Tehama County in northern California, 1903

TEHADPTIA.
COUNTY

NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA

“TT NONTHS OLD

$7
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Issued by the CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

of Red Bluff; E. D. Gardner, Prest.
W. C. Spann, Secy.

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‘Tehama County

IN

Northern California

1903
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Written and Compiled by

Ww: C. SPANN
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Printed by
The WhitaKer @ Ray Company
(Incorporated)
723 Market St.

San Francisco, Cal.

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Are you content to live the remainder of your life
where the snows and ice and cold winds of winter keep the
mercury hovering around the zero mark—often below; or
where the sultry, humid atmosphere of summer makes life
almost unbearable ; where the gentle cyclone leaves devasta-
tion and ruin in its path? If you are, then a perusal of these
pages will be as so much time thrown away.

3ut if you would live where the climate is mild in win-
ter and by no means oppressive in summer; where cyclones
and sunstrokes are unknown, and where 365 good nights’
rest can be had each year; where the scenery is unsur-
passed; where the orange and fig, the lemon and lime, the
olive and grape and all other fruits grow in profusion;
where the school system is perfect and the Christian religion
is adhered to in all that it takes to make a law-abiding,
-prasperqus, and, contented people, then we would advise
“yoni w tread carelutfy,: what is here presented.

TEHAMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

The Sierra Nevada Range of Mountains lie lengthwise
in the State, and form its eastern border. They extend from
northwest to southeast. The Coast Range, from northeast
to southwest. At the convergence of the two ranges is Mt.
Shasta, rising to an elevation of 14,442 feet, whose summit
is covered with perpetual snow. To the south and west
from Mt. Shasta for 140 miles are lower mountains and foot-
hills, seven and eight thousand feet high, heavily timbered,
protecting the lowlands from the Arctic blasts. Here we
find the north line of Tehama County, which extends from
the summit of the Sierras on the east to the summit of the
Coast Range on the west, a distance of 78 miles, and here
begins the Sacramento Valley, down which 38 miles is the
south line of the County running east to west, giving an
‘area of 3,200 square miles or 2,000,000 acres. The agricul-
tural land is given at 700,000 acres; grazing land at 800,000
acres and timbered or forest land at 500,000 acres. It has a
cosmopolitan population of 12,000. Every State in the
Union and many foreign countries are represented within
its borders.

At the base of Mt. Shasta are numerous springs, the
clear, cold waters of which unite and flow southward
through a canyon, gathering force and volume by the ad-
dition of numerous mountain streams tributary to it, until
it reaches this valley, where it is recognized as the Sacra-
mento River. It is navigable for steamboats to Red Bluff,
the county seat of this (Tehama) County, which is 200 miles
north of San Francisco and 120 miles north of Sacramento,
the Capital of the State.

Tehama County is bounded by Shasta County on the
north; Plumas and Butte on the east; Butte and Glenn on
the south and Mendocino and Trinity on the west.

SCENERY

The scenery in this county is not surpassed elsewhere
in California. The beautiful, the picturesque and the grand

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Northern California 5

are so blended as at once to challenge the admiration of the
beholder.

The landscapes are paragons of rural lovliness. The
parks of great oaks dotting the hills and scattered over the
plains; the orchards and vineyards and patches of alfalfa
with their perpetual verdue; the large flocks of sheep, herds
of cattle, and bands of horses here and there to be seen,
present a picture that few other localities can equal.

CUIM ATE
The following table is taken from the U. S. Weather
Bureau report for 1902, and is here presented to show our
climatic conditions as compared with those of Los Angeles
and Southern California:

Degree wo
Fahrenheit bs a
| eaten epee hs
| | a |) & = o
| Bee ee |}
Sh pas Su Oe} Berks
Sp eer e ae | ae, peas
g a 2 ro) LS > | Og
o 80 S May || heh ys)
x = ro) He} oe Oo
iq et as a FI 32 2
| 2 5¥U &
5 Z
Z Z
Bos Angeles 77.4 etn desec tees: 293) 94 |, 32""|) 35 |124)|198:| 4a
Reg yBlu i iicy.. fhm tance 307|115| 28 | 85 |194/] 84] 87

Owing to the peculiarities of topography, latitude does
not here control the climate, the conditions of which have
no parallel in the world. Our climate is, perhaps, our most
famous glory. It has given us our wonderful fruits and
flowers, and is a help and a blessing to every form of in-
dustry. In the climate of Tehama County one can work out
of decors every day in the year. The summer heat is dry
and sunstrokes are unknown. ‘The thermometer may read
110 degrees, but owing to the dry atmosphere, the effect
upon the body produces less, discomfort than would be felt
in a humid atmosphere at 90 degrees. In other words,
there are about 20 degrees between the “sensible” tempera-
ture and the actual reading of the thermometer.

6 Tehama County

People of the Atlantic Coast and Northern States,
where there is six months of snow and blizzards, never
dream that Tehama County, situated on parallel 40 degrees,
north, is blessed with perpetual summer, where the fig and
olive, the orange and lemon and the vine grow to perfection.

