.,  where  he  bought  a  small  ranch, 
put  in  an  orchard  and  engaged  in  merchandising.  For  four  years 
they  remained  there,  and  then  came  back  to  a  ranch  on  the  plains, 
near  their  old  place.  Mr.  Clark  died  at  the  home  of  his  son.  May 
13,  1894.  Mrs.  Clark  lived  with  her  son  Frank  at  Tulare  till  1902, 
since  when  she  has  been  a  member  of  the  household  of  her  son 
William  B.  She  bore  her  husband  six  children:  Frank  B.,  born 
January  28,  1855,  lives  in  Tulare.  Albert,  born  December  3,  1855, 
died  April  22,  1859.  Ida  B.,  born  May  2,  1860,  died  November  16, 
1862.  Grant  U.,  born  October  1,  1863,  lives  near  Hanford.  Wil- 
liam B.  was  next  in  order  of  birth.  Gracie  G.,  born  January  18,  1868, 
died  April  19,  1878. 

Not  only  is  William  B.  Clark  a  well-informed  and  resourceful 
rancher  and  stockman,  but  he  is  as  well  a  useful  and  patriotic  citi- 
zen, a  promoter  of  all  good  for  the  public  and  a  firm  believer  in  the 
ultimate  great  destiny  of  California  and  of  America. 


LOUIS  DECKER 

Prominent  and  active  in  the  industrial  and  civic  world  of  Le- 
moore  is  Louis  Decker,  born  at  Ligonier,  Ind.,  January  14,  1866. 
When  four  years  old  he  was  taken  by  his  parents  to  Alexander,  Nebr., 
where  he  lived  until  1886,  when  in  company  with  Charles  Russell, 
also  of  Alexander,  he  came  to  Lemoore,  where  he  has  attained  to 
prominence  in  many  ways  and  become  one  of  its  well-known  mer- 
chants. Mr.  Decker  was  erajiloyed  five  years  as  a  clerk  in  the  store 
of  M.  Lovelace,  then  bought  a  fruit  farm  at  Grangeville  on  which 
he  lived  during  the  ensuing  five  years.  In  1896  he  became  a  clerk 
in  Kutner-Goldstein's  store  at  Hanford,  and  after  three  years'  em- 
ployment there  he  went  to  the  oil  fields  in  Kern  county  and  put  in 
two  years  in  the  development  of  oil  lands.  After  that  for  some 
time  he  was  a  successful  contractor  and  builder  in  San  Francisco. 
Coming  back  to  Lemoore  in  1901,  he  a  second  time  entered  the  employ 
of  Mr.  Lovelace  with  whom  he  remained  four  vears  until  he  became 


592  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

bookkeoptM-  of  the  Bauk  of  Lemoore,  and  tliis  positiou  he  filled  uutil 
January,  1912,  when  he  resigned  it  to  buy  the  M.  Lovelace  store. 
He  carries  a  line  of  farm  implements,  agricultural  machinery  and 
carriages,  his  specialties  including  the  McCorniick  and  Buckeye  im- 
plements, the  California  Moline  plows  and  the  Studebaker  wagons. 
He  is  part  owner  and  manager  of  the  Lemoore  garage,  with  L.  H. 
Byron,  who  has  the  agency  for  the  country  round  Lemoore  and 
Coalinga  for  the  Ford  motor  vehicles  and  does  a  general  garage  and 
rejiair  business.  His  implement  building  is  constructed  of  corrugated 
iron  and  occupies  a  ground  space  of  100x150  feet,  and  his  garage,  of 
the  same  material,  occupies  a  ground  space  of  75x150  feet.  The 
latter  has  been  enlarged  three  times.  The  original  garage  was  75x75 
feet  in  area;  twenty-five  feet  was  added  to  its  length  and  later  it 
was  brought  up  to  its  present  capacity.  Having  recently  built  a 
new  residence  on  Lemoore  avenue,  Mr.  Decker  is  now  the  owner 
of-  two  houses  in  the  city.  He  has  in  many  ways  demonstrated  his 
public  spirit  and  has  served  as  city  clerk  of  Lemoore,  a  term  as  city 
clerk  by  appointment,  and  a  term  in  the  same  office  by  election.  In 
1893,  at  tlie  first  election  after  the  organization  of  Kings  county, 
he  was  a  candidate  for  coimty  recorder  against  F.  M.  Fraser  and 
was  defeated  by  only  five  votes.  He  is  secretary  of  the  Odd  Fel- 
lows' Hall  association  and  is  a  Past  Grand  of  the  local  lodge  of  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  a  past  clerk  of  the  Lemoore 
organization  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  "World,  and  in  1891  was  a 
delegate  to  the  High  Court  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Foresters 
lield   at  Los  Angeles. 

On  May  3,  1911,  Mr.  Decker  married  Maria  Westerhoff,  of  Alex- 
ander, Nebr.,  a  daughter  of  William  Westerliotf,  who  was  a  pioneer 
in  that  state. 


JAMES  E.  DUNLAP 

An  extensive  land  owner  and  cattle  dealer  of  Tulare  county  and 
one  who  has  figured  prominently  in  business  affairs  here  is  James 
Early  Dunlap.  His  father,  Johu  Dunlap,  was  a  native  of  Missouri 
and  a  pioneer  in  Texas  and  in  California,  and  met  his  death  on  the 
San  Bernardino  fair  grounds  by  being  struck  by  a  sulky*.  His  wife, 
a  native  of  Texas,  died  there  when  James  E.  was  five  years  old. 

James  E.  Dunlap  was  born  January  1,  1838,  in  Washington 
coimty.  Tex.,  and  here  learned  something  about  books  in  the  public 
schools,  and  a  good  deal  about  handling  cattle  on  the  ranges  which 
stretched  for  miles  and  miles  in  all  directions  round  about  his  home. 
When  he  was  in  his  seventeenth  vear  he  came  overland  to  California 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  593 

with  his  father  and  others,  and  the  Dunlaps  located  in  Los  Angeles 
county.  In  1855  the  younger  Dunlap  made  his  first  visit  to  Tulare 
county,  bringing  Texas  cattle  to  Visalia.  He  had  started  with  about 
thirteen  hundred  head,  but  about  nine  hundred  had  died  by  the 
way  for  want  of  water.  His  father  came  to  Tulare  county  in 
1858  and  bought  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  of  Mr.  Lynn. 
James  took  up  a  homestead  in  Ljim's  valley,  and  he  has  been  a 
land  owner  in  the  county  ever  since,  having  owned  at  one  time  three 
hundred  and  twenty  acres,  but  never  less  than  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres.  He  has  been  an  extensive  handler  of  cattle  for  the  market 
and  from  time  to  time  has  farmed  considerable  tracts  to  various 
cro])s.  He  deeded  to  the  Bald  Mountain  Mining  company  a  strip  off 
the  side  of  his  ranch  on  which  the  mine  of  that  corporation  is 
located. 

On  September  2.3,  1860,  Mr.  Dunlap  married  Miss  Lucy  Ellis,  a 
native  of  Texas,  who  has  borne  him  six  children :  Thomas  is  deceased. 
Henry  lives  near  Bakersfield,  Cal. ;  John's  home  is  at  White  River, 
Cal. ;  William  James  is  well  known  in  Tulare  county;  Emma  mar- 
ried Henry  Conner,  and  Mary  is  deceased.  Mr.  Dunlap 's  recollec- 
tions of  his  early  experiences  in  this  county  are  those  of  a  pioneer. 
At  this  time  there  are  very  few  others  living  here  who  were  here 
when  he  came.  He  relates  that  during  the  time  of  the  Indian 
trouble  his  father  camped  near  Deer  creek;  he  has  himself  killed 
many  1)ear  and  deer  within  the  limits  of  the  county.  For  some 
time  after  he  came,  there  were  few  houses  within  a  radius  of  many 
miles  in  any  direction  from  the  place  of  his  settlement,  the  whole 
territory  being  open  country,  utilized  as  cattle  ranges.  He  has  pros- 
pered with  the  community  in  which  he  lives,  and  while  he  has  been 
winning  fortune  for  himself  has  watched  the  development  of  a  wil- 
derness country  into  one  of  the  rich  and  important  counties  of  a 
great  state;  and  as  opportunity  has  offered  he  has  encouraged  and 
aided  that  development  in  a  public-spirited  way  that  has  insured 
him  the  respect  of  all  who  have  known  him. 


JOHN  V.  CLEMENTE 

It  was  across  the  ocean  on  the  other  continent  at  Pico,  in  the 
Azores  islands,  that  John  V.  Clemente  was  born.  May  6.  1864,  and 
he  now  lives  a  mile  north  of  Hanford,  Kings  county,  Cal.,  and  is  a 
successful  dairyman  and  fruit  grower.  He  is  a  true  citizen  of  America, 
devoted  to  the  best  interests  of  his  adopted  country  and  especially 
to  those  of  the  community  with  which  he  has  cast  his  lot.  He  re- 
mained on  his  native  isle  in  a  far-away  sea  until  he  was  eighteen 
vears  old,  then  came  to  the  United  States,  and  direct  to  California. 


594  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

locating  at  Pescadero,  San  Mateo  county,  where  for  four  years 
he  was  employed  at  ranch  work.  For  the  five  years  thereafter  he 
worked  on  ranches  in  San  Luis  Obispo  county.  In  1891  he  came 
to  Kings  county,  bought  a  band  of  sheep  and  went  into  the  sheep 
business,  to  which  he  devoted  himself  nine  years,  having  at  one  time 
a  flock  of  twenty-five  hundred. 

In  1901  Mr.  Clemente  bought  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of 
unimproved  land,  on  which  he  has  put  fences  and  buildings  and 
which  he  is  now  cultivating  with  success.  He  has  ten  acres  of  vines, 
two  acres  of  orchard  and  thirty  acres  of  alfalfa,  the  remainder  of 
his  tract  being  given  over  to  pasturage.  In  connection  with  this 
business  he  manages  a  small  dairy.  With  three  associates,  he  bought 
four  hundred  and  eighty  acres  of  land  north  of  Lemoore,  his  interest 
in  which  he  sold  in  1910.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Hanford  Mer- 
cantile company  and  affiliates  fraternally  with  the  U.  P.  E.  C.  and 
the  I.  D.  E.  S.  As  a  citizen  he  is  public-spirited  to  a  degree  that 
makes  him  helpful  to  every  worthy  local  interest. 

In  June,  1903,  Mr.  Clemente  married  Maria  Garcia,  and  they 
have  three  children:     Leonard,  Elvira  and  Maria. 


CARLETON  JAMES  SHANNON 

Prominent  as  a  farmer  and  dairyman  and  through  his  con- 
nection with  the  Dairymen's  Co-operative  Creamery  association  and 
the  Farmers'  Irrigation  Ditch  company,  Carl  James  Shannon  of 
Tulare  is  probably  as  favorably  known  as  any  other  citizen  of  Tulare 
couuty.  where  he  has  lived  since  1889.  He  was  born  in  Coleborne, 
Ontario,  Can.,  June  9,  1870,  the  second  in  a  family  of  four  sons 
and  one  daughter,  born  to  Robert  and  Deborah  (Richardson)  Shan- 
non. The  parents  left  Canada  in  1891  and  came  to  California,  mak- 
ing their  home  on  a  farm  near  Yisalia,  where  Mr.  Shannon  died. 
His  widow  lives  at  Dinuba.  Their  son,  Carleton  J.,  lived  on  the 
parental  farm  in  Canada  until  he  was  sixteen  years  old,  attending  the 
public  school  near  his  home.  At  sixteen  he  became  self-supporting 
and  for  three  years  worked  at  such  employiuent  as  he  could  find 
in  the  vicinity  of  his  birthplace.  At  nineteen  he  was  making  only 
fifteen  dollars  a  month  and  he  was  not  at  all  satisfied  with  his 
income.  But  he  saved  the  little  money  that  he  could  and  in  1889 
reached  Tulare  county,  all  traveling  expenses  paid,  with  twenty 
dollars  in  his  pocket.  Here  he  began  working  for  one  dollar  a  day. 
He  remained  with  his  first  employer.  J.  R.  Robinson,  a  year  and 
eight  months  and  then  worked  two  full  years  for  John  Frans  at 
stockraising.  Next  he  ventured  in  the  field  of  business  on  his  own 
account,  renting  the  R.  H.  Stevens  ranch  near  his  present  farm  for 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  595 

five  successive  years.  Returning  to  the  Frans  rancli  he  became  Mr. 
Frans's  partner  in  handling  stock,  and  by  1897,  through  good  man- 
agement, acquired  enough  capital  to  purchase  a  farm  of  one  hundred 
and  forty  acres,  which  was  the  nucleus  of  his  present  ranch.  In 
1900  he  bought  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  more  and  in  1902  an- 
other hundred  acres,  bringing  his  holding  up  to  four  hundred  and 
eighty  acres  in  sections  thirty-two  and  thirty-three,  township  nine- 
teen, range  twenty-five,  located  five ,  miles  northeast  of  Tulare.  He 
has  improved  and  cultivated  the  tract  until  it  ranks  with  the  best 
ranches  in  the  couuty.  By  later  purchases  he  has  become  the  owner 
of  fifteen  hundred  and  sixty  acres.  Forty  acres  is  devoted  to  peaches, 
one  hundred  to  alfalfa  and  eighty  to  vineyards.  He  has  a  dairy  of 
sixteen  Holstein  cows,  keeps  an  average  of  four  hundred  hogs  and 
raises  seventy-five  beef  cattle  yearly,  and  he  has  also  raised  some  fine 
Percheron  colts.  In  1911  he  planted  one  hundred  and  two  acres  to 
Egyptian  corn  which  yielded  thirty-three  hundred  sacks.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Dairymen's  Co-operative  Creamery  association  and 
president  and  manager  of  the  Farmers'  Irrigation  Ditch  company, 
which  has  an  eight-mile  ditch  whose  practical  length  is  greatly  in- 
creased by  many  laterals.  Besides  President  Shannon,  the  officers 
of  the  company  are  W.  P.  Ratliff,  secretary,  and  Bank  of  Tulare, 
treasurer.  Its  directors  are  Carl  J.  Shannon,  P.  F.  Roche,  E.  P. 
Foster,  Joseph  LaMarche  and  A.  W.  Church. 

In  Fresno,  Cal.,  in  1902,  Mr.  Shannon  married  Mrs.  Lulu  B. 
(Jordan)  Smith,  born  near  Visalia,  daughter  of  James  B.  Jordan. 
By  her  former  marriage  Mrs.  Shannon  had  one  son,  Leslie  Smith. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Shannon  have  three  children,  Gordan,  Dorothy  and 
Richard.  Fraternally  Mr.  Shannon  is  an  Odd  Fellow,  affiliating  with 
Four  Creeks  lodge  No.  92,  of  Visalia,  and  politically  he  is  a  stanch 
Democrat.  Public-spiritedly  he  is  all  that  his  many  admiring  friends 
could  wish  him. 


DANIEL  HEADRICK 

It  was  in  Kentucky  in  18.32  that  Daniel  Headrick  was  ])orn,  and 
when  a  child  was  taken  to  Missouri.  From  there  he  came  to  Cali- 
fornia in  ISGO  with  his  mother,  his  father  having  died  previously. 
He  had  learned  the  blacksmith's  trade,  but  settling  in  Butte  county, 
he  worked  there  as  a  farmer  for  some  time  and  from  there  went 
to  San  Joaquin  county,  where  he  was  both  farmer  and  bhutksmith 
several  years,  as  he  was  later  for  ten  years  in  Fresno  county.  His 
next  place  of  residence  was  near  Kings  river,  in  the  vicinity  of  Han- 
ford,   until   1888.     He  removed   from   there  to   Deer   creek,  thence  to 


596  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Tulare,  thence  to  Round  valley,  thence  to  Porterville  and  thence, 
in  1899,  again  to  Tulare,  where  he  remained  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  November  9,  1909.  Wherever  he  lived  he  combined 
his  two   occupations,  farming  and   blacksmithing. 

In  1866  Mr.  Headrick  married  Sarah  Palmer,  a  native  of  Wis- 
consin, who  had  been  reared  in  Iowa  and  was  then  living  at  Fresno. 
She  bore  eleven  children,  six  of  whom  are  living:  Leonard  Fry, 
George  Fry  and  Delia  Fry,  who  married  Ellis  Marvin  of  Hanford, 
Cal.  (these  three  by  a  former  marriage),  and  Arna,  Emory  and  Ivy 
(by  her  marriage  with  Mr.  Headrick).  Arna  is  the  wife  of  John 
E.  Walker  of  Tulare,  a  biographical  sketch  of  whom  appears  in  these 
pages;  Emory  lives  at  Porterville;  Ivy  married  S.  J.  Miller  of 
Tulare. 


HENRY   JOSEPH   BORGMAN 

A  leader  in  the  transfer  business  at  Exeter,  Tulare  county,  Cal., 
Henry  Joseph  Borgman  is  the  owner  of  considerable  property  in  that 
city  and  its  vicinity.  One  of  the  successful  men  of  the  town  he  has 
made  his  way  in  the  world  by  his  own  unaided  efforts  and  is  recog- 
nized as  one  of  the  prominent  self-made  men  of  the  county.  He  was 
born  in  Kewaunee  county,  Wis.,  in  1871,  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  there  and  lived  there  imtil  1902,  about  the  time  he  attained 
his  majority.  His  father,  Max  Borgman,  a  native  of  Germany, 
landed  in  New  York  city  April  14,  1865,  the  day  of  the  assassination 
of  President  Lincoln.  He  died  in  1894,  and  his  widow,  also  a  native 
of  the  fatherland,  survived  until  1907. 

When  Mr.  Borgman  came  to  California  he  found  employment 
as  a  laborer  and  by  industry  and  frugality  as  well  as  by  good 
business  ability,  he  has  made  himself  the  owner  of  the  most  ex- 
tensive transfer  business  in  his  part  of  the  county.  He  keeps  five 
teams  and  five  men  constantly  busy.  In  connection  with  the  enter- 
prise he  maintains  a  large  storage  warehouse  which  has  been  in- 
stalled at  considerable  expense  during  the  last  year.  He  has  bought 
property  from  time  to  time  until  he  owns  several  valuable  pieces 
in  Exeter  and  in  the  country  round  about.  Politically  he  is  a  Re- 
publican, and  as  a  citizen  he  has  in  many  ways  demonstrated  his 
public  spirit,  showing  a  willingness  at  all  times  to  do  anything  in 
his  power  for  the  community  with  which  he  has  cast  his  lot.  Fra- 
ternallv  he  affiliates  with  the  Modern  Woodmen  and  the  Woodmen 
of  the  "World. 

In  1895  Mr.  Borgman  married  Miss  Frances  Wahl,  a  native  of 
Wisconsin,  whose  father  has  passed  away,  but  whose  mother   is  a 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  597 

member  of  Mr.  Borgmau's  household.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Borgman  have 
eight  children:  Lena,  Eddie,  Katie,  Mary,  Joseph,  Clara,  Antone 
and  Adolph.  The  first  four  nioutioned  were  born  in  Wisconsin,  the 
others  are  native  sons  and  daughters  of  California.  Lena,  Eddie, 
Katie,  Mary  and  Joseph  are  students  in  the  public  school  at  Ex- 
eter. 


WINFRED  D.  DEENNEN 

This  enterprising  and  skillful  harnessniaker  and  saddler,  whose 
place  of  business  is  on  North  Irwin  street,  between  Sixth  and  Sev- 
enth streets.  Hanford,  Kings  county,  Cal.,  was  born  in  Kansas,  Jan- 
uary 1,  1877,  and  lived  there  until  he  was  abovit  eight  years  old. 
Then  his  father  died  and  his  mother  brought  him  to  California,  lo- 
cating in  Hanford,  and  here  he  was  reared  and  educated.  His  first 
emploAnnent  was  on  a  ranch,  and  for  some  time  he  divided  his  labors 
between  ranch  work  and  such  work  as  he  found  in  packing  houses. 
Eventually  he  began  to  learn  the  harnessmaker's  trade  with  C.  S. 
Cunningham  of  Hanford.  Two  years  later  Mr.  Cunningham  sold 
out  to  Mr.  Uberbacher,  for  whom  the  young  man  worked  until  Mr. 
Uberbacher  died,  leaving  the  business  to  his  widow,  who  continued 
it  till  September,  1911,  wlien  she  sold  it  to  Mr.  Drennen,  who  has 
owned  and  managed  it  since.  He  manufactiares  harness  and  sad- 
dles and  deals  in  them  and  in  whips,  robes,  carriage  trimmings  and 
harness  and  leather  supplies,  besides  doing  in  a  workman-like  man- 
ner all  repairs  in  his  line. 

Fraternally  Mr.  Drennen  affiliates  with  the  Improved  Order  of 
Red  Men,  the  Foresters  of  America  and  the  U.  P.  E.  C.  In  these 
orders  as  well  as  in  business  circles  he  is  justly  popular,  for  he  is 
of  a  friendly  and  helpful  disposition,  and  as  a  citizen  is  public- 
spirited  and  solicitous  for  the  general  welfare  of  the  community. 


JOSEPH   BEZERA 

In  the  Azores,  in  February,  1866,  was  born  Joseph  Bezera,  who 
is  familiarly  known  to  i)eoi)le  around  Hanford,  Kings  county,  Cal., 
as  Joe  Bezera.  He  was  brought  up  on  a  farm  on  his  native  island 
and  remained  there  until  he  was  sixteen  years  old,  when  he  emigrated 
to  the  Sandwich  islands,  whence  he  came  when  he  was  eighteen  years 
old  to  California,  locating  at  Hanford  before  the  end  of  1884.  Until 
1893  he  worked  on  farms  and  sheep  ranches,  and  then  he  became  a 
sheep  raiser  on  his  own  account,  and   so   successful  was   he  in  ac- 


598  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

f-nmnlatins'  stock  that  he  came  in  time  to  have  a  flock  of  seven 
thousand;  lie  <lisposed  of  this  interest  in  1911.  Meanwhile,  in  1900, 
he  had  bou^'ht  one  hundred  and  fifty-ei.sfht  acres  of  land,  a  mile 
northwest  of  the  city  limits  of  Hanford.  It  was  nnimproved  and  he 
huilt  fences  and  barns  and  a  fine  residence  and  otherwise  fitted  it  for 
profitable  use.  About  one-half  of  the  place  is  in  alfalfa  and  he  raises 
much  stock.  With  others  he  is  the  owner  of  an  extensive  dairy  busi- 
ness which  is  conducted  on  a  rented  ranch  of  six  hundred  and  forty 
acres,  near  Visalia,   and  there,   too,   stock  is  raised. 

In  1911  Mr.  Bezera  revisited  his  native  isle  to  renew  acquaint- 
ance with  scenes  and  friends  of  liis  earlier  years,  and  after  an  ab- 
sence from  Hanford  of  one  year  and  eight  months,  returned  in  1912 
and  was  gladly  welcomed  by  the  many  friends  he  had  made  in  his 
adopted  country.  He  has  become  known  as  a  man  of  progress  and 
enterprise,  who  takes  an  interest  deep  and  generous  in  the  general 
prosperity  of  the  community.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  I.  D. 
E.  S.  and  the  U.  P.  E.  C.  He  married,  in  1902,  Miss  Mary  Amelia 
Rogers,  who  has  borne  him  three  daughters  and  three  sons :  Lena, 
Mary,  Manuel,  Jaiues,  Joseph,  Jr.,  and  Amelia. 


HERBERT  ASKIN 

In  1869  Hei'bert  Askin  was  born  in  Crawford  county.  Mo.,  and 
in  1888  he  came  to  California,  having  in  the  meantime  acquired  such 
education  as  was  necessary  to  fit  him  for  the  career  of  usefulness 
upon  which  he  was  about  to  enter  as  well  as  a  practical  knowledge 
of  the  plumbing  and  tinning  trades.  For  three  years  after  he  ar- 
rived in  California  he  made  his  father's  instruction  available  by 
work  as  a  plumber  in  which  he  was  so  successful  as  to  win  the  appro- 
bation not  only  of  his  employers,  but  of  the  general  public  of  Fresno. 
From  Fresno  he  went  to  Hanford,  where  he  remained  until  January, 
1894,  when  he  came  to  Visalia  and  established  himself  in  liusiness 
as  a  i3h;mber  and  tinsmith. 

In  1896  Mr.  Askin  married  Miss  Louisa  Dinely,  a  daughter  of  a 
Tulare  county  pioneer.  He  was  successful  almost  from  the  outset 
of  his  career  in  Visalia.  and  in  July,  1911,  occupied  his  new  build- 
ing on  East  Main  street,  which  he  erected  according  to  his  own 
plans  and  which  in  actual  use  has  proven  to  be  one  of  the  most 
modern  and  best  equipped  structures  of  its  class  in  this  part  of  the 
state.  While  doing  a  general  line  of  tinner's  work  he  makes  a 
specialty  of  water  tanks  and  galvanized  iron  work.  The  following 
brief  mention  of  buildings  in  which  he  has  done  the  plumbing  since 
he  came  to  Visalia  will  afford  an  idea  of  the  scope  of  his  enterprise: 
City  Hall,  addition  to  the  Court  House,  First  National  Bank  build- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  599 

ing,  uew  high  school,  AVashington  grammar  school,  American  hotel, 
Boone  hotel,  new  Mt.  Whitney  Power  company  building,  the  Visalia 
club  building,  the  Goldstein  block,  the  Kaweah  club  building  and 
very  many  of  the  tine  homes  erected  or  remodeled  in  the  city  in 
recent  years. 

In  1907  Mr.  Askin  was  elected  a  city  trustee  of  Visalia,  in  which 
office  he  served  four  years.  He  was  especially  honored  in  1907  by 
being  chosen  to  serve  as  acting  president  of  the  board  on  the  oc- 
casion of  the  opening  of  the  new  city  hall.  The  work  of  the  board  of 
trustees  during  his  term  of  service  resulted  in  many  important  im- 
provements and  the  administration  of  the  municipal  affairs  at  tliat 
time  has  passed  into  history  as  one  conspicuous  for  its  high  busi- 
ness chai-acter.  It  relieved  the  city  of  a  debt  of  $7,000,  and  in  1911 
turned  it  over  to  the  new  board  of  trustees  with  $8,000  in  the  treas- 
ury. It  put  through  a  $4.'),000  bond  issue  to  raise  funds  for  the 
building  of  the  new  city  hall  and  the  erection  of  concrete  bridges 
over  irrigation  ditches  running  through  Visalia.  It  resurfaced  all 
the  paved  streets  of  the  town  and  laid  twenty-nine  blocks  of  new 
pavement.  Not  the  least  of  its  achievements  was  the  putting  of  the 
Mill  creek  conduit  into  Visalia.  Of  all  these  measures  Mr.  Askin 
was  a  promoter  and  with  the  working  out  of  some  of  the  more  im- 
portant of  them  he  was  jjersonally  concerned.  During  a  part  of  the 
period  of  the  activities  of  the  Visalia  Building  &  Loan  association  he 
was   one   of   its   directors. 


MORGAN  J.   WELLS 

A  residence  of  over  fifty  years  in  California  entitles  Mr.  Wells 
to  the  name  of  jiioneer,  and  as  such  he  has  borne  a  noble  ]iart  in 
bringing  about  the  improved  conditions  which  we  of  the  present 
day  enjoy.  He  was  born  in  Dixon  county,  Tenn.,  June  15,  IS'.V.),  the 
son  of  Henry  Gilbert  and  Nancy  (Wilson)  Wells,  liotli  also  natives  of 
that  same  southern  state.  Mr.  Wells  has  no  knowledge  of  his  native 
state,  for  he  was  less  than  six  mouths  old  when  his  ])arents  re- 
moved from  Tennessee  and  settled  in  Pope  county.  Ark.  Upon  wild 
and  unbroken  land  which  the  father  purchased  he  imi)rove(l  a  tine 
farm,  carrying  on  general  farming  and  stockraising  for-  several 
years.  Another  removal  of  the  family  in  1856  brought  them  to 
California,  ox  teams  being  the  motive  powei',  and  here  the  [larents 
rounded  out  their  useful  lives,  the  father  passing  away  at  the  age 
of  eighty-one  years,  and  Ihe  mother  when  sixty  years  old.  Mrs. 
Wells  was  the  daughter  of  Adam  Wilson,  a  native  of  Ireland,  who 
after  liis  immigration  to  the  United  States  followed  farming  in  Ten- 
nessee. 


600  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUXTIES 

Of  the  seven  children  born  to  Henry  G.  and  Nancy  (Wilson) 
Wells,  Morgan  J.  Wells  was  the  sixth  child  and  is  now  the  only  one 
living.  Needless  to  say  that  his  educational  advantages  were  meagre 
when  it  is  known  that  his  entire  boyhood  was  passed  in  frontier  sur- 
roundings. The  school  he  was  privileged  to  attend  was  a  rude  log 
affair  with  shake  roof  and  slab  benches,  and  he  was  taught  to  write 
with  a  quill  pen  of  the  teacher's  own  manufacture.  When  he  was 
less  than  twenty  years  of  age  he  was  attacked  with  the  gold  fever 
and  in  the  spring  of  1852  he  formed  a  company  and  started  with 
ox  teams  for  the  Pacific  coast.  By  way  of  what  was  known  as 
the  Cherokee  route  they  went  up  the  Arkansas  valley,  through  Den- 
ver and  along  the  Platte  I'iver  to  Salt  Lake,  and  from  there  by  way 
of  Humboldt  and  Carson  City  to  Tuolumne  county,  and  from  there 
to  Sonora,  six  months  having  been  consumed  in  the  journey.  After 
a  year's  experience  in  mining  there  Mr.  Wells  went  to  old  Millerton, 
there  combining  mining  and  teaming  for  about  three  years,  when  he 
came  to  Tulare  county  and  for  a  number  of  months  thereafter  he 
continued  freighting,  hauling  lumber  from  the  mountains  with  ox 
teams. 

The  year  after  coming  to  Tulare  county,  in  1857,  Mr.  AVells 
was  married  and  settled  with  his  wife  on  the  ranch  which  they  now 
occupy,  jBve  miles  northwest  of  Visalia.  The  nucleus  of  his  present 
property  was  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  which  he  entered  from 
the  government.  The  old  shake  house  which  at  first  adorned  it  gave 
place  in  time  to  a  more  substantial  frame  house.  Year  by  year  im- 
provements have  been  made  upon  the  property,  enhancing  its  value 
as  well  as  its  beauty.  Mr.  Wells  carries  on  general  farming  and 
teaming,  making  a  specialty  of  raising  wheat,  and  he  also  raises 
cattle  and  hogs.  Of  late  years  he  has  given  some  attention  to  the 
raising  of  fruit,  and  now  has  a  fine  family  orchard,  thirty  acres  alone 
in  prunes,  which  seem  to  be  es]>ecially  adapted  to  this  locality.  As 
means  and  opportunity  have  made  it  possible  Mr.  Wells  has  added  to 
his  acreage,  the  home  farm  now  containing  two  hundred  and  forty 
acres,  besides  which  he  owns  what  is  known  as  Bone  Canyon  ranch, 
eleven  himdred  acres  of  land  fourteen  miles  northeast  of  his  home 
ranch.  The  last-mentioned  property  is  devoted  almost  exclusively 
to  grain  and  stockraising.  The  Wutchumna  canal,  in  which  Mr. 
Wells  is  financially  interested,  supplies  water  to  his  property. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  Mr.  Wells's  marriage.  In  maidenhood 
his  wife  was  Miss  Catherine  Fudge,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  the 
daughter  of  John  B.  Fudge,  a  farmer,  who  settled  as  a  pioneer 
in  California  in  1856.  Six  children  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wells : 
Mary,  the  wife  of  L.  H.  Douglass,  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-three 
years,  leaving  one  child,  David  Roy  Douglass,  a  graduate  of  the  San 
Francisco  College  of  Pharmacy;  Sallie  is  a  resident  of  Visalia; 
Susan  E.  became  the  wife  of  David  Douglass  and  died  in  Visalia  at 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  601 

the  age  of  thirty-two;  Maggie  died  when  eighteen  years  old;  John 
died  when  twenty  years  old;  and  William  Reid  is  a  prominent  farmer 
and  stockman,  having  charge  of  the  Bone  Canyon  ranch.  The  son 
last  mentioned  married  Linda  Pleas,  a  native  of  California,  and 
they  have  one  son,   Donald  Morgan. 

Politically,  Morgan  J.  Wells  is  a  Democrat,  and  at  one  time 
served  as  a  member  of  the  county  committee.  Elected  to  the  ofBce 
of  sheritf  in  1879,  in  March  of  the  following  year  he  took  the  oath 
of  office  and  rendered  his  constituents  valued  service  for  two  years 
and  ten  months.  While  holding  this  office  Mr.  Wells  became  asso- 
ciated with  a  number  of  celebrated  cases,  among  them  being  that  of 
Ben  Harris,  a  negro,  who  killed  his  wife  and  child.  Harris  was 
overtaken  in  the  brush  by  Mr.  Wells  and  his  deputies,  and  being 
defied  by  their  victim,'  he  was  shot  by  one  of  the  deputy  sheriffs. 
Mr.  Wells  belongs  to  Visalia  lodge  No.  128,  F.  &  A.  M.,  as  does  also 
his  son,  William  R. ;  and  he  is  also  a  member  of  Visalia  chapter, 
R.  A.  M.,  and  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen.  Mrs.  Wells 
is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  Since  1909  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Wells  have  resided  in  Visalia,  having  built  a  pretty  little 
bungalow  suited  to  their  needs  at  No.  423  South  Garden  street. 


ANDREW   JACKSON   DAVIS 

To  the  pioneer  belongs  all  honor,  and  he  is  invariably  given  due 
respect  in  his  own  countiy,  for  when  he  has  passed  away  he  is  re- 
membered as  one  who  gave  his  life  as  a  part  of  the  foundation  on 
which  rests  the  splendid  social  structure  of  a  later  day.  Andrew 
Jackson  Davis  was  a  pioneer  whose  life  spanned  the  period  from 
November  .S,  18.33,  to  May  1,  1901,  when  he  passed  away.  He  was 
a  native  of  Tennessee  and  in  1854  left  his  old  home  and  came 
overland  to  California,  arriving  at  San  Francisco  in  the  spring  of 
the  following  year.  For  three  years  he  was  a  miner  at  Hangtown 
and  at  other  mines  on  the  Frasier  river.  In  1858  he  came  to  Tulare 
county  and  took  up  government  land,,  near  Farmersville,  which  he 
im]ivoved  until  he  had  one  of  the  good  farms  in  that  vicinity.  He 
married  Sarah  Ann  Davis,  a  native  of  Illinois  and  of  a  family  of 
Davises  which  bore  no  known  relationship  to  his,  and  they  had 
children  as  follows:  xMfred  A.,  Fitzhugh,  Eva,  Irene,  Elizabeth  A., 
Clement  B.,  and  Andrew  P.  Fitzliugh  died  in  early  manhood,  Eva 
when  she  was  seven  years  old,  Irene  when  she  was  five  years  old 
and  their  mother  in  August,  1880.  Elizabeth  A.  is  the  wife  of  B. 
W.  Jennings,  a  ranchman  near  Farmersville.  Clement  B.  died  when 
thirty-three  years  old,  leaving  two  children  and  a  widow,  residing  in 
Los  Angeles. 


602  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

The  youngest  of  his  father's  family,  Andrew  P.  Davis  was  born 
at  Farmersville,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  May  27,  1877.  After  leaving 
school  he  helped  his  father  on  the  latter 's  ranch  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  until  his  father's  death,  then  received  thirty  acres  as  his 
share  of  the  propertj'.  He  began  to  farm  on  his  own  account 
in  1898  and  planted  a  fine  orchard  which  adorns  his  place.  Having 
made  a  careful  studj^  of  fruit  culture,  he  has  been  enabled  to  obtain 
the  very  best  results  from  his  trees  and  in  a  general  way  his  entire 
venture  has  been  very  successful.  In  1907  he  took  two  hundred 
and  thirty  tons  of  prunes  from  one  thousand  trees,  an  average 
of  eight  boxes  to  the  tree,  and  in  1911  the  same  trees  yielded  him 
two  hundred  and  twenty  tons.  From  two  hundred  and  seventy-five 
Pliillips  cling-stone  peach  trees  he  gathered  sixteen  tons  of  fruit  in 
1910  and  fifteen  tons  in  1911. 

In  1897  Mr.  Davis  married  Elizabeth  Titrich,  a  native  of  Kan- 
sas, and  they  have  children  named  Mellxiurne  and  Irvin  P.  Fra- 
ternallv  Mr.  Davis  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World. 


JOHN  WHITTAKER  BAIRSTOW 

Numbered  conspicuously  among  the  successful  fruitgrowers  of 
Hanford  and  vicinity  is  John  Whittaker  Bairstow,  who  was  born  in 
England,  May  23,  1859.  He  was  reared  in  England  and  there  edu- 
cated and  taught  the  secrets  of  the  nurseryman,  and  it  was  as  a 
nurseryman  tliat  he  was  employed  in  his  native  land  till  he  was 
thirty  years  old.  Leaving  his  wife  and  three  children  behind  him 
in  England  he  came  to  California  about  the  first  of  July,  1889, 
crossing  the  continent  by  rail  from  New  York  city.  He  sought  work 
in  vain  at  different  nurseries  in  Oakland  and  Alameda  and  was  finally 
com])elled  to  take  emplo^iiient  in  the  planing  mill  of  George  C.  Pape 
at  East  Oakland,  where  he  worked  about  eighteen  months.  Mean- 
while he  made  the  acquaintance  of  J.  C.  Kimball,  the  well-known 
prune  grower  of  Kings  county,  and  went  with  him  to  Hanford  in 
1891,  remaining  in  his  emplo.y  till  the  fall  of  that  year.  During 
this  time  he  was  engaged  in  setting  out  a  i)rune  orchard  for  Mr. 
Kimball  and  the  latter 's  brother  and  some  of  their  relatives,  handling 
all  the  trees  and  distributing  them  to  different  ranches  until  five 
hundred  and  four  acres  had  been  put  under  that  fruit.  For  six 
months  he  helloed  to  bud  nursery  stock  in  the  Lucerne  vineyard. 

Mr.  Bairstow  later  brought  his  family  over  from  England  and 
set  up  his  home  near  Hanford,  renting  twenty  acres  of  vineyard  of 
N.  M.  Newell.  After  the  first  season,  he  pulled  up  the  vines  and 
for  six  years  he  farmed  the  land,  working  out  whenever  he  could 
spare  time  from  the   place.     His   next  venture   was   as   a   nursery- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  603 

mau,  raising  bis  own  stock.  In  iy*J(j  he  bought  twent.v  acres  of  the 
J.  C.  Courtner  ranch,  and  ten  years  later  an  adjoining  twenty,  of 
the  Lucerne  vineyard.  He  set  seven  acres  of  vineyard  on  the 
original  twenty,  an  acre  of  apricots  and  a  small  family  orchard, 
but  at  this  time  he  uses  all  the  land  for  nursery '  stock.  In  1902  he 
established  a  nursery  yard  at  TIanford,  where  he  carries  Early  May, 
EUierta,  Lovell,  Muir,  Admiral  Dewey,  Wheatland  and  late  and  early 
Crawford  free-stone  peaches  and  Heath,  Sullivan,  Orange,  Phillips 
and  Lemon  cling-stone  peaches;  Early  Royal,  Routier  Peach,  Tilton 
and  St.  Ambrose  apricots;  Ben  Davis,  White  Winter  Pearmain,  Red 
June  and  Red  Astrakhan  apples;  Bartlett  and  Winter  Nellis  pears; 
French,  Robe  de  Sargent  and  Tradegov  prunes;  Prunes  Simona  and 
English  Dawson  plums ;  Muscat  and  Thompson  seedless  grapes ;  nec- 
tarines, and  sycamore,  maple,  California  walnut,  poplar,  Texas  um- 
brella and  other  shade  and  ornamental  trees.  He  was  the  first 
nurserATuan  to  put  on  sale  the  Tilton  apricot,  exhibiting  it  at  the 
State  Fruit  Growers'  convention  in  Sacramento  in  1902  and  taking  a 
first  grade  diploma  for  choicest  dried  fruit  in  competition  with  all 
the  fruit  produced  in  the  state.  This  apricot  originated  here  in 
Kings  county  with  J.  E.  Tilton,  and  Mr.  Bairstow  handles  it  in  his 
trade. 

In  March,  1877,  Mr.  Bairstow  married  Miss  Louisa  Williams,  a 
native  and  then  a  resident  of  England,  and  she  has  borne  him  five 
cliildren,  of  whom  two,  Lott  and  Samuel,  survive;  Rosson,  their 
eldest,  died  at  Hanford;  Ethelliert  died  in  infancy  in  England,  and 
another,  born  in  California,  died  in  infancy.  Mr.  Bairstow  is  an 
American  in  everything  except  actual  birth  that  the  name  can  imply. 
His  interest  in  the  community  with  which  he  has  cast  his  lot  is  such 
as  to  make  him  a  citizen  of  much  pulilic  spirit,  and  no  call  for  aid 
toward  the  betterment  of  the  condition  of  any  considerable  number 
of  his  fellow  citizens  fails  to  receive  his  prompt  and  generous 
response. 


EDMUND  J.   FUDGE 

Among  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  Visalia  was  the  late  Ed- 
mund J.  Fudge,  who  made  his  home  at  No.  42.3  South  Garden  street. 
He  served  for  eight  years  as  deputy  sheriff  of  Tulare  county,  Cal., 
and  was  four  times  elected  marshal  of  the  city  mentioned.  Mr. 
Pudge  was  l)orn  in  Madison  county,  Tenn.,  in  1832,  a  son  of  John  B. 
Fudge,  and  was  taken  in  infancy  to -Arkansas,  where  his  family  lived 
until  1856.  Then  tliey  crossed  the  plains  to  California  with  ox-teams, 
driving  cattle  and  otherwise  making  the  journey  in  prinutive  ways 


604  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

of  pioneers.  In  1859  they  came  to  the  vicinity  of  Visalia,  where  the 
father  prospered  as  a  stockraiser  until  he  passed  away. 

After  acquiring  such  education  as  was  afforded  him,  Edmund 
J.  Fudge  took  up  the  activities  of  life  in  the  teaming  business  in 
Tulare  county,  and  in  1861,  when  he  was  thirty  years  old,  he  went 
to  Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  where  he  teamed  and  prospected  for 
ore,  and  about  this  time  he  mined  in  Nevada  and  for  a  year  in 
Stanislaus  county,  Cal.  In  Arizona  he  narrowly  escaped  being  killed 
by  Indians;  he  and  four  companions  were  chased  by  a  band  of 
redskins,  and  three  of  his  companions  were  killed.  Mr.  Fudge's 
horse  was  shot  imder  him,  and  he  sprang  to  a  seat  beside  his  re- 
maining companion,  whose  horse  made  good  in  a  race  with  their 
pursuers.  For  many  years  after  his  return  to  Tulare  county  Mr. 
Fudge  was  engaged  in  stockraising  with  M.  J.  Wells,  his  brother-in- 
law,  who  has  an  enviable  place  in  the  history  of  Tulare  county 
as  one  of  its  most  efficient  sheriffs.  Under  Sheriff  Wells  Mr.  Fadge 
was  appointed  deputy  sheriff,  in  which  office  he  served  eight  years, 
giving  the  greatest  satisfaction  in  that  capacity.  Elected  four  times 
city  marshal  of  Visalia,  he  filled  the  office  with  singular  fitness  and 
fidelity. 

Mr.  Fudge  owned  a  quarter-section  of  ranch  land  near  Visalia 
and  a  quarter-section  of  timber  land  in  the  mountains,  but  was  for 
some  time  before  his  death  practically  retired  from  active  busi- 
ness. Fraternally  he  was  affiliated  with  Knights  Templar  Masons 
and  with  the  Knights  of  Pythias.  As  a  citizen  he  was  always  public- 
spiritedly  helpful  to  all  good  interests  of  the  community.  Mr. 
Fudge  died  at  Visalia  November  14,  1911.  He  left  an  estate  valued 
at  about  $16,000. 


HAERY  JEROME  RAISCH 

The  ability  to  see  a  good  opportunity  and  the  ]:)romptness  and 
energy  which  enables  a  man  to  take  time  by  the  forelock  are  as 
requisite  to  the  farmer  who  would  succeed  as  to  men  in  any  other 
business  or  profession,  and  perhaps  in  his  work  these  factors  are 
brought  into  demand  oftener  than  in  the  work  of  his  neighbors  in 
other  walks  of  life.  One  who  has  demonstrated  this  fact  by  the 
sagacious  buying  of  good  land,  and  by  improving  and  cultivating  it 
with  due  regard  for  all  influencing  conditions,  is  H.  J.  Raisch,  who 
lives  five  miles  north  of  Hanford,  in  Kings  county,  Cal. 

It  was  in  the  honored  old  state  of  Kentucky  that  Mr.  Raisch  was 
born  on  February  7,  1861.  However,  he  lived  there  but  a  com- 
paratively short  time,  for  he  was  early  taken  by  his  family  to  Kan- 
sas, where  he  was  reared  to  manhood,  educated  in  the  public  schools 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  605 

and  initiated  into  the  details  of  practical  farming.  In  1883,  when 
he  was  about  twentj^-two  years  old,  he  came  to  Hanford,  where  he 
prospered  for  some  years  at  teaming  and  as  a  farmer  on  rented 
land.  In  1907  he  bought  twenty-two  acres  five  miles  north  of  the 
city,  ten  acres  of  which  was  a  tine  peach  orchard.  He  has  since  ac- 
quired an  adjoining  tract  of  the  same  area  and  is  preparing  to  go 
quite  extensively  into  fruit  culture.  Besides  this  property  he  owns 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  grazing  land  on  the  west  side 
which  he  rents  out.  In  1912  he  inherited  twentj'-two  acres  of  his 
father's  estate,  which  is  located  opposite  his  home  place  and  is  all  in 
vines.  He  has  improved  his  homestead  with  buildings  and  fences 
and  outfitted  it  with  everything  in  the  way  of  machinery  and  ap- 
pliances that  is  essential  to  the  successful  prosecution  of  his  enter- 
prise. 

In  1885  Mr.  Raisch  united  his  fortunes  by  marriage  with  those 
of  Miss  Cinderella  Barlow,  who  by  her  spupathy  and  advice  has 
aided  him  materially  in  the  winning  of  his  most  substantial  suc- 
cess. Genial  of  disposition  aud  social  in  all  his  instincts,  he  has 
from  time  to  time  identified  himself  with  fraternal  orders,  notably 
with  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  As  a 
citizen  he  has  shown  his  devotion  to  the  general  good  by  giving  all 
due  encouragement  to  such  measures  as  have  been  promoted  for  the 
development  of  his  town,  county  and  state. 


JOHN  CULBERSON  RICE 

A  pioneer  of  Central  California  who  has  been  identified  with  its 
development  for  over  half  a  century  is  John  Culberson  Rice.  He  was 
born  in  Benton  county,  Ark.,  April  27,  1849,  son  of  Isaac  and  Martha 
E.  (Gardner)  Rice,  natives  of  Tennessee.  In  1857,  Isaac  Rice,  with 
his  wife  and  children,  crossed  the  plains  with  ox-teams  to  Califor- 
nia, their  journey  consuming  six  months.  They  passed  the  winter 
of  1857-58  in  Napa  county  and  in  the  following  spring  went  to  Clear 
Lake,  Lake  county,  where  the  elder  Rice  went  into  the  raising  of 
cattle,  horses  and  hogs.  In  1862  he  went  back  to  Wooden  valley, 
where  he  had  passed  his  first  winter  in  California,  and  bought  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres,  on  which  he  raised  stock  until  in  1867,  and 
then  moved  to  Vacaville,  Solano  county,  in  order  to  obtain  better 
educational  facilities  for  his  children.  Buying  town  property  tliere, 
he  also  rented  land  outside  which  he  farmed  with  success  till  1872, 
when  he  came  to  Tulare  county  and  took  up  a  quarter-section  north 
of  Visalia.  Later  he  farmed  near  Dinuba,  where  he  passed  away  in 
1888,  his  wife  surviving  him  till  in  1907.  As  a  Mason  and  as  a 
citizen,   Mr.   Rice  stood   high   in   the   public   regard.     Following   are 


606  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

the  names  of  his  children :  John  C. ;  Laura,  wife  of  E.  Edwards,  of 
Globe,  Ariz. ;  Mrs.  Melissa  Smith,  of  Dinuba ;  Ella,  wife  of  John 
Bacon,  a  rancher  north  of  Visalia ;  Maimie  Burke ;  Jessie  B.,  who  mar- 
ried James  Eyce  of  Selma ;  Thomas;  Hattie,  wife  of  "William  Hunter; 
Charles  and  Frank. 

Through  the  first  winter  after  the  departure  of  his  father  from 
Vaea\-ille,  John  Culberson  Rice  remained  there.  He  spent  the  next 
two  years  in  Nevada  and  came  to  Hanford  on  Christmas  Day,  1876, 
and  farmed  for  a  time  south  of  the  city.  His  present  ranch,  one  mile 
from  the  city  line,  contains  seventy-six  acres  set  to  fruit  and  vines, 
including  twenty  acres  of  Muscat  grapes,  eight  of  Thompson  seedless, 
three  of  primes,  twenty  of  peaches  and  three  of  apricots.  The  re- 
mainder of  the  place  is  devoted  to  alfalfa  and  pasture. 

In  1877,  Mr.  Rice  married  Miss  Carrie  Barton,  a  native  of  Bur- 
lington, Iowa,  and  they  have  children,  George,  at  Reedley;  J.  Clar- 
ence, coroner  of  Kings  county,  a  biographical  sketch  of  whom  appears 
in  these  pages;  Mrs.  Leila  (Rice)  Shields,  and  Lulu,  a  student  at 
Mills  College.  Mr.  Rice  is  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows  and  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World. 


J.  CLARENCE  RICE 

The  coroner  of  Kings  county,  Cal.,  J.  Clarence  Rice  of  Hanford, 
prominent  as  a  funeral  director,  was  born  near  that  city  December 
5,  1880,  son  of  John  Culberson  Rice,  and  was  educated  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  Hanford  and  at  Heald's  Business  College  in  San  Fran- 
cisco. For  a  time  after  his  return  from  the  institution  just  men- 
tioned he  was  in  commercial  emplo>^llent,  but  eventually  he  went 
into  the  undertaking  business  with  E.  J.  Kelly  as  a  partner.  Later 
Mr.  Kelly  retired  from  the  enterprise  and  in  September,  1902.  W.  M. 
Thomas  .became  a  member  of  the  firm.  In  1908  Mr.  Rice  bought  the 
interest  of  Mr.  Thomas,  and  since  then  has  been  sole  proprietor. 
He  served  as  deputy  county  coroner  under  Coroner  Thomas  and 
under  Coroner  Denton,  and  so  efficient  was  he  in  the  office  that  in 
1910  he  was  elected  to  the  ofiice  of  coroner. 

Real  estate  has  commanded  Mr.  Rice's  attention  for  some  years 
and  he  has  bought  and  sold  quite  extensively.  At  this  time  he  is 
the  owner  of  fifty  acres  of  apricot  and  ]ieach  orchard,  a  mile  and 
a  half  south  of  Armoua.  He  served  as  the  first  president  of  the 
Kings  County  Chamber  of  Connnerce,  which  was  organized  in  No- 
vember, 1908,  to  succeed  the  Kings  County  Promotion  association. 
In  other  ways  he  has  amply  jiroven  his  ]iublic  spirit,  and  he  is 
regarded  as  a  patriotic  and  heljiful  citizen  who  has  close  to  his  heart 
the  best  interests  of  his  community.     Fraternally,  he  affiliates  with 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  607 

the  Masons,  being  a  Shriner  and  a  member  of  subordinate  orders, 
with  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World. 
In  September,  1902,  he  married  Miss  Eva  M.  Sutherland,  a  native 
of  California,  whose  father  was  a  pioneer  in  Tulare,  and  they  have 
a  son,  Leland  Eice. 


WILLIAM  H.  DAVENPORT 

For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  there  has  been  identified 
with  Tulare  county  William  H.  Davenport,  the  present  general  man- 
ager of  the  Wutchumna  Water  company,  who  was  born  in  Missouri 
in  1842  and  was  among  the  early  pioneers  of  the  state  of  California. 
The  sou  of  Stephen  and  Elena  (HoUoway)  Davenport,  both  natives 
of  Kentucky,  he  shared  their  early  experiences,  which  were  filled 
with  adventure  incident  to  the  coming  to  the  west.  In  1846  his 
father  went  to  New  Mexico,  but  returned  in  the  winter  of  1847-48 
and  in  the  following  spi'ing  lie  treked  back  to  Santa  Fe,  N.  M., 
taking  with  him  his  wife,  but  leaving  William  H.  and  his  elder 
brother,  John,  with  their  grandiDarents.  In  the  fall  of  1849  Stephen 
Davenport  followed  the  onrush  to  California  for  gold,  arriving  at 
the  town  of  Mariposa  on  March  17,  1850. 

In  1853  William  H.  Davenport  and  his  brother  John  crossed  the 
plains  to  California  with  the  late  William  R.  Owen,  a  California 
pioneer  of  1849,  who  brought  with  him  about  five  hundred  head  of 
cattle,  and  they  arrived  at  Mariposa  in  September,  1853,  joining  their 
parents  there.  Until  the  fall  of  1857  the  family  remained  there 
and  then  moved  to  Tulare  county,  settling  just  north  of  Visalia  near 
the  present  site  of  that  city,  and  here  the  parents  passed  away. 

In  1863  William  H.  Daveni)ort  went  from  Tulare  county  to  Ne- 
vada, where  he  was  employed  in  lumbering  operations  until  in  1870, 
when  he  made  his  way  back  to  Tulare  county.  After  ranching  in 
a  small  way  until  1875  he  expanded  his  operations  in  the  Mussel 
slough  district,  where  he  met  with  varying  success  until  1882.  Then 
he  came  to  Visalia  and  connected  himself  with  the  Wutchumna 
Water  company,  for  which  he  has  been  general  manager  ever  since. 
This  irrigation  ditch  company  was  founded  in  1871  by  Stephen  Bar- 
ton, Sanmel  Jennings  and  Joseph  Spear.  Its  ditch  was  enlarged  in 
1879  and  its  system  now  comprises  twenty  miles  of  irrigation  ditches, 
supplied  by  the  water  of  the  Kaweah  river.  The  system,  which  fol- 
lows the  contour  of  the  land,  has  its  terminal  on  section  twenty, 
townshiji  eighteen,  range  twenty-five,  and  includes  the  largest  arti- 
ficial reservoir  in  the  county,  which  has  an  area  when  full  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty-five  acres,  when  empty  of  sixty  acres,  its  sides 
extending  ten  feet   above  low-water  mark.     Many   of   the   orchards. 


608  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

as  well  as  other  farmiug  lands,   situated  to  the  north  and  east  of 
Visalia,    are   irrigated   by   this   canal. 

In  1870  Mr.  Davenport  married  Miss  Ann  Early,  a  native  of 
Texas,  and  a  daughter  of  a  hero  of  San  Jacinto,  who  fought  under 
Gen.  Sam  Houston  in  that  memorable  battle  of  1836  by  which  was 
won  the  independence  of  Texas.  Her  father  crossed  the  plains  to 
California  in  1849  and  returned  to  Texas,  bringing  his  family  to 
the  coast  in  1852  and  locating  in  Mariposa  county.  In  1868  he  moved 
to  Glennville,  Kern  county,  where  he  lived  until  1884,  when  he  passed 
away.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davenport  have  a  son,  Frank  Davenport,  who 
married  Mrs.  Helen  Huff  and  is  a  conductor  on  the  Sierra  railroad 
in  Tuolumne  county.  Mr.  Davenport  is  a  man  of  much  public  spirit, 
devoted  heart  and  soul  to  the  interests  of  his  community,  who  never 
neglects  an  opportunity  to  aid  to  the  extent  of  his  ability  any  move- 
ment for  the  general  good. 


ETHELBERT  S.  WEDDLE 

The  family  of  which  Ethelbert  S.  Weddle  was  a  member  re- 
moved to  Tennessee  in  18.j4  and  lived  there  until  186.5,  then  settled 
in  Indiana,  where  it  made  its  home  until  1874,  when  it  came  to  Cali- 
fornia.    Mr.  Weddle  was  born  in  Virginia,  April  1,  1849. 

Soon  after  he  came  to  Tulare  county,  Mr.  Weddle  went  into 
the  sheep  business,  which  profitably  occupied  his  attention  four  years. 
At  that  time  the  land  was  all  raw  and  sheep  could  roam  throughout 
all  the  territory  between  the  river  and  the  mountains.  When  he 
sold  his  sheep  he  engaged  in  contracting  and  building.  Later  he 
took  up  grain  farming  and  fruit  raising  and  now  he  has  eighty  acres 
in  fruit,  fifty-five  in  vines,  two  in  oranges  and  forty  in  alfalfa.  In 
1911  he  sold  a  ton  of  Muscats  to  the  acre.  His  seedless  grapes  yield 
a  ton  and  a  half  to  the  acre.  He  is  a  thoroughly  up-to-date  farmer, 
filled  with  new  ideas,  and  he  employs  modern  methods  in  every  de- 
tail of  his  work.  As  a  citizen  he  is  public-spirited  and  devoted  to  the 
general  interests.  Fraternally,  he  affiliates  with  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  politically  he  is  a  Re]nibliean. 

In  Indiana  Ethelbert  S.  Weddle  married  Theresa  Wilson,  a 
native  of  that  state,  who  bore  him  children  named  Charles  and 
Walter  E.,  who  are  now  physicians  in  the  active  practice  of  their 
profession,  one  in  Fresno,  Cal.,  the  other  in  Reedley,  Cal.  Dr. 
Charles  Weddle,  of  Fresno,  married  Maymie  Jacobs  and  has  daugh- 
ters named  Barbara  and  Beatrice.  Dr.  Walter  E.  Weddle.  of  Reedley, 
married  Margaret  Parker,  and  has  children  named  Robert  and  Dorothy. 

Mrs.  Theresa  Weddle,  who  died  November  30,  1908,  was  the 
daughter  of  Olli  S.  and  Elizabeth   (Hamilton)   Wilson,  and  a  lineal 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  609 

desceudant  of  Alexander  Hamilton.  The  Wilsons  fignred  in  the  period 
preceding  the  Eevolutionary  war,  and  trace  their  ancestry  to  John 
Wilson,  who  participated  in  that  conflict. 


J.  ALBERT  RAGLE 

Farming  has  been  the  chief  occupation  of  J.  Albert  Ragle.  A 
son  of  California,  he  was  born  in  Sonoma  county  in  1861  and  has 
lived  in  Tulare  county  since  he  was  four  or  five  years  old.  Here 
ne  was  reared  and  educated  and  taught  practical  farming  in  a  most 
practical  way.  His  first  memorable  experiences  were  in  the  cattle 
business  in  the  ))eriod  after  1870.  It  was  in  1871  that  he  began  to 
take  an  active  part  in  the  work  of  the  ranch,  his  father  owning  at 
that  time  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  and  being  a  leader  among  the 
ranchers  of  his  part  of  the  county. 

In  1884  Mr.  Ragle  located  on  his  present  home  farm,  then  new 
land  with  negligible  improvements,  and  since  that  time  he  has  de- 
voted himself  to  its  development,  making  it  one  of  the  best  orange 
and  general  fruit  ranches  in  the  vicinity.  In  1889  occurred  the  mar- 
riage of  Mr.  Ragle  to  Miss  Jennie  M.  Lynn,  a  native  of  Arkansas, 
whose  parents  are  living  in  Fresno  county,  where  her  father,  Wil- 
liam F.  Lynn,  is  well  known.  Mrs.  Ragle  has  borne  her  husband 
three  children.  Adah  was  educated  at  Tulare,  and  on  December  26, 
1912,  was  married  to  W.  A.  Stone,  of  Fresno;  Etta  is  in  the  high 
school  at  Exeter,  and  Orval  is  attending  school  near  home.  William 
C.  Ragle,  Mr.  Ragle's  father,  canie  to  California  in  1853,  one  of  a 
party  who  made  the  trij)  with  an  ox-team  train,  consuming  more 
months  than  it  would  now  consume  days  to  accomplish  the  same 
journey.  He  began  his  active  life  practically  without  means  and 
achieved  a  success  which  made  him  one  of  the  well-to-do  men  of 
his  community.     He  passed  away  in  1895. 

The  public  spirit  of  J.  Albert  Ragle  has  been  demonstrated  in 
so  man}'  ways  that  he  has  come  to  be  known  as  a  useful  citizen  of 
the  progressive  type.  For  fifteen  years  he  has  been  a  member  of 
the  school  board,  and  in  a  fraternal  way  he  affiliates  with  the 
Woodmen  of  the  World,  and  with  the  order  of  Artisans. 


J.   M.   SAGE 

That  popular  and  successful  dairyman  of  Waukena,  Tulare 
county,  Cal.,  whose  name  is  well  known  throughout  the  county,  was 
born  in  Jackson  county.  Mo.,  August  13,  1858,  and  has  lived  in 
Tulare  countv  since  1890. 


610  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

J.  M.  Sage  grew  up  in  the  states  of  Iowa,  Missouri  and  Kan- 
sas, where  he  was  a  student  in  tlie  public  schools  until  he  was  sixteen 
years  of  age.  At  seventeen  lie  began  work  with  a  gang  on  a  con- 
struction train  in  Carroll  county.  Mo.,  and  continued  at  this  work 
until  he  was  twenty,  then  procuring  emjiloynient  in  the  roundhouse 
as  tireman,  determining  to  become  a  locomotive  engineer.  Later 
he  accepted  a  jiosition  as  fireman  and  stationary  engineer.  In  1881 
he  engaged  with  the  Santa  Fe  at  Las  Vegas,  N.  M.,  soon  thereafter 
going  to  Los  Angeles,  where  he  went  to  work  for  the  Southern  Pa- 
cific and  later  became  engineer  on  a  run  from  Bakersfield  to  Fresno 
by  way  of  Porterville.  He  saved  his  earnings  and  used  the  $2500 
saved  as  an  investment  in  farming  operations  in  San  Joaquin  and 
Tulare  counties,  having  eight  hundred  acres  planted  to  wheat,  but 
met  with  almost  com])lete  financial  failure  in  this  venture  owing  to 
the  drouth.  His  holdings  now  comprise  forty  acres,  which  he  has 
developed  into  a  fine  dairy  projierty,  it  being  in  Kings  county,  and 
he  feeds  and  accommodates  thirty-seven  milch  cows.  In  this  venture 
he  has  proved  most  successful. 

In  1886  Mr.  Sage  became  the  husband  of  Miss  Louisa  Minges, 
born  at  Stockton,  Cal.,  in  1859,  a  most  worthy  woman  who  was  to 
him  an  achnirable  helpmate  until  her  death,  which  occurred  in  Aug- 
ust, 1905.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sage  had  children :  Bernice,  Hazel,  Philo- 
pena  and  Wesley,  who  survived  her.  Mr.  Sage  married  (second) 
Mrs.  Josephine  Simpson  of  Salt  Lake  city. 

As  a  dairyman  Mr.  Sage  has  won  high  re])utation,  and  his  busi- 
ness, already  large,  is  rapidly  increasing.  The  quality  and  purity  of 
his  ])roducts  connnend  them  to  all  discriminating  buyers.  His  dairy 
is  up-to-date  in  every  resi)ect  and  all  his  methods  and  appliances  are 
such  as  meet  the  ai)))roval  of  the  most  critical  judges.  As  a  citizen 
he  is  public-spirited  and   helpful. 


ANDREW  SCIARONE 

A  pioneer  farmer  of  Tulare  county  as  well  as  a  pioneer  busi- 
ness man  of  Hanford,  Andrew  Sciarone  was  born  in  the  Canton 
of  Ticino,  Switzerland,  July  13,  18;M.  There  he  received  his  educa- 
tion and  remained  until  he  was  twenty-one  years  old,  when  he  went 
to  Australia  and  was  variously  engaged  until  1870,  then  returning 
to  his  native  country.  He  arrived  in  the  L^nited  States  in  January, 
1872,  and  came  direct  to  San  Francisco.  He  traveled  to  Gilroy,  Hol- 
lister  and  Fresno,  and  engaged  in  farming,  and  became  the  owner 
of  land  by  pre-emption  and  later  on  homesteaded  a  tract  of  eighty 
acres,  owning  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  in  Tulare  county,  near  the 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  Rll 

boundary  of  Fresno  county.  In  1879  he  came  to  Manford,  when  it  was 
a  struggling  village,  and  ever  since  then  has  made  it  his  home, 
where  for  the  past  fifteen  years  he  has  lived  retired  from  all  business 
pursuits.  He  invested  in  business  property  in  Hanford  and  has 
been  interested  in  the  growth  and  development  of  the  city  from  its 
start.  Agriculture  has  interested  him  ever  since  he  arrived  in  this 
country. 

In  1854,  Mr.  Sciarone  married  in  Switzerland  and  became  the 
father  of  one  daughter,  Josei:)hine,  who  married  J.  Martinetti.  Mr. 
Sciarone  has  two  grandchildren  and  two  great-grandchildren.  His 
wife  passed  away  in  1S!)7.  Of  his  descendants  one  grandson,  Albino 
Martinetti,  is  attending  the  University  of  California  at  Berkeley. 
In  every  way  Mr.  Sciarone  has  demonstrated  his  public  spirit  and 
has  lived  to  see  a  wonderful  change  in  the  Golden  State.  Frater- 
nally he  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  of  Hanford. 


JOHN  SIGLER 

It  was  in  the  Old  Dominion,  the  Mother  of  States,  and  the 
mother  also  of  men  who  have  won  fortune  in  every  state  in  the 
Union,  that  John  Sigler  was  born,  February  3,  1852.  Such  schooling 
as  was  available  to  him  in  his  boyhood  he  obtained  near  his  father's 
home,  and  at  seventeen  he  moved  to  Maryland,  where  he  lived  four 
or  live  years  before  he  came  to  California.  He  located  in  Yolo 
county  in  1873  and  in  1875  came  to  Tulare  county  and  bought  three 
hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land  six  miles  southwest  of  the  site 
of  Hanford,  his  ])resent  home.  He  helped  to  secure  the  Lakeside 
ditch  and  with  its  aid  developed  his  farm  and  grew  grain  for 
twenty  years  until  he  gave  up  grain  in  favor  of  cattle  and  sheep, 
which  were  his  princi|)al  products  till  he  turned  his  attention  to 
general  farming,  though  he  raised  a  good  numy  hogs.  He  has  re- 
cently bought  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  distant  from  his  home- 
stead about  half  a  mile,  which  he  will  put  into  alfalfa.  His  interests 
in  irrigation  ditches  has  not  been  confined  to  the  one  just  mentioned, 
for  he  is  a  stockholder  in  lintli  the  Lakeside  ditch  and  the  New  Deal 
ditch. 

In  1X7."),  wiicn  Mr.  Sigler  first  came  to  Tulare  county  to  buy 
land,  wliicli  was  selling  very  cheaply  at  that  time,  he  arrived  in 
\'isalia  and  from  there  he  came  across  the  country  to  Lemoore.  Some 
few  ditches  had  been  started,  but  none  completed.  Fiom  the  ap- 
))eai'ance  of  the  soil  he  concluded  that  the  land  would  wear  out 
with  a  couple  of  crops  after  irrigation  began,  and  cease  to  yield  pay- 
ing returns,  llowevei-  he  determined  to  ))urciiasc  i)r()perty  and  the 
returns  lie  lias  reaped   since  that  date  show  that   his  |)rediction  was 


612  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

not  fulfilled.  By  farming  to  wheat  many  years  the  soil  did  show 
the  ill  effects,  hut  with  fruit  and  rotation  of  crops  wonderful  returns 
are  possible. 

In  all  things  Mr.  Sigler  is  conservative.  He  is  especially  so 
in  his  political  views,  and  while  he  glories  in  the  progressive  prin- 
ciples of  American  democracy  he  has  no  desire  to  be  classed  with 
traveling  Eepublicans.  His  interest  in  public  education  impelled 
him  to  accept  the  trusteeship  of  the  Eustic  school  district,  which  he 
is  discharging  with  characteristic  efficiency  and  fidelity. 

In  1887  Mr.  Sigler  married  Miss  Lodema  N.  Dewey  and  she  has 
borne  him  three  daughters,  Leah  and  Catherine,  who  are  members 
of  their  parents'  household,  and  Arlie,  who  is  the  wife  of  Marvin 
Eoberts. 


OSBOENE  L.  WILSON 

That  venerable  and  honorable  citizen  of  Kings  county,  Cal.,  O.  Tj. 
Wilson,  who  is  living  in  retirement  at  No.  602  East  Ninth  street,  Han- 
ford,  was  born  in  Washington  county,  Ind.,  August  29,  1825,  and  has 
lived  in  California  since  August  8,  1849.  He  grew  to  manhood  on  a 
farm  on  Blue  river,  went  to  school  at  Salem  and  was  managing  a  farm 
there  for  his  father  at  the  time  of  the  outbreak  of  the  Mexican  war. 
Enlisting  in  Company  D,  Second  Indiana  Volunteers,  he  was  sent  to 
Mexico  in  1846  and  served  until  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  enlist- 
ment. He  returned  to  his  home  in  Indiana,  but  again  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany B,  Fifth  Indiana  Vohanteers,  under  Captain  Green,  and  was  sent 
again  to  Mexico  in  1847  and  served  gallantly  imtil  the  end  of  the  war. 
when  he  was  honorably  discharged.  He  took  part  in  many  important 
engagements,  including  those  at  Buena  Vista  and  Del  Eey  under  such 
commanders  as  Generals  Taylor,  Woolfe  and  Scott,  the  latter  having 
been  commander-in-chief.  He  has  kept  a  copy  of  the  Salem  News,  pub 
lished  at  Salem,  Ind.,  April  7,  1847,  an  extra  edition  devoted  largely 
to  the  events  of  the  Mexican  war  and  containing  bulletins  of  the  very 
latest  news  from  the  camp  of  General  Taylor.  After  the  war  he  went 
to  Scotland  county.  Mo.,  where  he  remained  through  the  winter  of 
1848-49.  On  April  15,  1849,  he  started  with  an  ox-team  wagon  train  to 
California  and  arrived  within  the  borders  of  this  state  August  8  fol- 
lowing. For  two  years  he  mined  at  Einggold  and  Weavertown,  on  the 
American  river,  at  Yuba,  at  Eough  and  Eeady,  at  Nevada  City  and  in 
Nevada,  meeting  with  fair  success.  His  associations  were  not  to  Ms 
taste  and  in  1851  he  bought  land  at  Gilroy,  Cal.,  part  of  the  Los 
Alamos  grant,  and  devoted  himself  to  cattle  raising  with  farming  as 
a  subsidiarv  business.     There  he  remained  until  he  sold  his  land  to 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  613 

Thomas  Bey  and  drove  liis  cattle  and  sheep  over  into  that  part  of 
Tuhire  county  which  is  now  Kings  county  and  squatted  on  part  of  the 
Laguna  De  Tache  grant.  Later  he  secured  one  thousand  acres  of 
hmd  on  his  Mexican  war  hind  warrant,  lying  on  the  Kings  river  in 
sections  1,  12  and  13.  After  that  he  bought  land  from  time  to  time 
until  he  owned  six  thousand  acres  in  that  vicinity  and  in  Fresno  county 
and  for  about  thirty  years  he  was  engaged  in  sheeji  raising.  Even- 
tually he  divided  most  of  his  land  among  his  children  and  in  1900  re- 
tired from  active  life. 

On  December  3,  1854,  Mr.  Wilson  married  Miss  Rose  Wilburn  at 
Gilroy,  and  they  had  thirteen  children,  six  of  whom  are  now  living. 
Mr.  Wilson  has  nineteen  grandchildren  and  six  great-grandchildren. 
Those  children  who  survive  are:  John  A.;  William  C. ;  Julia,  widow 
of  John  Alcorn;  Mrs.  Eose  Henry;  Mrs.  Fannie  Hughes,  and  Calhoun 
Wilson.  During  all  his  long  and  honorable  career  Mr.  Wilson  has 
consistently  demonstrated  his  public  spirit  and  has  been  in  the  van 
of  all  worthy  movements  for  the  public  uplift.  He  has  bought  eight 
cemetery  lots,  on  which  he  has  erected  a  replica  of  the  Washington 
monument,  which  when  he  has  passed  away  will  be  his  lasting 
memorial. 


THOMAS  CLINTON  NEWMAN 

A  member  of  an  old  pioneer  family  of  California  and  a  native 
of  Tulare  county,  Thomas  Clinton  Newman,  who  lives  nine  miles 
north  of  Exeter,  on  rural  free  delivery  route  No.  1,  was  born  Decem- 
ber 5,  1882,  a  son  of  Thomas  W.  Newman,  who  was  born  while  his 
parents  were  en  route  across  the  plains,  in  1856,  from  their  old  home 
in  Ohio.  William  Newman,  grandfather  of  Thomas  Clinton,  had 
come  out  to  California  in  1848  and  gone  back  in  1849.  He  finally 
returned  accompanied  by  his  sons,  E.  S.,  C.  0.  and  Thomas  W.  New- 
man, and  the  latter 's  wife,  and  the  family  settled  on  the  Sacramento 
river,  but  were  driven  out  by  floods,  and  after  living  at  different 
places  in  the  state  Thonuis  W.  Newman  at  length  located  in  Tulare 
county  and  in  1872  settled  on  the  present  homestead  of  his  son. 

Had  William  Newman  arrived  at  his  first  location  in  California 
one  day  earlier  than  he  did  he  would  have  been  the  pioneer  of  pioneers 
there.  While  crossing  the  ]ilains  half  of  his  party  had  been  killed 
in  the  Mountain  Meadow  massacre.  Thomas  C.  Newman  has  several 
relics  of  the  overland  trip,  among  them  part  of  the  chain  used  by 
his  grandfather  on  the  cattle  he  drove  and  an  old  shotgun  that  his 
grandfather  used  while  standing  guard  over  the  train. 

After  locating  in  Tulare  countv  Thomas  W.  Newman  set  about 


()14  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

oleariug  laud  and  putting  it  under  cultivation  and  soon  developed  a 
farm  that  compared  favoralily  with  auy  in  his  neighl)orhood  and 
which  he  operated  successfully  until  1909.  when  he  jiassed  away,  his 
wife  having  died  when  their  son  was  about  five  years  old. 

December  20,  1905.  T.  C.  Newman  married  Miss  Eva  May  Ster- 
rett,  a  native  of  California,  and  their  two  children  are  lola,  now  six 
years  old,  and  Bernice,  who  is  four  years  old.  In  the  house  which  is 
now  his  home  tliere  passed  away  his  grandfather,  his  grandmother, 
his  father  and  his  uncle,  R.  S.  Newman.  The  place  now  consists  of 
eighty  acres,  and  is  devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  alfalfa  and  potatoes 
and  to  the  jnirposes  of  a  dairy  of  about  ten  or  twelve  cows. 

It  was  in  the  St.  John's  district  school  tliat  Mr.  Newman  was 
educated,  and  to  him  belongs  the  honor  of  having  been  the  first  grad- 
uate of  its  grammar  school.  "While  not  active  in  political  affairs,  he 
is  helpfully  public  spirited.    Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Masons. 


FRED  STORZBACK 

Germany  has  given  to  the  United  States  a  class  of  citizens  indus- 
trious, honest,  thrifty  and  law  aliiding.  who  have  done  nuich  to  build 
up  the  interests  of  the  conununities  witli  which  individually  they  have 
east  their  lots.  One  of  the  most  progressive  citizens  of  Corcoran, 
Kings  county,  Cal.,  is  Fred  Storzback,  a  native  of  Wurtemberg. 
Young  Storzback  attended  pul)lic  schools  near  the  parental  home 
until  he  was  fourteen  years  old,  when  he  immigrated  to  England 
and  engaged  in  the  butcher  liusiness.  From  there  at  the  age  of  twenty 
he  came  to  the  United  States  in  1885,  settling  in  Philadelphia,  where 
he  acquired  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  baker's  trade.  After  work- 
ing as  a  baker  in  different  parts  of  the  United  States  he  came  to 
California  in  December,  1905,  and  January  15,  1906,  he  settled  at 
Corcoran,  where  he  operated  a  combined  bakery  and  restaurant  for 
two  years,  then  transformed  his  establishment  into  a  combined  bakery 
and  ice  cream  parlor.  His  business,  which  from  every  point  of  view 
is  successful,  is  one  of  the  most  popular  in  Corcoran,  and  the  purity 
of  his  goods  and  his  courtesy  to  all  patrons  commend  him  strongly 
to  the  general  public. 

In  1895  Mr.  Storzback  married  Elizabeth  Schlep,  who  was  born 
August  17,  1876,  in  the  state  of  Louisiana,  and  they  have  children  as 
follows:  Pauline,  Augusta  and  Bertha,  who  are  mentioned  here 
in  the  order  of  their  nativity.  Mr.  Storzback  is  a  member  of  the 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  is  a  AVoodman  of  the  World, 
loyally  devoted  to  the  interests  of  these  orders  and  ready  at  all  times 
to  meet  any  demand  upon  him  in  behalf  of  their  beneficent  work.    As 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  615 

a  citizen  lie  takes  a  vital  interest  in  everything'  that  pertains  to  the 
growth  and  development  of  the  town  and  to  the  econoniio  problems 
of  its  people.  So  flattering  has  been  his  success  thus  far  that  to  his 
observant  neighbors  his  future  is  full  of  brilliant  promise.  In  1913 
Mr.  Storzback  built  a  tine  two-story  brick  building,  50x112,  which  is 
equipped  with  the  finest  aud  most  up-to-date  machinery  and  appli- 
ances for  the  bakery  business  and  is  a  fitting  testimonial  to  his  laud- 
able enterprise. 


JOHN  BURRELL 

The  most  extensive  breeder  of  jacks  in  the  territory  round  Han- 
ford,  and  in  fact  in  the  state,  is  John  Burrell,  who  is  operating  seven 
and  one-half  miles  southwest  of  that  city.  It  was  in  Tulare  (now 
Kings)  county  that  Mr.  Burrell  was  born  January  5,  1880,  a  son  of 
Monroe  Burrell,  who  lived  near  Armona.  The  elder  Burrell,  who  had 
grown  to  manhood  in  California,  had  come  to  this  vicinity  in  187fi.  He 
is  now  running  a  fruit  ranch  near  Graugeville. 

It  was  in  the  neighborhood  of  Grangeville  that  John  Burrell  was 
reared  on  a  farm  and  educated  in  the  public  schools.  When  he  made 
his  start  in  life  for  himself  it  was  in  the  oil  fields  at  Coalinga,  where 
he  worked  two  years.  Then,  returning  to  Kings  county,  he  rented  the 
Haas  ranch,  near  Grangeville  five  years,  operating  it  successfully 
as  a  stock  and  alfalfa  farm.  Then  he  rented  three  hundred  and 
twenty  acres  seven  and  one-half  miles  southwest  of  Hanford,  twenty 
acres  of  which  is  in  vineyard.  He  devotes  himself  chiefly  to  the 
raising  of  mules  and  hogs,  his  yearly  average  being  forty  mules  and 
eight  luindred  Duroc  liogs.  Some  time  ago  he  bought  seven  valuable 
imported  jacks  for  breeding  purposes,  which  he  has  sold  })esides  a 
number  of  others  that  lie  lias  raised,  in  all  alxnit  twenty  head  have 
been  disjiosed  of  during  the  jiast  three  years.  lie  has  another 
importation  of  jacks  from  Kentucky  and  Missouri  to  arrive  aliout 
January,  li>].").  Besides  these  he  owns  twenty  head  of  Mammoth 
jenneys  which  he  uses  for  raising  jacks.  Thoroughly  ui)-to-date 
ill  all  his  methods,  having  intimate  knowledge  of  the  work  in 
hand  aud  using  only  the  latest  improved  aids,  he  is  successful  in  his 
special  line  beyond  many  of  his  neighbors  and  comi)etitors.  His 
knowledge  of  the  market  is  such  that  he  is  usually  al)le  to  sell  to  the 
very  best  advantage.  He  is  a  member  of  the  "Woodmen  of  the  World, 
devoted  to  all  the  interests  of  that  beneficent  fraternity.  As  a  citizen 
he  is  notably  public  sjjirited  and  helpful. 


616  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON  CLARKSON 

In  Scott  coimty.  111.,  Thomas  Jet¥erson  Clarksoii,  who  lives  in 
Exeter,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  was  born  in  1860,  and  he  was  nine  years 
old  when  his  ]:)arents  brought  him  to  California.  The  family  lived  in 
Yolo  county  until  1871.  then  came  to  Tulare  county.  He  attended  the 
public  schools  more  or  less  until  he  was  twelve  years  old,  and  from  his 
twelfth  to  his  twenty-eighth  year  he  rode  after  cattle  on  the  plains. 
Then  he  turned  his  attention  to  blacksmithing,  which  has  employed  his 
energies  ever  since.  For  a  time  he  worked  from  place  to  place,  but 
during  the  last  nine  years  he  has  operated  a  general  blacksmithing 
and  agricultural  repair  shop  at  Exeter. 

As  a  Democrat  Mr.  Clarkson  has  long  lieen  ]irominent  in  the 
affairs  of  his  town  and  county,  and  was  aiipointed  a  member  of  the 
health  board  of  the  city  of  Exeter,  in  which  office  he  is  serving  with 
ability,  integrity  and  discretion  at  the  present  time.  Fraternally  he 
affiliates  with  the  organizations  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World  and 
Knights  of  Pythias  of  Exeter.  He  is  devoted  heart  and  soul  to  the 
general  interests  of  the  county.  Coming  here  when  the  land  was  wild 
and  there  were  a1)out  as  many  Indian  inhabitants  as  white  ones,  he 
has  witnessed  and  participated  in  its  development  to  one  of  the  rich 
sections  of  one  of  the  great  states  of  the  Union. 

The  woman  who  became  the  wife  of  Mr.  Clarkson  was  before  her 
marriage  Mrs.  Mary  Augeline  Austin.  She  was  born  in  Kansas  of 
a  family  who  were  among  the  pioneers  there.  Four  children  have 
blessed  their  union :  Annie,  May.  Presley  and  Hazel.  Annie  is  Mrs. 
V.  W.  Lucas  of  Exeter.  May  married  Charles  Maddox  of  Exeter. 
Preslev  is  in  the  high  school. 


CHARLES  GREEN  McFARLAND 

An  innovatoi-  among  farmers  and  dairymen  in  Tulare  county, 
Cal.,  Charles  Green  McFarland,  who  lives  two  miles  west  of  Tulare, 
is  undoiibtedly  deserving  of  special  mention.  He  is  a  native  of 
Green  county.  Mo.,  born  February  27,  1872,  who  came  to  California 
in  1887.  During  the  five  years  after  his  arrival  he  was  employed 
by  his  father,  and  in  1892  bought  the  Exeter  stable  at  Tulare,  where 
he  conducted  a  livery  business  for  about  a  year  and  a  half.  Sub- 
sequently he  grew  grain  eight  years,  and  in  1901  bought  forty 
acres  of  land  and  rented  three  hundred  acres,  on  all  of  which  he 
set  up  as  a  stockman  and  dair^^nan  and  he  operated  with  success 
five  years.  His  location  during  that  period  was  four  miles  south  of 
Tidare.     He   now   bought    thirty-two    acres    two    miles    west    of   the 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  617 

Tulare  post  office  and  rented  an  adjoining  thirty-two  acres.  He 
has  on  his  own  place  twenty  acres  of  alfalfa  and  twenty-five  acres 
on  his  leased  land,  and  milks  thirty  cows,  disposing  of  their  prod- 
ucts over  a  milk  route  which  he  has  established  in  Tulare.  He  has 
the  only  herd  of  registered  Jersey  cows  in  the  vicinity,  thirty-five 
head  altogether,  the  largest  milk  producers  thereabouts,  the  average 
test  of  their  milk  yielding  4.8  in  butter  fat.  He  has  raised  no  cattle 
except  thoroughbreds  and  it  is  only  after  years  of  selection  and  of 
careful  attention  to  details  that  he  has  been  able  to  produce  a  herd 
so  excellent.  In  1910  he  built  a  silo  on  his  place,  in  which  respect 
he  was  a  pioneer  in  his  part  of  the  county,  and  in  1912  he  installed 
an  electric  pumping  plant  which  furnishes  ample  water  for  all 
purposes. 

On  February  27,  1896,  Mr.  McFarland  married  Matilda  Monroe, 
who  has  borne  him  a  daughter  and  two  sons,  Lois,  Merrill  and  Loren, 
who  are  aged  respectively  fourteen,  ten  and  eight  years.  The 
family  are  communicants  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  of 
Tulare,  and  Mr.  McFarland  is  a  member  of  the  order  of  Fraternal 
Aid  of  that  city.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Dairymen's  Co-operative 
Creamery  Company  of  Tulare,  and  also  a  stockholder  in  the  Tulare 
Power   Company. 


ELMER  A.  BATCHELDER 

It  was  in  Plainfield,  Vt.,  that  Elmer  A.  Batchelder,  a  prominent 
fruit  grower,  living  two  and  one-half  miles  east  of  Lindsay,  Tulare 
county.  Cal.,  was  born  in  the  year  1866.  He  was  brought  up  and  edu- 
cated in  his  native  place,  and  when  he  was  seventeen  years  old  came 
to  California  and  was  for  a  year  and  'a  half  a  resident  in  Nevada 
county.  Then  for  a  year  he  was  in  the  Sacramento  valley,  whence 
he  went  into  Humboldt  county,  where  he  passed  the  succeeding 
twelve  months.  During  this  time  he  had  been  employed  at  ranch 
work  and  had  acquired  an  intimate  knowledge  of  California  farming 
in  the  best  of  all  schools — the  school  of  experience. 

In  1887  Mr.  Batchelder  came  to  Tulare  county  and  for  a  time 
worked  rented  land.  In  1892  he  homesteaded  a  C|uarter  section  in 
the  district  known  as  Round  valley  and  made  improvements  on  it 
and  devoted  it  to  wheat  growing  till  1906,  when  he  set  out  twenty 
acres  of  orange  trees  and  fifteen  acres  of  vines,  including  five  acres 
of  Valencia  oranges.  His  orchard  is  so  well  advanced  that  the  crop 
for  1912  from  the  twenty  acres  promises  to  reach  the  1,000-box  mark. 
By  later  purchase  he  has  added  to  his  land  holdings  until  he  now 
has  one  hundred  and  forty  acres. 


618  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

The  parents  of  Mr.  Batelielder,  natives  of  Vermont,  both  have 
passed  away.  In  1893  lie  married  Catharine  Crook,  a  native  daugh- 
ter of  California,  and  she  has  borne  liim  two  children :  Harold,  now 
eighteen  years  old,  and  Eunice  E.,  now  in  her  fourteenth  year.  They 
are  attending  school  at  Lindsay.  Mrs.  Batchelder's  parents  were 
early  settlers  in  Tulare  county.  Mr.  Batchelder.  has  never  aspired 
to  public  office,  but  because  he  was  known  to  be  a  good-roads  man 
of  advanced  ideas  he  was  three  years  ago  given  the  oversight  of  the 
roads  in  his  district,  and  so  well  has  he  discharged  his  trust  that 
he  is  likely  to  be  kept  at  the  same  task  year  after  year.  Public 
spirited  in  a  generous  degree,  he  is  ever  ready  to  respond  to  demands 
upon  him  for  the  good  of  the  community.  Fraternally  he  affiliates 
with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Knights  of 
Pvtliias. 


ALBERT  A.  HALL 

Tliere  are  probably  few  men  known  more  widely  or  more  affec- 
tionately in  Tulare  county  than  Albert  A.  ("Dad")  Hall,  of  Tulare.  A 
native  of  Watertown,  N.  Y.,  he  was  born  July  (>,  1846.  While  he  was 
yet  quite  young,  his  family  moved  to  Baraboo,  Wis.,  where  he  was 
brought  up  and  educated  so  far  as  he  could  be  before  he  went  away  to 
the  war  between  the  North  and  the  South.  That  was  in  1863,  when 
he  was  but  seventeen.  He  enlisted  in  Company  F,  Third  AViscousin 
Cavalry,  which  regiment  was  under  command  of  Colonel  Barstow,  and 
saw  arduous  service,  ])rinci]ially  in  guerilla  warfare  in  Missouri  and 
Arkansas,  till  he  was  mustered  out  at  Leavenworth,  Kans.,  June  27, 
1865.  Returning  to  Wisconsin,  he  was  interested  iu  hop  raising  thei'e 
two  years,  then  went  to  Nebraska  and  took  U])  some  government  land. 
The  grasshojipers  were  so  numerous,  however,  that  after  five  years 
filled  with  attempts  to  save  from  them  enough  for  his  absolute  per- 
sonal needs,  to  say  nothing  of  improving  a  farm,  he  gladly  turned  his 
face  toward  California.  He  arrived  iu  February,  1877,  and  bought  a 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  laud  near  Forestville,  Sonoma  county, 
whicli  he  cleared  of  trees  and  i)lanted  to  a  vineyard  which  yielded  liini 
grapes  for  seven  years.  In  1888  he  came  to  Tulare  county  and,  settling 
on  forty  acres  north  of  Tulare  city,  engaged  in  the  dairy  business  and 
sold  milk  in  Tulare  fifteen  years.  Two  years  during  that  period  he 
fed  cattle  in  the  mountains.  In  1904  lie  established  at  Tulare  City  an 
express  and  transfer  business,  which,  under  the  half  jocular  title  of 
Dad's  Transfer  Company,  has  come  to  be  one  of  the  popular  institu- 
tions of  the  town.  In  tliis  well  established  enterprise  his  son.  Rozelle 
E.  Hall,  is  his  partner. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  619 

Naturally,  Mr.  Hall  is  a  memlier  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Re- 
public. Thus  he  keeps  alive  memories  of  the  days  of  the  Civil  war  in 
which  he  was  a  faithful,  if  a  \ery  young,  soldier.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch 
Mason,  a  member  also  of  Tulare  Lodge  No.  269,  Free  and  Accepted 
Masons.  With  Forestville  Lodge  No.  320,  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows  he  affiliates  also.  He  married  Miss  Adilla  Plummer,  a  native 
of  Wisconsin,  in  1867,  and  they  have  children,  Rozelle  E.,  Carrie  (wife 
of  J.  E.  Robidoux,  Edu  (Mrs.  F.  A.  Thomas,  of  Tulare),  Beryl  and 
Edna. 


JOHN  R.  REED 

A  native  of  England,  John  R.  Reed,  of  Orosi,  Tulare  county,  Cal., 
was  born  in  Leicestershire,  November  14,  1840,  was  l)rought  to  the 
United  States  when  six  months  old,  stopping  at  New  York  City  and 
Philadel])hia,  and  about  1848  arrived  in  what  is  now  Evanston,  111. 
He  was  the  oldest  of  the  six  children  of  his  parents  and  eventually 
became  one  of  the  bread  winners  of  the  family.  In  1851,  when  the  boy 
was  about  eleven  years  old,  his  father,  responsive  to  the  lure  of  gold, 
left  for  California,  and  made  the  journey  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama.  After  his  arrival  his  family  heard  from  him  several  times, 
then  came  rumors  of  Indian  outbreaks  in  California,  they  heard  from 
him  no  more  and  his  fate  has  been  a  mystery  which  none  of  his  chil- 
dren have  been  able  to  unravel. 

In  the  course  of  events  the  family  settled  in  Illinois,  whence  the 
mother  took  her  children  to  Geauga  county,  Ohio,  settling  not  far  from 
Cleveland.  During  their  residence  there  ex-President  Garfield  boarded 
with  Mrs.  Reed  for  a  time  while  attending  school.  The  support  of 
the  family  devolved  upon  her  and  John  R.  The  latter  early  found 
work  at  $3  a  month  and  his  board.  He  kept  l)usy,  his  fortunes  im- 
proving until  in  1861  he  was  receiving  $13  and  his  board.  Then  he 
enlisted  April  24,  1861,  in  Company  F,  Nineteenth  Ohio  ^^olunteer  In- 
fantry, and  served  for  a  time  in  West  Virginia.  Returning  home  lie 
veteraned  by  enlisting  in  Company  C,  First  Ohio  Light  Artillery  wilh 
which  he  served  until  in  1863.  He  had  now  earned  $400  in  liounty  and 
he  married  and  gave  his  mother  $.300,  his  newly  wedded  wife  $7."),  then 
re-enlisted  in  his  old  company  to  serve  during  the  period  of  the  war. 
He  was  duly  discharged  and  mustered  out  at  Cleveland  in  Juiu\  1865. 
lie  jiarticipated  in  many  notable  engagements,  including  Rich  Moun- 
tain and  Chickamauga,  and  was  under  Sherman  on  the  march  from 
Atlanta  to  tlie  sea.  His  last  engagement  was  at  Bentonville,  N.  C., 
where  his  brother  was  killed.  At  the  close  of  his  service  he  returned 
home.    His  first  wife,  who  was  Miss  Adelaide  Gillmore,  bore  him  two 


620  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

children.  George  V.,  casliier  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Lindsay, 
married  Jennie  Mitchell  and  they  have  two  children,  Jay  and  Earl. 
Daniel  L.  married  Lelah  Bander  and  they  have  two  children,  Eoscoe 
and  Lola,  and  are  living-  near  Reedley.  Mr.  Reed's  second  wife,  Mary 
Ann  Post,  whom  he  married  in  Ohio  and  who  was  a  native  of  that 
state,  bore  him  iowr  children:  Bernice  (deceased),  Eliza  Mabel,  Ray- 
son  J.  and  Sarah  A.  Raysou  J.  married  Edith  Bacon  and  they  have 
a  son.  John  Allen  Bacon  Reed  and  live  at  Lindsay.  All  of  Mr.  Reed's 
children  were  born  in  Ohio  and  all  have  been  given  as  good  education 
as  is  afforded  in  common  schools.  The  family  removed  to  California 
in  1886  and  located  in  Fresno  county,  where  Mr.  Reed  engaged  in 
wheat  farming.  Later  he  took  charge  of  four  sections,  increasing  his 
acreage  to  fifteen  thousand  acres,  and  broadened  operations  by  raising 
wheat  and  barley.  Pie  was  thus  engaged  for  sixteen  years  in  the 
vicinity  of  Reedley.  He  came  to  Orosi  in  1902,  bought  seventy  acres, 
]iarty  improved  with  vines.  At  this  time  he  has  eighteen  acres  in 
vines,  ten  in  peaches,  forty  in  alfalfa,  and  also  engages  in  dairying 
and  the  stock  business. 

The  educational  ad^'antages  of  Mr.  Reed  were  limited,  Init  by  read- 
ing and  otherwise  he  has  become  a  well  informed  man.  In  his 
political  affiliation  he  is  a  Democrat  and  his  influence  in  local  affairs 
has  been  considerable.  He  was  the  organizer  and  the  first  master  of 
the  Masonic  Lodge  at  Orosi  and  is  a  member  of  the  Presbj'terian 
Church. 


ROBERT  A.  PUTNAM 

John  and  Polly  Ann  (Shields)  Putnam,  natives  respectively  of 
Illinois  and  of  Indiana,  were  visiting  at  Moimt  Sterling,  Ind..  when 
their  son  Robert  A.  Putnam  was  born,  April  24,  1856.  Burland 
Shields,  grandfather  of  Robert  A.  Putnam  in  the  maternal  line,  came 
overland  to  California  in  1849  and  settled  in  Shasta  county.  His  party 
was  several  times  menaced  l)y  Indians,  but  no  member  of  it  was  killed 
and  all  arrived  safely.  For  a  time  Mr.  Shields  mined,  but  later  he 
becaine  a  stockman  and  was  successful  in  that  way  until  his  death.  No 
other  member  of  the  family  came  to  the  Pacific  coast  until  1901,  when 
Robert  A.  Putnam  located  in  Tulare  county.  He  married  in  1877, 
Sarah  A.  Shackleford,  who  was  born  in  Mississippi  in  1856,  of  parents 
who  were  natives  of  North  Carolina.  She  was  reared  and  educated  in 
Illinois  and  one  of  her  brothers  served  as  a  soldier  in  the  Civil  war. 
She  has  borne  her  husband  seven  children :  John  F.,  George  William, 
Laura  E.,  Piua  M.,  Myra  N.,  Mabel  G.  and  Sadie  B.  John  F.  of  Orosi 
married  Blanche  Miller  and  has  two  children.     George  William  mar- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  621 

ried  Katie  McKersie  and  has  two  children.  Laura  E.  married  Duane 
Straw.  Pina  M.  has  graduated  from  the  Orosi  high  school  and  the 
others  have  been  educated  in  the  public  school. 

When  Mr.  Putnam  came  to  his  farm  nine  acres  of  it  was  devoted 
to  peaches  and  five  acres  and  a  half  to  Muscat  grapes.  In  1910  he  sold 
seven  and  a  half  tons  of  dried  peaches,  a  goodly  quantity  of  green 
peaches  and  eleven  tons  of  raisins.  A  portion  of  his  ranch  is  devoted 
to  pasture  and  he  has  some  stock,  but  he  keeps  only  enough  horses  for 
his  own  use.  He  is  as  progressive  a  citizen  as  he  is  a  farmer  and  in  a 
public-spirited  way  aids  every  movement  for  the  good  of  the  com- 
munitv.    He  and  Mrs.  Putnam  are  Democrats. 


ALEXANDER  M.  BEST 

In  the  state  of  Iowa  Alexander  M.  Best,  of  Tulare  county,  Cal., 
was  born  April  23,  1867.  He  passed  his  boyhood  and  youth  on  a  farm 
there  and  was  educated  in  a  public  school  near  by.  In  April,  1888, 
when  he  was  about  twenty-one  years  old,  he  arrived  in  California  and 
located  on  a  ranch  in  Poway  valley,  twenty  miles  northeast  of  San 
Diego,  where  his  father  took  up  government  land.  For  seven  years  he 
lived  and  farmed  in  San  Diego  county,  then  located  in  Orange  county 
and  lived  at  Santa  Ana,  and  he  also  bought  land  at  Newport.  He 
farmed  in  that  vicinity  five  years,  on  the  San  Joaquin  three  years,  and 
at  La  Habra  one  year,  and  in  October,  1901,  came  to  Tulare  county 
and  bought  the  Jones  ranch  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  twelve 
miles  east  and  two  miles  south  of  Tulare.  After  raising  grain  there 
four  years,  he  sold  the  property  and  bought  eighty  acres  a  mile  and  a 
half  west  of  town,  a  homestead  of  forty  acres  with  forty  acres  adjoin- 
ing it  at  one  corner,  on  which  he  put  all  imiirovements,  including 
house,  outbuildings,  fences  and  roads.  Until  February,  1911,  he  con- 
ducted a  dairy,  but  he  then  sold  his  cows,  retaining  his  stock  and 
horses,  for  the  excellence  of  which  his  place  is  well  known.  He  also 
gives  attention  to  hogs  and  poultry.  Thirty-five  acres  of  his  land  is  in 
alfalfa. 

December  3,  1894,  Mr.  Best  married  Susan  Columbia  Bardsley.  of 
Poway  valley,  Cal.,  and  they  have  a  son  named  Edwin  Bardsley  Best. 
Fraternally  Mr.  Best  is  identified  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World 
lodge  of  Tulare.  Politically  he  has  well  defined  ideas  about  all  public 
questions  and  does  his  full  duty  as  a  citizen,  but  he  has  no  liking  for 
professional  jiolitics  and  has  never  sought  any  elective  or  appointive 
office.  He  has  at  heart  the  welfare  of  the  community  and  is  generous 
in  his  encouragement  of  movements  for  the  general  good. 


622  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

J.  L.  TAYLOR 

The  prosperous  farmer  and  fruit  grower  of  Three  Rivers,  Tulare 
county,  Cal.,  whose  career  it  is  intended  here  hriefly  to  refer  to,  is  a 
native  of  Fallbrook,  Tenn.,  horn  in  1846.  In  1866,  when  he  was  twenty 
years  old,  he  came  to  California  and  settled  near  Three  Rivers  and 
Lemon  Cove  and,  having  faith  in  the  future  of  the  state,  he  resolved 
to  grow  up  with  it,  deserving  his  share  in  its  prosperity. 

It  was  at  ranch  work  for  others  that  J.  L.  Taylor  was  employed 
until  1893.  He  became  known  as  a  hard  and  steady  worker  and  as  a 
man  who  saved  his  money,  and  in  the  year  meutioned  he  was  alile  to 
buy  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  acres  of  land,  on  which  he  has  been. 
successful  with  fruit  and  grain.  It  was  in  the  year  1893,  the  year  in 
which  he  started  for  himself,  that  he  married  Miss  Louise  P^lizabeth 
Myrten,  a  native  daughter  of  California,  who  in  1904  bore  him  a  son, 
Edward,  who  is  engaged  with  his  father  in  conducting  tlie  ranch  and 
developing  the  fruit  and  nursery  business.  Mr.  Taylor  has  always 
been  too  busy  to  take  much  practical  part  in  political  work,  but  as  a 
citizen  he  has  performed  his  duties  with  the  lialjot,  voting  always  for 
such  men  and  measures  as  in  his  opinion  jjromised  most  and  best  for 
the  general  good.  He  has  never  petitioned  for  nor  aceejated  public 
office.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Lemon  Cove  organization  of 
Woodmen  of  the  World.  His  father  is  living,  retired  from  the  activi- 
ties that  once  made  him  a  factor  in  the  u])]ift  and  advancement  of  the 
communitv. 


LUCIUS  HERVEY  TURNER 

The  well  known  native  of  Tulare  county  whose  name  is  above  was 
born  December  6,  1866,  a  sou  of  Peter  Q.  and  Emily  S.  (Keener) 
Turner.  His  father  was  liorn  in  ILamjiton  county,  Va.,  February  15, 
1828,  his  mother  in  Missouri,  December  9,  1843.  The  former  lived  in 
his  native  state  until  1850,  when  he  was  about  twenty-two  years 
old.  He  then  went  to  Ala1)anui  and  Mississippi,  where  he  had  more 
or  less  intercourse  with  Indians,  and  lived  for  a  time  in  New  Orleans, 
where  he  passed  safely  through  a  historic  epidemic  of  cholera.  At  one 
time,  believing  he  had  lieen  attacked  by  the  disease,  he  found  relief 
by  drinking  burned  whiskey.  It  was  during  this  early  period  of  his 
life  that  he  had  his  first  experience  with  a  stove.  He  took  up  his 
residence  in  Texas,  where  he  married  Miss  McGlassen,  of  Texan 
l)irth,  who  died  three  months  later. 

In  1858  he  came  from  Texas  to  California,  making  the  journey 
overland  with  oxen,  a  member  of  a  jiarty  of  which  his  future  father- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  623 

in-law,  John  I).  Keener,  was  captain.  At  one  time,  while  traveling  a 
new  route,  they  were  without  water  for  seventy-two  hours.  Mr.  Tur- 
ner's tongue  heoaine  so  swollen  that  he  could  not  talk,  all  his  com- 
panions suffered  and  one  of  them  l)ecame  temporarily  insane.  They 
came  to  Los  Angeles  in  1858,  where  they  remained  some  time, 
selling  their  cattle.  From  Los  Angeles  they  went  to  Visalia,  where  in 
July,  LS61,  Mr.  Turner  nuirried  Miss  family  S.  Keener,  who  bore  him 
fifteen  children :  Nancy  A.,  Peter  Q.,  John  H.,  Lucius  H.,  Anna  B., 
Edna  M.,  Laura  L,  Charles  A.,  Ida  (".,  Frank  E.,  Marcus  A.,  Elizabeth, 
Lottie,  Ada  C,  and  another  who  died  in  infancy.  Nancy  A.  married 
J.  A.  Drake.  John  H.  married  Mary  E.  Dunham.  Lucius  H.  married 
Grace  Lenell,  who  has  borne  him  three  children.  Anna  B.  married 
C.  H.  Foster  and  bore  him  four  children,  she  died  May  3U,  1889.  Ida 
C.  is  the  wife  of  J.  E.  Foster  and  they  have  seven  children  living. 
Frank  E.  married  Idena  Jones  and  they  are  the  parents  of  four  chil- 
dren. Marcus  A.  married  Elsie  Brothers  and  they  have  three  children. 
p]lizabeth  F.  married  H.  B.  Mitchell  and  has  five  children.  Charles  A. 
married  Mary  Mades.  Lottie  married  George  Fickle  and  has  one 
child.  Ada  C.  married  J.  G.  Jones  and  they  are  the  parents  of  two 
children.  Peter  Q.,  Edna  M.  and  Laura  I.  have  passed  away.  The 
father  died  at  Dunlap  June  6,  1883;  the  mother  makes  her  home  with 
her  children. 

It  was  as  a  farmer  and  carpenter  that  Mr.  Turner  was  instructed 
in  the  practical  work  by  means  of  which  he  was  destined  to  earn  his 
living.  His  first  purchase  of  land  was  of  twenty  acres.  He  later 
bought  ten  acres  on  which  he  now  lives.  Six  acres  of  his  land  is  de- 
voted to  fruit  and  berries,  the  remainder  to  pasturage.  Fraternally 
he  affiliates  with  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  America,  of  which  he  is  a 
charter  member.  His  political  affiliations  are  Socialistic.  Mrs.  Turner 
is  a  communicant  of  the  Church  of  God. 


ERASTUS  F.  WARNER 

Well  and  favorably  known  in  Tulare  county,  where  he  has  been 
a  resident  since  1858,  Erastus  F.  W^arner  is  jironiinently  mentioned 
among  the  rejiresentative  citizens  of  this  section.  He  was  born  in 
Cambridge,  Washington  county,  N.  Y.,  October  24,  1842,  the  son  of 
Cajitain  Gerrit  W.  and  Julia  A.  (Fenton)  Warner,  both  natives  of 
that  state  also.  The  news  of  the  finding  of  gold  in  California 
brought  Cai)tain  Warner  to  the  state  in  1849,  the  voyage  being  made 
via  the  Horn  in  the  vessel  Morrison,  lie  was  successful  beyond  his 
expectations  in  his  mining  exi)eri('nc('  on  the  middle  fork  of  the  Ameri- 
can river,  and  with  the  ipeans  which  he  accumulated  by  his  efforts  he 
returned  east  for  his  family  in  1S51.     It  was  not  until  two  years  later. 


624  TULABE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

however,  that  he  was  able  to  settle  his  affairs  in  the  east  and  make  his 
second  and  last  trip  to  California.  The  year  1853  found  the  family 
coming-  to  the  west  by  way  of  Nicaragua.  Settlement  was  made  in  San 
Jose,  and  that  was  the  home  of  the  family  until  the  fall  of  1855,  when 
the  father  became  interested  in  mining  at  Hornitas,  Mariposa  county, 
and  subsequently  he  became,  the  proprietor  of  a  hotel  at  Mariposa. 
January  of  1858  found  the  family  in  Visalia,  where  the  father  con- 
tinued to  follow  the  hotel  business,  being  proprietor  of  the  Exchange, 
the  Eagle  and  the  Esmeralda  Hotels.  Going  to  Porterville  in  186.3  he 
opened  a  hostelry  and  also  conducted  a  stage  depot,  a  business  which 
he  followed  ]n-ofltably  until  death  ended  his  labors  on  June  1,  1865. 
His  wife  is  also  deceased,  having  passed  away  August  30,  1898. 

The  parental  family  comprised  three  children,  Mrs.  Sarah  M. 
Cousins  and  Frederick  A.,  both  deceased,  and  Erastus  F.,  of  this 
re\aew.  At  the  time  the  family  removed  from  the  east  to  California  in 
1853  the  latter  was  a  young  lad  and  the  experiences  of  the  voyage 
made  a  lasting  impression  on  his  plastic  mind.  They  left  New  York 
March  5  of  that  year  and  all  went  well  until  April  9,  when  their  ship, 
the  propeller  steamship  Lewis,  was  wrecked  off  Bodega  bay.  Total 
destruction  threatened  them,  and  although  the  ship  was  driven  ashore 
and  considerable  damage  done,  no  lives  were  lost.  The  passengers 
were  finally  taken  aboard  the  Goliah  and  the  steamer  Active  that 
were  sent  to  their  rescue  from  San  Francisco,  and  thus  they  reached 
their  destinatiou  in  safety. 

Throughout  Tulare  county  Mr.  "Warner  is  well  known  as  an  expert 
well  borer,  having  followed  this  business  for  the  past  thirty-eight 
years.  Considerable  work  of  this  character  has  been  done  for  the 
Southern  Pacific  Railroad,  ranging  all  the  way  from  El  Paso,  Texas, 
to  Salt  Lake  City,  and  he  also  made  the  Iwrings  for  setting  the  rail- 
road bridges  all  over  the  line.  Mr.  Warner's  services  are  still  in 
constant  demand,  and  that  his  work  is  entirely  satisfactory  is 
e\'idenced  in  the  fact  that  his  reputation  is  county  wide,  and  visible 
evidences  of  his  work  are  as  broadly  scattered.  In  the  early  days  he 
was  a  member  of  the  volunteer  fire  department  of  Visalia,  and  he  is 
still  connected  with  the  department  as  foreman  of  old  Eureka  Engine 
Company  No.  1.  He  is  an  honorary  member  of  the  Volunteer  Veteran 
Firemen  of  San  Francisco,  and  fraternally  is  a  member  of  Four  Creek 
Lodge  No.  94,  I.  0.  0.  F.,  having  joined  the  order  in  1866,  and  is  also 
identified  with  Damascus  Encampment  No.  44,  and  Canton  No.  24. 
His  political  sympathies  are  with  the  Republican  party. 

The  first  marriage  of  Mr.  W^arner  occurred  December  24,  1868, 
uniting  him  with  Maud  A.  Baker,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania.  She  died 
in  1893,  leaving  one  daughter,  Mrs.  Evelyn  English.  Mr.  Warner's 
second  marriage.  May  21,  1903,  united  him  with  Mrs.  Kitty  (Schreiber) 
Horsnyder,  a  native  of  Kentucky. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  625 

EARL  MATHEWSON 

Among  the  native  sons  of  Tulare  ooimtj'^  who  are  winning  success 
as  farmers  is  Earl  Mathewson,  who  lives  on  the  Exeter  road,  near 
Visalia.  Arthur  W.  Mathewson,  his  father,  married  Miss  Lueinda 
Tinkham  in  1866,  who  was  born  in  Iowa,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Tink- 
ham,  a  native  of  Vermont,  and  bore  her  husband  eight  children,  of 
whom  five  are  living:  Mrs.  Pearl  Ogden,  Levi,  Mrs.  Edith  M.  Mosier, 
Earl  and  James  A.  A  biographical  sketch  of  the  father  has  a  place  in 
these  pages.  Earl  Mathewson  was  born  near  Farmersville,  August 
28,  1876,  and  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  near  his  boyhood 
home.  For  a  time  he  helped  his  father  on  the  ranch,  then  made  some 
money  running  cattle  through  the  mountainous  portion  of  Tulare 
county. 

In  1900  Mr.  Mathewson  rented  of  his  mother  a  ranch  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty-one  acres  which  he  has  since  operated  with  much 
success.  He  has  twenty  acres  of  three-year-old  French  prunes,  ten 
acres  of  Egj-ptian  corn  yielding  a  ton  to  an  acre,  and  twelve  acres 
under  alfalfa.  He  makes  a  specialty  of  the  breeding  of  cattle,  horses 
and  hogs  and  has  produced  some  stock  that  is  as  fine  as  is  to  be  seen 
in  his  vicinity. 

Fraternally  Mr.  Mathewson  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the 
World.  In  1909  he  married  Miss  Marie  Holtoof,  a  native  of  Trinity 
county,  Cal.,  and  they  have  a  son  named  Orley.  As  a  citizen  Mr. 
Mathewson  is  public-spiritedly  heli)ful  to  all  worthy  local  interests. 


WILLIAM  F.  BERNSTEIN 

As  a  baker  and  also  as  a  stock-raiser  William  F.  Bernstein 
has  achieved  a  high  standing  in  Kings  county,  Cal.,  and  his  bakery 
at  Hanford  and  his  stock  farm  near  that  town  are  among  the  best, 
each  in  its  class,  of  their  respective  kinds  in  Central  California. 
Mr.  Bernstein  was  born  in  Ohio,  near  the  old  town  of  Lebanon, 
Warren  county,  in  April,  1873,  and  there  was  reared  to  manhood 
and  educated  in  common  schools  and  at  a  normal  school,  and  began 
teaching  some  years  before  he  attained  his  majority.  He  was 
twenty-three  when  he  came  to  Hanford  and  found  emplo>anent  in 
the  bakery  establishment  of  Fred  Bader.  Three  years  later  he 
bought  a  one-half  interest  in  the  business  and  at  the  expiration  of 
another  three  years  he  became  its  sole  proprietor.  Since  then  he 
has  been  its  able  manager  and  has  developed  it  commensurately 
with  the  growth  of  the  town.  He  handles  a  general  line  of  first- 
class  bakery  goods  and  his  ice-cream  and  candies  have  won  a  reputa- 


626  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

tion  which  keeps  them  in  constant  demand.  His  business  occupies 
a  two-story  and  basement  building  which  takes  up  a  ground  space 
of  25  X  150  feet  and  employs  in  its  various  departments  twenty-one 
skilled  workers. 

Adjoining  the  city  on  the  southeast  is  a  ranch  of  six  acres 
which  is  the  property  of  Mr.  Bernstein,  and  he  owns  forty  acres 
located  a  mile  west  of  the  city  on  which  he  breeds  thoroughbred 
registered  Poland-China  hogs,  as  well  as  saddle  horses  which  are 
in  high  favor  with  discriminating  users  of  animals  bred  and  trained 
for  such  service.  He  has  exhibited  his  thoroughbred  hogs  at  various 
local  fairs.  His  entire  ranch  is  devoted  to  alfalfa  and  to  the  feeding 
and    ( level oiunent    of    the    stock   mentioned. 

In  the  promotion  and  organization  of  the  Kings  County  Chamber 
of  Commerce  Mr.  Bernstein  was  influential,  and  he  was  elected  its 
first  president  and  re-elected  to  that  office  in  December,  1911.  In  a 
fraternal  way  he  affiliates  with  the  Masons,  being  a  Templar  and  a 
Shriner,  and  also  with  the  Hanford  Camp,  Woodmen  of  the  World. 
As  a  citizen  he  is  helpful  to  all  worthy  local  interests,  ready  at  all 
times  to  do  his  full  share  in  the  encouragement  of  the  develoi^ment 
of  the  town.  He  was  married,  May  28,  1902,  to  Mary  Pearl  Trew- 
hitt,  who  was  born  in  Tennessee,  but  had  been  brought  to  Hanford 
by  her  parents.  Her  mother,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Trewhitt,  is  a  resident 
of  that  citv. 


JOHN  T.  MORGAN 

Synonymous  with  the  name  of  Mr.  Morgan  is  the  name  of  the 
Morgan's  Market,  of  which  he  is  the  owner  and  proprietor,  a  thriv- 
ing enterprise  in  Visalia,  which  is  known  for  the  high  character  of 
the  goods  handled  and  for  the  excellent  service  rendered.  From 
seven  to  ten  employes  are  required  in  the  conduct  of  the  business, 
and  two  delivery  wagons  eual)le  the  owner  to  make  prom])t  delivery. 
All  of  the  meats  carried  in  the  market  are  killed  and  prepared  under 
the  direct  supervision  of  Mr.  Morgan,  whose  slaughter  house  is 
located  on  the  outskirts  of  town. 

A  native  son  of  California,  John  T.  Morgan  was  born  in  San 
Bernardino  in  July,  1863,  the  son  of  Thomas  and  Eliza  (Mee) 
Morgan,  the  former  a  native  of  Illinois  and  the  latter  of  England. 
The  Morgan  family  became  established  in  California  in  1859,  when 
Thomas  Morgan  came  hither  from  the  middle  west  and  settled  in 
San  Bernardino  county.  He  was  a  man  of  versatility  and  ability, 
and  in  addition  to  carrying  large  personal  interests  he  rendered 
invaluable   service   to   the   young   and   growing   community   in    which 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  627 

he  settled.  He  was  elected  and  served  acceptably  as  the  first  sheriff 
of  San  Bernardino  county.  He  died  in  1863.  His  wife  was  also  a 
pioneer  to  the  west,  having  crossed  the  plains  from  Utah  at  the 
time  of  the  Mountain  Meadow  massacre.  Reared  and  educated 
in  his  native  county,  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years  John  T.  Morgan 
went  to  Pinal  county,  Ariz.,  where  he  entered  the  employ  of  the 
Silver  King  Mining  Company  and  also  for  several  years  worked  in 
a  butcher  shop.  This  latter  experience,  combined  with  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  business  that  he  had  acquired  in  his  native  county,  led 
him  to  undertake  a  business  of  his  own,  and  going  to  Riverside  he 
opened  and  managed  a  meat  market  for  Barker  Brothers  for  four 
years.  Subsequently  he  purchased  the  business  and  conducted  it 
alone  for  four  years.  He  then  sold  out  and  went  to  San  Jacinto, 
where  he  opened  and  conducted  a  market  until  coming  to  Visalia 
in  1902.  In  that  year  he  bought  out  the  nucleus  of  the  business 
which  he  owns  today,  then  a  small,  unpretentious  store,  which  in 
the  meantime  has  expanded  in  business  and  reputation  until  it  is 
now  conceded  to  be  one  of  the  best  appointed  butchering  establish- 
ments in  the  state,  doing  a  wholesale  and  retail  business. 

In  April,  15)11,  Mr.  Morgan  was  honored  by  his  fellow-citizens 
by  election  to  the  office  of  city  trustee  of  Visalia,  from  the  sixtli 
ward.  He  is  a  projierty  owner  and  an  influential  member  of  a  number 
of  fraternal  orders,  l)eing  a  member  of  Four  Creek  Lodge  No.  94, 
I.  0.  O.  F.,  Fraternal  Brotherhood,  Woodmen  of  the  World,  Foresters 
of  America,  and  the  Native  Sons  of  the  Golden  West.  He  was 
married  in  1891  to  Miss  Lillian  R.  Cleveland,  who  was  born  in  Iowa, 
and  they  have  three  children,  Everett  C,  Howard  G.,  and  J.  Thomas. 
"\'^isalia  has  no  more  public-spirited  citizen  than  Mr.  Morgan,  wlio  is 
ever  on  the  alert  to  promote  the  development  of  the  city,  as  is  indi- 
cated by  his  lil)eral  assistance  toward  every  worthy  public  movement. 


ALPHEUS   C.   WILLIAMS 

The  present  supervisor  of  the  Third  District  of  Tulare  county, 
Cal.,  A.  C.  Williams,  who  lives  at  No.  420  N.  Church  street,  Visalia, 
was  born  in  Dent  county.  Mo.,  November  24,  18()8,  and  after  leaving 
school  became  connected  witli  tlic  train  department  of  the  St.  Tjouis 
and   San  P^rancisco  railroad. 

It  was  in  1891  that  Mr.  Williams  came  to  California.  Locating 
at  Tulare  city,  he  worked  on  different  ranches  near  there  for  three 
years,  then  moved  to  six  hundre*!  and  forty  acres  of  laud  east  of 
Visalia,  where  lie  engaged  in  grain  farming,  in  whicli  he  was  suc- 
cessful  for   some  vears.     In   1903   he  established   the   Visalia  Feed, 


628  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Fuel  &  Storage  Co.,  au  enterprise  which  under  his  management 
became  one  of  the  most  important  of  its  kind  in  Central  California. 
For  a  considerable  period  he  has  been  prominently  identified  with 
local  political  affairs  and  in  1908  he  was  elected  super\isor  to  repre- 
sent the  Third  District  of  Tulare  county,  and  it  is  worthy  of  note  that 
he  was  the  first  Republican  elected  to  that  office  by  that  constituency. 
How  well  he  has  served  in  that  important  capacity  his  fellow  citi- 
zens well  know  and  his  record  for  efficiency  and  integrity  is  a 
most  enviable  one.  Fraternally  he  is  identified  with  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 

In  1893  Mr.  Williams  married  Miss  Mary  Ellen  Goad,  daughter 
of  John  C.  and  C.  Odele  (DeBolt)  Goad,  the  former  of  whom  was 
born  in  Madisonville,  Hopkins  county,  Ky.  Two  children  were 
born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Williams,  Ellen  M.  and  Alpheus  C,  Jr.  Mrs. 
Williams'  father  came  across  the  plains  to  California  in  the  early 
'60s,  and  lived  in  Nevada  county  imtil  1873,  when  he  came  to  Tulare 
county  and  located  on  a  ranch  eight  miles  northeast  of  Visalia.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  prominent  ranchers  in  the  neighborhood  of  old 
Venus  until  his  death,  which  occurred  Sei^tember  25.  1905.  When  he 
was  twenty-one  he  joined  the  Masonic  order  and  was  popular  in 
those  circles.  His  wife,  whom  he  married  in  Grass  Valley,  Nevada 
coiinty,  was  a  native  of  Ohio  and  passed  away  April  25,  1906. 
They  were  the  parents  of  the  following  children:  Pearl,  Anna  G. 
and  Frank  A.,  all  deceased;  J.  E.  Goad,  of  San  Diego,  the  only 
living  son;   and  Mary  Ellen,  who   is   now  Mrs.   Williams. 


IRA  BLOSSOM 

Among  the  early  jiioneers  of  Tulare  county  who  have  become 
successful  ranchmen  is  Ira  Blossom,  who  was  born  in  1832  in 
the  state  of  New  York.  He  grew  to  manhood  and  was  educated  in 
the  Empire  State  and  in  1852,  when  he  was  twenty  years  old, 
sought  his  fortune  in  California.  For  a  time  be  stayed  in  San 
Francisco,  and  from  there  he  went  to  Stockton  and  soon  went  into 
the  mines,  where  he  worked  a  year.  After  that  he  lived  six  years  in 
the  San  Joaquin  valley.  In  1860  he  moved  to  Tulare  county  and 
during  the  ensuing  six  years  assisted  in  the  operation  of  a  flour 
mill  near  Visalia.  Next  we  find  him  located  on  South  Fork  river, 
in  a  section  of  Tulare  county  in  which  he  has  since  made  his  home. 
His  first  land  purchase  was  a  tract  of  eight  hundred  acres  on  which 
he  lived  for  a  time,  but  which  eventually  he  sold  in  order  to  buy 
land  near  Three  Rivers,  where  he  has  lived  during  the  past  decade. 

In  1860  Mr.  Blossom  married  Mrs.  Julia  Clough,  and  they  have 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  629 

four  children,  three  of  wliom  are  living.  One  of  their  daughters 
lives  in  Sau  Francisco,  the  other  in  Mt.  View,  Cal.,  and  their  son 
is  with  his  parents  on  their  family  homestead.  The  latter  is  filling 
the  office  of  deputy  park  ranger,  the  duties  of  which  he  is  performing 
with  much  ability  and  credit. 

The  present  laud  lioldiugs  of  Mr.  Blossom  aggregate  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-five  acres,  part  of  it  in  fruit  and  most  of  the 
remainder  in  grain.  He  has  given  part  of  his  time  to  stock-raising, 
in  which  he  has  achieved  considerable  success,  and  is  regarded  as 
one  of  the  old  reliable  farmers  of  his  district,  being  honored  by 
the  people  of  Tulare  county  as  one  of  their  few  remaining  pioneers. 
His  personal  characteristics  are  of  the  kind  that  make  men  popular 
with  their  fellows  and  many  a  man  who  has  had  the  benefit  of  his 
acquaintance  has  found  in  him  a  valued  friend.  He  never  held 
office  or  identified  himself  with  any  order,  but  is  public-spirited 
in  support  of  all  worthy  interests  of  the  community. 