The altitude of the valley and foothill lands of Tehama
County is from 300 to 700 feet above sea level. We have but
two seasons, the wet and the dry. As soon as the rain com-
mences in October, the grass begins to grow, and by the
first of December the country is covered with a green carpet
of vegetation. In October and November most of the plant-
ing and sowing is done. The thermometer seldom falls
lower than 30 degrees above zero. Snow can be seen on the
mountains but seldom falls in the valley. During January
vegetation begins to assume the appearance of spring.
Trees put forth their bloom and grass and grain grow rap-
idly. Grain can be sown in this month and even in March
and produce very well.

The SOLE

Tehama County embraces some of the finest soils in
the State. They are mainly alluvial and volcanic in origin.
The Sacramento River, or its ancient predecessor has de-
posited on either bank wide stretches of rich alluvium.
On the east side is a dark brown, almost black, sandy loam
many feet in depth. On the west bank the plain of tillable
land is wider. The soil on this side is, in considerable part,
of a reddish tinge. The chief characteristics are the loamy
river lands.

The bottoms along the different creeks that flow into
the river have their several peculiarities; but the usual soil,
especially on the west side of the valley, is a yellowish
alluvium, the area being generally not very wide and join-
ing more elevated benches. The different grades of soil
will be viewed by different persons with widely varying
opinions respecting their merits for profitable culture; yet
there is very little doubt that all the soils, from the river

bottom to the coarsest gravelly hills, will be found available
for some kind of husbandry.

“i

Northern California

There is but very little of these lands that do not show
a natural growth of trees and grass, indicating a soil ready
to reward the intelligent cultivator. Large crops of grain,
yielding as high as forty and more bushels to the acre, both
on the bottom, the adobe hills and the hills between, have
demonstrated the fertility of all classes of the soil. This
feature of Tehama County has made it one of the most pros-
perous counties in the State. It has become so from its own
intrinsic merits. No external effort has been made to bol-
ster up or create a fictitious progress. Indeed the citizens
have not even taken the trouble to make -known the re-
sources that have given them their wealth. But their ad-
vantages were too great not at length to attract outside
attention, and repeated suggestions to them have induced
them to throw open the avenues of their prosperity.

STOCK RAISING

Tehama County is particularly well adapted to cattle
and sheep raising. Comprising as it does almost limitless
mountain stock ranges, over which stock can be grazed dur-
ing the summer months to good advantage, and when snow
appears on the mountains our area of valley lands afford
plenty of feed, and owing to the mildness of the winter cli-
mate stock men need have no fear of loss by reason of

HAULING WOOL TO MARKET, RED BLUFF

8 Tehama County

blizzards and extreme cold weather, such as are frequent
and occasion much loss in other great stock sections.

In this county there are two hundred thousand sheep
that are moved in the spring to the mountain ranges and
return in the autumn to the valleys and foothills for winter
pasturage. Twelve thousand head of cattle are similarly
handled, and so all the lands of the county are utilized.

For feed, sheep owners look entirely to providence, the
native grasses being especially suitable to sheep. Flocks
increase rapidly, the percentage averaging ninety of the
ewes, while often, from the profusion of twin lambs, the
increase will reach one hundred and twenty per cent.
Sheep bearing wool sell from $2.50 per head up; lambs at
about $1.25.

In Red Bluff the wool product of spring and fall is
stored, and buyers from other portions of the State are visi-
tors during the storing season. It is estimated that one-fifth
of the wool crop of the State finds a market in Red Bluff, and
in selling time the competition for “clips” is often brisk and
spirited. At the beginning and close of the summer season,
thousands of sheep are on the move from and to the moun-
tains in all parts of the county.

The annual wool crop of Tehama County is about one
million eight hundred thousand pounds. Wool brought to
Red Bluff from other counties and stored for sale or ship-
ment annually amounts to eight hundred thousand pounds.

RIVER TRANSPORTATION

Red Bluff is the head of navigation on the Sacramento
River, and steam boats make regular weekly trips from
Sacramento to this point. Asa result freight rates are very
reasonable. The average monthly shipment to this place
is about 1500 tons. Of this amount 700 tons are for Red
Bluff and fully eight hundred tons are reshipped by rail or
teams to points-in Shasta, Lassen, Trinity, Plumas and
Siskiyou Counties, and southern Oregon. The character of
this freight is general merchandise, mill and mining ma-
chinery. Each boat has a return cargo of wool, grain,

Northern California 9

STEAMBOAT LANDING AT RED BLUFF, CALIFORNIA
HEAD OF NAVIGATION ON THE
SACRAMENTO RIVER

lumber, hides and.dried fruits brought by teams from outly-
ing districts.

ERULT

With all of our great advantages we can boast without
stint of our capabilities in the production of fruit, all in the
open air, asking and needing no protection from the weather
or climate. One grand advantage we possess, unlike our
southern neighbors, is, that our fruits all grow without ir-
tigation, requiring no care other than good cultivation, a
requisite also, where irrigation is necessary.

Growth is not vexed by low temperatures and the grow-
ing season is twice the length of the ordinary summer east
of the Rocky mountains. This naturally makes large fruit
and a ripening season free from rain gives it peculiar
beauty and quality. All the fruits of the temperate zone
grow well and the yield is abundant in Tehama County.

All variety of grapes can be abundantly and profitably
grown here. For the cultivation of the raisin grape our soil
rivals the very best in the State. Much attention is given to
the cultivation of prunes, which is one of the chief products

Io Tehama County

of the county, as well as one of the most profitable. Irriga-
tion is not necessary to the growing of choice fruits in this
county.

Developments of the past few years have proven that
the foothill lands are especially well adapted to growing
fruit, particularly those above enumerated; and oranges
hold as firm as any. These facts have convinced our land
owners that citrus fruits are adapted to this county. They
grow with but little care, there being no need of protection
from climatic influences. They ripen from four to eight
weeks earlier and possess better color and flavor than the
oranges of the southern portion of the State. There are but
few homes in Tehama County without orange trees, and the
number is being increased every year.

Figs are remarkably productive in this county, often
three crops maturing a year. They are easily grown, a few
years developing a large tree from an ordinary slip.

Apples do not prosper so well on the valley lands as they
do in the foothills and mountains. Apples from the uplands
of Tehama County are as good as the best grown in Oregon
for taste, flavor and color, and are better in size and will
keep for months after picking. In the mountains, apples
ripen as early as May, and keep ripening through the var-
ious varieties until about the first of November. What is
known as “Manton District,” lying about thirty miles north
and east of Red Bluff, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada
mountains is coming rapidly to the front in the production
of apples, and the quality of this fruit raised there is second
to none raised in the State.

Tehama County is really the home of the Bartlett Pear.
This fruit grows to large size and is of excellent flavor. The
acreage is not so large as that of the peach or prune, but the
pear will yield a revenue to its owner of from $250 to $300
per acre, when properly cared for.

Concerning the abundant yield and profit of the Bartlett
Pear in this county, I here refer to one orchard. That of
D. S. Cone five miles east of Red Bluff. In 1900 he received
$29,500 for the product of 100 acres of Bartlett Pears—
nearly $300 per acre. Porter Bros. Company, through their

Northern California II

agent, H. P. Stice, were the purchasers. This is but one of
the many instances occurring each year to prove fruit rais-
ing a successful industry in Tehama County.

Large olive orchards are to be seen in the different parts
of the county. Walnuts and chestnuts are common, while
magnolias, acacias, oleanders, palms and Japanese persim-
mons are seen, to a greater or less extent,1n all gardens, and
we see in the same vicinity the eucalyptas, elm, locust, pine,
mulberry and poplar.

Where under the sun can such a variety of climatic ex-
tremes, as shown above, be seen?

HON. CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW.

Than whom there is no more keen and practical ob-
server, said of his visit to California:

“We found ourselves in a country of magnificent futures,
of boundless resources, of unexampled prospects. Though
proud of a vocabulary that had never before staggered when
confronted by the necessities of manifold occasions, I found
the English language too poor to portray the glories of
California. Here is a country destined to drive Italy and
the world out of oranges, lemons, olives, prunes, and wines.
Here is a land that will rejuvenate the worn-out pilgrim
from the far East.

“We, in the East, do not know California, or appreciate
the wonderful future that is before it. There is a State with
a population of a million and a half that is as great in area
as France, with its 35,000,000 people. The people are the
most prosperous and hospitable in the world. I am not
speaking of the cities, but all through California you see no
poverty. Ten acres will support a family, I was told. Fruit-
farming is a way the land is utilized to achieve such re-
sults.”

Florida, with her oranges; France with her grape vines;
the East with its peaches and apples—we can excel all in
their best productions in Tehama County. And still with
700,000 acres of tillable lands, we have but about 12,000 men,
women and children to occupy them. Tehama County of-

SGNOOuUSD ONIAUC LINN

Northern California 13

fers good land at a reasonable figure, and on most reason-
able terms; it offers a wide range of products and a corres-
pondingly great variety of industries; it offers scenery sec-
ond to none in the world; it offers water and water-power
in great abundance; it offers immense forests of superb com-
mercial timber; it offers a stable government and good so-
ciety ; it offers good churches and first-class public schools.

With these attractions Tehama County offers her match-
less climate, which enables man to live without consuming
in the winter what he produces in the summer.

The same investment of money, muscle and manage-
ment, coupled with the same habits of economy that. are
necessary to secure a home in any other State of the Union,
will secure a better one in Tehama County, California.

The following statistics is based upon the crop of 1902:

Peaches ripen from May to November; amount pro-
duced, green, 40,000,000 pounds; dried, 8,000,0000 pounds.

Prunes ripen from August to October ; amount produced,
green, 5,000,000 pounds; dried, 2,500,000 pounds. All
shipped in dried state.

Bartlett Pears ripen from July to November; amount
produced, green, 5,000,000 pounds. Nearly all of this crop
is shipped green to Eastern and European markets and are
known the world over for their excellent flavor and keeping
qualities.

Apricots ripen from June to November; amount pro-
duced, green, 1,500,000 pounds; dried, 300,000 pounds. A
large portion of this crop is shipped direct to Europe.

Almonds ripen from July to September; amount pro-
duced, 250,000 pounds.

Oranges and lemons do well and can be seen on the trees
every month during the year.