J.  A.  CRAWSHAW,  M.D. 

While  giving  attention  to  general  practice  Dr.  J.  A.  Crawshaw 
specializes  along  lines  safely  and  sanely  within  the  limits  of  the 
field  of  the  family  physician.  His  residence  and  office  are  in  the 
Bissell  Building,  Hanford,  Kings  county,  Cal.  Born  Aiagust  10, 
1879,  at  Carbondale,  111.,  he  was  there  educated  in  the  public 
schools  and  in  the  state  normal  school  in  the  usual  courses  of  such 
institutions.  When  advanced  sufficiently  in  his  professional  studies, 
he  matriculated  in  the  medical  department  of  the  University  of 
Illinois  at  Chicago  in  1901,  and  after  passing  the  prescribed  exam- 
inations was  duly  graduated  therefrom  with  the  degree  of  M.D., 
June  5,  1905.  After  eighteen  months  devoted  to  the  practice  of  his 
profession  at  Murphysboro,  111.,  he  came  in  1907  to  Hanford,  where 
he  has  since  prospered  increasingly  as  a  general  practitioner  of 
medicine  and  surgery,  specializing  in  diseases  of  the  eye,  ear,  nose 
and    throat. 

Dr.  Crawshaw  is  a  director  of  the  Hanford  Sanitorium,  which 
he  helped  to  organize  and  which  is  now  in  the  course  of  construc- 
tion. It  is  a  modern  structure,  costing  $30,000,  and  is  to  be  com- 
pleted February  1,  1913.  The  Doctor  holds  membership  in  the 
Fresno  Medical  Society,  the  San  Joaquin  Medical  Society  and  the 
California  State  Medical  Society.  He  is  identified  with  the  Kings 
County  Auto  Association,  is  a  Blue  Lodge,  Royal  Arch  and  Eastern 
Star  Mason,  a  Forester  of  America  and  a  member  of  the  Inde- 
pendent   Order    of    Foresters    and    its    ladies'    auxiliary    order,    a 


630  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Modern  Woodman,  a  member  of  the  order  of  Fraternal  Aid  and  of 
the  Portuguese  orders  of  U.  P.  E.  C.  and  of  I.  D.  E.  S.  In  all  of 
these  societies  he  takes  a  helpful  interest,  greeting  their  members 
in  fraternal  brotherhood  and  advancing  their  many  good  works  in 
every  way  possible. 

Beside  his  professional  work  Dr.  Crawshaw  has  found  some 
time  to  devote  to  other  interests,  notably  to  ranching.  He  owns  a 
farm  of  one  hundred  acres,  eight  miles  north  of  Hanford,  all 
under  irrigation  and  devoted  to  stock-raising.  At  this  time  he  is 
arranging  to  give  special  attention  to  the  breeding  of  mules. 

In  1904  Dr.  Crawshaw  married  Miss  Bessie  Hagler,  who  was 
then  a  resident  of  Illinois.  They  have  an  interesting  little  daughter 
named  Alleen. 

The  Doctor,  althougli  an  adopted  son  of  California  and  a 
comparatively  late  arrival  to  the  city  of  Hanford,  yet  enters  heart- 
ily into  the  political  and  social  life  of  Kings  county.  He  took  part 
in  the  program  of  the  "Kings  County  Karnival"  in  May,  1911,  and 
rendered  an  original  poem  cm  the  liirth  of  Kings  county,  from  which 
we   quote   the    following: 

"  'Twas  in  the  spring  of  ninety-three, 
In  the  county  then  of  Tu-lar-e. 
With  division  talk  on  every  tongue. 
That  the  battle  of  politics  was  sprung. 
Fast  the  missiles  flew  each  way, 
Until  the  twenty-third  of  May, 
When  Captain  Blakely  with  his  dart 
Plunged  the  weapon  in  tlieir  heart. 

"With  the  sun  still  shining  in  the  skies, 
And   the   tears   undried    in   the   mother's    eyes, 
Out  from  the  wounded,  bleeding  heart. 
The  "Baby  County"  made  a  start, 
To  spread  afar  its  honored  fame 
And  win  itself  a   Christian  name. 
Whose  echo  o'er  the  plain  would  ring, 
In  honor  of  our  Babv  King." 


CHARLES  E.  JOYNER 

In  the  country  round  about  Exeter,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  there 
are  few  citizens  who  are  more  highly  regarded  than  is  Charles  E. 
Joyner,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  born  in  1859.  who  came  to  California 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  (531 

in  1872,  when  he  was  thirteen  years  old.  It  sliould  he  noted  tliat  he 
came  here  simply  as  a  visitor,  expecting-  soon  to  return  to  his  old  liome 
and  that  excei)t  for  hrief  absences  he  has  remained  here  ever  since. 
He  grew  to  manhood  on  tlic  J.  H.  Johnson  rancji  and  finished  his 
education  in  the  public  sciiools  in  that  neighborhood.  He  was  an 
orphan,  his  mother  having  died  when  he  was  an  infant,  his  father 
when  he  was  but  a  small  boy,  hut  he  found  friendship  and  encour- 
agement under  the  sunny  California  skies  and  set  his  face  bravely 
toward  the  future.  He  may  be  said  to  have  made  his  way  in  the 
world  since  he  was  a  mere  boy.  In  1884  he  married  Catherine 
Mabrey,  a  native  of  Arkansas,  who  has  borne  him  seven  children, 
all  of  whom  are  being  educated  in  the  public  schools  near  their  home. 
Fruit  has  engaged  Mr.  Joyner's  attention  and  he  has  thirty- 
five  acres  in  three-year-old  navel  oranges.  Formerly  he  raised  grain. 
His  land  cost  him  about  $2.50  an  acre  and  at  a  fair  market  valuation 
it  is  worth  today  $700  an  acre.  He  has  prospered,  and  in  so  doing 
has  generously  conceded  the  right  of  the  community  at  large  to  do 
as  well.  While  he  is  very  public-spirited,  he  cares  little  for  prac- 
tical politics  and  has  steadfastly  refused  office. 


JOSEPH  W.  LOVELACE 

A  native  of  the  Lone  Star  State,  born  in  Fannin  county,  in 
1858,  Josejah  "W.  Lovelace,  now  living  at  No.  502  S.  Church  street, 
Visalia,  is  a  son  of  John  W.  and  Arminta  (Stallard)  Lovelace,  natives 
respectively  of  North  Carolina  and  of  Tennessee.  The  family  came 
to  California,  members  of  a  party  that  came  across  the  plains  with 
ox-teams  and  seventy-five  wagons,  consuming  six  months  in  the 
journey.  Coming  over  the  southern  route,  they  stopped  in  the  fall 
of  1861  at  Bakersfield,  where  John  W.  Lovelace  Iniilt  a  small  cabin, 
which  in  the  following  winter  was  swei)t  away  liy  a  flood.  After  the 
breaking  up  of  their  home  there  they  moved  to  El  Monte,  Los 
Angeles  county,  where  they  lived  until  they  removed  to  Tulare 
county  in  1863.  The  father  fought  through  the  Civil  war  in  Gen. 
Sterling  Price's  Confederate  army.  After  receiving  his  discharge, 
he  brought  his  family  back  to  Tulare  county  and  engaged  in  mer- 
chandising at  Farmersville,  where  he  bought  the  store  of  Crowley 
&  Jasper  and  formed  a  partnership  with  T.  J.  Brundage.  He 
interested  himself  also  in  stock-raising  and  in  186!)  took  up  a  stock 
ranch  at  Three  Rivers  which  he  improved.  Returning  eventually  to 
Texas,  he  died  there  in  1875;  his  wife  also  has  passed  away.  During 
his  residence  at  El  ^lonte,  Los  Angeles  coimty,  this  ))ioneer  became 
a  member  of  the  local   lodge  of  Free  and  Accepted   Masons.     As  a 


632  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

citizen  he  was  public-spii'ited  and  helpful  to  all  good  interests  of 
the  community. 

Follomng  are  the  names  of  the  living  children  of  John  W. 
and  Arminta  (Stallard)  Lovelace:  Martin  F.,  Charles  P.,  Willis  R. 
and  Joseph  W.  The  last  named  was  but  a  lad  when  his  father 
brought  his  family  to  Tulare  county  during  the  war  of  the  states. 
He  grew  to  manhood  at  Visalia  and  there  finished  his  schooling. 
For  twelve  years  he  was  engaged  in  stock-raising  in  the  Three  Riv- 
ers district  of  Tulare  county,  and  in  19U0  he  moved  to  Visalia  iu  order 
to  give  his  children  better  educational  training.  He  is  interested  in 
real  estate  in  that  city  and  owns  besides  a  one  hundred  and  twenty 
acre  grain  ranch  fifteen  miles  east  of  Lemon  Cove.  Socially  he 
affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  He  married,  in  Texas, 
Miss  Helen  Schliehtiug,  a  native  of  Wisconsin,  who  has  borne  him 
children  as  follows :  Byron  0.,  county  surveyor  of  Tulare  county ; 
Nathaniel  F. ;  Clay ;  Walter ;  and  Lee.  Mr.  Lovelace  is  well  known 
for  his  helpful  public  spirit. 

Mr.  Lovelace's  deceased  brothers  and  sisters  were:  Mollie, 
who  died  about  the  year  1884,  was  the  wife  of  the  late  Hon.  J.  C. 
Brown,  who  represented  Tulare  county  iu  the  legislature  several 
times  and  was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  committee  which 
revised  the  state  constitution  of  California  in  1876;  John  Aimer, 
who  was  married,  died  in  Texas  in  1889;  and  Lillian  Josephine, 
who  also  was  married,  died  in  Texas  in  1882,  leaving  no  children. 


JOHN  CHATTEN 

A  resident  of  California  from  1868  to  1907,  when  he  passed 
away,  the  late  John  Chatten  was  of  English  extraction  and  a  native 
of  Canada.  Thomas  Chatten,  his  grandfather,  brought  his  family 
from  Norfolk,  Eng.,  and  settled  in  Ontario,  where  his  son  Robert 
Chatten,  father  of  John,  farmed  near  Colborne  till  1896,  when  he 
died  aged  seventy-eight.  Robert's  wife,  Betsy  Doe,  a  native  of 
Ontario,  died  there  aged  seventy-two.  She  was  of  English  ancestry, 
a  daughter  of  James  Doe,  who  was  a  Canadian  settler  and  farmer. 
John  Chatten  was  their  second  oldest  child  and  the  oldest  son  in 
a  family  of  nine  children,  all  of  whom  attained  to  maturity.  He 
was  born  near  Colborne,  Northumberland  county,  Ont.,  December 
8,  1848,  and  grew  up  where  the  work  was  hard  and  the  living  not 
the  best.  From  the  time  he  was  eleven,  when  he  was  taken  out  of 
school,  he  worked  on  the  farm  and  one  of  his  tiresome  and  painful 
tasks  was  the  picking  i\\)  of  stones,  which  made  his  back  ache  and 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  633 

wore  the  skin  off  his  fingers.  His  nncle  Eichard  Chatten  had  come 
to  California  as  a  41)er,  and  his  accounts  of  the  climate  and  the 
ease  with  which  a  living  might  be  earned  or  a  competency  secured 
were  alluring  reading  to  the  folks  in  the  bleak  Canadian  backwoods. 
This  finally  lured  John  Chatten  to  the  state  and  for  two  years  after 
his  arrival  he  worked  for  his  uncle.  After  his  marriage  he  took 
up  independent  farming  and  stock-raising  on  one  hundred  and  fifty 
acres  of  his  uncle's  land,  and  a  year  later  bought  an  unimproved 
tract  which  he  transformed   into  an  attractive   homestead. 

More  than  ordinary  success  rewarded  Mr.  Chatten's  efforts  as 
a  farmer,  and  late  in  life  he  made  a  profitable  specialty  of  dairying. 
His  activity  in  local  affairs  was  displayed  in  efficient  service  as  a 
member  of  the  county  central  committee  of  his  party,  and  his  interest 
in  education  impelled  him  to  accept  the  trusteeship  of  the  Elbow 
school  district,  the  duties  of  which  he  discharged  for  thirty  years, 
assisting  to  build  a  school  house  and  to  put  the  home  school  on  a 
firm  and  substantial  basis.  Other  praiseworthy  measures  were 
given  his  aid  and  counsel,  and  he  was  recognized  as  one  of  the 
leading  men  of  the  county. 

Miss  Celeste  Eeynolds,  who  became  the  wife  of  Mr.  Chatten 
December  11,  1870,  was  born  in  Iowa  and  brought  across  the  plains 
to  California  by  her  parents  when  she  was  but  seven  months  old. 
They  came  in  an  ox-train  and  seven  months  were  consumed  in  the 
journey.  Her  entire  life  in  California  has  been  lived  in  Tulare 
coimty.  The  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Chatten  were:  Wesley-,  an 
engraver  in  Portland,  Ore. ;  Arthur ;  Wilmot  L. ;  Eay,  deceased ; 
Fred,  and  Elsie.  The  family  residence  was  built  in  1903  and  the 
homestead  includes  a  hundred  and  seventy-two  acres  on  Elbow  creek, 
irrigated  by  the  Wutchumna  ditch,  Mr.  Chatten  having  been  a  direc- 
tor in  the  ditch  company.  Every  acre  of  this  homestead  is  tillable, 
and  he  also  owned  a  quarter-section  of  adjoining  land  which  he 
devoted  to  grazing. 

The  third  in  order  of  birth  of  the  children  of  John  and  Celeste 
(Ee\-nolds)  Chatten,  Wilmot  L.  Chatten  was  born  near  Visalia, 
November  11,  1878.  He  liegan  his  active  career  by  ranching  with 
his  father.  In  1902  he  bought  land,  which  he  farmed  until  after  his 
father's  death.  He  now  rents  of  his  mother  the  home  place  and  the 
adjoining  land.  He  has  twenty-five  acres  in  barley  and  twenty  acres 
in  alfalfa,  the  remainder  being  pasture,  and  he  maintains  a  dairy  of 
twenty  cows  and  keeps  an  a\-erage  of  about  a  hundred  hogs.  His 
family  orchard  is  one  of  the  best  in  its  vicinity,  and  he  gives  some 
attention  to  chicken-raising.  He  is  a  man  of  public  spirit  and,  as 
was  his  father,  is  a  Eepublican.  In  1902  he  married  Miss  lola 
Fudge,  daughter  of  William  Eudge,  an  early  settler  in  the  county. 
They  have  two  children,  Meredith  and  Dallas. 


634  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

HARRISON  A.  POWELL 

Most  of  the  sons  of  Kentucky  who  have  come  to  California  have 
developed  into  citizens  of  whom  Californians  are  proud  and  they 
have  exacted  from  California  the  full  reward  of  enterprise  and 
industry.  This  is  true  in  the  case  of  Harrison  A.  Powell,  one  of  the 
best  known  citizens  in  the  Exeter  district  in  Tulare  county,  who 
was  born  in  Henderson  county,  Ky.,  August  11,  1859,  and  lived 
there  until  1902.  He  came  to  California  at  this  time  and  located  at 
Exeter,  where  he  has  made  his  home  up  to  this  time.  He  had  passed 
the  earlier  years  of  his  life  as  a  farmer  and  it  was  but  natural  that 
he  should  have  continued  here  to  woo  fortune  after  the  manner  of 
his  youth.  But  at  first  he  had  not  the  capital  with  which  to  establish 
himself  as  he  planned  to  do.  He  went  to  work,  saved  money  and 
invested  it  in  land,  and  while  the  land  was  increasing  in  value  added 
to  his  fund  by  continuing  his  labors.  Then  when  the  land  was  worth 
selling  he  converted  it  into  money  and  put  the  money  where  it 
would  draw  interest,  and  as  a  financier  he  has  perhaps  prospered  as 
well  as  he  would  have  done  had  he  carried  out  his  original  intention 
to  become  a  farmer. 

In  1879  Mr.  Powell  married  Leurah  Cottingham,  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  and  they  had  six  children :  Chester  E.,  Ernest  C.,  Judith  A., 
Mary,  Rhea  and  Earl.  Mrs.  Powell  died  in  1891  and  in  1909  Mr. 
Powell  married  (second)  Martha  Ficklen,  a  native  of  Missouri. 
His  father  was  born  in  Virginia,  while  his  mother  was  a  native  of 
Kentucky.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows, affiliating  with  both  lodge  and  encampment,  and  was  vice 
grand  of  his  lodge  in  1911.  Politically  he  adheres  to  the  Democratic 
faith.  Having  at  heart  the  welfare  of  the  community,  he  is  public- 
spirited  in  such  measure  as  to  make  for  the  very  best  citizenshi]:). 
He  is  essentially  a  self-made  man  who  has  prospered  by  industry 
and  frugality  at  the  expense  of  his  brain  and  brawn  and  not  to  the 
cost  of  any  of  his  fellow  citizens.  Some  idea  of  his  quality  may  be 
inferred  from  his  recent  assertion,  not  boastful  yet  delivered  with 
an  air  of  satisfaction:  "I  am  fifty-three  years  of  age  and  have 
never  been  under  the  influence  of  liquor." 


WILLIAM  WHITAKER 

In  Connecticut  William  Whitaker,  now  of  the  Dinuba  district  in 
Tulare  eoimty,  Cal.,  was  born  in  November,  1833.  His  start  in 
business  life  was  as- an  axe-maker.  Later  he  manufactured  clothes- 
pin.s  until  about  the  time  of  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War.     Re- 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  635 

sponding  to  Presideut  Lincoln's  first  oall  for  seventy-five  tlionsaud 
three  months'  troops,  he  enlisted  in  the  First  Regiment,  New  Hamp- 
shire Volunteer  Infantry,  and  was  mustered  into  the  service  of  the 
United  States  at  Concord,  N.  li.,  in  April,  1861.  Later  he  re- 
enlisted  in  the  Fifth  Regiment,  New  Hampshire  Volunteer  Infantry, 
and  served  until  the  close  of  the  war.  During  the  period  of  his 
service  he  held  all  ranks  from  private  to  captain  of  his  company, 
having  been  commissioned  for  the  latter  office  just  before  his  dis- 
charge. His  first  experience  in  battle  was  in  June,  1861,  and  he  was 
in  thirty  regular  engagements  with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  in- 
cluding the  fighting  at  Petersburg  and  Oettysburg  and  in  many  skirm- 
ishes, passing  through  many  perils,  not  the  least  of  which  were 
those  incident  to  an  explosion  which  he  is  not  likely  ever  to  forget. 
After  the  war  he  engaged  in  the  lumber  and  sawmill  business  in 
Ashford,  Conn.  Later  he  devoted  himself  to  farming,  which  he  fol- 
lowed there  until  in  1899,  when  he  came  to  Tulare  county,  where  he 
has  since  made  his  home.  His  first  purchase  of  land  here  was  five 
acres,  which  he  has  since  sold  in  town  lots  from  time  to  time.  He 
owned  twenty  acres  at  Yettem,  eleven  of  which  is  in  Muscat  grapes, 
also  five  acres  of  Malagas.  At  this  time  he  is  practically  retired 
from  active  business  life.  He  keeps  alive  memories  of  the  Civil 
war  by  membership  with  Shaffer  Post  No.  92,  G.  A.  R.  Politically 
he  is  a  Socialist.  In  his  religious  affiliation  he  is  a  Seventh  Day 
Adventist.  Besides  his  home  at  Dinuba  he  is  the  owner  of  consid- 
erable valuable  property  in  the  East.  His  brother  Edward  W. 
Whitaker  was  promoted  froiu  his  original  place  as  ]irivate  in  the 
ranks,  by  successive  advancements,  to  the  office  of  brigadier-general 
in  the  I'ederal  army  in  the  Civil  war  and  is  now  stationed  at  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.  Daniel  Whitaker,  another  of  his  brothers,  rose  to  be 
a  cai^tain  and  was  killed  June  17,  1863.  He  had  another  brother, 
George,  in  the  Union  Army,  enlisting  from  California.  Another 
brother,  Horace  Whitaker,  who  died  in  Stokes  valley  in  October, 
1910,  unmarried,  came  to  California  in  1856,  via  Isthmus  of  Panama. 
He  followed  the  stock  business  in  Tulare  county  from  1858,  and 
became  a  well  known  factor  tbi-oughout  the  county,  having  won  a 
suit  over  land  title  from  the  Southern  Pacific  Railway  Com]>any 
after  being  in  litigation  about  twenty  years. 

In  1866  Mr.  Whitaker  married  Ada  Ferguson,  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  she  bore  him  six  children:  Mary  J.  married  Wilbur 
Devoll  and  has  four  children.  Ada  became  Mrs.  Clifton  Wright  and 
died  leaving  three  children.  Eva  married  Clifton  Church  and  they 
have  two  children.  Etta  mai-ricd  Charles  McDonald  and  tliey  have 
three  children.  Helen  is  Mrs.  William  Ileffron,  who  is  the  only  one 
of  the  children  residing  in  California.     Jesse  L.,  the  fourtli  in  order 


636  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

of  birth  and  the  only  son,  met  an  accidental  death  in  December,  1909. 
The  wife  and  mother  passed  away  in  1899  and  in  1901  Mr.  Whitaker 
married  Mrs.  Frances  C.  "White. 


HANFORD   NATIONAL    BANK 

This  well  established  and  dependable  institution,  one  of  the 
strong  and  popular  banks  of  Kings  county,  Cal.,  was  organized  in 
May.  1903,  was  incorporated  in  the  following  month,  and  was  opened 
for  business  July  28,  that  year.  Its  savings  department,  known  as 
the  Peoples   Savings   Bank,  was  organized  November   1,   1903. 

The  first  president  of  the  bank  was  Dr.  N.  P.  Duncan,  who 
died  February  15,  1905,  and  he  was  succeeded  by  W.  V.  Buckner. 
Its  original  vice-president  died  and  was  succeeded  by  Charles  A. 
Kimball ;  H.  E.  Wright  was  cashier,  S.  E.  Railsback,  assistant  cashier. 
The  capital  stock  of  the  Hanford  National  Bank  was  $50,000.  all 
paid  in,  and  the  capital  stock  of  the  Peoples  Savings  Bank  was  $25,000, 
$12,500  of  which  was  paid  in  at  the  time  of  its  organization,  and 
the  remainder  of  which  was  paid  two  years  later.  The  board  of 
directors  serves  for  both  banks  and  is  constituted  as  follows:  W.  V. 
Buckner,  L.  Hansen,  Charles  A.  Kimball,  S.  E.  Railsback  and  H.  E. 
Wright. 

The  cashier  and  manager  of  this  bank,  Harland  E.  Wright,  is 
represented  in  a  biographical  sketch  in  this  work.  He  came  to  Han- 
ford as  assistant  cashier  of  the  Farmers  and  Merchants  Bank  and 
soon  became  cashier.  In  1903  he  sold  out  his  interest  in  that  liank, 
in  which  he  had  become  the  largest  stockholder,  in  order  to  promote 
the  organization  of  the  Hanford  National  Bank.  Mr.  Railsback  is 
still  assistant  cashier. 


SIDNEY  H.  WOOKEY 

Among  Hanford 's  most  progressive  business  men  is  Sidney  H. 
Wookey,  proprietor  of  an  enterprising  hay  and  feed  trade.  It  was 
at  Fond  du  Lac,  Wis.,  that  Mr.  Wookey  was  born  November  19, 
1861,  and  there  he  grew  to  manhood  and  obtained  his  education  both 
in  books  and  in  the  business  which  engaged  his  attention  for  many 
years.  He  began  his  active  career  in  his  native  town  as  a  contrac- 
tor and  builder  and  engaged  also  in  the  fuel  trade.  The  latter  became 
his  sole  business  and  he  followed  it  with  success  until  October,  1901, 
when  he  again  turned  his  attention  to  contracting  and  building  until 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  637 

1906,  when  he  located  at  Hanford,whei-e  he  established  a  wood-yard 
and  oijerated  it  until  July,  1911,  then  selling  it  to  the  Hanford  Fuel 
Company. 

The  retail  hay  and  feed  trade  at  Hanford  now  commands  Mr. 
Wookey's  ability  and  attention.  His  warehouse,  which  he  erected  in 
August,  1911,  occupies  a  ground  space  of  forty  by  ninety  feet  and  af- 
fords storage  for  three  hundred  tons  of  hay.  With  his  office,  it  con- 
stitutes a  thoroughly  adequate  and  up-to-date  business  plant,  well 
appointed  in  every  detail  and  equipped  for  the  successful  transac- 
tion of  his  large  and  constantly  growing  enterprise. 

By  his  personal  geniality  and  his  "live  and  let-live"  business 
methods  Mr.  Wookey  has  commended  himself  to  the  good  opinion  of 
the  people  living  at  Hanford  and  throughout  its  tributary  territory, 
and  the  success  which  he  has  obtained  is  popularly  regarded  as  but 
an  earnest  of  the  still  greatei-  successes  which  will  come  to  him  in 
the  future.  As  a  citizen  he  has  in  many  ways  manifested  his  loyalty 
and  public  spirit,  and  his  neighbors  at  Hanford  Mnd  him  ever  read}' 
to  yield  generous  support  to  any  measure  proposed  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  town  or  for  the  improvement  of  general  conditions 
through  the  introduction  of  such  economic  provisions  as  seem  to  him 
possible.     He  is  a  member  of  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  America. 


BENJAMIN  DONAGER,  Sk. 

Natives  of  Ireland  have  always  been  peculiarly  welcome  as  immi- 
grants to  this  country  and  their  prosperity  here  has  equaled  that  of 
our  native-born  citizens.  One  of  those  who  have  been  successful  in 
the  quest  for  home  and  pros]>erity  in  Kings  county,  Cal.,  was  the  late 
Benjamin  Donager,  whose  widow  and  son  own  and  operate  the  New 
Method  Laundry  in  Hanford.  Mr.  Donager  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1874  and  after  stopping  for  a  time  in  Sacramento,  came  on 
to  Tulare  county  and  located  at  the  site  of  Hanford,  in  the  portion 
of  that  old  county  which  is  now  known  as  Kings  county.  At  that  time 
Hanford  had  just  been  platted  and  offered  for  sale  in  lots  convenient 
for  building  purposes.  Mr.  Donager  became  the  local  station  agent 
for  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  Company  and  filled  that  position 
ably  and  honoralily  until  September  25,  1882,  when  he  died.  His 
marriage  occurred  in  1879  to  Miss  Hattie  Coe,  a  daughter  of  Julius 
T.  Coe. 

It  will  be  of  interest  here  to  say  something  of  the  career  of  Mrs. 
Donager 's  father.  Julius  T.  Coe  was  born  in  Fulton  county,  N.  Y., 
where  he  farmed  in  early  life  and  later  manufactured  gloves.  In  1874 
he  was  attracted  to  California  as  offering  a  field  for  larger  oj^por- 


638  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

tunities  and  brought  his  family  to  a  farm  near  Vacaville.  Solano 
county.  In  1876  he  came  to  a  tract  of  government  land  two  miles 
south  of  the  site  of  Hanford  and  his  original  purchase  of  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres  of  land  was  increased  by  the  acquisition  of  other 
tracts  until  he  owned  two  hundred  and  forty  acres,  which  he  managed 
and  cultivated  with  fair  success  and  which  was  his  home  until  in 
1884,  when  he  died,  aged  sixty-four  years.  In  his  religious  belief  he 
was  a  Presbyterian,  and  politically  he  allied  himself  with  the  Ee- 
publican  party.  His  wife,  who  before  their  marriage  was  Miss  Cath- 
erine Simpson,  also  a  native  of  Fulton  county,  N.  Y.,  survived  him. 
making  her  home  in  Hanford,  until  1909. 

To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Donager  was  born  a  son  Benjamin,  Jr.,  June 
10,  1880.  He  began  his  education  in  the  public  schools  in  Hanford, 
continued  it  at  Santa  Ci'uz  and  at  Oakland,  and  took  a  commercial 
course  at  Heald's  Business  College.  He  then  found  employment  for 
two  years  with  George  AVest  &  Son  and  later  for  three  years  with 
Schnerger  &  Downing.  In  1906  he  married  Miss  Frances  Kuntz  of 
Hanford.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Hanford  organizations 
of  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  the  Improved  Order 
of  Red  Men,  the  "Woodmen  of  the  World  and  the  Native  Sons  of  the 
Golden  West. 

In  1906  Mrs.  Donager  and  her  son  started  their  enterprise,  the 
New  Method  Laundry,  installing  it  in  a  building  fifty  by  ninety-two 
feet,  which  was  erected  for  the  purpose.  It  is  a  modern,  well-ap- 
pointed structure,  occupied  entirely  by  their  flourishing  and  constantly 
growing  business.  Besides  doing  fine  laundry  work  they  have  a 
cleaning  and  pressing  line.  Their  methods  and  machinery  are  thor- 
oughly up-to-date;  they  employ  only  experienced  help  and  their  rela- 
tions with  the  public  are  based  on  the  idea  of  the  square  deal.  Their 
prosperity  is  in  every  way  richly  deserved. 


FREEMAN  RICHARDSON 

Di;ring  the  last  half  century  the  laundry  business  has  been 
developed  to  proportions  which  make  it.  in  its  peculiar  way,  one  of 
the  important  industrial  interests  of  the  country.  Among  tlie  lead- 
ers in  this  industry  are  many  Californians,  and  among  the  best 
known  of  these  in  the  central  part  of  the  state  is  Freeman  Richardson, 
proprietor  of  the  Hanford  Steam  Laundry,  an  auxiliary  feature  of 
which  is  his  establishment  for  the  cleaning  and  pressing  of  tailor-made 
clothing. 

Mr.  Richardson  first  saw  the  light  of  day  in  1868,  over  the  Cana- 
dian border  line,  in  New  Brunswick.     There  he  was  reared  and  edu- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  639 

cated  and  from  there  he  came  in  1889,  when  he  was  about  twenty- 
one  years  old,  to  California,  locating  at  Fresno,  where  he  worked 
in  a  laundry  until  1893.  He  then  made  his  advent  in  Hanford  and 
established  the  Hanford  Steam  Laundry,  until  1900  occupying  quarters 
on  Front  street,  which  by  that  time  became  too  small  for  his  enter- 
prise, and  he  then  moved  into  his  present  principal  building  on  West 
Seventh  street.  Later  he  erected  an  adjoining  building  and  now  has 
a  ground  space  of  tifty-eight  by  one  hundred  feet,  equipped  with 
modern  machinery  which  is  0])erated  only  by  skillful  laundry  workers. 
His  pressing  and  cleaning  ])lant  for  gasoline  work  is  located  on 
Second  street,  beyond  the  fire  limit,  and  his  laundry  work  as  well 
as  cleaning  and  pressing  process  are  equally  satisfactory  to  his  large 
and  growing  list  of  patrons. 

In  1903  Mr.  Richardson  married  Miss  Lola  Manning  of  Han- 
ford and  they  have  a  daughter  named  Mary  Eleanor.  Fraternally, 
he  is  a  Knight  of  Pytliias  and  a  member  of  the  Benevolent  and  Pro- 
tective Order  of  Elks.  As  a  citizen  he  has  proven  himself  to  be 
most  patriotic  and  public  spirited. 


J.    GRABOW 

In  the  promotion  of  irrigation  in  central  California  the  sinking 
of  wells  is  an  important  factor  and  among  the  enterprising  men 
giving  attention  to  this  industry  is  J.  Grabow,  of  Hanford,  Kings 
county,  a  native  of  Denmark,  born  in  18-11,  who  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1881.  He  had  learned  the  trade  of  well  borer  in  his  native 
country;  his  first  employment  here  was  as  a  farm  hand,  but  it  was 
not  long  before  he  was  called  upon  to  help  bore  for  water,  and  the 
possibilities  of  well-drilling  at  once  became  apparent  to  him.  Lo- 
cating at  Paso  Robles,  he  gave  his  attention  to  this  work  and  was 
one  of  the  first,  if  not  the  first,  in  the  state  to  develop  water  by 
the  hydraulic  process  for  domestic  use.  He  operated  in  that  vicin- 
ity until  1903,  then  came  to  Hanford,  where  he  has  devoted  himself 
to  well-boring  on  a  larger  scale  than  before,  having  put  down  more 
than  a  thousand  wells,  among  which  were  those  of  the  Ogdens,  the 
Armona  Winery,  Dr.  Miller  (on  his  dairy  ranch),  Mecfussel  (of 
Hardwick),  Richards  (of  (xrangeville),  fourteen  on  the  Floribel  ranch 
and  others,  all  of  which  have  been  so  successful  in  operation  that 
they  have  attracted  wide  attention  to  his  enterprise.  Mr.  Grabow 
finds  that  in  this  vicinity  good  water  for  domestic  uses  is  reached 
sixty  to  one  hundred  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  ground. 

In  1876  Mr.  Grabow  married  Miss  Nanny  Heger,  a  native  of 
Sweden,    who    has    borne    him    seven    children:    Fannie    is    a    school 


640  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

teacher  at  Coaliuga;  Hans  is  his  father's  assistant  in  the  latter's 
well-drilling  operations;  Ellen  married  Fred  Donohoo;  Esther  is  a 
student  at  the  Conservatory  of  Music  at  San  Jose;  two  died  in  in- 
fancy; and  Anna  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years. 

The  progressive  spirit  which  has  marked  Mr.  Grabow's  per- 
sistent development  of  his  enterprise  commends  him  to  the  general 
public  as  one  of  the  leading  business  men  in  the  country  round 
about  Hanford.  He  has  established  a  shop  in  which,  during  the 
past  two  years,  he  has  made  all  the  casing  he  has  used  in  his  wells. 
The  metal  which  he  most  favors  for  use  for  this  purpose  is  gal- 
vanized iron.  In  municipal  atfairs  he  favors  and  supports  those 
measures  for  the  betterment  of  local  interests,  and  has  come  to  l)e 
known  as  a  most  helpful  and  u]i-to-date  citizen,  who  has  the  welfare 
of  the  comumnitv  at  heart. 


NAPOLEON  PETER  KANAWYER 

Peter  Kanawyer.  the  first  of  the  name  to  come  to  California, 
brought  hither  his  son,  Napoleon  Peter  Kanawyer,  when  he  was  a 
lad  of  fourteen  years.  He  was  born  in  Indiana  in  December,  184!), 
and  was  a  small  child  when  the  family  moved  to  the  frontier  of 
Iowa  and  from  that  state  came  to  California.  The  family  settled 
near  Sacramento  and  later  were  pioneers  at  Grang•e^^lle  in  Kings 
county,  where  they  became  well  and  favorably  known.  Mr.  Kanaw^'er 
married  Viola  Blunt  and  she  bore  him  three  children.  Napoleon  mar- 
ried Cisly  Collins  and  they  have  seven  children :  Napoleon.  Doris, 
Cyril,  Gertrude,  Mervin,  and  twin  babies,  and  they  reside  at  Sanger  in 
Fresno  county.  Thomas  is  next  in  order.  Frances  is  the  wife  of  Jay 
Robinson.     Mr.  Kanaw^-er  died  in  1908. 

Thomas  Kanawyer,  the  second  son,  was  born  in  Tulare  county, 
the  part  now  set  aside  as  Kings  county,  on  September  "2(1,  1879.  He 
was  reared  and  educated  in  the  common  schools  and  with  the  family 
moved  to  Fresno  county,  settling  near  Dunlap.  He  married  Miss 
Margaret  Main,  born  in  Fresno  county  February  20,  1882.  They  are 
the  parents  of  two  children,  Viola  Frances  and  Margaret  Ruth.  In 
1910  Thomas  Kanawyer  purchased  three  hundred  and  ninety-five 
acres  of  land  which  he  is  clearing  and  developing.  One  hundred 
and  twenty  acres  of  it  is  tillable  and  the  balance  is  in  timber  and 
pasture.  He  keeps  aboiit  one  hundred  head  of  stock  on  his  place 
and  has  about  thirty-five  hundred  cords  of  marketable  wood. 

With  his  mother  he  is  the  owner  of  several  jenneys  which  are  used 
for  pack  animals,  and  he  is  otherwise  assisting  his  mother  in  the 
care  of  the  family  homestead.     As  a  farmer  he  has  won  a  place  for 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  641 

himself  in  his  neighborhood  and  as  a  citizen  lias  proven  his  worth 
as  heli)ful  to  tlie  general  interests.  He  is  a  Republican  in  politics 
but  has  never  sought  office.  Like  his  father,  who  was  a  well  known 
citizen,  he  is  giving  his  attention  to  the  building  up  of  his  own  for- 
tunes and  in  aiding  [niblic  movements  to  the  best  of  his  ability. 


HARVEY  N.  DENNY 

Born  in  Putnam  county,  Ind.,  June  25,  1834,  Harvey  N.  Denny, 
whose  residence  is  now  at  No.  602  North  Church  street,  Visalia, 
Tuhire  county,  Cal.,  passed  his  early  life  on  a  farm  in  his  native 
state.  He  and  two  of  his  brothers  did  duty  as  soldiers  in  the  Federal 
army  in  the  Civil  war.  Enlisting  in  the  Fifty-first  Regiment,  Indiana 
Volunteer  Infantry,  he  sei'ved  under  Major-General  George  H. 
Thomas  until  he  was  nmstered  out  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  Jime  18,  1865, 
during  his  service  participating  in  many  historic  battles  and  in 
numerous  minor  engagements.  Returning  to  his  old  home  in  In- 
diana he  was  given  charge  of  the  old  Denny  homestead,  which  he 
operated  six  years,  clearing  $1,000  annually. 

In  1870  Mr.  Denny  married  Miss  Melissa  D.  Iloskins.  His  wife's 
health  failing,  he  sought  relief  for  her  in  California,  arriving  in  the 
spring  of  1873,  and  here  for  twenty  years,  until  his  retirement  a 
few  years  ago,  he  was  engaged  successfully  in  the  undertaking- 
business  at  Visalia.  Mrs.  Denny  died  in  March,  1875,  leaving  a 
daughter,  Carrie  A.  In  a  iiatriotic  way  Mr.  Denny  is  deeply  inter- 
ested in  everything  that  makes  for  the  betterment  of  the  community, 
He  is  a  charter  member  of  the  Visalia  organization  of  the  Grand 
Armv  of  the  Republic  and  because  of  his  many  sterling  qualities  of 
head  and  heart  is  popular  with  the  leading  citizens  of  all  sections 
of  the  countv. 


C.   E.   FREEMAN 

In  Boone  county.  Mo.,  whicli  has  given  several  promineiil  citi- 
zens to  this  iiait  of  California,  Clorie  Elmer  Freeman  lias  born 
March  20,  187!>.  When  he  was  aI)out  twenty  years  old  he  i-ame  to 
Caiifoi-nia.  His  parents,  James  Monroe  and  Sarah  Roxanna  (Green") 
Freeman,  natives  of  Missouri,  are  living  in  Callaway  county.  His 
fatlier  enlisted  in  1862  in  a  Confederale  regiment  imder  Cajttaiii 
Price  and  served  in  the  infaTitiy  until   the  end  of  the  Civil   war. 

When  C.  E.  Freeman  ari-ixcil  at   Dimiba,  which  is  now  a  town  of 


M-2  TULARK  AND  KINGS  C'OUNTIES 

two  thousand  people,  he  found  only  one  hotel,  two  general  merchan- 
dise stores,  a  drug  store,  a  livery  barn  and  a  few  dwellings.  The 
eountry  round  about  was  all  under  grain  and  the  fields  stretched 
clear  down  to  the  village  limits.  In  1!>()2  Mr.  Freeman  bought  fifteen 
acres  near  Orosi  at  $50  an  acre.  It  was  just  plain  wheat  land  with 
no  vines.  He  has  since  planted  thirteen  acres  to  graj)es,  eight  to 
Muscats,  five  to  Hultanas,  and  in  1911  he  sold  eight-and-a-half  tons 
of  Muscats  and  five  of  Sultanas.  He  keejis  ten  liead  of  live  stock 
and  has  a  small  family  orchard.  Among  tlie  many  improvements 
which  he  has  witnessed  in  the  country  round  about  has  been  the 
introduction  of  a  telephone  system.  When  he  came  tliei-e  was  not 
a  yard  of  telephone  wire  to  l)e  seen  in  any  direction  and  now  neai  ly 
every  house  is  reached  by  this  means. 

In  his  politics  Mr.  Freeman  is  a  Democrat,  devoted  heart  and 
soul  to  the  principles  of  his  jiarty.  He  and  Mrs.  Freeman  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Baptist  church.  She  was  Miss  Lena  Johnson,  a  native  of 
Missouri,  and  they  were  nuii'rieil  in  Visalia  in  lil()4.  Tliey  have  one 
daughter,  Grace  Ellen. 


EARL   POWERS    FOSTER 

Xot  only  a  native  Califoruian  but  a  native  of  Tulare  county, 
where  he  now  lives,  Earl  Powers  Foster  was  born  November  4, 
1867.  the  oldest  of  the  six  children  of  Leander  P.  and  Hattie  (Muu- 
son)  Foster,  four  of  whom  survive.  His  father,  who  first  saw  the 
light  of  day  in  W'linont,  settled  early  in  life  on  a  stock  ranch  in 
Tulare  county,  but  later  moved  to  a  farm  of  three  hundred  and 
twenty  acres  near  Atlanta,  San  Joaquin  county,  where  he  grew 
grain  until  in  1875,  when  he  died.  His  wife.  Miss  Munson,  wIkuu 
he  married  in  California,  was  a  native  of  Maine.  She  came  to  the 
coast  in  her  girlhood  with  Nathan  Munson,  her  father,  who  lived 
out  his  days  and  passed  away  in  Humboldt  county.  For  some  years 
she  has  made  her  home  at  Pacific  Gi'ove.  She  died  November 
26,   1912. 

Only  eiglit  years  old  when  his  father  died.  Earl  Powers  Foster  grew 
to  manhood  and  gained  a  knowledge  of  farming  on  the  Foster  home- 
stead near  Atlanta  and  later  was  a  student  at  Woodbridge  College. 
He  came  to  Tulare  county  in  1894  and  engaged  in  stockfarming  and 
grain  raising  in  which  he  has  since  been  successful.  He  rented  two 
thousand  acres,  two  miles  and  a  half  southeast  of  Tulare,  the 
pro]iert>'  of  James  Turner,  of  San  Joaquin  county  and  iio]iularly 
known  as  the  Turner  ranch.  He  farms  six  hundred  and  forty 
acres  to  grain,  summer-fallows  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres  a 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  643 

year  and  uses  the  remainder  of  the  property  for  pasturage,  earry- 
ino-  al)out  one  Imndred  liead  of  l-ows  year  after  year. 

The  marriage,  in  18S)2,  of  Mr.  Foster  and  Sarah,  daughter  of 
James  Turner  and  a  native  of  San  Joaquin  county,  has  resulted  in 
the  liirth  of  three  sons,  James,  Powers  and  Forest  P^rederick. 
Theii-  wedding  was  celebrated  at  French  Camp,  San  Joaquin  county. 
This  California  family  of  Turners  was  founded  by  John  Turner, 
an  Englishman,  who  settled  in  San  Joaquin  county,  lived  afterward 
in  Stanislaus  county  and  died  in  Tulare  county  at  the  advanced  age 
of  ninety-two  years.  His  son  James  was  a  California  pioneer  of 
1850,  who  came  into  this  country  with  a  party  that  had  made  its 
way  across  the  jilains  with  an  ox-team  outfit.  In  his  first  winter  here 
the  mines  yielded  him  $400,  but  he  later  engaged  in  teaming  and 
in  the  s]iring  of  1852  settled  on  a  (]uarter  section  of  land  near  Stock- 
ton, wliich  he  bought.  He  now  owns  two  thousand  acres  of  tillable 
land  there,  on  a  part  of  which  he  makes  his  home.  In  his  politics  he 
is  a  Rejniblican,  in  his  religion  a  Methodist.  His  wife  was  Hannah 
Blosser,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  who  died  on  their  California  home- 
stead in  1882.  Jacob  Blosser,  her  father,  came  overland  from  the 
east  with  oxen  in  1850  and  settled  on  raw  land  in  San  Joa«|uin 
county,  and  the  closing  years  of  his  life  were  passed  in  Mendocino 
county. 

Fraternally  Mr.  Foster  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the 
"World  and  with  the  order  of  I'raternal  Aid,  holding  membership 
in  local  organizations  of  these  bodies  whose  .stated  meetings  are 
held  in  Tulare.  He  has  achieved  remarkable  success  in  his  efficient 
handling  of  such  extensive  tracts  of  land  and  has  taken  rank  among 
the  leading  business  men  in  this  part  of  the  county,  and  is  known 
to  his  fellow  citizens  as  a  man  of  public  spirit  who  aids  to  the 
extent  of  his  ability  every  measure  proposed  for  the  general  u])lift 
or  for  the  advancement  of  tlie  pros]ierity  of  his  comnuuiity. 


R.   M.   GRAHAM 

It  was  in  the  Hoosiei'  State  that  R.  M.  Graham  was  born  in 
184!).  In  the  years  of  his  young  manhood  he  was  a  successful  school 
teacher,  then  for  many  years  he  published  the  Boonville  Standard, 
a  weekly  ])aper,  at  Boonville,  in  his  native  state,  disposing  of  it  in 
1880  to  come  to  California.  Here,  finding  no  opening  in  the  jiub- 
lishing  line,  he  worked  by  the  day  on  ranches  and  as  a  carjienter 
until  eight  years  ago,  when  he  went  into  the  real  estate  business  at 
Visalia,  maintaining  his  residence  at  Lindsay.  Three  years  later  he 
established    his   office   at   Lindsav,   where    he    has   done   a    successful 


644  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

business  to  the  present  time.  He  has  a  beautiful  orange  grove  of 
twenty-five  acres  and  has  given  considerable  attention  to  the  growth 
of  olives.  As  a  citizen  he  is  public-spirited  to  an  eminent  degree, 
and  in  a  business  way  and  otherwise  he  has  done  much  for  the  pro- 
motion of  the  best  interests  of  the  community.  In  1873  he  married 
Miss  Mary  J.  Hunsaker,  a  native  of  Indiana,  who  has  borne  him 
two  children,  one  of  whom  has  passed  away.  Joseph  B.  Graham,  Ms 
father,  was  a  native  of  Ohio;  his  mother  was  born  in  Pennsylvania; 
both  have  passed  away.  He  is  the  present  city  recorder  of  Lindsay, 
which  office  he  has  held  since  the  summer  of  1912.  "When  he  ac- 
cepted this  office  he  resigned  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Health 
of  Liudsay.  He  is  also  es-jDresident  of  the  Board  of  Trade  and  has 
ably  tilled  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace.  Fraternally  he  has 
affiliated  with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  of  Lindsay 
since  he  came  to  the  town.  He  became  a  memlier  of  the  order  in 
Indiana  in  1872  and  has  passed  all  the  chairs  of  the  subordinate 
lodge  and  been  a  representative  in  the  Grand  Lodge.  In  real  estate 
circles  he  is  widely  known  through  his  efficient  management  of  the 
Central  California  Eealty  Company  of  Lindsay. 


DAVID  H.  HICKMAN 

Born  in  Missouri,  March  6,  1877,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a 
son  of  Anthony  G.  and  Louisa  (Rose)  Hickman,  natives  respectively 
of  Kentucky  and  of  Missouri.  He  lived  in  his  native  state,  acquiring 
a  good  common  school  education,  until  he  was  about  twenty  years 
old,  and  then,  in  1897,  came  to  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  where  he  has 
lived  during  the  past  fifteen  years,  making  an  enviable  record  as  a 
citizen,  as  a  farmer,  and  as  a  man  of  affairs.  The  days  of  his 
youth  were  spent  on  a  farm  and  in  his  new  environment  he  natur- 
ally depended  on  the  laud  as  a  source  of  livelihood.  On  coming  to 
the  state  he  at  once  api^rehended  the  wonderful  ojiportunities  that  it 
presented.  In  1901  he  bought  forty-one  and  one-half  acres,  most  of 
which  he  devoted  to  hay  and  alfalfa,  reserving  a  few  acres  for 
pasturage.  He  bought  a  number  of  cows  and  began  feeding  them  for 
their  product.  Later  he  made  another  purchase  of  eighty  acres,  of 
which  he  devoted  thirty-five  acres  to  hay,  thirty  to  alfalfa  and  fifteen 
to  pasture.  During  the  last  four  years  he  has  operated  a  cheese 
factory,  and  he  manufactures  thirty-six  pounds  of  cheese  per  day 
from  the  milk  of  fifteen  cows,  keeping  about  this  number  of  cows  year 
to  year  and  selling  the  increase  for  veal.  His  cows  produce  an 
average  of  fifty  cents  a  day  the  year  around  for  each  animal,  ])aying 
for  themselves  in  aboiit  twelve  months.     Mr.  Hickman  is  the  owner 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  fi45 

of  two  of  the  tinest  maiinnoth  jaoks  to  be  found  iu  the  coimty,  each 
of  which  commands  from  $10  to  $15  for  service.  He  gives  consider- 
able attention  to  mules  and  during  the  past  two  years  has  sold  ten 
mule  teams  at  from  $350  to  $450  per  team.  Keeping  seven  good 
brood  mares  and  eleven  liead  of  young  horses  he  raises  several 
good  mule  teams  each  year.  ( )ne  of  the  most  notable  of  the  animals 
owned  by  Mr.  Hickman  is  an  Australian  shepherd  pui>  which  lias 
but  three  legs,  being  minus  one  leg  and  shoulder  in  front. 

In  jiolitics  a  Re]nililicau,  Mr.  Hickman  is  also  a  Prohibitionist. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Woodmeu  of  tlie  World  and  he  and  members 
of  his  family  are  communicants  of  the  Bai)tist  church.  He  was  mar- 
ried at  Orosi  to  Eunice  Dye.  wlio  l)ore  him  three  children:  Marie, 
Kathleen  and  Rita  May.  Marie  is  a  student  in  the  iniblic  school  at 
Orosi,     Mrs.  Hickman  died  January  6,  1912. 


WALTER   D.  MURRAY 

Near  Palo,  Linn  county,  Iowa,  AValter  D.  Murray,  a  son  of  Alex- 
ander and  Jane  (Morris)  Murray,  natives  of  Ohio  and  Massachu- 
setts, respectively,  was  born  March  8,  1865.  When  he  was  twenty 
years  old  he  went  to  Beadle  county,  S.  Dak.,  where  he  lived  five 
years.  In  three  successive  years  during  that  time  he  did  all  that 
was  possible  for  him  to  do  as  a  farmer.  The  first  year  his  crops 
were  destroyed  by  hail;  the  second  they  were  killed  In-  drought. 
In  the  thirri  year  he  garnered  a  good  crop,  with  the  proceeds  of 
which,  minus  what  he  used  to  pay  his  debts  with,  he  came  to  Cali- 
fornia. Locating  in  Tulare  county,  he  engaged  in  the  raising  of 
goats,  in  which  he  continued  six  years,  at  one  time  owning  twelve 
hundred  Angoras,  ranging  them  in  the  Sierra  Nevadas  on  eight 
hundred  acres  he  owned.  Later  he  bought  thirty  acres  of  land  one 
mile  east  of  Sultana.  During  the  last  ten  years  nmch  of  his  land 
has  been  under  alfalfa,  which  he  has  been  able  to  cut  four  times 
each  season  without  irrigation.  He  runs  a  dairy  of  eight  cows  and 
keeps  twenty  head  of  horses  and  mules  and  about  thirty-five  hogs. 
When  he  started  in  the  goat  business  he  had  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  head,  for  some  of  which  he  paid  as  high  as  $7.50  each, 
and  the  others  cost  him  $3  a  head.  He  sold  the  mohair  at  thirty- 
five  cents  ])er  pound,  the  larger  animals  >-ielding  twelve  and  the 
others  eight  pounds  each.  Politically  Mr.  Murray  is  a  Repulilican, 
and  as  a  citizen  he  has  demonstrated  a  fine  public  spirit.  Frater- 
nally he  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World,  Mrs.  Murray 
with  the  Women  of  Woodcraft.  They  were  married  in  South  Dakota 
in  188fi,  and  she  has  borne  him  four  children,  Florence,  Lionel,  Sam- 


646  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

uei  and  Reba.  Floreuee  and  Lionel  are  graduates  of  the  pul)liL' 
school  and  Samuel  and  Reba  are  now  acquiring  their  education. 
Mrs.  Murray  was.  before  lier  marriage,  Miss  Nina  Perry.  She  was 
born  in  Wisconsin. 


ALEXANDER  W.  WHEELER 

Sons  of  Illinois,  a  field  of  enterprise  and  of  patriotism,  have  with 
few  exceptions  done,  well  in  California.  In  La  Salle  county,  in  the 
Prairie  State,  Alexander  W.  Wheeler  was  Ijorn  October  7,  1859,  a  sou 
of  William  and  Elizalieth  (Brown)  Wheeler.  His  parents  were  na- 
tives of  England  and  his  fatlier  was  a  graduate  of  Oriel  College  at 
Oxford. 

In  public  schools  near  his  boyhood  home,  under  his  father's  able 
direction,  Alexander  W.  Wheeler  ol)tained  a  practical  education.  In 
1880  he  came  to  California  and  was  employed  for  a  time  in  a  fruit 
orchard  at  San  Leandro,  Alameda  county.  Later  he  was  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  F>aker  e^'  Hamilton  Company  at  Benicia.  He  came  to  Tulare 
City  with  his  biother  Feliruary  1,  1882,  and  bought  a  carriage  and 
blacksmith  shop  which  was  doing  l)usiness  in  the  town,  his  brother  hav- 
ing l)eeu  his  partner  in  the  enter])rise.  Later  they  sold  tlie  i)lant 
and  Alexander  AV.  Wheeler  went  to  a  point  near  Tipton,  on  the  plains 
south  of  Tulare  City,  and  devoted  nine  years  to  grain  farming.  Re- 
turning to  the  town  he  was  in  the  employ  of  the  Southern  Pacific 
Railioad  Company  until,  in  18!l.">.  he  liought  a  furniture  business  in 
Tulare,  which  he  has  conducted  with  increasing  success  till  the  pres- 
ent time.  He  has  recently  erected  a  fine  business  building,  after  his 
own  designs,  on  North  K  street.  The  structure  occupies  a  ground 
space  of  fifty  by  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet,  and  his  store  room 
is  eighteen  feet  from  floor  to  ceiling  without  any  obstructing  ]iosts. 
The  l)uilding  is  tlioroughly  modern,  with  attractive  plate  glass  show 
windows.  He  carries  an  extensive  line  of  fine  furniture,  and  sells 
not  only  to  people  of  Tulare  but  to  hundreds  of  families  in  all  the 
country  round  about  who  come  to  him  confidently  for  good  goods  at 
fair  prices. 

In  his  fraternal  relations  Mr.  Wheeler  affiliates  with  the  Masons 
and  the  Odd  Fellows  and  has  pas.sed  nearly  all  the  chairs  in  Olive 
Branch  Lodge  No.  269,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  Tulare  City  Lodge  No.  ;^()6. 
I.  0.  O.  F.  He  has  from  time  to  time  been  In-ought  to  general  notice 
through  participation  in  iiul)lic  affairs,  notably  as  a  juryman  at  the 
trial  of  the  Dalton  l)rotliers,  train  wreckers,  some  twenty  years  ago. 
In  188.3  he  married  Miss  Mattie  P>.  Holcombe,  a  native  of  Ohio.  Her 
father,  who  cauu^  to  Tulare  county  in  the  early   '70s,  was  a  ]>ioneer 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  (Y)rNTTES  W7 

merchaut  at  Tulare  (_'ity  and  was  for  a  time  identified  witli  the  in- 
terests of  the  Southern  Pacific  railroad.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wheeler  have 
a  dauyhter,  Claire  J. 


(MIAHLKS  F.  STAA^TON 

In  San  Joaquin  county,  Cal.,  Cliarles  F.  Stayton  was  horn  Octoher 
29,  1859,  a  son  of  John  F.  and  Martha  (Hawkins)  Stayton,  natives, 
respectively,  of  Missouri  and  Tennessee.  His  father,  who  had  fou^-ht 
in  the  Mexican  war,  crossed  the  plains  with  ox-teanis  in  1S.")2  from 
Independence,  Mo.,  liy  way  of  Westport  and  old  Fort  Bridser,  thence 
ou  hy  way  of  the  Suhlett  cut-off  and  the  sink  of  the  Humboldt  to 
llanstown  and  Sacramento,  the  tri]i  consuming  between  five  and  six 
months'  time.  Indians  were  a  constant  menace,  but  did  the  i)arty  little 
damage.  After  liis  arrival  in  California  he  began  to  buy  stock,  which 
he  drove  to  the  mining  cam])s  and  sold.  In  1869,  five  years  after  he 
had  come  to  California,  he  went  to  Utah,  where  he  mined  till  in  1887. 
Next  he  traveled  to  the  "White  Mountains  in  New  Mexico,  where  he 
was  engaged  in  lumbering  and  raining.  He  died  Deceml)er  .31,  1911, 
at  the  home  of  his  daughter  at  Kingsburg  while  on  a  visit  in  Califor- 
nia, aged  eighty-seven. 

In  1869,  when  his  father  left  Tulare  county,  Charles  F.  Stayton 
was  ten  years  old.  In  1873  he  went  to  herding  sheep  for  Jolui  Tuohy, 
a  inoneer  in  San  Joacjuin  and  Tulare  counties,  who  owned  at  different 
times  from  five  thousand  to  fifty  thousand  sheep.  His  favorite  breed 
was  the  Spanish  Merino,  and  he  paid  as  high  as  $50  for  single  animals 
of  ])ure  blood  and  often  sold  rams  for  $50  each,  ewes  for  $10  each. 
The  thoroughbred  siieep  yielded  an  average  of  twelve  ])OUiuls  of  wool  to 
the  fleece,  and  the  others  eight.  After  packing  and  herding  for 
about  eight  years  Mr.  Stayton  turned  his  attention  to  gi'ain  farming, 
and  after  ten  years  of  that  he  went  into  the  stock  l)usiness.  After 
another  ten  years  of  success  in  that  field  he  took  u]i  vine  and  fi'uit 
growing  in  Tulare  county,  luiying  twenty  acres,  fifteen  of  wiiich  is  in 
Muscat  gra]ies.  He  has  a  small  family  orchard  started,  and  from 
four-year-old  vines  made  a  satisfactory  ci-o])  of  gra])Os  in  I!)!!,  selling 
eighteen  tons  of  raisins  and  three  tons  of  other  graiies.  A  ])rivate 
means  of  irrigation  cheapens  his  ])i-oduction  quite  materially. 

Politically  Mr.  Stayton  affiliates  with  the  Republican  party  and 
his  active  jniblic  sjiirit  makes  him  \ery  useful  to  the  couununity.  He 
married,  near  Porterville,  l'<lla  M.  Mankins,  a  native  of  California, 
whose  father  was  a  pioneer  here  in  1852.  Following  are  the  names 
of  their  nine  children:  Lawrence,  Clarence,  C.  Forest,  Artbui-,  ALiry, 
Belle,  George  (joidon  and  liuby  aiul  Kuth  (twins).  I^awrence  lives 
at  Klamath  Falls.  Ore.  All  the  others  are  residents  of  Tulare  county. 
Arthur  was  ai-cideutallv  killed  bv  drowning  in  1910. 


648  TULABE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

CHARLES  J.  CABLE 

It  was  in  Mariposa  county,  Cal.,  that  Charles  J.  Carle,  now  of 
Lindsay.  Tulare  county,  was  born  in  1858.  a  son  of  Andrew  Jackson 
Carle,  a  pioneer  of  18-49,  who  died  in  San  Francisco  in  1866,  and  whose 
wife  died  in  1878.  He  was  a  small  child  when  he  was  taken  from 
Mariposa  county  to  San  Francisco  by  his  jiarents.  In  1868  he  was 
taken  to  Sonoma  county  and  lived  at  Healdsburg  until  1869,  then  went 
to  Illinois,  where  he  remained  two  years.  After  that  he  was  employed 
three  years  on  his  uncle's  farm  at  Newcastle.  Pa.  Beturning  to  Illi- 
nois, he  remained  there  five  years,  during  which  period  he  was  for  a 
time  a  student  at  Butler  University.  Coming  back  to  California,  he 
lived  in  San  Francisco  in  1879  and  1880.  The  ensuing  two  years  he 
passed  as  a  clerk  in  the  employ  of  different  merchants  in  Inyo  county. 
The  next  two  years  he  spent  in  the  market  business  in  San  Francisco, 
whence  he  moved  to  Santa  Clara  county,  where  he  remained  twelve  or 
fourteen  years,  including  eight  years  at  Milpitas.  In  1893  he  bought 
twenty  acres  of  land  at  Lindsay  and  planted  five  acres  of  it.  Four 
years  later  he  removed  to  Lindsay.  That  was  in  the  fall  of  1897.  He 
settled  on  his  place  near  there  and  has  planted  it  gradually  to  the 
present  time,  having  at  this  time  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  acres 
of  orange  orchard  and  about  foiir  hundi'ed  and  fifty  acres  of  raw  land. 
He  was  an  original  stockholder  and  a  manager  of  the  El  ^lirador 
Land  Company,  which  was  organized  about  1904.  and  has  lieen 
handling  about  five  thousand  acres  of  land.  He  helped  also  to  promote 
the  Lindsay  Orchard  and  A'ineyard  Tract  of  fifteen  hundred  acre.-,  in 
which  he  owns  a  one-sixth  interest. 

The  sons  of  Mr.  Carle  are  named  William  Ashley  and  Jackson 
Tyler  Carle.  Both  were  born  at  Lindsay.  The  former  is  thirteen 
years  old,  the  latter  is  ten  years  old,  and  they  are  both  in  school  at 
Lindsay.  The  father  has  served  as  a  school  director  and  has  in  many 
ways  demonstratecl  a  helj^ful  public  spirit.  Fraternally  he  is  a  Mason 
of  the  Boyal  Arch  degree  and  is  a  Knight  Templar  of  Visalia.  When 
he  came  to  Lindsay  there  were  no  orchards  in  this  part  of  the  county 
except  one  of  forty  acres  that  had  been  planted  by  Mr.  Cairns. 


FBED  M.  BABNEY 

In  Gouverneur.  St.  Lawrence  county.  N.  Y..  Mr.  Barney  was  born 
Septendier  10.  1884.  a  son  of  B.  L.  Barney.  He  came  to  Kings  county, 
Cal..  in  1891,  when  a  boy  of  seven  years,  and  attended  the  public  and 
high  school  until  he  was  twenty,  graduating  from  Hanford  high  school 
in  1905.  He  then  took  up  a  government  homestead  of  one  hundred 
and  sixtv  acres,  to  which  he  has  long  since  obtained  title,  and  he  farms 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  649 

one  hundred  and  sixty  aores  of  laud  owned  by  his  father,  located  three 
miles  east  of  the  city.  While  devoting  himself  somewhat  to  general 
farming,  he  raises  fruits  and  grapes  and  specializes  on  hog  raising, 
the  breeding  of  mules  and  dairying.  The  farm  is  outiitted  with  a 
good  residence,  ample  barns,  stables  and  other  outbuildings  and  up- 
to-date  appointments  such  as  are  required.  Mr.  Bai'uey  studies  his 
business  very  carefully,  gives  close  attention  to  every  detail  and  is 
very  successful  in  his  business  operations. 

Mr.  Barney  takes  an  intelligent  interest  in  all  that  pertains  to 
the  welfare  of  the  township  and  county,  and  is  well  informed  and  has 
decided  opinions  concerning  all  matters  of  public  policy,  state  or  na- 
tional. He  has  in  many  ways  demonstrated  a  helpful  public  spirit. 
On  November  16,  1911,  he  married  Margaret  Kautenberg.  He  is  a 
Master  Mason,  belongs  to  the  Eastern  Star  and  is  devoted  to  Masonic 
]irinciples  and  mindful  of  all  precepts  of  the  order. 


ALBERT  GALLATIN  OGILVIE 

Ohio  has  contributed  as  generously  to  the  good  citizeushi]i  of 
California  as  any  other  state  in  the  Union,  and  the  quality  of  its 
contribution  does  not  suffer  1iy  comparison  with  that  of  any  other. 
.:\.lbert  Gallatin  Ogilvie,  a  son  of  Ohio,  who  has  become  successful 
in  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  was  ))orn  in  Delaware  county  March  25,  1856, 
a  son  of  Johnson  and  Margaret  (Norman)  Ogilvie,  who  were  born 
and  brought  up  in  Coshocton  county,  in  the  Buckeye  state.  He  was 
an  attendant  of  a  country  grammar  school  near  his  home  until  in 
1874,  when  he  was  eighteen  years  old. 

Early  in  life  Mr.  Ogilvie  familiarized  himself  with  the  details 
of  farming  and  of  the  development,  handling  and  sale  of  nursery 
stock,  and  these  interests  have  commanded  his  attention  during  most 
of  his  active  life.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the 
World,  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  Artisans.  In  his  religious  ad- 
herence he  is  a  Methodist,  having  identified  himself  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church  of  Alhambra,  Los  Angeles  county,  Cal.  Politically 
his  alliances  are  with  the  Republican  party.  Taking  a  deep  and  abid- 
ing interest  in  everything  that  pertains  to  the  welfare  and  prosperity 
of  the  people  of  California  and  the  United  States,  he  has  believed 
that  they  could  be  promoted  better  through  the  activities  of  that  party 
than  by  means  of  any  other  influence.  Personally  his  jmblic  spirit 
has  lieen  many  times  exerted  for  the  good  of  the  commTinity.  In  fact 
he  is  responsive  to  every  legitimate  demand  upon  him  in  behalf  of 
the  general  prosperity. 

June  21.  1896,  Mr.  Ogilvie  married  Mrs.  Sarah  Frances  (Jasper) 
Askin,  daughter  of  James  A.  and  Margaret  E.  Jasper,  their  marriage 


650  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

havin.s:  been  solemnized  at  Lemon  Cove,  Cal.  He  has  children  named 
as  follows:  Harry  J.,  who  married  Cora  Blacklmrn;  Addie  F.,  Howard 
J.,  Laura  A.,  Benjamin  A.,  William  J.,  Oscar  0.,  Fred  N.,  J.  Ra>nnond 
and  J.  Alden.  Harry  J.  and  Addie  F.  were  horn  of  a  former  mar- 
riage. By  her  first  marriage  Mrs.  Ogilvie  had  three  ehildren :  Elbert 
Leroy  Askin;  Margaret  Myrl,  now  the  wife  of  Frank  L.  Atwood.  and 
Dora  Bernice. 


BYRON  GLOYD  COMFORT 

One  of  the  successful  and  scientific  farmers  in  the  vicinity  of  Han- 
ford.  Kinsjs  county,  is  Byron  G.  Comfort,  who  has  been  a  resident  of 
the  county  since  1887.  He  was  born  at  Palatine,  111.,  June  17,  1863, 
and  attended  public  schools  near  his  home  until  he  was  seventeen  years 
old.  Then  be  found  emjiloyment  on  farms  and  saved  a  little  money 
with  which  he  came  to  California  and  eventually  settled  near  Hanford. 
His  farming  here  was  successful  and  he  was  soon  enabled  to  buy  a 
ranch  of  one  hundred  acres  on  which  he  has  lived  since  1902.  He  gives 
his  attention  to  hog  raising,  dairying  and  general  farming,  making  a 
study  of  his  land,  the  climate,  the  crops  and  of  everything  that  can  in 
any  way  influence  ])roductiveness,  and  it  is  pi'obable  that  he  has 
met  with  as  few  failures  as  any  farmer  in  his  vicinity. 

In  1886  Mr.  Comfort  married  Miss  Carrie  H.  Drullard.  who  was 
born  in  Stockton,  Cal.,  February  22,  1864.  They  have  four  children 
living,  here  named  in  the  order  of  their  nativity :  Elvira  G..  Aimer  B., 
Ward  R.  and  Wayne  M.  Of  much  public  spirit  and  with  a  real  desire 
for  the  uplift  of  his  community,  Mr.  Comfort  has  commended  himself 
to  his  fellow  townsmen  as  one  who  may  be  depended  on  to  advance 
to  the  extent  of  his  ability  any  movement  which  in  his  opinion  tends 
to  the  general  good. 


LEVI  BLOYD 

The  jironiinent  contractor  and  builder  of  Hanford  whose  name 
is  abo\e  was  born  in  Sutter  county.  Cal.,  A]iril  22,  1864,  and  was  quite 
young  when  his  parents  came  to  what  is  now  Kings  county  and  located 
four  miles  west  of  Hanford,  where  his  father  homesteaded  a  quarter- 
section  of  land  and  bought  a  quarter-section  of  railroad  land.  Tliere 
Levi  grew  u])  and  attended  the  public  schools  and  later  farmed  until 
1898,  since  wlien  lie  has  lived  at  Hanford.  He  learned  the  carpenter's 
trade  with  David  Gamble  and  was  with  him  seven  vears  as  foreman. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  651 

For  a  time  he  was  employed  at  cement  work  aud  afterward  with  the 
San  Joaquin  Liglit  and  Power  Company.  Because  the  latter  emploj*- 
ment  kept  him  much  of  the  time  away  from  home,  he  gave  it  up  and 
turned  his  attention  to  contracting  and  l)uihling-,  aud  since  that  time 
has  built  many  residences,  among  which  are  some  of  the  iinest  in 
ITanford  and  vicinity,  those  of  Lyman  Farmer,  I.  R.  Horton  and  E. 
Pickrell  being  among  tliem.  AVhih^  his  operations  have  been  confined 
principally  to  Imildings  of  tliis  class,  he  has  done  other  work,  including 
the  fixtures  and  show  windows  in  the  Brown  &  Nieson  store,  those 
of  the  ITanford  Hardware  Co.,  and  improvements  on  the  Stewart  pack- 
ing house.  In  the  cement  de))artmeut  of  his  work  he  has  his  bi'other, 
Winfield  S.  Bloyd,  as  a  i)artuer.  He  employs  several  carpenters  and 
several  cement  workers.  As  his  nierits  as  a  contractor  and  builder 
become  known  he  is  brought  constantly  into  a  largei'  aud  yet  larger 
demand,  and  there  are  those  who  jtredict  that  his  o])eratious  will  in 
time  surpass  in  volume  those  of  auy  other  builder  in  the  county  in 
his  i)eculiar  fields. 

On  March  4,  1886,  Mr.  Bloyd  uuirried  Miss  Rose  Ellis,  a  native  of 
Stanislaus  county,  Cal.,  who  had  come  to  Kings  county,  and  they  hav^e 
a  daughter  and  two  sons.  Hazel  married  William  Tyler,  and  they  re- 
side in  Kings  county;  they  have  a  daughter,  Rosalee.  Raymond  is 
becoming  a  machinist  at  Hanford.  Stanlev  is  a  student.  Mr.  Bloyd 
is  a  member  of  the  Fraternal  Aid  and  of  the  Improved  Order  of  Red 
Men.    As  a  citizen  he  is  i>ul)Iic-s])iritedly  helpful. 


R.  J.  ESTES 

In  Alabama,  January  ](>,  1865,  was  born  R.  J.  Estes,  wjio  lives  on 
the  Orosi  rural  free  delivery  route  No.  1.  Box  64,  Tulare  county.  Cal.,  a 
son  of  Jack  and  Jane  (Berry)  Estes,  who  when  he  was  about  a  year 
old  took  him  to  Mississijipi,  where  they  were  early  pioneers,  settling 
thirty  miles  from  any  other  human  inhabitant.  There  young  Estes 
grew  to  manhood,  obtained  some  little  education  and  was  initiated 
into  the  mysteries  of  backwoods  farming  and  familiarized  with  all  the 
si^orts  of  a  new  country,  including  hunting,  of  which  he  liecame  very 
fond.  His  father  ])rocured  most  of  the  living  for  the  family  in  the 
woods.  It  has  been  estimated  that  he  killed  thousands  of  deer  and 
many  thousands  of  turkeys.  It  is  certain  that  he  made  quite  a  deal 
of  money  from  deerskins.  He  attended  many  turkey  shoots  and  was 
usually  the  winner  of  most  oi'  all  of  the  prizes  offered.  He  lived  out 
his  days  there  and  died  in  1901.  His  wife  survives  him  aud  is  now 
living  on  their  old  homestead  in  Mississippi. 

Cntil  he  was  twenty-six  years  old.  R.  J.  Estes  lived  in  Mississippi. 
He  married  there  Miss  Anna  "Watson,  who  was  born  in  Alabama  ami 


652  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

wlio  has  horiie  liim  a  daiiohter,  Troy  Estes,  who  was  graduated  from 
the  Visalia  high  school  in  19U2  aud  is  married  to  Van  La  Port,  a 
native  of  Iowa,  and  has  a  son.  Wythal  La  Port,  who  is  a  student  in 
tlip  jiulilic  school  of  Bakersfield.  Mr.  Estes  came  to  California  in  1890 
and  began  farming  in  Tulare  county.  He  is  working  eighty  acres  of 
the  Vacovich  land,  having  sixty  acres  devoted  to  grapes,  twenty 
acres  to  oranges.  His  rancli  is  outfitted  with  everything  essential  to 
its  successful  cultivation  and  all  the  improvements  have  been  installed 
by  himself.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World 
and  with  the  Fraternal  Aid.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Christian  church, 
generous  in  support  of  all  its  interests.  Politically  he  is  a  Democrat, 
thoroughly  alive  to  all  economic  questions  of  the  day  and  public- 
spiritedly  solicitous  for  the  welfare  of  the  community. 


MIKE  V.  GARCIA 

A  native  of  the  Azores,  M.  V.  Garcia  was  born  June,  1861.  He 
is  now  a  highly  esteemed  citizen  of  Tulare  county,  living  one  mile 
south  of  Sultana.  He  grew  up  and  was  educated  near  the  place  of  his 
birth  and  in  1882,  when  he  was  twenty-one  years  old,  came  to  tlie 
L'Tnited  States,  landing  at  Boston.  From  there  he  came  to  Alameda 
county.  Cal.,  wliere  he  raised  sheep  two  years.  Then  he  made  his 
advent  in  Tulare  county  and  broadened  his  operations  until  he  had  one 
of  the  notable  sheeii-herdiug  enterprises  in  his  vicinity,  handling 
French  and  Sjianish  Merinos  and  other  fine  grades,  which  he  was  able 
to  dispose  of  at  a  large  jirofit.  At  one  time  he  owned  five  thousand 
shee]i.  at  another  he  raised  twenty-five  hundred  lambs  in  one  season. 
In  those  days  the  sheep  industry  was  at  high  tide.  The  country  was 
new  and  unimproved  and  antelope,  bear  and  deer  were  to  be  seen  in 
all  directions  and  all  kinds  of  game  were  plentifxil  in  the  mountains. 
He  remem))ers  having  made  what  he  calls  "a  summer  trip"  into  the 
Blue  mountains  and  back  to  Fresno.  His  outdoor  life  brought  him 
many  strange  acquaintances,  and  he  knew  Sontag  and  Evans  very  well 
and  was  the  only  witness  of  their  capture.  He  relates  how  Evans 
went  over  to  Mrs.  Beekin's  and  Sontag  was  killed.  These  desperadoes 
were  often  at  Coalinga,  and  menaced  every  good  citizen.  Though 
they  did  not  molest  Mr.  Garcia  personally,  he  has  said:  "I  was  glad 
to  get  out — I  did  not  know  what  was  under  ground."  He  often  saw 
the  Dalton  brothers  and  he  remembers  when  they  went  throiigh 
Antelope  valley. 

Eventually  Mr.  Garcia  sold  his  sheep,  five  thousand  head,  at  from 
$3.75  to  $5  a  head,  and  bo^ight  one  Inmdred  and  sixty  acres  of  land, 
which  he  operated  from  1901  to  1910,  then  sold  for  $24,800  cash.  In 
all   the   business   transactions    here   referred   to   Mr.    Garcia   demon- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  653 

strated  that  he  was  a  man  of  ability  for  large  affairs.  He  has  identi- 
fied himself  with  American  institutions  and  is  a  member  of  the  Re- 
publican party,  but  inclined  to  l^e  independent.  Fraternally  he  affili- 
ates with  the  Masons  and  with  the  U.  P.  E.  C.  As  a  citizen  he  is 
public-siiiritedly  helpful  to  all  good  interests  of  the  community. 

On  the  day  of  the  San  Francisco  earthquake,  April  18,  1906,  Mr. 
Garcia  was  married  by  telegraph  to  Francisca  Silva,  an  old  sweetheart 
in  the  Azores,  at  an  expense  of  $36.  She  died  Deceml)er  30,  1907. 
His  present  wife,  whom  he  married  December  2,  1911,  was  before  their 
marriage  Miss  Mariana  Tavaz,  also  a  native  of  the  Azores,  who  had 
come  to  the  United  States  on  the  same  vessel  as  her  husband  and  was 
married  in  Boston.  In  1911  Mr.  Gai"cia  left  California  and  began  a 
year  of  travel  through  the  United  States  and  the  old  country,  meeting 
with  many  people  and  investigating  social  conditions.  He  finally  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  California  offered  inducements  unsurpassed  and 
returned  here  and  purchased  twenty  acres  of  land,  part  of  a  tract 
he  had  formerly  owned.  Here  he  has  begun  improvements  and  is 
making  a  comfortable  home. 


CHRIST  S.  HANSEN 

Many  natives  of  Denmark  have  made  good  in  central  ( 'alifornia 
and  in  Tulare  county,  though  not  one  has  achieved  higher  repute  for 
all  that  makes  for  the  best  American  citizenship  than  Christ  S. 
Hansen,  who  is  making  a  success  of  vines  and  fruit  trees  two  miles 
and  a  half  northwest  of  Orosi.  Descended  from  old  Danish  families, 
Mr.  Hansen  was  born  December  23,  1874,  and  was  reared  and  educated 
in  his  native  land.  He  was  about  thirty  years  old  when,  in  1904,  he 
came  to  the  United  States.  California  was  his  objective  point  and 
he  lived  a  year  in  Fresno,  where  he  arrived  with  his  wife  and  two 
children  with  a  cash  capital  of  $50.  However,  he  bought  his  present 
ranch  of  forty  acres  at  $125  an  acre  and  has  partly  paid  for  it  and 
in  many  ways  improved  it.  He  has  thirty  acres  in  Muscats,  Thompson 
and  Emperor  grapes,  a  ])each  orchard  of  one  and  one-half  acres, 
and  sold  in  1910  twelve  tons  of  Thompson  and  Muscat  raisins  and 
about  thirty  tons  of  Emperor  table  grapes.  He  has  five  head  of  stock 
on  his  place.  As  a  farmer  he  is  proceeding  along  scientific  lines 
and  is  winning  an  enviable  success.  Politically  he  is  a  Re]iublican, 
and  Mrs.  Hansen  is  a  voter  in  the  same  party.  They  are  members 
of  the  Presbyterian  church.  His  public  spirit  makes  him  helpful  to 
all  good  interests  of  the  conniiunity.  He  mari'ied,  in  18!)9,  in  his 
native  land,  Miss  Sene  Nelson,  and  they  have  children  named  Carla  M. 
and  Ester,  who  are  .students  in  the  public  school  at  Orosi. 


654  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

LEWIS  BRUCE 

The  science  of  osteopathy  has  made  a  phice  for  itself  among 
recognized  curative  agencies,  and  the  practitioner  of  osteopathy  is  en- 
trenclied  as  firmly  in  the  good  ojiinion  of  the  general  public  as  are 
the  regular  practitioners  of  medicine  and  surgery.  A  leader  in  its 
field  in  Kings  county,  Cal.,  is  Lewis  Bruce,  whose  office  is  in  the  Shar- 
l)les  building  in  ITanford.  A  native  of  Cass  county.  Iowa,  born  De- 
cember 5,  1878,  he  received  his  elementary  education  in  public  schools 
near  the  home  of  his  youth.  In  1899,  ji;st  before  he  became  of  age, 
he  entered  the  Dr.  S.  S.  Still  College  of  Osteopathy,  at  Des  Moines, 
Iowa,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1902,  and  during  the  vacation  wliich 
followed  he  took  s])ecial  courses  in  orificial  surgery  and  g\Ti0ecology. 
He  began  the  ])ractice  of  his  profession  at  Greenfield.  Iowa,  in  Feb- 
ruary, 190l',  and  in  June,  1903,  came  to  Uauford,  where  he  has  devoted 
himself  to  general  practice  with  nmch  success,  specializing  in  chronic 
diseases. 

As  a  business  man  tlie  subject  of  this  notice  is  coming  to  the  fi'ont 
in  different  ways.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Lindsay  National  Bank  at 
Lindsay,  Tulare  county,  and  owns  an  interest  in  a  citrus  nursery 
near  Riverside,  Riverside  county,  on  which  are  thirty  thousand  trees. 
For  a  time  he  was  engaged  in  raising  racing  horses  of  good  blood  and 
capabilities.  He  owned  Beauty  N.  (trotting  record,  2:23).  also  Sir  Val- 
entine, a  three-year-old  colt  which  in  1911  took  the  first  premium  as  a 
two-year-old  and  holds  the  championship  over  all  other  standard-bred 
stallions  of  any  age.  Dr.  Bruce  was  one  of  the  incoT])orators  in  1912 
of  the  Pilue  Ribbon  Manufacturing  Company,  with  $100,000  capital,  to 
be  located  in  Hanford;  the  principal  article  for  manufacture  wid  be 
llie  Blue  Ribbon  ])um]). 

By  his  marriage  with  Olive  L.  Peterson,  of  Iowa,  in  1903,  Dr. 
Briice  has  a  daiighter,  La"\"erae  Gloria.  As  a  private  citizen  he  takes 
a  deep  and  abiding  interest  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  advancement 
of  his  city,  county  and  state,  and  he  has  often  manifested  a  ])ub]ic 
spirit  responsive  to  all  reasonable  demands  upon  it. 


ELIAS  T.  COSPER 

Indiana  has  given  to  California  many  popular  and  successful  men. 
among  them  the  prominent  lawyer  and  man  of  public  affairs  whose 
name  is  above.  It  was  in  Noble  county,  that  state,  that  Elias  T. 
Cosper  was  born,  May  12,  1849.  He  was  educated  in  jiublic  schools 
in  liis  native  county  and  at  the  LaGrange  Collegiate  Institute  at 
Ontario.  LaGrange  county.  Tnd..  having  been  graduated  from  the  last- 
named  institution  about  1870.     For  a  time  thereafter  he  taught  school 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  655 

in  Indiana,  Ohio  and  Iowa,  and  so  successful  was  he  in  this  calling 
that  he  was  made  superintendent  of  the  school  at  Lima,  Ind.  By  this 
time  his  reputation  was  so  well  established  that  his  services  were 
sought  as  superintendent  of  the  schools  of  LaGrange  county,  in  which 
office  he  served  two  terms  with  efficiency  and  honor.  Meanwhile  he 
had  determined  to  become  a  lawyer  and  was  already  well  read  in  the 
]irinci))]es  of  the  profession.  Finisjiing  his  law  studies  under  the 
preceptorship  of  J.  D.  Feri'all  of  J^aGrange,  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  of  Indiana  in  1878.  After  eight  years'  successful  practice  there 
he  located  in  Tulare.  Cal.,  in  1886,  opening  an  office,  afterwards  asso- 
ciating J.  F.  Boiler  witli  liim  as  partner,  and  tliis  relationship  con- 
tinued four  years.  He  was  elected  to  represent  his  district  in  the 
thirty-third  session  of  the  California  legislative  assembly,  in  which, 
as  well  as  in  the  special  session  in  which  the  Hon.  Thomas  Bard  was 
elected  United  States  senator,  he  served  with  distinguished  ability  and 
credit.  Meanwhile  he  had  moved  from  Tulare  to  Hanford,  where, 
after  the  expiration  of  his  legislative  service,  he  formed  a  law  part- 
nership with  H.  P.  Brown,  which  existed  two  years,  since  when  he  has 
I)een  in  indejjendent  i)ractice  with  offices  located  in  the  Emporium 
building.  From  the  time  of  his  settlement  at  Tulare  he  was  promi- 
nent in  Republican  politics  and  eventually  was  made  chairman  of  the 
county  Republican  central  committee,  an  office  which  he  filled  for  sev- 
eral years  while  acting  as  a  member  of  important  connnittees  of  that 
body. 

As  a  lawyer  Mr.  Cosper  has  had  to  do  with  a  large  number  of 
important  cases.  His  defense  of  Ike  Daly,  the  murderer,  is  a  matter 
of  record  as  well  as  of  history.  He  also  appeared  in  the  defense  of 
Frank  Smith  and  of  Ward,  tlie  burglar,  and  bore  a  consjncuous  part 
in  the  water  cases  of  Lovelace  versus  tlie  Empire  Insurance  Com- 
pany and  the  C.  A.  Reagan  and  Patrick  Talent  will  contests. 

In  1884  Mr.  Cosper  married  Miss  Sarah  Moore,  at  LaGrange, 
Ind.  Their  son,  Volney  B.,  of  San  Francisco,  is  superintendent  of 
the  Sartorious  Structural  Steel  and  Iron  Company's  works.  Their 
daughter,  Laura  M..  is  the  wife  of  H.  L.  Bradley  of  San  Antonio,  Tex. 
Mr.  Cosper  berame  a  Mason  at  LaGrange,  Ind..  and  is  a  member  of 
Hanford  Lodge  No.  L'7!»,  F.  &  A.  M.  It  was  at  LaGrange.  too,  that 
he  became  an  Odd  Fellow.  Here  he  affiliates  with  Hanford  Lodge  No. 
264  and  with  Encam])ment  No.  68.  and  with  Truth  Rel)eka]i  Degree 
Lodge  No.  326.  Court  Regcs  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Foresters 
includes  him  in  its  membershi]).  His  interests  in  the  advancement  and 
development  of  Hanford  early  made  him  a  promoter  of  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce  idea  for  the  town  and  he  .is  a  member  of  the  present 
local  body,  as  he  was  also  of  earlier  organizations  of  similar  aims. 
As  a  communicant  of  the  Episcopal  church  he  has  at  heart  the  various 
interests  of  the  local  organization  and  has  for  some  time  been  an  active 
member  of  its  vestrv. 


656  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

IIENKY  AND  PHILENA    A.   MURPHY 

The  well-kuown  breeder  of  horses,  hogs,  sheep  and  cattle,  wliose 
name  iutr-odnces  this  brief  notice,  was  born  in  Dennison,  Clark  county. 
III.,  in  I806,  and  when  lie  was  three  years  old  he  was  taken  to  Wood- 
ford county,  in  the  same  state,  where  liis  parents  established  a  new 
houu'.  There  they  lived  until  185-1,  when  Henry  was  eighteen  years 
old.  Meanwhile  he  had  attended  school  as  opportunity  offered  and 
had  acquired  a  practical  knowledge  of  farming  as  then  prosecute:] 
in  that  part  of  the  country.  In  tlie  year  last  mentioned  the  family 
went  to  Iowa.  There  Mr.  Murphy  lived  until  ISfiO,  when  he  went  to 
Pike's  Peak,  Colo.  After  leaving  Colorado  in  May.  186;],  he  took  a 
pack  train  to  the  gold  mines  in  Montana,  and  after  selling  his  outfit 
took  up  mining.  In  February,  1864,  he  opened  up  the  first  paying- 
claim  on  Alder  creek,  in  Pine  Grove  district,  six  miles  above  Vir- 
ginia city.  The  claim  was  a  good  one,  yielding  $-10,()00  returns.  He 
took  his  gold  to  Philadelphia  to  the  mint  to  be  coined,  and  was  there 
when  Abraham  Lincoln  was  assassinated.  After  disposing  of  his 
gold  to  a  Broadway  banker  in  New  York  city,  Mr.  Murphy  went  to 
Barton  county.  Mo.,  where  he  purcliased  considerable  land  and  erected 
two  stoneware  pottery  plants  at  Lamar,  Mo.  In  1880  he  erected  the 
finest  cut-stone  building  in  Barton  county.  Two  years  later  he  en- 
gaged in  the  grocery  business  in  Lamar  and  subsequently  he  removed 
to  Wolsey,  S.  Dak.,  remaining  there  two  years,  wlien  he  came  to 
California  and  settled  on  the  north  fork  of  Tule  ri\  er,  where  he  now 
makes  his  home.  This  property  was  inherited  by  Mi-s.  Murphy,  it 
formerly  belonging  to  her  father.  The  i)roperty  comprises  eiglit 
hundred  acres,  and  this  Mr.  Murphy  is  operating  with  nmch  i)rofit, 
giving  special  attention  to  horses,  hogs,  sheep  and  cattle.  So  exten- 
sive is  his  business  that  he  has  become  known  as  one  of  the  leading 
stockmen  in  his  part  of  the  county. 

In  1879  Mr.  Murphy  married  Phileua  A.  Bailey,  a  native  of  (Jhio. 
"When  he  came  to  the  county  it  was  mostly  wild  land  and  he  was  one 
of  the  pioneers  in  improvement  in  his  vicinity.  He  has  watched  the 
development  of  this  now  rich  region  and  has  clone  whatever  was  ]ios- 
sible  to  encourage  and  promote  it.  To  those  who  best  know  him  it  is 
well  known  that  no  legitimate  appeal  to  his  public  spirit  is  unheeded. 
While  he  is  not  active  in  iiolitical  work  he  entertains  very  definite 
convictions  concerning  all  questions  of  public  policy,  and  always 
favors  such  men  and  measures  as  he  l)elieves  promise  to  confer  the 
greatest  good  upon  the  greatest  number.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Murphy  have 
no  children  of  their  own,  but  have  taken  into  their  home  and  brougjit 
up  antl  educated  ten  orphan  children. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  657 

CHARLES  HENRY  HOWARD 

A  man  wlio  is  well  regarded  in  Hauford  and  Kings  connty  is 
Charles  Henry  Howard,  wlio  formerly  had  to  do  with  ranching  and 
with  the  oil  industry,  and  who  will  he  remembered  for  his  prominence 
in  the  partition  of  the  county.  Maine  is  the  native  state  of  Mr.  How- 
ard, his  birth  occurring  February  3,  1850.  He  attended  the  common 
schools  of  the  Pine  Tree  State,  which  from  time  immemorial  has 
been  famoiTS  for  its  public  educational  system.  When  he  laid  away 
his  school  books  it  was  to  take  up  the  implements  of  the  carriage 
builder  and  in  time  he  became  expert  in  their  use,  setting  up  for 
himself  as  a  carriage  builder  at  Brownsfield  in  Oxford  county,  western 
Maine,  where  he  jirospered  until  the  spring  of  1884-,  when  he  came  to 
California.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he  located  in  Hanford  and  for 
the  succeeding  eighteen  years  he  most  efficiently  filled  the  jjosition 
of  sui)erintendent  of  A.  L.  Cressy's  ranch,  a  mile  from  the  city.  His 
principal  concern  there  was  with  resjiect  to  stockraising,  and  he  soon 
developed  into  one  of  the  best  informed,  most  careful  and  most  pro- 
ficient stockmen  in  central  California. 

While  Mr.  Howard  was  thus  employed  he  l>ought  forty  acres  of 
land  three  and  a  half  miles  southwest  of  Hanford  which  he  developed 
into  a  profitable  vineyard  and  which  has  been  for  some  time  operated 
by  tenants  on  sharing  terms.  He  also  made  some  investments  in  oil 
))roperty  which  turned  out  quite  well.  In  1884  he  married  Miss  Addie 
F.  Jlarmon,  a  native  of  Maine,  who  passed  away  December  21,  1910. 
Gifted  with  all  of  the  natural  progressiveness  of  the  down-east  Yan- 
kee and  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  western  ])rogress,  Mr.  Howard  has 
been  interested  in  everything  pertaining  to  the  development  of  his 
community  and  helpful  to  all  local  interests. 


CLAUDE  D.  COATS 

One  of  tiic  prominent  farmers  and  stockmen  in  the  Paddock  dis- 
trict, eight  miles  southwest  of  Hanford,  Kings  county,  Cal.,  is  Claude 
D.  Coats.  :Mr.  Coats  was  born  at  Dayton,  Nev.,  December  !».  1860. 
a  son  of  Thomas  Coats,  who  was  until  the  end  of  his  career  a  leader 
in  milling  enter])rises  in  that  ])art  of  the  country.  The  family  had 
been  at  F^ort  Churchill  four  months  during  Indian  troubles  and  were 
I'eturning  to  their  home  in  ^'irginia  City,  stop|)ing  at  Dayton  to  look 
after  some  mining  business  when  theii-  son  was  born.  In  October, 
1881,  after  his  father's  death.  Claude  located  a  mile  east  of  his 
present  ranch,  lie  and  his  brother  L.  B.  Coats  rented  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres  and  were  associated  in  farming  and  stock-raising  for 
fifteen  vears.     Meanwhile  Claude  D.  Coats  bouiiht   two   hundred   and 


658  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

forty  acres,  which  is  inchided  iu  his  present  home  property.  He 
moved  onto  the  ranch  in  189U  and  has  since  made  all  -the  improve- 
ments for  which  the  property  is  well  known  throughout  the  county. 
While  his  principal  business  is  the  raising  of  horses  and  hogs,  he 
does  some  farming  and  has  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  in  alfalfa. 
Some  years  ago  he  bought  and  sold  seventy-three  and  one-half  acres 
about  a  mile  distant  from  liis  homestead. 

By  his  marriage  in  June,  1902,  Mr.  Coats  united  his  life  aud 
fortunes  with  those  of  Miss  Mattie  Finley,  a  native  of  Contra  Costa 
county.  August  29,  1864,  but  a  resident  of  Santa  Rosa,  Sonoma 
county.  They  have  many  friends  iu  the  country  round  about  Han- 
ford  who  rejoice  in  their  success  thus  far  and  express  the  firmest  faith 
in  their  future.  Mr.  Coats  is  a  man  of  much  natural  public  spirit 
who  is  interested  in  the  growth  and  development  of  Kings  county. 


JOHN  V.  CREATH 

In  his  successful  career  as  a  contractor  and  builder,  John  V. 
Creatli.  whose  i^lace  is  at  the  corner  of  I  and  King  streets,  Tulare, 
in  the  California  county  of  that  name,  has  demonstrated  the  value 
of  originality  and  initiative.  He  is  a  native-born  Californian  and 
his  life  began  in  Merced  county  in  1873.  He  was  only  a  baby  when 
his  family  moved  back  to  the  place  in  the  East  whence  th.ey  liad 
come  out  to  the  West.  In  1888,  when  he  was  about  fifteen  years  old, 
he  went  to  Phoenix.  Arizona,  where  he  engaged  in  mining  and  as 
opportunity  offered  worked  at  the  carpenter's  trade.  He  came  to 
Tulare  iu  1906  and  has  risen  to  prominence  as  a  contractor  and 
buildei'.  Among  the  structures  which  are  monuments  to  his  enter- 
prise aud  industry  are  the  Post  Office  building  at  Tulare,  the  Moore 
block  and  the  Dair^Tuen's  Co-operative  Creamery  building.  He  cou- 
structed  the  concrete  dam  across  tlie  Tule  river  near  Porterville.  1iuilt 
twelve  buildings  on  the  Tagus  ranch,  built  several  houses  in  Lindsay, 
Iniilt  a  set  of  buildings  on  the  R.  F.  Gearing  ranch  and  another  on 
the  McGarver  and  Walker  ranch.  In  fact,  he  makes  a  specialty  of 
designing  jilans  for  com]3lete  sets  of  ranch  buildiugs  which  he  erects 
so  substantially  aud  artistically  that  they  attract  attention  and  pro- 
claim his  talent  aud  skill  as  nothing  else  could  do.  In  addition  to 
the  achievements  mentioned  he  has  erected  many  buildings  of  dii¥er- 
ent  kinds  throughout  the  country.  In  1911  he  built  twelve  houses  on 
uniu'])roved  property  in  Tulare  City.  His  business  gives  constant 
eniployn;ent  to  from  ten  to  twenty-five  men  and  requires  the  use  of 
two  automobiles.  Iu  the  winter  of  1912  he  built  the  town  of  Graham, 
twentv-five  miles  west  of  Fresno,  for  B.  F.  Graham. 

October  9,  1895,  Mr.  Creath  married  Miss  June  B.  Allison,  who 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  659 

was  liorn  in  Illinois,  and  they  have  children  named  Ralph,  James, 
Florence  and  Donald.  Mr.  Creath  is  identified  with  local  lodges  of 
Eagles,  Red  Men  and  Woodmen  of  the  World.  He  is  too  busy  to  take 
active  part  in  political  work,  but  has  a  good  knowledge  of  public 
questions,  local  and  general,  and  a  well  defined  opinion  as  to  how  he 
should  vote  in  order  to  further  the  best  interests  of  the  people  at 
large. 


MRS.  CATHERINE  LOUISA  TRAUT 

In  Livingston  county,  state  of  New  York,  June  lU,  18;>6,  the  lady 
mentioned  above,  a  citizen  of  Hanford,  Kings  county,  Cal.,  was  born 
and  in  the  state  of  Pennsylvania  she  grew  to  womanhood.  May  23, 
1860,  she  married  Henry  A.  Traut,  a  native  of  Girard,  Erie  county. 
Pa.,  born  August  14,  1830.  In  1890  they  settled  at  Texarkana,  Ark., 
whence  in  1898  they  came  to  Kings  county,  Cal.  They  lived  at 
Grangeville  when  they  came  to  the  county  and  later  bought  five  acres 
of  land  in  the  Emma  Lee  Colony  and  remained  for  about  seven  years, 
engaged  in  raising  fruit  and  farming.  In  1903  they  sold  out  their 
California  interests  and  returned  to  their  old  home  in  Pennsylvania 
for  a  visit,  but  came  back  to  California  before  the  end  of  that  year, 
and  in  190-4  bought  twenty  acres  half  a  mile  north  of  the  north  limits 
of  Hanford,  a  portion  of  which  was  in  orchard,  the  balance  pasture 
laud.  In  1906  they  sold  ten  acres  of  this  tract,  retaining  ten  acres, 
which  is  now  the  home  of  Mrs.  Traut. 

It  was  at  Girard,  Pa.,  already  mentioned  as  his  birthplace, 
that  Henry  A.  Traut  was  raised.  When  he  was  twenty-one  years 
old  he  caiue  to  California,  where  he  mined  for  eight  years.  Then, 
retuj'ning  to  Pennsylvania,  he  married  and  engaged  in  farming  and 
mei-chaudising.  Eventually  he  removed  to  Arkansas,  where  he  con- 
tinued to  sell  goods  until  his  failing  health  made  it  necessary  for  him 
to  come  l)ack  to  California.  Here  he  gave  his  attention  to  fruit 
growing  until  his  death,  which  occurred  May  7,  1907.  Socially  he 
affiliated  witli  the  Masons,  and  he  and  his  wife  were  identified  with  the 
order  of  the  Eastern  Star  from  the  time  of  coming  to  Kings  county. 
They  early  identified  themselves  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church. 
Their  one  child,  Minnie,  died  aged  five  years,  in  1866.  Mrs.  Traut  was  a 
daughter  of  Samuel  L.  and  Hannah  (Crooks)  Buckbee.  Her  father 
died  soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  war.  Thei-e  were  many 
bushwhackers  in  the  neighborhood  at  the  time  of  his  funeral  and 
his  family  found  it  advisal)le  to  conceal  from  them  the  fact  of  his 
death.  Those  were  strtnuons  times  in  Missouri,  when  the  Buckbee 
fannly  was  then  living,  and  it  was  understood  l»v  Mrs.  Traut  and  her 


660  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

friends  that  Confederate  marauders  had  decorated  their  l)ridle  reins 
with  scalps  of  Federal  sympathizers.  Thomas  J.  Buckbee  enlisted  at 
Chillicothe,  Mo.,  in  1861.  in  the  Federal  cavalry,  with  which  he  served 
during  the  war.  His  In-other  David  enlisted  in  1861  also  and  served 
three  years  in  the  same  Missouri  regiment,  then,  instead  of  re-enlist- 
ing, came  home  to  care  for  his  aged  mother.  Thomas  was  the  eldest 
and  David  was  the  second  brother  of  Mrs.  Traut. 


PARKER   RICE   BROOKS 

In  the  old  state  of  Georgia,  in  tlie  heart  of  the  South,  P.  R. 
Brooks,  now  of  Sultana,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  was  born  September 
24,  1857,  a  son  of  Micager  and  Susan  (Sansing)  Brooks,  both  natives 
of  Georgia.  While  he  was  yet  an  infant  he  was  taken  by  his  parents 
to  Texas,  where  the  family  lived  a  short  time.  In  18,58,  with  ox- 
teams,  they  made  a  six  months'  journey  across  the  plains  to  Califor- 
nia. They  met  many  Indians,  but  were  not  seriously  molested  by 
them.  Young  Hambrite  of  the  party  was  drowned  in  crossing  the 
Colorado  river.  The  Brooks  family  arrived  at  Porterville  in  the 
fall  of  the  same  year  and  they  have  lived  in  this  part  of  the  state 
ever  since.  The  father  of  the  family  was  a  stock-raiser  and  for 
some  time  owned  many  sheep. 

P.  R.  Brooks  was  a  stockman  from  1868  to  1893.  Later  he  bought 
a  homestead  in  Yokolil  valley,  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  new 
land,  and  from  time  to  time  other  tracts  in  the  valley  and  in  the 
hills  near  by.  At  the  time  lie  was  proving  up  on  his  land  the 
country  was  new  and  wild,  witli  cattle,  sheep  and  horses  ranging  in 
all  directions.  He  has  watched  the  progress  of  civilization  and 
the  agricultural  changes  that  have  developed  Tulare  county  into 
vast  fields  of  grain  with  vines  and  trees  that  are  making  it  famous, 
not  only  as  a  farming  district,  liut  as  a  wonderful  land  of  grapes 
and  oranges.  For  several  years  |)ast  he  has  lived  in  Sultana,  but 
has  given  his  attention  to  important  interests  in  the  vicinity.  ( )n 
two  tracts  of  leased  land,  one  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  the 
other  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  lying  in  the  valley,  he  has 
hatched  twenty-five  liundred  turkeys  and  has  at  this  time  fourteen 
hundred  and  fifty.  He  has  forty  acres  near  Sultana,  purchased  in 
1901,  which  he  calls  his  home,  thirty  acres  of  it  in  vineyard  and 
orcliard,  the  remainder  in  pasture.  For  the  past  thirty  years  he 
has  given  attention  to  turkeys,  raising  many  each  season.  Since  Jan- 
uary, 1912,  he  lias  lesided  vi])on  his  home  place  and  is  looking  after 
that  with  the  care  he  has  always  displayed.  When  he  began  here 
there  was  plenty  of  wild  game  in  the  country,  including  elk,  of  which 
he  saw  more  than   one  thousand   specimens,   and   the   territory  now 


TULARE  AND  KINGS   COUNTIES  661 

within  tlie  limits  of  the  county  had  not  a  popuhition  of  more  tlian  two 
thousand  souls. 

In  liis  ])oliti<"s,  Mr.  Brooks,  formerly  a  Democrat,  now  inclines  to 
Socialism,  lie  married,  near  llanford,  Miss  Ellen  Burr,  a  native  of 
Shasta  county,  Cal.,  who  has  borne  him  seven  children — Myrtle  (the 
wife  of  Clyde  Bursford),  Harry,  T>illie,  Dwi,2,ht,  Minnie,  Josephine  and 
Carmen.    Josephine  is  attending  school  at  Fresno. 


JAMES  MAXWELL  CANN 

September  1,  1861,  James  Maxwell  Cann  was  born  in  Kentucky. 
In  1880,  when  he  was  not  yet  twenty  years  old,  he  went  to  Missouri, 
where  he  remained  until  1886.  Tlis  parents  were  John  Miller  and 
Margaret  Franklin  (Calhoun)  Cann,  of  English  ancestry.  He  mar- 
ried, near  Visalia,  Tulare  county.  Miss  Lizzie  L.  Howell,  who  was 
born  near  Bozeman,  Mont.,  and  they  have  two  children.  Lewis  H. 
studied  at  St.  Mary's  College,  Oakland,  and  is  ])laying  professional 
baseball  known  as  "Mike"  Cann;  Margaret  J.  is  attending  the  State 
Normal  school  at  P^resno. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  in  this  county,  in  the  si)ring  of  1886,  Mr. 
Cann  found  employment  in  cutting  gi'ain  with  a  combined  harvester. 
In  1887  he  was  employed  in  a  flouring  mill  and  for  several  years 
thereafter  was  in  the  grain  business,  for  different  companies.  There 
was  little  business  then  in  the  country  round  about  except  the  rais- 
ing of  grain.  At  Sultana  he  was  later  employed  in  a  grain  warehouse 
until  his  fruit  on  his  ranch  had  grown  to  the  paying  point,  he  having 
carefully  nursed  it  in  the  meantime  and  done  something  toward  the 
develo):)ment  of  his  land  otherwise.  His  property  is  located  in  the 
Alta  Irrigation  district,  the  ditch  for  which  was  completed  about 
twenty  years  ago.  The  district  itself  was  established  in  1889.  Before 
the  days  of  irrigation,  land  could  have  been  bought  for  $2.50  an  acre. 
With  irrigation  started,  land  cost  Mr.  Cann  !^."{7.50  an  acre  for  open 
stubble  field  without  im))rovenient.  He  planted  thirty  acres  to  Malaga 
and  Sultana  grapes  and  has  five  acres  of  Elberta  ])eaches.  His 
Malayas  have  brought  him  $200  to  $300  per  acre,  his  Sultanas  have 
yielded  a  ton  and  a  quarter  to  the  acre.  His  expei'ience  covers  all 
of  the  latter-day  develoi)ment  of  this  district,  he  having  seen  raw 
land  iiereabouts  increase  in  price  from  $2.50  to  $200  and  $2r)0  an  acre 
in  twenty-five  years. 

Having  cast  his  fii'st  ju'esidential  vote  for  Grover  Cleveland  in 
1884,  Mr.  Cann  has  been  a  consistent  Democi'at  to  the  jiresent  time. 
In  a  fratenuil  way  he  afdliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World. 
Mrs.  Cann  is  identified  with  the  Women  of  Woodcraft  and  with  the 
Eastern  Star,  and  is  a  comiinmicant  of  the  Christian  rliurdi. 


662  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

L.  W.  BARDSLEY 

This  native  of  Missouri  was  brought  to  California  by  his  parents 
when  lie  was  seven  years  old,  when  the  family  of  Lafayette  and  Mary 
Bardsley,  after  a  short  stop  in  Sonoma  county  and  another  in  San 
Diego,  located  in  Poway  valley.  There  young  Bardsley  grew  to  man- 
hood and  obtained  an  education  in  the  public  schools.  He  labored 
there  principally  at  farming  until  he  was  twenty-five  years  old,  when 
he  rented  a  ranch  near  Santa  Ana,  Orange  county,  which  he  de- 
veloped and  operated  with  profit  in  connection  with  several  pieces 
of  land  which  he  had  rented,  raising  alfalfa  and  conducting  a  dairy 
until  December,  1904,  when  he  came  to  the  neighborhood  of  Tulare. 
He  bought  eighty  acres  of  the  E.  DeWitt  ranch,  on  which  he  put  all 
improvements  including  a  residence,  farm  buildings  and  fences  and 
made  of  it  a  fine  dairy  on  which  he  keeps  about  twenty-five  cows  and 
raises  and  handles  calves  and  horses  for  the  market,  incidentally  keep- 
ing about  twenty  hogs ;  he  is  well  known  for  his  fine  Holstein  cattle. 
Sixty  acres  of  his  land  is  in  alfalfa  and  he  has  a  two-acre  peach  orch- 
ard, and  the  remainder  is  devoted  to  his  stock.  He  was  one  of  the 
organizers  and  is  now  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Dair^^nen's  Co- 
operative Creamery  company  of  Tulare  and  is  a  stockholder  in  the 
Tulare  Rochdale  association.  Besides  having  achieved  success  as 
farmer  and  dair^anan,  considerable  notice  is  given  to  his  fine  Perch- 
eron  horses,  which  he  is  breeding  more  and  more  extensively  each 
year. 

In  1895  Mr.  Bardsley  married  Miss  Maude  E.  Hartzell,  a  native  of 
Iowa,  daughter  of  the  late  Capt.  T.  B.  Hartzell  of  San  Diego,  and  who 
had  become  a  resident  in  the  Poway  vallej'.  They  have  a  daughter, 
Zoe  L.  Bardsley.  Fraternally  Mr.  Bardsley  associates  with  the  Red 
Men,  the  Woodmen  of  the  "World,  the  Eagles,  and  with  the  Indepen- 
dent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  in  which  last  order  he  holds  memlier- 
ship  in  lodge  and  encamjmient  and  with  the  Rebekahs.  As  a  citizen 
he  is  helpfully  public-spirited. 


WILLIAM  B.  WEST 

The  late  William  B.  West,  of  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  was  born  in 
Henry  county.  Mo.,  in  September,  1837,  and  died  at  his  home  in  Por- 
terville,  October  1.3,  1903.  He  was  reared  in  his  native  state  and 
remained  there  until  1875,  devoting  himself  to  farming.  His  parents 
were  natives  of  Kentucky,  representatives  of  that  old  Southern  stock 
that  has  done  so  much  honor  to  American  citizenship  in  successive 
generations.  His  wife,  Ellen  M.  Gordon,  also  of  Kentucky  ancestry, 
was  born  in  November,  1841,  in  Johnson  county,  Mo.,  a  daughter  of 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  663 

Dr.  Presley  and  Margaret  (Wiugfield)  Gordon,  and  their  union 
dated  from  March,  1857.  Slie  bore  liim  five  children,  of  whom  only  one 
is  living.  Rowena  married  William  Moore  and  died  in  Tulare  county; 
Thomas  G.  died  at  Visalia ;  William  P.  died  in  Tulare  county  as  the 
result  of  a  railroad  accident,  and  Eunice  also  passed  away  in  Tulare 
county.  Nancy  E.  married  Elias  McDarment  and  is  living  near  the 
Indian  agency'  in  Tulai'e  county. 

Mr.  West  and  family  settled  near  Porterville  in  1875  and  re- 
mained here  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  He  owned  forty  acres  of 
land  on  Deer  Creek,  remained  tliere  six  years,  then  moved  to  Porter- 
ville, which  remaineil  their  home  until  he  located  on  eighty  acres  in  the 
Poplar  district.  He  also  invested  in  business  and  residence  prop- 
erty in  town.  Mrs.  West  managed  the  ranch  after  her  husband's 
deatli  until  September,  1912,  when  she  sold  out  and  moved  to  Porter- 
ville. When  she  and  her  husband  came  to  California,  in  1875,  the 
country  round  aliout  Porterville  was  very  thinly  settled  and  im- 
provements in  that  part  of  the  county  were  very  few.  Together 
they  watched  and  assisted  in  the  wonderful  development  that  trans- 
formed Central  California  from  raw  territory  to  a  vast  garden  of 
almost  incalculable  riches.  She  has  seen  the  price  of  land  in  her 
vicinity  advance  from  $20  an  acre  to  $200  an  acre  and  she  owns  town 
property  at  Porterville  worth  now  more  than  $10,000,  for  which  her 
husband  paid  $450  in  the  latter  part  of  the  '80s.  Mr.  West  was  highly 
respected  by  the  many  who  came  to  know  him  and  won  an  enviable 
reputation  as  a  man  of  public  spirit  who  was  ready  at  any  time 
to  do  anything  within  his  ability  for  the  uplift  and  development  of 
his  community.  He  was  road  overseer  and  helped  build  the  roads 
in  liis  locality.  His  widow  is  maintaining  his  enlightened  and  liberal 
]iolicies. 


SCHNEREGER  &  DOWNING 

The  house  of  Sclmereger  &  Downing,  bottlers  and  (listri))utors  of 
beer  at  llanford,  is  one  of  the  leading  concerns  of  its  kind  in  Kings 
county,  Cal.,  the  partners  in  the  enter]-)rise  being  Joseph  Schnereger 
and  Thomas  Downing.  Mr.  Schnereger  came  to  Hanford  in  1885 
and  bought  the  soda  liottling  works  of  M.  Hegele,  which  he  con- 
ducted with  success  until  18!)!).  It  was  in  1890  that  Mr.  Downing 
came  to  the  town.  For  several  months  after  his  arrival  he  worked 
at  his  trade  as  a  bricklayer,  but  in  1891  he  liegan  to  bottle  and  whole- 
sale beer  and  his  l)usiness  was  increasingly  ])rofital)1e  until  1899,  and 
at  that  time  Messrs.  Sclmereger  and  Downing  combined  theii-  interests 
and  consolidated  tlieir  two  establislimeuts.     So  wise  was  tliis  depar- 


fifi4  TULARE  AXn  KlXdS  CorX'I'lKS 

tiii't'  that  they  not  only  abolished  mutual  conipetition,  hut  i>ut  them- 
selves iu  a  way  materially  to  ciilariio  their  combined  interests.  They 
have  the  local  asi'ency  for  the  Wielands  and  Rainier  l)eers,  which 
they  bottle  and  distribute  throuiihont  llanford  and  its  trade  territory. 
They  are  owners  of  valuable  l)usiness  property  in  llanford  and  Mr. 
Schnereo-er  is  a  director  of  the  Old  Bank.  There  is  uo  interest  of 
the  town,  no  j)roi)osition  for  the  public  uplift  that  does  not  have  the 
moral  and  financial  support  of  these  two  enterprising  and  progressive 
citizens. 


WILLIAM   STAXTOX    P.HOWN 

Januaiy  !•,  IS,")!),  William  Stanton  lirown,  who  now  lives  a  mile 
west  of  Hanfoid.  Kings  county,  Cal..  was  horn  in  Henry  county,  Mo., 
a  son  of  William  and  Sallie  Ann  (Davis)  l'>i-own.  They  had  a 
daughter,  Mattie,  who  is  the  wife  of  David  Pcarscm,  of  llollister, 
Cal.  The  father  died  in  Callaway  county.  Mo.,  in  lS(i4.  In  ISfi,"),  W. 
IT.  Davis,  Mrs.  Ilrown's  father,  came  across  the  plains  to  California, 
and  in  1S()7  ^Irs.  Brown  came  out  by  way  of  the  1st  hums  of  Panama, 
bringing  her  son  and  daughtei-.  They  had  to  take  the  train  fiom 
Mexico,  Mo.,  for  Xew  York,  via  St.  Jjouis  and  Chicago,  and  embarked 
on  the  Henry  Chaucer  for  Panama,  thence  to  San  Francisco  on  the 
Sacramento,  arriving  on  December  3,  1867.  They  located  in  Stanislaus 
county,  where  Mr.  Davis  farmed  and  later  he  established  a  ferry 
across  the  Tuolumne  river,  which  was  in  oi)eration  before  the  bridge 
was  built  at  Modesto,  in  1869.  He  had  made  Ins  first  stop  in  Cali- 
fornia at  Stockton,  farming  one  year,  then  he  took  up  a  half-section 
of  laud,  in  1867,  and  farmed  in  Stanislaus  county. 

From  1872  to  1875  W.  S.  Brown  did  farm  work  near  Woodville, 
in  Tulare  county,  then  lived  a  year  with  his  grandfather  at  Modesto, 
attentling  school.  Returning  to  Tulare  county,  he  located  at  (xrange- 
ville  and  was  employed  on  different  farms  until  1887.  During  tlie 
period,  1887-5)0,  he  rented  what  is  now  the  Kimble  jirune  orchard. 
Then  he  set  out  and  imi)roved  a  jirune  orchard  of  two  hundred  and 
forty  acres,  of  which  he  was  forenuui  until  189."?.  In  1893-94  he 
worked  the  Avers  ranch  near  Grangeville,  and  in  1894  moved  onto 
twenty-three  acres  two  miles  west  of  llanford.  which  he  had  liought 
in  1891.  After  two  years'  residence  there  he  rented  the  P)ardin 
ranch  of  four  hundred  acres,  which  he  farmed  1897-1903.  About 
that  time  he  bought  eighty  acres  of  that  projierty.  In  1905  he  bought 
forty-six  acres  adjoining  his  other  ranch.  In  1909  he  built  a  line 
two-story  house  on  his  eighty-acre  tract.  In  1!)12.  with  Lee  Camp, 
he  bought   eightv   acres  of  the   S.   W.    Hall    ranch,   two   and   one-half 


TULA  HE  AXl)  KINGS  COUNTIES  GCw 

miles  soutli  of  Haiiford,  all  in  pcaclics,  prunes  and  vineyard,  lie  has 
fifty  aeres  in  vineyard,  forty-live  acres  in  peaches  and  apricots,  has 
improved  his  property  in  evei-y  way,  and  gives  attention  to  general 
farming.  From  time  to  time  he  has  interested  himself  in  noteworthy 
enterprises  and  he  is  now  a  stockholder  in  the  California  State  Life 
Insnrance  company.  Fratei-nally  he  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen 
of  the  World.  In  18!)]  he  married  Miss  Jennie  McCamish,  a  native 
of  Henry  connty,  Iowa,  and  a  danghter  of  the  late  R.  B.  McCamish, 
of  Orange  county,  Cal. 


LEO  LEONI 

One  of  the  successful  farmers  of  Hanford  and  vicinity  is  Leo 
Leoni,  who  was  horn  in  Canton  Ticino,  Switzerland,  in  1865.  He 
remained  in  his  native  land  until  1884,  when  he  came  to  California  and 
located  in  what  is  now  Kings  county.  For  five  years  after  his  arrival 
he  was  emjiloyed  as  a  farm  liand,  then  renting  land  in  vai'ions  ]>arts 
of  the  county  at  different  times,  engaged  in  grain  farming  foi'  him- 
self. After  several  successful  years  he  made  his  first  purchase  of 
land,  consisting  of  twenty  acres  near  Grangeville,  which  he  set  out 
to  fi'uit  and  gra])es.  As  he  ])ros))ered  he  ke])t  adding  to  his  holdings 
from  time  to  time,  huying,  impi-(i\ing  and  selling,  and  in  1906,  pur- 
chased forty-two  and  one-hall'  acres  west  of  the  city  limits  of  Hanford, 
which  is  now  known  as  the  Pfeil  tract.  At  intervals  he  sold  a  greater 
part  of  this  acreage,  retaining  his  home  place,  which  he  now  occupies 
with  his  family.  Mr.  Leoni  buys  and  sells  I'eal  estate,  is  a  stock- 
holder in  the  Farmers'  and  Merchants'  hank  of  Hanford,  has  other  in- 
terests of  various  kinds,  and  in  nuuiy  ways  shows  his  i)ul)lic  spiiit. 

In  inOG  Mr.  Leoni  was  united  in  mai'riage  with  Lena  Oiu'sti,  a 
daughter  of  A.  Onesti,  and  a  native  of  Tulare  county.  They  are  the 
parents  of  two  children,  Milton  and  Verna. 


HON.    F.    DkWITT 

The  Inisy,  useful  and  patriotic  citizen  of  Tulai'e  county  whose 
patriotic  interests  and  unusual  executive  ability  have  won  him  nuu-li 
commendation  tlu-oughout  the  county,  is  E.  DeWilt,  who  was  boi'u 
in  Kentucky,  February  5,  1844.  His  family  left  tiiat  state  when  he 
was  a  7nere  boy,  and  coming  to  California  in  1859,  his  father  lo- 
cated with  his  household  at  IJed  P>luff,  whence  removal  was  later 
ma<le  to  Colusa  county.     Thei-e  young  DcWitt  lived  until   187i.>,  when 


666  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

be  was  aboiit  twenty-eight  years  old,  and  from  that  time  until  iu 
1877  he  was  in  the  dairy  business  in  Nevada.  Then,  coming  to 
Tulare  county,  he  located  on  government  land  near  Deer  creek, 
where  he  lived  two  years.  In  1879  he  settled  on  eighty  acres  just 
east  of  Tulare  on  which  he  lived  until  1893,  when  he  moved  into  the 
city  and  made  his  home  until  in  1908,  farming  meanwhile  near  that 
town.  In  the  year  last  mentioned  be  moved  to  bis  present  location, 
two  miles  and  a  half  southwest  of  Tulare,  which  consists  of  three 
hundred  and  sixtj'  acres  of  land  which  he  had  bought  in  1903.  He 
has  since  sold  all  but  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  this  land  and 
now  has  eighty  acres  in  alfalfa,  the  balance  in  grazing  land. 

Politics  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  Democrat  has  commanded 
Mr.  DeWitt's  attention  since  he  was  a  young  man.  He  has  served 
many  years  as  a  member  of  the  Democratic  County  Central  com- 
mittee and  was  elected  to  represent  his  district  in  the  state  legis- 
lature at  the  session  of  1885  and  the  extra  session  of  1886.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Tulare  Irrigation  district, 
and  as  such  has  served  ably  for  eight  years,  and  he  superintended  the 
building  of  the  Kaweah  canal  and  in  a  general  way  has  been  influential 
in  the  work  of  canal  and  ditch  construction. 

In  1870  Mr.  DeWitt  married  Margaret  Ford,  of  Yolo  county, 
and  they  have  children  as  follows:  Marcus  of  Porterville;  Mrs. 
Edmoudson  of  Tulare;  Mrs.  Frank  Ellsworth  of  Tulare;  Mrs.  Joseph 
Sherman  of  Visalia;  Mrs.  Gertrude  Evans  of  San  Francisco,  and  H. 
C.  DeWitt. 


EGBERT  P.  FINCHER 

It  was  in  Kansas,  the  Sunflower  state,  that  Robert  P.  Fincher 
was  born  June  3,  1857,  son  of  Nelson  and  Paulina  (Moore)  Fincher, 
and  there  he  lived  until  in  1862,  when  the  family  removed  to  Cali- 
fornia. As  a  forty-niner  the  father  had  visited  that  state  before, 
coming  overland  and  returning  by  way  of  the  Isthmus,  and  had 
mined  three  years  iu  Shasta,  Sacramento  and  Placer  counties.  Now 
he  brought  bis  family  overland,  with  a  train  of  one  hundred  and 
eight  wagons.  Homesteading  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land 
iu  Stanislaus  county,  seven  miles  northeast  of  Modesto,  he  lived 
there  twenty-five  years.  He  then  sold  out  and  went  to  Fresno,  where 
he  passed  away  April,  1908.  He  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina ;  his 
wife,  who  died  in  1887,  was  born  in  Tennessee.  There  were  born 
to  them  six  daughters  and  five  sons,  all  of  whom  are  living.  Alice  is 
the  wife  of  Prof.  C.  P.  Evans  of  Sau  Diego.  Mary  married  G.  D. 
Wootten,  of  Santa  Cruz.     Jesse  M.  lives  at  Madera  and  Nancy  is 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  667 

the  wife  of  John  High  of  that  city.    James,  Letitia,  Francis,  Elizabeth, 
Vetal  and  Matilda  live  at  Fresno. 

Robert  P.  was  reared  at  Modesto,  where  he  remained  until  1876, 
when  at  the  age  of  nineteen  lie  took  u])  the  battle  of  life  for  him- 
self in  Modoc  county,  where  he  was  employed  by  Captain  Barnes 
for  a  year  as  a  buyer  of  cattle  and  a  breaker  of  horses.  After 
that  he  came  home  and  in  1879  went  to  Nevada,  where  he  bought 
and  sold  cattle  until  in  1881,  when  he  came  back  to  Modesto  and 
]5urchase(l  a  ranch  near  Oakdale,  where  he  farmed  five  years.  Mean- 
time, in  1882,  a  dry  year,  he  went  to  British  Columbia  and  for  a 
time  worked  on  a  railroad  near  Westminster.  Later  he  was  employed 
for  a  while  in  a  lumber  camp  near  Seattle.  Returning  to  Modesto  in 
1885  he  worked  his  land  until  1888,  when  he  sold  it  and  removed 
to  Fresno,  where  he  farmed  until  in  1890.  Then  he  came  to  Tulare, 
now  Kings  county,  and  during  the  succeeding  eighteen  months  was 
surveying  land  and  locating  settlers,  until  he  took  up  land  for 
himself  near  the  lake.  This  he  soon  sold  to  William  Hammond 
and  went  to  work  for  L.  Hansen.  Then  for  three  years  he  farmed 
land  which  belonged  to  Mr.  Sharpies.  Next  he  moved  onto  the 
Woodgate  place,  which  adjoins  the  Sharpies  ranch,  where  he  lived 
until  he  bought  ten  acres  of  Mr.  Hansen  near  his  present  home- 
stead. He  let  this  land  go  back  and  moved  to  Fresno  and  man- 
aged his  father's  ranch  one  year.  Returning  to  Kings  county  he 
farmed  Judge  Neiswanger's  place  ten  years.  In  the  meantime  he 
bought  one  humlred  and  sixty  acres  of  the  Stone  ranch,  on  which 
he  raised  cattle  three  years,  developing  the  land  as  rapidly  as  he 
was  able.  He  sold  this  property  and  in  1908  bought  his  present 
i-anch  of  eighty  acres,  eight  miles  southwest  of  Hanford.  He  has 
eight  acres  under  vines  and  the  remainder  of  the  land  is  given 
over  to  alfalfa  and  pasturage.  He  has  erected  a  fine  residence,  a 
good  barn  and  other  farm  buildings  and  gives  much  attention  to 
the  Itreeding  of  cattle  and  hogs.  In  1912  he  purchased  eighty  acres 
five  miles  from  his  home  place,  which  he  intends  putting  in  alfalfa. 