Vegetables of all kind known to the temperate zone,
grow abundantly in Tehama County.

Strawberries ripen from April to December, raspberries
from May to October, blackberries from June to September.

Average price paid for fruits and nuts for the past five
years:

14 Tehama County

Periib, Dried Green.
Pedchesyce oeceine AT CO iegere tah ae I to 2c
erg han ota p anaes ere nee Papa 0 ene ora aN een D to22e
Beats: ita ieee: AL EOL MOC Sy erate pepe ae Lt to 2¢
UNDIICOUS i eseeees taocoy: SOO Soak ere Eto. Ze
Almmoand sig yao a Oto TSC ss. nee Tvtos2e
WNCallinist Sis ateeneene at Sore akan ae I. tO. 2¢
Peaniwtsan err. Ar CG esos en eek S's Letoeze

Average yield of fruits and nuts, per acre, from $100 to
$300, and in many instances one acre has yielded $500 to
$1000.

About three-fourths of the peach and apricot and four-
fifths of the prune crops are dried, which creates a great de-
mand for labor. The first two named, are cut in halves and
laid on trays which are placed in rows on the “drying
grounds.” The genial rays of the sun by day and the dry
atmosphere of night will cure it perfectly in from two to
four days. There were employed in the orchards of Tehama
County during the summer and fall of 1902, five thousand
men, women, girls and boys at good wages, and the de-
mand for help was far greater than the supply.

Tehama County stands well in the front rank of grain
producing counties of the State. On the lands devoted to
grain about 1,500,000 bushels of wheat, oats and barley are
raised, on an average, annually. The greater portion of this
is shipped away, yet thousands of bushels find a ready mar-
ket at home. The major portion of this product is grown
south of Red Bluff along the banks of the river; in the pro-
ductive “Bald Hills,” west of town, and on the plains west
of the river, between it and the foothills. The average pro-
duct of the county, for a number of years, was 20 bushels of
wheat and 30 bushels of barley and oats per acre. Near
Tehama 45 bushels of wheat to the acre have been har-
vested, and in the same locality, 30 bushels is a common
yield.

Sesides grain, about thirty thousand tons of grain hay
is harvested, annually. Along the river and some of its
tributaries alfalfa has been grown to some extent and four
crops of this hay has been harvested each season, averag-

Northern California 18

ing three tons to the acre, which always commands a good
price in home market.

Thorough cultivation is the rule. The cost of preparing
and seeding the ground averaging three dollars, and harvest-
ing about as much more.

Hay produced in this county is of an unusual good
quality. About a ton to the acre is the average, although the
yield in many places is enormous.

Wild oats and wheat are usually sown together, and the
crop harvested just before it turns. It lies in windrows until
cured, then bunched, and later on stacked in five and ten
ton stacks. Loose hay, of this kind, sells for $8.00 to $15.00
per ton. When baled, it brings from $12.00 to $18.00 per ton.

BEET SUGAR

A new, most important and promising industry in Te-
hama County is the raising of sugar beets. It is shown that
beets grown on our lands contain a higher percentage of
sugar than those of any other section. During the season
of 1901 beets were harvested near Tehama that contained
the extraordinary amount of 25 per cent. in sugar. This is
an industry that bids fair to play an important part in our
agricultural history for the following reasons: Earlier ma-
turity of the beets; earlier opening on the sugar making

FRUIT PACKING HOUSE OF PORTER BROS.
RED BLUFF, CAL.

16 Tehama County

campaign; longer season for harvesting; longer run of the
factory ; greater yield per acre; greater percentage of sugar ;
immunity from frost and rain at critical periods. These are
some of the climatic advantages which experience and
scientific experiments have established.

WATER FOR IRRIGATION

Tehama County is the most abundantly watered county
in the State. The large rainfall in the valley, coupled with
the fact that great areas have been in single holdings, de-
voted to wheat growing or stock raising has in former years
not only retarded diversity of products, but has contributed
to the erroneous belief that irrigation was neither desirable
or necessary, and irrigation has not been much resorted to.
Wheat growing having become less profitable, attention is
being directed to more diversified culture, and plans for
more general irrigation are being considered, since it has
been found that even on our best lands water is a distinctive
source of general production and makes agriculture more
profitable, by adding many new products to the farm. Ir-
rigation is practiced in some parts of our county and the
results have given unmistakable proof of the advantages
gained thereby, both in quantity and quality of the product,
and with the facilities at hand, it can be extensively prac-
ticed at a trifling cost.

TD Me B-E. Ro Sie Bee

There is an abundant timber supply all over this county.
There is no township but what has timber for fuel and there
are sections of Tehama County which have some of the
largest forest growths on this continent. All along the
streams are cottonwoods, sycamores, alders, oaks and white
maples. On the valley land bordering the Sacramento
River, on both sides, there are large areas of oak parks,
containing many trees of astonishing size. In parts of the
higher lands of the valley these oak parks are also found.
On the Coast Range there are fine timber growths, mostly
pine, fir and spruce. It is in the Sierra Nevada Range, how-
ever, that the great forest belt of the county is situated.