In  1888  Mr.  Fincher  married  Miss  Minnie  Hansen,  a  native  of 
Germany,  who  had  lived  at  Stockton  and  Modesto.  They  have  had 
four  children:  Nelson,  Mabel,  Edna  and  Forrest.  Nelson  and 
Mabel  died  in  Fresno.  Edna  was  born  in  1889  in  Tulare  county, 
and  Forrest  was  born  in  1891. 

Of  the  first  Sunday  school  of  the  Methodist  church  organized 
northeast  of  Modesto,  Mr.  Fincher  was  a  member.  It  was  or- 
ganized in  his  father's  house  and  his  parents  were  influential  in 
bringing  it  into  existence.  He  was  a  student  in  the  McTTenry  district 
school,  the  first  school  organized  in  Stanislaus  county,  and  has  dur- 
ing all  his  active  life  been  a  friend  of  education  and  a  man  of  public 


668  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTTES 

spirit.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
P^ellows,  tlie  encampment  and  canton,  and  passed  through  the  chairs 
of  these  organizations. 


MARTHA  J.  BUCKBEE 

Since  Martha  J.  Buckbee  has  made  her  home  with  her  cousin,  Mrs. 
Catherine  Louisa  Traut,  of  Hanford,  Kings  county,  Cal.,  she  has 
been  known  and  beloved  by  many  citizens  of  Hanford  and  vicinity. 
She  was  born  in  Livingston  county,  N.  Y.,  and  was  reared  there  on 
one  of  the  large  farms  for  which  the  Genesee  valley  is  famous.  Her 
parents  were  P]chnund  and  Hannah  (Clark)  Buckbee.  She  has  lived 
at  the  Traut  homestead  since  October,  1909,  when  she  took  up  her 
residence  in  Kings  county.  In  1905  Mary  E.  Buckbee,  a  sister,  came 
to  California,  hoping  to  benefit  her  health,  and  found  a  home  with  Mrs. 
Traut,  who  cared  for  her  with  more  than  sisterly  solicitude  until  her 
death,  which  occurred  August  25,  1910.  Before  coming  west  the  sisters 
Martha  J.  and  Mary  E.  sold  the  old  Buckbee  homestead  in  New  York. 
The  former  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Ei)iscoi)al  ciuirch  and  during 
her  residence  here  has  affiliated  with  the  Hanford  congregation. 

The  only  brother,  Charles  Buckbee,  enlisted  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Civil  war  in  Comi)auy  E,  Eighty-fifth  Regiment,  New  York  Vol- 
unteer Infantry,  which  regiment  contained  many  I'ecruits  from  1  Liv- 
ingston county.  After  three  years'  service  he  veteranized  by  reen- 
listment,  and  was  soon  taken  prisoner  and  confined  in  Andersonville 
prison,  where  he  was  kept  for  more  than  a  year,  and  while  being  re- 
moved to  another  ])rison  died  as  the  result  of  starvation.  During  a 
poi'tion  of  his  service  his  regimental  commander  was  Col.  T.  J. 
Thorpe,  who  is  now  at  the  Soldiers'  Home  at  Sawtelle. 


JESSE  THOMAS  TURNER 

The  native  sou  of  California  whose  name  is  above  is  a  son  of  an 
overland  ])ioneer  of  1849  who  is  now  living  in  San  Joaquin  county,  and 
was  liorn  near  Stockton,  Se]iteml)er  8,  1850.  His  education  was  ob- 
tained in  the  public  schools  and  at  a  business  college  at  Stockton.  He 
assisted  his  father,  James  Turner,  in  the  latter 's  farming  operations, 
until  in  December,  1884.  The  elder  Turner  had  bought  the  Hyde  tract 
of  fourteen  hundred  acres  in  1881  and  anotlier  tract  of  nine  hun- 
dred acres  in  1884.  From  the  l)eginning  of  1SS5  until  1897,  Jesse 
Thomas  Turner  farmed  an  average  of  abimt  one  tliousand   acres  of 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  669 

his  father's  land  on  shares,  the  remainder  of  the  large  holding-  being 
devoted  to  live-stock,  including  cattle  and  hogs,  and  to  summer  fallow. 
In  the  fall  of  1881)  he  bought  four  hundred  and  seven  acres  east  of  the 
Porterville  road,  and  later  he  bought  thirty  acres  more  adjoining 
his  first  jjurchase.  In  1897  lie  improved  the  phice  with  a  residence 
and  other  necessary  buildings  and  has  since  made  it  his  home  and 
his  sole  field  of  agricultural  enterprise.  He  has  thirty  acres  of  alfalfa 
and  twenty  acres  of  vineyard  and  usually  devotes  one  hundred  and 
ten  acres  to  grain,  though  in  some  seasons  he  has  given  a  good  deal 
of  attention  to  black-eyed  beans.  His  vineyard  produces  fine  raisin- 
grapes  which  he  dries,  selling  an  average  of  twenty  tons  annually. 
Though  not  making  much  of  a  specialty  of  stock,  he  raises  cattle, 
horses  and  a  few  good  hogs.  During  recent  years  he  has  rented  one 
hundi'ed  and  ten  acres  of  his  father's  land,  across  tlie  road  fi'om  his 
own  i)roperty,  on  which  he  has  grown  grain. 

November  30,  1907,  Mr.  Turner  married  Mrs.  Ada  Ellis,  who  has  a 
son  by  a  former  marriage.  As  a  Mason  he  affiliates  with  Olive  Branch 
lodge,  F.  &  A.  M.,  of  Tulare,  and  is  included  in  a  Royal  Arch  chapter. 


JAMES  R.  BEQUETTE 

Conspicuous  among  those  ambitious  men  who  are  fast  coming 
to  the  front  in  Tulare  county  is  that  native  son  of  the  county,  James 
R.  Bequette  of  Ijcmon  Cove,  who  was  born  near  Farmersville.  in 
1861.  His  education  in  the  public  school,  which  was  well  begun,  was 
int(M-ni])ted  when  he  was  fourteen  years  old  by  the  death  of  his  father, 
a  native  of  Missouri,  who  was  a  California  pioneer  of  1852.  The  years 
after  that  event  which  otherwise  woukl  liave  lieen  devoted  to  his 
l)ooks  lie  was  obliged  to  spend  in  laboring  for  his  living.  His  first 
independent  ventures  were  in  stock-raising,  with  which  he  was  long 
successful.  In  1909  he  went  into  the  fruit  business  and  has  since  set 
out  many  orange  trees,  his  entire  place  being  now  devoted  to  that  fruit. 

In  1891  Mr.  Bequette  married  Miss  Carrie  McKee,  a  native  of 
Missouri  and  a  daughter  of  the  late  John  McKee.  Mrs.  Bequette  has 
borne  her  husband  two  daughters,  Rita  and  Velma.  The  former  was 
educated  at  the  Lemon  Cove  public  school  and  at  the  Exeter  high 
school  and  is  now  in  her  seventeenth  year.  The  latter,  now  in  her 
fourteenth  year,  is  attending  school  at  Lemon  Cove.  Mr.  Bequette 's 
mother  was  a  native  of  the  state  of  New  York.  Mrs.  Bequette 's  mother 
lives  at  Lemon  Cove. 

Fraternally  Mr.  Bequette  affiliates  witii  the  organization  of 
Artisans  at  Ijciiion  (^ove.  While  he  is  iiitei'ested  in  political  (|uestions 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  intelligent  voter,  lie  is  not  a  practical 


670  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

politician  and  has  never  aspired  to  public  preferment.  He  votes  at  all 
elections  and  nsiaally  deposits  a  Democratic  ticket.  In  a  public-spirited 
way  he  has  always  been  devoted  to  the  general  interests  of  the  com- 
munitv. 


JACOB  V.  HUFFAKER 

In  Morgan  county.  111.,  Jacob  V.  Huffaker  was  born  February  23, 
1845,  the  eleventh  in  a  family  of  thirteen,  and  passed  away  at 
Visalia,  June  16,  1909,  in  his  sixty-fifth  year.  His  mother  died  when 
he  was  young  and  he  was  early  compelled  in  a  measure  to  look  out 
for  himself.  He  accompanied  his  father  to  Texas,  where  he  herded 
cattle  until  in  the  spring  of  1861,  passing  most  of  his  time  in  the 
saddle.  As  a  member  of  Captain  White's  company  of  three  hundred 
and  sixty-six  wagons,  he  made  the  overland  journey  to  California  by 
way  of  the  Platte  and  Snake  rivers  through  Western  Washington  and 
Oregon,  and  arrived  in  California  seven  mouths  after  leaving  his  old 
home,  having  experienced  many  hardships  on  the  way.  The  party  was 
three  days  and  nights  crossing  the  Snake  river,  which  they  accom- 
plished by  caulking  their  wagons,  thus  transforming  them  practically 
into  skiffs,  which  not  without  considerable  difficulty  they  ferried  over 
the  stream.  From  time  to  time  they  met  wandering  bands  of  Indians, 
with  whom  they  had  fierce  encounters,  and  Mr.  Huffaker,  being  an 
exjierienced  sharp-shooter,  was  able  at  one  time  to  save  the  life  of  a 
companion  named  Wells. 

At  'S'isalia,  Mr.  Huffaker  began  his  career  in  California  as  a 
breaker  of  wild  horses  and  a  herder  of  wild  cattle,  and  in  1871  he 
rented  an  old  stable  at  $25  a  month  and  embarked  in  the  livery  busi- 
ness. In  1882  he  bought  propei-ty  of  S.  C.  Brown  on  South  Church 
street  for  $1600.  From  time  to  time  he  took  an  interest  in  important 
enterprises  at  Visalia,  where'  he  was  regarded  as  a  representative 
citizen  of  much  spirit  and  where  he  built  up  an  enviable  re])utatiou 
as  an  honest,  energetic,  enterprising  man  of  affairs.  Fraternally  he 
affiliated  with  Four  Creek  lodge  No.  94,  I.  0.  0.  F.,  and  with  the 
Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen. 

In  1871  Mr.  Huffaker  married  Miss  Palestine  Dowuiug,  a  native 
of  Missouri,  and  a  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Louisa  (Bell)  Downing. 
Her  father  settled  in  Sacramento  county  and  later  farmed  a  year 
near  Visalia.  He  died  in  Squaw  Valley,  in  1894,  aged  seventy-five 
years,  his  wife  passing  away  in  1909,  aged  eighty-six  years.  Follow- 
ing are  the  names  of  their  children :  Mrs.  Jacob  V.  Huffaker  and  Mrs. 
Clementine  Weishar,  twins ;  Mrs.  Sarah  Stout,  of  Fresno ;  William ; 
Eli ;   and  James.    Mrs.   Huffaker   bore   her   husband   these   children : 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  671 

William  H. ;  Frederick  E.;  Joseph  Edward;  J.  Artlmr;  Mrs.  Elsie  L. 
Dollner,  and  Harold  P.  Surrounded  by  children  and  friends,  highly 
respected  by  all  who  know  her,  she  is  passing  her  decHning  years  in 
her  home  at  No.  530  North  Court  street,  Visalia. 


SAMUEL  WHITSON  HALL 

The  ranching  and  oil  interests  of  Central  California  engage  the 
attention  of  many  men  of  ability  and  enterprise  who  succeed  here  not 
alone  because  of  the  fine  natural  opportunities  presented  by  the 
country,  but  because  they  would  succeed  anywhere  in  any  field  of 
endeavor  to  which  they  might  direct  their  attention.  Of  this  class  is 
Samuel  Whitson  Hall,  who  lives  two  miles  west  of  Hanford,  in  Kings 
county.  Mr.  Hall  was  born  in  Tennessee,  April  6,  1865,  a  son  of  John 
Ewell  and  Eliza  Jane  (Trigg)  Hall.  John  Pjweli  Hall  was  born  in 
Tennessee,  May  11,  1831,  the  son  of  Wilson  and  Lucy  (Ewell)  Hall. 
He  was  i-eared  on  a  farm  in  Bedford  count.v,  in  that  state,  was  edu- 
cated in  local  public  schools  and  farmed  there  until  May  12,  1861, 
when  he  died.  In  1854  he  married  Eliza  Jane  Trigg,  daughter  of 
William  H.  and  Mary  Ann  (AVhitson)  Trigg,  Tennesseeans  by  birth. 
Mrs.  Hall  is  now  living  with  her  son,'  Samuel  Whitson  Hall,  of  Kings 
county.  She  bore  her  husband  twelve  children,  seven  of  whom  are 
li\ing,  all  in  the  vicinity  of  Hanford.  Mary  Priscilla  is  the  wife  of 
J.  J.  Cortner;  Lucy  Virginia  married  W.  T.  Holt;  Neppie  Jane  is 
deceased;  William  Fergus  Hall  died  November  27,  1912;  Louis  Edgar 
Hall  and  John  Ewell  Hall  are  next  in  order;  George  Arthur  Hall  and 
•James  Leroy  Hall  are  deceased;  Annie  died  in  Tennessee;  Finis  Trigg 
Mali  and  Robert  Vance  Hall  complete  the  family. 

The  immediate  subject  of  this  sketch,  Samuel  Whitson  Hall,  was 
ivared  on  ■  the  old  Hall  homestead  in  Central  Tennessee  and  came 
from  there  direct  to  Hanford  in  181)7.  He  l)ought  land  south  of 
Hanford  which  remained  his  home  until  selling  out  in  December, 
l!ni'.  It  consisted  of  eighty  acres,  fifty  acres  of  which  were  devoted 
to  vineyard,  twenty-five  to  fruit  trees.  After  he  took  possession  he 
improved  the  ])lace  in  many  ways,  setting  out  twenty  acres  of  vines 
an<l  eight  acres  of  prunes  and  peaches.  He  bought  forty  acres  of 
alfalfa  land,  half  a  mile  west  of  the  Hanford  fair  grounds,  which  he  is 
farming  to  hay.  but  which  he  intends  soon  to  set  out  to  orchard.  On 
tliis  last  property,  where  he  is  now  residing,  he  has  erected  a  fine 
modern  home. 

Xot  only  farming  but  oil  operations  and  other  interests  demand 
.Ml-.  Hall's  attention  and  abilities.  He  has  been  for  some  time  ideutilied 
with   the  oil   indusfrv  in  the  Midwav  field   in  Kern  countv  and   is   a 


672  TULARE  AND  KIN(}S  (M)rXTIKS 

stix'kliolder  in  tlie  N'isalia  Midway  Company,  which  has  three  good 
producing  wells  on  eighty  acres  of  its  own  land,  and  also  in  the  Lacey 
Oil  ("ompany,  which  owns  two  sections  of  land  in  the  Devil's  Den 
country.  As  a  public  spirited  citizen  he  is  in  the  forefront  of  all  move- 
ments for  the  general  good.  In  h)cal  and  national  politics  he  takes 
an  interest  at  once  intelligent  and  jiatriotic.  At  his  old  home  in  Ten- 
nessee he  was  made  a  Mason  and  advanced  to  all  degrees  below  those 
conferred  in  the  Royal  Arch  body.  He  was  raised  to  the  Knights 
Templar  degree  at  Ilanford  and  is  a  memlier  of  Islam  Temple, 
A.  A.  O.  N.  M.  S.,  of  San  Francisco. 


ELERY  H.  CHURCH 

Nine  miles  south  of  Hanford,  in  Kings  county,  Cal.,  is  the  well 
appointed  dairy  fai'm  of  Elery  H.  Church,  one  of  the  most  progressive 
and  successful  men  in  his  line  in  that  vicinity.  Mr.  Church  is  a  Cali- 
fornian  by  right  of  birth,  having  been  born  in  San  Joaquin  county 
August  7,  1875,  a  son  of  Caryl  Church.  When  the  son  was  yet  quite 
young  the  father  moved  his  family  to  Tulare  county,  and  there 
Elery  grew  to  manhood  and  gained  an  education  in  the  public  schools, 
meanwhile  acquiring  a  pretty  thorough  training  in  farming  on  liis 
father's  ranch  and  under  his  father's  careful  instruction.  His  first 
venture  for  himself  was  on  six  lumdred  and  forty  acres  of  his  father's 
land,  and  the  following  year  he  farmed  eight  hundred  acres  in  the 
lake  district.  Thus  far  his  success  had  been  l)ut  indifferent.  His  next 
move  was  to  his  present  homestead,  which  then  consisted  of  one 
hundred  acres,  half  of  which  he  devoted  to  alfalfa,  the  remainder  to 
general  farming.  In  1908  he  l)ouglit  eighty  acres  of  farm  land  adjoin- 
ing the  original  home  farm  on  the  west,  and  here  his  success  has 
been  all  that  he  could  have  desired.  His  principal  business  is  dairy- 
ing, and  he  owns  usualh'  about  forty  cows,  milking  the  year  round 
from  twenty  to  twenty-five,  and  raises  each  year  as  many  hogs  as  be 
can  conveniently  feed. 

In  1905  Miss  Gertrude  Brock,  of  Kings  county,  became  Mr. 
Church's  wife  and  she  has  borne  him  two  children,  Susan  and  Clif- 
ford. Not  only  does  Mr.  Church  take  rank  with  the  leading  farmers 
and  dairymen  in  his  ]iart  of  the  county,  but  as  a  citizen  he  has  shown 
a  patriotic  devotion  to  the  general  good  which  has  conunended  him 
to  the  good  ojiiniou  of  all  who  know  him.  Though  he  is  not  especially 
active  in  |)ublic  work  he  fully  performs  his  duty  as  a  citizen,  as  a 
voter  and  otherwise,  and  has  well  defined  opinions  ujion  all  ques- 
tions of  public  policy  and  acts  consistently  with  his  i)arty  upou  every 
question  of  political  economy  which  is  brought  before  tiie  people. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  673 

EBER   H.   La  MARSNA 

In  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  the  develoi^ment  of  electricity 
and  its  application  to  many  of  the  economies  of  our  everyday  life 
has  involved  in  its  scientific  or  commercial  aspects  the  connection 
with  the  electrical  business  of  many  young  men  of  excei)tional  natural 
abilities  and  of  very  exacting  special  training,  and  it  has  been  the 
business  in  which  a  young  man  of  the  right  spirit  could  begin  at  the 
liottom  and  speedily  reach  a  high  place.  One  of  the  young  men  of 
central  California  who  has  demonstrated  this  in  his  career  is  Eber  H. 
La  Marsna,  agent  for  the  Mt.  "Whitney  Power  Company  at  Tulare, 
Tulare  county. 

It  was  in  Kansas  that  Mr.  La  Marsna  was  born  December  31,  1875, 
and  in  January,  1887,  he  was  brought  to  California  by  his  father, 
Jeffery  J.  La  Marsna,  a  biograjjliical  sketch  of  whom  will  be  found 
in  this  work.  He  was  reared  in  the  Woodville  district  and  educated  in 
the  public  schools  there,  and  in  1903  began  his  active  business  life  in 
the  employ  of  the  Mt.  A\'hitney  Power  Company  at  Porterville,  and 
in  the  service  of  that  corporation  he  labored  a  year  and  afterward  at 
^^isalia  three  years.  During  the  succeeding  three  years  he  was  in 
the  feed  and  fuel  business  on  his  own  account  in  Bakersfield,  Cal. 
From  Bakersfield  he  went  to  Arizona  and  was  engaged  in  the  electrical 
business  a  short  time  in  Clifton,  but  returning  to  California,  he 
again  entered  the  ser\ice  of  the  Mt.  Whitney  Power  Comjiany,  this 
time  as  agent  of  its  Tulare  division,  in  which  capacity  he  has  served 
efficiently  to  the  present  time. 

Fraternally  Mv.  La  Marsna  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the 
World.  He  is  a  citizen  of  nuich  helpful  ]»ublic  sjiirit  and  he  and  Mrs. 
La  Marsna  are  popular  socially.  They  married  in  1905  and  have  a 
son,  Dardau,  six  years  old.  Mrs.  La  Marsna  was  Miss  Nellie  Barnes, 
of  Ilanford,  Cal. 


ALBERT  E.  GRIBI 

The  jiionecr  jeweler  of  Hanford,  Albert  E.  Gribi,  whose  well 
known  establishment  at  No.  113  West  Seventh  street  is  familiar  to 
most  of  the  citizens  of  Kings  county,  was  born  in  Wells  county,  Ind., 
May  28,  1857.  IFe  attended  jmblic  schools  near  his  home  and  was 
graduated  from  the  high  school  when  he  was  seventeen  years  old.  The 
succeeding  three  years  he  devoted  to  an  acquisition  of  the  knowledge 
of  tlie  jeweler's  trade,  and  in  1913  he  rounded  out  his  fortieth  year  as 
a  practical  active  jeweler.  He  came  to  California  in  187(5,  and  two 
years  later  he  removed  to  Merced,  whence  he  came  to   Hanford  in 


674  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

1882.  Since  that  time  he  has  done  business  in  the  city  continuously 
and  his  store  has  become  one  of  its  landmarks.  He  is  a  skillful  work- 
man and  the  peojjle  of  the  town  have  sucli  confidence  in  him  and  his 
ability  that  many  valuable  watches  and  pieces  of  jewelry  are  left 
with  him  for  repair.  He  kee]is  a  varied  stock  of  high  quality 
Jewelry  and  silverware,  and  peoi)le  who  want  only  the  best  are  sure 
to  find  satisfaction  at  his  shop.  His  business  has  increased  with  the 
V'rowth  of  the  city  and  ho  is  reiiarded  as  (me  of  Hanford's  substan- 
tial and  dejiendaljle  citizens. 

On  March  25,  1888,  Mr.  Gribi  married  Miss  Mary  A.  Manning, 
who  was  born  in  X^tah,  September  9.  1860,  and  she  has  borne  him 
eight  children,  who  were  all  educated  in  the  Hanford  schools:  Gerald 
E.,  Eugene  J.,  Edward  A..  Otto  R..  IJcrtha  A.,  Mai'jorie,  Alberta  and 
Mildred. 

Fraternally  Mi',  (iril)!  alliiiates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World. 
He  is  })opular  with  the  jieople  at  large  and  there  is  no  movement 
for  the  benefit  of  the  community  that  does  not  receive  his  generous 
encouragement  and  support. 


JOHN    W.    DAA'IDSON 

It  was  in  Bates  county.  Mo.,  that  John  W.  Davidson,  who  now 
lives  at  No.  116  West  Race  street,  Visalia,  was  born  August  22,  1865, 
and  in  Cedar  county,  that  state,  he  acquired  a  public  school  educa- 
tion and  practical  knowledge  of  farming  as  it  was  then  carried  on  in 
that  region.  In  1885,  when  he  was  about  twenty  years  old,  he  came 
to  Vacaville,  Solano  county,  Cal.,  and  was  employed  as  superintendent 
of  the  fruit  rancli  of  Frank  H.  Buck  and  for  a  time  by  R.  H.  Chinn. 
He  came  to  E.xeter,  Tulare  county,  in  1899,  and  was  for  a  time  sujier- 
intendent  of  tb.e  Evansdale  Fruit  ("o.  Later  he  was  for  seven  years 
superintendent  of  the  Encina  Fruit  Co.  until  in  November.  1907,  when 
he  resigned  and  moved  to  Visalia.  He  is  at  this  time  the  owner  of 
an  eighty-acre  fruit  ranch,  six  miles  east  of  town,  on  which  he  raises 
peaches  of  several  varieties,  having  forty  acres  of  Phillips  cling- 
stones. In  1910  he  gathered  from  his  orchard  and  marketed  $fi.OO't 
worth  of  fruit  and  in  1911  one  hundred  and  tweuty-two  prune  trees 
brought  him  an  income  of  $7-f7.  He  is  now  developing  twenty  acres 
of  Crawford  peaches,  and  so  thorough  and  informing  have  been  his 
study  and  experience  in  this  field  of  endeavor  that  he  is  widely 
recognized  as  an  expert  fruit-grower.  He  set  the  Phillips  clingstone 
trees,  and  brought  them  to  perfection  with  his  own  hands.  Besides 
these  he  has  Muirs  and  Lovells. 

In  1886  Mr.   Davidson  married  Lena   L.    lOllis,  a   native  of  Iowa, 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  675 

and  they  have  two  children :  Charles  G.,  and  Corda  May,  who  married 
George  P.  French,  of  Tulare  county.  Politically  Mr.  Davidson  is  a 
Democrat,  devoted  to  the  principles  and  policies  as  well  as  the  tra- 
ditions and  future  work  of  his  party.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with 
the  Woodmen  of  the  World,  with  the  Loyal  Order  of  Moose,  and  with 
Four  Creek  lodge,  No.  94,  I.  O.  0.  F.,  and  the  encampment.  As  a 
citizen  he  has  always  taken  a  puhlic-spirited  interest  in  everything 
pertaining  to  the  general  welfare  and  there  is  no  proposition  which 
in  his  good  judgment  promises  to  henefit  any  considerahle  numher  of 
fellow  citizens  that  does  not  receive  his  encouragement  and  support. 


PETER  LEAVENS 

AND 

WILLIAM   A.    LEAVENS 

On  Prince  Edward  Island,  in  the  extreme  east  of  Canada,  Peter 
Leavens  was  born  January  1,  1844.  Until  1868  he  there  made  his 
home,  receiving  his  schooling  in  the  public  schools  and  later  learning 
the  carpenter's  trade,  and  then  came  to  San  Francisco  via  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama.  From  San  Francisco  he  made  his  way  to  Cordelia,  Solano 
county,  where  for  eight  years  he  worked  as  a  carpenter,  and  tlien 
moved  to  Lafayette,  Contra  Costa  county,  where  he  leased  land  and 
became  a  farmer.  On  December  31,  1863,  he  had  married  on  Prince 
Edward  Island  Miss  Martlia  Gerow  and  to  them  six  children  were 
born,  viz.:  William  A.,  Euphemia,  Walter,  Louis,  Frank  (of  Dinuba), 
and  Gracie.  Walter,  Eu])hemia  and  Louis  are  deceased.  Gracie  is  the 
wife  of  Julius  Larson  of  Oakland.   The  mother  died  in  Oakland. 

William  A.  Leavens  was  born  in  October,  1864,  and  was  but  four 
years  of  age  when  his  parents  came  to  CaHfornia.  Educated  in 
Solano  county,  he  learned  the  trade  of  carpenter  with  his  father 
and  has  ever  since  followed  that  line  of  work,  also  engaging  in  ranch- 
ing at  different  periods.  He  married  Helen  Bordman,  and  they  have 
had  three  children,  Louis  A.,  Frederick  R.  and  Goldie  E.  Frederick 
R.  mari'ied  Alice  Fees  and  they  live  at  Salinas,  Cal.  Goldie  married 
Andi-ew  Rader,  of  Ilanford,  and  they  have  a  son  and  a  daughter.  Mrs. 
Leavens  passed  away  in  1891  and  in  1895  Mr.  Leavens  married 
Georgia  A.  Cull)erson,  of  Kings  county,  and  three  sons  have  been 
born  to  them,  William  Gordon,  Bert  F.  and  Edgar  R. 

Fi-om  Contra  Costa  county  Petei-  Lea\ens  bi-ough  his  fannlv 
to  what  is  now  Kings  county,  where  he  followed  farming  and  carpen- 
tering. Buying  a  farm  of  eighty  acres  near  Yettem  he  made  improve- 
ments and  finally  sold,  obtaining  $100  an  acre  for  half,  while  the 
other  forty  acres  sold  for  $1:25  an  acre.     Later  he  puichased  twenty 


676  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

acres  at  Yettem  which  he  is  now  improving  and  preparing  for  sale. 
Carpentering,  however,  has  been  his  chief  industry,  in  which  he  has 
met  with  signal  success.  Mr.  Leavens  is  a  Republican  in  national 
issues,  but  in  voting  for  local  officials  he  supports  the  man  best  suited 
for  office.  As  a  citizen  he  has  proven  himself  most  public-spirited  and 
very  helpful  to  the  community. 


HENRY  WASHINGTON  BYRON 

A  career  of  much  unusual  activity  and  usefulness  has  marked 
Henry  Washington  Byron  as  one  of  the  valued  citizens  of  his  com- 
munity, he  having  been  a  strenuous  worker  in  the  pioneer  days, 
evincing  high  traits  of  character  and  forceful  will.  Much  credit  is 
due  him  for  his  work  and  expense  in  securing  the  winery  at  Lemoore 
and'  the  organization  of  the  Kings  County  Raisin  and  Fruit  Associa- 
tion, which  has  proved  a  splendid  influence  for  good  among  the 
fruit  growers  of  the  community.  Henry  W.  B\tou  makes  his  home 
a  mile  north  of  Lemoore,  Tulare  county.  He  is  a  son  of  an  English- 
man, Peter  Byron,  who  located  in  Pennsylvania  and  there  married 
Mary  Hesketh,  a  native  of  that  state  and  of  Dutch  stock,  and  took 
her  with  him  to  Ohio.  Six  children  were  born  to  Peter  Byron  and 
wife.  James  served  in  the  Mexican  war  as  artiller\Tiian  and  during 
an  engagement  lost  his  left  arm  by  a  premature  discharge;  Philander 
served  in  the  Civil  war  and  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville ;  William 
was  also  in  the  Civil  war,  being  a  prisoner  at  Libby  Prison;  Olive 
became  the  wife  of  Mr.  Greeusides  and  went  to  live  in  Ohio ;  Eliza- 
beth married  in  Peoria  county.  111.,  and  lived  at  Elmwood,  111.;  and 
Henry  Washington,  born  in  Ohio,  February  22,  1840.  was  so  named 
because  of  the  date  of  his  birth. 

When  Henry  W.  Byron  was  seven  years  old  he  accompanied  his 
parents  to  Illinois,  where  he  lived  until  1859,  coming  then  to  San 
Francisco  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  in  1860  was  a 
miner  in  Placer  county.  In  the  year  last  mentioned,  following  the 
lure  of  the  gold-seekers,  he  went  to  Australia,  where  he  mined  until 
1864.  Returning  to  San  Francisco  he  nuide  his  way  to  Somersville, 
Contra  Costa  county,  where  he  worked  in  a  coal  mine  until  August, 
1869.  Then,  with  $25  in  his  pocket,  he  started  in  a  spring  wagon  to 
move  to  Visalia,  but  at  the  ferry  at  Kingston  he  heard  such  glowing 
accounts  of  the  land  in  the  Mussel  Slough  country  he  drove  to  that 
point  and  took  up  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  where  he  now  lives. 
He  soon  found  employment  digging  ditches  and  making  barriers  of 
willow  trees  as  protection  against  wild  cattle  and  horses.  Two 
vears  later  he  and  twenty-five  other  men  organized  and  constructed 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  677 

the  Lower  Kings  River  ditch  wliich  was  a  boon  to  the  whole  section 
of  coimtry.  After  eight  years  of  grain  farming  he  began  setting  out 
vineyards,  his  tirst  ventiiie  having  been  on  forty  acres.  The  next 
year  he  started  a  fourteen  acre  apricot  and  nectarine  orchard  and 
put  some  land  under  alfalfa.  He  now  has  seventy  acres  of  vineyard 
and  fourteen  acres  of  fruit  trees,  and  except  for  eight  and  a  half 
acres  which  he  gave  for  a  cemetery  the  remainder  of  his  homestead 
is  under  alfalfa.  During  recent  years  he  has  interested  himself  in  oil 
and  has  become  a  stockholder  in  the  following  companies:  Th6  Devil's 
Den  Consolidated,  the  Tressciretos  Oil  Company,  the  Alamo  Oil  Com- 
jiany,  the  Pluto  Oil  Com])any  and  the  Lemoore  Oil  Company!    '' 

While  in  Australia  Mr.  Byron  was  married  to  Rosina  Gallard, 
daughter  of  Matthew  and  Frances  Ann  (Smith)  Gallard,  both  natives 
of  England,  near  Kent.  Mrs.  Byron  was  born  in  New  South  Wales, 
Australia,  and  is  one  of  a  family  of  ten  children  born  to  her  parents. 
Seven  children  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Byron,  as  follows:  Lincoln 
H.,  of  Lemoore;  Dr.  E.  H.,  of  Lemoore;  Dr.  W.  P.,  of  Lemoore;  Dr. 
Albert,  of  Oakhind;  Olive  and  Rupert,  both  deceased;  and  Frank 
Mark,  wlio  died  in  infancy. 

Fraternally  Mr.  Byron  has  long  affiliated  with  the  Odd  Fellows. 
In  Australia,  in  1862,  he  identified  himself  with  the  Manchester  Unity, 
the  forerunner  of  American  Odd  Fellow  lodges.  When  he  returned 
to  California  he  joined  the  lodge  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows  at  Somersville,  Contra  Costa  county,  from  which  later  he 
was  transferred  to  the  Lemoore  lodge.  He  was  identified  also  with 
Manhattan  Tribe,  No.  2,  I.  O.  R.  M.,  of  Somersville,  the  second  tribe 
organized  in  California,  and  later  joined  the  tribe  at  Lemoore.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen  until  his 
lodge  gave  up  its  charter.  In  all  the  affairs  of  his  community  he  takes 
an  active  interest.  Until  1903  he  long  was  president  of  the  Lower 
Kings  River  Irrigation  Ditch  Company,  and  in  all  his  various  con- 
nections with  concerns  in  this  community  he  has  evinced  the  habits  of 
honorable  dealing,  straightforward  and  conscientious  in  every  detail, 
and  htyal  and  active  in  his  citizenship. 


EAN  EOSS 

Born  in  Kings  county,  Cal.,  February  26,  1884,  the  well-known 
young  fanner  whose  name  is  above  is  a  native  son  of  the  Golden  State. 
He  attended  public  schools  until  he  was  eighteen  years  old,  then 
joined  liis  father  on  the  ranch  and  was  his  chief  assistant  as  long- 
as  his  parent  lived.  David  Ross,  his  father,  came  to  Kings  county, 
Cal.,  in   187],  and  in  1873  settled  near  Lemoore,  where  for  a  time 


678  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

he  taught  public  school,  aud  he  also  taught  iu  Tulare,  Kern,  Fresno, 
Mariposa,  Merced,  Los  Angeles  and  San  Bernardino  counties,  and  for 
two  years  filled  the  office  of  school  trustee. 

In  1873  there  came  to  California  a  young  woman  who  was  to 
become  the  wife  of  David  Ross.  She  was  Maggie  Bell  Ross,  a  girl 
of  strong  common  sense,  who  took  a  hopeful  view  of  life  and  was  to 
him  a  heljjmeet  to  the  end  of  his  days.  Quite  early  in  life  he  engaged 
in  stock-raising,  farming  and  dairying,  in  which  occupations  he  met 
with  considerable  success  and  in  1874  he  took  up  public  land,  to 
which  he  later  acquired  title  and  which  he  developed  into  the  fine 
ranch  which  came  to  be  known  as  the  Ross  place.  On  that  property 
he  labored  with  good  financial  results  as  long  as  he  lived.  He  passed 
away  February  11,  1911.  His  widow,  Maggie  Bell  Ross,  survives 
and  is  living  with  her  son  on  the  homestead.  The  latter  manages 
the  eighty-acre  place,  giving  attention  to  general  farming,  dairying 
aud  stock-raising.  He  learned  farming  under  his  father's  enlight- 
ened and  practical  instruction  and  has  achieved  successes  iu  his 
specialties  of  which  many  an  older  agriculturist  might  be  justly  proud. 


WILLIAM  BUDD 

One  of  the  most  successful  horticulturists  and  general  ranchmen 
of  Ti])ton,  Tulare  county,  is  William  Budd,  who  was  born  June  29, 
1842,  in  Camden  coimty,  N.  J.,  over  the  river  from  Philadelphia.  He 
grew  up  and  was  educated  in  his  native  county  and  at  seventeen 
located  iu  Philadelphia,  whence  after  a  few  years  he  moved  to  Kansas 
City,  Mo.,  where  he  was  for  ten  years  well  known  in  the  shoe  trade. 
In  1890  he  came  to  California  and  made  his  home  at  Tulare.  Tulare 
county,  and  four  years  later  he  bought  eighty  acres  about  live 
miles  north  of  that  town  which  he  converted  into  a  fine  vineyard 
and  eventually  sold  in  order  to  move  to  a  point  five  miles  south  \vest 
of  Tipton.  Here  he  bought  four  hundred  and  eighty  acres,  and  he  has 
since  given  his  attention  to  stock-raising,  growing  cattle,  horses  and 
hogs  of  breeds  and  quality  which  have  always  made  them  in  demand 
in  the  market.  When  he  came  on  the  i)lace  it  included  thirty-five 
acres  of  orchard,  but  that  is  now  out  of  bearing;  in  1910  he  set  out 
ten  acres  of  new  orchard.  He  also  has  twenty  acres  in  vineyards, 
given  over  entirely  to  raisins,  and  is  preparing  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  for  alfalfa.  In  every  respect  his  homestead  is  first  class 
of  its  kind,  its  buildings  being  modern  and  ample  and  its  appliances 
up-to-date.  On  the  place  is  an  artesian  well  which  flows  two  hun- 
dred aud  fifty  gallons  a  minute  and  two  pumping  wells,  one  of  them 
supplied   with  a  ten  horse-power  electric  motor,  the  other,   which   is 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  679 

exclusively  for  domestic  use,  having'  a  two  horse-|)ower  motor.  Mr. 
Budd's  residence  is  modern  and  substantial,  one  of  its  conveniences 
being  an  electric  light  plant.  He  gives  considerable  attention  to  dairy- 
ing, at  present  juilking  fifty  cows  and  planning  to  milk  in  the  near 
future  twice  as  many.  He  sells  about  twenty  tons  of  raisins  in  a 
season  from  twenty  acres  of  land.  His  live  stock  includes  twelve 
hoi-ses,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  head  of  cattle  and  many  hogs, 
and  he  has  also  made  quite  an  investment  in  jioultry. 

In  1890  Mr.  Budd  married  Miss  Katie  Spankle,  a  native  of  Oiiio. 
In  comparatively  recent  years  a  member  of  their  household  has  been 
William  Blauw,  their  grandson  and  a  son  of  Antonio  Blauw,  whom 
they  have  reared  since  he  was  eight  months  old.  Mr.  Budd 
is  active,  energetic  and  animated  by  public  spirit.  He  has  from  time  to 
time  had  to  do  with  Inisiness  interests  not  directly  connected  with  his 
ranching.  The  dairy  interest  also  has  been  fostered  to  an  extent 
through  his  identification  with  it.  He  is  at  this  time  a  stockholder  in 
the  Ti]iton  Co-operative  Creamery. 


GEORGE  BARTLETT 

Two  miles  north  of  Orosi,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  lives  George 
Bartlett,  son  of  Isaac  Bartlett,  grandson  of  Abraham  Bartlett,  great- 
grandson  of  Coi'uelius  Bartlett,  and  great-great-grandson  of  Dr. 
Josiah  Bartlett,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde])end- 
ence.  Mr.  Bartlett 's  father  married  Hannah  Williams,  who  like  him- 
self was  a  native  of  Lebanon  Springs,  N.  Y.  She  had  five  brothers 
in  the  army  of  General  Grant  in  the  Civil  war,  not  one  of  whom  was 
wounded,  and  they  are  all  still  surviving.  She  had  five  sisters,  of 
whom  one  survives.  The  grandmother  on  the  maternal  side  reached 
the  age  of  eighty-eight  and  the  grandfather  passed  his  ninetieth  year. 

(Jeorge  Bartlett  was  born  in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  September  16,  1858. 
In  his  youth  he  learned  the  millwright's  trade  and  at  different  times 
has  converted  many  old-style  grist  mills  to  new-style  roller  process 
mills.  For  six  years  he  traveled  in  the  interest  of  the  E.  P.  A  His 
Company,  of  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  visiting  twenty-two  states,  and  then 
settled  at  Hay  Springs,  Neb.,  for  a  time.  Later  he  spent  one  year  in 
Salt  Lake  City  and  in  November,  1890,  settled  in  California,  mining 
for  a  year  in  Tuolumne  county,  where  he  now  owns  ))ro)ierty.  He 
owned  a  half  interest  in  the  eighty  acre  Anthony  prune  orchard  in 
Kings  county,  where  he  was  a  resident  of  Grangeville  and  vicinity  for 
sixteen  yciars.  In  1908  he  l)0ught  thirty-eight  acres,  uiiu'teen  ac.'cs 
of  which  are  in  Muir  and  Lovell  peaches,  paying  $7,.")00  for  the 
propcrt.v.  and  lias  sold  over  $12,0(11)  worth  of  iicaches  since  he  bought 


680  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

the  place.  TTithout  irri.eation  be  is  able  to  barvest  five  crops  of  alfalfa 
eacb  year.  He  keeps  just  stock  enough  to  properly  operate  the  ranch 
and  has  made  a  specialty  of  chickens,  having  raised  one  thousand  in 
1911,  when  he  sold  $180  worth  of  esr.S'S  from  one  hundred  and  eighty 
bens.  His  home  is  one  of  the  most  comfortable  in  its  vicinity.  He 
bought  property  in  Berkeley  which  he  traded  for  orange  land  near 
Bacon  Buttes  and  owns  an  undeveloped  mine  in  Tuolumne  county. 

In  Sheridan  county,  Neb.,  Mr.  Bartlett  married  Miss  Julia  M. 
Knowlton,  a  native  of  Salem,  Oregon,  and  they  have  two  daughters, 
Gladys  and  Ethel.  Gladys  was  graduated  from  the  University  of 
California  in  1910  and  is  teaching  school,  and  Ethel  is  a  student  at  the 
University  of  Berkeley,  Cal.  Independent  in  thought  and  action,  Mr. 
Bartlett  affiliates  with  no  political  party.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
high  school  board  for  three  years  and  in  that  capacity  has  had  to  do 
with  the  advancement  of  the  school  at  Hanford.  He  was  reared  in 
the  Presbyterian  faith.    Mrs.  Bartlett  is  a  Baptist. 


EDWARD  G.  SELLERS 

Among  the  active  citizens  of  Lemoore  is  numbered  Edward  G. 
Sellers,  the  progressive  and  flourishing  farmer  and  contractor,  who  is 
honored  not  only  as  a  worthy  citizen  of  that  place,  but  as  having  been 
the  first  rancher  in  this  section  to  install  a  cream  separator  in 
connection  with  his  dairy.  This,  however,  is  but  one  example  of  the 
aggressive  initiative  s]iirit  wliicli  lias  marked  Mr.  Sellers'  entire 
business  career. 

It  was  at  Fruit\ale,  now  a  part  of  the  site  of  Oakland,  Cal.,  that 
Edward  G.  Sellers  was  born  July  21,  1864,  a  son  of  Samuel  Sellers. 
He  was  reared  in  Contra  Costa  county,  where  his  father  farmed,  and 
received  his  education  in  the  public  schools  near  Antioeh,  and  it  was 
in  that  vicinity  that  he  had  his  early  exjierience  in  farming  and  fruit 
raising.  In  1885,  when  he  was  twenty-one  years  old,  he  settled  on  a 
ranch  near  Lemoore  and  since  then  at  various  times  he  has  bought 
several  pieces  of  i)ro])erty.  The  first  was  his  present  alfalfa  ranch 
of  one  Inmdred  and  sixty  acres  seven  miles  southeast  of  Lemoore. 
Another  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  located  five  miles  south  of 
Lemoore,  he  sold  in  1905  after  having  put  some  improvements  on  it. 
Later  he  bought  eighty  acres  four  miles  south  of  Hanford.  which  he 
imjjroved  with  thirty  acres  of  vineyard,  putting  the  remainder  under 
alfalfa,  and  this  he  sold  in  1904.  A  year  later  he  bought  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty  acres  near  Stratford,  all  in  alfalfa,  which  is  one 
of  his  present  holdings.  In  1902  he  had  invested  in  twenty-five 
acres,    three   miles    north    of   Lemoore,    of    wliidi    eiiiht    acres    is    in 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  681 

vineyard,  seventeen  acres  in  alfalfa,  which  improved  ]jlace  is  a  valued 
part  of  his  property. 

For  many  years  Mr.  Sellers  has  been  a  contractor  in  teaming, 
freio-hting,  ditching  and  moving  dirt.  He  did  most  of  the  ditching 
and  much  of  the  work  on  the  levees  on  the  Empire  Investment  Com- 
pany's ranch  of  nineteen  thousand  acres  near  Lemoore,  a  large 
amount  of  levee  work  on  the  Riverdale  reclamation  project,  and  much 
heavy  teaming  in  the  hauling  of  pipe  and  machinery  for  a  pipe  line 
of  the  Standard  Oil  Company.  In  1910  G.  B.  Chinn  became  his  part- 
ner in  this  enteri)rise.  They  employ  an  average  of  twenty  men  the 
year  round  and  their  business  requires  the  work  of  fifty  horses.  Mr. 
Sellers  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Chinn  Warehouse  Company  of  Lemoore 
and  is  a  stockholder  in  and  a  director  of  the  First  National  Bank  of 
Lemoore. 

Mr.  Sellers  married  July  24,  1887,  Miss  Ella  Graves,  a  daughter  of 
Nathan  L.  Graves,  born  in  Calaveras  county,  Cal.,  but  at  the  time 
of  her  marriage  she  was  living  in  Kings  county. 


JOHN  E.  WALKER 

The  famous  bee  culturist  of  central  California,  John  E.  Walker, 
was  born  near  Woodville,  on  the  Tule  river,  June  27,  1876.  As  a 
.vouth  lie  had  opportunity  to  learn  a  good  deal  about  practical  farm- 
ing and  acquired  a  good  business  education  in  the  public  schools. 
For  some  time  after  he  started  out  for  himself  he  worked  for  wages, 
early  in  his  career  becoming  interested  in  honey  bees.  Since  liis 
boyhood  he  has  kept  bees  and  studied  them  and  become  more  and 
more  expert  as  a  producer  of  honey;  for  the  past  decade  this  busi- 
ness has  commanded  his  principal  attention  and  he  was  the  first  in 
this  vicinity  to  sell  any  considerable  amount  of  honey,  he  having 
made  his  first  delivery  at  Armona  where  a  carload  was  being  made  up, 
the  i)rice  [laid  him  having  been  three  cents  a  pound.  The  first  load  of 
honey,  twenty  years  ago,  was  drawn  by  a  four-horse  team.  The  deliv- 
ery at  Visalia  and  Tulare  in  1911  aggregated  $20,000.  Mr.  Walker 
has  six  hundred  colonies  of  bees  and  his  average  output  is  about 
twenty-five  tons  a  season.  For  some  years  past  he  has  been  selling 
agent  for  the  Tulare  County  Bee-keepers  Association  of  which  for 
three  years  past  he  has  also  been  ]iresident. 

It  was  in  1903  that  Mr.  Walker  bought  his  i)resent  homestead 
of  twenty-one  acres,  most  of  which  is  under  alfalfa,  but  carries  only 
enough  stock  for  his  own  business.  He  has  become  widely  known 
among  the  a]iiarists  of  the  entire  country  and  is  recognized  as  an 
authority  on  bee  culture  and  the  production  and  marketing  of  honey. 


682  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

111  his  relations  with  his  fellow  citizens  he  is  liberal-minded  and  help- 
ful, and  in  his  religion  he  affiliates  with  the  reorganized  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ  Latter  Day  Saints.  On  October  11,  1899,  he  married 
Miss  Arna  Headrick,  and  tliey  have  four  children,  Oliver,  Vernon. 
Neva  and  Elvin. 


EICHARD  E.  HYDE 

The  wise  application  of  sound  business  principles  and  safe 
financial  conservatism  accounted  for  the  noteworthy  success  of  the 
late  popular  citizen  of  Visalia  whose  familiar  name  is  the  title  of 
this  article.  Mr.  Hyde  was  born  at  what  is  now  Port  Ewen,  Leister 
county,  N.  Y.,  and  died  at  Visalia  in  1911.  He  was  a  son  of  David 
and  Sarah  (Houghtaling)  Hyde,  natives  also  of  the  Empire  State. 
He  was  fortunate,  in  his  youth,  in  being  poor  and  in  living  among 
people  who  respected  lalior,  frugality  and  honesty  and  cultivated  a 
feeling  of  good-will  toward  their  fellow  men.  It  was  with  such  ideals 
that  he  fared  forth  in  the  chances  of  life.  He  was  but  a  big  boy 
when  he  began  to  earn  his  living  as  a  clerk  in  a  general  merchandise 
store,  and  it  was  in  the  same  capacity  that  he  began  his  career  in 
California,  years  afterward,  in  one  of  the  then  busy  mining  districts. 
Later,  at  Santa  Cruz,  he  opened  a  store  of  his  own,  and  still  later  he 
established  the  Bank  of  Visalia,  the  pioneer  monetary  institution  of 
Tulare  county  and  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  San  Joaquin  valley.  It  is 
a  matter  of  record  that  this  last  important  business  beginning  was 
made  in  August,  1871,  and  that  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  institution, 
latterly  with  the  honored  title  of  president,  during  the  remainder  of 
his  life. 

The  large  interests  of  Mr.  Hyde  reached  out  along  many  avenues 
of  activity.  Many  buildings  were  erected  at  Visalia  by  him,  and  he 
naturally  acquired  landed  interests.  From  time  to  time  he  was,  in  one 
way  or  another,  associated  with  important  commercial  enterprises. 
Though  his  connection  with  some  of  them  was  only  indirect  and  not 
avowed,  his  eminent  ability  for  atfairs  was  very  potent  in  advancing 
them,  and  his  faculty  of  success  made  him  master  of  strong  pro])Osi- 
tions. 

The  family  of  David  and  Sarah  (Houghtaling)  Hyde  consisted  of 
Richard  E.  and  his  six  lirothers,  the  others  being  Abram,  Jeremiah  D., 
Alfred,  Christopher,  John  and  William.  Richard  E.  was  quite  young 
when  his  father  passed  on,  leaving  the  training  of  his  sons  to  a 
watchful  and  prayerful  mother,  whose  affectionate  devotion  was 
rewarded  by  the  compensating  knowledge  that  her  sons  had  all 
developed  into  honest  and  trustworthy  men,  each  a  credit  to  his  com- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  683 

munity,  helpful  iu  its  advancement  and  in  sympathy  with  its  people 
and  their  aspirations.  Two  of  them,  Christopher  and  Jolin,  were 
pioneers  in  Wisconsin  and  were  leaders  in  the  agricultural  and  eco- 
nomic affairs  of  their  respective  localities.  Christopher  reared  two 
daughters  and  a  son,  the  latter  being  a  well-known  business  man  of 
Oakland.   John  became  father  of  a  large  family. 

Like  many  others  who  have  been  instrumental  in  shaping  the 
destinies  of  the  far  west,  Mr.  Hyde  brought  to  the  task  eastern 
energy,  industry  and  confidence.  He  became  known  as  one  of  the 
wealtliiest,  as  well  as  one  of  the  coolest  and  most  reserved  and  digni- 
fied men  in  Tulare  county,  recognized  along  the  San  Joaquin  valley  as 
the  personification  of  social  and  business  integTity. 


GEORGE  H.  STEVES 

The  father  of  George  H.  Steves  was  Jeremiah  Steves,  his  grand- 
father was  Joshua  Steves,  his  great-grandfather  was  Jeremiah  Steves 
the  first.  The  only  other  Steves  to  found  a  family  iu  America  was 
Franklin  Steves,  a  nei)hew  of  the  first  Jeremiah.  George  H.  was  l)orn 
iu  Chautauqua  county,  N.  Y.,  January  24,  1840.  On  June  9,  1861, 
soon  after  he  became  of  age,  he  enlisted  in  Company  H,  Ninetieth 
Regiment,  New  York  Volunteer  Infantry.  Louisiana  was  the  scene  of 
his  first  battle  experience  and  the  last  regular  engagement  in  which 
he  participated  was  at  Cedar  Creek,  during  the  interim  of  which  he 
saw  active  service  in  twenty-five  or  thirty  hot  skirmishes.  At  Cedar 
Creek  a  shot  entered  his  breast  and  lodged  behind  his  shoulder-blade 
inflicting  a  serious  wound  which,  while  it  did  not  send  him  to  the 
hospital,  has  troubled  him  ever  since,  and  in  recognition  of  which 
he  has  had  conferred  upon  him  a  pension  of  $o6.  He  has  a  vivid 
recollection  of  service  under  General  Banks  in  a  small  Louisiana 
town  where  he  helped  confiscate  the  silver  s])oons  of  certain  Con- 
federate sympathizers.  The  immediate  effect  upon  him  of  liis  wound 
was  to  reduce  his  weight  from  one  hundred  and  eighty-six  pounds  to 
eighty-six  pounds,  and  he  was  honorably  discharged  from  the  service 
at  Camp  Russell,  December  9,  1864,  returning  to  liis  native  county  in 
New  York.  There  he  remained  until  1902,  when  he  came  to  Tulare 
county.  He  owned  some  property  at  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  wliich  he 
sold  when  he  came  West.  He  is  a  nieniber  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic  and  politically  he  affiliates  with  the  Republican  party.  In  his 
religious  identification  he  is  a  Methodist.  Mr.  Steves  has  during  recent 
yeai's  been  a  great  traveler,  lie  married  in  New  York  state  Miss 
Lucinda  R.  Wilson,  a  native  of  tliat  state,  who  passed  away  nine  years 
ago.    The  names  of  his  children  are  Ida  B.,  J.  G.,  Melvin  F.  and  Matie 


684  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

L.  Ida  B.  married  Frank  Wilcox  and  their  daughter  is  named  Rose 
Belle.  J.  G..  guard  at  the  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  penitentiary,  married  Ethel 
Sampson  and  has  children  Catherine,  Ethel,  William  and  Annie. 
Melvin  F.  married  Louisa  Karsthorse  and  they  have  children,  Lewis, 
Louise.  Mary,  Henry  and  Elizabeth;  their  home  is  in  Rochester,  N.  Y. 
One  of  Mr.  Steves 's  most  precious  possessions  is  a  Grand  Army  badge. 
Department  of  Utah,  1909. 


WILLIAM  G.  WALKER 

A  native  of  Arkansas,  William  G.  Walker  was  taken  when  a  small 
boy  to  Texas,  where  his  father's  family  established  a  home.  There  he 
grew  up  and  was  educated  so  far  as  local  facilities  permitted,  and 
there  he  enlisted  for  service  in  the  Mexican  war,  in  which  he  bore  the 
part  of  a  true  and  dependable  soldier.  After  immigration  to  Cali- 
fornia had  set  in,  he  came  across  the  plains  from  Texas  by  the  Mexi- 
can route  and  stopped  for  a  short  time  at  San  Jose,  and  from  there 
for  a  short  time  he  devoted  himself  to  stock-raising,  and  thence  went 
went  to  San  Juan  and  later  mined  in  Tuolumne  county.  In  1859  he 
took  up  his  residence  in  Tulare  county,  and  there  for  a  short  time  he 
devoted  himself  to  stock-raising,  and  thence  went  eventually  to  [Mono 
county,  where  he  passed  away  in  1863. 

In  1846  Mr.  Walker  married  in  Texas  Miss  Martha  M.  Tolbert, 
whose  parents  had  brought  her  in  her  childhood  to  Montgomery  county, 
that  state,  where  she  was  reared  to  womanhood.  J.  T.  Walker,  of 
No.  427  South  Court  street,  Visalia,  was  the  youngest  of  their  chil- 
dren; Anna  is  Mrs.  J.  A.  Keer  of  Los  Angeles;  Mary  is  Mrs.  McEwen 
of  ^'isalia ;  and  Mrs.  Amanda  Wren  is  their  youngest  daughter.  Mr. 
Walker  was  a  member  of  Visalia  lodge  Xo.  94,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  as  a 
citizen  he  was  public-spirited  and  helpful  to  the  community.  Mrs. 
Walker,  who  is  one  of  the  few  living  connecting  links  between  the  old 
ordei-  of  things  and  the  new,  has  a  vivid  recollection  of  her  over- 
land journey  to  California.  The  Indians  were  at  the  time  very  hostile 
and  her  party  had  an  encounter  with  a  band  of  them.  There  were 
sixty  ]ieople  in  the  train  and  the  mode  of  locomotion  was  by  means  of 
horses  and  mules.  In  the  period  before  that  of  California  immigration 
she  had  thrilling  experiences  in  Texas  in  connection  with  the  Mexican 
war,  while  her  husband  was  absent  from  home  in  furtherance  of  his 
duties  as  a  soldier. 

It  was  in  Tulare  county  tliat  J.  T.  Walker,  youngest  child  of 
William  G.  and  Martha  M.  (Tolliert)  Walker,  was  born  in  1862.  He 
attended  the  public  schools  near  the  home  of  his  childhood  and  boy- 
hood and  learned  the  trade  of  harness-maker  and  saddler,  at  which 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  685 

he  was  employed  during  bis  earlier  years.  Eventually  he  became  in- 
tei-ested  in  oil  properties  in  Kern  and  Kings  counties,  Cal.,  and  at  this 
time  he  is  quite  successfully  handling  patent  lands  in  the  oil  belt. 
A  man  of  enterj^rise  and  of  public  spirit,  he  is  not  without  his  due 
share  of  local  influence,  and  there  is  no  movement  for  the  good  of 
the  community  which  does  not  have  his  hearty  encouragement  and 
co-operation.  A  native  son  not  only  of  California  but  of  Tulare 
county  as  well,  he  is  also  a  son  of  a  pioneer  and  has  himself  witnessed 
much  of  the  development  of  central  Califoi'uia  which  has  made  it  one 
of  the  wonderlands  of  the  United  States. 


JONATHAN  ESREY 

In  the  Prairie  State,  Jonathan  Esrey  was  born  December  2,  1831, 
and  when  he  was  about  ten  years  old  he  went  with  his  father's  family 
to  Missouri,  where  he  completed  such  education  as  was  available  to 
him  and  lived  until  1852,  gaining  meanwhile  a  i^ractical  knowledge 
of  farming.  He  was  a  member  of  a  party  which  crossed  the  plains  to 
California  with  ox-teams  in  the  year  last  mentioned  and  after  mining 
for  a  while  at  Placerville  and  at  Sacramento,  he  came  in  the  early 
'60s  to  Tulare  county  and  went  into  the  stock  business.  Later  he 
took  u]i  farming  and  in  time  develo]ied  an  important  dairy  interest 
He  ]3re-empted  land  along  the  line  of  the  railroad,  a  mile  and  a  half 
northwest  of  the  present  site  of  Lemoore,  for  which  he  was  later  com- 
])e]led  to  pay  the  railroad  comjiany  a  good  price.  Eventually  he  sold 
this  property  and  in  1878  he  bought  four  hundred  acres  three  miles 
from  Lemoore  and  by  later  purchases  he  increased  his  holdings  in 
this  vicinity  to  nine  hundred  acres.  He  sold  off  tract  after  tract  until 
he  had  only  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  a  fine  ranch  two  miles  and  a 
half  northwest  of  Lemoore,  twenty  acres  in  vineyard,  most  of  the 
remainder  in  alfalfa.  Here  he  established  an  important  dairy  busi- 
ness, which  his  widow  has  conducted  since  his  death. 

In  1871  Mr.  Esrey  married  Miss  Sarah  A.  Winsett,  a  native  of 
Missouri  and  a  daughter  of  Robert  and  Nancy  (Schooler)  Winsett, 
natives  of  Tennessee.  She  came  to  California  in  1870  and  her  ]iar- 
ents  came  seven  years  later  and  lived  in  central  California  until  they 
passed  away.  She  made  her  home  in  the  vicinity  of  Lemoore  until 
lier  marriage.  Four  children  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Esrey : 
George  lives  on  the  family  homestead ;  Kate  married  L.  L.  Follett  and 
died  November  20,  1908;  Robert  is  conducting  a  ranch  four  miles 
from  Lemoore;  and  Justin  died  April  7,  1912.  Mr.  Esrey  was  a  nuin 
of  well-defined  pulilic  spirit  who  did  much  in  his  time  to  advance  the 
interests  of  his  communitv,  and  he  was  well  kTiown  as  a  friend  of 


686  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

education.  While  not  particularly  active  as  a  politician,  he  was  influ- 
ential in  local  affairs.  He  was  an  active  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  South,  and  for  several  years  was  a  trustee  and 
deacon  of  the  church  at  Lemoore. 


LEVI  LUKENS  GILL. 

Born  in  Pickaway  county,  Ohio,  June  23,  1837,  Levi  Lukens  Gill 
was  raised  on  a  farm  and  educated  in  common  schools  there.  He 
was  married  February  4,  3858,  to  Eliza  A.  Harriman,  born  in  Pick- 
away county,  May  18,  1842,  daughter  of  Aaron  A.  and  Eliza  (Mitten) 
Harriman,  the  former  born  in  Vermont  and  the  latter  in  Ohio.  At 
the  time  of  the  Civil  war  they  moved  to  Einggold  county,  Iowa,  and 
there  he  farmed  until  1873,  when  he  embarked  with  his  family  on 
an  emigrant  train  for  California.  Settling  in  Yokohl  valley,  he 
bought,  homesteaded  and  pre-emjited  land  and  engaged  in  the  stock 
business  on  a  large  scale,  taking  his  sons  into  partnership.  Here 
he  was  active  until  his  death,  September  4,  1909. 

Levi  L.  Gill  and  his  wife  had  sixteen  children,  ten  of  whom  are 
living,  viz. :  Charles  O.,  born  in  Ohio ;  Will  and  Fred,  twins,  born  in 
Iowa;  Louis,  also  born  in  Iowa;  Julia,  wife  of  Marion  Anderson; 
Pruda  M.,  widow  of  John  C.  Hodges;  Frank  and  Lee,  on  the  ranch; 
Martha,  who  married  Harry  Sickles;  and  Ora,  at  home.  In  polities 
a  Republican,  he  assisted  in  organizing  schools  there.  He  bought  the 
White  ranch  upon  which  the  first  orange  trees  were  planted  in 
Tulare  county,  in  Frazier  valley.  He  retired  a  shoi't  time  previous  to 
his  death.  Mr.  Gill  built  a  home  in  Porterville,  at  Oak  and  Gravilla 
streets,  where  liis  widow  now  resides. 


JOHN  AND  SEREPTA  WALKER. 

One  of  the  early  settlers  of  Tulare  county  who  remains  to  tell  of 
the  days  of  the  pioneers  when  there  was  no  Tulare  city,  when  the 
country  was  just  open  plains,  when  stock-raising  was  the  only  business, 
and  when  the  railroad  bad  not  been  thought  of,  is  Mrs.  Sere])ta 
Walker,  who  lives  two  miles  northwest  of  Tulare.  She  was  born  in 
Iowa  in  1849,  a  daughter  of  Adam  Pate,  and  in  1852,  when  she  was 
three  years  old,  was  brought  by  her  father  across  the  |)lains  to  Cali- 
fornia. For  a  time  after  he  came  he  ventured  in  the  mines,  but  later 
turned  to  farming  north  of  Stockton  and  still  later  moved  to  a  place 
near  that  town.    The  daughter  came  to  Tulare  county  in  1869  and  for 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  687 

five  years  lived  near  Porterville  and  then  pre-emi)ted  a  homestead  on  the 
Tule  river  near  Woodville.  After  he  had  perfected  his  title  to  this 
l)roperty  she  moved  to  her  present  location,  two  miles  northwest  of 
Tulare,  where  she  and  her  Imshand  bought  thirty-two  acres  which 
she  owns  at  this  time.  She  was  married  in  Stockton  in  1867,  to  John 
Walker,  a  native  of  Illinois,  who  came  to  California  among  the  pio- 
neers and  died  in  1888  on  the  ranch  which  is  now  his  widow's  home! 
Mrs.  Walker,  who  was  left  with  a  large  family  of  children,  has 
farmed  the  homestead  successfully  to  the  present  time.  She  is  now 
conducting  a  dairy  on  a  small  scale  and  has  sixteen  acres  of  alfalfa 
and  ninety  colonies  of  bees. 

Of  Mrs.  Walker's  eleven  children,  nine  are  living.  Clara  is  the 
wife  of  Jesse  Fugate  of  Fresno.  Loren  lives  with  his  mother  and 
works  a  ranch  adjoining  hers.  Edwin  is  an  apiarist  near  Tulare. 
John  E.  is  represented  by  a  separate  biographical  sketch  in  this 
volume.  Frank  is  a  member  of  his  mother's  household.  William  lives 
at  Tulare.  Lydia  married  Preston  Hodges  of  Tulare.  Lucy  lives  in 
San  Francisco  and  Edna  is  still  of  her  mother's  home  circle. 


A.  N.  ASHLEY 

A  man  destined  to  strange  experiences,  much  arduous  tra\-el  and 
somewhat  notable  vicissitudes  of  fortime  was  A.  N.  Ashley,  who 
first  saw  the  light  of  day  in  Placer  county,  Cal.,  in  1864.  There  he 
was  reared  and  attended  school  more  or  less  until  he  was  seventeen 
years  old,  when  he  went  to  work  in  the  mines  near  his  home.  From 
there  he  went  to  Santa  Clara  county,  in  1883,  and  was  during  most 
of  the  time  until  1889  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business.  Then 
selling  out  he  went  up  into  Washington  and  Oregon,  where  he  mined 
about  ten  years,  uutil- after  the  gold  strike  there  took  him  to  Nome, 
Alaska.  He  was  in  Nome  from  1!MH)  till  in  1905,  when  he  came  back 
to  California  to  visit  iiis  parents,  and  took  up  eighty  acres  of  fine  land 
in  Tulare  county,  witli  the  determination  to  go  back  to  Nome  and 
dig  out  the  money  witii  which  to  pay  for  it.  There  he  worked  in 
1907  and  1908.  In  1910  he  returned  to  California  to  take  his  jilace 
in  hand  and  soon  afterwards  purchased  twenty  acres  more  with  a 
view  to  devoting  it  to  the  growth  of  olives. 

Jolm  T.  Ashley,  fatlier  of  A.  N.,  came  aci-oss  the  jilains  to 
California  l»y  way  of  Salt  Lake  and  was  in  his  day  a  jiioneer  in  the 
place  of  his  location.  Whethei-  his  forefathers  had  been  navigators 
or  explorers  is  not  known,  but  it  is  certain  that  he  liad  inherited  blood 
of  men  who  were  exi)lorers  and  carried  civilization  among  strange 
peo]il('s,  and  it  is  equally  certain  that  he  passed  some  of  it  down  to 


688  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

liis  son  who,  when  he  penetrated  far  into  the  northern  oohl  rejjions 
and  remained  there  year  after  year  doggedly  working  to  carry  out 
a  fixed  ijurpose,  had  experiences  which  could  they  be  given  in  full 
would  in  themselves  constitute  a  most  interesting  volume.  A.  X. 
Ashley  affiliates  with  the  Arctic  Brotherhood  and  with  the  Native 
Sons  of  the  Golden  West. 

In  1905  Mr.  Ashley  married  Miss  Lizzie  P^'irzlaff,  who  has  proven 
a  helpful  companion  to  him  and  enjoys  with  him  the  pleasure  of 
having  one  of  the  most  beautiful  homes  in  the  valley.  He  is  a  man 
of  public  spirit,  who  has  in  many  different  ways  evidenced  his  interest 
in  the  communitv. 


E.  J.  GIBSON 

A  Pennsylvauian  by  birth,  born  in  Lawrence  county  April  19, 
1849,  E.  J.  Gibson  was  reared  and  educated  there  and  lived  there  until 
he  was  twenty-two  years  old.  He  then  went  to  Kansas,  but  soon 
returned  to  Pennsylvania  and  two  years  later  went  to  Missouri,  where 
he  farmed  on  rented  land  three  years.  Going  back  to  Pennsylvania,  he 
was  married  in  1879  to  Miss  Nanny  Alcorn,  a  native  of  that  state,  and 
returned  with  his  bride  to  Missouri.  In  1885,  his  wife  requiring  a 
change  of  climate,  they  came  to  California  and  Mr.  Gibson  bought 
sixty  acres  of  land  six  miles  southwest  of  Hauford.  Two  years  later 
he  sold  off  twenty  acres  of  this  tract  and  planted  the  remainder  to 
orchard.  Afterwards  he  sold  twenty  acres  more  and  liought  twenty- 
seven  acres  adjoining  his  original  purchase.  Next  he  traded  the 
remaining  twenty  acres  of  his  original  sixty-acre  j^lace  for  laud 
adjoining  his  twenty-seven-acre  purchase  and  bought  thirty-three  acres 
adjoining  this,  then  owning  in  all  eighty  acres  in  a  compact  body. 
In  1902  he  bought  twenty  acres  north  of  the  city  which  he  sold  in 
1904  to  L.  D.  Porter;  after  this  transaction  he  returned  to  Pennsyl- 
vania, visiting  among  old  friends  and  relatives  of  his  family  and 
Mrs.  Gibson's.  In  the  fall  of  1907  he  bought  his  present  home  place, 
twenty  acres,  three  miles  west  of  the  city.  He  has  sold  twenty-seven 
acres  of  his  old  eighty-acre  purchase  and  the  remaining  fifty-three 
acres  of  the  tract  is  farmed  now  by  his  son,  Fred  Gibson,  who 
has  thirty-five  acres  of  it  in  orchard. 

For  his  present  homestead  Mr.  Gibson  paid  $400  an  acre  and 
twelve  acres  of  the  twenty  is  devoted  to  peaches,  seven  to  vineyard. 
He  has  ]nit  on  the  place  all  the  improvements  visible  there  now, 
including  his  fine  residence  which  was  erected  in  1908.  Taking  an 
interest  in  Hanford  and  the  country  round  about  that  thriving  little 
city  he  has  public-spiritedly  assisted  all  local  interests  to  the  extent 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  689 

ut'  his  ability,  lie  is  a  member  aud  supporter  of  the  Presbyterian 
churcli  of  lianford  and  he  and  his  son  affiliate  with  the  lianford  lodge 
of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  The  latter,  Fred  Gibson, 
married  Kate  Simpson,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  R.  G.  Simpson,  of  Indiana, 
and  she  lias  borne  Jiini  three  children,  Glenn,  Gertrude  and  Lnoile. 


M.  P.  BRAZILL 

The  Portuguese  farmer  in  California  has  set  an  example  well 
worthy  of  emulation  by  those  wiio  are  obliged  to  begin  small  aud  are 
ambitious  to  achieve  success  aud  i)rominence.  (Jne  such  at  Tulare, 
Tulare  county,  Cal.,  is  M.  P.  Brazill,  a  native  of  the  Azores,  born 
December  9,  1871.  He  was  eighteen  years  old,  in  1890,  when  he  came 
to  Tulare  county  and  went  into  the  sheep  business,  ranging  his  flock 
through  the  San  Joaquin  valley  and  into  the  Sierra  Nevadas.  In 
a  few  years  he  owned  eight  thousand  sheep  and  he  continued  in  the 
Inisiness  until  1904,  when  he  sold  it  out  in  order  to  give  his  attention 
to  an  up-to-date  ranch  about  a  mile  from  the  business  center  of 
Tulare,  which  he  had  bought  in  1901.  He  owns  eighty  acres  all  in 
alfalfa  and  is  raising  hogs,  but  his  principal  business  is  dairying.  He 
jTiilks  seventy-three  cows  and  sells  tlaeir  milk  and  other  products  in  the 
city.  In  addition  to  the  eighty  acres  which  he  owns  he  rents  one 
hundred  and  eighty,  thus  making  a  dairy  ranch  of  two  hundred  and 
sixty  acres.  As  a  dairyman  he  has  won  snccess  beyond  that  of  many 
others  in  central  California.  As  a  citizen  he  is  popular  liecause  of 
his  friendly  disposition  and  of  the  real  interest  in  the  community 
which  has  conunanded  the  e.xercise  of  a  conunendable  i)ul)lic  spirit. 
Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  W.  O.  W.,  the  U.  P.  E.  C.  and  the 
I.  I).  K.  S.,  which  are  among  the  numerous  orders  having  local 
organizations  at  Tulare. 

In  1899  Mr.  Brazill  married  Miss  Eumui  lloskius  of  Tulare,  who 
bore  him  two  children  and  died  in  1902.  Plis  present  wife,  whom 
he  married  in  1904,  was  Miss  Mary  Vierra,  of  ()aklaud,  Cal.,  and  by 
this  marriage  he  has  four  children.  The  six  children  are  here  named 
in  the  order  of  their  nativity:  Emma,  Louisa,  Lee,  Angelina,  Josephine 
and  Ernest. 


ABSALOM  BURTON 

One    of    the    successful    general    ranchmen    of    Kings    county  is 

Absalom    Burton,    born    in    Missouri,    February    18,    ]85"J,    a    sou  of 

Absalom  i>urton,  Sr.     In  18()(;,  wlien  he  was  about  fourteen  vears  of 


690  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

age,  lie  came  to  California  with  liis  fathers  family,  and  for  three 
years  thereafter  helped  the  elder  l^>nrton  at  his  work  in  the  coal  mines 
at  Mount  Diablo,  Contra  Costa  county.  In  1873  the  Burtons  moved 
into  the  part  of  Tulare  county  which  is  now  Kings  county  and  took 
U})  land  ten  miles  southwest  of  Ilanford,  the  title  to  which  was  subse- 
quently secured  by  payment  on  the  part  of  the  young  Absalom  Bur- 
ton's brother  Richard.  Absalom  worked  two  years  on  the  construction 
of  the  People's  ditch,  then  started  a  herd  of  sheep,  which  he  drove 
through  a  wide  range  of  country  round  about  and  which  he  eventually 
sold  to  take  up  ranching.  In  1873  he  pre-empted  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  land,  nine  miles  southwest  of  Ilanfortl,  on  which  he 
made  some  improvements  while  working  out  on  ranches  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. Later  he  sold  eighty  acres  of  this  tract  to  his  brother.  He 
bought  laud  six  miles 'northeast  of  Yisalia,  which  he  sold  after  hav^ing 
farmed  it  a  few  months,  and  then  for  six  years  he  farmed  a  rented 
half-section  on  the  lake.  After  that  he  engaged  in  hog  raising,  a  few 
years,  subsequently  turning  his  attention  to  dairying.  At  present  he 
milks  twenty  cows,  raises  about  one  hundred  hogs  annually  and  keeps 
an  average  of  about  two  hundred  stands  of  bees.  About  forty  acres 
of  his  original  eighty  is  under  alfalfa.  In  June,  1908,  the  familv 
bought  eighty  acres  east  of  his  old  homestead,  forty  acres  of  which 
he  set  out  to  peach,  apricot  and  other  orchard  trees.  The  remaining 
forty  acres  he  devotes  to  general  farming. 

In  1882  Mr.  Burton  married  Mrs.  Elizabeth  (Robinson)  Ogden, 
a  native  of  England,  who  bore  him  a  son,  A.  F.  Burton,  who  assists 
him  in  the  management  of  his  business.  By  a  former  marriage  with 
John  Ogden,  Mrs.  Burton  had  two  children,  William  and  Lettie.  Mr. 
Burton  is  a  generously  helpful  man,  actuated  by  a  lively  public  spirit. 


JOHN  EWING.  Jr. 

Conspicuous  among  the  progressive  farmers  of  Tulare  county, 
whose  many  experiences  in  this  country  have  made  them  the  expert 
agriculturists  they  are  to-day  is  John  Ewing,  Jr.,  the  eldest  and 
only  survivor  of  the  family  of  John  and  Margaret  (Ewing)  Ewing. 
The  other  members  of  this  family  are:  Mrs.  Margaret  E.  Bolton, 
whose  sons  were  James  and  Charles;  William,  who  left  two  children, 
Henry  and  Margaret;  Mrs.  Mary  Sherman,  whose  three  sons  were 
David.  John  and  William;  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Swauson,  who  left  two 
children,  Elmer  and  Stella;  Mrs.  Isabella  Sherman,  whose  children 
were  Gilbert,  Sanmel  and  a  daughter. 

John  Ewing,  Jr.,  was  l»orn  in  Pennsylvania,  fifteen  miles  from 
Philadeliihia,  April  3,  1840.     In  1857  his  family  moved  to  Putnam 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  691 

county,  111.,  whence  they  came  to  California  in  1876.  He  settled  first  at 
Big  Oak  Flats,  in  the  mountains,  thirty  miles  east  of  Visalia,  where 
he  early  pre-empted  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  government  land 
and  with  his  sons  now  owns  an  entire  section.  He  raised  cattle  there 
until  lyuG,  when  he  located  two  miles  east  of  Visalia  and  operated  a 
ranch  under  lease  from  Samuel  Gilliam.  Seventy  acres  were  planted 
to  alfalfa  and  a  fiue  dairy  of  fourteen  Holsteiu  cows  engaged  his  time; 
he  has  also  raised  some  good  draft  horses  and  now  has  a  bay  colt  three 
years  old,  weighing  sixteen  hundred  pounds,  in  which  he  takes  much 
jiride.  An  average  of  fifty  hogs  was  kept  on  the  place,  and  Mr.  Ewing 
became  an  ex^jert  in  these  lines.  A  scientific  farmer,  his  machinery 
and  methods  are  up  to  date,  and  his  ideas  and  his  manner  of  executing 
them  are  as  advanced  as  any  farmer's  in  the  county. 

In  1863  Mr.  Ewing  married  Rachel  Davis,  a  native  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  they  have  several  children.  William  H.,  of  Exeter,  married 
Jeanette  Hatch,  of  San  Francisco,  and  they  have  two  children,  Dorothy 
and  Girard.  John  M.  is  a  farmer  near  Visalia;  he  married  Mary  Cuda 
and  they  have  two  children,  Salina  and  Emery.  Mrs.  Nira  Kelley, 
next  in  order  of  birth,  is  a  trained  nurse  and  the  mother  of  two 
sons,  Cecil  and  Otis.  Howard  married  Stella  Chedester.  and  they 
have  two  daughters,  Elva  and  Eileen.  For  a  number  of  years  Howard 
ran  a  pack  team  through  the  mountains  and  at  times  acted  as  a  guide 
to  tourists.  He  now  assists  his  father  in  his  ranching  operations. 
Mr.  Ewing  is  a  man  of  strong  convictions  and  has  well  defined  ideas 
on  all  cjuestious  of  public  policy,  tie  believes  in  the  election  of  good 
and  honest  men  to  office  and  uses  his  influence  as  far  as  is  possible  to 
secure  the  nomination  of  such  by  his  party.  He  is  a  man  of  undoubted 
public  spirit,  patriotically  generous  in  support  of  all  measures  pro- 
posed for  the  general  benefit. 


JOHN  FRANS 

Ojie  of  the  most  successful  stockmen  of "  Tulare  cuuutv  and  a 
native  son  of  California,  having  been  born  at  Santa  Rosa,  So- 
noma county,  January  11,  1S5!),  is  John  Frans,  who  lives  at  No.  609 
South  Court  street,  \'isalin.  ilis  fatlier,  John  B.  Fi'aus,  was  born 
in  Kentucky  and  lived  tlicrc  until,  in  bis  young  manlmod,  lie  removed 
to  Missouri,  to  become  a  I'armci-  in  the  vicinity  of  St.  Joseph.  Thei-e 
he  enlisted  for  service  in  the  Mexican  war  under  (Jen.  Sterling  Piice. 
In  IS.").'!  he  was  one  of  a  iiarty  that  came  across  the  plains  to  Cali- 
foiiiia  witli  ox-teams.  Reniaininn-  sevei'al  years  at  San  Jose,  he 
then  went  to  Santa  Rosa,  where  he  farmed  until  18().3,  wlien  he  re- 
ino\ed  to  Tulare  county  and  bought  four  hundred  and  twenty  acres, 


69:2  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

three  mileh  aud  a  half  east  of  ^'isalia.  Here  he  farmed  iiutil  iu 
1870,  wlieu  his  death  occurred  iu  his  fifty-third  year.  He  married 
Miss  Elizabeth  Fultou,  a  native  of  Indiana,  who  survived  him,  but 
is  now  deceased,  and  of  their  three  sons  and  five  daughters,  Johu 
Frans  was  tlie  fourth  child  aud  the  youugest  son.  The  other  sur- 
viving children  are:  Thomas  H.  of  Los  Angeles;  Mary;  Mrs.  Daniel 
Switzer  of  ^^isalia,  and  Mrs.  Edward  Hart,  who  lives  near  Farmers- 
ville. 

Johu  Frans  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  near  his  home, 
and  in  1878  began  faruiing  the  Fraus  homestead -in  pai-tuershij)  with 
his  brotluiVs,  Thomas  H.  and  James  Madison,  the  latter  of  whom  died 
three  years  later  in  his  twenty-sixth  year.  In  1882  he  bought  his 
preseut  rauch  and  iu  1886  l)egan  farming  independently.  He  has 
met  with  such  success  that  he  is  classed  with  the  prominent  business 
men  of  the  county.  For  the  past  five  years  he  has  rented  his  ranch. 
The  Cross  Hardware  block,  on  Main  street,  Visalia,  was  built  by 
Mr.  PVans  aud  R.  F.  Cross,  and  later  Mr,  Frans  bought  Mr.  Cross's 
interest  in  the  property,  thus  becoming  sole  owner  of  one  of  the  finest 
business  properties  in  the  city. 

It  should  be  noted  in  passing  that  Mr.  Frans  and  one  or  more 
of  his  brothers  operated  the  old  Frans  ranch  until  their  mother 
remarried.  His  beginning  was  small,  but  he  has  added  to  his 
original  purchase  until  he  is  now  the  owner  of  a  large  and  valualile 
property.  Politically  he  is  a  Democrat,  and  as  a  citizen  he  has 
proven  himself  remarkably  enterprising  and  public-spirited.  He 
married,  at  Visalia.  Miss  Dora  Jones,  who  was  born  at  Santa  Rosa, 
Cal.,  aud  is  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Native  Daughters  of  the 
Golden  West.  They  have  a  sou  whom  they  have  named  in  honor 
of  his  ])aternal  grandfather,  John  B.  Frans. 


JEREMIAH  D.   HYDE 

The  Hyde  family,  of  which  Jeremiah  D.  Hyde  is  a  member, 
is  well  known  in  this  jiart  of  the  country.  Son  of  David  and 
Sarah  (Houghtaling)  Hyde,  natives  of  New  York  state,  Jeremiah 
D.  Hyde  was  born  in  Ulster  county,  the  scene  of  a  historic  Huguenot 
settlement,  aud  died  in  Visalia,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  in  1897.  He 
came  from  the  Empire  state  with  his  brother,  Richard  E.,  mined 
with  him  and  was  with  him  in  his  mercantile  venture  at  Santa 
Cruz.  In  1873  he  came  to  ^"isalia  and  was  for  many  years  re- 
ceiver in  the  United  States  land  office  in  that  town,  and  was  also 
interested  with  his  brother  in  lands  in  Tulare  county.  As  a  man 
of   affairs   he   develojjed    an    admirable   ability.      His    character   was 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  fi93 

lofty  and  full  of  beauty  and  lie  was  patriotic,  cliaritahle  and  de- 
voted to  the  advancement  of  the  Inmian  race  aloni;-  all  lines  of 
creditable  endeavor.  Tliongh  not  a  ])ractical  i)olitician.  he  wielded 
a  recog'nized  jjolitical  influence,  and  while  never  an  office-seeker,  he 
was  at  times  ))revailed  upon  in  the  interest  of  i)ublic  welfare  to 
accept  ])nblic  trusts.  His  interest  iu  education  impelled  him  to 
consent  to  serve  on  the  school  board,  which  he  did  for  some  time, 
with  much  credit  to  himself  and  sj-reatly  to  the  benefit  of  the  local 
schools.  His  desire  for  certain  refoi-ms  and  innovations  led  him 
to  submit  to  election  as  a  member  of  tlie  board  of  trustees  of 
^'isalia.  He  married  Mary  Schuler,  a  native  of  Iowa,  and  she  bore 
liim  two  sons,  Richard  E.  Hyde,  Jr.,  and  Dr.  Lawrence  D.  Hyde, 
iioth   citizens   of  ^'isalia. 

In  Visalia,  in  1878,  was  lioru  Richard  E.  Hyde,  Jr.,  son  of 
Jeremiah  D.  Hyde  and  nei)hew  and  namesake  of  Richard  E.  Hyde, 
pioneer  and  financier.  He  was  educated  in  the  imblic  schools  and 
at  the  California  State  University  at  Berkeley.  At  present  he  has 
numerous  ranch  interests  in  Tulare  county,  and  he  is  vice-president 
of  the  Visalia  Savings  bank  and  a  director  of  the  National  Bank  of 
Msalia.  He  was  married,  in  1905,  to  Miss  Luella  Burrel,  daugh- 
ter of  Cutlibert  Burrel,  and  they  have  two  children,  Cnthliert  Bur- 
rel and  Richard  E.,  Jr.,  Mr.  Hyde  is  able  and  ready  at  all  times 
to  do  bis  full  duty  as  a  citizen  as  he  has  often  heard  it  defined  iw 
his  honored  father  and  uncle,  and  his  many  friends  in  the  business 
conmmnity  regard  him  as  a  woi'thy  successor  of  those  useful  and 
influential  citizens  of  a  day  now  past,  but  not  soon  to  be  forgotten. 


HOMER    C.    TOWNSEND 

A  native  of  Noblesville,  Ind.,  born  January  8,  18;?2,  Homer  C. 
Townsend  crossed  the  ))lains  to  California  in  18.32.  prospered  in  the 
land  of  his  adoption  and  died  in  188.),  after  a  career  in  many  ways 
interesting.  He  was  but  twenty  yeai's  old  when  he  came  to  the  state, 
young,  hoi)eful,  ambitions  and  determined  to  succeed.  After  a  long 
journey  full  of  trials,  of  dangei's  and  of  weariness,  he  arrived  at 
a  i)oint  on  the  American  river,  and  there  lie  began  mining,  con- 
tinuing in  18,54  and  18,55  at  Placeivillc.  Eldorado  county.  lie  then 
was  ready  to  take  to  ranching,  and  he  followed  this  near  Sacra- 
mento, remaining  till  in  18,')(),  when  he  came  to  \'isalia.  In  the 
spring  of  that  year  he  located  on  the  old  Pratt  place,  on  which  he 
lived  about  a  year,  and  then  again  became  a  miner,  operating  on 
White  river  in  Kern  county,  meanwhile  having  an  exjierience  as  a 
a:'-ocer,  in  a  venture  in  which  he  had   Ira   Kinney  as  a   partner 


694  TULARE  AXD  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Back  to  Visalia  Mr.  'I'ownsend  soon  came,  now  to  i^o  into  the 
Iiarness  and  saddlery  hnsiuess,  in  company  with  Mr.  Bossier.  He 
served  his  fellow  citizens  as  ))ul)lic  administrator  of  Tulare  county 
eight  years  and  as  deputy  county  assessor  for  a  shorter  period. 
Eventually  he  engaged  in  stock-raising  and  farming  on  a  ranch 
two  miles  east  of  ^'isalia,  where,  in  the  course  of  events,  he  was 
washed  out  of  house  and  home  hy  a  flood.  His  next  location  was 
at  a  ranch  on  the  Mill  road,  in  the  mountains,  which  he  bouglit 
and  devoted  to  raising  cattle  and  horses.  There  he  lived  out  his 
days  and  passed  from  the  scenes  of  earth.  His  widow  conducted 
the  ranch  a  few  years  after  his  demise,  then  sold  it;  l)efore  her 
marriage  she  was  Miss  Elizabeth  Huston.  She  was  born  in  Ar- 
kansas and  her  father  was  a  pioneer  in  California,  long  well  known 
in  Tulare  county.  This  daughter  of  one  ]iioneer  and  wife  of  an- 
other, who  now  lives  at  Visalia,  was  the  mother  of  children  as 
follows :  James  H.,  who  married  Myrtle  Pattie  and  has  two  sons, 
Russell  H.  and  Ray  "W. ;  Thomas  H.,  who  has  passed  away;  Fan- 
nie M.,  who  is  the  wife  of  S.  Sinunons  of  Coalinga,  C'al..  and  P^rauk 
A.,  of  Montana. 

A  man  of  tine  character,  devoted  to  the  development  of  his 
town,  state  and  county,  Mr.  Townsend  was  a  model  citizen,  active, 
patriotic  and  useful.  The  vicissitudes  through  which  he  passed 
in  his  earlier  years  here  were  a  good  jireparation  for  the  main 
struggle  of  his  life  which  brought  him  success,  contentment  and 
honor. 


ALBERT   KNIERR 

Born  in  Baden-Baden,  Germany,  in  1868,  Albert  Knierr  came 
to  the  United  States  when  he  was  sixteen  years  old  and  made  his 
way  to  Burlington,  Iowa,  where  he  was  employed  a  year  as  a 
butcher.  During  the  next  four  years  he  traveled  quite  extensively 
in  Illinois,  Kansa;;  and  < 'olorado,  stopping  from  time  to  time  in 
one  town  after  another  to  work  at  his  trade.  Eventually  he  came 
to  California,  arriving  in  San  Francisco  in  1889.  For  a  time  he 
worked  there  at  his  trade;  then,  with  a  Mr.  Allan  as  his  ]>artnei-, 
he  started  a  small  slaughter  house,  killing  one  or  two  cows  a  day. 
Their  business  began  to  grow  and  at  length  advanced  almost  by 
leaps  and  bounds,  and  at  this  time  they  have  one  of  the  largest 
and  best  appointed  slaughter  houses  on  the  Pacilic  coast  and  carry 
on  a  very  heavy  wholesale  business.  Their  sanitary  cold  storage 
plant  at  Fifth  and  Railroad  avenues,  San  Francisco,  cost  $50,000; 
they   kill   eight    hundred   cattle   monthly   and   one   hundred   and    fifty 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  695 

sheep  daily.  In  190!^)  Mr.  Pyle  became  a  member  of  the  lirm  ami 
its  style  was  ehau.ned  to  Knierr,  Allan  &  Pyle.  Mr.  Kiiierr  has 
always  attended  to  the  outside  wmk  of  the  concern,  traxelin.n'  in  its 
interest  and  Imyiiii;-  catth'  wherevei-  he  conld  do  so  to  tlic  best 
advantage,  lie  has  bouglit  many  in  Tulare  county  in  the  last 
twelve  years,  and  in  1!)()I»  he  established  his  home  in  Visalia,  at  No. 
415  South  Conrt  street.  lie  has  large  personal  interests  in  the 
county,  owning  three  tliousand  acres  of  cattle-grazing  laud  between 
Tipton  and  Angiola  and  leasing  six  thousand  acres  near  that  tract 
and  five  thousand  acres  near  Cross  creek.  On  these  large  ranges 
he  constantly  keeps  lifteen  hundred  to  twenty-five  hundred  head  of 
■  cattle.  At  ^'isalia  he  is  known,  as  he  has  long  been  known  in  San 
Erancisco,  as  a  man  of  great  {)ulilic  sjiirit,  who  is  alive  to  the  liest 
interests  of  the  community.  In  the  world  of  commerce  he  is  rated 
as  one  of  the  best  informed  butchers  in  the  country.  His  success 
in  life  has  been  won  fairlv  and  in  the  o))en,  and  those  who  know 
him  best  realize  that   it   is   richly  deserved. 

By  his  marriage  to  Miss  Marcella  Rowan,  Mr.  Knierr  had  four 
children,  Byron,  Marcella,  Alberta  and  Erancisco.  Byron  is  de- 
ceased. Mrs.  Knierr  died  in  IfllO  and  in  IDll  he  mai'ried  her  sister. 
Miss  Annie  Rowan. 


R.   L.   BERRY 

Among  these  i)ublic-s))irited  citizens  of  Tulare  county  who  have 
I)nt  forth  their  efforts  toward  promoting  better  conditions,  is  R.  L. 
Beny,  who  was  l)orn  May  (i,  1860,  in  Tuolumne  county,  Cal.,  a  son 
of  John  M.  Berry,  a  native  of  Missouri.  The  latter  in  1857  came 
aci-oss  the  i)lains  with  ox  teams  to  California,  and  his  widow,  a  na- 
tive of  Virginia,  is  sui'vi\-ing  liim  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty- 
seven  years. 

When  R.  L.  Berry  was  ten  years  did  lie  was  taken  by  bis  par- 
ents to  Tulare  county  and  the  family  settled  on  the  site  of  Lindsay 
when  their  house  was  one  of  two  within  the  present  limits  of  the 
city.  The  boy  was  given  some  opportunities  for  schooling  but  was 
early  called  u))on  to  take  the  place  of  a  hand  at  hei'ding  shee)) 
and  made  familiar  with  tlie  details  of  dry  farming  as  it  was  ))rac- 
ticed  in  the  district  at  that  time.  Most  of  the  land  for  many  miles 
round  about  was  government  laud  subject  to  entiy.  Some  years 
after  his  arrival  there  he  enteicd  three  (piartei'-sections,  but  even- 
tually went  to  Kern  county  and  abandoned  all  claim  to  them.  Re- 
turning later  he  took  up  farming  and   buying  and   selling   land   and 


cm  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

has    since    handled    or    operated    tracts    aggregating    a    considerahle 
acreage. 

In  1879  Mr.  Berry  married  Miss  Ella  Berry,  a  native  of  San 
Joaquin  county,  and  she  has  borne  him  a  daughter,  Hthel  May,  who 
is  the  wife  of  F.  (}.  Hamilton,  superintendent  of  the  Mount  Whit- 
ney Power  company  of  Visalia,  C'al.  In  his  political  afliliations 
Mr.  Berry  is  a  Socialist.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Wood- 
men of  the  World  and  the  AVomen  of  Woodcraft  of  Lindsay,  Mrs. 
Berr.\  being  also  a  me]nl)er  of  the  order  last  mentioned.  He  is  a 
friend  of  public  education  and  an  ardent  i)romoter  of  good  roads. 
In  fact,  no  demand  inade  u])on  him  on  behalf  of  the  conunimity 
fails  to  receive  his  ready  and  helpful  response. 


JOEL  KNEELAND 

A  native  of  New  England,  Joel  Kneeland  was  born  in  Vermont 
in  18.S0.  In  1860  he  removed  with  his  family  to  Shawnee  county. 
Kans.  In  1870  the  family  went  to  the  westei-ii  pai-t  of  the  same 
county  and  carried  on  farming  there  until  1874,  when  the  father 
died.  Subsequently  the  son  came  with  his  mother  to  Red  Bluff, 
Cal..  where  they  farmed  four  years,  and  from  there  they  removed 
to  Mr.  Kneeland's  ])i'esent  ranch,  where  he  has  since  prospered. 
The  woman  who  became  Mr.  Kneeland's  wife  was  Agnes  Wilson, 
of  Scotch  descent,  who  came  to  California  about  twenty  years  ago. 
They  have  five  children:  Eugene  S.,  Francis  F.,  Joel  M.,  Mary  ()., 
and   \Villis  W.,   of  whom   the  three  eldest   are   attending   school. 

Politically  the  father  of  Mr.  Kneeland  was  a  Rei)ublican,  and 
he  himself  is  a  Socialist.  His  mother  died  at  the  age  of  sixty 
years,  and  her  mother  lived  to  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-seven. 
Mr.  Kneeland  is  a  member  of  the  Farmers'  Union  and  affiliates  with 
the  Modern  Woodmen.  As  a  farmer  he  ranks  with  the  best  in  his 
neighborhood.  Of  his  thirty-acre  farm  he  has  three  acres  under 
alfalfa,  most  of  the  remainder  being  ])astnre  land.  He  keei)s  (ifteen 
to  eighteen  head   of  stock,  and   from   twelve  to  twentv   hogs. 


S.   (lAVOTTO 

The  name  of  Gavotto  indicates  the  Italian  origin,  and  it  was 
in  Italy  that  S.  Gavotto  was  born  March  18,  1865.  .  There  he  grew 
to  uuinhood,  was  educated  in  the  schools  and  learned  lessons  of 
industry  and  economy.     In  1884,  when  he  was  about  nineteen  years 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  697 

old,  he  left  1/is  native  land  and  in  1S86  located  in  Sacramento,  Cal.. 
where  lie  was  emi)loyed  until  1881),  then  eomins-  for  the  first  time 
to  Tiilare.  He  almost  iminediately  went  noi'th,  however,  Init  in 
1890  came  back  and  ))aid  $800  for  an  interest  in  a  small  ranch 
which  i)roved  sncli  a  failure  that  he  lost  his  entire  investment.  He 
then  bought  a  lease  of  the  D.  A.  Fox  ranch  with  some  stock  that 
was  on  the  place  of  a  Mr.  Pike,  who  had  been  operating  the 
property.  Establishing  a  dairy,  he  sold  milk  in  Tulare  until  1898, 
when  he  dis])osed  of  his  entire  dairy  and  farming  interests.  For 
four  years  thereafter  he  worked  for  wages,  saving  liis  money  and 
phuming  for  the  future,  and  then  embarked  in  the  cattle  business 
in  a  small  way.  After  the  l)onds  were  burned  in  1893,  he  bought 
seventy-  acres  just  outside  the  city  limits  of  Tulare  and  established 
another  dairy,  and  he  now  has  ten  cows  and  kee]is  an  average 
of  about  seven  hogs.  Twenty  acres  of  his  land  is  under  alfalfa 
and  he  farms  a  few  acres  to  corn  and  a  few  other  acres  to  grain, 
producing  only  enough  feed  for  his  stock. 

In  1895  Mr.  Gavotto  united  his  fortunes  witli  those  of  Margaret 
Monteverde,  by  marriage.  This  lady,  who  is  a  native  of  Italy,  has 
two  sons  by  a  former  marriage  and  their  Christian  names  are  An- 
drew and  P"'rank.  She  has  borne  her  ))resent  husband  children 
named  Lucca,  Carlo,  Henry  and  William.  Mr.  Gavotto  is  a  man 
of  nuich  i)ublic  spirit  and  of  a  genial  and  social  disi)osition.  Fra- 
ternally he  associates  with  the  Tulare  organization  of  the  Woodmen 
of    the    World. 


JOHN  KLINDERA 

The  pojiular  citizen  mentioned  above,  the  second  of  the  name 
to  be  known  and  honored  in  Tulare  county,  was  born  in  Visalia 
in  ]87.'5.  and  is  a  son  of  John  Klindera,  Sr.,  and  his  wife,  Annie. 
His  father  was  born  in  Bohemia  in  1843,  made  his  way  eventually 
to  Chicago,  and  fi'om  there  came  by  way  of  New  York  around  the 
Horn  to  (California  in  18().").  He  remained  in  San  Francisco  until 
in  1807,  and  then  took  up  his  residence  in  Visalia,  where  he  be- 
came an  accountant  in  the  mer'cantile  estal)lishment  of  R.  E.  Hyde 
&  Co.  Later  he  went  into  sheep  raising,  three  miles  west  of 
Tulare,  whei'e,  in  1878,  he  was  killed  by  a  falling  tree.  He  left 
four  childi-en,  viz.:  Robert  is  a  railroad  man  and  lives  at  Mon- 
talvo,  Cal.;  (1.  \V.  lives  in  Fresno;  Lillie  is  the  wife  of  Ed  Tribau, 
and  John,  Ji'.     The  nu)thei'  of  these  children  still   survives. 

John  Klindera,  Jr.,  lived  three  miles  west  of  Tulare  until  he 
was  six  years  old,  then  moved  to  Tipton,  where  he  was  i-eared  and 


698  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

educated.  With  his  brothers,  he  went  into  the  sheep  business  witli 
sheep  which  they  brought  from  the  lunne  phice,  and  soon  bought 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land,  tlieir  mother  three  hundred 
and  twenty  acres  and  one  of  tlie  Ijrothers  two  hundred  and  forty 
acres.  They  erected  brick  buildings  on  this  property,  improved  it 
otherwise,  and  eventually  sold  it.  Meanwhile,  in  1884,  they  disposed 
of  their  shee])  and  after  that  they  raised  grain  on  their  land  until 
1!M)5.  Then  John  engaged  in  dairying  and  stock-raising  on  four 
hundred  and  eighty  acres  of  the  Ci'owley  ranch,  near  Tipton,  on 
which  he  also  grew  grain.  In  1909  he  rented  six  hundred  and  forty 
acres  of  the  Dresser  ranch,  of  which  sixty  acres  is  in  alfalfa.  He 
milks  thirty  cows  and  raises  horses,  cattle  and  hogs,  considerable 
of  his  acreage  lieiug  devoted  to  pasture. 

In  1898  Mr.  Klindera  married  Miss  Ethel  Thomas  and  they  have 
a  son,  Martie  Klindera,  named  in  honor  of  his  grandfather,  Martie 
Thomas,  who  was  a  pioneer  in  Tulare  coimty  and  in  California. 
Mr.  Klindera  owns  and  rents  out  a  dairy  ranch  of  forty  acres  on 
the  Hauford  road,  a  mile  and  a  half  west  of  Tulare.  He  is  a  stock- 
holder in  the  Tipton  Co-operative  Creamery  company  and  the  cream 
from  his  place  is  marketed  with  that  concern.  He  affiliates  with  the 
Tipton  oi'ganization  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World  and  as  a  citizen 
is  public-s]iiritedly  liclpfiU  to  all  imiiortaut  interests  of  the  com- 
nnmitv. 


GEORGE  D.  RAMSEY 

Among  the  re|)resentative  farmers  in  the  vicinity  of  Hanfoi-d 
is  George  D.  Ramsey,  who  was  born  in  Knox  county.  Mo.,  Octol)er 
28,  1866,  a  son  of  John  Wilson  and  Eliza  A.  (McVey)  Ramsey. 
The  elder  Ramsey  was  born  April  3,  1843,  in  Adams  county.  III., 
remaining  there  until  moving  to  Knox  county,  Mo.  Here  he  lived 
until  he  brought  his  family  to  California  in  1871.  Arriving  in  this 
state  he  settled  near  Danville,  C*ontra  Costa  county,  one  year  later 
he  went  to  the  Panoche  valle>-  in  Fresno  county,  and  three  years 
later  came  to  what  is  now  Kings  county,  settling  on  the  Hanford 
and  Tulare  road.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Settlers'  league  during 
the  Mussel  slough  troubles.  He  worked  on  the  Lakeside  ditch  and 
helped  build  and  was  superintendent  of  the  Mussel  slough  ditch, 
also  working  on  the  construction  of  the  Wutchumna  ditch.  Later 
he  settled  down  to  farming  and  was  one  of  the  first  men  to  put  in 
a  crop  on  Tulare  lake,  from  which  he  reajjcd  a  good  harvest.  He 
had  to  do  with  every  progressive  mo\'ement  in  the  county,  was  a 
Mason  before   leaving  for   the   west,   and   also   held    membershiji    in 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  699 

the  A.O.U.W.  for  mauy  years.  While  a  resident  of  Fresno  county 
he  served  as  deputy  sheriff  and  during  his  life  was  for  many  years 
a  school  trustee.  From  1906  he  made  his  home  with  his  son,  George 
D.,  his  death  occurring  January  24,  1912,  aged  nearly  sixty-nine 
years.  His  wife  passed  awa>-  on  Deceml)er  14,  18!)4,  aged  forty- 
eight.  Their  three  children  sui'vive,  John  Theodore,  George  D., 
and  Mrs.   Effie  P.  McClellnii. 

George  D.  Ramsey  was  lnought  to  Californin  by  his  parents 
when  he  was  about  five  years  of  age,  and  in  October,  1875,  was 
brought  to  Kings,  then  Tulare,  county.  He  attended  school  until 
he  was  about  sixteen  years  old,  meanwhile  working  with  his  father 
on  the  I'auch,  and  eventually  he  took  up  farming  for  himself;  and 
he  later  drifted  into  the  dairy  business,  in  which  he  is  now  making 
a  substantial  success.  Kings  county  remained  his  home  until  1901, 
when  he  moved  to  Elk  Grove,  Sacramento  county,  anil  during  the 
ensuing  five  years  made  a  success  of  his  venture  there.  Returning 
to  Kings  county  at  the  end  of  that  time  he  bought  eighty  acres  of 
land  from  his  father  and  engaged  in  raising  hogs  and  horses  and 
cultivating  fruit.  He  is  constantly  developing  his  place  along 
those  different  lines  and  in  each  of  them  has  come  to  the  front. 
What  success  he  has  made  has  been  by  his  own  efforts. 

On  November  20,  1898,  Mr.  Ramsey  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Mrs.  Margaret  P.  (Jones)  Lewis,  and  of  this  union  four  chil- 
dren have  been  born:  Velma  I.,  George  E.,  John  IL,  and  Delbert 
E.  Wherever  he  has  lived  Mr.  Ramsey  has  exercised  a  generous 
public  spirit  which  has  won  him  recognition  as  a  helpful  citizen, 
for  he  has  been  solicitious  for  the  general  welfare  and  devoted  to  - 
the  best   interests  of  his  fellow  townsmen  of  all   classes. 


JEFFERY  J.  LaMARSNA 

The  life  of  Jeffery  J.  LaMarsna  embraced  the  period  from 
1846,  when  he  was  born  in  Canada,  to  January  24,  1907,  when  he 
died  at  his  home  in  Tulare,  Tulare  county,  Cal.  As  a  bal)e  of  six 
weeks  he  was  brought  from  his  birth-])lace  to  Michigan,  whence  his 
parents  later  removed  to  Illinois,  and  there  he  grew  up  and  ac- 
quired some  little  education  in  i)ublic  schools.  In  1862,  when  he 
was  only  about  sixteen  years  old,  he  enlisted  in  the  One  Hundred 
and  Twenty-seventh  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry  and  did  soldier's 
duty  in  the  Civil  war  until  h<'  lost  a  leg  in  the  battle  of  Kenesaw 
Mountain.  When  he  was  able  to  leave  the  hosi)ital  he  returned 
to  his  home,  crippled  for  life,  when  but  in  his  eighteenth  year. 

In    1872,    when    he    was    about    twentv-six    vears    old.    Mr.    La- 


700  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Marsna  married  Miss  Maria  Clougli,  a  native  of  New  Hampshire, 
and  tliey  soon  afterward  moved  to  Pottawatomie  county,  Kas., 
wliere,  in  association  with  his  father  and  lirother,  lie  raised  cattle 
and  sheep  sixteen  years.  Then  his  services  as  a  soldier  and  the 
bodily  sacrifice  he  had  made  for  his  country  were  recognized  by  his 
appointment  to  a  ])osition  in  the  ])ension  office  at  \Yashing1on,  D.  C. 
After  he  had  labored  there  four  years,  he  was  transferred  to  Ohio, 
where  for  three  years  he  was  in  the  field   work  of  the  department. 

In  1887  Mr.  LaMarsua  came  to  California  and  located  on  a 
farm  at  Woodville,  where  he  raised  crops  and  stock  nntil  190o. 
Then  he  moved  to  Tnlare,  where  he  made  his  home  imtil  he  passed 
away.  His  ranch  of  eighty  acres  was  sold  when  he  gave  up  farm- 
ing. As  a  citizen  he  was  always  patriotic  and  public  spirited. 
Members  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  were  proud  to  hail 
him  as  a  comrade  and  he  affiliated  also  with  the  Royal  Society  of 
Good  Fellows. 

The  children  of  Jeffery  J.  and  Marie  (Clough)  LaMarsna,  four 
in  number,  are  named  as  follows:  John  Walter,  who  is  a  rancher 
at  Woodville;  Eber  II.,  who  is  rei^resented  in  these  pages  by  a 
separate  sketch;  G.  C..  who  is  an  ele<'trician.  and  Ella,  who  is  well 
known  in  Tulare. 


BKXJAMIX  E.  McCLURE 

A  member  of  an  old-established  family  in  central  California, 
Benjamin  E.  McClure  is  the  grandson  of  Thomas  McClure.  who 
was  a  very  early  settler  in  Woodland,  where  he  built  the  first  lilack- 
smith  shop  and  followed  that  trade.  James  M.  McClure,  father 
of  Benjamin,  was  a  native  of  Missouri,  as  was  also  his  wife,  Sarah 
(Ely)  McClure.  In  the  early  '50s  James  M.  came  overland  to  this 
state  and  in  1857  his  mother  came  by  way  of  Cape  Horn.  Mr.  Mc- 
Clure identified  himself  with  the  best  interests  of  Yolo  county  in 
his  time  and  spent  most  of  his  life  there,  winning  a  success  that 
placed  him  among  the  enterprising  men  of  that  section. 

Benjamin  E.  McClure  was  born  at  Buckeye,  near  "Winters, 
Yolo  county,  in  1806.  In  the  public  schools  near  his  father's  home 
he  was  a  student  in  his  childhood  and  boyhood.  He  began  his  active 
career  in  Y'olo  county  and  won  distinction  there  as  a  successful 
farmer,  operating  land  in  farms  of  a  single  congressional  section 
to  immense  tracts  which  inchuled  five  thousand  or  more  acres.  He 
remained  there  till  1902,  when  he  sold  out  his  Y'olo  county  interests 
and  came  to  A'isalia.  Seeing  the  value  of  real  estate  investment 
there   he    l)ought   eighteen    acres    in   the    southern    part   of   the    city, 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  701 

wliicii  lie  developed  iuto  oue  of  the  tiuest  homes  in  its  vicinity, 
and  thirty-five  acres  south  of  his  home,  wliit'h  he  cut  up  iuto  oue- 
acre  lots,  on  twenty-one  of  which  houses  have  ))een  erected  and 
families  are  living.  On  his  homestead  he  has  a  four-acre  alfalfa 
field,  from  which  he  cut  forty  tons  of  hay  in  1910  with  only  oue 
irrigation.  For  some  years,  until  1912,  he  leased  the  Coombs  ranch 
of  two  huudred  and  forty  acres  and  farmed  it  with  good  results. 
He  cleared  up  the  land  and  raised  five  cr<)|)s.  In  1911  lie  planted 
fifty  acres  to  Egyptian  corn  and  later  sowed  the  same  land  to 
barley,  which  yielded  twenty  sacks  to  the  acre.  In  li)10  he  sowed 
eighty  aci'es  to  l)arley  with  like  results.  With  such  an  experience 
to  refer  to,  he  is  naturally  enthusiastic  in  praise  of  Tulare  couuty 
as  a  place  of  residence  and  a  ))romising  field  for  the  endeavors 
of  the  scientific  farmer.  He  owns  two  eight-nmle  teams,  one  of 
which  is  employed  in  grading  alfalfa  laud  in  the  county,  the  other 
on  street  work  at  Dinuba.  Socially  Mr.  McClure  affiliates  with  the 
Woodmen  of  the  World. 

In  1896  Mr.  McClure  married  Miss  Ida  B.  Bearing,  born  in 
California.  Mrs.  McClure  was  born  in  California,  the  third  of 
a  family  of  eight  children  of  John  W.  and  Martha  E.  (Morris) 
Bearing,  the  former  of  whom  was  born  in  Missouri,  was  a  pioneer 
of  this  state  and  died  in  1884..  Mrs.  Bearing  survives  and  makes 
her  home  with  the  McClures,  enjoying  splendid  health.  Both  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Bearing  were  California  pioneers,  the  former  crossing 
the  ])laius  with  his  father  in  1849,  driving  ox-teams,  and  upon  ar- 
rival he  engaged  in  gold  mining  near  Hangtown.  The  mother  came 
overland  by  way  of  Texas  when  a  little  girl  about  six  years  of  age, 
and  her  father  "Uncle"  Bickie  Morris  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  Woodland  and  at  one  time  owned  eighty  acres  where  the  county 
hos])ital  of  Yolo  couuty  is  now  situated.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bearing 
were   married   in    Lake   couuty. 

The  beautiful  residence  of  the  McClures  was  built  in  19(j;!  on 
the  homestead  and  is  a  model  of  architectural  elegance.  Here  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  McClure  dispense  a  broad  and  liberal  hospitality. 


HARRISON  F.  PEACOCK 

Well  known  throughout  central  California  as  a  fruit  grower, 
Harrison  F.  Peacock  of  Hanford,  Kings  county,  was  born  in  Oneida 
county,  N.  Y.,  May  5,  1836.  There  he  remained  until  he  was  twelve 
years  of  age  and  then  began  his  education  in  the  public  schools  near 
the  home  of  his  childhood.  Then  he  was  taken  to  Wayne  county, 
in    the    same    state,    where    from    his    sixteenth    year    to    Becember, 


702  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

1863,  he  was  engaged  as  a  farm  hand,  and  thus  he  had  begun  his 
career  as  a  self-made  man,  and  it  was  to  be  continued  as  a  soldier. 
In  the  year  last  mentioned  he  enlisted  in  Company  B,  Ninth  New 
York  Hea\-j^  Artillery,  for  service  in  the  Civil  war.  He  participated 
in  quite  a  number  of  important  engagements  and  in  many  that 
were  less  noteworthy,  was  promoted  to  be  a  sergeant  and  received 
honorable  discharge  at  the  end  of  his  term  of  enlistment,  in  1865 
at  the  close  of  the  war,  and  was  discharged  from  the  Second  Heavy 
Artillery. 

In  1868  Mr.  Peacock  came  to  California  and  settled  in  Nai)a 
county,  where  he  found  emi)loyment  at  mason  work  in  which  he 
had  had  enough  experience  to  gain  a  practical  knowledge  of  the 
trade.  He  stuck  to  such  employment  for  years,  until  his  health 
failed,  then  turned  to  farming  and  teaming.  Eventually  he  took 
up  railroad  laud  in  Tulare,  now  Kings  county,  which  he  still 
owns  and  on  which  he  has  made  his  home  since  1875.  While  his 
rareer  here  has  not  been  without  its  reverses,  his  prosperity  has 
been  in  a  general  way  i)rogressive  and  his  success  compares  favor- 
ably with  tliat  of  any  farmer  of  the  better  class  in  his  vicinity. 
During  recent  years  he  has  given  much  attention  to  fruit  grow- 
ing, which  he  lias  made  a  source  of  considerable  profit.  He  has 
taken  an  iutelligeut  interest  in  irrigation  and  was  one  of  the  build- 
ers of  the  Lakeside  ditch. 

As  a  member  of  the  (Irand  Army  of  the  Republic,  Mr.  Pea- 
cock keeps  in  touch  with  comrades  of  the  Civil  war  period.  He 
married,  January  25,  1872,  Miss  Rebecca  J.  Bonham,  a  native  of 
Illinois,  and  they  had  three  children:  Mary,  deceased;  (irace  and 
George ;  of  these  George  is  in  the  dairy  business  in  Kings  county. 
As  a  citizen  Mr.  Peacock  is  ])ublic-spirited  to  a  degree  that  makes 
him   heljiful   to   the   community. 


BRIGHT  EARL  BARNETT 

Born  in  Kings  county,  Cal.,  October  15,  1886,  Briglit  Earl 
Barnett  attended  public  schools  near  his  boyhood  home  until  lie 
was  sixteen  years  old.  After  that  lie  was  employed  liy  his  father 
on  the  hitter's  ranch  until  he  attained  his  majority,  when  he  took 
up  the  liattle  of  life  for  himself  and  met  with  much  success.  He 
is  managing,  at  tliis  time,  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  well 
improved  laud,  which  he  devotes  to  the  purposes  of  stock-raisiui;- 
and  dairying.  He  has  a  vineyard  of  fifteen  acres,  keeps  forty  milch 
cows  and   raises  many   hogs.     One   hundred   and  fifty   acres   of  his 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  703 

laud    is   used    for    pasturage   aud    for    the    produrtiou    of   alfalfa,    of 
which  he  harvests  froui  four  to  six  crops  annually. 

Fratei'ually  Mr.  Barnett  affiliates  with  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows.  He  takes  intelligent  interest  in  public  affairs 
from  the  ])oiut  of  view  of  his  ])arty  and  is  ready  at  all  times  to 
respond  with  prompt  generosity  to  any  call  on  behalf  of  the  com- 
munity at  large,  and  there  is  no  proposition  which  in  his  judgment 
promises  to  benefit  his  conanunity  that  does  not  have  his  cordial 
encouragement  and  support.  On  December  23,  1907,  he  married 
Miss  Vera  Kussell,  a  native  of  Pike  county,  Tlliuois,  born  Novem- 
ber 27,  1884,  and  she  bore  him  a  son,  Glenn  Ray  Barnett,  who  was 
born  Mav  8,  1911. 


CUTHBERT   BURREL 

In  Wayne  county,  in  central  New  York,  Guthbei't  Buri'el  was 
l)i)rn  November  28,  1824.  a  son  of  George  and  Mary  (Robinson) 
P>ui-rel,  natives  of  England,  his  grandfather,  for  whom  he  was 
luimed,  being  an  English  squire.  Of  his  parents'  nine  children, 
Cuthbert  was  the  fourth  in  order  of  nativity.  In  1834,  when  he 
was  ten  years  old,  his  people  moved  to  Plainfield,  Will  county, 
111.,  where  he  attended  school  and  grew  to  man's  estate.  He  crossed 
the  ])rairies  and  mountains  to  Galifornia  in  1846,  driving  an  ox- 
team,  and  consuming  almost  six  months'  time  in  making  the  jour- 
ney. Stephen  A.  Cooper  was  the  leader  of  the  party  which  with 
its   belongings  constituted  the  train. 

For  about  six  months  Mr.  Burrel  was  in  army  service  under 
Fremont,  and  after  his  discharge  ho  went  to  Sutter's  Foi"t,  and 
there  he  found  the  wagon  in  which  be  had  made  his  overland  jour- 
ney. Procuring  it,  be  traveled  in  it  to  Youht's  ranch,  in  Na])a 
county,  taking  with  liim  one  of  the  children  of  the  histoi'ic  Domier 
l)arty.  Later  he  went  to  Sonora,  where  he  was  employed  during 
the  summer  of  1847  by  Salvator  Vallejo,  and  for  his  work  received 
$100  cash,  one  hundred  firkins  of  wheat  and  two  hundred  heifers. 
In  1848,  working  in  a  bay  Held  in  Suisun  valley  one  day,  he  was 
a])proacbed  ))y  John  Pattou,  who  showed  $r)00  worth  of  gold  that 
he  had  brought  down  from  the  mt)untains,  assuring  Mr.  Burrel  and 
flic  latter 's  com])anions  that  there  was  plenty  more  whei'e  that 
had  come  from.  The  haymakers  at  once  determined  to  work  no 
longer  in  flic  field,  sold  their  interests  in  the  lia\'  and  set  out  for 
the  mines.  Mr.  Piui-rel  mined  three  years,  hut  soon  after  leaving 
the  mines,  he  bought  land  in  Green  valley,  Solano  county,  where 
he  fanne(l  and  raised  stock  until   1860.     Then  he  sold  his  ranch  for 


7(14  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

tliirteon  Imiidred  and  eleven  liead  of  cattle,  wliich  lie  drove  to  the 
Elkboru  rancli  in  Fresno  county,  where  lie  raised  stock  until  his 
death,  acquiring  there  a  ranch  of  twenty  thousand  acres,  lie  was  in 
the  east  during  the  period  1S71-1874.  Coming  back  to  California 
in  the  latter  year,  he  bought  a  thousand  acres  of  land  in  Tulare 
county,  five  miles  northwest  of  Visalia.  and  later  he  bought  an  addi- 
tional   thousand   acres. 

In  187o  Mr.  Burrel  married  Mrs.  Adaliza  H.  Adams,  who  has 
borne  him  four  children,  three  of  whom  are  living:  Varina  J..  May 
and  Luella  (Mrs.  Richard  E.  Hyde,  Jr.).  Mr.  Burrel  was  a  member 
of  the  Society  of  California  Pioneers  and  was  widely  known 
throughout  the  San  Joaquin  valley.  He  found  time  from  his 
farming  and  stock-raising  to  interest  himself  in  business  and  com- 
mercial matters,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  he  was  a  director 
of  the  First  National  Bank  of  San  Jose,  and  assisted  in  the  found- 
ing of  the  Bank  of  Visalia.  His  landed  interests  became  extensive 
and  he  was  one  of  the  leading  men  in  his  vicinity.  He  died  Aug- 
ust 7,  1893,  deeply  regretted  by  a  wide  circle  of  acijuaintances. 


WALTER    FRY 

The  family  of  F^ry  is  an  old  one  in  America  and  in  different 
generations  rejtresentatives  of  it  have  attained  prominence.  An 
offshoot  of  one  branch  of  it  located  rather  early  in  Iroquois  county, 
III.,  and  there  Walter  Fry  was  born  in  1859.  His  father,  a  native 
of  Ohio,  died  in  1897;  his  mother,  who  was  of  Illinois  birth.  i)assed 
away  when  he  was  ten  years  old.  When  he  was  nine  years  old 
the  boy  was  taken  from  the  Prairie  state  to  Kansas,  and  he  lived 
there  and  in  Oklahoma,  by  turns  a  cowboy,  a  miner,  a  rancher  and 
deimty  United  States  marshal,  till  he  came  to  Tulare  in  1887. 
Then  he  was  given  employment  with  the  railroad  company  and 
was  made  a  peace  officer,  in  which  capacity  he  served  until  1895. 
Duriig  the  succeeding  two  years  he  lived  elsewhere,  and  in  1899 
he  moved  on  his  present  homestead,  conqirising  fifty-five  acres,  near 
Three  Rivers.  He  has  for  some  time  been  in  charge  of  General 
Grant  park  and  Sequoia  park,  with  official  standing  as  a  ranger, 
and  acting  superintendent,  which  latter  position  he  holds  at  the 
present  time.  With  a  record  of  eleven  years'  service  under  the 
United  States  government,  he  has  for  eight  years  filled  his  present 
position,  for  which  he  was  selected  by  the  Secretary  of  the  In- 
terior because  of  his  sjiecial  fitness  and  experience.  As  rancher, 
cowboy    and    ranger    he    has    spent    most    of    his    years    out    doors. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  705 

and  liis  life  has  boon  tlic  full,  free,  hroad  life  of  the  western  plains, 
forests   and    mountains. 

Jii  lS7i(  Mr.  I''iy  married  Miss  Saiah  A.  llinf>ins,  a  native  of 
Illinois,  wliose  father,  John  T.  Ilinniiis,  died  in  Illinois  in  1880 
p.nd  whose  motlier  is  liviui^  in  Tnlare.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fry  liave 
foui-  children,  two  of  whom  are  citizens  of  this  eonnty.  Frater- 
nally, Mr.  Fry  afliliates  with  the  Exeter  lodge  of  lndei)endent  Order 
of  Otld  Fellows  and  with  the  loeal  division  of  the  auxiliary  order 
of  Rebekahs,  in  which  Mrs.  Fry  also  holds  membership.  As  a 
citizen  Mr.  Fry  is  |)ublie-si>irited  ti>  a  notable  degree,  ready  at 
all  times  to  assist  to  the  extent  of  his  ability  any  movement  which, 
in    his   good   judgment,    is    i)romising   of    benelit    to    the    connnunity. 


ALBERT  PRATT  HOWE 

A  native-born  son  of  Kings  county,  C'al.,  wiio  is  achieving  suc- 
cess on  his  native  heatli  is  A|])ert  Pratt  Howe,  of  Guernsey.  It 
was  in  1881  that  Mr.  Howe  was  ))orn  and  he  was  reared  in  the 
Lakeside  district  and  educated  in  the  public  schools  near  his  home. 
He  and  his  brother  Edwin  and  their  father  farmed  on  the  lake 
bottom  from  1898  to  lOOfi,  when  they  were  driven  from  their  land 
by  the  filling  up  of  the  lake.  Before  this  catastrophe  the  lirothers 
had  bought  of  their  father  the  farm  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres, 
eight  miles  southwest  of  Hanford,  now  owned  by  Edwin  Howe, 
and  there  they  farmed  several  years  as  partners.  In  1906  Albert 
sold  out  his  interest  there  to  his  brother  and  bought  two  hundred 
and  seventy-fi\e  acres  at  Guernsey  and  eighty  acres  one  mile  south 
of  that  idace.  The  lan<l  has  been  im))rove(l  v.ith  a  new  house  and 
a  barn,  occupying  a  groun<l  space  of  r)(ix8()  feet,  with  a  capacity  for 
the  storage  of  one  hundred  tons  of  hay.  OI'  the  two  hundred  and 
seventy-five-acre  tract,  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  is  in  alfalfa, 
the  balance  being'  farm  land  and  pasture.  Mr.  Howe  sows  fort>' 
to  sixty  acres  to  grain  each  year.  The  eighty-acre  tract  is  im- 
proved   ))astnre    land. 

The  ))rinci))al  business  of  Mr.  Howe  is  in  stock-raising  and 
dairying,  though  he  raises  some  hogs,  and  he  milks  an  average 
of  about  thirty-live  dairv  cows.  From  his  farming  and  dairying 
he  has  spared  some  time  and  money  for  investment  otherwise.  He 
married,  in  1!)07,  Miss  Elvira  Comfort,  daughter  of  B.  G.  Com- 
fort, who  is  well  known  in  Kings  county,  and  she  has  borne  him 
two  daughters  and  one  son,  Carrie,  Eunice  and  Earl.  Mi-.  Howe 
is  a  wide-awake  man  who  takes  an  interest  in  everything  that  can 
possibly  influence  the  public  good.     He  is  es])ecially  interested  in  the 


706  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

development  of  the  oommimity  with  which  he  casts  his  lot  and  is 
ready  at  all  times  to  give  geuerous  aid  to  any  movement  proposed 
for  the  general  uplift. 


LOUIS    X.    GLOVER 

A  leader  in  things  agrienltiual,  who  lives  six  miles  south  of 
Tulare  city  in  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  and  was  born  in  the  historic 
old  state  of  Kentucky,  October  2.  18(iO.  is  Louis  N.  Glover.  He 
passed  his  boyhood  and  youth  in  the  pul)lic  schools  and  on  the 
farm  and  when  he  was  twenty-one  years  old  went  to  Nebraska, 
whence  after  six  mouths'  residence  there  he  went  to  Colorado. 
Two  niontlis  spent  tliere  determined  him  to  come  to  California, 
and  lie  rarived  at  Stockton,  October  10,  1882.  In  that  same  autumn 
he  found  employment  on  Roberts'  island,  and  then,  after  three 
months  spent  at  Lockeford,  he  came  to  Tulare  county  January  23, 
1883,  in  response  to  an  invitation  of  friends  who  had  bought  land 
there.  I^iking  his  surroundings,  he  entered  the  em])loy  of  Paige  iS: 
Morton  and  marked  off  the  land  and  set  out  the  hrst  orchard  on 
the  ranch  of  that  firm,  for  whose  cannery  he  employed  all  help. 
It  is  said  that  this  was  the  first  establishment  of  its  kind  in  the 
county.  After  three  years'  connection  with  that  enterprise,  he 
began  to  farm  rented  land  and  at  one  time  worked  fourteen  hun- 
dred acres.  After  operating  the  Laurel  Colony  property  se^•en 
years,  he  put  in  two  years  at  dairying  in  a  modest  way,  and  in 
the  fall  of  1904  he  bougiit  three  lumdred  and  five  acres,  six  miles 
south  of  Tulare,  on  wliich  he  conducts  a  daiiy  of  forty-eight  cows, 
raises  stock,  keeps  twenty-two  head  of  horses,  feeds  one  hundred 
and  fifty  head  of  liogs  and  maintains  a  growing  venture  in  poultry. 
One  hundred  and  seventy  acres  of  his  land  is  devoted  to  alfalfa 
and  on  the  lialance  he  raises  corn  and  grain,  lie  was  one  of  the 
l)romoters  of,  and  is  a  stockholder  in,  the  Dairymen's  Co-operative 
creamery,  and  he  helped  to  estal)lish  the  old  Co-operative  creamery 
at  Tulare.  Of  the  Tule  River  Riparian  Water  association  he  was 
the  organizer  and  it  was  largely  through  his  influence  that  cer- 
tain historic  differences  concerning  water  rights  near  that  river 
were  finally  adjusted  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned.  The 
official  title  of  the  association  is  now  the  Tule  River  Riparianist, 
incorporated.  Its  district  comjirises  the  country  between  the  sum- 
mit and  the  lake.  One  of  Mr.  Glover's  possessions  is  a  good  resi- 
dence   property    in    Tulare. 

,\t  Tulare,  Mr.  Glover  married,  April  12,  1893,  Miss  Ettie 
Moody,   a   native   of   Kentucky,   who   has   borne   him    three   children. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  707 

one  of  wlioiii  (liod  in  infancy.  Their  son,  James  Earl,  died  Decem- 
))er  1,  1!KI7.  Tiieir  danslitei',  \lrnia,  born  October  21,  1895,  is  a 
pupil  in  the  hiiili  school  at  Tulare.  Fraternally,  Mr.  Glover  affiliates 
with  the  Tulare  ori>;uiization  of  the  "Woodmen  of  the  World  and 
with  the  Watsonville  organization  of  the  Yeomen.  As  a  citizen, 
he  is  helpfully  ])ublic-spirited,  never  withholding  his  support  from 
any  movenu'iit  which  he  deems  conducive  to  the  good  of  the  com- 
munitv. 


D.  W.  LEWIS 

( 'orcorau.  Kings  county,  Cal.,  is  the  home  of  D.  W.  Lewis, 
president  of  the  Tulare  I^ake  Dredging  company,  who  has  made 
his  home  in  that  enterprising  town  since  1906.  He  was  born  in 
Redlake,  Beltrami  county,  Minn.,  November  24,  1848,  and  while 
young  was  taken  by  his  parents  to  Morrison  county,  where  he  livel 
until  he  was  fourteen. .  At  that  time  he  was  done  with  the  public 
school  at  Bellejilaine,  Minn.,  and  became  a  student  at  Oheran  col- 
lege. His  studies  were  soon  cut  short,  however,  by  his  enlistment 
in  the  United  States  army,  in  which  he  saw  arduous  and  hazard- 
ous service  during  the  latter  i)art  of  the  Civil  war.  In  ISdli  he 
came  to  California  and  lived  i)rinci])ally  in  Santa  Cruz  and  Santa 
Clara  counties,  lie  ti'aveled  over  \arious  ])arts  of  the  state,  and 
from  Santa  Clara  county  he  moved  to  Fresno  county  in  tS7.>, 
wliei'e  he  established  the  first  commercial  nui'sery  in  the  valley 
south  of  Stockton,  which  he  conducted  until  19(l(),  and  then  came 
to  Kings  county.  His  hi'st  veiitnie  there  was  to  i)lant  out  a  tract 
of  land  to  asparagus,  but  he  soon  relin(|uished  the  latter  business 
to  embark  in  a  dredging  enterprise  and  organized  the  Tulare 
Lake  Dredging  company,  of  which  he  is  president.  This  Imsiness 
has  been  hinhly  successful  and'  of  much  benefit  to  th(>  country  in 
which  it  has  been  operated.  Meanwhile,  Mr.  Lewis  has  also  given 
attention  to  wheat  farming,   which   has  brought   good   results. 

In  1866  Mr.  Lewis  married  Miss  Margaret  Clark,  a  native  of 
New  York  city,  who  has  been  his  helpmate  and  adviser  in  the 
vaiioiis  interests  to  which  he  has  devoted  himself  from  time  to 
time.  They  ai'c  a  genial  and  heli)ful  coiqile,  and  their  kindly 
intei-est  in  all  with  whoiii  they  conie  in  contact  insures  them  a 
welcome  wherexer  they  may  go.  Public  spirited  to  an  unusual 
degiee,  ^Ir.  iicwis  extends  aid  cheerfully  and  generously  to  anv 
T!U?asure  which,  in  his  ojjinion,  promises  to  promote  the  genei'al 
welfare  or  to  enhance  the  jn-osperity  of  any  considerable  number 
of  his  fellow  citizens. 


708  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIF^S 

HENRY  F.  ROCK 

Tliat  progressive  merebaut  and  real  estate  investor  of  Armona, 
Kings  county,  Cal.,  Henry  F.  Rock,  was  born  in  Sbasta  county,  in 
tbis  state,  Sei)tember  12,  1870.  His  youtb  and  tbe  earlier  years 
of  bis  nianbood  were  passed  on  a  farm  and  lie  was  educated  in 
tbe  public  scbool  in  liis  lionie  district.  "Wben  lie  was  about  twenty- 
nine  years  old  be  located  on  a  farm  in  Fresno  county,  wbicb  be 
operated  witb  varying  success  for  some  years.  By  tbis  time  be 
bad  made  u\>  bis  mind  that  lie  would  l)e  a  mercbant  and  bad  saved 
money  witb  wbicb  to  go  into  lousiness.  Buying  tbe  O.  B.  Hanan 
store  at  Centerville,  Fresno  county,  be  conducted  it  four  years, 
meanwbile  farming  on  rented  land  in  tbe  vicinity.  In  1907  be 
closed  out  tbe  merchandise  business  to  Messrs.  Elliott  &  Coleman 
of  Conejo,  Fresno  county,  and  came  to  Armona,  Kings  county,  to 
take  over  tbe  well  establisbed  mercantile  enterprise  of  Muller 
Brotbers,  wbo  bad  been  trading  bere  five  years.  He  bas  since 
liandled  tbe  business  witb  increasing  success.  From  bis  mercban- 
dising  be  bas  found  time  to  interest  bimself  in  real  estate,  and  bas 
acquired  an  interest  in  town  and  country  ])roperty,  in  diiTerent 
alfalfa  ranches  and  in  a  farm  of  seventy-eigbt  acres.  Besides,  be 
is  a  stockholder  in  tbe  commission  bouse  of  Zaiser  Brothers,  Los 
Angeles. 

Fraternally,  Mr.  Rock  affiliates  with  Lucerne  lodge  No.  27;"), 
I.O.O.F.,  Hanford.  He  married,  November  6,  18!M).  Miss  Lora 
Burner,  at  Glenburn,  Sbasta  county.  She  was  born  in  Colusa  county, 
and  bas  borne  bim  four  children,  only  one  of  whom  survives,  Carl 
E.,  wbo  was  educated  in  the  public  scbool  of  Armona  and  Heald's 
Business  College  at  Fresno,  and  is  now  engaged  in  the  bakery 
business  at  Armona.  Taking  a  deep  and  abiding  interest  in  tbe 
u])lift  and  develoi)meut  of  bis  community,  Mr.  Rock  bas  proven 
bimself  dependable  wben  demand  is  made  for  aid  in  movements 
for  the  ))ublic  good. 


J.  C.  C.  RUSSELL 

One  of  the  few  memliers  of  Kings  county  bar,  wbo  is  a  native 
of  tbe  Golden  state,  is  J.  C.  C.  Russell,  wbo  bas  offices  in  tbe  First 
National  Bank  building  at  Hanford.  Mr.  Russell  was  born  Jan- 
nary  8,  1868,  in  Merced  county,  seven  miles  south  of  tbe  site  of 
Merced,  a  son  of  J.  C.  C.  Russell,  Sr..  and  bis  wife,  Sopbia  M.. 
who  was  a  daughter  of  Dr.  T.  0.  Ellis.     Tbe  latter  was  a  pioneer  in 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  709 

'I'lilare   and   Fresno   cuuntifs   and   once   prominent    as   a    physician. 

The  elder  Russell,  a  native  of  Winchester,  Tenn.,  came  to  Cali- 
fornia in  ]84i),  when  he  was  eiithteen  years  old,  and  after  mining 
for  a  while,  went  to  Los  Angeles,  where  he  remained  until  April, 
1857,  when  he  settled  in  Marijiosa,  within  the  ])reseut  limits  of 
Mereed  county.  Here  he  Jiomesteaded  government  land,  which  he 
im))roved  and  on  which  he  farmed  and  raised  stock  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  Septeml)ei'  MO.  ISitL  His  son,  J.  C.  C.  Russell,  grew 
up  and  began  his  education  in  the  pulilic  schools,  continuing  it  in 
th.e  high  school  at  Oakland,  where  he  was  graduated  July,  188fi. 
The  succeeding  two  yeai's  he  spent  in  farming,  then  entered  the 
University  of  California,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1895.  Mean- 
\'.hile,  in  his  spare  time,  he  was  a  student  in  a  law  school  at  San 
Francisco,  and  such  good  use  of  his  ojiportunities  did  he  make 
that  lie  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Cali- 
fornia, January  !*,  18il4.  After  an  English  course,  in  which  he 
graduated  in  18f)5,  he  l)egan  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  San 
Francisco,  where  he  remained  for  over  two  years,  and  then  moved 
to  Mariposa,  but  after  a  residence  of  not  quite  two  years  there  he 
came  to  Hanford,  Sejitember  14,  1897.  In  1898  he  estalilished  him- 
self here  in  the  general  jiractice  of  his  profession,  which  he  has 
continued  till  the  i)resent  time  with  much  success,  winning  a  high 
place  at  the  liar  and  an  enviable  standing  in  the  jiublic  rejiute. 

Socially,  Mr.  Russell  alliiiates  with  the  Foresters,  the  Eagles, 
(he  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen,  the  Native  Sons  of  the 
(jolden  West,  the  Degi'ee  of  Honor,  the  Woodmen  of  the  World 
and  the  Modern  Woodmen  of  ^Vnierica.  On  June  1.'!,  1903,  he  mar- 
ried Gwendolyn  Darnell,  a  daughter  of  Mrs.  Clara  E.  Myers,  and 
they  have  a  daughter,  Mercedes. 


CLARK  M.  SMITH 

Numbered  among  those  brave  jiatriots  who  fought  so  cour- 
ageously for  their  country's  cause  in  the  Ci\il  wai-  is  Clark  M. 
Smith,  born  May  ."),  1847,  at  Adrian,  Mich,,  where  he  grew  up, 
attending  the  public  school,  lie  did  i'aiin  work  until  he  enlisted 
in  Company  K,  Sixth  Michigan  Infantry,  and  was  transferred  to 
Heavy  Artillery,  for  service  in  the  Federal  army.  He  was  en- 
rolled January  4,  1864,  and  was  iionorabl\-  discharged  August  20, 
18fi5.  During  his  term  of  service  he  participated  in  many  historic 
engagements,  notably  at  Mobile  Bay,  I'ort  Morgan  and  Fort  Blake- 
ley.  His  father  was  a  member  of  the  same  company  and  died  on 
the   way   home   after   having   been   discharged. 


710  TULARE  AND  KIXGS  COUNTIES 

Ketnruin.i'-  to  Mifliigan  ;\Ir.  Smith  remained  there,  emijloyed 
mostly  on  the  farm,  until  July  14,  lS7o,  when  he  started  for  Cali- 
fornia. Locating  at  Ferndale,  Humboldt  county,  he  eugaged  in 
business,  was  soon  elected  constalile  and  served  as  a  special  officer 
four  years.  Then  he  engaged  in  tlie  fuiuiture  trade,  ct)ntinuing 
in  it  there  till  1S89,  when  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Hanford  and 
bought  out  tiie  ohl  Ijillie  furniture  store,  but  in  1893  the  building 
he  Occupied  was  destroyed  by  lire.  It  was  his  intention  to  resume 
business,  but  before  he  could  secure  other  quarters  he  fell  ill  and 
was  not  able  to  take  np  the  activities  of  life  again  until  four  years 
afterwards.  Then  he  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace  at  Hanford, 
and  after  he  had  filled  the  office  with  much  credit  four  years  he 
was,  in  June,  1903,  ap])oiuted  to  the  same  office  at  Armona  by  the 
board  of  supervisors  of  Kings  county,  and  since  then  the  latter 
town  has  been  his  home.  He  is  a  justice  of  the  peace,  a  notary 
public  and  fills  the  office  of  secretary  of  the  Grangeville  Cemetery 
association,  besides  doing  considerable  business  in  real  estate  and 
insurance. 

On  (Jctober  22,  1890,  Mr.  Smith  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Georgia  Amner  and  they  are  the  parents  of  two  children, 
Osmond  and  Georgia  Irene,  both  of  whom  have  been  educated  in 
Kings  county.  Fraternally,  he  has  ])assed  the  chairs  in  both  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  Indeiiendcnt  Order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
as  well  as  the  encampment.  In  189.")  Mr.  Smith  was  counuander 
of  McPherson  post,  G.A.R.,  of  which  he  has  been  quartermaster 
six  years  and  is  in  his  eleventh  year  as  adjutant.  He  is  also  a  mem- 
ber of  the  local  organization  of  the  Sons  of  ^"eterans.  As  a  soldier, 
as  a  pul)lic  official  and  as  a  business  man  and  citizen,  he  has  been 
e(iual   to  everv  demand. 


JOSEPH  wnjjA:\r  sturgeon 

As  a  farmer  and  as  a  Imsiness  man,  Joseph  William  Sturgeon 
has  achieved  distinction  in  the  country  round  al)out  Tulare.  Tulare 
county.  He  is  a  native  son  of  California,  having  been  born  in  Ama- 
dor county,  October  7,  1855,  and  was  in  bis  sixth  year  when,  in 
1860,  his  father,  Francis  Marion  Sturgeon,  located  near  Farmer.s- 
ville,  in  Tulare  county.  There  the  boy  was  reared  and  educated 
in  the  common  schools  and  on  his  father's  ranch  instructed  in  the 
fundamentals  of  farming  and  stockgrowing.  His  original  land  hold- 
ing was  one  hundred  and  sixt\'  acres,  but  he  rented  and  farmed 
other  land  and  grew  as  a  stockraiser  until  he  now  has  two  thou- 
sand acres   and   handles  al)out   three   hundred   head   of  cattle.     Fif- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  71 1 

teen  Imndrerl  acres  of  his  land  is  reserved  for  fanning  and  is  at 
tliis  time  used  for  ]»astnre.  He  owns  also  eighty  acres  of  alfalfa 
land  on  the  Tulc  rivci-.  ten  miles  fi-oni  Tulare,  which  is  lieing  im- 
]iroved  under  his  i)ersonal  direction.  Lie  lived  on  his  ranch  until 
1895,  when  he  removed  to  Tulare,  where  he  has  since  made  his 
home.  Since  his  retirement  from  active  farm  life  he  has  identified 
iiimself  with  several  im])ortant  interests  and  is  a  stockholder  in 
the  bank  of  Tulare.  His  father,  Francis  Marion  Sturgeon,  ranched 
near  Earmersville  until    his  acti\ities  were  terminated  by   his  death. 

In  ISSi)  Joseph  W.  Sturgeon  married  Matilda  Evelyn  Lathro]), 
and  they  have  three  children,  Mildred  Lee,  and  "William  Tyler  and 
Wallace  Ezra  (twins).  The  Sturgeon  family  is  well  and  favorably 
known  to  members  of  most  of  the  best  families  in  the  county  and 
its  head  is  recognized  as  a  citizen  of  much  iniblic  spirit,  who  is 
never  backward  in  assisting  any  measure  which,  in  liis  opinion, 
promises  to  promote  the  public  weal. 


FRANK  SMITH 

This  prosperous  farmer,  merchant  and  warehouse  jn'oprietor  at 
Angiola,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  was  born  in  Alameda  county,  Cal.,  June 
IT),  ]8(i2.  He  attended  the  ])ublic  school  near  his  home  until  he  was 
eighteen  years  old,  meanwhile  accpiiring  a  jiractical  knowledge  of 
farming  on  his  father's  ranch.  After  he  left  school  he  helped  with 
the  work  of  the  family  homestead  until  he  was  twenty  years  of  age, 
and  then  engaged  in  farming  on  his  own  account,  and  so  jjersistently 
has  he  followed  out  the  well-laid  plans  of  his  youth  that,  while  he 
has  given  attention  to  some  other  interests,  he  has  been  a  farmer 
during  all  the  years  of  his  active  life.  He  is  at  present  engaged 
in  ranching  and  wheat-raising  on  the  lake.  Locating  at  Angiola  he 
went  into  the  cattle  business  and  bought  and  sold  stock  for  eight 
years.  In  1908  he  engaged  in  the  grain,  feed  and  fuel  trade,  with  a 
warehouse  in  Angiola,  and  he  has  continued  in  these  lines  to  the 
present  time  witli  good  success.  He  makes  a  specialty  of  the  breed- 
ing of  mules  and  he  was  in  1912  the  owner  of  fifty  head  of  as  good 
stock  of  that  class  as  was  to  be  found  anywliere  in  his  i)art  of  the 
country. 

In  188()  Mr.  Smith  married  Miss  Jennie  Morgan,  who  was  born 
in  San  Francisco,  Cnl.,  in  18()(),  and  they  have  eight  children:  Cleve, 
Grover,  Leo,  Vieva,  Vcia,  James,  William  and  Edward.  Mr.  Smith 
is  a  man  of  much  public  spirit,  who  has  in  different  ways  done  nmcli 


712  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

for  the  welfare  for  Angiola,  for  lie  has  the  interest  of  the  com- 
iminity  at  heart  and  strives  earnestly  to  promote  its  develoiJiiient 
and  prosperity. 


DR.  WILLL\M  WHITTINGTON 

Notwithstanding  iiis  fomi)aratively  recent  advent  at  Dinul)a, 
Tulare  county,  CaL,  Dr.  William  Whittington  has  established  a  jiro- 
fessional  practice  which  evidences  his  skill  as  a  physician.  Making 
a  specialty  of  tuberculosis  of  the  lungs,  he  has  achieved  a  success 
which  has  been  remarked  by  his  brother  i)hysicians  throughout  central 
California.  His  beautiful  home  is  presided  over  l)y  his  wife,  who  is 
giving  Christian  training  to  their  children,  and  he  possesses  the 
friendshiji  of  many  and  esteem  of  all  wJio  are  so  fortunate  as  to 
have  made  his  acquaintance.  Of  Northern  l)irt]i.  but  of  Southern 
extraction,  he  unites  all  those  (]ualities  of  enterjnise  and  of  cultiva- 
tion which  make  for  the  very  highest  American  citizenship.  Besides, 
he  represents  honored  families  of  pioneers.  Early  in  the  history  of 
southern  Illinois  Josejih  Whittington,  his  revered  grandfather,  came 
from  Tennessee  and  settled  near  Benton,  Franklin  county,  where  he 
secured  a  tract  of  virgin  soil  on  which  he  farmed  the  remainder  of 
his  life.  His  son  J.  F.  Whittington  was  born  and  lived  out  his  days 
near  Benton,  111.,  dying  in  1886.  His  wife  was  Mary  Spencer,  a 
native  born  Tennesseean,  and  accompanied  her  parents  to  Illinois, 
where  she  still  lives  in  the  eomiianionship  of  some  of  lier  children. 
There  were  ten  in  all,  of  whom  Dr.  William  Whittington  was  the  first 
born,  and  of  whom  five  are  living. 

Doctor  Whittington  is  the  only  one  of  the  family  now  living  in 
California.  He  was  born  near  Benton,  Franklin  county.  111.,  and 
grew  to  manhood  there  on  the  old  family  liomestead  on  which  he 
was  taught  practical  farming.  Agriculture  possessed  few  attractions 
for  him,  however,  and  early  in  life  he  turned  to  school  teaching,  and 
in  his  intervals  of  teaching  read  medicine  under  the  in-eceptoi'slii]) 
of  Dr.  C.  O.  Kelley,  of  Ewing,  111.  In  1878  he  became  a  student  at 
the  Missouri  Medical  College,  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  where  he  was  grad- 
uated March  -t,  1880,  with  the  degree  of  M.  D.  He  began  his  practice 
at  Ewing,  111.,  but  soon  moved  to  Campbell  Hill.  Jackson  eoimty,  that 
state.  In  1891  he  came  to  California  and  o]iened  an  office  at  Reedley, 
Fresno  county,  whence  he  moved  in  ISWA  to  Tulare  county.  In  the 
l)eriod  1898-1900  he  was  in  active  practice  of  his  profession  in  Los 
Angeles  and  in  1902  located  in  Dimilia.  While  a  resident  of  Illinois, 
he  was  identified  with  the  Southern  Illinois  ^ledical  Association 
which  still  retains  his  name  on  its  roll  of  members. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  ('(^UNTIES  71:: 

In  187(i  J)r.  Wliittin.n'toii  married  Miss  Virginia  ITaekney,  a 
native  of  Tennessee,  their  wedding  eei'emony  having  been  solemnized 
at  Elkville,  111.  Her  father,  E.  J.  Hackney,  was  born  in  Tennessee 
and  re])resented  long  lines  of  Sonthern  ancestry.  To  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Wliittington  have  i)een  born  children  as  follows:  Pearl  lone  is  the 
wife  of  H.  Ilamner,  of  Fresno,  C'al.;  Frank  Edmnnd  died  in  infancy; 
William  E.,  who  is  a  salesman  for  the  San  Joaqnin  Light  &  Power 
Co.,  married  Miss  Grace  Alters;  ('harles  Roy,  who  is  the  proprietor 
of  the  Dinnba  P]lectrical  Works,  married  Miss  Grace  Nichols;  and 
Ray  Hackney  is  a  gradnate  of  the  Dinnba  high  school.  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Whittington  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  chnrch  of 
Dinuba  and  liberal  contuibntors  toward  its  maintenance  and  that 
of  its  numerous  charities.  He  is  a  Thirty-second  degree-  Scottish 
Rite  Mason  and  a  member  of  Dinnba  lodge,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  is 
identified  with  the  A\'()odmen  of  the  World.  As  a  stockholder  and 
director,  he  is  jjrominent  in  the  affairs  of  the  United  States  Bank  of 
Dinuba,  the  history  of  which  dates  from  its  estal)lishment  in  1908. 
He  is  the  owner  of  a  twenty  acre  orange  grove  just  coming  into 
lieariiii!,-  in  the  Smith  Mountain  countrv. 


HENRY  L.  WH.S()N 

'i'he  family  of  Wilson  of  which  Henry  L.  Wilson  is  the  head 
came  to  Tulare  county  in  January,  1!)0(;,  and  was  the  first  to  domicile 
itself  on  what  is  now  the  site  of  Alpaugh.  Mr.  Wilson  was  born  in 
^forgan  county.  III.,  March  27.  18fi7.  After  he  was  old  enough  to  go 
to  school  he  was  a  student  in  the  public  school  until  he  was  nine 
\"ears  ol<I,  and  he  devoted  the  ensuing  ele\en  years  to  acquiring  a 
knowledge  of  farming  on  his  father's  ranch  and  incidentally  helping 
his  father  with  his  work.  ]n  18S!).  when  he  was  aliout  twenty-tM'o 
years  old,  he  began  farming  for  himself  in  Nebraska,  but  in  li'lll 
renu)ved  to  Phoenix,  Ariz.,  where  he  bought  land  and  kept  the  books 
of  a  planing-mill  concern.  He  remained  there  but  a  short  time,  how- 
ever, and  in  !!)()()  he  was  established  in  Alpaugh  as  the  proprietoi'  of 
a  blacksniithing  and  implement  business  and  as  a  freighter  between 
Alpaugh  and  .\ngiola.  In  the  s|)ring  of  lf)()7  he  was  elected  manager 
of  the  local  water  comj)any,  which  ])osition  he  held  three  years  with 
credit  to  himself  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  others  concerned.  For 
some  time  he  has  been  doing  business  as  a  building  contractor  and 
as  a  real  estate  dealei'  and  ably  filling  the  offices  of  constable  and 
notary  public.  His  latest  venture  has  been  in  well  drilling,  and  he 
possesses  one  of  the  finest  well-drilling  outfits  in  central  California, 
thus   being   )»repared   to   do   such    work   at   short   notice,    if   necessity 


714  TULARE  AND  KINGS  ('OUXTfEK 

so  demands.  His  interest  in  education  and  in  religion  lias  made 
liim  useful  in  the  eonununity  as  a  school  trustee  and  as  the  organizer 
and  chairman  of  the  Christian  association,  of  the  bihie  class  of  which 
he  is  teacher.  In  a  general  way  he  has  the  progress  and  prosper- 
ity of  the  town  at  heart  and  is  liberal  in  assistance  of  all  movements 
for  the  benefit  of  its  i)eoi)le.  He  is  the  owner  of  sixty  acres  of  land 
near  Alpaugh. 

Fraternally  Mi'.  Wilson  affiliates  with  the  Indejiendent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows,  Modern  Woodmen,  the  Eoyal  Highlanders  and  the  Fra- 
ternal Brotherhood.  He  married,  Xovember  30,  1893,  Miss  Minnie  F. 
Lois,  a  native  of  Texas,  and  is  the  father  of  seven  children :  Chester 
H.,  Kalph  C.,  Ross  L.,  Earl  0.,  Fred  W.,  Lloyd  E.,  and  Grace  L. 


SAMUEL  REHOEFER 

One  of  the  pioneer  merchants  of  Hanford,  Kings  county,  Cal.,  is 
Samuel  Eehoefer,  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Steele  &  Rehoefer,  exclu- 
sive shoe  dealers,  his  partner  being  F.  J.  Steele.  Mr.  Rehoefer  is  a 
native  of  Bavaria.  When  he  was  ten  years  old  he  came  with  his 
father's  family  to  the  United  States  and  they  settled  in  Kentucky. 
From  there  he  went  to  Alabama,  and  thence  to  Texas,  where  he 
passed  the  years  of  his  young  manhood  in  different  dry  goods  estab- 
lishments. In  1878  he  came  to  California,  and  in  the  period  1878-82 
he  was  connected  with  dry  goods  enterprises  in  San  Francisco,  Dixon 
and  Stockton  successively.  He  came  to  Hanford  in  1882  and  estab- 
lished the  dry  goods  house  of  the  Kutner-Goldstein  Co.,  of  which  he 
was  part  owner  and  general  manager  for  twenty-three  years.  The 
first  store  of  the  company  on  Sixth  street  had  a  floor  space  of  fifty 
by  one  hundred  feet.  This,  under  Mr.  Rehoefer 's  progressive  man- 
agement, was  gradually  enlarged  from  year  to  year  until  the  store 
was  one  of  the  largest  and  best  appointed  in  the  county.  In  1903 
he  disposed  of  his  dry  goods  interests  and  with  Mr.  Steele  as  a 
partner  opened  a  shoe  store  on  Seventh  street,  which  has  been  so 
skillfully  managed  that  it  is  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  the 
prosperous  business  institutions  of  the  city.  Other  interests  than 
merchandising  have  to  some  extent  commanded  Mr.  Rehoefer 's  atten- 
tion; he  owned  at  one  time  an  eighty-acre  alfalfa  ranch  in  Kings 
county  and  he  is  the  proprietor  of  the  Palace  rooming  house  block 
on  Douty  street.  In  many  ways  be  has  demonstrated  a  public  spirit 
which  marks  him  as  a  useful  and  helpful  (ntizeu.  Fraternally  he 
affiliates  with  the  Masons,  in  which  he  has  attained  the  thirty-second 
degree,  and  with  the  Knights  of  Pythias. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  715 

WILLIAM  GEORGE  BASSETT 

Elsewhere  in  these  pages  appears  an  interesting  biographical 
sketch  of  Mark  Bassott,  an  Englislmian,  who  came  to  Kings  conuty 
from  Fresno  connty  in  1895  and  has  achieved  more  than  state-wide 
re])ntation  as  a  breeder  of  stock,  hogs  and  poultry.  Among  his 
children  was  William  George  Bassett,  who  was  born  in  England, 
October  9,  1876,  and  is  successfully  farming  eighty  acres  of  his 
father's  land  at  Arniona,  twenty-five  acres  being  in  vines  and  most 
of  the  remainder  in  orchard,  his  i)rincipal  horticultural  |iroduets 
being  apricots  and  peaches,    lie  also  gives  some  attention  to  farming. 

In  the  affairs  of  his  community  Mr.  Bassett  is  patrioticall\'  inter- 
ested and  he  is  now  filling  the  office  of  deputy  sheriff  I)y  appointment 
of  L.  D.  Parmer  and  is  serving  in  his  second  term  as  trustee  in  the 
Armona  school  district.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Hanford 
organization  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 

In  May,  190:1,  Mr.  Bassett  married  Miss  Chloe  Pursell,  of  Han- 
ford, Cal.,  who  has  borne  him  three  daughters,  who  are  here  named 
in  the  order  of  their  nativity :  Mildred  Irene,  Wilma  Helen  and 
Marjorie  Ethel. 


MANUEL  R.  HOMEN 

Conspicuous  among  Hanford 's  men  of  affairs,  and  locally  prom- 
inent as  a  Reiniblican,  Manuel  R.  Homen  is  fraternally  popular 
through  his  identification  with  the  U.  P.  E.  C.  and  I.  D.  E.  S.  He 
is  a  native  of  the  Azores  islands,  born  December  6,  1855,  and  lived  at 
Pico  until  1875,  when  on  becoming  of  age,  he  came  to  the  United 
States  and  stopped  in  Boston  until  October  of  that  year.  From 
Boston  he  crossed  the  continent  to  San  Francisco,  and  locating  at 
Los  Banos,  Merced  county,  he  worked  there  five  years.  He  then 
went  to  Merced  and  built  a  hotel  which  he  managed  a  year  and  then 
disposed  of  it.  He  had  been  to  Hanford  with  sheeyj  in  1881  and  had 
become  so  favorably  impressed  with  its  ]Jossibilities  that  in  1886  he 
returned,  intending  to  make  his  home  here.  His  first  year  in  the 
town  he  spent  as  a  hotel  keeper,  meanwhile  making  a  start  in  the 
sheep  business,  in  which  he  has  been  actively  interested  to  the  present 
time.  He  was  in  the  retail  liquor  business  three  and  a  half  years. 
After  he  had  estal)lished  himself  here  he  l)uilt  his  old  home  on  Front 
street,  where  he  lived  twelve  years,  then  inoxed  to  a  second  home 
in  the  town,  at  No.  924  N.  Rcdiugton  street,  where  he  remained  eiglit 
years.  He  has  since  sold  both  houses,  and  in  May,  1910,  he  bought 
eighty  acres  of  the  Ira  Rollins  ranch,  adjoining  the  south  border  of 


716  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

tlie  c-ity,  oil  wliidi  is  one  uf  the  largest  liouses  in  Kings  eonnty,  which 
serves  as  liis  residence.  Dui'iug  all  this  time  sheej)  raising  has  been 
his  principal  interest,  hut  latterly  he  has  given  considerable  attention 
to  fruit.  At  one  time  he  owned  tive  thousand  sheep  which  he  says 
he  fed  at  points  all  over  the  state.  The  west  side  is  now  the  feeding 
grouiKl  for  his  flocks.  Thirty-five  acres  of  his  homestead  is  in  vines 
and  thirty  acres  is  in  alfalfa. 

Other  interests  than  those  mentioned  have  to  some  extent  com- 
manded Mr.  Homen's  attention.  He  is  a  stockholder  and  director 
in  the  Hanford  Mercantile  Company  and  has  invested  quite  exten- 
sively in  oil  stocks.  The  economic  affairs  of  the  city  and  county  are 
matters  of  solicitude  to  him  and  he  responds  generously  to  all 
demands  upon  his  public  sjjirit.  At  Oakland,  Cal.,  in  December, 
1890,  he  married  Rita  Silva,  who  like  himself  was  born  in  the  Azores 
and  had  been  reared  to  maturity  at  Pico.  She  has  borne  him  six 
children:  Manuel  R.,  Jr.,  Alice,  Adelaide,  Arthur,  Elvina  and  William, 
all  members  of  their  ])arents'  household. 


AY.  W.  BLOYD 

In  Illinois,  October  5,  1860,  was  born  AY.  AY.  Bloyd,  a  son  of 
Washington  Bloyd.  He  was  only  a  baby  when  his  father  brought 
him  to  California  and  he  lived  near  Goose  Lake  until  he  was  eight 
.years  old,  and  then  his  family  moved  to  Marysville,  Yuba  county. 
In  1873,  when  the  boy  was  thirteen  years  old,  they  came  to  what  is 
now  Kings  eonnty  and  located  near  Hanford,  the  father  taking  uji  a 
homestead  and  settling  on  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  railroad  laud, 
to  all  of  which  pro])erty  he  subsequently  obtained  clear  title.  Making 
a  home  farm  of  it  he  lived  there  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in 
July,  1910.  His  eight  children  and  his  widow  all  survive  him  and 
they  all  live  in  Hanford. 

It  was  near  Hanford  that  A\'.  AY.  Bloyd  began  fai-ming.  and  he 
was  successful  there  until  1886,  then  going  to  Fresno  county,  where 
he  farmed  until  1902,  when  he  bought  ten  acres  near  Hanford.  ?Ie 
also  bought  twenty  acres  adjoining  the  tirst  purchase  and  diminished 
tlie  latter  by  selling  eight  acres  of  it.  He  improved  the  place  by  the 
erection  of  a  house  and  good  barns,  and  as  rapidly  as  possible  ];)ut 
it  under  cultivation.  He  has  four  acres  of  vines,  three  and  one-half 
acres  of  apricots  and  three  and  one-half  acres  of  peaches,  and  gives 
attention  to  the  breeding  of  horses.  In  June.  1904,  he  was  made 
su])eriutendent  of  the  ditch  systems  of  the  Chamlierlain-Carr  Com- 
pany, the  Guernsey  Canal  and  Lakeside  System  and  the  Branch  Canal 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  717 

Union  Water  and  Diteli  Coniiiany.     lie  is  a  diieetor  and  the  secretary 
of  the  Settlers'  Ditch  Company. 

In  1882  he  married  Mary  A.  Bostwick,  and  they  liave  three  chil- 
dren: Charles  Edward,  of  Fnllerton;  Chester  A.,  wiio  lives  near  Han- 
ford;  and  Ethel,  wiio  is  a  meml)er  of  her  parents'  household.  Mr. 
Bloyd  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World  and  is  a  citizen  of 
nnqnestionable   public   spirit. 


MARK  BASSETT 

A  native  of  England,  Mark  Bassett,  who  lias  achieved  more  than 
state-wide  reputation  as  a  breeder  of  horses,  cattle,  hog's  and  ]ioiiltry 
and  whose  ranch  three  miles  north  of  Hanford  is  one  of  the  sbow- 
]daces  of  tliat  ])art  of  Kings  county,  was  born  August  1,  1848.  He 
I'emained  there  until  1880,  becoming  a  farmer,  then  came  to  Canada 
and  located  in  Ontario,  where  he  farmed  eleven  years,  until  he  made 
his  way  across  the  continent  to  California.  He  came  to  Kings  count}- 
in  1895  from  Fresno  county  and  bought  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
of  land  two  miles  north  of  Ilanford,  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
four  miles  north,  and  eighty  acres  at  Armona.  His  one  hundred  and 
sixty-acre  homestead  has  one  hundred  acres  in  orchard  and  vineyard ; 
the  other  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  is  in  alfalfa  except  forty  acres 
which  is  given  to  fruit;  and  his  eighty  acres  at  Armona  is  devoted 
to  the  cultivation  of  fruits  and  grapes.  He  has  a  total  of  eighty 
acres  in  vineyard  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  aci-es  in  ai)ricots  and 
peaches.  Soon  after  he  came  to  the  county  he  began  raising  thor- 
ough-bred Poland-China  hogs.  He  im])orted  his  original  stock  and 
now  has  forty  registered  sows.  During  the  past  six  years  he  exhib- 
ited hogs  at  various  state  fairs  and  it  is  of  record  that  he  took  first 
prize  at  the  Seattle  P]x])osition  in  ]!>()!).  His  hogs  and  chickens  have 
taken  himdreds  of  first  prizes  at  fairs  and  exhibitions  in  Oregon. 
Washington  and  California,  and  are  known  for  their  excellence 
throughout  the  entire  coast  country.  He  also  makes  a  specialty  of 
Percheron  horses  and  is  the  owner  of  a  thoroughbred  stallion  and 
owns  a  share  in  another.  His  chickens  are  barred  Plymouth  Rocks 
and  lilack  Minorcas.  His  land  is  all  well  improved  and  his  home  is 
one  of  the  most  attractive  in  this  vicinity. 

From  time  to  time  Mr.  Bassett  has  \ery  public  s|)irit('dly  inter- 
ested himself  in  mimerous  enterprises.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the 
Lucerne  Creamery,  in  the  Armona  P''ruit  and  Raisin  Packing  Co.  and 
in  the  Farmers  and  Merchants'  Bank  of  Hanford,  and  is  a  member 
of  the  Kings  Comity  Chamber  of  Connnerce. 

In  October,   1872,  Mr.   Bassett  married  Miss    Helena   Lander,   a 


718  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

member  of  old  English  families,  wlio  has  borne  him  twelve  children, 
ten  of  whom  are  living :  Helen,  wife  of  J.  Malott ;  Mabel,  who  married 
Frank  Pursell ;  William  George ;  Mark,  Jr. ;  John ;  Bertha,  wife  of 
John  Day;  Edith,  who  married  Louis  Nieson;  Ernest;  Guy,  and 
Archie. 


MELVIN  A.  HILL 

A  native  of  Indiana,  l)orn  in  La  Grange  county  on  March  14, 
1844,  Melvin  A.  Hill  is  a  sou  of  the  late  William  Remington  and 
Sarah  (Gregg)  Hill,  natives  of  Monroe  county,  N.  Y.,  and  South 
Carolina  respectively.  The  former  was  born  in  1815,  went  to  Indiana 
at  an  early  day  and  grew  up  with  the  pioneer  life  of  that  period.  He 
married  in  that  state  about  1841,  and  remained  there  uutil  September 
10,  1859,  when  with  his  wife  and  seven  children  he  started  across  the 
plains  with  ox-teams  aud  prairie  schooners.  Arriving  in  this  state 
he  settled  down  to  the  life  of  a  rancher,  following  this  uutil  his  deatli 
here,  with  the  exception  of  a  short  time  spent  in  Oregon,  where  he 
went  to  join  his  son  Melvin  A. 

Melvin  A.  Hill  attended  school  until  he  was  fifteen  aud  remained 
in  California  with  his  parents  until  1864,  when  he  went  to  Oregon. 
Soon  after  he  returned  to  this  state,  and  in  1874  we  find  him  in 
Tulare  county  after  having  lived  and  labored  for  a  time  in  Ventura 
county.  Farming  has  been  his  occupation  ever  since  reaching  man- 
hood. When  he  came  to  this  part  of  the  state  Kings  county  had  not 
been  set  apart  from  the  mother  county  of  Tulare  and  all  trading 
was  done  in  Visalia  for  many  years.  He  bought  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  land  on  the  Hanford-Tulare  road,  began  its  imju'ove- 
meut  aud  assisted  to  build  the  Lakeside  ditch  to  supply  the  water 
for  irrigation.  All  the  improvements  seen  on  his  ranch  have  been 
placed  there  by  himself  and  he  has  carried  on  general  farming  and 
stock  raising  with  increasing  success  all  these  years.  There  is 
probably  no  man  better  informed  than  is  Mr.  Hill  on  the  successful 
production  and  sale  of  crops  and  stock,  and  it  would  be  impossible 
for  any  one  to  give  himself  more  devotedly  to  his  business  or  to  have 
brought  an  enterprise  to  a   higher  ])lane  of  success. 

In  Santa  Barbara,  Cal.,  on  September  1,  1872,  occurred  the  mar- 
riage of  Melvin  A.  Hill  with  Cynthia  Reuk,  a  native  of  Adams 
county,  111.,  and  two  children  were  born  to  them,  Henry,  who  is  faruv 
ing  on  eighty  acres  given  him  by  his  father,  aud  Cora,  wlio  died  in 
infancy.  Mrs.  Hill  passed  away  in  Septeudier.  1909,  aud  on  Septem- 
ber 15.  1912,  Mr.  Hill  was  uuited  in  marriage  with  Mrs.  Mary  Ball. 
Mr.  Hill  has  not  taken  an  active  intei-est  in  politics  otiier  than 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  719 

to  cast  his  vote  for  the  men  aud  measures  that  he  considers  for  the 
greatest  good  to  the  greatest  numlier.  He  is  interested  in  the  cause 
of  education  aud  served  as  trustee  of  the  Frazer  district  for  two 
years.  He  is  patriotically  interested  in  economic  questions  local  and 
national,  advocated  the  organization  of  Kings  county,  and  assists 
all  worthy  enterprises  for  the  advancement  of  the  interests  of  the 
people  and  countj*.  His  success  has  been  of  his  own  making  and  he 
is  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  substantial  pioneers  of  the  county,  and 
has  a  wide  acquaintance  in  this  section  of  the  state. 


GEORGE  W.  HOUSTON 

A  breeder  of  cattle,  horses  aud  hogs  in  the  district  of  Kings 
county,  Cal.,  southwest  of  Hanford,  who  has  won  prominence  by  his 
excellent  stock  and  good  business  ability  is  G.  W.  Houston.  Born  near 
Bloomington,  Monroe  county,  Ind.,  August  11,  1853,  Mr.  Houston 
passed  his  early  life  there,  learning  farming  and  studying  in  the 
public  schools.  He  was  married  in  1877  and  some  time  later  went 
to  Kansas,  where  he  lived  about  three  years,  and  in  1889  he  came  to 
California,  locating  in  what  is  now  Kings  county.  His  first  year 
here  was  spent  in  operating  the  George  Camp  ranch  near  Armona, 
and  the  following  year  he  was  on  the  Ernest  Rollins  ranch.  His 
next  venture  was  to  lease  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  for  five  years, 
on  which  property  he  put  in  ten  acres  of  vineyard  and  twelve  acres 
of  orchard.  His  first  ]iurchase  of  land  was  in  1904,  when  he  bought 
eighty  acres  which  he  has  developed  into  a  fine  ranch.  When  it  came 
into  his  possession  part  of  it  was  devoted  to  vineyard  and  some  of 
the  rest  of  it  to  orchard,  lie  has  put  out  eleven  acres  of  it  to  vines 
and  taken  up  the  old  orchard  aud  has  forty  acres  under  alfalfa.  Ail 
the  improvements  on  the  place  are  due  to  the  enterprise  of  Mr. 
Houston,  who  has  used  the  best  judgment  in  the  selection  of  trees  and 
vines.  Cattle,  horses  and  hogs  are  among  his  chief  products.  They 
are  of  the  best  breed  and  bring  the  best  prices  in  the  market. 

On  December  26,  1877,  Mr.  Houston  married  Miss  Minerva  A. 
Morris,  a  native  of  Indiana,  and  a  daughter  of  Hiram  and  Rebecca 
Morris,  and  it  was  in  the  lioosier  state  that  their  wedding  was  cele- 
bi-ated.  Mrs.  Houston  has  borne  her  husband  four  sons  and  two 
daughters,  Ernest  W.  and  Everett  R.,  born  in  Indiana;  Grace  S.  in 
Kansas ;  and  Oscar  C,  Howard  G.  and  Blanche  in  California. 

Everett  R.  and  Ernest  W.  are  in  the  real  estate  business  at  Han- 
ford. Grace  S.  is  the  wife  of  Clau<le  C.  Overstreet  and  lives  in 
Lemoore.  Oscar  C.  is  a  menibei'  of  his  parents'  household.  Howard 
G.  is  in  the  Coalinga  oil  field  and    Blanche  is  a   student   in   Ihe   high 


7i'(»  TULARE  AXD  KTXGS  COIXTIKS 

school  at  Lemoore.  Wiiile  Mr.  Houston  is  a  lovt-i-  of  lioinc  and  coulines 
himself  very  closely  to  his  own  private  business,  he  is  intelligently 
interested  in  iiublic  questions  and  is  glad,  whenever  i)ossihle.  to  do 
his  utmost  for  the  good  of  his  community. 


r.  G.  HASTINGS 

Two  and  a  half  miles  northeast  of  Lindsay,  Tulare  county,  C'al.. 
is  located  the  productive  ranch  of  U.  G.  Hastings,  a  farmer  and 
orange  grower,  who  is  well  known  throughout  the  community  as  a 
])rogressive,  enterprising  business  man.  Mr.  Hastings  was  born  in 
Contra  Costa  county  in  1868  and  was  only  four  years  old  when  his 
parents  moved  to  Tulare  county  and  settled  near  Wooilville.  Lyman 
H.  Hastings,  his  father,  a  native  of  Ohio,  came  to  California  in  1S50 
and  died  in  1874.     His  mother,  a  daughter  of  Missouri,  is  still  living. 

After  he  was  old  enough  to  go  to  school,  Mr.  Hastings  devoted 
his  years  until  he  was.  sixteen  to  his  educational  advancement  in 
preparation  for  the  life  of  endeavor  which  was  before  him.  Li  liis 
seventeenth  year,  he  became  self-supporting  and  was  variously 
emi)loyed  until  1892,  when  he  began  farming  for  himself.  In  ISiKi 
he  bought  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  at  $6  an  acre  and 
devoted  his  energies  with  consideralile  success  to  the  cultivation  of 
wheat  and  barley.  In  li'OO  he  made  a  purchase  of  eighty  acres  and 
in  1909  one  of  twenty  acres  more.  He  is  now  giving  his  attention 
almost  exclusively  to  oranges  and  grain.  His  ranch  is  well  improved 
and  outfitted  with  every  essential  to  its  successful  cultivation. 

In  1904  Mr.  Hastings  married  Miss  Agnes  Limegrover,  of  tiiis 
county,  who  has  borne  him  a  daughter.  Norma  A.  Mrs.  Hastings' 
father  has  passed  away,  but  her  mother  survives.  It  cannot  be  said 
that  Mr.  Hastings  has  been  a  lifelong  resident  of  California.  It  is 
true  that  he  was  born  here  and  lives  here  now,  but  in  1898  he  entered 
upon  a  four  years'  gold  cjuest  in  Alaska,  in  which  he  was  successful. 
During  this  time  however  Mr.  Hastings  returned  to  California  in 
1902  and  the  next  year  made  a  second  trip  to  xVlaska,  locating  a  claim 
in  the  Fairbanks  camp,  but  he  returned  to  California  in  the  same 
year  and  was  married  in  San  Francisco  in  1904.  He  then  went  back 
to  his  mining  claim  in  Alaska,  taking  his  Itride  with  him,  and  they 
remained  there  until  1911,  he  meeting  with  marked  success  in  his 
mining  ventures.  Their  little  girl.  Norma  A.,  was  the  first  white  child 
born  on  Clear  Creek  in  the  Tanana  district,  Alaska.  Fraternally  he 
affiliates  with  the  "Woodmen  of  the  World.  Having  no  active  ]iar- 
tici])ation  in  political  work  he  is,  however,  intelligently  interested  in 
every  question  affecting  the  welfare  of  the  people  and  does  his  full 
duty  as  a  voter  and  a  imblic-spirited  citizen. 


TULAEE  AND  KINdS  COUNTIES  7l'1 

JUDSON  ANDREW  DIBBLE 

The  progressive  aud  tliorou,s>lily  nji-to-date  fanner  and  stockman 
wlio  lias  won  an  enviable  rejintation  among  his  fellow  citizens,  is 
Judsou  Andrew  Dibble,  a  native  sou  of  this  state,  having  been  born 
at  Santa  Crnz,  ("al.,  October  12,  1869.  He  was  four  years  old  when 
his  jiareuts  moved  from  Santa  Cruz  to  Tulare  county  and  settled  in 
the  Lakeside  district.  There  he  attended  school  until  he  was  sixteen 
years  old,  and  after  the  completion  of  his  studies  he  was  busy  until 
he  was  twenty-one  years  old  in  assisting  his  father  in  the  latter 's 
agricultural  operations.  The  time  had  now  come  when  he  was  to 
assume  responsibilities  for  himself,  and  he  went  into  stock-raising 
and  farming  and  achieved  success  almost  from  the  outset.  In  1895 
he  acquired  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  good  land  which  he  has 
develojjed  into  a  tine  homestead,  fitted  up  with  suitable  buildings  of 
all  kinds,  including  a  comfortable  residence,  the  farm  being  well 
stocked  and  provided  with  modern  machinery  and  ap]>liances  such  as 
are  demanded  in  scientific  farming  in  California. 

Politically  Mr.  Dibble  is  a  Republican,  proud  of  the  history  of  his 
party  and  devoted  to  the  measures  by  which  it  ]ilans  to  ])romote  the 
best  interests  of  our  citizens  of  all  classes.  He  faithfully  performs 
his  duties  as  a  citizen  and  so  far  is  he  from  having  been  an  office 
seeker  that  he  has  declined  such  ])nblic  preferment  as  he  has  been 
urged  to  accept.  Ilis  interests  in  education  impelled  him,  however, 
to  assume  the  duties  of  trustee  of  the  Lakeside  schools,  and  in  that 
caiiacity  he  was  elificient  in  raising  the  educational  standard  in  his 
neighborhood. 

May  24,  1893,  Mr.  Dibble  married  Miss  Lulu  Skaggs,  who  was 
born  in  Tulare  county.  April  5,  1875.  They  have  three  children,  Ella 
A.,  Alta  E.  and  Nora  L. 


FRANK   POE 

From  the  ])osition  of  an  humble  employe  in  the  Farmers'  Union 
Warehouse  at  Tulare,  Frank  Poe,  through  diligence  and  painstaking 
effort,  rose  after  five  yeafs'  service  to  his  ])resent  ]ilace  as  manager. 
He  is  a  native  of  Minnesota  and  was  born  August  5,  1868.  a  son  of 
Hiram  B.  and  Eliza  Poe.  Reared  and  educated  in  Minnesota  he 
came  to  California  with  his  parents  when  he  was  eighteen  years  old. 
After  having  devoted  his  energies  to  farming  for  many  years,  the 
elder  Poe  in  1907  sold  out  his  ranch  interests  and  moved  to  Tulare, 
where  he  died  in  July,  1911,  his  wife  having  i)asscd  away  two  years 
earlier. 

41 


722  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIP^S 

From  the  time  of  bis  arrival  in  Tulare  county  until  the  begin- 
ning of  his  connection  with  the  warehouse  Frank  Poe  was  variously 
employed,  and  after  five  years'  faithful  service  he  was  made  man- 
ager, this  being  seven  years  ago,  and  since  has  ably  filled  tlie  position. 
The  Farmers'  Union  Warehouse  Company  has  a  history  of  success 
dating  from  1885,  when  it  was  organized  at  Tulare  by  outside  capital. 

By  his  marriage  with  Miss  Phoelie  Garrison  Mr.  Poe  united  his 
life  with  that  of  a  good  woman  who  has  proven  herself  a  most  worthy 
helpmeet.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Fraternal  Order  of 
Eagles,  the  Independent  Order  of  Red  Men  and  the  Woodmen  of  the 
World,  all  of  which  orders  have  representative  bodies  in  Tulare.  As 
manager  of  the  Farmers'  Union  Warehouse,  Mr.  Poe  is  in  close  touch 
with  the  business  community  of  Tulare  and  its  tributary  territory, 
and  as  a  business  man  and  citizen  he  has  demonstrated  a  public  spirit 
which  has  made  him  helpful  to  all  local  interests. 


CHARLES  FISHER 

Philadelphia,  Pa.,  was  the  scene  of  the  birth  of  Charles  Fisher, 
now  of  Tulare  county.  Cal.,  April  15,  1853.  When  he  was  three  years 
old  his  family  moved  to  Missouri,  and  there  were  passed  the  years 
of  his  boyhood  and  young  manhood.  It  was  not  till  188fi,  when  he 
was  thirty-three  years  old,  that  lie  turned  his  back  on  Missouri  with 
an  intention  of  making  a  home  elsewhere.  Then  he  came  to  Cali- 
fornia, and  locating  near  Cottonwood  creek,  Tulare  county,  farmed 
there  for  a  year.  Next  we  find  him  on  the  Robert  March  ranch, 
where  he  i-emained  two  years.  The  succeeding  nine  years  he  spent 
on  the  John  A.  Patterson  ranch.  On  his  present  home  place,  south- 
west of  Visalia,  he  has  lived  fourteen  years.  He  rents  the  rancli, 
which  consists  of  two  hundred  acres.  Thirty-five  acres  he  devotes  to 
alfalfa,  fifteen  acres  to  {)runes  and  peaches  and  seven  acres  to  raisin 
gravies.  He  has  also  a  fine  dairy  of  seven  cows.  He  has  sold  as 
much  as  $11)00  worth  of  fruit  off  the  ranch  in  a  single  season.  He 
has  made  a  study  of  fruit-growing,  to  which  he  has  given  twenty 
years,  and  has  not  hesitated  to  experiment ;  some  of  his  ex]>eri- 
ments  have  turned  out  well.  At  this  time  he  has  six  acres  jilanted 
to  Egyptian  corn.  In  the  early  days  of  his  residence  in  California, 
he  hauled  grain  from  Lindsay.  Then  that  ]iart  of  the  county  was  a 
wheatiield  and  land  could  be  bought  at  $5  an  acre  which  now  com- 
m.ands  a  high  i)rice. 

In  1879  Mr.  Fisher  married  Jane  Kirkman,  a  native  of  Missouri, 
and  they  liave  six  children:  Agnes,  Jacob  C.,  James  F.,  Anna  May, 
Deva  E.  and  Harlev  M.    While  he  takes  an  intelligent  interest  in  all 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  723 

matters  of  public  moiiient,  Mr.  Fisher  has  little  likinii'  for  the  aetiv- 
ities  which  are  iiopularly  known  as  practical  politics.  He  is,  essen- 
tially, a  business  man  and  by  choice  devotes  his  abilities  to  farniing 
and  fruit-growing.  In  many  ways  he  has  demonstrated  a  public 
spirit  which  has  been  helpful  to  the  community. 


J.  A.  HANNAH 

While  the  American  joeople  present  to  view  aliout  the  most  het- 
erogeneous conglomeration  of  humanity  ever  known  in  history,  it  is 
true  that  the  population  has  long  been  made  up  mainly  of  descendants 
of  emigrants  from  the  British  Isles.  Canada  is  a  distributing- 
station  for  much  British  immigration  to  the  United  States,  and  in 
our  industries,  from  the  railroad  l)uilder  to  the  bank  president,  the 
men  from  Canada  have  shown  excellent  qualities  and  their  offspring 
have  not  only  been  successful,  but  in  most  instances  have  been 
exceedingly  prosperous.  J.  A.  Hannah,  lawyer,  with  office  in  the 
Harrell  building,  Visalia,  Tulare  county,  comes  of  old  families  well 
known  in  the  history  of  the  mother  country  and  its  colonies  and  is  a 
native  of  New  Brunswick.  He  was  educated  in  Canada  and  at  the 
Harvard  Law  School,  which  he  entered  in  1876  and  from  which  he 
was  graduated  in  1878.  He  practiced  his  profession  in  Nevada  until 
1888,  when  he  located  at  Visalia,  where  he  has  since  lived,  gaining 
distinction  at  the  bar.  He  is  the  owner  of  twenty-six  hundred  acres 
of  valuable  ranch  land  near  Strathmore,  Tulare  county,  on  which  he 
grows  vines  and  alfalfa  and  has  bred  many  tine  cattle. 

In  1899  Mr.  Hannah  married  Miss  Kate  Miller,  a  native  of  Cali- 
fornia, and  they  have  daughters,  Margaret  and  Dorothy.  F^raternally 
he  affiliates  with  the  Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks  and  as 
a  citizen  he  is  helpfully  public-spirited  and  not  without  recognized 
political  influence. 


JOHN  MITCHELL  GLASGOW 

A  native  of  the  Emerald  Isle,  John  Mitche'l  Glasgow  was  born 
near  Belfast,  Sei)tember  20,  18(54.  He  lived  in  Ireland  until  he  was 
seventeen  years  old,  accpiiiing  a  primary  education  and  receiving 
some  training  in  useful  work.  Then  he  crossed  the  ocean  to  the 
United  States  and  located  at  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  where  he  was  employed 
in  the  delivery  of  milk  for  a  daii'y.  In  1887  he  came  to  California 
on    his   wedding   trip   and    settled    in    Tulare   countv.      His    first    few 


7-24  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

years  here  were  busy  oues.  He  farmed  the  old  Teruian  ranch  on 
shares,  raised  cattle  in  a  small  way  and  cut  and  hauled  wood.  Thus, 
and  otherwise  at  times,  he  was  employed  until  he  bought  his  home- 
stead of  nine  acres,  which  was  the  nucleus  of  his  j)resent  one  hundred 
and  eleven  acre  farm,  which  includes  several  subsequent  purchases. 
He  has  a  dairy  of  twenty  cows,  six  acres  planted  to  Egyptian  corn, 
and  four  acres  in  prunes  and  peaches.  His  land  produces  a  ton  and 
a  half  of  alfalfa  to  the  acre  and  he  sold  during  the  season  of  1912 
eighteen  tons  of  prunes  from  three  acres  for  $450. 

In  1887  Mr.  Glasgow  married  Maggie  Henry,  a  native  of  New 
York,  and  they  have  four  childreu:  Harry  H.,  Ina  B..  Iva  M.  and 
Lena.  Ina  B.  is  attending  business  college  in  Stockton.  In  all 
things  pertaining  to  the  advancement  of  the  best  interests  of  his 
community,  Mr.  Glasgow  is  jiatriotically  interested,  and  there  is  no 
measure  that  in  his  opinion  promises  to  benefit  any  considerable 
number  of  his  fellow-citizens  that  does  not  receive  his  encouragement 
and  support.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Loyal  Order  of  ^loose,  devoted 
to  its  various  interests  and  respected  by  its  brotherhood.  His  suc- 
cess is  but  another  demonstration  of  the  fact  that  grit  aud  hard  work 
will  win  in  the  game  of  life  if  intelligently  applied  to  everyday  prob- 
lems and  persisted  in  until  the  hoped-for  end  is  gained.  What  he 
has  done  and  is  doing  other  Irish-Americans  have  accomplished  aud 
are  accom]5lishing,  and  they  are  proving  the  claim  that  has  been  made 
for  them  by  many  observers  that  they  constitute  one  of  the  really 
admirable  elements  in  our  foreign-born  citizenship. 


ARTHUR  BURTON 

Scions  of  the  old  New  England  stock  do  well  in  California,  aud 
California  is  justly  proud  of  many  of  them.  They  have  helped  make 
history  from  coast  to  coast.  Of  such  ancestry  is  Arthur  Burton,  a 
native  of  Lee  coimty,  Iowa,  born  October  7,  1866.  His  ]iarents  were 
Edward  and  Mary  J.  (Wren)  Burton,  his  father  a  native  born 
Vernionter  aud  his  mother  a  product  of  Illinois.  Edward  Burton 
left  Vermont  in  the  early  '40s  and  crossed  the  country  with  an  ox- 
team  to  Chicago,  then  little  more  than  a  big  country  village,  sitting 
low  down  in  the  mud  and  scarcely  alive  to  the  prospect  of  things  to 
come.  He  farmed  in  Iowa  until  1885,  and  then  came  to  California. 
Having  brought  some  money  with  him,  he  was  able  to  buy  a  ranch 
near  Visalia,  Tiilare  county,  which  comprised  seventy  acres,  on  which 
he  raised  stock  and  alfalfa.  He  lived  on  that  place  until  March  4, 
1912,  when  he  passed  away,  aged  seventy-seven  years,  active  to  the 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 


IS.) 


end.  His  (.-liildrt'ii  are  Mrs.  Edith  AVestou,  and  Arthur,  whose  name 
introduces  this  article. 

In  tlie  conduct  of  the  paternal  farm  Arthur  Burton  helped  his 
father  until  1903,  when  he  bought  his  present  ranch  home,  four  and 
one-half  miles  west  of  Visalia.  He  owns  sixty  acres  which  he  de- 
velojied  from  its  original  condition.  His  homestead  {proper  he  devotes 
to  the  production  of  alfalfa.  In  connection  with  liis  own  place  Mr. 
Burton   is   conducting  the  home  ranch. 

On  December  7,  1894,  Mr.  Burton  married  Ethel  Wilcox,  a  native 
of  Illinois,  who  has  borne  him  two  sons,  Hollis  H.  and  Carroll  E.  He 
is  a  member  of  Four  Creek  lodge  No.  94,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  and  affiliates 
with  the  Fraternal  Brotherhood. 


LE^"Y  NEWTON  GREGORY 

The  California  citizen  of  the  Dinuba  neighborhood,  whose  career 
has  been  most  worthy  as  a  soldier,  a  pioneer  and  a  successful  man 
of  affairs,  is  Levy  Newton  Gregory,  who  was  born  in  Carroll  county, 
Tenn.,  February  6,  1843.  When  four  years  old  he  was  taken  by  his 
parents  to  Cedar  county,  Mo.,  from  which  place  the  family  moved 
two  years  later  to  Springfield,  Mo.,  where  the  son  was  educated  in 
the  public  schools.  Here  he  learned  his  first  lessons  in  farming  and 
nmde  his  home  until  1870.  Meanwhile,  in  1862,  when  he  was  nineteen 
years  old,  he  enlisted  in  Company  I,  Second  Missouri  Light  Artillery, 
under  Ca]5t.  S.  H.  Julean.  A  year  and  a  half  intervened  between 
the  date  of  his  mustering-in  and  the  date  of  his  musteriug-out.  It 
was  a  time  of  hardship,  of  nnicli  rough  service  and  ]ioor  livi'ng, 
which,  however,  is  not  the  least  jileasant  of  Mr.  Gregory's  recol- 
lections of  the  past. 

When  Mr.  Gregory  came  to  California  it  was  as  a  poor  man  and 
it  was  not  until  ]8!)1  that  he  was  able  to  buy  land.  He  remained 
on  his  first  purchase  until  ten  years  ago,  when  he  came  to  Dinuba 
and  bought  twenty-five  acres  of  land  at  $40  an  acre,  which  because 
of  his  lal)or  and  the  rise  in  property  values  in  Central  California  is 
now  well  worth  $600  an  acre. 

In  1870  Mr.  Gregory  married  Sarah  J.  Hill,  a  native  of  Missouri. 
Of  their  seven  chikh-en  three  are  living.  George  was  born  in  Mis- 
souri and  died  in  California.  James  G.  married  Nettie  Patterson  and 
is  living  in  Tulare  county.  AVilliam  A.  married  Maud  Fairweather 
and  he,  too,  lives  in  Tulare  county.  Fred  A.  was  born  in  Oregon,  Mo., 
and  died,  aged  twenty-six  years,  leaving  a  widow  and  one  child.  Bert 
Wiley,  who  is  a  well  known  ranchman  in  Tulare  county,  is  the  only 
one  living  of  triplets. 


726  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIP]S 

AJr.  (iiejiory  is  an  Odd  Fellow  and  a  uienxber  of  the  Ancient 
Order  of  United  Workmen.  Through  his  fraternal  relations,  no  more 
than  by  his  social  intercourse  with  his  fellow  citizens  he  is  popular, 
with  all  who  know  him.  In  every  relation  of  life  he  has  proven  him- 
self generously  helpful  and  his  public  spirit,  many  times  tried,  has 
never  been  inadequate  to  any  legitimate  demand  upon  it.  His  father, 
Wiley  B.  Gregory,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  died  in  Texas  at  the 
advanced  age  of  eighty-nine  years.  His  mother  passed  away  in 
Missouri.  Mrs.  Gregory's  parents  died  in  Missouri,  where  her  father, 
Lawson  Hill,  was  in  some  wavs  well  known. 


EDWARD  ERLANGER 

The  well  known  attorney  and  counsellor  at  law  and  breeder  of  trot- 
ting horses  whose  name  heads  this  article  was  born  at  the  University 
of  Marburg,  Germany,  June  15,  1852.  He  came  from  a  family  of 
bankers.  His  father,  Moritz  P]rlanger,  was  a  banker  and  merchant 
at  Marburg.  Our  subject  was  educated  at  Gymnasium  at  Marburg. 
When  seventeen  years  of  age  he  entered  the  em])loy  of  the  banking 
firm  of  von  Erlanger  &  Son  at  Frankfurt  on  Main  and  continued  till 
1870.  when  lie  was  forced  to  resign  his  jiosition  owing  to  the  fact 
that  he  was  drafted  into  the  military  service  in  the  French  and 
German  war.  He  did  service  in  the  amlnilance  corps,  after  which 
he  sailed  foi-  New  York,  where  he  ai-rived  in  October,  1870.  He 
came  to  California  in  1871  and  in  1872  located  at  Kingston,  where  he 
was  employed  as  liookkeeper  in  the  store  of  Jacol)  and  Einstein  until 
the  spring  of  1877.  It  was  while  thus  employed  in  the  year  1874 
that  he  and  thirty-seven  other  white  men  were  held  up,  bound  and 
robbed  by  that  historic  California  bandit  Tiburcio  ^^ascjuez  and  his 
band  of  thirteen  outlaws.  They  were  plundered  to  the  extent  of 
$4,000.00  and  Vasquez  and  his  men  made  their  escape,  but  were  later, 
in  1874,  apprehended  and  arrested  by  officials  from  Los  Angeles 
county  and  were  hung  in  1875.  Upon  the  completion  of  the  railroad 
to  Hanford  and  Lemoore  he  came  to  the  new  town  of  Lemoore,  where 
for  two  years  he  was  a  bookkeeper  for  J.  J.  Mack  &  Company, 
general  merchants.  Meanwhile  he  built  the  hotel  and  Masonic  and 
Odd  Fellows'  hall  building,  and  he  established  a  general  notion  store 
in  the  building,  which  he  was  conducting  wlien  it  was  burned.  He 
resumed  Ijusiness  in  Erlanger  Hall,  in  which  a  store  was  operated 
in  front  and  a  dance  hall  in  the  rear,  but  sold  out  in  1884  and  took 
up  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Judge  Jacobs,  with  which  he  was 
connected  until  1893,  when  the  latter  was  elected  judge  of  the 
Superior  Court  and  moved  to  Hanford,  since  when  Mr.  Erlanger  has 


TULARK  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  7_'7 

comlm-ted  a  general  law,  notary,  real  estate,  and  insurance  oltice. 
For  a  time  he  handled  real  estate  in  association  with  Otto  Brandt. 
Always  a  lover  of  horses  he  engaged  in  ranching  and  stockrai sing, 
giving  particular  attention  to  trotters.  Ills  real  estate  interests 
broadened  into  the  buying,  improving  and  selling  large  tracts  of 
land.  His  health  failed,  however,  and  in  1893-95  he  lost  most  of  his 
holdings.  It  will  he  remembered  that  that  was  a  period  of  iinancial 
depression.  But  he  kei)t  to  his  horses,  was  made  a  notary  iiublic 
and  had  a  fairly  good  law  i)ractice,  and  for  two  years  was  dei)uty 
assessor  under  G.  W.  Follette.  In  1895  he  branched  out  as  a  farmer 
and  stock-raiser  and  bought  considerable  property  in  and  around 
Leraoore.  As  an  outcome  of  his  enter])rise  he  raised  Toggles,  trot- 
ting gelding,  which  for  three  years  was  the  fastest  horse  in  its  class, 
taking  all  records  in  the  state.  In  1898  at  Los  Angeles  he  trotted  the 
three  fastest  heats  ever  trotted  in  the  West.  Toggles  was  sold  in  1898  to 
Mr.  Babcock,  owner  of  the  Coronado  Beach  Hotel,  and  in  1899  won  all 
stakes  in  the  state,  and  in  1900  was  taken  East  and  there  won  three  $10,- 
000  stakes  and  the  chamiuonshi])  of  his  class,  and  $25,000  was  refused 
for  him  that  year.  He  took  also  the  premium  at  a  horse  show  as  the 
7iiost  i)erfect  trotter  as  a  show  horse  in  the  state.  It  is  interesting 
in  this  connection  to  note  that  Mr.  Krianger  sold  this  valualile  animal 
for  $2500.  In  1901  Toggles  was  retired  from  the  track  l)y  his  owner. 
Mr*  Erlanger  has  his  dam  and  two  full  brothei-s  of  him.  J^e  has 
always  bred  standardbred  horses.  In  1891  he  started  by  buying 
twenty-six  standard-lired  brood  mares,  which  were  the  foundation  of 
his  successes.  He  calls  his  brood  estal)lishment  the  Royal  Rose 
Breeding  Farm.  The  sire  Royal  Rose  was  a  finely  bred  trotting 
animal.  Mr.  Erlanger  has  at  present  a  large  number  of  horses  for 
breeding  and  is  developing  Lightening  Bug,  a  full  brother  of  Toggles, 
which  made  2:22  in  1911.  He  is  now  devoting  himself  principally  to 
his  legal  and  real  estate  work.  In  1906  he  was  elected  justice  of  the 
peace  for  four  years  and  is  also  filling  the  office  of  city  recoi'der.  He 
has  subdivided  and  sold  ofT  several  tracts  of  land  and  was  the  builder 
of  the  first  Masonic  and  Odd  Fellows'  hall  in  Lemoore.  Politically 
he  affiliates  with  the  Rejniblican  party  and  as  a  member  of  the  County 
Central  conuuittee  and  otherwise  he  has  been  a  leader  in  its  local 
work. 

Personally  Mr.  Erlanger  has  a  generous  heart,  a  loving  and 
cheerful  dis])osition,  and  makes  and  holds  many  friends.  He  sur- 
rounds himself  with  many  pets,  horses,  dogs  and  birds.  One  of  his 
best  iiets  is  a  native  California  l)ald  eagle  named  "Old  Abe."  a  bird 
which  lias  won  national  distinction.  In  the  year  190fi  an  agent  of  the 
United  States  Government  from  the  Smithsonian  Institute  at  Wash- 
ington came  to  Lemoore,  looking  uj)  data  iiei'taiTiing  to  the  Indians 
of  this   region  and   other  things  of  interest,      lie   soon   discovered    in 


728  TrLAEE  AND  KIXGS  COUNTIES 

"Old  Abe"  a  perfect  type  of  tlie  bald  eagle,  and  bad  bis  pbotograpb 
taken,  and  tbis  pbotograpb  it  is  believed  is  tbe  original  for  the  eagle 
engraved  on  tbe  new  five  and  ten  dollar  gold  coins. 


DA\aD  WAED  DE  MASTERS 

A  pioneer  of  iiioneers,  Marshall  Foster  De  Masters,  a  native  of 
Missouri,  crossed  tbe  plains,  ■witb  ox-teams  to  California  in  1849,  tbe 
memorable  gold-seeking  period  tliat  will  be  ever  memorable  in  tbe 
bistory  of  this  state  and  of  tbe  country  at  large.  He  settled  in 
Tulare  county,  on  tbe  old  Rusb  place,  northwest  of  Visalia.  Later 
be  sold  out  there  and  moved  to  tbe  Kibler  farm,  where  he  was  a 
successful  breeder  of  cattle,  sheep  and  hogs  to  tbe  time  of  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  1861.  In  bis  time  he  was  prominent  in  connection 
with  tbe  important  affairs  of  his  ado]ited  county.  In  the  days  of 
tbe  Indian  wars  be  was  captain  of  a  local  company  that  was  jiitted 
against  tbe  savages  in  defense  of  tbe  settlements  round  about. 

In  Tulare  county.  October  16,  1855,  was  born  David  W.  De 
Masters,  son  of  Marshall  Foster  the  pioneer.  His  has  been,  for  tbe 
most  part,  tbe  life  of  the  cowboy,  though  he  has  at  times  acted  as 
g-uide  in  tbe  mountains  of  California.  In  all  parts  of  the  country  be 
has  driven  cattle.  At  one  time  he  drove  a  band  of  sixteen  hundred 
cattle  across  country  to  Paso  Robles  for  C.  W.  Clark,  and  in  1869 
he  crossed  tbe  Sierra  NeA^ada  mountains  with  a  band  of  three  hundred 
and  drove  it  all  the  way  to  S]iring  Valley,  Nevada,  a  triji  wliicli 
consumed  five  months  and  thirteen  days.  He  enjoys  tbe  distinction 
of  being  one  of  tlie  few  cowboys  yet  living  who  ran  cattle  through 
central  California  in  tbe  early  days.  For  tbe  last  thirteen  years  be 
has  been  su]ierintendent  of  tbe  Persian  irrigation  ditch  in  Tulare 
county,  one  of  tbe  oldest  water  systems  in  tbis  part  of  the  state. 
In  the  sunnuer  months  be  is  much  in  demand  as  a  guide  to  travelers 
and  tourists  through  tbe  mountain  ranges. 

In  August,  1878.  Mr.  De  Masters  married  Miss  Mav  Lloyd,  a 
native  of  California.  He  and  bis  wife  are  members  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Foresters.  They  bad  two  sons :  Remmert  died  in 
March,  190.3,  at  tbe  age  of  twenty-four  years ;  and  Harry  passed  away 
Auo-ust  2,  1889,  aged  four  years. 

Tbe  experience  of  tbe  De  Masters  family  in  California  covers  all 
periods  of  its  history  since  the  discovery  of  gold.  In  the  early  days 
of  tbe  elder  De  Masters  tbe  settlers  had  to  grind  their  own  flour 
and  drive  overland  from  Tulare  county  to  Stockton  for  j^rovisions. 
Flour  sold  at  Stockton  at  .$50  a  sack,  and  other  provisions  were 
proportionately   high.     Marshall    Foster    De   Masters    married    Miss 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  729 

Amelia  Ridgeway.  Of  their  children  only  three  survive,  Newton  and 
Stephen  D.,  of  Fresno  county,  and  David  W.  De  Masters  of  Tulare 
coimty. 

Mr.  Lloyd,  father  of  Mrs.  David  W.  De  Masters,  came  to  Cali- 
fornia across  the  plains  in  1850  and  now  at  the  age  of  eighty-five 
years  is  hale  and  hearty.  His  wife,  Eleanor  Coker,  like  her  husband 
a  native  of  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  is  aged  seventy-nine  years.  They  have 
three  daughters  and  one  son  living,  all  natives  of  California.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Llovd  were  married  at  Rough  and  Readv,  Nevada  eountv, 
Cal. 


S.  D.  COCHRAN 

Of  old  Southern  families,  but  of  Irish  and  Scotch-Irish  extrac- 
tion. S.  D.  Cochran  of  Dinuba,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  was  born  in 
Logan  county,  Ky.,  and  lived  there  until  he  was  forty-five  years  old. 
He  is  a  great-grandson  of  Andrew  Cochran,  who  emigrated  from 
County  Down,  Ireland,  when  his  son  Andrew,  grandfather  of  S.  D., 
was  a  child  of  seven  years.  This  was  in  1776  and  in  that  year  they 
settled  in  South  Carolina,  where  the  elder  Andrew  passed  away.  The 
surviving  family  then  removed  to  Kentucky,  settling  in  Logan 
county  in  1804,  and  it  was  in  Kentucky  in  1865  that  the  grandfather, 
Andrew  Cochran,  passed  away  aged  about  ninety-seven  years.  The 
maternal  great-grandfather  of  S.  D.  Cochran,  John  Beatty,  lived  to 
be  ninety  years  old  and  died  in  Kentucky  in  1809 ;  his  daughter 
married  Andrew  Cochran,  and  was  of  Scotch-Irish  ancestry.  John 
B.  Cochran,  father  of  S.  D.,  was  born  in  South  Carolina  and  married 
Mary  Sawyer,  daughter  of  Squire  David  Sawyer,  of  English  descent, 
who  emigrated  from  Pennsylvania  to  Kentucky  in  the  early  years 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  Mr.  Cochran  passed  away  when  his  son 
S.  D.  was  twenty-two  years  old  and  the  latter  took  charge  of  the  old 
homestead. 

S.  D.  Cochran  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  near  his  boy- 
hood home,  but  from  an  early  age  gave  his  attention  to  farming.  In 
187;^  he  married  Harriet  Pierce  Coles,  who  was  born  in  Wilson  county, 
Tenn.,  on  the  bank  of  the  Cumberland  river,  daughter  of  John  Temple 
and  Amanda  K.  (Bandy)  Coles,  both  natives  of  Tennessee.  Mrs. 
Cochran  is  a  member  of  a  most  distinguished  family,  characterized 
for  great  virility  and  longevity.  Her  great-grandmother  (her 
father's  paternal  grandmother),  was  a  Walters  and  a  native  of 
Tennessee  and  lived  to  lie  ninety-six  years  of  age.  Mi's.  Cochran 
had  six  uncles  in  the  Confederate  army.  It  is  of  interest  to  remark 
that  her  parents  had  a  family  of  twelve  children,  all  of  whom  are 


730  Trr.ARE  AND  KL\GS  COUNTIES 

Imno'.  Jolm  'I'l'iiiple  Coles.  Iier  father,  is  descended  from  old  Irisli 
families. 

Twelve  children  were  horn  to  S.  D.  Cochrnn  and  his  wife  as 
follows:  ,lohu  Cowan  was  drowned  in  infancy.  TJohert  Cleland  mar- 
ried Edith  Johnson,  is  a  citizen  of  AVatsonville,  Santa  Cruz  county. 
Cal.,  and  has  three  children.  Temple  Beatty  married  Emma  Clapp, 
has  three  children  and  they  are  living  in  Tulare  county.  Eureka  was 
born  November  12,  1878,  in  Kentucky  on  the  date  of  the  anniversary 
of  her  brother  John  Cowan's  death,  and  she  died  at  her  home  in 
the  year  1910  from  burns  received  from  an  explosion.  Elbert, 
assistant  postmaster  at  Dinuba,  Cal.,  nuirried  Emma  Orrison  of 
Selma,  Cal.,  and  they  have  one  child,  a  son.  Eunice  married  P.  V. 
Carlson  of  Berkeley,  Cal.,  and  they  have  two  children.  Mansou  M. 
is  postmaster  at  Dinuba,  Cal.,  has  been  in  the  government  service 
for  the  past  five  years;  he  married  Miimie  Wiley,  daughter  of  Assem- 
blyman Wiley,  and  they  have  one  child,  a  sou.  Euvie  married  Roy 
W.  Wiley,  a  son  of  Assemblyman  Wiley  and  they  had  one  child,  a 
daughter,  and  live  at  Dinuba.  S.  D.,  .Ji-.,  is  a  farmer  and  resides 
with  his  parents.  Earl  P.  is  a  student  at  the  University  of  Berkeley, 
and  is  taking  a  i)reparatory  course  to  enter  the  Presbyterian  min- 
istry; he  has  held  an  important  government  position.  Eulalia  and 
Willard  arc  members  of  their  parents'  household,  the  former  a  senior 
in  the  high  school,  the  latter  in  the  grammar  school  at  Dinuba. 

When  ]\rr.  Cochran  came  to  Tulare  count \-  in  1892  much  of  the 
best  land,  as  then  im]n'ovod,  could  have  been  Ixuight  at  $100  an  acre, 
a  small  fraction  of  its  market  value  at  this  time.  In  the  school  at 
Dinuba  only  two  teachers  were  employed;  the  number  at  this  time 
is  about  twelve.  In  the  advancement  of  education  and  of  all  other 
local  interests  he  has  been  a  recognized  factor.  While  residing  in 
Kentucky  he  was  twice  elected  to  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace, 
which  office  he  resigned  to  come  to  California,  in  1892.  He  is  an 
elder  in  the  Presbyterian  church  and  a  member  of  the  Grange  at 
Dinuba  and  he  and  Mrs.  Cochran  are  charter  members  of  the  local 
bodv  of  the  Fi'aternal  Brotherhood. 


REV.  J.  R.  COOPER 

On  a  farm  in  Perry  county.  III,  rtfty-tive  miles  from  St.  Louis, 
was  born  J.  R.  Cooper.  He  was  graduated  from  Monmouth  College 
in  1877  and  eventually  entered  the  ministry  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  and  now  lives  near  Dinuba,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  on  rural  free 
delivery  route  No.  2.  His  parents  were  Hugh  and  Eliza  (Despar) 
Cooper,  natives  respectively  of  South  Carolina  and  of  Kentucky,  and 


TULARE  AND  KL\(}S  COUNTIES  731 

he  was  reared  to  laaiiliood  amid  tlie  healthful  .surroundings  of  an 
Illinois  farm.  His  great-grandfather  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary war.  Mr.  Cooi)er  began  his  ministry  at  Solomon,  Kansas, 
and  labored  there  five  years;  his  next  pastorate,  one  of  four  years, 
was  at  Lake  City,  Colorado,  eight  thousand  six  hundred  (8600)  feet 
above  the  sea  level.  Then  he  was  stationed  iiriefly  in  Nebraska ; 
then,  for  three  years,  at  Aztec,  San  Juan  county.  New  Mexico.  Next 
he  labored  a  year  near  the  Mexican  border,  with  head(|uarters  at 
Douglas,  Arizona.  From  this  last  station  he  came  to  Tulare  county 
and  bought  forty  acres  of  land.  He  has  thirty  acres  in  vines  and 
six  acres  planted  to  trees  and  grows  six  acres  of  Grand  Duke  and 
Hungarian  plums  which  bring  a  higli  ])rice  in  the  market.  He  has 
]ilanted  five  acres  to  Rosaki  grajies  for  shipping  puriwses  and  has 
installed  a  ]>umping  plant  with  a  four  horse-power  Holliday  engine, 
by  means  of  which  he  raises  watei-  from  a  depth  of  seventy-five  feet 
for  irrigation  and  domestic  ])urposes,  in  such  volume  that  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  gallons  a  minute  may  l)e  discharged.  Mr.  Coojier's 
many  friends  are  glad  to  be  able  to  testify  that  he  is  making  a  distinct 
success  of  his  venture  in  central  California. 

The  lady  who  became  Mi's.  Cooper  is  of  Scotch  ancestry  and  was 
born  at  Ballymena,  Ireland.  They  have  a  daughter,  Jessie  E..  who 
was  graduated  from  the  Dinuba  high  school  and  has  been  tea<'hiug 
five  years.  The  mother,  who  was  Margaret  (McPherson)  Steel, 
came  comparatively  young  to  the  United  States,  was  educated  at  the 
St.  Louis  Normal  school  and  for  some  time  was  a  teacher  at  a  yearly 
salary  of  $1000.  Her  nephews,  Mathew  and  Richard  Steel,  graduates 
of  the  University  of  New  York  and  Edinburg  (Scotland)  University 
res]3ectively,  have  won  prominence,  the  one  as  a  professor  of  chem- 
istry, the  other  as  a  physician  in  the  Indian  sei-vice.  Mr.  Coo)>er  is 
a  Republican  and  a  citizen  of  notable  public  spirit. 


THE  FIRST  NATIONAL  BANK  OF  VISALIA 

This  important  financial  institution  occupies  its  own  beautiful 
and  substantial  banking  house  at  Main  and  Court  streets,  Visalia, 
where  it  has  every  requisite  for  the  conduct  of  its  large  and  growing- 
volume  of  business.  This  liank  was  organized  and  began  business  in 
181>o.  It  is  capitalized  at  $l.j(J,()UO,  fully  paid  in,  and  has  a  surj)lus 
of  more  than  $40,000.  In  1907  its  increasing  business  demanded  more 
commodious  quarters,  and  the  present  fine  bank  building  was  erected. 
Its  premises  are  spacious,  conveniently  arranged  and  well  lighted, 
and  its  atmosphere  is  one  of  solidity  and  comfoit.  They  ai-e  well 
equipped  for  the  prom]it   handling  of  the  bank's  extensive  business. 


732  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

and  their  facilities  are  at  the  disposal  of  frieuds  and  patrons,  who 
are  cordially  invited  to  raake  use  of  them. 

Included  in  the  list  of  the  officers  and  directors  of  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Yisalia  are  the  names  of  some  of  the  hest  known 
financiers  and  men  of  affairs  of  the  entire  state,  men  of  large  capital, 
interests  and  influence,  who  are  personally  known  to  the  husiness 
community  for  their  individual  integrity  and  for  their  ability  as 
advisers  in  all  matters  in  which  considerable  sums  are  involved  or 
in  which  the  welfare  of  the  i>eople  at  large  is  at  stake.  The  officers 
are  S.  Mitchell,  president;  A.  Levis,  A'ice-president ;  C.  M.  Griffith, 
cashier;  C.  E.  Coughran,  assistant  cashier.  The  directors  are  S. 
Mitchell,  A.  Levis,  N.  0.  Bradley,  W.  E.  Spalding,  D.  G.  Overall,  W. 
L.  Fisher  and  C.  M.  Griffith.  These  men  individually  have  done 
much  for  the  advancement  of  A^isalia  and  Tulare  county.  Mr. 
Mitchell,  the  president,  is  one  of  the  best  and  most  widely  known  of 
western  financiers,  and  besides  his  heavy  financial  interest  in  this 
bank  has  large  investments  in  other  important  business  and  monetary 
institutions.  He  is  president  of  the  Pioneer  Bank  of  Porterville,  the 
First  National  Bank  and  the  Lindsay  Savings  Bank  of  Lindsay,  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Delano  and  the  Producers  Savings  Bank  of 
Visalia.  To  such  officials  and  directors,  to  its  established  reputation 
for  reliability,  to  its  strict  adherence  to  correct  and  conservative 
methods,  is  due  the  high  standing  of  the  First  National  in  business 
circles  both  at  home  and  abroad. 


HOLLEY  &  HOLLEY 

This  is  the  story  of  the  California  success  of  two  Yermonters. 
The  brothers  H.  H.  and  (\  H.  Holley  came  to  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  in 
1889,  and  both  graduated  from  the  ])ublic  schools  of  that  city  and 
from  the  engineering  dei)arlment  of  Stanford  University.  C  H. 
Holley  has  been  a  citizen  of  Yisalia  since  1901,  H.  H.  Holley  since 
1904.  Before  they  went  into  business  for  themselves,  they  were  both 
engineers  for  the  Mount  "Whitney  Power  Company.  It  was  in 
December,  1907.  that  they  opened  an  office  and  began  biasiuess  in 
Visalia  as  civil  and  electrical  engineers. 

In  April,  1911,  H.  H.  Holley  bought  the  real  estate  and  insurance 
business  of  the  Tulare  County  Land  Company.  As  engineers,  their 
principal  business  has  been  the  establishment  of  irrigation  systems, 
pumj^ing  plants  for  subdivision  and  electrical  power  plant.  For 
the  last  two  years  they  have  been  quite  busy  in  the  organization 
and  promotion  of  the  Tulare  County  Power  Company,  an  electrical 
development  for  furnishing  electric  power  for  irrigation  and  lighting. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  73J 

the  main  hydraulic  phiut  for  which  will  be  located  at  (xlol)e,  on  the 
Tule  river,  fourteen  miles  from  Porterville.  They  have  installed 
a  steam  auxiliary  station  at  Tulare  City,  which  is  now  in  successful 
operation.  C.  H.  Ilolley  gives  his  attention  entirely  to  the  electrical 
side  of  the  proposition.  He  has  laud  interests  in  the  county,  among 
them  some  orange  land,  and  a  vineyard  at  Exeter.  H.  H.  Holley  is  a 
meml)er  of  the  Liln-ary  Board  of  Yisalia  and  in  many  ways  both 
have  demonstrated  their  usefulness  as  public-spirited  citizens.  They 
are  widely  known  throughout  the  state  in  a  professional  way  and 
both  are  members  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers.  Hav- 
ing made  an  exhaustive  study  of  land  and  water  conditions  in  Tulare 
county,  they  are  as  well  informed  concerning  them  as  it  is  possible 
for  anyone  to  become,  and  they  otTer  their  clients  the  most  thorough 
and  efficient  service  available. 


JAMES  FISHER 

(Jn  North  Court  street,  N'isalia,  lived  that  venerable  pioneer. 
.Tames  Fisher,  who  watched  and  aided  the  development  of  the  town 
and  of  Tulare  county.  Having  come  to  the  state  in  1857,  he  was  a 
human  landmark  in  local  history  and  until  his  death  a  connecting 
link  between  the  old  order  of  things  and  the  new.  A  son  of  Spencer 
and  Elizabeth  (Henderson)  Fisher,  he  was  born  at  Kaskaskia,  Ran- 
dolph county.  111.,  October  13,  1823,  and  for  many  years  survived  the 
place  of  his  birth,  which  once  was  the  capital  of  Illinois.  Silencer 
Fisher,  son  of  an  Illinois  pioneer,  was  born  and  died  in  that  state. 
His  busy  and  useful  years  were  devoted  to  farming.  Elizabeth 
Henderson,  who  became  his  wife,  was  born  near  Little  Rock,  Ark., 
and  passed  away  in  the  Prairie  State.  They  had  five  children,  of 
whom  James  was  the  longest  survivor.  "Brought  up  on  the  home 
farm,"  says  a  recent  writer,  "he  obtained  his  early  education  in  a 
subscription  school,  whicli  was  held  in  a  log  house  chinked  with  mud, 
and  having  a  puncheon  floor  and  shake  roof.  On  one  of  the  slab 
benches,  near  the  huge  fireplace,  he  was  taught  to  write  with  a  quill 
l)eii.  and  under  the  instruction  of  his  teacher  made  as  good  progress 
in  the  three  'R's'  as  his  schoolmates."  When  he  was  twenty-one.  he 
went  to  Murphysboro,  111.,  wheie  he  found  employment  in  a  store, 
living  at  the  old  hotel  owned  liy  Dr.  Logan,  father  of  Gen.  John  A. 
Logan.  In  1844  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Sbreveport,  La.,  and 
for  some  time  managed  a  ferry,  tlie  i)roperty  of  a  man  named 
Douglas.      Then   going   back    to    Illinois,    he    clerked    in    a    store    at 


734  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Chester  until  1855.  He  was  now  ready  for  a  change  of  scene  and 
of  employment  and  had  contracted  the  "California  fever."  He  came 
out,  with  horses  and  wagons,  by  way  of  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa,  over 
the  old  Mormon  trail,  arriving  at  Millerton,  ("al,  after  half  a  year's 
weary  travel.  He  made  and  fulfilled  a  contract  to  cut  two  million 
feet  of  sawlogs  for  Alexander  Ball,  then  built  three  miles  of  road 
down  the  mountains  from  Ball's  mill.  Later  he  purchased  ox-teams 
of  Ball  and  hauled  lumber  from  the  mill  to  Millerton  and  to  other 
points.  In  the  spring  of  1857  he  moved  to  Visalia,  making  that  town 
the  headquarters  of  his  transpoi'tation  enterprise,  which  he  continued 
about  eighteen  months  thereafter.  His  specialty  was  the  transporta- 
tion of  manufactured  lumber  from  mill  to  market.  He  hauled  loads 
of  three  thousand  feet  with  six  yokes  of  oxen  and  received  $30  a 
thousand  ($90  a  load)  for  a  five  days'  round  trip.  In  the  fall  of 
1858  he  went  to  Sonora,  Mexico,  bought  a  herd  of  branded  cattle  and 
drove  them  back  to  Califoinia,  to  a  place  in  Antelope  valley,  Tulare 
county,  where  he  sold  them  at  a  profit. 

In  18(30,  Mr.  Fisher  bought  two  hundred  acres  of  land  of  R.  L. 
Howison  and  began  the  improvement  of  his  homestead.  As  he 
made  money  he  made  frequent  investments  in  laud  until  he  became 
one  of  the  extensive  property  owners  of  Tulare  couuty.  Three  and 
a  half  miles  northeast  of  Visalia,  in  sections  eleven,  twelve,  fourteen 
and  fifteen,  he  had  thirteen  hundred  acres  under  irrigation  by  means 
of  lillbow  creek  and  St.  John's  river  and  its  canals.  This  property, 
Oaklawn  Ranch,  is  devoted  to  grain  aud  alfalfa.  Pour  miles  further 
north  is  the  stock  farm  of  ten  Imndrcd  aud  twenty  acres.  At 
Taurusa,  two  miles  north  of  Oaklawn  Ranch,  is  a  ranch  of  eiglit 
hundred  acres  which  is  included  in  tlie  holdings,  and  seven  miles  east 
of  Oaklawn  Ranch  is  another  of  twelve  hundred  acres,  which  he  gave 
to  his  son,  William  L.  Fisher.  Besides  his  general  farming,  Mr. 
Fisher  gave  much  attention  to  stockraising  in  the  days  before  tlie 
fence  law  came  into  operation,  having  at  times  twenty  thousand 
sheep.  As  a  stockman  he  was  uncommonly  successful,  owning  manv 
cattle  and  raising  tine  nudes  and  draft  horses. 

The  lady  who  became  the  wife  of  Mr.  Fisher  was  Miss  Mary 
E.  Ilowison,  daughter  of  R.  L.  ITowison,  who  came  to  Visalia  among 
the  pioneers.  They  were  wedded  on  Mr.  Fisher's  own  home  f.-inu.  in 
1860.  Mrs.  Fisher  has  borne  her  husband  three  children :  Mrs. 
Alice  Markham,  who  died  at  Visalia;  Mrs.  I^innie  Bodden  of  Visalia; 
and  AVilliam  Lee  Fisher.  The  Fisher  farm  residence,  one  of  the 
most  hospitable  in  Tulare  county,  was  built  in  1875.  In  his  politics 
Mr.  Fisher  was  a  Democrat.  As  a  citizen,  his  public  spirit  had  been 
many  times  put  to  the  test  and.never  been  found  wanting.  He  died  on 
his  home  ranch  September  18,  191  "2. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES         7:55 

GEORGE  S.  CLEMENT 

In  Allegan  county,  Mich.,  twenty  miles  from  Grand  Rapids, 
George  Stillman  Clement,  a  i^rominent  landowner  and  business  ujan 
of  Porterville,  was  born  October  2',],  1856.  Near  bis  boyhood  home 
he  attended  school,  and  as  the  son  of  a  farmer  he  early  in  life  was 
made  familiar  with  the  duties  connected  with  farm  life.  The  year 
1864  witnessed  the  removal  of  the  family  to  Iowa,  and  from  there  in 
1867  they  moved  still  further  west,  settling  in  Nebraska  and  remain- 
ing there  until  188U.  That  year  fgund  them  once  more  in  Michigan, 
and  they  remained  there  until  1887,  when  they  came  to  C'aliforuia  and 
settled  near  Springville,  Tulare  county.  There  G.  S.  Clement  pre- 
emjited  a  tract  of  government  land  and  from  time  to  time  he  added 
to  this  by  i)urchase.  At  the  time  he  settled  tliere  the  country  was 
wild  and  undeveloped  and  game  was  so  plentiful  that  he  could  easily 
kill  any  number  of  deer  or  bear.  He  has  watched  the  development 
of  this  part  of  California  and  has  assisted  in  it  to  the  extent  of  his 
ability,  having  been  a  member  of  the  school  board  and  identified  from 
time  to  time  with  other  public  interests.  For  a  considerable  period 
he  was  a  well-known  figure  in  the  stock  business  of  the  county,  con- 
tinuing his  residence  near  Springville  until  11)10,  when  he  came  to 
Porterville.  Here  too  he  has  become  well  and  favorably  known  and 
has  purchased  considerable  city  property. 

In  1887,  in  Michigan,  Mr.  Clement  married  Miss  Effie  May  Cronk, 
a  native  of  Michigan,  whose  father  died  in  that  state.  Her  mother 
was  a  member  of  Mr.  Clement 's  household  for  fourteen  years,  or 
until  1912,  when  she  passed  away,  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight.  Mr. 
Clement's  father,  Jacob  Clement,  was  born  in  the  state  of  New  York 
and  died  aged  fifty-four  years.  His  mother,  who  before  her  marriage 
was  Miss  Emily  Gault,  a  native  of  Michigan,  died  when  her  son  was 
about  five  vears  old. 


LYMAN  L.  FOLLETT 

The  well-known  citizen  of  Lenioore,  Kings  county,  Cal.,  whose 
name  is  the  title  of  this  sketcli,  was  born  in  Iowa  in  186!).  a  son  of 
Granville  W.  and  Lucy  (Abel)  P^ollett.  His  father,  a  native  of  Ohio, 
born  Se])tem])er  25.  18.'14,  went  to  Fremont,  Ind.,  when  lie  attained 
his  majority  and  became  a  clerk  in  a  store  there.  Eventually  the 
store  was  bought  by  Dr.  L.  L.  Moore,  who  admitted  liiui  to  partner- 
sliip  in  the  business,  the  association  cojitinuing  until  ]\lr.  Follett 
sold  out  his  interests  in  Indiana  and  went  to  Gi-anville,  Iowa.  There 
he  conducted  a  general  merchandise  business  six  years,  and  during 


736  TULARP]  AND  KIxVGS  COUNTIES 

most  of  that  time  be  also  filled  the  office  of  postmaster.  In  July, 
1875,  he  brought  bis  son,  who  was  in  failing  health,  to  what  is  now 
Kings  county  and  deciding  to  remain  here,  opened  a  store  witliin 
the  boundaries  of  what  is  now  Moore's  addition  to  Lemoore  and 
continued  there  until  1877.  The  railroad  having  been  constructed,  he 
found  a  better  location  on  E  and  Fox  streets,  opposite  the  depot. 
About  that  time  he  and  J.  A.  Fox  and  Dr.  L.  L.  Moore  bought  squat- 
ters' rights  to  the  quarter-section  of  land  which  is  now  the  townsite 
of  Lemoore  and  eventually  the  railroad  bought  their  interests.  For 
a  time  they  raised  alfalfa  where  the  business  of  the  town  is  now 
transacted.  Mr.  Pollett  continued  in  the  mercantile  business  until 
September,  1882,  when  his  store  was  destroyed  by  fire.  From  that 
time  until  1884  he  was  profitably  employed  in  boring  artesian  wells, 
and  from  1884  to  1894  his  principal  business  was  threshing.  In  the 
last-mentioned  year  he  was  elected  county  assessor  of  Kings  county 
and  filled  the  responsible  office  with  ability  and  credit  for  two  terms 
until  he  retired  from  active  life.  He  died  at  the  home  of  his  son, 
Lyman  L.  Follett,  June  11,  1911. 

In  1868,  at  Coldwater,  Mich.,  Granville  W.  Follett  married  Lucy 
Abel,  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  she  bore  him  four  children,  of  whom  Lyman 
L.  was  the  eldest.  The  others  were  Mary  E.,  who  died  in  childhood; 
Carrie  E.,  who  died  in  1877;  and  C.  W.,  born  in  1878,  who  lives  at 
Tuolumne,  Cal.  In  1888  Mr.  Follett  married  Mrs.  Sue  Thacker,  a 
native  of  Tennessee.  Fraternally  he  affiliated  with  the  Chosen 
Friends  and  with  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen. 

It  was  in  July,  1875,  that  Lyman  L.  Follett  came  with  his  father 
to  the  site  of  Lemoore.  He  was  then  about  six  years  old.  He  was 
reared  at  Lemoore  and  educated  in  a  public  school  there  and  in  the 
high  school  at  San  Francisco,  then  took  up  steam-engineering  and 
ran  engines  twenty-two  years  in  stationary  work  as  well  as  in  harvest- 
ing and  similar  operations.  In  1909  he  engaged  in  the  insurance 
business  at  Lemoore  in  connection  with  real  estate  operations  and 
since  then  has  done  much  conveyancing  and  officiated  as  notary 
]iublic.  In  Novembei-,  1911,  he  was  apjiointed  city  clerk  and  sewer 
insj)ector  of  Lemoore.  He  served  as  deputy-assessor  of  Kings 
county  under  his  father  and  was  city  assessor  of  Hanford  in  1900. 
R.  A.  Moore,  of  whom  a  biogra])liical  sketch  appears  in  these  ]iages, 
is  associated  with  him  in  the  real  estate  business.  Mr.  Follett  was 
formerly  a  member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen,  and 
his  social  affiliations  now  are  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World, 
the  Red  Men  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias.  He  married  in  1894  Miss 
Kate  Esery,  a  native  of  California,  a  daughter  of  Jonathan  and 
Sarah  A.  Esery,  and  she  died  in  1908,  after  having  borne  him  .four 
children — Charles  Granville,  La  Verne.  Eileen  and  Ernest.  The 
latter  is  with  his  uncle  at  Tuohmine. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  737 

In  the  municipal  eleotiou  at  Lemoove,  I'Jll,  Mr.  Follett  was 
elected  City  Clerk,  which  office  he  tills  with  entire  credit  to  himself 
and  citv. 


EIJAS   JACOB 

The   flight   of   years   is    mit    likely    soon    to   make    the    people   of 
Tulare  county,  Cal.,  forget  the  late  Elias  Jacob.     He  gave  so  much 
energy  to  the  u])lniilding  of  his  personal   success,  he   won   so   many 
signal  triumphs,  he  did  so  much  for  others,  that  those  who  labored 
side  by  side  with  him  in  the  pioneer  days  of  the  modern  California 
remember  him  with  a   certain  tender  pride  that   is  nothing  short  of 
])ers()nal  mourning.     His  success  meant  the  advancement  of  the  coun- 
try's best  interests,  the  extension  of  all  its  affairs  of  moment,  social, 
l»olitical    and    commercial.      Tie    was    Ixirn    in    Germany,    of    German 
parents,   in  1841.     His  father  was  u  merchant,  and  even  as  a  child 
the  younger  Jacob  knew  something  about  business.     With  a  sturdy 
iudei»endence   that   was   characteristic   of   him,    he   made   his   way   to 
California  when  he  was  only  twelve  years  old,  found  employment  at 
Stockton  in  a  drygoods   store,   and   in  that  position  busied   himself 
till  1856,  about  three  years  after  his  arrival.     He  had  learned  some- 
thing of  American  business  ways.     He  liked  California,  but  wanted 
to  see  more  of  it  before  settling  down  to  a  good  long  struggle  for 
fortune.     He  passed  a  year   at  Millerton,   then  the   seat  of  justice 
of  Fresno  county,  and  then  came  to  Visalia  to  take  charge   of  the 
store  of  his  brother-in-law,   H.   Mitchell.     Mr.   Mitchell   passed   away 
in  1859  and  young  Jacob  became  his  successor  and  enlarged  the  store 
and    continued    the   business    until    1876.      Meantime    he    had    opened 
se\eral  stoi'es  in  dilferent  towns  in  I^resno  and  Tulare  counties,  which 
had  been  successful.    Now,  his  health  having  declined,  he  retired  from 
trade  and  devoted  himself  to  the  aci|uisition  of  land,  and  in  the  years 
following   l)ouglit   about   forty-live   thousand   acres   in   Tulare   county, 
his  largest  single  tract  containing  fifteen  thousand  two  hundi'ed  acres. 
It  is  a  matter  of  most  interesting  farming  history  that  in  some  years 
his  entii'e  acreage  was   sown   to   wheat.     He   imjiroved    his   jn-operty 
with  artesian  wells,  jmlting  down  as.  many  as  eight  on   some  single 
tracts,   using   the   flow   of   water   both   for    iriigation    and    foi-    stock. 
During  his  mercantile  career,   in  the  days   before   he   was   an   exten- 
sive land  ownei',  lie  was  an  enthusiastic  advocate  of  the  opening  up 
of    irrigation    ditches,    and    his    ventures    in    that    way    brought    liim 
manifold   returns,  and   the   lands   he  ac(|uircd   have   grown   very   \al- 
uable  because  of  theii-  ample  watei-  sujijily.     The  stock  on   his   hold 
ings    long    remainci]    intact.      lie    built    iiiaiiy    houses    in    \'isalia,    all 


738  TULARE  AND  KIXGS  COUNTIES 

of  wliioh   beoanie  a   part   of   iiis   estate   when    he   i)assed   away.      lli> 
deatli  occurred  October  1,  1902. 

The  whole  coinmuiiity  appreciated  Mr.  Jacob's  personal  char- 
acteristics, recognizing'  in  him  a  citizen  who  gave  the  best  of  him- 
self for  the  public  advancement.  In  liis  political  afliliations  he  always 
gave  his  support  to  the  men  and  measures  of  the  Democratic  party, 
and  was  one  of  its  most  influential  workers  in  the  county.  Wanting 
no  political  preferment  for  himself,  he  rei)eatedly  refused  such  as 
his  admiring  friends  would  liave  bestowed  upon  him,  at  the  same 
time  i)utting  forth  his  l)est  efforts  to  jiromote  the  principles  he  en- 
dorse! and  to  augment  the  prestige  and  influence  of  his  jjarty  in 
his  part  (tf  the  state.  He  served  for  many  years  as  a  member  of 
the  county  and  state  Democratic  Central  connnittees.  Fraternally,  he 
was  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  and  it  is  a  part  of  the  Masonic  history  of 
Tulare  county  that  he  was  the  orator  of  the  day  on  the  occasion 
of  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  courthouse  at  Visalia  by 
the  Grand  Master  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  California. 


LHWIS  WASHINGTON  HoWLTH 

The  late  and  res])ected  citizen  of  Porterville,  Tulare  county, 
familiarly  known  as  "Luke"  Howeth,  was  born  in  DeKalb  coimty, 
Ala..  June  4,  1837.  a  son  of  Thomas  and  Nancy  Howeth,  natives  of 
the  same  state.  Following  are  the  names  and  -birth  dates  of  their 
other  children:  William,  1818;  Tandy  B.,  1819:  Fletcher,  1820;  Har- 
vey, 1821;  Nelson,  1823;  John  W.,  1821;  Eliza.  1825;  Martha,  1827; 
Sarah,  1828;  Thomas,  1829;  Jefferson,  1831;  Cornelius,  1833;  Cather- 
ine, 1836;"  Byron.  1838,  and  Franklin,  1841.  Nelson,  Jefferson,  Cor- 
nelius and  L.  W.  lived  in  California. 

In  his  native  state  Lewis  Washington  Ilowetli  was  reared  and 
educated  and  under  his  father's  instruction  and  that  of  some  of 
his  elder  brothers,  acquired  a  |)ractical  knowledge  of  farming.  In 
1855,  when  he  was  about  nineteen  years  old.  he  made  an  overland 
journey  to  California  and  mined  in  Inyo  county  until  1860,  when  he 
took  up  farming  in  San  Joa(|uin  county.  From  there  he  went  to 
Tuolumne  county,  thence  to  Sianislaus  county,  and  for  a  time  he 
was  engaged  in  lumbering  in  Mendocino  county.  After  his  mar- 
riage, which  occurred  September  25,  1867.  Mr.  Howeth  removed  to 
'I'uiare  county,  making  his  home  here  until  his  death,  June  9,  1904. 
During  his  residence  here  he  became  one  of  the  most  extensive  sheep- 
men of  the  county  and  he  became  equally  well  known  as  a  tiller  of 
the  soil. 

Fn   maidenhood   Mrs.    Howeth    was    Miss    Sophia    (Gardner,    born 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  739 

in  Jefferson  county.  III.,  April  5,  184:5,  the  daugliter  of  Jacob  and 
Sophia  Gardner,  natives  of  Germany,  who  came  to  the  United  States 
in  1840  and  settled  in  Illinois.  From  there  they  came  to  Califoi-nia 
in  1852  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  They  located  in  Tulare 
county  and  it  was  here,  in  ]8r)8,  that  their  daughter  became  the  wife 
of  John  Ilewey.  lie  died  in  18(14,  leaving  a  widow  and  two  chil- 
dren, Enuua  R.  and  John  \V.  Ilewey.  Mrs.  Hewey's  marriage  to 
Mr.  Howeth  occurred  in  Stockton.  Of  this  marriage  the  following 
children  were  born:  Mary  I^ee,  who  died  in  infancy;  Franklin  J., 
who  was  born  in  18(ii»;  Thomas  A.,  born  in  1871;  Lnc\-  in  1873,  the 
wife  of  H.  ^Y.  Manter  and  the  mother  of  two  ciiildren;  Elizabeth, 
born  in  1876  and  the  wife  of  II.  J.  Thomas;  Edgar  W.,  born  in  187i); 
May,  born  in  1881,  the  wife  of  Roy  Smith  and  the  mother  of  two 
children;  and  Hazel,  born  in  1883,  the  wife  of  Fred  LaBrague  and 
the  mother  of  one  child. 

In  his  political  affiliations  Mr.  Howeth  was  a  Democrat.  Fra- 
ternally he  was  identified  with  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows and  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen.  His  place  in  the 
business  community  is  tilled  in  part  by  his  son,  Thomas  A.  Howeth, 
a  native  of  Stanislaus  county.  The  latter,  who  was  formerly  a  far- 
mer and  merchant,  is  now  handling  real  estate  quite  extensively  at 
Porterville. 


FRANK  P.  SMITH 

At  San  Jose  Mission,  Santa  Clara  county,  Cal.,  P^'rank  P.  Smith 
was  born  in  1852,  a  son  of  Henry  C.  and  Mary  (Harlan)  Smith,  natives 
respectively  of  Michigan  and  Illinois.  His  father  crossed  the  plains 
to  California  in  1845,  witji  Colonel  Hastings,  who  blazed  the  way  for  the 
tide  of  emigration  that  was  to  follow,  a  little  later,  after  the  discovery 
of  gold.  For  a  time  he  was  at  Sutter's  Fort.  He  was  occupied  in  whip 
sawing  lumber  in  the  woods  north  of  Oakland  and  then  went  to  the 
mines  when  the  excitement  was  the  greatest.  In  the  early  days,  when 
Califoi^nia's  capital  was  at  Vallejo,  he  was  three  times  elected  to  repre- 
sent his  district  in  the  legislature,  and  for  some  years  he  was  justice 
of  the  peace  at  the  Mission  of  San  Jose.  As  an  interpreter  of  the 
Spanish  language  he  had,  perhaps,  no  superior  in  all  Calil'oi-nia.  As 
such  he  was  often  called  u))on  to  help  iu  the  settlenu^nt  of  matters  of 
gi'eat  im)iortance.  The  last  yeai-  of  his  life  he  passed  at  Ijivermore, 
Cal.,  where  he  passed  awa>-  in  1S75.  He  h.id  children  as  follows:  Fi'ank 
P.;  Emma,  who  has  tatiglit  s(  liool  at  Livermore  foi-  more  than  thirty 
years;  and  Cluu'les  F.,  of  Richmond.  Cal.  Mrs.  Smith  is  now  living  at 
the  age  of  eighty-six  years,  making  her  home  at  Livermore. 


740  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

It  was  iu  the  original  Contra  Costa  eonuty  tliat  Frank  P.  Suiitli 
grew  to  manhood.  He  engaged  in  ranching  there,  and  after  a  time 
went  to  a  place  near  Cambria,  on  the  Pacific,  in  San  Luis  Obispo 
county,  where  he  began  dairying.  After  twenty  years'  residence  he 
came,  in  1901,  to  Tulare-  county.  For  four  years  he  operated  the 
old  Broder  ranch,  east  of  Visalia,  then  came  to  the  place  that  he  has 
since  owned  and  occupied.  It  is  located  five  miles  west  of  Visalia  and 
comprises  three  hundred  and  fifty-eight  acres,  of  which  a  hundred 
acres  is  in  alfalfa,  twenty  acres  in  Egyptian  corn,  and  the  balance 
in  grazing  and  general  farming  uses.  He  has  a  dairy  of  forty  to 
fifty  cows  and  has  usually  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  hogs.  As  an 
example  of  the  productiveness  of  California  land,  he  says  that  in 
one  year  he  cut  from  eight  acres  of  land  four  tons  of  wheat  hay  and 
then  planted  the  same  land  to  Egyptian  corn  and  produced  a  thousand 
pounds  of  corn  to  the  acre. 

In  1882  Mr.  Smith  married  Miss  Martha  Cha]>pell,  a  native  of 
Gilroy,  Santa  Clara  county,  Cal.,  and  she  has  borne  him  two  sons, 
Henry  C.  and  Charles  L.  In  his  work  he  is  assisted  by  his  sons, 
who  take  an  interest  in  local  affairs  and  are  members  of  Four  Creek 
Lodge  No.  94,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  in  which  Henry  C.  holds  the  office  of  vice- 
grand.  The  father  is  a  Native  Son  of  the  Golden  West.  A  man  of 
enterprise  and  public  spirit,  he  has  in  many  ways  demonstrated  his 
interest  in  the  county  and  its  economic  problems.  His  uncle,  Ira  Van 
Gorden,  was  so  early  a  settler  in  Tulare  county  that  when  lie  came 
he  could  count  the  white  inhabitants  of  the  county  on  the  fingers 
of  his  two  hands. 


WILLIAM  N.  STEUBEN 

The  first  agent  of  the  Wells-Fargo  Express  Co.  at  Visalia,  Tulare 
county,  Cal.,  was  William  N.  Steuben,  a  native  of  New  York,  who 
crossed  the  plains  with  other  pioneers  in  1849,  mined  in  Placer  county 
three  years  and  came  to  Visalia  in  1852.  Soon  he  was  made  agent  of  a 
local  express  company,  called  the  Overland  Stage  Company,  which 
was  later  taken  over  liy  the  Wells-Fargo  company.  His  recollections 
of  tlie  Imsiness  included  the  exi)eriences  of  the  days  wlien  all  exjiress 
matter  came  to  California  iu  the  overland  stages,  guarded  by  sharp- 
shooting  pony  express  riders,  and  of  the  days  of  the  develo])meut  of 
the  express  business  along  modern  lines,  in  which  the  railroad  is  the 
chief  utility.  He  ])assed  away  in  1892.  liaving  lieen  succeeded  as 
agent  long  since  liy  his  son  Zane  Steulieii,  who  was  the  local  represen- 
tative of  the  company  at  Visalia  for  nearly  fifty  years  |)rior  to  his 
death,  which  occurred  on  Washington's  birthday,  1908.  The  elder 
Steuben  took  an  active  interest  in  all  public  affairs  of  the  town,  ]iar- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  741 

ticularly  iu  the  establislaneiit  aud  developmeut  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church,  of  which  he  was  a  devoted  member.  He  married 
]\riss  Katherine  Hamilton,  a  native  of  New  York,  and  tlieir  family 
consi.sted  of:  Zaue  and  Katherine,  married  to  Ned  Hart,  who  in  the 
early  days  was  identified  wdth  the  United  States  land  office  at 
Viscilia;  her  children,  William  N.,  Frank  R.  and  Ned  Hart,  are 
deceased. 

It  was  in  1852  that  Zane  Steuben  came  to  California,  around 
Cape  Horn.  For  a  time  he  mined  at  Placerville;  later  he  became 
his  father's  assistant  in  the  express  office,  and  in  timq  his  successor, 
as  has  been  narrated.  He  married  Mary  Louisa  Elme,,  and  they  had 
four  children :  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Burland,  William  E.,  John  and  Catherine 
H.,  who  died  in  infancy. 

From  the  day  when  the  Wells-Fargo  company  began  to  do  busi- 
ness at  Visalia  to  the  present  time,  the  Steubeus  have  been  in  charge 
of  its  local  affairs.  Something  of  the  administration  of  William  N. 
and  Zane  Steulien  has  been  told.  William  E.  and  Mrs.  Mary  E. 
Burland  are  now  in  charge  of  the  office.  John  Steuben  is  working  for 
the  Central  California  Cannery,  having  the  management  of  the  receiv- 
ing department.  The  history  of  the  Steuben  connection  with  this 
important  interest  for  so  many  years  is  a  history  of  faithfulness  to 
duty  and  of  fidelity  to  all  trusts,  a  history  that  carries  a  lesson  for 
good  to  men  and  women  who  would  succeed  worthily  and  permanently. 


JAMES  SWEENEY 

One  of  the  prosperous  and  highly  respected  fruit  growers  of 
Tulare  county,  Cal.,  is  James  Sweeney,  who  owns  a  fine  ranch  near 
Farmersville.  Mr.  Sweeney  was  born  in  Kentucky  June  10,  1858,  and 
left  home  when  very  young,  working  his  way  here  and  there  aroimd 
the  country.  For  quite  a  while  he  lived  at  Cairo,  111.,  and  later  at  St. 
Louis,  Mo.  His  opportunities  for  schooling  were  limited,  but  he  has 
a  good  fund  of  practical  information,  which  he  gained  in  the  "college 
of  hard  knocks,"  aud  which  he  finds  very  useful  in  various  cTuer- 
gencies. 

In  1890  Mr.  Sweeney  came  to  California  and  for  some  time 
worked  for  wages  on  the  John  Jordan  peach,  prune  and  gra]ie  ranch 
of  eighty  acres  near  Hanford,  Kings  county,  which  he  later  rented  and 
operated  for  twelve  years.  He  came  to  his  i^roductive  ranch  of  one 
hvmdred  and  ten  acres  near  Farmersville,  in  1902.  It  was  formerly 
the  property  of  R.  E.  Hyde  aud  is  one  of  the  best  improved  farms  in 
the  vicinity.  He  owns  a  tract  of  twenty  acres  near  by  and  two  town 
blocks  in  Farmersville.     On   his   landi   he   has   four   hundred   apricot 


742  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

trees,  three  acres  of  Tragedy  Freuch  primes,  ten  acres  of  Laval  peach 
trees  and  three  acres  each  of  orange  clingstone,  Muir  and  Siis- 
qnehanna  ])eaclies,  and  has  recently  set  out  eighteen  acres  of  French 
and  Rolie  De  Sargent  prune  trees.  Besides  he  has  thirty  acres  in 
alfalfa  and  keeps  hogs,  turkeys  and  a  dairy  of  twelve  cows. 

The  woman  who  liecame  Mr.  Sweeney's  wife  was  Miss  Bridget 
Sweeney,  of  the  same  name,  a  native  of  Missouri,  who  has  borne  him 
nine  children,  viz.:  Timothy.  Albert.  Nora,  John,  Mary,  Dorothy. 
Michael.  Maggie  and  Viola.  As  a  farmer  Mr.  Sweeney  is  thoroughly 
up-to-date  and  in  all  his  plans  and  work  ]irogressive.  His  jilace 
is  well  improved  and  outfitted  with  good  buildings,  modern  machin- 
ery and  appliances  and  every  essential  to  its  successful  cultivation. 
As  a  citizen  he  takes  an  interest  in  all  affairs  of  the  commimity  and 
extends  public  spirited  aid  to  every  movement  for  the  general  benefit. 


JESSE    A.    THOMAS 

Among  the  progressive  farmers  of  his  vicinity  is  Jesse  A. 
Thomas,  whose  father,  Dewbart  W.  Thomas,  was  a  native  of  Illinois; 
his  mother,  Clarinda  (Harrell)  Thomas,  was  born  in  Texas.  Jesse  A. 
Thomas  was  born  January  29,  1868,  near  Visalia,  Tulare  county,  Cal. 
In  1849  Dewbart  ^Y.  Thomas  cros.sed  the  plains  to  California  and  for 
a  little  while  mined  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state.  Then  he  came 
to  the  Four  Creek  section  of  Tulare  county,  and  some  time  in  the 
early  fifties  liought  eighty  acres  of  land  on  which  he  established  him- 
self as  a  farmer.  Later  he  took  up  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of 
government  land,  which  he  improved  during  the  succeeding  eight 
years,  devoting  it  to  the  breeding  of  cattle  and  horses.  He  passed 
away  in  1888,  leaving  seven  children:  Alexander,  Jesse  A..  Mrs. 
Nancy  Hicks,  Sarah  Janie,  Frances,  Weiley  D.  and  Carrie. 

Reared  and  educated  in  Tulare  county,  Jesse  A.  Thomas  liegan 
his  active  life  as  a  farmer  in  association  with  his  father,  and  after 
the  latter 's  death  managed  the  home  farm  three  years.  He  then 
rented  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land  north  of  Visalia,  on 
which  he  has  won  success  as  a  farmer  and  dairyman,  maintaining 
a  dairy  of  sixty-seven  cows  and  growing  much  alfalfa.  He  now  owns 
eighty  acres  of  grazing  laud  on  Cottonwood  Creek  and  another 
eighty  acres  three  miles  southeast  of  Visalia.  Thirty  acres  of  the 
latter  tract  he  devotes  to  Egyptian  corn,  of  which  he  lias  marketed 
ten  sacks  to  the  acre.  He  keeiis  about  fifty  head  of  cattle  and  as 
many  hogs  and  is  at  this  time  ])lanting  jieach  trees  on  fifteen  acres. 

In  1889  Mr.  Tiionms  married  Miss  Mattie  F.  De  Pew,  a  native 
of  Iowa,  and  they  have  had  these  children :  Lawrence  L..  Hazel  L.. 
Dollie  N..  Augusta  and  Jessie  F.     Dollie  N.  has  passed  away.     Fra- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  74:! 

tcnially  Mr.  Thomas  affiliates  with  V\nn-  Creek  Lodge,  No.  !»-t,  liide- 
peiulent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  ami  with  the  Foresters  of  America. 
As  a  man  of  enterprise  he  is  making  a  distinct  personal  success,  and 
as  a  man  of  puhlic  s])irit  he  is  promjit  and  generous  in  the  aid  of 
movements  i)roi)osed  for  the  good  of  the  community. 