Northern California 17

There, in a belt fifteen miles wide and forty miles long in Te-
hama County, are forest growths unexcelled in America.
There is lumber, not only for use of the whole county, but
millions of feet are exported annually. ;

The homeseeker can find no spot in Tehama County
where he will not be within easy reach of timber for fuel
and for all purposes of building and fencing. In this respect
he will find a marked contrast to very many portions of
Southern California, where timber is from 70 to 100 miles
distant.

HEALTHY ULNESS

There is no consideration of so much importance to
those seeking homes as the healthfulness of the locality they
select. It is not the intention to convey, or attempt to con-

FELLING TIMBER IN EASTERN TEHAMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

18 Tehama County

vey, to the mind of the reader that we have no sickness or
deaths in Tehama County, but I do claim that the general
health of our people is far better than that of any county in
the great Sacramento Valley. Situated as we are, at the ex-
treme head of the valley, with an altitude of 370 feet above
sea level, protected from cold winds of the north, east and
west by the two great mountain ranges, we have a most
equable climate, which is the first and most important factor
of health.

Drs. J. M. West and J. A. Owen, two of the leading
physicians of Tehama County, unite in saying that all the
elements of climate so essential to health exists in almost
perfect degree in Tehama County, and the experience of
physicians, who have practiced medicine in this county for
twenty years or more verify the conclusions drawn from
hygiene, and meteorology. Malarial diseases have prevailed
to a limited extent along the alluvial lands where streams
are subject to overflow during the rainy season, but culti-
vation of these lands and clearing the dense undergrowth
of vegetation from the belts of timber along the streams are
rapidly causing them to disappear.

Diseases arising from malaria in the above localities are
of a mild type and easily arrested. Epidemic diseases have
been of rare occurrence, and are so modified by climatic
influences that they have lost their malignancy. Measles
and whooping-cough are so mild in type, and complications
of the respiratory organs so infrequent, that physicians are
rarely called to treat them. Typhoid fever is of rare oc-
currence. In twelve years we have not treated a dozen
cases in the county.

We also have “natural” physicians in the shape of min-
eral springs which furnish waters of rare medicinal qualities.
To the west of Red Bluff thirty miles, at an altitude of
5,000 feet, in the Coast Range, is Colyear’s Springs, whose
health giving waters are freely enjoyed during the summer
months by hundreds of people who go there to enjoy the

hunting and fishing, as well as to recuperate physical weak-
ness.

Then to the east some fifty miles, at the foot of Mount

Northern California 19

Lassen, in the Sierra Nevada Range, is Morgan’s Springs,
another famous summer resort which is visited by hosts
of people who go to enjoy the heated term in “camping out,”
and feasting on fish and game. There is an excellent op-
portunity for some enterprising man of capital, at either of
the above springs, to build up a fashionable summer resort,
and it is safe to say that the opportunity will not be open a
great while longer, for it is only necessary for a shrewd
business man to see either of these springs to realize the
splendid opportunity they offer for the investment of capital.

Tuscan Springs are situated nine miles northeast of Red
Bluff, at the head of Little Salt Creek Canyon, in a basin
formed by an extinct crater. On either side, rising to a
height of from three to four hundred feet, are huge volcanic
rocks, forming a rim of about six hundred feet in diameter,
providing a natural shelter from winds. The springs num-
ber nearly fifty, and are found in an area of about ten acres,
at an elevation of goo feet above sea level. The rim sur-
rounding this basin breaks away to the southwest, per-
mitting the waters to escape in that direction. The springs
and the mud that exudes from them are used medicinally,
and have a reputation for the cure of rheumatism, kidney
and liver disorders, and all blood and skin diseases. The
waters are exceptional in their character, containing 3
grains lithia, 6 grains iodine, 25 grains soda, magnesia,
borax, potassium, sodium and sulphur. The latter is found
in and around the springs in red and yellow sulphur.

After a careful analysis of Tuscan waters by competent
chemists, and able physicians of San Francisco, they are
pronounced among the best in the United States for the
cure of every form of skin and blood derangements the
human system is heir to. This has been verified by the
thousands that have been made well by their use.

A large and commodious hotel has been erected the past
season, with airily constructed towers at either end, and
wide verandas extending all around, with accommodations
for two hundred guests. The climate is very agreeable all
the year and infrequent are the days when the man of health
can not be out of doors. ‘Likewise, few are the days when

20 Tehama County

the invalid can not be out breathing the fresh and healing
air, thereby regaining more rapidly his health and strength.
At Tuscan Springs one can enjoy good and refreshing sleep
365 nights in the year. Both weak and strong must become
stronger. And here Tehama County, through Tuscan
Springs, supplies the conditions necessary for a long, health-
ful and happy life.

EDUCATIONAL

Tehama County claims a place, educationally, among
the foremost counties of the State.

During the past ten years, the public schools of Tehama
County have shown much uniformity in progress. The
steady growth, no doubt, is largely due to the fact that we
have a greater number of trained teachers throughout the
County ; that our County Institutes have, for the most part,
been conducted by superior instructors and lecturers; and
that our schools are carefully graded—pupils of the high
grammar grade being required to pass an examination given
by the County Board before being admitted to high school.