JOHN   W.    WILLIAMS 

One  of  the  well-rememhered  citizens  of  Msalia,  Tulare  county, 
of  the  period  including  the  latter  part  of  the  last  and  the  ojiening 
year  of  the  jn-esent  century  was  John  W.  Williams,  who  was  horn  in 
South  CaroHna  and  who  died  at  Visalia,  his  busy  and  useful  life  hav- 
ing spanned  the  period  beginning  December  12,  1830,  and  ending 
October  12,  1!»()L  lie  came  to  California,  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  in  1S5;!,  and  went  to  the  mines  of  Tuolumne  county,  where 
he  met  with  various  degrees  of  success  and  failure.  In  1859  he 
located  near  Porterville,  Tulare  county,  where  he  divided  his  time  for 
some  years  lietween  farming  and  the  superiutendency  of  the  Tule 
River  Indian  reservation.  It  is  a  matter  of  local  horticultural  history 
that  he  planted  the  tirst  fig  tree  near  Porterville.  Later  in  life  he 
was  interested  in  sheep  raising  in  the  mountains.  The  ])ioneer  days  of 
this  comparatively  early  settler  were  full  of  the  vicissitudes  of  life 
on  the  border  and  in  the  mines.  His  skirmishes  with  Indians  were 
frequent  and  some  of  them  would  make  interesting  reading  were  he 
here  to  supply  the  details.  In  1862  he  went  to  Sacramento,  where  he 
had  a  band  of  horses,  and  the  animals  were  all  lost  in  the  flood  of 
that  year.  Thus  suddenly  and  providentially  impoverished,  he  made 
his  way  back  to  Tulare  county  and  made  his  home  in  Visalia,  where 
he  held  the  office  of  city  marshal  twelve  years.  He  jiroved  himself 
the  man  for  the  jtlace  and  the  time  l)y  ridding  the  town  of  a  rough 
and  lawless  element  that  had  so  intimidated  former  nuirshals  that 
not  a  man  of  them  had  stuck  to  the  office  after  real  ojjposition  set  in. 
Later  he  was  de]iuty  sheriff  two  years  under  Sheriff  Parker  and  four 
years  under  Sheriff  Kay,  ]ierforming  the  duties  of  the  jiosition  with 
characteristic  l)ravery  and  fidelity. 

The  lodge  of  Free  and  Acce]ited  Masons  included  Mr.  Williams  in 
its  membership,  lie  manied  Julia  Storey  in  LSfi,').  Flcr  i)areuts, 
Fari'is  and  Addla  C.  (Johnson)  Storey,  were  natives  of  Geoi'gia. 
Mrs.  Storey  (bed  in  her  native  state,  and  Mr'.  Storey  brought  his 
child  Julia  to  California  in  1852,  making  the  journey  by  wav  of 
Panama.  After  having  been  for  several  years  engaged  in  stock-raising 
in  the  Santa  Claia  valley  and  later  near  Los  Angeles,  he  located 
at  'N'isalia  in  1857.  continuing  in  the  stock  business.  In  18H0  he  was 
put  in  (•omiiiaiid  of  a  local  company  in  Nevada  which  engaged  in  war- 


744  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

fare  agaiust  ]iredatory  Indiaus,  and  lie  was  killed  while  leading  bis 
men  in  a  fight.  Thus  he  yielded  his  life  in  defense  of  the  settlers. 
Storey  county,  Nevada,  was  named  in  his  honor.  Mrs.  Williams  has 
one  son,  J.  Fred  Williams,  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Williams  &  Butz, 
Visalia.  He  married  Miss  Nellie  Jones  and  they  have  two  sons, 
Farris  W.  and  Storey  F.  As  his  pioneer  ancestors  were  leaders  in 
their  time,  so  is  he  in  his,  alive  to  the  business  possibilities  of  this  ])art 
of  the  state  and  solicitous  for  the  development  and  advancement  of  all 
its  important  interests.  The  widow  of  John  AV.  Williams  is  passing 
her  declining  years  in  the  town  where  he  won  some  of  his  greatest 
triumphs,  cheered  by  loving  relatives  and  welcomed  everywhere  by 
a  wide  circle  of  admiring  friends. 


ROBERT  McADAM 

One  of  the  most  splendid  cxam]>les  of  the  self-made,  self- 
reliant  and  jiersevering  men  who  are  now  numbered  among  the 
prosperous  and  successful  operators  in  California  is  Robert  Mc- 
Adam,  whose  wide  interests  and  signal  success  in  his  undertakings 
have  marked  him  conspicuously  in  many  localities  in  the  common- 
wealth. He  is  well  and  favorably  known  to  the  ]ieople  of  Tulare 
county  as  the  promoter  and  ]iart  owner  of  the  celebrated  McAdam 
ranches,  which  are  situated  five  miles  west  of  the  city.  Mr.  McAdam 
is  a  native  of  the  north  of  Ireland,  his  birth  occurring  September  27, 
1851,  in  County  Mayo,  son  of  Samuel  and  Eliza  (Henderson)  Mc- 
Adam, both  of  whom  were  nati^■es  of  Scotland. 

The  McAdam  was  a  very  ])r(>minent  family  in  County  Maj'o, 
where  they  followed  farming  and  milling  and  liecame  land  owners. 
In  1855  Samuel  A[(Adam  with  his  family  immigrated  to  Huron 
county,  Ontario,  Canada,  and  here  in  the  year  following  the  mother 
passed  away,  leaving  a  family  of  four  children:  James,  who  is  men- 
tioned more  fully  elsewhere  in  this  volume;  Robert;  Sidney,  who 
became  the  wife  of  Robert  Wright,  lived  in  Michigan  and  died  at 
the  age  of  forty  years,  leaving  one  child;  and  Mary,  who  became 
the  wife  of  John  Jordan  and  died  at  her  home  in  Toronto,  Canada, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  leaving  two  children.  Samuel  McAdam 
married  for  his  second  wife  Mrs.  Sarah  (Wiggins)  White,  of  Canada 
and  by  her  had  seven  sons,  viz.:  William  (deceased),  Alfred,  Ste- 
phen, Samuel,  David,  Joseph  (deceased),  and  Charles. 

Robert  McAdam,  son  of  Samuel,  was  aliout  four  years  of  age 
when  brought  from  Ireland  to  Canada.  The  loss  of  the  mother 
at  a  tender  age  jiroved  a  great  hardslii]>  and  when  but  seven  years 
of  age  he  was  ol)liged  to  take  an  active  pait  in  the  work  of  pioneer- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  745 

ing,  swinging  the  ax  and  working  in  the  forests  clearing  hind  for 
many  long  hours.  It  is  difficult  to  realize  in  this  day  that  such 
labor  and  long  hours  could  l)e  withstood  l)y  such  a  small  boy,  who, 
dejirived  of  leisure  hours  and  the  many  games  and  diversions  which 
go  to  cheer  the  heart  of  a  boy,  was  instead  forced  to  live  the  life 
of  a  laborer  and  become  inured  to  the  hardest  kind  of  work.  While 
he  used  the  ax  and  handspike  his  education  was  of  necessity  neg- 
lected and  as  the  schools  were  not  modern  or  well  equipped  be  had 
little  op])ortunity  to  obtain  a  thorough  training.  However,  by  nat- 
ural ability,  close  observation  and  attending  diligently  to  good  read- 
ing he  became  well  informed  and  his  wide  and  many  experiences 
have  been  the  most  able  teacher  he  has  ever  had.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-three  Mr.  McAdam  married  Miss  Mary  Elizabeth  Gemmill, 
of  Canada,  and  six  years  later  they  removed  to  Pembina  county,  Da- 
kota territory,  where  they  remained  for  nine  years,  successfully 
farming  a  tract  of  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  especially  in  wheat. 
Selling  their  place  they  went  to  St.  Martins  Parish,  Louisiana,  where 
Mr.  McAdam  accepted  a  position  as  manager  for  the  Huron  Plan- 
tation, a  large  sugar  plantation  of  eight  thousand  acres,  owned  by 
an  English  syndicate,  and  under  his  able  su]>ervision  the  business 
])rospered,  a  retinery  was  built  at  a  cost  of  $800,000  and  the  enter- 
prise rapidly  advanced.  Finding  that  the  climate  there  did  not  agree 
with  him  he  came  to  Pasadena,  Cal.,  in  May,  1892,  buying  thirteen 
acres  of  orange  grove  for  which  he  paid  $6,000,  and  this  he  sold 
eighteen  years  later  at  a  good  i)rotit.  Meanwhile  he  had  become  the 
owner  of  a  two-huudred-acre  ranch,  seventeen  miles  southeast  of 
Los  Angeles,  which  he  sold  in  1904  and  then  came  to  Tulare  county 
to  purchase  sixteen  hundred  acres,  five  miles  west  of  Tulare  which 
he  has  improved  and  developed  until  it  is  now  one  of  the  best  of  its 
kind  in  the  state.  A  further  mention  of  this  ranch  ]iroperty  is  given 
in  this  volume  imder  the  name  of  the  McAdam  Ranches. 

Eleven  children  were  born  to  Robert  McAdam  and  wife,  three 
of  whom  died  in  childhood.  Of  those  surviving  we  mention  the  fol- 
lowing: Isabelle,  jn-incipal  of  the  Linda  Vista  schools,  is  the  widow 
of  John  McAli)ine,  and  has  a  daughter,  Catherine.  Annie  is  a  senior 
in  the  University  of  Southern  California  at  Los  Angeles.  Frank  S. 
is  mentioned  elsewhere  in  this  iiublication  as  is  also  his  brother 
William  J.  Grace  is  attending  a  private  school  at  Pasadena.  Robert 
anil  Fred  are  students  at  the  high  school  at  Pasadena.  Helen  is 
in  the  grammar  school  there.  About  two  years  ago  Mr.  McAdam 
became  interested  in  mining.  He  is  the  owner  of  the  Castle  Dome 
Silver  and  Lead  mines  in  Yuma  county,  Ariz.,  and  it  has  alread;^ 
been  bi'ought  uj)  to  a  paying  proposition;  with  the  splendid  energy 
of  Mr.  McAdam  united  with  that  of  his  two  sons.  AVilliam  ,].  and 
Frank  S.,  the  present  managers,  the  mines  bid  fair  to   become  one 


74(5  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

of  the  great  dividend  payers  of  Arizona.  Mr.  MeAdani  is  also  in- 
terested in  a  gold  mine  at  Goldtield,  Nev.,  and  one  at  Kingman. 
Ariz.  In  fraternal  circles  he  affiliates  with  the  Masons,  is  a  Knight 
Templar,  member  of  the  blue  lodge,  chapter,  commandery  and  Scottish 
rite.  The  family  are  members  of  the  Lincoln  Avenue  Methodist  Epis- 
copal church  at  Pasadena,  where  tliey  make  their  home  at  No.  76(5 
No.  Orange  Grove  avenue,  surrounded  by  many  well-wishing  friends 
who  have  come  to  appreciate  their  gentle  and  kindly  ways,  their 
unfailing  hospitable  welcome  and  their  generous,  thoughtful   living. 


JAMES  McADAM 

The  McAdam  family  of  which  James  McAdam  is  a  member  num- 
bers among  its  representatives  some  of  the  l)est,  most  reliable  and 
active  citizens  of  the  state  of  California,  their  interests  being  mostly 
in  Tulare  county  and  throughout  southern  California.  James  Mc- 
Adam, whose  residence  is  now  No.  1248  East  Colorado  street,  Pasa- 
dena, is  a  native  of  Ireland,  having  been  born  in  County  Mayo, 
March  17,  1849,  son  of  Sanniel  and  P]liza  (Henderson)  McAdam,  of 
whom  more  extensive  mention  is  made  in  the  biograi)hy  of  Robert 
McAdam  elsewhere  in  tliis  publication. 

Coming  to  Canada  in  1855  with  his  i)arents,  here  the  next  year 
his  beloved  mother  passed  away,  leaving  her  sons  to  face  the  battle 
of  life  together  with  two  sisters  who  have  married  and  passed  away. 
Like  his  brother,  Robert,  Mr.  McAdam  had  few  educational  advan- 
tages, but  was  comi)elled  while  still  a  young  child  to  assume  the 
duties  of  hai-d  and  arduous  toil,  which  though  beyond  his  strength 
and  years  served  later  to  create  in  him  the  strong  character,  inflexible 
will  and  unswerving  courage  for  which  he  is  known.  In  1884  he  re- 
moved to  Pembina  county,  Dakota  territory,  and  with  little  or  no 
capital  he  began  to  work  for  himself  and  after  three  years  had  fully 
paid  for  a  hundred  and  sixty-acre  wheat  farm  which  was  located 
about  three  miles  from  a  railroad  station.  Selling  his  holdings  there 
in  1894  he  came  to  Pasadena  and  immediately  purchased  property 
which  he  imi)roved  and  sold,  buying  more  and  entering  the  real 
estate  business  which  has  increased  until  he  today  is  i-eputed  to  be 
one  of  the  prosperous  men  of  Pasadena.  He  is  the  owner  of  a  quar- 
ter block  of  business  buildings  there,  located  on  East  Colorado  street, 
which  is  estimated  at  .$(!(),( )0().  His  interest  in  the  dairy  I'anch  in 
Tulare  county  is  large  and  he  has  given  close  attention  to  all  his 
property  with  a  view  toward  impro\-ement  and  bringing  it  to  the 
best  state  possible.  A  clear-headed,  keen-sighted  Imsiness  man,  who 
has    attained    success    largely    through    his    straightforward,    honest 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  747 

manner  of  dealing,  he  lias  ever  displayed  sagacious  judgment  in  his 
operations,  and  he  is  a  thorough,  practical  worker  in  every  line  he 
undertakes. 

Mr.  McAdani  l^ecame  interested  in  Tulare  county  i)ro]ierty  in 
1910,  when  he  purchased  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  seven  miles 
west  of  Tulare.  He  has  improved  this  place  by  erecting  three  barns 
thereon,  44x60  feet  in  dimensions,  with  cement  floors  and  stanchions 
of  the  most  modern  kind.  In  his  dairy  business  every  i)recaution  is 
taken  to  promote  the  most  extreme  cleanliness,  the  most  modern 
methods  being  used.  Three  irrigating  electric  pumping  jilants  have 
been  installed  and  every  improvement  is  made  toward  developing 
the  land.  He  is  a  great  believer  in  the  fertile  San  Joaquin  valley  as 
a  splendid  field  for  dairying  purposes  and  the  handling  of  stock. 
In  spite  of  his  meager  educational  advantages  he  has  become  a 
well-posted  man  through  wide  reading  and  .study  and  he  is  looked 
upon  as  an  authority  on  many  subjects  of  the  day,  his  most  pleas- 
ing characteristics  lieing  his  modesty  and  generosity  to  aid  others  in 
whatever  manner  is  in  his  power.  He  believes  in  intelligence  coupled 
with  ability  and  industry  and  has  no  time  for  drones. 

In  187.'!  James  McAdam  was  married  in  the  county  of  Huron, 
Canada  West,  near  Toronto,  to  Miss  Mary  Ann  Musgrove.  They 
have  two  adopted  children  to  whom  they  have  given  loving  care, 
Pearl,  who  is  now  seventeen  years  of  age,  and  Edith,  eight  years  of 
age.  Mr.  McAdam  is  a  Mason,  being  a  member  of  the  Masonic  lodge, 
No.  272,  Pasadena,  and  is  also  a  devout  attendant  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian church,  of  which  his  family  also  are  members.  A  great 
admirer  of  William  Jennings  Bryan,  for  whom  he  has  voted  for 
Pr^-sident  three  times,  he  followed  his  politics  as  far  as  national 
atfairs  are  concerned.  While  evincing  the  greatest  interest  in  civic 
affairs  he  has  never  sought  public  oflice,  choosing  to  fill  the  dutie-;  of 
p  private  citizen  with  conscientious  effort. 


HERMAN  T.  MILLER 

Herman  T.  Miller,  city  attoi'iiey  of  Msalia,  of  Plxeter  and  of 
liindsay,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  is  a  native  son  of  Tulare  county,  having 
Iteen  born  in  Visalia  in  1874.  His  father,  Artelius  ().  Miller,  a  con- 
tractor and  builder,  came  to  \'isalia  in  1858  and  died  there  in  1888, 
after  a  career  of  success  and  honor.  Mr.  Miller  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  and  the  high  school  of  Visalia  so  far  as  his  ('ducation 
was  |)ossible  in  those  eflicient  institutions,  was  gra<Iuat('(i  from  the 
Universitv  of  California   in   1S!)I»  and   from   the  Universitv  of  Miclii- 


748  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

can  at  Ann  Arbor,  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws,  in  1901. 
lietiirning  to  Visalia  he  has  prospered  as  a  general  practitioner  and 
become  well  known  throughout  the  state  as  the  head  of  the  legal 
departments  of  the  three  cities  mentioned.  He  became  city  attorney 
of  Visalia  in  1902  and  the  Exeter  and  Lindsay  appointments  followed. 
On  December  11,  1907,  Mr.  Miller  married  Miss  Blanche  Hewel, 
a  native  of  California,  and  a  daughter  of  the  Hon.  A.  Hewel,  for- 
jnerly  judge  of  the  Superior  court  of  Stanislaus  county,  and  their 
daughter,  Arabella  E.,  was  born  June  10,  1910.  Mr.  Miller  is  an  Elk, 
a  Mason  and  a  Shriner.  As  a  citizen  he  is  influential  and  ])ul)lic- 
spiriti'd. 


MERRITTE  T.  MILLS 

In  Sacramento  county,  Cal.,  Merritte  T.  Mills  was  born  January 
13,  1853,  a  son  of  AVilliam  H.  and  Louisa  (Lawless)  Mills,  natives 
res]iectfully  of  Georgia  and  Missouri.  The  father  crossed  the  plains 
in  1849,  with  an  ox-team  outfit  that  consumed  six  months  in  making 
the  journey.  After  mining  some  time  in  Calaveras  county  he  located 
in  Tulare  county,  two  miles  southeast  of  Visalia,  late  in  1853,  and 
later  took  up  a  quarter-section  of  land  nearby,  where  he  was  for 
ten  years  engaged  in  the  cattle  business.  Disposing  of  that  interest 
finally  in  1874,  he  located  near  Lindsay,  where  he  farmed  during 
the  ensuing  ten  years.  Then  he  returned  to  the  timber  belt,  locating 
near  the  place  of  his  first  settlement,  and  there  he  and  his  good 
wife  lived  out  their  days  and  passed  to  their  reward.  Of  their  chil- 
dren Merritte  T.  and  William  H.  survive. 

Since  his  father  passed  away,  Merritte  T.  Mills  has  been  ranch- 
ing on  his  own  account.  For  a  time  he  operated  one  hundred  and 
fifty  acres  on  the  i)lains  in  the  neighborhood  of  Lindsay,  and  during 
the  last  six  years  he  has  conducted  his  present  ranch  of  forty  acres 
with  much  success.  At  this  time  he  has  twelve  acres  in  prunes 
and  twenty  acres  in  peaches  of  the  following-named  varieties:  Phil- 
lips clingstones,  Muirs,  Susquehannas,  Fosters,  Tuscan  clingstones, 
and  early  Alexanders.  These  trees  were  all  planted  by  his  own  hands, 
and  though  his  orchard  is  only  seven  years  old  it  has  produced  good 
crops.  His  prunes  are  of  the  French  variety  and  in  1911  he  sold 
ninety-five  tons  of  them.  The  soil  of  his  ranch  is  rich,  his  irrigation 
facilities  are  good  and  the  jilace  is  in  every  way  well  adapted  to 
jarune  and  peach  culture.  Some  of  his  acreage  is  devoted  to  alfalfa. 
He  has  about  eighty  hogs  of  the  Jersey  Red  variety  and  a  dairy  of 
eighteen  cows. 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  749 

The  woman  who  became  Mr.  Mills's  wife  was  Miss  May  \'an 
Loan,  a  native  of  Wisconsin,  and  she  has  borne  him  eight  children: 
Lula  B.,  Elizabeth,  Eussell,  Howard,  Roy,  Neva,  Ford  and  Eva.  As 
a  citizen,  Mr.  Mills  is  public-spirited,  devoted  to  the  l)est  interests 
of  the  conmumity. 


ROBEET  NULL 

The  first  day  of  July,  18o5,  Robert  Null  was  born  in  Jefferson 
county,  Mo.  He  received  a  limited  couunon  school  education  and 
when  he  was  nineteen  years  old,  which  was  in  185J-,  he  crossed  the 
plains  to  California  with  neighl)ors  named  McVay  and  Nelson.  Their 
party  had  but  three  wagons,  Init  there  were  larger  parties  before 
and  behind  them  and  four  hundred  head  of  cattle  were  driven  on 
ahead.  They  came  by  way  of  the  North  Platte,  the  Sublett  cutoff  and 
the  sink  of  the  Humboldt,  crossing  the  mountains  east  of  the  Amer- 
ican valley,  and  eighty  head  of  their  cattle  fell  victims  to  alkali. 
Indians  menaced  but  never  really  molested  them.  Six  months  after 
their  departure  from  Missouri  they  arrived  at  Marysville,  Cal.,  and 
began  mining  on  Nelson's  creek,  where  Mr.  Null  op.erated  eight  years. 
Then  he  fell  ill  of  mountain  fever  and  went  south  to  recuperate. 
He  worked  a  year  on  a  ranch,  then  returned  to  mining,  operating 
at  Diamond  mine  and  at  Gold  Hill  for  a  year  with  good  success. 
Then,  following  false  lures,  he  and  others  tried  to  find  mythical  mines 
in  one  place  and  another  until  he  became  discouraged  and  went  to 
Oregon,  where  he  lived  until  1884.  Then  he  took  sixty  head  of  horses 
to  Kansas.  He  bought  them  at  $10  a  head  and  sold  them  there  at 
$50  to  $60  a  head,  making  consideral)le  money.  He  returned  to  Cali- 
fornia in  December,  1892.  He  bought  eighty  acres  of  land  a  mile 
and  a  half  north  of  Traver,  where  he  now  lives,  and  has  since  made 
further  purchases.  He  has  twenty  acres  in  alfalfa  and  is  conducting 
a  dairy,  having  a  goodly  number  of  cows  and  twelve  head  of  young- 
heifers,  his  cows  yielding  him  a  profit  of  $75  each  per  annum.  Four 
horses  are  required  on  his  ranch  and  he  has  a  flock  of  al)()ut  one 
hundred  turkeys. 

Politically,  Mr.  Null  is  a  Socialist.  In  his  religious  affiliation 
he  is  a  Methodist.  He  married  Miss  Mary  Jane  AVarmoth,  a  native 
of  Grundy  county.  Mo.,  and  a  daughter  of  John  and  Mary  Jane  ( ( 'ol- 
lins)  Warnioth.  Mr.  Warnioth  crossed  the  jilains  with  his  family  in 
18(51.  Following  are  the  names  of  ten  children  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Null:  .lolm  D.,  Robert  Lee,  Mai'y  Ellen,  Nancy  J.,  Louisa,  T.  Oscar, 
Richard,  Alvin    15.,  Cynthia   and   Anna   B.     John   D.   married   Bertha 


750  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Tarr,  and  they  live  in  Tnlare  county.  Robert  Lee  married  Mrs. 
Anna  Banty.  Mary  Ellen,  now  Mrs.  Lee,  has  four  children,  Lilly 
M.,  Mary  Z.,  James  W.,  and  Ru])y  E.  Nancy  J.  married  Allen  An- 
derson, has  borne  him  five  cjiildren,  Robert  L.,  Alfred,  Mary  E., 
Vernon  and  Leland,  and  they  live  near  Orosi.  Louisa  married  Wil- 
liam Crawford  and  they  have  children  named  Robert  R.,  Aaron, 
Winnie  M.  and  Mary  E.  T.  Oscar  married  Lily  Mullis;  they  have 
a  daughter  uamed  Mary  F.  and  live  near  Orosi.  Cynthia  married 
A.  R.  Thompson  and  resides  at  Hanford;  they  have  two  children, 
Harold  and  Helen.  Richard  and  Alvin  are  unmarried.  Anna  B. 
became  the  wife  of  Edward  Hayes  and  has  borne  him  a  son,  Robert 
Earnest,  and  is  living  in  Tulare  county. 


GEORGE  W.  POLLOCK 

In  Washington  county,  Ind.,  George  W.  Pollock  was  born,  Feb- 
ruary 7,  1856.  He  was  reared  among  rural  surroundings  and  gained 
such  education  as  was  available  to  him  by  attendance  at  the  schools 
taught  near  his  boyhood  liome.  He  was  brought  u])  to  useful  work 
and  thus  prepared  to  make  his  way  in  the  world. 

When  young  Pollock  left  his  native  state  it  was  to  go  into  the 
neighboring  state  of  Illinois.  After  a  stay  of  two  years  there  he 
came,  in  1S80,  to  Califoi-nia  and  settled  northeast  of  Stockton,  where 
he  lived  and  labored  with  more  or  less  success  for  six  years.  From 
there  he  came  to  Tulare  county  and  found  em]>loyment  with  the 
Comstock  people,  operating  sawmills  in  the  mountains.  Thus  he 
busied  himself  six  years,  then  he  rented  a  hundred  and  twenty  acres 
of  land  four  miles  east  of  Visnlia.  and  farmed  for  two  years,  raising 
wheat,  barley,  alfalfa  and  stock.  His  next  venture  was  on  more 
rented  land,  this  time  two  and  a  half  miles  south  of  Goshen,  the  old 
Tom  Coughran  ranch,  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  rich  soil,  which 
produced  for  him  alfalfa  and  stock.  There  he  remained  eight  years, 
making  some  money  and  learning  a  good  deal  aliout  California  farm- 
ing and  stock-raising.  In  1907  he  bought  the  sixty  acres  which 
constitute  his  home  farm,  on  which  he  has  usually  about  two  hun- 
dred hogs  and  raises  considerable  fruit.  Twenty-five  acres  of  his 
land  is  in  alfalfa.  Looking  back  on  his  life  thus  far  Mr.  Pollock 
sees  in  it  a  record  of  u))s  and  downs,  but  the  ui)s  have  been  more 
permanent  than  the  downs,  and  gradually,  as  all  good  things  are 
accomplished,  he  has  gone  forward  to  greater  and  still  greater  suc- 
cess. He  counts  his  exjjerience  as  one  of  work  and  rewards,  and  tries 
to  forget  the  obstacles  he  has  had  to  overcome. 

In    1893    Mr.    Pollock    married    Margaret    Preston,    of    ^Missouri 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  751 

birtli,   who  lias    ln)riie    liiiu    toiii'   cliiklren :      Ereal,    Kita,    Cieorge   aucl 

Elizabeth.  Socially  he  is  a  Woodman  of  the  World.     As  a  citizen 

he    has    in  minieions    instances    demonstrated    an    ailmirahle    jniblic 
spirit. 


DANIEL    WOOD 

A  native  of  the  Emjiire  State,  at  one  stage  of  our  national 
development  a  mother  of  pioneers,  Daniel  Wood  went  early  to  Wis- 
consin, whence,  in  1849  he  came  across  the  plains  to  California  as 
a  member  of  a  party  of  thirteen  whose  experiences  during  their  six 
months '  journey  were  perilous  and  painful  in  the  extreme.  Once-  they 
were  obliged,  in  the  desert,  to  burn  some  of  their  wagons  for  fuel, 
and  a  few  of  the  party  died  of  cholera.  After  his  arrival  in  Cali- 
fornia, Mr.  Wood  went  into  the  mines  at  Hangtown,  where  flour  was 
.$50  a  sack,  one  onion  cost  H^.'!,  and  eggs  readily  brought  $1  each.  Of 
course  it  will  be  understood  that  the  lack  of  local  production  and  the 
excessive  cost  of  transportation  were  factors  in  determining  these 
almost  prohibitive  ))rices.  When  he  was  done  with  the  mines,  he 
went  to  San  Francisco,  wliose  Indian  camps  were  then  its  most  con- 
spicuous features.  From  there  he  went  to  Mari]iosa  county,  where 
he  taught  school  for  a  time,  lie  was  one  of  the  first  white  men  to  visit 
the  Yosemite  valley.  Eventually  the  fortunes  of  the  border  brought 
him  to  Visalia  and  soon  he  was  employed  to  teach  in  the  old  Visalia 
Academy  and  later  given  charge  of  schools  in  other  jiarts  of  Tulare 
county.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  and  a  constituent  member  of  the 
first  Methodist  class  organized  in  Visalia  and  was  the  ]iioneer  berry- 
grower  of  Tulare  county,  taking  off  a  cro])  of  sti'awberries  worth 
$1600  from  one  acre  of  ground.  During  the  pioneer  period  he  oper- 
ated a  ranch  of  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  near  Farmersville, 
Tulare  county.  P'or  some  time  he  held  the  office  of  justice  of  the 
peace,  by  authority  of  which  he  performed  the  marriage  ceremony 
of  the  famous  Chris  Evans. 

The  state  of  Indiana  includes  what  was  the  birthplace  of  Miss 
Carrie  Goldthwaite,  who  became  Mr.  Wood's  wife,  and  bore  him 
children  as  follows:  Daniel  (}.,  George  W.,  Litta,  Stella,  Pldna  and 
Edward.  John  W.  Goldthwaite,  Mrs.  Wood's  father,  came  to  Cali- 
fornia by  way  of  the  overland  trail,  in  the  pioneer  days,  took  up  gov- 
ernn'ent  land  and  deveIo])ed  a  ranch  in  Tulaic  county.  Ife  saw 
service  in  the  l^'nion  army  (huiug  the  Civil  wai-  and  had  an  intimate 
personal  acciuaintance  with  (Jen.  W.  T.  Slicnuaii.  in  the  years 
after  the  war  until  lie  passed  away  he  was  a  leading  spirit  among 
Californians  of  the  (Jrand  .\nn\'  of  the  Republic. 


752  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

HENRY  0.  RACiLE 

On  October  15,  1860,  Henry  O.  Ragle  was  horn  in  Hawkins  county, 
Teun.  His  parents,  natives  of  Virginia,  l)otli  died  in  Tennessee.  They 
were  representatives  of  old  Southern  families  and  his  mother  was  a 
woman  of  rare  quality,  who  to  an  nnconunon  degree  impressed  her 
cliai-acter  on  her  children.  He  was  al)out  twenty-three  years  old 
wiien  he  came  to  California,  well  equijuied  l)y  public  school  educa- 
tion and  by  nuu-li  practical  exjjerience  in  farming  to  take  u])  the 
battle  of  life  in  this  then  comparatively  i)rimitive  agricultural  re- 
gion. For  a  time  after  he  came  here  he  did  farm  and  ranch  work 
for  wages,  but  soon  he  took  up  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land 
and  began  to  imi)rove  and  cultivate  it.  From  time  to  time  since 
then  he  has  bought  other  tracts  until  he  is  now  the  owner  of  more 
land*  than  nine  hundred  acres,  some  of  it  grazing  land,  some  of  it 
fruit  land,  and  some  of  it  devoted  to  grain.  Besides  lieing  a  sue 
cessful  farmer  he  is  quite  an  extensive  handler  of  cattle. 

In  18!)4  occurred  the  marriage  of  Henry  0.  Ragle,  son  of  Henry 
Ragle,  to  Miss  Jennie  K.  Underwood,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  whose 
father  has  ]iassed  away,  but  whose  mother  is  still  living.  Mrs.  Ragle 
has  borne  her  husband  four  sons  and  three  daughters.  Clarence  is 
a  student  in  a  business  college  at  Fresno;  Eva  is  in  granmiar  school; 
Lloyd,  Herliert,  Oscar  and  Marie  are,  in  the  pulilic  school ;  Dorothy 
is  the  baby  of  the  family. 

Without  capital  when  he  came  to  Tulare  <'0unty,  Mr.  Ragle  has 
been  successful  beyond  many  of  his  friends  and  neighbors  and  as  he 
has  advanced  he  has  been  ready  at  all  times  to  extend  a  helping 
hand  to  those  who  have  been  less  fortunate.  His  interest  in  the 
community  is  such  that  he  has  been  public-s]iiritedly  helpful  to  every 
movement  for  the  general  uplift.  Especially  has  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion commanded  his  attention,  and  though  having  no  liking  for  public 
otifice,  he  has  been  impelled  by  it  to  accept  that  of  school  trustee,  in 
which  he  has  served  with  much  efficiency,  with  an  eye  single  to  the 
educational  advancement  of  his  neighborhood. 


SANTOS  BACA 

A  descendant  of  old  Mexican  and  Spanish  families,  Santos  Baca 
was  born  in  San  Bernardino  county,  Cal.,  in  what  is  now  Riverside 
county,  November,  1865.  His  father  was  Jesus  Cabeza  De  Baca, 
who  was  the  son  of  Jose  Baca,  for  whom  Vacaville  was  named. 
(The  name  Baca  was  formerly  spelled  Vaca,  hence  the  s]ielling  of 
Vacaville.)     Jesus  Cabeza  De  Baca  married  Inez  Baca,  a  native  of 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  753 

Spain,  and  lie  engaged  in  llie  st()cl<  linsiness  and  grazed  sheep  where 
the  city  of  Riverside  now  stands.  He  was  directly  descended  from 
Sjjanish  discoverers  who  landed  on  the  shores  of  the  United  States 
in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  and  eventually  settled  in  New 
Mexico.  In  184:9  the  parents  of  Santos  Baca  came  to  California  with 
ox-teams  from  New  Mexico,  and  lioth  passed  away  at  old  Siiaiiishtown, 
near  Riverside. 

When  Santos  Baca  was  seven  years  old  he  was  taken  to  Sivcra- 
mento  to  attend  school  and  in  1880  made  his  way  to  Tulare  county 
and  thence  to  Riverside.  In  1883  he  went  to  Vacaville  but  the  same 
year  found  him  in  the  employ  of  a  liveryman  in  Tulare  city.  In  1902 
he  located  at  Porterville  and  was  employed  in  the  same  busiiiess 
until  1910,  at  which  time  he  liecame  one  of  the  proprietors  in  the 
pjxchauge  stables.  He  has  from  time  to  time  interested  himself  in 
other  enterprises  and  has  evidenced  a  lielpful  solicitude  for  the  ad- 
vancement and  prosperity  of  the  community.  Fraternally  he  affiliates 
with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World  and  the  Ancient  ( )rder  of  United 
Workmen. 

In  18i)2  Mr.  Baca  mai'ried  Miss  Nancy  E.  Doty,  a  native  of  Mis- 
souri, who  has  borne  him  six  children,  as  follows:  Fay  and  Harold,  in 
the  higli  school;  Glenn  and  Rita,  in  the  grammar  school;  Rene,  in  the 
primary  school,  and  Damon. 


JOHN  H.  LEACH 

One  of  the  comparatixely  few  citizens  of  Porterville,  Tulare 
coimty,  Cal.,  who  saw  the  place  come  into  being  on  the  prairie  and 
have  witnessed  and  ])romoted  its  develo])ment  to  the  ])i'esent  time  is 
John  H.  Leach.  A  native  of  Washington  county.  111.,  l)orn  January 
15,  18-I-9,  he  was  reared  and  educated  in  Clinton  county,  whither  his 
jiarents  moved  when  he  was  a  small  child,  there  taking  up  the  re- 
s]i()nsil)ilities  of  active  life.  In  the  spring  of  1880  he  left  Illinois 
fnv  the  Black  Hills,  wIkmh'  he  prospected  for  gold  and  worked  in 
the  mills  four  years.  After  that  he  lived  for  a  time  in  Missouri 
and  later  until  1890  in  Kan.sas,  where  he  followed  the  carpenter  ti-ade. 
In  that  year  he  located  near  Porterville,  Cal.  He  soon  bought  prop- 
eity  and  later  brought  his  family  on  from  the  east.  After  he  was 
well  started  here  he  bought  land,  planted  orange  seed,  raised  the 
plants  and  set  out  tive  acres,  which  he  still  owns,  and  has  given 
consideralJe  attention  to  truck  gardening. 

In  1875  Mr.  Leach  married  Miss  Louisa  Lewis,  a  native  of  Clin- 
ton county.  111.,  and  they  have  two  children.  Their  daughtei',  Mamie 
E.,   is   a    menil)er   of   theii-   hnuschold.      Their   son,    William    S.,    is   an 


754  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

arcliitectuial  draftsman  aud  resides  iu  Baltimore,  Md.  Mr.  Leaeli's 
success  is  all  his  own  and  he  is  recognized  as  a  self-made  man  who 
deserves  the  high  place  in  the  commnnit.v  that  is  his,  not  alone 
by  his  record  as  a  man  of  affairs,  Init  liy  tlie  fine  character  which 
has  been  manifest  in  his  entire  career  and  the  generons  pul)lic 
spirit  that  makes  him  i)romptly  responsive  to  every  demand  for  the 
general  good.  Mr.  Leach's  mother,  now  pii;hty-six  years,  is  a  mem- 
ber of  his  household. 


SAMUEL   C.   BROWN 

In  Franklin  county,  ^'t..  Sanniel  C'arr  Brown,  late  of  Visalia, 
Tulare  county,  Oal,  was  born  August  17,  1826.  He  died  December  31, 
1908.  His  parents  were  James  and  Sarah  (Smith)  Brown,  natives 
respectively  of  Rhode  Island  and  of  Massachusetts,  and  his  father 
was  long  a  merchant  and  an  extensive  land  owner  at  Swanton.  Frank- 
lin county,  N.  YJ,  but  they  moved  eventually  to  St.  Lawrence  county, 
N.  Y.,  where  they  passed  away.  Of  their  four  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters, Samuel  C'arr  was  the  youngest.  He  was  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools,  at  the  Pennsylvania  College  in  the  Western  Reserve,  and 
at  Oberlin  College,  where  he  was  a  student  in  1S48.  Under  tiie  in- 
struction of  Judge  Wallace  of  St.  Lawrence  county,  N.  Y.,  he  ac(|uired 
a  rudimentary  knowledge  of  law;  later  through  long  connection  with 
the  justice  court,  he  gained  considerable  experience  of  its  practice 
and  during  all  his  active  life  gave  much  attention  to  legal  matters. 
In  18-tI)  he  located  in  Pike  county.  111.,  and  six  mouths  later  joined  a 
band  of  gold  seekers  who  were  turning  their  faces  toward  California. 

The  joui'uey  across  the  plains  was  begun  in  April  and  in  Sejitem- 
ber  Mr.  P)rown  reached  the  North  Fork  of  the  American  river,  where 
he  mined  for  a  year,  but  meeting  with  no  success  then  went  to  San 
Francisco,  where  he  was  for  six  months  a  steward  on  the  Vincennes,  a 
sloop  sailing  out  and  in  that  port.  In  January,  185:2,  he  came  to 
Tulare  county  in  company  with  about  fifty  people,  most  of  whom 
were  farmers  from  Iowa.  Learning  that  the  Indians  had  two  years 
before  killed  the  primitive  white  settlers,  they  built  a  stockade  in 
which  they  erected  eight  or  ten  log  houses.  He  came  as  a  hunter 
and  remained  as  a  citizen,  to  practice  law,  teach  school,  buy  land  and 
engage  in  multifarious  activities  as  settlement  advanced  and  civil- 
ization took  root  and  spread.  In  the  Civil  war  period  he  was  an 
active  sympathizer  with  the  Union  cause  and  Confederate  s>T[n])athiz- 
ers  made  three  attemjits  to  wreck  his  office.  Imt  United  States  troops 
preserved  order  till  the  end  of  the  war,  liy  a  lequest  of  a  committee 
of  tiirec  prominent  Re])ublicaiis  and  three  prominent  Democrats. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  755 

For  a  time  Mr.  Brown  had  as  his  law  partner  William  (J.  Morris, 
later  was  a  memher  of  the  firm  of  Brown  &  Daggett,  and  in  1891 
retired  from  i)rofessional  woik  and  until  his  death  gave  personal 
supervision  of  his  extensive  property  interests,  which  included  an 
office  l)iiilding  in  Visalia,  twenty-five  hundred  acres  of  farm  land 
near  that  town  and  a  half  interest  in  four  thousand  acres  in  the 
mountain  foothills,  ills  land  was  divided  into  five  ranches,  most  of 
which  he  usually  leased.  Many  of  the  important  enterprises  of 
Visalia  were  encouraged  and  promoted  by  Mr.  Brown.  He  was 
influential  in  the  establishment  of  the  Bank  of  Visalia,  of  which  he 
was  a  director.  The  same  may  he  said  of  his  relationship  to  the  local 
ice  concern  and  to  the  \'isalia  Steam  Laundry.  He  was  a  director  of 
the  Tulare  Irrigation  Company  and  of  the  soda  works.  Politically 
he  was  a  Freesoiler  and  later  a  Repulilicau.  During  early  days  here 
he  was  for  two  years  district  attorney,  for  two  terms  mayor  and  for 
three  terms  a  member  of  the  city  council. 

After  Mr.  Brown  became  a  citizen  of  A'isalia  he  married  Miss 
Mary  F.  Kellenburg,  a  native  of  Illinois.  The  following  are  their 
cliildren  who  are  living:  May,  wife  of  William  IT.  Hammond,  of 
Visalia ;  Fannie,  wife  of  C.  G.  Wilcox  of  Visalia ;  Philip  S.,  who  is 
succeeding  as  a  farmer  in  Tulare  county;  Maude,  who  married  J.  E. 
Combs,  of  Visalia;  an<l  Helen,  who  is  a  member  of  her  mother's 
household. 


PETER  BONDSON 

The  progressive  and  successful  farmer  whose  name  is  above, 
and  who  is  well  known  in  Hanford  and  vicinity  for  his  high  character 
and  res)iectal)]e  achievements,  was  born  in  1848.  He  is  a  native  of 
Denmark,  a  country  that  lias  given  to  the  United  States  many  citizens 
of  the  purest  motives  who  are  leaders  in  their  communities  and  ex- 
ami)les  to  all  who  take  notice  of  their  integrity,  industry  and  deter- 
mination, national  traits  brcmght  to  bear  upon  their  careers  in  a 
strange  land.  Peter  Bondson  came  to  America  in  187(1  ami  was  a 
)>i()neer  at  Merced.  In  187()  he  nuule  his  advent  in  Kings  county,  set- 
tling on  the  land  which  he  has  since  develo]ied  into  one  of  the  most 
pi-oductive  and  valuable  fnniis  in  i1s  vicinity.  Originally  tlic  place 
consisted  of  three  hundred  ami  twenty  acres,  hut  in  the  pi'ocess  of 
biinging  it  to  its  pi'esent  peifcctiiui  he  reduced  it  to  two  hundred 
and  forty  acres.  He  gave  eighty  acres  to  his  son  Arlhiii-.  and  he 
now  gives  his  attention  to  geiu'ral  farming,  hog  and  cattle  i-aising. 
Ilis  stock  is  of  good  breeds  and  is  always  so  well  fed  and  skillfully 
han  lied    that    it    liriiigs   the   highest    market    price.     The    farm    is   out 


756  TULARE  AND  KINGS  ("OrXTlKS 

fitted  with  inodeni  buiknuys  aud  accessories  aud  is  in  every  respect 
tliorouglily  up-to-date. 

The  (irst  marriage  of  Mr.  Boudson  occurred  Feliruary  2'2.  1882, 
uniting  him  with  Cordelia  Nauce.  aud  they  have  tiu-ee  living  cbildreu: 
Stella,  wife  of  A.  L.  :Miller;  Pearl,  wife  of  Charles  C.  Church;  and 
Artliur.  On  Juue  16,  1910.  ^Iv.  IVmdsou  married  Miss  Maud  Waite,  a 
young  woman  of  many  accomplishments,  who  is  his  devoted  helper  in 
his  endeavors  for  success.  They  have  one  daughter.  Ethel.  Mr.  Boud- 
son has  not  thus  far  had  nuicli  to  do  with  practical  jiolitics.  but  he  has 
decided  opinions  upou  (juestions  of  local  aud  national  policy  to  which 
he  gives  expression  at  tlie  polls.  A  friend  of  education,  he  has  served 
two  years  as  school  trustee,  and  in  that  ca[)acity  has  ably  served  the 
interests  of  his  district.  On  several  occasions  his  public  spirit  has 
commended  him  to  his  fellow  citizens  who  recognize  in  him  one  who 
is  ever  ready  to  encourage  to  the  extent  of  his  ability  any  proposition 
having  for  its  object  the  general  uplift  of  the  community. 


WILLIAM    WILLARD    BROWN 

In  Jefferson  county.  N.  V..  William  Willard  Brown  was  born 
No\ember  VX  1851.  When  he  was  tive  years  old  he  was  brought  to 
California  by  her  mother,  his  father.  William  A.  Brown,  having  come 
out  a  year  before  to  look  o\er  the  ground  "with  a  view  to  making  a 
settlement  here.  The  father  was  a  school  teacher  and  he  was  em- 
ployed at  Stockton  aud  Visalia.  He  opened  a  school  at  Camels  Cross- 
ing, Kings  river,  one  of  the  first  schools  in  the  county.  He  enlisted 
as  a  musician  for  service  in  the  Civil  war.  returned  east  aud  was 
transferred  to  El  Paso  .Texas,  where  he  was  nmstered  out  and  began 
teaching  school  at  Terrill,  Texas.  He  spent  his  remaining  days  in  that 
state. 

The  sou  left  Visalia  in  the  fall  of  185!),  when  he  was  about  eight 
years  old,  with  the  family  of  his  mother  and  her  second  husband, 
Huffman  M.  White.  The  latter  homesteaded  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  land  in  the  Frazier  valley  and  went  into  the  shee]) 
business,  giving  some  intelligent  attention  to  fruit  growing.  Mr. 
Brown  states  that  in  18(i4  the  first  orange  trees  ever  planted  in  Tulare 
county  were  planted  on  the  farm  of  his  step-father.  The  boy  was 
educated  in  the  schools  of  Tulare  county  and  remained  on  the  White 
ranch  until  1882.  He  took  np  a  government  homestead  in  1878  and 
remained  on  it  most  of  the  time  until  1889,  for  a  time  making  his  home 
with  his  mother.  In  the  year  last  mentioned  he  sold  out  and  located 
in  Porterville.     Since  settling  in  town  he  has  been  engaged  in  the 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  7r.7 

machine  business  and  sinr-e  1!H)4  lias  heen  the  kx-al  rei)resentative  of 
the  Samson  Iron  Works  of  Stockton  and  San  Francisco. 

In  1882  Mr.  Brown  was  a  guide  for  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment surveying  party  working  in  the  mountain  district  of  Tulare 
county  and  for  a  time  he  filled  the  office  of  road  overseer.  So  well 
developed  is  his  public  spirit  that  he  has  been  found  ready  at  all 
times  to  aid  to  the  extent  of  liis  ability  movements  which  in  his 
opinion  have  j)romised  to  benefit  the  community.  Socially  he  has 
associated  with  the  Knights  of  Pythias  since  1884  and  he  has  repre- 
sented his  lodge  at  the  Grand  Lodge  in  1880  and  again  in  1911. 

In  1876  Mr.  Brown  married  Rosalia  Ford,  a  native  of  California, 
and  daughter  of  J.  P.  Ford,  a  i)ioneer  of  18.'j6.  She  has  borne  him 
six  children,  three  of  whom  are  living.  Roy  F.  is  in  New  Mexico. 
Lahalla  A.  is  the  wife  of  Thomas  I'erguson,  of  Porterville,  Cal., 
and  Pauline  is  a  student  in  the  Porterville  high  school. 


ALFRED    BALAAM 

It  was  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  that  Alfred  Balaam,  stockman  and 
farmer,  ex-sheriff  of  Tulare  county,  was  born  September  5,  1839,  a 
son  of  George  and  Sarah  (Swain)  Balaam,  natives  of  England.  The 
family  moved  from  Kentucky  to  Arkansas  and  from  there  to  Texas, 
and  from  the  Lone  Star  State  came  with  a  train  of  fifty  ox-wagons 
across  the  plains  to  California  in  1853,  settling  at  El  Monte,  Los 
Angeles  county,  where  they  remained  until  the  end  of  December,  1857. 
They  then  set  out  for  Tulare  county,  where  they  arrived  soon  after 
January  1,  1858.  The  head  of  the  family  took  up  land  a  mile  west  of 
Farmersville,  entering  it  at  the  government  land  office,  a  raw  tract 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  on  which  he  raised  horses,  cattle 
and  sheep.  He  was  a  man  of  ability  who  took  a  leading  part  in 
local  ijolitics,  served  in  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  and  promoted 
the  best  interests  of  the  community  as  long  as  he  lived. 

The  following  nine  children  of  George  and  Sarah  (Swain) 
Balaam  are  named  in  order  of  biitli:  George,  the  eldest,  is  dead; 
Sarah  Ward;  Ann  Wai-d:  Martha  is  the  wife  of  Joseph  Homer; 
Frank  S. ;  Alfred;  Edward;  Mary  Van  Gorden  is  dead;  and  Mrs. 
Emily  Van  Gordon  resides  at  Watsonville. 

Alfred  Balaam  was  educated  in  the  public  school  near  his  boy- 
hood home  and  early  worked  with  his  father  at  stock-farming.  Later 
he  farmed  for  himself  and  at  one  time  operated  a  half  section  of  land. 
At  this  time  he  owns  thirty-one  acres  near  Farmersville.  Tulare 
county,  which  he  devotes  principally  to  hay,  alfalfa  and  Egyptian  corn. 
For  sixteen  vears  he  has  filled  the  office  of  roadmaster  and  has  been 


758  TULARE  AND  KIXGS  COUNTIES 

iiistiumeutal  in  iutruduciui;-  great  impiovemeuts  iu  local  roads  and 
bridges.  By  appointment  of  Sheriff  Wells,  be  served  as  deputy 
sheriff  under  that  olhoial  and  in  1885  was  elected  sheriff  of  Tulare 
county,  which  office  he  filled  for  one  term  with  great  efficiency  and 
integrity.  A  man  of  abundant  ]mlilic  spirit,  he  has  always  promoted 
the  prosperity  of  the  community. 

In  1862  ]\Ir.  Balaam  married  Anna  AYhitlock.  a  native  of  Oliio. 
wlio  bore  him  two  children,  Charles  and  Nellie.  His  present  wife, 
wliom  he  married  in  1869,  was  Miss  Marion  Bequette,  a  native  of 
California,  and  children  as  follows  were  born  to  them:  Ida  Higdon. 
Carl  and  I^dward. 


DANIEL   FINN 

The  late  prominent  and  successful  man  of  affairs  of  Kings 
county,  Cal.,  Daniel  Finn  of  Hanford,  was  born  at  Oswego.  N.  Y..  May 
11,  1858,  and  lived  there,  meanwhile  acMjuiring  an  education,  until  he 
was  about  twenty  years  old.  He  then  went  to  Colorado  and  between 
that  state  and  Idaho  and  Nevada  he  divided  his  time  until  in  1883. 
when  he  came  to  Colusa  county,  Cal.  and  farmed  about  a  year.  In 
1884  he  located  in  Hanford,  which  has  since  been  his  home  town, 
and  it  is  probal>le  that  in  all  the  years  since  he  came  no  man  has 
been  more  devoted  than  he  to  its  growth  and  development.  For 
about  ten  years  he  worked  on  farms  and  conducted  a  drayiug  and 
transportation  business  and  in  the  period  1895-1901  he  was  in  the 
retail  liquor  trade.  After  the  oil  business  began  to  assume  some 
importance  in  California  he  gave  attention  to  it  and  in  1898  was  one 
of  the  locators  and  incorporators,  whose  foresight  was  destined  to 
bring  success  to  the  Hanford  Oil  Company,  the  property  of  which 
was  located  at  Coalinga,  where  the  first  discovery  of  oil  was  made 
in  that  district  outside  of  section  twenty.  The  holdings  of  this  com- 
pany were  bought  in  small  pieces  liy  the  Standard  Oil  Company  in 
1906-1907.  the  parcels  having  been  deeded  one  by  one  to  Martin  & 
De  Sabla,  who  later  transferred  them  to  the  great  corporation  men- 
tioned. Mr.  Finn  was  president  of  the  Hanford  Oil  Company  until 
the  termination  of  its  corporate  existence;  he  was  one  of  the  organ- 
izers and  was  from  the  first  vice-president  of  the  Hanford  Gas  and 
Power  Company,  which  was  incorporated  in  1902;  and  in  1901  he 
was  one  of  the  incorj^orators  of  the  Old  Bank,  of  which  he  was  a 
director  through  all  its  history  and  of  which  he  was  president  after 
the  death  of  the  late  President  Biddle.  As  a  Knight  of  Pythias  he 
passed  all  the  chairs  of  the  lodge.  In  1890  he  married  Mary  Corey, 
who  survives  him.    Mr.  Finn  was  a  self-made  man,  and  found  his  true 


TULARK  A XI)  KTXdS  COUNTIES  759 

field  of  eudeavur  aud  the  i)r()tital>le  scene  of  his  .success  at  llaiifurd. 
hence  the  reason  for  his  manifest  devotion  to  the  town  and  to  all 
of  the  various  interests  wliicli  make  for  its  advancement  and  pros- 
perity. It  is  doul)tful  if  any  measure  for  the  general  good  was  pro- 
posed that  did  not  receive  his  co-operation.  As  his  fortunes  advanced 
he  was  more  and  more  .yeneronsly  responsive  to  demands  upon  his 
public  spirit.  He  passed  away  June  22,  191:!,  mourned  by  many 
friends  and  admirers. 


PHILIP   S.   BROWN 

The  home  of  Philip  .S.  Brown,  on  the  Exeter  road  near  Visalia. 
is  one  of  the  show  places  of  that  part  of  Tulare  county.  A  fine  new 
residence  graces  the  i)roperty,  and  its  approach  is  by  way  of  a  road- 
way past  a  fountain  aud  underneath  palms  and  other  ornamental 
trees  and  bordered  on  either  side  with  many  of  the  kinds  of  flowers 
for  which  California  is  famous. 

In  Visalia,  June  15,  1867,  Philip  S.  Brown  was  born,  a  son  of  S. 
C.  Brown,  who  came  to  Tulare  county  among  the  pioneers.  After 
he  had  finished  his  education  he  engaged  in  the  real  estate  business 
in  Visalia,  as  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Frasier,  Prendergast  &  Brown, 
to  the  interests  of  which  he  devoted  his  energies  until  in  1896,  when 
he  began  dairying  and  farming  on  nine  hundred  acres  of  his  fath- 
er's land  near  Visalia.  He  soon  built  up  a  large  business  which 
brought  him  good  yearly  profit  and  he  had  at  one  time  one  hundred 
registered  Holstein  cows,  four  or  five  hundred  hogs,  and  one  hundred 
acres  of  prunes  and  peaches.  His  fruit  was  killed  by  a  flood  a  few 
years  ago.  At  this  time  his  ranch  consists  of  three  hundred  and  fifty 
acres,  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  which  he  has  planted  to  alfalfa. 
As  has  been  seen  his  career  has  not  been  without  its  vicissitudes,  but 
he  has  overcome  all  o])stacles  and  achieved  success  in  the  tyjiical 
California  way,  and  while  he  has  prospered  he  has  publie-spiritedly 
promoted  the  welfare  of  the  comnumity.  In  1896  he  married  Miss 
.lenevieve  Loraine,  a  native  of  New  York,  who  has  Iionie  him  a 
daughter  whom  they  have  named  Bernice. 


DALLAS   H.   GRAY 

One  of  the  few  men  represented  in  this  work  who  were  liorn  on 
property  which  they  now  own  is  Dallas  H.  Gray,  who  made  his  ad- 
vent into  the  world  in  February,  1882,  near  Armona.   Har\ey  P.  Gray, 


760  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

liis  father,  was  born  in  Wa\Tae  county,  Pa.,  A\n\\  I'U,  1811,  and  came  to 
California  from  Nebraska  in  the  '50s.  Before  1870  he  came  to  Tulare 
county,  before  settlement  had  advanced  to  any  considerable  extent, 
and  here  homesteaded  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land.  He 
mined  in  Tuolumne  and  Placer  counties  and  in  186.5  enlisted  in  the 
Federal  army,  serving  until  the  close  of  the  Civil  war.  It  was  in 
December,  1869,  that  he  came  to  Tulare  county  and  engaged  in  farm- 
ing, taking  over  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  on  army  scrip  and  made 
a  home  to  which  he  moved  and  lived  out  his  days,  passing  away  June 
2,  1896.  He  was  one  of  the  pioneer  raisin  growers  in  the  county. 
In  1879  he  married  Miss  Emma  C.  Hurd,  and  they  had  two  sons, 
Donly  C.  and  Dallas  H.,  the  former  living  in  Visalia.  Harvey  Gray 
was  a  man  of  public  spirit  and  forceful  character,  and  helloed  to 
promote  the  Peoples,  Last  Chance  and  Lower  Kings  River  ditches 
and  improved  the  home  ranch  to  splendid  condition. 

Dallas  Gray  was  educated  at  Armona  and  in  the  Hanford  high 
school.  After  his  graduation  in  1903  he  established  a  vineyard  and 
orchard  of  eighty  acres  of  the  family  estate,  to  which  he  has  added 
by  purchase  from  time  to  time.  He  now  has  ninety  acres  in  vines, 
forty  in  orchard  and  ten  in  pasture.  He  is  encountering .  success, 
drying  fruit  of  various  kinds  and  packing  raisins.  His  packing  house, 
covering  a  ground  space  of  80x120  feet,  has  a  storage  capacity  of  four 
hundred  tons.  He  has  erected  nearly  all  the  buildings  on  his  ]ilace 
except  the  ])acking  house.  His  dairy  of  twenty  llolstein  cows  is 
becoming  well  known.  He  has  erected  sanitary  Imildiugs  with  con- 
crete floors,  45x64  feet,  for  dairy  purposes,  and  a  hay  storage  building 
with  a  ca])acity  of  one  hundred  tons,  elevated  on  concrete  piling.  His 
dairy  requires  thirty-four  acres  of  alfalfa.  He  has  also  sixty  acres  in 
the  orange  belt  of  Tulare  county  and  has  an  interest  in  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres  of  timber  land  in  ]\Iadera  county.  From  sixty-seven 
acres  of  vines  he  took  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  tons  of  ])roduct  in 
1910  and  one  hundred  and  tifty  in  1912.  He  markets  all  his  own 
produce  in  the  East,  selling  direct  to  jobbers.  On  his  ranch  he  has  two 
three-room  cottages  and  one  five-room  cottage  for  hired  help.  He  has 
installed  electric  machinery  and  two  electric  motors  and  has  a  modern 
pumping  a]>paratus.  His  chicken  business  dates  from  1909.  He 
I'aises  thoroughbred  AYhite  Leghorns  only,  increasing  from  oite  thou- 
sand to  five  thousand  laying  hens,  and  operates  six  incubators  of  a 
capacity  of  four  hundred  and  eighty  eggs  each.  All  the  eggs  he  sells 
are  bought  throughout  the  coast  states  for  hatching,  and  to  this 
interest  he  devotes  three  acres.  He  gives  employment  to  from  five 
to  one  hundred  men  in  his  various  enterjirises,  according  to  season. 
His  l)rooder  house  is  one  hundred  feet  long,  with  capacity  for  two 
thousand  chicks.  His  fireless  brooders  generate  their  own  heat.  The 
hens    have    sanitary    drinking    fountains.      Mr.    Gray    advertises    his 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  761 

cliieken  business  exteusively  aud  L-annot  supply  the  demaud  that  he 
has  created. 

In  1905  Mr.  Gray  married  Miss  Katie  Biddle,  daughter  of  S.  E. 
Biddle  of  Ilanford,  and  tliey  became  the  jsarents  of  a  son,  Dallas  H., 
Jr.,  who  was  born  February  4,  1913.  Mr.  Gray  is  a  man  of  much 
public  spirit,  having  at  heart  the  interests  of  the  community,  gener- 
ously heljjful  to  all  good  work. 


FEANCIS  MARION  AINSWORTH 

In  Missouri,  in  1845,  was  born  Francis  Marion  Ainsworth,  and  in 
1857,  when  he  was  about  twelve  years  old,  he  participated  with  his 
parents  and  others  in  a  memorable  overland  journey  to  California. 
They  came  with  ox-teams  and  endured  many  hardships  and  braved 
many  perils.  Their  tirst  home  in  this  state  was  in  Mendocino  county. 
There  his  father  acquired  land  which  he  farmed  and  improved  three 
years.  Then,  after  living  a  little  while  at  Santa  Rosa  and  a  short 
time  at  Sonoma,  the  family  moved  to  Napa  county,  where  they  re- 
mained until  186-1.  Stockton  was  the  scene  of  the  family's  activities 
for  some  years  and  after  that  Modesto  numbered  its  members  in  its 
l)()liulati()ii.  At  Modesto  the  father  died  in  1870;  the  mother  had 
))assed  away  in  1863.  It  was  from  Modesto  that  Francis  M.  Ains 
worth  came  to  the  Mussel  Slough  district  of  old  Tulare  county,  near 
Hanford.  where  he  soon  began  ranching.  He  moved  to  his  ]iresent 
location  at  Milo  in  1876.  He  owns  here  two  hundred  and  forty  acres 
of  land  which  he  is  o]3erating  very  jirofitably.  It  is  remarkable  to 
realize  that  Mr.  Ainsworth,  who  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven  years  is 
enjoying  sjilendid  health  and  is  giving  personal  attention  to  the 
conduct  of  his  ranch  as  well  as  the  duties  of  postmaster  at  Milo,  was 
at  one  time  a  consiimptive  in  a  most  precarious  condition,  suffering 
from  hemorrhages  of  the  lungs.  His  cure  may  be  attributed  to  his 
tremendous  will  power  and  the  exceptional  climate  and  he  has 
every  reason  to  count  his  blessings  and  be  happy  that  he  has  sought 
this  country  as  his  place  of  residence. 

In  1872  Mr.  Ainsworth  married  Nettie  Braden,  a  native  of  Iowa, 
wiio  bore  him  ten  children,  all  native  sons  and  daughters  of  Cali- 
fornia, four  of  whom  have  died.  Royal  Jasper  Ainsworth  married 
r'lara  TTinkle  and  lives  in  Tulare  county.  The  other  survivors  are 
named  Chester  O.,  Archie  ^\..  Frances  M.,  Lisle  R.  and  Alden  R.  The 
parents  of  Mrs.  Ainsworth  moved  to  Kansas  when  she  was  about  five 
years  old  and  some  two  oi'  three  years  later  they  came  ovei'land  to 
California,  settling  in  Santa  Clai-a  county,  whence  they  later  removed 
to  Stanislaus  countv,  and   it  was   here  that  she  first  met   lier  future 


762  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

husband.  She  was  the  second  chihl  of  a  t'aniil\-  of  four  chiklreu,  one 
son  and  three  daughters,  born  to  her  parents,  the  others  being-. 
William  Braden,  of  ^"entura  couutN',  Agues  Richardson  of  Poi'terville, 
and  Malissa,  who  died  in  Tulare  county  in  1878,  Ijeing  at  that  time  the 
wife  of  S.  "\V.  Webb  and  leaving  no  children.  Mr.  Ainsworth's  uncle, 
Davy  Crockett,  is  a  justice  of  the  jieace  at  Ukiah,  Mendocino  ccninty. 
Col.  Davy  Crockett,  the  hero  of  the  Alamo,  was  Mr.  Ainsworth's 
great-uncle.  His  life  of  adventure,  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  lilierty 
and  his  tragic  death  for  the  freedom  of  Texas  are  all  matters  of 
history.  Mr.  Ainsworth  is  a  man  of  public  spirit  and  as  a  Democi-at 
he  has  been  elected  school  trustee  and  in  1907  was  appointed  post- 
master at  Milo,  which  responsible  office  he  still  fills  with  aliility  and 
credit. 


M.  E.  WEDDLE 

In  Virginia,  M.  E.  Weddle,  late  of  the  Diuuba  district  of  Tulare 
county,  Cal.,  was  born  July  28,  1844.  When  he  was  ten  years  old  he 
accompanied  his  parents  to  east  Tennessee.  In  1861,  before  he  was 
seventeen  years  old,  he  enlisted  in  Company  H,  Second  Ohio  Cavalry, 
under  Captain  Chester,  with  which  he  served  until  in  ISCVA.  In  June 
of  that  year  he  re-enlisted,  and  served  until  the  end  of  the  war  and 
was  mustered  out  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  in  1865.  He  took  part  in  sixty- 
three  battles  and  skirmishes,  some  of  his  memorable  experiences 
having  been  in  the  Wilderness  campaign  and  at  the  battle  of  Cedar 
Creek.  In  1865  his  father  had  removed  from  Tennessee  to  Indiana.  In 
Tennessee  he  had  had  his  war  experiences  as  well,  having  operated 
there  a  corn  mill  which  was  patronized  by  passing  soldiers,  sometimes, 
but  not  always,  to  the  ju-ofit  of  its  proprietor. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  young  Weddle  joined  his  father  in 
Indiana,  worked  at  ranching  and  at  teaming  and  learned  the  car- 
penter's trade.  He  married  Miss  Lucy  J.  Newlon.  They  had  six 
children:  John  C.  married  Mabel  Day  and  has  three  children.  Mary  E. 
married  Charles  Snyder  of  Oregon  and  they  have  three  children. 
George  W.  married  and  has  four  children.  Hester  married  William 
Heine  of  San  Jose,  Cal.,  and  they  have  a  son  and  a  daughter.  Two 
have  passed  away.  By  his  later  nuirriage  with  Mary  E.  Robbins  he 
had  no  children.  She  was  the  widow  of  David  Alden  Robbins  of  Iowa 
and  had  two  children  by  her  first  marriage.  Her  maiden  name  was 
Mary  E.  Fulton  and  she  was  born  in  Westmoreland  county,  near 
Monongahela  City,  and  is  the  daughter  of  Abraham  and  Rachel  (New- 
lon)  Fulton. 

Mr.  Weddle  came  to  Tulare  countv  in  1888.    As  far  as  the  eye 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  76;: 


/Do 


could  reach  iu  every  directiou  lay  au  expanse  of  wheat  tields  aud 
Diuuba  had  jnst  been  platted.  He  found  plenty  of  work  as  a  carpen- 
ter, and  helped  to  erect  the  first  building  in  the  town  for  a  store  and 
real  estate  oliBce.  He  became  owner  of  ten  acres  of  land  on  Wilson 
avenue.  Three  and  a  lialf  acres  of  it  are  under  \ines,  one  acre  is 
planted  to  trees.  For  a  number  of  years  he  prospered  as  a  house- 
mover.  Politically  Mr.  Weddle  supported  Republican  principles  and 
was  a  member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  He  itassed  away 
August  12,  1912. 


JAMES    THOMAS    BOONE 

In  Missouri,  Benton  county,  in  1862,  James  Thomas  Boone  was 
born.  There  he  grew  up  and  was  educated.  He  began  his  active 
career  as  a  clerk  in  a  factory  in  St.  Louis.  "When  he  was  twenty-one 
years  old  he  came  to  California  and  not  long  after  his  arrival  he 
located  at  Traver.  For  a  time  after  he  came  to  the  state  he  was 
liookkeeper  in  connection  with  one  of  the  old  canal  ]irojects  which  in 
their  time  promised  to  be  influential  factors  in  the  commercial  pros- 
perity of  this  then  new  country.  In  1884  he  bought  land  at  Traver,  on 
wliich  he  lived  until  1895,  when  he  moved  to  Orosi.  After  two  years' 
residence  there  he  located  at  Dinuba  and  in  1899  he  bought  forty  acres 
near  that  place.  He  was  the  first  man  to  build  a  home  in  Section 
Eight,  and  when  he  planted  most  of  his  forty  acres  in  vines  it  was 
as  a  ]iioneer  vineyardist.  The  land  cost  him  $37.50  an  acre  and  $6(10 
an  acre  would  be  a  low  price  for  it  now. 

In  1887  Mr.  Boone  married  Matilda  Isabelle  Blakemore,  a  native 
of  Tulare  county,  and  their  five  children  are  all  living  in  Tulare  comity. 
Roy  B.  Boone,  prominent  iu  the  drug  business  at  Dinul)a,  married 
Frances  Williams.  He  is  one  of  the  few  graduates  in  pharmacy 
who  live  in  this  part  of  the  county.  Guy  H.,  who  is  prosjiering  at 
Dinuba  as  a  liveryman,  married  Ktliel  Alford.  Estella  Jeanette  is  a 
graduate  of  the  high  school  at  Dinuba;  William  is  a  student  in  that 
school;  and  Clyde  Thomas  is  attending  the  granuuar  school.  Thomas 
Jefferson  Boone,  father  of  James  Thomas  Boone,  was  a  native  of 
Kentucky  and  the  woman  he  married  was  also  a  native  of  that  state. 
William  Bailey  Blakemore,  father  of  Mrs.  Matilda  Isaliello  (Blake- 
more) Boone,  was  a  native  of  Arkansas,  who  iu  pioneer  days  made 
the  overland  journey  to  California  with  ox-teams.  His  daughter,  who 
was  born  in  Tulare  county,  recollects  seeing  much  game  on  the  ]ilains 
and  in  the  woods  round  her  home  when  she  was  young. 

A  man  of  much  public  spirit,  Mr.  Boone  is  ready  a1  all  times  to 
do  anything  in  his  ]iower  for  llie  advancement  of  the  public  good  and 


764  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

lias  served  his  fellow  townsmen  iu  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace, 
making  a  record  for  just  and  wise  decisions  of  which  judges  of  many 
greater  courts  might  well  be  proud.  Mr.  Boone  was  the  first  City 
Clerk  after  Dinulia  was  incorporated  and  served  the  first  term. 


JONATHAN    W.    MAY 

It  was  in  Mississi])pi,  in  the  heart  of  the  Old  South,  that  Jonathan 
AV.  May  of  Springville,  CaL,  first  saw  the  light  of  day  in  1836.  When 
he  was  six  years  old  he  was  taken  by  his  parents  to  Texas,  where  he 
lived  until  1870.  Then,  aged  about  thirty-four  years,  he  came  over- 
land by  ox-team  transportation  to  California,  consuming  nine  months 
in  making  the  journey,  and  settled  at  Pleasant  Valley,  Tulare  county. 
When  he  came  here  there  was  no  one  living  in  the  vicinity  of  his 
present  home.  He  bought  property  at  Springville  and  became  the 
pioneer  livery  stable  keeper  there.  At  this  time  there  is  no  other 
than  his  blacksmith  and  wood-working  shop  in  the  town.  Meanwhile 
he  has  acciuired  a  moderate  sized  but  profitable  ranch.  In  his  younger 
days  he  raised  stock,  but  in  the  more  modern  period  he  has  kept 
abreast  of  California  agriculture  and  horticulture. 

In  the  Civil  war  Mr.  May  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  Confederate 
army,  and  he  once  filled  the  office  of  deputy  sheriff  in  Shackelford 
county,  Texas.  In  1868  he  married  John  Ann  Stanphill,  a  native  of  the 
Cherokee  nation,  and  she  bore  him  three  children,  the  eldest  of  whom 
is  dead,  while  the  others  are  living  in  Tulare  county.  Mrs.  May  died 
in  1875  and  in  1904  Mr.  May  married  Mrs.  Anna  Brown. 

Wherever  he  has  lived  Mr.  May  has.  since  he  was  a  very  young- 
man,  been  interested  in  the  growth  and  development  of  his  conunuuity. 
In  many  ways  he  has  demonstrated  his  public  spirit  since  he  came 
to'  this  county  and  no  movement  is  made  for  the  benefit  of  any  large 
number  of  its  citizens  that  does  not  have  his  hearty  encouragement 
or  co-operation. 


BENJAMIN  J.  FICKLE 

The  earliest  recollection  of  Benjamin  J.  Fickle  is  of  having  seen 
a  team  of  horses  fall  down  when  he  was  only  two  years  old.  That 
happened  back  in  Ohio,  where  he  was  born  December  12,  18.32.  a 
son  of  George  and  Margaret  (Beckley)  Fickle,  natives  respectively  of 
Kentucky  and  of  Pennsylvania  and  descended  respectively  from  German 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  765 

aud  fium  Irish  ancestors.     George  Fickle  fought  for  America  in  the 
war  of  1812  and  his  father  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier. 

In  1853  young  Fickle  crossed  the  plains  to  California  and  stoi)ijed  at 
^'olcano,  Amador  county.  He  was  of  a  party  that  came  by  way  of  the 
Sublett  cut-off,  most  of  whom  turned  back  to  find  grass  for  their  stock. 
He  and  others  pressed  forward  on  foot,  and  after  a  day's  travel  they 
came  upon  a  train  under  connnand  of  Clark,  who  was  leading  it  to  the 
Nai)a  valley.  The  young  man  found  employment  with  the  train  at  $18 
a  month  and  board.  After  the  party  had  crossed  the  Green  river,  he  met 
a  man  named  Hogan,  whom  he  accom])anied  to  Volcano,  helping  with  a 
drove  of  cattle  until  the  animals  ate  too  much  grass  aud  died  as  a 
consequence.  Then  he  was  employed  near  Amador  and  in  the  vicinity  of 
Court  House  Rock.  While  he  was  there,  three  women  went  out  to  see 
the  rock  aud  were  captured  by  Indians  and  were  uever  seen  tliere  again. 
Here  he  mined  for  a  time  at  $3  a  day  until  a  passing  stranger  told  liim 
he  was  not  being  iiaid  enough,  and  for  a  time'he  farmed  at  Nevada,  then 
took  up  a  homestead  on  the  Tule  river  three  miles  Ijelow  Porterville, 
to  which  he  acquired  title  and  which  he  subsequently  sold  for  $2200, 
taking  his  pay  in  cattle  which  perished  on  the  })laius  for  want  of 
watei.  Next  he  bought  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  railroad 
land,  near  the  site  of  Hanford,  which  he  sold  in  two  or  three  years  for 
$1000  and  which  is  now  well  worth  $20(*  an  acre.  He  no^^'  owns  forty 
acres,  eighteen  acres  of  which  is  vineyard  land,  five  acres  peach  orchard, 
the  remainder  pasture. 

Politically  Mr.  Fickle  is  a  Socialist.  He  affiliates  with  tlie  (Miris 
tian  church.  As  a  citizen  he  is  public-spiritedly  helpful  to  all  the 
interests  of  the  community.  He  married  Enmia  Rutherford,  a  native 
of  California  and  a  daughter  of  jnoneers,  and  she  has  borne  him  eleven 
children :  Jerome  F.  married  Beatrice  Craft  and  has  two  children. 
Alfred  H.  nmrried  Katie  Burch,  a  native  of  Missouri,  who  lias  borne 
him  three  children.  George  M.  married  Lottie  Turner,  and  they  liave 
one  son.  Pearl  F.  married  Charles  Burch  aud  has  borne  li'iu  three 
children.  0.  Estella  married  Clem  Moyer  and  has  four  childreu.  Delia 
is  the  sixth  child.  Flossie  F.  married  Albert  Carver  and  has  one  son. 
The  others  are:  G.  Frank,  Flora  L.,  John  H.,  and  Belle,  who  married 
E.  H.  Hackett  and  who  has  two  childreu,  Elmer  and  Flora. 


SAMUEL  DINELEY 

The  late  Samuel  Dineley,  born  in  Worcestershire,  England,  in  1829, 
died  in  Visalia,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  August  5,  1007.  His  mother  dying 
when  he  was  quite  young,  his  father  brouglit  their  childi-en  to  New 
York  city,  where  later  he  took  a  second  wife.     After  that  some  of  the 


766  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

children  went  away  and  the  family  was  in  a  manner  broken  up,  but 
.Samuel  remained  in  New  Yoi-k  city  until  he  was  twenty-five  years  old 
and  then  crossed  the  plains  to  California,  where  he  engaged  in  mining 
and  later  in  the  mercantile  business. 

About  1855  Mr.  Dineley  came  to  Visalia,  where  he  lived  out  the 
remainder  of  his  allotted  years.  He  was  the  pioneer  lime-maker  in 
Tulare  county  and  set  up  the  first  limekiln  ever  seen  here.  Later  for 
some  years  he  was  a  successful  sheep-herder,  and  after  his  retire- 
ment from  that  business  he  long  conducted  a  confectionery  store  on 
Main  street,  in  Visalia.  On  April  2, 1861,  Samuel  Dineley  was  united  in 
marriage  with  Charlotte  E.  Kellenberger,  the  ceremony  taking  place 
in  the  old  Pasqual  Bequette  house.  He  took  his  bride  to  the  home 
purchased  from  Nathaniel  Vise  in  1862,  located  at  417  North  Locust 
street,  which  has  since  been  the  home  of  the  family  and  is  perhaps  the 
oldest  homestead  continuously  inhabited  by  one  family  in  Visalia.  There 
eleven  children  were  born  to  this  worthy  couple,  viz.:  Mrs.  E.  O. 
Miller,  Mrs.  H.  W.  Kelsey,  George,  Mrs.  George  Vogle,  Mrs.  G.  C. 
Lamberson,  Mrs.  Herbert  Askiu,  Mrs.  Fannie  Burroughs,  deceased, 
Mrs.  Eve  Bliss,  Clarence,  Harry  and  Frank,  also  deceased.  Mrs. 
Dineley  was  born  in  Washington  and  was  a  daughter  of  F.  J.  Kellen- 
berger, who  brought  his  children  to  the  Pacific  Coast  via  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama  in  1860. 


WILLIAM  F.  DEAN 

The  well-known  farmer,  fruit-grower  and  educator,  whose  post- 
office  address  is  Three  Rivers,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  was  born  in 
Muskingum  county,  Ohio,  in  1855,  and  when  he  was  about  four  years 
old  his  parents  removed  to  Iowa.  A  few  years  later  the  family  moved 
down  into  Missouri.  Thus  young  Dean  was  educated  in  both  Iowa 
and  Missouri.  In  the  latter  state  he  took  the  course  at  the  State 
Normal  School  at  Kirksville,  and  was  awarded  a  state  certificate  as  to 
his  al)ility  as  a  teacher,  which  gave  him  the  privilege  of  teaching 
anywhere  in  Missouri.  He  taught  there  and  in  Illinois  for  some  time, 
and  in  1877  came  to  California  and  in  that  year  and  in  1878  taught  in 
the  public  school  at  Poplar;  later  he  taught  two  years  more  at  that 
place.  In  California  his  abilities  and  his  standing  as  an  educator 
were  I'ecognized  by  Governor  Perkins,  who  conferred  upon  him  a  life 
diploma,  a  document  having  the  same  effect  here  as  the  state  certificate 
in  Missouri.  His  recollections  of  his  early  school  at  Po]ilar  are  inter- 
esting. There  was  a  goodly  number  of  pupils,  but  the  attendance 
was  somewhat  irregular  in  bad  weather,  as  some  of  them  came  from 
a  considerable  distance.     He  savs  that  some  of  the  earlv  school  dis- 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  767 

tricts  iu  this  part  of  the  state  were  til'ty  miles  from  side  to  side.  The 
liouses  of  the  settlers  were  widely  scattered,  each  one  practically 
isolated. 

About  ten  years  after  he  came  to  the  state,  Mr.  Dean  home- 
steaded  laud  on  the  Kaweah  river.  By  subsequent  purchases  he 
acquired  a  total  of  six  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  on  which  he  embarked 
in  stock-raisiuii'.  After  disposiui;-  of  his  cattle,  he  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  fruit-growing,  devoting  himself  chiefly  to  the  production 
of  apples.  lie  has  fourteen  acres  of  apple  trees,  nine  acres  of  them 
l)eing  winesaps  wJiich  bore  for  the  first  time  in  1912.  He  now  owns 
six  hundred  and  thirty-two  acres,  a  part  of  it  given  over  to  grazing, 
the  remainder  being  set  to  fruit. 

Mr.  Dean's  father  was  Henry  Dean,  a  native  of  Western  Virginia, 
who  settled  in  Ohio  when  he  had  reached  middle  age.  His  mother  was 
born  within  the  present  borders  of  the  state  of  West  Virginia.  They 
both  ])assed  away  iu  Missouri.  In  1885,  in  California,  Mr.  Dean  mar- 
ried Miss  Etta  B.  Doyle,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania  and  a  daughter  of 
parents  both  of  whom  were  born  in  that  state.  She  died  in  1886, 
leaving  no  children. 

When  he  came  to  this  state,  Mr.  Dean  expected  to  teach  here  a  few 
years  and  go  l)ack  East,  but  the  longer  he  remained  the  less  inclination 
had  he  to  return  to  the  old  climate  and  the  old  en\iroument.  Now  he 
is  a  loyal  Califoi-nian  who  expects  to  die  under  the  sunny  sky  tliat 
kee])s  flowers  lilooming  the  year  round  and  makes  fortunes  of  golden 
grain  and  golden  fruit  that  are  more  reliable  and  more  valuable  than 
the  fortunes  of  real  gold  that  lured  men  to  this  coast  in  the  days 
l)efore  and  after  the  Civil  war.  In  his  political  affiliations  he  is  a 
Republican.  In  an  official  way,  he  has  helped  to  enumerate  the  census 
of  Tulare  county  and  by  election  on  the  Reiuiblican  ticket  has  served 
his  fellow  townsmen  as  a  member  of  the  local  school  board. 
There  is  no  home  interest  that  does  not  have  his  encouragement  if 
encouragement  is  needed,  and  in  many  ways  he  has  demonstrated 
a  ])ublic  si)irit  that  makes  him  useful  and  ])0]iular  as  a  citizen. 


MARTIN  DONAHUE 

Among  the  retired  citizens  of  Tulare  county,  and  one  who  lias 
fisiured  prominentlv  in  the  industrial  circles  tJiere.  is  ]\Iaitiu  Donahue. 
flis  |)arents  wei-e  l»orn  in  Ireland.  This  blacksmith,  so  long  known  by 
the  people  round  Springville,  Tulare  county.  Cal,  was  boin  February 
17,  1828,  at  Oswego,  N.  Y.  He  there  went  to  school,  leai'ued  his  ti-ade 
trade,  and  lived  until  he  was  thirty-two  years  old.  In  1862  lie  enlisted 
in  the  Federal  ai'iiiy   I'or  tln-ec  ycai's  and   sci-xcd   until   lionorablv  dis- 


768  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

oliarged  and  mustered  out  at  Raleigh,  N.  C,  iu  18(55.  After  the  war 
he  went  back  to  his  trade,  aud  iu  1869  came  to  Califoruia.  For  some 
time  after  his  arrival  he  was  a  prospector  in  the  gold  tields  and 
later  was  employed  at  iiis  trade  aud  otherwise.  Iu  1887  he  located  in 
Tulare  county,  and  about  one  year  later,  in  1888.  he  came  to  this 
county  aud  settled  near  Spriugville.  He  has  divided  his  time  between 
farmiug  and  blacksmithing  and  has  prospered  so  well  that  he  now 
owns  three  hundred  aud  twenty  acres  of  good  grain  laud.  He  stopped 
working  at  his  trade  about  two  years  ago,  since  when,  excei)t  for  the 
attention  that  he  has  had  to  give  his  land  interests,  he  has  enjoyed 
a  well  earned  rest. 

Politics  has  never  strongly  attracted  ]\H-.  Donahue  aud  he  lias 
never  been  particularly  active  in  political  woi-k.  Always  deprecating 
partisanism,  he  has  at  no  time  iu  his  life  yielded  his  allegiance  to  any 
political  organization,  but  has  held  himself  in  i-eadiness  at  all  times 
to  supjiort  such  men  and  measures  as  in  his  belief  jiromise  most  for 
the  general  good.  To  all  measures  for  the  benefit  of  the  community 
he  has  always  been  generously  helpful  in  a  truly  public-spirited  way. 


JAMES  AV.   FINE 

The  death  of  James  W.  Fine,  which  occurred  at  Piano,  t'al.. 
January  12,  1900,  removed  from  his  comnmnity  one  of  the  old  and 
well-known  pioneers  of  California  and  ended  the  activities  of  a  well- 
spent  and  splendid  life,  full  of  energy  aud  unswerving  i)erseverance. 
He  was  the  son  of  John  Fine,  a  native  of  Missouri,  who  died  in  1868,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-two;  he  followed  farming  during  his  active  years 
and  In-ought  his  family  to  California  in  18.37,  his  death  takiusi'  jilace 
at  Woodville.  The  Fine  family  are  well-founded,  James  ^\.  Fine 
being  of  German  extraction  on  his  mother's  side,  while  his  paternal 
line  is  Irish.  He  was  born  Ajiril  13,  18"2o,  iu  Missouri,  and  started 
with  his  parents  from  Randolph  county.  Ark.,  iu  May.  1857,  to  make 
the  journey  across  the  plains  with  ox-teams.  There  was  a  large  jiarty 
at  the  start  of  the  journey,  ninety  wagons  being  required,  but  at  Salt 
Lake  City  many  remained  behind,  and  the  remainder  of  the  jiarty 
arrived  in  Califoruia  in  October.  Mr.  Fine  first  lived  at  San  Andreas, 
Calaveras  county,  Cal.,  where  he  remained  until  1860,  his  wife  having 
been  Imried  there.  Subsequently  he  came  to  Tulare  county,  and 
settling  on  the  Kaweah  river,  at  the  elbow,  he  farmed  and  followed 
stockraising  on  rented  land,  but  finally  he  made  his  way  to  the  Por- 
terville  section  aud  liuying  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  land, 
remained  there  until  upon  selling  out  to  Daniel  Abbott,  he  retired 
from  active  life.   His  last  days  were  spent  with  his  sou,  Robert  R..  and 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  769 

he  passed  away  at  Piano  January  12,  litOU,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six 
years  and  nine  niontlis. 

Mr.  Fine  was  married  December  7,  1848,  to  Martha  Jane  Warner, 
l)orn  September  13,  18:51,  in  Arkansas.  She  passed  away  January  12. 
1858,  a  short  time  after  arriving  in  California.  To  their  union  five 
children  were  born:  Mary  Ann,  born  October  28,  1849,  married  S.  B. 
King  and  has  six  sons  now  living,  one  daughter  and  two  sons  having 
passed  away.  Her  sons  are,  John  T.  residing  in  Watsonville,  George 
G.  in  Salinas,  S.  Frank  in  Merced,  Charles  W.  in  Porterville,  William 
W.  in  Modesto  and  Daniel  B.  in  Stockton.  Mr.  King  was  born  in 
Kentucky  and  was  reared  in  Missouri.  Their  marriage  occurred 
in  1864,  in  California,  and  Mrs.  King  makes  her  home  in  Porterville, 
where  in  1900  she  ])urchased  her  home  place.  The  second  child  born 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fine  was  Steven,  who  was  born  April  24,  1851,  and 
now  resides  near  Salinas.  Robert  R.,  born  September  12,  1853,  also 
resides  at  Salinas.  Frances  E.,  born  April  26,  1855,  is  Mrs.  Daniel 
Abbott,  of  Porterville.  William  A.  was  born  Ajtril  2,  1857,  and  lives 
in  Hanford. 


LEVI  MITCHELL 

In  the  passing  of  Levi  Mitchell,  in  1885,  Tulare  county  lost  one 
of  its  oldest  and  most  conspicuous  pioneers.  He  was  born  in  1821  and 
was  a  child  when  brought  to  California.  He  married  Miss  Anna 
Stargarth,  a  native  of  Germany,  who  came  to  California  with  her 
aunt  and  located  in  Stockton  in  1863,  three  years  and  a  half  before 
their  marriage.  After  their  marriage  they  located  at  White  River, 
Tulare  county,  where  Mr.  Mitchell  bought  a  store,  and  there  they 
lived  nineteen  years  and  saw  the  place  grow  from  vacant  land  to  a 
thriving  town.  Miners  and  Indians  were  the  only  inhabitants,  and 
for  three  years  after  they  came  Mrs.  Mitchell  was  the  only  white 
woman  tliere.  Her  husliaud  l)uilt  the  hotel  and  schoolhouse  and  jirac- 
tically  all  the  buildings  there.  He  was  a  comparatively  wealthy  man 
when  he  came,  and  his  fortunes  iinproved.  Twenty-two  years  after  he 
died  his  wife  moved  to  Ducor,  where  her  son  conducted  a  hotel,  the 
Mitchell  House.  She  remembers  Porterville  when  it  was  a  small  clus- 
ter of  houses;  she  saw  the  cattlemen  supersede  the  Indians,  as  one  of 
the  early  steps  in  the  march  of  jirogress  under  which  (\ilifornia  has 
been  transformed.  Her  husband  bought  mines  and  grubstaked  miners 
and  was  in  a  general  way  ready  for  any  s]ieculation  that  i)romised 
good  returns.  Genial,  friendly  and  naturally  helpful,  he  was  popular 
with  all  who  knew  him  and  to  the  end  of  his  days  was  honored  as 
one  of  Ihe  i)ioneers  who  blazed  the  way  for  the  civilization  of  a  later 

44 


770  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COl'XTIES 

day.    He  and  his  brother  owned  the  first  .store  in  Visalia.    Fraternally 
he  was  an  Odd  Fellow  and  did  much  for  the  l)enefit  of  his  order. 

Born  in  1842,  Mrs.  Mitchell  was  considerably  younger  than  her 
husband.  She  bore  him  eight  children,  four  of  whom  are  living.  Her 
son  Joseph  is  managing  a  hotel  at  Hot  Springs,  C'al.  Michael  married 
Del)orah  Samuels,  a  native  of  California,  and  has  children  named 
Annie  and  Lee,  aged  respectively  six  and  five  years.  Jacob  is  living  at 
Hot  Springs,  Cal.  Herman  is  employed  at  a  bank  at  Visalia.  All 
of  Mrs.  Mitchell's  children  were  born  at  AVhite  River  and  are  by 
birth-right  native  sous  and  daughters  of  California.  Joseph  and 
Michael  are  both  Masons.  Michael  Mitchell  fills  the  offices  of  justice 
of  the  peace  and  notary  public  and  is  secretary  of  the  Ducor  Chamber 
of  Commerce  and  of  the  Ducor  Realty  Company. 


DAVID  GAMBLE 

Formerly  a  trustee  of  the  City  of  Hanford,  Kings  county,  Cal., 
and  member  of  its  board  of  education.  David  Gamble  is  at  the  same 
time  one  of  the  leading  contractors  and  builders  of  Central  California, 
a  man  of  enterprise  and  public  spirit  who  would  be  a  credit  to  the 
citizenship  of  any  munici])ality.  Mr.  Gamble  was  born  in  Chester 
county,  Pa.,  September  15,  1852,  and  grew  to  manhood  in  Philadelphia, 
where  he  gained  a  practical  knowledge  of  contracting  and  building. 
When  he  decided  to  come  west  he  planned  the  structure  of  his  future 
success  as  carefully  as  he  would  plan  a  building  of  today.  As  the 
foundation  must  be  first  in  the  building,  so  the  location  must  be  first 
in  his  Imsiness  career.  He  prospected,  with  eyes  and  ears  both  alert, 
through  Nevada,  New  Mexico  and  Arizona  and  then  into  California. 

In  1878  Mr.  Gamble  arrived  in  Hanford.  He  found  employment 
at  his  trade  and  worked  at  it  diligently,  saving  his  money,  until  in 
1886,  when  he  became  the  ])ioueer  contractor  and  builder  in  this  city. 
Many  of  tlie  buildings  erected  by  him  in  the  years  immediately  fol- 
lowing have  been  destroyed.  Among  the  blocks  of  his  erecting  in 
the  central  jiart  of  the  city  which  are  standing  today  are  the  Baker, 
Malone  and  Manasse  l)uildings,  the  court  house — of  which  he  did  the 
woodwork — the  Hill  and  Robinson  buildings,  the  offices  of  the  Hanford 
Water  Works  Company,  the  Bernstein  block  and  the  high  school  build- 
ing. One  of  his  larger  buildings  is  the  hotel  at  Traver.  The  following- 
residences  in  Hanford  are  momnuents  to  his  artistic  skill  and  business 
enteri»rise:  Goldberg's,  Daniel  Finn's,  Kuntz's,  F.  A.  Dodge's,  Bern- 
stein's, Wesebaum's,  Kiljiatrick's.  Among  those  he  has  built  in  the 
country  round  about  Hanford  are  D.  Bassett's,  H.  E.  Wright's,  S.  L. 
Brown's  and  the  Ralestock  home. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  771 

For  twelve  years  Mr.  Gamble  has  beeu  a  member  of  the  board  of 
education  of  Plauford  and  in  1908  he  was  elected  city  trustee.  Frater- 
nally he  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World  and  the  Knights  of 
Pythias.  He  married,  in  1886,  Miss  Margaret  A.  Raisch,  a  native  of 
Kansas,  and  they  have  foui-  children :  Katherine,  a  teacher  in  the 
Hanford  grammar  school;  Edith;  Florence,  a  student  at  Stanford 
Universitv ;  and  Raymond. 


C.  A.  ELSTER 

One  of  the  most  vahicd  and  industrious  workers  for  the  jaublic 
welfare  in  Springville  and  one  to  whom  is  due  much  ]iraise  for  his 
untiring  efforts  and  generous  aid  in  promoting  the  many  enteri)rises 
with  wliich  he  has  been  identified  is  C.  A.  Elster,  who  was  born  in 
Grass  Valley,  Nevada  county.  Cal.,  in  1862,  and  is  now  one  of  tlie  lead- 
ing business  men  and  landowners  in  the  comnmnity.  He  is  a  son  of 
Alonzo  Elster,  who  came  to  Nevada  county  in  1858  and  became  well- 
known  through  his  activity  in  running  a  block  mill  at  Grass  Valley, 
which  he  built  about  1861.  He  was  born  in  New  York  and  died  in 
California  in  June,  1888.  He  had  come  to  Tulare  county  in  1866  and 
engaged  in  freighting  from  Stockton  and  Banta  to  Visalia  before  the 
advent  of  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad.  He  hauled  the  first  fire 
engine  ever  used  in  the  city  of  Visalia  and  he  also  ran  the  Overland 
livery  stable  at  Visalia  in  the  early  seventies. 

When  he  was  three  years  old,  C.  A.  Elster 's  parents  came  to  Tu- 
lare county,  where  he  has  since  lived.  He  was  educated  here  in  the 
l)u1)lic  schools  and  took  fundamental  lessons  in  ranching  and  in  busi- 
ness under  his  father's  instruction.  He  began  to  acquire  land  by  buy- 
ing a  chiim  before  he  was  twenty-one  years  old,  and  by  later  purchases 
he  has  lirought  liis  Jioldings  uj)  to  about  five  lumdred  acres.  For  a 
while  he  oiierated  a  sawmill,  but  lie  later  gave  his  attention  to  ranch- 
ing and  to  stofkraising,  and  has  from  time  to  time  beeji  active  in  lai-ge 
enterprises  for  the  general  good.  He  is  known  as  the  fatliei-  of  the 
Tulare  Electric,  Watei'  and  Power  Com])any,  the  hist(H-y  of  which 
dates  from  1908,  and  it  was  largely  through  his  and  the  efforts  of 
('.  W.  Hublis  and  C.  H.  Tlawley  that  valuable  water  rights  were  se- 
cured on  the  miildle  foi'k  of  the  Tnle  river  about  two  miles  above 
Springville.  which  when  developed  will  generate  at  its  full  capacity 
about  twenty-seven  hundred  horse-power  electric  current,  hi  this  con- 
nection Mr.  Elster  has  lieen  one  of  '^rnlaie  county's  juost  active  pro- 
moters. Desiring  a  road  to  Springville,  he  associated  with  Messrs. 
liubbs  and  Ilawlcy  and  other  Tulai'e  county  men  and  pi-oposed  an 
electric    line   which    was   duly    incorporated    under    tlic    name    of    the 


7T1  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Tulare  Cuimty  Tower  Company,  with  capital  stock  of  $1,UUU,UU0, 
wbieh  consisted  of  ten  thousand  shares  at  $100  each.  It  was  proposed 
to  operate  this  road  by  means  of  electric  power  and  to  run  from  Tu- 
lare to  Jjindsay,  from  there  to  Strathmore  and  from  Strathniore  to 
Springville.  Mr.  Elster  supplied  the  necessary  money  for  the  prelimi- 
nary survey,  right  of  way,  etc.,  and  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad, 
observing  their  preparations,  immediately  built  their  branch  line 
from  Porterville  to  Spi'iugville,  and  thus  Springville  secured  its  rail- 
road, and  it  has  been  entirely  due  to  the  work  and  enterprise  of  Mr. 
roister  that  this  has  been  accomj^lished. 

Mr.  Elster  in  191  li  completed  a  two-story  brick  Iniilding,  48x60 
feet,  the  cost  of  which  was  $12,000.  He  owns  a  comfortable  residence 
in  Springville  and  has  an  olive  nursery  and  orchard,  and  he  is  today 
one  of  the  largest  taxpayers  in  the  city. 

In  1887  Mr.  Elster  married  Miss  Eva  Hubbs,  who  bore  him  a  son. 
Irvy  Elster,  who  is  now  a  member  of  his  father's  household.  Mrs. 
Elster  died  in  1890  and  in  1895  Mr.  Elster  married  Miss  Minnie  Hubbs, 
by  whom  he  had  a  daughter,  Lora,  who  died  when  she  was  thirteen 
vears  old. 


LOUIS  BEQUETTE 

in  the  state  of  Wisconsin  occurred  the  birth  of  Louis  Bequette, 
stocknuvn  and  orange  grower,  one  of  the  citizens  of  note  in 
the  vicinity  of  Lemon  Cove,  Tulare  county,  Cal.  He  was  a  child 
of  three  years  when  his  parents  came,  with  four  teams,  overland  to 
California.  The  family  located  in  Sierra  county  and  remained  tiiere 
five  years,  the  father  working  in  the  mines.  Their  next  halt  was  one 
of  two  years  in  Yolo  coimty,  whence  they  moved  to  Tulare  county, 
within  the  hospitable  borders  of  which  the  immediate  subject  of  this 
article  has  had  a  home  ever  since. 

As  a  young  man  Mr.  Bequette  worked  on  ranches  and  helpeil  licid 
cattle,  and  he  has  never  been  able  to  give  up  such  em]iloyment  in  all 
the  yeai's  that  have  ensued.  In  1872  he  married  Miss  Mary  p]liza 
Davis,  of  Stanislaus  county,  Cal.,  whose  father,  Harvey  Davis,  was  a 
pioneer  of  1849.  Their  three  children  were:  Irving  Bequette,  who  was 
born  in  Tulare  county  in  1874  and  died  in  1909.  in  his  thirty-sixth 
year;  C.  L.  Bequette  died  in  1911,  leaving  three  children;  Leonard 
Bequette,  born  in  1877,  is  married  and  is  in  the  stocTv  business  in  this 
county. 

When  Mr.  i^)equette  took  up  the  burden  of  life  on  his  own  account 
he  \entured  a  little  at  first  with  stock.  There  came  a  time  when 
his  operations  in  that  line  were  very  considerable  and  made  him  widely 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  773 

kiKiwii.  His  first  tract  of  laiul  was  one  of  one  liimdred  and  sixty  acres, 
and  today  he  is  tiie  owner  of  twelve  hundred  acres,  with  fifteen  acres 
in  corn,  five  acres  in  oranges,  and  the  remainder  in  ci'ops,  range  and 
alfalfa.  His  home  is  one  of  the  most  comfortable  in  his  neighborhood 
and  his  ranch  is  fitted  nj)  witli  every  improvement  and  appliance 
necessary  to  its  successful  operation.  He  takes  an  intelligent  and 
patriotic  interest  in  the  public  affairs  of  tlie  county,  state  and  nation 
and  res|)()nds  readily  and  generously  to  all  calls  for  aid  in  the  advance- 
ment of  his  communitv. 


J.  CAEL  THAYER 

The  architect  is  able  to  show  forth  his  good  works  as  no  other 
man,  except,  perhaps,  the  editor;  though  the  architect's  exhibit  is 
permanent  as  any  human  creation,  the  editor's  comes  into  being  today 
and  is  gone  tomorrow.  Only  in  musty  and  dusty  files,  half  liiddeu 
in  a  dark  corner  of  some  library,  is  the  editor's  record  available  after 
he  has  himself  ])assed  away,  but  out  in  the  sunshine  the  work  of  the 
architect  has  its  place  in  its  own  chapter  of  the  history  of  the  men 
who  have  lived  and  builded — on  Earth's  great  open  page,  where  men 
and  the  sons  of  men  may  see  and  read.  So  is  the  record  of  the  jiro- 
fessional  achievements  of  J.  Carl  Thayer  spread  before  those  of  this 
generation  and  of  generations  to  come,  everywhere  in  the  business 
district  and  in  the  residence  districts  of  Visalia,  Tulare  county,  Cal. 

In  Lewis  county,  N.  Y.,  Mr.  Thayer  was  born.  He  was  educated 
in  the  Booneville  (N.  Y.)  High  School,  at  Cornell  University  and  at 
Syracuse  University,  graduating  with  the  degree  of  C.  E.  and  other 
professional  degrees,  after  liaving  pursued  a  collegiate  course  in  archi- 
tecture. The  first  six  years  of  his  professional  career  were  jiassed  in 
Pittsburg,  Pa.  Then,  after  two  years  in  New  York  City,  he  came 
to  California  and  located  at  Visalia  for  the  practice  of  his  ]irofession. 
Here  his  success  has  been  commensurate  with  his  abilities  and  his 
personal  popularity.  He  has  drawn  plans  for  the  following  mentioned 
buildings,  among  others:  The  R.  A.  Little  residence,  the  Episcopal 
church,  the  Levey  building,  the  Willows  district  school,  the  C.  W. 
Berry  residence,  the  A.  D.  Wilson  residence,  the  George  Baker  build- 
ing, the  J.  E.  Richardson  i-esidence,  the  C.  B.  Moffatt  residence,  the 
N.  II.  Grove  residence,  the  Presbyterian  church,  the  Visalia  club,  the 
L.  Lueier  residence,  the  theater  block  erected  by  E.  0.  Miller  at 
rianford,  the  Ivomoore  grammar  school  building,  wliich  cost  $40,000; 
the  Methodist  church  at  Lindsay,  the  Second  National  Bank  building 
at  Lindsay,  L.  L.  Brown's  store  block  in  Exeter,  the  store  building  of 
Frank  Mixter  at  Exeter,  the  store  block  of  George  Tinker  at  Lindsav 


774  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

and  the  store  Imildiug  of  Tinker  «S:  Smith  iu  tlie  last-named  town. 
Considering  the  comparatively  recent  date  of  his  advent  in  \"isalia. 
it  will  be  seen  tliat  he  has  been  very  snccessful  in  a  i)rofessional  way. 
It  should  be  noted  that  he  is  not  merely  an  artistic  designer,  but  is  at 
the  same  time  a  practical  designer,  all  his  buildings  being  admirably 
calculated  for  the  uses  to  which  they  were  to  be  put  and  all  giving  the 
best  of  satisfaction  in  actual  use. 

It  was  in  1905  that  Mr.  Thayer  came  to  California.  He  married 
Miss  Mary  Morrell,  a  native  of  the  state.  As  a  citizen  he  is  public- 
spiritedly  helpful  to  all  important  interests  of  the  couuuunity.  Jan- 
uary 1,  1912,  he  removed  to  Fresno,  where  he  is  a  member  of  the  firm 
of  Thayer,  Parker  &  Kenyon,  348-9  Forsyth  building. 


LOUIS  LEE  THOMAS 

The  story  of  the  self-made  man  is  always  interesting  and  it  is 
always  instructive.  As  such  this  brief  account  of  the  successful  career 
of  Louis  Lee  Thomas  of  Exeter,  Cal..  should  be  of  service  to  some  of 
the  younger  readers  of  this  volume.  Mr.  Thomas  was  born  in  Posey 
county,  Ind.,  in  1868.  John  Thomas,  his  father,  was  born  in  that  state 
in  1838  and  died  in  Missouri  iu  1904,  and  his  mother  also  was  a  native 
of  Indiana.  When  Louis  was  nine  years  old  he  was  taken  by  his  fam- 
ily to  northern  Missouri,  where  he  grew  to  manhood  and  obtained 
such  education  as  was  afforded  him  in  the  ])ul)lie  schools  near  his 
home.  While  he  was  yet  a  young  man  he  went  to  the  state  of  Wash- 
ington and  secured  emjiloymeut  at  farm  work  and  remained  there 
about  fifteen  years.  Coming  to  California,  he  settled  on  the  eighty- 
acre  ranch  on  which  he  now  lives.  The  place  was  well  imjiroved  and 
he  later  sold  all  of  it  Init  thirty-six  acres.  Of  this,  twenty  acres  is 
planted  to  orange  trees,  which  are  now  in  full  bearing,  fourteen  acres 
is  in  alfalfa  and  one  acre  is  devoted  to  nursery  stock.  Mr.  Thomas 
came  to  Tulare  county  with  very  little  cajjital,  but  his  industry,  econ- 
omy and  good  judgment  have  made  him  the  owner  of  one  of  the  best 
homestead  projjerties  in  his  ^'ieinity. 

In  1895  Mr.  Thomas  married  Miss  Grace  Akers,  a  native  of 
Decatur  county,  Iowa,  who  had  gone  with  her  parents  to  Oregon  when 
she  was  seven  years  old.  Her  father,  a  native  of  Indiana,  and  her 
mother,  a  native  of  Iowa,  are  both  living.  P^raternally  Mr.  Thomas 
affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  While  he  has  well  defined 
ideas  upon  all  questions  of  public  moment,  he  has  never  been  aggres- 
.sive  in  political  work,  nor  has  he  asked  or  accepted  public  office.  He 
favors  anything  which  ]n-omises  to  advance  the  welfare  of  tlie  county 
and  the  country  at  large,  and  never  fails  to   respond   ]M-om)itly   au'l 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 


I  (0 


i^'enerously  to  any  legitimate  demand  upou  his  i)uljlic  spirit.  As  a 
farmer  and  fruit  grower  he  has  been  successful  beyond  many  whose 
o])[)()rtunities  and  advantages  have  surpassed  his.  In  1911  he  sold 
fifteen  hundred  boxes  of  oranges  and  in  1912  he  raised  two  thousand 
boxes  of  oranges  from  twenty  acres  of  five-year-old  trees.  His  laud 
will  produce  six  crops  of  alfalfa  each  year,  aggregating  nine  tons 
to  the  acre.  The  place  is  i)rovided  with  an  up-to-date  water  |)lant,  and 
he  spares  no  pains  or  expense  to  add  to  the  value  and  productiveness 
of  his  property. 


WILLIAM  FREDERICK  HEUSEL 

At  Kalamazoo,  Mich.,  William  Frederick  Heusel  was  born  August 
n,  1859.  He  was  reared  and  educated  in  that  city  until  he  was  ten 
years  of  age,  when  the  family  moved  to  Sturgis  and  that  was  his  home 
until  1879.  After  that  he  lived  two  years  in  Illinois  and  several  years 
in  Kansas  and  from  the  Sunflower  State  came  to  California  in  1891, 
locating  in  Hanford,  Kings  county.  He  bought  )iroi>ei-ty  in  that  city 
and  worked  there  at  plumbing  and  in  season  was  a  foreman  in  the 
Del  Monte  Packing  House.  Thus  he  was  employed  until  1900,  when 
he  bought  twenty  acres  of  land  a  quarter  of  a  mile  north  of  the  city. 
It  was  entireh-  unimproved,  Init  now  he  has  it  planted  to  orchard 
and  vineyard.  He  now  has  nine  acres  of  growing  vines  and  about  seven 
acres  producing  fine  ])eaches  and  apricots.  He  was  one  of  the  first 
to  settle  on  this  sub-division.  He  has  given  special  attention  to  poul- 
try, raising  fine  chickens  and  ducks.  His  chickens  are  mostly  thor- 
ouglibred  butf  and  silver  Wyandottes  and  Buff  Orpingtons,  his  ducks 
are  Indian  Runners  and  Pekins.  He  has  imported  thoroughbred  stock 
from  the  east  for  breeding  purposes  and  hatches  about  five  hundred 
ducks  and  as  many  chickens  each  year.  At  the  state  fair  at  Sacra- 
mento he  has  presented  exhibits  for  four  years  and  at  local  fairs 
throughout  tlie  state  from  time  to  time  and  has  taken  numerous  i)rizes 
of  many  kinds. 

July  i;J,  1882,  Mr.  Heusel  married  Maiy  L.  O'Brien  and  they  have 
five  daughters:  Jessie  is  the  wife  of  W.  L.  Peers,  a  native  of  Colorado, 
and  they  live  at  Oakland.  Irma  married  Walter  Tandrow  of  San 
Francisco.  Nora,  Jiei'uice  and  Muriel  are  members  of  their  pai'cnts' 
household.  In  1911  Mr.  Heusel  built  a  fine  residence  on  his  i)lace,  and 
until  that  date  lived  in  Hanfoid  in  the  home  he  erected,  214  West 
Ivy  street,  which  he  still  owns.  He  is  identified  with  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  i)assexl  the  chairs  of  the  subordiiu\te  lodge 
while  a  resident  of  Wichita,  Kans.  As  a  citizen  he  is  helpfully  public- 
spirited. 


776  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

FBEDERIC'K  M.  CARLISLE 

A  progressive  Tulare  county  farmer  who  has  lived  in  the  vicinity 
of  Ducor  since  1883  is  Frederick  M.  Carlisle.  He  was  born  in  Ten- 
nessee in  1852  and  was  a  son  of  Wiley  H.  Carlisle,  a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  who  came  to  California  in  1900  and  died  in  1906.  Wlien 
he  was  thirty  years  old  Mr.  Carlisle  left  Tennessee  and  during  the 
succeeding  three  years  lived  in  Texas.  On  coming  to  Tulare  county 
he  homesteaded  land  which  is  included  in  his  present  holdings.  His 
ranch,  which  is  located  about  one  mile  from  Ducor,  is  a  five-hundred- 
acre  property,  well  improved  and  under  systematic  cultivation.  He 
raised  grain  until  two  years  ago,  but  is  now  giving  his  attention  to 
fruit.  He  long  kept  an  average  of  forty  head  of  horses  and  males, 
but  has  sold  off  much  of  his  stock  and  in  season  operates  a  threshing 
machine. 

In  1876  Mr.  Carlisle  married  Elizabeth  Haley,  a  native  of  Mis- 
sissippi, whose  father  came  to  California  and  lived  out  his  days  here, 
her  mother  having  died  in  Mississippi.  Mrs.  Carlisle  has  borne  her 
husband  nine  children,  six  of  whom  are  living:  Joseph  Node,  born  in 
Tennessee,  is  married  and  lives  in  Sacramento  county.  Eva  M.  (Mrs. 
Van  Valkingburge)  resides  in  Tulare  county.  Jessie  H.,  who  married 
A.  F.  Welsh,  is  living  near  Ducor.  Viola  E.,  who  married  Charles 
Hughes,  lives  in  Ducor.     Clarence  M.  and  Clyde  F.  are  in  school. 

As  school  trustee  and  as  clerk  of  the  school  board  Mr.  Carlisle 
has  done  efficient  and  praiseworthy  service  to  the  community.  He 
has  never  sought  ])ulilic  office,  but  has  well-defined  opinions  on  all 
political  questions,  and  his  active  interest  entitles  him  to  a  place  in 
the  front  rank  of  progressive  citizens.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  witli 
the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 


MANUEL  B.  LEMOS 

A  native  of  one  of  the  Azores,  Manuel  B.  Lemos  was  born  Decem- 
ber 11,  1860,  in  the  home  of  a  farmer.  When  he  was  twenty-two 
years  old  he  came  to  the  United  States,  and  for  sixteen  months  after 
his  arrival  was  employed  on  a  farm  near  Providence,  B.  I.  Coming 
to  California,  he  sto]iped  a  short  time  in  San  Francisco,  then  went  to 
Fresno,  where  he  worked  six  years  on  a  ranch.  The  succeeding  two 
years  he  passed  in  the  sheep  business,  which  in  his  hands  was  so  ex- 
tensive that  at  one  time  he  and  his  partner.  Manuel  Silva  (rularte, 
had  fourteen  hundred  sheep.  Selling  his  interest  in  this  venture,  he 
did   ranch  work   again  for  a   while,   then   with   a   partner  he  handled 


TULARE  AND  LvINGS  COUNTIES  777 

sheep  for  eleven  years.  By  this  time  he  had  done  so  well  financially 
that  he  was  able  to  take  a  trip  to  the  land  of  his  birth. 

Eeturning  to  Hanford  in  1898  Mr.  Lemos  bought  the  forty-acre 
ranch  which  is  now  his  home  property,  two  miles  north  of  the  city. 
All  the  improvements  on  the  farm,  including  his  comfortable  house, 
he  has  put  on  since  then.  In  1905  he  bought  forty  acres  adjoining 
his  first  purchase  of  his  brother,  John  B.  Lemos.  He  has  eight  acres 
in  vine  and  twelve  in  orchard,  and  the  remainder  of  his  land,  except 
what  he  devotes  to  general  farming,  is  under  alfalfa.  His  principal 
business  is  the  raising  of  hogs  and  sheep,  but  he  breeds  horses  and 
cows  for  use  on  his  place. 

In  September,  1896,  Mr.  Lemos  married  Maria  Clara  Cardoza  in 
Hanford,  and  she  has  borne  him  ten  children.  Those  living  are:  John, 
Bento,  P^'rauk,  Andrea,  Manuel,  Mary,  Joseph  and  Tony,  the  first- 
mentioned  four  being  students  in  the  public  school.  Manuel,  the  first 
born,  dietl  aged  eight  years,  and  Bento  died  aged  fifteen  months. 
Mr.  Lemos  affiliates  with  the  I.  D.  E.  S.,  of  the  interests  of  which 
society  he  is  a  liberal  sui^porter.  Though  of  foreign  birth,  he  is  a 
loyal  American  and  his  public  spirit  has  impelled  him  to  do  much  for 
the  general  benefit  of  his  community. 


PERRY  C.  PHILLIPS 

A  pioneer  of  his  section  of  the  county  of  Kings  that  was  last 
partitioned  from  Fresno  county,  as  well  as  one  of  the  successful  men 
who  are  now  residents  of  the  county,  is  Perry  C.  Phillips,  who  was 
•born  on  April  7,  1838,  in  Gibson  county,  Ind.  His  schooling  was 
limited  to  a  brief  attendance  at  the  common  schools  in  the  vicinity  of 
Ills  home  and  lie  early  gained  experience  in  farming  as  it  was  carried 
on  there.  In  1854  he  crossed  the  plains  with  ox-teams  and  located  at 
Grizzly  Hill,  Nevada  county,  engaging  in  mining  for  a  time.  In  1860 
he  came  to  the  San  Joaquin  valley  and  settled  in  Fresno  county, 
locating  on  his  present  home  place  on  October  23  of  that  year,  ^"isalia, 
twenty-five  miles  distant,  was  the  jirincipal  trading  jijace.  He  first 
bought  eighty  acres  of  land  upon  which  is  now  located  his  Jiome,  and 
by  subsequent  ])urcliases  increased  his  holdings  until  he  is  now  the 
owner  of  about  four  thousand  acres.  Nearly  all  of  this  is  fertile 
soil ;  twenty  aci'es  are  now  in  fruit,  the  balance  in  alfalfa  and  grain 
for  general  fai'ining  purposes,  and  he  makes  a  specialty  of  raising 
liogs. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  irrigation  movement  Mr.  Phillips  became 
prominent  iind  was  one  of  the  men  of  foresight  who  saw  that  by  the 
construction  of  ditches  to  carry  the  water  from  the  river  a  large  area 


778  TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

of  unproductive  laud  could  be  converted  into  one  of  tlie  world's  garden 
spots.  How  well  he  aud  bis  associates  planned  the  jiistory  of  this 
whole  region  testifies.  He  was  for  a  year  a  director  of  the  People's 
Ditch  Company,  and  as  a  citizen  he  has  ever  bad  in  view  the  greatest 
good  to  the  greatest  number,  firm  in  the  belief  that  the  prosperity 
of  one  is  the  prosperity  of  all,  and  he  has  been  ready  at  all  times  to 
respond  to  any  call  on  behalf  of  the  uplift  aud  development  of  the 
community. 

Mr.  Phillips  was  united  in  marriage  April  21),  1860,  at  Vacaville, 
Solano  county,  with  Elizabeth  Hildebrand,  born  in  Shelby  county, 
Ind.,  Octol)er  22,  1840.  She  came  to  California  in  1853  with  her  par- 
ents, who  settled  first  in  Sierra  county  and  later  lived  at  Grizzly  Hill, 
where  she  first  met  Mr.  Phillips.  After  their  marriage  they  came 
that  fall  to  Fresno  county  aud  settled  on  their  present  home  place. 
Tliey  had  eight  children:  Floreuce  E.,  wife  of  E.  D.  Mortou;  Martlia 
I.,  wife  of  W.  D.  Runyon ;  Carrie  W.,  the  wife  of  L.  L.  Lowe ;  Ada  B. ; 
Dora  E.,  deceased;  George  H.;  Robert  H.,  aud  Oscar  L.,  all  born, 
reared  and  educated  iu  central  California.  Mr.  aud  Mrs.  Philli))s 
are  the  last  of  the  pioneers  in  this  section  of  the  county. 


W.  C.  MACFARLANE 

A  native  of  Ottawa,  Ontario,  Canada,  W.  C.  Macfarlane  was  born 
June  3,  1868,  and  now  is  proprietor  of  the  Richland  Egg  Raucli.  at 
Hauford,  Kings  county,  Cal.  He  went  to  Chicago  when  a  lad  and 
learned  the  printer's  trade  aud  fiually  engaged  iu  business  on  his  own 
account.  He  came  to  Hanford  from  Chicago  in  1886  and  for  a  time 
worked  at  his  trade  iu  this  vicinity.  His  second  claim  to  distinction  is 
his  prominence  iu  the  Benevoleut  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks.  In 
the  fall  of  1911  he  organized  the  lodge  at  Hanford  and  sei-ved  as  its 
Esteemed  Leading  Knight.  February  16,  1891,  he  married  Miss  ^Mary 
Sevier,  of  Visalia,  who  has  a  son,  Harry  C.  Macfarlane. 

Writing,  two  or  three  years  ago,  of  the  begiuuing  of  his  egg 
enterprise,  Mr.  Macfarlane  said:  "About  eighteen  years  ago  I  traded 
a  scrub  calf  for  three  dozen  scrub  hens,  and  the  first  month  they  netted 
me  $15.  That  caused  me  to  'sit  up  and  take  notice.'  I  then  jnir- 
chased  a  few  settings  of  Brown  Leghorn  eggs  aud  raised  that  breed 
for  a  few  years;  but  finally  discarded  them  for  the  Wliite  Leghorns, 
as  they  are  a  larger  bird,  lay  larger  eggs  and  as  pullets  get  to  layiuLi 
a  marketable  sized  e^g  much  sooner  than  tlieir  Itrown  sisters."  His 
original  "White  Leghorns  were  "bred  to  lay,"  1)ut  he  improved  the 
strain  by  the  use  of  trap-nests,  aud  constant  work  and  breeding  pro- 
duced birds  that  laid  as  many  as  two  hundred  and  twenty-seven  eggs 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  779 

iu  a  year.  Hens  showiug  a  record  approaehiug  this  were  yarded  for 
breeding.  Until  five  or  six  years  ago  he  never  offered  or  advertised 
eggs  or  birds  for  sale,  and  even  now  will  not  sell  a  female  from  the 
two  hundred  and  twenty-seven  stock,  but  is  in  the  market  with  male 
birds  and  eggs,  lie  confined  his  Itreeding  to  hens  laying  one  hundred 
and  ninety-two  to  two  hundred  and  twenty-seven  eggs  a  year  and  has 
increased  his  size  of  birds  and  eggs  so  that  they  are  larger  and  more 
vigorous  than  the  average  Leghorn.  Pullets  from  the  high-grade 
layers  were  laying  when  fifteen  weeks  old  and  pullets  from  the  one 
hundred  and  ninety-two  egg  strain  were  laying  two  weeks  later. 

The  Richland  Egg  Ranch,  four  miles  northwest  of  Hanford,  com- 
prises ten  acres,  its  soil  is  good  and  it  is  watered  by  the  People's 
Ditch.  Mr.  Macfarlane  improved  the  place  by  building  a  small  house 
and  soon  afterward  planted  part  of  his  original  five  acres  to  peaches 
and  sowed  the  remainder  to  alfalfa.  When  he  was  well  started  in 
the  poultry  business,  he  named  the  place  the  Richland  Egg  Ranch. 
A  practical  man  of  mechanical  mind,  he  has  done  much  of  his  own 
building  and  the  ranch  shows  care  and  the  painstaking  work  of  a  prac- 
tical owner.  The  Iniildings  are  simple  in  construction,  Imt  neat  and 
attractive.  Under  the  sign  bearing  the  name  of  the  ]:)lace  stands  the 
brooder,  a  building  with  a  ground  area  of  thirty-six  by  one  hundred 
and  twelve  feet,  which  houses  about  twenty-five  hundred  pure  bred 
White  Leghorn  chicks  from  a  few  days  to  a  few  weeks  old.  The 
brooder  is  fitted  with  thirty-two  runs  and  is  heated  with  nine  gas 
heaters  by  which  the  temperature  is  kept  at  ninety  degrees  for  the 
younger  chicks  down  to  seventy  degrees  for  the  older  ones,  according 
to  season.  Mr.  Macfarlane  averages  a  loss  of  but  five  ])er  cent,  leav- 
ing ninety-five  per  cent  for  successful  breeding  and  maturing,  notwith- 
standing many  scientific  poultrymen  have  a  loss  of  fifty  per  cent. 
The  incubators  turn  out  fully  ninety-four  j^er  cent  of  the  fertile  eggs 
and  Mr.  Macfarlane  is  al)le  to  keep  the  chicks  alive  and  growing  after 
they  come  out  of  the  incubators.  His  brooders  are  devised  on  a  plan 
of  his  own,  adopted  after  he  had  visited  all  the  jirincipal  poultry 
farms  of  the  state,  and  the  part  under  the  mother  Iioards  is  cleaned 
daily,  the  runways  twice  a  week.  During  the  first  ten  days  of  their 
life  the  chicks  are  fed  on  Richland  Ten  Day  Chick  Feed,  a  preparation 
of  Mr.  Macfarlane 's  own,  and  after  ten  days  they  are  placed  on  a 
diet  of  meat,  lilood,  bone,  bran  and  barley,  a  food  that  stinudates  the 
body  growth  of  the  fowls  so  that  the  feather  growth  does  not  im])air 
its  healtlifulness.  Pure  water  is  furnished  to  the  chicks  in  stone  foun- 
tains. When  they  are  ready  to  leave  the  brooder  they  are  jilaced  in 
yards  laid  out  in  a  peach  orchard,  which  furnishes  the  necessary  shade. 
Eacli  yai'd  is  watered  automatically  by  means  of  Jiipe  and  automatic 
fountains  and  there  are  no  puddles  or  mud  holes. 

Mr.  Macfarlane  breeds  entirely  for  eggs.     All  the  product  from 


780  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

October  to  July  he  sells  for  hatching  purposes,  usually  taking  up  six 
or  seven  hundred  eggs  daily.  He  ships  hens  and  cocks  as  far  east  as 
New  York  and  as  far  west  as  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  He  sells  about 
twelve  hundred  liirds  a  year.  Breeding  only  White  Leghorns,  he  has 
taken  tirst  premium  on  his  showings  at  the  county  fair  for  se\'eral 
years  past.  His  four-story  tank  house,  which  cost  $500,  was  built 
witli  tlie  profits  of  one  season's  broilers.  His  yards  measiire  one  hun- 
(Iretl  by  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  feet  and  he  never  keeps  more  tliau 
eighty  birds  in  one  yard;  and  he  never  feeds  any  kind  of  food  on  the 
ground,  but  uses  troughs  for  the  soft  food  and  hoppers  for  grain. 
Some  information  concerning  the  prices  he  receives  will  be  of  interest 
in  this  connection.  For  males  from  the  one  hundred  and  ninety-two 
egg  strain  he  gets  $3.50  to  $5  each,  age  and  appearance  causing  dif- 
ference in  price.  For  males  from  the  two  hundred  and  twenty  to  the 
two  hundred  and  twenty-seven  egg  strain,  $7  each.  For  females,  from 
April  until  sold,  $1.25  each;  these,  being  hens  in  their  second  season, 
are  the  best  breeders,  especially  when  mated  with  a  two  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  cockerel ;  no  females  of  the  two  hundred  and  twenty 
to  two  hundred  and  twenty-seven  egg  strain  are  sold.  For  eggs  from 
selected  trap-nested  layers  that  pass  the  one  hundred  and  ninety-two 
mark,  $2  for  fifteen,  $7  for  one  hundred,  $70  for  one  thousand,  deliv- 
ered at  the  Hanford  express  office.  He  now  offers  settings  from  hens 
that  have  records  of  two  hundred  and  twenty  to  two  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  at  $4  for  fifteen,  or  $25  for  one  hundred.  Having  in- 
creased the  number  of  birds  of  this  class,  he  can  supply  settings  in 
greater  numbers  than  in  previous  seasons. 

On  his  ranch  Mr.  Macfarlane  now  has  three  thousand  White  Tjeg- 
horn  chickens.  In  December,  1911,  he  received  the  largest  order  for 
eggs  for  hatching  purposes  ever  given  in  California  and  at  the  high- 
est price — two  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  eggs  at  seven  cents 
an  egg.  This  great  order  came  from  Petaluma,  Cal.  He  ships  eggs 
in  lots  of  fifteen  hundred  and  twelve,  for  which  he  receives  $100  a 
lot.  Mr.  Macfarlane  thanks  his  White  Leghorns  for  a  ranch  worth 
$10,000,  a  business  lilock  in  Hanford  worth  $30,000  and  considerable 
other  valuable  property.  All  printing  of  catalogues  is  done  by  himself 
on  his  ranch,  and  he  is  now  using  his  fifth  press. 


PETER  THOMSON 

Cattle  raising  has  been  the  chief  industry  of  Peter  Thomson, 
who  is  numbered  among  the  most  ]irogressive  citizens  of  his  com- 
nmnity.  Born  in  Sweden  in  1844,  he  came  to  the  United  States  when 
he  was  fifteen  years  old  and  arriving  in  New  York  he  enlisted  in  the 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  781 

United  States  navy  and  served  one  year,  at  the  end  of  wIul-Ii  he  re- 
ceived honorable  discharge.  After  that  until  1870  he  was  employed 
on  vessels  sailing  to  different  parts  of  the  world,  Ijut  in  that  \ear  he 
landed  at  San  Francisco,  where  he  remained  about  twelve  months. 
Then  he  worked  in  the  redwood  forests  in  Mendocino  county  for  three 
years,  later  coming  to  Tulare  county.  In  1875  in  partnership  with  L. 
W.  Howeth,  he  went  into  the  sheep  business,  and  siuce  then  he  has  at 
times  owned  as  many  as  three  thousand  sheep  in  a  single  band.  He 
did  not  dispose  of  this  interest  until  1894.  During  the  time  of  his 
connection  with  this  enteri)rise  he  saw  many  of  the  ups  and  downs 
of  sheep  raising — of  the  sheep  bought  in  1875  most  were  lost.  One 
of  his  largest  purchases  after  that  was  in  1879,  when  he  added  two 
thousand  to  his  flock.  He  now  devotes  his  attention  to  cattle,  of 
which  he  has  about  two  hundred  head.  He  owns  six  huudred  and 
forty  acres  of  land,  which  he  judiciously  devotes  to  various  features 
of  modern  farming  as  it  has  lieeu  developed  in  this  part  of  California. 
He  feels  grateful  to  the  country  at  large  for  what  it  has  done  for  him 
and  more  especially  to  central  California  for  the  opportunities  of 
which  he  has  so  wisely  taken  advantage,  and  as  he  has  prospered  he 
has  always  tried  in  an  unselfish,  loyal  way  to  make  some  returns  to 
the  community  for  the  l)enefit  he  has  received  from  it. 

It  was  in  1889  that  Mr.  Thomson  married  Miss  Eleanora  Thaden, 
a  native  of  Germany,  who  has  borne  him  five  children,  four  of  whom 
are  living.  Lyla  attends  the  State  Normal  at  San  Jose  and  will  grad- 
uate in  1913.  Ernest  is  at  home  and  aiding  in  the  conduct  of  the  home 
farm.  Beattie  is  a  student  in  the  Porterville  high  school.  Olga  at- 
tends school  at  White  River.     George  E.  is  deceased. 


HIRAM  L.  PARKER 

It  was  in  that  mother  state  of  the  Middle  West,  Ohio,  that  Hiram 
L.  Parker  was  born  May  25,  1849.  He  was  taken  to  Iowa  by  his  ]>ar- 
ents  when  two  years  of  age  and  there  he  was  reared  to  nianhooil  and 
educated,  and  in  1870,  when  he  was  abont  twenty-one  years  old,  lie 
came  to  California  and  located  in  Yolo  county,  not  far  from  Wood- 
land. Tliore  for  seventeen  years  he  raised  grain  and  stock  with  in- 
creasing success  and  gained  a  financial  start.  He  came  to  llanfoi-d, 
Kings  county,  in  1887,  and  Iionglit  eighty  acres  of  land  which  is  now 
included  in  his  homestead.  He  planted 'ten  acres  of  it  to  vinos  in  1888 
and  the  rest  of  the  ranch  was  devoted  chiefly  to  grain  and  alfalfa 
In  1890  lie  planted  thirty-five  acres  to  ])eaches,  apricots  and  prunes, 
in  the  ))roportion  of  twenty-seven,  five  and  three  acres,  respectively. 
Eventually  he  sold  forty  acres  and  bought  eighty  acres  moi-e  in  the 


782  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

same  section.  Ut'  the  latter  tract  lifteen  acres  is  iu  alfalfa,  the  remain- 
der in  fruit.  He  sold  it  in  11)12  to  E.  J.  Hummel  at  $400  an  acre.  In 
1907  he  bought  twenty  acres  adjoining  his  homestead  and  planted  it 
with  peach  trees.  His  last  purchase  was  another  twenty  acres,  which 
lies  south  of  his  homestead  in  the  same  section.  It  is  now  utilized 
for  general  farming,  but  he  intends  later  on  to  devote  it  to  fruit.  His 
expenditures  in  fitting  up  his  home  ranch  have  been  heavy,  including 
the  cost  of  buildings,  fences,  trees,  machinery  and  appliances.  His 
original  house  was  destroyed  by  tire  and  he  inmiediately  l)uilt  a  new 
one  on  its  site. 

Aside  from  his  farming,  Mr.  Parkei-  has  some  other  important 
interests,  having  been  associated  with  others  in  the  production  of  oil 
in  the  Lost  Hills  district,  the  general  development  of  which  is  now 
being  promoted.    He  is  a  stockholder  also  iu  the  Lilian  Oil  Company. 

In  1909  Mr.  Parker  married  Mrs.  Ella  (Harris)  Eraser.  By  a 
former  marriage  he  has  children  as  follows:  Mrs.  Nellie  Hummel; 
Mrs.  Mettie  Moorehouse;  and  A.  C.  Parker,  of  San  Jose.  Mrs.  E.  E. 
Brooks,  of  San  Francisco;  Mrs.  Clarence  Kemp,  of  Lakeport;  and 
Bruce  Eraser,  of  Lake  county,  are  Mrs.  Parker's  children  l)y  her  for- 
mer marriage.  Mr.  Parker's  enterprise  along  the  lines  of  private 
business  is  equaled  only  by  his  public-sjiirited  helpfulness  in  all  move- 
ments for  the  general  good. 


A.  J.  SALLADAY 

In  the  Buckeye  State,  in  1854,  was  born  A.  J.  Salladay,  a  promi- 
nent citizen  of  Tulare  county  and  an  enthusiastic  promoter  of  the  in- 
terests of  Terrabella  and  its  tributary  territory.  AVhen  he  was  twelve 
years  old  he  was  taken  to  Iowa  by  his  parents  on  their  removal  to  that 
state,  and  there  he  remained  eighteen  years,  until  1884,  when  he  came 
to  California  and  settled  in  Fresno  county.  After  a  residence  of  two 
years  there  he  removed  to  Tulare  county,  within  the  borders  of  which 
he  has  since  made  his  home.  It  was  in  Ohio  and  Iowa  that  he  obtained 
his  education.  His  father  was  a  rancher  and  all  through  his  boyhood 
and  youth  the  son  was  his  assistant.  When  he  left  Iowa  in  1884  he 
took  up  the  battle  of  life  for  himself,,  buying  forty  acres  of  land  in 
Fresno  county,  which  he  subsequently  sold.  In  Tulare  county  he 
homesteaded  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  to  which  he  added  by  sub 
sequent  purchases  until  he  owned  a  whole  section,  which  he  sold  a 
few  months  ago  for  $42,000,  it  being  good  producing  wheat  land. 
There  is  food  for  thought  in  this  brief  statement  of  the  success  of  a 
self-made  man.     It  was  dependent  not  alone  on  industry  and  j^erse- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  783 

verance,  hut  not  a  little  on  a  i)rophetic  foresight  which  took  accoiuit 
of  values  past  aud  present  and  future. 

lu  1885  Mr.  Salladay  married  Sophia  Carr,  a  native  of  Iowa, 
and  they  have  had  four  children,  all  of  whom  are  living.  Nita  mar- 
ried J.  B.  Garver  and  lives  at  Terrabella.  Sarah  became  the  wife 
of  Henry  Owens  and  lives  in  the  same  neighborhood.  Joe  is  un- 
married, and  Carr  is  a  boy  of  five  years.  Mrs.  Salladay 's  parents, 
natives  of  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania,  are  living  in  California.  Mr. 
Salladay 's  father,  also  of  Ohio  birth,  died  soon  after  his  son  came 
to  Tulare  county.  The  latter  remembers  the  country  then  as  only 
a  boundless  sheeji  range,  and  he  has  watched  and  aided  in  its  de- 
velopment until  it  has  become  famous  as  the  citrus  l)elt  of  Cali- 
fornia. AVhen  he  came  here  the  people  did  not  dream  of  this  latter 
day  prosperity  based  on  irrigation,  and  farmers  were  subject  to 
all  the  vicissitudes  of  the  seasons.  Patriotic  and  helpful  to  an 
unusual  degree,  Mr.  Salladay  is  not  an  active  politician  and  has 
never  consented  to  accept  any  public  otSce  except  as  a  member  of 
the  school  board,  the  duties  of  which  his  interest  in  general  educa- 
tion has  impelled  him  to  undertake. 


BYRON  ALLEN 

This  native  son  of  California,  of  Tulare  county  and  of  Visalia 
was  born  October  10,  1868,  was  brought  up  by  his  stepfather,  James 
W.  Oakes,  and  after  leaving  school  was  associated  with  him  in  the 
cattle  Imsiness.  Later  he  went  to  Arizona,  New  Mexico  and  Old 
Mexico  on  a  prospecting  tour,  then,  returning  to  Visalia,  he  again 
engaged  in  the  breeding  of  cattle  and  horses;  for,  after  all  he  had 
seen,  I'anching  looked  more  promising  than  mining.  Since  the  death 
of  Mr.  Oakes  he  has  had  the  management  of  the  interests  left  by 
the  latter  and  is  making  a  success  that  is  notable  among  the  many 
successes  in  his  vicinity.  With  two  hundred  and  eighty  acres  of 
land,  he  is  nmking  a  specialty  of  the  raising  of  fine  blooded  hoi-ses. 
Cattle  also  command  his  attention,  he  having  a  range  of  two  thou- 
sand acres  in  the  mountains  and  keeping  year  after  year  about  two 
hundred  and  fifty  head  of  beef  cattle,  a  hundred  and  fifty  hogs  and 
forty  turkeys.  A  feature  of  his  home  farm  is  a  large  family  orchard, 
one  of  the  most  productive  in  the  neighborhood. 

In  1!)n4-  Mr.  Allen  married  Miss  Delia  Carter,  daughter  of  an 
eai-jy  setlh'r  in  Tulare  county.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the 
Eagles  and  the  Woodmen.  As  a  citizen  he  takes  an  intelligent  inter- 
est in  all  questions  of  national  or  local  significance  and  as  a  voter 
does  his  whole  duty  by  helping  to  elect  to  office  Ihe  men  who  will  best 


784  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

serve  the  interests  of  the  people.  His  public  spirit,  many  times  tested, 
has  never  been  found  wanting  either  in  spontaneity  or  in  generosity, 
for  he  has  near  to  his  heart  tlie  ui)lift  and  prosperity  of  tho  rom- 
munitv. 


CAPT.  ROBERT  M.  ASKIN 

As  citizen,  soldier,  artisan,  merchant  and  official,  Capt.  Robert 
M.  Askin  of  Visalia  won  prominence  among  his  fellowmeu.  He  was 
born  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  April  10,  1838,  and  died  at  his  home  in 
Tulare  county  January  1,  1908.  John  Askin,  his  father,  an  English- 
man transplanted  to  the  Emerald  Isle,  became  a  plumber  under  his 
father's  instructiou  and  worked  at  his  trade  in  Ireland  as  long  as 
he  lived.  He  was  married  in  Ireland  to  Miss  Sarah  Sophia  Shea,  a 
Dublin  girl,  who  bore  him  five  children,  of  whom  Robert  M.  was  the 
third  in  order  of  birth,  and  of  whom  two  sons  and  two  daugliters 
grew  to  maturity. 

In  November,  1852,  Robert  M.,  seeking  fortune  in  a  new  land 
l)efore  he  was  fifteen  years  old,  crossed  the  Atlantic  and  joined  an 
uncle  at  Trenton,  Canada,  where  he  gave  about  two  years  to  learning 
the  tinner's  trade.  From  1854  to  1856  he  worked  at  his  trade  in 
Jefferson  county,  N.  Y.,  whence  he  went  to  New  York  City  at  the 
request  of  another  uncle.  Three  years  later  he  was  working  at  his 
trade  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  biit  he  soon  went  with  a  Mr.  Crippen  to  Steel- 
ville,  Crawford  county,  that  state,  where  he  established  a  tinsmith's 
shop,  which  he  operated  until  in  the  fall  of  1861.  On  Septemlier  6, 
1861,  he  became  a  member  of  Company  E  of  the  Phelps  Regiment,  with 
which  he  served  six  months,  during  which  he  witnessed  the  liattle  of 
Pea  Ridge.  Receiving  honorable  discharge  at  the  end  of  his  tei'ui  of 
enlistment,  he  re-enlisted  in  Company  E,  Thirty-second  Missouri  In- 
fantry, August  14,  1862.  From  a  private  he  was  promoted  in  the  fol- 
lowing October  to  lieutenant,  and  April  14,  1864,  he  was  connnissioned 
captain.  He  served  under  Grant  until  1863  and  afterward  until  the 
end  of  the  war  under  Sherman.  It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  while 
he  participated  gallantly  in  thirty-two  engagements  he  never  missed 
a  roll-call  or  a  meal  with  his  company  and  received  but  one  wound,  a 
mere  scratch  by  a  ball  while  he  was  charging  on  a  battery  at  Jones- 
boro,  Ga.  He  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  July  18,  1865,  returned 
to  Steelville,  Mo.,  and  worked  as  a  tinner  and  sold  hardware.  In  1870 
he  moved  to  Cuba,  Crawford  county.  Mo.,  and  in  1878  to  Salem,  Dent 
county.  Mo.,  where  he  dealt  in  hardware  and  house  furnishing  goods 
for  twentv-one  vears.     From  his  voung  manhood  he  was  an   ac^tive 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  785 

Republican,  and  for  a  tenu  lie  held  the  office  of  presiding  justice  of 
the  county  court  and  he  served  as  postmaster  of  Salem  by  appointment 
of  President  Harrison.  From  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  California 
until  his  death  he  liad  his  residence  and  business  headquarters  at 
Visalia. 

Captain  Askin  married,  February  22,  1866,  Clara  Alice  Jameson,  a 
native  of  Missouri,  wlio  bore  him  four  children :  Charles  Robert  and 
Mary  Catherine  are  dead;  William  C.  lives  in  Missouri;  John  Herbert 
was  connected  with  liis  father  in  business  at  Visalia  and  is  still  a  resi- 
dent of  that  city.  Mrs.  Askin  died  at  Cuba,  Crawford  county,  Mo., 
Ajiril  12,  1876,  and  Captain  Askin  married  (second)  in  that  town 
Miss  Frances  Amelia  Shephard,  of  New  York  liirth,  and  they  liad 
ciiildren,  Arthur  Wesley,  Adney  Horace,  Mervyn  Leroy,  Matie  Ajuelia 
and  Flora  Dell.  Captain  Askin  was  a  constituent  memlier  of  the  post 
of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  at  Salem,  Mo.,  and  on  coming  to 
Visalia  transferred  his  membership  to  Gen.  George  Wright  Post  No. 
Ill,  of  that  city.  In  religious  affiliation  he  was  an  Episcopalian  and 
the  surviving  members  of  his  family  are  communicants  of  that  church. 
At  Salem  he  was  active  in  the  work  of  the  Masonic  lodge  and  com- 
mandery  and  in  that  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen.  .Wher- 
ever he  lived  he  was  in  a  jniblic-sjiirited  way  devoted  to  the  uplift  of 
his  commnnity,  and  in  this  i-espect  liis  son  is  following  in  his  footsteps, 
giving  genei'ous  encouragement  to  every  movement  at  ^^isalia  foi'  the 
good  of  any  considerable  class  of  the  people. 


GEORGE  BRIDGES 

California  is  a  field  peculiarly  alluring  to  young  men  of  states 
further  east,  who,  having  good  health  and  good  character,  are  deter- 
mined to  prosjier  by  their  own  efforts.  This  is  jiroven  by  a  glance  at 
the  facts  in  the  life  thus  far  of  George  Bridges,  a  jirosj^erous  farmer 
and  dairyman  near  Visalia,  Tulare  county.  Mr.  Bridges  was  born  in 
Morton  county,  lucL.  iMarch  3,  1867,  and  there  he  attended  the  iniblic 
schools  and  gained  a  ]iractical  kiutwlcdge  of  farming  as  it  was  then 
carried  on  in  his  vicinity.  In  1884,  when  he  was  seventeen  years  old. 
he  came  to  California.  His  oiiginal  settlement  here  was  at  a  point 
west  of  Visalia,  and  eventually  he  bought  ten  acres  of  land  near  the 
Shirk  ranch,  which  he  still  owns,  and  where  for  nine  years  he  grew 
alfalfa.  Then  he  rented  a  [lart  of  the  Frans  ranch,  forty  acres,  east 
of  \"isalia.  There  he  cultivated  alfalfa  and  installed  a  dairy  of  thir- 
teen cows,  besides  raising  some  vegetables.  The  following  year  he 
rented  the  Smith  ranch  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  and  in- 
creased his  daii'y  to  oiu>  of  twenty-five  cows,  giving  attention  to  alfalfa 

45 


786  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

and  devotiug  au  adequate  portion  of  his  land  to  pasturage.  After 
living-  there  a  year  he  moved  to  his  present  residence,  two  hundred  and 
twenty-six  acres  of  the  old  Patterson  ranch,  northeast  of  Visalia, 
which  tract  he  has  since  operated  under  lease.  At  this  time  he  has 
ninety-eight  acres  in  alfalfa,  owns  one  hundred  head  of  hogs  and  beef 
cattle  and  has  a  dairy  of  fifty  cows.  Thus,  from  a  small  beginning 
and  not  under  the  most  favoralile  circumstances,  he  has  developed  a 
fine,  growing  business  which  stamps  him  as  a  man  of  ability  and  enter- 
prise and  holds  much  promise  for  his  future. 

In  1890  Mr.  Bridges  married  Miss  Mary  F.  Stokes,  a  native  of 
Tulare  county,  where  her  father,  Yaucy  Stokes,  was  an  early  settler, 
and  they  have  four  children:  Flora  May,  Stella  I.,  wife  of  Roy  Swit- 
zer,  George  M.,  and  Zelda  E.  Mr.  Bridges  is  a  member  of  the  Modern 
Woodmen  of  America,  devoted  to  all  its  interests.  He  is  a  man  of 
considerable  public  spirit,  always  ready  to  do  his  part  for  the  advance- 
ment of  any  measure  for  the  general  good  of  his  community. 


ARTHUR  P.  HUBBS 

It  was  in  Porterville.  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  that  Arthur  Preston 
Hulibs  was  born  in  1870,  a  son  of  James  Robert  Hubbs.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  the  schools  of  Porterville  and  in  the  Mountain  View  school, 
and  in  his  youth  assisted  his  father  in  the  latter 's  stock  farming.  The 
elder  Hubbs  came  across  the  plains  in  1840  with  his  father,  making  the 
journey  with  ox-teams,  and  later  he  and  his  father  owned  thousands 
of  acres  of  land  which  they  bought  cheaply  and  sold  while  land  was 
yet  a  drug  on  the  market,  and  they  operated  extensively  in  stock 
while  tlie  stock  Imsiness  was  only  in  its  infancy.  When  Arthur  Hulibs 
first  saw  the  site  of  Porterville  it  was  wild  land  without  a  building, 
and  he  remembers  Springville  when  its  condition  was  no  less  primi- 
tive. He  has  watched  and  assisted  in  the  development  of  the  country 
and  observes  its  present  prosperity  with  the  just  ]>ride  of  the  pioneer. 
At  one  time  he  served  the  community  with  ability  as  constable, 
and  he  remembers  that  being  a  constable  then  was  not  the  peaceable 
undertaking  that  it  is  today.  In  all  the  years  of  his  residence  here 
he  has  always  been  ready  in  a  public-spirited  way  to  assist  any  move- 
ment ]iro])Osed  for  the  general  good.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the 
Court  of  Honor,  of  which  his  wife  also  is  a  member. 

In  1895  Mr.  Hubbs  married  Miss  011a  Doty,  a  native  daughter  of 
California,  and  they  have  had  three  children.  Del])ha,  Gladvs  and  Law- 
rence. Delpha  and  Gladys  are  in  school.  Mrs.  Hubbs'  father  was  a 
pioneer  in  California  and  is  still  living  in  Tulare  county,  where  he  was 
long  a  stockman.     So  extensive  were  his  operations  in  that  line  that 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  7?7 

he  onee  owned  a  iit'teeu  huudred  aud  twenty  acre  stock  range  which 
he  bought  at  two  dollars  an  acre  and  sold  later  at  six  dollars.  Some 
years  ago  he  went  into  the.  livery  business  and  now  he  is  the  proprie- 
tor of  an  up-to-date  stable  at  Springville,  Cal.,  which  is  one  of  the 
best  appointed  and  most  profitable  in  this  part  of  the  coimtry. 


ISAAC  T.  IIALFORD 

On  October  10,  1848,  in  Moniteau  county,  Mo.,  Isaac  T.  Halford 
was  ])orn,  the  eldest  of  twelve  children  born  to  L.  R.  and  Hester 
(Coale)  Halford,  both  natives  of  Missouri.  L.  R.  Halford  was  the 
son  of  Kentuckians  and  he  passed  away  in  Missouri,  where  also  his 
wife  died.  In  ISfiH  the  family  moved  to  Henry  county,  Mo.,  and  there 
Isaac  T.  Halford  worked  on  a  farm  and  attended  school  until  he 
reached  the  age  of  eighteen  years.  Two  years  later  he  was  in  the 
cattle  business  in  Texas,  whence  he  returned  to  Henry  county.  Mo., 
to  engage  in  the  mercantile  business  in  Coalesburg,  and  continued  in 
it  successfully  until  in  1885,  when  he  sold  out.  In  1887  he  came  to 
California  and  located  at  Orange,  in  Orange  county,  remaining  for 
two  years,  and  tlien  moved  to  Porterville,  Tulare  county,  which  has 
since  been  his  home.  Opening  a  general  merchandise  store,  he  con- 
ducted it  for  a  while  and  later  engaged  in  stock  raising.  After  forty- 
two  years  of  active  business  life  he  retired  to  enjoy  a  three  years'  rest, 
and  December  27,  1912,  with  Stejdien  D.  Halford,  his  brother,  he 
bought  the  grocery  business  conducted  by  Wilko  Mentz,  and  they  are 
now  conducting  the  business  under  the  firm  name  of  Halford  Bros. 
Mr.  Halford  has  bought  property  in  Porterville  and  im])roved  it  and 
has  in  different  ways  manifested  a  helpful  interest  in  the  town.  While 
a  citizen  of  Coalesburg,  Henry  county,  Mo.,  he  held  the  office  of  post- 
master seven  years,  and  at  another  time  he  was  a  deputy  sheriff. 
Though  he  has  wielded  a  i)olitical  influence  in  Tulare  county,  he  has 
never  consented  to  hold  office.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Inde- 
jiendent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Encam]iment.  He  was  a  cliar- 
ter  mem})ei-  of  his  lodge  and  has  for  some  time  served  as  its  secretai-y. 
Mrs:  lialfoi'd  is  a  Rebekah.  When  he  began  business  in  Porterville 
thei"e  was  not  a  hricic  building  in  the  town,  aud  his  was  tlie  fdiirtli 
store  in  operation. 

In  1878  Mr.  Ilalfnrd  married  Cornelia  Holston,  a  native  of  'Pen- 
nessee.  They  have  no  children,  but  they  have  an  adojyted  son,  D. 
Wrinkle,  born  Deceinber  24,  1902,  who  has  been  a  member  of  tlieii- 
family  since  he  was  three  years  old.  Before  her  marriage  Mrs.  Hal- 
ford was  a  teacher  in  the  Stat<'  Normal  school  at  Kirksville,  Mo. 


788  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

JOSEPH  WILLIAM  HOMER 

Born  in  England,  the  late  Joseph  Wijliam  Homer  early  settled 
in  New  York,  whence,  while  yet  a  young  man,  he  went  to  New  Har- 
mony, Posey  county,  Ind.  His  father,  Richard  Homer,  and  other 
members  of  his  family  came  .to  America  also  and  lived  in  Indiana, 
where  Richard  died.  After  that  event  Joseph  William  Homer  went 
down  the  Ohio  river  and  enlisted  for  service  in  the  United  States 
army  for  ser\ice  in  the  Mexican  war,  in  which  he  did  duty  as  a  soldier 
about  a  year.  Returning  to  Indiana,  he  later  came  through  Arkansas 
and  Texas  and  thence  west  to  Los  Angeles,  and  soon  engaged  in  stock 
raising  at  Visalia  in  partnership  with  his  brother-in-law,  Ira  Van 
Gordon.  Later  he  lived  a  mile  north  of  Farmersville.  with  stock- 
raising  as  his  principal  occupation.  When  he  first  came  to  California 
the  Indians  were  very  troublesome,  and  he  assisted  in  the  construction 
of  a  fort  for  the  protection  of  women  and  children.  He  was  a  pioneer 
also  in  the  construction  of  irrigation  ditches  and  was  in  one  way  or 
another  connected  with  many  important  movements  and  enterprises. 
He  was  well  educated,  spoke  the  Spanish  language  fluently,  and  taught 
his  own  children  before  schools  were  established.  He  voted  at  the 
historic  local  election  held  under  the  oak  tree.  He  continued  to  live 
at  his  home  at  Three  Rivers  until  1879,  when  his  long  and  useful  life 
came  to  an  end. 

Mr.  Homer  married  Miss  Martha  Balaam,  a  native  of  Kentucky. 
who  bore  him  these  children :  Catherine  R.,  S.  Ellen,  Truman  J.,  Ed- 
ward B.,  Thomas  and  Anna  M.  Catherine  R.  married  James  S.  Price, 
and  they  have  a  son,  Charles,  and  a  daughter.  Alta  Florence.  S.  Ellen 
married  John  Hambright,  whose  parents  were  among  ('alifornia 
]Honeers,  and  they  liave  eight  children.  Truman  J.  married  Alice 
Rice  and  they  have  a  child,  Carrol  S.  Edward  B.  married  Anna 
Swank,  and  they  have  five  daughters  and  live  near  Orange  Heights. 
Thomas  married  Matilda  Mehrten  and  they  have  two  sons.  Anna  ^f. 
married  Harvey  Hodges,  of  Dinuba,  and  bore  him  one  son. 

With  Jackson  Price,  his  father,  James  S.  Price,  then  only  about 
six  months  old,  came  overland  from  Kansas  to  California  in  1863. 
Tjater  the  family  removed  to  Oregon,  whence  the  younger  Price  even- 
tually came  to  California,  where  he  has  won  success  as  a  dair^^nan 
and  as  a  stock-raiser.  He  bought  twenty  acres  of  land  at  $200  an 
acre  and  has  three  and  a  half  acres  under  trees  and  vines,  the  remain- 
der under  alfalfa.  He  has  recently  st)ld  seventy  head  of  stock,  but 
keeps  an  average  of  forty  head  and  about  one  hundred  head  of  Duroc 
hogs.  Not  long  ago  he  sold  a  male  pig  for  $15.  His  cattle  are  of  the 
Holstein  breed.  Politically  he  is  Republican  and  his  wife  is  a  Pro- 
gressive Republican.  He  very  ably  fills  the  office  of  postmaster  at 
Orange  Heights.     He  is  an  Odd  Fellow,  a  Forester  of  America,  a 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  789 

Woinliiiaii  of  America  and  a  luember  of  the  Order  of  Loyal  Protection. 
Mrs.  Price,  formerly  a  memiier  of  the  Women  of  Woodcraft,  is  identi- 
fied with  Rel)ekah  Lodge  of  San  Tjiiis  Obisjio  coimty. 


S.  C.  KIMBALL 

A  successful  merchant  and  financier  of  Hanford  who  is  well 
known  here  for  his  exceptional  Imsiness  ability  and  honorable  meth- 
ods is  S.  C.  Kimball,  who  was  born  in  Barton,  Yt,  March  24,  1859. 
He  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  and  at  the  Eastman  Business 
College  at  Poughkeepsie.  N.  Y.  Meantime  he  early  entered  business 
life,  and  from  the  time  he  was  seventeen  until  he  was  twenty-one 
years  old  he  traveled  through  the  New  England  states,  buying  wool 
in  carload  lots  and  establishing  agencies  for  fertilizers.  In  this 
period  he  ojjened  a  general  merchandise  store  at  Albany,  Vt.,  where 
he  gained  his  first  ex])erience  as  a  merchant.  In  1889  he  went  to 
Puyallup,  Wash.,  and  there  sold  drygoods  for  six  years,  then  re- 
turned to  "\"ermont  for  the  benefit  of  his  liealth.  He  opened  a  dry- 
goods  store  at  Barton  Landing  and  incidentally  engaged  in  the  flour, 
feed  and  grain  trade  to  a  large  extent,  having  six  agencies  with  one 
to  five  carloads  of  feed  and  grain  on  the  track  all  the  time  during 
the  shipi)ing  season.  Meanwhile  he  bought  and  conducted  his  grand- 
parents' old  farm.  Though  he  was  doing  well,  he  was  longing  for 
the  west  and  he  sold  out  his  interests  in  Vermont  and  came  to 
California,  and  by  advice  of  wholesalers  of  his  acquaintance,  lo- 
cated, in  1903,  in  Hanford.  Here  he  opened  a  drygoods  store  on 
the  site  of  the  ])resent  city  market,  taking  over  the  old  Hutchins 
stock.  His  small  initial  business  was  the  forerunner  of  greater 
things  and  in  a  year  and  a  half  he  moved  to  his  present  site  at 
the  corner  of  Seventh  and  Douty  streets,  moving  into  the  ground- 
floor  story  of  the  building  he  now  occupies.  His  store  space  was 
125x35  feet;  later  he  leased  an  adjoining  building,  acquiring  an  addi- 
tional space  of  25x100  feet,  and  not  long  afterward  added  to  his 
establishment  the  second  floor  of  the  original  building.  In  October, 
1911,  he  Oldened  two  branch  stores,  one  at  Lemoore,  the  other  at 
Exeter.  In  the  first  he  sells  drygoods  and  shoes,  in  the  other  dry- 
goods  only.  His  sons,  Raymond  C,  Hugh  A.  and  H.  C.  Kimball, 
are  associated  with  him  in  business.  H.  C.  Kimball  is  secretary  of 
the  New  York  department  store  and  manager  of  the  Lemoore  branch 
store.  The  stocks  of  the  three  stores  embrace  general  drygoods, 
cloaks,  suits,  carpets,  shoes  and  men's  furnishings,  tinware,  glass- 
ware, agateware  and  stationery. 

In   addition   to   his   large   department   store.   Mi-.   Kimball    is   be- 


790  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

comiuy  lar.yely  iuterested  iu  baukiug  tlirougliout  Tulare  aud  Fresno 
counties.  In  the  spring  of  1910,  associated  with  Chester  Dowell, 
he  organized  the  Lindsay  National  bank,  of  Lindsay,  Cal.,  of  which 
he  was  made  the  first  president,  and  in  February,  1911,  he  bought 
the  First  National  bank  of  Exeter  and  was  made  president  of  that 
also.  His  sons  are  married  and  settled  in  Kings  county,  their 
financial  interest  in  his  business  dating  from  June,  1911.  Mr.  Kim- 
ball is  ]3resident  of  the  First  National  bank  of  Exeter  and  the 
National  bank  of  Oro.si,  the  latter  being  capitalized  at  $25,000  and 
o]5ening  its  doors  in  February,  1913.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Fowler 
National  bank  at  Fowler,  Cal.,  capitalized  at  $50,000  which  started 
its  business  also  in  February,  1913.  He  is  largely  interested  in  the 
Golden  State's  Security  Co..  Inc.,  of  Exeter,  capitalized  at  $50,000, 
their  holdings  being  practically  all  orange  lands.  This  compan.v 
has  a  bright  future  and  handles  twenty  and  forty  acre  tracts,  and 
as  director  of  this  corporation  Mr.  Kimliall  is  an  active  element. 

In  1908  Mr.  Kimball  bought  the  Dr.  Holmes  fruit  ranch,  a  mile 
west  of  Hanford,  which  he  has  converted  into  a  fine  estate.  Besides 
this  twenty  acres  he  bought  twenty-tive  acres  near  the  city  limits, 
all  in  orchard  and  vineyard.  In  1912,  with  A.  W.  Quinn  and  two 
others,  he  bought  nine  hundred  acres  of  orange  land  in  the  orange 
belt,  four  miles  from  Exeter,  which  they  intend  to  improve. 


A.  W.  PHELPS 

Near  Sheboygan  Falls,  Wis.,  A.  W.  Phelps,  who  lives  north  of 
Dinuba  in  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  was  born  June  24,  1862,  a  sou  of  Ben- 
jamin aud  Matilda  (Humes)  Phelps,  and  lived  there  until  he  was  nine 
years  old,  when  he  was  taken  by  his  parents  to  Missouri.  There  the 
family  home  was  located  directly  across  the  road  from  that  of  the 
Samuels,  mother  aud  stepfather  of  the  James  boys,  famous  in  outlaw 
history  of  the  west. 

The  Phelpses,  who  were  pioneers  in  Wisconsin,  became  pioneers  in 
Oregon  in  1875,  settling  near  Salem  and  Silverton,  in  Marion  county, 
where  the  family  lived  twenty-one  years  and  where  the  father  died, 
aged  eighty-five.  In  1896  A.  W.  Phel]is  came  to  California  and  located 
in  Tulare  county.  He  leases  ten  acres  belonging  to  Mrs.  Latin  and 
another  tract  of  twenty  acres,  and  has  four  acres  and  a  half  in  peaches 
and  three  in  Malaga  vines.  As  a  farmer,  considering  the  extent  of  his 
operations,  lie  is  achieving  a  marked  success. 

Mr.  Phelps'  experience  as  a  pioneer  in  several  states  was  replete 
with  interest.  On  one  occasion  in  Tulare  county  he  wandered  from 
the  road  on  his  wav  to  a  dance  and  came  uiion  two  voung  lions,  and 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  (XHTx^'TES  791 

wliile  he  was  considering  the  advisal)ility  oT  captiiriiig  Jiiid  making 
pets  of  theai  he  was  startled  by  beholding  in  the  near  vicinity  a  rtve- 
legged  double-hoofed  Jersey  calf.  How  these  strange  animals  came 
to  be  there  or  whether  or  not  he  took  them  home  with  him  lie  did  not 
inform  his  interviewer.  Perhaps  he  left  them  because  he  was  more 
anxious  to  attend  the  dance  than  to  begin  the  collection  of  a  menagerie. 
In  the  early  days  he  saw  many  dro\-es  of  elk  and  was  successful  in 
deer-stalking. 

In  his  politics  Mr.  Phelps  is  an  independent  Repul)Iicau.  Frater- 
nally he  affiliates  with  the  Maccabees.  He  married  in  Kingsbui-g, 
Tulare  county,  Miss  Emma  Peterson,  a  native  of  Kansas,  and  they 
have  children  named  Minnie,  Grade  and  Eva.  Minnie  has  jiassed 
through  the  local  grammar  school. 


BREWSTER  S.  GURNEE 

In  any  survey  of  the  substantial  enterprises  of  Hanford,  Kings 
county,  Cal.,  the  Gurnee  iilaning-mill  is  certain  to  attract  attention. 
Its  output  in  windows,  doors,  mouldings  and  bank  tixtures  aggre- 
gates $60,000  yearly.  The  guiding  spirit  of  these  enterprises  is 
Brewster  S.  Gurnee,  who  came  to  Hanford  from  the  city  of  Fresno 
in  December,  1891.  Born  in  Stony  Point,  Rockland  comity,  N.  Y., 
May  26,  1859,  a  son  of  Walter  F.  B.  Gurnee  and  a  grandson  of 
Mathew  Gurnee,  natives  of  the  Empire  state,  he  traces  his  ancestry 
to  one  of  the  Pilgrim  fathers.  Walter  F.  B.  Gurnee,  a  farmer  and 
a  brick  manufacturer,  served  the  Federal  cause  in  the  Civil  war 
as  a  private  soldier  sixty  days,  then  was  sent  home  because  of  ill 
health  and  died  in  his  tifty-sixth  yeai'.  He  married  Mary  M.  Smith, 
also  a  native  of  New  York  state,  who  died  at  Rye,  N.  Y.,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-six. 

In  the  public  school  near  his  l)oyhood  home  Brewster  S.  (Jurnee 
ol)tained  such  education  as  was  availa])le  to  him.  His  first  business 
ex])erience  was  in  Washington,  N.  J.,  where  he  learned  the  organ 
maker's  trade  with  the  Beaty  Organ  company.  Later  he  was  em- 
liloyed  in  a  piano  factory  at  New  York,  but  was  constrained  by  his 
wife's  failing  health  to  give  up  Ills  ))osition  there  and  remove  to 
California.  His  first  location  liere  was  at  Fresno.  After  working 
in  a  ])laning-mill  there  for  about  a  year,  he  became  foreman  in  the 
large  i)laning-mill  of  M.  R.  Madary,  a  jtosition  which  he  filled  four 
years,  when  he  bouglit  a  half  interest  in  the  estalilishment.  After 
two  \ears  of  successful  linsiiu'ss  life,  he  sold  his  interest  in  the 
planing-mill,  December,  1S!»1,  and  came  to  Ilant'oi'd,  where  he  es- 
tablished himself  in  a  ))i-os|K'rous  manufacturing  Inisiness.     His   sue- 


792  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

cess,  however,  was  not  achieved  without  discoiuagiug-  reverses.  Be- 
sides his  iiiill  i)i()])t'rty  he  early  acquired  a  fruit  farm  near  Han- 
ford,  and  during  the  ])auic  of  189.3-94  he  lost  both  mill  and  farm; 
but  in  1899,  on  boi'rowed  cai)ital,  he  again  became  owner  of  the 
same  mill  and  has  since  operated  it  with  profit.  His  first  planing- 
mill  in  Hanford  was  a  small  affair  covering  a  ground  s])ace  of  fifty 
by  sixty-five  feet.  His  plant  now  consists  of  two  buildings,  one  cov- 
ering a  ground  space  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  by  one  hundred 
and  fifty  feet,  the  other  seventy-five  by  one  hundred  feet.  The 
Gurnee  mill  is  one  of  the  best  equipped  in  the  lower  San  Joaquin 
valley  and  its  manufactures  are  sold  in  all  parts  of  California.  It 
gives  constant  employment  to  thirty  men. 

The  Republican  party  has  in  Mr.  Gurnee  a  staunch  member, 
but  he  has  persistently  refused  to  accept  public  office.  Fraternallv 
he  affiliates  with  Hanford  Lodge,  No.  279,  F.  &  A.  M.;  Hanford 
chapter.  No.  74,  R.  A.  M. ;  the  Hanford  organizations  of  Woodmen 
of  the  World  and  Knights  of  Pythias;  and  the  I^'resno  lodge  of  the 
iJenevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks.  Mr.  Gurnee  is  no  less 
popular  in  business  and  social  circles  than  in  these  orders,  and  as 
a  citizen  he  has  never  been  found  wanting  in  public  spirit.  He  mar- 
ried Eugenia  A.  Van  A'aler,  a  native  of  Stony  Point,  N.  Y.,  and 
they  have  had  five  children,  one  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  The 
survivors  are  Mary,  Minnie,  Candace  and  Adelia.  Mary  is  the 
wife  of  F.  M.  Vincent,  residing  at  Niles,  Cal.  Minnie  is  the  wife 
of  A.  R.  Schimmell,  residing  near  Tulare.  Candace  is  the  wife  of 
W.  H.  Wilbur,   residing  at  Alpaugh,   Cal. 


EUGENE  A.  LUCE 

The  jiopulation  of  California  is  made  up  very  largely  of  men 
from  other  states  of  the  Uuion  and  ]iresents  uiore  distinct  elements 
than  almost  any  other  state.  Yet  it  is  a  melting-i)ot  in  which  all 
immigrants  are  converted  into  out-and-out  Californians.  In  local 
industries,  from  the  railroad  liuilder  to  the  bank  ]n-esident,  the  citi- 
zen of  New  York  birth  has  shown  excellent  (jualities.  One  such 
is  Eugene  A.  Luce,  formerly  a  plumber  at  Yisalia,  now  a  rancher 
on  the  Exeter  road,  east  of  that  city,  a  self-inade  man,  who  has 
won  high  repute  in  the  community  for  all  those  qualities  of  mind 
and  heart  which  make  for  good  citizenshijj.  Mr.  Luce  was  born  in 
Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  January  19.  1845,  and  when  he  was  two  years  old 
his  father  died.  He  was  reared  and  educated  in  his  native  state, 
and  in  the  spring  of  1870  came  to  California  and  opened  a  plumb- 
er's and  tinsmith  sho])  in  Visalia.     After  a  successful  business  there 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  79:5 

of  tweuty  years'  (.huation.  lio  sold  out  his  plant  aud  bought  .a  raUL-h 
of  eighty  acres  near  that  city.  It  was  set  out  to  fruit  trees  which 
lie  dug  up  to  convert  the  place  into  a  dairy  ranch  of  fifty  acres  of 
alfalfa  and  thirty  aci-es  of  wild  feed.  He  is  able  to  gather  six  crops 
of  alfalfa  each  \ear  without  irrigation.  A  dairy  of  thirty  cows 
is  a  feature  of  his  enterprise  and  he  keeps  fifty  hogs. 

In  1907  Mr.  Luce  married  Mrs.  Metcalf,  a  native  of  Iowa,  who 
has  two  children:  Herman  and  Odell  Metcalf.  Mary  E.  Luce  is  a 
child  by  a  former  wife.  Mr.  Luce  affiliates  with  the  Visalia  Grange 
aud  is  a  man  of  liberal  ]mblic  spirit. 


EDWIN  F.  HAET 

Many  Missourians  have  come  to  California  and  have  been  per- 
fectly satisfied  by  their  change  of  location.  One  such  is  Edwin  F. 
Hart,  of  Farmersville,  Tulare  county.  He  was  born  in  St.  Charles, 
Mo.,  December  24,  1860,  a  sou  of  Amos  and  Sarah  AV.  (Logan) 
Hart,  natives  of  Kentucky.  He  came  to  this  state  in  1882,  when 
he  was  about  twenty-two  years  old,  and  located  in  Tulare  county. 
With  his  brother,  he  liought  three  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land 
at  Cottage,  on  the  Mineral  King  road,  where  they  engaged  in  hog 
raising.  Three  years  later  they  sold  the  place  and  Mr.  Hart  bought 
his  present  farm  of  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  near  Farmersville, 
forty  acres  of  which  is  in  alfalfa,  eight  in  peaches,  ten  in  ]irunes 
and  two  in  a  family  orchard.  He  does  general  farming  aud  has  a 
dairy  of  twenty-five  cows.  He  owns  also  a  cattle  range  of  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres  on  the  Tule  river,  near  Woodville.  Fine  draft 
horses  are  among  the  i)roducts  of  his  farms  and  lie  is  i)art  owner 
of  an  imported  Percheron  stallion. 

Farming  and  stock-raising  do  not  command  Mr.  Hart's  entire 
time  so  as  to  exclude  other  interests.  His  public  spirit  has  led  him 
from  time  to  time  to  take  part  in  movements  for  the  general  benefit 
of  the  community.  He  is  iiresident  of  the  Consolidated  People's 
Ditch  company  and  has  been  at  the  head  of  the  cor]ioration  since 
1894.  The  other  officers  are  S.  T.  Pennybaker,  vice-i>resi(l('nt ;  Bank 
of  Visalia,  treasurer;  J.  C.  Lever,  secretary.  The  water  used  in  the 
system  under  consideration  comes  from  the  Kaweah  river.  The 
ditch  dug  by  the  old  <'()iii))any  was  merged  with  the  new  one  in  the 
consolidation  and  was  the  first  in  the  county.  It  was  begun  with 
nine  short  ditches  in  1852  and  was  known  as  the  Swansou  ditch. 
It  was  enlarged  from  time  to  time  down  to  1860,  and  in  18(i4  the 
Consolidated  company  took  it  over,  including  it  in  its  present  sys- 
tem of  five  miles  of  ditches   with   numerous  laterals,  each   of  ten   to 


794  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

fifteen  miles,  making  an  aggregate  of  nearly  one  hundred  miles.  In 
the  dry  season  of  1898  the  company  irrigated  more  than  sixteen 
thousand  acres  of  land.  This  enterprise  is  one  of  utmost  local 
importance  and,  as  has  been  seen,  has  comman(Jed  the  best  efforts 
of  leading  citizens  in  all  i^eriods  of  its  history  and  now  is  in  the 
hands  of  some  of  the  best  men  in  the  county. 

Socially  Mr.  Hart  is  identified  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World 
and  the  Fraternal  Aid.  He  married  Miss  Martha  E.  Frans,  the 
daughter  of  a  Tulare  county  pioneer,  February  2,  1887,  and  they  have 
seven  children :  Sarah  F.,  a  teacher  in  the  Farmersville  public  schools ; 
Charles  E.,  who  married  Belle  Hartsell;  John  H.;  Rebecca  E.;  James 
v.;  Homer  S. ;  Ruth  E.  Sarah  F.  and  Rebecca  E.  were  graduated 
from  the  San  Francisco  Normal  School.  Mr.  Hart  is  recognized  not 
only  as  one  of  the  successful  men  of  the  county  but  also  as  one  of  the 
most  public  spirited  of  those  who  are  leaders  in  affairs  of  general 
import. 


WILLIAM  11.  BRALV 

In  Missouri,  in  18()2,  was  born  William  H.  Braly,  who  now 
makes  his  home  at  Ducor,  Tulare  county.  Cal.  When  he  was  three 
months  old  his  parents  made  the  journey  l)y  ox  team  to  Oregon, 
and  there  he  lived  for  eight  years.  Then  coming  to  ("alifornia  he 
settled  in  Alameda  county,  where  he  grew  uj),  finishing  his  studies 
and  familiarizing  himself  with  the  details  of  farming.  In  1886  he 
came  to  Tulare  county  and  homesteaded  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  of  land  that  is  a  part  of  the  Braly  Brothers'  ranch. 

The  father  of  the  Braly  Brothers,  Shadrach  Braly.  was  a  native 
of  Missouri,  and  died  in  1892.  Their  mother,  who  was  l)orn  in 
Kentucky,  is  living  on  the  Braly  homestead,  passing  her  declining 
years  amid  the  scenes  of  her  active  life.  Her  sons,  W.  H.,  S.  W. 
and  J.  C.  Braly,  constitute  the  firm  of  Braly  Brothers.  Another  of 
her  sons,  B.  F.  Braly,  lives  in  this  vicinity.  Braly  Brothers  own 
twenty-two  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  land.  While  they  have 
raised  many  horses  and  mules,  they  give  their  attention  prin- 
cipally to  grain.  They  have  made  their  own  way  in  the  world 
by  hard  work  and  have  proven  their  right  to  succeed  by  showing 
their  willingness  in  a  loyal  way  to  contribute  their  full  share  toward 
the  prosperity  of  the  community.  Their  ranch,  two  and  a  half  miles 
west  of  Ducor,  is  one  of  the  show  places  of  that  part  of  the  county. 
William  H.  Braly  has  served  his  fellow  citizens  as  school  trustee, 
but  has  never  accejited  any  other  office. 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  795 

ELMER  L.  KITCHEL 

In  settling  in  a  new  country,  the  measiare  of  one's  success  is 
not  so  much  wliat  one  lu'ings  in  as  what  one  acquires.  The  man 
who  comes  with  ca])ital  does  not  always  keep  it,  and  the  man  wlio 
comes  empty-lianded  may  Hve  to  fill  his  coffers.  The  citizen  of 
Tulare  county  whose  name  is  ahove,  arrived  with  thirty  cents  cash 
in  hand.  How  he  has  prospei-ed  it  is  the  task  of  the  writer  here 
to  narrate.  Mr.  Kitchel  was  born  in  Warren  county,  Iowa,  May  6, 
1870,  a  son  of  James  and  Aleysana  (Webster)  Kitchel,  the  former 
born  in  Illinois,  the  latter  in  Indiana.  The  family  came  to  Cali- 
fornia in  1887  and  lived  at  Antioch,  Contra  Costa  county,  and  from 
there  eventually  came  on  to   Tulare  county. 

Elmer  L.  Kitchel  nuxde  his  api)earance  in  the  county  with  the 
small  sum  mentioned,  but  he  had  more  and  something  better — 
he  had  work  in  him,  work  that  was  for  sale  because  he  needed 
cash,  work  that  was  wanted  because  it  was  honest  and  thorough 
and  effective.  For  two  years  after  his  arrival  he  was  a  wage 
earner,  then  he  rented  the  Johnson  &  Levison  ranch  near  Visalia, 
which  embraced  forty  acres,  devoted  chiefly  to  fi-uit.  iVfter  operat- 
ing it  three  years  he  was  able  to  come  to  the  ranch  which  he  still 
leases  and  which  has  come  to  be  known  as  his  home.  It  is  the 
old  Patterson  ranch,  northeast  of  Visalia,  which  includes  ninety-five 
acres  of  cultivated  land  and  one  hundred  and  fifteen  acres  of  pas- 
ture. There  he  has  li\ed  since  1906.  When  he  came  to  the  place 
it  was  badly  run  down.  He  got  busy,  cleaning  up,  cutting  do^\^^ 
sixty  acres  of  dead  fruit  trees,  convertiug  the  trees  into  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty-eight  cords  of  wood.  Ever  since  he  has  been  im- 
jiroving  the  projierty,  on  which  there  are  now  twenty  acres  of  flour- 
isliing  i)rune  trees  which  produced  nine  tons  of  dried  fruit  in  1911, 
which  tested  fifty-two  and  sold  at  six  cents  a  jiound.  There  is  also 
a  young  orchard  of  thirteen  acres  of  French  ])runes  which  came 
into  bearing  in  1912.  In  1909  Mr.  Kitchel  had  forty-five  acres  of 
Egyptian  corn,  which  on  threshing  yielded  ten  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  sacks,  which  he  regarded  as  a  very  favorable  showing.  In 
1911  he  had  fifteen  acres  of  corn.  Sixty  acres  of  the  ranch  is  de- 
voted to  alfalfa,  which  in  1912  yielded  over  eight  tons  to  the  acre 
for  five  cuttings.  Ten  acres  of  this  was  sown  in  December,  1910, 
forty-five  in  October,  1909.  A  feature  is  a  dairy  of  twenty-five  cows, 
all  young  stock,  and  there  are  on  the  place  five  Pei-eheron  mares 
from  which  Mr.  Kitchel  raises  fine  draft  colts.  The  mares  weigh 
respectively  from  fourteen  hundred  and  fifty  to  seventeen  hundred 
pounds.  In  1912  Mr.  Kitchel  became  a  stockholder  in  the  Visalia 
Co-operative  creamery,  and  also  owns  stock  in  a  Percheron  stallion. 

Socially,    Mr.    Kitchel    is    an    Odd    Fellow,    alliliating   with    Four 


796  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Ci-eek  Lodge  No.  94.  In  1896  he  married  Mmnie  E.  Hunniiel, 
daughter  of  Thomas  and  Florence  A.  (Hill)  Hummel,  both  resi- 
dents of  Tulare  county  for  the  past  forty  years.  She  was  born 
in  Tulare  county  in  that  part  now  in  Kings.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kitchel 
have  four  children:     Kalph,  George,   Elmer  W.   and  Hattie. 


GEORGE  L.  BLISS 

Near  Visalia,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  George  L.  Bliss,  the  reliable 
abstract  man  of  Hanford,  was  born  January  24,  1866,  a  son  of 
Henry  P.  Bliss,  Sr.,  and  his  wife  Roxey  (Jordan)  Bliss.  His  father 
was  the  first  of  this  family  of  pioneers  to  settle  in  Central  Cali- 
fornia. He  was  born  in  New  York  state,  the  son  of  a  Presbyterian 
minister,  whom  he  accompanied  to  Michigan. 

Amid  frontier  conditions,  in  Allegan  county,  Mich.,  Henry  F. 
Bliss,  Sr.,  grew  to  manhood.  In  1850  he  came  overland  to  Cali- 
fornia with  an  ox-team  outfit  and  settled  at  Sonora  for  a  short 
time,  and  later  on  settled  in  Tulare  county  and  bought  land  six 
miles  south  of  Visalia,  which  he  sold  later  in  order  to  buy  a  farm 
about  a  mile  south  of  that  town,  where  he  built  up  extensive  stock- 
raising  interests.  It  was  after  he  came  here  that  he  married  Miss 
Jordan,  a  native  of  Texas,  who  had  accompanied  P'rauk  Jordan, 
her  father,  to  California.  From  girlhood  her  home  was  on  the 
Pacific  coast  and  she  passed  away  at  the  home  of  her  son,  Henry 
F.  Bliss,  in  her  fifty-fourth  year.  Henry  F.  Bliss,  Sr.,  died  in 
Visalia  in  his  fifty-eighth  year.  Of  their  children,  William  died  in 
Visalia;  Henry  F.  died  in  Visalia,  in  1909;  Charles  E.  is  in  Fresno; 
George  L.  is  the  subject  of  this  notice;  Irving  is  a  dairyman  at 
Bakersfield;  J.  H.  is  in  the  abstract  business  in  Bakersfield;  Mary, 
the  eldest  daughter,  died  in  Visalia;  Cora  is  in  the  abstract  busi- 
ness at  San  Diego;  Maggie,  a  graduate  of  the  State  Normal  School 
at  San  Jose,  married  I.  E.  Wilson  of  lianford;  and  Earl  (Maggie's 
twin)  is  in  the  U.  S.  army,  located  at  Vancouver,  Wash. 

In  the  public  schools  of  Visalia  George  L.  Bliss  was  educated 
and  in  1885  he  connected  himself  with  the  abstract  business  of  his 
uncle,  John  F.  Jordan,  of  the  Visalia  Abstract  company.  Even- 
tually be  was  made  deputy  county  clerk  of  Tulare  county  and  served 
two  years  as  city  assessor  of  ^'isalia.  Later  he  moved  to  Bakers- 
field, where  he  was  employed  in  an  abstract  office;  then,  returning 
to  Visalia,  he  was  again  connected  with  the  Visalia  Abstract  com- 
pany until  July  5,  1899,  when  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Hanford. 
There  he  bought  a  branch  of  the  ^^isalia  Abstract  company,  which 
he    has    operated    to    the    present    time,    now    kno-mi    as    the    Kings 


TULARE  AND  KINUS  COUNTIES  797 

County  Abstract  company.  Meauwliile  lie  lias  eugaged  iu  real  estate 
business,  and  since  1899  has  been  interested  in  the  development  of 
oil  lands  in  this  part  of  the  state.  He  is  secretary  of  the  Coaiiuga- 
Pacitic  Oil  and  Gas  company.  In  company  with  Kichard  Mills,  he 
has  lately  erected  a  new  brick  block  on  Eighth  street  opposite  the 
courthouse,  which  he  has  made  the  headquarters  of  his  abstract 
business  and  his  rapidly  growing  real  estate  business. 

A  man  of  j^ublic  spirit,  as  well  as  of  private  enterprise,  Mr. 
Bliss  has  done  much  for  the  development  of  Kings  county.  Fra- 
ternally he  affiliates  with  Hanford  lodge,  Knights  of  Pythias.  In 
1890  he  married  Miss  Hattie  Beville,  a  native  of  Georgia.  Their 
children  are  Iris  M.,  Georgia  J.  and  William  Payson  Bliss. 


M.  F.  SINGLETON 

Back  in  Indiana,  a  state  from  which  many  men  have  come  to 
California  to  find  here  signal  successes,  M.  F.  Singleton,  of  Ducor, 
Tulare  county,  CaL,  was  born  in  1862.  When  he  was  about  twenty- 
two  years  old  he  went  to  Kansas,  where  he  remained  but  a  short 
time,  coming  on  to  California  and  arriving  in  Tulare  county  Aug- 
ust 27,  1884.  Such  education  as  was  available  to  him  he  obtained 
in  public  schools  in  the  Hoosier  state,  but  as  he  was  obliged  to  go 
to  work  for  a  living  when  he  was  fifteen  years  old  his  literary 
training  was  necessarily  not  very  liberal.  He  came  to  the  county 
alone  and  for  four  years  worked  by  the  day  as  a  farm  hand,  and 
his  first  land  was  a  homestead  of  eighty  acres,  which  he  took  up 
soon  after  he  came.  By  later  purchases  he  has  acquired  five  other 
eighty-acre  tracts  and  now  owns  four  hundred  and  eighty  acres. 
At  one  time  his  holdings  included  other  land  which  brought  them 
up  to  a  total  of  six  hundred  and  eighty  acres.  He  is  now  raising 
grain  in  goodly  (piautities,  being  located  six  miles  from   Ducor. 

In  1888  Mr.  Singleton  married  Miss  Eva  J.  Hunsaker,  a  native 
of  Tulare  county,  who  died  in  1898.  In  1902  he  married  Miss  Clara 
E.  Gibbons.  By  his  first  marriage  he  had  five  children,  Claude  F., 
Louis  I.,  Nettie  E.,  Elsie  and  Nora.  Fraternally  Mr.  Singleton 
affiliates  with  Porterville  lodge.  No.  359,  I.  0.  O.  F.,  and  with  the 
Porterville  organization  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  While  he 
is  not  a  practical  politician  and  has  never  sought  ollice,  he  was, 
in  1910,  elected  to  represent  the  fifth  district  of  Tulare  county  in 
the  board  of  supervisors.  This  is  said  to  be  the  largest  and  wealth- 
iest district  of  the  county,  lie  has  novel'  accepted  any  other  ollicial 
jiosition,  but  he  is  not  without  honor  as  a  public-spirited  citizen  and 
as   a   self-made  man,  who   having   begun   at   the   very   bottom   of   the 


798  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

ladder  of  success,  has  gained  eminence  in  a  fair  and  square  struggle 
for  advancement  in  which  he  has  always  been  willing  to  give  gen- 
erous aid  and  honorable  dealing.  In  the  days  before  he  was  him- 
self a  landowner  he  was  instrumental  in  inducing  a  well-known 
farmer  to  have  a  well  put  down  on  his  ])lace.  It  is  worthy  of  note 
that  this  well  was  the  lirst  in  the  Ducor  district  for  agricultural 
purposes. 


W.  D.  TREWHITT 

This  prominent  contractor  and  builder  of  Hanford,  Kings  county, 
favorably  known  throughout  Central  California,  was  born  at  Cleve- 
land, Bradley  county,  Tenn.  When  he  Avas  twelve  years  old  he  be- 
came a  resident  of  Fort  Worth,  Tex.,  and  there  while  still  quite 
yoimg,  served  an  apprenticeshi]>  to  the  carpenter's  trade.  He 
worked  ten  years  there,  then  went  to  New  Orleans,  La.,  whence 
he  came  to  Hanford  in  1886.  Here  he  has  been  busy  as  a  con- 
tractor and  builder,  the  majority  of  his  buildings  being  handsome 
brick  structures,  among  which  are:  the  First  National  Bank,  Em- 
porium, Vendome  Hotel,  the  New  Opera  House,  the  Sharpies, 
Knowell,  Bush  and  Kutner-Goldstein  buildings,  the  Episcopal  and 
Presbyterian  churches,  the  Axtell  block  and  the  Slight  &  Garwood, 
Cliildress  &  Nunes,  Kennedy  &  Rol)inson,  Chittenden-Flory,  Robin- 
son, K.  Rollins  and  Buck  buildings,  and  the  Hanford  ice  plant,  all 
in  Hanford;  many  fine  structures  in  Fresno,  P]xeter,  Porterville, 
Lemoore,  Visalia  and  San  Francisco;  a  bank  building  in  Patterson, 
Stanislaus  county,  a  $50,000  apartment  house  in  Fresno,  a  $20,000 
addition  to  the  Burnette  Sanitarium  in  Fresno,  a  $40,000  addition 
to  the  court  house  in  A'isalia.  a  $20,000  grammar  school  building 
at  Visalia,  the  Mt.  Whitney  Power  company's  liuilding  in  Visalia, 
the  Hyde  block  in  ^'isalia,  high  school  buildings  at  Tulare  and 
Porterville,  grammar  school  buildings  in  Lindsay,  Exeter  and 
Fresno,  a  $50,000  school  building  at  C?oalinga  and  some  business 
blocks  in  Lemoore.  One  of  his  notaltle  residences  is  that  of  D.  R. 
Cameron  in  Hanford.  The  Hanford  Sanitarium,  the  Delano  high 
school,  the  high  school  at  Msalia,  Scally  hotel  at  Lemoore  and  the 
Convention  Hall  at  Fresno. 

In  1907  Mr.  Trewhitt,  in  association  with  L.  E.  Hayes,  founded 
the  S.  P.  Brick  company  of  Exeter,  which  makes  six  million  a  ire- 
cut  brick  annually.  He  is  one  of  the  owners  of  the  Talc  &  Soap- 
stone  company  at  Lindsay,  whose  stone  material  is  taken  from  the 
earth  and  ground  up  into  a  i^owder  which  is  a  base  for  manv 
products,  including  paints  and  i)aper,  soaps  and  face  powders.     He 


TULARP:  and  kings  counties  799 

lias  louii-  l)eeii  interested  in  ranch  jiroperty  iu  Kings  eounty  and 
now  owns  an  eighty-acre  farm,  two  miles  west  of  Hanford,  which 
is  given  over  to  vineyard,  orchard  and  the  raising  of  horses,  cattle 
and  hogs.  In  1907  the  firm  of  Trewhitt  &  Shields  was  organized,  the 
partners  being  W.  D.  Trewhitt  and  H.  W.  Shields.  Mr.  Shields  has 
charge  of  estimates  and  drafting. 

Fraternally,  Mr.  Trewhitt  is  a  Mason  of  the  Knights  Tem|)lar 
degree,  a  Sliriner  and  a  member  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World. 
In  1890  he  married  Miss  Mary  Ijillian  Carney,  a  native  of  Ken- 
tucky, and  they  have  three  children:  Klizabeth,  Dorris  and  Doug- 
las Trewhitt. 


J.  L.  PRESTIDGE 

This  native  of  Mississii)i)i  and  prominent  farmer  near  Dinuba, 
Tulare  county,  Cal.,  was  born  April  1,  18(31,  and  remained  in  the 
state  of  his  birth  until  he  was  seventeen  years  old,  attending  school 
after  he  had  reached  school  age  and  acquiring  a  practical  knowl- 
edge of  farming  which  has  been  the  foundation  of  his  later  success. 
In  1878  he  went  to  Washington  county,  Ark.,  where  he  remained 
six  years.  It  was  in  1886  that  he  came  to  California,  locating  at 
Hills  valley  and  remaining  one  year.  In  1887  he  went  to  Kettlemaus 
Plains,  where  he  took  a  homestead  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  and 
a  timber  culture  claim  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  remaining  there 
until  1894,  and  six  years  later  he  located  near  Dinuba,  where  he  has 
since  li\ed.  Some  idea  of  the  cjuality  of  the  man  may  be  gained  by  the 
fact  that  he  came  to  the  county  without  capital  and  without  infiueutial 
friends  and  has  iirospered  steadily  year  after  year,  in  s])iie  of  many 
difficulties,  until  he  owns  a  homestead  wliicli  could  not  be  bought 
for  $10,000.  His  friendliness  and  public  spirit  have  been  of  ma- 
terial aid  to  him,  for  it  is  true  that  one  cannot  be  a  friend  without 
gaining  friends  or  help  the  community  without  helping  one's  self. 
Fraternally  he  afliliates  witli  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  In  his 
political  relations  he  is  a  Democrat  and  as  such  has  been  elected  to 
important  townshij)  offices.  He  is  one  of  the  most  prominent  pro- 
ducers of  g.rai)es  in  this  part  of  the  state,  having  a  very  large  acreage 
devoted  to  vines,     lie  also  raises  much  fruit. 

The  ))arents  of  Mr.  Prestidge  were  natives  of  Mississijijii  and 
his  father  died  in  the  last  siege  of  Vicksburg.  In  1880  he  married 
Myra  D.  Pore,  who  was  l)orn  in  Missouri  of  paients  who  were 
natives  of  Kentucky.  Of  their  five  children,  three  are  living.  Dean 
Prestidge  is  well  known  in  Kings  county,  where  he  has  lived  at 
Cottonwood   foi-  some  time  ))ast.     He  married   Miss    llattie   Tottv   of 


800  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Los  Augeles.  George  R.  is  deputy  couuty  auditor  of  Tulare  county. 
Johnuie  is  a  student  in  the  local  public  schools.  It  is  probable  that 
there  is  not  another  man  in  the  vicinity  who  is  more  prom])t  and  gen- 
erous than  Mr.  Prestidge  in  the  assistance  of  every  movement  for  the 
public  good. 


FEED  W.  CONKEY 

A  native  of  Wisconsin,  Fred  W.  Conkey,  bookkeepei-  for  G.  AY. 
Knox  of  Orosi  and  one  of  the  successful  farmers  of  Tulare  county, 
was  born  August  16,  1864,  a  son  of  Lucius  and  Julia  E.  (Sheldon) 
Conkey,  natives  respectively  of  New  York  and  of  Michigan.  His 
father  died  in  Chicago,  111.,  in  1904;  his  mother  is  still  living.  Her 
great-grandfather  was  captain  of  a  company  of  patriot  soldiers  in  the 
Revolutionary  war  and  was  captured  by  the  British  and  miglit  have 
been  severely  dealt  with  had  he  not  been  pardoned  by  King  George 
because  of  his  standing  in  the  Masonic  Order.  His  great-grandfather 
in  the  paternal  line  also  fought  for  the  colonies  in  the  Revolutionary 
struggle,  his  grandfather  being  a  soldier  of  the  war  of  1812. 

Mr.  Conkey  entered  the  employ  of  the  Swift  Packing  Company 
and  rose  to  authority  in  the  office  and  was  for  several  years  private 
secretary  of  Mr.  Swift.  For  eleven  years  Mr.  Conkey  was  chief 
teller  in  the  office  of  the  county  treasurer  of  Cook  county.  111.,  whicji 
includes  the  city  of  Chicago.  He  married  in  Chicago  Miss  Jessie  Nye, 
daughter  of  the  Hon.  B.  F.  Nye,  now  a  member  of  the  legislature  of 
the  state  of  Kansas.  By  a  former  marriage  he  has  two  children.  After 
the  death  of  his  father,  his  mother  removed  from  Chicago  to  California 
and  bought  fifty  acres  of  the  old  Reinheimer  ranch  in  Tulare  county 
for  $19,000,  and  won  much  success  with  oranges,  raisins,  peaches 
and  other  fruit,  having  had  many  vines  and  seven  hundred  four-year 
peach  trees.    This  property  has  been  sold  for  $22,000. 

For  two  years  after  he  came  to  California,  Mr.  Conkey  did  outside 
work.  He  now  has  a  forty-acre  fully  improved  ranch  near  Yettem 
for  which  he  has  refused  $16,000.  He  is  conducting  the  El  Monte 
Inn,  a  place  of  twenty-six  rooms,  in  the  management  of  which  he  is 
ably  assisted  by  Mrs.  Conkey,  they  having  acquired  this  property  by 
their  united  etTorts,  evidencing  the  reward  for  unceasing  labor  and 
toil.  Their  ])lace  is  the  only  hotel  in  town  and  holds  an  enviable  re])u- 
tation  among  the  traveling  public.  Mr.  Conkey  affiliates  with  the 
Masons,  is  secretary  of  the  Orosi  lodge,  and  is  a  member  of  Medina 
Temple  of  Chicago.  He  is  a  Republican  in  his  politics  and  as  a  citizen 
has  evidenced  a  ]iublic  spirit  which  makes  him  useful  and  popular  in 
the  community. 


TULARE  AND  KIX(JS  COUXTIES  801 

JOHN  J.  DOYLE 

A  descendant  of  Irish  anoestors,  tliat  enterprising  Irish-American, 
John  J.  Doj'le,  of  Porterviile,  Tulare  county,  Cah,  was  ))orn  at 
Lafayette,  Ind.,  April  19,  IS-l-l,  son  of  John  Doyle.  The  latter  was 
born  in  Kentucky,  whence  he  removed  in  1829  to  Indiana  and  there 
followed  agricultural  pursuits  until  his  death  in  1870.  John  J.'s 
grandfather  was  William  Doyle,  who  came  from  Ireland  wlien  a  boy, 
settling  first  in  \"irginia  and  then  in  Kentucky,  where  his  death  oc- 
curred. John  Doyle  married  Sarah  Wilson,  born  in  Virginia,  who  in 
1876  died  in  California,  where  she  came  with  her  son  John  J.  on  his 
second  trij)  to  the  coast.  She  was  the  mother  of  sixteen  children,  of 
whom  John  J .  was  tlie  second  youngest. 

John  J.  Doyle  was  reared  on  the  parental  farm  until  he  was  nine- 
teen, attending  the  common  schools  and  also  taking  a  course  at  a  com- 
mercial college.  Then  he  went  to  Ohio,  but  soon  returned  to  Indiana, 
whence  he  came  overland  to  California  in  1865.  It  was  not  long,  how- 
ever, before  he  returned  to  Indiana,  but  he  came  again  in  1867  and 
taught  school  in  Sonoma  count}'  in  1869.  He  settled  in  Tulare  county 
in  1871  and  has  paid  taxes  there  ever  since,  dui'ing  a  i)eriod  of  more 
than  forty  years.  In  the  historic  Mussel  Slough  fight,  in  which  J.  M. 
Harris,  Ira  Knutson,  John  Henderson,  Archie  McGregor  and  Dau 
Kelley  were  killed,  Mr.  Doyle  did  not  participate,  but  he  and  four  of 
his  friends  were  jailed  for  eight  months  because  of  their  infiueuce  in 
bringing  about  the  troubles  which  culminated  in  the  encounter.  He 
started  the  fight  and  fought  the  railroad  company  nine  years  and  four 
months  and  was  ol)liged  finally  to  pay  $30.60  an  acre  for  his  land  fov 
which  he  had  so  long  contended  the  railroad  company  had  no  title.  It 
is  a  matter  of  history  that  more  than  six  hundred  other  land  owners 
set  up  a  similar  claim.  The  memorable  year  in  which  he  served  his 
jail  term  was  1881.  In  1883  he  was  the  first  to  locate  a  timber  claim 
in  the  mountains  at  Sununer  Home.  At  one  time  he  owned  over  one 
thousantl  acres,  which  he  has  since  sold.  After  ten  years  of  farming 
in  that  district  he  went  to  the  mountains  and  ])lanted  an  orchard  at 
Doyle's  Springs.  He  now  owns  about  two  hundred  and  eighty  acres, 
one  hundred  and  twenty-one  acres  of  which,  adjoining  Porterviile.  he 
platted  into  lots  and  is  offering  for  sale.  In  1907  he  bought  ten  hun- 
dred and  forty  acres  east  of  Porterviile,  known  as  tiie  old  Indian  tract, 
and  divided  it  into  twenty-acre  farms,  all  of  which,  except  one  hundred, 
he  has  sold.  One  acre  he  gave  for  school  purposes  and  a  school  house 
was  built  on  it  which  accommodates  about  forty  pupils.  He  is  luiving 
land  and  selling  on  easy  terms,  as  nmch  to  l)enefit  the  town  as  foi-  aii\ 
puri)ose  of  his  own,  and  he  intends  soon  to  i)lant  near  Porterviile  an 
extensive  orchard  of  deciduous  fruits. 

In  1880  Mr.  Doyle  married  Miss  Ijillic  Alice  Holser,  a  native  of 


80-2  TULARE  A  XT)  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Califuruia,  who  lias  borne  liiiu  four  children,  three  of  whom  are  li\iu.u 
and  married,  viz.,  Chester  H.;  Ruby  S.,  wife  of  John  McFadyen;  and 
Floreda  Alice,  married  to  C.  S.  Pinnell.  Mrs.  Doyle's  parents  were 
California  pioneers,  settling-  in  Sacramento  county  in  the  early  mining 
days.  Her  father  died  in  1866;  her  mother  December  19,  1911,  aged 
ninety-two  years.  Mr.  Doyle's  parents  both  died  in  1876.  The  experi- 
ences of  the  family  link  the  early  days  with  the  present  time.  Mr. 
Doyle  has  always  been  noted  for  his  public  spirit  and  has  never  sought 
any  office,  though  he  has  ably  filled  several  appointive  ones.  He  is 
helpful  to  an  eminent  degree  aud  his  niost  distinguishing  characteristic 
is  his  disposition  to  look  on  the  l)right  side  of  things. 


CHARLES  WILLIAM  HOSKINS 

No  real  success  in  life  is  won  without  a  persevering  struggle,  and 
the  self-made  man  is,  in  the  commercial  aud  financial  sense  of  the 
term,  literally  self-made.  At  the  beginning  he  is  handicapped  by  lack 
of  capital,  and  after  that  his  jirogress  must  be  made  in  the  face  of 
strenuous  circumstances  aud  often  unfair  comi)etition.  When  he  has 
reached  the  top  he  knows  how  he  got  there  and  so  do  those  whom  he 
has  left  behind  in.  the  race.  One  of  the  men  of  this  class  in  Kings 
county  is  Charles  William  Hoskins.  Born  in  Adams  county,  Iowa. 
June  8,  1861,  it  was  in  1862  that  he  was  taken  by  his  parents  to  Penn- 
sylvania. He  was  able  to  attend  public  schools  only  two  years,  but  he 
made  the  best  use  of  his  limited  advantages  and  has  since  acquired 
much  knowledge  from  books  and  by  an  informing  course  of  instruction 
in  the  college  of  hard  experience.  In  his  infancy  he  had  reversed  the 
general  rule  by  going  East.  He  was  still  but  a  boy,  however,  when  he 
was  in  business  life  as  a  clerk  in  a  store  in  Nebraska.  In  1891  he 
came  to  California  and  in  September  settled  in  Tulare  county.  He 
moved  in  1892  to  the  Lakeside  district  and  opened  a  blacksmith  sho]i 
which  he  operated  about  a  year,  then  gave  up  the  enterprise  as  having 
a  not  very  promising  future.  He  had  now  had  experience  in  selling 
goods  and  in  ranching  and  in  blacksmithing,  and,  between  times,  had 
made  himself  useful  in  other  ways.  Returning  to  Hanford,  where 
some  of  his  experience  had  lieen  obtained,  he  again  became  a  clerk  in 
a  general  store.  Here  he  would  have  seemed  to  have  settled  down  to 
the  kind  of  business  to  which  he  was  best  ada]ited  naturally  and  by 
association.  In  1900  he  became  manager  of  a  general  merchandise 
store  at  Guernsey,  which  he  bought  a  year  later  and  which  he  con- 
ducted with  steadily  increasing  success  until  August  1.  1912.  when  he 
sold  out  and  removed  to  his  property  in  Hanford.  In  1882  he  married 
Miss  Alma  Atwood,  a  native  of  Henrv  countv.  Til.,  who  has  borne  him 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  803 

a  son,  Howard  A.,  who  is  in  the  automobile  business  in  Hanford.  Mr. 
Hoskins  is  a  member  of  the  W.  0.  W.,  and  is  a  man  of  public  spirit 
who  seeks  rather  to  i^ive  to,  than  receive  from,  the  community  with 
which  he  east  his  lot. 


ADOLPHUS  MITCHELL 

The  life  of  Adolphus  Mitchell  has  been  closely  identified  with 
the  early  history  and  development  of  the  state  of  California,  and 
he  is  numbered  among-  those  pioneer  settlers  who  have  been  instru- 
mental in  its  progress  for  many  years.  He  is  a  re]iresentative  of 
an  old  and  honored  family,  members  of  which  have  taken  active  part 
in  the  wars  of  the  new  as  well  as  the  old  world.  He  is  the  son  of 
Lewis  and  Mary  E.  (Duff)  Mitchell.  His  grandfather,  Solomon 
Mitchell,  was  a  soldiei-  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  fought  undei- 
General  Pickens  of  South  Carolina,  while  his  son,  Lewis  Mitchell, 
father  of  Adolphus,  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812.  The  latter 's 
death  occTirred  in  1861,  wlien  he  was  aged  aliout  seventy  years.  On 
the  maternal  side,  the  Duff  family  is  of  Irish  descent.  His  grand- 
father, Robert  Duff,  was  major  in  the  Irish  rebel  army.  The  Irish 
lost  their  cause,  and  so  Mr.  Duff  came  to  America ;  but  on  account 
of  religious  difficulties  he  dressed  in  woman's  clothes,  was  stowed 
away  on  a  vessel  and  thus  came  to  America,  locating  in  West  Vir- 
ginia. Robert  Duff  married  Miss  Dickerson,  who  was  also  of  Irish 
extraction,  and  their  daughter  was  Mary  E.  Duff,  who  was  born  in 
West  Virginia,  ilev  husband,  Lewis  Mitchell,  was  born  in  South 
Carolina. 

Adolphus  Mitchell  was  born  in  Hawkins  county,  in  eastern  Ten- 
nessee, May  28.  1829,  and  in  18o6  moved  with  his  parents  to  south- 
western Missouri,  in  what  was  then  P>arry  county,  Imt  which  lias  been 
changed  to  McDonald  county.  He  attended  the  common  schools  there, 
but  at  that  time  the  method  of  educating  was  very  crude,  owing  to  the 
lack  of  facilities.  The  lights  used  were  pine  knots  and  candles.  His 
entii'e  attendance  at  school  here  covered  a  ])eriod  of  only  nine  months, 
the  last  two  montlis  when  he  was  over  twenty  years  of  age.  Reared 
on  the  frontier,  accustomed  to  face  hardships  and  unflinchingly  forge 
ahead,  he  was  a  man  well  fitted  for  work  in  his  new  home.  He  remained 
at  home  until  he  had  reached  the  age  of  twenty-five  years,  when  he 
started  out  with  oxen  and  wagons  for  the  coast,  but  finally  decided  to 
leave  them  on  Green  River,  and  iia<'ked  from  there.  He  had  many 
encouiifcrs  with  Indians  en  route,  both  warriors  and  friendly,  but  he 
finally  arrived  in  California  August  5,  1855.  As  he  was  undecideil 
what  line  of  work  to  follow  he  sto])pe(l  in  the  mines  for  a   time  and 


804  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

then  came  to  Tulare  coimty,  where,  in  1857,  he  embarked  iu  the  cattle 
business,  buying  Spanish  cattle  to  the  amount  of  a  hundred  and  fifty 
head,  at  $12.50,  pasture  being  free.  The  next  sjoring  he  sold  thirty 
head  at  $30  each. 

Mr.  Mitchell  had  decided  uot  to  follow  the  miner's  life  because 
of  their  ill  luck,  and  accordingly  in  1859  bought  land  in  Visalia,  when 
that  town  had  but  three  business  houses.  He  had  crossed  the  plains 
in  company  with  his  brother  and  there  was  also  a  Mrs.  Billips  in  the 
party,  whom  he  afterward  found  keeping  a  restaurant  in  Visalia.  At 
the  time  of  this  purchase  the  hoiises  there  had  canvas  tops  and  were 
rudely  built.  He  has  seen  this  coimtry  grow  to  its  present  propor- 
tions and  has  benefited  by  it.  In  1857  he  met  Colonel  Baker,  founder 
of  Bakersfield,  who  advised  him  to  buy  land.  This  he  did,  from  time 
to  time,  until  he  owned  twelve  himdred  acres  in  that  vicinity.  Through 
all  his  hard  struggle  to  gain  a  foothold  in  the  new  country,  Mr. 
Mitchell  had  the  assistance  and  earnest  co-operation  of  his  brother, 
Ozro,  who  was  born  June  4,  1831,  and  whose  death  occurred  iu 
December,  1906,  at  Mr.  Mitchell's  home,  which  had  always  been  his. 
He  had  never  married. 

On  January  11,  1862,  the  flood  covered  their  tract  with  water,  and 
there  seemed  to  be  three  .waves  pass  through  the  valley.  The  second 
flood,  on  December  24,  1867,  coming  in  one  wave,  covered  everything. 
Mr.  Mitchell  returned  to  Missouri  in  1869,  leaving  Visalia  on  the 
9th  of  June  and  arriving  home  in  the  same  month.  Here  he  remained 
for  a  time,  being  taken  with  an  attack  of  typhoid  in  July,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  stay  there  for  fifteen  months,  during  which  time  his  mar- 
riage took  place.  He  returned  to  California,  by  stage  from  Stockton, 
and  settled  on  a  ranch  near  Visalia,  where  he  made  a  specialty  of 
raising  stock,  but  af  the  time  the  railroad  came  was  giving  his  atten- 
tion to  the  cultivation  of  wheat.  Visalia  courthouse  was  to  be  moved 
by  the  railroad,  but  as  the  Constitution  prohibits  removal  more  than 
once,  and  it  was  formerly  at  Woodville  and  thence  removed  to  Visalia, 
it  could  not  be  taken  to  Tulare  as  they  proposed.  However,  it  was  a 
hard  fight  to  hold  it  at  Visalia,  but  through  the  hard  work  of  the 
citizens  it  was  finally  kept  there.  Mr.  Mitchell  had  rented  sixteen 
hundred  acres  for  cattle  in  what  is  now  Kings  county,  and  owning 
cattle,  was  there  when  the  county  division  was  made. 

Mr.  Mitchell  was  married  to  Susan  Bogle,  who  was  born  in 
Cannon  county.  Tenn.,  but  had  lived  in  Missouri  since  1859.  They 
had  five  children  born  to  them,  viz. :  Mary,  who  is  unmarried ;  Walter 
Franklin,  who  works  on  his  father's  ranch;  Addie,  who  is  the  widow 
of  Edward  C.  Jones,  of  Visalia ;  Chester,  deceased ;  and  Arthur  Galen, 
who  is  also  on  the  ranch  with  his  father.  Mr.  Mitchell  owned  at  one 
time  about  twenty-five  hundred  acres  of  land,  but  he  has  di\'ided  his 
property  among  his  children. 


TTXARE  AXn  KIXGR  COUNTIES  805 

Mr.  Mitchell  takes  an  active  interest  in  all  public  matters  and  is 
a  progressive,  energetic  citizen,  hut  he  would  never  consent  to  holding 
office.  Since  185(5  he  has  made  many  prophesies  concerning  the  wel- 
fare and  growth  of  his  adoi)ted  state,  and  they  have  in  most  cases 
materialized.  A  self-made,  self-educated  man,  he  is  public-spirited 
and  interested  in  all  that  tends  to  the  prosperity  of  his  conmumity, 
and  he  is  well  kuown  throughout  the  countv  as  a  most  successful  man. 


WILLIAM  R.  COOKE 

This  native  of  California  and  well  known  citizen  of  Tulare  county 
was  born  in  Placerville,  January  22,  1857,  a  son  of  W.  S.  and  Lucy 
(Eutledge)  Cooke.  Ilis  father  was  born  in  Leeds,  England,  in  1827, 
and  his  mother  was  born  in  England  that  same  year.  The  former 
came  to  South  Carolina  when  he  was  sixteen  years  old  and  was  for 
some  time  engaged  in  shii)ping.  Eventually  he  located  in  Boston, 
where  he  comjileted  his  education  and  whence  he  nutved  after  four 
years  to  Da\'enport,  Iowa,  where  for  a  time  he  sold  fanning  mills  and 
John  Deere  jilows.  There  he  married  Miss  Rutledge,  who  had  come 
from  her  native  land  when  quite  young.  She  is  living  in  San  Francisco 
at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-five  years.  In  1851  they  came  overland 
with  a  large  train  from  Iowa,  halting  a  short  time  in  Salt  Lake  City. 
From  time  to  time  they  had  dangerous  encounters  with  Indians  and 
when  they  reached  llangtown,  now  Placerville,  they  witnessed  the 
hanging  of  a  man  named  Van  Lugan.  Later  they  were  attacked  by 
Indians  who  drove  otT  their  cattle,  killing  several.  They  witnessed  the 
sinking  of  the  Humboldt  mine  in  Gold  Canyon  on  the  site  of  Gold 
Hill.  At  Hangtown,  where  Mrs.  Cooke  arrived  wearing  a  green  silk 
dress,  she  was  one  of  but  two  women  in  the  settlement.  A  dance  was 
given  on  the  evening  following  their  arrival.  It  was  at  Ford's  Bar  on 
the  American  river  that  Mr.  Cooke  had  his  first  experience  as  a  miner. 
He  long  remembered  the  arrival  of  the  first  circus  that  visited  at  that 
diggings.  At  one  time  he  walked  from  Hangtown  to  Sacramento,  bare- 
footed, and  brought  back  with  other  purchases  a  pair  of  cop])er-toed 
boots  for  his  son,  the  subject  of  this  review.  From  Hangtown  the 
family  moved  to  Mountain  Springs  and  from  there  they  moved  about 
eighteen  months  later  to  Foi'd's  Bar,  where  in  1857  more  than  five  hun- 
dred votes  were  cast.  Their  next  place  of  residence,  where  they  re- 
mained until  1859,  was  at  Iowa  Hill.  Mr.  Cooke  owned  sevei-al  mines 
one  after  another  and  made  and  lost  considerable  money.  He  became 
prominent  in  affairs  in  Placer  county  and  for  eight  years  filled  the 
office  of  sheriff.    Tjater  at  N'irginia  City  he  was  elected  police  judge  and 


806  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

tax  collector,     lie  died  there  in  18!)8  aud  his  widow  removed  to  San 
Francisco. 

The  children  of  W.  S.  and  Lucy  (Rutledge)  Coolie  were  named 
as  follows:  Sarah  A.,  Mary  E.,  William  R.,  F.  W.,  Jennie  V.,  Henry 
S.,  deceased,  Joseph  E.,  Lucy,  and  Edwin,  deceased.  Sarah  A.  mar- 
ried Andrew  Lane  and  has  three  children.  Mary  E.  married  W.  (x. 
Thoni])son  of  Storey  county,  Nevada,  and  has  l)orne  him  two  children. 
William  R.  married  lantha  A.  Kelso  and  their  liome  is  near  Orosi ; 
they  have  twin  sons,  Bruce  E.  and  Roy  A.,  born  in  1886,  who  were 
educated  at  Selma  and  Stockton,  graduating-  from  the  Western  School 
of  C'onuuerce  at  tlie  age  of  twenty  years,  Roy  being  now  bookkeeper 
for  the  Kirby  Winery  at  Selma.  Bruce  and  Roy  prepared  for  entrance 
at  the  National  Na\al  Academy  at  Annapolis,  Md.,  received  the  ap- 
pointment, but  did  not  go.  Jennie  V.  is  editor  of  the  Pacific  Coast 
Nurses  Journal,  and  resides  in  San  Francisco. 

From  several  of  the  leading  families  of  America  Miss  Kelso,  who 
became  Mrs.  Cooke,  is  descended,  one  of  her  ancestors  having  been 
Henry  Clay.  Her  father,  John  Russell  Kelso,  a  native  of  Ohio,  was  a 
colonel  in  the  Federal  service  in  the  Civil  War  and  was  a  member  of 
congress.  Mrs.  Cooke's  mother  was  born  in  Missouri  and  educated 
at  Springfield.  Mrs.  Cooke  was  a  normal  school  graduate  of  the  year 
1878,  became  a  teacher  and  rose  to  the  position  of  vice-principal  from 
which  she  was  promoted  to  that  of  principal.  She  taught  thirteen 
years  in  Fresno  county,  six  years  in  Selma,  where  she  was  for  four 
years  vice-principal.  Later  she  was  for  one  year  principal  of  Bishop 
school  in  Inyo.  Her  recollections  of  California  would  make  an  inter- 
esting volume.  She  distinctly  remembers  seeing  the  notorious  Sontag 
and  Evans  pursued  liy  the  men  who  later  brought  them  to  iustice. 

By  trade  Mr.  Cooke  is  a  machinist  and  millwright,  in  which 
capacities  he  worked  thirty-eight  years.  In  1901-2  he  mined  in  Alaska 
with  indifferent  success,  was  caught  in  the  ice  and  sojourned  for  a 
time  on  Siberian  Island.  He  was  at  one  tinie  interested  in  the  pur- 
chase of  five  hundred  and  one  acres  of  land  and  now  owns  one  him- 
dred  and  sixty  acres  of  orange  land,  vines  and  figs.  He  has  about  six 
thousand  budded  trees  for  transplanting.  He  makes  a  specialty  of 
white  Leghorn  poultry,  owning  about  three  hundred  chickens.  He  is 
a  Mason  and  an  Odd  Fellow,  and  is  a  popular  citizen  who  does  much 
for  the  public  good.     He  and  his  family  are  Socialists. 


WILLIAM  NORVAL   STUBBELFIELD 

Arkansas,  a  state  of  central  geographical  location  which  partakes 
largely  of  the  agricultural  qualities  of  the  East,  North,  South  and 
West,  has  been  for  many  years  in  a  way  a  clearing  house  for  pioneers. 


TULAKK  AXn  KINGS  ("OUX'I^IKS  807 

gatln'riug  them  Iroiii  I  he  okk'r  parts  of  tlie  coimtry  and  disti'ihuting 
them  to  newer  fiekls  fnrtlier  on.  One  of  the  numerous  good  citizens 
which  that  state  lias  furnished  to  California  is  William  Norval 
IStubbeltield,  who  was  horn  in  Fayetteville,  Washington  county,  Ark., 
January  7,  1873,  and  lived  there  until  he  was  nineteen  years  old. 

From  Arkansas  Mr.  Stuhlielfield  went  to  Baylor  county,  Tex., 
and  after  one  year's  I'esidence  there  went  up  into  Oklahoma  and 
homesteaded  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  at  Cheyenne,  Rogei'  Mills 
county.  In  six  years  he  had  ])r()ved  up  on  his  land,  acquired  title  to 
it  and  sold  it  for  two  thousand  dollars.  Then  he  came  to  California 
and  at  Cutler,  Tulare  county,  bought  ten  acres,  six  of  which  are  in 
peaches,  four  acres  in  vineyard,  and  he  secured  a  very  good  crop 
in  1911,  selling  two  and  one-fourth  tons  of  grapes  to  the  acre.  Mr. 
Stulibelfield  has  given  his  entire  life  to  different  kinds  of  farming, 
and  as  he  has  made  a  study  of  soils  and  seeds  and  seasons  and  of 
every  other  factor  in  the  production  of  crops  of  various  kinds  and 
operates  by  uj^-to-date  and  thoroughly  scientific  methods,  he  is  al>le 
to  achieve  success  where  it  is  possible.  He  is  a  meml)er  of  the 
Fraternal  Brotherhood.  Politically  he  affiliates  with  the  Socialist 
party. 

Mr.  Stubbellield  was  married  in  1894,  at  Fayetteville,  Ark.,  to 
Miss  ^"ictoria  Gulley,  a  native  of  that  state.  Seven  childi-en  weie 
born  to  them,  viz.:  Eula,  Eddeth,  Annie,  William,  Claud,  Ladona  and 
Bessie  (now  deceased). 


A.  CLIFFORD  DUNGAX 

A  native  of  Virginia,  A.  Clifford  Dungan,  of  Exeter.  Tulare 
county,  was  born  at  Glade  Spring,  September  10,  1875,  the  youngest 
of  the  large  family  of  children  of  Thomas  N.  Dungan.  He  came  to 
California  in  1894  and  settled  at  Three  Rivers,  Tulare  county,  where 
he  worked  in  his  brother's  sawmill.  In  1895  he  was  em]iloyed  liy  tiie 
Kaweah  Lemon  Company,  and  for  three  years  had  charge  of  one  of 
its  lemon  oi-chards.  The  ensuing  year  he  was  in  the  em])loy  of  the 
Ohio  Lenum  ("ompany.  By  carefully  saving  his  earnings  he  was 
enal)led  to  buy  seven  acres  of  land  five  miles  southeast  of  Exeter.  Tho 
l)r()))erty  was  rough  and  without  iiii])rovements,  but  with  charact'n- 
istic  energy  and  foresight  he  set  out  orange  trees,  erected  a  pumping 
plant  and  put  on  other  necessary  auxiliaries,  and  soon  had  seven  acres 
of  line  bearing  na\el  ti'ees,  which  prox-ed  very  ])rofitable. 

After  he  had  improved  his  original  seven  acres  Mr.  Dungan  en- 
tered the  service  of  George  T.  Frost,  who  had  charge  of  the  Boimie 
Brae  orchards,  and  was  made  superintendent  of  th(>  vinevards  of  the 


808  TULARK  AXD  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Frost  &  Caruey  Land  and  Lumber  Company.  Two  years  later  he  was 
given  the  management  of  the  orange  grove  on  Badger  Hill.  While  thus 
em]iloyed  lie  was  studying  the  fruit  business,  and  in  1903  he  began 
caring  for  groves  in  the  Bonnie  Brae  district  on  contract.  He  now  has 
seventy-three  acres  under  fruit  and  vines  and  a  contract  covering  quite 
a  number  of  orchards.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  an  acre  for  a 
crop  of  grapes  on  twenty  acres  of  four-year-old  Emperors  was  the 
I)rice  paid  him  recently  by  R.  D.  Williams.  This  was  a  record  price 
for  a  crop  of  grapes  bought  outright  in  the  Exeter  district,  and  was 
especially  good  for  the  jiroduct  of  a  vineyard  of  that  age.  On  the  other 
hand  the  crop  on  this  orchard  was  very  heavy  and  Mr.  Dungau  made  a 
fine  profit.  On  the  twenty  acres  there  are  approximately  eight  thou- 
sand vines,  most  of  them  yielding  three  or  four  crates  to  the  vine. 

At  Fresno  Mr.  Dungan  married  Miss  Nellie  Tuohy,  a  native  of 
Oakland,  daughter  of  A.  V.  Tuoliy  of  Vacaville  and  niece  of  John 
Tuohy  of  Tulare.  She  is  a  graduate  of  the  San  Francisco  Normal 
School  and  was  for  a  time  a  student  at  the  Johns  Hopkins  Art  Insti- 
tute. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dungan  have  the  following  children,  May  \'ir 
ginia,  John  Anthony  and  Helen  Margaret. 

In  his  i)olitical  alliances  Mr.  Dungan  is  a  Democrat,  and  fratex-- 
nally  he  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  He  came  to  Cali- 
fornia in  1894,  without  cajiital,  and  by  industry  and  good  business 
ability  has  made  a  fine  property.  His  success  is  the  success  of  the 
self-made  man,  and  those  who  best  know  him  say  that  it  has  been  fairly 
won  and  is  richly  deserved.  In  many  ways  Mr.  Dungan  has  deiuon- 
strated  a  public  spirit  that  marks  him  as  a  citizen  of  much  patriotism 
and  helpfulness  to  all  worthy  community  interests. 


ANDREW  J.  LAFEVER 

Born  in  Knox  county,  Tenn,  November  14,  1826,  Andrew  J.  T^a- 
fever  was  a  representative  of  families  noted  for  their  valor  and 
devotion  to  justice.  His  parents  were  William  and  Elizabeth  (Rob- 
erts) Lafever.  In  colonial  days  Henry  Lafever,  great-grandfather  of 
Andrew  J.,  came  from  France  to  Virginia  and  remained  there  two 
years,  then  returned  to  his  native  land.  Later  he  came  with  Lafayette 
and  fought  under  that  commander  for  American  liberty  and  after  the 
end  of  the  Revolutionary  war  went  back  to  France,  and  at  Waterloo  he 
was  a  brave  soldier  under  Napoleon.  His  son,  John  Lafever,  a  native 
of  Virginia,  lived  most  of  his  life  in  Tennessee  and  gained  wealth  and 
prominence  as  a  cotton-grower.  He  fought  for  the  cause  of  the  col- 
onies in  the  war  of  the  Revolution  and  yielded  up  his  life  in  defense 
of  free  America  in  the  war  of  1812.     He  married  Lucv  Barbankez,  a 


TULARE  AXT)  KTXfiS  (*()UNTTF:S  809 

woman  of  inucli  (.'ourage  and  decision  of  character.  While  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary army,  British  soldiers  stole  sweet  potatoes  from  his  farm 
and  she  shot  down  seven  of  them.  Though  she  was  arrested  she  was 
not  jn'osecuted,  as  the  soldiers  were  ai)propriating  her  proj^erty  and  her 
stern  sense  of  justice  entitled  her  to  a  place  in  the  history  of  those  thrill- 
ing times.  She  bore  her  husband  two  children  and  lived  to  be  eighty- 
seven.  Her  son  William,  father  of  Andrew  J.,  was  born  in  Tennessee 
and  in  ]S:;4  became  the  owner  of  land  in  Ray  county,  Mo.,  partly  by 
purchase  and  partly  by  i^re-emption.  He  prospered  as  a  planter  and 
slave  owner  and  acliieved  prominence' through  his  interest  in  the  state 
militia  and  in  the  training  of  soldiers,  and  fought  in  the  war  of  1812, 
the  Black  Hawk  war  and  the  Seminole  war.  He  married  Elizabeth 
Rol)erts,  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  and  he  lived  ninety-seven  years, 
she  eighty-four. 

The  third  of  the  fourteen  children  of  William  Lafever  was  Andrew 
J.,  who  inherited  much  of  the  valor  and  stern  sense  of  right  and  wrong 
of  his  forefathers  in  both  lines  of  descent.  Such  education  as  he 
received  lie  accpiired  in  a  private  school.  In  his  youth  he  had  to  do 
with  the  labor  of  cotton  growing  and  through  trading  on  his  father's 
plantation  became  expert  as  a  judge  of  horse-flesh.  In  1846  he  volun- 
teered for  service  as  a  soldier  under  General  Taylor  and  was  assigned 
to  the  division  commanded  by  Colonel  Willock.  In  1847  he  re-enlisted 
and  was  assigned  to  Company  C,  Santa  Pe  Battalion,  United  States 
Army,  under  eonunand  of  Gen.  Sterling  Price,  and  rose  to  be  sergeant, 
and  in  1847-48  was  a  member  of  the  general's  escort.  He  was  honor- 
ably discharged  from  the  service  at  Independence,  Mo.,  in  October, 
1848,  and  November  4  following  cast  for  his  old  commander.  General 
Taylor,  his  first  presidential  vote.  For  a  time  he  was  in  the  meat- 
packing business  at  Camden,  Mo.,  where  he  heard  much  of  the  dis- 
covery of  gold  on  the  Pacific  coast.  April  4,  1849,  he  left  there  for  an 
ox-team  journey  across  the  plains,  and  about  seven  months  later  ar- 
rived at  the  Peter  Lawson  ranch,  near  Bidwell's  Bar,  Cal.,  and  he 
mined  in  that  vicinity  during  the  succeeding  thirteen  months.  At  Bid- 
well's  Bar,  according  to  an  intei'esting  writer,  "a  thief  was  discovered 
in  cam])  who  had  tried  to  purloin  a  can  of  syrup.  A  consultation  was 
held  by  the  other  miners  and  it  was  decided  to  hang  without  ceremony. 
Mr.  Lafever,  however,  objected,  owing  to  the  absence  of  a  code  of  laws 
covering  such  misdemeanors.  The  life  of  the  man  was  s])ared,  but  an 
attempt  was  made  to  obviate  further  trouble  of  that  kind  by  drawing 
up  a  code  calculated  to  terrorize  evil  doers."  Flogging  and  hanging 
were  features  of  this  code.  "Men  condemned  to  ti'ial  had  the  benefit 
of  the  opinion  and  judgment  of  twenty- four  substantial  men  of  the 
eomnuinity  and  every  (piestion  had  to  be  answered  by  the  witness." 
From  this  point  Mr.  Lafever  went  as  a  member  of  a  prospecting  party 
to  the  south  fork  of  the  Feather  river  and  took  ])art  in  an  unsuccessful 


810  Tl'LARE  AND  KIX(;S  COUNTIES 

attempt  to  change  the  course  of  that  8tieam.  Later  he  uiiuetl  at 
Marysville  and  then  set  out  on  a  fruitless  quest  of  Gold  Lake,  which 
the  history  of  California  mining  tells  us  was  never  found.  Before 
1850  he  prospected  around  St.  Louis,  Pine  Grove,  Howlaud  Flat. 
Nelson  Creek  and  Poor  Man's  Creek,  and  in  that  year  he  mined  in 
Told's  Diggings  and  at  Forbestown.  In  the  last  mentioned  camp  he 
engaged  in  business  as  a  butcher  and  as  a  general  merchant.  The 
spring  of  1851  found  him  at  Lexington,  where  he  built  and  opened  the 
Lexington  house,  which  hostelry  was  kei)t  in  a  log  building  near  a 
spring  which  he  had  discovered  the  year  before;  and  here  also  he 
engaged  in  general  merchandising.  He  built  a  new  house  near  the  log 
cabin  at  Lexington,  of  lumber  which  he  sawed  by  hand,  in  1852,  and 
established  a  hotel  and  butcher  shop  at  Spanish  Flat.  In  1854  he  dis- 
posed of  his  Lexington  interests.  He  lived  at  Spanish  Flat  until  1857. 
"In  the  meantime,  in  1856,"  says  the  writer  already  quoted,  "there 
had  been  great  excitement  in  camp  over  the  water  ditches,  resulting  in 
shooting  scrapes  and  the  organizing  of  a  mob  that  would  have  hanged 
an  innocent  man  had  it  not  been  dispersed  by  Mr.  Lafever.  In  the 
spring  of  1857  Mr.  Lafever  himself  escaped  serious  trouble  because  of 
the  justifying  circumstances  surrounding  his  act.  In  self  defense  he 
shot  and  killed  Judge  John  Chapels,  the  leader  of  that  mob,  and 
though  he  surrendered  to  the  authorities,  nothing  ever  came  of  the 
matter.  Mr.  Lafever  showed  wonderful  clemency  for  his  fallen  foe 
hired  a  man  to  care  for  him,  and  so  far  ingratiated  himself  that  the 
d>"ing  man  shook  hands  with  him  and  expressed  an  appreciation  of  his 
bravery."  Mr.  Lafever  went  to  Marysville  in  the  fall  of  1S57  and 
starteci  thence  for  Mendocino  county,  but  stopped  at  Petaluma  and 
Santa  Eosa.  Later  he  bought  a  place  at  Ukiah  in  Mendocino 
county  and  eventually  set  out  for  Colorado,  but  passed  the  winter  in 
Merced  county,  where  he  fed  two  hundred  and  fifty  horses  and  mules, 
many  of  which  fell  sick.  He  reached  Visalia  with  his  stock  in  August 
and  took  his  horses  to  the  mountains  for  the  winter.  Twice,  in  Mendo- 
cino county,  thieves  tried  to  deprive  him  of  his  land  and  in  1871),  in 
Potter  Valley,  H.  Griffiths  shot  him  through  the  left  lung  and  left  hand 
and  wrist,  almost  destroying  his  left  arm. 

In  1873  Mr.  Lafever  bought  land  near  Kings  river  in  Fresno 
county,  to  which  he  added  by  later  purchases  until  he  had  more  than 
a  township  of  unsurveyed  land,  including  Pine  Flat,  a  quarter  of  a 
township,  which  he  presented  to  his  only  child,  Henry  C.  Lafever. 
"When  the  fence  law  was  passed,"  narrates  the  writer  already  re- 
ferred to,  "he  experienced  serious  trouble  with  his  land,  for  grabbers 
resorted  to  every  device  to  deprive  him  of  it,  even  waylaying  and 
killing  his  son,  November  17,  1882.  During  the  trial  following  this 
brutal  murder  Mr.  Lafever  killed  Zeb  Lesley  in  the  court  yard  at 
Fresno,  the  outlaw  being  at  the  bottom  of  the  difficulties  over  tlie  laud 


TULAEE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  811 

aud  the  killing-  of  his  sou.  The  outlaw  was  surrounded  by  forty-eight 
of  his  gang.  Through  the  prevalence  of  injustice  Mr.  Lafever  lost  his 
cattle  and  land  and  practically  everything  lliat  he  had  in  the  world." 
Mr.  aud  Mrs.  I^afever  had  at  different  times  narrow  escapes  from 
Indians. 

In  November,  ISSf),  Mr.  Tjafever  Ixmght  forty  acres  outside  the 
borders  of  Visalia,  where  he  raised  cattle,  horses  aud  hogs  uutil  1893, 
when  he  moved  to  his  home  within  the  city  limits  at  No.  409  Watson 
avenue.  His  house  and  all  its  contents  were  l)urned  May  29,  1904, 
causing  a  loss  of  more  than  $7,000,  only  $2,200  of  which  was  covered 
by  insurance.  He  jmssed  away  at  his  home  October  6,  1912.  His 
estate  consists  of  two  ranches  near  Visalia  ui)on  which  hog  raising  is 
carried  on  extensively. 

March  19,  1852,  at  Marysville,  Cal,  Mr.  Lafever  married  Cath- 
erine Trulliuger,  a  native  of  Eaden,  Germany,  who  came  to  Califoruia 
in  1850.  The  tragic  death  of  their  only  son  saddened  the  lives  of  both. 
Mrs.  Lafever  passed  away  in  May,  1908.  A  Democrat  in  politics,  Mr. 
Lafever  was  formerly  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle, 
and  was  a  veteran  of  the  Mexican  war,  having  served  as  commander 
of  his  division,  aud  a  member  of  the  ('uliforuia  Society  of  Pioneers. 
Few  residents  of  Tulare  county  witnessed  so  much  of  its  development 
as  did  Mr.  Lafever,  aud  there  are  few  men  remaining  in  California 
today  who  look  back  on  careers  as  perilous  and  as  full  of  vicissitudes 
as  was  his  during  the  earlier  years  of  his  citizenship  here. 


RICHARD  POWERS 

Of  the  sons  of  Illinois  who  have  come  to  California  and  made  a 
success  of  their  undertakings  mention  belongs  to  Richard  Powers.  He 
was  born  in  the  Prairie  State,  June  24,  1847,  aud  came  to  Califoruia 
when  he  was  twenty-one  years  old  with  his  brother  John,  settling  in 
San  Joaquin  county,  where  for  thirteen  years  he  was  engaged  in 
stock  aud  grain  farming.  Then  he  went  to  Merced  county  and  farmed 
near  Minturn  for  ten  years,  after  which  he  moved  to  Butte  county 
and  carried  on  farming  near  Chico  for  three  years.  Subsequently  he 
engaged  in  railroad  work  for  two  years  with  headquarters  at  Redding. 
It  was  in  1884  that  he  came  to  Tulare  county,  and  in  1891  he  located 
in  Porterville,  devoting  himself  with  ability  and  energy  to  the  stock 
business.  His  specialty  was  the  raising  of  draft  horses  and  roadsters, 
which  he  exhibited  at  the  different  fairs  aud  he  secured  Tnany 
pi-cniinms  for  his  di'aft  horses.  At  the  time  he  came  to  Porterville  it 
was  a  mei-e  hamlet  of  but  few  houses,  and  his  was  the  first  residence 
to  be  erected  off  Main  street.     He  has  seen  the  settlement  grow  to  its 


812  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

present  importance  and  has  witnessed  and  participated  in  the  luar- 
velons  develoinnent  of  the  country  round  about. 

December  23,  188,),  Mr.  Powers  married  Miss  Stella  Smith,  a 
native  of  Butte  county  and  the  daughter  of  Theodore  and  Sarah  W. 
(Horton)  Smith,  who  came  to  California  in  1849  and  1852  respectively. 
The  former  was  a  native  of  Kentucky  and  the  latter  of  Virginia.  Both 
came  across  the  plains  with  ox-teams  and  they  were  married  in  18.55  in 
Butte  county.  Later  they  lived  for  a  short  time  in  Shasta  county,  but 
returned  to  Butte  county  and  there  passed  their  remaining  years. 
Besides  Mrs.  Powers  two  sons  survive,  Harry  C,  of  San  Francisco, 
and  Jay,  of  Redding. 

The  devotion  of  Mr.  Powers  to  the  stock  business  during  so  long 
a  period  marks  him  as  a  man  of  persistency,  who  having  formulated 
a  plan  of  action  will  carry  it  out  intelligently,  allowing  no  obstacles 
to  deter  him,  and  bring  it  to  ultimate  success  if  years  and  opportunity 
are  given  him.  He  not  only  raises  many  cattle,  but  he  buys  and  sells 
in  the  market,  and  in  his  business  transactions  has  won  a  reputation 
for  fair  dealing  of  which  any  man  might  be  proud. 


BEV.  JAMES  MURPHY 

The  long  and  useful  life  of  Rev.  James  Murphy,  which  throughout 
its  entirety  signifies  untiring  energy,  unselfishness  and  perseverance 
for  the  good  of  others,  is  a  most  interesting  one,  embracing  many  hard 
and  trying  experiences  but  withal  receiving  the  tribute  for  the  high 
calling  which  he  had  responded  to  in  that  he  was  beloved  by  all  who 
were  fortunate  enough  to  come  to  know  him,  and  his  memory  is 
revered  by  a  wide  circle  of  admiring  friends.  One  of  God's  noble 
creatures,  he  had  ever  accepted  his  task  without  nmrmuring  and  filled 
his  duties  to  the  best  of  his  ability  and  many  there  are  who  have  had 
reason  to  bless  him. 

Born  near  Richmond,  Va.,  March  18,  1803,  James  Murphy  at  an 
early  date  removed  to  Tippecanoe  county,  Ind.,  where  he  was  married 
to  Miss  Jane  Morris.  To  this  union  was  born  a  family  of  twelve  chil- 
dren, six  of  whom  grew  to  maturity.  He  was  ordained  a  minister  in 
the  United  Brethren  Church  when  he  came  to  Indiana  and  continued 
to  preach  for  forty  years.  Moving  from  Indiana  to  Woodford  coimty, 
III,  he  resided  there  until  in  August,  1854,  when  he  went  to  Iowa  and 
settled  at  Clarksville,  where  he  was  a  pioneer  minister.  He  established 
the  first  Ihiited  Brethren  Chui-ch  at  Covblev  Grove,  Favette  county. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  813 

Iowa,  which  grew  rapidly,  and  I'orty  years  later  a  uew  ehurch  was 
built  at  Westgate  by  that  congregation,  and  this  was  named  Murphy 
Memorial  (Mnncli  in  honor  of  Rev.  James  Murphy,  who  had  been  its 
organizer. 

In  1886  Henry  Murphy,  son  of  Rev.  James  Murphy,  visited  the 
latter  at  Oldwein  near  Westgate,  Iowa,  and  finding  him  in  ill  health 
took  him  to  his  home  on  the  north  branch  of  the  Tule  river,  where  he 
S]ient  the  remainder  of  his  life,  passing  away  IMarcli  18,  1892.  Rev. 
James  Murphy  was  twice  married  and  as  mentioned  above  sis  of  his 
twelve  children  by  his  first  marriage  lived  to  mature  age.  Delilah, 
who  was  the  wdfe  of  Daniel  Fague,  had  two  children,  Mary  and  Henry; 
she  died  in  1911,  at  Oldwein,  Iowa,  aged  eighty-two  years.  Nancy  was 
married  three  times,  first  to  Ira  Havens  of  Bloomington,  111. ;  second  to 
James  Phillips,  of  Delhi.  Iowa,  and  had  one  son,  Zina ;  and  third  to 
Zina  Wheelock,  of  Manchester,  Iowa;  she  ])assed  away  in  A])ril,  1911. 
James,  now  deceased,  was  married  in  1856  to  Mary  Buckmaster,  and 
is  mentioned  below.  Henry  is  mentioned  fully  on  another  page  of  this 
publication.  John,  a  stockman  residing  at  Atchison,  Kans.,  is  married 
and  has  a  family;  he  is  unfortunate  in  that  he  is  blind.  Emaline  is  the 
widow  of  Elonzo  Spencer,  formerly  of  Bloomfield,  Iowa,  and  she  had 
three  children,  Bert,  Louise  and  William,  all  residing  in  the  vicinity 
of  Bloomfield.  By  his  second  marriage  Rev.  James  Murphy  was  the 
father  of  three  children:  Hattie,  conducting  a  hotel  at  Livingston, 
Mont.;  Fred,  a  wholesale  tobacco  dealer  at  Poeatello,  Idaho;  and  Wen- 
rich,  a  railroad  man  on  the  Oregon  Short  Line. 

James  Murphy,  son  of  Rev.  James,  married  in  1856  Mary  Buck- 
master,  and  the  eldest  daughter  of  this  union  is  Sara  J.,  now  the  wife 
of  W.  R.  Neal,  who  resides  at  Springville,  Tulare  county.  Mr.  Neal 
is  one  of  the  leading  merchants  and  postmaster  of  Springville  and  was 
at  one  time  state  superintendent  of  ])nl)lic  instruction  of  the  state  of 
Oregon.  He  is  an  educator  of  note,  having  followed  the  profession  of 
teaching  more  than  thirty  years  before  taking  up  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness at  Sijringville,  and  is  pursuing  his  enterprise  with  unusual  energy 
and  such  success  as  to  mark  him  one  of  the  leading  business  men  of 
the  county.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Neal  have  had  a  family  of  six  children,  viz.: 
Minerva  is  the  wife  of  Rev.  AYilliam  M.  Olderby,  pastor  of  the  North- 
ern Liberty  Thurch  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  situated  at  No.  510  Button- 
wood  street,  and  they  have  one  child,  James.  William  is  married  to 
Catharine  GuUey  and  is  a  jiartner  with  his  father  at  Springville. 
Jennie  Neal  is  vice  jnincipal  of  the  schools  at  Porterville.  Lillie  is 
bookkeejier  in  her  father's  business.  Gwendolyn  is  a  student  in  the 
school  at  Springville.  James  accidentally  shot  himself  while  the  family 
were  residing  in  Oregon  when  nineteen  vears  of  age. 


814  TULARE  AND  KINGS  (^OUNTIES 

A.  J.  PEREY 

This  well  known  citizen  of  Hanford,  head  of  the  firm  of  Perry 
&  P.arlieiro.  was  born  on  the  Azores  Islands,  July  31,  1863,  and  worked 
in  a  store  there  from  the  time  lie  was  eleven  years  old  until  he  was 
eighteen.  His  first  emplo>Tnent  in  this  country  was  on  a  farm  near 
Fall  River,  Mass.,  where  he  remained  twenty-two  months.  In  1883 
he  found  employment  in  Fresno  county  in  the  construction  of  levees 
on  the  Laguna  de  Taehe  grant,  to  prevent  the  overflow  of  water,  and 
was  retained  on  the  work  seven  years.  After  that  for  fourteen 
months  he  had  a  liquor  store  in  Kingsburg.  Then  for  a  season  he 
helped  operate  a  threshing  machine  in  the  vicinity  of  that  town  and 
for  a  year  after  that  had  charge  of  some  sheep.  The  next  year  he 
put  in  as  a  farmer  on  the  Laguna  de  Tache  grant.  Next  he  opened 
a  liquor  store  in  Hanford,  in  the  old  Freeman  house  on  Fifth  street, 
but  a  month  later  removed  to  a  store  on  Sixth  street  and  still  later 
to  the  McJunkin  building,  which  was  his  headquarters  until  1905, 
when  he  moved  to  a  location  at  104  Sixth  street,  where  he  sells  soft 
drinks  and  cigars. 

For  a  time  M.  V.  Garcia  was  Mr.  Perry's  partner.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  S.  L.  Jackson  and  he  after  two  years  and  a  half  by  J.  I. 
Barbeiro.  The  firm  conducts  a  ranch  of  three  hundred  and  ten  acres, 
four  miles  north  of  Lemoore,  which  is  now  rented  out  for  dairy 
purposes.  Beginning  January  1,  1913,  Mr.  Perry  will  superintend 
the  ranch  and  the  business  in  Hanford  will  be  taken  care  of  by  Mr. 
Barbeiro.  ]Mr.  Perry  is  a  stockholder  and  was  three  years  a  director 
of  the  Hanford  Mercantile  store.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Portu- 
gese-American bank,  at  San  Francisco,  in  connection  with  which  he 
is  known  to  men  of  his  nationality  throughout  the  greater  part  of 
the  state.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  U.  P.  E.  C,  the  I.  D.  E.  S. 
and  the  Fraternal  Order  of  Eagles. 

In  1898  Mr.  Perry  married  Anna  S.  Flores,  and  they  have  had 
eight  children,  seven  of  whom  are  living:  Lillian,  Edward,  Tony, 
Lorianno,  Earl,  Geraldine,  Harry  and  Edith.  Tlie  latter  died  when 
she  was  six  vears  old. 


FRANK  REA 

The  Rea  family  is  one  of  the  early  Virginia  families.  Edward 
Rea,  great-grandfather  of  Frank  Rea,  came  from  Ireland  and  settled 
in  Virginia  before  the  Revolutionary  war.  He  was  a  Universalist  in 
religion  and  every  genei-atiou  of  the  Reas  has  clung  to  that  faiili  as 
does   the   present   representative    of   tlie    family.      It    was    in    Macon 


TULARK  AND  KIN(}S.  ("OUNTIES  815 

coimty.  111.,  that  Frank  Rea  was  born  June  !i,  1845,  and  be  attended 
public  schools  until  he  reached  the  age  of  sixteen.  Enlisting  in  the 
Civil  War,  he  rendered  faithful  service  to  the  Federal  cause  as  a 
private  soldier  during  three  eventful  years.  After  the  war  he  returned 
home  and  for  one  year  attended  Lombard  University,  then  completing 
a  commei-cial  coui-se  at  Decatur,  111.  He  worked  for  his  father  until 
after  he  became  oi  age.  During  the  succeeding  four  years  he  was 
engaged  in  farming  in  Illinois.  Then  he  came  to  California  and  after 
spending  two  years  in  the  Santa  Clara  valley  came  in  1874  to  Kings 
county  and  later  located  on  what  has  come  to  be  known  as  bis  home- 
stead. During  the  first  few  years  of  bis  residence  here  he  worked 
for  others,  Init  as  soon  as  water  was  obtained  he  went  into  stock- 
raising,  dairying  and  fruit-growing.  He  bas  been  active  in  ditch 
construction,  and  for  some  years  was  a  director  in  the  company  con- 
trolling the  outer  ditch,  which  was  under  his  superintendency  a  year, 
and  consequently  one  of  bis  public  responsibilities  after  he  came  to 
the  county.  He  has  served  as  trustee  of  schools  by  election  as  a 
Republican,  he  being  a  member  of  that  part}',  a  venerator  of  its  his- 
tory and  an  ardent  advocate  of  all  its  economic  policies.  By  member- 
ship with  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  he  keeps  alive  memories 
of  the  Civil  war  days  which  tried  men's  souls.  Mr.  Rea  has  been  a 
director  in  the  Alta  Irrigation  District  for  fourteen  years,  and  on 
February  6,  1913,  was  re-elected  for  another  term  of  four  years. 

Even  beyond  his  expectations  Mr.  Rea  has  been  prosperous. 
From  time  to  time  he  bas  bought  land  until  he  is  the  owner  of  ten 
hundred  and  eighty  acres,  eighty  acres  of  which  is  devoted  to  fruit, 
the  remainder  to  ranching  and  stock-raising.  His  cattle  herd  aver- 
ages two  hundred  head  of  blooded  stock.  The  improvements  on  his 
land  are  up-to-date  and  in  every  way  first-class,  and  his  home  is  one 
of  the  most  attractive  and  hospitable  in  the  county.  His  marriage 
occurred  in  September,  18(i8,  to  Miss  Mattie  Ehrhart,  who  was  born 
in  Macon  county.  111.,  in  January,  1848.  Their  five  children  are  named 
respectively  Clara,  Edgar,  Frank,  Bunn  and  Neva. 


SQUIRE  HAYDEN  KINKADE     " 

In  Monroe  county.  Mo..  S.  11.  Kinkade  was  born  January  1,  18.3(), 
and  there  be  went  to  school  in  a  log  cabin  from  the  time  he  was  six 
years  old  until  be  was  fourteen,  when  the  family  moved  to  Boone 
county.  Mo.  From  there  they  went  to  Scotland  county.  Mo.,  whence 
they  started  to  California.  Young  Kinkade  was  about  sixteen  years 
old  when  the  family  set  out  to  cross  the  plains  in  1852.  A  large  party 
was  banded  togethei-  foi-  company  and  mutual  i)rotection  and  the  loni;- 


816  Tri.ARK  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

journey  was  made  with  ox-teams,  thirty  wagons,  which  made  sh)W 
progress  over  the  prairies  and  through  tlie  desert  for  many  long  weeks 
wliich  would  liave  l)een  dreary  had  it  not  been  for  the  daily  excitement 
inseparable  from  such  a  venture.  Fortunately  there  were  no  Indian 
attacks.  The  party  ariived  at  San  Bernardino  in  the  fall,  the  Kin- 
kades  wintering  there,  and  in  the  sjiring  settled  in  Santa  Cruz  county. 
There  they  remained  two  years,  then  moved  to  Contra  Costa  county, 
whence  they  came  to  Tulare  county  in  1857  and  settled  two  and  a  half 
miles  southwest  of  Visalia.  Their  first  experience  here  was  in  raising- 
hogs;  later  they  took  up  cattle  and  in  1868  went  into  the  sheep  busi- 
ness, in  which  they  continued  twelve  years,  running  their  stock  over 
a  wide  range  of  country  and  owning  at  one  time  four  thousand  head. 
There  were  at  that  time  so  many  Indians  in  the  county  that  out  on  the 
plains  as  many  as  six  were  encountered  to  each  white  man  that  was 
seen.  Half  a  mile  south  of  the  Kinkade  home  about  four  hundred 
Indians  were  encamped  for  some  time.  Mr.  Kinkade  has  jiassed 
through  all  the  changes  and  revolutions  of  farming  and  ranching  in 
Central  California  and  since  1892  has  resided  in  the  vicinity  of  Porter- 
ville.  He  closed  out  his  sheep  interests  in  1881,  and  after  selling  his 
ten-acre  ranch  in  December,  1912,  he  moved  to  Porterville. 

In  1887  Mr.  Kinkade  married  Miss  Harriet  Anderson,  who  was 
born  April  21,  1851,  in  Rock  Island  county.  111.  They  have  had  two 
sons:  Benjamin  Harrison  Kinkade,  who  is  employed  by  Mr.  Traeger 
in  Porterville,  and  Milton  Kinkade,  who  died  aged  eleven  months. 
B.  H.  Kinkade  mari'ied  Jessie  Landers,  liy  whom  he  had  two  daughters, 
Evid  M.,  who  died  when  about  two  years  old,  and  Jessie  Bertha,  an 
infant.  Mrs.  Kinkade  died  in  October,  1912.  Mr.  Anderson,  the  father 
of  Mrs.  Harriet  Kinkade,  passed  away  when  she  was  about  ten  years 
old  and  her  mother  when  she  was  four.  Mr.  Kinkade 's  father  died  in 
1877;  his  mother  in  1885.  In  his  political  affiliations  Mr.  Kinkade  is 
a  Republican,  and  his  interest  in  the  coninuinity  makes  him  helpful 
in  a  public-spirited  way  to  every  movement  looking  to  its  advance- 
ment and  prosperity. 


ANDERSON  W.  LEE 

It  was  in  Indiana  that  Anderson  "W.  Lee,  who  now  lives  four  miles 
southeast  of  Diuuba,  Tulare  county,  was  born  March  22,  1867.  There 
he  lived  until  in  1889,  for  three  years  thereafter  making  his  home  in 
Illinois  and  Missouri.  On  March  1,  189o,  he  came  to  Tulare  county, 
Cal.,  finding  the  country  round  about  the  site  of  his  jiresent  home 
practically  a  vast  wheat  field.  Dinuba  had  two  small  stores,  there 
was  a  little  store  at  Orosi  and  at  Sultana  no  beginning  had  been  made. 