Though the average length of term of our grammar
schools throughout the county is shorter than it promises
to be in the near future, yet our manual of study has been
arranged and followed with such care that our graduates
from the grammar department of the rural districts, as well
as those of the town schools, have proven themselves cap-
able of entering upon the work of the high schools and the
normal schools with equal rank and ability of pupils from
some of the more southern counties that are favored with
longer terms.

Our Red Bluff High School, which has been recognized
by the State University of California as being fully accred-
ited, is under the direction of superior university teachers
and a principal of excellent executive ability.

‘Within the past few years our High School has been a
strong incentive to the graduates of the grammar schools to
strive for higher educational attainments. There are four
teachers in the High School and an enrollment of about

Northern California 21

eighty pupils. The length of the school term is nine and
one-half months.

At the election held 5th of June, this year, at Corning, the
proposition was submitted and carried by a large majority,
to create a high school district, composed of eleven school
districts in the southern part of the county. The proposi-
tion met with favor in all the districts interested. The
school will be conducted at Corning. In 1892 the school
census report of Corning showed an enrollment of only 67
school, children, instructed by two teachers. In r1go1 the
school census showed an enrollment of 321 census children
of school age, with six teachers employed—an increase of
254 pupils and four teachers in nine years.

The Red Bluff grammar and primary schools are well
graded, and the majority of the instructors are teachers of
much experience, while a number of them are normal and

GRAMMAR AND HIGH SCHOOL HOUSE
RED BLUFF, CALIFORNIA

22 Tehama County

university trained teachers. The buildings are large and
well furnished and the grounds are suitably improved. The
school has an enrollment of 790 pupils, with eleven teachers
to instruct.

The towns of Tehama and Vina deserve mention for the
special interest their citizens are taking in their public
schools. For a number of years, their teachers have ranked
among the best grammar school teachers in the State. Te-
hama has an excellent two-story school building, with well
improved school grounds adorned with many large decidu-
ous and evergreen trees.

Antelope, which is a few miles east of, and across the
Sacramento River from Red Bluff can boast of one of the
finest country district school houses in the State. It is a
modern two-story building, neatly furnished and the
grounds are tastefully adorned with trees.

There are sixty-six districts in our county and eighty-
two teachers employed. The school census report of 1901
shows that 2448 pupils were enrolled in the public schools
of Tehama County last term.

In addition to our public school system, there are four
private schools.

The Academy of Our Lady of Mercy, which is of Cath-
olic denomination, was established in 1881. Pupils receive
instructions in all school branches from the kindergarten to
the high school; also in music, painting and needle work.

There are sixty students enrolled in the Convent school.
The private kindergarten in Red Bluff, an excellent school
of its kind, is conducted by Mrs. Harte. The length of the
school term is nine months and the average daily attend-
ance is about twenty-three.

The Seventh Day Advent school, which was established
in Red Bluff in 1900, has an enrollment of twenty pupils.

A private high school was established in Corning during
the past winter with an enrollment of eleven students. It
is under the supervision of an excellent instructor, who is a
university graduate and who has had many years’ experi-
ence in high school work.

Northern California ; 23

OUR LUMBER INTERESTS

One of the largest sash and door factories in Northern
California is located on the east side of the Sacramento
River at Red Bluff. It is the property of the Sierra Lumber
Company, who own thousands of acres of the finest yellow
and sugar pine timber in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Their sawmills are located about forty miles east of Red
Bluff at Lyonsville, in this county, where the logs are con-
verted into lumber and shipped by flume to their yard and
factory here at the rate of 15,000,000 feet annually. The
greater part of this is manufactured into doors, sash, blinds
and fruit boxes, besides the finest ornamental work for
buildings. They make 100,000 doors annually which find
a ready market in the East, in Australia, Hawaii and the
Philippine Islands: Their trade im fruit boxes 1s for the
orchards in California and extends south as far as San
Diego and the orange groves of Pasadena and Los Angeles.
At their yard and factory here they employ over one hun-
dred and fifty men and boys all the year. At their mills in
the mountains, they employ nearly two hundred men nine
months of the year. Their payroll reaches $200,000 an-
nually. They ship millions of feet in carload lots to various
points by rail. They are well equipped with facilities for
such shipments, having railroad tracks with numerous
switches in their yard and their own locomotive that trans-
fers the cars to and from the main line of the Southern Pa-
cific road. The Sacramento River is spanned at this place
by a magnificent steel bridge with foot walk and wagon
drive. Upon this is also the track over which the Sierra
Lumber Company transfer their cars to and from the rail-
road on the west side.

SMYRNA FIG OF COMMERCE

The soil and climate of California makes it the home of
the fig; two, and frequently three crops maturing in a sea-
son. The varieties are many but the best and most de-
licious figs when dried are those from Smyrna, known in the
market as Smyrna Figs.

Mr. W. H. Samson, who is owner of a large nursery near

BARTLETT PEAR ORCHARD IN BLOOM

Northern California 25

Corning, is a young man, almost a native of the county, who
has made horticulture a study for the past ten years, and it
is to his efforts of patient research and experiment that
the Smyrna fig mystery of this county has at last been re-
vealed. Asa result it is confidently believed that the grow-
ing of this splendid fruit will become one of our leading in-
dustries at no distant day. An account of the discovery and
revelations made by Mr. Samson, concerning the successful
propagation and growing of Smyrna figs in this county,
will not be out of place here, and will give information to
those of our orchardists who desire to grow a delicious and
highly merchantable fruit.