TULARE  AND  KIX(}S  COUNTIES  817 

Me  was  a  daily  ol)server  of  tlie  bnildiug  of  the  railroud  in  his  i)art  of 
the  county  and  often  saw  many  ten  and  twelve  horse  teams  awaiting 
the  unloading  of  the  wagons  which  they  had  hauled  out  to  the  line. 
Soon  after  coming  to  the  county  he  bought  eighty  acres  of  land  at  $45 
an  acre  and  i)lanted  twelve  acres  to  vineyard,  twelve  to  trees  and  gave 
most  of  the  remainder  to  alfalfa.  He  early  had  a  twenty-five  acre 
melon  |)atch  from  wiiich  he  sold  in  one  season  about  $2,000  worth  of 
melons,  feeding  about  as  many  more  to  his  hogs.  His  jilace  is  well 
planted  to  young  vines  and  he  has  raised  twenty-five  tons  of  peaches 
on  five  acres  of  six-year-old  trees  and  in  1912  planted  twenty-five  acres 
to  peaches.  He  keeps  eighty  head  of  stock,  besides  four  good  horses. 
In  polities  Mr.  Lee  is  a  Socialist,  and  fraternally  he  affiliates  with 
the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  In  Johnson  county.  Mo.,  he  married  Miss 
Mary  E.  Null,  a  native  of  that  state  and  whose  parents  crossed  the 
plains  with  ox  teams  to  California.  The  party  of  which  the  Nulls 
were  members  were  often  menaced  by  Indians,  who  drove  off  their 
cattle  but  killed  none  of  the  emigrants.  Among  pioneers  known  to 
this  family  was  Charles  Crow,  who  crossed  the  Isthmus  of  Panama 
on  foot.  Among  Mr.  Lee's  household  possessions  is  a  quart  bottle 
weighing  four  pounds  which  was  brought  overland  to  California  in 
1852.  Anderson  W.  and  Mary  Ellen  (Null)  Lee  have  three  daughters 
and  one  son:  Lilly  M.,  Mary  Z.,  Ruby  E.  and  James  W.  Lilly  M. 
has  completed  her  school  studies  and  is  now  studying  music.  Mary  Z. 
is  a  student  in  the  high  school  at  Dinuba ;  while  James  W.  and  Rul)y 
E.  are  attending  grammar  school. 


JAMES  LAFAYETTE  JOHNSON 

It  was  in  the  state  of  Arkansas  that  James  L.  Johnson  was  born 
August  22,  1844.  Early  in  the  following  year,  when  he  was  about 
seven  months  old,  his  iiarents,  Joseph  H.  aiiJ  Mary  (Murray)  John- 
son, took  him  overland  to  Oregon.  After  a  four  years'  residence  there, 
they  came  to  California.  They  located  first  at  Napa  City,  later  en- 
gaged in  stockraising  in  the  vicinity,  and  then  went  to  Oakland,  and 
for  several  years  they  lived  there  and  at  Martinez  and  on  San  Joaquin 
Island.  Subsequently  they  were  at  Merced,  Gilroy  and  Watsonville, 
one  after  the  other,  and  in  the  meantime  James  L.  had  acquired  an 
education  in  the  public  schools.  At  Porterville  he  married  Miss  Hai 
riet  Rhodes,  daughter  of  the  late  William  C.  Rhodes,  a  biogra])hical 
sketch  of  whom  appars  in  these  jiages.  Mrs.  Johnson  bore  her  hus- 
band tliree  children.  Edna  nuirried  William  Lucius  Kelley,  of  Fresno 
county,  and  they  have  hail  three  chihlren  nameil  ('hai'lotte,  deceased; 


818  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Loreii  and  Oia.  Ehuo  married  Bertha  A.  Crocker  aud  she  lias  borne 
Iiim  tliree  cliildreu  :  Ich-iia,  Fk)renoe  and  Odessa.    Lena  is  deceased. 

The  first  land  in  this  vicinity  owned  by  Mr.  Johnson  was  bought 
from  the  United  States  government.  He  in-e-enijited  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  in  Jordan  Valley  and  paid  it  out  at  $1.25  per  acre,  and  has 
added  from  time  to  time  and  now  owns  about  four  sections.  Three 
Inindred  and  fifty  acres  is  devoted  to  farming,  the  remainder  is  hill 
land,  used  for  pasture.  On  the  place  are  kept  about  seventy-five  head 
of  cattle  and  one  hundred  head  of  other  live  stock.  When  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Johnson  settled  in  the  valley,  laud  could  l)e  bought  at  $1.25  an 
acre  which  would  now  be  cheaji  at  $200  and  upward.  The  only  1)uyers 
of  stock  in  those  days  were  Miller  and  Lux. 

The  old  Democratic  iiolitics  of  his  sire  was  in  a  way  inherited 
by  Mr.  Johnson,  a  man  of  public  spirit,  ready  always  to  aid  to  the 
extent  of  his  abilitv  anv  movement  for  the  good  of  the  community. 


HENRY  W.  REED 

The  well  known  citizen  of  Tulare  county  whose  name  is  Hie  title 
of  this  article  and  who  lives  a  mile  north  of  Sultana  could  tell  many 
an  interesting  story  of  the  days  before  the  law  was  fully  established 
in  central  California.  He  was  personally  acquainted  with  Soutag  and 
P]vans  and  the  Dalton  brotliers,  and  with  (ieorge  Radcliff,  who  was 
shot  bv  the  latter  on  Alkali  Plains.  He  tells  how  the  train  was  stopped 
by  the  bandits  by  force  of  ai'ms  and  how,  when  the  door  of  the  exjiress 
car  was  blown  from  its  hinges,  Radcliff  received  a  load  of  shot  in  the 
abdomen,  and  he  does  not  fail  to  add  that  the  brave  engineer  hung 
to  the  throttle  until  he  ran  the  train  to  Tulare,  then  died;  and  lie  could 
indicate  the  place  in  Fresno  county  where  the  Daltons  for  a  time  main- 
tained their  mountain  residence. 

A  native  son  of  California,  Mr.  Reed  was  born  in  Kern  county  June 
23,  1873,  and  was  reared,  educated,  and  lived  there  until  1884.  In  1000 
he  came  to  Tulare  county,  settling  near  Visalia.  He  married  in 
August,  1907,  Mrs.  May  (Price)  Schaaf,  widow  of  Louis  Schaaf.  She 
was  liorn  in  Crawford  county,  Kans.,  June  23,  1876,  and  had  three 
children,  Milo,  Chester  F.  and  Marguerite  E.  Schaaf.  By  the  union 
with  Mr.  Reed,  one  son  has  been  born,  Harris  Reed.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Reed  are  Republicans. 

In  1907  Mr.  Reed  located  on  twenty  acres  of  land,  which  was  the 
home  of  Mrs.  Reed,  all  of  which  is  devoted  to  fruit  and  vines,  he  hav- 
ing nine  acres  of  vineyard  and  seven  acres  of  apricots.  In  1911  he 
marketed  eight  tons  and  a  half  of  raisin  grapes.  He  is  an  enterprising 
fanner  and  a  progressive  public-spirited  citizen. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  819 

THOMAS  SMITH 

The  sons  of  Ireland  makes  friends  everywhere,  succeeding  in  any 
community  with  wliich  their  lot  may  be  cast,  and  California  has  always 
welcomed  this  industrious  class  to  the  ranks  of  its  citizens  among 
those  who  have  sought  a  home  under  her  sunny  skies.  One  of  the  most 
pros])erous  farmers  in  the  vicinity  of  Ilanford  is  Thomas  Smith,  who 
was  born  in  Irehuid,  June  27,  1841.  He  came,  comi)arative!y  young,  to 
the  United  States  and  finished  his  studies  in  New  York,  whence  about 
1860  he  went  to  San  Francisco,  and  from  there  he  moved  to  Merced 
county.  Later,  in  September,  1872,  he  settled  in  Tulare  county,  in 
that  jiart  now  known  as  Kings  county.  Soon  thereafter  he  located  on 
one  himdred  and  sixty  acres  which  was  the  nucleus  of  the  homestead 
wliich  is  now  one  of  the  land-marks  of  his  part  of  the  county.  One 
year  later,  in  187.'>,  he  bought  a  second  one  hundred  and  sixty-acre 
tract,  increasing  his  holding  to  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres.  He 
engaged  in  di-y  farming  and  has  given  much  attention  to  dairying  and 
to  hog-raising.  Having  been  a  farmer  all  his  life  he  has  obtained  an 
intimate  practical  knowledge  of  everything  making  for  successful  cul- 
tivation, and  so  expert  is  he  that  in  the  operation  of  his  fine  ranch  very 
little  is  left  to  chance  except  such  things  as  unavoidably  depend  upon 
unforeseen  developments  in  the  way  of  blights  and  pests.  He  is 
one  of  the  very  few  pioneers  in  his  ])art  of  the  countv  and 
ervery  improvement  on  his  ranch  today  was  placed  there  by  himself. 
In  1912  he  and  his  son  bought  a  twenty  horse-power  gas  engine  which 
is  used  for  pumping  water  for  irrigation  on  his  place  as  well  as  his 
son's.  The  wells  are  eighty  feet  in  depth,  furnishing  ample  water  for 
their  need. 

October  13,  1886,  Mr.  Smith  married  Mrs.  Margaret  (Gann)  Whit- 
worth,  a  native  of  Wisconsin,  who  in  1852  was  brought  in  an  ox-wagon 
across  the  plains-  by  her  parents,  who  were  California  pioneers  of  that 
time.  By  a  former  marriage  Mr.  Smith  was  the  father  of  two  children, 
William  H.,  who  lives  on  an  adjoining  farm,  and  Mrs.  Stella  (*urry. 
residing  near  Hanford.  One  child  was  born  to  his  union  with  Mrs. 
Whitworth,  a  daughtei'.  Myrtle  J.  Wilkinson,  who  resides  near  Eiver- 
dale.  Mrs.  Smith  was  married  (first)  to  P.  Johnson  and  became  the 
mother  of  two  children,  Mattie  and  Katie.  By  her  marriage  to  Mr. 
Whitworth  she  ha<l  a  son.  Clarence. 


CECIL  M.  SMITH 

It  was  in  Athens  county,  r)hio,  tliat  Cecil  11.  Smith  was  born  in 
1867.  Tliei-e  lie  lived  until  he  was  seventeen  yeai's  old,  gaining  an 
education   in  tlic  puldic  schools  and  obtaining  an   iiitiiiiatc  loiowledge 


820  TULARE  AND  KINGS  TOUXTIES 

of  a, sii-i culture  by  actual  daily  coutact  with  the  soil.  When  he  left  the 
home  of  his  childhood  it  was  to  go  to  Kansas  with  his  parents,  who 
established  a  new  home  for  the  family  in  that  state.  There  he  worked 
for  wages  until  in  1887,  when  he  immigrated  to  California  and  settled 
in  Tulare  county,  which  was  then  almost  entirely  devoted  to  grain- 
growing.  After  he  had  farmed  five  years  he  and  his  brother  began  to 
buy  land,  theii-  first  purchase  being  a  tract  of  one  hundred  acres,  and 
they  soon  afterward  bought  another  of  fifty  acres.  At  this  time  Mr. 
Smith  has  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  acres  which  he  operates  as  a 
dairy,  milking  about  forty  cows  and  doing  a  business  of  about  $200  a 
month.  Beginning  with  no  capital,  he  has  made  all  he  has  by  hard 
work  and  the  exercise  of  good  business  ability.  The  excitement  of 
politics  has  never  appealed  to  him  and  he  has  little  liking  for  partisan 
activity,  but  he  takes  a  public-spirited  interest  in  everything  that  in 
any  way  influences  the  well-being  of  the  people.  At  this  time  he  is 
very  creditably  filling  the  office  of  school  trustee.  His  parents  passed 
away  after  lives  of  usefulness.  His  father  was  a  native  of  the  state 
of  New  York,  while  his  mother  was  born  in  Ohio,  a  daughter  of 
pioneers.  He  has  himself  been  familiar  with  pioneering  in  the  middle 
west  and  on  the  coast,  and,  accepting  the  conditions  under  which  the 
pioneer  must  strive,  he  has  striven  and  succeeded. 


WILLIAM  W.  ROBINSON 

The  late  W.  W.  Robinson  was  born  in  Indiana,  and  was  united  in 
marriage  there  when  a  young  man  to  Miss  Margaret  McClintock,  and 
they  resided  in  Illinois,  Iowa  and  Missouri,  in  which  states  their  chil- 
dren were  born.  In  1880  they  all  came  to  California,  and  Mr.  Robin- 
son bought  some  land  near  where  Armona  is  now  located.  There  he 
lived  with  his  family  until  recently,  when  he  went  over  into  Fresno 
county,  when  he  had  another  ranch,  and  after  putting  in  a  crop  was 
taken  ill. 

At  his  death  Mr.  Robinson  left,  besides  his  widow  two  daughters, 
Mrs.  H.  P.  Brown  of  Hanford,  and  Mrs.  George  Campbell,  of  Suisun, 
also  five  sons,  Marion,  George,  Grant,  Henry  and  Charles,  all  of  Kings 
county.    One  daughter,  Mrs.  Knapp,  died  near  Armona  in  1903. 

W.  W.  Robinson  was  a  brother  of  the  late  J.  S.  Robinson,  who 
was  likewise  a  Kings  county  ]iioneer  and  had  one  sister,  Jane  SutcliiT. 
of  Albion,  Iowa.  Mr.  Robinson  was  a  man  who  was  very  successful 
in  his  business  undertakings.  He  was  a  man  of  large  executive  ability, 
decided  force  of  character,  very  reserved  and  unassuming,  quiet,  and 
very  industrious,  with  exceptional  powers  for  enduring  work  and  sus- 
taining effort.    He  was  known  as  a  thoroughly  good  man  at  heart,  and 


TULAKK  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  Sl'1 

hail  many  warm  friends.  lu  his  home  circle  he  \\'ill  ever  be  remem- 
bered as  a  kind  parent,  while  the  vicinity  in  his  death  suffered  the 
loss  of  a  man  of  the  strictest  integrity.  He  died  at  llanford  Friday 
morning,  February  L'4,  1905,  aged  sixty-nine  years,  ten  months  and 
twentv-three  da  vs. 


WILLIAM  A.  SEARS 

The  Sears  family,  of  which  AVilliam  A.  Sears  is  a  prominent  mem- 
ber, is  an  old  historic  one  in  America,  whose  numerous  representa- 
tives are  residing  in  nearly  every  state  of  the  Union,  giving  to  their 
country  jiatriotic  and  industrious  service  and  adding  greatly  to  the  liest 
and  most  re]>reseutative  citizenship.  There  are  many  l)ranches  of  the 
family  in  Ibis  country  and  nine  generations  have  lived  in  the  United 
States.  Originally  of  England,  the  first  American  ancestor  of  the 
family  was  l)orn  in  England,  probably  not  far  from  the  (Tuernsey 
Islands,  but  there  the  name  was  spelled  Sares.  This  progenitor  was 
named  Richard  Sears,  and  the  first  auth.entic  record  we  have  of  him 
is  on  the  ta.\  list  of  Plymouth  Colony,  dated  March  25,  1633,  when  he 
was  one  of  forty-four  out  of  eighty-six  persons  who  were  assessed 
nine  shillings  in  corn  at  six  shillings  per  bushel.  He  soon  crossed  over 
to  Marblehead,  Mass.,  and  was  listed  as  a  tax-])ayer  of  that  place, 
and  in  the  Salem  rate  list  was  granted  four  acres  of  land  "where  he 
had  formerly  planted."    This  was  dated  October  14,  1638. 

Arthur  Elliott  Sears,  father  of  William  A.,  was  an  industrious 
and  well-known  minister  in  California  as  early  as  1878  and  his  memory 
is  deeply  revered  by  all  who  have  had  the  good  fortune  to  know  him. 
He  was  born  in  Cincinnati,  and  in  Missouri  was  married  to  Eliza  E. 
Def^'rance,  who  was  lioru  in  Mercer  count\'.  Pa.,  near  New  Lelianon. 
Mr.  Sears  had  been  previously  married  and  was  the  father  of  five  chil- 
dren bv  this  marriage,  William  A.  being  the  only  child  of  the  second 
union.  In  1862  Arthur  E.  Sears  came  across  the  i^lains  with  ox-teams 
and  settled  in  Oregon,  bringing  his  family  with  him.  He  was  a 
Methodist  minister  and  was  an  early  organizer  and  itinerant  ])reacher, 
and  was  a  pioneer  of  Methodist  preaching,  traveling  and  organizing  in 
that  state,  giving  his  services  up  to  that  vocation  for  a  i)eriod  of  thirty 
years.  In  1874,  his  healtli  becoming  im])aired,  he  went  to  Colorado 
and  was  given  entire  charge  of  the  work  of  organizing  for  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  South  in  Colorado,  where  he  labored  diligently 
until  he  came  to  California  in  1878.  As  a  local  minister  he  continued 
to  labor  in  California  foi-  the  rest  of  his  days,  and  such  was  his 
influence  for  good  that  at  his  death  in  1906  this  comnuinity  felt 
deprived  of  a  kindly  spirit  whose  place  could  never  be  filled,     lie  made 


822  TULARE  AXD  KINGS  COUNTIES 

his  home  witli  las  son  and  his  widow  continued  to  live  with  hiui  uutil 
she  ijassed  away  P\^biuaiy  14,  1913,  at  Porterville,  where  both  of  them 
were  buried,  and  their  memory  will  ever  be  held  in  high  reverence 
for  the  lives  of  liigh  principles  and  honor  which  they  had  led,  to  say 
nothing  of  their  energetic  efforts  and  achievements  in  their  chosen 
field,  which  ever  command  unselfishness  and  untiring  industry  and 
coui'age,  marked  traits  in  tlieir  characters. 

William  A.  Sears  was  born  in  Milan,  Sullivan  county,  Mo.,  De- 
cember 14,  1860,  and  lived  in  Oregon  from  1862  to  1874.  In  the 
common  school  of  Polk  county.  Ore.,  he  received  his  elementary  educa- 
tion and  also  at  the  schools  of  Golden,  Colo.,  where  he  completed  the 
high  school  course.  Upon  arriving  in  California  he  matriculated  at 
the  Normal  school  at  San  Jose  and  was  graduated  with  the  class  of 
1882.  Eager  to  com])lete  a  law  course  he  had  read  law  with  his  uncle, 
the  Hon.  A.  H.  DeFrance,  wliile  he  was  in  Colorado.  Hon.  DeFrance 
was  then  First  Territorial  Senator,  then  State  Senator  and  then  was 
a);)]iointed  Supreme  Court  Commissioner,  and  later  was  elected  United 
States  District  Judge  from  Colorado,  wliich  office  he  held  with  great 
honor  until  his  death.  He  was  also  attorney  for  the  Colorado  Central 
Railroad  Co.,  and  under  his  able  supervision  Mi-.  Sears  imbibed  the 
rudiments  of  legal  training  which  have  served  him  to  no  mean  purpose 
in  his  real  estate  and  other  business  interests.  After  coming  to  Cali- 
fornia and  graduating  from  the  Normal  he  taught  school  for  a  time 
and  soon  began  to  interest  himself  in  real  estate  investments.  Buying 
land,  he  developed  a  fruit  ranch  in  Santa  Cruz  county  and  this  was 
his  real  start  in  his  chosen  line  of  work.  In  1903  he  came  to  Tulare 
county  from  San  Jose  and  bought  in  partnership  with  A.  V.  Taylor,  of 
Hanford,  a  tract  of  four  thousand  acres  at  Angiola,  which  for  one 
year  he  superintended  and  then  sold  out  his  interest  to  Mr.  Taylor  and 
made  his  way  to  Porterville.  He  then  bought  a  tract  of  three  thousand 
acres  on  the  White  river  which  he  still  owns  and  which  is  operated  as 
a  stock  and  dairy  ranch.  Mr.  Sears  is  the  i)resent  proprietor  of  the 
Sears  Investment  Co.,  with  offices  at  No.  508  Main  street,  Porterville, 
and  is  well  known  in  liis  community  as  a  prosperous  business  man, 
who  is  an  authority  not  alone  on  land,  but  on  fruit  growing  and  all  their 
relative  branches.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Porterville  Co-operative 
Creamery  Co.  He  has  just  moved  his  family  into  their  fine  residence 
on  El  Granito  avenue,  Porterville,  which  is  one  of  the  picture  places 
of  that  city.  Indei)endent  in  his  ])()litical  viev:s  lie  has  always  refused 
any  political  honors  and  votes  locally  for  the  man  he  deems  best 
suited  for  the  office.  In  national  affairs  he  unites  with  the  Democratic 
party. 

Mr.  Sears  was  married  January  1,  1888,  to  Miss  Sara  B.  Loucks, 
of  Contra  Costa  county,  the  daughter  of  the  late  Hon.  George  P. 
Loucks,   wlio  was   lor  many  years   in  political   office  in  Contra  Costa 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  823 

coimty.  He  was  a  leader  in  politics  in  the  Republican  party  in  South- 
ern t'aliforuia,  where  he  was  justly  well  and  favorably  known.  For 
years  he  was  a  member  of  the  Republican  National  Committee  and  of 
the  State  Central  Committee.  The  eldest  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sears'  four 
surviving  children  is  (leorge  Arthur,  now  manager  of  the  telegraphers 
in  the  K  office  of  the  Southern  Pacific  Railway  at  Bakersfield.  By  his 
marriage  with  Miss  Abbie  (ilil)bons  of  Porterville  he  has  two  children, 
(iciirgie  and  Eloise.  William  Allison,  Jr.,  is  at  jjresent  manager  of  a 
drug  store  at  Strathmore  and  is  unmarried.  Emma  Pauline  and 
Annie  Belle  are  both  at  home.  These  children  represent  the  tenth 
generation  from  their  American  ancestor,  Richard  Sears.  In  religion 
the  family  are  Congregationalists  and  socially  are  well  known  and 
number  their  friends  by  the  score. 

Mr.  Sears  has  the  honor  of  being  the  first  grower  to  ojjeu  up, 
advertise  and  make  known  the  orange  lands  south  of  Porterville 
under  the  new  irrigation  system  for  oranges,  and  his  success  has' 
been  such  as  to  attract  the  attention  of  many  who  have  those  interests 
at  heait.  A  very  interesting  article  written  by  Mr.  Sears  on  this 
subject  and  giving  a  detailed  account  of  the  beauties  and  advantages 
throughout  the  Earlimart  Colony  in  that  vicinity  may  be  found  in 
the  July,  1906,  issue  of  the  magazine  entitled  Out  West.  He  was  one 
of  the  organizers  of  the  Porterville  Realty  Board  and  Chamber  of 
Commerce  and  has  since  been  one  of  its  influential  members.  He  has 
found  time  from  his  active  business  life  to  organize  the  Imi)ro\'ement 
Club  here  and  this  has  l)een  since  taken  over  by  the  ladies  of  Porter- 
ville. Such  a  citizen  merits  the  praise  and  earnest  gratitude  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  and  Mr.  Sears  is  fortunate  in  that  he  receives  the 
esteem  and  confidence  of  all  who  know  him  and  he  holds  an  enviable 
place  in  the  minds  of  many  who  have  come  to  appreciate  his  excellent 
characte)istics  and  his  sagacious  and  well-informed  mind. 


FRED  SAIIKOIAN 

This  skillful  farmer  is  well  known  and  res])ected  in  the  vicinity  of 
Yetteni,  where  he  is  enjoying  prosperity  as  the  result  of  well-directed 
effort.  He  was  born  November  25,  1S84,  and  remained  in  his  native 
Armenia  until  he  was  fourteen  years  old,  then  came  to  the  United 
States  with  his  father  and  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  ate  his  first  turkey 
dinner,  an  experience  which  he  will  always  remember.  After  a  short 
stay  there,  be  came  to  California  and  settled  in  Fresno  county,  where 
he  lived  seven  years.  He  attended  school  for  a  time,  farming  and 
fruit-growing  for  wages  and  learning  the  work  and  the  ways  of  the 
countrv. 


S-24  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

It  was  to  Tulare  county,  where  he  has  since  lived,  that  Mr. 
Sahroian  went  from  P>esno  county  in  1907.  He  soon  bought  twenty 
acres  of  land  and  later  forty  acres  more,  making'  a  farm  of  sixty  acres, 
which  he  has  improved  with  a  house,  a  barn  and  other  necessary  build- 
ings. He  has  forty-three  acres  under  vines,  seven  acres  bearing 
peaches  and  ten  acres  devoted  to  oranges.  One  year  he  sold  twelve 
tons  of  Thompson  seedlings  from  six  acres;  also  eleven  and  one-half 
tons  of  Muscats,  and  forty-eight  tons  of  Zinfandels.  His  orange  grove 
is  young  and  his  peach  trees  are  just  coming  into  bearing.  As  a 
citizen  he  has  the  good  opinion  of  his  neighbors,  and  fraternally  he 
affiliates  with  the  Yettem  Bauavalimi  club.  Politically  he  is  a  Repub- 
lican.   He  married  Victoria  Meledouian  in  April,  1912. 

Mr.  Sahroian 's  parents.  Melick  and  Elbis  Sahroian,  are  members 
of  his  household.  ( )f  their  six  children  he  is  one  of  the  most  helv)ful 
to  them.  His  sister  married  James  Dagdighiau  and  lives  at  Selma, 
Fresno  county.  Mr.  Sahroian,  still  loving  his  native  land  with  true 
patriotism,  is  nevertheless  thoroughly  Americanized,  and  his  aspira- 
tions are  all  for  the  future  greatness  of  his  adopted  country.  In  many 
ways  he  has  shown  that  he  possesses  a  commendable  jniblic  spirit  and 
there  is  no  local  interest  that  does  not  have  his  encouragement  and 
sup]iort. 


JOHN  J.  SCIIUELLER 

One  of  the  most  persistent  and  successful  promoters  of  the  devel- 
opment of  Central  California  is  John  J.  Schueller  of  No.  401  South 
Bridge  street,  Visalia.  Mr.  Schueller  was  born  in  Prussia  in  184-1^,  and 
was  brought  to  the  United  States  by  his  family,  which  settled  in  She- 
boygan county,  AVis.  After  leaving  school  he  became  a  salesman  of 
agricultnial  implements,  in  wliicli  capacity  he  traveled  many  years, 
winning  much  success  and  acquiring  a  wide  acquaintance.  In  1884  he 
bought  land  and  settled  down  to  farming  and  cattle,  horse  and  hog 
breeding,  besides  giving  considerable  attention  to  grain,  and  eventually 
he  allied  himself  successfully  with  the  insurance  business.  Twenty 
years  later,  in  1904,  on  account  of  imjjaired  health,  he  gave  uj)  the 
latter  business  and  settled  at  Msalia.  Tulare  county,  becoming  the 
owner  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  northeast  of  town,  so 
exceedingly  rich  and  productive  that  in  1907  he  marketed  one  huudred 
and  eighty  tons  of  hay  cut  froui  one  huudred  acres.  This' property  is 
now  operated  by  a  tenant  under  lease.  Mr.  Schueller  is  the  owner  of 
valuable  real  estate  on  South  Bridge  street,  Visalia,  and  being  a  man 
of  much  public  sjnrit  he  has  from  time  to  time  participated  jiromi- 
nentlv  in  movements  for  the  benefit  of  the  comnumity.     He  is  much 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  8:25 

interested  iu  the  develoiiiiieut  of  Tulare  county,  and  as  a  correspondent 
to  German  papers  i)ul)lislied  in  "Wisconsin,  lias  ])ut  many  glowing  ac- 
counts of  local  conditions  and  advantages  before  his  countrymen  in 
that  state.  This  work  lie  has  followed  up  by  writing  letters  to  inquir- 
ers, setting  forth  the  healthfulness  of  Tulare  county's  wonderful  cli- 
mate and  giving  in  detail  some  account  of  the  opportunities  here 
offered  to  home-seekers.  As  the  result  of  his  personal  efforts  forty- 
nine  families  of  Germans  have  lieeome  permanent  settlers  in  the 
county.  He  is  the  moving  s])irit  also  in  German  Lodge,  California 
D.  0.  H.,  No.  693,  which  has  a  membership  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
two  Germans,  all  of  whom  are  able  to  read  and  write  the  English  lan- 
guage. 

In  1872  Mr.  Schueller  married  Miss  Augusta  Poppe,  a  native  of 
Germany,  and  he  has  seven  children  and  thirteen  grandchildren.  Fol- 
lowing are  the  names  of  his  children :  John  P.,  Andrew,  Herman, 
Casper,  Joseph,  Josejihine  and  Clara.  Josephine  married  Casper 
Schlaich,  and  Clara  is  the  wife  of  A.  L.  Depute. 


GEORGE  H.  TEAGUE 

On  the  farm  near  Exeter,  Tulare  county,  on  which  he  now  lives, 
George  H.  Teague  was  born  in  1877.  He  was  educated  at  Exeter  and 
at  Visalia  and  was  reared  to  familiarity  with  farm  work.  John 
Teague,  his  father,  was  born  in  Missouri  and  came  with  an  ox-team  to 
California  more  than  forty  years  ago  and  settled  on  the  ranch  which  is 
now  the  home  of  his  son.  The  country  was  then  new  and  not  very 
productive  and  his  greatest  success  was  in  raising  stock.  He  married 
Susan  Buckman,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  who  survives  him,  he  liaving 
passed  away  in  1907  on  the  family  homestead  near  Exeter. 

After  his  father's  death  Mr.  Teague  became  associated  with  his 
mother  in  the  conduct  of  the  farming  and  stock  raising  enterjirise 
which  the  elder  Teague  had  brought  to  such  important  proportions. 
They  liave  seventeen  hundred  and  thirty-five  acres  of  land  in  tlie 
foothills,  which  is  a  cattle  range.  Besides  the  homestead,  which  con- 
sists of  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  acres,  they  own  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  one-half  mile  north  which  George  H.  and  his  brother 
Edward  E.  devote  to  stock  raising.  A  man  of  public  spirit,  Mr. 
Teague  is  in  every  way  a  worthy  and  useful  citizen.  In  1907  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Eva  Wiley,  a  native  of  Iowa,  whose  parents  had  brought  her 
to  California.  While  he  does  not  hold  membership  in  any  parlor  of 
Native  Sons  of  the  Golden  West,  he  is  a  native  son  of  sunshiny  Cali- 
fornia, proud  of  his  liirth  within  its  borders  and  solicitous  not  onlv 


826  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

for  its  material  advancenjent,  Imt  for  the  moral  njilift  of  all  its  i)eople 
of  whatever  class  or  condition. 


OCTAVIUS  H.  WEBB 

A  native  of  the  Old  Dominion,  Virginia,  O.  H.  Webb,  wliose 
present  postoffice  address  is  Dinulia,  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  was  born  in 
historic  Fluvanna  county,  January  27,  1857.  His  father,  George  H. 
Webb,  a  carpenter  by  trade,  served  under  General  Lee  in  the  Civil 
war,  from  1861  to  the  end  of  the  struggle,  and  during  the  closing  years 
of  his  service  was  detailed  to  the  commissary  department.  He  mar- 
ried Martha  Noel,  who  like  himself  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  they 
had  three  children. 

In  1887  O.  H.  Webb  came  to  California  and  since  then  has  given 
all  of  his  active  years  to  ranching.  He  has  bought  town  lots  in  Dinuba 
and  built  a  residence  near  the  high  school.  For  one  acre  he  paid  $100 
and  for  his  other  Dinuba  lots  $100  each.  He  leases  forty  acres  of  the 
Humphrey  land  and  has  five  acres  in  orchard,  the  remainder  in  vine- 
yard, yielding  an  average  crop  of  one  ton  per  acre.  Five  acres  he 
devotes  to  peaches,  which  yielded  in  1911  one  ton  of  dried  fruit  per 
acre  at  an  average  price  of  eight  cents  a  pound. 

In  his  youth  Mr.  Webb  learned  the  carpenter's  trade  with  his 
father,  who  was  a  contractor  and  builder,  but  he  has  not  followed  his 
trade  since  coming  to  California.  Politically  he  has  always  affiliated 
with  the  Republicans.  In  ^"irginia  he  married  Sallie  Mahaynes,  and 
they  have  a  son,  Hoi'ace  L.  Welib,  who  is  married  and  has  two  children. 
Mrs.  Webb  died  in  May,  1887,  deeply  regretted  by  all  who  had  known 
her.  As  a  citizen  Mr.  Webb  is  piiblic  s])irited  to  a  noteworthy  degree, 
taking  a  deep  and  abiding  interest  in  all  economic  questions  affecting 
the  welfare  of  his  communitv  and  state. 


HARVEY  L.  WARD 

December  28,  1851,  Harvey  L.  A\'ard.  son  of  Lewis  and  Mary 
(Harmon)  Ward,  was  born  in  Shiawassee  county,  Mich.  His  father 
was  a  native  of  Vermoiit,  his  mother  was  born  in  the  state  of  New 
York;  they  were  the  first  cou])le  married  in  the  vicinity  of  their  home 
and  Mrs.  Ward  taught  the  first  school  there.  Lewis  Ward  was  a  suc- 
cessful farmer.  In  1862  the  family  crossed  the  plains  with  horse- 
teams  to  California  by  way  of  Omaha,  Salt  Lake  City  and  the  Sink  of 
the  Humboldt,  traversing  the  desert  and  arriving  eventually  at  Placer- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  827 

ville.  They  soon  located  at  Mud  Sjirius'  in  Placer  county  and  lived 
afterward  at  Bodega  Corners,  Sonoma  county.  In  1866  the  family 
returned  to  Michigan,  experiencing  considerahle  delay  at  Greytown, 
where  they  had  to  wait  for  a  vessel.  For  two  years  they  lived  hear 
Clarence,  Shiawassee  county,  Mich.,  maintaining  themselves  by  farm- 
ing, and  in  1868  they  returned  to  California  by  practically  the  same 
route  over  which  they  had  come  out  before,  except  that  they  crossed 
the  river  at  North  Platte,  taking  their  wagons  across  on  hand-cars  and 
swimming  their  stock,  wliicli  tliey  effected  successfully,  while  others, 
who  paid  $200  to  liave  their  stock  taken  over,  lost  some  of  it.  On  the 
way  they  saw  many  graves  marked  "Killed  by  Indians."  After  a 
short  stop  at  Sacramento  they  went  on  to  Bodega  Corners,  where  Mr. 
Ward  operated  a  hotel,  meanwhile  becoming  owner  of  a  farm  in  Green 
Valley. 

In  1877  Mr.  Ward  came  to  Stokes  Mountain  and  in  1880  he  mar- 
ried, in  the  Wilson  district.  Miss  Martha  E.  West,  a  daughter  of  Cali- 
fornia, whose  parents  had  come  across  the  plains  in  1849.  Her  father, 
Morris  M.  West,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  had  lived  some  time  in  Mis- 
souri, whence  he  came  to  California,  jiartially  )iy  the  Platte  i-oute.  His 
cattle  gave  out  on  tlie  way  and  he  made  a  trade  In-  which  he  had  a 
better  outfit  than  that  witli  which  he  started  from  Missouri.  After 
li\iiig  for  a  time  in  Sutter  county,  he  moved  to  San  Jose,  whence  he 
came  to  Tulare  county,  later  locating  in  the  Wilson  district.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Ward  have  had  four  children,  Phoebe  G.,  Arthur  T.,  Henry  H.. 
and  Stella.  The  last-mentioned  has  passed  away.  Henry  H.  mar- 
ried Mabel  Allen,  a  native  of  California,  and  she  has  borne  him  a  son, 
Allen  Ward.  Phoebe  G.  has  distinguished  herself  in  the  high  school  at 
Yisalia.  Mr.  Ward,  most  of  whose  schooling  was  obtained  in  the 
public  school  at  Bodega  Corners,  Sonoma  county,  was  determined  to 
give  his  children  the  best  education  at  his  command.  In  1892  he 
Iiought  ten  acres,  where  he  now  lives,  two  miles  north  of  Orosi.  That 
land  was  then  mostly  under  vines.  He  has  since  been  an  extensive 
])urcliaser  of  land  and  now  devotes  twenty-two  acres  to  vineyards, 
growing  Muscat  grapes  and  a  few  Sultanas.  He  has  five  hundi-ed 
acres  on  Sand  Creek  devoted  to  pasturage,  with  two  hundred  acres  of 
woodland  adjoining.  He  also  owns  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  in 
the  Baker  Valley.  Giving  considerable  attention  to  stock,  he  is  es])e- 
cially  interested  in  his  fruit  trees  and  vines.  In  a  single  year  he  has 
raised  tliirty-two  tons  of  raisins  and  he  has  several  thousand  cords  of 
wood  on  his  property.  When  he  came  to  this  locality,  where  he  and 
his  brother,  I.  T.  Ward,  were  among  the  earliest  wheat  growers,  wild 
game  was  plentiful  and  he  has  killed  many  deer  and  antelope  as  well  as 
))ear.  mountain  lions  and  foxes.  He  was  interested  in  teaming  to  the 
mountains  1877-9!)  and  freighting  to  the  mines  in  Tuoluiiuu'  county 
1888-1900.     His  recollections  of  the  past  are  most  interesting.  Politi- 


828  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

(■ally  Mr.  Ward  i?  an  inde]iendeut  Republican.     He  and  his  family  are 
communicants  of  the  Christian  church. 


WILLIAM  A.  WILLIAMS 

In  Queens  county,  N.  Y..  part  of  Long-  Island,  in  tlie  old  town  of 
Jericho.  William  A.  Williams  was  i)orn  .January  1,  1.S40,  a  son  of 
George  and  Mercy  Williams,  both  of  whom  were  natives. of  Hyde  Park, 
London,  England.  When  lie  was  six  years  old  his  family  removed  to 
Mill  Neck,  N.  Y.,  whence  they  went  to  Hempstead,  Long  Island. 
After  two  years'  residence  there  they  moved  to  a  place  four  and  a 
half  miles  west  of  TToboken,  N.  J.,  near  the  Hudson  river,  and  there 
lived  for  quite  a  number  of  years.  The  father  was  an  industri(ms 
teamster  and  farmer,  and  there  were  nine  children  in  the  family.  On 
July  80,  1862,  William  A.  Williams  enlisted  as  a  private  in  Company 
K,  Eleventh  Regiment,  New  Jersey  A'olunteer  Infantry,  and  later 
saw  some  of  the  most  hazardous  service  of  the  Civil  war.  At  Chan- 
cellorsville,  his  first  battle,  of  five  hundred  men  detailed  for  a  certain 
duty,  eighteen  were  killed,  one  hundred  and  forty-six  wounded  and  five 
missing.  On  the  second  day  of  the  fight  at  Gettysburg  seventeen  men 
of  his  regiment  were  killed,  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  wounded  and 
twelve  missing.  The  Eleventh  New  Jersey  was  included  in  Humph- 
rey's division  of  the  Third  Army  Corps,  being  afterwards  transferred 
to  the  Second  Corps  under  General  Hancock.  Mr.  Williams  took  part 
in  twelve  battles  and  in  a  large  number  of  skirmishes,  among  them  the 
second  Chancellorsville,  Battle  of  Wilderness,  Spottsylvania  and  Cold 
Harbor.  In  his  last  general  engagement  he  was  wounded  in  the  head 
by  a  Confederate  sharpshooter  and  sent  to  the  hospital,  and  in  the 
course  of  events  he  was  discharged  from  the  service  for  disal)ility, 
March  11,  1865,  about  a  month  before  the  collapse  of  the  Southein 
Confederacy. 

Returning  to  New  Jersey,  September,  1865,  Mr.  Williams  mar- 
ried Josephine  L.  Williams,  in  June,  1866,  and  she  bore  him  four  chil- 
dren, Gertrude,  Clark  V.,  Josephine  and  one  daughter,  deceased. 
After  his  marriage,  he  lived  three  years  in  Adams  county.  Wis.,  where 
he  devoted  himself  to  farming  and  hop-raising.  In  1870  he  home- 
steaded  land  in  Kansas,  where  during  a  time  of  privation  he  and  his 
family  lived  on  buffalo  meat  and  artichokes,  for  the  cooking  of  which 
there  was  no  fuel  but  buffalo  chips.  It  was  necessary  for  them  to 
haul  their  i)rovisions  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  from  Waterville  and 
Marysville.  The  great  grasshopj^er  year,  1874,  Mr.  Williams  will 
never  forget.  One  of  his  neighbors  had  his  grain  in  shock  and  he 
helped  him  to  thresh  his  wheat.     The  man  declared  that  he  would  cut 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  829 

his  corn  as  soon  as  the  tirst  grassho])per  would  appear,  but  the  pests 
came  in  such  numbers  that  they  ate  ten  acres  of  corn  before  he  could 
do  anything  to  prevent  them,  and  after  having  vainly  attacked  them 
with  rollers,  lae  and  his  wife  were  obliged  to  burn  the  prairie  to  kill 
them.  From  1880  to  1906  he  lived  in  various  places  in  Colorado  and 
South  Dakota.  In  October  of  the  year  last  mentioned  he  bought  forty 
acres  in  Tulare  county  at  $40  an  acre.  Previously  he  had  owned  land 
in  the  Owens  river  valley,  which  he  sold  to  the  city  of  Los  Angeles. 
His  forty-acre  tract  in  Tulare  county  was  unimproved,  but  he  has  since 
built  a  house,  a  barn  and  other  necessary  buildings  on  the  property 
and  is  making  a  specialty  of  the  cultivation  of  jMuscat  grapes. 

Associations  of  the  days  of  the  Civil  war  are  maintained  by  Mr. 
Williams  in  a  way  by  his  membership  in  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Re- 
pul)lic  and  he  receives  a  goverm;:ent  ];ension  of  $24.  He  was  a  charter 
member  of  General  Shafter  Post  No.  191,  G.  A.  R.,  of  Dinuba.  Politi- 
cally he  is  a  Republican.  As  a  citizen  he  is  public-spirited  and  helpful 
to  all  good  interests  of  the  community.  Dear  to  him  as  are  the  mem- 
ories of  his  youth  and  of  the  Civil  war  period,  the  recollections  of  his 
days  of  overland  travel,  in  the  period  1870-85,  are  no  less  fondly  cher- 
ished. They  picture  to  him  the  old  road  to  Kansas  and  to  Colorado, 
glimpses  of  Greeley  and  Fort  Collins  and  of  other  wayside  places  and 
of  Miller,  S.  Dak.  Those  days  under  the  white-topped  prairie  schooner 
were  days  of  discomfort,  but  they  were  days  of  hopes  that  after  a  time 
were  fully  realized.  Mrs.  Williams  died  in  1887  at  her  home  in  Mis- 
souri Hot  Springs,  whither  she  had  gone  on  a  visit  and  for  her  liealth 
while  her  husband  was  getting  settled  in  his  new  location. 


WILLIAM  ALFORD 

One  of  the  native  sons  of  California  who  are  winning  success  in 
Tulare  county  is  William  Alford,  who  is  farming  and  dairying  eight 
miles  north  of  Exeter  on  rural  free  delivery  route  No.  1.  Mi-.  iMford 
was  boi-n  in  Plumas  county  in  1862  and  began  attending  si'lido!  near 
his  childhood  home.  When  he  was  twelve  years  old  he  was  brought  by 
his  family  to  Tulare  county,  where  he  completed  his  education  and 
where  he  has  lived  continuously  to  this  time  except  duiing  three  or 
four  years.  His  father,  who  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  was  a  ]n'omi- 
nent  farmer  and  an  active  promoter  of  irrigation  who  had  much  to  do 
with  the  construction  of  early  ditches  in  the  county.  His  mother,  also 
a  native  of  the  Old  Dominion,  was  a  woman  of  the  finest  character, 
who  influence  has  been  a  beneficent  force  in  her  son's  life.  They  came 
to  California  among  the  pioneers,  as  long  ago  as  1853,  and  ])assed  to 
their  reward  many  years  ago.     Mr.  Alford  has  been  familiar  with  the 


830  TULARE  AND  KINGH  COUNTIES 

work  of  the  farm  since  his  childhood,  haviiifi:  been  early  instructed  iu  it 
by  his  father.  AVhen  he  came  to  Tulare  county  the  country  was  new, 
settlements  were  sparse  and  improvements  were  few  and  primitive. 
He  has  Iieen  permitted  not  only  to  witness  but  to  participate  in  its  de- 
velojiment  into  one  of  tlie  most  jiroductive  districts  of  a  state  of  won- 
derful resources. 

In  1S82  Mr.  Alford  l)ou<iht  fcirty  acies  of  land  and  in  V.W7  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres  more,  constituting  a  farm  of  two  hundred  acres, 
which  he  devotes  to  farming,  dairying  and  stock-raising,  keeping 
about  twenty  cows  the  year  round.  His  career  has  been  successful 
from  every  point  of  view,  for  while  he  has  prospered  financially  he 
has  won  the  respect  of  his  fellow-citizens  by  an  exhibition  of  public 
spirit  that  has  made  him  most  helpful  to  all  worthy  local  interests. 
His  reminiscences,  could  they  lie  given  in  full,  would  be  most  interest- 
ing as  a  contribution  to  the  history  of  the  county.  He  knew  the 
pioneers  and  has  known  all  the  prominent  men  of  a  later  day.  At  the 
time  of  the  lamentable  Mussel  Slough  fight,  so-called,  he  was  within 
a  half  a  mile  of  the  scene  of  action. 

In  1890  Mr.  Alford  married  Miss  Mary  Etta  Mason,  a  native  of 
California  and  a  daughter  of  a  pioneer  freighter  in  this  part  of  the 
country,  and  she  has  borne  him  twelve  children,  all  of  whom  survive. 
Mr.  Alford's  interest  in  education  has  impelled  him  to  accept  the 
office  of  school  trustee,  which  he  has  filled  greatly  to  the  advantage 
of  the  schools  and  his  neighborhood. 


JAMES  ALLEN  BACON 

In  St.  Louis  county.  Mo.,  James  Allen  Bacon  was  born  November 
19,  1838,  the  eldest  of  the  eight  children  of  William  Bacon,  six  of  whom 
survive.  The  father  was  born  in  Kentucky  in  January,  1800,  a  son  of 
Nathaniel  Bacon,  who  located  in  St.  Louis  county.  Mo.,  after  the  war  of 
1812.  There  William  lived  until  18-19,  when  he  started  with  his  family 
to  Texas.  In  Crawford  county,  Ark.,  they  were  detained  by  illness 
and  there  he  bought  a  farm  on  which  he  lived  until  1859,  when  he  set 
out  for  California  with  his  wife,  four  daughters  and  three  sons.  They 
came  by  El  Paso  and  stopped  for  a  while  at  Tucson,  Ariz.  Later  they 
completed  the  journey  to  California  by  way  of  Yuma  to  Los  Angeles 
and  the  Tejon  Pass  to  Tulare  county.  They  crossed  the  Colorado 
river  at  Ft.  Fillmore  and  soon  met  Indians  who  run  off  their  cattle; 
but  followed  two  of  them  who  had  the  cattle  in  charge  and  rescued 
the  animals.  Ten  miles  northeast  of  Visalia  on  the  Kaweah.  Mr. 
Bacon  liought  a  farm,  and  in  1868  he  took  up  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres,  now  the  site  of  Orosi,  where  he  was  a  pioneer  settler.     James 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  831 

A.  Bacon  hauled  lumber  from  the  mountains  and  with  help  of  hii'ed 
men  built  the  first  house  there,  which  is  yet  standing.  The  family 
afterward  removed  to  Visalia,  where  the  father  died,  aged  eighty-one 
years.  The  mother,  Mrs.  Permelia  Bacon,  a  native  of  St.  Louis  county, 
Mo.,  died  in  Fresno  county  in  her  seventy-ninth  year.  The  sons  of 
the  family  are  James  Allen;  Thomas,  of  Fresno;  C'liarles  F.,  of  Ifol- 
lister;  and  William,  of  Phoenix,  Ariz.  The  daughters  are  Missouri 
A.  Kirkland,  of  Arizona ;  Elizabeth  Campbell,  of  Sultana ;  Mary 
Smoot,  of  Cochran;  and  Martha  Morris,  of  Orroyo  Grande. 

When  he  was  ten  years  old  James  Allen  Bacon  accompanied  his 
parents  to  Arkansas,  where  he  was  educated  in  a  log  school  house. 
He  drove  a  team  to  Tucson,  Ariz.,  and  remained  there  a  year,  driving 
a  stage  for  Butterfield  over  a  route  east  from  Tucson  some  eighty 
miles,  changing  horses  every  ten  hours  at  stations  twenty  miles  apart. 
While  thus  em];)loyed  he  was  twice  attacked  by  Indians,  but  was  saved 
by  his  swift  horses.  One  of  the  red-skinned  parties  was  in  war  paint. 
At  another  time  his  presence  of  mind  enabled  him  to  save  his  own  life 
and  that  of  his  ]iassengers  as  well.  When  he  made  his  last  trip  as 
stage  driver.  Indians  formed  in  line  across  the  road  and  demanded 
whisky  and  tobacco.  The  ])assengers  handed  out  their  bottles,  and 
while  the  Indians  were  drinking  Mr.  Bacon  put  whip  to  the  horses  and 
soon  had  the  whole  ])arty  out  of  danger. 

Mr.  Bacon's  observations  and  experience  would  be  interesting 
could  they  be  given  in  full.  lie  told  of  having  seen  a  monument  on  the 
east  border  of  Tulare  county  which  was  erected  by  General  Scott  in 
the  early  '50s.  He  was  acquainted  with  the  Dalton  brothers,  with 
Sontag  and  Evans  and  with  James  McKinney,  and  saw  James 
McCreary  hanged  at  Visalia.  He  said  the  condemned  man  had  said  he 
would  never  die  with  his  boots  on  and  ])ulled  them  off  before  going  to 
the  gallows.  Mr.  Bacon  built  a  dwelling  in  the  Orosi  district,  between 
Centerville  and  Visalia.  He  rode  back  and  forth  in  all  directions  over 
this  country  before  there  was  any  fruit  or  grain  raised  here.  He 
homesteaded  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  east  of  \"isalia  and 
bought  some  railroad  land.  After  he  had  gone  into  the  sheep  busi- 
ness, he  met  a  man  from  Visalia  to  whom  he  traded  for  a  horse  a  claim 
to  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  whei-e  Orosi  now  stands,  which 
is  worth  now  .$500  an  acre.  In  tlie  period  18(50  to  1870  he  saw  thou- 
sands of  antelope  and  wild  horses  and  many  Indians,  and  on  Fish 
slough  and  other  swami^s  saw  numy  elk.  Bear  were  ]ilentiful  on  the 
plains  and  many  of  them  were  killed  for  meat.  Mr.  Bacon  himself 
killed  fifty  bears  and  was  in  many  a  desperate  bear  fight. 

The  Bacon  family  came  on  to  California  in  1859  and  for  a  time 
James  was  employed  by  his  uncle,  James  Fielding  l-Jacon,  in  the  stock 
business.  In  that  same  year  he  went  to  the  mines  at  Princeton,  in 
Maijposa  county.     After  having  been  emiiloyed  five  years  there,  at 


832  TULARE  AND  KINGS  (X)UNTIES 

Marysville  and  elsewhere,  be  weut  to  Orosi  and  Iniilt  his  father's 
house.  Later  he  again  helped  his  uncle  for  many  years  in  hog  and 
stock-raising.  He  also  found  lucrative  employment  in  driving  stock  to 
the  southern  mines.  After  the  organization  of  the  California  Raisin 
Growers'  Association  he  was  active  in  its  development. 

On  October  17,  1880,  in  Tulare  county,  Mr.  Bacon  married  Sarah 
Edniiston,  a  native  of  Calaveras  county,  and  a  daughter  of  N.  B. 
Edmiston.  'IMie  family  home  was  at  Orosi  aftei-  January,  1889.  Mr. 
Bacon  died  July  3,  1912,  in  Fresno.  His  wife  passed  away,  in  her 
forty-seventh  year,  March  17,  1901.  She  was  a  member  of  the  Metli- 
odist  Episcopal  church.  Following  are  the  names  of  five  children  who 
survive :  Alice  Maud,  married  William  Mackersie,  of  Dinuba,  and  has 
two  sons,  Gerald  Edward  and  William  Kenneth;  Thomas  Allen,  of 
Dinuba,  married  Cora  Tracy  and  has  one  son,  James  Emerson;  Edith 
Theodate  married  R.  J.  Reed  and  has  one  sou,  John  Allen;  Jessie 
Ethel  is  the  wife  of  Jesse  Furtney;  and  Elsie  Viola.  In  his  political 
affiliations  Mr.  Bacon  was  a  Democrat,  and  was  a  member  of  the 
county  central  committee  and  was  also  elected  and  served  two  terms 
as  a  school  trustee.  As  a  man  of  public  spirit  he  always  took  a  helpful 
interest  in  the  communitv. 


GEORGE  EDWARD  ALLEN 

Near  Lena,  in  Stephenson  county.  111..  George  Edward  Allen  was 
born  January  27,  1850,  a  son  of  James  Allen,  who  was  born  in  Canada 
au'l  (lied  in  Illinois  in  1855.  The  widow  renuirried  two  years  later  and 
died  in  Illinois  also.  For  a  short  time  George  E.  Allen  attended  the 
common  school  and  when  about  twelve  years  old  became  self-support- 
ing. In  1869  he  went  to  Knox  county.  111.,  and  there  followed  coal 
mining  for  five  years,  at  that  time  moving  to  Iowa  and  farming  in 
Polk  and  Jasper  counties.  From  there  he  went  to  Turner  county. 
S.  Dak.,  in  1883,  and  in  July,  that  year,  the  crops  were  destroyed  by 
a  hail  storm.  After  four  years  in  Dakota,  some  of  which  were  not  as 
strenuous  as  the  first  one,  Mr.  Allen  came  to  Tulare  county,  Cal..  set- 
tling on  White  river,  and  for  eighteen  years  harvested  crops  of  wheat 
that  ranged  from  one-half  a  sack  to  six  sacks  an  acre  and  sold  at 
sixty-eight  cents  to  $1.47  a  hundred  pounds.  He  located  on  his  present 
homestead  in  1906,  when  he  bought  forty  acres  of  unimproved  land, 
four  acres  of  which  are  now  in  Marshall  strawberries  and  two  acres 
in  orange  nursery  trees  of  one  season's  growth.  His  strawberry  plants 
are  bearing  fairly  well  and  in  a  recent  season  he  sold  eleven  thousand 
baskets  at  an  average  ]irice  of  seven  cents  a  basket.  His  Muscat  grapes 
are  just  beginning  to  bear.     He  has  fourteen  acres  of  them,  intends 


TrLARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  833 

soon  to  set  eleven  acres  to  orange  trees,  and  now  has  eight  acres  in 
peach  trees  just  bearing. 

Mr.  Allen  married  in  1870  Margaret  Morgan,  in  Knox  count}', 
111.,  and  has  two  children  living,  Maliel  B.  and  William  M.  One  daugh- 
ter, Jennie,  died  in  childhood  in  Dakota.  Ma))el  B.  married  Henry 
Ward,  of  Tulare  county,  and  they  liave  a  son  named  Allen  Ward.  In 
])nlitical  alliliations  Mr.  Allen  is  Reiiublican,  thorouglily  devoted  to 
the  principles  of  his  party,  and  as  a  citizen  he  is  public-spirited  to  a 
degree  that  insures  his  usefulness  to  the  conmiunitv. 


JOHN  WALTON  BOZEMAN 

In  Hinds  county.  Miss.,  August  31,  1836,  was  born  John  Walton 
Bozeman,  who  has  lived  in  Tulare  county  about  as  long  as  any  surviv- 
ing pioneer.  His  grandfather,  Howell  Bozeman,  Imilt  the  first  state 
house,  at  Milledgeville,  Ga.,  and  eventually  moved  to  Mississippi, 
accompanied  bj'  members  of  his  family  and  others.  Thomas  Jefferson 
Bozeman,  who  was  John  W'alton's  father,  remained  in  Hinds  county. 
Miss.,  until  after  his  son  was  born  and  he  left  his  wife  Rachel  Par- 
ker, buried  there.  In  1842  the  family  moved  to  Louisiana,  where  the 
father  married  Miss  Eliza  Ford,  of  which  union  two  children,  William 
and  Mary  Near,  survive.  In  1849  they  settled  in  Texas  and  in  1854 
crossed  the  plains  in  a  i)arty  with  ox-team  outfits  to  California,  where 
he  became  engaged  in  farming  on  Kings  river  and  mining  in  Mari- 
tiosa  and  Kern  counties,  i)utting  u]>  the  first  tent  on  Puso  creek  flats, 
where  he  mined,  kept  a  boarding  house,  and  did  freighting. 

J.  W.  Bozeman 's  recollections  of  that  cross-country  trip  would 
be  inteiesting  reading  could  they  all  be  put  into  print.  He  helped  to 
bury  the  liodies  of  members  of  the  Oatman  family,  who  had  been  nmr- 
dered  ))y  Indians  on  their  way  from  Texas  to  California.  Two  of  the 
Oatman  children  were  captured  by  the  savages  and  one  of  them  was 
rescued  later  by  friends.  Usually  emigrants  were  safe  so  long  as 
goodly  numbers  of  them  kept  together,  but  there  was  .great  ]ieril  foi' 
any  who  became  sejiarated  from  their  trains. 

It  was  when  he  was  about  eighteen  years  old  that  Mr.  Bozeman 
arrived  in  California,  passing  through  Tulare  county  along  the  immi- 
grant trail,  and  on  October  12,  1854,  they  stopped  on  Kings  river.  His 
opportunities  for  education  had  been  very  liinited,  as  almost  from 
childhood  he  had  i-idden  after  cattle  or  worked  in  the  cotton  field. 
In  1864,  in  San  Bernardino  county,  he  married  Miss  Susan  Hendrey, 
born  January  16,  1842,  in  Indiana,  daughter  of  Isaac  Hendrey,  who 
was  a  pioneer  of  Oregon.  He  was  a  descendant  of  old  Irish  families 
and  his  wife  was  Miss  Mary  White  of  Indiana.    Mrs.  Bozeman  passed 


HU  TULARE  AXJ)  KINGS  TUUNTIES 

away  iu  Kings  county  in  1898,  wliile  the  lauiily  were  living  near  Ilan- 
ford.  She  was  the  mother  of  a  large  family  of  children,  all  natives  of 
California,  eight  of  whom  grew  to  maturity  and  married,  viz. :  Preston 
Leander,  of  Exeter;  Julia  A.,  married  to  L.  H.  Byron,  of  Lemoore; 
Armazila  U..  wife  of  Vj.  C.  Nowlan,  of  Exeter;  Jesse  D.,  of  Hanford; 
Melissa  A.,  wife  of  J.  Bloomhall,  of  Alhamhra ;  John  W.,  of  Fresno; 
Hattie,  married  to  Warren  Hawley,  of  Lindsay;  and  Rachel,  wife  of 
Ralph  Berridge,  of  Porterville.  Three  children  died  in  infancy,  and 
Chester  W.  passed  away  in  early  childhood.  The  father  of  Mrs.  Boze- 
man  lived  to  the  age  of  ninety-six  years,  and  one  of  his  daughters, 
Mrs.  Cleghorn,  now  lives  at  Highlands,  San  Bernardino  county.  Two 
of  his  sons  are  making  their  home  at  the  Soldiers'  Home  at  Eugene, 
Oregon. 

After  his  marriage  Mr.  Bozeman  went  into  the  shee])  business 
and  was  successful  for  about  twenty  years,  keeping  most  of  the  time 
about  ten  thousand  head.  He  became  the  owner  of  three  hundred 
acres  of  land  on  Kings  river,  where  he  settled  in  1854,  with  his  father, 
and  later  rented  large  tracts  on  which  lie  sowed  grain.  His  last  wheat 
crop  was  garnered  from  thirty-five  hundred  acres.  He  disposed  of  all 
his  holdings  in  Kings  county  and  lives  with  his  children,  and  has  been 
a  resident  of  Porterville  since  January,  1911.  He  has  always  been  an 
active,  influential  and  ])ulilic-spirited  citizen. 


MARTIX  WTRHT 

In  that  wonderful  European  republic,  Switzerland,  Martin  "Wirlit, 
who  now  lives  a  mile  and  a  quarter  northwest  of  Exeter,  Tulare 
county.  Cal..  was  born  in  1857.  When  he  was  eleven  years  old  he  came 
to  the  United  States  and  made  his  way  to  Springfield,  111.,  where  he 
lived  a  year,  and  from  that  time  until  1879  his  home  was  in  Missouri. 
He  went  from  Missouri  to  Kansas,  from  Kansas  to  Wyoming,  and  then 
back  to  Kansas,  and  in  1896  from  Kansas  to  California,  living  six 
years  in  Wyoming  and  six  years  in  Kansas. 

In  Tulare  county  Mr.  Wirht's  first  place  of  residence  was  Porter- 
ville, from  which  town  he  moved  to  his  present  home  near  Exeter, 
where  he  has  fifteen  acres  bearing  oranges,  five  acres  under  grape- 
vines and  twenty-five  acres  on  which  he  grows  vines  and  trees.  His 
navel  oranges  are  of  fine  variety  and  are  usually  among  the  earliest  in 
his  vicinity  to  reach  the  market.  When  he  took  the  ranch  in  hand  it 
was  raw  and  without  imiirovements,  but  he  lias  provided  it  with  a 
house  and  other  buildings  and  developed  it  into  one  of  the  best  linme- 
steads  in  the  Exeter  district. 

The  marriage  of  Martin  Wirht  and  Eliza  Meredith,  a  native  of 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  835 

Missouri,  has  resulted  in  the  birth  of  five  children,  all  of  whom  were 
educated  or  are  being  educated  in  Tulare  county.  Tlieir  oldest 
daugliter  is  married.  The  parents  of  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wirlit  have 
passed  away.  Mr.  Wirht  is  regarded  as  a  self-made  man  who  richly 
deserves  the  success  that  he  has  won.  He  has  always  been  too  busy 
to  take  up  political  work  and  is  not  ambitious  for  office,  but  he  is 
public-s])iritedly  helpful  to  all  worthy  interests  of  tlie  community. 


RICHARD  BURKE 

This  is  the  life  story  of  a  man  whose  activities  were  begun  as  a 
drummer  boy  in  the  Federal  army  in  the  Civil  war.  Born  in  Clay 
county.  111.,  July  5,  1849,  he  was  only  about  twelve  years  old  when  the 
war  began.  He  enlisted  at  Louisville,  111.,  December  21,  1863,  in  Com- 
pany K,  Forty-eighth  Regiment,  Illinois  Volunteer  Infantry,  which 
was  attached  to  the  Third  Brigade,  Second  Division,  Fifteenth  Army 
Corps,  with  which  the  name  of  Gen.  John  A.  Logan  is  identified.  The 
first  fight  in  which  he  participated  was  that  of  Buzzard's  Roost,  at 
Resaca,  Ga.  From  that  time  on  until  the  end  of  the  war  he  took  part 
in  many  hotly  contested  engagements  of  greater  or  less  iniportance, 
participating  in  Sherman's  march  to  the  sea;  his  more  immediate  com- 
manding generals  being  successively  Ilarland,  Hazen,  Oliver  and  Rice. 
It  was  not  long  after  his  service  began  that  he  became  a  soldier  in 
active  dutv.  He  was  discharged  August  15,  1865,  and  mustered  out  at 
Springfield. 

Returning  to  Clay  county.  111.,  Mr.  Burke  remained  there  until 
April  20,  1870,  when  he  started  for  California,  arriving  in  Sto^ckton, 
Cal.,  May  1,  that  year.  He  then  came  to  Tulare  county  and  remained 
until  April,  1872,  when  he  located  in  Squaw  Valley,  homesteadiug  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  which  he  has  impi'oved  and  on  which 
he  now  lives.  By  subsequent  purchase  he  has  come  to  own  three 
hundred  and  fifty-two  acres.  He  farms  about  one  hundred  acres,  the 
rest  of  his  land  being  under  jiasture  and  timber,  and  keeps  a1)out  one 
hundred  head  of  stock. 

On  August  5,  1868,  in  Louisville,  111.,  Mr.  Burke  inarriod  Miss 
Mary  R.  Drake,  a  native  of  Ohio.  Her  parents,  also  of  Ohio  l)irth, 
came  to  California  in  1870,  being  members  of  Mr.  Burke's  party. 
They  found  the  country  very  new  and  were  oliliged  to  go  thirty-fivi' 
miles  for  their  mail,  wJiich  they  got  at  Visalia.  They  paid  eighteen 
cents  a  jjouud  foi-  brown  sugar  by  the  half  ban-el.  and  other  things 
in  proportion.  Children  as  follows  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Burke. 
Anna  G.,  Floy  I.,  Elva  Lewis,  Alraeda  J.,  John  W.,  Harry  A.,  Oliver 
M.,  Viola  L.,  and  Harold  R.    Anna  G.  married  C.  C.  Traweek.    Flov  I. 


836  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

is  Mrs.  W.  A.  Hampton.  Elva  Lewis  is  the  wife  of  L.  B.  Holcombe. 
Aimeda  J.  is  the  wife  of  Harlan  Mclntire.  John  W.  married  Miss  Jean 
Lawresten,  formerly  a  teacher.  Harry  A.  married  Myrtle  M.  Akers. 
Oliver  M.  married  Irene  Fleming,  who  was  a  teacher.  Viola  L.  mar- 
ried T.  E.  Byrd.  Harold  R.  is  a  graduate  of  Heald's  Business  College 
of  Fresno  and  is  employed  in  that  city.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Burke  have 
thirteen  grandchildren. 

In  his  politics  Mr.  Burke  is  Republican.     He  is  a  member  of  At- 
lanta Post,  G.  A.  R.,  at  Fresno. 


A.  M.  DREISBACH 

At  Tiffin,  Oliio,  April  20,  1852.  was  born  A.  M.  Dreisbach,  who  is 
now  a  farmer  and  a  minister  of  the  United  Brethren  church  at  Exeter, 
Tulare  county,  Cal.  His  fatlier,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  came  to 
Ohio  in  his  youth;  he  married  a  daughter  of  a  German,  and  died  in 
1876.    Mr.  Dreisbach 's  mother  has  been  dead  many  years. 

A.  M.  Dreisbach  remained  at  Tiffin  until  he  was  twenty-five  years 
old,  and  there  he  secured  a  primary  education  which  he  supplemented 
by  a  course  at  the  Eastman  Business  College  at  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y. 
He  had  just  completed  his  studies  at  that  institution  when  he  was  re- 
called to  liis  home  by  the  death  of  his  father.  His  earlier  labors  were 
all  on  the  ranch,  but  eventually  he  entered  the  ministry.  From  his  old 
home  in  Ohio  he  went  to  Kansas,  and  a  year  later  went  up  into  Iowa. 
From  there  he  returned  to  Kansas,  and  he  went  thence  to  Utah.  About 
eighteen  years  ago  he  came  to  California  and  settled  at  Exeter,  where 
he  now  has  a  beautiful  ranch  of  twenty-five  acres,  his  principal  crop 
being  oranges.  This  property  he  has  acquired  by  industry  and  econ- 
omy and  those  other  personal  qualities  whicli  are  the  fundamentals 
of  the  success  of  the  self-made  man. 

In  1878  Mr.  Dreisbach  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Bollinger  of  Ne- 
braska, who  has  l)orne  her  husband  eight  children,  three  of  whom, 
Clara,  Jolm  Wesley  and  Hattie,  have  died  since  the  family  came  to 
California.  The  others  are  Minnie,  Nellie,  Harvey,  Grace  and  Roy. 
The  latter  is  a  student  in  the  high  school  at  Exeter.  Minnie  married 
Rev.  J.  L.  Hanson  in  1909;  he  is  pastor  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  South  at  LeGrand,  Cal.  They  have  one  child.  Margaret. 
Nellie  married  T.  W.  Harvey,  a  furniture  dealer  at  Los  Angeles.  The 
others  are  at  home.  Mr.  Dreisbach  is  patriotic  and  public-spirited, 
interested  in  the  political  issues  of  the  day.  especially  solicitous  for  the 
cause  of  temperance.  He  has  held  public  office,  but  he  does  not  affiliate 
with  anv  secret  order. 


TULARK  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  837 

SAMUEL  LAVERNE  KENNEY 

Back  iu  Tennessee  in  Greene  county,  Samuel  Laverne  Kenney, 
who  now  lives  three  miles  southeast  of  Orosi,  in  Tulare  county,  Cal., 
first  saw  the  light  of  day  in  the  year  I860.  He  lived  there  witli  his 
parents  until  he  was  seven  years  old,  then  tiie  family  moved  to  Mis- 
souri aud  located  in  Pineville,  McDonald  county,  where  the  elder  Ken- 
ney farmed  sixteen  years.  It  was  iu  1886  that  Samuel  h.  came  to 
Tulare  county,  within  the  borders  of  which  he  has  since  had  his  home, 
in  the  Alta  district.  The  country  round  about  was  then  a  vast  wheat- 
field,  without  trees  or  fences,  and  stock  roamed  at  will  in  the  swamps 
and  hills.  He  now  has  on  his  homestead  eighty  acres  of  fine  land, 
eighteen  acres  of  which  are  in  Malaga  grapes,  ten  in  peaches,  ten  in 
miscellaneous  orchard  trees,  and  the  balance  under  pasture.  His 
vineyard  and  orchard  are  just  coming  into  bearing.  He  keeps  enough 
horses  to  work  his  ranch  and  raises  a  few  hogs  each  year.  He  has  a 
four-year-old  grove  of  eucalyptus  trees. 

The  parents  of  Mr.  Kenney  were  James  D.  and  Nancy  (Goodin) 
Kenney,  natives  of  Tennessee.  The  mother  died  in  Missouri  and  Mr. 
Kenney  came  to  Tulare  county  in  1901,  where  he  passed  away  in  De- 
cember, 1912.  They  had  children  named  Ebie,  Wroten,  Bruce  R., 
Samuel  L.,  C'allie,  and  Ida.  Bruce  R.  married  Lotta  Scott,  who  bore 
him  three  children,  Raljih,  Laverne,  and  Goldie.  With  the  excejition 
of  Samuel  L.  and  Ida  the  others  have  passed  away. 

As  a  citizen  Mr.  Kenney  has  many  times  and  in  many  ways  dem- 
onstrated his  public  spirit  by  lending  generous  aid  to  movements  for 
the  uplift  and  development  of  the  community.  Politically  he  is  a  So- 
cialist. 


JOSIAH  M.  FERGUSON 

A  long  and  useful  career  which  has  figured  prominently  in  national 
as  well  as  civic  affairs  has  identified  Josiah  M.  Ferguson  as  one  of  the 
most  valued  citizens  of  his  country  and  his  service  in  the  Civil  war 
supplemented  by  active  participation-  in  the  development  of  Tulare 
coimty  has  marked  him  a  stanch  patriot.  In  the  state  of  Georgia,  iu 
the  heart  of  the  Sunny  South,  Josiah  M.  Ferguson  was  born  March 
25,  1843,  son  of  Champion  and  Rachel  (Dackett)  Ferguson,  the  former 
an  old  Georgia  planter,  and  a  native  of  Kentucky,  his  wife  being  a 
native  of  Georgia. 

Josiah  M.  Ferguson  was  rear(>d  and  educated  in  his  native  ])lace 
and  learned  much  about  the  cultivation  of  the  soil.  In  1863  he  made 
his  way  through  the  mountains  and  enlisted  in  Company  G,  Tenth 


838  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Tennessee  Cavali'v,  serving  in  that  company  until  lie  received  his  dis- 
charge. Soon  after  the  war  he  removed  to  Tennessee,  and  there, 
October  20,  1872,  he  married  Miss  Parthenia  C.  Cundiff,  a  native  of 
that  state.  From  Tennessee,  in  1875,  they  came  to  Tnlai'e  county,  Cal., 
and  homesteaded  one  hundred  and  sixt)'  acres  of  laud  which  Mr.  Fer- 
guson developed  into  a  good  farm,  on  which  he  lived  until  1904,  when 
he  moved  to  Porterville,  and  passed  away  in  1909.  He  helped  to 
establish  the  postoffice  at  Poplar  and  served  as  postmaster  one  year. 
He  was  a  man  of  public  spirit,  ready  at  all  times  to  do  anything  in 
his  power  for  the  advancement  of  the  interests  of  his  fellow-citizens 
whom  he  held  iu  warm  affection  as  friends  and  neighbors.  He  aided  in 
l)ui]ding  the  Poplar  ditch,  ran  the  first  water,  and  was  president  of  the 
company.  Fraternally  he  affiliated  with  the  Masons  and  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  G.  A.  R.    He  was  a  Republican  in  ]iolitics. 

The  parents  of  Mrs.  Ferguson  were  Thomas  and  Mary  (Grass) 
Cundiff,  natives  of  Virginia  and  descended  from  old  and  honorable 
Southern  families.  She  bore  her  husband  eight  children,  three  of  them 
native  sons  and  four  native  daughters  of  California.  All  of  them  sur- 
vive except  James,  who  was  drowned  at  Oakland  in  1901.  Cordelia, 
the  eldest,  liorn  in  Tennessee,  was  nine  months  old  when  her  parents 
came  to  California.  She  married  Fletcher  Martin  and  is  living  in  Tu- 
lare count>'.  The  others  were  Dora,  Mrs.  George  Futrell,  and  Cora, 
Mrs.  William  Walker  (twins),  Mary,  wife  of  Arthur  Hayes,  Temiia. 
married  to  Ernest  Ridgeway,  James,  Thomas  and  Fletcher.  The  two 
last  mentioned  are  in  business  at  Porterville,  Cal.  Mrs.  Ferguson  has 
five  grandsons  and  five  granddaughters.  She  owns  a  half-section  of 
fine  land  near  Poplar,  which  was  their  old  homestead.  A  woman  of 
strong  cliaracter,  whose  good  influence  is  manifested  in  the  lives  of  her 
children,  she  is  fortunate  in  being  able  to  pass  her  declining  years  in 
association  with  friends  who  honor  her  for  her  sake  and  for  her  hus- 
band's and  regard  her  with  gratitude  for  many  kindnesses  whicli  she 
has  rendered  them. 


MARTIN  CLICK 

Descended  in  the  jiaternal  line  from  old  families  of  Germany, 
where  his  father,  Peter  Click,  was  born,  "Mart"  Click,  who  lives  ten 
miles  west  of  Porterville,  Tulare  county,  is  a  native  of  Stark  county, 
Ohio,  where  he  opened  his  eyes  to  the  world  June  18,  1844.  He  spent 
his  l)oyhood  and  youth  in  attending  public  schools  and  helping  his 
father  on  the  farm.  In  1864,  when  he  was  twenty  years  old,  he  came 
to  California.  Stopping  in  Placer  county,  he  worked  for  wages  six 
years  for  B.  C.  Trefry,  with  whom  he  came  to  Merced  county  in  1870 


TULARP]  yVND  kings  COUNTIES  839 

aud  bought  a  liaud  of  sheep,  nnniheriug  about  iiiue  hundred  lioad. 
They  remained  partners  and  stayed  there  until  1874,  when  they  sokl 
out  and  came  to  Tulare  county  and  again  bought  four  thousand 
sheep  on  the  plains.  In  1881  Mr.  Click  bought  his  partner's  interest, 
since  which  time  he  has  been  engaged  indeijendeutly.  In  1877,  the  year 
known  to  sheep  men  as  the  "hard  year,"  he  had  ten  thousand  head, 
all  of  which  he  lost  excejit  about  two  thousand,  by  which  misfortune 
he  was  lirought  to  practical  ruin.  In  1886,  selling  his  sheep,  he 
bought  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land  near  WoodviUe  and 
engaged  in  raising  grain,  cattle,  horses  and  sheep,  in  which  business 
he  has  continued  up  to  the  present  time  with  a  degree  of  success  that 
has  done  much  to  make  him  forget  his  troubles  of  the  past.  His  home 
has  been  on  this  ranch  since  that  date,  and  he  has  witnessed  the  devel- 
opment of  the  county,  in  which  he  has  been  a  participant. 

In  1883  Mr.  Click  nuirried  Miss  Hope  Broughtan,  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania.  She  has  borne  Jiim  a  son,  Roy  Click,  who  was  educated 
at  Stanford  University,  and  who  man-ied  Miss  Nellie  Stockton,  they 
residing  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Click.  Mr.  Click,  while  entertaining  pro- 
nounced opinions  on  all  x^olitical  and  economic  questions,  has  never 
acce])ted  any  oilce,  but  he  is  not  without  influence  among  his  towns- 
men, who  honor  him  as  a  pioneer,  remembering  that  when  he  came 
to  Tulare  county  it  and  the  territory  in  all  directions  was  wild,  ojien 
country  where  any  man  could  feed  sheeji  at  will.  When  he  went  to 
Poi-terville  there  were  only  two  stores  there.  Bear  and  deer  were 
plentiful  in  the  country  round  about  and  he  often  saw  cattle  come 
eight  to  ten  miles  for  water.  He  has  grown  up  with  the  country, 
whose  development  he  has  encouraged  in  many  public-spirited  wavs. 


JOHN  BACON 

A  native  of  Pennsylvania,  John  Bacon  went  to  the  old  frontier  in 
Ohio  when  lie  was  a  small  child.  Thence  he  later  emigrated  to  Missouri, 
and  from  Missouri  he  crossed  the  plains  with  ox-teams,  in  185!).  and 
made  his  way  to  the  mines  in  Amador  county,  where  he  sought  gold 
for  a  few  months.  In  18()()  he  came  to  Tulare  county  and  engaged  in 
cattle  raising.  Later  he  took  u])  government  land  near  Tulare  city 
and  still  later  he  owned  a  ranch  cast  of  Visalia,  where  he  lived  the 
closing  years  of  liis  life  and  passecl  away  August  18,  1911,  aged 
eighty-nine  years.  He  nuirried  Margaret  Hall,  a  native  of  Canada,  and 
she  I)ore  him  six  children.  Catherine,  who  was  tlie  third  in  order 
of  hiith  of  the  family,  becanic  the  wife  of  B.  S.  A'elie  in  1901.  lie 
is  a  native  of  New  York  state,  who  came  to  California  in  18!»l'  and 
went  into  the  insurance  business  at  Tulare.     He  came  to  Visalia  in 


840  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

1904  and  established  an  insurance  and  real  estate  business  here,  which 
he  manages  while  looking  after  his  twenty-acre  ranch  on  East  Mineral 
King  avenue,  ten  acres  of  which  is  producing  peaches.  Mrs.  N'elie 
has  an  old  chest,  a  bed  quilt,  some  german-silver  spoons  and  otiier 
valuable  articles  which  her  father  brought  across  the  plains  witii  him 
and  which  she  prizes  highly.  The  members  of  the  family  in  ordei-  of 
birth  are:  Mrs.  George  AV.  Dailey;  James;  Mrs.  B.  S.  A'elie;  Alexander; 
Mrs.  Levi  Mathewson;  Mrs.  G.  B.  Ralph,  and  Mrs.  A.  J.  Teague.  All 
are  residents  of  Tulare  county  with  the  exception  of  Mrs.  G.  B.  Ralph, 
who  resides  in  Stockton,  Cal. 


WILLIAM  FINDLEY 

On  the  Siberian  river,  Texas,  William  Findley  was  born  February 
22,  Washington's  Birthday,  1851.  When  he  was  six  years  old  his  par- 
ents, John  and  Sarah  J.  (Masters)  Findley,  natives  respectively  of 
Missouri  and  Texas,  brought  him  across  the  plains  to  California.  The 
family  was  included  in  a  party  which  came  with  ox-teams  and  had  fre- 
quent trouble  with  Indians  on  the  way.  The  savages  often  attemjited 
to  stampede  or  run  off  their  cattle,  and  even  when  they  were  driven 
away  they  managed  to  kill  the  animals.  At  times  the  emigrants,  under 
protection  of  wagon  stockades,  fought  long  battles  with  their  red- 
skinned  foes,  whose  flintlock  guns  laid  many  a  white  man  low.  Ten  of 
the  party  were  killed  by  the  Indians  and  Mr.  Findley 's  sister  Martha 
died  on  the  way  out.  The  family  came  to  Hackliy  Ford  in  1858  and 
started  in  the  cattle  business,  locating  in  Tulare  later  in  that  year.  In 
August,  1871,  the  grandfather,  John  Findley,  who  was  the  owner  of 
two  square  miles  of  land  in  Drum  Valley,  was  called  to  the  door  of  his 
house  by  rol)bers,  v\iio  demanded  his  money,  evidentlv  lielieving  that  he 
had  considerable  of  it  on  hand.    His  wife  died  in  1900. 

About  1907  William  Findley  located  on  his  present  homestead, 
where  he  has  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  acres  of  grain  and  pasture 
land,  a  garden  and  about  two  thousand  cords  of  wood  in  the  tree.  He 
keeps  forty-five  to  fifty  head  of  cattle  and  about  half  as  many  hogs. 
The  elder  Findley  and  his  son  are  Democrats  and  their  fellow  citizens 
recognize  them  as  men  of  public  spirit. 

February  22,  1868,  his  birthday,  Mr.  Findley  married,  in  the  Sand 
Creek  neighborhood,  Miss  Ellen  Woodey,  who  has  borne  him  ten  chil- 
dren. John  M.  married  Martha  Dean  and  has  four  children,  Blanche, 
Cecil,  Gerald,  and  Inez.  William  J.  married  Mrs.  Ida  Strong,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Stephen  Gaster,  at  one  time  treasurer  of  Fresno  county.  Ivan 
married  Susan  Collier  and  their  children  are  Aaron,  Byron  and  Myrtle. 
Lee  married  Minnie  Robinson  and  their  children  are  Earl,  Oswald  and 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  841 

Melba.  Martha  iiiarried  Jolm  Dean  aud  is  the  mother  of  the  following 
children,  Carroll,  Mand  and  Cleo.  Callie  A.  married  Levi  Dean  and 
their  cliildren  are  Gilbert  and  Forest.  Mary  married  Fred  Kiner  and 
their  children  are  Clare  E.,  Elsie,  Harold  and  Denzelle.  Ira,  nnmar- 
ried,  resides  with  William  J.  Findley.  Myrtle  is  single  and  lives  with 
her  mother  at  Dinuba.  Daisy  married  Daniel  Tullie  and  resides  at 
Orosi. 


CALVIN  H.  ANTRIM 

A  respected  and  well-known  citizen  of  Tulare  county,  now  living 
retired  from  active  cares  in  Orosi,  is  Calvin  H.  Antrim,  whose  career 
has  been  indicative  of  energy,  thrift  and  perseverance.  Born  in  C'lin- 
ton,  Ohio, -April  12,  1827,  he  was  a  son  of  Hiram  and  Sarah  (Whitson) 
Antrim,  natives  respectively  of  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  and  who 
were  the  parents  of  a  family  of  nine  children.  Receiving  his  educa- 
tion in  the  common  schools  of  his  locality,  Calvin  H.  Antrim  early 
learned  the  carpenter's  trade,  being  quite  proficient  when  he  was  but 
fourteen  years  old,  and  until  1895  that  was  his  chief  occupation.  He 
left  Ohio  in  March,  1866,  going  to  Lewis  county,  Mo.,  where  he  pur- 
chased one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land,  on  which  he  lived  for 
eleven  years  with  his  sons,  and  followed  farming.  In  November,  1877, 
he  went  to  Lee  county,  Iowa,  where  he  farmed  and  raised  stock  in 
partnership  with  Dr.  Todd  lantil  he  give  it  up  on  account  of  poor 
health.  In  October,  1889,  he  decided  to  come  to  Tulare  county,  Cal.,  to 
recui)erate,  and  buying  seven  town  lots  in  Orosi  he  erected  a  residence 
on  one  which  he  sold  in  the  fall  of  1912  for  hotel  purposes.  For  thir- 
teen years  he  i-an  the  stage  between  Orosi  and  Cutler,  carrying  pas- 
sengers, mail,  freight  aud  expi-ess,  but  since  then  he  has  lived  in  pi-ac- 
tical  retirement,  enjoying  the  well-earned  rest  from  active  life. 

On  February  6,  1851,  Mr.  Antrim  was  married  to  Nancy  Jane 
Collagen,  a  native  of  Greene  county,  Ohio,  born  October  20,  18.33,  and 
children  as  follows  were  born  to  them:  Hiram,  A.  Ellen,  Luella,  Lin- 
coln, Elmer,  Susan  H.,  Ira,  Ida,  Elbert,  Cora,  John  W.,  and  Lillian. 
Hiram,  now  deceased,  married  Belle  Furtney  and  had  five  children. 
Luella  mari'ied  Andy  Langwith  and  they  were  the  parents  of  two  chil- 
dren. Lincoln  married  Ida  Smith,  a  native  of  Iowa,  and  they  have 
two  children.  Susan  II.  married  W.  D.  George.  Elbei-t  married  Anna 
Powell  and  has  two  children.  John  W.  married  Dora  Lovelace  and 
they  have  one  child.  Lillian  is  the  wife  of  Ed  Combs.  The  othei-s 
have  all  passed  away,  and  the  mother's  death  occurred  November  19, 
1908,  at  the  age  of  sevent\-four  years. 

In  1862  Mr.  Antrim  became  a  member  of  that  famous  militarv 


842  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  ' 

organization  known  to  bistoiy  as  the  Squirrel  Hunters  and  partici- 
pated in  the  operations  involving  Morgan's  raid  into  the  North.  He 
was  honorably  discharged  from  the  service  March  4,  1863.  In  politics 
he  is  Republican,  and  as  a  citizen  he  has  always  been  public-spirited 
and  helpful. 


FRANCIS  M.  MAYES 

A  native  of  McDonald  county,  Missouri,  Francis  M.  Mayes  is  a 
son  of  natives  of  that  state  and  his  parents  were  Richard  and  Elizabeth 
(Moffett)  Mayes.  He  was  born  November  30,  1845,  and  came  overland 
to  California  with  his  father  with  ox-teams  when  he  was  about  twelve 
years  old.  The  party,  under  direction  of  Captain  Pogue,  left  their  old 
homes  in  April,  1857,  and  consumed  about  the  usual  tinie  in  making  the 
trip.  There  were  about  thirty  wagons  in  the  train  and  enough  oxen 
for  convenient  relief.  The  party  came  by  the  North  Platte,  the  Hud- 
son Cutoff,  the  Honey  Lake  route,  and  thence  by  way  of  Red  Blutf. 
Along  the  Humboldt  river  in  Nevada  the  Indians  were  very  trouble- 
some and  they  had  only  a  little  while  before  massacred  all  the  mem- 
bers of  a  large  party  of  emigrauts,  approi)riatiug  the  stock  and  run- 
ning the  wagons  into  the  river.  Only  two  yoke  of  oxen  were  lost  to 
Indians  by  Ca|)taiu  Pogue 's  party  and  they  were  later  recovered. 
Everj^  precaution  for  safety  was  taken.  Encamjjing,  a  stockade  was 
formed  and  guards  were  ever  on  the  alert.  During  the  progress  of 
the  journey  there  was  some  sickness  and  two  children  were  born  to 
women  of  the  party.  After  a  brief  rest  at  Red  Bluff  the  journey  was 
completed  and  Mr.  Mayes  and  family  went  to  a  point  near  Santa  Rosa, 
Sonoma  county,  where  he  lived  from  late  in  1857  until  in  1875.  There 
the  mother  died  in  1858,  leaving  three  sons  and  four  daughters,  of 
which  family  but  three  survive.  Coming  to  Tulare  county  the  elder 
Mayes  resided  with  his  son  until  his  death  in  1878. 

Having  come  thus  to  California,  Francis  M.  Mayes  gained  his  edu- 
cation in  public  schools  in  Sonoma  county  and  learned  blacksmithing 
under  his  father's  instruction.  He  settled  in  Antelope  Valley  in  Tulare 
county,  on  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  railroad  land  which  in  the 
course  of  events  he  was  obliged  to  relinfjuish.  But  he  moved  his  house 
onto  another  tract  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  in  Sand  Creek  Gaji. 
which  he  purchased  from  the  Southern  Pacific  Railway  Com])any. 
Later  he  came  into  possession  of  two  hundred  aud  forty  acres  of 
railroad  land  which  he  improved  and  on  which  he  lived  until  in  1897. 
when  he  sold  it  and  removed  to  Orosi,  buying  propei-ty  there  aud 
going  into  general  blacksmithing.  It  was  as  a  blacksmith  that  he 
busied  himself  during  the  succeeding  eight  years.    When  he  first  set- 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  843 

tied  iu  the  Sand  Creek  Gap  there  was  uo  towusite  nearer  than  Visalia, 
all  trading  and  postottice  business  having  been  done  at  Visalia.  Deer, 
bear,  antelope,  and  other  wild  game  was  plentiful  and  much  of  the 
country  round  about  was  given  over  to  the  feeding  of  sheep.  At  the 
end  of  the  period  mentioned  he  sold  out  his  interests  at  Orosi  and 
bought  forty-four  acres  on  the  Dinuba  road,  where  he  took  up  his 
residence  and  has  since  developed  a  line  home  ranch.  The  land  was 
mostly  planted  to  fruit.  lie  has  ten  acres  of  Malaga  grapes,  fifteen  of 
wine  grapes  and  five  of  Muscats.  Eleven  acres  are  given  to  peaches, 
his  trees  now  being  about  six  years  old,  and  he  has  sixty  orange 
trees,  some  miscellaneous  fruit  and  several  attractive  palms.  In  1911 
be  sold  for  shipment  sixty-two  tons  of  Malaga  grapes  at  $28  and  $30 
a  ton,  grew  ninety-eight  tons  of  wine  grapes  on  fifteen  acres,  pro- 
duced ten  tons  of  Zinfandels  to  the  acre,  of  which  he  has  five  acres, 
sold  four  and  a  half  tons  of  dried  peaches  for  ten  cents  a  pound,  and 
received  $900  for  wine  grapes  and  the  same  amount  for  peaches.  He 
keeps  horses  enough  to  work  his  ranch. 

Politically  Mr.  Mayes  is  a  Democrat  and  for  more  than  twenty 
years  he  has  filled  the  office  of  school  trustee.  He  and  members  of  his 
family  ai-e  connnunicants  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  church.  The 
lady  who  became  liis  wife  was  Miss  Mary  E.  Faudre,  a  native  of  Cali- 
fornia, and  she  has  borne  him  children  as  follows :  Mattie,  deceased, 
Frances  E.,  Etta  and  Arthur,  deceased,  Melvin  L.,  Oscar  0.  and  Edith, 
deceased  (twins),  Ella,  and  Clara.  Frances  E.  became  the  wife  of 
Victor  Franzen,  a  native  of  Sweden,  and  they  have  two  sons  and  three 
daughters.  Clara  married  Fred  G.  Nelson,  an  Englishman  by  birth, 
and  they  are  living  in  Tulare  county  and  they  have  two  sons  and  one 
daughter. 


STILES  A.  Mclaughlin 

The  McLaughlin  family,  to  which  belongs  Stiles  A.  McLaughlin, 
originated  in  Scotland.  His  grandfather,  John  McLaughlin,  lived  in 
Pennsylvania.  His  father  was  Williain  Harrison  McLaughlin  and  was 
a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  where  he  grew  u\)  and  learned  the  trade  of 
carriage  maker,  later  removing  to  Ohio.  Following  his  trade  there  for 
a  short  time  he  engaged  in  merchandising  and  various  other  ])ursuits 
with  varying  success.  It  was  in  Ashtabula  county,  Ohio,  that  Stiles  A. 
was  born  January  3,  1852.  When  he  was  about  ten  years  old  his 
parents  moved  to  Pennsylvania,  and  after  a  residence  there  of  six 
years  they  went  to  Illinois,  where  they  remained  foi'  a  like  period. 

The  changes  of  time  brought  the  younger  McLaughlin  to  Califor- 
nia when  he  was  about  twentv-one  vears  old.     He  worked  in   Yolo 


844  TLTLxVRE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

county  about  a  year,  then  came  to  Lemoore,  Kings  county,  and  soon 
afterward  acquired  a  land  claim  half  a  mile  south  of  that  town.  He 
relinquished  it,  however,  and  bought  forty  acres,  bounded  on  one  side 
by  the  city  line,  which  he  planted  to  fruit  trees  and  retained  until 
1902,  wlien  he  sold  it  to  advantage.  He  then  bought  forty  acres  west 
of  the  forty  just  referred  to  and  eighty  acres  adjoining  this  last  pur- 
chase. After  having  lived  there  six  years,  he  sold  forty  acres  of  the 
property,  retaining  the  eighty  acres,  forty  of  which  is  in  vineyard,  and 
moved  to  Lemoore.  In  these  various  real  estate  deals  he  was  quite 
successful,  gradually  accumulating  money  and  land  until  he  has  come 
to  be  considered  one  of  the  well-to-do  men  of,  that  part  of  the  county. 
He  is  a  director  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Lemoore  and  has  been 
in  one  way  or  another  identified  with  several  interests  of  importance. 
His  public  spirit  im})elled  him  to  accept  the  nomination  of  his  party 
for  membership  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  of  Kings  county.  He 
was  three  times  elected  and  served  continuously  from  November,  1895, 
to  December,  1906. 

Local  lodges  of  Free  &  Accepted  Masons,  "Woodmen  of  the 
World  and  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  include  Mr. 
McLaughlin  in  their  membership.  In  1876  he  married  Mary  "Wright, 
daughter  of  Samuel  "\A"right,  a  pioneer  of  1868  in  Kings  county,  who 
made  his  mark  as  a  farmer  and  stockman.  They  have  children  as 
follows :  "Wilmot  "U'^right,  of  Lemoore ;  Aimee,  wife  of  Samuel  McCor- 
kle,  of  Dinuba;  Mary,  who  is  a  clerk  in  the  ])Ostoffice  at  Lemoore;  and 
Elmira,  a  student  in  the  high  school.  In  April,  1912,  Mr.  McLaughlin 
completed  his  comfortable  brick  residence  on  "West  D  street,  which 
is  up-to-date  in  every  respect  and  adds  greatly  to  the  residence  dis- 
trict of  Lemoore,  being  most  tasteful  and  attractive  in  design  and 
appearance. 

The  "Wright  family  of  which  Mrs.  McLaughlin  is  a  member  came 
originally  from  England  and  were  old  Virginia  settlers,  coming  to 
Ohio  in  the  early  jiart  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Later  they  removed 
to  Iowa,  whence  Mrs.  McLaughlin's  parents,  Samuel  and  Amelia  A. 
(Orton)  Wright,  came  overland  to  California  in  1849.  Mrs.  Wright  is 
of  Scotch  ancestry  and  is  now  making  her  home  at  Lemoore,  briglit 
and  active  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-four. 


JOHN  C.  JOHNSON 

In  the  year  1845,  on  the  sixth  of  January,  John  C.  Johnson  was 
born  near  Palmyra,  in  Marion  county,  Mo.,  a  son  of  William  Shirley 
and  Ruth  (Risk)  Johnson.  His  mother  was  one  of  sixteen  children  of 
William  Risk,  an  American  officer  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  whose 


TULARE  AND  KlXdS  COUNTIES  845 

shoe  ami  knee  l)iu'kles  were  iim  iuto  s^ix  teaspoons  and  presented  to 
her,  as  she  was  the  yonngest  daughter  in  tlie  family,  and  this  custom 
is  ever  since  folh>wed  from  generation  to  generation,  the  relics  de- 
scending to  the  yonngest  (laughter.  She  was  a  native  of  Scott  county, 
Ky.,  liut  moved  to  Marion  county,  Mo.,  and  during  her  first  winter 
there  saw  tlie  snow  thi'ce  feet  dee])  on  level  gi'ound.  She  was  early 
taught  the  ways  of  the  housewife  and  often  gave  members  of  her 
family  products  of  her  spinning  wheel  and  of  her  loom.  Mr.  Johnson 
has  a  bedspread  which  was  woven  by  his  mother  from  material  of 
her  own  si)iuniug,  nmch  of  the  work  having  been  done  by  the  light  of 
one  of  the  old  style  grease  lamps.  By  her  marriage  with  William 
Shirley  Johnson  she  had  a  daughter  named  Elizabeth,  who  died  in 
infancy,  and  a  son,  John  C,  who  is  the  immediate  subject  of  this 
review.  By  her  first  marriage  with  James  Johnson,  a  brother  of  W.  S. 
Mrs.  Johnson  had  five  children,  of  whom  Mary  A.  is  living.  William 
R.  married  Clementine  Adams,  who  bore  him  three  children,  and  by 
a  second  marriage,  with  Louisa  Dale,  he  had  two  daughters.  Sarah  J. 
became  the  wife  of  William  M.  Allen  and  bore  him  five  sons  and  a 
daughter.  Joseph  S.  married  Rebecca  Allen  and  had  five  daughters 
and  two  sons,  all  of  whom  are  living  in  California.  James  H.  married 
Sarah  Shanks,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  John  Shanks,  a  Christian  minis- 
ter, and  has  two  children.  Mary  A.  married  John  W.  Cason  and  has 
three  sons  and  three  daughters. 

John  C.  Johnson,  who  was  taken  early  from  Marion  county  to 
Lewis  county.  Mo.,  has  not  married.  He  spent  much  of  his  life  on  the 
farm  his  father  bought  of  the  United  States  government  at  $1.25  an 
acre,  to  which  John  C.  added  forty  acres,  making  a  ranch  of  four  hun- 
dred and  forty  acres.  His  parents  had  sold  their  projierty  in  Ken- 
tucky before  they  came  to  Missouri.  In  1905  and  19()()  he  sold  off  the 
Missouri  homestead  of  the  family  and  in  the  latter  year  came  to 
Tulare  county,  Cal.,  and  bought  sixty-two  acres,  thirty-five  of  which 
is  under  vines,  twenty  acres  devoted  to  peaches.  He  raises  also  some 
alfalfa  which  rims  about  a  ton  an  acre  to  a  cutting.  He  has  taken 
thirty-five  tons  of  dried  peaches  from  his  land  in  a  season,  which  he 
considers  the  banner  yield.  In  national  politics  Mr.  Johnson  is  a 
Democrat.  I»ut  on  local  issues  supports  men  and  measures  he  considers 
for  the  pu))lic  good.  His  interest  in  the  general  good  is  dee];)  and 
abiding  and  he  aids  to  the  extent  of  his  ability  any  movement  pvo- 
posed  for  the  benefit  of  the  community. 


WILLIAM  MICHARLIS 

In  a  conversation  some  time  since  someone  said  of  this  man,  who 
lives  in  the  vicinity  of  Poitcrvillc.  Tulare  countv.  Cal.,  "He  is  a  uTcat 


84(3  TULARE  AND  KTNGS  COUNTIES 

booster-  for  Tulare  county."  This  is  a  homely  way  of  saying  very 
briefly  that  Mr.  Michaelis,  though  a  native  of  Germany,  is  loyal  to  the 
community  with  which  he  has  cast  his  lot  and  is  solicitous  for  its 
Ijrogress  as  any  native  son  of  the  soil  could  possibly  be.  He  was  born 
August  1.  1882,  was  educated  in  the  Fatherland  and  patriotically 
served  two  years  in  the  German  army.  Coming  to  the  United  States 
when  he  was  twenty-four  years  old,  he  spent  his  first  few  years  in  Cali- 
fornia in  working  at  the  mason's  trade.  His  father  and  mother  came 
to  this  comity,  too;  the  former  passed  away  some  years  ago,  and  the 
latter  is  living  in  Tulare  county. 

Martha  Yolitz,  born  September  24,  1881,  a  native  of  Germany, 
became  Mr.  Miehaelis's  wife  in  1906.  She  has  borne  him  two  children, 
Willie,  born  January  4,  1908,  and  Martine,  September  18,  1909.  Soon 
after  his  arrival  here  Mr.  Michaelis  bought  land,  most  of  which  is  in 
grain,  but  seven  acres  are  planted  in  pomegranate  trees.  His 
achievements,  considering  his  opportunities,  are  noteworthy,  the  more 
so  because  they  are  the  achievements  of  a  self-made  man,  who  in  bis 
day  of  small  things  began  in  a  small  way  and  has  risen  steadily  year 
by  year  until  he  ranks  with  the  ]irosperous  men  of  his  community. 
Politically  he  is  a  Republican,  interested  in  all  that  pertains  to  the 
public  good.  As  a  citizen  he  is  always  generously  helpful  to  all  move- 
ments for  the  common  benefit. 


MICHAEL  GILLIGAN 

A  native  of  Ireland,  Michael  Gilligan  was  born  November  1'). 
1830.  After  he  had  grown  up  he  came  to  Canada,  where  he  was  em- 
ployed for  a  time  in  railroad  work.  Eventually,  in  1871,  he  came  to 
California  and  remained  long  enough  to  fall  in  love  with  the  country, 
but  went  hack  to  Canada  and  lived  there  another  year  before  settling 
here  permanently.  He  located  a  quarter-section,  his  brother  having 
located  the  same  amount  of  land  also.  All  of  this  land  ultimately 
became  his  and  by  later  purchase  his  holdings  were  increased  to  ten 
hundred  and  twenty  acres.  The  sheep  business  subsequently  engaged 
his  attention,  starting  with  three  hundred  and  seventy-four  head,  and 
in  time  he  owned  as  high  as  three  thousand,  but  in  1877  he  lost  all  but 
about  seven  hundred  head.  He  was  compelled  to  conform  to  the 
changes  in  farming  and  in  stock  growing  with  which  the  history  of 
Central  and  Southern  California  has  made  every  observer  and  reader 
familiar,  and  in  time  he  sold  out  his  sheep  interests  and  gradually  paid 
more  and  more  attention  to  his  land,  which  he  is  now  handling  iu  a 
way  that  makes  it  very  profitable.  In  1911  he  sold  his  sheep  to  his  sou, 
who  in  turn  sold  them  to  a  Frenchman  who  rents  the  Gilligan  rancli. 


TUr.AKK  AND  KlXdS  CorXTIES  >S47 

In  1866  Mr.  Gilligaii  iiianied  Nora  Broderick,  who  was  boru  and 
reared  in  Canada.  Of  the  ten  children  born  to  them  six  have  passed 
away,  the  foiir  remaining-  being  John  E.,  Hngh,  Michael  T.  and  Nora. 
The  latter  married  Jesse  Riley.  Mr.  Gilligan  is  a  public-spirited  man 
who  does  his  full  share  in  promotion  of  the  general  uplift.  His 
interest  in  the  country  in  which  he  has  cast  his  fortunes  is  all  the 
deeper  because  his  recollections  of  it  in  the  days  that  are  gone  are 
those  of  a  inoneer,  who  came  to  it  when  it  was  practically  a  wild  state, 
with  antelope  and  other  game  plentiful  and  Indians  in  evidence  evcu-y- 
where.  At  that  time  there  was  only  one  house  ))etween  his  liome  and 
Visalia,  twenty-five  miles. 


BARNEY  DE  LA  GRANGE 

The  great  grand-father  of  Barney  De  La  Grange,  of  Orosi,  Cal., 
came  to  America  to  fight  for  the  independence  of  the  colonies  under 
command  of  General  Lafayette,  and  hence  Mr.  De  La  Grange  is  a 
genuine  Son  of  the  American  Revolution,  -Rathout  the  necessity  of 
joining  the  association  of  that  name.  Mr.  De  La  Grange  is  one  of  the 
best  known  carpenters  and  orange  growers  in  the  district  north  of 
Orosi  and  a  leading  citizen  of  Tulare  county,  and  was  born  in  West 
Virginia  April  16,  1858,  a  son  of  Omie  and  Elizabeth  (McLain)  De  La 
Grange,  respectively  of  French  and  Scotch  ancestry.  There  were  in 
his  father's  family  nine  children,  five  of  whom  were  daughters.  When 
Barney  De  La  Grange  was  thirteen  years  old  his  parents  moved  to 
Ohio.  He  has  in  the  course  of  his  life  been  an  extensive  traveler  in 
America,  having  covered  the  entire  country  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
to  the  Great  Lakes  and  from  ocean  to  ocean.  He  married  in  West 
Virginia,  Ida  M.  Lewis,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  but  of  English  par- 
entage, and  she  bore  him  a  daughter,  Lena  Marie,  who  married 
George  M.  Daniels,  of  Oreston,  Iowa,  and  has  sons,  James  B.  and 
[jh)yd.    Mrs.  De  La  Grange  jiassed  away  in  18!)5.  in  West  Virginia. 

In  his  youtli  Mr.  De  La  Grange  learned  tlie  trade  of  carpenter 
and  builder  in  which  he  was  employed  at  ditferent  times  and  at  differ- 
ent places.  He  has  recently  bought  a  ran(;h  of  twenty  acres  north  of 
Orosi  and  will  plant  it  to  navel,  Valencia  and  other  varieties  of 
oranges.  He  has  lived  in  Tulare  county  since  1909,  having  come  here 
from  Fresno  county,  where  he  had  located  eight  years  before. 

It  has  been  seen  that  Mr.  De  La  Grange  is  a  descendant  of  a 
))atriot  liero  "of  the  days  tliat  tried  men's  souls."  He  is  the  pi'oud 
owner  of  a  pair  of  slioe  buckles  once  worn  l)y  his  great-grandmother 
when  slie  danced  witli  George  Washington  at  a  famous  ball  in  Phila- 
del]iliia.    Of  German  silver,  of  l)eautiful  design  and  fine  woi-kmanshij). 


848  TFLARE  AND  KL\(iS  ( OTXTIKS 

tliey  are  exceediiifily  iuteresting  relics.  Omie  De  La  Grange,  father 
of  Barney,  was  a  veteran  of  the  war  of  1812  and  served  his  country 
in  the  Mexican  war.  Mr.  De  La  Grange's  In-other  William  enlisted  in 
Company  B,  P^leventh  Virginia  Infantry,  April  1,  1862,  and  served 
three  years  in  the  Civil  war.  He  is  now  a  citizen  of  Selma.  Politi- 
cally Mr.  De  Tja  (i range  is  a  Republican  and  his  religions  affiliations 
are  with  the  Methodist  church.  Fraternally  he  is  identilied  with  the 
Woodmen. 


JOHN  B.  HOCKETT 

The  life  of  the  late  John  B.  Hockett,  of  Porterville,  Tulare  county, 
Cal.,  spanned  the  period  from  1827  to  1898.  He  was  born  at  Hunts- 
ville,  Ala.,  and  died  at  his  California  home.  Prom  Alabama  he  moved 
to  Arkansas  and  in  1849  from  there  to  California.  His  father.  William 
Hockett,  came  here  with  him  and  they  mined  for  some  time  on  the 
Tuolumne  river.  Eventually  Jolm  B.  Hockett  went  back  east  and 
remained  over  the  winter,  returning  in  18."j4  and  settling  in  Lagrange, 
Stanislaus  county,  where  he  operated  a  butcher  shop.  There  in  18.")9 
he  married  Miss  Margaret  McGee,  a  native  of  Texas,  born  January 
27,  1840,  who  bore  him  seven  children,  all  born  in  Tulare  county, 
where  they  settled  in  1859.  At  Yisalia  he  engaged  in  merchandising 
with  Johnson  &  Jordan,  and  later  with  Reinstein  &  Clapp.  In  1864 
he  came  to  Porterville.  He  engaged  in  the  hardware  business  in  Por- 
terville about  1889,  remaining  three  years,  and  was  interested  in  the 
stock  business  for  years. 

The  parents  of  Mrs.  Hockett  made  a  nine  months'  journey  with 
ox-teams  across  the  plains  to  California  in  1850,  locating  for  a  time 
at  Los  Angeles,  thence  to  Santa  Barbara,  and  in  1851  they  settled  at 
San  Juan.  In  1852  they  were  at  Stockton  and  then  settled  between 
the  Tuolumne  and  Stanislaus  rivers  near  Knights  Ferry.  On  the  way 
across  the  plains  the  supply  of  food  was  exhausted  and  they  were 
nourished  only  by  eating  boiled  wheat.  As  if  to  add  to  their  troubles, 
most  of  their  stock  died  by  the  way.  Mrs.  Hockett  states  that  when 
she  first  went  to  the  site  of  Porterville  the  town,  if  such  it  could  l)e 
called  even  by  courtesy,  consisted  of  one  small  shack  and  a  tent.  She 
has  in  her  jiossession  the  first  postoffice  furniture  ever  used  there, 
which  was  brought  into  requisition  some  years  after  she  and  her  hus- 
band made  their  home  there.  In  the  early  days  of  the  locality  there 
were  nmny  Indians  near  by,  and  some  of  them  were  not  pleasant 
neighbors. 

Of  the  seven  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hockett,  tive  are  living. 
Benjamin  F.  lives  near  Hot  S])rings;  Robert  Lee  lives  on  White  river; 


TL^LARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  849 

E.  Barton  is  at  Portula;  Lena  became  the  wife  of  R.  il.  Allen  and 
resides  at  Roseville;  and  Dora  married  E.  L.  Scott,  of  Porterville. 
The  old  family  home  included  land  in  Porterville  now  covered  by  part 
of  the  townsite.  Mr.  Hockett  acquired  land  from  time  to  time  imtil 
his  holdings  were  very  large.  His  widow  still  owns  five  sections  of 
grazing  land  in  Tnlare  and  Kern  counties  and  one  city  block  in  Por- 
terville, where  has  been  the  family  residence  since  December,  1864. 
Mrs.  Hockett 's  recollections  of  Porterville  and  vicinitj'  are  very  inter- 
esting. It  was  four  years  before  her  arrival  that  the  river  changed  its 
course,  but  she  had  her  experiences  and  witnessed  some  exciting  scenes 
at  the  time  of  the  Hoods  of  '67- '(18  and  '6;)- 70  when  the  water  covered 
almost  the  entire  town  and  people  had  to  go  about  in  boats. 

Fraternally  Mr.  Hockett  affiliated  with  the  Masons  and  was 
Master  of  the  Visalia  lodge,  ))eing  member  also  of  Royal  Arch  Chapter; 
the  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias.  He  was  a  busy  and 
helpful  man  who  counted  his  friends  by  scoi'es,  his  business  associates 
by  hundreds.  His  interest  in  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  Porterville 
impelled  him  to  do  everything  in  his  power  for  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity. He  was  instrumental  in  establishing  the  first  school  and  the 
first  church  there,  and  served  on  the  school  .board.  Since  his  death 
Mrs.  Hockett  proved  uj)  on  his  homestead  and  purchased  three  claims 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  each,  and  has  imjiroved  them;  a  well 
of  four  hundred  and  forty  feet  depth  has  been  put  down.  When  he 
passed  away  he  was  publically  mourned  by  the  people  with  whom  he 
had  lived  so  long  and  whom  he  had  helped  in  so  many  ways. 


WILLIAM  SW\\LL 

The  life  story  of  William  Swall,  one  of  the  large  landowners  of 
the  Visalia  district  and  one  of  the  honored  citizens  of  Tulare  county,  a 
mode!  of  honesty  and  enterprise  and  foremost  in  all  good  works,  is  a 
most  interesting  one.  He  was  born  in  LaSalle  county.  111.,  November 
5,  1848,  a  son  of  Mathias  and  Elizabeth  (Hayne)  Swall,  both  natives 
of  Germany,  the  father  born  in  Berlin,  January  24,  1824. 

In  1840,  Mathias  Swall  came  to  America  in  an  old-time  sailing 
vessel  and  settled  in  LaSalle  county,  111.,  where  he  married  April  l(i, 
1847.  There  he  farmed  till  1865,  in  the  summer  of  that  year  coming 
to  California  by  way  of  Panama.  He  remaim^l  that  winter  on  a  farm 
near  San  Jose,  and  in  the  fall  of  1866  settled  near  Tracy,  San  Joafpiin 
county.  His  land  there  he  sold  in  1871,  when  he  went  to  Monterey 
county,  and  farmed  and  raised  stock  until  in  1877,  when  he  moved  to 
Ventura  county.  Thence  he  went  to  Sherman,  Los  Angeles  county, 
late  in  1882.     He  farmed  and  conducted  a  dair\-  almost  to  the  time  of 

49 


850  TULARE  AND  KINGS  (JOUNTIES 

bis  death  in  May,  1896.    His  widow  still  lives  at  Sherman.    lu  religion 
Mr.  Swall  was  a  Catholic,  in  politics  a  Democrat. 

First  born  of  his  parents'  family  of  two  daughters  and  nine  sons. 
William  Swall  secured  what  education  he  could  in  the  public  school 
near  his  Illinois  home.  Later  he  attended  school  in  Santa  Clara 
county,  Cal.,  and  was  for  a  term  a  student  at  the  San  Jose  Institute. 
Meantime  he  had  become  a  practical  farmer  of  wide  and  accurate 
knowledge.  In  1873  he  homesteaded  eighty  acres  of  land  in  Tulare 
county  and  later  bought  land  along  the  Tule  river.  In  1884  he  moved 
to  his  i^resent  farm  of  seventeen  hundred  acres,  known  as  Deej)  Creek 
Ranch,  which  as  he  has  imjjroved  it  is  one  of  the  finest  properties  in 
the  county,  and  has  four  hundred  acres  in  peaches,  prunes,  pears, 
apples,  plums,  nectarines  and  English  walnuts.  He  owns  all  in  all 
seventeen  huudred  acres,  and  his  extensive  operations  necessitate  the 
renting  of  an  additional  thousand  acres,  which  he  devotes  to  stock  and 
fruit.  As  a  farmer  he  has  been  well-informed  and  up-to-date  in  all 
respects.  He  emjiloys  on  his  ranch  from  thirty  to  fifty  men.  His 
dairy  has  an  electric  power  plant  for  pumping  water,  and  there  is  a 
similar  plant  for  lighting  his  house  and  barns.  The  place  is  provided 
with  an  adequate  and  convenient  water  system.  It  is  one  of  the 
notable  alfalfa  farms  of  the  district,  having  six  hundred  acres  set 
apart  for  that  crop. 

From  time  to  time  Mr.  Swall  has  diverted  his  energies  from  the 
farm  to  the  town  and  he  is  a  director  of  the  Bank  of  Tulare,  a 
director  of  the  Tulare  Co-operative  Creamery  Company,  a  stock- 
holder of  the  Tulare  Telephone  Company  and  a  director  in  the  Roch- 
dale stores  of  Tulare.  He  has  been  prominent  in  the  promotion  of  irri- 
gation and  was  one  of  the  originators  of  the  Tulare  Irrigation  Dis- 
trict. Since  1903  he  has  been  one  of  the  directors  of  the  district.  A 
Republican,  interested  in  all  public  questions  but  never  an  o'fice 
seeker,  he  has  nevertheless  been  a  director  of  the  Elk  Bayou  school 
district.  Mr.  Swall  married  Emma  Cole,  born  in  Knox  county,  111.,  a 
daughter  of  Asa  Cole,  a  native  of  Ohio,  who  crossed  the  plains  to  Cali- 
fornia with  his  family  in  1856  and  located  in  Contra  Costa  countv. 
Several  years  later  Mr.  Cole  went  to  Santa  Clara  county  and  in  1866 
he  located  near  Tracy,  San  Joaquin  county.  In  1873  he  came  to 
Visalia,  whence  in  1888  he  removed  to  Brentwood,  Contra  Cos+ 
county,  where  he  jiassed  away  in  the  autumn  of  that  same  year.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Swall  were  the  parents  of  children  as  follows:  George,  who 
is  a  dairy  rancher  near  Yisalia ;  Newell,  who  is  deceased ;  Walter,  who 
is  also  a  dairy  rancher  near  Visalia ;  Arthur,  who  is  superintendent  of 
the  Neuman  ranch,  south  of  Tulare;  and  William,  Jr.,  who  lives  south 
of  Visalia,  not  far  from  his  father.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Swall  also  have 
eleven  grandchildren. 

Mr.  Swall  has  been  described  as  a  prince  of  good  fellows,  always 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  851 

ready  to  lend  a  helping  hand  to  those  less  fortunate  than  himself.  The 
responsibilities  of  citizenship  appeal  to  him  forcefully  and  definitely. 
While  his  character  is  commanding  he  is  eminently  fair  in  all  busi- 
ness transactions  and  is  admired  for  his  kindness,  sympathy  and  good 
judgment.  His  loyalty  to  his  family,  to  his  friends  and  to  his  convic- 
tions has  never  been  questioned. 


JOHN  A.  WILSON 

One  of  the  leading  cattle  men  of  his  district,  John  A.  Wilson,  who 
lives  at  No.  720  North  Irwin  street,  Hauford,  was  born  in  1862,  in  the 
part  of  Tulare  county  which  is  now  Kings  county,  twelve  miles  north- 
east of  the  site  of  Hanford,  a  son  of  0..L.  and  Rose  J.  Wilson.  The 
elder  Wilson  came  to  California  in  1848  and  was  a  pioneer  of 
pioneers.  He  mined  in  Placer  county  and  on  the  Feather  and  Ameri- 
can rivers  and  after  1850  settled  in  the  vicinity  of  Gilroy,  where  he 
farmed  extensively  until  1857.  In  that  year  he  married  and  came  to 
this  part  of  the  state. 

It  was  in  the  district  schools  of  the  days  of  his  youth  that  John 
A.  Wilson  was  educated.  He  began  at  seventeen,  with  some  financial 
aid  from  his  father,  to  fight  the  battle  of  life  for  himself.  His  career 
since  then  has  been  one  of  U])s  and  downs,  but  he  has  never  gone  down 
hopelessly  and  he  is  undeniably  up  at  this  time  so  well  established 
that  there  is  little  ]irobability  that  he  will  suffer  further  disaster. 

In  1887  Mr.  Wilson  married  Miss  Mary  Alcorn,  of  California,  and 
their  daughter  is  the  wife  of  Marion  Hefton,  of  Hanford.  The  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  includes  Mr.  Wilson  as  one  of  the  most 
valued  members  of  its  Hanford  organizations,  and  he  is  popular  not 
only  with  the  brethren  of  the  order  but  with  the  citizens  of  Hanford 
and  Kings  county  generally.  t^riendlv  and  oiitimistic,  he  lias  a 
pleasant  word  for  all  whom  he  meets  and  a  ready  hand  for  the  assist- 
ance of  the  general  interests  of  the  town. 


JAMES  HOUSTON 

Noteworthy  among  tiie  pioneer  settlers  of  Tulare  county  was  the 
late  James  Houston,  for  over  forty  years  a  respected  and  valued  citi- 
zen of  Visalia.  The  descendant  of  a  long  line  of  Southern  ancestry, 
he  was  also  a  native  of  the  Southland,  having  been  born  in  Tennessee. 
During  young  manhood  he  located  near  Pocahontas,  RaudolpJi  county. 
Ark.,  this  being  at  a  time  of  an  uprising  of  the  Indians,  and  he  val- 


852  TULARE  AXD  KlXCiS  COUXTIES 

iantly  took  a  baud  in  (jiiietiiig  these  (li.sturl)ances  aud  otliei-  tr()ul)les 
that  arose  incident  to  border  life.  During  the  Sabine  disturbances  of 
1837  he  enlisted  in  the  United  States  army  and  as  a  lieutenant  of  the 
mounted  gun  militia  of  Arkansas  rendei'ed  a  service  that  was  a])pre- 
ciated,  as  was  evidenced  in  the  fact  that  at  the  time  of  his  discharge 
he  received  the  brevet  of  major.  Mr.  Houston  was  a  second  cousin  to 
the  famous  Sam  Houston  of  Texas,  and  no  doubt  inherited  his 
intrepid  spirit  from  the  same  source  as  did  his  celebrated  relative. 

The  marriage  of  James  Houston  united  him  with  Frances  Sebourn 
Black,  a  native  of  Virginia  and  the  descandant  of  a  prominent  South- 
ern familj",  being  related  to  the  Sebourns  of  South  Carolina  and  to 
General  Cobb,  the  latter  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  Revolution.  In 
1859  James  Houston  brought  his  family  to  California  across  the 
plains  by  means  of  ox-teams.  For  a  short  time  he  mined  at  Hang- 
town,  now  Placerville,  but  in  the  spring  of  1860  he  came  to  Tulare 
county  and  made  settlement  in  Visalia.  Purchasing  land  near  town 
he  made  his  home  thereon  until  1902,  when  his  earth  life  came  to  a 
close,  at  the  venerable  age  of  ninety-three  years.  His  wife  survived 
him  about  three  years,  passing  away  in  1905  at  the  age  of  eighty- foui- 
years.  Of  the  eleven  children  born  to  this  worthy  couple  seven  are 
living,  as  follows:  Mrs.  E.  B.  Townseud,  of  Visalia;  Mrs.  J.  W. 
Oakes,  also  of  Visalia ;  Miss  Thalia  Houston;  Mrs.  R.  A.  Robertson,  of 
Kinoinan,  Ariz.;  Mrs.  Ed  Graham,  of  Berkeley;  Mrs.  John  Went- 
worth,  of  Globe,  Ariz.;  and  Andrew,  an  extensive  cattle  rancher  near 
Phoenix,  Ariz.  The  four  children  deceased  are:  Maria,  who  was  the 
wife  of  A.  H.  Glascock,  a  well  known  citizen  of  Tulare  county;  Sanmel 
T.  •  Mrs.  Frances  S.  Chilson,  and  William,  who  was  a  well  known 
attornev  of  Visalia. 


JOSEPH  LEY 

In  Seneca  county,  Ohio,  January  27,  1852,  was  born  Joseph  Ijey, 
son  of  Andrew  and  Mary  (Steinmetz)  Ley,  natives  of  Alsace  Loraine, 
Germany.  AVlien  he  was  nine  years  old  his  family  removed  to  Nolile 
county,  Ind.  There  he  grew  up  on  his  father's  farm  and  he  was 
employed  as  a  farmer  until  he  was  twenty-four  years  old.  In  187(5  he 
went  to  Iowa,  farmed  near  Sioux  City  for  five  years,  going  from 
there  to  Thomas  county.  Neb.,  where  for  six  years  he  followed  farm- 
ing. He  came  to  Tulare  cormty  in  1891  with  little  worldly  goods 
besides  an  ax  and  a  cross-cut  saw.  with  which  he  was  ready  to  make 
his  living  unless  some  better  means  should  be  at  hand.  He  pros- 
pered by  hard  work  and  was  enabled,  eventually,  to  buy  seventy-five 
acres  of  land  at  $3  an  acre  in  Squaw  Valley.  Fresno  county,  and  in 


TUJ.AKE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  853 

1905  he  luiught  oue  Imiulred  acres  more.  His  holdiugs  consist  oi'  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  acres,  located  in  Sqnaw  Valley,  which  was 
so  named  hecause  in  an  earlier  day  Indians  often  left  their  sqnaws 
there  to  await  their  return  from  hunting  expeditions.  He  has  ninety 
acres  under  cultivation  and  some  of  it  has  produced  four  tons  of  hay 
per  acre,  and  in  1911  he  raised  twenty  sacks  of  barley  to  the  acre.  The 
remainder  of  his  tract  is  in  pasture.  He  keeps  horses  for  his  own 
use  and  usually  has  on  his  farm  about  twenty  head  of  cattle.  All  the 
improvements  he  installed  on  the  place. 

Mr.  Ley  married,  in  Indiana,  Miss  Eftie  Smith,  of  English  liirth, 
whose  parents  had  settled  in  Pennsylvania  and  moved  thence  to  the 
Hoosier  state.  They  have  six  children:  John  E.,  Martin  M.,  Oliver, 
Mary,  Rose  Ann  and  Susan  A.  John  E.  married  May  Applegate  and 
has  a  daughter  and  a  son.  Mary  is  the  wife  of  Erauk  ^^olf ;  they  have 
two  sons  and  four  daughters  and  their  home  is  in  Calaveras  county. 
The  others  make  their  home  with  their  ])arents. 

Politically  Mr.  Ley  is  independent  of  party  affiliations.  He  has 
no  great  liking  for  i)ractical  jiolitics,  and  one  of  the  most  vivid  i-ecol- 
leetions  of  his  boyhood  days  is  of  having  gone  to  the  ]iolls  on  election 
day  to  see  and  hear  Northern  and  Southern  symjiathizers  wrangle 
over  questions  on  which  they  were  at  odds.  He  and  his  family  are 
members  of  the  Catholic  cluirch. 


JAMES  WALLACE  OAKES 

The  Canadian  family  of  Oakes,  originally  from  France,  had  its 
first  American  representatives  in  New  Brunswick.  John  W.  Oakes 
died  there  at  the  advanced  age  of  one  hundred  years.  His  sou,  Ham- 
mond Oakes,  was  for  many  years  a  lumberman  on  the  St.  John's 
river,  then  located  near  Port  Ryerse,  where  he  farmed  and  raised 
stock,  j)ros]iering  as  a  stock-raiser  near  Port  Ryerse.  He  became  the 
ownei-  of  three  farms,  and  died  aged  eighty-five  years.  He  married 
Miss  Isabelle  Hannnon,  who  was  descended  from  old  New  England 
families,  and  located  as  a  farmer  and  stockman  near  New  London. 
She  died  aged  sixty-eight  years.  Of  their  eleven  children,  only  five  of 
whom  are  living,  James  Wallace  Oakes,  fifth  in  order  of  nativity,  was 
the  only  one  who  came  to  California.  He  was  born  in  Canada  West,  in 
1836,  and  reai-ed  on  his  father's  farm.  He  was  not  only  well  edu- 
cated in  a  literary  way,  but  was  given  practical  training  which  was 
beneficial  to  him  as  long  as  he  lived.  He  came  to  the  United  States 
in  1855  and  stopped  near  Sabula,  Jackson  county,  Iowa,  until  the  fol- 
lowing spring,  when  he  bought  one  hundred  and  eiglity  acres  of 
))raii-io  ami  tiinbci-  land  in   Harrison  county.  Mo.,  which  he  pi-occcdcd 


854  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

to  lireak  and  improve,  oue  of  bis  first  purchases  for  his  farm  havinu- 
been  a  yoke  of  oxen.  In  the  spring  of  1857  he  was  employed  by 
Upton  Hayes  as  driver  of  a  freighting  team  between  Fort  Leaven- 
wortli  and  Camp  Floyd.  Reliuquisliing  tliat  employment,  be  went  to 
Salt  Lake,  Utah,  and  from  there  be  and  fifteen  others  set  out  for 
California  by  way  of  Car.son,  Nevada,  but  at  Genoa  they  sold  tbeii- 
ox-teams,  and  came  the  rest  of  the  way  on  mule  back.  lie  uiined  at 
Placerville,  in  Nevada  county,  and  at  Marysville  until  1868,  then  came 
to  Tulare  county  and  rented  a  ranch  of  B.  G.  Parker,  on  Elbow  Creek, 
where  be  liegan  farming  on  a  scale  large  for  that  time.  He  con- 
ducted three  farms,  meanwhile  improving  bis  own  ranch,  o]ierating 
altogether  about  seven  hundred  acres.  He  also  operated  a  ranch 
owned  by  his  wife.  Mill  Creek  and  Packwood  Creek  and  a  ditch  which 
he  and  others  constructed  all  traverse  this  property,  about  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  acres  of  which  was  devoted  by  "him  to  alfalfa,  the  bal- 
ance having  been  given  over  to  dairying.  At  one  time  he  owned 
eighty-five  milch  cows.  Toward  the  end  he  leased  this  ranch  foi- 
dairy  purposes,  furnishing  the  stock.  He  bad  also  a  stock  ranch  of 
twenty-two  hundred  acres,  about  thirty-five  miles  east  of  Visalia,  on 
which  he  raised  cattle  and  horses. 

Fraternally  Mr.  Oakes  affiliated  with  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen.  Politically  he  was  a  Democrat,  never  shirking  the  respon- 
sibilities of  citizenship,  but  never  consenting  to  become  a  candidate  for 
office.  However,  he  was  for  two  years  a  deputy  sheriff  under  Shei'it¥ 
Balaam  and  later  for  three  years  a  deputy  United  States  marshal 
under  Marshal  Franks.  The  duties  of  the  last-mentioned  jiosition 
included  the  settlement  of  the  Mussel  Slough  troubles  of  the  Southern 
Pacific  Raihoad  Comjiany  and  settlers  on  its  land  in  this  vicinity  and 
demanded  great  tact  and  diplomacy,  for  the  people  were  naturally 
suspicious  of  anyone  attemiiting  an  adjustment  of  the  dispute.  F)efore 
undertaking  the  work,  Mr.  Oakes  gained  the  consent  of  the  railroad 
company  to  exercise  his  own  discretion,  and  he  soon  won  the  con- 
fidence of  the  land  claimants  and  brought  about  amicalile  settlement 
of  all  questions  in  controversy  and  returned  to  private  life  with  the 
commendation  of  all  with  whom  be  bad  business  dealings. 

The  lady  wlio  became  the  wife  of  Mr.  Oakes  was  Mrs.  Margaret 
I.  (Houston)  Allen,  a  native  of  Arkansas,  whose  first  husl)and.  W.  B. 
Allen,  came  to  California  in  1857  and  settled  in  Mariposa  county,  but 
later  became  a  stock-raiser  in  Tulare  county,  where  he  passed  away 
July  26,  1867.  Her  son,  William  Byron  Allen,  is  engaged  in  farming 
on  a  ranch  of  two  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  two  miles  east  of 
Yisalia,  and  owned  by  himself  and  bis  mother.  Mr.  Oakes  died  De- 
cember 4,  1909. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  Cn)UNTIES  SSf) 

M.  L.  CRAMER 

'I'liis  active  and  ])i-<),i>ressive  citizen  of  Sj)rin,i>ville,  (*al.,  was  born 
in  1S()4  near  Cottas^e  ])ostoffice,  Tnlare  connty.  one  of  the  early  set- 
tlements in  that  jiart  of  tlie  state.  In  ISd.)  his  ])arents  moved  to 
Mountain  View,  on  the  north  fork  of  tlie  Tnle,  and  continued  to  reside 
there  until  1887.  When  lie  was  a  small  hoy  there  was  no  school  near 
his  home,  hut  one  was  available  to  him  there  when  he  was  nine  years 
old  and  he  attended  it  in  187l'  and  in  187o.  His  life  has  been  a  Inisy 
and  useful  one  and  he  has  had  to  do  with  many  interests  of  imnor- 
lance.  As  a  machinist  lie  has  lieen  emj)loyed  in  responsible  places 
here  and  there.  Since  locating  in  Springville  he  has  worked  at  Ins 
trade  as  occasion  has  otTered,  giving'  attention,  meanwhile,  to  other 
business  matters  also.  His  activities  in  connection  with  the  Lindsay 
Planing  mill  are  matters  of  public  knowledge.  Fraternally  he  affiliates 
with  the  Porterville  lodge  of  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  hlis  ex- 
perience in  this  jiart  of  the  state  dates  back  to  the  days  when  deer 
were  plenty  in  the  woods  and  wild  game  was  to  lie  found  everywhere. 
He  has  seen  the  country  settled  and  improved  and  villages  spring  up 
on  every  hand  and  quickly  develop  into  cities  of  more  or  less  impor- 
tance. In  all  this  growth,  he  has  taken  the  interest  of  a  public- 
spirited  man.  As  a  member  of  the  local  school  board  he  has  done 
not  a  little  to  advance  the  efficiency  of  the  i)ublic  schools. 

In  1887  Mr.  Cramer  married  Miss  Mae  Baker,  a  native  of  Kan- 
sas, who  has  borne  him  six  children:  Morris,  Bessie,  Frank,  ^"i()let, 
Eleanor  and  John.  Mr.  Cramer's  father,  J.  K.  Cramer,  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania,  came  to  California  in  1851,  crossing  the  plains  in  the 
slow  and  dangerous  wa\  then  in  vogue.  Taking  up  land  which 
eventually  proved  to  be  railroad  property,  he  suffered  disap])ointment 
and  loss  in  lieing  compelled  to  forfeit  it.  His  wife,  Eleanor  Ott,  a 
native  of  Ohio,  eanje  overland  with  her  parents  in  1850,  and  they 
were  manied  at  Petaluma,  Cal.,  in  1857. 


HON.  ALLEN  J.  AinVELL 

The  name  abo\e  will  be  recalled  as  that  of  one  who  as  lawyer, 
journalist,  legislator  and  man  of  affairs  was  long  prominent  in  Tulare 
county.  The  late  Allen  J.  Atwell  was  born  at  Pharsalia,  Chenango 
county.  N.  Y..  April  16,  1836,  and  died  at  Visalia  November  21,  i8!)l. 
His  parents  were  Daniel  L.  and  Mehetabel  (June)  Atwell,  both 
natives  of  the  Em])ire  State.  When  he  was  ten  years  old  his  family 
removed  to  Wisconsin,  an<l  after  a  ])rei>aration  in  the  ])ublic  schools 
he  became  a  student  at   the  Lawrence   I'niversity  at    .\ppleton.   Wis., 


856  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

gradnatiiin  witli  lirst  honors  from  the  first  class  of  that  university. 
Because  of  alphal)eti('al  precedence  his  name  lieaded  the  membership 
list  of  the  class. 

The  day  after  graduation,  Mr.  Atwell  went  to  Nebraska,  wliere 
he  read  law  a  year  under  competent  direction.  In  the  early  'ods  he 
crossed  the  ])lains  to  California,  and  after  stopping  for  a  time  in 
San  Diego  he  came  to  Visalia,  where  he  was  soon  afterward  admitted 
to  the  bar  and  where  in  due  course  of  events  he  gained  a  place  in 
history  as  the  orator  who  delivered  the  first  Fourth  of  July  oration 
at  that  county  seat.  He  succeeded  as  a  general  practitioner  of  law, 
was  made  district  attorney  of  the  coranty  and  was  elected  to  represent 
Tulare  county  in  the  legislature  of  California.  He  won  much  success 
as  prosecuting  attorney,  several  important  cases  having  fallen  to  his 
management  during  his  term  of  service,  and  as  an  assemblyman  the 
records  show  that  he  not  only  achieved  distinction  on  the  floor  of  the 
house,  but  did  important  and  patriotic  work  as  a  member  of  com- 
mittees. He  was  for  a  time  owner  of  the  Visalia  Times,  which  under 
his  control  was  a  local  newspaper  of  much  influence.  During  another 
l^eriod  he  owned  and  operated  a  lumber  mill  near  Mineral  King,  and 
among  his  possessions  at  one  time  was  Atwell's  Island,  in  Tulare 
lake,  where  he  raised  cattle  and  hogs.  For  some  years  he  was  asso- 
ciated in  the  ])ractice  of  law  with  N.  O.  Bradley  of  Visalia.  In  his 
long  and  useful  career  he  was  identified  from  time  to  time  with 
various  local  organizations,  and  as  a  citizen  he  was  notalily  ])ublic- 
spirited. 

In  1861  Mr.  Atwell  married  Miss  Mary  M.  Van  Epps,  a  native  of 
Illinois,  who  survives  him,  and  they  were  the  parents  of  nine  children : 
Mary,  wife  of  F.  M.  Creighton ;  Arthur  J. ;  Nellie,  wife  of  B.  J.  Ball, 
of  Visalia ;  Irving,  who  is  dead ;  Clarence  C. ;  Allen  L. ;  Paul ;  Ethel, 
who  is  the  wife  of  Hugh  McPhail ;  and  Lizetta,  who  is  Mrs.  E. 
Martin. 


HENRY  CHRISTOPHER  ROES. 

A  native  of  Hanover,  Germany,  Henry  Christopher  Roes,  who 
now  lives  three  and  a  half  miles  southeast  of  Dinuba  in  Tulare. county, 
Cal..  was  born  November  10,  1835.  He  received  the  usual  common 
school  education  of  the  ]ilace  and  time  and  when  he  was  in  his  four- 
teenth year  came  over  seas  to  New  York.  There  he  attended  night 
school  and  was  for  six  years  a  clerk  in  a  grocery  store.  Then  he 
came  to  California  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Paiiama,  sailing  to 
Aspinwall,  crossing  the  Isthnms  on  foot  and  transporting  his  baggage 
on  a  mule,  and  from  Panama  came  to  'Frisco  on  a  ship  that  had  come 


TULAKE  AND  KTNdS  COUNTIES  857 

around  the  Horn.  The  voyage  from  Panama  to  San  Francisco  con- 
sumed eight  days  and  was  not  marked  by  any  accident.  After  a 
short  stay  in  'Frisco  Mr.  Roes  went  to  Stockton,  where  during  the 
ensuing  eighteen  months  lie  was  proprietor  of  a  genei'al  store.  Then 
for  three  years  he  was  mining  in  Calaveras  countx',  where  he  and  a 
man  named  Hiues  staked  out  a  claim  and  were  measurably  successful, 
taking  out  some  days  as  miu-h  as  $50  worth  of  oi'e,  but  not  lieing 
experienced  miners  they  lost  in  one  way  or  another  about  as  nmch 
as  they  made.  Returning  to  Stockton,  Mr.  Roes  operated  a  grocery 
six  months,  then  went  to  La  Grange,  where  he  mined  until  1868. 
Early  in  that  year  he  went  to  Europe,  and  returning  he  made  a  tour 
of  the  Southern  states  and  in  November  was  in  South  California  when 
General  Grant  was  elected  president  the  tirst  time.  About  two  years 
later  he  started  for  San  Francisco  by  way  of  Panama.  He  arrived 
in  San  Francisco  in  February,  1870,  and  soon  went  to  Stanislaus 
county,  where  he  was  for  three  years  a  merchant.  His  next  place  of 
residence  was  Merced,  which  was  then  coming  into  prominence  by 
reason  of  the  building  of  the  railroad.  There  he  dealt  in  lumber. 
It  was  in  Merced  that  he  married  Miss  Louisa  Snedeker,  of  French 
descent  and  a  native  of  New  Orleans,  in  1874.  She  bore  him  two 
children,  Edna  L.  and  Edna  Louisa.  The  latter  has  passed  away. 
Edna  L.  married  W.  E.  Rushing,  a  native  of  Texas.  Mrs.  Roes  died 
in  1887. 

Mr.  Roes  sold  his  lumber  yard  two  years  before  he  was  married 
and  started  in  the  sheep  business  in  the  Smith  mountain  district.  At 
one  time  he  was  the  owner  of  twelve  thousand  head  of  Spanish 
Merinos,  had  other  important  interests  and  was  in  receipt  of  a  salary 
of  $125  a  month  and  exyjenses  as  manager.  The  coimtry  all  about  him 
was  in  a  state  of  nature.  Standing  on  the  mountain  with  a  spy  glass, 
he  could  see  sheep,  cattle,  horses  and  antelope  for  many  miles  in  every 
direction.  Many  herds  of  antelope  contained  as  many  as  fifty  or 
sixty  animals  and  he  killed  many  antelojie  for  meat.  Deer  and  bear 
were  numerous  in  the  mountains.  He  had  but  few  neighbors  and 
one  of  them,  in  his  early  days  there,  was  Mr.  Edmonson.  He  was  in 
the  shee]>  business  eighteen  years  and  made  many  thousand  dolhii's. 
He  left  it  to  engage  in  wheat  growing  and  eventually  liomesteaded 
and  improved  land.  The  Inisiness  had  not  been  without  its  disadvan- 
tages. Many  of  his  shoe]!  had  been  killed  by  bear  and  his  loss  by 
accident  and  disease  was  sometimes  heavy.  He  was  twenty-two  miles 
distant  from  Yisalia.  his  nearest  market  town,  whicii  lie  had 
fre(|uent]y  to  visit  foi-  many  purposes,  on  one  memorable  occasion 
running  his  horse  nearly  the  whole  distance.  The  journey  to  and  fro 
consumed  a  day  or  more  lime.  There  being  no  roads  a  part  of  the 
way  was  necessarily  diOicult.  About  six  years  ago  he  bought  twenty 
acres  which  he  has  devoted  to  vines  and  alfalfa  and  he  has  charge 


858  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

of  twenty  acres,  the  property  of  another  man.     He  has  been  partic- 
ularly successful  with  the  Thompson  seedless  grapes. 

When  he  was  twenty-three  years  old  Mr.  Roes  became  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  order  and  he  has  been  identified  with  the  Blue  Lodge 
at  Merced  since  1899.  In  his  politics  he  is  Republican.  He  is  a  com- 
municant of  the  German  Lutheran  church. 


JASPER  N.  BERGEN 

April  19,  1862,  Jaspei-  N.  Bergen  was  l)oru  in  Minnesota.  lie  is 
now  a  prosperous  fniit  growei',  two  miles  and  a  half  southeast  of 
Lindsay,  Tuhire  county,  Cal.  His  parents,  natives  of  Indiana,  have 
passed  away.  His  sister  was  the  first  of  the  family  to  come  to  Cali- 
fornia. When  he  was  twenty-six  years  old,  in  1888,  Mr.  Bergen  came 
here  to  visit  her,  and  during  a  seven  months'  stay  made  trips  of 
observation  to  different  parts  of  the  state.  He  went  liack  to  his 
old  home  and  remained  there  seven  years,  then  came  again  to  Cali- 
fornia and  during  the  succeeding  seven  years  was  farming  five  miles 
north  of  Woodville.  It  was  not  until  1902  that  he  occupied  his  pres- 
ent ranch  of  twenty  acres.  Small  farms  are  rapidly  liecoming  a  fea- 
ture of  Tulare  county;  many  families  are  not  only  making  a  good 
living,  but  are  each  year  1  tanking  money  fi'om  returns  of  twenty-acre 
orchard,  vineyard  or  alfalfa  field.  Such  farmers  are  always  located 
close  to  town  and  they  have  daily  mails  and  telephone  service  that 
rob  rural  life  of  its  isolation  and  make  social  conditions  agreeable. 
The  home  built  up  by  Mr.  Bergen  is  one  of  the  pleasantest  in  its 
vicinity.  For  the  vacant  land  he  paid  $(55  an  acre,  and  ])lanting 
seven  acres  of  figs,  he  produced  a  good  crop,  packed  it  himself  and 
sold  it  in  the  local  market  at  fifteen  cents  a  pound.  Four  years  later 
he  planted  five  acres  of  orange  trees  and  two  years  ago  he  planted 
five  acres  more.  His  place  is  almost  entirely  devoted  to  figs  ami 
oranges. 

In  1901  Mr.  Bergen  married  Miss  Sarah  Etta  Dunham,  a  nati\e 
of  Indiana  and  a  daughter  of  parents  born  in  that  state.  Socially 
he  affiliates  with  the  Lindsay  organization  of  the  order  of  Fraternal 
Aid,  of  which  he  was  a  charter  member.  Wliile  he  is  not  an  active 
politician,  he  takes  an  intelligent  interest  in  all  economic  questions 
and  is  heljiful  to  the  ujilift  of  the  comnuinity  in  a  public-spirited  way. 
As  a  fruit  grower  he  is  iirogressive  and  resourceful  and  he  is  fast 
coming  to  the  front  as  one  of  the  leaders  in  that  industry  in  his 
part  of  the  county.  With  figs  he  has  lieen  remarkably  successful, 
and  in  1911  he  packed  about  forty-five  hundred  pounds  gathered  from 
four  hundred  and  eight  trees. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  859 

WILLIAM  SWAN 

A  son  of  Frederick  ami  Sarah  (Butler)  Swan,  William  Swan  was 
born  in  Kent,  England,  November  7,  1849,  and  was  two  years  and  a 
half  old  when  he  was  bronght  to  the  United  States  by  his  mother,  his 
father  having  preceded  him  in  1850.  The  family  lived  in  Indiana 
until  1858,  then  settled  in  Decatur  county,  Iowa,  where  Frederick 
Swan  bought  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  government  land  at 
$1.25  an  acre,  which  he  improved  and  on  which  he  lived  out  his  days, 
dying  in  1893,  aged  eighty-four  years.    Mrs.  Swan  died  in  1900. 

In  Iowa  William  Swan  learned  farming  and  worked  at  it  until 
1875,  when  he  came  to  Tulare  count.v.  He  went  up  into  the  mountains 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Sequoia  lake  and  worked  in  the  timbers  and 
later  tended  sheep  for  a  while  in  Kings  River  at  Reedley.  Then  he 
came  to  the  valley.  Those  were  pioneer  days  in  a  new,  wild  country, 
and  he  had  often  to  cope  with  bears  foi-aging  for  food  and  saw  at 
different  times  as  many  as  a  thousand  antelope.  His  tirst  holding 
in  the  valley  was  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  railroad  land.  Later 
he  bought  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  other  land  and  acquired  a 
half  interest  in  oak  timber  land  in  the  mountains.  He  sold  forty 
acres  of  land  in  small  tracts,  by  judicious  subdivision.  He  has  now 
ten  acres  of  fruit  bearing  land.  Around  his  house  are  a  number  of 
large  trees  and  he  owns  the  biggest  orange  tree  in  Tulare  county. 

The  woman  who  became  Mr.  Swan's  wife  was  Mary  Smith,  a 
native  of  Kansas,  who  had  taken  uji  her  residence  in  California. 
Their  children  who  are  living  are :  Bertha  J. ;  Wesley  AV. ;  Gertrude ; 
and  Wilma  E.,  at  home.  Bertha  J.  married  J.  W.  Smith,  a  native 
son  of  California.  The  Swan  family  is  a  family  of  Democrats  and 
Mr.  Swan  has  served  his  fellow  townsmen  as  school  trustee,  in  which 
office  his  son-in-law,  J.  W.  Smith,  is  serving  at  this  time.  Mr.  Swan 
and  Mr.  Smith  are  enterprising  and  public  spirited,  ready  at  all 
times  to  do  their  utmost  foi-  the  general  good. 


FRANK  REMBRANDT   KELLENBERG 

Prominent  in  real  estate  circles  in  A'isalia  and  the  San  J<)n(|uiii 
valley  in  general,  Mr.  Kellenbei'g's  enter|)rise  and  ability  Jiave  won 
for  him  an  envial)le  })lace  among  his  fellows,  yet  his  high  i)rincii)les 
and  keen  sense  of  justice  have  actuated  throughout  his  successful 
career  none  but  the  fairest  dealings.  Mr.  Kellenberg  was  born  June 
11,  1854,  in  Alton,  Madison  county,  111.,  and  was  tlie  second  youngest 
in  a  family  of  two  sons  and  live  daughters.  His  father,  Francis 
Jerome  Kellenberg,  a  native  of  (ieorgetown.  D.  C.,  was  an  artist  of 


860  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

exceptional  ability,  his  early  predileetiun  for  drawing  having  been 
followed  liy  thorough  training  therein.  In  his  home  town  he  estab- 
lished a  studio  where  he  devoted  his  time  to  his  beloved  art,  both 
landscapes  and  ]iortraits  receiving  his  attention,  and  after  his  re- 
moval to  Alton.  III.  where  he  opened  a  studio,  he  continued  to  main- 
tain his  first  work  shop.  In  I860,  after  the  death  of  his  wife,  he 
took  his  family  to  Visalia,  Cal,  where,  until  his  death  in  1876.  he 
continued  to  work  at  his  profession,  taking  up  artistic  sign  painting 
also  during  his  latter  years.  Among  his  best  works  are  his  copies 
of  the  Duke  of  Athens,  Venus  Arising  from  the  Sea,  the  Court  of 
Death,  upon  which  he  worked  almost  twelve  years,  a  portrait  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  and  an  original  study.  The  Dance  of  the  Four 
Seasons.  He  painted,  also,  many  of  the  scenic  charms  of  the  beau- 
tiful Yosemite  valley.  His  delight  in  life  was  to  work  out  through 
the  medium  of  his  brush  the  dreams  created  by  his  soul,  and  his 
nature,  kindly  and  compassionate  toward  all  living  creatures,  was 
unsullied  by  selfish  greed  of  gain. 

Frank  Rembrandt  Kellenberg  received  his  education  in  the  schools 
of  Visalia,  whereupon  he  entered  the  employ  of  Richard  E.  Hyde, 
a  jiioneer  merchant  of  that  city,  also  for  thirty  years  ]>resident  of 
the  Bank  of  Visalia.  In  his  first  position  Mr.  Kellenberg  served 
eighteen  months,  wheu  he  became  a  clerk  in  the  establishment  of 
Douglas  &  Comi>any,  who  later  sold  to  Stevens  &  Company,  with 
whom  Mr.  Kellenberg  remained  many  years.  Eleven  years  and  six 
months  from  the  date  of  his  entrance  as  an  employee  of  the  store, 
he  purchased  a  one-fourth  interest  in  same,  but  in  1881  he  dis- 
jiosed  of  his  share  in  the  establishment  and  started  a  retail  shoe 
Inisiness,  which  for  seven  years  he  profitably  conducted.  In  1906 
he  sold  his  store  and  entered  the  real  estate  field  which,  offering  a 
more  untrammeled  and  largely  open  air  life,  had  long  appealed  to 
him. 

In  1885  Mr.  Kellenberg  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Minnie 
Rebecca  Kelsey,  a  daughter  of  Hiram  Kelsey,  who  is  mentioned  else- 
where in  this  volume. 

Some  of  the  most  important  sales  of  which  Mr.  Kellenberg  is  the 
author,  are  the  following:  The  Bequette  estate,  consisting  of  eight 
hundred  acres;  the  Benjamin  Hicks  tract  north  of  Visalia,  eight 
hundred  acres ;  a  tract  of  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  in  Kings 
county,  and  the  twenty-four  hundred  acre  Brandon  ranch  in  Fresno 
county.  Me  owned  and  sold  also  large  ranch  interests  as  follows: 
Three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  near  Orosi;  six  hundred  and  ninety- 
one  acres  near  Orosi,  in  the  Stokes  mountains ;  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  near  Cross  creek;  eighty  acres  near  Farmersville;  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres  on  the  Tule  river;  fifty  aci-es  three  miles  from 
Visalia,  and  numerous  smaller  places.     He  is  at  present  interested 


TULARE  Ax\D  KINGS  COUNTIES  861 

iu  a  section  of  land   in   tlio  Lost    Hills,   Kern  connty.   wIumi'   oil    has 
been  fonnd  and  where  drilliniis  are  now  taking  i)laee. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kellenherti  have  been  lilessed  with  a  son  and  a 
daughter,  Frank  Unido  and  Louise.  In  retrospection,  Mr.  KelJen- 
berg  frequently  mentions  liis  early  days  in  the  west,  beginning  with 
the  never-to-be-forgotten  stage  coach  trip  across  the  plains,  from 
(iilroy  to  Visalia,  tl:en  inhabited  only  by  wild  horses  and  antelope, 
which  took  flight  at  the  sound  or  sight  of  man.  He  has  been  one 
of  Visalia 's  most  dependable  citizens,  always  prompt  to  lend  his  aid 
whenever  possible  toward   the  develo]nnent  of  the  eonnnunity. 


IJIRAM  KELSEY 

One  of  Visalia 's  substantial  citizens  was  Hiram  Kelsey,  who 
passed  away  August  8,  1907.  He  was  born  in  Logan  county,  Ohio, 
December  10,  1829,  his  ancestors  having  been  pioneers  of  Kentucky 
and  also  among  the  first  settlers  of  Ohio.  In  1799  his  grandfather, 
John  Kelsey,  moved  from  tlie  former  state  to  Warren  connty,  forty 
miles  north  of  Cincinnati,  when  his  son  Abner,  father  of  Hiram, 
was  l)ut  six  months  old.  In  this  section  Abner  Kelsey  spent  his 
youth,  and  ere  he  reached  his  majority  wedded  Miss  Nancy  Purely, 
a  native  of  Genesee  county,  N.  Y.,  whose  mother,  Miss  Brown 
before  her  marriage,  was  a  native  of  Scotland.  Eleven  children 
were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kelsey,  nine  of  whom  grew  to  nuxturity; 
but  two,  however,  are  now  living.  Both  husband  and  wife  lived  to 
a  good  old  age,  ninety-one  and  eighty,  respectively. 

In  1852  Hiram  Kelsey  crossed  the  jilains  to  California  and  i)ros- 
pected  for  a  time  in  Placer  county,  later  moving  to  the  San  Jose 
valley,  where  he  conducted  a  farm.  In  1854  he  returned  to  Placer 
county  and  engaged  iu  the  butcher  Imsiness,  securing  his  beef  from 
the  well-known  Todd  brothers,  cattle  dealers  of  Nai»a  valley.  In 
addition  to  his  profitable  trade,  Mr.  Kelsey's  income  from  his  mine 
ventures  was  not  inconsiderable.  After  three  years  in  this  loca- 
tion he  returned  east,  where  he  married  Miss  Jemima  Hill,  and  with 
his  bride  located  on  an  Iowa  farm,  where  they  resided  seven  years, 
and  where  three  of  theii-  children  were  born:  Isadora  May  (now 
Mrs.  George  A.  Butz),  Harlan  W.  and  Mimiie  R.  (wife  of  Frank  R. 
Kellenberg  of  Visalia).  As  a  jiroof  of  his  popularity  and  executive 
ability,  Mr.  Kelsey  was  elected  three  times  to  serve  as  supervisor 
while  i-esiding  in  Marion  county,  Iowa.  Later  he  disposed  of  his 
farm  and  took  his  family  to  Michigan,  where  they  resided  two  years, 
moving,  in  188(),  to  Missouri.  Their  youngest  son,  John  \\'.,  was 
horn   in   California,   and   in    187.'!   the   family   came   to    N'isalia,   where 


8(52  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

Mr.  Kelsey  engaged  iu  business  and  where  his  conscientious  prin- 
ciples and  wide  sympathies,  soon  recognized  by  his  fellow  citizens, 
were  able  to  find  adequate  expression  during  his  service  of  two  years 
as  health  officer.  Later  he  established  a  butcher  shop  iu  Tulare,  and 
in  1887  retired  from  active  life,  spending  his  last  days  in  Visalia. 
For  many  years  Mr.  Kelsey  was  the  oldest  member  of  the  Knights 
of  Pythias,  and  upon  liis  death  was  mourned  by  a  large  number  of 
friends  who  appreciated  his  genial,  kindly  uature  and  his  keen  sense 
of  justice. 


HENRY  C.  SMITH 

The  hardy  Norwegian,  wherever  the  fortunes  of  life  may  cast 
him,  be  he  safely  landed  or  shipwi-ecked,  is  quite  likely  to  make  the 
best  of  the  situation  in  which  he  is  placed  and  more  certain  tlian 
men  of  some  other  nationalities  which  might  be  mentioned  to  win 
all  the  success  that  is  enwrai)ped  in  the  possibilities  of  the  unknown 
future.  Kings  county  has  had  some  i)ioneers  and  numerous  citizens 
of  this  nationality.  One  of  the  best  known  of  them  is  Henry  C. 
Smith  of  Guernsey,  son  of  John  H.  Smith,  who  was  born  iu  Norway 
in  November,  1813,  eventually  coming  to  Tulare  county,  and  died  there 
May,  1907. 

Henry  C.  Smith  was  Ijorn  at  Sonora,  Tuolumne  county,  Cal.,  Feb- 
ruary 12,  1866,  and  lived  with  his  father  wherever  the  latter 's  agri- 
cultural enterprises  caused  him  to  establish  a  home  until  the  old 
Norwegian  farmer  jiassed  away.  As  a  boy  he  attended  Lakeside  dis- 
trict school  until  he  was  seventeen  years  old.  Afterwards,  in  accord- 
ance with  tlie  custom  which  lias  obtained  quite  generally  with  farmers' 
sons,  he  gave  his  services  to  his  father  until  he  was  twenty-one  years 
old.  After  that,  as  has  been  stated,  the  two  were  associated  in 
bu.siness  during  the  remainder  of  the  life  of  the  elder  Smith.  Since 
his  father  jiassed  away  the  son  has  given  liis  attention  to  general 
farming  and  stock-raising,  making  a  specialty  of  the  lu'eeding  of  hogs. 
He  owns  eight  hundred  acres  of  good  land  and  a  one-half  interest 
in  an  additional  two  hundred  and  eighty  acres.  As  a  farmer  he  has 
been  very  successful  and  takes  rank  with  the  best  agriculturists  in 
his  part  of  the  county. 

In  1909  Mr.  Smith  built  the  Kings  County  Cheese  factory,  of 
which  he  is  the  sole  owner,  and  its  location  is  on  the  southeast  corner 
of  the  northwest  quarter  of  section  twenty-five,  township  twenty, 
range  twentv-one.     On  his  land  are  a  hundred  and  sevenfv-five  cows 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  863 

wliose  milk  is  utilized  in  the  factory.  His  clieese-maker  is  an  expert 
in  liis  line  and  they  niannfacture  three  brands  of  cheese,  viz. :  Young 
Anierioan.  Flat  and  Monterey,  all  being  full-eream  and  commanding 
the  highest  mai'ket  prices  because  of  their  delicious  taste  and  ex- 
cellent <|uality.  Constantly  looking  for  iuiijrovements,  Mr.  Smith,  in 
1911  and  litTJ,  put  down  two  artesian  wells  so  that  his  lands  are  now 
among  the  best  irrigated  tracts  in  the  county.  The  wells  have  a 
depth  of  twenty-three  hundred  and  eighty  and  two  thousand  feet 
respectively,  and  flow  copiously,  and  in  connection  with  the  Lake- 
side ditch  furnish  an  abundance  of  water  for  iri'igation  purposes. 

In  1891)  Henry  C.  Smith  married  Miss  Marie  Heinrich,  a  native 
of  Kansas,  who  has  borne  him  six  children:  Albert,  Ethel,  Clara, 
^"ernon,  Marie  and  Queenie.  Mr.  Smith  takes  a  deep  and  abiding- 
interest  in  everything  that  pertains  to  the  advancement  of  his  county 
and  state  and  is  ready  at  all  times  with  liberal  encouragement  of 
measures  directed  to  the  benefit  of  the  iieo])le  at  large. 


VAIL  BROTHERS 

Painting  and  paper  hanging  is  now  a  well  recognized  trade,  and 
those  who  succeed  in  it  are  men  who  like  the  Vail  Brothers  of  Han- 
ford,  Kings  county,  Cal.,  have  given  years  to  its  acquisition  and 
[tractice.  J.  W.  and  E.  M.  Vail  were  born  at  Antioch,  Contra  (Josta 
county,  Cal.,  sons  of  F.  M.  Vail,  a  painter,  who  had  himself  served 
an  api>renticeship  to  a  trade  which  he  had  jierfected  by  long  years  of 
experience.  AVhen  the  sous  were  mere  boys  their  parents  took  them  to 
Lemoore,  Kings  county,  where  their  father  taught  them  their  trade 
and  they  began  their  career  as  contractors  of  painting  and  paper 
hanging.  It  was  in  1911  that  they  built  their  present  store  and  shops 
on  North  Douty  street,  Hanford,  materially  extending  their  Imsiness 
after  having  devoted  ten  years  of  work  and  study  to  it.  Besides 
handling  materials  for  their  own  contracts,  they  sell  house  lining,  wall 
])apcr,  paint,  oils  and  glass  and  merchandise  of  all  kinds  which  can 
be  utilized  in  interior  or  outside  decoration  of  buildings. 

There  are  not  in  Hanford,  in  the  younger  business  circles,  t^wo 
more  jiopular  or  well  esteemed  men  than  J.  W.  and  E.  M.  Vail.  They 
take  a  public  spirited  interest  in  all  the  affairs  of  the  town  and 
aflfiliate  with  several  of  its  fraternal  organizations,  notably  with  the 
Native  Sons  of  the  (! olden  West,  the  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men 
and  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  They  are  members  of  the  Painters' 
union,  of  which  J.  W.  has  served  as  trustee  and  P].  M.  is  the  recording 
secretary. 

In  .July,  1897,  J.  W.  Vail  married  Miss  Mary  Bollninn,  a  native 
of  Atlanta,  (}a.,  then  living  in  Kings  county,  and  they  have  daughters 
named  Mary  and  Agnes.     E.  M.  Vail   married  Miss  Minnie  Cox   in 


864  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

1901.  mill  they  have  had  two  sons  and  a  daughter.  The  second  son 
died  when  two  years  of  age.  Tlic  two  living  are  named  respectively 
Frank  and  JNIinnie  May. 

To  F.  M.  ^'ail,  the  father  of  J.  W.  and  E.  M.  Vail,  belongs  the 
distinction  of  l)eing  the  first  man  married  in  Kings  county.  His  sec- 
ond imion  at  an  age  of  forty-three  with  his  present  wife,  then  Mrs. 
Hattie  Stanton,  a  native  of  California,  on  the  second  day  of  June, 
1893,  is  the  first  marriage  recorded  in  said  county. 


ROBERT  K.  OGDEN 

A  native  of  the  Prairie  State,  now  one  of  the  successful  men  of 
Tulare  county,  the  career  of  Robert  K.  Ogden  has  been  one  of  strug- 
gles and  success.  He  was  born  at  Victoria,  Knox  county.  111..  A]iril 
2,  1864,  a  son  of  Mathew  B.  and  Catherine  (Fisher)  Ogden,  the  one 
a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  the  other  of  Illinois.  The  father  came  to 
California  and,  locating  in  Riverside,  was  one  of  the  pioneer  orange 
growers  in  the  southern  part  of  the  state.  He  met  with  much  success 
and  became  widely  known  in  fruit  circles  as  well  as  in  the  leading 
markets  of  California  and  the  East.  He  so  far  won  the  confidence 
of  his  fellow  citizens  that  they  called  bim  to  the  office  of  justice  of 
the  peace  and  elected  him  a  memljer  of  the  1)oard  of  supervisors  of 
Riverside  county. 

In  young  manhood  Robert  K.  Ogden  engaged  in  freighting  be- 
tween Leavenworth,  Kans.,  and  Santa  Fe,  N.  Mex.  Buffalo  and  other 
wild  game  were  jilentiful  in  that  ]:iart  of  the  country  at  that  time,  and 
he  saw  buffalo  chased  by  hunters  through  the  streets  of  Dodge  City. 
Kans.  After  be  bad  freighted  for  a  time  be  went  to  Indian  Territory. 
He  once  drove  a  band  of  horses  to  New  Orleans  and  later  was  engaged 
in  the  livery  business  for  a  year  in  Arkansas.  We  next  find  bim  in 
Montgomery  county,  in  his  native  state,  working  for  wages.  From 
Illinois  he  went  to  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  where  he  was  employed  to  assist 
in  the  construction  of  a  railroad  from  that  city  to  Beatrice,  Gage 
county.  Neb.  California  has  been  his  home  since  1889  and  be  began 
his  career  here  as  a  rancher  on  Lewis  creek,  between  Exeter  and 
Lindsay.  In  the  period  1891-95  he  was  farming  west  of  Visalia,  grow- 
ing wheat  extensively  and  breeding  bogs  in  large  numbers.  In  1896 
he  bought  his  present  farm  of  sixty  acres  on  the  Exeter  road,  four 
miles  from  Visalia,  and  has  greatly  improved  the  property,  planting- 
much  of  it  to  alfalfa  and  maintaining  a  fine  dairy.  He  is  considered 
one  of  the  up-to-date  farmers  of  Tulare  county  and  bis  success  is  of 
so  substantial  a  character  that  it  seems  to  hold  out  a  promise  of  note- 
wortbv  future  achievement. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  865 

In  December,  1891,  Mr.  Ogden  married  Miss  Pearl  Mathewson, 
wlio  was  l)oru  iu  'J'ulare  coimty,  a  daughter  of  oue  of  its  pioneers. 
Tliey  own  a  line  home  in  Visalia.  Mrs.  Ogden  has  been  a  worthy 
heli)meet  to  her  worthy  husband  and  has  given  him  her  sym[)athy  and 
encouragement  in  all  the  years  since  their  marriage.  They  have 
children  named  Arthur  M.,  Harry  R.,  Beulali,  Beryl,  Ralph  and 
Wanda.  Mr.  Ogden  alhliates  with  the  Eagles,  the  Modern  Woodmen 
and  the  Woodmen  of  the  World. 


ENOCH  A.  SMITH 

On  his  father's  side  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  descended  from 
old  Virginia  families  and  on  his  mother's  from  families  long  known 
near  Frankfort,  Scott  county,  Kentucky.  His  parents  were  Jeptha 
and  Nancy  Rachel  (Waller)  Smith  and  he  was  born  in  Kentucky, 
January  26,  1840.  When  he  was  live  years  old  his  parents  took  him 
to  Northeast  Missouri,  where  his  father  farmed  and  where  his  mother 
died  in  1848.  In  1850  his  father  came  overland,  with  ox-teams,  with 
the  Hill  outfit,  to  California  and  located  in  Yolo  county.  From  there 
he  later  went  to  Nevada  county,  where  he  mined  for  a  short  time  and 
later  was  otherwise  employed  until  1866,  when  he  passed  away.  Enoch 
remained  in  Northeast  Missouri  until  1857.  In  the  spring  of  that  year 
the  Vines  and  McManus  party  was  organized  for  immigration  to  Cali- 
fornia by  the  overland  route.  Ox-teams  were  to  be  used;  there  were 
forty  wagons  manned  by  twenty  men.  The  train  left  St.  Joseph,  May 
5,  1857,  and  arrived  at  Santa  Rosa  September  1,  following.  Six  hun- 
dred head  of  cattle,  the  property  of  a  Mr.  Moore,  were  driven.  At 
Gravelly  Ford,  Indians  stole  twenty-one  cattle,  seven  of  which  they 
killed,  but  the  immigrants  rescued  the  fourteen  others.  The  twenty 
men  kept  up  a  long  running  fight  with  twenty-five  Indians,  killing  nine- 
teen of  them.  Closely  pursued,  the  surviving  redskins  sought  safety 
by  jumping  into  the  Humboldt  river,  but  the  white  men  waited  on  the 
bank  and  shot  at  a  head  wliene\er  it  appeared  above  the  water.  After 
that  there  was  no  molestation  of  this  party  by  Indians.  Between 
Lassen  Meadows  and  Honey  Lake  valley  the  immigrants  came  upon  a 
deep  spring  which  they  sounded  to  a  depth  of  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  feet  without  finding  bottom. 

After  living  for  a  time  near  Windsor,  Mr.  Smith  came  to  Tulare 
county  and  located  at  Visalia  in  1859.  He  was  acquainted  with  all 
the  old  settlers,  the  Evanses,  the  IMcCrurys,  the  ]\Iorrisseys  and  the 
Shannons  and  others,  and  was  a  witness  to  the  hanging  of  James 
McCrury  and  knew  the  latter's  friend,  Mr.  Allen.  For  a  time  he  had 
charge   of  a   band   of  sheep   iu   Fi-aziei'   valley   which   numbered   two 


866  TULARE  AXD  KINGS  COUNTIES 

thousaud  liead.  After  Lis  marriage  lie  bouglit  governmeut  laud  iu 
Sand  Creek  district,  holding  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres.  He  pre- 
em|)ted  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  in  1869  and  has  taken  over  land 
since  until  he  and  his  son,  George  E.  Smith,  own  one  thousand  acres, 
farming  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres  and  devoting  the  remainder  to 
pasturage.  They  keep  an  average  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  head  of 
stock  and  seventy-five  hogs. 

When  Mr.  Smith  came  to  this  part  of  the  state,  cattle  and  sheep 
were  being  fed  everywhere,  houses  were  scattered  very  sparsely  over 
the  country  and  travelers  found  at  Smith  Ferry  the  only  dwelling  they 
]iasse.l  in  eighteen  miles  from  that  point  to  within  four  miles  of  Vi- 
salia.  There  were  many  bands  of  deer  and  antelope  and  he  shot  deer 
from  time  to  time  for  food.  Brown  bear  were  numerous.  He  is  the 
owner  of  many  relics  of  by-gone  days.  Mr.  Smith  is  a  public-spirited 
citizen  of  Republican  principles  and  has  done  his  full  share  toward 
the  development  of  the  county.  He  married  in  1872,  in  Northeast  Mis- 
souri, Miss  Ellen  Ilarley,  a  native  of  Maryland,  and  their  only  son 
and  child,  George  E.,  a  native  of  California,  is  a  member  of  their 
household. 


LEWIS  S.  SMITH 

In  no  lines  of  business  is  true  ])rogressiveness  more  eagerly 
sought  or  more  (juickly  recognized  than  in  those  which  touch  upon 
our  household  economies.  Esi)ecially  is  this  true  of  the  dairy  busi- 
ness, whicli  is  ably  represented  at  Hanford  by  Lewis  Smith,  proprietor 
of  the  up-to-date  concern  at  No.  116  S.  Irwin  street,  which  is  operated 
under  the  name  of  Smith  Brothers.  Mr.  Smith  was  born  in  Lawrence 
county,  Ohio,  April  3,  1879,  and  was  there  reared  and  educated.  He 
early  inclined  to  a  business  occupation  and  was  employed  as  a  sales- 
man in  a  general  stoi-e  until  1901-.  Then  he  came  to  California  and. 
locating  at  Hanford,  worked  in  that  vicinity  until  1907.  Then,  with 
his  brother  George  R.  as  a  partner,  he  engaged  in  the  retail  irillc 
business  and  Imilt  and  equipjied  the  fine  ]^]aut  at  the  location  above 
mentioned.  It  is  a  building  eighteen  by  forty  feet  in  area  measure- 
ments, having  a  concrete  fioor  and  other  equipment,  thoroughly 
sanitary  and  of  tlie  latest  models.  In  1909  he  bought  his  brother's 
interest  in  the  business,  but  has  since  conducted  it  without  change  of 
name.  His  milk  is  purchased  from  R.  R.  Butler  and  Ray  Campliell, 
both  of  whom  keep  ins]iected  dairies.  In  1912  he  added  a  complete 
outfit  for  the  manufacture  of  ice  cream  for  the  wholesale  and  retail 
trade. 

Decemlier  20.   1910,  Mr.   Smith  married  Miss  Bessie  Johnson,   a 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  (M)UNTIES  867 

native  of  Missouri,  born  April  2,  1891,  who  hail  l)ecouie  <i  resident 
of  Hanford.  They  have  one  son,  Lewis  Sidney,  born  November  14, 
1912.  Sooially  he  afliliates  with  the  Odd  Fellows  lodi>e,  encamptuont 
and  canton  at  Hanford  and  with  the  organizations  of  Knights  of 
Pythias.  As  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  in  his 
other  relations  with  his  fellow  citizens  he  has  always  shown  a  decree 
of  public  spirit  that  has  commended  him  their  good  opinion. 


WILLIAM  M.  CLARK 

The  birth  of  William  M.  Clark  occurred  in  Scotland  county.  Mo., 
November  5,  1866.  He  was  a  son  of  James  M.  and  Martha  E.  (Baker) 
Clark,  the  former  a  native  of  Kentucky,  his  mother  a  native  of  Mis- 
souri. James  M.  Clark  served  in  the  Civil  war  under  General  Morgan 
in  the  Confederate  army  and  was  one  of  ninety-nine  of  Morgan's  men 
who  tunneled  out  of  the  Federal  prison  for  Confederate  captives  at 
Chicago.  One  of  the  guards  hailed  him  after  he  had  left  the  tunnel, 
and  failing  to  get  a  response  fired  at  him,  but  missed  him.  He  had 
other  narrow  escapes  which  would  be  interesting  could  they  be  nar- 
rated here.  He  was  in  the  service  from  1862  until  the  end  of  the  war, 
all  the  time  in  Lee's  command  and  a  part  of  that  time  under  the  great 
general's  authority,  took  part  in  many  battles  and  skirmishes,  and 
from  time  to  time  did  hazardous  scouting.  One  of  his  recollections 
was  of  an  involuntary  horse  trade  on  a  bridge,  another  was  of  the 
instantaneous  disajipearance  of  the  nose  of  the  man  near  him  whose 
face  had  unfortunately  come  into  the  range  of  Federal  firearms. 
After  the  war  he  lived  in  Missouri  until  1892,  when  he  died,  aged 
forty-five.  It  was  beside  his  father's  deathbed  that  William  M.  Clark 
married  Miss  Mary  Johnson,  and  they  have  had  three  children, 
Arthur,  Mar^-in  and  Laurin.  Mrs.  Clark  was  born  in  the  same  county 
in  Missouri  as  was  Mr.  Clark.  Their  oldest  child  is  now  a  student  in 
the  grammar  school. 

Mr.  Clark  lived  with  his  father  in  Missouri  until  he  was  twenty- 
three  years  old.  He  learned  farming,  and  contracting  and  l)ui!ding, 
and  was  employed  at  different  limes  at  these  occupations.  When  he 
came  to  California  and  settled  in  Tulare  county,  in  1889,  he  found  him- 
self in  the  midst  of  a  vast  wheat  country,  the  land  ranging  in 
market  value  from  $5  to  $15  an  acre.  Later  he  bought  thirty  acres  at 
$25  an  acre,  which  is  now  worth  $200  an  acre.  He  has  fourteen  acres 
of  grapes  and  ten  acres  of  peaches  and  will  soon  plant  five  acres  to 
orange  trees.  His  first  crop  of  grapes  yielded  him  three-quarters  of 
a  ton  to  the  acre  and  his  peaches  in  1911  sold  for  $400.     He  is  not 


868  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

giviug  muc'li  attention  to  stock  and  keeps  only  such  as  is  required  on 
Ms  ranch. 

Fraternally  Mr.  Clark  affiliates  with  the  Modern  Woodmen,  Mrs. 
Clark  with  the  Royal  Neighbors.  They  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church.  In  his  ])olitical  conviction  he  is  a  Democrat.  As  a 
citizen  he  is  public-spirited  and  helpful. 


JABEL  M.  DEAN 

As  citizen  and  official,  Jabel  M.  Dean,  of  Hanford,  Kings  county, 
Cal.,  has  impressed  his  personality  upon  the  ])rogress  of  that  city. 
Born  in  Tennessee,  June  29,  18(30,  he  settled  in  Hanford  in  1880  and 
learned  the  carpenter's  trade  with  W.  H.  Nyswonger.  He  worked  as 
a  carjienter  until  1896,  when  he  engaged  in  contracting  and  building 
with  W.  W.  Cole  as  a  partner.  Among  the  residences  built  in  Hanford 
by  this  firm  may  be  mentioned  those  of  T.  J.  Mcjunkin,  A.  G.  Parks, 
L.  C.  Dunham,  Charles  McGee,  J.  Bowman,  "William  Trewhitt.  Thomas 
Ebod,  A.  M.  Fredericks,  Frank  Arnold,  E.  W.  Pilkingtou,  Mrs.  Mary 
Bruner,  and  three  for  H.  E.  Wright.  In  Lemoore  they  erected  the 
residences  of  Ed.  Sellors  and  R.  Deacon;  they  built  an  addition  to  tlie 
Methodist  church  at  Hanford;  and  among  the  country  homes  of  their 
fashioning  are  those  of  J.  J.  Gartner  and  John  W.  Jones,  and  those  of 
Mrs.  Hitchock  and  Mr.  Haekett  of  Grangeville.  They  draw  their  own 
plans  for  buildings  and  give  the  most  conscientious  attention  to  every 
detail  of  construction. 

In  1906  Mr.  Dean  was  elected  city  trustee  of  Hanford,  and  during 
his  four  years'  service  a  number  of  important  civic  matters  were  un- 
dertaken, including  the  beginning  of  cement  sidewalk  construction  in 
residence  streets,  the  extension  of  the  sewer  system,  the  bu^-ing  of 
chemical  fire  engines  and  of  hose  carts,  and  the  extension  of  the 
electric  tire  alarm  system.  In  this  period  a  proposition  was  made  to 
submit  to  the  people  the  question  of  the  abolition  of  saloons  in  the  city, 
and  Mr.  Dean  was  the  only  member  of  the  ))oard  who  voted  for  it.  He 
introduced  an  ordinance  demanding  that  the  jjeople  vote  on  the  ques- 
tion of  a  municipal  water  system.  In  other  ways  he  has  proven  his 
public  s^iirit.     He  is  a  member  of  the  Carpenter's  Union. 


WILLIAM  BRYAN  CHARLES,  M.  D. 

In  Salem,  Washington  county,  Ind.,  William  B.  Charles.  M.  D., 
of  Hanford,  was  born  March  12,  1857,  a  son  of  Levin  and  America 
(Rodman)  Charles.     Nathan  Chai'les,  his  grandfather,  a  Quaker,  was 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  (M)UNTIKS  869 

liuin  in  ^larylaud  aiul  was  takeu  by  his  [tarents  to  North  ("aroiina, 
where  lie  married.  In  1818  he  settled  within  the  present  limits  of 
Washin.iiton  county,  fnd.,  as  a  farmer  and  saddler,  and  died  there  in 
1868,  aged  ninety-one  years.  His  son,  Levin  Charles,  born  in  North 
Carolina,  was  four  years  old  when  his  parents  took  him  to  Indiana, 
where  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  years,  dying  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
five  after  a  useful  career  as  a  farmer.  He  was  prominent  in  local 
affairs  as  a  Wiiig  and  later  as  a  Republican.  He  married  America 
Rodman,  who  was  born  in  Shelby  county,  Ky.,  daughter  of  Hugh  Rod- 
man, a  native  Kentuckian,  who  settled  in  Washington  county.  Inch, 
about  1825.  He  had  served  in  the  war  of  1812  and  later  became  a 
successful  farmer  and  he  lived  to  be  seventy-live  years  old.  Hugh 
Rodman,  Sr.,  his  fatiier,  born  in  P)ucks  courity.  Pa.,  settled  iu  Ken- 
tucky in  1786,  going  thence  by  jjoat  down  the  Ohio  river.  He  traced 
his  ancestry  to  Scotland.  America  (Rodman)  Charles  died  in  Indiana 
in  1875,  fifty-two  years  old,  having  home  eleven  children,  of  whom 
Doctor  Charles  was  the  sixth. 

After  attending  the  schools  at  Salem,  Ind.,  until  he  was  nineteen 
years  old.  Doctor  Charles  came  in  1876  to  what  is  now  Kings  county, 
Cal.,  and  foi'  two  years  was  employed  at  farm  work  and  teaming. 
Then,  returning  to  Indiana,  he  entered  an  academy  at  Salem  to  lire- 
pare  himself  for  the  university  and  was  graduated  in  1882.  A  ])art 
of  the  time  while  he  was  a  student  at  the  academy  he  taught  school 
in  the  vicinity  and  gave  some  attention  to  an  ac(iuisition  of  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  drug  business  under  the  instruction  of  his  brother,  who 
was  a  physician  as  well  as  a  druggist.  He  entered  the  medical  dejiart- 
ment  of  the  LTniversity  of  Kentucky  at  Louisville  and  was  duly  gradu- 
ated from  that  institution  March  1,  1887.  It  was  at  Norcatnr,  Kans., 
that  he  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession.  There  he  remained 
until  1894,  and  in  March  of  that  year  he  located  at  Hanford,  building  up 
a  lucrative  i)ractice  and  commending  himself  to  his  fellow  citizens  of  all 
classes  by  his  thorough  knowledge  of  his  profession  and  a  winning  per- 
sonality. At  Norcatnr,  Kans.,  Doctor  Charles  was  married  November 
30,  1887.  to  Miss  Carrie  S.  Wildfang,  a  native  of  Wisconsin,  and  two  of 
the  children  born  to  them  are  living,  Ethel  and  William  Gordon.  Though 
he  was  always  very  Imsy  professionally.  Doctor  C^harles,  as  a  loyal, 
iniblic-spi riled  citizen,  found  time  to  devote  himself  to  the  uplift  of 
the  comnnmity.  He  was  a  stanch  Republican  and  influential  in  ))oliti- 
cal  affairs.  He  served  as  delegate  to  several  county  and  state  con- 
ventions and  was  a  member  of  the  Republican  State  Centi'al  Com- 
mittee. He  was  appointed  to  the  office  of  county  physician  in  18!)i) 
and  served  until  1906.  when  he  resigned  and,  on  account  of  his  wife's 
ill  health,  I'eturned  to  Kansas  and  practiced  at  Olierlin  foi-  one  year. 
November  30,  1907,  he  returned  to  Hanford  and  in  1!<09  was  reap- 
pointed county  i)hysician.    In  1912  he  was  ni)])ointed  i-ity  health  olificer. 


870  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

and  iciiiaiiit'd  in  active  practice  and  official  life  until  liis  death,  October 
13,  1912.  His  interest  in  his  profession  was  deep  and  sincere  and  he 
kei)t  in  touch  with  the  progress  which  medical  science  is  constantly 
making".  Fraternally  he  affiliated  with  Hanford  Lodge  No.  279,  F.  & 
A.  M.,  and  the  Woodmen  of  the  World,  Fraternal  Order  of  Eagles  and 
the  Knights  of  Pvthias. 


WILLIAM  P.  RATLIFF 

W.  P.  Ratliff  has  been  postmaster  at  Tulare  since  May  1,  1902, 
having  received  his  original  ap])ointmeut  under  President  Roosevelt 
in  the  preceding  April.  He  has  been  a  local  leader  in  the  Republican 
party,  has  served  on  state  and  county  central  committees,  has  been 
city  assessor  and  city  treasurer  of  Tulare  and  president  and  secretary 
of  the  Board  of  Trade.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  Olive  Branch 
Lodge  No.  269.  F.  &  A.  M.,  in  which  he  was  made  a  Mason  and  in 
which  he  is  past  master;  with  Tulare  Chapter  No.  71,  R.  A.  M.,  in 
which  he  is  jiast  high  priest;  with  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Work- 
men, and  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  AVorid.  With  the  members  of 
these  orders  he  is  no  more  jiopular  than  in  the  business  and  social 
circles  of  the  city  and  county. 

In  Oskaloosa,  Iowa,  Mr..  Ratlilf  was  born  ()ctol)er  12,  1859,  a 
son  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Madden)  Ratliff.  John  Ratliff  was  a  son 
of  William  Ratliff.  whose  father,  a  native  of  the  Isle  of  Man,  settled 
in  Pennsylvania.  William  moved  from  Pennsylvania  to  Indiana  and 
later  inished  on  to  Iowa.  When  his  i)arents  left  Pennsylvania  John 
was  lint  a  small  lioy.  In  his  early  manhood  he  settled  on  a  farm  in 
Iowa,  but  the  stories  of  gold  in  California  which  came  to  him  in  the 
late  '40s  awoke  within  him  a  spirit  of  adventure.  He  crossed  the  plains 
in  1850  and  jirosjiected  and  mined  for  eight  years,  then  went  back  to 
Iowa  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  New  York.  He  made  a 
brief  sto))  in  New  York  City  and  there  married  Elizabeth  Madden, 
a  native  of  Dublin,  Ireland,  whose  brother  Michael  had  shared  the  ups 
and  downs  of  mining  with  him  in  California.  At  the  beginning  of 
1860,  when  their  son  William  P.  was  about  three  months  old,  John 
Ratliff,  who  had  stoii])ed  in  Iowa  to  settle  u]i  some  business  prepara- 
tory to  his  intended  return  to  California,  was  killed  by  being  thrown 
from  a  horse.  His  widow  brought  their  child  to  California  before  the 
close  of  that  year  and  found  a  home  in  Plumas  county,  where  she  later 
married  E.  PI.  Holthouse,  to  whom  she  bore  four  sons  and  a  daughter, 
who  live  in  Santa  Clara  county.  The  family  moved  to  a  farm  near 
Lawrence  Station,  not  far  from  San  Jose,  in  1870.  Theie  Mrs.  Holt- 
house  died  as  the  result  of  an  accidental  fall  in  1902,  when  she  was  in 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  871 

her  sixty-uintli  year.  IJer  sou,  William  P.  Ratliff,  supplemented  a 
common  school  education  by  a  three  years'  course  in  Santa  Clara  Col- 
lege, then  became  a  clerk  in  the  employ  of  T.  AV.  Sprin.s>-.  Tu  18S-J 
he  came  to  Tulare  and  became  a  brakemau  in  the  employ  of  the  South- 
ern Pacific  Railroad  company.  In  a  year  he  was  made  conductor  of 
a  train  running  between  Tulare  and  Huron.  In  ISSS  he  identified 
himself  with  the  business  of  P>raly  &  Blythe,  real  estate  agents  and 
representatives  of  the  Wells-Fargo  Express  Comjiany.  lie  withdrew 
from  tliat  connection  in  ISili'  to  become  cashier  of  the  Tulare  County 
Pauk  and  the  Tulare  Savings  Bank.  In  August,  IHiXi,  he  resigned  to 
accejtt  the  assistant  casliiersiiii)  of  the  Bank  of  Tulare,  which  he  held 
until  February,  1901,  when  he  removed  to  Kern  county  as  superiutend- 
ent  of  two -oil  companies  ojjerating  in  the  Kern  River  oil  field.  There 
he  fell  a  victim  to  typhoid  fever,  which  held  him  to  his  bed  for  five 
months.  Meanwhile  he  was  taken  to  San  Francisco,  where  better  at- 
tention and  care  were  possible  than  he  was  receiving  in  Kern  county. 
He  came  back  to  Tulare  in  November,  1901,  and  a  few  months  later 
accepted  the  cashiershi]i  of  the  Bank  of  Tulare,  which  he  held  until 
his  appointment  as  jiostmaster. 

June  5,  1888,  Mr.  Ratliff  married  Alice  Harter,  a  native  of  Stock- 
ton and  a  daughter  of  Isaac  and  Matilda  (Parker)  Harter,  ]uoneers 
in  California.  Their  wedding  was  celebrated  in  Tulare  and  there  their 
son  Clinton  P.  was  born. 


H.  P.  BROWN 

This  leading  lawyer  and  man  of  affairs  of  Kings  county,  Cal., 
whose  olfices  ai-e  in  the  P"'armers  and  Mechanics  Bank  building  at 
Hanford,  is  a  native  son  of  Tulare  county  and  was  born  two  miles 
west  of  Grangeville  July  17,  1873.  Primarily  educated  in  the  pioneer 
district  schools  near  there,  he  later  attended  ITauford  high  school, 
from  which  he  giaduated  in  18i)().  In  1899  he  graduated  fi-om  the 
Hastings  Law  College  and  in  May  of  that  year  was  adniitted  to  iirac- 
tice  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  California.  Immediately  thereaftei-  he 
opened  an  office  in  lianlord,  and  here  he  has  made  his  business  and  ])ro- 
fessional  headquarters  ever  since.  As  a  lawyer  he  has  given  his  atten- 
tion lai-gejy  to  s))ecial  interests,  but  notwithstanding  that  fact  he  has 
achieved  a  notable  success  in  general  practice.  He  is  deeply  intci-ested 
in  agriculture,  horticultuic  and  stockraising,  and  in  irriiinfion  as  a 
factoi-  essential  to  success  in  those  fields  of  endeavor  undei-  the  jie- 
culiarities  of  local  environment,  lie  is  the  owner  of  six  hundred  and 
forty  acres  of  land,  half  of  which  is  devoted  to  farming,  forty  acres 
to  fruit  growing  and  the  icmaindcr  to  alfalfa,  L;iaiii  and  stock  grazing. 


872  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIF.S 

He  owus  a  one-tliiixl  interest  in  the  reolaniation  conipauy  whose  ac^tivi- 
ties  center  on  Empire  ranch  and  is  one  of  its  directors.  It  irrigates 
a  district  extending  twelve  miles  southwest  from  the  river,  a  large 
part  of  the  land  having  been  reclaimed  from  the  lake.  He  is  a  stock- 
holder and  director  also  in  the  New  Deal  Ditch  Company  of  Hanford 
(whose  ditch  extends  from  a  jioint  southeast  of  John  Sigier's  ranch), 
a  director  in  the  Lone  Oak  Canal  Company  (whose  ditch  runs  south  of 
the  old  Lost  Chance  ditch),  is  attorney  for  the  Wilber  reclamation 
district  (which  includes  thirty  thousand  acres  of  land  under  reclauui- 
tion  on  the  southeast  border  of  Tulare  lake),  and  attorney  for  the 
Fresno  &  Hanford  Railroad  Company.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers 
of  and  is  a  director  in  the  New  Kings  County  Chamber  of  Commerce 
and  helped  to  organize  the  Kings  County  Dairyman's  Association,  of 
which  he  is  a  director,  and  organized  the  Lam])enhein  Creamery  of 
Hardwick,  in  the  comjiany  controlling  which  he  is  a  director.  There  is 
no  movement  for  the  ])ublic  good  in  which  he  is  not  interested  directly 
or  indirectly.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Masonic  lodge  at  Han- 
ford. with  Scottish  Rite  Masons  and  with  the  Shrine  of  Islam  at  San 
Francisco  and  with  the  Eastern  Star,  besides  which  he  is  identified 
with  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  the  Woodmen  of  the  World,  the  Im- 
proved Order  of  Red  Men  and  the  Native  Sons  of  the  Golden  West. 
In  1902  he  married  Metta  Robinson,  a  daughter  of  the  late  W.  W. 
Robinson. 


M.  J.  PONTANA 

In  all  of  our  industries,  from  the  railroad  builder  to  the  bank 
president,  the  foreign-born  citizen  has  always  displayed  excellent 
qualities,  this  being  especially  true  of  some  of  the  sons  of  Italy  who 
have  located  here.  Among  these  none  has  made  a  more  striking 
record  in  California  than  M.  J.  Fontana,  general  su])erintendent  of  the 
California  Fruit  Canners'  Association.  He  came  to  America  when 
he  was  quite  a  young  man,  determined  to  make  a  home  and  fortune 
for  himself  in  the  New  World.  Having  worked  in  the  fruit  business 
in  New  York,  this  interest  was  continued  in  California,  whither  he 
came  in  1868,  arriving  in  San  Francisco  with  very  limited  means. 
Today,  measure  him  as  you  will,  he  is  one  of  the  big  men  of  the  state, 
for  he  has  made  a  success  in  every  sense  of  the  word.  For  a  time  he 
worked  at  anything  that  his  hands  found  to  do,  1)ut  later  he  managed 
to  form  an  alliance  with  fruit  men  which  was  the  beginning  of  his 
upward  progress.  In  1870  he  started  in  the  fruit  and  produce  busi- 
ness in  San  Francisco,  and  afterward  engaged  in  the  canning  business 
in  the  same  city,  also  starting  branches  at  ?Iealdsburg  and  Hanford. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  873 

Finally  in  1898  lie  sold  imt  to  the  California  Fruit  Cauners'  Associa- 
tion, an  organization  in  whicli  lie  still  holds  an  interest,  being  a  direc- 
tor and  a  member  of  the  executive  board.  His  Hanford  plant  was  the 
pioneer  fruit  canning  and  ]iacking  establishment  in  Kings  county  and 
was  built  in  1895.  Tliis  i)lant  has  packed  a  yearly  average  of  three 
hundred  thousand  cases  of  peaches  and  dried  fruits  for  the  past  fifteen 
years,  and  also  handles  dried  prunes,  raisins  and  ai^ricots. 

Mr.  Fontana  has  been  a  large  developer  in  the  fields  of  horticul- 
ture and  viticulture  in  California  for  many  years.  He  has  large  wine 
interests  in  the  state,  being  president  of  the  Italian-Swiss  Wine  Col- 
ony Association  and  dii'ector  of  the  California  Wine  Association  and 
is  general  superintendent  of  the  California  Canners  Association,  a 
flirector  in  the  Italian-American  Bank  of  San  Francisco  and  is  a  direc- 
tor of  the  E.  B.  i^-  A.  L.  Stone  Co.,  a  large  contracting  concern  which 
did  the  construction  work  on  the  Western  Pacific  Railroad  from  San 
Francisco  to  Oroville,  Cal.  For  two  years  he  held  the  office  of  trus- 
tee of  the  city  of  San  Francisco. 

In  1877  Mr.  Fontana  was  married  to  Nellie  Jones  of  San  Leandro, 
Cal.,  and  they  have  three  sons  and  one  daughter,  all  of  whom  are 
married  and  connected  with  the  California  Fruit  Canners'  Associa- 
tion. 


IVER  KNUTSON 

A  native  of  Norway,  Iver  Knutson  received  a  good  education  in 
that  far  northern  country  and  served  an  apprenticeship  at  the  car- 
penter's trade.  When  about  seventeen  years  old  he  came  to  the 
United  States  and  made  his  way  overland  to  California,  where  he 
was  a  miner  in  the  early  '50s.  Eventually  he  went  to  Santa  Rosa, 
Sonoma  county,  and  from  there  to  Gilroy,  Santa  Clara  county,  and  in 
the  latter  place  ])lied  his  1i-ade  of  cai'])enter,  and  several  buildings  which 
he  built  or  helped  to  l)uil(l  arc  still  standing.  Hearing  of  the  rich  lauds 
in  the  Mussel  Slough  section  of  Tulare  county,  he  moved  there  in  1872 
and  took  iip  a  claim,  which  he  began  to  imjirove.  In  the  history  of 
this  ]>art  of  the  state  it  is  recorded  how  he  was  killed  in  the  famous 
Mussel  Slough  fight  of  1880.  He  married,  at  Santa  Rosa,  Miss  Cyn- 
thia Clawson,  a  native  of  Wisconsin,  who  was  brought  across  the 
|ilains  when  a  small  child  by  her  father,  coming  overland  to  Cali- 
fornia soon  after  1850.  She  bore  her  husband  seven  children  and 
survived  him  until  1894,  when  she  i)assed  away.  Their  children 
were:  Charles,  deceased;  William  (J.;  Joseph  F.,  deceased;  James  E. ; 
Mrs.  William  C.  Clarkson,  of  Lemon  Cove,  Cal.;  Henry  E.,  who 
lives  in  Exeter;  and  Albert  E.,  deceased. 


874  TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES 

On  October  8,  1868,  William  0.  Knutson  was  horn  at  Old  Gilroy, 
Cal.  He  divided  bis  time  between  tbe  public  scbool  and  work  on  his 
father's  ranch,  and  his  first  venture  on  his  own  account  was  as  a 
farmer  in  Kaweah  swami^.  For  the  past  nine  years  he  has  been 
in  the  dairy  business  on  the  Exeter  road  near  Farmersville,  in  the 
region  known  as  the  A^isalia  district,  and  at  this  time  he  is  renting 
sixty  acres,  on  which  he  maintains  a  dair.y  of  twenty  cows. 

In  1896  Mr.  Knutson  married  Miss  Nellie  E.  Gray,  a  native  of 
Iowa,  and  they  have  two  children,  Esthei-  N.  and  Thelma  L.  In  a 
fraternal  way  he  affiliates  with  the  Modern  AVoodmen,  the  Royal 
Neighbors  and  the  Fraternal  Brotherhood.  Without  being  an  active 
politician,  he  takes  an  intelligent  interest  in  all  questions  of  pulilic 
significance  and  is  prompt  and  generous  in  response  to  all  demands 
toward  the  advance  of  the  communitv. 


N.   B.   BOWKER 

Prominent  in  tlie  mercantile  circles  and  well  known  throughout 
Central  California,  N.  B.  Bowker,  of  Corcoran,  is  recognized  as  one 
of  the  leading  citizens  of  Kings  county,  Cal.,  where  he  has  lived  since 
1908.  He  was  born  in  Defiance,  Ohio,  in  188-4,  and  just  missed  being 
a  Christmas  present  by  making  his  advent  in  the  home  of  his  parents 
on  December  26.  As  soon  as  he  was  old  enough  he  was  sent  to  the 
public  school,  and  after  he  comi^leted  the  course  of  study  laid  down 
for  its  students  he  took  a  thorough  commercial  course  in  an  efficient 
business  college.  He  was  employed  in  his  native  state  as  a  clerk 
until  1901,  when  he  came  to  California.  After  emiiloyment  about 
six  years  as  an  electrician,  he  located  in  Corcoran  and  not  long  after- 
ward engaged  in  business  for  himself  as  proprietor  of  a  men's  fur- 
nishings goods  store,  and  has  won  one  of  the  consi)icuous  commer- 
cial successes  which  has  brought  Corcoran  to  the  attention  of  an 
extensive  tributary  territory. 

October  15,  1907,  Mr.  Bowker  married  Miss  E.  E.  Doughtery, 
who  was  born  in  Iowa  March  6,  1886,  and  they  have  two  daughters, 
Mildred  and  Margaret.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bowker  have  won  the  friend- 
ship of  a  large  circle  of  acquaintances  and  their  geniality  and  sin- 
cere interest  in  all  with  whom  they  come  in  contact  make  them  wel- 
come everywhere.  Mr.  Bowker  has  achieved  ]iopularity  in  business 
circles  by  doing  business  on  strict  business  principles,  while  always 
showing  a  disposition  to  give  the  other  man  a  chance.  C'ustomers 
once  attracted  to  his  store  continue  their  patronage  and  bring  their 
friends  to  take  ad\autage  of  the  bargains  that  he  offers  from  time 
to   time.     With  so   satisfaeory  a   ]iast,   so   prosperous   a    itresent.   his 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  875 

future  is  full  of  promise,  and  the  time  is  uot  far  distant  when  he  will 
take  his  place  among  the  foremost  merchants  in  his  part  of  the  state. 


JESSE  B.  AdNEAV 

An  identification  with  Tulare  county's  industrial  affairs  since 
1883  has  made  Jesse  B.  Ag-new  well  known  throughout  that  vicinity, 
and  although  his  ]iresent  business  takes  him  from  the  neighborhood 
on  many  occasions  he  holds  his  residence  in  Visalia  at  the  old  Young 
homestead.  No.  600  South  East  street,  where  the  family  of  his  esti- 
mable wife  had  lived  for  many  years.  Mr.  Agnew  is  a  successful 
seed  grower,  wdth  offices  at  No.  110  Market  street,  San  Francisco, 
and  he  is  also  manager  of  the  Pacific  Seed  Growers'  Company.  His 
father  came  to  the  west  in  1846,  locating  in  Oregon,  and  then  returned 
east  for  a  short  time.  He  made  in  all  seven  trips  to  California  be- 
fore there  was  a  railroad,  and  his  experiences  and  knowledge  on  the 
traveling  situation  in  those  days  is  a  most  interesting  narrative. 
A  blacksmith  by  trade,  he  conducted  a  shop  at  the  early  mining 
camps  and  later  removed  to  Santa  Clara  county,  Cal.,  about  lS7o, 
and  it  was  at  this  time  that  he  jmrchased  the  old  Agnew  homestead. 

Jesse  B.  Agnew  was  born  at  Eddyville,  Iowa,  Sejiteniber  15, 
I860,  and  when  nine  years  old  was  brought  to  Santa  Clara  county, 
where  he  was  reared  until  1883,  at  which  time  he  moved  to  Tulare 
county.  He  was  in  the  railroad  land  office  of  the  Southern  Pacific 
Railroad  for  a  time.  He  married  Miss  Ida  Young,  daughter  of 
Newton  and  Mary  (Price)  Young,  who  were  among  the  earliest 
pioneers  of  Visalia.  The  Price  family  were  natives  of  Wales,  who 
came  to  America  with  the  well-known  Evans  family. 


TILLMAN  B.  PHARISS 

Among  the  well-known  and  ]irogressive  cattlemen  of  his  vicinity 
is  numbered  consi)icuously  Tillman  B.  Phariss,  whose  well-equipjied 
ranch  and  fine  range  of  cattle  evidence  his  unusual  ability  in  his 
chosen  calling.  His  father  was  F.  W.  Phariss,  who  ma<lc  the  over- 
land journey  across  the  iilains  and  mountains  to  California  with  ox- 
team  in  1852,  and  he  experienced  much  of  the  hardship  and  danger 
of  those  early  times.  He  later  returned  to  the  east,  but  in  1871  he 
again  came  to  California,  bringing  his  family  with   him. 

Born  in  Dallas  county.  Mo.,  in  1871,  Tillman  B.  Phariss  was 
but   five  months  old  when   his  father  came  the  second   time   to   Call- 


876  TULARE  AXD  KTXGS  COrXTTES 

I'oniia.  and  he  is  therefore  ])ractically  a  native  son.  Settling  in 
Sonoma  eonnty,  the  family  remained  in  that  vicinity  for  about  six 
years  and  then  leiiioved  to  the  Tide  river  eonnti-y,  in  Tulare  county, 
and  here  Mr.  Phariss  made  his  home  and  grew  to  manhood.  Follow- 
ing in  the  footsteps  of  his  father,  who  became  an  extensive  cattle 
ranger  in  the  county,  Mr.  Phariss  familiarized  himself  with  all  the 
details  of  stockraising  and  the  handling  of  cattle,  and  he  now  has  a 
ranch  of  twenty  acres  on  which  he  raises  a  high  grade  of  stock  for 
the  market. 

In  1899  Mr.  Phariss  was  married  to  Evea  Grider,  who  is  a 
native  daughter  of  California.  Four  children  have  been  born  of 
this  union:  Elvin  C,  Walter  S..  and  two  who  are  deceased.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Phariss  are  popular  citizens  in  their  eonmumity  and  hold 
the  respect  and  esteem  of  all  who  know  them. 


FRAXK  P.  HAYES 

This  capitalist  and  man  of  affairs  of  Tulare,  Tulare  county,  was 
born  in  Wayne  county.  Pa.,  in  April,  1863,  and  was  brought  to  Cali- 
fornia when  he  was  five  years  old  by  his  parents,  who  located  at 
Oakland.  Here  he  lived  until  1885.  in  that  year  coming  to  Tulare 
county  and  renting  twelve  hundred  and  eighty  acres  of  land,  four 
miles  west  of  Visalia.  After  raising  grain  there  for  three  years  he 
leased  the  Lindsay  Laud  Company's  land  near  Lindsay,  a  tract  of  six 
thousand  acres,  on  which  he  began  as  a  grower  of  grain  and  later 
embarked  in  the  raising  of  cattle,  combining  the  two  interests  until 
in  the  fall  of  1910,  when  he  bought  nine  hundred  acres  adjoining  the 
Lindsay  land  and  went  into  the  cattle  business  exclusively.  About 
this  time  he  also  bought  thirty-two  hundred  acres  on  the  lake,  near 
Angiola,  and  fifteen  acres  on  the  Lindsay  road.  He  sold  out  the  last 
of  his  holdings  in  X'ovember,  1911.  The  records  of  the  Dair^nnen's 
Co-operative  Creamery  Company  show  that  he  helped  to  organize 
that  corporation  and  served  a  year  as  its  president.  He  is  a  director 
of  the  First  X'ational  Bank  of  Tulare  and  has  from  time  to  time  been 
connected  with  other  important  business  interests,  though  he  con- 
siders that  his  princi])al  business  has  beeji  as  a  stockraiser.  As  a 
citizen  he  has  evidenced  a  commendable  public  spirit  which  has  made 
him  always  quick  to  respond  to  any  appeal  on  behalf  of  movements 
for  the  general  good.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Masons, 
being  a  member  of  Tulare  Lodse,  F.  &  A.  M.,  and  having  received 
the  chapter  and  commandery  degrees.  He  holds  membership  also 
in  the  local  organization  of  the  Woodmen  of  the  World. 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIES  877 

111  1889  Mr.  ilayes  inarried  Miss  Faiiuie  Fieldiug,  of  Marysville, 
Cal.,  and  they  have  four  children,  Mayo,  Mario,  Carroll  and  Austin, 
all  students  in  the  public  schools. 


EDWARD  E.  BUSH 

A  pioneer  and  leadei'  in  many  fields  of  industry  in  Kings  county, 
and  one  who  has  won  for  himself  an  enviable  record  for  industry 
and  integrity  here,  is  Edward  E.  Bush,  who  was  born  at  Waukoii, 
Allamakee  county,  Iowa,  June  25,  1859,  son  of  Moses  D.  Bush,  whose 
name  is  associated  with  the  history  of  pioneer  industries  in  this 
region. 

Moses  D.  Bush  was  liorn  on  a  farm  l)eside  the  Hudson  river 
in  the  state  of  New  York.  When  but  nine  years  of  age  he  was  or- 
phaned and  became  self-su[iporting,  working  on  a  farm,  where  he 
grew  up,  and  experiencing  many  hardsliijis  which  fitted  him  for  his 
subsequent  career  as  a  pioneer.  While  yet  young  lie  went  to  the 
village  of  Chicago  and  conducted  a  boarding  house,  becoming  the 
owner  of  a  tract  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres  upon  which  the  house 
stood.  Disposing  of  that  interest  he  returned  to  New  York  and 
was  marriecl  to  Emily.  E.  Randall,  witli  whom  he  went  to  Allamakee 
county,  Iowa,  where  he  engaged  in  farming  and  practiced  surveying, 
assisting  in  running  the  boundary  line  between  Minnesota  and  Iowa. 
In  1864  he  brouglit  liis  family  to  California  liy  the  overland  I'oute, 
and,  locating  at  San  Jose,  ojjerated  a  small  foundry  there  for  about 
three  years.  He  then  sold  it  and  later  came  to  Kings  county,  where 
he  took  up  land  that  is  now  a  part  of  the  site  of  Lemoore.  This  was 
a  quarter-section,  and  when  he  settled  here  there  was  but  one  house 
between  his  and  Visalia.  He  later  sold  the  ranch  to  Lee  Moore, 
for  whom  the  town  was  named. 

Wlien  Moses  D.  Bush  came  to  Kings  county  it  was  sparsely  set- 
tled, there  being  only  about  twenty-five  peojile  living  there,  among 
tliem  lieing  Uncle  Dan  Rhoades,  Justin  and  Jonathan  Esrey,  who 
were  following  stockraising.  In  the  Irain  were  Samuel  Wi-iglit  and 
II.  P.  Bicknell  and  their  families,  who  settled  on  government  hind 
and  started  to  make  homes;  they  suffered  many  trials,  being  coni- 
])elled  to  go  to  Gilroy  and  haul  tlieir  j^rovisions,  as  the  stocki-aisers 
were  opposed  to  them  and  refused  to  sell  them  meat  or  food  of  any 
kind.  He  was  most  optimistic  as  to  the  country's  future  and  induced 
many  friends  to  settle  in  what  is  now  Kings  county,  giving  them 
shelter  and  food  and  dividing  his  provisions  with  them.  Geese  and 
ducks  were  plentiful,  and  at  one  time  Mr.  Bush  and  his  son  were 
able   to   take   eighteen    hundred   pounds    to    Gilroy,    where    they    sold 


878  TULARE  AND  KTXTiS  COUXTIES 

tlieni  at  $1.25  per  pound.  They  also  operated  a  ferry  boat  at-ross 
the  lake,  a  distance  of  seven  miles.  He  and  a  few  others  originated 
the  first  ditch  hereabouts,  taking  water  from  Kings  river,  and  he 
was  one  of  the  promoters  of  the  Lower  Kings  Eiver  Ditch  Co.  and 
helped  to  dig  its  ditch  with  his  own  hands,  taking  in  payment  for  his 
labor  stock  in  that  public  utility.  In  1879  he  moved  to  a  tract  of 
four  hundred  acres,  four  miles  south  of  Ilauford,  thus  becoming  a 
pioneer  farmer  and  dairyman  in  the  Lakeside  district.  In  1884  he 
sold  his  farm  and  took  up  his  residence  in  Hanford,  where  he  died 
November  16,  1898,  aged  seventy-six.  He  was  a  Democrat  and 
held  several  public  offices,  and  those  still  surviving  who  knew  him 
are  ever  ready  to  praise  his  business  acumen,  his  honesty  and  his 
generosity.  His  widow  is  passing  her  declining  days  with  her 
son,  Edward  E.  She  and  her  husband  were  members  of  the  Ad- 
ventist  church. 

Edward  E.  Bush  was  a  young  boy  when  brought  to  Kings 
county  and  had  had  meager  educational  advantages.  He  was  obliged 
to  walk  five  miles  to  school,  through  herds  of  cattle,  and  he  aided 
materially  in  the  improvement  of  the  home  place.  While  still  quite 
young  he  and  his  brother  worked  for  Mr.  Atwell  on  a  small  steam- 
boat, hauling  hogs  from  Atwell 's  Island,  now  Alpaugh,  across  where 
Corcoran  now  stands,  and  landing  at  Buzzards  Roost,  now  "Waukena. 
In  1881,  when  twenty-two,  he  liecame  an  inde]ipndent  farmer,  hut  the 
next  year  ran  a  small  livery  business  in  Hanford,  and  l)y  1891)  the 
enterprise  was  increased  to  such  an  extent  that  he  sold  at  a  gratify 
ing  profit;  since  then  he  has  devoted  his  energies  almost  entirely  to 
real  estate.  He  has  been  materially  helpful  in  many  directions  toward 
forwarding  movements  for  the  prosperity  of  Hanford.  and  was  in- 
strmnental  in  procuring  the  extension  of  the  Santa  Fe  railroad  from 
Fresno  to  the  Kern  county  line.  In  1889  he  started  the  Del  Monte 
Vineyard  Co.,  which  put  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  under  vines 
and  trees,  and  the  next  year  the  Banner  Vineyard  Co.,  which,  to- 
gether with  the  former  vineyard,  made  a  tract  of  three  lumdred  and 
twenty  acres,  and  this  he  sold  within  a  few  months.  Soon  after  he 
bought  the  Grangeville  vineyard  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  planted 
it  to  vines  and  sold  it  in  the  second  year.  Meantime  he  bought  a 
section  of  land  of  Foster  Brothers,  half  of  which  he  put  to  vines  and 
sold  to  P.  McRae,  planting  the  other  half  in  1891,  and  this  he  sold  to 
the  Armona  Orchard  &  Vineyard  Co.  In  the  fall  of  the  latter  year  he 
organized  the  Silver  Bow  A'ineyard  Co.  at  Butte,  Mont.,  and  sold  two 
hundred  and  forty  acres  of  it  to  residents  of  Butte,  Mont.,  tiio  follow- 
ing spring  selling  to  other  residents  there  a  half  section  which  he 
had  set  to  prunes  and  peaches  and  which  is  known  as  the  ]\lo!itana 
Orchard.  In  1890  he  bought  and  platted  the  Reddingion  Addition  of 
fortv  lots  in   Hanford,   and  a   little  later  bought  twentv   acres   more 


TULARE  AND  KINGS  COUNTIP^S  879 

in  tlie  northern  section  of  the  town  and  phitted  half  of  that;  since 
tlien  he  lias  observed  these  purcliases  develop  into  the  city's  most 
exclusive  residence  district.  About  the  same  time  he  bonnlit  another 
twenty  acres  of  land  in  Hanford,  which  he  sold  in  one  liody. 

As  Mr.  Bush  was  a  pioneer  in  fruits  and  vines,  so  was  he  also 
a  pioneer  in  the  oil  industry.  Soon  after  1890  his  attention  was 
directed  to  oil  possibilities,  and  in  1896  he  organized  the  Consolidated 
Oil  &  Development  Co.,  cai)italized  at  $5(),(MK),  which  sunk  a  well  in 
the  Kroyenhagen  district  and  found  oil,  but  not  in  paying  quantities. 
Next  he  organized  the  Caribou  Oil  Co.  in  the  Coalinga  district  with 
a  like  capital,  became  its  superintendent  and  manager,  and  with  C. 
C.  and  AV.  A.  Spinks  bought  a  section  of  land,  a  part  of  which  was 
sold  to  the  Peerless  Oil  Co.,  eighty  acres  to  the  Merced  Oil  Co.,  and 
eighty  to  the  Great  Northern  Oil  Co.  Five  wells  on  land  still  owned 
by  the  original  c(uupany  yield  a  good  ainuuil  income.  In  the  Kern 
river  country  he  organized  the  Provident  Oil  Co.,  capitalized  at  $200,- 
000,  developed  sixty  acres  in  oil  and  suspended  operations  owing  to 
cheap  oil.  He  organized  also  the  McFadden  Oil  &  Mining  Co.,  with 
a  capital  stock  of  $100,000,  and  sunk  a  well  which,  though  operations 
were  suspended,  is  still  the  property  of  the  company.  In  both  of 
these  comjjanies  Mr.  Bush  owns  a  large  block  of  stock.  A  larger 
enterprise  of  Mr.  Bush's  was  the  Del  Rey  Oil  Co.  Its  capital' was 
$1,000,000;  of  its  four  hundred  acres,  forty  are  in  the  heart  of  the 
Kern  river  field,  seven  producing  wells  being  sunk  under  the  super- 
intendence and  management  of  Mr.  Bush,  who  still  owns  stock  in 
the  company,  as  well  as  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  of  undeveloped 
lands  in  that  district.  In  1898  he  organized  the  Del  Monte  Coal  Co., 
which  developed  coal  lands  in  this  part  of  the  county,  but  suspended 
operations  because  of  exorbitant  ship]iing  charges. 

Of  the  Hanford  Abstract  Co.,  which  was  organized  with  a  cash 
cai)ital  of  $10,000,  Mr.  Bush  has  been  superintendent  and  manager 
since  Noveml)er,  1901,  owning  a  conti'olling  interest  in  the  stock. 
With  four  stockholders  he  organized  the  Hanford  Gas  &  Power  Co., 
of  wdiich  he  is  secretary  and  general  manager;  their  plant  is  one  of 
the  finest  of  its  kind  in  the  state,  costing  .$60,000,  and  to  date  (1913) 
has  more  than  doubled  tlie  investment  price.  In  the  fall  of  1892  Air. 
Bush  was  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  promoters  of  the  creation  of 
Kings  county  from  Tulare,  giving  generously  of  his  money  and  time 
to  that  end,  and  he  was  one  of  the  commissioners  on  organization 
nppointed  by  (Jovernor  Markham.  He  has  been  directly  concerned 
with  most  of  the  improvements  which  have  tnai-ked  the  growth  of 
Hanford  fi-oni  a  village  to  a  thriving  industrial  community.  He  was 
interested  in  the  sugai'  beet  industry  and  the  erection  of  the  $1,000,- 
001)  factory  at  Corcoran,  which  means,  when  plans  materialize  for 
(iperalion    b>'    projier    financing,    one    of   the    greatest    things    for    the 


880  TULARE  AXD  KlX(iS  COUNTIES 

advancement  and  prosperity  of  the  farmers  in  Kings  county.  He 
was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Guarantee  Land  &  Investment  Co., 
which  com|)any  ))iirchased  eight  thousand  acres  of  land  l)etween  (\)r- 
coran  and    llanford,  now  l)eiug  (h_^vehjped   for  colonization. 

Politically  Mr.  Bush  is  a  Democrat.  Though  never  an  office 
seeker,  he  has  been  secretary  of  the  County  Central  Committee  and 
a  delegate  to  the  conventions  and  was  one  of  the  presidential  electors 
on  the  Democratic  ticket  in  1908.  Fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Odd 
Fellows,  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  Foresters.  Mr.  Bush  mar- 
I'ied  in  Kings  county  December  21,  1884,  Miss  Emma  L.  Byrd,  wlio 
was  boi^n  in  California,  and  they  have  four  children :  Ruby  Pearl, 
wife  of  Tx.  M.  Wilson;  Clarence  E. ;  Moses  L\anan;  and  Grover  L. 


DAVID  F.  CARTER 

It  was  in  Platte  county,  Iowa,  that  David  F.  Carter  was  horn  in 
May,  1852,  a  son  of  William  F.  and  Frances  M.  (Hill)  Carter.  His 
father,  a  farmer,  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  his  mother  was  liorn 
in  Tennessee.  They  had  eleven  children:  Sarah  A.,  Marion  F..  James 
L.,  Mary,  Vicia  J.,  William  P.,  Joseph  0.,  John  P.,  David  F.,  Colum- 
bus G.  and  Amanda.  Sarah  became  the  wife  of  Joseph  ().  Lands- 
downe,  has  l)()rne  him  eight  children,  and  they  live  in  Visalia.  Marion 
F.  married  Elsie  Kent,  of  Visalia,  and  theii'  two  children  are  attend- 
ing high  school  in  that  city.  James  L.  married  Elizabeth  Sti'awn 
and  their  home  is  at  Visalia.  Mary  married  Joseph  Ray  and  has 
borne  him  a  son  named  Oliver.  Vicia  J.  is  also  married.  William 
P.,  of  Lindsay,  married  Sallie  Sherman.  Joseph  0.  nuiriicd  ^liss 
Vickery  and  lives  at  Three  Rivers.  John  P.  married  Cenio  Johnson 
and  lives  in  North  Dakota,  where  he  is  principal  of  a  school.  Colum- 
bus G.  is  dead.  Amanda  married  Newton  Kent.  David  F.  married 
Elizabeth  Reaves,  and  she  bore  him  seven  children:  Frank,  JjuIu, 
Albert,  Joseph  0.,  Ora  and  Delia,  and  one  that  died  in  infancy.  Frank 
married  Elsie  Smith,  and  they  and  their  two  children  reside  at  Reed- 
ley,  Fresno  county.  Albert  has  devoted  himself  to  educational  work 
and  his  wife,  formerly  Miss  Grimsy,  is  teaching  at  Porterville.  He 
has  served  as  a  member  of  the  board  of  education  and  is  now  princi- 
pal of  a  night  school  and  will  graduate  in  law  from  the  Hastings 
law  school  in  1913.  He  was  for  four  years  a  student  at  the  normal 
■school  at  San  Jose.  Joseph  0.  is  married.  Ora  married  William 
Janes,  a  newspaper  man  at  Taft,  Cal.,  and  has  three  children.  Delia 
married  Byron  Allen,  a  well-known  stockman,  and  lives  at  Visalia. 

In  1870  Mr.  Carter  came  to  California  from  Iowa,  crossing  the 
plains  with  an  emigrant  train.     For  a  time  he  lived  at  TTill's  Ferry 


TULARE   AND   KINGS   COUNTIES  881 

on  tlie  San  Joaquin  river  and  was  engaged  in  farming  and  in  driving 
a  ten-mule  team  in  freighting.  He  has  lived  in  Tulare  county  since 
1872.  After  following  stockraising  for  a  time  he  went  into  the  lime 
business,  in  which  he  was  successful,  furnishing  this  necessity  for 
most  of  the  public  buildings  in  the  county.  He  located  in  Lemon 
Cove  in  187(i  and  in  1878  was  instrumental  in  establishing  a  postofifice 
there,  of  which  he  was  in  charge  as  postmaster  for  fourteen  years. 
He  was  for  a  time  prominent  in  the  sheej)  liusiness,  at  one  time  own- 
ing twenty-one  thousand  head.  One  of  his  transactions  in  sheep, 
with  which  he  made  a  large  profit  on  thirty-seven  hundred  sheep 
wliich  he  liought  at  Tulare,  brought  liim  to  the  attention  of  sheei)  men 
tlirougliout  the  country.  Finally  he  sold  his  sheep  for  $10,000  and 
iuvesled  his  money  in  cattle.  He  formerly  ran  his  sheep  in  the 
mountains,  but  his  cattle  business  centers  at  his  ranch  at  Three 
Rivers.  He  was  for  a  time  the  owner  of  a  lemon  oi'cliard  at  Lemon 
Cove.  He  has  latterly  given  his  altention  to  the  laying  of  cement 
pipe  and  his  operations  in  connection  with  Mountain  \'iew  ranch  are 
well  known  to  all  his  fellow  citizens.  Politically  he  is  a  Democrat. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  His  interest  in  education 
has  impelled  him  to  accept  the  offices  of  school  trustee,  director  ot 
schools  and  clerk  of  the  board  of  education. 


JOHN  H.  HINE 

In  the  struggle  for  success  in  which  John  H.  Mine  was  for  many 
years  putting  forth  his  efforts  no  one  was  more  helpful  and  proved  a 
mightier  force  in  assisting  him  to  gain  prosperity  than  his  estimable 
wife  and  helpmeet,  and  they  are  now  making  their  home  in  Rich- 
mond, enjoying  the  fruits  of  their  hard  labor.  Mr.  Hine  was  born 
in  North  Carolina,  in  18()6,  the  son  of  John  H.  Hine,  Sr.,  the  latter 
of  whom  was  a  jtrogressive  fruit  grower  iji  California  and  is  now 
making  his  home  in  Tulare  county.  AVhen  John  H.,  Jr.,  was  very 
young  he  was  taken  by  his  parents  to  Missouri,  where  the  family 
lived  until  1885,  and  there  the  boy  began  his  education  in  the  public 
schools.  His  active  career  began  as  a  helper  on  his  father's  ranch. 
and  there  he  remained  until  he  was  twenty-two  years  of  age,  when 
he  mari'ied  and  settled  on  land  which  is  now  included  in  his  extensive 
farm  of  ninety  acres.  Aided  by  his  wife,  he  embarked  extensively 
in  general  farming,  growing  fruit  in  large  (juantities  and  raising  con- 
siderable stock  for  the  market.  As  a  citizen  he  has  always  been  help- 
ful to  all  good  interests  of  the  community,  and  in  his  i)olitics  he  is 
inclined  to  be  independent.  Fraternally  lie  affiliates  with  the  Wood- 
men of  tlie  AVorld  and  tlii'  Woodcraft  Order. 


882  TULARE  AND   KINGS   COUNTIES 

The  marriage  of  Mr.  Hine  united  him  witli  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Hill,  a 
native  of  Nebraska,  and  together  they  have  since  faced  many  hard- 
shijjs  and  reverses  which  they  have  bravely  overcome  with  united 
forces,  and  liave  seen  much  of  the  growth  and  development  of  the 
great  agricultural  interests  of  Tulare  county,  witnessing  many  of 
the  changes  which  have  marked  its  progress  from  a  primitive  condi- 
tion to  its  present  excellent  status.  Before  her  marriage  Mrs.  Hine 
had  conducted  a  small  hotel  in  Dinuba,  but  she  rented  it  for  two 
years  after  marrying  and  then  sold  it  at  a  good  profit.  She  is  an 
excellent  example  of  the  rare  woman  who  unselfishly  shares  the  bur- 
den of  life's  responsibilities  with  her  husband,  and  they  justly  merit 
the  well-earned  rest  they  are  now  taking,  for  they  are  renting  their 
ranch  and  making  their  home  near  Richmond,  surrounded  by  many 
friends. 


WILLIAM  H.  MILLER,  M.  D. 

Dr.  Miller  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  near  his  birth- 
place in  Illinois  and  at  Aulmrn,  Ind.,  and  was  graduated  from  the 
medical  department  of  tlie  University  of  Illinois  with  the  M.  D.  de- 
gree in  1886.  After  a  year's  practice  in  Chicago  he  went  to  Dakota, 
where  he  remained  two  years,  until  he  came  to  California.  He 
opened  an  office  in  Hanford  in  1889  and  has  since  built  up  a  very 
successful  general  practice.  He  served  as  health  o.fficer  of  the  city, 
and  was  surgeon  for  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  until  he  resigned 
because  of  the  demands  of  his  private  practice.  As  a  member  of  the 
California  State  Medical  Society  and  through  other  affiliations  he 
keeps  in  touch  with  the  profession. 

Inclination  has  led  Dr.  Miller  to  take  an  interest  in  ranching 
and  in  dairying,  and  during  the  past  seven  years  he  has  develojjed 
thirty-five  acres,  six  miles  south  of  Hanford,  into  one  of  the  most 
attractive  homesteads  in  this  part  of  the  county.  He  has  three 
hundred  and  twenty  acres  also  on  Mill  creek,  east  and  south  of  Han- 
ford, between  that  city  and  Tulare,  which  is  devoted  to  dairy  ]iur- 
poses.  It  is  irrigated  by  means  of  a  twenty  horsepower  electric 
motor  and  two  ten-inch  wells  which  produce  fifteen  hundred  gallons 
of  water  per  minute.  One  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  the  ])ro]ierty 
is  imder  alfalfa,  and  the  rest  is  given  over  to  grain.  He  has  a 
dairy  of  forty-five  Holstein  cows.  All  in  all,  this  is  one  of  the  liest 
proi^erties  of  its  kind  in  the  vicinity.  Too  busy  otherwise  to  give 
personal  attention  to  its  management,  he  leases  it  on  shares.  His 
house  in  Hanford,  which  he  erected  in  1901  with  a  view  to  making 
it  a  suitable  residence  for  this  climate,  is  one  of  the  model  homes  of 


TULARE   AND   KINGS   COUNTIES  883 

tliat  eity.  It  is  of  l)riok.  witli  doultlo  walls,  separated  by  open  spaces, 
aiul  is  surrounded  l)y  beautiful  park-like  grounds  in  wliieli  lie  has 
planted  many  trees. 

Fraternally  Dr.  Miller  aftiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World, 
l)eing  a  member  of  the  llanford  lodge  of  that  order.  In  a  public- 
spirited  way  he  has  been  a  factor  in  the  building  up  of  the  town, 
whose  citizens  recognize  in  liim  one  willing,  so  far  as  he  is  able,  to  con- 
tribute to  the  general  good. 


ASBURY  C.  RANEY 

It  was  in  Missouri  that  Asbury  C.  Raney  was  liorn  January  12, 
]W0.  Reared  and  educated  there,  he  made  his  home  in  that  state 
until  1884.  In  that  year,  when  he  was  twenty-four  years  old,  he 
came  to  California  and  during  the  ensuing  three  years  lived  in  Lake 
count \'.  In  October,  1887,  he  drove  down  to  Tulare  county  in  a 
])rairie  schooner,  stopping  at  Grangeville.  He  entered  government 
land  on  the  plains  near  Huron,  Fresno  county,  and  after  perfecting 
his  title  to  it  eventually  sold  it.  For  some  time  he  was  in  the  em- 
ploy of  others  on  farms,  besides  which  he  did  considerable  teaming, 
and  for  nine  years  he  worked  on  harvesters.  In  November,  1890, 
he  bought  thirty  acres  of  land  five  miles  and  a  half  northwest  of 
Hanford,  of  which  twenty-two  acres  are  in  vines  and  about  six  acres 
in  orchard,  the  Italance  of  the  tract  being  liis  home  site.  Later  he 
])urchased  forty  acres  near  Orosi,  in  the  orange  belt  in  Tulare  county, 
and  this  he  devotes  to  general  crops. 

In  1885  Mr.  Raney  married  Berintha  Kern,  a  native  of  Missouri, 
and  they  have  one  son,  Teddy  Roosevelt  Raney,  born  in  xVpril,  1903, 
now  a  student  in  the  i)ublic  school  near  his  home.  Socially  Mr. 
Raney  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World.  Politically  he 
entertains  progressive  ideas  and  is  devoted  to  the  develo])ment  of 
his  district  and  county  and  to  the  best  interests  of  the  people  of  the 
country  at  large. 


WILLIAM  RIVERS 

One  of  the  enterprising  and  successful  dairymen  of  Visalia  is 
William  Rivers,  whose  establishment  is  on  Goshen  avenue.  Bereft 
of  a  father's  care  at  a  very  early  age,  he  found  it  necessary  to  earn 
his  own  way  when  he  was  (juite  young,  and  it  is  largely  to  his  credit 


884  TULARE   AND   KINGS   COUNTIES 

that  be  has  reached  his  present  eomi'urtahle  state,  having  acquired 
pro]3erty  and  becoming  the  proprietor  of  a  well-paying  business. 

Mr.  Rivers  was  born  in  Joliet,  III.,  August  7,  1872,  son  of 
William  and  Mary  (Miller)  Rivers,  and  was  but  fifteen  years  of  age 
when  brought  to  California  by  his  motlier.  He  remained  with  his 
family  on  the  small  farm  near  Goshen,  where  they  had  settled,  for 
about  nine  years,  coming  to  his  i)resent  place  in  Yisalia  January  1, 
1911.  Witli  a  ])artner,  James  Butler,  he  farms  three  thousand  acres 
of  land,  lin\  iiig  three  Imndred  and  fifty  acres  planted  to  alfalfa,  and 
they  e.xpect  to  have  a  thousand  acres  devoted  to  that  crop  in  the 
course  of  three  years  or  less.  Seveuty  acres  are  in  vineyard  and 
three  hundred  in  Egyptian  corn.  The  land  produces  half  a  ton  of 
dried  raisin  grapes  to  the  acre,  or  a  ton  and  a  half  of  wine  grapes 
to  the  acre.  They  have  been  successful  in  the  raising  of  beef  cattle, 
hogs  and  mules,  and  their  stock,  being  exceptionally  fine,  commands 
ihe  highest  market  price. 

Mr.  Rivers  was  married  May  lli,  1;mj3,  to  Daisy  Williams,  a 
native  of  Kansas,  whose  family  came  to  California  in  1887,  and  she 
has  borne  him  the  following  children:  Lois,  Irene,  AVilliam,  Jr., 
Ralph,  Edith  and  Ray.  He  is  identified  with  the  Woodmeu  of  the 
World  and  with  the  Loyal  Order  of  Moose.  In  his  politics  he  is 
stanchly  Republican,  and  the  confidence  which  his  townsmen  repose 
in  him  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  he  has  been  a  member  of  the 
County  Central  Committee  for  Tulare  county  and  as  such  has  ac- 
quitted himself  with  much  ability. 

The  niother  of  William  Rivers,  who  is  still  living  at  Goshen, 
aged  about  sixty-five  years,  is  one  of  those  strong,  courageous  women 
who  have  done  so  much  in  aiding  in  the  development  of  this  territory. 
Her  family  consisted  of  ten  children,  viz.:  Mrs.  Frank  Halstead.  of 
Fresno  county;  Mrs.  Arthur  Mitchell,  of  Yisalia;  Alice,  wife  of  James 
Black,  of  Oaidand;  Mollie;  David;  William,  Jr.;  Roy;  John;  James, 
and  Ilarrv. 


JOHN  EARLY  SCOGGINS 

The  Scoggins  family  of  which  John  Early  Scoggins  is  a  member 
is  of  Scotch  origin  (the  great-great-grandfather  having  been  ban- 
ished from  Scotland  on  account  of  religious  j)ersecution,  he  being  a 
Protestant  in  his  faith),  and  many  of  its  rejiresentatives  in  this  coun- 
try inherit  the  sturdy  traits  of  character  of  that  excellent  race.  The 
father  of  John  Llarly  Scoggins  was  Dr.  Franklin  Scogeins  and  was  a 
native  of  Tennessee,  whence  in  18,14  he  set  out  for  California,  com- 
ing  overland   across   the   plains   and   enduring   the    untold    hardships 


TULAKK   AND   KIN(iS   COUNTIES  880 

and  vicissitudes  of  tliat  tedious  jouruey.  He  was  the  fatlier  of  nine 
children,  as  follows:  Noah  H.,  David  T.,  Vesta  Tennessee,  Jolin  Rai'ly. 
Alice  May,  Nowton  Jasper,  Nettie,  Tjcna  and  one  child  that  died  in 
infancy. 

In  Yolo  county,  Cal.,  shortly  after  his  i)are.iits  liad  arrived  there, 
occurred  the  birth  of  John  Early  Scogi;ins,  on  June  iT),  1S54-,  and  he 
tliere  f>rew  to  a  boy  of  twelve  years,  attending  the  schools  of  the 
vicinity  and  receiving  careful  and  attentive  training  from  his  excel- 
lent i)arents.  Tie  then  was  taken  by  his  parents  to  Vacaville,  Solano 
county,  and  attended  the  Methoilist  Episcopal  College,  there  taking 
a  preparatory  course,  after  which  he  entered  the  State  University 
at  Oakland.  His  desire  to  complete  a  course  was  frustrated  by  the 
sickness  of  his  father,  which  compelled  him,  after  a  year  at  the  uni- 
versity, to  relimiuish  his  studies  and  athletic  activities  and  return 
home  to  take  charge  of  his  father's  large  fruit  farm  near  ^^acaville. 
Witli  his  accustomed  thoroughness  in  everything  he  undertook  he 
learned  the  fruit  business  in  its  every  phase,  and  in  1892  moved  to 
Tulare  count\  to  take  charge  of  the  Grant  Oak  Fruit  Ranch  of  four 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  near  Farmersville.  As  manager  of  this 
fruit  ranch  he  sliipjied  out  the  first  carload  of  green  fruit  from  tliat 
jilace.  thus  eslalilishing  himself  as  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the  fruit 
exporting  business  of  the  county.  For  thirteen  years  he  continued 
as  manager  of  this  ranch  and  then  became  interested  in  fruit  farming 
on  a  tract  three  miles  southwest  of  Dinuba,  where  he  still  owns  a 
well-improved  forty-acre  fruit  and  alfalfa  ranch,  five  acres  being- 
planted  to  peaches,  twenty  acres  to  grapes  and  the  balance  to  alfalfa. 

Mr.  Scoggins  is  a  stanch  Democrat  in  political  belief,  and,  not- 
withstanding his  large  ranching  interests,  has  found  time  to  fill  the 
office  of  member  of  the  Democratic  County  Central  Committee,  I0 
which  he  has  repeatedly  been  elected  in  Tulare  county.  In  chui'ch 
associations  he  is  a  Seventh  Day  Adventist  and  has  served  on  the 
association  board  for  several  years.  On  October  18,  1876,  in  YiM-ix 
valley,  Mr.  Scoggins  was  married  to  Miss  Ida  Oriia  Decker,  daughtei- 
of  Mrs.  I.  L.  Decker,  who  lives  at  Diamond,  Cal.,  and  to  this  union 
eight  children  were  born,  as  follows:  Ethel  Ida,  Mable  Clair,  Roy  E., 
Adelbei't  Ellis,  Paul  Elmon,  Edith  Lucile,  Nellis  Louise  and  Helen 
Merle,  all  of  whom  arc  at  present  residing  in  Tulare  county.  Flthel 
Ida  is  the  wife  of  Alva  Leil)sher;  Mable  Clair  is  tlie  wife  of  Charles  R. 
Thompson,  of  Farmei'sville ;  Paul  Elmon  is  a  minister  in  the  Seventh 
Day  Adventist  Clmrcli,  stationed  at  Tulare;  and  Roy  E.  is  mcntioiicil 
fully  in  another  part  of  this  publication. 

The  Decker  family,  of  which  Mrs.  Scoggins  is  a  member,  are  of 
old  Colonial  history,  members  having  been  among  those  brave  i)eople 
who  came  in  the  Mayflowei-  to  Phnnouth,  Mass.  Her  father,  I.  L. 
Decker.  <'nm(>  aci'oss  the  iilains  in   IS.')!),  and   it  is  an   interesting   fact 


886  TULAKE   AND   KINGS    C"OrXTI?:S 

in  the  family  memoirs  to  know  that  he  was  married  on  the  way  to 
California  and  took  his  bride  to  live  in  tlie  Suisun  valley.  His  death 
occurred  in  1873,  his  wife  still  surviving  and  making  her  home,  as 
above  mentioned,  at  Diamond,  Cal. 

In  all  of  his  interests,  industrial,  commercial,  political  or  relig- 
ious, Mr.  Scoggins  has  been  ever  an  important  factor  for  good  and 
every  emergency  has  found  in  him  an  active  helper  and  a  most  gen- 
erous contrilmtor.  A  kind  and  thoughtful  father,  domestic  in  his 
tastes  and  loyal  in  his  duties  of  citizenship,  he  has  been  most  worthy 
of  the  honor  and  esteem  which  is  accorded  him  by  all.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  add  that  Mr.  Scoggins  has  always  evinced  a  great  interest 
in  athletics,  having  played  first  base  with  the  Lone  Stars  team,  and  in 
1873  was  a  valued  member  of  the  team  of  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia. 


ROY  E.  SCOGGINS 

Inhei'ent  qualities  of  an  unusual  character  have  qualified  Roy  E. 
Scoggins  to  fill  tlie  ]>rominent  i)osition  in  tlie  business  world  lie 
liolds.  he  being  a  member  of  a  very  old  and  well-known  Scotch  family 
on  the  paternal  side,  while  in  the  maternal  line  he  is  a  descendant  of 
Mayflower  ancestors  of  the  Decker  family.  Mr.  Scoggins'  ingenuity 
has  been  evidenced  liy  his  invention  of  the  Hard  Pan  Renovator,  a 
machine  made  /or  the  drilling  of  holes  in  which  dynamite  is  ])laced 
for  the  blasting  of  hard  pan.  The  machine  is  mounted  on  four  wheels 
and  is  driven  by  means  of  an  eight  horsejiower  gasoline  engine; 
by  means  of  this  power  the  holes  are  driven  into  the  hard  pan  mat- 
ter and  into  the  holes  thus  made  dynamite  is  placed  and  exploded, 
thus  breaking  the  hard  surface  for  several  feet  around  and  making 
the  land,  formerly  so  useless,  very  fertile  and  valuable  for  orange, 
peach  or  lemon  trees,  alfalfa  or  any  deep-rooted  plant.  In  partner- 
ship with  his  estimable  father,  John  E.  Scoggins  (a  sketch  of  whom 
ap])ears  elsewhere  in  this  volume).  Mr.  Scoggins  is  now  operating 
three  of  these  machines  in  the  field,  and  they  have  built  up  a  new 
and  very  ]ir()fital)le  industry  in  the  county.  The  machines  are  made 
at  the  Briscoe  i\Ianufacturing  Co.,  at  Lindsay  and  Hanford,  and  the 
invention  l)ids  fair  to  liecome  one  of  tlie  most  useful  of  the  times. 

Mr.  Scoggins  was  born  in  Colusa  county  in  1882,  son  of  John 
Early  and  Ida  O.  (Decker)  Scoggins.  When  he  was  fourteen  years 
of  age  he  came  to  Tulare  and  prepared  for  college  at  Healdsburg, 
where  he  entered  and  com]>leted  his  course  with  a  good  record.  For 
some  time  he  was  employed  on  his  father's  ranch,  and  he  then  turned 
his  attention  to  the  carpenter's  trade,  which  has  been  for  many  years 


TULAEE   AND   KINGS   COUNTIES  887 

his  eliief  work.  In  11)08  he  married  Miss  Edith  Jones,  a  native  of 
Iowa,  and  they  have  a  daughter,  Oleta,  who  was  two  years  old  in 
1912.  They  make  their  home  in  Lindsay,  and  it  has  become  the  cen- 
ter of  many  ijleasant  social  gatherings,  their  host  of  friends  always 
finding  a  most  hospitable  welcome  there. 

Mr.  Scoggins  has  never  been  actively  interested  in  political  work, 
but  he  has  well-defined  ideas  on  all  questions  of  domestic  economy 
and  his  public  spirit  has  prompted  him  to  respond  generously  to  all 
reasonable  demands  on  behalf  of  the  community.  He  is  an  enter- 
lirising  and  successful  citizen,  numbered  among  those  j'oung  men  of 
the  state  who  have  contributed  the  vigorous  interest,  inflexible  will 
and  indomitable  courage  to  further  interests,  make  larger  attempts 
and  luing  about  the  prosperous  conditions  that  exist  at  the  present 
time,  llis  invention  has  proved  not  only  a  iiuaucial  success  to  him 
and  a  source  of  gratification  as  well,  but  it  has  given  to  many  the 
means  of  improving  land  wliich  heretofore  had  been  waste  and  unde- 
veloped. 


J.  NEWTON  YOUNG 

The  Young  family  to  which  J.  Newton  Young  belongs  is  one  of 
the  leading  pioneer  families  of  Visalia,  having  lived  there  since  1855, 
during  which  time  many  representatives  of  the  family  have  become 
identified  with  its  progress  and  development.  Born  at  Visalia,  Cal., 
at  No.  600  South  East  street,  which  has  been  the  family  homestead 
for  many  years,  J.  Newton  Young  is  the  son  of  Newton  and  Mary 
(Price)  Young,  the  former  a  native  of  Indiana,  while  Mrs.  Young 
was  born  in  AYales.  The  parents  were  married  in  Visalia,  whence 
Mr.  Young  had  come  as  a  soldier  to  quiet  disturbance  incident  to 
the  Civil  war.  He  was  a  private  in  Company  I,  and  it  was  while 
serving  in  that  capacity  that  he  married.  He  was  killed  in  a  sawmill 
in  the  (xreat  Forests  bv  a  large  log  rolling  on  him  on  August  L'4, 
1871. 

J.  Newton  Young  was  a  jiosthumous  child,  his  birth  occuii-iug 
April  L'4,  1872,  just  eight  inontlis  after  his  father's  accidental  death. 
He  had  a  sister,  Ida,  who  became  the  wife  of  J.  B.  Agnew,  a  seed- 
grower  with  place  of  business  at  No.  110  Market  street,  San  Fj'an- 
cisco.  The  maternal  grandfather  of  J.  Newton  Young  was  an  old 
settler  at  Visalia.  Tie  built  the  old  Visalia  home  and  was  identilied 
with  much  of  the  develoiunent  of  that  place.  He  came  with  the 
Evans  family  from  "Wales,  that  party  comprising  Samuel  Evans,  Sr., 
and  his  wife,  .\nn  Evans;  John  Price,  Saiimcl  Evans,  Jr.,  and  James 


888  TULARE   AXD   KIXGS   C'OUXTIES 

Evans,  and  Mary  Price.     The  last-named,  who  liecanie   the  wife  of 
Newton  Young,  passed  away  at  Visalia  in  1909. 

J.  Newton  Young  is  now  managing  the  Mary  Young  estate,  which 
consisted  of  two  hundred  and  forty  acres  and  a  dairy  ranch,  besides 
other  property.  He  has  farmed  successfully,  and  during  later  years 
has  invested  in  the  oil  industry  at  Lost  Hills  and  Belle  Ridge,  in  all 
of  which  interests  he  has  met  with  signal  success.  He  married  Miss 
Maud  Shuman  of  San  Francisco,  and  they  make  their  home  in  the 
cozy  bungalow  Mr.  Young  has  Iniilt  at  No.  501)  South  Bridge  street. 
Visalia. 


JAMES  M.  WELLS 

One  who  has  achieved  jirominence  as  a  contractor  and  l)uilder 
tln-oughout  the  West  and  Northwest  is  James  M.  Wells,  who  was 
born  at  Lansing,  Mich.,  April  4,  1855.  He  was  there  reared  and 
educated  and  was  instructed  in  the  essentials  and  the  niceties  of  the 
carriagemaker's  trade.  Thus  he  laid  the  foundation  of  the  splendid 
knowledge  of  mechanics  which  has  enabled  him  to  win  success  in  an- 
other tield  of  mechanical  labor.  He  came  to  California  in  1875,  when 
he  was  in  his  twenty-first  year,  and  worked  at  carriage-making,  mill- 
wrightiug  and  carpentering  in  San  Francisco,  and  also  in  Seattle, 
Wash.,  Portland,  Ore.,  in  Idaho  and  Montana,  and  in  British  Colum- 
bia. In  his  work  in  connection  with  the  construction  of  fine  build- 
ings he  developed  an  exceptional  ability  for  interior  finishing  in  resi- 
dences and  office  structures  of  the  first  class,  and  eventually  this  note- 
worthy specialty  brought  him  to  the  notice  of  a  leading  contractor 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Los  Angeles,  by  whom  he  was  employed, 
mostly  at  Long  Beach,  for  three  years.  He  gave  attention  solely  to 
interiors,  and  he  worked  there  eight  years  altogether,  heli")ina'  to  erect 
and  beautify  many  of  the  largest  and  finest  buildings  in  that  field 
of  remarkable  building  operations.  He  came  to  Tulare  county  in 
1907  and  boiight  a  forty-acre  ranch  just  out  of  Tulare  City,  raw 
land  which  he  improved  with  a  residence,  outbuildings  and  a  modern 
pumping  plant,  setting  out  a  family  orchard  and  devoting  himself 
princiiially  to  the  growth  of  alfalfa.  This  pro]ierty  he  sold  advan- 
tageously in  1910. 

For  several  years  past  Mr.  Wells  has  given  his  attention  mostly 
to  contracting  and  building.  Among  the  notable  buildings  he  lias 
erected  in  Tulare  City  are  the  residences  of  Mr.  Feltnig,  Mr.  Johns 
and  Frank  Moody,  and  in  the  county  outside  of  that  town  he  has 
built  the  ranch  houses  of  Messrs.  Ottaman,  Wattenberg,  Fry,  Wol- 
cott  and  Miller,  besides  the  Dr.  Scroggs  home  and  a   fine  concrete 


TULARE  AND   KINGS   COUNTIES 


889 


l.lork  house  for  Frank  M.  Adams.  Oue  of  Mr.  Wells'  earlier  ven  ures 
was  us  a  raui^er  in  Washington,  where  for  some  time  he  ran  a  large 
band  of  cattle  over  an  extensive  range.  He  was  married  in  190L 
to  Miss   Strong,   a  native  of   Indiana. 


ISAAC  HENDERSON  WARREN 

In  C^oifee  oountv,  Tenn.,  Isaac  Henderson  Warren  was  born  in 
October.  isr,6,  a  son" of  Thomas  P.  and  Mary  (Harris)  Warren.  His 
father  lived  to  be  seventv-tive  years  old,  and  his  mother  survives,  m 
her  seventv-first  vear.  They  were  natives  of  Tennessee,  and  it  was 
at  Ilillsboro  in  that  state  that  the  elder  AVarren  passed  away  in  l.)Ob. 
Mr  Warren  married  in  his  native  state  Miss  Bobbie  Wilhs,  who  also 
was  born  there.  Her  mother  lived  to  be  seventy-five  years  old,  and 
John  Willis,  her  father,  attained  to  the  same  age ;  one  of  her  grand- 
mothers reached  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-two  years.  After  his 
marriao-e  Mr.  AVarren  removed  from  Tennessee  to  Brownwood, 
Brown  countv,  Texas,  where  he  farmed  until  he  came  to  Tulare 
countv  He  bought  fifteen  acres  of  land  near  Tulare  and  has  twelve 
acres  "in  vines,  Muscat  grapes' being  his  prin.'ipal  crop.  The  remain- 
der of  his  land  is  a  big  chicken  yard,  he  having  about  one  hundred 
fine  chickens.     While  he  is  interested  in  stock,  he  keeps  only  enough 

for  his  own  use. 

To  Isaac  Henderson  and  Bobbie  (Willis)  Warren  have  been 
born  six  children:  Willis,  Oscar,  Leasel,  David,  and  Ira  and  Ima 
twins  Willis  is  a  salesman  in  a  store  at  Collis;  Oscar  is  einployed 
in  a  packing  house;  the  others  are  attending  school.  Mr  Warren 
is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church.  Politically  he  is  an  independent 
Democrat,  and  fraternally  he  affiliates  with  the  Woodmen  of  the 
World  He  is  in  everv  sense  of  the  word  a  good  citizen,  sohcitous 
for  the  general  welfare  and  helpful  to  all  pul)li<-  interests. 


.TOSHUA  E.  WEST 

or  tlie  enterprising  haiidUM's  of  sululivisions  at  Visalia,  Tulare 
county,  none  lias  l)een  more  successful  in  recent  years  than  Josliua 
E.  West,  of  the  firm  of  West  &  Wing.  A  native  of  the  P.iue  Grass 
Stale,  Mr.  West  was  born  in  Graves  county,  Ky.,  a  son  of  Josei)h 
W^est.'  The  fatb.er  came  to  California  first  in  1850,  subsequently  re- 
turning to  Kentucky,  and  again  came  to  the  Pacific  coast  in  1S74. 
Josliua    E.    West,   who   was   then   (juite   young,   grew   to    inanliodd    \u 


890  TULARE  AXD   KINGS   COUNTIES 

Fresno  coiuity  and  was  edneated  in  the  imblic  school  near  his  home. 
From  an  early  age  he  was  a  valnable  assistant  to  his  father  in  the 
latter 's  farming  and  stock-raising  operations  and  in  1895  he  engaged 
in  Inisiness  on  his  own  acconnt  by  leasing  four  hundred  acres  of  land 
near  Fresno  and  devoting  it  to  the  production  of  grapes  and  fruit. 
There  he  operated  until  1903,  when  he  came  to  Tulare  county  as  man- 
ager for  the  Robla-Lomas  Cattle  Comiiany,  which  had  a  range  of 
ten  thousand  acres  about  twenty-two  miles  north  of  Visalia.  There 
he  had  in  charge  neai-Iy  two  thousand  cattle,  the  number  having  been 
kept  up  to  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty  for  quite  a  long  time.  Later 
he  engaged  in  fattening  cattle  at  the  "\"isalia  sugar  factory,  feeding 
them  on  the  pulp  of  beets.  It  should  be  added  that  his  business 
here  comprised  the  buying,  fattening  and  selling  of  cattle,  and  that 
he  transacted  it  successfully  wholly  on  his  own  account.  In  May, 
1911,  he  organized  the  real  estate  firm  of  West  &  AYing. 

In  this  last-mentioned  business  Mr.  West's  partner  is  William 
A.  Wing,  and  they  make  a  specialty  of  handling  large  tracts  of  land 
for  subdi\isiou.  A  plat  of  twelve  hundred  acres  east  of  Orosi  they 
bought  at  an  average  price  of  $41.50  an  acre,  and  after  subdividing 
it  tiiey  sold  it  at  $125  to  $200  an  acre.  They  also  handled  profitably 
a  tract  of  eighteen  hundred  acres  north  of  Orosi,  nine  hundred  acres 
of  which  they  |)latted  in  siibdivision  and  planted  to  oranges.  In  the 
last  ten  years  Mr.  West  has  seen  orange  land  in  Tulare  county  ad- 
vance in  market  value  from  $10  to  $200  an  acre,  and  he  has  wit- 
nessed a  similar  advance  in  property  of  other  classes. 

Fraternally  Mr.  West  atfiliatei^  with  the  Woodmen  of  the  World. 
As  a  citizen  he  is  very  helpfully  progressive  and  i)ulilic  spirited.  In 
November,  1901,  he  married  Miss  Eliza  Freeman,  a  native  of  Fresno, 
whose  father  came  to  California  with  the  pioneers.  Mr.  and  ^frs. 
West  have  a  son  and  daughter.  Herbert  and  Marcella. 


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