The trees imported by Senator Stanford some years ago
were the genuine commercial Smyrna fig, but all of the
“female” kind, whose bloom and bud would put forth regu-
larly each season, and the young fig would form and bid fair
to do well, but owing to the lack of certain fertilization for
the bloom and young fruit, it would wither and fall from
the tree. This fertilization consists of the pollen from the
flowers or fruit of another or male tree, which is trans-
mitted by a peculiar insect technically known as blasto-
phaga. This insect germinates in the fruit of the male
trees, which is known as the wild or Capri fig. It is said to
grow wild in the mountain regions of Smyrna, and is of no
value only to furnish fertility for the edible Smyrna fig,
which, without it, would not mature. The Capri, or wild
fig, was also imported to this State, and while visiting some
of the nurseries in the southern part of the State, Mr. Sam-
son procured several cuttings of the Capri fig besides some
of the figs grown on Capri trees which had the live insects
in them. He at once began experimenting with this insect
fruit on the Smyrna trees of the Stanford Ranch, by con-
fining the insect figs in the branches of the edible fig trees.
The result was all that he could hope for, and he at once
secured the exclusive right to take cuttings from the Stan-
ford trees and place them in his nursery, thereby giving him
the only Smyrna tree plants in Northern California, and
having the insect fruit cuttings also, he is prepared to fur-

26 Tehama County

nish a Smyrna Fig orchard on a guarantee of abundant
yield of that high priced and much sought for fruit.

CORNING AND MAYWOOD COLONY

The writer visited the southern portion of Tehama
County recently collecting data for this pamphlet, and
while at Corning and Maywood he requested a friend to aid
him with a write-up of the two places. The following brief
description is the result. It is not out of place here to state
that the two gentlemen spoken of as being “out of a job” in
1891, is none other than the public-spirited, wide-awake real
estate men, Hon. C. F. Foster and W. N. Woodson, who, by
their energy and enterprise, have added thousands of dollars
to the taxable wealth of Tehama County, besides largely in-
creasing her population. Of a truth it may be said they
have “caused the desert to bloom,” for the land occupied
by Maywood Colony is a succession of beautiful homes,
where peace, prosperity and contentment prevails:

“Strange, isn’t it, to what commonplace circumstances
some important places owe their origin? Take Corning for
instance. Along in 1891 a couple of men found themselves
out of a job—one having served out a term in the California
Legislature and the other a term as Postmaster at Red
Bluff. Said the ex-Postmaster, “I believe there is a market
among Easterners for California land in small lots.’ The
ex-Senator replied, “I know where the land is—the right
kind of land that can be had at the right price and on the
right terms.” “All right,” responded the retired Nasby;
and so the ex-Senator forthwith bought about $100,000
worth of land lying around the town of Corning, and to
legalize the deal paid down, in cash, the munificent sum of
ONE DOLLAR. That was about the amount of surplus in
the treasury of the newly-formed trust, and a trust it cer-
tainly was, for everything had to be bought on trust, and in
the future they had to trust for business by which to pro-
vide the small (?) balance of $99,999 still due on land ac-
count. But by luck or judgment they tapped the tide at
the flood, and prosperity has been flowing their way ever
since. To their business they gave the name Maywood—

Northern California 27

Maywood Colony—and in their minds there rests not a
doubt but that there is something in a name; for their
Maywood Colony has drawn to it, from all parts of the
earth, money in excess of three millions of dollars, and peo-
ple to the number of about three thousand. And the end
is not yet.

In 1891 Corning was but a wheat-loading station of a
size scarcely sufficient to hold its place on the railway time-
table. Its support came from a few farmers round about
who, for reasons unknown to themselves or anybody else,
had borrowed from San Francisco and Sacramento banks
irom $10 to $20 per acre on their farms, and who were then
engaged in the strenuous struggle of making their wheat
crops meet their interest payments. Some were able to
keep up the interest account, but none made any progress
in cutting down the principal. And so it was that these
farmers were willing to sell their land, or rather their in-
terest in it, to the promoters of Maywood Colony.

Corning of to-day has forgotten how it looked ten years
ago, sO numerous have been the changes. And now, as
hustling and promising a place as Corning is, she is but the
tail of the dog—Maywood Colony. Corning is simply the
trading shop for Maywood. Without Maywood, Corning
would close up in thirty days. Without Corning, Maywood
would build another town in thirty days. Maywood has
made Corning, and Corning’s prosperity and continued
growth depend upon Maywood’s future. Maywood Colony
is growing and will continue to grow and so will Corning.

THE TOWN OF TEHAMA

Is situated on the Sacramento River at the junction of
the railroads on the east and west sides. It is twelve miles
south of Red Bluff, the county seat, eight miles north of
Vina and ten miles northeast from Corning.

The present population is about four hundred.

Tehama is situated in the heart of one of the richest
farming sections of the State. Crops of all kinds grow
abundantly. The rainfall is adequate to insure paying re-
turns. Snow is a rare thing. Killing frosts are seldom

VINNOAIIVO ‘AAOI1d GaN ‘ANOLOVA XOH GNY NOOG HSVWS $,09 AMANAT VAUAAIS

Northern California 29

known. Foggy weather is scarce. In 1901 an experimental
crop of sugar beets was planted on land near Tehama.

The returns proved beyond question that Tehama lands
are well adapted to beet culture. Some of the crop aver-
aged over twenty tons per acre. The percentage of sugar
was exceptionally high. It is probable that in the near
future the industry will become permanent and a factory es-
tablished in this vicinity.

Alfalfa does well without irrigation.

Vegetables thrive and about two hundred acres east of
the river are devoted to this line. In 1go1, fifty carloads of
Irish potatoes, ten of sweet potatoes, six of beans, and five
of peanuts were shipped north and south. Watermelons are
also a paying crop.

The fruit industry is extensive. About eight hundred
acres are devoted to orchards of peaches, pears, prunes, apri-
cots, figs and other fruits.

The shipments of all products aside from fruit in Igo1
were as follows: Wheat, 75 carloads; mules, 15 carloads;
cattle, 15 carloads; hay, 14 carloads; sheep, 11 carloads;
hogs, 6 carloads; vegetables, 82 tons.

The Sacramento River at Tehama is spanned by a fine
steel railroad drawbridge finished in 1902. Seven granite
piers support the structure which is 850 feet long. The
draw is 260 feet in length. This bridge is one of the finest
west of the Mississippi. It is used by the county as a wagon
bridge.

Tehama is lighted by electricity furnished by the North-
ern California Power Company.

THE TOWN OF VINA

In the southern part of Tehama County, on the Southern
Pacific Railroad, is situated the town of Vina. Here are the
headquarters of the great Stanford Ranch, a body of some
5000 acres of very fertile land. There are fully 4000 acres
planted to grapes, making, it is claimed, the largest vine-
yard in the world. Millions of gallons of wine and brandy
are here manufactured each year, which find their way to
market in England, France, Germany and other foreign
countries.

“IvV) ‘daO1d Gau ‘11IOLS 1TNVd AO AWOH

Northern California ait

There are many orchards of deciduous and citrus fruits
near Vina. The lands are rich and a bountiful yield is the
result every year. The number of hands employed in the
orchards near Vina, including the Stanford Ranch, during
the harvesting season, is nearly 2000. Quite a large num-
ber of these are kept the year round.

Large bodies of our finest agricultural land have, until
recently, been owned and operated by single holders. This
system is no longer profitable, as the crops usually grown
were grain, and owing to the steady falling off in price of all
cereals, our large holders of land are sub-dividing their
properties into ten and twenty-acre tracts, which brings
them within the reach of the home-seeker of moderate
means. On the east side of the Sacramento River from Red
Bluff some 2000 acres of the choicest land in the county
is being sub-divided and is placed on the market in small
tracts. So if you are in search of a. home and would
engage in horticulture and sit under your own vine and fig
tree, the chance of a life time to procure such is here offered.
The soil is good; water plentiful, the climate is all that
could be wished.

We extend a cordial invitation to the home-seeker and
the home-maker, the merchant, the manufacturer, or the
capitalist, who will find here a “land of promise,’ a com-
munity of culture and refinement, and a place where boun-
teous nature holds out a promise of rich reward to all who
by ordinary thrift and industry invite success, and to such
we offer the following information 1n condensed form:

Sunstrokes are unknown.

Water power is unexcelled.

The hay harvest begins in June.

Vegetables can be grown easily.

The climate is very mild in winter.
Earthquakes never visit this section.

We have never had a failure of crops.

The professions are well represented.
Lightning and thunder are very unusual.
Blizzards we never have, and frosts rarely.
There is a steady increase in land cultivation.

32 Tehama County

Snow is a curiosity, except on the mountains.

The rainy season is during the winter months.

No one is advised to come without some means.

Tehama County excels in table and raisin grapes.

Fuel is plentiful and cheap—$3.00 to $4.00 per cord.

Ample facilities are here for all kinds of manufactories.

Land is cheaper here than in almost any county south
of us.

There are large bodies of foothill land suitable for fruit
culture.

As the foothills and mountains are ascended, the climate
becomes cooler.

The average rainfall at Red Bluff for the past twelve
years is 26 inches.

Tehama County has a spacious Court House and a fire-
proof Hall of Records.

The mildness of the winter season is the great attrac-
tion of life in this section.

The price of land ranges from $5 to $100 per acre, de-
pending upon location, quality and improvements.

Farm wages are $25.00 per month during the winter
season, and $35.00 during the summer season, with board.

We have good roads and bridges. One of the finest
bridges on the Coast spans the Sacramento River at Red
Bluff.

Irrigation is but little practiced, but there is abundance
of water in all parts of the county for this purpose, for all
who care to use it.

To the home-seeker of intelligence, refinement and culti-
vation, Tehama County offers a share in all that has been
enumerated, a place in a community of his own kind, ample
opportunity for prospering with her prosperity—Greeting
and Welcome.

Address all Inquiries to
RED BLUFF
CHAMBER
OF COMMERCE

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